"My Kind of Town...Chicago Is"

Hello all...sorry it has taken me so long to get an update on our Chicago trip, but for some reason, I couldn't sign in to my Web site from our computer in the hotel. Anyway, here's the story about our trip to the Windy City. On Saturday, we got out on the early morning (or middle of the night) flight, since we were scared the storm would cause our 11am flight to be cancelled. We had a short layover in Minneapolis and arrived at our hotel just after noon.

We had a great day on Saturday, walking around, shopping and eating DEEP DISH PIZZA....YUM!! We ate at a place called Pizza Due, which is in the basement of this Victorian-style house in the middle of downtown Chicago. It was so good...we stumbled across it after trying to get in to some of the more popular pizza places tourists often visit.

That night, after some shopping, we went to a place north of Downtown called "Twin Anchors." We both agree that was the highlight of our trip! It was this little dive of a place that is known for its ribs...it's also known for its frequent visits from Frank Sinatra! It was such a cool place, and although we had second thoughts about staying once we walked inside, we're so glad we stayed, because we met some really nice people and had great food! Below is a picture of "Twin Anchors."

On Sunday, it was back to more shopping, stopping by the Christkindlmarket, which was very busy, and Macy's. It was fun wandering around, sipping hot chocolate and enjoying our time sans a crying child! We then had lunch a the Italian Village...another nice restaurant.

Monday morning rolled around, and we headed out, bright and early, to the hospital. At this point, I was pretty scared. I got all of my pre-op stuff done, but wasn't settled down until Dr. Haney showed up. He is SO incredibly nice and encouraging. I definitely felt safe about the procedure. Less than 30 minutes later, I was in the OR, and the rest of the day was pretty much a blur. Luckily, I was able to have general anesthesia rather than a spinal...and the pain control was just the same. Dr. Haney talked to Perry after the procedure and told him everything went just as planned, and it was a textbook procedure. Yay! On Tuesday morning, Dr. Haney stopped by early in the morning to say "hi" and tell me the details of the procedure. I'm still in pain today from it, but I have drugs. The more I walk, the better I'll feel. The only thing I can't do it lift Natalie. I can hold her on my lap, but I'm not supposed to lift anything over 15 pounds for another week. We'll see if that happens! :) We got back on Wednesday afternoon and were so happy to see our little pumpkin. Today, I'm up in Sherwood, where mom & dad can help me out. I hope by Christmas there's no more pain!!