Last Day of School/First Mandatory Playdate

Charlie finished pre-k 4 last week!!  Here he is with his little crew on the last day

Diego had a "mandatory playdate" for school during which time the teachers walked around with clipboards taking notes as the kids played. It felt a bit bizarre and extreme given that he is only two years old....Here he is hard at work:



I had to travel for work last week too and it seemed like everything imaginable went wrong. It was a bad sign that by the time my plane was taking off at 6:30am I had already gotten concerning calls from Carlos.  Despite getting up crazy early to nurse her and pump so that Carlos would have a fresh bottle of milk, she was crying uncontrollably by 6am.  At 6pm I got a text from Carlos wondering how long he should wait for the swimming coach....hmmm - technically a really long time given that he doesn't have swimming on Tuesdays!  He has swimming on friday....  That night Sandra spent 1.5 hrs trying to get sofia to sleep; when sofie woke up at night she woke charlie up who couldn't go back to sleep.  In the morning he must have looked so out of it that the nurse sent him home from school.  He ended up staying home with a crazy fever.  good times! Luckily the next night my mom came down for reinforcement.  I tried to tell Carlos that he should appreciate me more, but that didn't go over well :).

Last weekend we enjoyed the DC Truck Touch and two fun picnics - one slightly more well endowed.  The California State picnic had fun food and activities. Charlie and Carlos tried the three legged race -- clearly they need more labor day olympics practice.  The water balloons were more of a success until Carlos convinced Diego to throw a water balloon at my butt while I was wearing white pants! Great, thanks.  On Sunday we had a picnic with the SAISers.  It only took 2 months to plan, but well worth the wait.  Mark made homemade bread and took care of my kids (and all the other kids on the playground)!  what a treat.

Weddings have become mini-vacations for us.  This past weekend we went to a fun (and amazing) wedding on the Eastern Shore. Sofia came with us, but the boys stayed with Sandra.  My mom came too to help out with Sofie during the wedding.  It takes a village!  Ayesha and Premal are a super cute couple and the wedding/weather was beautiful.  A flash mob dance was planned for friday night so Charlie and Diego helped me practice the moves.  Despite their best efforts I still didn't get the dance right!  Check them out practicing:

at a crab shack in oxford

Almost Summer

We've been enjoying the nice weather before the gross, sticky summer weather hits. We are also enjoying life with three kids before it becomes life with three kids running in different directions...Sofie is insanely sweet and isn't mobile which seems to make life manageable right now.  I'm already dreading the day she starts to dislike the bjorn!  She still won't nap very long on her own, but at least she doesn't mind being put down now and rarely cries.  That said, she definitely prefers to be the center of attention.  She can hold her head up pretty well but hasn't started to grab for things yet.

This week I have to go to Cincinnati for work and I'm so worried about how she'll do for two nights.  Carlos thinks I'm worried about him, but I'm really not - I'm pretty sure he can survive 2 nights of no sleep.  I just have no idea what will happen to poor Sofie.  I made all the boys - including Carlos - practice giving her the bottle.  He thought I was joking, but I really wasn't....He has yet to change her diaper let alone feed her!!

This past week we went strawberry picking, had pool time and got to enjoy a fun visit with the Larson family.  The boys loved Alma and looked up to Xandr while Sofie basked in all the attention she got.  Charlie, Xandr and the dads went to an evening baseball game thinking - again incorrectly - that they'd only last a few innings, but they wandered in around 10pm because the boys wanted to stay until the end.  Charlie has entered a new phase of preferring to have playdates than hang out with us.  And Diego is in a new stubborn phase- I can't tell if it has to do with being the middle child or simply the fact that he is 2.  He is super sweet when he is alone with me, but once Charlie is around he digs his heels in about the weirdest things.

alma enjoying the treehouse

Here is Charlie playing piano. I'm very proud of him - not because I think he is great at it - but because of his focus.  He doesn't voluntarily practice, but when I ask him to practice he'll sit down and doesn't like to get back up until he can really play whatever song he is practicing.  Sadly he has already surpassed my music knowledge so I can barely help him....

While Dad was Away...

For Carlos' birthday I gave him a vacation away from us!  We sent him to San Francisco for a week to hang out with his sister and eat good food and drink good wine.  While he was away the kids were actually pretty well behaved and we planned lots of fun activities.  His absence also reinforced why I like the Hill and the school community a lot - everyone wanted to help out in some way...usually by holding the baby :).

The boys have been begging to go to a baseball game so we went with Cici's family on Sunday.  Shockingly they actually made it through all 9 innings!  And Sofie slept through all 9 innings!  And even more crazy is that I actually enjoyed it!  I should admit that the boys got to eat cotton candy which probably kept them happy for a few of those innings.  Luckily the Nationals won.  

The weather was so beautiful over the weekend that we spent the whole day outside trying to get them exhausted for bedtime.  After t-ball on Saturday we were wandering around and ran into Charlie's friend from school who invited us to see their renovation project.  As I went upstairs to compare construction notes with her the boys hung out in the basement apartment with Charlie's friend.  When I came back down they were no where to be found.  I did finally hear some squeaking noises and found them eating sugar packets under the parents' bed. pretty funny sight. The rest of the day Diego asked when we could go back to Ry's house to eat sugar.  uh - how about NEVER?!

they did get a treat for being so good - charlie chose ice cream and diego  picked out a carrot ginger cleansing juice!

that is supposed to be a spiderman climbing balloon

We drove up to Philly for Monday where they got to play kickball, soccer and basketball (sometimes all mixed together) in my mom's backyard.  The boys can't get enough of kickball these days.  The rules are basically that you ask them how they want the ball thrown (slow and bumpy or fast on the ground), they kick it and they always get a home run.  Whenever we go to Brent and start playing kickball kids come out of the woodwork and inevitably it becomes too big and competitive so we drop out.

Sofie is so great. I totally adore her - she is sweet and doesn't seem to mind her brothers' over zealous hugs and kisses.  Well...except when she is taking a bath and Diego turns the cold water on.  She was relaxing in the sink (where i have her take baths now) and I was singing to her when Diego reached up and turn on the freezing cold water!  poor girl - she screamed bloody murder.  Her sleep is getting slightly better - she has been sleeping from 8:30pm - 2am which is pretty good.  After that it gets sketchy until the boys get up around 7am....

Adjusting to life with 3

My blogging delinquency isn't due to a lack of family events to share, but rather that by the time we actually get everyone in bed I am already half-asleep.  We are still in survival mode, but it feels like the boys are getting back to their normal selves and we are adjusting to life with sofie.  The boys don't wake up that much at night anymore (e.g no bed wetting in a while) and luckily they still adore Sofie.  The tough part still is coordinating bedtime and I don't really have the energy to cook dinner for us anymore.  We either eat the kids' leftovers or put oil and vinegar on lettuce. that's it.

On my last week of maternity I tried to spend as much time with Diego as possible.  I figured it was my only time to focus on Diego so Sofie, Diego and I went to the aquarium, the air and space museum by Dulles, the trolley museum and the zoo.  We had such a good time together.  Diego is so pleasant when he isn't around his brother!  At the zoo his favorite things were the water misting machine and the carousel...go figure.  He LOVED the trolley museum even though it was just a single running trolley and a little miniature trolley set.  The aquarium was cool too although again he mainly liked looking out the windows at the boats going by.  Good use of the $30 entry fee:).  He eats interesting food, loves to help with Sofie and laughs a lot.  ohhh my little bag of sugar.


Charlie was super excited for the Capitol Hill Classic race this year.  Some how I managed to get all three kids out the door by 8am on a Saturday to go cheer for Carlos running in the 10k.  Charlie's advice to Carlos before the race was "daddy, pass the person in front of you."  I thought that was pretty good.  We found our spot along East Capitol and got there in time to see the winners (and carlos) go by.  Charlie stood on the side faithfully cheering for all the runners and giving high fives to willing participants.  He then took his race very seriously and lined up in front with his friends Cici and Joseph.   The week before I timed him doing a 400 around a nearby track - 2:32 min.  Carlos ran with him and I guess somewhere around the 200 meter mark he got tired and started quoting the little train that could "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."    Pretty cute.   He has also been really into t-ball which is hysterical given my aversion to baseball.

 

After the race we walked to H st to test out yet another crappy taco place in DC and then played mini-golf at H St. country club.  It was fun, but a total hazard - who knew playing mini-golf could be so dangerous -  balls and clubs were flying everywhere!

Sofie brings me total joy (and little sleep).  She is so sweet and loves to be held and be the center of attention.  She started smiling really early - I think around 10 days old and hasn't stopped.  She loves her brothers and I'm sure she'll adore her dad once he starts paying attention to her!  Little babies aren't really his thing.  I'm back to work which means we've had to figure out schedules between her and Diego.  I feed her before they go out, pump a bottle for her while they are out in the morning and then feed her when they come back from Diego's nap.  It's okay though we clearly both prefer nursing over the bottle.

We had a nice mother's day: swimming, brunch and paper airplane flying.

As for Carlos and the house...well maybe it'll get done by the 4th child (though Carlos often reminds me there will not be a 4th child).  Neither our bathroom nor my office are done.  It certainly is not for lack of effort on his part it's just that he is always way too optimistic with his timing.

Sofi is 1 month!

Sofi weighed in at a hefty 11 lbs at her 1 month appointment.  She has gained 3 lbs over the last month which  seems like a good amount, but she isn't as chunky as Charlie was.  She does however share Charlie's and Diego's odd receding hairline phase.  She is almost bald to the middle of her head and then has a good tuft of dark hair at the back.  She is super sweet and loves to be held.  I guess at some point that will get annoying, but for now I am enjoying it.  We go on long walks in the morning with her in the bjorn and she sleeps the whole time.  As soon as I try to put her down she screams!

Charlie and Diego still adore her - to the point that it is a bit of a safety issue and certainly a germ issue.  Diego sneezed directly on her face the other day and we are waiting to see if she gets his nasty cold.  I feel badly telling them to stay away from her because I want to foster their adoration, but they both have this gross lingering cold.  Despite their affection for Sofi they still seem to be acting out - Diego wants me to carry him more now and Charlie's whining has reached a new level...

This weekend we enjoyed the good weather and spent most of the time at nearby parks playing sports.  Friday we were at Yards Park for the first summer concert and it was already a zoo.  On Saturday Charlie played T-ball on The Hill for the first time while Diego supervised the micro-little league t-ball team of 2 years and under.  Both of them loved it.  Charlie also rode his bike for the first time without training wheels!  He had NO interest in taking off his training wheels until he saw his friend Joseph riding on Friday night.  Saturday Carlos took him out and he did it.  I was shocked that that was all it took.

Here he is falling over....

Sunday was soccer, swimming and dance recital. The dance recital was at this theater/church (yes that's a real thing) on 8th St and it was packed!  Of course Charlie was the only boy at the dance recital so I thought the combination of a packed house and no other boys would be a recipe for disaster.  But he did great and enjoyed himself!  Then again I did bribe him a bit by promising him frozen yogurt if he did it...All the other moms took thousands of photos of their daughter's "first dance recital."  We didn't.  I probably won't be able to do that even when Sofi is of dance recital age.