Windy City.. phooooooosh

So its been a year since our family moved to the Windy City. Smile. The year has been very nice, besides V turning one, both our parents and family's visiting, exploring the city, both loving our new jobs and our parenthood...A good work life balance for me; and for him if you call coming home at midnight to leave the next morning at 7am a good balance, then ok, good balance for him (Yes, i am being sarcastic). Having said that, it’s actually ok, i mean he did like his work in DC as well, but i think a tiny baby and flying out to some city for five days of a week, not fun! Midnight schedules are better [at least for V and me ;-)]

We both love this city. I mean the charm of living in the midst of all the hustle bustle of Chicago downtown. SD always says, in US this is one of the few city’s where you can actually live and love in ‘downtown’. And hence he insisted on moving to the city, even if he has to drive to work, an hour one way everyday!

But for us, just grabbing V's stroller and walking down a mile to the Pier or the Magnificent mile.. is amazing. Being able to hear the cheers of the Bears game in Soldier field, listening to the historic Obama speech right in our bedroom (not TV! we live 1/2 a block to the Grant park), watching the weekly summer fireworks from our building roof top.. i mean its amazing. The food, don’t even let me start.. OMG!! Is yummy! and you can tell by looking at our most recent pictures... calories have to go somewhere you know! And to top it all, again for me, having my work and V's day care within a 2 mile radius.. its simply amazing.

So the catch, how do i say this, hmm, well windy city is a bit too windy! :-( I mean come on, it’s almost April and it just snowed this weekend! Yes, before moving all our friends and the weather channels told us...this city is brutally cold in winter.. but man... what i didn’t expect is the length of the winter. Seriously! From Chicago standards, i would say its cold when the weather is 32F or below! So it’s been this way since November! Yes, we did have the last two weeks of amazing spring weather (45-55F), but winter.. Damn. its back with the snow this Sunday.

And it’s not fun when my brother and sis-in law in San Diego say its only 65F there but they could manage some BBQ and beach stuff in the cold weather! Fuming!

I can honestly deal with the 30 below zero with wind chill making it feel like 50 below, simple, churn up the heater in my living room and staying home! And if its a weekday, dressing all of us up in countless number of layers and parking my car as close to office doorstep as feasible! And to be honest it may be a couple of weeks that it happens, and you dress appropriately for winter. And if you live in Chicago, you know already, there is not much outdoor stuff you can do in winter.. so have your friends number on speed dial!

But, what i really don’t like is the after effect. All of us have fallen sick once in this winter pretty badly, to the point that my brother was visiting only for a week, and he could barely get out of bed the entire week! But V, i think her case of sniffles have been on since November. There may be a couple of days in a month that she doesn't have a runny nose or a cough, then its back. I think we have kind of accepted that as a part of her. (Sob sob, sniff sniff). She is fine, i mean doing all the stuff kids her age do even with the runny nose and smiling through it all...... The doctors... all say only one thing, its the weather, and it will be fine, all kids have it in their first winter... she will be better by next winter.

Well, honest to god, i hope that’s true! We really do!
I mean we both really love living here, though we miss our friends back in DC and neighboring Philly and NYC like crazy! But this city is great, work wise, family life wise and SD wise. He is enjoying his work a lot. In addition all our friends here are amazing, and it’s awesome to gather up with them and enjoy the snowy nights laid back in some one's living room. I know V ponders, “Last night when i peeped out of my bedroom, the road was grey and the building was red... why is everything white this morning?" There is this question in her eyes and confusion in her face!

I know spring will come and summer will come..and V will enjoy the endless Chicago festivals, the pool and the beach, and the pain of winter will go away or at least subside!
To feel that mood, and to signify the spring, we did our share of spring cleaning to pack away all those heavy jackets and sweaters, and to top it all= me the brown thumb, went and got a plant for the house!