Chicago Weekend | 30 Weeks Pregnant

I took the day off last Friday and spent the weekend in Chicago with my family! This was a rather spontaneous trip for me. I decided to go and booked my plane ticket a little over a month ago, which might not be that spontaneous for some people, but it felt like it to me.

My parents were going with my sister and her fiancé, and I decided to tag along, and then my brother and sister-in-law booked tickets too, so it became a family trip, minus my other brother and SIL, and Jordan and the kids of course. Special online shoutout to Jordan for watching the kids and holding down the fort for the weekend.

For those who don't know, I grew up in a Chicago suburb, so I went into the city fairly regularly as a family and with friends. Chicago has always been and continues to be my happy place. I love being downtown, I love visiting all our favorite spots that hold so many memories. Jordan proposed to me close to The Bean in Millennium Park the day after Christmas nine years ago, and I have memories of day trips with friends and our annual Christmas Eve downtown to eat Italian food and visit Lincoln Park Zoo to see the lights.

Baby Bum is due to arrive in almost exactly 2 months, and I know I wouldn't be doing much traveling in 2020, so I am so glad I could make this trip happen. Since I joined the party with my parents and sister, I was truly just along for the ride. I took a 5am flight out of OKC on Friday morning, met my family in Dallas, and we all took the same flight to O'Hare. We spent the entire day downtown and walked a good 8 miles according to my brother's phone.

We stayed overnight at my grandparents' house (my mom's parents), and Saturday afternoon we went to visit my grandpa (my dad's dad). He's 94 and in a wheelchair and has a full-time caretaker.  Honestly seeing him made me feel really sad. Just sad about people getting older and about how beautiful my grandma had the house decorated every year before she died in 2011. My grandpa doesn't officially have dementia, but he was definitely slow to process and seemed at times confused about who different people were. But he cracked some jokes and sang a few songs; he still has his wit and an amazing voice!

Sunday we went to church and then to brunch. Afterwards we said goodbye to my grandparents and drove to the town I grew up in. We drove by our old house, walked around downtown, and stopped at a few of our favorite places. Then we headed to the airport! I flew from Chicago to Dallas, had a very short layover, and got back to OKC around 10pm. It was a fast, fun weekend filled with memories and laughter and great times with some of my favorite people. I only wish Jordan were there. It just wasn't quite the same without him!

My grandparents are in their 80s and walked all over Chicago with us! So thankful for their health and to have such wonderful examples of Christ and of marriage in my life.

*This is my dad, and we constantly have people refer to me as his wife! I posted on Instagram about it, and I got multiple messages saying people do this to them and their dad too! I mean it's not at all awkward or anything. WHY.

Thirty weeks pregnant is probably the latest I'd want to do a trip like that. It was a lot, and I had to pee all. the. time. I'm sure everyone was annoyed, including myself, but you can't tell a pregnant lady she can't stop and use the bathroom! I'm very thankful that I felt great for the most part, and everything seemed fine with Baby Bum. I enjoyed having a little travel buddy with me and just had such a fun weekend in my most favorite place.

p.s. books! I read Blake Crouch's new book Recursion this weekend, half on the plane the way there and half on the way back. Anyone else read it? What did you think? I liked Dark Matter better, but overall it was a great airplane book. I did get bored in the last third, though. I thought the first half of the book was better than the second half.