Lollapalooza 2012

We finally made it back to Lollapalooza this year!  It's the third time we've gone together (I can't recall if Dan has been to any back in the 90's).  We seem to go every other year and thank goodness for that!  A three day concert can wear on a person, and we're not the youngsters we used to be...  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Swartz, we were able to head to the city by ourselves for three days while they looked after Sophie.  (Note: click on red words in this post for interesting links further detailing our weekend)

We took the Metra into the downtown station and hoped on the "L" to get up to our hotel in Lincoln Park.  It was sooo great to be back in Chicago, we absolutely love that city!  Of course, when we visit in the summer time, it is always hotter in the Midwest than it is in Orlando.  Our first day of concerts was no exception.  It was in the upper 90's for the first few days, and thanks to an end-of-the-world storm, the third day cooled of drastically and was quite pleasant.

Dan and I met up with our good friends from Orlando, Scott and Jen.  Some of the acts we saw on the first day were The Black Angels, The Afghan Whigs, Die Antwoord, Band of Skulls (twice!), Passion Pit, Dawes and Black Sabbath.  Thanks to social media, we got insider info that Band of Skulls were playing an acoustic set in a tent, so we headed over there and saw an awesome show!  Die Antwoord, a South African group, was the most entertaining that day, but Ozzy Osborne and Black Sabbath was a very close second (that man is old!).  Here is a link to a Die Antwoord video (click on the name of the band), warning: explicit language follows (in English and Afrikaans), they are "different", but there is no other way to describe this group without you seeing for yourself. =) Enjoy the mayhem...

Getting ready to see Band of Skulls

Band of Skulls...acoustic...intimate...love!

Official Lolla wristbands

Afghan Whigs

Die Antwoord

Ozzy plays the harmonica?  Who knew?

In years past, after the shows were over and we had been at concerts from noon til 10pm, we would usually head back to our hotel to shower then head out on the town.  That did not happen this time around.  We were so beat and sore by the end of every day, when we finally made it back to our room, we crashed!

The second day, after peeling ourselves out of our bed for a shower, we headed to Grant Park.  This day we saw the following shows:  JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound (great show!), GIVERS, and a little bit of Neon Indian.  The lead singer of Neon Indian announced halfway through his show that he would be singing one more tune then they were kicking them off the stage to evacuate the park.  Whaaaaaattttt!?  Come to find out, a massive storm was headed our way and Lollapalooza was being evacuated.  Somehow in the chaotic cell phone service (hard to get a message out or a call in a condensed group of hundreds of thousands of people all trying to do the exact same thing) we started getting texts from my family in the suburbs warning us to take shelter as a giant black cloud was headed our way to open up and drown us.  We were even getting text from friends in other states warning us of the impending weather.  As far as we could see at that moment, it was merely overcast (a blessing since we were frying in the sun all day), and we were waiting it out, a little rain never hurt anyone.  Side note:  Since I was still breastfeeding Sophie during this time, I was continuing to pump my milk while away from her for three days for more reasons than I think you want to know (sorry if this is too much info for some of you).  So, I was doing so while at the concerts.  I found my spot in the medical tents and did my business.  While we decided to wait out the "rain", and since no one was playing their shows, I decided to knock out a pumping session.  Only then did we realize how serious these Lolla officials were in evacuating the park.  The people in the medical tent informed me that all power was being shut off to the Grant Park grid because of the storm, so I was not able to plug my pump in.  At that point we decided to follow the masses and find a bar downtown to hide in, in hopes that the storm would pass and the festival would open back up.  After walking past many bars that were no longer letting people in because they were at capacity (where else would thousands of festival goers hide out?), the skies turned black, the wind gusted and we proceeded to get dumped on.  After standing in the rain for a few minutes, we noticed a bar letting people in again and took shelter.  Needless to say, the storm passed, and the park opened up for a few more hours for the final shows.

JC Brooks

Jen, Dan and Scott



Waiting to get back in after the storm



We bought ponchos after it rained...smart

Day three was beautiful!  We took our time in the morning to grab a delicious breakfast with our friends Shana and Eric before heading to the park.  The rain had taken away the humidity and the 90 degree weather.  Sunday we saw White Rabbits, Of Monsters and Men, Miike Snow, and Jack White.  In the end, Dan and I were tired and sore.  We were looking forward to getting back to the 'burbs to see our Sophie.  Lollapalooza delivered a great concert series this year.  Not sure if we will make it back to another Lolla any time soon.  Dare I say it??  I think were getting too old for this stuff!

Much Love,

Rock on!

Jess and Dan

Chicago

I'm going to stop apologizing for not writing new posts as frequently as I think I should.  But, I can't believe it's been more than a month since my last post!  I guess returning to work has taken up more of my time than I thought.  I was really apprehensive about going back.  What if I didn't remember what to do in the even of an emergency?  What if I didn't remember that one phone number that I could dial in my sleep?  What happened if a baby decided to come out before the doctor made it!!??  As it turns out, everything came back to me after being there for one shift.  It was almost like going back to school after summer vacation.  I was very excited to see all my friends and co-workers and tell everyone about my baby.  For one day I was the most popular girl on the unit!  Of course I was also nervous about being away from my sweet baby for twelve hours.  Since I am working weekends Dan takes care of her on Saturdays and Sundays, which really puts my mind at ease.  On Fridays, Sophie goes to see Lana, a nice lady we met through our friends that does daycare out of her home.  When we met her I just knew she would take great care of our girl.  Thank goodness for smart phones and texting!  I don't know what I would have done without the frequent updates from Lana.  I got texts stating how much she was eating, when she pooped, and when she slept.  It made the transition that much easier for me.  I think I also really needed a change in my daily routine, something besides being a mommy 24/7.  I have a HUGE respect for stay at home moms.  How they stay sane is beyond me.  What a difficult job they have!

Our little Sophia Elaine is now 4 1/2 months old!  Here are some very overdue pictures from her 4 month birthday.

Always moving so arms and legs turn out blurry!

At her four month appointment she weighed 13 pounds 7 ounces and was 25  1/2 inches long!  That's in the 90th percentile for height.  That's mommy's girl!

At the doctor's office, awaiting the shots

The cutest boo boo's ever!

Sophie is now rolling over every day!  She mostly rolls from her back to her tummy, and every once in a while figures how to go back the other way.  She is enjoying being on her tummy more now, thanks to her Great Aunt Linda (more on that later).  Her little legs are so strong that once she gets on her tummy, those legs get to going and her butt goes straight up in the air.  Now if we can only get those arms stronger, we will have a crawler!

She is playing with her little feet a lot lately. During bath time she manages to get that big toe in her mouth and starts sucking away!

Sophie made her first trip on an airplane to Chicago to see Grandma and Grandpa!  She did very well on the flight and we only had a couple bouts of crankiness.

Another blurry picture, I guess the flight was turbulent...

Dan and I were headed to Chicago to go to Lollapalooza for three days. Grandma and Grandpa Swartz were going to take care of Sophie as we headed to the big city!  So, naturally, the Swartz's had a three day gathering of all sorts of visitors that came to see what all the commotion was about this little Sophie.

Sophie met her Great Grandma Ardis for the first time

Four generations! How lucky are we??

She got to hang out with Great Aunt Linda.

Great Aunt Regina

And of course Grandma and Grandpa

She also got to meet her mommy's babysitter from long, long ago

Margie with Sophie

Feel familiar Margie??

Sophie got to meet her Auntie Sheila for the first time, along with Asha and Von.  And of course Auntie Mel got to play with her again.

Wow, Sophie looks as big as Von!

Asha, after a long swim!

Mel, Sheila and I with the kiddos

My loves and their pretty blues!

Dan and I got to spend SOME time with our daughter ;)

Sophie had a great time while Dan and I played in the city seeing some great bands at Lollapalooza.  (See next posting for Lolla pictures and details!)  She played on her play mat a lot.  Aunt Linda is responsible for the improved enjoyment of tummy time.  As they were watching the women's gymnastics during the Olympics, Miss Sophie was practicing her floor routine.  I believe that's how she got so interested in rolling over again and practically scooting across her mat.  The Aunties had a mirror and a musical toy that Sophie would reach for while on her tummy, so she tried to scoot to get closer.  That girl is definitely moving all over the place now!

Grandma and Grandpa went to such lengths to make sure they had everything they needed for their granddaughter to visit.  They got the pack n' plays, bathtub, toys, bottles, diapers, wipes, formula, and even a baby monitor.  I'm sure Sophie felt right at home.  Grandma was even nice enough to sleep in the same room with Sophie, getting up in the middle of the night to give her a bottle.  Brings back the memories, huh Mom?  We all had a great time back home, and hope to get back again soon!

I'll end this post with some (ok, turned out to be a lot) of my favorite recent pictures.

Tryin' out a new look

We love our duckies!

Too cool!

Hangin' with Jake

A new hairstyle!

Where's the baby??

Our little Boilermaker!

Until next time (and hopefully sooner rather than later)...

Love
The Yorks!

Three months

Our sweet Sophie turned three months on June 28th!  She is getting to be such a big girl.





What is miss Sophie up to at three months?

She can stand on your lap while you hold her.  Her little legs are getting so strong!

She slept for eight hours one night.  That only happened one time.  But, for that night I was super excited!  She is going to bed around 9pm, getting up at 2 or 3 am and again at 6 am for feedings.  Then she will sleep until about 7 or 8 am.

The other day (7/3/12 to be exact), I caught her doing this...

As you can see, once she makes it over to her tummy, she is not happy!  I guess we will have to work on going the other way.  However, after she rolled over all evening, she has yet to do it again.  I guess she realized she really didn't enjoy her new talent.

I have been looking for other ways to entertain this little girl.  Below you will see my attempt at getting her to use her activity table.  Her little legs don't quite touch the floor, and her arms can't reach any of the toys, but I have fun entertaining her with all the toys and sounds.

What now mom??

My mom came back to see us again!  Dan and I had been trying to line up a babysitter so we could attend our friends 40th birthday party.  After calling numerous people, we found ourselves at a loss.  Dan had a brilliant idea to check out prices for plane tickets.  We found a great deal, so we asked my mom to come down for the weekend to "babysit".  We would have ended up spending close to the same amount on a babysitter as we did flying my mom down here.  So, Sophie and Grandma got to hang out for the weekend.  Thank goodness for Grandma! 

It was nice to see my mom again, even though she was only gone for a couple of weeks.  She even got up in the middle of the night with me when I was feeding Sophie.  We reminisced about when she was here the first two weeks of Sophie's life.  What a rough time that was, and what a difference a few months made.  When we first brought Sophie home she was feeding every 2-3 hours, sometimes even every hour and a half.  My mom was up with me every time, sitting on the floor of the nursery, talking about random things just to keep me awake and keep me sane.  Then she would rock Sophie back to sleep while I went back to bed, just to get up with me in a hour to do it all over again.  The amazing thing is that she would take care of her during the day so I could get at least one nap in, all while doing laundry, cooking, and answering calls and emails from work.  I'm sure she slept for days once her two weeks were up in Florida.  What a crazy time that was!  Thanks Mom!

Modeling her new jelly shoes

We recently got some good news.  Dan got a new job working for Universal Studios (NBC/Universal) as a project manager for landscape architecture.  He will be starting his job on July 16th and we are sooo excited!  This is a huge step up the ladder for him and he has worked so hard to get to this point.  Yay Dan!

This fourth of July was spent at a co-workers house.  Below you will see a picture of Sophie playing with her friend Sloane.  She is six months old and is the daughter of one of Dan's co-workers.  We have gotten together with this couple for dinner a few times.  There's nothing like spending time with people who are equally distracted with their baby as you are.  They also have no family in the area, so we can relate on the difficulties of finding a babysitter to go out.

As Dan starts his new job, I will be going back to work.  It is bittersweet to say the least.  I have been out of work for about 3 1/2 months.  I can remember the day we came home with our little one, and it doesn't seem like that long ago.  It's been a roller coaster of a ride learning how to be a mommy.  But I have loved every minute I've spent with my daughter, learning her ways and watching her grow.  In preparation to get back to work, I had to renew a certification for Advanced Cardiac Life Support (hope I never have to use it!).  Below is a picture of my wonderful study partner, she really kept me on my toes!  (I passed, yay!)

I had the same expression during class!

Have you been wondering about Lucy?  She's doing just fine.  I think she's going to have a hard time adjusting to not having someone around the house all day every day when I go back to work.  Maybe not, I'm sure I actually disturb her sleep time just by being here.  We are getting more proficient at getting the baby out of the house for walks together.  Lu Lu is also playing quite nicely with Sophie.  She will lick her feet and sometimes her face when we're not looking.  She also has to come check things out when Sophie is crying really hard, just to make sure her sister is alright.

I hope to find the time to continue writing as I head back to work!

Love

Jess, Dan, Sophie, and Lucy

A Conversation With Sophie

Caught a cute video of my "conversation" with Sophie!

Sophie just loves to talk to you!  I can't imagine what's going through her head or what message she's trying to get out.  It's just so cute because she seems so serious!

We're trying to stay entertained as Tropical Storm Debbie (now a tropical depression, oooh) rains on us all day every day.  We managed to make it out for a quick walk with Lucy between rain bands.  Thank goodness, I think Lu Lu's bladder was about to burst, she does NOT like going out in the rain!  I took our umbrella just in case it started to rain again, and to my suprise the sun actually came out for our entire walk.  Not two minutes after we made it back inside did it start to pour again.  Whew!  Good timing!

Then there's the challenge of trying to get rid of some of these lingering pounds this little girl so graciously gave me.  No gym membership...  Raining outside or hotter than heck...  So I decided to start small.  I put in a dance game for the Wii.  Sophie gets a front row view as she rocks away in her swing, lucky her.  So I start dancing my butt off (literally I hope), and Sophie has a wide eyed look on her face and is kicking her little legs so fast.  I'm not sure if she likes the music and is joining in with me or if she is terrified at the mockery her mother is making of herself.  Either way, I was sweating at the end so I'm sure I burned a few calories.  And, I had a fun time too, especially watching the expressions on Sophie's face.

Dancing the days away,
Jess, Sophie and Lucy