Thursday Thesicle

Happy birthday, dear Margo.

Waiting to Explode

As I've been waiting to explode for the past week, I've been in various places and usually the thought crosses my head, "What if I had the baby here?"

I've had contractions on three different days but they haven't lasted for very long, so nothing has become of them. So still, I wait.

These started out as places I've actually visited recently and then kind of spiraled...

Worst places to give birth:

1. All bathrooms in general, but of specific horror would be:

           a. bathroom at the pool- aided only by scantily-clad tweens and their iPhones
           b. port-a-potty at the playground- the accident possibilties are terrifying
           c. bathroom at the softball fields- stainless steel toilets and damp cement floors
           d. airplane bathroom- (would it even work?) emergency landing

2. In the middle of a quiet church service- front row

3. In the plush leather passenger seat of my mother-in-law's car as she's giving me a ride

4. In the brilliant blue-green kiddie pool surrounded by children, including my own

5. While getting a massage in a dimly-lit room with a gurgling zen fountain, naked with a stranger- only about a quarter of the way into it

6. At the hair salon with its bright-white walls, plentiful mirrors, and beautifully-clipped and manicured hair dressers in perfect clothes

7. In the slowest checkout line at the grocery store- probably when I finally found my favorite pickles and chocolate to buy

8. Old Navy fitting room while daringly trying on skinny jeans for no real reason

9. Vacation Bible School puppet show

10. Anytime when I'm out alone anywhere and forgot my cell phone (as if I ever misplace my phone)

11. On the bus with my kids, miles from home, next to a creepy man/woman/creature

12. In the stands at a baseball game- a really exciting one, maybe in extra innings (on second thought, this might be cool...eventually)

13. On my tan microfiber couch with guests visiting

14. On a carnival ride- think Ferris wheel or roller coaster

Ready or not, here we go!

Father's Day

I was hoping I could give Brian another baby for Father's Day today...but I guess Peapod is happy with his current residential situation, so we'll keep waiting for him to decide he needs more space.

Instead we had an ordinary day. The boys and I made breakfast for Brian- bacon and egg sandwiches. We went to church. We went grocery shopping. We went to the driving range for the boys to golf. I ate chocolate. Brian made yummy chicken salad sandwiches. We watched baseball on TV. I cut the boys' hair. The boys and Brian had a loud, rowdy game of a cross between tag, hide and seek, and wrestling. We called our fathers. Clark insisted on calling Grandma to tell her Happy Father's Day. I ate more chocolate. Cal drew a house and practiced drawing eights and other "beautiful things." Clark colored a motorcycle. Cal told me he wished we were having a girl so she could have my face, because my face is cute. Awww.

Here are some pictures.

Working on breakfast

a little pepper...

Assembling the sandwiches

Golfin'  with Dad

They look so little with their haircuts!

Setting up...

The lefty drives

The righty aims

Water break

"Drawing beautiful things"

Clark's Happy Father's Day sign

Cal's sign

I'd also like to say Happy Father's Day to my dad, who turned 60 this week!

 And to my husband, who I was hoping to make a father times three today, but didn't quite make it...

And I'm glad they both get along so beautifully together.

Finally Cool with the Pool

The last couple summers the boys have been terrified of the pool. I wrote about their escapades here. They screamed at even the idea of us taking them to the pool. It was ridiculous and the only way I could cope with it without going crazy was to write about it and then laugh at what I wrote. Finally last fall I forced them to take a swim class at the community center. They screamed the entire first lesson, including the 20 minutes before class, since we were accidentally early. The old ladies in the early morning water aerobics class were mostly sympathetic... but probably also annoyed by the shrieks echoing off the sterile white walls. The second class was only a little better. I summed up their hatred and tiny tolerance for the water here.

The boys, terrified of a half-full wading pool when they were two...
even when I was in with them.

But since then they've had another round of swim classes this spring and will start another round this summer. They've made strides. I wouldn't call them giant strides, but they're still much better than the days of the Pool Wars.

One of the cool things about living in Reston is that there are 16 public swimming pools in town! It seems that they each have cool features- one even has a covered sandbox area. We've met some fabulous new friends through Blastball who are big fans of the pools. Jackson is about six months older than Cal and Clark and they are in love with him. Jackson's mom Carey is actually due to have her baby any day now too, so we take our combined three boys, ourselves, our ginormous bellies, and our bulging swim bags of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and squirt guns to the pool. We get looks. One guy said to us, "Did you two come here to deliver?" Which isn't a bad idea, actually...water births are totally in right now... ha.

Yes, we're here to deliver.

Now that they have Jackson to go to the pool with and are more comfortable around water, the boys love to go to the pool. We also have a pool at our condo clubhouse that they love to go to. Cal especially is into it. He'll even jump off the sides, as long as someone catches him and his head doesn't quite go underwater. He'll plug his nose and go under with help, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't at all understand the concept of holding his breath, so hopefully his swim teacher will help with that soon. Today at the pool the boys were racing around the kids' pool as if the four corners were bases and they were diving headfirst into each base. It was great. They got their heads wet more than they ever have, all in the name of baseball.

The pool is also a great place for me, being a pregnant whale at the moment. I can sit motionless on a chair while the boys play in the kiddie pools, and I'm virtually weightless in the water where I can hold the boys up right to my face, which I can't do out of the water right now. I can cool off instantly. I don't have to wear real clothes. It is glorious. I'm so happy that the boys are finally excited about the pool! Maybe I should root for Peapod to take his time so I can enjoy a few more weeks at the pool. Nah. I need this child out of me.

Pool hunks

Discovering goggles

Fountains in the kiddie area at one pool!

Pizza break!

Thursday Thesicle

Practice makes perfect big brothers.

Almost There... 35 Weeks

Yes, I'm alive. Just haven't had a lot of blog inspiration or much time spent being comfortable enough to sit and write lately. I'm nearly in unfamiliar territory; I'm 35 weeks pregnant. With the boys I made it 36 weeks and 2 days.

This pregnancy has been much harder than my pregnancy with they boys. And it's because of the boys. I was on bed rest for two months last time. That means I laid around watching movies and snoozing and reading books and napping and sleeping for two months. Brian took care of dinner most nights and I never really left the house except to attend my baby showers. Little different this time. I have two four year-olds who need me and constantly want me involved in most things. Granted, I'm sure it would be harder to have only one four year-old at a time like this-- at least the boys have each other to play with. They want me to take them to the pool, they want me to play baseball with them, to color, to read with them, to play outside, to help build a Lego house, to play Candyland- totally normal little boy things that have gotten much more difficult. And it's not that I don't want to do them... it just hurts. Then there are the non-negotiables like how I need to feed them and clean them and wipe them and help them brush their teeth and wash their laundry and break up their fights. Some days I work in about half an hour of lying down into my afternoons. They're awesome for it. They just play together while I lie there semi-consciously on the couch. I also nearly always fall asleep while doing their reading lessons with them, so that's a nice little break too.

Good playmates...making loud noises

Last week I had severe back pain that I went into the doctor for. I didn't have anyone to watch the boys so they came with me and were super good; they colored and drew in the waiting room for about 40 minutes and then proceeded to talk the ears off several doctors. I had a mild infection and the antibiotics as well as a timely visit the next day to my massage therapist (and blog sponsor) have tremendously helped my back pain. It's still here, but much less intense. I also had other nice things happen during my bad back week- a friend came over and brought lunch, and then I had a much-anticipated night away with my dear friend Missy who I know all the way from the far-off land of College. These days that seems like so long ago.

We called our time away a frienassiance. She just recently finished her year of nursing her son, and to celebrate, her husband got her a night away at a bed and breakfast with spa. Lucky me got to tag along! I think it's only the second time I've spent the night away from both the boys- the other being when my sister turned 21 and we went up to New York. It was refreshing and beautiful and my back barely hurt the whole time. The woman who served us breakfast looked at my belly and asked, "When are you due, like three days ago?" Thanks for that.

Love the swing

Frienassaince!

When I came home we packed the boys up and went to a Potomac Nationals game (Single A Minor League team) as a season-ending party with our Blastball team. We sat on bleachers for one and a half games (I didn't get the doubleheader memo due to a postponed game the day before.), watched fireworks, the boys ran the bases and ate a lot of peanuts, popcorn, and funnel cake with their Red Wings teammates, and we got home super late. They loved it and it was a great night out for baseball. The P-Nats even won both games. (More than the Washington Nationals have done lately) My back barely bothered until the end and I was happy to have slept in late at the bed and breakfast that morning.

Baseball food!

Watching the catcher and pitcher warm up for game 2

The Red Wings with their certificates! 

We've decided on Peapod's name and bought the letters to put on the wall with the boys' names. We have a stroller frame now to go with our car seat. We got a little gift basket of fuzzy blue and white baby things today. I put bedding in the little crib in our bedroom. We found a diaper and wipes sale at Costco and so we've got diapers for quite awhile. It's really happening! And I'm so excited to get this child out of me and in my arms instead of strapped about my middle.

Twenty-five days until the scheduled C-section! I'm thinking things down there are going to be ready sooner than that though...

Yikes!