Reds vs Cubs - Friday, May 3

On Friday May 3rd, Charlie decided to take the day off of work and bring Brady and I to the Reds vs Cubs game at Wrigley Field.  We had a rough start to this week because Brady got sent home from daycare with a stomach virus and then passed it to Katie so by Friday Katie was really ready to get out of the house and enjoy a nice afternoon...however the Windy City had another idea and decided to bring winter back.  Even though it was rainy and 40 degrees, we tried to go to the game anyways and just bundled up.  However, after 2 innings it was too cold to sit there with Brady so we walked home and watched the rest of the game on TV...lucky for us we only have to walk a short 2 blocks to get home.

On Saturday Charlie went to the game with one of his high school friends and a college buddy and the weather cooperated much better for them.  And I believe the Reds swept the Cubs that series so that made Charlie (and Brady) very happy.

Park: Wrigley Field (2nd time)
Friday, May 3, 2013

Score: Reds 6, Cubs 5

Winning Pitcher: Mike Leake

Brady's Reds record: 2-0

Brady's Home team record: 0-2

College Reunion Trip to Oxford - April 6th Weekend

April was a very big month for the Mowry household.  Brady started daycare on April 1st and within 2 days got sick.  Everyone had warned us that once you send them to daycare, they will get sick lots more but they will be building their immune system.  We were definitely not prepared for the amount of sickness though, it seemed like as soon as he got over something, he immediately got something new.  Despite the getting sick part, he does seem to like daycare though.  The first day was incredibly hard (probably more for Katie) but Brady started crying when he got dropped off (which then caused Katie to cry) but after a few days, the teachers said he warmed right up and now has a smile on his face as soon as we drop him off.  He got put on Amoxicillin that first week of April and luckily that started working so that we could still make our trip to Oxford the first weekend in April.

Thursday evening, we drove to Eaton after Charlie got home from work....another late arrival but it seems to work for Brady because he just sleeps.  Griffey was getting to stay at Grandma and Grandpa Carico's house for the weekend while the three of us went to Oxford to see Katie's college friends.  Katie was so excited for this trip because it was the first time Brady was going to meet several of her college friends and their kids.  Katie lived with 14 girls her junior and senior year in a house that they called The Labrynth and most of them have stayed in good contact.  This was our first reunion weekend with spouses and kids and we all agreed that it is definitely going to be an annual event from now on.  We had a great turn out with 18 adults and 10 kids/babies.  We stayed at the Hueston Woods lodge, which is 15 minutes outside of Oxford.  Now that a lot of us have kids, being back in Oxford was quite different from the old days.  Instead of pub crawling and getting late night food at Bagel and Deli, we went stroller crawling through campus, took the kids to Bagel and Deli for lunch and had an early dinner at 5pm at Steinkellar's.  It was quite the scene with 10 strollers marching through campus and we lined up at the Upham Arch to take lots of photos.  After our early dinner, we went back to Hueston Woods to put the kids to bed.  The girls went down to the hotel bar, Johnny Appleseed, while the husbands stayed back in one of the hotel rooms to keep an ear on the babies through baby monitors that we all brought.  Of course Johnny Appleseed was no Attractions or First Run, but we made do with the juke box playing as many of the non-country songs that we could find.  Of course, Katie would have picked the country songs, but she was out-numbered.   

Sunday morning, we all had brunch in the Lodge and then we all parted ways.  It was a wonderful weekend seeing so many of the Labrynth girls (and husbands) and introducing our kids was priceless.  

Katie is already counting down the days till next year's trip.  

St. Patrick's Day and Catching Up

I know we are really behind on this again.  Charlie has been super busy at work and Katie has been busy searching for a job and interviewing.  Most of our days and nights just revolve around Brady.  He makes us smile everyday. He is 8 months old now and still no teeth and not quite crawling.  He likes to pivot around in circles on his belly and pushes himself backwards, but still thinking about the going forward part.

We were very excited to have a babysitter for St Patrick's Day (one of the girls that Katie had interviewed back in January) and get out of the house. This year St. Patrick's Day was on a Sunday, so most people probably celebrated on Saturday, including us.   One of Charlie's fraternity brothers was having a party.  Supposedly the party is a tradition and use to start early in the morning, but now that most of us have babies, we didn't arrive until noon.  Katie made some Sausage Sauerkraut Balls for an appetizer which seemed to be a big hit.  And we stayed for about 5 hours until we had to go relieve our babysitter.  It was a lot of fun catching up with friends we have here in Chicago and meeting some new people as well.

Brady's Baptism Weekend - March 10th

The weekend of March 10th was Brady's baptism weekend in Cincinnati and we had lots of stuff planned while in Cincinnati.  

We drove down to Cincinnati on Thursday after Charlie got home from work, so we ended up arriving to Cincy around 1am, which was sort of rough for the two of us but Brady seemed just fine with it.  He slept the whole way and then of course when we got there he was wide awake and didn't want to go back to sleep.

Friday during the day Charlie worked remotely and Katie and Brady just relaxed and hung out with Grandma Leslie.  Friday evening, Leslie arranged for us to have a night out and reserved a table for us at her women's club where they were putting on an "Irish Night" with dinner and music.  She even secured 3 doctors-in-training to babysit Brady (and Griffey)....other wise known as Charlie's sister (Abby) and her 2 friends from medical college.  The 3 girls seemed to enjoy the night with Brady and Griffey and from what he heard both kids were on their best behavior.

Leslie is the president of the Cincinnati Women's Club so her and Tom had to sit at the head table and Charlie and I sat at a table with Grumpa (that's what we call Charlie's Grandfather).  The dinner was very good and they even served green beer.  Afterwords they had a men's glee club called The Friendly Sons of St Patrick perform in their big auditorium.  We enjoyed it very much and in fact it made us want to visit Ireland.

Saturday morning, Abby and Charlie woke up early to run a local 5K race that Wyoming was putting on.  Leslie and I were hoping that they would run by the house, but luckily it was only a block away.  So Leslie, Tom, Griffey, Brady and I walked over to cheer them on.  Afterwords the two runners were starving so we all went for a big breakfast at the yummy Half Day Cafe right next to Charlie's parents house.   

After the big breakfast, Katie had plans to meet 2 of her college roommates, Ali and Lisa, for lunch and pedicures.  She really enjoyed the girl time.  Meanwhile, Charlie had plans to meet up with several of his old college friends.  I'm (Katie is writing this) not quite sure what all trouble they were getting into during the day but Katie went to pick up Charlie later in the evening at a "corn-hole" tournament....which was quite the scene.  I think Charlie and his friends had high hopes of winning a couple rounds but this tournament was not for the weak.  It was technically located right on the dividing border of east/west cincinnati but since legend has it that "corn-hole" originated on the West side of Cincinnati, those west-siders take it very seriously and from what I saw, Charlie and his friends didn't stand a chance.  It seemed like they had a lot of fun anyways though.  And Brady and Griffey had plans to hang out with Grandma Leslie, Grandpa Tom and Aunt Abby. 

And then finally it was Sunday, the whole reason we came to Cincinnati.  We were quite nervous about how Brady was going to act during the baptism ceremony but he could not have been more perfect.  We got there a little early to meet with the Pastor and Brady fell asleep in Daddy's arms, which was right on cue for his morning nap anyways.  He slept thru the beginning of the church service until the first hymn when the choir members big voices woke him up.  Right after the first hymn, we were called up to the front for the baptism ceremony and he was awake the whole time and just took it all in.  The Pastor even carried him up and down the aisle to introduce him to his church family and he seemed to love smiling and greeting all the people.  After the baptism ceremony, we sat back down for the remainder of the church service and Brady got mentioned in the sermon and even babbled out right on que as if to say "amen".   This weekend reminded us of how truly blessed and thankful we are for such a healthy and happy baby and it seems with each day our love for him grows even stronger.  

Rachel's Party - Saturday February 16th

Trying to catch up with our posts to get to a really special weekend in March for Brady's baptism.  But as always, we are a little behind and have some really good picture to post with this one.  On Saturday February 16th, our good friends Rachel and Pete had a party at their downtown condo.  We were really excited for it so we scheduled one of our babysitters and planned to have a little night out.  However, a few days before the party our babysitter cancelled and we couldn't find a replacement so Brady got to go to the party and see his buddy Eli.  Unfortunately for the babies, since the party was in the evening, they were both going to bed at different times and didn't really even get to hang out.  We were smart enough to not put both babies in the same room so they wouldn't wake each other up, so Brady slept in Rach and Pete's master bedroom in a pack-n-play and Eli was in his room.  Rach and Pete even had a dual camera monitor that we could watch both babies.  It was a lot of fun hanging out with Rach and Pete and meeting some of their friends.  

Here is a picture of Brady all dressed up for the party (he was probably only awake for a total of 20 minutes before he got changed into his pajamas).

 Love him so much in this outfit, he looks like such a little man.  

Play-dates and Waiting for Spring

It is amazing how time is flying by while I have been out of work.  Being a temporary stay-at-home mom has definitely been fun and a lot busier that I thought it would be.  The weather hasn't been too bad this winter for our first one in Chicago, but I am definitely ready for Spring so that I can get the stroller back out and go on walks with Brady and Griffey.  Poor Griffey is not a fan of the cold weather and snow and has even put on an extra pound because he hasn't gotten much exercise this winter.  However, until the snow melts and the weather gets warmer, we have been finding plenty of things to do indoors.

In January, I tried a Mommy and Baby yoga class which was sort of fun.  It wasn't quite what I expected though because I thought they would teach us yoga moves to do with the babies but the babies just laid on the floor in front of us while the instructor guided us through yoga with babies crying and rolling all over the place and mom's chasing after them...not exactly relaxing.  Brady thought it was fun to scream excitedly all through the class at the baby next to us, so we havn't been back and now that he has started rolling all over...I think I can forget about mommy and baby yoga.   

Chicago also has all sorts of great indoor place spaces for babies/kids, which will be even better once Brady starts walking.  One of the places that I found that I like the best is called "The Little Beans Cafe" which is kind of like a Panera Bread with a large living room area filled with toys for babies and toddlers.  

And we are signed up to start Mommy and Baby swim class this month with my friend Rachel and her baby Eli.   

Another thing that has been fun this winter, has been planning play dates with several of our friends who have babies close to Brady's age.  Brady is already becoming a social butterfly and seems to love seeing and interacting with other babies, which is so much fun to watch.  

Here are some pictures from our play dates and just having fun this winter.

(All bundled up for our lunch date with Rachel's baby Eli)

(Brady and Bobby Gottfred, one of Charlie's fraternity brothers and old college roommate's baby who was born just 2 month after Brady) 

And just hanging out with Mommy and Daddy.

A Week in Eaton - January 28th

The week of January 28th, Charlie had to go to Denver for work and Katie decided to pack up the kids and drive to Eaton to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Carico.  Katie really enjoyed being in Eaton because it meant having lots of help with Brady and Griffey.   And Griffey especially likes their house because they have a loft where he hangs out at the top of stairs and keeps watch over the house.

On Tuesday, Katie, Sue and Brady drove down to Cincinnati to see Grandma Leslie, Aunt Abby and Grumpa.  Grandma Leslie took us over to the Cincinnati Women's Club where she is not only a member, but the President.  So we got to park in the President's parking spot and had a diaper changing meeting in the President's office.  We had a very nice lunch which included a dessert called "Gooey Butter Cake".  I'm sure Brady will love to try this some day as it was awesome.  Poor Brady had to stick with his pureed green beans and oatmeal.  Leslie took us on a tour of the beautiful building which is located in Clifton and Brady flirted with all the ladies.

On Wednesday Katie's good friend from college, Sarah, drove down from Columbus to see Brady and hang out for the day.  They had a great time catching up and Brady even fell asleep in Sarah's arms.

(ugh..why do I always blink in picutres ? I wish we would have taken another, but this was just too cute not to post even with the blinking) 

The rest of the week in Eaton was basically just spent relaxing and Katie caught up on some things and miscellaneous errands while Bob and Sue enjoyed every last minute of watching Brady. 

(Brady loves it when his Grandma Carico reads him books, especially when she makes the buzzing sound of bumble bees.  And Griffey seems to like story-time as well.) 

(Katie's Great Aunt Mary stopped over one day, so Brady got to meet his Great Great Aunt Mary.  She was very impressed at how good and happy he was.  

Griffey always stay right close to Brady when we are packing up to make sure he doesn't get left behind.