Inauguration Weekend!

We had a long and eventful MLK inauguration weekend!  The weekend included 8 house guests, a visit to the mall for inauguration and an inauguration party.  Not surprisingly, there was less excitement in the city this time around and fewer events. Unfortunately that was matched with more security measures which resulted in bad traffic, a feeling of being cattle herded, inexplicable barricades, bad detours and friends spending 1.5 hrs in the car to get to our house from adams morgan.  My mom, cousin, brother and aunt made it to the mall only to be told entrances had been closed so continued walking until the Washington monument where they proceeded to find a jumbotron that didn't work.  such a bummer.  On the other hand I had a great seat and view of the ceremony.  It was pretty special to be close-up and after the ceremony I wandered up as close as possible to the podium.  With all that no one ever checked my ticket - my ticket didn't even leave my coat pocket.  Exiting turned out to be more of a hassle than getting in so I snuck past security guards to cut through the Cannon congressional building to get to our street.  This would have been a great idea had I known where I was going.  Instead I got lost in the underground bowels of congress and spent forever wandering around tunnels.  Despite the 1 million people outside I found myself completely alone in the tunnels.  Pushing, shoving and standing for so long I was getting quite crampy and was beginning to think maybe this underground hell was going to induce the baby girl.  I did eventually make it home....

Obama speaking (the little speck on the bottom right!)

the mall by 8am....

our street corner by friday afternoon...

getting through security

To make up for the malfunctioning jumbotron we had Obama at 419 1st St!  Well at least a life size representation of him..  It was real enough to startle us every time we came downstairs.  Charlie and Diego loved to move him around the house which made him even more scary and surprising.  At the party he greeted guests as they entered, danced with guests and took group pictures...He was very accommodating....

Charlie, Diego and Grandma blew up about 100 helium balloons to cover the ceiling which was so fun for them. It backfired sort of because then charlie desperately wanted to stay up for "half the party."  The balloon carcasses littered the floor the next day, but that was just as much fun for Charlie who, with help from his visiting friend Milo, popped them all with toothpicks....

 

Other decorations included inauguration coins, luminaries, inauguration trivia and - what is party without inauguration cupcakes?!

 

 

The house was not only full of decorations, but also fun guests.  My aunt, mom, cousin and brother came down from Philly as did Janine and her son from NY and Neal, who I haven't seen in YEARS came from San Francisco.  Thanks to Kathleen my mom and aunt were able to escape the late night dance party and have a quiet place to stay....

29 Weeks....

29 weeks and feeling huge!  Last week I had to do an extended glucola test which was possibly worse than labor itself.  I had to drink an ultra-concentrated glucola liquid and then have blood taken 4 times over the course of 3 hours. I made it through ~1.5 hours and then puked it all back up.  The nurses shook their head at me as I walked out of the bathroom...I didn't care - I rather go on a restricted diet then do that test again....Luckily because I held it in for over an hour they accepted the results and everything is fine.

Charlie and Diego talk to their baby sister sometimes.  Usually they whisper things like "baby sister - go pee-pee in mommy's tummy" and then they fall down laughing.  Other than that they don't pay much attention to my bulging stomach nor do they give me much of a break.  I've been feeling more tired and a little more like I'm running on empty.  I'm also getting in "nesting" mode in anticipation that this baby is coming early.  Mostly this means purging stuff and getting anxious about Carlos' construction projects.

I had been worried that Diego's bad behavior during our trip marked the delayed beginning of terrible twos for him, but now that he is better he is back to being my sweet angel.  The other night when I checked on him before going to bed he sensed I was there and reached up for me and said hopefully "mommy, you are coming into my cuna (crib)?"  When I said 'maybe later' he responded "okay, but I need a kiss."

Diego making waffles

We had our first visit to the new Children's Museum.  I'm glad we went because I won't feel badly not going again...Overpriced and not worth it.


Last weekend Carlos and  I had our first ever karaoke outing - likely to be our last as well, but after a big korean BBQ meal it seemed like a nice way to round out the evening.  Here is Carlos singing some terrible song like Bohemian Rhapsody or something.

I've found a cooking activity messier than making pizza - making pasta!!!  The kids loved it, but the kitchen was a disaster afterwards....This was my attempt to get my carb-obsessed kids to eat kale- KALE PASTA!!  It was pretty good!

Colorado!

We went to Colorado for New Year's where we got to see Jamie & Bill, Uncle Buddy, Tamar and Lucie.  With better planning we might have seen more Coloradans but, as it was, we wreaked enough havoc at Jamie's house.  Diego puked all over their house and then was a disaster for the rest of the week and Charlie broke their wall!  Other than that it was a lot of fun:).  Compared to a DC rowhouse the Andersons now live in what feels like a mansion - complete with an indoor pool!  

We had a SEVEN course feast on New Year's Eve which was insanely good.  Can you guess which is my glass....

Carlos and Bill took the boys to ski school one day and then we went to Vail another day.  Despite his complaints, Charlie had a lot of fun skiing.   In Vail he loved going up the magic carpet and skied down on his own.  Sadly we don't get to go skiing often so I'm not sure it'll stick, but at least he had fun.  While in Vail Lucie cooked us Czech cookies which made me miss Christmas time in Czech Republic.

We visited Tamar in Ft. Collins and got a tour of her work at New Belgium brewery.  It seems like a really fun place to work and Carlos enjoyed tasting the beer....I think it was after noon....


In Boulder we hung out with uncle Buddy and his chickens.  Other than seeing Buddy my favorite part was his homemade kale pasta and cinnamon rolls.  Charlie's favorite part was Perry - he absolutely melted around her...