Baby update!

And there she is! This is me at 35 weeks. I look at pictures and think "Oh, I'm not that big"...and then I look down at my belly and think "I'm HUGE!!" Funny how that works.

Oh, and for some reason, I never remember to take a belly picture until I'm comfortably in my pajamas.

For those of you who don't know, Steve is most likely going to India and Vietnam within a week or two of the baby being born. I am so proud of him for being asked to go on this trip! Its really a big deal that the company wants him traveling so early on! I can't say I'm thrilled about the idea of him being gone so soon after she will be born, but I'm excited for him. He's excited for the responsibilities and for all of the things that he has been learning about!

SO, we've asked the doctors if they would be willing to induce by the due date because of the circumstances and they agreed right away. We will FOR SURE have our baby by April 13th! Wahoo!

Also, Joshua recently discovered that his favorite books have holes in the covers. He's been enjoying putting them on his arms like bracelets. Clever kid!

Adler Planetarium

Last week, Emily and I took Josh and Brimley to the Adler Planetarium. We had a good time walking around and it made me continue my love of "Free Days"!

Joshua really enjoyed the area for kids and we couldn't get him to stop coming back to this space toilet. This made me appreciate that I don't have to potty train for a little while!

Here's my friend Emily and her son Brim.

Once we left the kids' area, Josh didn't appreciate being in the stroller. He's getting more inventive as to the ways he tries to get out!

Here we are in front of a giant telescope. Notice that Brim has opted out of the picture--he likes pulling the shade down over his face.

Garfield Park Conservatory

Last Saturday, Joshua, Steve and I visited the nearby Garfield Park Conservatory. Here was our reasoning: free admission, free parking, living things in the dead of winter!

We were rewarded with stunning plants and we enjoyed looking at where they were all from. Steve particularly enjoyed the Polynesian plants and I loved the flower exhibit that they had going on.

Josh liked the flowers too.

Joshua particularly liked the Childrens' Gardens where they had fun little activities such as watering the plants, climbing stairs and sliding down the slide.

Steve in the Fern Room

Josh didn't care for his stroller

But he did care to play in the little waterfalls they had

We're grateful for free and living things!

Go BYU Men's Volleyball!

One weekend in February, BYU Men's Volleyball traveled out to Chicago to play Loyola and Lewis Universities. Although we didn't make it to the Loyola game, we were able to drive down to Lewis and enjoy the volleyball game there. We swept them! It was fun to watch and support our team!

Joshua had a pretty good attention span for having been pretty tired!

We loved how the team just jumped in when we asked if we could get a picture!

Go Cougars!

Chicago Blizzard

As many of you know, Chicago got an awesome blizzard a month or so ago. We took a few pictures to show just how much snow we got. I loved the snow, but Chicago's already crazy drivers didn't do so well. Now and again, your lane would just end because there was this big ol' bank of snow blocking your path. It was kind of nuts for a while, but warmer rains in the last few weeks have taken much of it away.

Our car

Our neighbors' cars

View from our window