Test Schmest

So, Nico had his school testing yesterday.  

He started out the morning dragging his feet about going.  Didn't want to go.  Wants to go to school with Justin and Collin (his little friends).  I hung around the house and helped get him dressed, then he and Dave dropped me at work and headed down to the Loop to do the test.  They got there a little early- so the tester people took Nico a little early.  Apparently he was on the verge of tears and was about to not go when he finally agreed to go "Just for a few minutes".  Well, he went in, and apparently was  a bit of a rock star about it.  

The teacher/tester had three pictures: one of a boat, one of a fire engine, and one of a backpack and just asked Nico to tell him about them.  And Nico did.  Even better, he said he had fun and that he wants to do it again!! Can you believe it?  

We won't know how he did till later in the Spring.  But I am just so glad that he went into the test. :) 

Coldy Woldy

Some images from winter around here: 

Icicles hanging off the roof over the back yard.  

The avalanche of snow leading down to the basement. 

Gordon hanging out in the snow.  

So, it has been interesting around here.  Winter Storm Ion came in and put the muscle on us.  So much so, that I experienced my first snow day (true story: DePaul was closed on Monday!!  Yippeee!)  We ended up with another 10" of snow over the weekend, combined with brutal cold on Monday and Today, and things are just not back to usual.  On Sunday, we walked to a Korean grocer at Brynn Mawr (which was like maybe 6 blocks away).  Nico walked the whole time and was a champ about it.  

I have decided that Nico's pink cheeks make me very happy. 

I finished Nico's hat.  The wheels came off a bit when I was decreasing to finish it.  But altogether, I am very happy with how it came out.  Although, I am not sure I will make him any more, since he whipped if off his head and threw it on the floor (to be funny).  Let's see how funny it is next year when his giant melon head doesnt have any hats to keep warm because his mom wont make any...

It's still pretty chilly here... below 0.  But its supposed to warm up substantially this week... like in the upper 30s.  Given that it was -48 with the windchill yesterday and we're going to have RAIN later this week, I am left with the conclusion that Chicago is drunk.  Go home Chicago.  Go home. I am actually working from home today, in the basement.  It's fricking freezing.  Like for serious, I have the hood on my hoodie sweatshirt pulled up and I am contemplating finding one of our space heaters to supplement.   

Dave and I took Nico to school on Monday (which was open for a few hours), and we got stuck coming back (and trying to park the car).  I hopped out and pushed the car out.  So yay, for my muscles- made by CrossFit.  Speaking of CrossFit, our gym started a paleo challenge this week.  I know, you all are rolling your eyes.  Paleo?  Really?  But, I am a social person who also is peer pressured very easily.  So, I am doing it.  In all, I think it is a bit of tie really... no processed carbs like bagels and bread, but you can put bacon on everything.  And for some reason, butter is okay, but not milk or yogurt.  

I have been, for six months, been trying to find a paleo blueberry muffin.  Mostly for Nico and me... since I don't like him eating a lot of processed foods.  I found a recipe for muffins using coconut flour, which isn't terrible.  You have to not mind coconut, which some people do.  I mostly just use this as a method of getting butter and the tiniest scotch of maple syrup to my mouth.  

In any case, someone ate the last three of these guys for breakfast.  So- they must be alright.  Speaking of food.  Last night I made a spaghetti squash carbonara.  Basically, I fried bacon and then tossed spaghetti squash in the fat (along with sun dried tomatoes and garlic).  Then topped with a fried egg.  Guess who ate that?  The boys!!  I put a little marinara on Nico's and didnt tell him it was spaghetti squash and he ate 1.5 servings of it.  I know, right?  Mom cooking ninja!!

Before Christmas, we had to make our selections for Nico's school for next year.  Chicago has this crazy lottery system... where you choose schools you want your kid to be considered for and you might get in, you might not.  But there are also selective enrollment schools, where your kid has to test to get into.  So, we signed Nico up for both.  And his test is tomorrow.  I'm not nervous for him... the biggest obstacle for him is whether he will go into the test (the kid has to be able to separate from the parent to go into the test room by himself).  If he can, I think he would be fine.  Because he is really bright: he's reading, telling time, doing math, etc.  

In one sense, I understand that Nico is essentially being shafted by the system... since CPS doesnt allow redshirting, we figured that it wouldnt do much good to keep him at his preschool another year (since he would be starting first grade when he starts).  But, maybe being able to separate is a good indicator.  And maybe it would to him some good to go somewhere where he could be the kid out in front.  I dont know.  I just kind of wish it would be over already.  Will keep you posted.  

Ringing in the New Year

After the holidays are always kind of a bummer... it's a bit of a let down, right?

Winter Storm Hercules made us a visit over New Years.  We got a bunch of snow.  Which was cool.  Like enough to render cars buried in snow.  Dave is still working on his deadline, so Nico and I hung out most of New Year's Day.  We played Royseball and I taught him Slap Jack and Old Maid. Coincidentally, when you are only playing with two players, most (and in our experience all) games of Old Maid end in a tie.  The good news is, that I love this age with Nico because we can start playing board games and card games.  Although, something tells me this kid is going to kick my ass at Boggle. Still, I am looking forward to him being a scotch older, mostly because he needs to be introduced to the Bishop method... which is running all your errands and doing all your chores on Saturday morning and spending Saturday afternoon, evening, and Sunday lazing around the house and reading the 9314129347 books you got from the library.  

We also did a fair bit of shoveling on Jan 1.   I wonder what I have to do in order to keep the novelty of shoveling snow for him. Because it would be great to have a 12 year old that shovels all the snow.  Don't tell Dave I said that... I'm not allowed to talk about difficulties of winter weather.  For ever.

I also did a fair bit of knitting.  My mom taught me to knit in the round, which is just like regular knitting, only easier. The socks I am wearing in the picture below were knit by her... in peacock colors... I am halfway though a hat for Le Boy... If Dave doesn't watch it, he's going to end up with a hat too!!  Although he probably wouldnt wear it, because he likes the Stoner hat that Aunt Judy got him last year (he wears it pretty much everyday).  

I'd been procrastinating on some errands that needed to happen.  So Wednesday afternoon, I sent Dave to Panera so he could work.  When Nico woke up from nap, we shoveled the car out and set about our errands.  Mind you, I had never driven in snow, but I figured a good way to start would be on a holiday with few people on the road.  I did a pretty good job shoveling the car out- it was surprisingly easy to navigate our road.  Most of the main roads were pretty well shoveled and salted.  

Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist with me using my phone while driving, know that we were at a stop light stopped when the light turned.  

Parking the Kia was a different story- because when I got home, I almost got stuck trying to park.  I finally ditched the parallel parking idea and chose to bury my car in 10" of unshoveled snow in the next block.  

Apparently a 10" snow is business as usual, because Thursday DePaul was open and Nico's school was open.  So I was back at work.  I got a lot going on and am trying to get my feet under me.  I know that my job isn't like being President of the US or even being an Assistant Professor, but damn it's hard to take almost three weeks off.  In any case, I am back on the grind.  

Am I fired?

Are you going to take my blog away?  Are you sick of me not posting?  I know- I am terrible.  I hop that Nico understands when he gets older than where there are huge gaps in the timeline of his blog that its because we were too busy having fun for me to be blogging. 

So, Christmas.  Yeah, it was a pretty great holiday.  Mom and Dad came up north.  On Christmas Day, they drove over from Michigan with JJ and Uncle Scott.  Nico and Dave chatted with Mike and Gay on skype so they could watch Nico open some of his presents.  When Mom and Dad, Uncle Scott and JJ got to Chicago,  we started up the oven to get the three pans of egg fondue that Mom brought going while we opened presents. Mom (Granny You) set Nico up well- with police walkie talkies, and other police gear (like handcuffs, a badge, and a police beanie hat).  Mike and Gay set Nico up with a little guitar and a Captain America sweatshirt (along with a U of L sweatsuit).  Santa brought Nico a train and some blocks, both of which he was pretty excited about.  

After we opened presents, I started in making Christmas dinner.  We ended up putting a ham in the crockpot and a turkey in the oven.  Along with dressing, mashed potatoes,gravy, cranberry sauce, and two types of pie (apple and pecan).  In all, it was way too much food- but that is just how I roll.  Uncle JJ was a bit sick on Christmas Day, so he relaxed and tried to take it easy.  

Nicole and Cody arrived with their kids on Boxing Day-which was pretty much the main event.  Nico had basically been counting down the days till they would get here, because he loves playing with Maddox, Emme, and Becks.  The kids had a really good time playing with each other.  We introduced the kids to Home Alone, which was funny. When asked what the movie was about, Nico explained that it was a movie about a lady that returned home to her son. I don't know what that means.  

We got some snow, so the conditions for a snow ball fight were pretty much perfect, which was fine by Max, because he'd been wanting a real snow ball fight for a while. 

As a Florida girl newly transplanted in the Great North, I didn't really understand the rules of snowball fights. Apparently, you're supposed to take great care to not peg anyone in the face.  I may have gotten Nico once or twice in the face.  On accident.  Maybe.  SorryImnotSorry. 

While they were here, we managed a trip to Legoland.  LEGOLAND.  It was really cool.  In fact, Dave and Nico have decided that they want to build a replica of Chicago at our house. Like so:

Which is fair- it was really cool. The kids were all champs.  And we even  had our first 3D movie experience. 

Other than that, it was a pretty chill holiday.  It was nice getting to see so much of our family.  

SNOW!!

We might have over done it this weekend.  Just a smidge.  

It started on Friday night, when I scooped up Nico and gave him the choice of what he wanted to do: head down to Lincoln Park to see what we could see or hang out at the house (we were trying to give Dave some time to keep working).  Nico chose to hangout at the house, so we headed to the grocery for some supplies.  We had big plans to make popcorn and drink hot chocolate and watch Christmas shows.  We watched the show, but somehow managed to skip the hot chocolate and popcorn.  Weird.  

Saturday, Nico and I finished up a huge batch of sugar cookies (to take to my friend Amy's police station at O'Hare).  Then Dave and I took Nico up to Lincolnwood Town Center- which is a mall.  Dave and I took turns getting massages while Nico road the train and played the skill game (where you use the claw to try to grab a prize from a machine).  Afterwards, we headed back down to the city and drove to the end of the Brown line (at Kimball) where the Santa train was.  For like the last 15 years or so, the CTA has decorated 4-5 cars in a holiday motif.  It spends several days riding one section of the CTA... so Friday and Saturday, it was traveling on the Brown and Orange lines.  So we hopped on board.  

Nico is doing this super annoying thing lately where he won't look at the camera. Here it looks like he is snuggling me.  Not so.  

So my plan was to ride the Brown line down to Montrose to get some candy at Margies for Christmas. I know someone who likes chocolate covered cherries, and Margies makes them pretty good, so I figured that would be an easy trip.  Since I hadn't specifically mentioned to Dave about wanting to do the train thing, I wasn't planning for him to come along- so I when he said he wanted to, I thought we should go further.  So we rode down to the Loop to check out the Christkindlmarket, which was a big mistake. Everyone and their mom was at the Christkindlmarket.  Have we talked about how I feel about crowds?  And how unprepared we were for the cold?  And how when we finally did leave there was a 25-30 min wait at my new favorite restaurant (called the Castle and the Elephant). Yeah, I had a sad.  

In any case, we ended up ducking into Marshall Fields/Macy's to use the bathroom and found their candy section. And a restaurant, which was definitely nothing to write home about.  After, we headed home to grab cookies and Nico and I were on our way out to O'Hare. 

So, one of the things I am trying to do with Nico is to have the holiday be less about buying stuff and getting toys and more about doing stuff.  Since he is in a really big police officer phase, I thought we could take some christmas cookies to a police station.  And for him, it was totally doing something... he helped me make cookies and rode with me out to O'Hare.  My crossfit friend Amy is a police officer at O'Hare, so suggested bringing Nico out and he could sit in a police car and have the sirens and lights on.  We got to be in the roll call room for their roll call and inspection.  Which was cool.  He did get all shy (per usual), so it was kind of a bust in the sense that he didn't talk to any police officers.  

Sunday morning, Dave and I finished tearing apart the living room.  We've been talking about moving furniture around, but this weekend we had to put up or shut up since we were getting the Christmas tree.  Then we made the journey up to Ikea- both of our first times.  And we pretty much loved it.  There was something for everyone, which was cool.  It was snowing, so the trip to Schaumberg took a long time.  Then we came back in town and got some groceries and finally swung by Home Depot for a couple of things (including the Christmas tree).  

By this time, the snow was really coming down, so when we got home, Dave and Nico shoveled snow while I put the groceries away.   It's probably just the novelity of it, but Nico loves shoveling snow.  Here is yesterday, before school, shoveling.  

In total, we got about 4 inches of snow.  Which was pretty cool.  I am soooooo glad that I bought a pair of snow boots for me (back in the late summer) and a pair for Nico (in Dallas last week).  The temperature has been in the single digits with highs up to the 20's, and I am so glad that my toesies aren't getting iced out. 

The Bishop-Royses go to Royse City

 We had a really fun Thanksgiving Holiday.

The Friday night before we left, I scooped up Nico and got him out of the house so we could run some errands.  This entailed dinner down in Lincoln Park.  We were headed towards the train when we stopped by the DePaul Athletic Center and caught a DePaul volleyball game against Butler.  Nico and I watched for about 30 minutes.  He seemed to be pretty into it.

A new development, which will get it's own post probably next week, is that Nico has just taken off with the reading and the writing.  It's pretty amazing.  He has filled up a composition book at school with "work" and he brought it home before Thanksgiving.  And he is just so smart.  It's fantastic.  He is reading street signs and signs at the store and everything.  It's awesome.

 

For Thanksgiving, we drove down to Texas to see Nico's cousins.  They had an absolute blast.  Nico was so excited to have other kids to play with (NOT AT SCHOOL), that he showed his tail a bit.  He was totally over stimulated and off his schedule, so I guess I can cut him a little slack.  Plus, Nicole and Cody's house is amazing.  Seriously- they have a zipline: 

I know, right?

We stayed with Nicole and Cody Monday-Saturday and had a good time hanging out.  I got in a little shopping and had so much fun.  The weekend before we headed out, we got Nico a couple of new pair of shoes (blue adidias with flourescent orange stripes and blue pumas).  Whenever Nico was not wearing the shoes and becks found them, he would bring them to a grown up and ask for the shoes to be put on his fit.  What does it say about an 18 month old's feet when they can fit in his 4 year old cousin's shoes?  Yeah.  Big honkin feet.  

On the way back to Chicago, we ran through Royse City, Texas. A town founded by Dave's people.  It's pretty non-desript.  The depot has a sign that was clearly spelled Royce City, but that someone had to fix, which I found very funny.  

We got back on Sunday- and have been back on the grind since.  While we were gone, someone stole the catalytic converter off of Dave's 4Runner- which is annoying.  Have you ever driven a vehicle without a catalytic converter?  So annoying. It's loud.  Not like, man- that is a souped up engine loud.  But rather, who doesn't have a muffler on their vehicle loud.  Normally its a $2200 repair job, but luckily, we had comprehensive coverage on the 4Runner... so Progressive is handling it- and all we have to pay is our $500 deductible.  It's always something... but it could have been a lot worse. 

All for now.  

I'm baaaaaaaaaack....

Well hello there!!  It's good to see you.
As promised, I have returned from the hiatus- with a mixed record as to what I did with my time.  Before Thanksgiving, I had gotten down to within 5 lbs. of pre-nico weight, but I undid a bit of that when we were in Texas over the holiday.  I went to the doctor (to get some meds reupped) and was weighed on his "official" (read: bullshit) scale.  He confirmed that since August 7th, I had lost 18 lbs.  This works out to be about a pound per week.  The upside to this that my left knee is feeling great- which is a departure from what it usually feels like.

Moreover, I am getting so strong.  Case in point: we do a lot of pull-ups in CrossFit.  I have never been able to do a pull-up and have always had to use the black band (think of a very large rubber band that you loop over the bar and put your feet in.  Then you step off the box and your weight is somewhat supported by the band).  In order of support, the colors are: purple, black, green, blue.  Since I started CF, I have been on the black band, and have tried a couple of times to go down to the green, but could not get the pull-up.  But the black band has felt really easy the last couple of weeks... like not even a workout.  This week, just for grins, I gave it a go and was able to get a couple of pull-ups.  It was fantastic.  I'm not sure I could do a whole workout with just the green band (yet), but it's nice to have that as a measure.

Last night I went to an Olympic lifting class for the first time.  I am starting to really like a couple of the movements (power cleans and power snatches), but my technique is a hot mess.  So I went to the class to do a little work and just get in a lot of reps.  It's totally like goalkeeping... where sometimes the only way to improve is to do 100 punches over the crossbar.  It is what it is.

So that is great.  The trade off is that I am sore all the time these days.  And I have a lot more muscle... so clothes just do not fit.  Not only the ones that I already have but most the ones I'm looking at when I go shopping.  But I guess that is a good problem to have, right?

In other news, I am looking (on my desk) at a complete second draft of a paper that I have been working on.  Today I will be sending it to my old boss at the FSU COM, for his comments and remarks before we submit it for publication later this month.  Which is fantastic.  I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but I got another publication last month (November).  Back in the spring, I helped one of the FSU COM students with a paper he wanted to submit for a patient safety award.  Well, as I left, he was working on getting it published.  Back in October our old boss (the third author) sent me a note that it had been published.  So, make that two publications since I have been in Chicago.  Isn't that cool?

I have about a third of the lectures for my Winter Quarter class edited.  I still need to record and post them, but I like the progress so far.  I am experimenting with "flipping the classroom", where I record my lectures and my students view them on their own time.  Then they come to class and we work on problems together.  For statistics??  I think it could be really good.

More later.

Birthday Post and Other Things...

So as you recall, this week included a very special day!  In fact, it included the most special of all special days: my birthday.

With the Queen's Lunch on Wednesday at noon, I had to go to CrossFit at 6am.  Waiting for me was a partner workout, which included 8 rounds (where one person does one round and the other person rests- so we each were to do four rounds) of: 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, and 50 air squats.  My partner had to go to work, so we only ended up doing 3 rounds, but my arms and shoulders were shot nonetheless.  That said, I have seen (on the internets) other places that have birthday workouts... like, "Hey!!  You're turning 23!!  Let's do 5 rounds (because it is May 5th) of 23 pull-ups, 23 overhead squats, 23 push-ups, 23 double unders, and 23 handstand push ups!!)  To which I say, "Ain't nobody got time for that!!"

My coworkers joined me for lunch in our conference room, where we had cake and champagne!  Julia's Doppleganger (who is my coworker, who I absolutely adore) made me a crown.  Don't be jealous, MOM!!

For my birthday, Dave and Nico got me a Manchester City scarf, a DePaul Beanie hat (it's getting cold up here), a DePaul drawstring sack, and the book "The Signal and the Noise."  And we had Lou Malnati's pizza for dinner.  And I had cider.  And Dave got us a trifle/layer/parfait dessert thing that was delicious, but quite the mess.  In all it was fantastic!!  Last night, we concluded the festivities with a date night at the Little Bucharest Bistro and a stop by a nearby used book store.  Dave and I were talking about it last night, and so far, we have had cuisine from: Romania, Serbia, Poland, the Phillipines, and Cuba, since we have been in Chicago.  Isn't that cool?

So, in all, it was a fantastic birthday!!  I couldn't have asked for a better day!!

Which brings me to an announcement: one of the things that I want to do in the next year is get pregnant  (for the last  time?).  As a demographer, I am well-aware of the risk of having babies after the age of 35.  Since Dave and I have always been planning to have more than one kid, we need to get this show on the road. ASAP. That said, I want to lose the last 9 lbs of Dissertation+Nico baby weight before we get that show on the road.

There is no real reason for this.  I am really healthy.  Most weeks, I put 35-45 miles on my bike, I do CrossFit 3-5 times a week, and those are the "easy' weeks.  This year, I have stopped drinking soda, stopped eating fast food, cut way back on alcohol, and have dabbled with paleo eating (I say dabbled because I can't quit you cake, chocolate covered anything, frosting, cookies, bread, pasta, peanut butter, beer, cake pops, little debbie cakes, oatmeal cream pies, fried anything, pretzel buns, pizza, butter, yogurt, donuts, bagels, biscuits non-paleo food).  Also, since I don't do drugs or smoke, the only thing that would really put me at "high" risk other than my age is my weight.

Hold your horses, even after I lose these last Dissertation+Nico lbs, I will still have about 20-30 grad school pounds that I'd like to get rid of.  Don't get me wrong, I will be super excited to be back to pre-Nico weight.  I don't think I have ever put the numbers "out there" but when it was all said and done, I put on 45 lbs with Le Beast.  Obviously, I am going to bust my ass for as long as possible so that doesn't happen with El Dos.  Can you imagine how bad ass all my CrossFit friends will think I am when I am still working out at 6 or 7 months.  Of course, I can't wait to use my pregnancy as an excuse to not do certain things.  Death by Burpee today?  Sorry, can't! Doctor says I can't be on the ground like that!!

I think this plan is completely reasonable, it just takes time.  Also, the weather is changing up here... which means I might not be able to ride my bike for that much longer.  Mostly because I don't have snow tires on my bike (which I think are what mountain bikes are for in the city).  That said, I cannot justify buying another bike (would this be a "winter bike?") just to for winter riding.  I really would be insufferable then.  In fact, I am hoping to make it to Thanksgiving riding to and from work.  That might be ambitious, but as long as there isn't snow or frozen water on the ground, I think I will be okay.

So my announcement is that I am ducking out of the blog and facebook for a while.  Just till Thanksgiving.  Mostly because I have two big papers I am working on at work that I am kind of digging... so if anything I want to put in more time working on them.  But also because when I get home at night, its only a matter of time before I am ready for sleep.  Not ready for bed, but ready for sleep.  If I had my way, most days, I would be asleep by about 830 pm (as it turns out, I am turning into my Dad).  Besides, I hate the idea of people checking my blog for news about the Bishop-Royse adventures in Chicago only to be disappointed. And plus, The Facebook is kind of a timesuck.  And a half.  So for about the next six weeks, I am going to focus on Nico, Dave, working out, eating well, and work.  If you need me, call me or email me.  Otherwise, I will catch you on the flip side.

Reading

Nico's school was closed on Monday.  I find this to be very suspicious, as a Korean family owns and manages his school.  Is this racist of me?  Maybe.  But seriously, Columbus Day??  You know it is a sad state of affairs when the Catholic school DePaul is open for business and the Korean preschool is closed.  Boo-sauce!!  Oh, you're saying that Nico's school is closed because all state and city things are closed.  And doesn't really have anything to do with Columbus?  Well, there you go using LOGIC!!!

I had planned to go get my car registered and such.  But guess what was closed?  BOOOO!!! So Nico and I ended up going to the library and having lunch.

In fact, I wrote most of yesterday's blog post while at the library with him.  He played with blocks and hung out.  Then we got some police car books.  It was definitely a good time.

In other news, Dave and Nico have started reading.  Not like the Declaration of Independence, but like signs and books and stuff. 

It's pretty amazing. 

Marco scores a run!

One of the really funny things that Nico has started doing is "playing" "sports" in the house.  If we're being honest, he comes by this genetically, as Dave did this and drove his mom crazy.  Nico has taken to doing this game while Dave is watching sports.  Lately, its been baseball and hockey.  He'll basically bounce a ball away from himself and run to catch up with it- usually ending with a catch and a slide into something.  It's pretty funny- but the best part is that he has started narrating.  Now until this weekend, it was something like "Number 88 Patrick Kane slides into the goal and scores a run for the New York Fire."  This is hilarious because the Fire (a soccer team) play out of Chicago, and you score runs in baseball, not hockey, which is the sport that 88 Patrick Kane plays.  In Chicago.

This weekend, Nico started narrating himself doing these things, but calling himself Marco.  I have no idea why Marco.  

Friday night, Davn and I went to see Captain Phillips (the new Tom Hanks movie).  We stopped into a Moerer pub on the way home for some late dinner, which was okay.  Saturday morning, Nico had swimming lessons.  His teacher made a special point of telling me that he is ready to move up to the next class... but unfortunately,  his little buddy probably isn't.

Here is a video of Nico jumping in:


After swimming lessons, we headed over to Target, which included a spin through the toy section for items that Nico wants to add to his Christmas  list (we were mostly killing time, allowing Dad to get a workout in before we headed home).  Nico and I have done these little excursions maybe 4 times and his meltdowns after are getting progressively less and less shitty.  I know the natural question to ask is, why do it at all?  But I want him to start understanding the role of patience and waiting for things.  We've also instituted a chore chart and allowance, but it's one of those things that require time and patience and sometimes the parental units just don't have it in them. 

After we took a nap on Saturday, I ran a couple of errands, that included a stop to check out a consignment shop somewhat nearby.  It's one of the great things about living in a sizeable city... This wasn't even the closest one to us.  It was about 2 miles away- which in Tallahassee would seem much further away.  Anyhoo... Nico is growing like a weed.  He's slimmed out a bit, so while the 3T britches still fit him in the waist, they are way too short.  Plus, we dont really have the right kinds of clothing for layering.  This consignment shop is pretty amazing.  Super cheap clothes.  I found a 3T Gap kids sweater for $3 and 4 pair of pants for $2 each and 4 waffle knit shirts for Nico for $2 each. I also got a couple of sweaters for me and a couple of scarves too (including a cashmere one for $5).  The cool thing is that if I had wanted to wait until Columbus Day,  could have gotten everything for half price.  But I wasnt trying to deal with that madness.  After I ran to Joanns and got some stuff to organize the house.  With colder weather coming up, I suspect we are going to want to stay closer to home in the next couple of months, so we will have more time to organize and such.  

Sunday, I had brunch with Julia and Jake out in Oak Park.  They were flying out of OHare and I wanted to find a place that was relatively easy to get from to OHare.  After, I made a run to Fresh Farms super market.  This place is in Niles- we pass it going to and from the YMCA.  Dave has been in a few times and exclaimed about their seafood counter and beer selection.  So I thought I would give it a go.  

The place is pretty much heaven.  There is a huge produce section.  You know the place is has a huge produce selection when I dont know a quarter of the items that are there.  And.  The best part?  Russian candy section!!

  For serious!!

The Most Special of All Special Days

A really funny thing that Nico is doing lately is when he pretends to take notes on important things.  Last week or so, I was talking with him about how important my birthday is.  And all the things I want.  He's looking at me, maintaining eye contact, and pulls up his hand and holds it like he is holding a little note pad.  He looks down and pretends to write on the notepad, and nods.  Like he is actually taking notes.  It's pretty much amazing.  I wish I had him on video doing it.  Seriously, you would pee your pants laughing at it.

One of my co-workers is somewhat uncomfortable with the whole birthday celebration thing, which wouldn't be a big deal. In fact, I was sure I would forget her birthday and well, no harm, no foul, right? Until I found out that her birthday is 1 day before mine. Wha-what? I can't forget that!! Everyone knows that Oct 16 is the best birthday!! So, I wanted to do something for her, but not really for her. So I figured we could have a birthday joint birthday celebration. But since she didn't want to do anything for her birthday, it basically would just be us having cake with friends. But then, I feel a bit awkward asking people to come to a birthday celebration for me. Like, "Hey, can you take five minutes out of your life to acknowledge my birth? Thanks Dude." So rather than being awkward, I thought I would play it the other way. I sent this to my co-workers last week:

Good Morning Everyone!!

It is October 2, 2013 and we are just two short weeks away from the most glorious of all glorious days: my birthday. Yes, just 33 years and 50 weeks ago, the planet Earth was blessed with my birth. There have been no other children born before or since who are as radiant and wondrous as myself. The qualities of my character which deserve to be exalted include my shining personality, my quick wit and sharp intellect, and above all, my noble humility. I humbly request that all of you lesser persons join me for dessert delicacies and beverages on the afternoon of Wednesday October 16, 2013. It is my recommendation that you people bring your lunches to the conference room at noon on that marvelous day. I will bestow upon you tasty edibles in the form of cakes or sweets that will surely be pleasing to your plebian palates.

No gifts are required, although continued thoughts of goodwill and pleasant salutations are welcome.

Please direct any correspondence with concerns in my general direction and I may or may not be inclined to provide further information.

Good day!

HRM Jessi Bishop-Royse

Luckily most everyone "got it".  Aren't I funny?

Apple Season

Last weekend was very fun.  Friday night, Dave and Nico met me in Lincoln Square on the bike trailer.  Dave had to edit for the news service, otherwise, we might have grabbed some dinner there.  

Saturday morning, I shot a workshop at CrossFit when Nico and Dave headed to Nico's school for some type of Family Fun Get Together.  After, they headed to the YMCA for swimming lessons and working out.  On my way home, I stopped by the Southport Grocery, for some treats (cupcakes and such).  BTW, reason 3420849305 Chicago is awesome:  In Tally, I could count on one hand the number of little gourmet groceries.  In Chicago, you'd need several more hands.  Like 10. When I got home, Nico and I napped, which was fantastic.  The weather was kind of crummy (thunderstorms and such).  True story, I love the crap out of napping during storms.  

Sunday, we had brunch at our friend Robyn and Jordan's house, which Nico declared to be one of the funnest parts of the weekend.  My friends Kevin and Jennifer were there, and they gave us the real story on how it is in Chicago.  After brunch, we drove up to Libertyville for apple picking.  It was a lot of fun!  Dave and Nico are really good at apple picking!!

Of course, the apples had to be taste-tested.  So, you know.  In actuality, Nico ate three apples on our trip.  The good news is that we have a peck of apples... which might as well be a shit ton of apples.  Have no idea what I am going to do with this many apples.  But I think the old-standby, the Caramel Apple Pie with Cornmeal Crust is going to happen.  I just wish I could make and freeze.    

Haters Should Hate

I think it would be hard to like me.

I don't know if I have haters, but assure me, I probably deserve it.

I have a fantastic life: an adorably funny and smart son; a superhot husband who does laundry and cooks (almost as well as I do). I have a job that I LOVE. I live in a cool ass city and I am getting some time to do things I have wanted to do for a long time (photography and fitness... A LOT OF BOTH). Nobody's life should be allowed to be that awesome, right??

Speaking of awesome, take a look at this kid:

So that is how the cookie crumbles.

I had my interim probationary review at work this week and my boss had some really nice things to say. One component of my job is to provide research consultation to faculty members. This might be anything from helping someone run some stats, to finding data sources for someone else. Earlier this week a faculty member that I helped a couple of months ago approached my boss and raved about me. Unsolicited. Yeah... that is pretty cool.

I really like the people I work with. While I appreciate that I have fairly low standards for work-place interactions, I believe that my current situation would be enviable to anyone. My boss is cool in that he tries to empower all of us to be in control of ourselves and our work. In fact, he hates us having to be dependent on him for stuff. Which works out great for me, because I hate being dependent on people for stuff.

My co-workers mostly leave me alone. We all have the things that we do and no one tries backstab or undercut each other. We all have the things that we bring to the table, so we don't compete with each other. And here is a weird thing, that "bitchy-we're-all-friends-but-we-aren't" thing that happens in a lot of places? Not up in the SSRC. LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Bayth

Nico has been in the midwest for all of four months, and it appears that he has begun acquiring a midwestern accent.  Sweet Jesus.  An actual midwestern accent.  So, it started the other day when we were playing around and he said something about taking a ba-yth.  A what, you ask?  A ba-yth.  No, let me stop for a second and explain something, so you can fully appreciate what the hell was going on.  A couple of months ago, I was tickling Nico and he laughed and said, "You're tickling my hip."  But what I heard was, "You're tickling my heeeip."  To which I laughed and said, "Hip.  You're tickling my HIP."  He thinks this is hilarious.  And so it becomes a game.  So, I thought he was joking me the other day when he said "bayth".  No.  Not joking at all.
I envision this:


Right?

He's also started asking if he can go outside by asking, "Can I go outside to stretch my legs?" This is hilarious, because he got this from Dave. But usually only in the context of roadtrips. It's pretty great.

We had a fun weekend. I went to Toledo, Ohio on Thursday for a conference with my boss. We presented Friday morning and killed it. We had over 100 people at a 9am session. In academic standards, that is pretty much like standing room only. I got back Friday night while Dave and Nico were at the YMCA and putzed around the house. Saturday morning Nico and I walked up to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. After, we headed to the YMCA for swimming lessons for Nico. Saturday afternoon, we met Nico's new babysitter. She is a student at North Park University and does music. In fact, today she asked if she could take him to her bell practice. She thinks he might enjoy helping her ring the bells. Are you kidding me? He's going to love it.

Check out this meatball playing catch:


Sunday, Nico and I ran some errands, including a couple of book stores. One of these was a used bookstore, I pass twice a day going to and from work. I can't wait to head back some time without Nico... to see if they have any treasures. It looks like the kind of place that would have treasures.

Great Weekend=Cubs Lose, Wolverines Win (barely), and City Wins.

Oh, where do you start with such an awesome weekend?

Well, JJ and Scott got to town late Friday morning.  And pretty much as soon as they arrived, we took off for Wrigley.  Nico was at school, so he didnt come with us to the game (A fact that he reminded me of later when he was looking at pictures on my phone.  He said, "Oh, I don't think I remember that day at the Cubs game..."  Yeah, because we didn't take him!! Yikes!  How is it that he is four and is already mastering the guilt trip??)

When the game was almost over, Dave split to go get Nico from school and get our pizza and I was in charge of navigating us back to the house.  In doing so, I accidentally navigated us onto the purple line train to Linden.  It was express, so we had to ride all the way out to Howard before we could get off.  Yikes!!  

Friday night, we hung out at the house, which was fun.  Nico and I showed JJ our new game called Two Square (hint: its just like four square).  JJ played lots of games with Nico and is generally well-liked by Le Beast.  So much so that when he came down stairs on Friday morning, Nico took a flying leap off the 4th step at JJ (who caught him).  No big deal.  

Saturday morning, Dave and Nico headed to swimming lessons at the YMCA and Uncle Scott, JJ, and I hung out at the house watching football and soccer.  I made us some delicious burgers for lunch and when Nico and Dave got back, I put Nico down for a nap.  After, JJ and Dave headed to a birthday party at an indoor waterpark/splash place.  While there, Dave networked with grownups and may have even got a lead on a adjuncting job at NEIU, which, coincidentally enough, is one of TWO universities in our back yard.  Not like, Gary, IN is in Chicago's back yard.  But like in the Albany Park/North Park/Peterson Park neighborhood of Chicago.  Isn't that sweet?

When they got back from the party, Nico helped me make some egg fondue.  

Normally, this is a Christmas only kind of dish, but thought it would be great to have for breakfast on Sunday, since it didnt require anyone standing over a stove on Sunday morning.  This was really important for me because of the Manchester Derby.  A day when the two teams in Manchester play each other.  It was made even better this year, because it's early in the season and they were tied for 5th place.  A win for either team would help that team immensely in the standings.  

My team (Manchester City) is sometimes sketchy in the back.  I love them, but seriously, they lost to Cardiff a couple of weeks ago.  Losing to Cardiff is like Wakulla losing to Godby (no offense).  But seriously, they have one-two strong players... there is no reason Wakulla should lose such a game.  United (JJ's team), on the other hand, is usually so class.  So imagine my surprise when this happened:

Yeah, it was pretty awesome. That said, there is still plenty of time in the season for City to screw this up.  :)

  

Gobble

I know it's impossible, for our weekends to get any funner... but hold on party people.  Uncle JJ and Uncle Scott are coming to town this weekend.  I know, seriously,, right?   I was able to get Cubs tickets on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago.  I got 4 tickets, thinking that if neither made it, we'd only have to eat the cost of one ticket.  It means that Nico won't go to the game and we'll just pick him up from school after.  Does that make me a bad mom? 

The good news is that he really, really, really likes his new school.  When school started, he lost his best friend, a little girl named Addison because she went up to the kindergarten- so he only sees her in the afternoon. I am sure that they were probably pretty annoying... their thing was that they would call each other animal names... like Alligator Chicken.  Or Chicken Dinosaur. His new little friend is a girl named Zoey, who he really likes.  In fact, last week he said that he loves her.  Which is absolutely darling.  They have a funny game they play called "Gaga".  Which is basically just them dancing with their hands up and shifting their weight back and forth on one foot to the other.  It's pretty hilarious.  

Le Nico was invited to a birthday party this weekend, so I hope Uncle Scott and Uncle JJ are okay with that.  It's at a water park, I guess.  So, that will be fun.  Dave is looking forward to being around adults.  Turns out when you work from home, it can be a bit lonely.  Apparently, the dogs aren't much company.  

Nico and Dave went to the YMCA after school, so it was late when we started dinner.  Dave told Nico to finish up his blueberries to which Nico replied that "he would gobble them".  This apparently means to stuff blueberries into one's mouth.     Which is weird, because I dont use the word gobble.  What is even stranger is that he seemed to have the idea that gobbling also meant holding one's hands up to one's face while stuffing blueberries into one's mouth.  It's pretty funny.  

Still a bit undecided about what we are going to do about school next year.  I spoke to one of the faculty members at DePaul who has a daughter who is three.  She sort of gave me the run down on schools.  I had been thinking about the possibility that if we got him tested for selective enrollment schools, that if he managed to make the cut that he might end up in a school trying to do work that is beyond him because he willl be so young.  This faculty member said I ought not to worry about that and that the real reason to get him into a selective enrollment school is beause those schools tend to be much better... with parents who are much more involved.  She also gave me the breakdown on some of the better, more diverse schools.  I haven't had the chance to talk with Dave about what our priorities should be... whether we'd rather have a selective enrollment school or a diverse school.  While they might not be mutually exclusive, I'd rather not have to choose.  There is still plenty of time to worry about this, I guess.  

Sorry I'm Not Sorry

We had some fun adventures this weekend.  Friday night we had our traditional Lou Malnatis.  And it was amazing.

Saturday I shot photos at the competition that my CrossFit box put on.  Half of the competition was outside, so I was able to use my big lens and get some great photos.  One of the really great things about shooting so often (in low-light) I am getting really acquainted with my DSLR camera.  Also, for some reason, I felt the need to buy a nice(r) 50mm lens last year with a really low fstop capability.  I can't remember why I bought it... but turns out it has saved me shooting at CrossFit... since it's in a warehouse type space with relatively low light.  That bad boy don't care about low light!!

There was a pretty sweet lens that I saw the other day on the internet that I wouldn't mind having.  It basically takes the things I love about my big lens and combines them with the things I like about my little lens.  And costs only 12,000 pounds (as in british sterling pounds).  Can you imagine over $20,000 for something to fit in the palm of your hand?  WOW.  

I have been getting a lot of really positive feedback on the photos.  Only one person has had anything negative to say...to be fair, I had experimented a bit with a particular effect, so it's fair if he didn't like it. It was of him finishing a box jump and I put it more up to brag that I got the shot... seriously, in low light?  Everything exposed right and motion frozen?  Yeah, Imma brag about that.  Sorry I'm not sorry for bragging.  I think I still make some of the girls uncomfortable when I shoot.  Hell, I might make some of the guys uncomfortable, but none of them had ever said anything or appear to actually be avoiding the camera.  Side note: "Sorry I'm not sorry" is one of my new favorite things to say.  It's the ultimate way to acknowledge that maybe you should be sorry, but you aren't.  

After Nico's swim team practice and my shooting Saturday morning, we tried to take a nap at home.  But failed.  Saturday afternoon, Dave and I made the mistake of watching some show on the travel channel about food+travel.  Turns out that the travel channel has completely given up on actual travel shows and are just doing food shows.  We watched a piece about steak sandwiches in Philladelphia (as in Geno's and Pat's).  Well, next thing you know, we were at Dominicks getting stuff for steak sandwiches.  I got a snicker's bar and a green apple to make a snickers apple salad.  I asked Nico if he wanted some, to which he replied NO when he heard the word salad.  Turns out that he actually likes Snickers Apple Salad... weird.  It's almost like he likes being contrary.  For the sake of being contrary.  

As you can see, the weekends are a bit hard for Drake:

Sunday, we explored Skokie a bit.  Dave liked the Skokie Farmer's market on Facebook and was reminded that there were only a few more weekends of the market before winter.  So we rode up there  (in the rain) and ended up having breakfast at Annie's pancake house before trying the market.  Here is Nico checking his email and having "coffee":

We ended up with a bunch of fruit (peaches, blackberries, apples, etc).  We had a short workout at the YMCA and then headed home for a nap.  After nap, Dave went to get groceries.  He found a grocery that he really likes, called Mariano's.  They have a massive prepared food section, which is THE thing he likes about Whole Foods.  But Whole Foods is expensive for the stuff that you aren't buying because it's organic.  Like paper towels.  And canned beans.  Apparently, Marianos walks that line pretty well.  

While he was at the store, Nico and I hung out at the house drawing maps.  That is kind of his thing lately, drawing maps.  A couple of weeks ago, I found a watercolor tablet at Target for super cheap, and he really likes drawing on these (I think because the paper doesn't get as bent up as regular paper).  This week and next, hopefully, we'll be sending out a bunch of maps to Granny You and Grampy and Grandma and Grandpa.  We might even sneak one down to Max, Becks, and Emme.

Opportunity Knocks

So, in other exciting news, I have been offered a course for the winter quarter at DePaul.  I know, right?  Just when I think I am out, they pull me back in!!

Turns out that the senior research methodologist in the SSRC has taught classes in statistics and methods, prior to my arrival, so the teaching coordinator asked if I would be interested.  While I have never taught a statistics class, I have taught methods.  And I have had some pretty damn good training  in the art of teaching.  And also, I have won two teaching awards.  So it's not really like this:

Of course, I am not sure how much of this the coordinator knew when she asked me to teach an undergraduate statistics course.  It's probably a bit uncommon, for someone who is a good teacher to not move automatically and fully into the teaching track.  If I wasn't in Chicago at DePaul, I would probably be at a teaching college, with my four courses a semester and no research activity.  

The conversation I had with the coordinator was a great conversation and she said that she would send me the course list so that I might consider teaching some of the "fun" classes in demography and health.  Yeah.  How much fun will that be?

This development is actually quite fortuidous...Dave and I watched a thing on Sunday Morning a couple of weeks ago about the Khan Academy that has made me rethink how I would revamp my teaching style, if it ever came to that.  

That said, I believe that I will make every effort to incorporate memes in this class, as well as pop culture references to Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Keeping up with the Kardashians.  For example, here is a question that I might ask on a midterm:

"Following the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, a CDC researcher is interested in how many people are infected ("turned") each day.  She has been collecting this data for a year, but decides to draw a random sample of 30, for which she obtained a sample mean of 34.1 infections per day, with a sample standard deviation of 0.4."

Question 1: Calculate the standard error of the mean.

Question 2: Construct a 95% confidence interval to estimate the mean number of infections.

Question 3: Write a narrative explanation of this confidence interval.  

And so on... couldn't it be very fun??

I think so.  

In addition to that new opportunity... I was chatting with one of the other girls at CrossFit this afternoon and she mentioned that she (and another girl in our class) do Roller Derby.  Apparently this particular establishment is pretty good.  And they invited me to come to their tryouts!!  Can you believe it?  My mother's dream come true!  When I pointed out that I don't "skate" they replied this as not as big of a problem as you would think.  Apparently, being an athlete is a solid enough foundation... then after that, it's just learning how to skate.  Normally, I would be all over this.  But I decided to show some restraint and not jump with both feet.  But it was cool that they invited me.  And in case you were wondering, yes, I have thought about what my name would be.  

Guns McGee.  

Of course this only works if you have actual guns (i.e. well-developed biceps).  Otherwise, its just sad.  So we will revisit this issue in the nearish future.   

So Grown...

So, I mentioned that Dave and I have found a pizza place in Chicago.  This is actually kind of a feat, since we haven't been here very long.  And when you're talking about Chicago pizza, everyone and their mom has an opinion.  

Lou Malnati's is a Chicago institution....Accordng to Wikipedia (so take this with a grain of salt),  Lou and his wife co-managed Pizzeria Uno in the 1950s, after Lou and his Dad Rudy began making deep dish pizza inn the 1940s.  The first resturant opened in Lincolnwood in 1971 (Lincolnwood is the first 'town' heading north out of Chicago towards Evanston.  We happen to go to the Lincolnwood Resturant, but I don't know if it is the original.  

It's just plain delicious... the crust is sort of biscuity... and the sauce is zesty.  Everytime we get Lou's, Dave and I engage in at least a five minute conversation about what makes it so awesome... of course, we get the butter crust, so maybe that is the key (although Dave contends it is the sauce).  Regardless, it's a friday night tradition I really like.  So much so, I will cut back on snacking throughout the day, make sure I get my bike rides, and my CrossFit workout just to make sure I can really enjoy it (without the guilt of eating pizza in the middle of Mission: lose last of Nico baby weight before trying for numero dos baby).  

Saturday morning, Nico had the first lesson of this new round of swim lessons.  We had a pretty funny miscommunication about them.  I didn't go to his last class and figured that if he was ready to move up to the next class that his teacher would have said something to that effect.  So I sent Dave to the Y with the expressed mission to sign him up for Pike (AGAIN).  Dave, because he is a good husband, did this, even though he had gotten a note from his teacher saying that Nico was ready to move up.  Said note was posted on the fridge... I just didnt notice it.  He contends that I must have had a good reason for keeping Nico in this class, evven though his teacher says he is clearly ready to move up.  Which is all kind of hilarious.  

Saturday night Nico and I went to Target to get a few things.  He's fairly aware that he might get a baby sister or a baby brother someday, and has started keeping track of all the toys he wants to get her.  He says her, because he thinks he is getting a baby sister and that he can call it.  Which is precious.  I have also figured out the trick with the toys, which is that we take a look at the toy section to see what kinds of toys we want to add to his Christmas list (it was his birthday list, but now the big holiday is Christmas).  This helps me get him out of the store without a MEGAMELTDOWN.  

Sunday, we took Nico on a bike ride up to Indian Boundary park, which is abot 2.5 miles away from the house.  The park has this massive wooden castle structure play thing that Nico loves.  

Afterwards, we stopped at Emerald Isle (a pub) on the way home for lunch.  He has entered the age of wanting to play arcade games.  He is also starting to figure out how to work the system.  For example, there was a dart game that he wanted to try.  Not knowing how to play it (and moreover, not having any darts), I explained that I wasn't sure how to play and that was the reason I didnt want him to play it.  He explained that he wanted to learn so that when he was a grown-up, he would know how to play. Who can resist such an argument?  

After nap, Nico and I headed out to get groceries.  He's getting so big and grown-up, I can barely believe it sometimes.  In fact, this weekend, he explained to Dave that he didnt need to go to school anymore, since he knew everything already.  

Lou Malnati's, the Polish Festival, and The Dog Beach

I feel like I write the same posts about every weekend.  We went here and did this awesome stuff... then we went there and did some more awesome stuff.  Do you guys ever get bored with that?? I don't.  :)

Friday night started out eventful. I mistimed my trip home from work on the bike and ended up riding through a rain/thunder/hail storm. Which was kind of funny.  At one point, I actually got blown off my bike by a gust of wind.  It was really kind of funny.  I felt a sense of solidarity with all the other bikers that got caught in the rain.  At one point I exchanged power fists in the air with another dude who was waiting to cross Lincoln Ave (that I was driving northwest on).  When I got home, I grabbed a quick shower and we headed out to what Dave and I have come to describe as "our pizza place": Lou Malnati's.  It's Chicago deep dish.  At it's best.  It has definitely become our go-to place for dinner late in the week when neither of us wants to cook.  

Saturday morning was kind of chill.  Dave and Nico went to the YMCA and I hung out at the house doing chores (boring).  After nap, we headed to Jefferson Park to the Taste of Polonia (Polish festival).  Complete with three bouncy houses, so you know Nico was in heaven.  Dave's former co-worker who is a Polish-American former Southside Chicago boy met us there, so we had a blast (even if I was a little cranky pants myself... which happens.  Sorry... it just does).  

Sunday, we headed to the YMCA in morning... where Dave and I got in pretty good workouts.  I have been doing CrossFit for four months now and I am completely jazzed about it.  I feel myself getting stronger.  Even though some of the olympic lifts continue to be hard, I feel strong.  My legs are getting more muscular... so much so that I am nervous to wash my favorite pair of jeans... afraid that they are going to be unwearable when they come out of the dryer.  You say I could just NOT dry them... to which I reply, "um gross... have you ever worn jeans that have been air dried?  yuck."  

So we finished Sunday at the Y with a swim... through a small miscommunication between Dave and myself, Nico is repeating the Beginning Pike class, when his Beginning Pike teacher says he's ready for Eel class.  this is actually okay, because the little friend he made in his first class is going to be class with him.  I also say that until Nicholas Michael is ready to put his face in the water without becoming Mr. Bargainy McBargain, that he'll be okay in the lower class.  

Monday we took the dogs to the Montrose dog beach, which was really fun.  They always have a blast whenever we go (its a dog beach on Lake Michigan).  

Seriously, what is not to love?  The water is cold and there are all kinds of dogs there.  In fact, at one point, I went to sit on our blanket but couldnt figure out how in the hell it had gotten covered in sand.  Turns out there were two dogs playing chase with each other and the little guy kept running onto our blanket.  He clearly did not care that he was invading our space.  Going to the dog beach ALWAYS wears the dogs out... but they seem to have so much fun when we go.