SPRING!

"Look mom - the car is broken!" Charlie screamed this week when he saw a convertible with its top down. I really appreciated that. I also appreciated when he asked why our house guest, Maeve, painted a butterfly on her leg (it was a tattoo). Charlie was shy around Maeve and wouldn't look at her much, but when she wasn't around he asked where "tio Dave" was. I guess Maeve was too hard to say.

We got to see the SAISers last weekend including our favorite manny Mark. Here he is reading to Diego:

On Sunday it was beautiful weather so we spent the whole day out and about. We attended our first bris (but I was too scared to actually watch) then went to the Shakespeare festival at the Folger library and then BBQ'd in the park. The Shakespeare festival was a lot of fun and Charlie loved the performances. I loved seeing the private reading room and we learned that the Folger library has the most 1st folios in the world. From there we dragged almost every sporting equipment we have to the park to meet Elizabeth and Joe. Luckily Diego isn't on the move much so we plopped him on a picnic blanket and kicked the ball around him.

Sandra's kids were on spring break this week which a BIG treat for Charlie and Diego. It meant even more attention than usual.

Yet Another Trip

Carlos gets credit for surviving another of my trips to Atlanta. Of course having his sister Veronika here is a huge help! I don't know many sisters who get up at crazy hours to take care of their nephews or who are left alone to deal with 2 nephews!! This trip seemed particularly hard on Charlie. The day after I got home he screamed "DON'T LEAVE ME MOMMY!!" anytime I even climbed the stairs. That definitely made my heart hurt.

To make up for my absence I had a special day with the kids on Saturday. We went to see the Cherry Blossom parade which made Charlie so excited he literally started shaking. The organizers made it especially exciting because a car went up in flames in front of us causing the parade to stop, a fire engine to come through the crowd, fire men to unravel a huge hose and a tow truck came to clear the vehicle. All right in front of us! Charlie loved the marching bands and diligently waved to anyone who waved to the crowd. From there we went to Eastern market to hear music and eat lunch. I love spring time in part because music pops up everywhere. Crashchord - an all sisters (under 15) band - was playing. I'm hoping that if we add another boy to the mix I can fulfill my dream of a boy band. We also joined some friends at a DC United tailgate where Charlie showed his soccer skills. He still toe punts the ball. Here is the footage.

Diego would like to kick the ball too if he could. Yes - that means he actually wants to move now! After lying on his back for 5 months and then sitting sweetly for another 3 months Diego has had enough of immobility. In fact he tries to "run" after Charlie. He is also waving hello to people. It's so cute because he waves his hand and then looks down at it incredulously as if he is surprised the thing is attached to him. He is still my absolute sweetpea and it's hard to imagine the day that his 2 year old inner monster is going to show through.

Charlie has a few imaginary friends. They don't come up that often but every now and then he'll drop "Nate" into the conversation. He did it so casually that at first I thought maybe he met a Nate somewhere, but no - Nate is just imaginary. He came up with another character a couple of weeks ago named "Jafenie." Yes - Jafenie - well, actually I'm not clear on the spelling nor do I know where he possibly came up with it!

We've been going to swim class during lunch. Charlie loves it but doesn't do anything that the teach tells him to do!

Tree House

I had a vision of a tree house for Charlie and Carlos decided to make it a reality. The problem is that my vision of a kid's tree house was slightly different than Carlos'. I was thinking of...well a kids tree house - just a wooden framed thing that could be made in a few days. Carlos never does things half way. He is making this an indestructible house that Charlie can sleep in. It has tyvek, sheet rock and yesterday he asked what kindof flooring it should have!!! It's a 3x3 foot space - who cares what kindof flooring it has!! I just want it done before the end of the summer. Here is a picture of the roofer putting an actual roof on it.

Charlie got into preschool which is great news. I was worried about having to drive somewhere, but we got a call this week along with an invitation to go to the school's annual fundraising event. I'm guessing public school isn't really free....We planned to go only to find out that the tickets were sold out. Everything about pre-school seems to be competitive these days! When I told Charlie he is going to go to school next year he said "I'm going to cry." That's not the response that I was hoping for.

As for my bag of sugar, the transition from our bed to the crib has not been super smooth. He doesn't like to be alone in his crib and has been waking up frequently. We had a babysitter come over who said he woke up every 20 min! I don't blame him - I miss him too. Which is why in the middle of the night he usually ends up back in our bed. Unfortunately after a few minutes of cuddling he usually flings his arms wide taking up 3/4 of the KING bed. Sleep is definitely an issue in this house. Diego got another nasty cold which breaks my heart. It is especially bad timing because I'm leaving for Atlanta tomorrow. The only good thing about the kids having a cold is that I get to hear Charlie say "My nose is coming out" when he wants to blow his nose.

Carlos indulged me and let me run in races the last two weekends (though I can't say he was happy about it). This weekend was the Cherry Blossom 10 mile race and it ended up being a beautiful day with lots of blossoms. Here is a picture of the other 15,000 people I ran with:

Here is Charlie doing his heavy metal version of BINGO.

City Escape

Last weekend we decided to get some non-urban air so went out to Waterford and Harper's Ferry. It was nice to get out of the city and those trips always make me want to have a cabin somewhere. I think a simple getaway would be especially fun for the little monsters too after seeing how much Charlie likes playing in our tiny backyard. Maybe someday....

Here we are in checking out a massive easter nest at my aunt's house in Waterford. And strolling around Harper's Ferry.

As for the backyard...well progress has been slow. The fake weather reports warning of rain derailed our progress and so Charlie's tree-fort isn't done yet. But he still loves it. He takes crayons out and draws on the wall. He digs holes in the dirt (which should be grass) and uses the construction debris as an obstacle course. The other day Charlie decided he wanted to go outside and so put on the only shoes he knows how to put on himself - his fireman boots. The thing is that everytime he INSISTS on putting the boots on the wrong feet. Despite having the shoes on the wrong feet he demonstrated impressive soccer skills! He clearly favors his right foot, but then again it was his left shoe so I'm hoping this means he'll be adept with both feet! Now that I know he can kick the ball with some coordination I'm already dreaming up soccer drills for this summer.

This week has been hectic for work but it's ending on a good note because it's sunny, my brother got into business school and I finished my half-marathon in the time I had hoped for!

London & Philadelphia

Carlos survived 4 nights alone with 2 babies! Impressive! And they all seemed to be in a good mood when I arrived home. They were waiting at the front door as I walked up which was the most precious image. Charlie hugged my leg, told me that he liked me and then waited expectantly for a present. The last time I went to Atlanta I brought him back Fanta flavored chapsticks so when I told him I was going on another trip he thought about it and then asked "You bring me back some lipstick?" I guess trips = chapstick. I brought him back the bags you get on overseas business class flights filled with little treasures like lotion, chapstick, ear plugs, kleenex, etc and he could not have been more excited. He unpacked, repacked, unpacked, sorted and repacked that thing until it was bedtime at which point the only way I could get him in bed was to let him sleep with it.

To give Carlos a break I took the kids to Philadelphia for the weekend. Charlie loved having a big yard filled with toys (I still have no idea how my mom has more toys than I do). He was treated to a private fire truck viewing as the fireman brought the engine out and put the ladder up. On Sunday we went to a really neat playspace on Kelly Drive that is a wonderland for kids and is free! The outdoor playgrounds look even better so we'll have to go back when the weather gets warmer. One more reason to look forward to Spring.

Diego continues to by my little bag of sugar - he is so sweet! Nowadays he is tasting his way through the world. I don't remember Charlie eating everything the way that Diego does. He'll grab anything within reach (which is surprisingly a lot given his short arm span!) and put it into his mouth. Despite liking to taste everything he still doesn't love solid food. He is starting to tolerate it, but clearly doesn't look forward to the next bite. He is also very picky about wanting to eat from a bottle instead of nursing. I guess the view while nursing is too boring....He is sitting up like a champ so I often forget that he doesn't really know how to keep himself upright and I'll leave him be only to turn around and find him tipped over. He doesn't seem to mind much and I think it's pretty amusing. Here is Diego eating some blocks.

Charlie is doing some funny things like making up words. I hope it's normal. Today he ran around the house nearly screaming in a totally made up language. Carlos thinks it is a sign of creativity - I think it is slightly worrisome.

Goodbye to a Crappy Week

Last week was such a crappy week that I didn't bother to write. No one would have been smiling for pictures as we were all sick and tired - no one more so than poor little Diego. He was wheezing, coughing, running a terrible fever, couldn't eat anything....and of course not sleeping. Work has been busy so after pulling (what at least felt like) all-nighters I would stumble out of bed and get on 8am conference calls. Luckily I don't have to travel far to get to my office and no one could see me! We were so consumed with Diego's wheezing and Charlie's fever that we forgot it was our 4 year wedding anniversary. We celebrated that evening with bad news that Charlie didn't get into school through the lottery and so spent the rest of the evening looking into charter school options. At Friday's doctors appointment I found out that Diego dropped precipitiously to the 25th percentile for weight (I'm hoping it was just the illness). And the crappy week was capped off with Carlos' bike getting stolen from our back porch. Although the bike was nice we are mostly disturbed by the fact that some one maneuvered through a very narrow dirt path, open our backyard gate and walked onto our porch!

Unfortunately I think this week is going to be pretty bad too because I leave for London Monday-Friday and neither Diego nor Charlie are back to 100%. Poor Carlos has both babies for 4 nights!

At least we had a nice family weekend - not too exciting, but nice just to spend time together. We went to Ikea and Charlie loved roaming the store - which he did while singing at the top of his lungs. Here is a short clip:

We also went to Home Depot all together after a long hiatus (I haven't been in forever) and was reminded why we call it Second Home Depot. Literally all the workers know Carlos....Charlie especially loved riding on the dangerous cart and carrying 15 ft long trim pieces on his shoulder looking like he was about to pole vault. On the other hand Diego showed his dislike for the place by throwing up in the lumber section. Here is Charlie on the cart.

Here are the boys during our weekend ritual of eating breakfast by the fire.

The Blackberry Phase

No one sleeps in this household these days. Charlie continues to break new boundaries with his bizarre sleeping issues and add to that the fact that he has the flu and you get a week of blurry-eyed mornings (for us). Diego seems to have RSV and hasn't been able to sleep well either. My initial enthusiasm for Charlie going #2 in the toilet has waned as it seems to have an unforeseen consequence of him not liking to ever have a diaper on...even when going to bed. Every night we put a diaper on and then watch on the monitor how he takes off his pajamas, removes his diaper and then puts back on his pajamas (often times backwards). The only thing to do is wait until he passes out and then put a diaper on him. But the timing doesn't always work out in our favor and he's gotten everything wet various times. On top of that he thinks it's fun to wake us up at night telling us that he needs to go pee in the toilet. And still other times he seems to have nightmares - which usually involve a big 'mono' - and yells out. This morning was one of those mornings when I was glad to see daylight because I'm tired of battling all night, my eyeballs sting and I'm nauseous from not sleeping. Fun start to the weekend!

Other than the week long illness we are doing well. Charlie is endlessly amusing with his sayings and his reasoning. He is working on his letters, but is hopeless when it comes to colors. He knows all the colors - he just doesn't know which is which. He likes to point out "Cs" and scream "C for Charlie" though alot of time it's an O, or even something random like "7."

Diego has entered his blackberry phase. It's a phase I think all babies of this generation go through until they graduate to the iphone. Charlie will have nothing to do with my blackberry ever since he found that it didn't have a touchscreen. But Diego loves it. He still has shown no interest in moving anywhere, but he does like to sit up and play and watch his brother. He has the cutest sad face/cry that must be unique to younger siblings. I feel like I never saw this on Charlie because no one ever took his toy or hit him the way that poor Diego suffers at Charlie's hands. When Charlie takes his toy Diego instantly puts on a sad face and wails. It stops immediately once I return the toy to him. It sounds terrible, but it's so cute that I laugh when he does it sometimes.

Last weekend we went to see The Singing Lizard and here is Charlie the groupie dancing with Diego

We also had the SAIS band get back together for another gig. Good stuff.