I didn't know they liked American Idol so much...

Before Julia was born I was sure she was a boy. I couldn't imagine a girl since all we had had born lately were boys. But as it got closer and closer to the day she was born I had dreams that she was a girl.

With this baby (let's call him Jesus -- the latino version, not the Son of God version -- for now), I wasn't positive. But as the pregnancy went on I became pretty sure it was a boy. I've stuck with that, just because Esther's pregnancy has been different that her pregnancy with Julia. But lately I've been having dreams that Jesus is a girl.

Most of them are just John saying, "It's a girl!" But the other night I had a crazy dream. In real life I had gotten up to go to the bathroom and realized that I had left my phone in my pants pocket, so I must have been worried about that, because in my dream I was sitting on my bed with Mary. I heard my phone vibrate signaling that I had a message, so I reached over to my table to get it, but next to it were Mike, Lisa, and Mary's (sidenote: Mary needs a blog) phones. I couldn't get the text message from John (sidenote: has a blog, but never writes on it), to open on my phone so all I could see was the part that was flashing on my screen. It said, " She went in." So I picked up Mike's phone. I could see the messages he and John were sending back and forth, and then hear their conversations (weird, I know, since I had his phone), and I heard Mike say, "You took her to the hospital?"
John said, "Yeah, she had the baby. It's a girl." I had to ask Mike to ask about the name, size, etc. John said the name was Mone.
Mike said, "You mean Mona?"
John said, "No, Mone. M-O-N-E. Like Simone, after Simon from American Idol."

Then I woke up. I'm kinda hoping Jesus is a boy.

Chicago

I'm back from Chicago! Well, I've been back for about a week, but, I've been SO busy, that' I'm just updating now. And it's mostly going to be pictures.

We had a WONDERFUL time. The Cubs beat the White Soxs:

And we were there:

We spent a lot of time shopping, but I don't have any pictures of that. And we walked around the city, went to Navy Pier, but our camera battery was dead by then because before that we went to the aquarium. It was SO cool. I'm only going to post a few pictures because we have over 100, but we couldn't use our flash so a lot of them are only recongnizable by us...This is the REALLY BIG fish outside with his crazyman dancing partner.

This crab is much bigger than it looks like in the picture...it made me hungry.

Haha, the turtle were doin' it...we took a lot of pictures of that...

The dolphin show was amazing. It made me want to become a dolphin trainer. Until I remembered that they're swimming in all that dolphin poop and pee...

I think these frogs thought they were hiding...

There was a HUGE shark tank that was really cool, until I realized it was leaking...then I didn't like it so much.

There were a lot of other cool animals, too:

I'm leaving on a Jet plane

I'm getting ready to leave for Chicago! Amy and I are going away for the weekend to see a Cubs vs Sox game and spend some time exploring the city (a city I've never been to, despite the fact that my FAVORITE OLDER BROTHER lived there for YEARS...) We'll be back Sunday afternoon. So, everyone put your life on hold until I get back, ok? Don't do anything exciting without me. Esther - I'm talking to you...hold that baby in until I get back!

To All The Mom's:

Despite the fact that today is my 26th Birthday, and I am old, and I have to go to the DMV because the licence I got when I was 16 (or 22, whatever) no longer will work for me, I made you a card:

If only I could glue glitter and macaroni on the internet...

Happy Mother's Day! I love you all!

P.S. Mom, I expect you to save this artwork just like you saved all the rest of the stuff I made you when I was little.

Happy Birthday Amy!

Uh...belatedly...

So, Amy's birthday was on May 2nd. I'm a bad friend and am just posting it. But I got her good presents, so it's OK. And we're not really celebrating until next weekend in Chicago (for a Cubs vs. White Sox game...I told you I got her good presents!) so this is really right on time!

Anyway, Happy Birthday, I hope you had great day and that this coming year is even better than last year.

P.S. Don't lose your creativity in your old age!

The Boys

Today is Aidan and Noah's birthday. Tomorrow is Sam's. I had great plans for a post that would make Leah cry about how awesome her boys are, and how much I miss them, but, I'm in the middle of proving that you can die from the common cold, so, this maybe not be that post...

Instead, I'm going to say Happy Birthday to The Boys, I hope this year is the best year of your lives.



P.S.Happy Belated Birthday to Leah! !

P.P.S. I wanted to post a cute picture of the boys, but, I could only find 1 semi-recent one of all three of them that I hadn't just posted...and it was of the back of their heads while they watched TV when I was babysitting. Not a great commentary on my babysitting skills, huh? So go look at the pictures of them at the zoo.