Private Blog!

I am no longer adding to this blog. I created a completely new blog with a whole new url. It can be found at http://thewallbrechtfamily.blogspot.com 

It's a private blog! If you've already been invited to view the new blog, click HERE to get to it. If you would like an invite, or you think you should have been invited but didn't get an invite yet, leave me a comment with your email address and I'll add you- as long as I like you. :)

Leaving Chicago

We've been gone from Chicago a week and a half now, but I wanted to make one last Chicago post before I close this blog and start my new private blog for the new chapter in our lives.

Packing and moving just 2 days after graduation was a little crazy and stressful, but since we had family in town for graduation we put them to work and they helped me finish packing and loaded up the moving truck in no time at all!! It was so wonderful!! (And as a side note, moving across states, nevertheless across the country with a car and a moving truck and a toddler is not fun at all. But luckily and SO gratefully, Josh's parents both drove with us (Jack in the truck with Josh and Cathy in the car with me) and made it so, so much more bearable. We owe them big time!

As we walked through our apartment one last time, out of our building for the last time, and away from Chicago for the last time, I couldn't help but be a little sad (no tears though). I guess I'm a little sentimental, but we had had such a great time and I felt our Chicago experience was pretty complete, thus I was satisfied. We had done/seen/experienced pretty much everything we had wanted to. We tried to take advantage of the things around us and I'm glad we did.

I wish I had written down all the funny/scary/interesting/sad/noteworthy stories of Hyde Park/Chicago. I know all my Chicago friends probably have lists of their own! But, I have made a list of some things we will and won't miss:

Things We Will Miss:

*Our friends. They helped make our Chicago experience what it is.
*Having so many friends in our same situation (poor, students, away from family)
*Lake Michigan and the bike/jogging path along the lakefront
*Driving down Lake Shore Drive. it was relaxing (if there was not traffic)
*The green trees and grass everywhere and flowers
*4 distinct seasons
*Downtown
*Christmas celebrations downtown
*Major sports teams
*The view of the skyline
*Taking public transportation
*Having so many conveniences within walking distance
*Being able to walk to church
*So many yummy, unique restaurants
*Chicago style pizza
*All the museums
*All the many parks
*Beautiful architecture
*The great diversity
*Hyde Park Produce
*Being able to do all my laundry at one time
*Knitting group (that one's for you LuAnn) :)
*Ultimate frisbee on Saturdays (well, at least Josh will)
*Hanging out with moms and kids at the Picadilly 2nd floor or Tot Lot on an almost daily basis
*Our date night babysitting swap (we'll have to find new people to swap with)
*Living the student life. (Student status can be rewarding, like discounts at the movies!)

Things We Won't Miss:

*The freezing cold winters
*The uncomfortable humidity
*Living in an apartment
*Unfriendly/cranky customer service
*Paying for parking
*Metered parking
*Bad traffic
*Some of the highest gas prices in the country
*The highest sales tax in the country
*High crime rates
*All the noise and congestion

I guess it's a good thing that my "miss" list is longer than my "won't miss" list.

Good-Bye Chicago, thanks for being so great to us!
We have indeed Enjoyed Our Journey.

We Will Miss You!!!

Graduation!!!

The moment we had been waiting for and working towards over the past 5 years has finally come and gone. Josh graduated from medical school and he's now a medical doctor!

Words cannot describe how proud I am of him and all that he has accomplished. He worked so hard, studied so many hours, jumped through endless hoops, suffered through painful rotations and exams, and did most all of it with little complaining. Five years ago we moved to Chicago with no idea of what to expect, and now we are coming out of our experience with our lives so much more enriched and blessed. We had some tough times, but overall medical school was a highly enjoyable experience and we are so glad we chose this life in Chicago!

Josh had two graduations, one in scorching heat and the other in pouring rain. But despite the imperfect weather conditions, graduation was exciting. I loved seeing all the students in their awesome caps and gowns!

Pictures from the medical school hooding ceremony:

processional into the tent

 inside the tent, which really turned into a sauna because it was so hot and humid!

 

 receiving his hood (the green thing that hangs around his neck and down his back)

 

 Josh's family

 

 Graduations are long and difficult for adults, but they're even worse for kids! It was a good thing we could easily escape the tent to play while still able to hear the graduation. Here's Owen working on his push-ups with cousin Easton coaching him.

 

We also tried the DVD player, but it didn't last long.

 

Owen finally gave up and fell asleep.

 

The following day was the University convocation ceremony. All graduates from all schools gathered together on the campus quadrangle for this grand ceremony. It was pretty unique this year because the University hadn't had a combined graduation in nearly 100 years. This is where Josh's degree was actually conferred on him. The coolest part of it was the processional, seeing the thousands of graduates walking in from all corners of the quad and bagpipers leading them in. Unfortunately, it was all outdoors and about 3/4 of the way in the skies opened up and it literally dumped buckets of water on everyone! Luckily, the med school had already been announced so we high-tailed it out of there to seek shelter before it was over. We felt bad for all the students stuck in the rain, but at least Josh had an umbrella with him and ponchos had been provided to everyone. I was glad I didn't bring Owen to this one- he went to the Aquarium with most the rest of the family, much more fun than sitting through another graduation!

Pictures from convocation:

no pomp and circumstance here, just the bagpipes!

love the architecture in the quadrangle

Family Fun in Chicago

Josh's family came to visit for his graduation, and we were able to do some fun things! We always love showing people around Chicago because it is such a great city with so much fun stuff to do! Some of the things we did: went to the Museum of Science and industry, walked around the Osaka Garden behind the MSI, picniced at The Point, went downtown to see the big sites, played at the Crown Fountain (aka the face fountains), played at the park, went to the Blues Festival, went to Shedd Aquarium, ate Chicago hot dogs and Chicago deep dish pizza, and ate dinner at the historic Berghoff Restaurant. Along with graduations and packing to move, it was a fun and busy week, but we are so glad everyone came!!

 

 

This was our first time playing at the face fountains, and Owen LOVED it!

I only wish we would have been able to enjoyed it more.

 

 

 

22 Months Old

Owen is 22 months old! He's starting to act more like a 2 year old every day. He's more particular about things and gets upset easier as well. He's still a super sweet and fun loving kid though! What he's up to these days:

*He still loves all things on wheels. When we go to the park he used to spend all his time on the slides. Now, if there's a bike or truck or car to play on, that's what he plays with the whole time. He picked out his John Deer boots to wear this day, he must have known there would be a John Deer tractor to ride.

*He's a cheese for the camera. The second he sees me pull it out, he give me a huge grin and says 'cheeeese.' Then he runs to the camera to see the picture on the screen.

*Going along with, this boy is still vain as ever! He can't get enough of watching himself. One of his favorite pasttimes is watching videos of himself, over and over and over and over and......

*He loves babies. Whenever he sees a baby or even just a baby carseat or stroller, he gets so excited and either says 'baby' or makes a baby crying sound. He loves it when I let him say hi to the babies. I've slowly starting talking more about the baby we'll be having, and one day I asked "where's mommy's baby?" and he pointed to my belly. I still don't think he's even close to really understanding, but it was cute.

*He still really loves animals. We went to the zoo recently and he saw the polar bear for the first time. He was fascinated with it.

*He now loves watching videos. His favorite at the moment is the Leap Frog Letter Factory. He usually watches it while I shower. We have a book with a panda in it and whenever he sees it he points to the tv because he wants to watch Kung Fu Panda. He's only watched it once so I'm surprised he remembered!

*He won't eat ice cream, but he loves plain ice! He's the only kid I know who doesn't like ice cream.

*He loves washing his hands (which really means playing) in the bathroom sink. Since he loves it so much, this is what he does while I do my hair and so far we haven't ended up with too many messes!

*He is becoming more and more independent. He doesn't like to sit in his high chair anymore and wants to sit at the big table. The one problem with that is we don't have a booster seat so it usually ends up messy. He also helps himself to the fridge. He usually just gets his milk or he'll pull out a yogurt or something, but he recently pulled out the orange juice, opened the container, and put it back which resulted in a huge OJ spill in the fridge! I had tried a lock on the fridge a couple months ago but it didn't work. I might need to find another kind.

*He's still a skinny little kid, so skinny that his pants won't even stay on even with a belt! Poor guy.

*Since Josh has been home so much these days, Owen has become quite a daddy's boy. Lately every time I go to get him out of bed, he gets mad, points the door, and pleads 'daddy daddy!' If I try to pick him up anyway he just pushes me away. I hold no hard feelings. I just feel bad for Owen because he's going to have to get used to daddy being gone a lot very soon!

*Lately he refuses to go places in his jogger stroller and demands his umbrella stroller. The reason is so that he can do this:

He pushes it all the way home from the park. It even has a convenient viewing hole to look out of.

*Owen has been a little bit slower in the verbal language department when compared to other kids his age, but over the past few weeks he has finally started saying some words! It's fun to hear him try to talk, and it also makes me happy because I was starting to get a little worried that he wasn't talking much yet.

For my own rememrance, I want to make a list of what words he can currently say:

bubble

bus

book

ball

baseball (bupball)

more (moe)

open (pu pu)

up (pu)

baby

diaper

peepee

poopoo

mommy

daddy

Owen (Ow-uh)

paper

truck (kuck)

quack

bike

blue (boo)

video (beeboooo)

apple

down (dow or dah)

no (glad he didn't learn this one any earlier!)

milk (mi)

cup (cu)

ashes (from ring around the rosies)

Asher (ash)

crash (cash)

beep beep

eye

wash

wow

cracker/cookie (cook ku)

shoe

We always encourage him to say words and he'll often say words we've said, but most aren't coherent yet.

He're a video of him saying some animal sounds:

Official Home Owners!

It's official, we are first-time homeowners!! We closed on our house this week and we signed our life away. It was a little nerve-wracking signing the millions of papers, especially being out of state, but we are happy things worked out for us! I mean, who wants to give a loan to someone who has no recent income, no current job, and a ton of debt already? We are grateful the lenders trust us, but now our net worth is something like negative $1,000,000. I guess we really are adults now since we own a house and we now owe our lives to the bank forever.

We are excited to get to our house next week and make it feel like home! It's pretty move-in ready, but we will have to do a little work like paint and put grass in the backyard (though I know Owen will LOVE the rocks! All he wants to do lately is throw rocks). Here is a peek at what it looks like:

White Sox Game

Yesterday we took Owen to his first baseball game! The White Sox played the Texas Rangers. Some of the med students organize this event every year, and I think we've been able to go every year! We went to the pre-game tailgate party and stuffed ourselves with burgers, chips, soda, and cookies, then we went to the game. Owen became so excited with all the ballgame energy around him. He watched a little bit, cheered when the rest of the crowd cheered, and then wanted to run around the rest of the time. He even wore his Chicago White Sox outfit.

Josh and Owen had a little father-son bonding time. Josh told him a little about what the players do and they shared some peanuts too.  

We decided to cut the fun a little short and we left during the 3rd inning. Hanging out with a toddler who had only napped 10 minutes during the day then was up past his bedtime doesn't make for a fun time for very long. :) He started to get out of control. But Owen's huge grin sums up pretty well how much fun we all had!

We made sure to get a family picture in front of the field.

(ps- this is my 300th post!)

Memorial Day Picnic

Yesterday we went to our ward's annual Memorial Day picnic at The Point. It was fun to hang out, visit with friends, see old friends who were in town, eat food, and let the kids play. We're glad we got there when we did though because after only about 30-45 minutes the weather transformed from sunny and warm to gray and pouring rain! When we saw it coming we hurried home, glad that we had driven, and made it home seconds before the downpour. The rain ruined a lot of people's holiday plans, that's for sure!

This is just a handful of the great gals from church. We will miss all our Chicago friends!