Despite all the (minor) challenges I mentioned, our trip was really fun. We stayed in a single hotel room with both girls, managed to get enough sleep to be sane, and got around the city just fine.
I got a lot of messages from friends with advice from my anal retentive post, so it was worth it. A friend lent me her stroller and Highlights magazines, and I got many, many great Chicago tips, almost all of which I used this time. The rest will be saved for our next trip! Such a fun place to visit.
L and I spent some quality time in the hotel room bathroom while the kids went to sleep, both at naptime and in the evenings. (Thank God for wireless internet.) It won't be long before we'll be done with naps and ready for later bedtimes that we can all do together -- but we're not there yet! So, trips like this are fun but not ideal. We were there 3 nights, and I think that was about all we could do before the lack of sleep would've turned us all into monsters.
One note: I am happy I dug out our old white noise machine from when Jellybean was a baby. It was the perfect buffer for hallway noise and plumbing noise in the hotel (for all of us!).
