What's shakin' with the Jones sisters - Brady

Since I've basically given up on my sisters ever posting to this blog again, I'm going to take it upon myself to let you in on what they've been up to, from my perspective. We'll go in age order.

Amy, it seems to me, just works all the time. Sounds like some days at her charter school are great and some are tough. She helped them raise test scores a bunch this year using all kinds of creative methods. She occasionally takes a break to have dinner with me or go home to visit my parents. Roger seems to be doing well and continues to give the best hugs in town.

Kelly also works a lot, and I think maybe she got some big news from the office last week that I'll let you ask her about. She and Nate have been redecorating their apartment - I was with them when they recently bought a stylish new couch. She seems to like her yoga teacher training, and she recently went to a workshop with Rachel Brathen, this kind of famous yogi we both follow online. And my #1 favorite actor, Nate, has recently had a bunch of career success - getting a second Jeff nomination (a big deal theater award in Chicago), a part in a Steppenwolf show (a big deal theater company in Chicago), and some exciting auditions. 

Okay, now me! All good things are happening.

• I'm making good progress on my dissertation and have my funding and maternity leave all set up for next school year.

• I'm now 21 weeks pregnant, and we found out the baby's sex this past Thursday. (But we're keeping it to ourselves until the birth because we're annoying. We want to keep gender stereotyping out of the picture as long as we can.) We are crazy excited and a little overwhelmed. Also, more importantly, it looks really healthy. Its legs are long. I've been feeling it kick pretty regularly for the past month, but just this morning I could feel it with my hand, on the outside of my belly, so pretty soon I think Kevin/other family members will be able to feel it too. 

• I'm at Lake Wawasee for the first time this year. It's my happy place. Our good Fort Wayne friends threw us an impromptu baby shower here yesterday. We got a rainforest themed swing and a white noise/stuffed teddy bear toy.

• Something's gotten into Molly. She's been a maniac recently. Kevin thinks she's just feeling really good. She's slim, her allergies aren't bothering her, and she's excited it's warm out and time to swim again. Here's a photo of her sleeping on our bed (I knew it would happen eventually - we kept her off it for the first six months, but we've given in), another picture of her new favorite activity - sticking her head out the car window, and a couple of her playing in the kiddie pool at the dog park. 

• Kevin and I went to New York City over Memorial Day weekend. We spent most of our time outside of Manhattan - in Brooklyn and Queens. We saw both of my cousins who live there as well as some of our good friends, ate some awesome food, and took a couple of jogs through the gorgeous Brooklyn Bridge Park. So fun. I'm ready to be done traveling for awhile, though. I love the Midwest in the summer. 

• I got an article published online! You can read it here. This is basically what my dissertation is about.

That's about it! Big things making me happy and little things making me happy. I'll keep covertly updating you on the super secret lives of my sisters. :) Have a great Sunday!

Chicago in the Springtime - Brady

Molly enjoying the first warm day on our balcony. 

First trip of the year to the Montrose dog beach. 

Daffodils on Northwestern's campus. 

Dinner on Ranalli's patio. 

Jogging (resting?) on the Lake Front Trail. 

Saturday morning jog - hard to believe this is the city. 

Running by the lake. 

Lilacs in our neighborhood. 

Coffee and pastries from a local coffeeshop. 

And a bump picture - just shy of 18 weeks here. 

Me, Kevin, and Molly in the background. 

Happy spring! 

Lots of excitement! - Brady

You know how sometimes life is just moving along, you're following your regular routines, doing your normal activities, seeing the friends you typically see, eating dinner at your regular restaurants. And then all of a sudden a bunch of exciting things happen all at once and everything looks different? I remember senior year of high school feeling that way, and senior year of college come to think of it. And then a few other times in life, like when I got my first teaching job and we were moving to Indiana, then getting into grad school and moving back to Chicago.

Well, Kevin and I have hit another pocket of excitement. After a couple of years trying to have kids, trips to various doctors, lots of disappointment, and one very big bright spot named Ms. Molly Jones-Rasp (we decided to adopt her after a particularly rough doctor's appointment in which we were told it would still be awhile longer before we could have kids), we're finally excited to announce that we're having a baby in October. Right before we found out that news, as a kind of "we feel sorry for ourselves because we can't have kids" consolation prize, we booked a long trip to France. So the last few weeks and months have brought all kinds of very non-routine, non-typical emotions and activities!

Here's a picture of my belly, last Sunday at 13 weeks. Not too big yet, just a little bit thicker than normal. 

And here are 10 much more attractive pictures of our trip to Paris! I'm also going to include the Facebook link below because there are so many great ones not included here. 

A pretty store called Merci we visited in Paris.

Kevin and me in Burgundy.

The grounds of an abbey in Burgundy.

The medieval town where we stayed out in the country.

The Rose Window at Notre Dame.

A beautiful street in Paris.

Burgundy.

Paris.

The street where we stayed in Paris.

One of the many gorgeous pictures Kevin took of the small town where we stayed in Burgundy.

You can click here to go to the Facebook album with over 100 photos if you're interested! 

Needless to say, it's been a very happy spring. :)

Kelly and Amy, this is what's waiting for you! - Brady

Well, you should probably hate me a little bit right now because not only am I join got PARIS on Thursday, but I'm still peeling off the sunburn I got in Florida last weekend.

My sisters will head down to Siesta Key themselves in about a month, so I thought I'd remind them of what they have to look forward to with pictures from my recent trip.

Grandma and I decided we were going to buy this house - right on the beach. It's only 3.5 million dollars, so no big deal.  

Cocktail hour! 

Coffee/smoothie date with Grandma. 

I get so taken away by the natural beauty of Siesta Key and I forget to take any pictures of PEOPLE! I don't have a single shot of me with my grandparents. But I had a fabulous time with them. I'd get up and go run or do yoga on the beach, have breakfast with them, head to the pool to read with Grandma, come back to the condo or go out for lunch, nap in the afternoon, and then do both dinner and bed early. It was such a perfect break - these are my very favorite vacations.

January This Year - Brady

I don't have anything particular to check in about today, but it's been awhile since I posted, so I thought I'd do a roundup of all that we did last month.

January, 2014, in photos:

We spent New Year's Eve in Nashville, Tennessee and had a really nice time. We heard some good live music, did a lot of walking and eating, and rang in the New Year with champagne at a nice restaurant downtown. 

Once the holidays were really truly over, we settled into a frigid winter in Chicago. We've been enjoying the city as much as possible in the cold, taking Molly on adventures, drinking lots of hot coffee, getting work done, hanging out with family (the pretty sunset photo below was taken from Kevin's sister and brother-in-law's deck).

What else? I've been doing a bunch of yoga - it was my New Year's Resolution to do it everyday, and so far I've stuck with it. I baked some pretty amazing chocolate chip cookies using this recipe. I work from home on Mondays and Wednesdays with Molly napping next to me. During the Polar Vortex, I threw boiling water into the air and watched it turn to snow. Fun stuff. 

January is not my favorite month. It may be my least favorite month, actually, but life was pretty good around here this year. 

These Boots Are Made for Walking (In The Slush) - Brady

Grandma and Grandpa, Fred and Cindy - thanks!

I just wanted to show off the new snow boots I bought with the money Santa left at both of your houses for me this Christmas. I used it to buy these heavy duty Sorel snow boots.

I have a bad habit of buying cheaply made stuff in order to save money and then hating it and having to spend double to correct my mistake. So goes my relationship with snow boots. I bought some inexpensive ones at DSW several years ago. They're cold. They leak. They're flimsy. I actually broke my ankle in them two winters ago. I was goofing around, kicking Kevin, tripped and twisted my leg until my fibula cracked. I 90% blame me and 10% blame the boots for having zero structure. I was being an idiot, but I was being an idiot in shoes whose lack of support is rivaled only by flip flops.

Anyway, gross, I don't want to think about broken bones anymore. The important thing to know is that my ankles are safe and sound and supported in these awesome new boots. Plus my feet are cozy warm. I've found living in Chicago that surviving and even enjoying winter depends heavily on having the right gear. I'm having lots of fun breaking these in, stepping in all the slush puddles I want, stomping around with Molly, looking like a serious Midwesterner.

So Grandma and Grandpa, Fred and Cindy - tell Santa I said thank you next time you talk to him!