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...

Cleveland & Christmas

My brothers and I went to Cleveland last week for my dad's heart surgery.  We couldn't help laughing during our family meeting the night before - especially when my father proudly showed us his new iphone app called - wait for it..."the flashlight app."   But overall it was pretty scary - and I wasn't even the one getting opened up.  It was a big relief that the surgery was successful, but then comes the recovery...

After Cleveland we headed to philly for christmas.  This was the first Christmas for which both boys seemed really excited and aware of Santa which makes things so fun.  Charlie was especially excited about Santa bringing him a sled and wrote him a letter which he gave to the crossing guard at school to send.  Yes - the crossing guard...The crossing guard has taken a liking to Charlie and asked him to write Santa a letter which she could send.  Charlie and his cousins also made cookies for Santa as an offering.  This all worked out in his favor as a sled did indeed appear on Christmas morning.  Luckily Charlie didn't seem to notice that the big box packed in the car disappeared on the return trip....The other presents I got weren't as well received - a balance bike for Diego and a keyboard for Charlie were pushed aside in favor of more fun toys like a remote controlled car, a "workbox" and a pig popper.  The boys had so much fun with their cousins and were devastated when it was time for them to leave.  They were also so exhausted that they could barely function. 

cookies for santa

Christmas morning!

how sad! playing with the only snow left

tio charlie gave the kids PJs to match his!!

Diego with his favorite toy - a 10 year old Staples gadget!

My mom’s pop-up store did really well (http://www.curiophiladelphia.com/)  - I’m very proud of her.  It is A LOT of work, but we are hoping she can continue it full time going forward.  Here are the kids eating their first “grinder” sandwich and stinking up the store.  And Charlie and Wallis working the cash register….

Gingerbread Houses

After 3 evenings of gingerbread baking, Charlie and I finally had our gingerbread village ready for his classmates to decorate. I got slightly jealous so decided to make one for me too:). Turns out gingerbread houses take a little more thought than I thought. The first attempt was so sloppy that the roof kept falling off. I decided to actually read the recipe/instructions....The kids seem to have a lot of fun and worked so hard decorating their houses. Charlie's house has turned into a multi-day event as he continues to fill in any remaining space he can find. charlie is very precise, balanced and geometric with his decorations....Diego's house is bit more abstract. His tactic is to skip the house and just pour the decorations onto the ground around the house. Very colorful lawn...

the village

hard at work



getting decorations out



my house

Our christmas tree hunt was slightly less romantic than in years past when we chopped it down.  This year we hunted it down at Fragers and picked one with a white tag indicating 9 ft.  Oh well - maybe next year. 

On Sunday we went to "Ice" at National Harbor which was totally mind-boggling.  They import chinese artists to sculpt two million pounds of ice and then keep the whole thing refridgerated to 9 degrees.   Doesn't seem like a very sustainable idea.  It was totally bizarre and Diego hated it, but Charlie loved it.  Here we are in our parkas...

We've been down about this year at Charlie's class which perpetuates the continual conversation about where best to live.  The teacher's aide never shows up and there are 2 kids with IEPs in his class so the poor teacher is on his own with 20 4/5 year olds.  The school principal, the parents and the PTA are all involved trying to fix the situation, but that hasn't stopped Carlos from having some choice words with the superintendent, her chief of staff, the deputy superintendent, the chief of staff for the mayor and our ANC representative. ahhh carlos.

Diego is so sweet and cozy.  He insists on sleeping with THREE pillows, two blankets and at least one toy.  He literally hugs trucks as he goes to sleep.   Of course they are not just any three pillows - they happen to be the three best in the house.  It might be time for us to buy more pillows because I'm down to one sad pillow which excerbates my uncomfortable sleep these days.  He has also been waking up early some mornings asking to come into our bed and when he does he insists on bring all three pillows and both blankets!

Baby #3 news is officially out.  I finally told my boss which was a big relief.  She is a maniac in my belly which can't mean good things for her future sleep patterns.  Then again it may be all the coffee I still drink...





Thanksgiving

We had quite the Thanksgiving adventure.  We drove 7 hours to Asheville and arrived around 3:30am.  We had planned to leave by 6pm but of course we weren't out the door until 8:30 so around 2am I was trying everything to stay awake.  Asheville feels like it's a positive energy vortex - small, cute and very hippie.  Everyone is so nice - like geniunely, really nice.  Unfortunately in the case of our house-rental the hippie nice factor meant quasi-dellusional too.  The owner rented us the wrong house which ended up being small, not that clean and not very well equipped.  We quickly moved out to a hotel and came home earlier than expected.  Given the poor kitchen we decided to postpone our typical Thanksgiving meal until we returned to DC. 

On Thanksgiving day we visited the Biltmore which is insanely grandiose.  I found the basement to be the most interesting - with the indoor swimming pool filled with a hose, to the "gym" which was modern at the time but think parallel bars and wooden dumbbells, to the servants quarters to the multiple kitchens and dumbwaiters.  Here we are at the Biltmore - you might notice from the angle that Charlie took one of the pictures. 

Other than the Biltmore we went on a fun hike, Diego got a haircut and I ate a lot.  I saved Diego's hair again because I think the blonde might be growing out.  Charlie LOVED all the attention he got from his abuela and tia veronika.  He even refused to drive home with us and apparently he chatted for most of the 8 hr drive!

Check out Diego and Charlie rocking out.  You can't really hear the terrible keyboard music, but it's bad and Diego's guitar rounds out the sound nicely:)

The boys fight a lot but they miss each other when the other isn't around and, to some extent, they look out for each other.  Charlie makes sure Diego stops at the end of the block and doesn't go into the street; Diego asks 'Charlie coming in a minute?' whenever he wakes up from a nap and doesn't find his brother around; and when Diego popped his balloon by accident Charlie gave him his.  But other than that there is a fair amount of fighting....Here they are looking like happy brothers...

Baby sister is definitely on the way.  Here I am at 23 weeks and feeling very large.  My legs hurt a lot, but other than that I feel good and am gaining weight much better than I did with Diego.  She likes to kick A LOT at night; sometimes it is so much that she'll wake me up or keep me up.  She might be letting me know that she doesn't appreciate that I often end up on my back or right side while sleeping....

 

Election Night & More

Diego still loves to call people "doo-doo head."  The other day some guy on the street said hi to Diego and he happily responded "Hi doo-doo head!"  Great.   Check out Diego on his tricycle - it's so funny.  He can't reach the pedals so he scoots along and won't let me push him.

Cozy diego likes to carry his blanket and stuffed animals everywhere

Generally I'm in denial about baby #3 - I still play pick-up soccer and run (although I'm so slow now that large people who look like they aren't even moving pass me).  But sometimes I let myself wonder if we're ready for number three.  Usually the answer I come up with is no....Getting out the door every morning is a reminder that one more complication and we might never make it to school.  Getting to their various classes in one piece and on time, getting them to bed, etc, etc....But then other times I think the family definitely needs at least one more little being.  Over election night we spent time with the Nicoletti's new baby Lucas and he was so cozy.  He reminded me how much I do want another baby.  As if it's any consolation Charlie and Diego say they'll help.  Charlie has already named her Alex, Ruby and Adelaide. 

Plenty has happened in the world in the last few weeks.  GObama GO won the election, Petreaus resigned, Syria is imploding, Isreal is on the brink of a ground invasion...and on the domestic front Carlos has torn up our roof!  They say the 2012 election didn't have as much excitement as 2008, but you wouldn't have known it in DC where 91% of the voters turned out for Obama.  We were at a friend's house near U street and the crowds outside erupted when the news channels called it.  When we left around midnight we drove past the White House and found a mass influx of people headed there to celebrate.  As for the Petreaus affair we were in Mt. Pleasant neighborhood recently and there were camera crews outside the house (really nice house!) where Paula Broadwell is holed-up.



analyzing election results...:)



my election cake

And Carlos has started his version of nesting....through destruction!! A leak from the hurricane turned into our entire roof deck coming off.  "While the roof is off, don't you think we should expand that...." that's when my eyes roll back.  I can't wait for him to get a new canvas.  He always wins so we are changing the shape of the office space...which means I have no office now.  I'm stuck roaming the house in search of quiet spaces. 

It's a GIRL!

We found out today that we are having a girl!  wow. I honestly didn't think we made girls.  We put the sonogram results into an envelope and then opened it after a nice lunch at Rasika West End.  Turns out I was wrong and my hairdresser was too (based on my hair he bet $10 that I was having a boy).  I'm a little nervous but I'm hoping cousin Wallis can show her the ropes. 

Diego didn't care at all when we told him.  Charlie thought about it for exactly 2 seconds and then asked me to draw a fox on a piece of paper (he decided that's his costume for next halloween).  I asked him what he thought about having a baby sister and he dismissed the idea saying "I told you that I wanted a baby brother."  oh well.  I'm hoping that despite their attitudes now they will take good care of her.