Hi! We all had a huge weekend! In spite of loving Zoe more than life itself, for Christmas Zak and I gave each other a night away from Zoe. This was the first night of Zoe’s life in a different building, not to mention city than us, and she was fabulous (as was I.) J
We woke early Saturday morning and dropped Zoe off at my parent’s place, along with 2 diaper bags, 1 suitcase, a full handbag, the bouncy chair, boppy, and play mat. The whole good-bye was quite emotional for me, but I managed to sneak away before Zoe could sense my sadness. Zak and I were then dropped of at the train station and made our way into the city.
First, I will share Zoe’s adventures. My folks were so excited that Zoe was having her first overnight visit with grandma and grandpa! I had prepared them by giving them 5 typed pages of instructions. I even had my mom take the directions the day before so they could study them. Zak was pretty sure I was insulting them, but my mom reassured me that I wasn’t, and Zoe is a complicated one. It’s not like watering the plants or feeding the cat or anything.
As we pulled away from the house, Zoe and my mom were standing in the window waving furiously and I felt a bit more at ease. Then, they all went to my grandma and grandpa’s house to surprise them. I hear they were thrilled. Zoe took her first bottle with ease and was a considerate houseguest.
From our bihourly calls home, we could tell Zoe was doing perfect. She didn’t fuss, took many good naps, ate without a problem, and played like it was her job. She didn’t even cry at bedtime. She always cries at bedtime. Except at grandma and grandpa’s place! I think she loves them more!! The rest of Zoe’s adventures are documented in pictures that Zak will put up!
On to us! I was a nervous wreck for the first hour or so. You have to keep in mind that the only time neither Zak nor I were in charge of Zoe was when we ordered a pizza with my parents and Zak and I picked it up. About 30 minutes total. This weekend was big. Real big. Once we got going though, I realized I was still allowed to think about her and we could talk about her, but there was no point in freaking out. So, with that mindset, our awesome weekend began!
We got to our hotel, The Ambassador East, about noon and were very pleasantly surprised. It was quite fancy and grand. Our mission for the day was to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art, so on the walk over we stopped for lunch and Jake Melnicks. It was a fabulous, casual place! The museum was a lot of fun too. I have always loved that type of art and Zak likes to say, “That’s not real art.” So we had a great time! We then walked around Division and Rush Streets doing some window-shopping. We bought a book for Zoe at a quaint children’s bookstore.
We went to Gejas, a well-known fondue restaurant, for dinner. Zak and I love fondue And would go so far as to label ourselves as fondue snobs. This was our first time at Gejas, but we’ve been to Fondue Stube and The Melting Pot numerous times each. We did have a marvelous time, however would rank it third overall compared to the other two.
Now, breakfast on Sunday was phenomenal! We went to Orange, an almost hole in the wall sort of place. They have a remarkable juice bar. We ordered pear-grape-kiwi juice and orange-pineapple-strawberry juice. Yumm! We also split a flight of pancakes…four stacks of different types of pancakes (they change weekly.) Also, amazing!
Then, it was finally time for Zoe to be back in our arms. We took the train back to Elgin and hugged and cuddled and loved Zoe a whole lot! I think this night away allowed everyone to love each other a bit more. I think Zoe loves her grandma and grandpa more, and us too (she had no problem readjusting to us!) Zak and I felt like we were dating again, and we love my parents for taking such good care of our baby!
And then the weekend wasn’t even over yet. We then went to Woodman’s grocery store. You may recall my first trip there, recorded in the January 23 rd entry, but this was Zak’s first visit. I was a little concerned I had hyped it up too much ad he would have thought it was lame, but I knew he was impressed as soon as he saw the wall of jello molds! It was probably more amazing to me the second time around. The cheeses, the frozen ice creams, the produce, the popcorns, the cereals, the juices, the eggs, the breads, and, my goodness, the crazy low prices! A grocery shopper’s dream come true.
It was a brilliant weekend. I thank Zoe and Zak for being perfect and my parents for taking perfect care of our perfect Zoe. And Woodman’s for being perfect too!
