So I ordered shoes on myshoestore.com.  I was anxiously awaiting them since they were coming with free shipping and they should have arrived in time for me to wear on my vacation based on the site's promise to send them within ten business days.  Well they didn't arrive in time for my vacation.  So I didn't fret, mail can be slow and it was free shipping so okay I could wait while I was on vacation, I'd easily be distracted.  So I began telling Chad about it and calling the customer service numbers and we kept getting funny messages like, "you must dial a one before dialing this number" (when we had done so) or "all lines are busy please tray calling again."  Chad of course immediately googled my shoes store only to find that several people were experiencing the same thing as well as people were not receiving their shoes for three months!  Then he looked up the business on the Better Business Bureau online and they were unsatisfactory across the board.  Here is the link.  There is always some risk to shopping online but this was my first experience with that kind of service or lack there of.  Anyway just wanted to blog to make myself feel better.  I'll be wearing my pretty pink sandals for the surprise date I have planned for Chad since I reorder them from Zappos.com a reliable shoe site (I got my wedding tennis shoes there).  Oh and get this .

Well as you can guess I am a United Methodist nerd.  Last weekend was the Northern IL Annual Conference.  Since me parents and Chad's parents were all there, cause everyone except his dad is a pastor, Shane and I (and Chad during Sat. & Sun.) went to hang out.  Hang out at Annual Conference you say?  Don't people go to that because they HAVE to?  Well yes and no.  Delegates from local churches go because they have to AND because the want to.  Worship is usually fun and interesting, and you get to see people you haven't in a while.  Because when you have a new baby and work in the church who has time to be social let alone have a date night with your hubby?

We took Shane to visit Great Grams in Sante Fe, NM. Grammy Meggy grew up in Rociada, NM which is about an hour and half from Sante Fe. We flew out Friday morning and had a long lay over in Denver, CO. So Shane got to see mama's mountains from afar. Shane did very well on the plane. He just sat in the sling or on mama's lap and had a great old time. The first flight he slept through the whole thing. On the next one he was awake for the take off and landing but he was very intently watching Dada to see how he should react. It is amazing how much he takes his cues from us. If we are relaxed and calm he will pretty much be that way (unless there is a dirty diaper involved). We stayed in a beautiful condo-like place close to the foothills in Sante Fe and arrived there around 7:30 Friday night. We had a pack and play crib brought to our room and mama and dada got a nice king sized bed! It was very roomie for all of us when Shane was nursing. Grammy Meggy got her own room in with us and had her own bathroom too. Grandpa Steve really wold have liked our unit but he stayed home to enjoy his first flying lesson! Saturday was very leisurely and we finally got to see Great Grams (my mom's mother) around noon. She was of course just enamored with Shane and thought he was the most wonderful baby ever (even more wonderful than mama).

So maybe every trendy millennial parent is supposed to try these sling things . . . okay I totally did.

First I just bought one called an Ellaroo sling. It's one of those more hippy looking ones with the rings. You're supposed to be able to use it from birth until whenever. Well Shane and I tried it like the second week we were home and he just cried and screamed and I felt like he was going to fall out of it. So we moved on to the ever trusty snuggli. And he didn't like that much better but at least he was secure in that one.

While we were at the zoo with Shane the first time we saw these lovely parents toting their twins in what they called the Peanut Shell. It's what the baby gear people call a tube sling. It's a sash that's folded in itself and you can use it for a cradle, sitting, or hip carry. Chad and I both thought it looked great so I went a hunting online for it. Eventually I found it on goo-ga.com but for some reason the order wouldn't go through. During my search I found HOTSLINGS that were cheaper, had more sizes, and more designs that I liked. And the order went through on their site.

He slept through almost the whole thing!

The baby polar bear eats just like Shane!

They're all so cute!

We took Shane to the Brookfield Zoo last Friday. It was a beautiful day. The most exciting part was the new baby polar bear that was being introduced to the outside world that day. He doesn't have a name yet . . . I think there will be a Chicagoland wide contest for that soon. He is super cute though! Shane didn't even stretch or crack one eye to say hello. The baby polar bear was up and playing, however. In this picture he had just finished a snack. Then after Shane finally woke up long enough to have his own snack and potty break we were on our way out. But we stopped long enough to take a family pic.

Our front yard...

Our VW Bug

Shane is getting so big!  It's hard to believe, but I totally get what every other parent says about time going by so quickly with your kids.  He's 5 weeks today and weighs in at a whopping 10 pounds 12 ounces, 23 inches.  That puts him at the 95% for height and 75% for weight.  He's so strong already I'm kind of wondering what happened to my little newborn baby.  Shane can turn onto his back from hist tummy, hold up his head on his own, and scooch backwards on his tummy (among other great tricks).

We took him swimming last night and he even kind of enjoyed that.  Once he's bigger we'll try the swimming baby thing.  He didn't like his first bath very much but he just loves taking a shower with mamma.  Here's a picture of him getting dry in his ducky hooded towel :)

Stephanie's water broke at 12:45 am early Wed morning. This was just 1 day before she was scheduled to induce. We both took a quick shower and threw everything into the car to head to Northwest Community Hospital. Stephanie automatically started doing her good Lamaz breathing with her contractions. After the first hour or so however, the contractions became thunderous and close together for the next 4-5 hours. There was hardly any downtime with the contractions, and she started getting back labor on top of her already sore sciatic nerve. Although she had wanted to go completely natural with the childbirth, the pain was really wearing her out so she asked for an epidural.

My idea for Dellideastorm.... Provide Open Source Repository and Installer for Windows -

Click here and Go vote for it!