Meet the Fullers

Jack is still a delight-he's 17 months old (almost) now, and walking, running, talking, and generally being a lovely little man, when he's not exhibiting toddler tendencies. Since last we checked in, John's gotten a new job as a User Experience Consultant with Endeca and has been there since August.

July was a whirlwind. We had a lovely Door County vacation with John's family the first week of July, and celebrated the Fourth of July there as well. Jack came down with Roseola the third week of July, keeping us mostly at home trying to work and take care of him. Meanwhile, John was interviewing for his new position; there was, for a brief time, a proposed methadone clinic in our neighborhood that had us a bit worried; we attended an engagement party in Rockford for our friend Amy and her (now) husband Rob that Jack and John sadly had to stay away from, as Jack was contagious. The end of July was crazy busy at work for me with a new client and a couple of dinners out with girlfriends I hadn't seen in a while.

August started with a trip to Racine for a surprise birthday party for my Step-Dad, Rich. We got him! John, Jack and I crashed at the hotel and got some much needed rest after a long week. We had a nice weekend at the boat, and Aunt Beth got to meet Jack finally! Then we hosted John's parents for a week while John was off between jobs-they helped us do all kinds of projects around the house, even hooking their SUV up to the crappy yews we had by the side of the house and ripping them out. They helped John replant the bed, and generally organize the garden. Plus they had a nice visit with Jack. We really appreciated all their help! The following weekend, my Dad came to visit, and we took him to the zoo so he could see Jack ooh and ahh over all the "doggies" (he at that time called all the animals doggies; his favorite "doggies" were the dolphins...he loves the underwater viewing!) John started his job mid-month--he's finally in the Loop for the first time, and loving it. He can take the Metra with me now, and so we developed a new routine of walking Jack to daycare, then riding the train together. Saved us a lot on gas, and it's a much shorter commute for John now. We attended a huge end-of-summer BBQ at the Tomlinson's and actually managed to close out the party with the Goodnights, while Jack slept in his awesome baby tent. The last week of August I had a big end-of-summer party for work, where I won an awesome painted set of cornhole boards with Obama and McCain in KISS makeup on them (handy, as John's new company loves them some cornhole--so he can practice now). And then we had a three/four day weekend (I had Friday off as well) for Labor day. We took it easy around B-town, and had a BBQ with the Goodnights and Tomlinsons to cap off the weekend.

The beginning of September was our fifth wedding anniversary; my parents came into town and took Jack to Salerno's for dinner while John and I got dressed up and had a lovely date at Emilio's. We took them to the zoo the next day (we have a membership, courtesy of my parents, and like to pop in pretty regularly). Jack has been in swim lessons continuously since he was 7 months old; September saw us continuing the swimming every Saturday. He doesn't seem to love it lately, but we hope that eventually he'll enjoy them more. We bought a new bike trailer and had a couple of nice bike rides in September in our new Burley Bee. Jack seemed to really enjoy it! Mid-month, we got flooded in the terrible storms we had here in Chicago--our basement was flooding up through the cracks in the floor. John spent two days shop-vac-ing the basement and pumping out water. Luckily, by the following weekend we had a beautiful day for John's birthday BBQ; we had a bunch of friends out for a sunny afternoon of cornhole and grilling. John got a new iPhone for his birthday-he loves it! We also had a nice dinner in Brookfield at Trattoria Gemmeli's on John's birthday.

We started October with a trip to see John's parents for a belated birthday celebration. We had a nice drive to Peoria as the colors were just beginning to change. We got a little shopping in and then had a lovely dinner with his parents. Jack enjoyed running around Grammy and Grandpa's yard, and looking out their kitchen window at the birds. We had couple of weekends working on the house: the latest project is the back hallway, which is almost done. Hopefully by Christmas! Sadly, the weekend of the 11th/12th we had to return our cat, Sampson, to the shelter we adopted him from. He had serious litter box problems for the last three years that we couldn't handle anymore. Bye, sweet Sammy--we loved you very much. We turned the trip to Kenosha into a slightly more positive experience by doing some of the things we've always wanted to do nearby--touring the Jelly Belly distribution center, visiting Apple Holler (although we didn't stay long, and won't be back--it's no Edward's Apple Orchard) and having lunch at Little Europe. The sausages and kraut were fabulous!

The weekend of the 18th/19th we went to Rockford to celebrate my Mom's birthday. We had relaxing weekend of sitting on the deck and watching Jack play with my parents' fountain, pizza in, wine, and Saturday Night Live, a trip to our favorite Edward's Apple Orchard for some cider donuts and fall pics, and football and Sunday dinner. Jack had fun visiting Nana and Grandpa! This weekend we ran errands and went to the Goodnights for our annual pumpkin carving and dinner-the boys had fun playing and then they slept while we carved. Today John and I raked leaves (with Jack's help!), I cooked several dinners for the week, and generally tried to catch up in the house.

This brings us to the present, finally. Phew! I shouldn't let this go for so long next time, but life with a toddler and two full time jobs leaves us constantly feeling behind. Hopefully we'll be able to keep up a little better after this big catch-up. We've missed our little blog!