B-Roll

We were in New York last weekend for my brother's surprise birthday.  As a birthday present we made a film for and about him - so I had the kids do some reenactments of our childhood.  I found a rapunzel wig at Target (apparently the only wig sold during non-halloween times) and put it on Diego.  He called it his "wiggle" and a "pony hair thing" and was okay to wear it, but wasn't the best actor.  Here are a few of the B-roll clips.  I was trying to get Diego to refuse to hold Charlie's hand to cross the street.  Also note that Diego is wearing Charlie's shoes so he looks even more comical...

The kids had so much fun playing with the cousins while in New York.  That said the experiment of letting them stay up late and then closing the door to let all four kids sleep on the top bunk was a resounding failure.  Somewhere around 10:30 they all climbed up to the top bunk and were giggling.  We told them to go to sleep and closed the door.  5 minutes later we opened the door and all four were in tears.  Everyone descended and dispersed to various beds.  

We've been enjoying pool time.  Especially with Charlie's friend Cici who has a membership at a fun pool.  It has a slide, a kids pool and diving boards.  This weekend Charlie was adamant that he wanted to go off the high dive!  We were way too scared for him to let him do that...

Sofie is super sweet although she still only cat naps. It's crazy!  I'm hoping that once Charlie and Diego start school we can focus more on her schedule (now she is beholden to everyone else's schedule).  At night she sleeps pretty well but I have to be proactive about getting her to bed by 7pm.  If I even wait until 7:02 she becomes inconsolable and screams like crazy.  She is reaching for things and doing crunches but no rolling over yet thank goodness....

Summer Fun

We've had a fun start to the summer. We've been really enjoying warm summer evenings and hanging out in the neighborhood.  Tia Veronika came for a visit this weekend and the boys were so excited to see her.  For 4th of July we went to the neighborhood parade, then went to the baseball game (and happened upon some amazing seats!), then on to a cookout and fireworks.  The parade lacked a lot in terms of costumes and floats, but they made up with it in candy!  it was like Halloween - crazy.  We tried to convince the kids to exchange their candy for a ticket to the Nationals - it was a tough sell, but definitely worth it because it was a great game.

This year was the first year we all got to see the fireworks and we loved it!  The park near our house has a great view without the crowds.  We ran into a bunch of Brent folks there and the kids all jumped in the fountain together.  It was a very summer sight - kids on a warm evening watching firework and playing in the fountain in their clothes (though I'm pretty sure it is the fountain that the dogs jump in so I was grimacing a bit rather than just enjoying the romanticized image of frolicking youth).

Over the weekend we went to see Lisa and Toby in Chestertown and the kids had SO much fun.  Toby took them out on his boat to check the crab traps and went fishing.  Sofie and I stayed shore-side because she couldn't fit into a life jacket.

 Sofie is still super sweet.  She smiles a lot and almost laughs. She still loves to be held, but tolerates sitting in the middle of the action.  The boys adore her, but Diego in particular worries me with how he fondles her.  Sometimes it almost seems like he is trying to hurt her and other times he doesn't realize what he is doing - like when he tried to lean on her stomach to help himself sit upright.  She is grabbing for things -- though not very precisely...Unlike the boys she can't stand the pacifier and loves to nurse.  I'm very happy about that as I want to keep her my little baby as long as possible.  She sleeps okay during the night, but mainly catnaps during the day.

It has been tough to balance attention for all three kids and I don't know when/if it'll get easier.  The boys fight a lot, but miss each other a lot when apart.  Diego in particular has been having a tough time and I assume it has to do with being almost three and being in the middle.  He has taken to sitting in Sofie's bouncey chair...I'm hoping school will help with this. I don't think any one is getting enough of my time - including me!

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....