Trina Orlando

I saw a meme on Facebook earlier this summer that said- “There is no one filled with more false hope than a parent with a toddler who brings a book to the beach.” To accurately depict my level of hope when packing for vacation, it’s only fair that I admit I didn’t bring one book to the beach. I brought three. Specifically, three that I had been saving through all of our time stuck in the house this summer because I wanted to read them– and not something else– at the beach. Want to know how many books I’ve read so far? Zero. How many pages I’ve read? Also standing zero. To be fair, it’s not that I haven’t had the time. I’m a pretty dead beat parent at the moment so I could easily read while Jarmon and my parents chase Arabella around, but when you are in your favorite place with your favorite people… you are present. Even if you aren’t participating.

We started Tuesday with breakfast in the lobby. We finished at about noon and sent Arabella to the pool with my parents so Jarmon and I could pack up the room. Why were we packing on Tuesday when we are staying until Saturday? Because the hotel we’re staying at is a hot mess and is making us change rooms (again) to accommodate “previously scheduled maintenance.” We would have found this unacceptable regardless, but given that we had already been put in a room without air conditioning and spent our first night moving to our current room— we were flat out mad. Add to that packing with a broken foot– which was hard enough to do once— and I was not a happy camper.

After packing, we went out to the pool and enjoyed a relaxing day. Arabella had her typical afternoon break with MJ for a banana and ice cream sandwich. The only eventful part of the day came when she was refusing to get into her infant raft and wanted to play on the pool stairs. These are the same pool steps I spent hours on as a kid, so that was cool to watch. I can’t move fast enough right now to chase her– and I’m certainly not stable enough to do so– so I made Jarmon come do it. And thank goodness I did because she slipped and got water in her mouth. Obviously not the end of the world– but her dramatic screams of distress would have suggested otherwise. MJ decided to take her in for a nap, which helped immensely during our late dinner.

Jarmon and I went up a short time later to let the hotel know we were ready to move. (They has been calling us all day, but if we had to move it was going to be on our terms, which meant not missing pool time). We had complained pretty loudly about the move and when we got upstairs found that the hotel had sent chocolate milk and cookies/brownies to our room. I’m not one to refuse cookies, but seriously? Cookies? At least they made for a nice hold me over as I sat on the couch and directed Jarmon where to pack the remaining items that were lingering around the room. (Pretty sure at this point he was even more annoyed than me).

The room move meant a late start on getting ready for dinner, so we didn’t get to go to 15th Street Fisheries as planned. (The second time now that our dinner plans have been interrupted by a room change). But we did have a nice dinner at Bubba Gump’s, which is closer and open later. We all ate shrimp, except for MJ who had a chicken sandwich. AB ate some chicken fingers and seafood hush puppies from our appetizer, and then some french fries from the bucket I ordered for the table. (Fact: An awesome perk of having a kid is being able to order things you want– like buckets of fries– under the guise of feeding your child.) She was most interested, however, in the broccoli we all got as our side dishes. Kid is a healthy little eater sometimes. Emphasis on the sometimes. All the other times she eats fries.

Jarmon suggested getting Arabella soda at dinner because he thought it would give her energy since we were eating so late. Flawed parental logic? Obviously. But choose your battles. I ordered her a cup of water also and she happily double fisted the beverages going back and forth between the two.

I’m not sure if it was the soda or the late afternoon nap, but she was a ball of energy when we got back to the hotel. We let her crawl around the lobby for a while (at one point dragging her blanket– much to my OCD’s dismay). My mother eventually moved her to the round ottoman she loves to dance on and that entertained her for a while. We had to put a stop to the shenanigans when a guy at the nearby lobby bar dropped a glass that shattered and sent shards of glass quite literally everywhere. We took it as a sign that it was time to head upstairs.

We got in bed and turned off the lights, but Arabella wasn’t getting the message. She continued to play in the dark for about an hour, but we could hardly be mad. Apparently MJ has been teaching her how to give kisses, so part of her playing consisted of going back and forth between Jarmon and I giving us goodnight kisses–complete with the adorable “muah” sound to go with it. She was so proud of herself and smiled from ear to ear the entire time. Eventually she surrendered to sleep and crashed between us. I fear she’s getting way too used to this sleeping with mom and dad thing… but in the grand scheme of problems, this one is minor.

Monday started with breakfast at the Naked Crab. No buffet today, which meant bacon and eggs for the adults and pancakes for AB. The very kind hostess also brought Arabella crayons and several ocean themed pictures to color. Arabella has done great this trip drinking out of big kid cups at restaurants (this change, basically driven by necessity since we still have not purchased dish soap to clean her baby sippy cups from home). However, we’ve found a fatal flaw with kids cups in Florida— paper straws. Yes, I know they are supposedly good for the environment, but they aren’t good for kids (or anyone, for that matter, but that’s another post for another day). Why? For one, because kids chew on their straws. Two, because the part that goes through the lid of the cup turns to mush in less than five minutes leaving said kid frustrated and consequently cranky when she can’t get any of her beverage out of her cup. So when we’ve been able to get our hands on plastic straws, we’ve boarded them. But I digress.

After breakfast, we went to the pool where AB happily played in her pool float for quite some time. We noticed today that AB has a newfound affinity for drinking pool water (perhaps because she doesn’t have to drink it out of a paper straw? Sorry, I’ll stop.). In the middle of the afternoon, MJ took Arabella for a snack in the lobby- a banana and ice cream sandwich- followed by a nap in her room. When AB woke up, MJ brought her to our room to get ready for dinner.

We tried again to dine at Aruba Beach Cafe and much to my surprise- it DOES have valet parking. Oops. We got a great table outside with an amazing breeze. AB was pretty fussy. Not sure if she was hangry (after all, I was!)— or if exhaustion from three full days of activity was starting to set in. She knocked over a cup of apple juice and proceeded to throw any and all food that was placed in front of her either at us or onto the floor. Luckily her spirits improved when the waiter brought a large plate of seasoned French fries exclusively for her consumption. I had a delicious blackened salmon dish and Jarmon had seafood pasta that he had literally been looking forward to all year. DD- who only eats shrimp on vacation- had that. MJ had pizza- which she planned to share with AB- but AB didn’t seem interested in joining.

After dinner we made our way (I say “made our way” rather than walked because I scootered and AB rode in her stroller) down the street for ice cream. We made it just in time for the shop’s early fall (sigh) closing time. Jarmon had “Lauderdale by the Sea Mud” and I had toasted coconut in a waffle cone (same with MJ, minus the waffle cone). We got AB cookies and cream. I’d like to think her first Kilwin’s experience was memorable— even if Jarmon ate most of her ice cream. She’ll most likely have a few more experiences there before the week ends.

When we got back to the hotel we called it a night. As I was sitting on the couch icing my foot, the most adorable thing happened. Arabella walked from the bed– where Jarmon was laying– to me! She proceeded to walk back and forth between us multiple times with a huge smile on her face… giving high fives at the end of each lap. (The part I caught on video is below). Be still my heart. It took a while for AB to wind down… but she eventually gave in to sleep nestled, once again, happily between us in the king size hotel bed.

At home we like to say that our bed is really Baxter’s bed and he just lets us sleep in it. It would appear that Arabella has assumed that role at the beach. We woke up this morning with Arabella sleeping soundly between us… nestled happily among the pillows and blankets of our king size bed… the hotel’s signature turtle stuffed animal and a flamingo ballerina from my parents within reach. Baxter would have killed us.

Once we all got moving we made our way down to breakfast in the lobby where we enjoyed bacon, eggs, pancakes and muffins from the buffet. Arabella was still half asleep but ate a little fruit.

We finally got to the pool around noon. DD, MJ and Jarmon took Arabella into the water while I hung out on a beach chair. It took less than 30 minutes of baking in the sun for me to get hot enough to make the hassle of getting into the pool worth it. Getting to and into the pool on one foot was a bit of a challenge, but the doctor said it was OK so I had of course plotted a way to make it work. Thanks to the recommendation of an old coworker/friend who also had a broken foot this summer I ordered a low profile medical shoe to wear around the pool, so my boot wouldn’t get destroyed by water and sunscreen. I used my crutches to hobble over to the pool, then hopped down the stairs on one foot. Once I was in the water I was good. I still (frustratingly) couldn’t put weight on my foot in the water, but as it turns out holding a toddler on one foot in the water is MUCH easier than on dry land (where it’s virtually impossible). I was so happy in the water I never made it back to the Elin Hilderbrand book I had been looking forward to for months that I left sitting on my beach chair.

Arabella loves the water this year. It made us feel a little guilty about not getting her to a swim class yet, but it really just wasn’t possible this summer. She was especially fond of the baby floatation device we bought last year (that she hated at the time). She was also in toy heaven with the endless flow of beach goods purchased and transported here by my parents and given to her every five minutes on the dot.

After some pool time, MJ took Arabella to get a banana and some ice cream for lunch while DD, Jarmon and I stayed at the pool. Arabella started to get fussy sometime after five so we headed up to the room. I of course turned off the TV to try and get Arabella to take a nap— and within minutes Jarmon had it back on. I was about to yell some snarky comparison about the importance of his daughter’s sleep versus a football game— but then I realized Arabella was sound asleep (on our bed, of course) despite the roar of Sunday football in the background. Thank goodness I looked around the corner before speaking and narrowly avoided sticking my boot in my mouth.

Jarmon was in a rush to leave to watch the Steelers game but I made him bath Arabella before he left and also get her ready for dinner. We dropped him off at Primanti’s on the beach before DD, MJ, Arabella and I continued on to dinner. We tried to go to Aruba Beach Cafe, but the parking situation wasn’t ideal. (We usually Uber there, but rented a car this year for obvious reasons). Parking there required- at the very least- one person to drop everyone else off then park the car a few blocks (or more) away and walk back to the restaurant. I obviously wasn’t in a position to do this, so after circling a few times we decided to dine at Shooters instead. 

Parking at Shooters was MUCH easier and we had a delightful meal. We got a great table outside and the server quickly brought Arabella a coloring book and crayons. And best yet? They let us keep our stroller by the table instead of making us leave it outside like restaurants in Chicago require. We ordered a calamari appetizer, which Arabella loved. She ate the tentacled pieces that DD broke apart for her and also the rings that I cut apart for her. She wasn’t really into the flatbread she was supposed to be sharing with MJ, but devoured her French fries and chugged almost two kid cups full of milk.

We wanted to stop for supplies on the way home, but it was almost 11p and a bit late to be doing so. Supplies for the room would have to wait. When we got back to the hotel we hung out in the lobby until jarmon got back from watching the Steelers “game”— I use quotes because it wasn’t much of one. It was so bad that I have a photo of him with his terrible towel in some pretty exotic places (Moorea, Bora Bora and Panama to name a few), but somehow didn’t get one in Florida. At some point in the lobby, Arabella got her second wind. While other kids whose parents had kept them up pat their bedtime on vacation screamed and cried in protest, ours was running around the lobby jumping on furniture giggling and smiling from ear to ear. She clearly thought she was the lobby entertainment for the night.

We finally made our way upstairs sometime after midnight. Arabella still wasn’t tired. We didn’t even effort the crib tonight. She seemed a little confused when we turned off the lights and continued to jump up and down on the bed for quite some time. At about 1am she finally settled in between us. I’d like to think she fell asleep first, but I’d be lying if I said I knew.

Jarmon and I have been joking that we basically skipped summer this year. He got sick in June which kept us homebound into August, then I broke my foot… and oh, hey September! So, when the discussion of- “Well, what about Florida?”- came up shortly after a doctor confirmed that my foot was in fact broken- the immediate answer was decisive: “We’re going!” If I could haul my pregnant self up and down the countless stairs in my highly inaccessible house… and navigate the countless key card access only weighted doors in my highly inaccessible workplace… an accessible airport would be a breeze, right?

And it was! Truly. For some unknown reason we had booked a midday flight. (We never book midday flights.) Arabella was up early (as if she knew we were going on vacation). We called an Uber XL and a half later were on our way. I say a half hour later because that’s how long it took us to get everyone into said Uber. When we got to the airport, Jarmon asked, “What did we forget? That was too easy.” I on the other hand knew it would be easy because we (or at least, I) had planned ahead. Easy, however, does not mean quick or light. We had a lot of stuff and it took quite a while to get it all where it needed to be, but we made it.

We made it through security with ease— I literally hopped through the metal detector while Jarmon carried Arabella. We then made our way to the gate with plenty of time to spare. We notified the gate agent of our numerous gate checks- my scooter and Arabella’s stroller- then decided to divide and conquer. Jarmon broke down the stroller while I grabbed some overpriced airport sandwiches from a stand by the gate for us to eat on the plane- turkey for me, roast beef for Jarmon, a fruit cup and yogurt for Arabella. Paying $50+ for the pitiful spread of food made me physically ill, but we’ve been in a downward spiral of “do what works” for about a month now (including but not limited to Prime Now grocery delivery from Whole Foods) and this was just the latest of many cringeworthy moments.

We got to preboard because of my foot- an upgrade even from family boarding- and went straight to the back. We knew there were about 20 extra seats on the plane and wanted to make sure we got one between us for Arabella. The clumsy trip to the back of the plane- with my backpack on my back and Arabella’s diaper bag strapped to my front while I hopped on crutches- was worth every ridiculous step. (Jarmon had Arabella, his backpack and our overpriced lunch all weighing on his bad shoulder– so he was in a clumsy state as well).

Arabella was great on the flight. Dare I call it her best yet? (Thanks veggie straws and apple juice!) We did one diaper change on the seat (a charitable moment by me to keep my 6-ft husband from trying to change Arabella in a tiny airplane bathroom), but the flight was otherwise uneventful.

When we got to Florida we were last off the plane. We made our way to baggage claim and quickly claimed our bags. The plan was for Jarmon and Arabella to grab the rental car while I waited with the luggage, but we were more mobile than we expected and decided to make the trek as a family. (Mainly because it was going to make a great a photo and a great story later.) With our bags piled high on a rented airport cart, we each lended a hand to push the stroller while Jarmon pushed the luggage cart and I propelled myself around on the knee scooter. Three man circus?Perhaps. But mission accomplished.

We got the car no problem and were on our way. I couldn’t get my phone to work in the parking garage so we headed out sans GPS. I was pretty proud when we arrived at the hotel ten minutes later. It’s a familiarity only found by vacationing in the same place for 35 years.

We had a little drama when we got to the hotel and none of the requests we so carefully made in advance had been accommodated. (Beach building, crib, chair for the shower). We waited in our non beach building room for about an hour for our luggage to arrive. By the time it did, we decided to just forego the pool and get ready for dinner. It was a big room and Arabella was enjoying walking around. We waited even longer for the crib and shower chair… meaning no nap for Arabella and no shower for me.

We met my parents in the lobby and they were of course thrilled to see Arabella. Since Bahia Cabana- our first night of vacation tradition- no longer exists (it got leveled in favor of a high end condo development that never came to fruition), we went to Coconuts. We had a great dinner topped off by the most ridiculous chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich you’ve seen. It was a dessert I’d been looking forward to all year long and it didn’t disappoint.

We were supposed to move rooms when we got back, but decided to just stay put since we were all so exhausted… or so we thought at the moment. The hallway leading up to our room was HOT– and when we finally got back into our room, it was 74 degrees. The thermostat was set at 66. The air conditioner was obviously not working. So, dripping with sweat, we decided to suck it up and move after all. (Annoyed? I guess that would be the blog appropriate word for it.)

At about midnight, we finally settled into our new room in the beach building. It was smaller, but cooler and we turned in for the night. Arabella wasn’t having it though. She screamed bloody murder when we put her in the hotel provided crib. To be fair, she’s used to Pottery Barn Kids— and this metal cage looked more like something that would be put in a jail cell if mom’s were allowed to have babies there. But still. Jarmon and I had no energy or patience left for parenting at this point, so there was only one thing to do. We put her in between us in the king size hotel bed… and opened the biggest can of worms known to parents. But you know what else? We all got a great night of sleep.

We had big plans— arguably too big— for the summer. We went to Hilton Head and DC in May, Pittsburgh and NYC/Connecticut/Boston in June. Jarmon went scuba diving in Bonaire in between. We planned to go to California and Florida in July and August. Then BOOM… Jarmon got Salmonella. Not the kind where you miss a few days of work and feel like you have the stomach flu, but some crazy rare mutant kind that got into his bloodstream and shoulder joint and landed him in the hospital for ten days. That was followed by six weeks of IV antibiotics… that at one point wiped out his white blood cell count and left us
quarantined in the house for a week. Then, just when Jarmon was starting to feel *somewhat* normal again (he’s still not fully recovered)… I broke my foot. I wish there was a good story to share, but the truth is that I rolled my ankle– something we’ve all done a hundred times– on the transition to a fancy hardwood floor (in a law office of all places) while doing an interview at work. That meant six weeks with a boot and crutches that are ongoing as I type. Are we a hot mess? Yes, yes we are. We’ve missed countless days of work, parties, trips, events and other outings that we were really looking forward to… but the result of all of this was a forced slowed down… and a surrender to just going with the flow.  So we’re finishing out the summer grateful for all the precious family time we never would have otherwise gotten… and also that this chaos ensued well ahead of baby B2’s arrival in November 😊❤️

Hilton Head

My 35th Birthday

DC

Pittsburgh

NYC/Connecticut/Boston

Boston

Salmonella

Jarmon’s 45th Birthday

Broken Foot

Baby B2- Coming soon!

For the past several weeks I’ve wasted more time than I’d like to admit playing monopoly. Not the board game, but the grocery store game.

It started one Sunday after work when the very friendly clerk (who had been making conversation as she scanned my items) asked if I was playing monopoly. Typically I would have spit out a quick no, but for some unknown reason (perhaps the kind conversation) I paused and said, “Should I be?” And with that, I made the spontaneous decision to waste at least an hour of my week, every week, for the foreseeable future. At first I would rip the pieces apart and search for them on my board while Arabella played in her toy bin, but as weeks went by she started to become more interested in what I was doing. Not wanting to risk her destroying the game pieces that are (obviously) going to win me a vacation home, a pair of jet skis and free groceries for a year… I gave her the scrap pieces. In other words, I gave her the garbage. And she loved it. The kid has every toy an 11-month old could possibly want and on this day, she spent at least an hour playing with monopoly piece scraps.

Seeming that the only material items I’ve won so far are a bottle of water, box of foil and a few free donuts… the entertainment factor may have made it all worth my while.

Which brings us to last week— when I was sitting at the hair salon browsing Amazon for Easter basket and birthday ideas for Arabella. As I looked through all the toys, it occurred to me that I should probably just buy small ones given that she probably won’t play with them anyway. Lately, she only wants to play with things that are most definitely not toys.

So then I started looking for toys that mocked real items— like a Kleenex box filled with cloth tissues. Guess what? Amazon had one… for $45!!! Do you know how many real Kleenex boxes she could go through for that price? Literally enough for her to have moved on from her fascination with Kleenex.

So I scrapped that idea and entered the deep dark rabbit hole that is Pinterest. In case there is any doubt, let me clarify— I am NOT a Pinterest mom. I am not a Pinterest wife. I am not a Pinterest anything. But for whatever reason, perhaps the same temporary insanity that got me to start playing monopoly, I logged in.

I won’t bore you with the details of my time on Pinterest, but I will share a photo of Arabella’s newest toy. It’s homemade.

Specifically, it’s made from ribbon and a box I had around the house. According to Pinterest, it’s a sensory box. I have no idea if Arabella will ever play with it again, but at least I can say I tried. And I can now also feel justified in keeping the ribbons from baby gifts and the box from a recent set of Nespresso mugs we got as a free gift claiming it was all “too nice to throw away.” And guess what? The vindication only cost me an hour of my day. I guess that means this week’s monopoly pieces will have to wait until next week— I only have so many hours to waste.

What are your favorite toys for a one year old? Any homemade stuff that your kids love? Leave me a comment… the countdown to baby’s first Easter and baby’s first birthday is on… and I’m floundering!

When Jason had the opportunity to change his flight back to DC because of the 737 MAX situation, I was pumped that he got to spend a little more time in Chicago. I figured we would go to dinner Sunday after work and a have a nice lunch before I left to work on Monday. Sunday didn’t happen, but Monday was all clear for whatever delicious Chicago food Jason wanted to try. Where did he pick? McDonald’s.

In his defense, he didn’t pick just any McDonald’s— he picked the global McDonald’s. This particular restaurant, which is located at the chain’s new headquarters in the West Loop, has a rotating menu of items from McDonald’s locations around the world. For example, I had a goat cheese burger from Spain. Jason also had the burger and added some cheese bites from the UK and an impressive looking sundae from somewhere else. There was also a double BBQ chicken sandwich from Japan on the menu (that looked pretty good), but we both opted for the beef.

When Jason was placing our order he asked if Arabella wanted a happy meal. I immediately said no, because she’s not big enough to eat a happy meal— or was she?? I decided having her first happy meal at the global McDonald’s would be a pretty cool story– even if she only ate the fries. So we got her fries, chicken nuggets, a yogurt stick (a new addition since I was of age to eat a happy meal) and, of course, a toy. She ate the fries as fast as I could break them up— she was even going after the full ones! She also loved the yogurt stick and her toy. There was no denying the fact that the happy meal made this kid happy.
And I’d be lying if I said the goat cheese burger didn’t make me happy too. (The chicken nuggets may have made Baxter the happiest of all when we got home!)

Oh, and you know what else made me happy? Seeing one of my favorite bachelors strolling through the West Loop with a baby carrier.

Safe to say, we’ll be back.

Since long before Arabella was born, we swore we weren’t going to let having a baby control us. By that I mean, we weren’t going to be the parents who turned down 8pm dinner plans because it was bedtime— and we weren’t going to rush home midday because it was nap time. There would NOT be a schedule in the Brooks house. St. Patrick’s day weekend, however, I learned that even the chillest parent on the planet is still very much a prisoner to sleep— and lack thereof.

Our good friend Jason was visiting from DC and we were excited to show him the city. He got in late Friday after Arabella was asleep, so we had some beers and pizzas at the house and functioned like the old Trina and Jarmon. The ones who existed pre baby. Then came Saturday morning. I’m pretty sure it took Jason about thirty seconds of witnessing the chaos around him to realize that times had changed. Arabella wanted food. Baxter wanted Arabella’s food. Arabella wanted to play. Baxter thought that meant playtime for everyone— and took to crying by his toy bin bright and early. The crying quickly turning to incessant barking once he got a toy. It was a circus— and a typical morning in the Brooks’ house.

Jason wanted to see the river— and even though we didn’t get out the door by 9 like he’d hoped— it was still pretty green when we got there around noon. Arabella got to ride for the first time in the big girl seat of her stroller.

We took some photos then hit Labriola for lunch and drinks. It had good good, good drinks and was mercifully child-friendly.

We headed back to the house after lunch because we knew Arabella, who had already missed her first nap of the day, desperately needed a nap before her St. Patrick’s day party. But when we got home, Arabella wasn’t interested in sleeping. Not even a little. When we finally got her to a point of maybe tolerating the crib she tossed, turned and cried for about an hour before finally falling asleep at 4:30p. The party started at 5p and was 20 minutes away. Needless to say, Arabella wasn’t celebrating St. Patrick’s day— and we weren’t getting a few hours to show Jason around sans baby.

Jarmon volunteered to stay at home with Arabella while Jason and I went out for a bit. We stopped at the Trump Hotel and McCormick and Schmick’s before stopping by Giordano’s to say hi to Jason’s friends. At night, I stayed home with Arabella while Jarmon and Jason continued the festivities at parlor. Parental teamwork at its finest.

It was a great day, but it definitely didn’t pan out like we’d planned. And that continued on Sunday. We had planned to go out to dinner when I got home from work, but Arabella was off schedule and wasn’t having it. So instead of fighting it, we gave in and called it a night with some Portillo’s takeout.

Moral of the story: We aren’t planners— and for good reason. Even the best laid plans don’t stand a chance against a sleepy baby.

New Year’s Eve got off to a somewhat lazy start. We had a big day on Sunday and easing into Monday was essential.

After enjoying some coffee, I started to organize all of the new possessions we accumulated over the past week. I knew Jarmon would be in a hurry to get on the road on New Year’s Day, so packing ahead (or at least starting to) was a must. I honestly don’t know how it’s all going to fit in our house, but we are blessed to have this problem.

After sorting the Christmas gifts and purchases into boxes, DD and I ran some errands. Basically, returns I wanted to make in Greensburg because I believed it would be easier than making them in Chicago with Arabella in tow. I wasn’t able to make all of them, but got a good start. For example, remember that Amazon return I tried to return at Kohl’s in Philly? Well, I thought I was going to return it to the post office in Greensburg. Not so much. If I did that, I’d have to pay for shipping. So now the box is headed to a third city— Chicago— where I will deliver it to an Amazon “storefront” for free. Oye. Online shopping is crazy convenient… until you have to return something.

Arabella was a little fussy as we got ready to head to Liz and Tony’s New Year’s Eve party— she, like all of us, clearly had a holiday hangover. We felt a little guilty leaving her on her first NYE, but we’ve been spending NYE with Liz, Tony and other dear friends for years and we love the tradition. There’s something special about ringing in the new year with some of your closest friends.

This year, the party was at Liz and Tony’s new house in Oakmont— and it was bigger than ever. I had some champagne early in the evening, then sipped on lemon and mint water for the rest of the evening so I could drive us home. As much as we wanted to stay and party all night, we knew we would regret it in the morning when we would also be facing a long drive back to Chicago.

Our party animal children— Arabella and Baxter— also had a great night. DD and MJ busted out hats and noise makers and they had a party on the home front. The pics were pretty epic.

When we finally got home around 230a Arabella was sound asleep, but Baxter was sitting at the top of the stairs waiting for us. (Perhaps looking for someone to save him from the festive celebration, ha!)