Last Thursday night Joseph, Kira and I drove down to Chicago.  Kira and I had a playdate set with four other Sugarbaby mamas from around the country.  For those of you who are not Sugarbaby mamas, we’re an online playgroup who have been together some of us since the days we were trying to get pregnant.  We went through pregnancy together and now all of our December 2008 babies are much discussed in our online playgroup.

Anyway, so we drove down Thursday night after work.  It was an easy trip, despite the highway being randomly closed, which caused an hour-long detour.  Kira was so good the whole way there.  She only slept about an hour, but did fantastic just sitting in her carseat, playing with toys and squawking away.  I think she started fussing about 10 minutes before we got to the hotel, but it was over an hour past bedtime/bottle, so I was surprised we made it that long.  We checked into the hotel (http://www.millenniumhotels.com/millenniumchicago/index.html) and got things settled into the room.  Joseph headed down to the martini bar in the lounge while I put the baby down to sleep and he was sweet enough to have something sent up to me.

The hotel had given us a crib (which turned out to be just a regular pack & play) and I was a little worried how Kira would do in it.  She always sleeps at night in her baby hammock at home, so I figured the sudden flat surface would give us a long night.  Not so.  Our AWESOME little baby settled down in there and slept a solid 10 hours, all night long.  I was so happy.

Friday morning Kira and I met Jenna, Chelsea, Tawnya, and Brocha and their little babies Bianca, Ben, Trey, and Nathan at the Lincoln Park Zoo.  It’s a nice little zoo in the north part of the city, and pretty easy to get to once you go the right direction…which of course I didn’t on the first try.  Kira and I took the scenic route, which is to say the wrong way.  But we still ended up being the first ones there, so it turned out okay.  It was great meeting the other mamas.  It felt like we’ve known each other for years (which I guess we kind of have).  We just fell to chatting as if we weren’t meeting for the first time.

The day was overcast and cool and called for rain but we were really hoping for the best.  Unfortunately it did start sprinkling about an hour after we got there.  We decided to see all the indoor exhibits (monkeys, lions, gorillas, etc.) so that we didn’t get wet, and see the outdoor ones between sprinkles.  Well the rain gradually started to get heavier and heavier and in an hour or so it was pouring.  The other babies were in strollers with car seats so they were covered up pretty good.  Kira unfortunately was in a standard stroller with no cover and got very wet.  She got even wetter when we headed to the gift shop for cover and I ran her under the flow from the eaves by accident.  Yet she still stayed quiet and content.

In the gift shop I decided to buy her a little sweatshirt because she was so wet and cold I wanted to get her changed as soon as we left the zoo.  I also bought two plastic ponchos to cover us up until we could get to the car.  Well right after I got through the checkout line she just burst into tears, which she never does.  And that’s when I realized…I forgot to feed her lunch!!  I felt like such a bad mother, getting her baby all wet and then making her wait an hour past feeding time.  And there was no consoling her at this point…and no way to heat her bottle, which was nice and icy from the cooler.  So there we were…me wearing a clear plastic poncho with Kira propped in one arm, trying to get her to drink an ice-cold bottle, which was wedged under my chin.  I had another poncho slung over the stroller to keep our things dry and a blanket draped over her.  We were shuffling through the pouring rain through the parking lot to the car by ourselves (because the others had parked in another direction).  And then a very kind lady sprinted over to me and offered to help.  She took the stroller and walked me to the car, helped me get my keys out and get things in the car.  Poor Kira and I are both very wet by now, but I can’t imagine how much worse it would have been if she hadn’t helped us.  It’s nice to know there are still some kind people in the world.

We headed back to Jenna’s and I got Kira in dry clothes and finished feeding her and she was happy once again.  We all headed out to a cafe’ to have burgers for lunch…and naturally we had to park 3 blocks away and trudge through the rain again.  Kira was a such a trooper through all this.  She was happy and even napped on me in the restaurant.  By the time we were done eating, all of us were exhausted from zoos and babies and rain, so we decided to call it a day.

Joseph and I had been planning on getting Chicago pizza for dinner but the weather was just so wet and crummy that night, we decided just to get room service and a pay per view movie.  We got Kira to bed, and she went down awake and slept solid in her unfamilier crib all night long again.  I had seared rare tuna and Joseph had a Kobe beef burger and we shared some prosciutto/white truffle flatbread.  Yum!

Saturday morning was sunny and warm.  Kira and I went back to Jenna’s for brunch.  It was a really good meal, for a non-dairy, non-meat meal   We had organic pancakes, roasted potatoes, spinach quiche, and orange juice.  It really was a tasty meal (Thanks again, Jenna!!).  After brunch we drove the few blocks to the lakeshore trail and went for a nice long walk.  Bad mommy Melanie made an appearance again – sigh.  This time I remembered to feed her…but I totally messed up the sunblock application.  I went to great lengths to make sure I worked it into her hair to keep her head from getting burned, and did her forehead, and was so proud of myself…but totally forgot about her cheeks and nose.  Sigh.  So she ended up with pretty rosy cheeks with a suntan line from her sunglasses.  Being a first time mom on outings really does present some challenges!

So, since Joseph had to work on Sunday, after the walk it was time for us to head home.  I picked Joseph up on the street corner near the hotel and we drove home, thankfully with no detours.  Kira did great again on the drive back.

It was a really fun trip and I hope someday we can all meet up again.  Here is a link to the pictures…http://s634.photobucket.com/albums/uu68/chicagosugarbabies/?albumview=slideshow&mediafilter=slideshows

Also, some Kira-only shots

On vacation	Not sure about the zoo	In my zoo sweatshirt after being rained on
In my Sugarbaby top	A sunny day at the lake	Happy to be on the way home