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!

Thursday Thesicle

Sometimes Batman insists on making appearances at his dad's softball games.

The Countdown: 33 weeks

I'm struggling lately with getting anything of substance written here. I know I need to write about the latest in Clark's kidney mystery and about all the reading the boys have been doing...all the busy boy playing and the baseball obsession...but oddly the most writing inspiration I've had in awhile came from a visit to a handicapped bathroom stall the other day. You don't want to know. But maybe I'll go ahead and write about it soon just for kicks. We'll see.

I had a sonogram last week that Brian and the boys were able to watch. Peapod is checking in at a whopping 5 lbs already! "On the big side," the doctor nicely put it. He thinks the baby will be 8 or 9 lbs!

Here are my week 33 pictures. I wore the same shirt and stood in the same spot for this week's comparison. I think I was bigger last time, though I'm not exactly as sideways in this picture. What do you think?

33 weeks pregnant with the twins

33 weeks pregnant with Peapod

Probing Questions

I wrote about the boys' constant and weird questioning a few months ago here on the blog. I'm back to report that nothing has changed. Brian and I are still under a relentless questions siege on a regular basis. I've been keeping track and I took a few accompanying pictures for your enjoyment.

What if my nipples were chocolate chips?

What would happen if I put my tongue in this hole?

Why is Clark so annoying?

Why are superheroes helpful?

How do you draw throw-up?

Who designed poop?

Uncle A, are you a giant?

Why am I so good at baseball?

How do you make hair?

Why is it Henry's birthday?

Do you like our maternity pants? 

How is Alex a girl and we are boys?

Thursday Thesicle

One is a ball player, two is a team, three is a dedicated grounds crew.

Countdown: Week 32

Time to compare my week 32 this time to my week 32 last time around.

32 weeks pregnant with the twins

32 weeks pregnant with Peapod

Last week I thought I looked bigger than last time but now I think I look smaller...must be the shirt and the angle. Here's the link to those pictures. Calvin just asked me how many more days until Peapod is born, so we counted. There are 44 days until the scheduled C-section! Woohoo!

My Pregnant Mother's Day

I had a beautiful Mother's Day yesterday. It started off with the best gift a pregnant mother could get. Seriously. Brian told me I would be puzzled when I first opened it and then it would slowly dawn on me and I'd love it. He was precisely right. At first when I uncovered everything on the kitchen table I thought, whaaat? Are we going on a giant picnic? Then I got it. Brilliant.

Perfect gift for a pregnant mom!

We won't have to do hardly any dishes until the baby comes...maybe even for awhile after. Especially with our little kitchen it seems like all I do all day is dishes, which involves being on my feet, obviously, and makes me super tired. Or else I don't do them at all and our kitchen is just gross or Brian does them all when he gets home, which chews up the afternoon. Brian told me to save the pots and pans and he'll do them when he gets home. We'll recycle everything else. Nice.

Ready for action

Yesss

Next we went to my good friend Missy's son's dedication at their church. By the way, the weather was awesome- high in the high 60s- maybe it reached 70, I'm not sure. There wasn't a cloud in the sky most of the day. After the dedication we went and got lunch and then headed downtown for the Nationals game against the Cubs. The whole way to the stadium the boys were bouncing along, with Clark saying repeatedly, "I'm so excited for the Nats game! I love going to Nats games!" Our seats in left field were in the sun, but it wasn't too hot. Though the Nats lost in the end on a dumb error, we saw five complete innings of their starter no-hitting the Cubs and the Nats had quite a few hits, though they stranded most runners. Teddy the Racing President had his first win of the season, which made the boys' day. Screech the bald eagle mascot found his mom in the crowd and brought her flowers. Some players used pink bats and batting gloves and to honor their mothers. Cute.

After the game the boys got to run the bases-something they've been looking forward to and talking about for weeks. They got nervous when we found out that Brian couldn't run around with them, but one of the girls helping out held their hands and ran around with them. The racing presidents were all on the field too. As much as they love the presidents dearly, they're still intimidated and scared by the sheer size of them, but they made it with only a little initial crying.

On the way back to our parking lot, which is about five or six blocks from the stadium, we splurged and took one of the bike taxis to the lot. The bike driver was super nice and funny and my giant body was thankful not to do that walk. The boys loved it too.

After that we picked up some food for a picnic dinner and drove to my sister and brother-in-law's softball game with the rest of Brian's family. After the game of course the boys ran the bases several times with their cousins. They came home and crashed in a happy heap of Nats gear and softball field dirt.

Lovely day. I am blessed.

The boys with little Henry- their future bases-running pal

On the way to the park- both boys insisted on bringing
gloves to catch home runs.

Good seats!

Clark poised to catch a homer. This happened often, but to no avail.

Happy Mother's Day

Cal being a baseball player with my sunglasses

Me and my boys

Hot dog munchin' 

After running the bases

The Presidents!

On the way back to the car in our bike taxi