Goodbye Chicago

This is such a bittersweet post! Wow, I seriously cannot believe that 2 years have gone by in a flash!!!! I so vividly remember driving here and crying 1/3 of the way from Texas to Chicago. I was so sad to leave Dallas! BUT, while I was sad I knew that it was going to be a great opportunity for us to do something different. We always said that we never wanted to be that couple that went through life, looking back and saying, "Man, I wish we would have done something different, like live in a different place..." Well, now that won't ever happen;)

Being here taught us so much about ourselves, our marriage, who we are and who we want to be, and lastly how to be parents (we still have a long way to go, but we can say we got our start in Chicago).  When we moved here, it was just us....over time we met so many great friends through school, work and church. We were pushed out of our comfort zones in so many areas, but it was so worth it; and I believe made us better for it in the long run. Chicago has given us SO many great memories, but one will forever stick out in our heads. We will ALWAYS ALWAYS remember that this is where we were when I got pregnant and where we had Grayson. We always say how cool it is going to be for Grayson to say he was born in Chicago. We know he will be a Texas boy...but how cool that he can say he has lived outside of Texas before.

While I am definitely ready to get back to family and friends and our new house, I will definitely miss aspects of Chicago. I LOVE that I can walk to the local market around the corner or any restaurant. I really do like public transportation, it is so easy and makes me feel like I live in a "city." I am going to miss the thousands of parks, our 28th floor view, great museums, awesome restaurants (I could name literally like 15 that I am going to miss...), Navy Pier fireworks, Lake Shore, the beach at our back door, free concerts, the "local" feel of all the neighborhoods and lots of fun shopping!

xxoo,

Tiff

Booth Graduate

Matt is now D-O-N-E with business school! I can't believe our two years is up. Our time here has flown by! I am so proud of Matt for his HUGE accomplishment. It is not everyday you can see you went to a top 5 business school!!! We celebrated with friends on Friday night and then went to his graduation on Saturday with a nice dinner that evening. We have met so many incredible people though business school and I know that each one of us has touched our lives in a unique way. I am so blessed to have gone on this journey with Matt. CONGRATS!!

xxoo,

Tiff

Grayson OFFICIALLY Turned 1

Grayson is now officially 1....well, actually 13 months old...but who is counting in the blog world?! I think I say this every post, but it just crazy to me to see how much they develop every month (actually every week)! He is SO much fun! I always knew I would love being a mom, but I never knew it would be this much FUN! I must say, it makes it pretty easy when we have such a sweet kiddo:)

The 12 month stats:
22.5 lbs (50%)
30.25 inches (65%)
His head is big...always has been (87%). (He just has a big ole' brain in there;))

We are down to one bottle at night. Truth be told, he would be just fine without it, but I think it relaxes him and gets him "ready" for bed. Still likes the paci...again, doesn't need it but I think it soothes him. He LOVES to eat! And he really loves zucchini and peaches. Of course he loves the usual kid stuff too; who doesn't! He has been lactose intolerant, but we went ahead a tried the regular milk and he seemed okay for a few weeks but then began developing a rash on his face. We stopped the milk and it went away. So, now he is on lactaid. I prefer the organic lactose free milk...but they do not have whole milk. And I know I can try Soy...BUT that will just get me started on my soy bean seed kick...so I won't even go there:)

For his first birthday, we went the Shedd Aquarium. He LOVED it! He could have walked around the huge aquarium for hours. Other than that, we played outside and let him open a gift and have some cake. We loved celebrating our 1 year-old!!

xxoo,
Tiff

Grayson's 1st Birthday Party

Wow! How can it be that we have a one-year-old?!! Time flies when you're having fun, I guess! This past weekend we had the best time celebrating our sweet Grayson! We still cannot believe that God blessed us with this amazing gift! We love being his parents and we cannot wait to see what is in store for us in the many many years that follow:)

On Saturday, we had friends and family all gather to celebrate our Captain Grayson! His birthday was airplane themed (rightfully so...he has seriously made like 10 round trip flights since he was born... I think there are people who have not been on a plane that many times in their life, yet alone their FIRST year of life!). He is always great on airplanes, even when it is just him and his mommy traveling alone. So, hence we came to the airplane theme for our little Captain.

We had the party in our community room in our building, because our place is way too small to have a party! The room was great and the perfect size for all of those kiddos.

**Be prepared for picture overload! Also, don't judge my awesome picture taking skills...I guess that photography class never paid off in college;)

We had these adorable invites made by HH Design House! I would highly recommend her! I saw several people use her that I am friends with that do not know each other, so I thought, she must be good! And she was! I chopped off our address, but it said to meet on the "5th floor terminal" and "Reserve Your First Class Seat"

The sign when guests got off the elevator

Entry Table

Baggage Claim - stickers courtesy of HH design house, that read Thanks for Flying with Grayson. Again, I am awesome at taking pics of the details... We also had some tasty cookies that were shaped like airplanes for Karlie's Cakes.

Kid's Table - the light is just right;)

Fruit Cups and Airplane PB & J sanwiches

In Flight Beverages

Cake Table

Again, my awesome detail shots... We had white cheddar popcorn, white chocolate covered pretzels and red gum balls adorned with ribbon and labels:)

Thank you Karlie's Cakes! If you are in Chicago, you must MUST use her! She is awesome!

Balloons were a big hit with everyone! We were cutting them down left and right;)

Great neighbors!

 xoxo,

Tiff