Chicago Work Conference

This May I had the opportunity to head to Chicago for a work conference. The STC conference was held right outside the city in Rosemont. The NATO summit was happening downtown Sunday and Monday and from the looks of the news it was a good thing we were outside the city. Many trains were shut down or delayed for high security searches, roads were closed and many business closed because of riots. So I spent the first days of the conference going to classes and hanging out in the hotels. Tuesday evening a coworker and I finally made it downtown. To my surprise Chicago was huge. We walked out from the train and into the city we were int he center of all the hustle and bustle.

We walked to the Weber Grill restaurant for a wonderful meal. I had chicken and ribs cooked right on a Weber grill. Yum!

Then we walked down Michigan Ave. and through the magnificent mile. this mile of street was immersed in lavish stores. Most everything was closed so we window shopped and just took it all in. Once we hit the John Hancock Center building we headed back to the train. By the time I hit the train seat I realized at 5 months pregnant I had done too much. We figured after 8 hours of classes we had walked about 6 miles. The next day I just slept until I flew out int he afternoon. It took me a few days to recover but it was worth it for the chance to see the city.I will definitely need to return to see what else i had missed.

Baby Shower

Memorial Day weekend had finally arrived and it was time for our baby shower. The event was put together by my BFF Lauren with the help of my other BFF's and family! We hopped on a plane Friday after work heading to my hometown, Portland, Oregon. We were really excited to fly back and see family and friends. This was baby MoJo's third plane trip; to Arizona in February, Chicago earlier in May, and now Portland. During baby MoJo's travels I have discovered that he does not like turbulence because it makes him squirm in my belly. Each time the poor guy seems to calm down once we land.

This trip we were staying at my Dad's new house the first evening so Robin, Malaya, and Cassandra picked us up from the airport. As we drove through the familiar streets of our old town it seemed like we had never left. A few things had changed, but not much. When we arrived at Dad's place we spent some time catching up and then headed to bed after our long day.

With a bit of sleeping in we arose to a typical Oregon morning. including overcast clouds and cold temps, which was typical this time of year and known as annual Rose Festival weather. I was home. We came down stairs to Robin cooking up some delicious cinnamon rolls while Malaya and Cassandra watched morning cartoons. As we watched TV, Matt and I realized we are really out of touch with the latest cartoons and we will be seeing more of them soon with the baby on the way. Good thing we both like cartoons!

Matt and I ran a few errands and waited for Alicia to arrive at Dad's so we could all go to the shower together. Alicia walked in at 9+ months pregnant and looked quite well considering. It was really great to see her and share the special experience of us both being pregnant at the same time. I was truly grateful for the opportunity to have something positive to help us connect more.

The baby shower was held at Christy's house; Lauren's mom. We arrived a little early along with many other guests to complete the finishing touches.

We walked in and were so pleased with all the fabulous work done for the shower with the difficult task of a Peanuts theme. Everything looked amazing from the food to the party favors, and all the little touches on the decor. Guests began to arrive and I attempted to get a photo with everyone. We really had a great turn out and we spent quite a bit of time catching up with everyone. We felt so loved and blessed with some of the most important people to us sharing and celebrating in this happy event in our lives.

Below is the amazing diaper cake my mom created and the wonderful diaper wreath that Cassandra put together.

Here is the amazing Peanut cake Elaine and Joel brought to the shower. It was an interesting red velvet cake with Snoopy's house made form rice crispies and fondant. I must mention that we did not finish the Peanuts cake throughout the weekend but we did attempted to do so by carrying the cake around with us everywhere we went.

Then it was time to open gifts. First Lauren had everyone go around the room and with an introduction including how they met Matt and I. It was sweet to hear the stories from friends and family. The topping on the cake had to be when Elaine mentioned how she met me, which lead to Joel butting in with of course inappropriate information that was definitely a show stopper. Luckily Lauren jumped in and helped move along the conversation. After we went around the room I began the present marathon. We received a lot of clothes, handmade items including an amazing crib set from my mom, baby safety items, and tons of burp clothes and blankets. It was a great start for baby MoJo.

Lauren put together some fun games for us to play. A fun trivia game, a word puzzle, and guess what type of poopy looking food is in the diaper game. The diaper game was great and interactive. Matt and I had to guess the surprise items lurking in the depths of some diapers. Matt even took a bite of a mystery item from one diaper. It was disgusting and fun!

We were staying at Lauren's that evening so after we cleaned up the shower Elaine, Joel, Lauren, Chelsea, Matt and I headed over to Lauren's for a few to drop off our stuff and head to Big Al's fun center. When we arrived Chelsea had to sadly leave for a family emergency so we said our good byes and headed to the game center. We spent some quality time catching up over dinner and played at least 15 games of the Fast and Furious car game. We were exhausted after a long day so we headed to bed.

The next morning Melissa and I were off to enjoy my shower gift from her with a fabulous spa morning in Portland including massages. Boy was that needed. It was great to have some one-on-one time to catch up on life and relax together. Afterward I headed to my Dad's for homemade Brazilian pot pie made by the one and only Mariana. Lauren joined us for lunch and we had nice time kicking back with a delicious meal. Meanwhile, we discovered that Alicia had headed to the hospital that morning due to liver issues. The doctors had decided to induce labor. We were all hoping she would have Caius soon so we could meet him.

After lunch we went for a walk and then headed to Joel and Elaine's pizza party. It was like old times but Joel's place looked much cleaner and had a nice woman's touch thanks to Elaine. And amazingly after at least five years of the ongoing project, Joel had completed the pizza oven and we were able to enjoy delicious homemade fire oven pizzas from Joel's Backyard Oven. I was so tired I took a nap during the event and returned to the party for a game called Things. Oddly the party ended at about 11pm which really means we are all getting too old to stay up late, and I returned to my Dad's while Matt stayed with Joel.

I arrived at my Dad's about midnight and Robin was headed to the hospital to help Alicia through her labor. I finally fell asleep when the next thing I knew it was 6 am and I was wide awake. I think I was anxious for Alicia and hoping the baby would come soon. A few hours later my Dad came home from work and we spent some one-on-one time chatting about life and catching up. Dad made me hot chocolate, special with extra froth, just like he did when I was a kid. It was so wonderful. After we figured Alicia was not going to have her baby yet, Dad drove me to Joel's to hang out until we were off to the airport. It was nice to relax and even take a nap before the trek home. It was so nice to be home and share with everyone my pregnant state but it was also nice to sleep our own bed. It took us about a week to catch up on our sleep. The day after we left Alicia finally had Caius after 48 hours of labor. What a weekend. It was all true JJ fashion being non-stop and everything. Can't wait to share with all of our family and friends pictures of baby MoJo when he is born!