Santa Baby

Our best Christmas present ever!

James 1:7 "Every good and perfect gift is from above..."

baby JJ at 8wks 2days

SURPRISE! WE'RE PREGNANT!!!

My parents reaction! We told them by decorating the living room with "grandpa is my hero" and other grandparent onesies, a suitcase that said "ready or not grandma here i come!", a countdown til I become a grandma calendar, and balloons and stuffed animals. They were coming to visit from Michigan and walked in the door to Jesse and I just standing there in the midst of it all.

We celebrated Jon and Karly's birthday's over Thanksgiving. On top of each of their presents we placed an "My Uncle Loves Me" bib and a "My Auntie is the Best" onesie. Here is jon opening his present first.

I definitely recommend recording people's reactions. It has been so fun going back and watching these moments!

Cheers to baby JJ!

Hopeful

It has been one tough week! This H1N1 thing has got me down. I havent been out of bed in a whole week and when i called the doctor today to see if i could go back to work, she said NO. Bummer. I really didnt know how i was gonna go back anyways though. I cant even get out of bed. Ahhh by next week things will be looking up.

Ive been worrying about so many things while i spend my day lying in bed. So I found this great little verse and i repeat it to myself throughout the day...I CAN be hopeful in all the uncertainties of the future!

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

Thank you God for giving me so much to hope for!

Help! I'm a Chicagoan Get Me Out of Here!!!!!

I have been in Chicago too long....

    Let me tell you why.    

I was waiting at the airport headed home from Mexico, when to my surprise, another girl sitting across from me smiled at me and said "hi" when I looked at her.   Any normal person would smile and say hi back right?  Well apparently I have been Chicagonized because that is not what i did.  My reaction.... quickly turn and tap jesse on the shoulder... "Hey that girl just smiled at me!"   

wow.

I have been thinking about this incident a lot this summer.  I don't know how much longer I can take it.  I want to move.  But where?

Lincoln Park Zoo

I thought the best thing about Lincoln Park Zoo was going to be that it was free.  However, Jesse and I scored big with a day at the zoo where every animal we visited was active and within inches or feet from us!  Here are some of the animals we meet that day...

Only the glass window pane is separating Jesse from this sleeping black bear.

Giraffes are my favorite animals and I cannot get enough pictures of them!

So thoughtful...

This polar bear swam right to us with his nose on the glass.

As always, I stop for a cotton candy break.

Sleepy Kitty...

Aren't jaguars beautiful?!

The kangaroos were very active.

This one is for you mom....little meerkat!

Even the drinking fountains are cute!

Last but not least.... adorable little naked rats sound asleep in their rat nest....yuck!

(If had some poison I would have tossed a little in here)

Take Your Pick!

Ah yes, my pharmacy knows me well.  Unfortunately all these bottles will remain half full as none of them have helped a lick to make me feel better.  Jesse and i went to pick up my 2 newest prescriptions.   (the $50 prescriptions i might add)  And as i get in the car and open up the bottle i say to jesse, "hmm these pills look so familiar" 

 Jesse: "lets see if its something you've already taken when we get home"

Get home and sure enough!I had been on this prescription back in the spring and it did not go well.  I didnt realize it was the same one because my doctor told me a different name then the generic so i had no idea I was buying a medication i had already tried.  

 

Mr. and Mrs. VanLewueen

Jesse's best friend from college, Geoff, was married this past Saturday in Chicago.  Here are some pictures of their big day...

Nichole and I

My favorite wedding favor ever!  I reeeeally wanted these at my wedding.

Greg and Jesse

Geoff and Kristen

Let me show you what I deal with....

No, I am not announcing pregnancy.  This is a belly shot of my stomach after breakfast.  I ate a black raspberry yogurt.  That is all I ate.   I didn't want to show a fully disgusting photo of me at the end of the day when my belly looks as though it will explode at any minute.

As you can see, not a day goes by where someone doesn't ask me about pregnancy.  Which, let me assure you, is not fun when you are in fact NOT pregnant.  The conversation goes one of two ways.

Person I know: Oh Mrs. Singer I didn't know you were pregnant! 

Me:  I'm not

awkward silence in which we are both so embarrassed we could cry.

OR

Person I don't know:  Aw, when are you due?  

Me:  In January.

Turn and run away. 

Looking as though I'm 6 months pregnant is really the least of my troubles.  I spend every stinking evening sick on the couch with a trash can next to me.  It is painful.  

Yesterday I had a gastric emptying scan and a CT scan.  It was such a fun day that I have decided to spend today at home on the couch or hanging over the toilet instead of going to a wedding rehearsal dinner.  Lucky me.

My savior of a doctor at the university of chicago has become a very expensive savior.  We received at $2,500 doctor's bill for a less than 10 minute consultation with her.  If I would've known I could make that much money for working less than 10 minutes then maybe I would have become a GI doctor too.  

It's about time....

...for the school year to END! :)

We celebrated by fishing!  Jesse's big catch...
my big catch!
 the flower garden I received from my students!

25 is not that old right?