What the Hell Does That Mean?

So I fainted this weekend. For those of you who are Facebook friends or who follow me on Twitter, I've upgraded it from "almost fainted" to "fainted" after trying to describe it to my husband and realizing I can't account for several minutes and am not really sure what happened. Here's what I do know.

I didn't eat much on Saturday but I DID eat. I've gotten faint before from not eating but I wasn't hungry at all right before this happened. In fact, I had a spoonful of peanut butter about an hour before the incident that would raise anyones blood sugar. And I was drinking water so I don't think I was dehydrated. I didn't drink the night before either (I've become light headed the day after drinking).

We were waiting in line at an extremely popular hot dog restaurant and had been in line for about 45 min. It was very sunny but not particularly hot outside. All of a sudden, I felt a little, shall we say, intestinal distress. A few minutes later I felt nauseous, hot, sweaty and dizzy. I decided to make my way inside to the bathroom. I was pushing my way through the line, excusing myself, my vision getting blurry, when I...I don't know. I couldn't see anything, although I'm sure my eyes were open. I think I sat down or leaned on something. Some guys helped me. I don't know their names but they were so nice. They got me to their table, brought me water, found my husband, even offered me some of their fries. It was a terrifying experience made worse by the fact that I have no idea what happened, what caused this or what I should do. I'm debating whether or not I should see a doctor.

I think one of the worst parts is that I didn't even get my hot dog. And they have good hot dogs.

Ava Update

It seems we've had a flurry of motor skill development over the last month or so.

Ava has been crawling.

And feeding herself (just starting finger food, I don't trust her with a spoon yet).

And pulling herself up.

She knows where her toys are.

And sometimes, she naps.

Who Brought the Cool Kid?

I admit it. I am socially awkward. I never know the right thing to say and usually end up putting my foot in my mouth and saying something regrettable. Like tonight...

We just got back from a friend's BBQ. While there I saw a friend of my friend, who I had met several times. I was saying hi to her and she introduced me to her husband, her sister in law, her brother and their kids, one of whom was named Cole. I thought she said Cora. Which is my dog's name. To which I said, "Is your kid's name Cora? Oh, it's Cole? I thought you said Cora. Cora is my dog's name. And, you know, since my name is Bailey, I'm always think it's cool when someone has the same name as my dog, so um..ha ha, I'm going to go back outside now". By the way, no one has the same name as my dog, unless they are 90.

So the mystery has been solved. Who brought the cool kid? My husband did. And I don't mean Ava.

Maybe it is Time to Leave

Every city has it's fair share of weirdos. We encountered a couple of Chicago's today.

We went out for a walk before lunch to take advantage of the sunshine. We walked up through our neighborhood, to the park and grocery store and back home. Nothing too out of the ordinary, just saw your standard odd ducks that you see when you're out walking with both a baby and a dog.

When we were almost home, a woman and her daughter asked if they could say hi to our dog and to our baby. They stopped to pet our dog and coo at Ava. And then the woman looked right at Ava and said, "I bet you're glad to be out of your mom in time for summer, aren't you?". Which, what the what?

As we continued on home, I looked and Fredo and said that maybe I was over all of the Chicago weirdos and that we give the Minnesota weirdos a try.

Uninspired

I've got nothing... really, nothing.

I feel like I'm in a bit of a funk these past couple of days. Fredo's out of town, leaving me alone with Ava, who has been, I hate to say it, a bit of a jerk lately. She's still sleeping at night, which, thank GOD but naps have sucked. She goes down and sleeps for between 20 and 40 minutes. That has not left me enough time for anything. I hosted a play date today and spent the past two days cleaning the apartment. It shouldn't take that long but I've had to squeeze in bits and pieces here and there while Ava was in her crib taking a faux nap or in her exer saucer thing or after she went to bed. This has led me to broach the subject of getting a cleaning person once or twice a month when we go to MN. I mean, it's only going to get harder to find the time the more active she gets, right?

Ugh.. I just, I don't know. I'm just out of sorts. I lost one of the stones from my wedding band yesterday. My grandmother fell last week and broke her pelvis and my mom is down in FL helping her. This impending move is looming over my head. I can't leave the room without Ava screaming and crying. I've just got a lot going on that's all sucky, frankly and I'm trying to not let it get me down but I just feel...sad.

I'm just having an off day, I guess.

Conversations With Myself

Sometimes I talk to myself. Like I have full blown conversations with myself. It's like I'm talking to my husband but I never give him a chance to answer, instead playing out both sides. Examples? You got it.

A few weeks ago we were watching HGTV. It was probably Design on a Dime or Designed to Sell, something like that. Anyway, it always bothers me when they spray paint the appliances. I don't know why but it does. Here's the resulting conversation.

Me: I hate when they spray paint the appliances..... Someday that paint is going to flake off of that refrigerator and the new owners are going to be piiisssed.... But I guess by the time that happens, you would be long gone.... Sorry suckers.

Meanwhile, Fredo is just staring at me, quizzically, trying not to laugh....until the very end when he laughs in my face.

Then last night, Fredo turned on Gone Baby Gone.

Fredo: I didn't know Ben Affleck directed this.

Me: Oh yeah. He's not completely talentless.... No, he's got a little bit of talent... His Keith Olberman impression on SNL was good...No, it's a good movie. He is talented.

Again, Fredo just stared while I debated the Ben Affleck/talent issue...with myself. And then he laughed at me.

But I guess that's what happens when you talk to someone who can't speak yet all day, although I'm pretty sure I was doing this before I had Ava.

Mother's Day

I had a fantastic first Mother's Day. The celebrating lasted for days, which is exactly how I like all special occasions to go.

Saturday morning I got out for a pedicure sans baby. An hour of relaxing by myself with Pretty in Plaid was so lovely, I'm going to try to make that a monthly occurance. When I got home, my husband was cleaning the house! I took Ava into our bedroom while he mopped the floors and she fell alseep...on our bed. That has never happened before but why fight it? I took a nap too.

Naptime

On Sunday we went to Ava's first White Sox game. We took my mom and her boyfriend with us and had a great time. You will just have to trust me on this one because while I thought I had successfully transferred the pics to the computer, I was wrong. I deleted them off of the camera before checking the computer so those pictures are lost and gone forever. So sad.

Monday night, I celebrated Mother's Day with the other new moms in my life. We had a great sushi dinner.

With such a great Mother's Day, I'm going to have to figure out what to do for Fredo for Father's Day. I think I'm going to get him a Flip video camera. I got him a card at Target the other day but come to think of it, I have no idea what I did with it.

90 is the New 365

So remember earlier this month when I wrote a post about how I only had one more year left in Chicago? Turns out I only have 3 months.

It was sprung on me last week that we need to be out in Minnesota earlier than next May. We have several trips planned this summer so the absolute earliest we can go is August. So...we're going in August. Maybe it'll get pushed to October if we can't find an apartment for August but either way we're going soon.

We're probably going to go look for places sometime next month. I'm dreading packing up this apartment and all of the complications that go along with moving. I'm just dreading the whole thing, really.

She Crawls

Ava has been crawling for about a week now and gets better at it every day. She never army crawled, just went straight for pushing herself up on her knees. She crawls forward and backwards and can even get herself back into a sitting position from her knees.

So far, she hasn't figured out that this crawling thing could get her around the apartment. Right now, crawling is just for getting that toy, that dirty tissue mommy hasn't gotten up to throw out yet or the border of the play mat. She is always going for the border pieces. The other day I turned my back for a minute and she had crawled to the border, stole a piece, crawled back to the other side and sat up, chewing on the contraband.

The few times she has ventured off of the play mat have served as reminders to me that I need to vacuum more often. I think I should attach Swiffer sheets to her and let her clean for me. Yeah, I'm going to put my 7 month old to work.

Sometimes she gets herself stuck. Under furniture.

Preparing to LMAO

Guess what comes out today? Jen Lancaster's new book, Pretty in Plaid! My copy has supposedly left the Amazon facility in KY and is on its way now. Her previous books are laugh out loud funny, like don't read this book in public because you will laugh and people will look at you like you are crazy funny. I'm sure PIP will not disappoint.

The timing could not be better. I plan to enjoy my mother's day pedicure while reading this book on Saturday. Can't wait.

I encourage everyone to get on Amazon or go to the store and pick up Pretty in Plaid.

This concludes my shameless plug.

Ladies Who Lunch

I have to say, when I found out I was pregnant and knew I would be staying home, I was a little worried about what I would do all day and who I would hang out with. I have been pretty lucky. I've made some very good friends in a short amount of time.

Today was nice and warm so Ava and I met 2 friends for lunch. We did a little walking and settled into a neighborhood bar with great food and an even better patio. Lunch, babies and a few beers, what could be better?

I'm so glad I've met the ladies I have. We all met through a play group on meetup.com. It's like internet dating for moms and thank goodness we've met more cool moms than duds.

Beginning of the End

So, we're moving to Minneapolis in a year. I've known about it for awhile but today marks the start of my last year in Chicago. I love it here and am not excited at all to move.

I've lived in Chicago for the past 11 years and consider it my home. I finished high school here, went to college here, my mom lives here as do the majority of my friends. I just made a bunch of new mom friends and in a year I'm going to have to do that all over again. As long as I've lived here, there is a lot of stuff in the city I haven't done, like visited the majority of our museums. I'll have to do all of that stuff over the course of the next 12 months.

We're going for my husband's job and since my job of being a mom doesn't come with enough, um..any income, there's really no other option but to move.

We're going up to Minneapolis in July to look at a bunch of neighborhoods/suburbs. We're thinking we'll be renting for at least the first year to get to know the area better before buying our first home. And since we'll be the parents of an 18 month old when we get there, we're looking for apartment complexes with some amenities, like a pool and/or a playground on site.

We're considering St. Louis Park, Edina and Eden Prairie since my husband's company is in Eden Prairie.

Minnesotans, any advice? Oh yeah, and will you be my friend in real life when I get there?