What a Wonderful Vacation!

My apologies if this post is all over this place, I'm trying to remember all of the details to include!

Our family took a trip to Chicago this week that was fantastic!  We thought it was important to do a big trip as a family of three before the little one arrived, and I wanted to still be mobile for the trip - I remember feeling much less mobile as I approached 30 weeks with Peanut and wanted to take advantage of the feeling good second trimester, so we took the holidays as a time to really focus on our family.

The trip also helped take my mind off of being out of the rink - it made the adjustment to staying at home a little easier.  Anyway, let's start talking about the trip!

We took the train on Sunday morning, which had positive and negative aspects to it.  We didn't need to worry about parking or traffic which was ice, and I was able to walk up and down the aisle a few times to keep the blood flowing well.  We also had access to a restroom, which although not the best bathroom I've ever been in was nice to have being pregnant.  We did need to worry about carrying on all of our bags to the train and traveling from the train station to the hotel with bags in tow and no car seat for our toddler, so that made us hesitant to use taxi cabs.  We ended up walking, A LOT, which was good but tiring as you can probably imagine!  All in all, taking the train worked out well, because we have a friend who lives in downtown Chicago and were able to hang out with him for a couple of hours and grab lunch since we couldn't check into our hotel right away. 

Over the course of five days, we walked probably about 25 miles total we think.  It was good to get moving and stay active, but my pain levels did increase quite a bit at night and my body took a while to adjust to all the walking.  We all took quite a few baths and did some serious lounging at night to recover.

On Monday we walked from our hotel to Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum.  That was probably the hardest walk of the entire trip.  We were sore from the trek between the train station to our friend's apartment to our hotel with all of our bags, a stroller, and a kiddo and it was the longest walk of the week.  Not only that, but we took a detour on accident that made the trip even longer and still had to walk through Shedd and the Museum!  We all enjoyed Shedd quite a bit and Peanut had a great time in the kids zone of the Museum, so overall the trip was worth it :).  The only thing we were seriously disappointed in was the aquatic show at Shedd - it was a lot of talking and not a lot of watching the animals swim.  It didn't hold Peanut's attention well and the seating was VERY uncomfortable. 

Tuesday we decided to take it easy with the walking and just shopped on the Magnificent Mile and then headed to the Winter Wonderland at Navy Pier.  Peanut had a blast going on the carousel and tot train!  She went on the carousel 6 or 7 times and rode the train 2 or 3.  We also got a caricature of her drawn that turned out super cute and also made a bunny at build a bear (we got a bear too, but that was pre-made). 

Wednesday we toured Willis tower and then headed to the Art Museum.  We passed the bean on our way which was neat to see and Peanut actually napped on the trip there.  She woke up at the top of the tower and was pretty freaked out at first that we were on the glass.  Ha ha!  Once I picked her up she settled back down and was in a great mood :).  The Art Museum was more of Daddy's thing, but Peanut and I really enjoyed the miniature rooms.  Daddy loves Renaissance art.  He also went to the bar with his friend that night while Peanut and Mommy had a girl's night in the hotel room.

Thursday was our final day in Chicago and we took it easy by grabbing breakfast in the morning, finished some packing, and headed to the train station.  We hung out in the train station for a few hours and grabbed lunch with our friend while we waited to depart.  All in all it was a great trip!

Now it's time to prepare for the festivities!  Merry Christmas!!

And So It Ends...

I gave my last lessons as a coach this afternoon (technically yesterday now).  It was all very surreal.  JoJo, Pey, and I had a great time in our lessons but I left quickly before I broke down into tears.  Then I bawled all the way to the grocery store and walked around like a zombie.  Today is the holiday show, and I know I am going to be a disaster. 

No matter how prepared I was for this, how right this decision is for our family, or how much I am looking forward to our new little one being born leaving the rink is a difficult thing for me.  More difficult than I even anticipated.  It is the end of a very long chapter in my life - 20 years!  Pretty long considering I've only been alive for 25, almost 26 years. 

I'm not sure what the point of this post is, I think it's just a way for me to get my thoughts down since it's after 3 AM and I'm exhausted but my brain is going 100 miles an hour and I can't fall asleep.  Peanut is sleeping in our bed right now with her daddy and I'm downstairs on the couch so that I don't wake them. 

Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight.

Missing Gymnastics Today

Peanut and I both slept in today, which was needed for both of us, but makes me feel very guilty!  We'll have to make up these lessons in the next session I guess, since we're missing next week too (although that one has been planned for a while).  :(

My mommy guilt prompted me to pull out her gymnastics mat so she could practice.  She jumped around a few times and then moved on to other toys.  I don't think Peanut feels nearly as badly as Mama. 

General Update, Gymnastics Session 4 Weeks 5/6

Wow I haven't updated in a little bit!  Oops!  Life has been incredibly crazy here.  I'm playing catch up in a lot of areas even though I've been going 24/7 it seems like.  Why so busy?

- Peanut has hit the "twos" running!  Talkative, tantrums occasionally, always on the run, jumping, very opinionated, and wanting to swim with Grandma daily (something new we started the past week or so)

- I am feeling more and more pregnant each day.  I have decent energy for not sleeping well at night but at times feel very uncomfortable.  Speaking of the pregnancy, our anatomy scan is soon and I keep going back and forth on whether this baby is a boy or a girl!  In the beginning, I was certain this was a boy, and I think I'm still leaning that way.  But more and more I am questioning the possibility of girl #2.

- Daddy has been working around the clock it seems.  He's busy, busy, busy, and we're both worn out by the time the kiddo goes to bed. 

- I've also been trying to get everything all set for Christmas.  Buying gifts, wrapping all of the presents (we tend to buy quite a bit as Christmas is a really big holiday for us), sending Christmas cards, etc.  This alone seems like a full time job!

- Wrapping up things with work.  I am done working soon - very soon! - and I'm trying to finish up odds and ends that I can before I go.  This is definitely an interesting transition, and one I'm learning how to cope with as I go.  It's taking more effort and energy than I originally anticipated on the work front, and all the prep I expected on the home front (loss of income, planning for the future, etc)

- Budgeting.  This time of year is always difficult to keep up with because of all the extra spending, but I'm doing my best to stay on top of it so I can adequately plan for next year.  I am a budget enthusiast.  This is my cup of tea :) I know that's a bit unusual.

- Getting ready for our family trip soon.  I don't want to give specifics, but relatively soon we are headed out for some much needed family time.  This is taking a decent amount of planning in terms of transportation, lodging, food, activities, etc.  With a two year old, we don't want to fly by the seat of our pants any more than we have to!

I think that's a fairly decent run-down of why life has been so hectic lately.  I'm looking forward to a hopefully slower pace after the holidays.  We'll see if I'm lucky :).  Peanut has done well at gymnastics the past two weeks, although this past week it took some coaxing for us to get out the door to go to lessons.  I'm not sure why, because as soon as we were in the car she was excited to go like she usually is.  Oh well, two year old moment I suppose!