Veronica (the first)

As you may remember, our sweet Veronica is actually not the first dear Veronica in our lives.   And this weekend we had an extra special treat-- Sister Johanna aka Veronica was in Chicago on holiday and we were able to see her.  Most noteworthy was that she was able to meet our little Veronica (and Caroline, too).

Actually, we were a bit nervous for a moment, because on the long-awaited day of our visit, Veronica became ill.  We certainly hoped that she'd get well soon..mostly because we wanted her to feel better, but also because we'd be so sad to miss seeing her!  We are so thankful that she recovered quickly and we were able to get together.

With the change of plans, we ended up meeting at Ann Sather's for lunch after church on Sunday and then her friend and hostess, Bernie, was so kind as to invite us back to sit and visit (all afternoon!).  It was nice to catch up and hear about the other nuns at Turvey who we remember so fondly.  (And speaking as Jenny, it was cool to see Freeman hanging out with people who've known him so long.)

Hamilton really enjoyed explaining to Veronica (the first) that her name was Sr Johanna, but also Veronica.  I think he was pretty pleased with himself for being able to grasp that concept.  Our little Veronica just gave a big grin and said, "ron-CA" when asked any of the name-related questions.  And our content Caroline just smiled and slept and took everything in.

Freeman, Veronica, and Bernie (who all attended DePaul together and apparently lived in the same dorms for several years).

More photos!  Bernie's sweet daughter joined the picture and was so kind to share her cool toys with the Whitney children.

Veronica and Hamilton spotted all of the "hidden" objects in the Blue's Clues book.

Veronica and Caroline checking each other out.

Yup, they decided they liked each other!

Crayons and a new book to color in...that's pretty exciting stuff.

And then, of course, sharing her work with Veronica, as well.

Veronica-bonding

The sisters  ( I so rarely dress them alike, I couldn't resist a quick photo)

As I type this, Veronica is on an airplane back to Turvey, England and the Abbey where we last saw her three years ago.  So much has changed in our lives since then and it was a precious opportunity to be able to share a snapshot of our lives circa 2012 with her.

Oompah!

It is such a huge blessing to have family close by (even though we don't see them as often as we'd like).  Truth be told, it's one of the big reasons keeping us in the area.  Our kids are loving getting to see their grandparents often and really get to know them.

Today, my dad came in to check out Hamilton's swim lessons.  He was able to join us for lunch and stay until about 20 minutes before they crashed.   I loved having all the help (and don't take it for granted).  And all Hamilton and Veronica could say as he was leaving was, "I want to go with Oompah...I want to go to Oompah's house."   We're still working on the be-thankful-for-what-you've-had, but really, it's so sweet that they love him so much.

During this visit, we were between cameras--between one being left at church Wednesday night and a new one arriving the next day--so thankfully Oompah took some photos!

The older two know that when Oompah arrives, there's usually a yummy treat involved (and thanks to him they can spot a Dunkin Donuts sign with no problem).

Watermelon is also an Oompah treat!

And Mac n Cheese! Check out the cool solar system swim trunks.

We just got two photos from the pool before being told we that there were no cameras allowed.  Oops!

Even though Veronica's not in lessons, they allow her to stay on the zero-depth end of the pool with me while Hamilton's off learning to listen for fish.  She can't wait to be part of all the action!

Here is the beginning of the sequence on what Caroline's up to.  She's up...

and rocking...

and stretching...

but after all the show, it's the army "crawl"when there's something worth getting to.

After all of that moving earlier, Caroline needed a nap before getting in the water.

After swim lessons, Oompah came home with us to hang out more.  Here he is reading Katy-No-Pocket.  Hamilton loves, loves, LOVES being read to and really thinks the end of this story is hilarious.

So there you have it...an afternoon with Oompah.  And, for the record, all three children were asleep within 20 minutes of his departure (and truth be told, I wasn't far behind).

Trains, Subs, and Explosions

Have you ever been to the Museum of Science and Industry?  I have, too--but only on field trips and other organized excursions.  Until our recent visit, I had absolutely no idea how humongous it is.  I mean, it houses an entire submarine in one section of one wing of it (that you could completely miss in a daylong visit).  And the exhibits are pretty amazing, too.  And they have demonstrations and hands-on experiments all day long.  And they have a kids room that looks vaguely like the Wonka factory, but involves balls and kids, not candy and Oompa Loompas.

Freeman works kitty-corner from the library and is able to visit on his lunch breaks.  He does an awesome job of scanning for the highly coveted Museum Passes--which get you into a museum free.  (Side note:  It is a bit funny when you see the passes for the Mexican Fine Arts Museum checked out---because admission is always free there...but I digress).  In any case, he scored big back in February when he found a MSI pass in.  So our Saturday of fun was planned. Mid-morning, we hopped on a #10 bus(another side note:  Hamilton has a dream of riding all the CTA bus lines and this ride got him one step closer.  Twenty (or so) down, one-hundred ten to go!).

In all honesty, having Freeman around makes any outing more fun.  The kids had such fun with him and, as an added bonus, you'll see a picture or two of me.

One of the original Zephyr trains.  This is on exhibit in the front hall, before you even get your tickets to enter...that's how big this place is!

 

Checking out the inside of the Zephyr.

Watching the "explosions" demonstration (sorry about the Maclaren's reflective glare).

Different elements burn different colors.  I don't know that the lesson stuck, but they did like seeing fire.

Mapping DNA

Caroline taking it all in.  (Yes, I know I wasn't using the Moby correctly here. Oops!)

Awesome huge train display showing Seattle and Chicago and how freight trains are used cross country.

Keeping an eye out for trains.

Idea Factory aka Willy Wonka Factory

Sleepy baby

  There was a vacuum tube that kids could send balls up that would take them across the room and back down a "river" to end at this reservoir.

He could have stayed there all day.

And we let him get wet in February.  I don't remember what these water shooting contraptions did, but there were lots of science-related ball activities. 

Veronica found the reading nook and wanted me to read all about geological strata to her...

...but then she found the water.

I don't think this section was made for two-year olds.

Veronica's all about solutions.  Need some height?  Find a chair.

Now intercepting balls is much easier!

We also checked out an interesting, though slightly creepy, exhibit on circuses.

Hamilton wasn't a fan of the animatronic creatures...maybe because he couldn't identify that one with the paw-print shaped spots.

And this is what I was telling you about.  Seriously...an entire U-Boat...inside.  With halls and halls of information about the damage it inflicted, the lives of those inside, and its capture.  Fascinating.

Just writing this post makes me want to go back.  We didn't even check out half of what they have.  But there closed now, so I'll just have to settle for going to bed.

So long, BOB!

(I started writing this post back in February...mostly because I was pretty surprised at how emotional I got at trading in our stoller. )

I am normally not a wistful person. I tend to look ahead at what's coming next and not spend too much time thinking about what's passing. (This is not a trait I am particularly proud of, but I wanted to throw that out there before spending an entire post writing about a stroller.)  And now you've been warned...this is a post about a stroller.  Feel free to read something more interesting and/or useful!

When we were expecting Hamilton, we decided that our stroller purchase would be one of the most important ones we would make. Living carless in the city means that anything with wheels becomes essentially as important as a car to us, so no skimping there. We test drove several models and decided on the BOB Revolution.

One of our very first pictures with our BOB. This was right before Freeman walked Hamilton home from the hospital (notice the confused looks from the hospital security/parking employees).

Hamilton on his way home...just a couple of days old.

We took so many walks that summer.  Freeman was so kind to get a mosquito net because I was so concerned about that sweet baby.

Seriously, I can't say anything bad about that stroller.  It took curbs and bumps like they weren't there, could be easily maneuvered with one hand, and had so much storage space that I could get 40 pounds of groceries (seriously!) home on it with little effort .  Even when Veronica came along, we opted to forgo a double stroller and make do.  It ended up looking something like this.

Neither of them is strapped in.  Yup, Mother of the Year Award...right here.

Actually, there is a funny story about having them sit in a single stroller together.  I was walking home from Target down a hill with bags hanging from the handle and a young man stopped me to enthusiastically thank me for purchasing a quality stroller to use in pushing my children.  He complained about how a particular other brand (which I don't remember) was so poor and parents who purchased it were risking their children's welfare...and on and on.   I didn't know what to say, but I just laughed to myself as I continued.  My 22 month-old was balanced on the footrest of a stroller...and I was the safe mom!  (And to be fair, they each only fell out once in two years ...as they tried to get off without permission.  They learned not to do that again...and weren't really hurt in the process.)


But the time had come.  They were both too big to comfortably sit together anymore and being in the stroller began to cause more and more arguments  (and they were super patient with each other most of the time).   Plus Caroline was getting bigger and the reality was coming that she'd need a part-time spot in the stroller soon.  But what were we to do?  Double jogging strollers (the two-across-take-up-the-sidewalk-kind) would never fit on a bus and inline double strollers generally had wheels made for flat, smooth surfaces--or were super expensive.  And have I mentioned we live in a city with lots of potholes and curbs? And needed to get on buses?  And had a budget that didn't involve a stroller that cost as much as a used car?

But, God had a cool plan for even this little thing in our life.  We ran into a neighbor on the bus and she witnessed the older two jockeying for space and made a comment about us getting a new stroller.  Long story made short, she knew someone who had a practically unused double inline stroller that she was willing to sell at our price point.  Twenty-four hours later, we had a new stroller and twenty-four hours after that, someone bought our beloved BOB off Craigslist.   Talk about providing!

But what took me by surprise is that I almost wanted to cry as I saw the BOB being put in someone's trunk and thinking that we'd never see it again.  I know...it's silly...who knew motherhood would make me more sentimental?   So I thought that writing this post would help to commemorate how much we appreciated our BOB.

And now I'm humming a country song...man, I think I need help! 

Good-bye, so long, farewell, via con Dios...

Abandoned?

So when catching up with a dear old friend (hi, Jayme!) last week, she began by asking if I had (at least for the time being) abandoned this blog.  And, really, given that it's been 3 months (!), that's a completely fair question.  So much so that I think I said that I suppose I have...since I don't seem to be able to compose a sentence most days while running around after the little Team Whitney-ettes.   After getting off the phone I realized that I felt like I knew what Jayme was up to from her blog, but she didn't know about any of the fun things we'd been up to.  And then I thought of all the other people I've been meaning to call who would also want to know...and I began to rethink abandoning this "baby book" of sorts. 

Plus, Caroline just woke me up and I am having a hard time going back to sleep and this is as quiet as it's been with me awake for a while (yes, I go to sleep as soon after the children as possible...I'm fun like that).


So, in no particular order (and surely not all tonight), I'll be working through whatever we've done that I remember and/or have photos of!


(April 2, 2012)

We got to spend a day with my sweet friend Valerie and her lovely three daughters at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Mueseum.  A note about Valerie:  I've only known her for a relatively short period of time, but she is one of the most sweet, sincere, want-to-know-you people I've met and is such a dear friend.  (She also took all of these pictures, otherwise you wouldn't be able to follow along on this adventure).

Ready for fun (minus Caroline)...and seriously, how darling are her sweet girls?

First we stopped in the Butterfly Haven, that houses over a thousand butterflies representing more than 75 species.  

It's hard to see due to the humidity but a Paperwhite butterfly almost instantly wanted to be friends with the ladybugs on Caroline's shirt.

Then Hamilton had a visitor, too, much to the excitement of the girls.

It made him a little nervous, though.

Hamilton's favorite butterfly was the Owl butterfly.  At first, he was convinced that it could see using the "eye" on its wing.  Once I explained that it wasn't really an eye, but that this was the way God gave to this butterfly to protect itself from animals that wanted to eat it, he was even more excited.  He wanted to explain the camouflage/mimicry to anyone who'd listen...including the employees.

photo credit: Rhett Butler

Next, we noticed a new bicycle exhibit.  Given that we both have bike-loving husbands, that sounded like a cool next stop.  We were approached as we entered to alert us to some filming that was going on, but we decided to take our "chances" about being caught on film.  As our children raced around trying out some of the cool old-school bikes, the guy with the microphone started chatting with me...and then asked me if I would mind coming up with something to say for 15 seconds for a live news clip coming up in 90 seconds.  You can "enjoy" my creativity here...but what I really want is for you to fast forward through my bit and watch as Patrick takes the camera through the exhibit and catches Hamilton trying to mount an adult-sized bicycle.  He so wants to be like his daddy!

Chicago Bicycle Exhibit Opens This Weekend at Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum: MyFoxCHICAGO.com

Petting "Fang" the albino King snake

We also checked out the Green Home (highlight: plates of real decaying food), the Waterworks (who doesn't like creating dams and locks...and getting wet?), and a forest themed play area.   We got to pet a snake and dress up like racoons.  It was a seriously good time.


And to top it off, it was such a lovely day that we were able to end with a picnic outside.  For those of you who have ever lived in the midwest, you know that April 2 is not usually picnic weather.  But, we enjoyed some food and the kids got to play in and around the Steelroots sculpture while Valerie and I got to visit.

All in all, a very good day!