City Woes

I love filling out forms. Something about having the right answers to put in the right spots. Anyway, when Peri was born, they had me a pile of paperwork to fill out, one of them being a form to receive her birth certificate. I filled that sucker out right away. Then sat on it for 2 months because turns out you either need to photocopy your ID and send it in, or go in person to submit the form. Sigh.

So a few weeks ago I was downtown at the County office to appeal our property tax hike. I got right to the correct office and was seen within 5 minutes. They couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. As I was leaving, I noticed the department of vital records was in the same building. But I only saw an escalator. When I asked if there was an elevator, I was told "no" and that I'd have to cross the street to the next building, which is where the escalator leads to. Well, not enough time on the meter for that one, so I left.

Fast forward to last week when I was downtown for Peri's 11 week checkup (she's huge and great!) and thought I'd get this taken care of. So first I went to the "building across the street" thinking I'd outsmart them. Nope, they told me the address I wanted was in the other building. So back to the old building. Found the room. Waited in line only to have a note handed to me (not talking) saying "To obtain birth or death certificates go to Daley Center Vital Records room". Sigh. Rather than ask again about an elevator, I decided to brave the escalator and just get this over with. Me and stroller. Peri was all strapped in, so I decided to go first and pull the stroller after me. Except that left Peri on the landing while I did a Fred Flinstone scramble to get back up the escalator to get her. Some guy came over to tell me I couldn't take the stroller down the escalator. Duh! So the two of us are standing at the top of the escalator as I dismantle the stroller and try to take that in one hand and the car seat/Peri in the other hand down the escalator. Don't worry - she does survive this "dumb mom move". Meanwhile, a woman is at the top of the escalator between me and the guy saying "Excuse me!" Yes lady, we see you and we're trying to move. Finally, we're on our way down the escalator. Guy is still following me to give helpful advice?! And a security guard starts yelling "You have to go through a revolving door down there". So I keep everything dismantled and wait to get through the door except everyone insists on pushing it as fast as possible.

I finally make it to the vital records office. I'm sweating and flustered. And the lady couldn't have been nicer to me. Sigh.

Chicago - your employees in the offices rock! The "helpful staff" directing folks in the buildings - not so much.

And guess what I found on my way out the door. An elevator. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrr.

Dinosaur Movie

Nick and my dad watched Jurassic Park 3 while we were in NC earlier this month. Nick had bad dreams about it, but couldn't stop talking about it and saying "awesome!" So Pop-pop sent us home with the movie. And called a few days later to ask if Nick had seen it again. Uh, yep. About 20 times so far. At least. Nick quotes lines to me "Honey, I'm over here."

Photographer

Looks like we might have a photographer on our hands. Nick loves taking my camera. He's so proud to show me what he's shot. And I'm so glad that cameras are digital these days!

Sneak Preview

Pretend you haven't seen these, but Nick decided on Snake Eyes from GI Joe as his Halloween costume. Can you believe he didn't go with Transformers?! Think it's because Snake Eyes has a sword.

What's new with Peri?

Peri's life these days:

-wake up
-eat
-smile
-sleep
-grow
-enjoy bath time
-eat
-grow a few eyebrow hairs
-smile
-grow
-sleep 4-5 hour stretches at night (7 hours the other night and might have gone longer if I hadn't put my hand on her chest to see if she was still alive)
-scream at dad if mom is at yoga
-eat
-sleep
-grow

Peri, I apologize for posting these next photos, as no one likes to be photographed from such a bad angle showing all her chins. And you really don't look as fat as these make you look. But these make me laugh so much.

Stroller Tan

I haven't had a suntan since I was 16 years old. But all this walking with Peri this summer has left me with a little color. Yes, color that will someday kill me by turning into cancer. Funny thing about my tan is that it's on the inside of my arms. I looked at the stroller and realized the handles are at an angle so you have to hold them as if you're holding a bottle upright. Ha!

Nails

What is with me and experiences at nail salons (see Hong Kong blog)? Maybe it's just when I go to places outside of my normal salon. A new place opened up last month near our house, so Peri and I set out to test it out. I got her fed and asleep so she could nap while I was there. Nope, she woke up. The lady running the salon cooed over her and told me about her 2 year old girl and how she could take care of Peri for me while I got my nails done. Sigh. Very nice. Until she started telling me "She's hungry-she wants to be fed now". Uh no, I just fed her. "Where's her bottle and I'll do it." I pointed to my chest. So she brought Peri over and I tried my best to get everything positioned under the blanket. The woman kept wanting to help so I told her she could hold the blanket. What I didn't say was "and peek your head over the blanket and tell me how to position my boob". Sigh. Too bad they did such a great job with my nails.

Hurt finger :(

So I'm pretty good at cutting baby finger nails. Even when they squirm, I can usually do the job. Except for this week. When Peri was being all still as I cut her nails and then she started crying. Yep, I cut off part of her baby finger. Just a tiny bit, but when fingers are tiny to begin with... Oh sweet baby!

Visit to the grandparents

Ahhh, we took a quick trip to see the grandparents last weekend. What does one do in NC? Eat. Chik-fil-A, Sonic, BBQ, fried okra, sweet ice tea. Sigh and yum!

We went to the Apple Fest where Nick and his cousin Emma rode the rides. Nick and Pop-pop did crazy stunts with the golf cart. And Nick examined the bugs in Mom-mom's Garden/Nature Walk.
Peri did a great job with her first flight. No one would make eye contact with us at the beginning. Can't truly blame them. But then as soon as the flight was over, they made an effort to tell us how beautiful and good she was. Uh yah, because she's a rock star like her brother!

More than meets the eye

Chris and I love to go for long walks. Nicholas - not so much. He slow pokes and makes us miserable. His stroller has now gone to Peri. He won't ride his tricycle or Big Wheel so we headed to the store last weekend to look at big boy bikes and scooters. He apparently has my sense of balance because he wasn't comfortable on the bike at all - even with training wheels. So we decided on a Razor scooter. We finally picked the one, but we couldn't get the sucker to unlock. Two of us struggling while Toys R Us employees walked by us. Sigh. So we decided to head to Target to see if they had it. Target was a complete disappointment too, so we decided to head home and try Amazon.com. But poor Nick couldn't leave the store without something, so he and Chris came out with a set of elbow pads, knee pads and wrist guards. Nick was so excited and wore them all around the house. Then he realized that when he paired them up with his Transformer pjs, he resembled a Transformer! "Mom, I REALLY am a robot with these!"

Finally, the big day came and his scooter arrived! We got him padded up and took him to the local playground. He was very cautious and not doing so well. So he took off his knee pads. A little better so he decided to take off his elbow pads. Better. Finally he took off the wrist pads and he was off! Zooming around completely unprotected.

At least we know he can use the pads to dress up as a Transf0rmer.

Bless her sweet heart

When you see a baby, you automatically say "how cute" or "so sweet", sometimes when you don't even mean it. I was reminded of this last weekend while in a neighborhood store. A woman saw the stroller and said "How cute!" I smiled and gazed adoringly into the stroller to find Peri staring at us cross eyed. I laughed and explained that she's learning to focus this month and must be focused on something. We both looked back to Peri to find her with these wide psycho-baby eyes. Jeesh! Show the lady how cute you really are! In Texas or the South they would just say "Bless her sweet heart."

Germs are sweet!

Nick loves his friend Lewis. They met when they were three and have stayed close, even when Lewis moved to a new school. So on Saturday, the boys were playing legos, Chris was cleaning out his car (his car resembles a mom's carpool minivan inside with the ridiculous stuff it collects) and I was puttering around not knowing what to do while Peri took a 3 hour nap (how much longer do I have?! Can I clean up the house? Time to email friends? Oh boy!). The boys decided to play soccer while I picked up a gift for a friend. We were going to meet at the hot dog joint afterwards. I finished up early and met them at the park. On my way to the park I stopped in for a strawberry milkshake. mmmmm. Then realized I couldn't show up without a chocolate malt for Chris. Then realized Chris and I didn't want to share with the picky eaters (N & L), so I got a vanilla shake for them to share. Got to the playground to find N, L and another little friend they'd made there. So of course all three gathered around the milkshakes with their hungry little mouths. Potbelly shakes come with 2 cookies on the straw, so first I gave out the cookies. New boy grabbed one up and popped it in his mouth before I could ask if he was allowed to have cookies. Oops! So Chris asked him where his parents were. He looked all around and found his mom and little sister waving at us from the swings. We yelled across the park and got the ok for cookies. The shared shake was then passed back and forth between all three boys. That's when Chris got a bit worried and headed over to ok it with the mom. When you get past the germiness and "I don't know anything about this kid" it was really sweet how they all just trusted each other and shared with each other immediately without thinking. Also kinda scary how kids will eat anything that an adult/stranger gives them. Sigh, but this one was cute.

Photo above is more germs while they shared a drink at lunch.