Sweet Home Chicago

Claire, mom and I drove to Chicago to see little Leah for her birthday this weekend. So far it's been an adventure in toddler-mania. Friday night we went to The Most Crowded Pizzeria Ever and had a yummy pizza. But since I have M.S.A.D. (multi-sensory agitation disorder - mike and I invented said diagnosis especially for my neurosis), I likened my dining experience to eating in a war zone. There had to be fire code violations all over the place.

Saturday, we picked up Mary and went shopping. But not until Leah full-on rolled the window down and yelled at a young gentleman driving a BMW that STOLE HER PARKING SPOT. There were words, there was embarassment, we had to park like 2.5 miles away from the restaurant. Only to be seated in a booth right next to BMW parking spot stealer. It was hilarious. I thought Leah was gonna crawl under the table.

We went to Target, b/c you know they don't have those in the 'Lou. (actually Leah's is usually better than ours). I got 3 boring yet comfortable T-shirts, a new turqouise leather wallet, amethyst drop earrings and two cute shirts for Claire. Mom got her some games to keep at Leah's house to keep her entertained, Go Fish, Memory and a puzzle. Because everything takes longer in the city, we got way off schedule and Claire unfortunately missed her nap. She quickly turned into a drunk sailor - spitting out food, yelling uncontrollably, hoping on people's laps, it was madness. She was overtired and had hit the wall and there was no turning back. She would only eat the crusts of my bread and dip them in spaghetti sauce. She was getting time-outs during her time-outs. FUN! Eventually, I had to break out the big guns and call Papa. She missed him and started crying. Mike sang her songs and was babysitting our niece Zoey and they got to 'chat' (I use that term loosely) on the phone. At one point Claire told Papa she was going to "punch him in the face" (thanks Aunt Ya Ya!) Thank beejebus she's sleeping soundly now, but she'll probably be up at 5 a.m. ready to party.

What's that? IKEA? I know, I miss you too. I long for your enormity and low-priced Swedish merchandise. I'm certain I could find just the right ergonomic watering can for $1.99 or streamlined ottoman I didn't even realized I needed. I can hear you calling my name! I can't even pronounce the names of 70% of your products! But I don't know if it's meant to be this trip.