Last Week

The last week has been full of friends...new and old! P and I got to go on a few long walks with Amy and sweet Ryan, got to hang out with our new friends at Gene Rockin' play group on Saturday, see cousins Michaela and Finn on Saturday night, and got to see the Fiedlers and Borkowskis yesterday!  It is so nice to live close to so many people.  If only I could steal away my Cartmell family and my Ohio family...and maybe move us all to the warm beach...then life would be perfect!

I still feel like we were meant to be in Chicago.  I hate the winter, and you can so easily get lost in the crowded shuffle, but there are so many different support systems here that we need --both for us and for Parker.  Matt has his "beer buddies" who collect with him (like wine collectors), and I have the moms I am getting to know, and old friends.  Not to mention the fact that we both have sisters here!  

Now that we have so many support systems with the people around us, and our work lives are reasonably secure, we need to move on to moving.  In other words, we are about to start our quarterly scramble for a new home.  Our apartment is beyond busting at the seams...which we already know, but is basically written on the faces of anyone who walks in our door.  We can't wait to have a house where people can visit us comfortable, with enough space for friends and family to spend the night.  So...that is our next big life change!