Wet and Wild Wednesday

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you filled 100 water balloons and set a group of three year olds loose with them outside? Well this morning I found out, and it was a blast. Henson's birthday is Friday, and I wasn't planning to have a friend party for him this year, but last week he told me he wanted to have his friends over to play with water balloons. (Note: until today he had never touched a water balloon, so I'm not sure why the sudden obsession ). 

I think the day was a success. Rarely has our back yard been filled with so much squealing, laughing, and hyper energy. And for a group of preschoolers there were relatively few altercations that required adult intervention. 

Here are a few pictures from our wet morning. 

Mother's Day: counting my blessings

Today I'm feeling very lucky to be the mother of two wonderful kids. They are two very special and unique individuals, a and I'm so blessed to get to spend time with them and help them grow. 

I've had a lot of different experiences, worked a lot of different jobs and met a lot of interesting people, but I have learned and grown more from being a mother than any other experience. 

Both kiddos the day they were born

I'm a very lucky mama! 

Welcome Home Baby

Elise is here, and we are all glad to be home and doing well. 

Her arrival was very different from her brothers. With Henson I was a week overdue and spent 17 hours in labor, 14 of those hours at the hospital. This little lady arrived on her due date, and was in quite a hurry. 

For those who like birth stories, here it is. For those who don't, skip to the cute pictures at the end ;)

Saturday morning I had no expectation of having a baby that day. We went to yard sales that morning, and planted vegetables in the garden after lunch. Around 3 I started noticing random painful contractions, but nothing frequent or consistent enough to pay much attention to. At 4 I ran to the store to get something for dinner. While I was out I noticed the contractions started to come about every 10 minutes. I went home and we made dinner. By the time we sat down to eat they were every 5 minutes and getting harder to sit through. So I left Henry to do the dishes while I went to try to manage them. After such a long first labor I expected to need to spend some time laboring at home before things progresseged. By 6:45 they were so intense that I knew we needed to go in. Henry loaded the car, I somehow walked to it, and we went to drop Henson off at a friends. The whole ride over I was just thinking what a wimp I felt like.y first time around I labored for 12 hours before getting any pain relief. This time I was ready to ask for the epidural after only two hours. 

We got to the hospital at 7:30. I'm still not sure how I managed to walk into the building, but we made it upstairs to check in. The registration lady was so nice and could tell I was struggling to keep composed, so she sent me to be checked for admittance while Henry finished the paperwork. After being checked I was immediately taken to a delivery room. I switched beds, and the doctor was there ready to deliver before there was time for anything else (my midwife was already in another delivery and didn't make it on time). At 7:59 Elise was born, after only 3 hours of real labor and less than 30 minutes in the hospital. 

She was 8 lbs, 7oz and 21 inches long. She was a little cold, so she spent some time under the warmer before we could go upstairs to our room, but that was just as well because we had to finish being admitted anyway. 

We feel so lucky that everything worked out so well, that she is healthy, and so greatful for all the people who helped us with taking care of Henson and making the weekend so much easier. So welcome home Elise! We are so glad you're finally here. 

Story time with Dad

One of Henson's favorite things is to have us tell him stories.  He particularly loves to hear stories about Henry's horse he had growing up in Guatemala. After a long work day Henson cornered his dad on the sofa to get one of these stories. It was too cute not I share. 

Now I've heard everything

I have come to accept that when you are pregnant you will receive unsolicited advice and questions from strangers. There is just something about a pregnant belly that makes otherwise rational people loose all boundaries. This doesn't bother me any more. In fact, I kind of get a kick out of some of the crazy comments. However today I got maybe the strangest one I have ever heard.

Today Henson and I made a trip to the post office to get stamps. The postman there recognizes us, and he's very nice. While we were waiting I picked up Henson for a minute so he could see something. The postman reacted in an embarrassingly  loud voice, as if I were committing a crime. "Don't pick him up, you have a baby!" He continues to tell me that if I lift too much weight while pregnant my baby will be born with a hernia. 

Yes, a hernia... And yes, not me, the baby... 

It took a minute for the absurdity of what he said to sink in. How do you respond to that? I give myself credit for keeping a straight face until I made it to the car. I challenge anyone to come up with a crazier piece of pregnancy advice. 

Cherry Blossoms

The cherry blossoms are out in DC and this year we made it during the height of their bloom.  Like we have in past years, we parked at Gravely Point park by the DCA airport and walked across the bridge.  It was perfect weather for it, and we got some much needed family pictures.

We had to stop at the Jefferson Memorial.  Henson always wants to climb the steps and see the statue of Thomas Jefferson.

 We love where we live, and we love this time of year.  There is so much to do and so many places to get out and enjoy.  Happy spring everyone!

Waiting for baby

Baby girl's first toy (picked out by her big brother). 

Henson's current obsession

Play-Doh! He can't get enough of this stuff. It's become part of our morning routine. Once breakfast and morning chores are finished he gets an hour of play-doh time while I get an hour of work done online. Today he was building a tractor that was pulling wagons full of animals. After that he made a big pie for the animals to eat. It's fun to see his imagination grow. He comes up with some entertaining ideas. 

44 Days

Every day one of my phone apps sends me an update about how many days are left till my due date. Today it was 44.

It's different with your second child because you don't have all the same milestones as with the first. No hospital tour, no baby shower, no birth classes or videos, and not nearly as much reading and research. It's just as exciting, but without some of those small things to make it seem real, time can sometimes get away from you. 

That's probably why it wasn't until this last week that I had a "this is real" moment. Over the weekend I attended two baby showers for baby girls who are due the same month as mine. Maybe it was all the cute clothes and baby items, or just the fact that everyone was talking about how April is almost here, but it feels very real now. 

As a result I have officially entered the frantic stage of feeling like I have nothing ready. Honestly all we really need to get is diapers, baby shampoo, and hopefully some girl clothes, but the list of things I would like to get done suddenly feels enormous. 

Whether we get any of it done or not, one thing is for certain, I can't wait to meet this little girl. Henson asks every day if she's big enough yet, and I'm excited for them to meet for the first time. So the countdown officially begins: 44 days. Don't be too late little girl!

Graduation!

Since I'm so behind on posts, let me just do a quick one to celebrate Henry's graduation last month. After two solid years of classes and capstone work (while working full time) Henry finished his MBA through the Naval Postgraduate school. 

Since the school is in Monterey CA we flew out there for the graduation the  weekend before Christmas. It was beautiful weather, a nice (and surprisingly quick) ceremony, and a few extra days of fun with family by the beach.

 This was us after the ceremony. 

It felt great to be outside and by the water. We went a couple times to fishermans a wharf.

My parents and one of my brothers and his family came out too, and our last night there we had a bonfire on the beach. A great way to finish up the trip.

PA Farm Show

A couple weekends ago we drove up north to keep our tradition of attending the PA farm show in Harrisburg.  I grew up going every year, and Henry started going when he moved to PA as a teenager, so it's something we have enjoyed for a long time. 

To be honest, the highlight of the trip for me is always the milkshake.  I don't know what it is about the shakes they make, but they are the best! Along side a thing of fries covered in vinegar it gives me my junk food fix for quite a while. 

Once Henson got used to the strong smell (we had a couple close calls with his gag reflex when we passed the cows and horses) he loved seeing the animals and getting to pet a couple of them. 

Here are a few pictures from the trip. I'll upload some better ones once I get them off my camera. 

One More Room

So what became of the old nursery once Henson moved into his new room?  I've been getting it ready for the newest Lopez family member, who is scheduled to arrive in April.

Even though we kept the same base color for the walls and we already have most of what we need, I have had fun dressing up the nursery for my little girl. It has brought back out my crafty side, so I wanted to share some of my creations. 

The bed skirt was fun. Simple and smooth, but a raised pattern to the fabric makes it look like a mix of modern and traditional. 

Hung up a few shelves. 

We are using the same glider of course, but recovered it with the same fabric as the bed skirt.  

This mobile was just for fun. Silver, white, yellow and grey. Henson had a good time helping me with the glue.

I covered her picture frames with strips from magazines on yellow an grey. 

There are still a few things I want to do, including a pillow for the chair, but it's coming together. Having the room set up certainly makes it more real that a little girl is joining us in less than 3 months!