Martin returned from a 4 day trip to Las Vegas last night. I returned on Sunday night (LATE) from my first solo trip with Henry. Henry was absolutely the best baby on the flights, in other words, he slept on the flight to Memphis on Thursday night and the flight home to Chicago! I decided to check the suitcase to avoid walking around the airport for two hours with a baby, baby bag and a rolly case. It worked out well since the baggage claim at MEM is rather smallish for the terminal we were in and even on the way home I didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes for my bag to arrive. Negatives included that fact that flights in both directions were delayed, but the nice man in MEM let my mom help me through security! I hear this happens often but you have to be nice.
My trip to north Mississippi was full of relatives, catfish, other good foods and inclement weather. We didn't leave Pontotoc but I did get Chick-Fila on the way in from Memphis and we went to New Albany to eat catfish on Friday night. Henry got to swing in Marshall and Mark's old LIttle Tykes swing that Uncle Alan hung from the big oak out behind their house. All the fresh air just wore the little guy out but he loved walking around with his Uncle Alan outside and then taking a long nap.

Other news not related to our trip include us putting the final touches on buying a house closer to stuff - to us this translates as Palatine. Our own home is for sale so if you know anyone who would like to buy a very nice, clean and comfortable house we have one for them!
This month I also attempted to read the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and could not finish it. It seemed like an interesting story, but I honestly didn't really care for the said girl from the title. I flipped through and read the good bits and found out what happens, but I couldn't get myself to read every page. With Henry I've realized that audio books are going to be the way to go for some time!

There are many reasons why I still love IKEA even after we have, according to Martin, outgrown their customer base. We went to IKEA yesterday to look at their kitchen stuff for fun mainly. They have some awesome kitchen ideas and I really think that they have improved over the years. What continues to impress me now that we have little Henry is all the baby-friendly stuff they have. They have the best changing room facilities I've seen in a long time. It makes me wonder why other companies don't set aside a nice, CLEAN, room for nursing mothers and changing tables. I've been in several restaurants lately that barely have a handicapped access stall much less a place to change a baby. I've been to some restaurants that in some great higher thinking, have put the changing table directly above a toilet, just daring you to drop something in! So I continue to love IKEA for their changing rooms, their yummy meatballs and just the cool cheap desing of it all.

My parents were here for a short visit over the weekend. They came mainly to visit with little Henry and they seemed impressed by his continued happy attitude with everything and everyone. People tell me that not all babies are this happy. Well, they can say it, but with Henry around I can't believe it!

They are still looking at the possibility of buying a small condo up here. Although, one place is off of their list because of the utter rudeness of the office manager lady who claimed that they have security issues and that people are apparently dressing up and impersonating real estate agents in the Palatine area. I don't know if this is true, I don't know why it would be a security issue and I don't know why this woman had a horrible personality to match her horrible bleached out hair and raccoon eyes. Usually if someone is that ugly they will at least try to make it up with a good personality or no personality at all. This woman was just a mean, rude woman who should not have been in customer service at all. She should be working in a closet with the light off and the door closed! Too bad about the condo at the place, because it was one of the nicer ones my parents liked!

Parents also got to check out Henry's daycare, which they really liked! I broke down and took my mom to a Christmas Tree place outside of Barrington that she had been wanting to check out for months. Parents even watched Henry while Martin and I went out to dinner on Saturday night. I broke my vegan diet and ate scallops. They were worth it. And now I am back to eating lots of beans and tofu. I have lost about 11 pounds in 5 weeks. That isn't horrible, but I think I'll need to lose about 40 more to really notice any difference. So now I'm actually following my diet more closely and not saying that onion rings are acceptable because they don't have meat or dairy. Man, I miss cheese most of all.

Martin and I have also been fighting some sort of illness for the past few weeks. It could be bronchitis, but who has time to go to the doctor. Maybe I will break down and go to the doc-in-a-box clinic by the house tomorrow if I get off of work early enough to go before I pick Martin up at the train. Martin has also bought us a new water heater to get installed next weekend, but we will see if that goes as planned.

I have been laughing at this page that takes photos from Dwell magazine and adds funny captions. It makes me realize how weirdly pompous that mag can get sometimes. Also, my dad supposedly gave me a subscription to Dwell about 5 months ago and I haven't gotten a single issue yet. Weird.
Henry is crawling and pulling himself up on the coffee table and anything else he can find. He has become very mobile almost overnight. He remains happy with daycare and is generally a happy little guy. We took him to get his 6month pictures the other day and he of course had to pose in his Hawaiian outfit we got him on the Big Island. He looked fabulous.
We are hoping that his Mimi and Granddad Gonzalez are going to make it up here on Thursday on the first United flight from Pensacola. Hopefully the snow won't cause a major shutdown and delay their trip.

One interesting adventure that happened on our trip to Hawaii was our accommodations. We had wanted to stay at the Silver Oaks Ranch on the Big Island for about 5 years (ever since we discovered them and the fact that they have Nigerian Dwarf goats) when we visited the island last, right after our wedding. We had emailed them off and on over the years when flights looked like they might work out. With our recent trip, we were excited since flights looked good and it looked like a go. Martin emailed the ranch and we were told that they had availability and would love to have us with the exception that they needed about 1 1/2 days notice to get the cottage we wanted clean. They even offered us the portable crib for Henry. We arrived in Hawaii with the intention of staying in Hilo for one -two nights and we called the ranch where we were told that we could not stay with them after all. It seems they had been having trouble with housekeeping services and hadn't cleaned the cottage in a week. They also told us they were sick and didn't feel like cleaning the cottage themselves. So, after only a 9 hour flight, with a baby, we were basically left with no place to stay. I'm not sure what to think, especially after they told us they had availability and they were running a three night stay special and then abruptly changed their minds about wanting us to stay with them. We did eventually find other accommodations, but we were disappointed to say the least. We had wanted to stay there for 5 years and if we had been paying for plane tickets, maybe it would have been different. But if this was a once in a lifetime vacation, as it is for most people, I would have been extremely upset over the way this was handled. On the other hand, if this was a once in a lifetime event maybe we wouldn't have waited until a week beforehand to find someplace to stay. Needless to say, this place is pretty much off our radio for any future visits to the Big Island I'm sad to say.

Wow! How quickly two months pass!
Henry is now a big bouncy 6 month old and crawling around. He started day care two weeks ago and we seem to be getting him into a pattern. He is getting his two bottomw front teeth and eating lots of mushy foods. He even tried animal crackers and enjoyed them a lot!
Quick recap of what has happened in the last two months:
*Thanksgiving in NJ
*visited South Florida family and friends
*Henry flew on his first prop plane
*to the Bahamas
*met an attack dog named Stan
*ate the most expensive steak dinner ever at the Atlantis in the Bahamas
*watched Jai-alai in Dania Beach
*dinner at the Mai Kai Restaurant in FLL- Henry loooved the Polynesian Review!
*met our friends with the twins for dinner
*parents visited us in the snows of Decemeber - dad even shoveled!
*bought Henry a high chair
*bought Henry and exersaucer thing
*flew to Hawaii (the Big Island)
*walked on a black sand beach
*Introduced Henry to the Baby Bjorn and the ocean
*bought banana bread and a Hawaiian quilt in Hilo
*ate lots of plate lunches
*drove the Saddle Road between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea
*ate shave ice as big as our heads
*realized Henry's head resembles a macadamia nut
*Martin got a blister on his foot
*I started back to work
*Chinese New Year Party!
*looked at more real estate
*Martin got a cold

That almost sums up everything we've been up to. I hate summarizing like that, but it can be fun as a memory exercise. I'll try to update more often. Especially since so many people read this!

Henry now has a passport! We are deciding on where to take him for his first stamp, but right now we are concentrating on where we are going for Thanksgiving... New Jersey! I don't think he needs a passport for the trip, but we might take it anyway for bragging fun!
Other than that not much else happening. We are going to South FLA in early Dec. for Hanukkah to visit Martin's parents. It will be nice to see them and also get to visit with a few of my friends that live down that way as well.
We have been tentatively looking at houses in other neighborhoods that would make Martin's commute shorter and my drive to Harper better or at least more pleasurable. We have been hitting open houses and checking out homes with a realtor. So far we haven't seen much that just sings to us so we are continuing our search. We do have a nice collection of brochures from houses and that can be fun to look at.
I continue my love affair with midcentury modern architecture but there is not much of it to be had in our area as compared to places like California, Florida and even, surprise! Texas. Or at least nothing that is here is for sale right now. Any ideas?