The Manley/Coleman Family

Just so you all can see the immensity of it, here’s a picture showing the crowd on the south end of Grant Park. And a marker showing our location next to the soundbooth and port-a-potties (for the sound guys only, unfortunately).

Rob and I are HUGE Radiohead fans, and have never never never seen them in concert. We’ve tried . . . oh yes, we’ve tried . . . but they don’t tour that frequently, usually play teeny tiny venues, and are therefore quickly sold out, sending the price of scalped tickets sky high. So as live-music lovers, when we heard Radiohead was the headliner for this year’s Lollapalooza, we knew we HAD to go! (plus it never hurts that about 100 other good bands were playing, including Rage Against The Machine and Nine Inch Nails, and we love going to Lolla every year anyway). Hmmm, but eight months pregnant when the concert finally arrived was going to be tough. But I’m a tough cookie, and in a record crowd of 75,0000+ in Grant Park, we got relatively close to the stage. Thanks to Bryce and Friends for saving us a spot! It was worth it!

One of Allison’s skating coaches generously gave us three huge tupperware bins of little boy clothes, ranging in sizes from 0 months up to to a full year. Some of them still had the tags on them! It took us a weekend to wash, sort and organize all the clothes into the various sizes (0-3 months, 3-6 months, etc) and make sure that little shirts went with matching little pants and matching little hats and socks. It’s amazing the outfits for babies . . . we have Eddie Bauer, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and a Harley Davidson outfit complete with do-rag. We even have baby Uggs! (not pictured). This is going to be quite the well-dressed child. At least until he throws up on the clothes a few times.

But I think what shocked us the most is the shoes. Seventeen pairs of shoes. Well, eighteen if you count the Uggs. That’s almost as much as his parents’ combined shoe collection. And the kid won’t be walking until when?

Fancy Wardrobe

Our Chicago friends threw us a shower, and ordered our favorite dessert: chocolate mint ice cream cake! Too bad the person at Baskin Robbins can’t spell . . . but it still tasted great!

We started the blog well after the ultrasound photos were taken, so we’re going to upload them here from February 29th and April 16th. Allison’s favorite is the last one, because the technician made it very clear what we were looking at on the screen. Enjoy!

The kitties love to lie on us when we’re relaxing on the couch. They are helping to insulate the baby.

We have been neglectful about taking pictures of me pregnant. No Demi Moore Vanity Fair cover shots here. But we do have this one Rob took of us taking a nice weekend visiting Taliesin in Wisconsin on June 21st.

preggiemama

Most men who want to get their last hurrahs in before kids arrive go drink, or party, etc etc. Not Rob. He went and bought a kayak. Granted, he’s really been getting seriously into kayaking for a few years now, and it’s great for his health, convenient since we live on a large body of water, blah blah blah. But he was bound and determined to get it pre-baby so he could really go nuts on the lake this summer.

the boy toy