One Year!

We have lived in Chicago for one year now (June 7th)! It's crazy how fast it went. So much happened in that year too. Here are some of the highlights!

-Josh completed a year of grad school and learned Hebrew!
-I went back to work full time and as a mom.
-Norah was in three daycares...it was not easy, but we love her daycare that she is in now.
-I passed my social work board exam!
-I got my dream job as a hospice social worker and love it!
-We survived the worst Chicago winter! (Chicagoans are the ones claiming it was bad...maybe not the worst though)
-I have survived the biggest potholes ever, 2nd to those in Haiti that I witnessed.
-I have seen more men peeing in public then in my whole lifetime...never thought that would make the list but it is true...and I am still shocked every time it happens.
-I got my eyebrows waxed for the first time ever. (My friend Angela shaped my eyebrows for me about 12 years ago and I have been "maintaining" them ever since...it was time!)
-A black man became president...oh and he's my neighbor!


I can still remember when I was in the moving truck with Babs and Josh, Carrie, Wendy and Jay were in two cars behind us. We came over a big bridge and saw downtown Chicago and I thought I was going to pass out and I think I said or at least I thought, "What are we getting ourselves into?"

My directions were terrible to get to our apartment and we ended up in a bad part of town....We finally pulled up to the front of our new home and I can remember getting out of the truck and was so nervous and scared and thought to myself that our friends must think we are crazy and then Jay said, "This is awesome! This is so awesome! You are going to love it here!" I remember being so relieved. I don't know why I was so nervous.

As the guys were unloading the truck Carrie, Wendy and I were trying to get things a little settled in the apartment and in my mind I thought our bathroom was too small and the white walls were depressing and Carrie and Wendy just kicked into gear and set up the kitchen and kept reminding me that it will feel more like a home when we get pictures up and are more settled...

It seems like yesterday.

My parents brought Norah the next day. She was only 6 months old and just learning to sit up. She learned quickly because she only had a tile floor to land on if one of us did not catch her. Now I am chasing her around and she tries to bite our toes and thinks it is so funny!

We really love it here! Josh is taking his last final monday and then he will be a full time stay at home dad for the summer! Norah will be taking a break from day care until September. While Norah naps (hopefully) over the summer Josh will be gearing up for the fall learning German and applying for Ph.D. programs. Now I am so sad thinking we may need to move again in a year. I hope not, but we will do what we need to do when the time comes.

I know this post is all over the place, but I really wanted to blog on the one year anniversary for some reason. Our camera battery crapped out on us so I have not been taking pictures...I will look for some old ones to post.

This is one of my favorite pictures. This was Father's Day last year.

Now Norah has pigtails!

We really love her so much and cannot imagine life without her here. She is moving into the "twos" for sure even though technically we still have 6 months to go! She definitely has a spice for life like no other and I love watching her grow and learn.

Hope you enjoyed my year in review!