I’ve been slacking big time on the blog posts— but it’s not for lack of activity. We’ve had a fun couple of weeks with visits from family and friends.
Two weekends ago my parents came in for a quick visit. Their only request while visiting— DD wanted deep dish pizza. So, we took them to Lou Malnati’s. The West Loop restaurant is refreshingly (and amazingly) not touristy. We had a delicious meal. Arabella— who has been eating puffs— left her mark on the floor. (It’s debatable whether there were more on the floor or in her mouth). She also got her first pack of restaurant crayons.
Last weekend, Brooke came to visit. On Friday, we did what we do best— drank champagne until we finally made our way out to lunch at The Boundary. Arabella and Baxter thoroughly enjoyed having Brooke in the house. In the evening, we planned to all go to dinner together, but Brooke and I ended up going alone to keep things simple. We went to Via Carducci. Dinner was good, but the cannoli was exceptional— quite possibly the best I’ve ever had. Our other friend Becca was also in town for work on Saturday so we all got to hang out. We did a little shopping on Michigan Ave then stopped at Trump Tower for drinks. Randomly, we ran into Jarmon’s Uncle George and cousins Jason and Greta who were staying there. A fun coincidence since we were already planning to see them that evening for dinner. We had a drink at the upstairs bar— then headed to Rebar when it opened at 4p. We had dinner at Formento’s in the West Loop later on the evening and it was excellent as usual. Arabella somehow managed to stay awake the entire time— far be it for her to fall asleep and miss any of the action.
Brooke and I also lucked out getting a last minute reservation for Sunday at Duck Duck Goat. Becca has gone to Girl and the Goat, so I got the idea to see if we could get a reservation at my favorite of the Goat establishments. Amazingly, we got in at 8:45p– not ideal, but beggars can’t be choosers. The meal was excellent. I’m not the type of person to make reservations three months in advance (which is necessary to eat at a normal dining time at Duck Duck Goat)– but I get why people do.
Today was Friendsgiving at Sam and Caitlin’s house. I declared that we needed to do some cleaning before we left— and thank goodness I did. We are seriously lucky our house didn’t burn down. Remember the mess in the trunk of my car? Well, let’s just say there was a similar mess in our back foyer. Much of the mess was created by painters who tossed our stuff out of the way when painting back before Arabella was born (honestly, I can’t even tell you the month— but it was a while ago). One of the items that was tossed was a Brooks Brothers’ garment bag— and it had landed neatly in the heat vent… where it was melting and burned. And that’s not all— my old running shoes were also sticking out of the vent, charred and melted as if they had been sitting next to a camp fire. Oye. We spent the afternoon trying to get some tiny amount of organization in the foyer. It’s much improved but have a LONG way to go. At least for now a fire seems to have been avoided.
Friendsgiving was fun. I always say you know you have a good friend when you can hang out with their other friends and have a blast— and that’s exactly how it is when we hang out with Sam and Caitlin’s friends. They had a beautiful spread of food and we had a great time with a fun group of people. Arabella got passed around and seemed to have a genuinely good time. She hung out with Sam’s parents and sister— and also our friends Tat and John. They were all SO good with her. She was also pushing herself up onto her knees for the first time when laying on the couch, so that was an exciting development. AND- she had her first taste of mashed potatoes. Not as exciting as French fries, but it’s up there. Maybe on Thursday she’ll be ready for some puréed turkey!
And finally, my two favorite Arabella stories as of late. In the morning (up until now), I would put Arabella in the boppy pillow on the couch while I made her breakfast. I stress *up until now* because the carefree days of the boppy are over. In the thirty seconds it took me to walk to the kitchen and hit the button on the Baby Brezza, Arabella managed to scoot out of the boppy and flip onto her tummy. Thank goodness she flipped on the couch… and not off of it. I about jumped over the counter when I saw her. Any guesses what she did upon seeing my panic? Yep. A big fat (incredibly adorable) grin. She was so proud. And who can be mad at that??
So now, I put Arabella on the floor– on her tummy– while I make her breakfast. She gets in a workout and I (at least for the moment) don’t have to worry about her moving. Unfortunately, not moving doesn’t necessary mean not getting into anything. Arabella somehow managed to mistake Baxter’s rawhide donut for one of her stacking rings– and was chewing on it. I discovered this when I heard Baxter scratching at something and looked over the coffee table to see my human child and fur child face to face. **Cue more panic.** I quickly separated them– but didn’t take the rawhide away. Whatever germs were on it had been transferred at that point… and I wasn’t going to miss the Kodak moment. Later in the day I found Baxter with Arabella’s pumpkin teddy bear. I decided to forgo photographing that one and took it from him as quickly as possible.
Also this week, Arabella saw snow for the first time! She didn’t cry, but she also didn’t squeal with delight. My assessment? Arabella (much like her mama) was born to live somewhere warm.
Trina Orlando 