The DMB Experience

Well in case you live under a rock and don't know what DMB stands for it is The Dave Matthews Band. And for those of you who know me well know that I am a HUGE fan of the band. On my birthday they announced that they would be playing at Wrigley Field on Sept. 17th and 18th and of course I had to go. For one, who wouldn't want to see their favorite band at one of the neatest fields in the U.S., and two, this would be the last show of the summer until 2012!!!!

I requested tickets for both shows through the DMB Warehouse, the fan club (I told you I was a big fan) and both requests were met. I knew I had at least one person to go with me and that was my friend Maureen! She is a big DMB fan as well. The date was set and plans went into work. Peter of course said he wasn't going to go so then I had to figure out how I was going to get there. I couldn't go to Chicago and not bring Nora with me, unless I didn't tell anyone else that i was going and I couldn't do that. Our options were to a) take the train, b) take the bus, or c) drive (which I have never done along with Nora yet). After much deliberation I decided that I wanted to have control over the time of day I was coming and going so I drove.

I was excited and nervous at the same time. Nora and I got up on Friday at our normal time and hit the rode at 7:00 am. Traffic was great....not much of it. It felt like we just flew up there. We stopped in McLean to use the restroom and get gas and got back on the rode. We didn't hit any traffic until we got on to 90/94 in the city. I swear that people in Chicago must not work because traffic should not be that bad anywhere at 12:00 on a Friday afternoon. At this point Nora was sleeping and I was jamming to DMB of course, and we got to the Reids at 12:30. Not too shabby and only one minor spill on the way up.
I dropped Nora, ate some lunch and headed to meet up with Candace. I had decided to do a rooftop for Friday night after some confusion had occured in the planning, so Candace, Maureen and I made reservations with The Wrigley View for Friday nights show.

The Wrigley View was pretty cool, but I would not reccommend concert goers to take this option. You could hear the music really well, but we could not see the stage and that is half of the fun. It was all-inclusive though so the price of the reservation did include dinner, desert and drinks. Candace and I took full advantage of the drinks and wanted to get our money's worth and we sure did! DMB put on an okay show in my opinion. The setlist was just so-so and a little slow, it could have been much better. It just seemed like something was missing. We had a lot of fun and had a drink after the show at Goose Island and then called it a night. I stayed with Maureen for the weekend and let Grandma and Grandpa have full spoiling access to Nora all weekend.

Saturday we just bummed around, I had a pretty nasty headache for most of the day. Evening came and it was time to head back down to Wrigley. I really wanted to get a shirt that night. I told Peter it was the closest to a Cubs shirt that I would ever where. Unfortunately they were sold out, I am keeping my eyes peeled on-line though. I do have to say that it was very cool in Wrigleyville. The amount of people on the streets and in the bars was unreal!!! And all to see one band play!!! I just loved it. We had a heck of a time trying to find a place to eat before the show and finally ended up at the Sports Corner.

We got to the show while the opening act was playing and our seats were not too bad. We were in the upper deck, but the view was good. You could not have paid me to stand down on the field where there were no seats with 5,000 other people....no thank you! DMB came on right at 8:30 and ROCKED until 11:15. They were AMAZING on Saturday evening. The setlist was awesome, the crowd was great and I have to say it was one of the best shows I have seen...and I have seen them every summer, sometimes twice a summer for the last 12 years! I can say that they closed the tour very well and I am satisfied until 2012.

Maureen and I were cracking up at the couple in front of us on Saturday. The girl was the DMB fan and the guy was not so much. It reminded us of our husbands. The guy sat for half of the show, which is something Peter and Mike totally would have done.

It was a fantastic weekend! Thanks Chicago and DMB!!!!

We did it! We did it!

That is right we did it or I should say Nora did it. We got rid of the binky! I have been thinking about getting rid of it for a while, but was very scared to do it. She has only had it at nap and bed time for quite a while, but it is a big step. I was also nervous because a friend of ours had her little boy start to suck his thumb after getting rid of the bink. Last weekend was when I hit my wall and said enough is enough. She had starting asking for it more and more. She would cry for her "binky" anytime she didn't get her way and quite frankly it was starting to annoy me. So I decided Labor Day weekend would be good since I had three days to focus on before sending her back to the sitter.

Unfortunately for my in-laws they were going to have to experience the binky removal. I prepared myself all weekend and kept telling myself it could be worse and the longer I wait the harder it will be. I was totally stressing myself out about it. I took the advice of a different friend and cut the tips of the binkies off and said that they were "broken". I introduced the "broken" binky on Thursday night but still gave her a binky that night. I kind of wanted to see what her reaction was going to be, it was not good. She cried and wanted me to throw that broken one away. Luckily for me it wasn't bedtime yet and she was at Aunt Kiki's house and they watched a movie and she got a regular one at bedtime.

It was now Friday night and we had a long day. Grandma was reading to her and had given her the blanket and they were rocking and she finally called me in because she was not going to be the one to say goodnight and not be giving the binky (totally understand that!). So I rocked and sang and did our routine and put her in bed and nothing!!! I was in shock. I went out into the living room and waited for the screaming and crying to start and nothing. A couple of minutes later we hear a very sad little girl through the monitor pathetically saying, "my binky". It was the sadest little whine ever!!! After about 25-30 minutes of that I couldn't take it anymore and I turned off the monitor. Seriously....I had prepared myself for the worse and it was nothing but whining! She did wake up twice that night whining for it but I went in and kissed her and told her it was okay and she went back to sleep a little later.

Saturday at naptime she whined for about 10 minutes and went to sleep and then saturday night was about the same. Sunday naptime was nothing and bedtime was great! Now she has occasionally asked for it here and there when she hasn't gotten her way at something but we all have done a great job at ignoring the request.
I really don't know how and why and I am so lucky to have such an easy going child. I am really concerned that when we have a second child it is going to be a holy terror. It makes me not want to have a second child because what child could be as good as gold like Nora. My friends love when they see Nora cry because they say she is real then. It is kind of a running joke!

Here are some pics from the weekend. We went to Purina Farms with the Grandma's and went to the park Saturday evening while I took Susie and Jalen's pics. We had a great time this weekend!