Innocence lost

Is it me or is Zoë about to flip us the bird?

Anniversary/Memorial Weekend

This was the final of 3 consecutive weekends where the household had something to celebrate. This weekend we celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary. We started on saturday with an evening out with just the parents at Moto restaurant while Zoë was watched by my friends Laura, Marian and Lauren. They were gracious enough to go on babysitting duty while we enjoyed our first night out to dinner alone since Zoë was born. For some of you foodies, you may know that Moto is famous for it's unique food preparation and presentation such as an edible menu and food served in syringes. The owner was featured as a guest on Foodnetwork's Iron Chef. Dinner was 10 courses and interesting, but we have to admit that the food was a bit disappointing and not as good as it was hyped to be. In fact, the taste was quite average. We could name quite a few other restaurants that had far better food. Nonetheless, we don't regret trying it and are considering trying the neighboring restaurant, Otom, by the same owner. After about 3.5 hours of dinner, we headed back home where Zoë was already in the crib. Laura was actively babysitting (Lauren and Marian had to leave earlier), and she did a fantastic job!

The next day the family went to Chicago's Ritz-Carlton Hotel for a special family slumber party. Since Lisa and I had a rare overlapping day off on Memorial Day, we thought it would be nice to get away from the house for a night. We therefore indulged as a family in one of the hotel's family package deals. Zoë was welcomed with toys from the children's welcome toy wagon (we chose a t-shirt for her since the other toys were too small and therefore choking hazards). We decided to order in breakfast through room service. Zoë even got to "order" French toast for free from the kid's menu which mom and dad happily finished for her. We got to stroll around the Magnificent Mile neighborhood and did some brief shopping. Most of the weekend was spent lounging in our room, eating and watching tv. It was a much needed relaxing weeked, though not as relaxing as we had truly wished because Zoë is teething now and quite irritable as you can tell from some of the photos; however, one thing we recently discovered is that she does a great job sitting up by herself!

We got back home Memorial Day where we were greeted with a neighborhood parade. After another brief walk on a nice day, we're now home where Zoë is down for the obligatory baby nap.

Busy Birthday Weekend

This is the second of three busy weekends this month as far as social activities - last weekend was Mother's Day, next weekend is our 9 year wedding anniversary, and it was Lisa's birthday this weekend. Coincidently, my sister Becky also shares the same birthday, so Aunt Becky flew in from New York City friday and stayed with us over the weekend. But before she was picked up at the airport, Zoë, Lisa and I went to our first BBQ of the summer at my friends, Steve and Kelly's, place. Not only did quite a few of our resident gang show up, but Steve and Kelly announced their engagement! Congrats to them! Unfortunately, it was nearing Zoë's bedtime so Lisa had to take her home, and I didn't get any pictures of her being passed around among my resident friends (you'll just have to take my word for it). But you can enjoy the other BBQ photos.

After the BBQ, I picked up my sister from the airpot. She was able to hang out a bit before Lisa's family from Normal, IL arrived the next day. Her parents had recently returned from an Australia trip lasting a few months. Zoë hadn't seen them since the winter so she was very happy to see the grandparents. Also, Uncle Bryan and his girlfriend Lindsey, as well as Aunt Cathy and her kids (Zoë's two cousins from the Preston side), Rowan and Avery, were able to come up as well. We enjoyed Chicago style pizza while Grandpa Preston gave us an excellent slideshow of their trip in Australia/Samoa/New Zealand/French Polynesia. Rowan and Zoë are almost the same age (in fact, they would be only different in age by days but Zoë decided she couldn't stand the womb any longer and had to come a month early!). We got some adorable pictures of them alone together as well as with Grandpa and Grandma.

The next day, Aunt Becky got to spend some time carrying Zoë around our neighborhood as we went shopping. Zoë was very talkative! Aunt Becky is moving from NYC to San Diego in about a month so we may be seeing her in California in the near future.

Whew! And we have another fun-filled, busy weekend for Memorial Weekend.

Mother's Day Weekend

Unfortunately, Lisa had to work on Mother's Day and had to stay overnight at the hospital (thus the life of a physician), but we did have some quality family time this weekend. On friday we were able to find time to go out for sushi at our favorite neighborhood sushi restaurant. The next morning, after a nice long run in the running stroller, we took Zoë to our neighborhood farmer's market which just started 2 weeks ago after a long hiatus from the winter. We bought some delicious artisan bread and dessert pastries. We also stopped by a famous cupcake bakery, Cupcakes, which we just realized was only blocks from our home and bought a couple of cupcakes for a snack before dinner. Then for the evening, we went to an engagement party thrown by one of Lisa's resident friend. A busy schedule for a busy baby! By the time Zoë was in bed, it was way past her bedtime, but she handled everything real well. Here are some random pictures from the weekend.

Dim sum and butterflies

I had a day off tuesday so while Lisa was at work, my two other resident friends, Ali and Lauren who also had the day off, as well as Zoë all went to dim sum in Chinatown for lunch. After being stuffed with food, we also made room for bubbletea at one of our favorite drink places in Chinatown, Joy Yee's. We then headed to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum located literally a 10 minute walk from our condo to show Zoë the live butterfly/moth exhibit. She seemed to be really interested in the butterflies by the way she tracked every butterfly or moth that flew by. Ali and Lauren especially seemed to have fun with Zoë. As a result she slept very well that night.

Weekend with the Griffiths

Lisa and I had our first weekend free together in practically 6 weeks (Lisa was on head trauma and I was in the NICU). We used this opportunity for some quality family time and decided to visit our close friends, Lisa and Andy Griffith, and their twin boys, Zachary and Cayden, in Oakbrook, IL. It was a real nice day, and we met them for breakfast at their home before taking a stroll outside around their neighborhood pond. Zack and Cayden have a special place in our lives because they are our Godchildren. It is amazing how fast they are growing up! We can't believe they're in first grade already and sprouting to heights like their third/fourth grade counterparts. Zoë loved hanging out with them and especially had a fun time interacting with Andy. We look forward to seeing all of them real soon!
After hanging out with the Griffiths, we went to Oakbrook Mall to do some shopping, grab lunch and enjoy the outdoor weather.

Scoozi

My friends Natalie, Jen and Laura finished a relatively rough month of NICU in April so we had our off-service dinner. For those of you unfamiliar with medicine and/or residency, off-service dinners are times when physicians get together in a casual setting, usually a nice meal, and decompress from the rigors of the month. We had great Italian food at Scoozi's and all four-and-a-half of us (Zoë came along since Lisa was on-call) enjoyed gabbing, stuffing our faces and letting off some steam.

Zoë's first chop

It has been a little while since we've posted. Lisa's computer, where I do most of the blog, crashed over a week ago, and we are currently adjusting to my old laptop. Nonetheless, this thing works, so now with the updates!
Lisa and I have felt something really sharp in Zoë's mouth lately, particularly noticable when she gnaws on our fingers. Lisa especially feels it during breastfeeds (ouch!). I did a thorough sweep of our girl's mouth a couple of weeks ago which confirmed our suspicion - Zoë's first tooth is erupting! You can especially see the single mandibular tooth in one of her grinning pictures. She has a second one coming in just next to the first one but you have to look real close or feel her gums.
Also, I just finished another rotation, child protective services, where I dealt with child abuse/neglect. I saw and dealt with a lot of gruesome and sad situations involving children - burns, beatings, starvations, malnutrition - the list shockingly goes on and on. I went to criminal court to observe my attending, Dr. Glick, act as an expert witness (but before she could go on the stand the defendant pleaded guilty so it was good, but I was disappointed I didn't see my attending kick some pediatric ass). I also went to the juvenile court that dealt more with foster homes and child protective services. On top of this, I got to go to the police station where I saw autopsy photos of children who died from abuse and a video (nanny cam) of a real abuse case. Shocking and really put a lasting memory in my brain. I loved this rotation, and I really felt I was doing something meaningful.
To end this entry on an upnote, check out these photos of Zoë laughing and smiling.