Chicago and a baby!

 

 I'm not one to go on a trip without my kids in tow. I've rarely been away from them more than a night. BUT - my sister Megan was about to give birth to her fourth child... I hadn't seen her in so long, I haven't been able to be there for my sisters at any of their other births, and I we just got our tax return... ;)
So I presented my argument to my husband. And he lovingly said that I could go (after I promised to take care of all the details, told him how important it was to me, and begged a little).
So with kids schedules taken care of, meals planned, and totally AWESOME friends willing to watch the kids until Brian got home from work- I bought my plane tickets.
A little back story- Megan was going to have her baby naturally and I was planning on going to see her two weeks before her due date. But I just knew that she would have the baby while I was there! Everyone kept asking me (even Megan) but what if she doesn't have the baby while you're there??? I assured everyone that even if she didn't, that Megan and I love hanging out together and that we'd finish tons of projects and I give her back rubs- still a total win! Secretly, though, I knew she'd have the baby while I was there.
I caught a late flight out of Dallas. It wasn't until I got to the airport that I realized just how much I was going to miss Brian and the kids. It hit me kind of hard as they dropped me off. I kissed and kissed them and then headed off on my adventure.
The flight was lovely (I was nauseous as usual on the plane). I sat next to a Pastor from Naperville named Dave Ferguson. We chatted about kids, family, religion and politics.  I enjoyed every minute of it! I think I talked his ear off. After landing, and not throwing up, I was delighted to be in Chicago! But I forgot how long each of the terminals are- my legs were burning by the time I got to the front to be picked up. Meg was there waiting for me! She is so pretty pregnant.
We hung out, finished projects- checked them off of her mega-nesting list (yowser that thing was huge!), and talked and talked...And loved on Linky, JJ and Hazel of course.

Thursday night I got to meet up with some of my favorite gals from high school.  I hadn't seen them in years and years. I sure love them. Now we are "grown up" it's amazing how much closer you can be just through gaining similar life experience (husbands, jobs, bills, kids, mortgages) and I wish we could've had a sleep-over so we could've talked all night. I love those girls.

Friday was especially eventful. We went to Home Depot to buy a new toilet- it was cold and rainy, so of course the minivan wouldn't start. Jeff came to save us, but we just couldn't jump the van. We went home and organized, sewed, and cleaned... And Meg started having a lot more regular contractions. So by midnight she packed her bags and we headed off to the hospital.

It was so awesome to be there for the birth. Megan was amazing. Louisa was born on Saturday morning, she was perfect.

I got to spend the next two days with Megan at the hospital. We mostly just stared at Louisa, slept and talked. Seriously the best vacation ever!

Since Megan came home on Sunday, I had an extra hang-out day before I had to head home. Yay! So I packed Linky and JJ into the car and headed out to Sycamore to visit one of my favorite places- Ollies (I love you custard ice cream).

Tuesday I headed home. 
I had the best time.