Cha-cha-cha-changes

So much going on and I really don't have time to write, but I know one day I'll regret NOT having written more often so here I am.

Marissa continues to just be the best little girl on the planet. There's no doubt in my mind. And I lover her soooooooo much!!! When I'm playing with her because her mom is busy making her dinner or cleaning up or showering or whatever, she goes and gets things with which we've played happily in the past: a ball (big pink one or smaller orange), the matching game, possibly one of her toys which I fixed, or a book. When something breaks, she'll bring it over to me or LL and say "Daddy fix?" It's so damn cute I can't even tell you. Often it's a battery that needs recharging, but it could be anything. Even the books we read are usually the books we read while I was giving her a bottle in the wee hours of the morning a year ago. She must remember though or at least associate them with me. It's awesome. And she's very much aware if I'm not there at bedtime to help put her down and say goodnight. She asks for me and wants to know why I'm not there if I'm gone.

LL is doing okay in her second trimester. She tends to get the queasiness now that other women get in their first trimester. Her blood pressure is checked regularly (she is a nurse after all) and everything has been fine. Another 4-5 weeks for the next ultrasound.

Tonight we see Billy Joel at Wrigley Field.  It should be a good time! Laura's brother and his family are coming in from KC for the event, though only the adults are staying with us. Their kids and Marissa will be staying with LL's parents down in Joliet. LL wants Marissa to get playing time with her cousins, which is fine by me, though whether she'll remember these days in 10 years is somewhat in question. I have a tournament tomorrow, followed by a bachelor party, so it's a busy, busy weekend for me as well. Actually August really ramps up with Bears preseason games starting and end-of-season softball tournaments picking up.  We may try to head out to Jersey to see Joisey Ken and his family......tough to plan with so much going on right now, but we really want to do it. We also have a 3-4 day vacation with LL's parents in late August, probably in a small town in southern Michigan somewhere.

So how about some pictures?

Oh yeah, had a last minute visit from LL's cousin from Manhattan, KS. She had not met Marissa yet and her fiance had not been to Chicago. Two birds, one stone.

And I got to meet Kyle Long again and had him autograph the helmet Joisey Ken bought me a few years ago. Nice!

Marissa at the grandparents' house. She loves touching things.

And she loves water. 

Did I mention she loves water?

And kissing her dolls as well as images of other babies. Very cute.

The real estate company I work with, Be Realty, had a "ridiculous" party July 3rd. You could do shots of booze out of either side of this ice sculpture, or you could opt to put them into your snow cone, as they had a snow cone machine! Steaks were grilled, real steaks! We had the company bean bag board game out (in which I lost in the first game 21-18 in an epic battle)....it was great fun. 

And here is Marissa at the park across the street.

All sorts of updates!

So much going on and I need to update my blog.

First and foremost:

Yep, as the picture indicates, we're expecting baby number 2!! It's a boy and due January 11th, the 6 year anniversary of our first date. Being in the higher risk group for pregnancies, insurance covers a blood test which determines the chromosomal normality of a baby and, if desired, the sex. So we know we are having a healthy baby boy!!

I'm not sure about my grandfather's family, but my dad had THREE older sisters and he was the last sibling. I have TWO older sisters and am the last sibling. Our little boy will have ONE older sibling and, most likely, will be the youngest sibling. Trends!!!

Marissa continues to do awesomely, learning things, repeating words, trying different types of foods. She's just a dear! Here are some pics from one of her favorite parks down at Roscoe and the lake.

And here she is at her first Gay Pride parade at Cornelia and Halsted. We didn't stay long, it was a little warm and we had grocery shopping to do, but she got an idea of the crowd and people marching.  

Monday night, just as we started to head to bed, the skies opened up and 2.6" of rain fell in about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, the city drains were not yet prepared for that amount of rain and in came the water. It started a little slowly and then came rushing in as all the sewers backed up the drains into the house. I was doing everything I could to keep the water out of the condo, but there was little I could actually do.  The sheer amount of water was overwhelming. Fortunately, the rain slowed just before the rain breached our "levees" installed by Manual Labor Mike and we escaped without only wet boots and one wet towel.  I used the shopvac on the boiler room in one low graded corner, but was able to sweep out the rest of the water or sweep it to the nearest drain. Before going to bed, it was sort of a nice feeling to know that we took Mother Nature's best shot in some time and won.  Whew, it was close though.

 And a video of our boy's heartbeat, not the first time we've heard it, but only the second. Good stuff!