We got about 7 requests to go back on the car ride home. Maybe we’ll work on our toe loops next time…

Speaking of updates, the whole fam has recently moved to Chicago! It’s been a long time coming as about 6 months ago I accepted a position with a large design firm in Chicago. It was a difficult decision to leave South Bend and put our house on the market but it was time. So, when the opportunity presented itself we made the move! Well, I made the move. After a lot of logistical figuring, we decided the best way to transition while trying to sell the house was for me to live in Chicago during the week and be back home on the weekends. We guessed (and mostly hoped) that a four month sublet would be enough time to deal the house and get everyone back together full-time. We were pretty close; we closed on our house a week before my lease in Chicago was up.

Those four months in Chicago were tough, no matter how much we relied on iChat video calls. I hated missing all the story time at night and my bath time skills totally suck now. But, if being a military brat taught me one thing, it’s that all the crazy moves make for great adventure. Which is pretty much what we have now. When we started looking for a place to rent—we’re done with the homeowner thing for a while—we thought it would be fun to try out the urban lifestyle. We’ve never done it and figured it would be a great experience for the kids. So, we’re currently being adventurous in our two bedroom, one bath loft in downtown Chicago. A bit different from our ranch in the burbs with a (once in a lifetime) circle driveway, but after being in the space for a few weeks, we can truly say that we’re enjoying it. The girls are stacked, err…, cozy in the master bedroom (Suzi and I obviously took the smaller room) and are enjoying the wide open space in the loft. For me, work is a bike ride or L ride down the street.

So, come visit us in Chicago! We can recommend some great hotels. Seriously though, Suzi will resume the more entertaining posts in the very near future. She’s had this on my honey-do list for a while and I suspect there are some good pics and videos queued up.

Hope everyone is well. Give us a shout and let us know what’s going on in your neck of the woods!

Which would be finding a My Little Pony sticker in your underwear. *sigh*

Speaking of, maybe it’s experience and/or expectations, but we seem to be doing OK in that department. Suzi is taking the brunt of it, but Quinn feeds two or three times a night, without any fuss or commotion. Not bad.

We also got her home in time for college football! We’ve been looking forward to the season and I think the girls feed off the excitement a little bit. Suzi dressing the girls up in Notre Dame shirts on gameday probably adds to it as well. Check out the pics of Sloane holding a football. Hope everyone is doing well!

So, during this, our third pregnancy, we naturally had some expectations about how things would go and what to make of contractions, etc. We tempered it with a bit of, “well, you never know… just because the first two came early, it doesn’t mean the third will.” And in the end, well, it’s true that you really never know.

Sloane came two weeks early. Reese was induced two weeks early, although she was definitely ready for the party. We expected something similar again, and sure enough, Suzi was a few centimeters dilated about two weeks out. But we crossed over into week 39 with only the occasional contraction. Then, suddenly, her contractions hit pretty hard on Saturday night. She labored a bit that evening, and suddenly felt it was time to get a professional opinion. She dragged me out of bed at midnight and we were off! So much for the casual daytime drive to the hospital like the first two. Thankfully, my Mom decided to come in town a bit early so we were fully prepared for something like this. She’s been a huge help and the girls have l-o-v-e-d having her keep them occupied.

Upon arrival, Suzi already measured 8 cm., crazy! Very different from laboring at home with Sloane for over two days before feeling any urgency. The delivery, however, was the one consistent thread; it went extremely quick. The doc checked on her 30 minutes later and she was 9.5. After 15 minutes, she was nearly 10 and ready to push. After two contractions, we were with baby! Suzi was amazing and Quinn was a trooper. She gave a little squeak on the way out, but is spending her first 24 hours completely racked.

Sloane and Reese have been totally geeked about the prospect of a new baby sister on the way. Sloane has been asking Suzi nearly every day how many weeks until the baby comes. Of course, she doesn’t have a real solid concept of a “week,” but the one week countdown seemed pretty intense for her. They were surprised when Mom wasn’t home on Sunday morning and loved meeting their new sister a few hours later. It’s all in the pics!

We’re looking forward to getting home soon and having all the girls together. We’ll get some homecoming pics up soon.

Well, that wasn’t working so she resorted to the tactic that we all use with our children when we mean business and yelled out, “Squirrel Catherine!”

And now she knows how we feel, because that didn’t work either.

So, here we are! Suzi is 20 weeks along and we had our sonogram about a week ago. She’s generally felt pretty good and not much different from the last two pregnancies. Here’s hoping that things continue to go well and everyone is healthy on the other end; we know everyone will be happy.

We hadn’t told anyone yet (except for our friends in South Bend to whom it was clear as day, or as obvious as a 19 week pregnancy belly, you get the idea), and decided to surprise family when we knew the sex. Yeah, my mom didn’t even blink. It was like we told her the sun was shining. Like I said, there really wasn’t any way for us to surprise anybody with this one.

Hope everyone is enjoying the budding springtime!