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.

HALLOWEEN!!

Halloween is my favorite holiday.  Unfortunately it seems to usually end in tears and this year was no exception.  After an hour of trick-or-treating the kids were done and started melting down.  Luckily tia Veronika came with us and spent most of the evening carrying one or the other of the boys as they alternatively melted down.  Diego used Charlie's previous Max from the Wild Things costume and looked super cute and got lots of comments.  I'm washing it and packing it up again in hopes that I can get another use out of it with #3! 

Charlie said he wanted to be a frog so I stayed up until 1am last night making him a Kermit costume.  My sewing machine had collected a lot of dust from lack of use and I even had to call my mom to have her remind me how to thread the machine.  Let's just say that I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon.  In the end I thought it was very cute but when I made Charlie try it on this morning he started crying and told me he actually wanted to be a bear! a bear?! I told him he could be a green bear named Kermit but that's about it.  He even cried about it during his school costume parade.  The major problem appeared to be that I can't sew pants very well so he spent most of the time re-adjusting them.  Nevertheless I thought he was a very cute Kermit.

here is Charlie adjusting his pants for the 8,000th time....

When we got home Charlie and Diego counted their candy, fought over the candy, didn't eat a single one and then put them in a secret stash.  At one point Charlie was trying to steal one of Diego's candies and so Diego resorted to laying on top of his candy to protect them.

counting candy

Charlie's Week

My belly is feeling very large these days.  Then again Charlie and Diego still have potbellies so we decided to see whose was biggest.  Judge for yourself....

Also vote on boy vs. girl!  We find out this week!!!

This was a Charlie filled week.  I played assistant teacher, went on his field trip to Cox Farms and went to THREE birthday parties this weekend.  The actual assistant teacher has been playing hookey way too much so I have been getting some class time in.  As for the field trip it turns out Cox FARM is less farm and more amusement park.  Charlie and Cici were my partners and the little duo had no problems waiting in line for 15-20 minutes for a slide.  The hay ride was a bit scary and the girls all screamed but Charlie didn't seem phased.  It was almost weird that he wasn't phased by the spookiness.  I was also shocked that he wasn't phased by going down the long slide alone.  I refused to go down the slide so I'd deposit them at the top and then run down to receive them. 

Here are a few pictures from Cox Farm:

The married couple!!!

 It must be birthday season.  We had pirate themed party, an indoor giant inflatable jumping theme and a pool party.   The Pump It Up place was like hell on earth to me but Charlie loved it.  Diego hated it too so we clung to eachother for 1.5 hours.  I guess pizza and cake is the mandatory party meal. Here are charlie and Diego eating pizza at Pump It Up and then eating pizza again an hour later at the pool party.  They didn't seem to mind!

This weekend was less than fun for Carlos who spent a night and a day in the hospital.  I kept the kids away because I'm paranoid of hospital germs.  To make him feel better Charlie wrote him endless notes and wrapped up his cars to give them as gifts to Carlos upon his return.  It was really sweet. 

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.