Baking a Baby and Torching a Roof in 100 degree DC heat

In 100 degree heat Carlos decided to play roofer and use the a blowtorch to melt black rubber on the roof. The roofer was busy on Saturday and Carlos was eager to finish the rooftop deck so he borrowed the torch from the roofer. Not the best idea in record heat....I joined in to hammer a few nails and was drenched with sweat within 5 minutes. Carlos managed to burn rubber for awhile before heat stroke was about to set in. But the deck is looking good and worth the sacrifice! Here is a picture of the salvaged doors from argentina that Carlos brought back from scranton - the picture doesn't show much but they look great!

Today we had our first birthing class which mainly served to scare both of us. It was an all day labor and delivery class which included a tour of the hospital, birthing videos, relaxation techniques and lunch in the hospital cafeteria. I must be in super-emotional mode because those 1970s birthing videos made me tear up -- mostly out of fear. I liked the relaxation techniques and they work like a charm...when you aren't in labor :)

Last weekend we went to a wedding in miami and it was soooo nice to be on the beach and in the warm water. Water is such a blessing for the third trimester...

Since the last entry I became a graduate with 5 letters behind my name: MBA/MA. That's $20,000 of debt per letter. The graduation was nice and those unbreathable gowns were a great equalizer....everyone looked like they might be 7 months pregnant! The speaker was Robert Zoellick the head of the World Bank who I thought would be a little more inspiring given his stellar resume. Instead he provided a litany of what life was like in 1908. And about half way through the speech Kumquat started kicking my bladder which made the speech and event feel even longer.

In the meantime Carlos has been working away on the house. We chose house colors - but unfortunately the green machine was sacrificed even further as a quick braking for a police sighting caused a paint can to tip over and re-decorate the interior of the car....The scaffolding was taken down from the front so we can now enjoy the pretty colors. The neighbors can also enjoy the new view, but they don't seem to enjoy anything but calling the police to complain about us. One neighbor yelled "compadre, shut up! stop making noise!" (which is tough on a construction sight) and another menacingly asked the workers for their "papers." Of course Carlos isn't their compadre and he let them know that (with a few expletives)....The lovely lady next door re-hired her lawyer and served us with a letter saying that we owed $5,000 for the fact that her chimney MIGHT NOT draft correctly because our house is bigger than it was when first built in the 1860s...

Here are some pictures of the house, the flowers Carlos gave me for graduation and my BIG belly.

BABY FOOD & BABY SHOWER

I was under the illusion that baby food was tasty. But it really really isn't!

We had a fun baby shower with a pink unicorn pinata, decorating onesies and baby food taste-testing. The good thing about baby food is the variety: macaroni and cheese, chicken and vegetables, pasta primavera, sweet potatoes, peas and brown rice.....The bad thing about baby food is that it all seems to be cardboard with flavoring or worse!
Despite the baby food the baby shower was a lot of fun. We had other tasty food (cupcakes with blue icing :)); original designs for onesies and cute presents! We got some very cute outfits and great books! It's amazing that some of my favorite stories from growing up are still out there - like Good Night Moon (though we hear that they had to remove the ash tray!) and Pat the Bunny and all the Richard Scarry stories!














As a present to ourselves we rented a fetal doppler so that we could hear the baby's heartbeat. Unfortunately you can't because I can't figure out how to attach the recording we made!!

Ode to the Green Machine

This week was the week of the green machine. It is one of the more unsightly cars on the block due to fact that it is often full of house II paraphernalia. He added to the oddities in the car by leaving a fleece jacket that he intended to give away. In the morning this unsuspecting car was relieved of a window and the jacket to be given away was taken. That jacket now cost $160 - for the window repair.

On Saturday Carlos loaded the machine up with lumber until the tires appeared ready to burst and the back bumper was inches off the concrete.

On Sunday Carlos had a run in with a homeless lady by the 7-11. Her grocery cart of items included none other than the fleece jacket that was taken from the car a couple days earlier. In response to Carlos asking her where she had gotten the jacket she put a hat over her face as though it made her invisible and refused to say anything. He told her that he had intended to give it away anyways, but she didn't seem to register much remorse. It seemed unlikely that she broke the window - but it would be interesting to find out how she ended up with it.

Although the car and Carlos had their share of travails this week, Kumquat has been doing well. According to the weekly BabyCenter emails he is the size of a chinese cabbage and has eyelashes. Carlos and I are both taking note of strollers that pass on the street and I often stop and interrogate total strangers about their stroller choices. It's like strollers are to me the way dogs are to others - I don't even notice dogs, but I'll stop and try to pet any stroller that passes by....

If Carlos were birthing Kumquat....

I've heard that stress can induce labor and if so I am sure glad that Carlos is not carrying Kumquat....

Friday was a particularly fun day in this regard. Having to run house errands before work, Carlos got up early and as usual conducted business over the phone in spanish next to my head as I put more and more pillows over my face. He rushed to the police station to get a parking permit for the workers and from there went to House II. Some jerk ignored the OFFICIAL no parking sign out front so Carlos called to have him towed. He then proceeded to work where he realized that his wallet was gone - license, credit cards and $100 cash. bummer. Over lunch he had scheduled to pick-up a skylight, but to do so he needed a truck and to do that he needed an ID and money! He drove back from Rockville to Capitol Hill (a terrible commute at any hour) and borrowed the workers' van to pick-up the skylight. Despite the power of the green machine, he wasn't quick enough and in the meantime an inspector was waiting for him. Our beloved neighbor had called the city yet again regarding our house being too close to her chimney. Of course it made more sense to call the city then talk to Carlos...The visit was inconclusive as the plans were not present, but it appears to be a civil matter. Not that relations with her are very 'civil.' Back to the van - he had to write an IOU at the roofing center to get the skylight. Luckily they had a roof promotion free hot dog (because hot dogs and roofs go so well together) which served as lunch. Unfortunately it was burnt and ketchup spilled on his shirt. But hey, who says there is no such thing as a free lunch?

Now that his lunch break was over he had to hurry back to work. Except that he didn't have enough gas to get back to work! Against all odds he made it back to work - ketchup stains and all - and sat down to finish a hard day's work :)

That's why I'm glad Kumquat is with me. This is the first week of the last trimester and I received some scary email about practice contractions starting now. ugh. But I'm still comfortable - in fact the three of us have been going out a lot and next week is the school's spring formal. I've got to find an expandable dress by then....

PS - I have no idea why this photo won't rotate. It's driving me mad. But just as well, my smile is pretty fake...

Law Enforcement Visits

The last few weeks have been full of law enforcement characters. The first baseball game at the new stadium brought a steady stream of metro riders disembarking at Capitol South and walking by the house. The influx brought new parking regulation and inspectors too. Carlos got in a fight with one inspector that didn't like the wording of our parking permit. This week the witch called the police to complain that she thought some workers were on the roof (which wasn't true). Carlos called the police to get a car ticketed.

The house looks good. They completed an extension off the basement that will be an extra storage space and bathroom. They also worked on the roof. I'm attaching a video of the roofing - too bad I can't attach the fumes too :) The fumes of the roof was bad, but so was some feces treat that an untamed worker must have left behind....

The baby is kicking/punching a lot and more forcefully. But I still can't figure out what is kicking and what is punching or headbutts or a butt. I've been feeling and looking quite big these days. People at school call me 'huge' - which doesn't make me all that happy given that I have another 3 months to go! When I'm zoning out in class I check on strollers and bedding, but no great finds to speak of yet....

This week Carlos put the cornice on the house so the facade looks like a real facade!  It looks great and even with its bare bones it looks better than our neighbor's!!  They put the windows in and have been working on the roof.  The interior is framed but we are still negotiating the design a bit...as always...For instance, despite having had the design for months, last week Carlos said "we need to re-design the bathroom TONIGHT."

On the baby side I'm starting to look pregnant and not just fat - I've put on 13 pounds!  I started looking for cribs and such but was quickly demoralized by the home depot-esque cheap looking, over-priced options at popular places like buy-buy baby.  Terribly ugly CRIBS for $1000!  So my alternative online search led me to an auction in Richmond where a sweet old wooden bassinet was being auctioned.  My mom and I played hooky and drove down on Wednesday afternoon.  As novices we weren't totally prepared for the experience.  We got there early only to realize that the auction would go on from 3pm until midnight - 9 hours - and the crib was #540!!  We also couldn't understand the auctioneer - at one point my mom bid against herself and he had to tell her that she had already bid!  As always we left having spent more money than anticipated and I did get one crib, but the bassinet I came for was bid up over $700 - well beyond my reservation price.  Here are some pictures from the house and my belly.