West Virginia

Last week I had a work trip to scenic Morristown, New Jersey and rounded out the experience by getting the flu! awesome. I was trying desperately not to show my now very large belly to my work colleagues which also added to the fun.  I wore suits to give me lateral coverage and baggy sweaters for frontal coverage.  I think it worked, but people may just have been polite about my fat stomach.  tough call.  I think this means I can wait until around Thanksgiving to announce as I won't be in Atlanta until December.  We find out if it is a boy or girl next Friday!!!!! I'm so excited.  I still don't feel the little bean but I assume s/he is doing okay. 

After New Jersey we took off for West Virginia so Carlos could go play lumberjack with the husband of a couple who owns land in a place called Lost City.  Carlos could not pass up the opportunity to play with a chainsaw in the woods.  It's a beautiful location with unbelievable fall colors.  The place is a couple of hours outside DC and for some bizarre reason has become a known gay getaway locale.  I was shocked to find anyplace in WV would be a gay mecca but then we came across the cutest general store which had an attached yoga studio and a giant fire pit for drum circles and I realized we must be in some vortex!

The property didn't look much different when they were done chopping but our car did.  We shoved fire wood and a giant log in the back which displaced less important things like luggage.  The other couple have twin boys around Charlie's age and he had so much fun playing with them - mainly the one named Xandr (who he called Sandra!).  The 8 of us stayed in a 2 room cabin! It was actually cozy and fine for a night.  But probably not any longer....

Carlos armed and dangerous

Charlie trying on the personal protective equipment

We had our parent teacher conference this week which made me realize how quickly the year is going by!  While we love Brent and Charlie seems to really like Mr. Holtoff I don't feel like he is learning as much.  Maybe the learning curve was so steep last year so it was really noticeable or maybe it just takes more time...He is however learning lots in his classes outside school.  He loves his swim class and ballet and even piano.  Diego on the other hand doesn't seem to like structured classes much and when we talk about going to Brent next year he yells "NO!"

Petting zoo birthday party which Diego LOVED!

Pumpkin Carving!

This weekend we had a little pumpkin carving party for some of Charlie's classmates.  It's really just an excuse for me to put up Halloween decorations and carve pumpkins.  This year the kids actually wanted to carve the pumpkins and not just play with the gross sticky eyeballs I got.  That said most of the time they wanted to play out in the treehouse which made me both happy and horrified.  Happy that it gets love and horrified because the backyard - as always - is a construction zone.  Somewhere along the line I've lost all sense of decorum so I roll my eyes and let everyone crowd outside in the midst of construction debris.

Here are some pictures of the brunch



we got a little carried away with the face paint...



thanks to stephanie for helping to carve the remaining pumpkins

 We have construction because we put up some beams in the dining room and started on shelves in the living room.  The bathroom is still unusable so we are all craming into Veronika's bathroom which I'm guessing doesn't make her stay all that fun.  Luckily she is a good sport about everything - including the 6am wake up calls with the kids screaming.  Here are our new dining room beams:

 She continues to take Charlie to do rock climbing.  Look how high he got last time!

Charlie has taken a few swim classes and is doing much better.  I think it'll take a lot more lessons for us to start seeing actual strokes and not drinking..Here is after just jumping in and turning around to swim back to the edge. 

Diego is finally starting to talk more.  One cute thing he tells me is "I love you much."  I tell him I love you more and he tells me "I love you much doo-doo head!"  He is really into doo-doo head...something his brother taught him.  I've started wondering how he'll do with the transition to school next year (assuming he gets in) as he doesn't like sharing nor do we make him share much. 

Fall is Here!

The fall has brought beautiful weather to DC, but it's already making me dread winter time.  Two weekends ago we went to Bluemont, Virginia to pick apples and meet Veronika after her bike ride through the countryside.  I usually complain about how commercial and overrun the pick-your-own farms around DC are, but this time - ironically - I was complaining about just the opposite!  It was in the middle of no where, the apple orchard was sad and run down and not a single other person in site and we could barely find an apple that didn't have worm holes.  The whole place felt twilight-zonish.  There was a run-down mini-golf course that was no longer operational, animals in cages that looked worse than the zoo we went to in Panama and pig races that pitted a black and white pig named Obama against a white pig named Romney.  I couldn't wait to get out of there.  Fortunately the apple galette we made from the apples picked made the trip worthwhile.

the empty orchards

On a better note - Veronika has been taking Charlie rock climbing and he loves it.  Check out how high he goes!!

This weekend I went up to Yale for an alumni weekend and to see my brother Seth while Carlos stayed with the boys.  I can't say Carlos had a great time, but I had a really nice time.  The event was poorly organized, but that gave me plenty of time to see Seth and to sit and talk until 3 in the morning with old and new students.  Some women were in the first few classes that admitted women - it was crazy to hear about the school then.

Haircuts and More

Baby #3 has given me a bloated belly, a chocolate craving and even bigger varicose veins.  Great.  Charlie and Diego are getting more excited about the baby and charlie even says goodnight to him/her at bedtime.  Actually, I think it is just one more delay tactic.  He finds a million and one things to do instead of going to bed.  We often leave them in bed and then when we go check on them a few minutes later Charlie has turned on the light and is dancing or otherwise entertaining Diego.  Here is my favorite night owl activity....he found tia Veronika's sticky paper and wrote notes then stuck them on the bathroom door.  You'll notice they are very complete and very illegible...

Charlie has been spending mondays with tia Veronika which he LOVES.  It has also been nice for us to spend time one on one with Diego.  He is so different without Charlie around - no crying, screaming or fits.  It made me realize how, as the younger one, he is always fighting for attention and space around Charlie.  I didn't believe when people said to be careful that Diego doesn't get the middle kid syndrome when #3 arrives but I'm seeing that it is true.  It also feels like Diego is fierce in his independence while Charlie feels like his heart belongs to us. 

Diego is all little boy now - no more cozy baby.  He loves water - he talks us into at least two baths a day - and loves to be outside.  Usually he spends part of the evening in the kitchen sink "doing dishes" while I cook dinner.  I also find that he eats better when he is in the sink so I often feed him dinner there!  Here he is enjoying dinner in the sink and breakfast on the porch:

Last weekend Stephanie joined us for a mini-hike to Great Falls followed by bubble tea and haircuts for the boys at the Eden Center.  Despite my fear they look cute and I saved some of Diego's hair. 

This past weekend we got the rare treat of seeing the Ralles family who were back in town briefly from Vienna (that's Austria, not Virginia).  I wish they would move back here and people would stop fleeing DC!!  Here is the mini-SAIS reunion (charlie took this picture).

 

Charlie on a REAL tank!

Charlie in deep thought at yards park

12 Weeks!

I think taking the pacifier away from Diego hastened the onset of terrible twos.  He wants to play with any toy charlie has and then throws a fit when he doesn't get it.  And he never gets the toy.  Charlie is not the most gracious older brother so he refuses to share ANYTHING with his younger brother.  Taken together they are a disaster! I had told Carlos that my angel Diego would never hit terrible twos but I seem to be eating my words....Sadly I think the fighting will continue well beyond terrible twos. 
Other than fights and a lingering cold we are doing well.  Carlos decided he didn't like our bathroom so it's gone.  As in totally gone!  The removal of tiles was so loud that it made conference calls nearly impossible. I tried every corner of the house in search of a quiet space.  The other day I hid in the half bath to take a conference call only to have one of the guys working here walk in to use the bathroom.  If he doesn't already think I am crazy he surely did as I walked out of the bathroom talking on the phone with my computer in hand.... 

Charlie has finally taken to wholeheartedly participating in new things.  I signed him up for piano, ballet, swim, percussion and soccer classes and in each case he is super excited to go.  I'm so proud of him for finally ceasing to grab my leg and refuse to participate in anything.  On the other hand I think I may have created an activity monster....He remains the only boy in ballet and the only one who doesn't show up in pink (or a leotard for that matter).  It doesn't seem to phase him.  I feel a little (ok a lot) silly for signing a 4 year old up for so many classes.  I think I am living vicariously through my children...   
Here is Charlie at swim class (notice how she pushes him under and then he pretends not to think it is scary...):

 

Here is what reading time devolves into every night (wrestling with carlos):

I guess the BIG news is that #3 is on the way!  It was a happy surprise for all of us!  His/Her due date is March 29th!  Here are the most recent sonogram pictures. 



crossed feet in top pic! so cute!



Blue Ribbons

Charlie started Pre-k 4!  Here he is on his first day of school! 

Despite being travelled-out we drove south to Charlottesville and then north to Cleveland over Labor Day, logging 18 hours in the car.  Despite seeing the inside of the Tank a lot we had a great time.  We were in Charlottesville for Meyer's wedding which was beautiful.  It was at a vineyard with gorgeous mountain views and a donut food truck for the dessert!  Around midnight we got back in the car and headed home to relieve poor Sandra who agreed to stay until 3am.  In the morning we packed up the car and left for Cleveland for the Labor Day Olympics.  Sadly we missed the greased up watermelon in the pool event (my all time favorite) but we did make it for the field events on Sunday.  Charlie was beyond excited for the big races and woke up Abuelo early to get a warm-up course going.  I was very proud of our family performance - tios Nathan and Seth made it to the tennis tournament final (sadly they lost), big tio Charlie won the around the backstop race and little Charlie won both the kids foot race and the three-legged race and Carlos won the mixed-up doubles tennis.  We didn't fair very well in the pond fishing competition, but our vegetable sculpture was pretty cute.  My dad must have infected Charlie with a track bug because he constantly wants to run races.  The whole weekend he would drag any willing body (usually his cousins, my dad or tios Charlie and Seth) to the start line.  The cutest thing about the kids race was that all the kids stopped at the string designating the finish line - they ran as fast as they could and then stopped abruptly so as not to disturb the string.   

The kids lining up for the big race

Charlie won!  Diego came in last...

Diego and I try the 3-legged race but lose to Charlie and Charlie

Charlie and I try the 3-legged race....

With ribbons...

vegetable sculpture contest - ours was The Three Muska-Tillos (tomatillos decorated as the 3 cousins)




We were the only ones NOT to catch a fish....

 


 

on my grandparents pond in a very old canoe



Charlie has become a tough negotiator these days.  He finds flaws in our reasoning or escalates the negotiation.  Last week when he wasn't sharing a new toy with Diego we told him we were going to return the toy to the store to which he responded "you can't return it after I opened it and played with it."  On the car ride home I said that he could use the iphone only if he stopped complaining and waited for Diego to go to sleep.  He didn't like that so he told me "if you don't let me use the iphone now I'm going to go outside (of the house) without a grown-up."  using my own negotiating tactics against me?  what kindof terrorist is he?!

Diego is still my little angel.  He is talking more and couldn't have a brighter smile.  That said we've had a few sleepless nights with him as we took away his pacifier last week.  He is doing okay overall but he'll wake up in the night and have a hard time going back to sleep.  I've spent a lot of early mornings inside his crib with him.  It's a small space and I may be over the weight limit but I'm too tired to try anything else.