Mommy/Daughter/Niece Date at the AG Doll Store

When Teya got her new Kanani Doll for Christmas I promised I would take her and Brinley to the American Girl Doll store in downtown Chicago to get their doll's hair done and have a girls day out. I knew that being super duper pregnant would make the outing somewhat challenging, but I also knew that it would be even harder with a baby, so 5 days before Nori was born, I dropped Cam off with Auntie Naomi, picked up Brooklyn, and took the girls downtown. 

 They were so happy and excited to be there!

We started off with some snacks at the cafe

 And enjoyed chatting and having girl time 

(Photo cred goes to Brooklyn for this pic, not bad for a 5 year old!)

We spent the afternoon checking out all the adorable (and ridiculously expensive) American Girl doll accessories with a museum like approach, (look, don't touch, cuz money doesn't grow on trees people!) Luckily the girls didn't care that we weren't buying anything, they were just happy to be together. 

And to discover neat things like the doll holders in the bathrooms. (Brinley seriously thought those were the coolest things ever.)

The highlight though was taking their dolls to the doll hair salon.

They watched with rapt attention as their dolls got fancy new dos.

 I, of course, could have done the dolls hair for free... but somehow it's just not as cool when Mommy does stuff. :) 

They also exchanged the shirts Grandma Karen got them for Christmas for sizes that fit a little better, so with new shirts and fancy doll hair they were all feeling pretty awesome. 

And I guess I was feeling a little awesome too, for braving frigid weather, Chicago traffic, and hours of waddling around a doll store 9 months pregnant. It was all worth it to see these smiles. Love these cute girls with all my heart!

Big Mama at the Bulls game!

The last week of pregnancy isn't my favorite. I get so big and uncomfortable and pretty much just feel like hibernating in my pajamas and avoiding all contact with the outer world.  But a week before Nori was born Taber scored some tickets to a Bulls game, and that was exciting enough to convince big mama to put on some clothes and get out of the house. 

The weather outside was frightful, but inside the Untied Center was one big party.

 It felt so good to be out of the house! I even let the Chicago Bull take a photo op with Big Mama.

Those Bulls put on a good show, when the flying bull blimp started cruising around the arena I was like, "This is awesome!"

 Naomi and Kevin came with us and we had a good old time. The Bulls were destroying the 76ers, so there wasn't a question of whether or not they would win, but they have a deal with McDonalds that if the Bulls score over 100 points, everyone at the game gets a free Big Mac! When the score starting climbing into the 90's the whole crowd started chanting, "BIG MAC! BIG MAC!!" Every basket they scored set the crowd on fire as we got one point closer to greasy goodness on a bun. With seconds to spare, the Bulls sunk the last basket that tipped us over 100. The whole arena exploded!!

The cheerleaders ran laps with giant Big Macs on a stick. Everyone was going NUTS!! It was awesome!

Totally worth shedding my pajamas and getting out of the house!