It (was) Christmas time in the city....

We were super excited about Christmas. It was going to be in Chicago, our favorite city, and we've never spent Christmas there.

We were going to be with Isaac's family. We were going to meet a brand new cousin of Judah's that was born on his one-year birthday. We were going to meet another cousin, four days younger than Judah, that he'd never met before. And we were going to be together for Christmas, the first time in two years that the family has been together.

All in all, lots of excitement. I raced home from work on the afternoon we were leaving, helped grab all our bags, and fastened Judah in his car seat. We were pretty worried about how he'd handle a two-day road trip, especially after Isaac told me he'd slept a lot that day. I was just picturing him being up and ready to play and thus frustrated the entire evening drive.

Not so much. Judah slept that whole drive too. And then when I got him out of the car at 1am to go in to our hotel room, he was burning up with fever. Crap. Judah had been through teething the whole month and a half before that, but he'd never been truly sick. That night he was up and down and miserable. I was hoping it was a cold and it would pass, and we decided to count the silver lining and be thankful for the fact that he slept most of the next day on the road too.

That first night in Chicago Judah was coughing and grumpy, but he was still up walking around. Every day after that he got sicker and sicker. Much of Christmas was spent like this:


He actually would get up, walk a few steps, and then lay down on the ground.
 Poor kiddo! It got pretty bad, more on that in another post on what I've learned about taking care of a sick kid!  This was Judah on Christmas a year ago, so the Christmas track record isn't looking good!


I was pretty sad about that, because we so wanted to have him get to know his grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousin, and they him. Especially when we never get to see each other.

But, what are you going to do? There were a few moments when the little cousins played together, and it was fun to see. They are the same height but different proportions.


Judah would smile at Dempsy, Dempsy would come to play and reach for Judah's face, Judah would shake his head and gasp in an attempt to get away from the fingers in his face, and then the cycle would repeat all over again.



And there was a hilarious moment on Christmas day when Mom and Dad directed a little Christmas play complete with costumes. It was so comical because Judah was the star above the stable..... and he was not exactly very shiny. More like.... miserable.

Isaac filled in the sentiment with a growly smoker's voice.... "Twinkle, twinkle."

And then Dempsy was in hilarious donkey...uhh... camel costume, which confused him to no end.


And the baby in the manger was too busy nursing to come out and act the part. In the end, the kiddos were entirely out of it, and us adults were in fits of laughter.

It was good, most of all, to be with family.

We spent hours talking about these cards (highly recommended for table conversations with friends or married family members). We lounged around and soooo appreciated Alysa and Jack letting us stay at their house while they were gone. We ate at Panang, a college favorite (where the daughter of the owner that I remember coloring at a corner table was now MY SERVER and I felt old). We walked on Michigan Ave and Clark street and enjoyed the gorgeous Christmas lights . We slightly less enjoyed the freezing weather and packed Zoo Lights display at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

And the Grandkids just loved their Grandparents. You can tell.

I love that picture. LOVE it. Love Dempsy's glare. Getting a decent shot of three babies was a comedy of errors.

I think my lesson learned over the past few months is that I just have to let go of my expectations for my son interacting with family. Whatever happens happens, and I'll be thankful for what I get!