so we moved to Chicago

I've been meaning to write this post for two months. Hashtag mom brain.

The week before Jack was born, Paul got the job at the Midway airport. He had previously interviewed with this company for a position in San Diego but ended up declining it because we didn't want to live in San Diego. They called him back and offered him a better position here in Chicago. He took it. I still remember sitting at work when he called me and said, "we're moving to Chicago!"

Moving here has been the hardest thing I've endured since becoming a mother. It's difficult to close a chapter of life that you love. I miss Provo - our friends, the beautiful weather, the feeling of home. Even two months later, sometimes I wake up and forget where I am. It's made me realize how attached I was to our little starter home in downtown Provo. The reeling emotions I've felt from this huge life change on top of those pesky little postpartum hormones have been not so fun. Add Lily's misunderstanding of why we had to move, her tantrums, and general distress  to the mix and it's just a miasma of fun over here at our house. I need friends.

Provo is teeming with college-aged people, married and unmarried. I always had friends in similar life stages within a ten minute drive. It's a little more difficult to find friends with similar interests out here in the suburbs of Chicago.

Seeing another mom at the park is like

However, one plus to nursing 6+ hours out of the day and not having any friends is that I've gotten a lot of reading done. I've read almost 6,000 pages since I got here - that's more than I did Lily's entire first year of life! Thank goodness for literature and staying sane. 

I've even been exercising. I've been sort of forced into it - Chicago is bursting with delicious food. The pizza here is unreal. Even the mexican food is amazing. Each morning that the humidity is below 70%, I run 3-5 miles with my double stroller. At first, I sweat buckets and thought that I was going to die, but once I got the hang of it, I began actually enjoying it? What? I've even experienced brief  moments of a desire to eat healthier. Don't worry, it passes quickly. Death to all salad.