A Visit from Champaign and Zoë's First Holiday Part-ays

We had some exciting events this past week. First, our friends Matt and Becca from Champaign came to visit. It was Matt's birthday, and he and Becca took the day off from work to hang out in Chicago for a day. Because my schedule has been so predictable this month (thank you adolescent medicine!) I was able to meet them at our home for some good Chicago style pizza. They also got to meet Zoë. They both seem to be pros with the baby!

Yesterday, Lisa and I also had our respective holiday parties to attend. Lisa had her holiday party with her Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago faculty and residents. I also had my holiday party with my University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital residents. We therefore chose to go to Lisa's party first and then attend mine. I have to first say that getting ready and out the door takes 2-3x longer now that Zoë has come into our lives. We had to bathe her, dress her, feed her, put her in the carrier as well as pack all the things to bring for her survival gear outside our home before getting ourselves ready. Nonetheless, we did it, but we now have to plan to be ready a lot earlier to make it to our social functions at a reasonable time.
Lisa's holiday party was at the Adler Planetarium which was really cool. We were able to play with the exhibits but unfortunately the little one is too young to appreciate the museum. The view of the Chicago cityline was gorgeous! Lots of other kids were there too so Zoë wasn't alone, though I think she was the youngest there. She was very good and enjoyed meeting the RIC residents and staff even though she was asleep most of the time. After eating and drinking some bubbly, we left for the other holiday party located at Grand Lux Cafe in downtown Chicago. By this time Zoë was getting tired, most of the fellow resident's babies had left to go home, and they had turned up the DJ speakers on the dancefloor. We therefore only stayed for about 20 minutes, just in time to say hi to our friends. We barely had time to snap a few pictures here.

When we arrived home, Zoë was wide awake, so we decided to snap some more pictures of her in her vintage dress, a dress Grandma Preston wore when she was an infant.