March 21l 2021; Spring is Springing

 Lizzard Loves Spring. 

Well, I mean, I don't love the cold/rainy/windy parts of it. Nor "Spring Forward" into Daylight Savings Time. Dark mornings? No thank you. No, not at all. 

But the shockingly (& deliciously) sun warm days that rise out of nowhere to remind you that you won't always be cold. The trusty spring flowers pushing their way up through the melting snow, proving that anything is possible. The birds singing loud & proud songs especially in the early morning (aka right now). The ever present mud puddles available for the Bug & Henry Pants to splash in. The sense of starting over/renewal that always comes this time of year. The bikes coming out of their winter hiding place in the shed to trundle us along on adventures (mainly to the "bakery store" as we lovingly refer to Tags Bakery and local playgrounds). Digging in the dirt again - a slow preparation for planting our garden beds after Mother's Day. Planning for socially distanced Easter celebrations with BoBo & the Kearney clan. Daydreaming about travel beyond our area. Baking Irish Soda Bread with Lulu Bug. Occasionally running in a tank top, strange how quick it is to get out the door when you don't need to bundle up so much. Spring in our house also brought our first COVID-19 vaccination! Ice cream cones (with frinkles - duh) to celebrate Chris!**

Spring in the Chicagoland area is certainly not my favorite season. But I do find plenty to love about it. What do you love about Spring wherever it is that you call home? 

**Usually this list would include some spring break travel, but not for us yet. Travel is on hold until we have all those shots in our arms. Oh COVID-19. How you royally screw with so many things!

Welcome Henry Pants! Only 14.5 months late

 Lizzard Loves becoming a mom again - to our sweet Henry Pants!

We welcomed Henry the day after my birthday in 2019 (last fall). Our biggest little man was born via a scheduled C-section which Chris & I compared to going to the dentist for a cleaning. Super chill, nothing stressful or chaotic about it. Don't get me wrong, a spinal tap followed by abdominal surgery is no cake walk. But Lulu's C-section was not scheduled/planned & it felt SO DIFFERENT. Henry Pants was a giant baby, weighing close to 10 pounds and had a huge head :) Looking back at the first photos we have of him - he looks so big while also looking so tiny.

Mom & Dad brought Lulu Bug down to the hospital to meet our newest addition. Its hard to describe how full my heart felt having our newest love in the room with our oldest loves (my parents). It takes a village to do just about everything & having a baby falls square in that category. I was so thankful that Mom & Dad took care of Lulu while Chris & I went to the hospital, it was such a relief knowing she was in such loving hands.

Life was wild that first month of Henry's life, Lulu had just started preschool a few weeks before he was born and it wasn't an easy transition. No one was sleeping much right after we came home from the hospital. Lulu climbed out of her crib for the first time the night we came home from the hospital. Fun skill debut on that one. Chris needed to go back to work 2 weeks after Henry was born, so Marg came into town to help with that transition. Chris ran the Chicago Marathon again, Lulu woke up at 2am that day & didn't go back to sleep. It was a groggy day. But we made me through! Life as a party of 4 (5 if we count Owenn) was off to the races!

Its been..........awhile

 Lizzard Loves..........catching up! 

Starting fresh! 

Getting re-started on something I miss!

So, Its been a long time since I lasted posted anything. Lots has happened in the past 18ish months. Birth. Death. Travel. Pandemic. Family. Friends. Running. Cooking. Baking. Kitchen dancing. So. I'm going to do a couple of catch up posts, but then I'm moving forward. 

Ready, set, go!

2019 Spring Celebrations - Kane's 1st Communion, Mother's Day, Mary's 1st Birthday, Father's Day

I suspect part of the reason this spring flew by is that we had so many great things to celebrate!!

We were so proud of Kaneroo for making his 1st Holy Communion this year. He was selected to be a reader and nailed it! He looked so darn handsome & grown up - it was like looking into the future.

That same weekend we celebrated Mother's Day with a semi-catered brunch at our house. The whole family joined us for mass at St Nick's - our church in Evanston. We headed home afterward to enjoy celebrating all the moms - Mom, Tara, Peggy, & me!

If you can believe it, we also celebrated (not so) baby Mary's 1st Birthday in the same weekend!! She was pretty excited about the delicious cake her mom baked for her & wore her party flair for pretty much the entire celebration!! She is such a sweet little one, it in ridiculous that she is already a year old!

Last, but certainly not least, we celebrated Father's Day over the course of a couple of weeks. Lulu & I celebrated Chris at home on actual Father's Day (but because we'd hosted a big party in our home the day before ...... I was not on my A game :( Dad was in Lake Tahoe with Mom, Marg, Kobi & the girls so they celebrated out there. I did pick up breakfast sandwiches from Bagel Art Cafe and tremendous treats from Hewn Bakery......but I also fell asleep hard on the couch at 7:30pm. Sorry about that honey. It is not a reflection of how much I love you - only of how totally tired I was!!

Father's Day treats from Hewn

All smiles for Daddy on Father's Day!

We reconvened at the end of June in Glenview to enjoy a wonderful dinner Mom cooked and toast Dad, GR, Chris & Kobi (in his absence - sadly he couldn't make the trip) with the kids and grandkids all there!

I seem to have inadvertently deleted all the photos I took of our belated Father's Day celebration with my Dad. Technological fail on my part to be sure :( 

Whoosh, what a fun & busy a spring it was!

May & June 2019 Kramer Family Visits

Park time with Aunt Beth (Godmother Beth too :)

Sad to say goodbye to (great) Aunt Terry

We were so lucky to have visits from Chris's sister Beth & aunt Terry in May & June respectively. Life gets so busy & hectic - sometimes the visits are squeezed into trips for other reasons! Beth was in town for work & was able to hang with us for an afternoon & Terry was in the Midwest for a concert & stayed with us for a couple of nights to extend her trip!

Aunt Terry was very tolerant of Lulu's chicken burrito obsession, despite the fact that she doesn't eat animal products at all!

Walking to the park with Aunt Beth

We couldn't appreciate it more when our family & friends make time to come see us. What a treat it was to spend time with 2 wonderful ladies :)

Thankfully Aunt Beth was willing to do "big pushes" 

Such a good sport to hang out in Lulu's hideaway

Clearly Lulu was thrilled at the company, such a lot of fun to see her Aunt Beth & (great) Aunt Terry within a few weeks of one another!

Daddy met us at the park!

So many laughs with Terry!

Thanks for visiting us guys, please come back soon - we can't wait to have you!

June 2019 - Welcome to the World Baby Pearl/PK!!

Welcome to the world sweet baby PK!

Hip hip hooray! Marg & Kobi welcomed their 3rd daughter, Pearl (PK) early in June in Reno, NV! I was lucky enough to meet her the day she was born and she is just an absolute delight!

How many girls is too many girls in a Target shopping cart?

$20 Target baby pool was a great investment!

Just relaxing by the pool with Uncle Kobi

Maybe the last photo of the Platt family as a party of 4!!

There were lots of treats....

Headed to the nursery so PK's birth mom could nap

I spent a few days with Lulu, Hennie & Neva in Reno while Marg & Kobi spent time in the hospital with Pearl. What fun we had going swimming, to the children's museum, to parks and in the hot tub at the rental house! Thankfully we had beautiful weather our whole stay and were able to enjoy lots of time outside. Marg & I snuck in a run every morning before she & Kobi headed over to the hospital which was a good way to prepare for my day with 3 girls 4 & under :) Must preserve one's mental health whilst caring for so many kiddos!

Waiting to meet PK at the hospital - these 3 are such goofs!

Waiting to go meet Baby Pearl for the 1st time

Proudest big sisters anywhere

Platt Family, party of FIVE!!

These 3 :) 

Proud Aunt

Proud parents of Pearl

Proud cousin Lulu

Hard to believe Baby K #2 will be the next baby to join Pearl & the rest of our crew

Nice face shot Neva. Real nice.

Sweetest sweet PK

Trouble makers ;)

I love H's face here

Ready to hit up the Children's Museum

Once Pearl was discharged from the hospital, we all set out for Lake Tahoe (by way of Truckee, CA) and a different rental house. What an abundantly beautiful part of the world Tahoe is!! Holy moly, I can't wait to go back. The beaches are wonderful, the water is crystal clear and the mountains are snow capped even in June. Kobi found a ridiculously nice Airbnb for us in Incline Village, NV. It truly felt too nice to have kids in it.......but they were listed as family friendly!! It had a big, beautiful deck overlooking the Lake where we had s'mores over the fire pit. It was giant, lovely & incredibly comfy.

Pearl is home from the hospital!

CA bound!!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM 

Exploring Truckee, CA

It is s'mores o'clock

Lovely morning run in Tahoe 

Take me back there - it was so darn beautiful

The Bug & Neva checking out Lake Tahoe

See any fishies? 

PK & Nevie having breakfast at the beach

Just unreal in how pretty it was

Beach fun in CA

Lulu & I had a lot to do back at home, so headed out almost as soon as Mom & Dad arrived! At least we got to have an afternoon at the pool and dinner together before we left. We were sad to say goodbye to sweet PK and the rest of the crew, but it was a wonderful trip!

BoBo & Bump made it to NV!

Couldn't get enough pool time

Delish dinner with BoBo & Bump

Look who is wide awake?!? PK with her big beautiful eyes

After waking at 330am to catch our flight, not too surprising that Lulu was ready for a nap on the plane

Welcome to the world PK, we are thrilled to have you here & part of our wild & crazy family!

Sweet home, Chicago :)