Myrtle Beach, SC

One of my favorite things to do is travel with my boys. We have been so lucky to be able to do a lot of traveling with Jacoby. He loves it as much as we do. It had been a few months since we had been anywhere which is unusual for us and I don't think I realized how much I missed it until we were gone again.

This time, Jarod had to go back to Myrtle Beach, SC for work and Jacoby and I are sick of winter so we decided to tag along. We flew in on Sunday and when we landed I didn't even know what to do without having my big heavy coat on.

We had three days of sun and beach and it was perfect! The weather was a little cooler but I had flip flops on at the beach so I was happy.

Jacoby loves the beach and the first night that we got there he was disappointed that we couldn't go right then. We told him he had to wait until the sun came up so promptly as the sun came up on Monday morning he sat up and said he wanted milky and wanted to go to the beach. I finally convinced him that we needed a little bit more sleep but we were on the beach before 9 am and spent the entire day there minus nap time.

Jacoby was busy building sand castles and knocking them over, chasing birds and running from the water. I was lucky enough to have a little slice of heaven and did one of my favorite things- a run on the beach while Jarod watched Jacoby.

That night we went to this wonderful place for a steam pot. I had been thinking about it since last time I was there. It's so good! Full of crab, shrimp, oysters, mussels, shrimp, corn and hush puppies. Jacoby ate more than Jarod and I combined and the next night when we asked him what he wanted for dinner he told us crab.

The following day was 70 and not windy. Jacoby and I hit the beach again but this time he wanted to play in the water. At first we got our toes wet but then we ended up getting soaked. It was freezing but we were having so much fun. Jacoby was laughing so hard he couldn't catch his breath. We had so much fun running from the waves and jumping over them when they got close.

I got so many dirty looks from all the old people walking by though. I am sure they thought I was crazy letting my baby play in the freezing water but we were seriously having a blast and we are from Chicago for goodness sakes!!

After a while of playing in the water, Jacoby told me he was cold. Luckily for me I had brought an extra diaper, one of his sweatshirts and my jacket. After a few minutes he was warm as a clam and he still is talking about how much fun the beach was.

We are starting our traveling up again and I am so excited. Some of my fondest memories with Jacoby are when we are on vacation. I love that when we are on vacation I don't have to worry about my house, what's for dinner, the phone ringing off the hook or any other distractions. I just get to be with my baby and my husband and enjoy each other's company. Life is so much simpler and it really is the small things like playing with my baby in the ocean that I will never forget.

I didn't realize how much I missed it but I am sure excited for all of our fun trips coming up.

First Nightmare

Last week Jacoby had his first bad dream. He starting screaming in the middle of the night at his friend Nella. "No Nella, no Nella, NO!!!!!" Then started crying. I was so upset that I woke him up to tell him everything was ok which is not what you are suppose to do but I didn't know. Anyway, once I woke him up he was even more upset and it took me a long time to calm him down. Since then he has talked about his dream and I think it was a continuation of an experience earlier that day. Lindsey and I took the kids on the train for entertainment. We got on and off at the same spot but just rode around Chicago for a while letting them take in the sites. By the time we got home it was past Jacoby nap time and he was crabby. We have a rule that he has to hold my hand while he walks down the street here in Chicago. There are just too many cars, people, etc. that it makes me nervous. He is usually really good and doesn't fight me at all but that day he was with Nella who doesn't have that rule and he was so mad that he had to hold my hand and she didn't. He had a huge melt down pretty much the entire way home until finally he practically fell asleep in my arms by the time we got to our door. I am pretty sure that the dream was a continuation of him being mad that he did have to hold my hand or that he was upset that Nella wasn't holding some one's hand. All I know is that I felt really bad for him and it was not fun. He finally calmed down, while we rocked. He had some milky and then told me he was ready to go back to bed. He fell asleep all twisted in my hair with one hand on me and the other on his Daddy- his favorite place to be.

Blizzard of 2011

We lived through our first official blizzard and it was crazy!! All night long is was thundering and lightning, winds 65 mph and snowing like crazy. We all slept through it but it was a little weird hearing thunder during a snow storm. When we woke up the next morning we woke up to a huge amount of snow but it was all in snow drifts because the wind was blowing so hard. Our car had just a dusting while the alley behind our house was 4 feet in some places. Jarod's office was closed so we enjoyed a day with daddy working from home.

After the snow stopped, we got all bundled up and went out to help our neighbors dig out the alley. It took all of us all day but we finally got one entrance cleared out and the other entrance melted away two weeks later!!

We took a few breaks from shoveling and went on a walk to check out all the snow. We had a blast tackling each other in the show and jumping and diving in it. Jacoby thought it was so funny especially when Jarod would tackle me and then they would both laugh as they tickled me. My typical boys. It really was a great day!

Letting Go

Jarod was out of town this year again on my Birthday. Wrigley seems to plan the same meeting every year over my Birthday but since he was out of town I got to go to dinner with my friend Steph. We left the boys with Ben and they had a great time watching Sesame Street and pretending to sleep while we went out for sushi. Not only was the food amazing but also the conversation. There is something about Steph that allows me to take down all of my walls and just be myself. We always end up in deep conversations and I learn so much about myself and her through them. She is such an amazing person and I am so glad that she is in my life.

During our conversation, I shared with her some things I have discovered in my life lately that were holding me back and she told me of some things that were doing the same to her. We decided that week we were going to prepare ourselves to let these things go and that weekend we were going to get a ton of balloons and really let them go as we let go of the things that were holding us back. We did just that. I thought, read and prayed a lot all week and when we got together on Saturday I was ready and so was she. We headed down to the lake front with a blanket and a ton of balloons- what can I say we have issues :)! We both had a marker and we both took our time writing things on our balloons and then letting them go as we sat together and shared this crazy but very profound moment. It was very therapeutic and I was so glad I was able to do this with her.

I think some times in life we are too afraid to let things go but I really feel in order to progress as an individual we need to free ourselves of our baggage. Just let it go, let it all go. The mean things some one has said to you, your mistakes, your short comings, everything. I promise you will feel much better. I sure do!!

Where did my baby go?

Just in the last few weeks, Jacoby's look has changed so much! He looks so much like a little boy and not a baby any more. It makes me kinda sad. If you ask him he is still my baby and he is not a big fan of being a big boy. He was doing so well with potty training and he was in underwear all day for a few weeks and then all of the sudden he wanted to be a baby again and wear diapers. I think I shot myself in the foot but focusing so much on what big boys can and cannot do and this little one is not ready to give up some of the things that baby boys get to do. He is so certain that he doesn't want to that he has given up all big boy things for now. I am going to try and enjoy this last baby phase for as long as it lasts because I know pretty soon this baby boy of mine really will be a big boy.