Busy Busy Busy!

We have been insanely busy lately (in case you didn't get that from the title). M was in Texas on business all last week and I had a bridal shower and bachelorette party to attend that were both out of town. So last weekend I drove two hours alone with Bear to Chicago for the shower. It was the trip from HELL. He slept for the first 45 minutes, woke up, and was NOT happy. I stopped at a gas station to feed and change him, where he had a major meltdown in the bathroom (because those stupid hand dryers have to be louder than a jet engine) and I proceeded to accidentally drop his blanket on the floor (gross). I got him changed and fed and put him back in his car seat, which to him is basically a torture device. He eventually fell asleep for about 20 minutes and then woke up crying again. We were almost to the location, so I figured he could wait a few minutes. FALSE. He of course got ridiculously worked up and my iPhone took me to someone's house instead of the restaurant I was supposed to be at. I pulled into the nearest parking lot and took him out of his car seat and he stopped crying immediately. I finally figured out how to get to where I needed to be, but it was freezing cold out so it was a little too far to walk. I put Bear back in his seat and he started crying again, but luckily I was able to find a parking space fairly easily so we were there pretty quickly. At this point I was around 30 minutes late (oh, did I mention I was supposed to help host the shower?). Thankfully my friend is incredibly sweet and she completely understood.

Late and flustered, but we made it!

My parents met me at the shower (Chicago is halfway between our homes) and watched Bear so that I could enjoy myself (read: drink) at the shower a bit.

After the shower my mom rode back with Bear and I. I'm so glad she did because Bear cried about half of the way and I'm sure it would have been much worse had he not had my mom's or my hand to hold the whole way.

After we made it to my parents' house I decided the first thing I was going to do was order a convertible car seat (he had still been in the infant carrier) for the trip back. I was trying to decide between the Britax Marathon, Britax Boulevard, and Peg Perego Primavera Vesuvio. I finally decided on the Britax Boulevard because of the great reviews and the fun prints/colors!

Nothing says "badass" like a man in zebra print.

So far he definitely seems to like this seat better than the infant carrier, which I think was getting a little too cramped for him. (Side note: this seat was fairly easy to install, which is nice since I had to do it myself because M was out of town. I, however, am super paranoid and called all over trying to double check that I had installed it correctly. The Toyota dealership that we bought my car from was useless- the dude didn't even know what a convertible car seat was. He also had no clue what the LATCH system was. WTF?! The fire station didn't answer the phone- again, WTF?! I finally called Britax and they were really helpful. They were able to direct me to a bunch of online instruction videos for everything from installing using the LATCH system to anchoring the tether strap.)

The rest of the week was pretty relaxing (aside from the major cold I am still battling). Bear had a great time at my parents' house and got to see all of his cousins.

My brother, Papa (my dad), and my brother-in-law with all four of the grandsons (still no girls!)

The following weekend I had the bachelorette party in Chicago to attend. M also had a meeting there, so he flew straight from Texas to Chicago. His mom came up as well and she watched Bear for me while I got ready for the party.

I met up with my girlfriends at their hotel and we drank champagne and played penis games. After everyone was good and tipsy we headed to this place where you get drunk and paint. It was awesome.

Wine and art- doesn't get much better than that!

The finished product

I realized in drunk painting how much I miss being in touch with my creative side. Maybe once I have more free time I'll get back into drawing/painting/photography, but for now I just don't think I have the time.

I also realized how much I miss living in Chicago. I love where we are now, but I miss everything about the city- the food, the atmosphere, the noise. Maybe one day we will make it back in that direction if I can convince M.

On an unrelated note, I woke up this morning to this:

That would be Bear sleeping in his crib and our cat sleeping next to him. I'm usually good about making sure she isn't in the room before I shut his door, but she is so sneaky and my brain isn't always operating at full capacity around 4 am.

This coming weekend we will be making another road trip (6 hours- shoot me) for one of the two weddings I am in this month, so stay tuned- should be some good stories.