Big city girl

Mom and Levynn left our downtown high-rise at 7 a.m. today to meet the movers at our new apartment on the North Side, where we'll be living next week. Dad and Lincoln joined them at the apartment after the movers finished early in the afternoon, and we all drove back downtown. We then headed to Navy Pier to eat dinner and take advantage of a free evening at the Chicago Children's Museum.

At the end of the day (which was a long one for the girls), we realized that, along the way, Levynn had traveled by cab, by train, by bus, by foot, by car, by stroller and by trolley.

She's probably a little small for a Segway, and the horse-drawn carriages are pretty expensive here. But those are about all she didn't use in her travels today. Wow.

We're not in Louisville anymore, Toto.

Christmas, Part II

Merry Christmas to the few we were lucky to see and to the many we wish we could have seen at this crazy time in our lives.

Christmas, Part I

We were happy to welcome Gram, Papa and Uncle Dan to our temporary home above the Windy City for an early Christmas celebration.


Lincoln experiences wrapping paper...

"What's this, Dan?"

"Oh, slippers! I love these slippers!"


Yes, we're geeks - or at least Dad is a geek. But this is one gadget that a lot of us, not just Dad, should be able to enjoy.


That's actually the back of a photo of newlywed Aunt Rachel, but the words hold meaning for all brothers. Remember that, little man.

Who needs batteries?

A prime example of simple playthings that don't light up or make siren noises. Perhaps just a variety of laundry baskets for Christmas?

The view from the sky

Don't blink

... or you'll miss the moment. Lincoln can actually hold it a little while longer than this now, but watching him lurch forward is (sorry) more entertaining than watching him just sit!

PS: doesn't he look like a little frog in that outfit, sitting there?

"Chicago, Chicago ... I love it"

We did the Chambers thing (going to the library), the big-city thing (forsaking wheels for feet) and the Windy City thing (braving the chill) today in undertaking our first true Chicago adventure as a family.

We trekked 1.2 miles to the Chicago Public Library's central branch "on State Street, that great street" and 1.2 miles back to the apartment building, stopping to touch the snow, to pose in front of the lions guarding The Art Institute of Chicago and to eat lunch at Prudential Plaza.




And we not only survived. We had fun.

Levynn sang it best: "The cold doesn't bother me, the cold doesn't bother me, the cold doesn't bother me" - borrowing from her own original composition, "The rain doesn't bother me, the rain doesn't bother me, the rain doesn't bother me."

Lincoln showed it best: Bundled in his Gram-given snowsuit, he slept soundly for most of the walk and even lunch.

Meanwhile, Mom and Dad looked at each other and marveled at it all: Yes, we really live here.

Virtual tour

Here's just a quick peek at our new place, in the dark. Hope you can tell a little bit about the view and the condo. More to come; please bear with us as we try to get our bearings!

The whole story

You might recognize this picture from a post in August, vaguely referencing "Mom's adventure." Only a few were aware that Mom took the shot while she was in Chicago on a weeklong tryout at the Chicago Tribune.

A recruiter from the company had called in May, actually the weekend we were in Massachusetts for Rachel's wedding. Mom's resume was on file with a journalism organization, and they'd found it and called out of the blue. Mom didn't know they had any openings.

The company is in the process of going private, transitioning to the new owner, Sam Zell. So they were doing some buyouts, but obviously still needed people to publish the newspaper. That's where Mom came in.

There were intense talks for a few days in May, with the decision finally being that Mom should hold off coming to town for a tryout, as she was quite pregnant, and the doctor just that week had said Linc could come any time (ha!). However the Trib people asked her to keep in touch, and maybe something could be worked out later in the summer.

After Linc was born, Mom called back, and they ended up asking her to come for the tryout the first week in August. So off Mom went, leaving her newborn son, her daughter as the newly assigned big sister and Dad, the new father of two. We had great help, though, from everyone; Granddaddy came for a couple of days, and Gram and Papa were already scheduled for a visit.

Anyway, it went great at the tryout. It was so fun for mom to be back in newspapers and she tried hard not to be starstruck while sitting in the middle of the newsroom. The job is on the copy desk for the National/International section, basically the "A" part of the paper. The Trib has dozens of national and international bureaus, and people on the desk were calling Pakistan and places, talking to reporters. It was wild.

So they ended up giving the job to the guy who tried out the next week. But they said Mom had done well on the tryout, that they anticipated more openings and would call me when they did.

OK, well, that's that, Mom thought.

Fast forward to last week: the recruiter calls back, says she anticipates an opening and wants to know if Mom is still interested. Sure, Mom said. A few days pass and she calls back and offers Mom the job, on Tuesday night.

We spent most of the week in negotiations, trying to make the numbers work first of all. We ended up close to what Mom had asked for, after they said they'd made the final offer on Friday. So we took the job that night.

We asked Lev what she thought, and at first she was all excited. But later during dinner, she suddenly said, "But I want to live in Louisville for a long tiiiiiimmmmmmmmeeee ... " and proceeded into a very sad cry. Mom and Dad tried hard to be understanding and brave throughout. She has lots of questions: what will happen to our couch, will they have tissues there, can I take my milk jug (her trickortreat project from school), can we take our house with us, etc., etc. Needless to say, we're trying our best to be gentle and work through this, and Grandy has supplied a great list of suggested reading. Lev will be able to relate to stories about moving.

The start date is Dec. 3. The realtor is coming to the house tomorrow. Hang on everyone; deadline is approaching!

November days

This picture is from last weekend, when we were all bundled up outside playing in the leaves. Mom raked a trail for Dad and Lev to chase around:

Anyway, Lincoln had his four-month checkup this week. He weighed in at 15 lbs., 4 oz. and was 26 inches long. The height appears to be the thing now; he's in the 90th percentile for that. His weight is a lot more average now, actually. In fact, he's wearing 6-9 months. He might be in 2Ts by next summer!

He suffered through several immunizations, and the doctor also tapped Lev for a flu shot while she was in the office, and she tried real hard to be tough. They all made it fine, pretty much. Dad, of course, was the bravest of them all, proudly and strongly getting everyone in and out in one piece.