Chicago Moms Blog

Summer in the City

Would it be shocking if I confessed that until this month I'd never been to Millennium Park or the Sears Tower? 

Its true.  They say that if you visit someplace for a week, you'll see everything; for a month, you'll see a lot.  But live there?  You'll never get around to doing anything.  In our defense, we actually live and work in the western suburbs, and getting into the city is a time consuming and expensive adventure.  I've done plenty in Chicago - the museums, the zoos, the aquarium, the parks, the lake, the river, the baseball, the restaurants, the shows.  But somehow Millennium Park and Sears tower just never made it on the schedule.

Confession: I Have Never Pumped

Most people would assume that in the combined total of four and a half years that I've breastfed my children, I would have done some serious pumping in my day. But, I've never even once pumped. I don't even own a pump. And truthfully, those pump things kinda scare me.

I've always just kept my babies and toddlers close by, and since I stay at home, I have found that it's just easier (lazier?) to put them to the breast than offer a bottle. And bottles... we've never owned one of those either. Sometimes I've thought it would be very wise to at least keep some formula and a bottle here for an emergency, but I just have never done it. Thankfully we've never had a crisis come up. But anyway- back to this pump thing. I'm not asking for a pat on the back because I've never needed one. I am actually in awe of those of you that do pump day in and day out. Now that is devotion. And the things I hear that your pump says to you while you do it... this fascinates me.

Boo, Lollapalooza

This weekend my family had grand plans to celebrate my Mom's birthday downtown, going to our favorite spots and letting the kids run around Millennium Park and Buckingham Fountain and all that jazz. I mentioned this to someone at BlogHer last week and they gently reminded me that, um, this weekend is Lollapalooza. Ugh.

Am I officially a granny now? All thirty-one years of me? Sure- if I had tickets and no kids I'd be super excited to attend that huge music fest (hello, Radiohead!) And yeah, they do offer a great option for those with kids at Kidzapalooza. That Perry Farrell is a genius and once, many years ago, I met him and he was super nice and he also wanted to trade pants with me- but that's a story for another time.

I brought my babies to Lollapalooza

Just because you can bring your kids to Lollapalooza doesn't mean you should. Yes, there is Kidzapalooza and it is wonderful (more on that in a minute), but you don't need 75,000 grungy boys and bikini-topped babes in 90 degree heat before 8 stages of very loud music and row after row of ripe-smelling port-a-potties to expose your kids to your favorite music.

Here's what we loved (all free):
- Body painting "tattooz" and freshly silk-screened t-shirts and tote bags by artists from Small Paul.
- Playing with the real rock band instruments in the School of Rock Petting Zoo
- Designing a CD cover with the nice folks from Crazy Kids Chicago and Art & Soul
- The Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars. I didn't spy any pre-pubescent guitar protegies, but the world-touring band of teens did some great covers of rock and roll classics.

Here's what we hated:

Aaaaaaar! Pirate Talk

Yar! I need me grog!  What, you don’t talk pirate?  Ok, in plain English – Yes, I need some alcohol-after-a-whole-hour-with-a-bunch-of–bratty-kids…er... I mean pirates.

That aaar became more like an aaaargh.  Today I took my boys to see Emerald Theatre Production's “How I Became A Pirate” musical based on the book and I have to remind myself next year to hold off on kid theatre shows until fall.  I'm an avid musical theatre fan so my kids naturally enjoy it because they have been seeing shows since they were wee ones.  We frequent a lot of children’s company production shows all over Chicagoland and even threw my son a big birthday party inviting his entire preschool class and family to watch Disney's Aladdin the musical. My boys couldn't stop talking about it, and it shows how much our kids love live theatre. But I just realized that this was the first time we actually went during summer. And after today, we will never do that as a "summer-thing-to-do" again. Ever!

Stevie, it's a Wonder we made it at all

Call me crazy. My husband and I buckled our two girls, 11 months and 3 1/2 years old, into a stroller and Blue Lined it into the city Saturday evening for the free Stevie Wonder concert at the Taste of Chicago.

It was a mob scene. Wall to wall people so crammed together the crowd actually stopped moving. The lines for food tickets were 30 deep. The air was rich with the aromas of cooking oil, barbecue, port-a-potties and bug repellent. I knew we'd left yuppie-ville behind when I heard the tenth person comment with wonder on our Phil & Teds stroller. They're as common as squirrels in Oak Park.

I was pressed flesh-to-flesh against the rest of humanity. My oldest whined, "I'm thirsty. Where's Stevie?"  My youngest threw her paci into the abyss and started screaming. A woman in the crowd quipped, "That baby wants to get the f*&k out of here too!"

Art Is For Your Heart

I'll never forget the time my brother and I watched an episode of The Muppet Babies where they made an art museum in their nursery. For the rest of the day we drew and colored and hung our artwork all over the playroom, inviting Mom & Dad to see only after we'd covered every inch of the walls.

My brother went on to attend art school many, many years later. And I went on to pursue theatre in Chicago, paying rent by working in the Art Institute's Museum Shop selling books and posters and eventually working through one of the most successful and largest Monet exhibits of all time. Possibly the longest hours I'd ever worked, but probably my favorite and most interesting place I'd ever work. I was trained by Ed Harris' dad, and my new fascinating co-workers took me to courtyard parties, dinners with hummus, and through the musty paperbacked shelves of Powell's Books. We ate cheese sandwiches on our lunch break at the School of the Art Institute's cafeteria and walked through the Hall of Armor at night, with all the lights off, chills up our spines the entire time. (I swear one time I saw blood on the floor.)

They Look Good On You

Babywearing is all the rage lately- whether you're a new Mom, celeb Mom, or an old pro. Many parents wear their babies to keep them close, some wear them out of convenience, and others just need to keep track of all their kids. I tend to fall in, um, all those categories.

It's quite fashionable to wear your baby as an accessory- so many stylish slings, wraps, and carriers are available now in boutiques and online. More kids and smaller cars leave little room for bulky strollers, but a sling can be taken anywhere. And if you're breastfeeding on the go, wearing baby is the best way I've found to be discreet and get the job done. I have heard from many parents, however, that they have tried to wear their baby but they "just didn't get it." They can't figure out just how to use their carrier or haven't found one that really works for them.

Dressing The Bumps And Bruises

The hubs and I are attending the Wings Of Hope Benefit next Friday at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in honor of the American Epilepsy Outreach Foundation. The E word. Not something very popular or comfortable to talk about, but Epilepsy is real and more common than you may know. We went through the darkest of times when our son was diagnosed just over 4 years ago. Thankfully and miraculously, our son is seizure-free and medication-free now, and we are honored to wear Noah's success as a badge and share his story, one that continues to bring hope to parents wishing the same for their child. This benefit is sure to be emotional and uplifting and will not only raise awareness (with special speaker Hunter Tylo and People Magazine in attendance), but from the proceeds will also provide educational initiatives and support programs to those living with Epilepsy. And this event also has this preggy Mama wondering just what am I going to wear?

Extremely honored to be able to attend such a special night, I want to look my best. I am the face of a mother that has been through watching her child have 200 seizures a day. I saw him drift away before my very eyes and drift back and drift away again. And now I have him back for good. I want to show everyone what a survivor looks like. I didn't end up a haggardly mess rocking myself in a corner (as I seriously thought just might happen.) I made it. I'm not saying that I'm totally together, but I think I have been able to move on with life. And even if we still had the seizures as part of our everyday, we would still go on living. Life- it has this incredible ability to keep going on with or without us.

Where does our garbage go?

When my boys were little, garbage collection day was always a cause for celebration. The big, noisy yellow truck so close to our house was too much for them to resist. We'd stop whatever we were doing in order to run outside and greet the garbage men and watch our trash disappear into the truck. Oh, the excitement!

This Saturday, May 31, we'll celebrate trash in a more formal way. We'll get a first hand view of what happens to our garbage when it's not being used to build sledding hills in the local parks. It's one party that destined to leave us down in the dumps. You see, SWANCC, the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County is hosting its 20th annual Open House at the Glenview Transfer Station.