Quote of the Day

We just returned from an outing at the Lincoln Park Zoo and if you're planning to head over this Memorial Day weekend, don't. I suppose I'm just a bit grumpy from searching for parking, walking around in humid and hot 88 degree weather, and wrangling a toddler. No, Mommy wasn't a whole lot of fun today. But, I did smile when Gavin greeted me with:

"Hey there, little mommy!"

Pretty cute.

As we were driving home in the relative comfort of our air conditioned car I asked him, "What did you think of the zoo today?" Gavs replied, "I liked it! I saw rinoceros." He's so cute that it put me in a better mood.

I Love You Mucho!

Lately we've been affectionately saying to Gavin, "I love you mucho!" which makes him giggle. He often replies back with his own, "I love you mucho!" or, more baffling, says, "I love you Cak!" It kind of sounds like Martin Short in Father of the Bride trying to say the word "cake." Very funny!

Last night I was tucking Gavin into bed and when I said, "I love you mucho," he frowned and said, "I don't like Mucho! I don't like Cak!" He was quite insistant that I was not to like them either and it dawned on me: he thinks Mucho and Cak are people!

Of course I had to promise that we would no longer speak of them. Bye, bye.

One Appointment Down...

This has been a tough week. We recently had Gavin tested for celiac disease/gluten intolerance, and the results came back that he has all four genetic indicators. What a bummer. He hasn't shown any physical signs of being allergic to wheat, but since Joe and his mom both have gluten intolerance, we decided to have Gavin tested as well.

What does this mean? Well, we're not actually sure yet, but the worst case scenario is that Gavin will have to live a gluten-free lifestyle. Although this is not what I want for him, at least there is a way to keep him healthy and thriving. We are going to meet with a specialist at the University of Chicago next month, and they have a children's celiac center there--one of few in the world--so we are very blessed from that perspective.

I did do a bit of grieving for all the birthday cake Gavin won't be able to eat, all the pizzas he can't consume, etc., but I guess in the long run it is only food. I just want my little boy to feel "normal," not like the odd kid out.

In addition to the gluten stuff, Gavs had to go see a children's opthamologist today since his ped thought he might have clogged tear ducts. It turns out he has "narrow" tear ducts and mild allergies, as well as a moderate astigmatism, but no surgery will be required to un-clog. Woo hoo! Of course, if his astigmatism doesn't begin to self-correct by next year, he may need glasses, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Next up, we meet with a surgeon about Gavin's abdominal hernia. It hasn't closed since birth, so surgery is likely.

Boo.

Our New Bedspread Arrives!

Life

My blog is definitely receiving third-rate billing lately, coming in far behind Facebook and Twitter. Who has time to be a mom, work, take care of household stuff, and keep up with all of this social media? So, for those of you who want an update, here's what we've been up to this past month.

Gavin turns two. Yes it's true! We are now the proud owners of a two-year-old, complete with mood swings, fits of temper, and cuddly hugs. Oh, and a Wonder Pets party. It seems that overnight our toddling baby has turned into a little boy, talking in complete sentences and requesting his favorite music, food, toy, etc. Gavs has also shot up in height and seems to tower above other kids his age; it is still hard for me to believe that I have a son who is in the 90th percentile for height since neither Joe or I are particularly tall. We'll thank Gavin's grandfathers and uncles for that gift!

He is beginning to say some really funny things...I knew this day was coming! For instance, I had a bra laying on the bed this week and Joe asked Gavin if he knew what it was. Gavs said, "For nipples!" Later the same day he said, "I don't like the cracks." I asked him what cracks he was referring to and he said, "Cracks on my booty." What?! It's crazy where he gets this stuff!

Laura becomes obsessed with couponing. I'll thank my friend Nicole for this one! Nicole was nice enough to walk me through the concept of super couponing and now I'm hooked. I'm one of those people that will drive to Dominick's just to "do a deal" to get four free bottles of Windex. Don't judge. You'd do it too if you realized that you can save crazy amounts off your grocery bill. Last week I spent $2.50 on a transaction and saved something like $20.00. Pretty good, right?

Oh, yeah. I also am just beginning work on the 2010 Harvest with Greg Laurie events (mark your calendars for the Chicago outreach at Allstate Arena, Sept. 24 - 26) and am now co-leading our church's moms' group.

Joe networks with cool design-y people. There's no news on the job front for Joe yet, but he has just five weeks until his first year in the MPD program is complete. In the meantime, he was able to attend Design Chicago where he met Gordon Segal, the founder of Crate & Barrel, and they will hopefully be able to set up a time to connect.

Joe also had the opportunity to attend the Q Gathering in Chicago this past week, a dynamic conference where church and cultural leaders came together to collaborate and explore ideas about how the Gospel can be expressed within our cultural context. I plan to go next year, but this year's program was just perfect for Joe since it featured talks from designers/ideators from the Chicago area. Joe had the chance to meet many of the speakers and particularly connected with a business designer from IDEO, which is a company he might like to work for. Long story short, it turns out that this IDEO guy lives in our town (what a coincidence!) and, in fact, lives on our street (imagine!), and (wait for it) lives in our building! We're thinking this could be a God thing.

We shall see!