The Orr and Mattis Families

The past couple of weekends we've seen two families who are our friends from our former lives in Champaign. The Orrs were in Danvers, IL from Baltimore, and Lisa and Zoë were able to meet them at their BBQ. I unfortunately wasn't able to make it because of work. The following weekend we saw the Mattis family who were in the Chicago burbs from San Francisco for their son's 1 year birthday. It was nice finally getting the time to introduce Zoë to Aiden Orr and Vidas Mattis.

An increase in vocabulary

Our nightly bedtime reading with Zoë has shown that her word capacity has increased dramatically. Amusing things we've noticed is that she likes to refer to animals not by their names but by the sounds they make (our favorite is the fish). Also, occasionally she will make up words which, to our amusement, she will state with much confidence.

Matt and Becca have a new addition to their family!

Congrats to our friends Matt and Becca who had a baby last week. Born on May 19 at 7 lbs and 13 oz, Charlie Raymond Richards was welcome to the world in Champaign, IL. We went to visit the new family this past weekend. It was nice to see some friends from our old town. The Richards are doing great!


Afterwards, we stopped by one of our favorite restaurants, Bacaro, which we were regulars. It was here that Lisa told the first person (besides me) that she was pregant - our bartender; he was suspicious when she ordered a non-alcoholic drink. Zoë essentially dictated the meal. She was not in a good mood and did not have the patience for a quiet sit-down meal so we actually had to end the meal early.

A night at the museum

We were at the Chicago Children's Museum located at Navy Pier this past thursday. The museum is free to the whole family every thursday evening. Though it cut into Zoë's regular routines and was really close to her dinner/bedtime, she enjoyed the interactive exhibits.