Little Italy

My really good friend Jenny just moved to Rome, (as in, Italy), with her husband and two boys and her blog does not disappoint as she shares about all their incredible experiences, big (Pope kissing her son) and small (potty training success....although that really should be classified as a big success) while living down the street from the Holy Father. 

Anyway, why am I giving her back round/life story? Because this post is mostly for you, girl. Last Saturday we up and decided we didn't want to be stuck in the house all day, so despite the threat of rain, we drove an hour to Baltimore to hit up Little Italy. Although nothing can compare to the real thing...I thought of you the whole time. 

Whenever we have visitors, Luke tends to be the one to take them into Baltimore for an afternoon and plays tour guide. I stay at home with the littles as they would be bored, slow everyone down, etc. He always takes people to Little Italy and then comes home and raves to me about how awesome it is. Well, it was finally my turn! 

As soon as we turned down the street heading into this quaint part of town, I felt like I just stepped into a time machine. I was transported back to Italy and although some things still felt the same, people driving enormous cars, looking for parking for 20 minutes, the buildings were sweet, and we landed at the most wonderful authentic pizzeria. They even had outdoor seating in the back with two bocci ball lanes for summer games. It was also lightly raining, so the whole setting just felt magical. 

I think Luke and I could have each eaten our own 14 inch, it was that good. I had to keep telling Luke to not eat the kids pizza off their plates! They weren't hungry at the time but I knew they would eat it later. We also had the most amazing caprese salad appetizer and ended our meal with a cannoli that was to die for. 

Not sure, or not hungry? Probably both.

Walking down to the inner harbor. When she heard there were boats, she was a woman on a mission.

Me: "Hailey, can you stand by this tree so I can take your picture?" Silently obliges and later I notice her finger pointing, as in, "let's keep going that way to the boats, mom." 

Tagging along behind his sister. Once he got those little legs moving, then he was hungry. Luke told me stopped abruptly at one point, came over to him with the to go box, shoved his hand in, took a fistful of pizza and stuffed it in his mouth. Then kept right on walking.

Classic Casey, the shy sideways glance.

Finding shelter from the rain. (Luke, stop eating the kids pizza)

On the other side of that bench is a huge drop down to the water. I freaked out if the kids were a mere foot away from me. They are so fast!!

It was all so misty and romantic. Sadly because of the rain, there were no boats out really, we got a quick glimpse of one but it wasn't enough for my water and boat loving girl. The whole way home she asked, "where boat go, mama?" I had to tell her they had to go to sleep because of the rain. It only mildly pacified her.

I know we'll be back Little Italy, you are a nice taste of the real deal and until we visit Rome again, Baltimore, you will just have to do.

And we're having......

a boy!!

I was definitely surprised. With all the morning sickness I had during the first trimester, I was certain it was a girl, as I had the same experience with Hailey. But I was wrong! Either way, it really doesn't matter. We are so happy and excited and I think Casey is going to love having a little brother close in age to him. And Hailey is such a little mommy, she is going to just shower this baby with love, want to be my helper all the time and will probably continue to boss around her little brothers.

Hailey Shines

She doesn't qualify! And that's a good thing!!! Hailey had her speech evaluation yesterday and she passed with flying colors! She no long qualifies for speech therapy! I am so happy and proud of her!

She also had her first swim class yesterday afternoon and her performance left me wondering if this is going to bore her! She did NOT want to do what the rest of the class was doing, she just wanted to swim, jump off the side, do all the stuff she is used to doing! She is the only one who could swim by herself with a bubble on her back. But I do think it's going to be good because she does need to get better at using her arms to paddle. I think they could come up with something better than "reach and sweep" though.

Getting used to the slightly cold water

trying to push my hands off her

practicing kicking!

not wanting to float and look at the ceiling.

She was so so happy to just be swimming. She was definitely in her element. Poor Casey, I didn't want him there, but the timing of things worked out as such today that I ended up meeting Luke on campus and he and Casey just hung out till the class was done. Which meant he could snap these pictures! I'm so glad he did, but Casey did NOT understand why he couldn't go in the pool too. What a sweetie. His turn will come and I'm already thinking that we need to go sometime during open swim times and just let them have fun. This preggo mama will find any excuse imaginable to be in a pool this summer, I can promise you that! :)

DC Boat Tour

One of the things I admit I do like about blogging, is the chance to sort of document and journal our kids lives. I'm terrible about doing baby books and keep saying I'm going to catch up with scrap booking this year (says the girl who says that every year), and so this has been a nice way to document and remember. I have dreams some day of having this ol blog, if I stick with it, put into hardcover book form some day to maybe give to the kids. I've heard that's possible. We'll see. In any case, please don't take any of this sort of "documenting our kids lives" as any sort of bragging, or flaunting. This is all for posterity's sake. I also enjoy smiling when I see pictures of their little faces, and laughing at a picture of something they were doing, after dealing with a dozen meltdowns and tantrums between 8am and noon and can barely see the light at the end of the day. Let's be real.

But I mean, this guy, he just melts my mama heart.

and frightens me too. Note hands on ankles. And he's  like, "knock it off guys."

We met up with my friend, Trena, who lives in the DC area.

Luke had tickets for the Capitol River Cruises that we were hoping to use when the cherry blossoms where at their peak. And well, we missed it. I think we had colds, and then Luke had to work over a weekend, and by the time we went down, they were all gone. I was so bummed, but we still had a great time. We had a picnic lunch (one of my favorite things to do, maybe because it brings out the Anne-girl in me) and then hopped on the boat for the noon ride. It was a 45min tour and was really neat to view the monuments from the water and learn some new facts about them. Nothing I can remember to tell you though, sorry, I have horrible memory retention when it comes to stuff like that. The kids loved loved loved it, and now whenever we get in the car Hailey says, "Boat? Ride the boat, mama!?"

Their love of water makes me both very happy and terrified. Thank goodness Hailey starts swim lessons today!

Catching up

I can't believe a whole week went by without me getting on here! So sorry to anyone who happened to so kindly be checking back here. Here are some quick updates I'll throw at ya....

- the school year ended!! Yay! Now Daddy gets to work from home! He absolutely spoiled me on Mother's Day, told me I wasn't allowed to do any cooking, and he did all the dishes too. I seriously think those two things combined might have been the nicest gift he could have given me. This morning when I went downstairs to the clean kitchen, I felt so loved. I told him seeing that kitchen was like getting a love letter from him. Mrs. Sap today. I'll stop.

- Hailey starts her speech evaluation tomorrow (it will be done over the course of her next two sessions) and we are hoping she will not qualify for further sessions. Which would mean she is where she is supposed to be now! I believe she is, she talks alllll the time, however, this will be interesting because she hates being put on the stop and "performing". Luke is going to take Casey to the library or something so that I can be totally focused on it with her and her teacher. I'm hoping that will help.

- I'm 20 weeks and can hardly believe it. I hope the pregnancy continues to go by as quickly as it has been, I already just want to meet and hold this baby!! We find out boy or girl this Thursday! I'm way too excited and can't stop thinking about it.

-hmmm, not a whole lot else is coming to mind. Part of the reason I wasn't blogging last week is because I've been trying to do more praying, working out and resting during the kids nap time. And it has felt so good. When I do daily prayer, get a work out in, and maybe even get to lie down for 20 min, it is like a night and day difference in my day. I'm so much more calm, peaceful, cheerful and patient. I think I'm going to have to find a different time of day to do blogging!

Have a great rest of your day :)

What I Wore Sunday

What a wonderful Sunday we had today. On the first Sunday of the month our parish has donuts and coffee in the parish hall. I was kinda really looking forward to it because I really wanted a chocolate hole donut. The kids had way too many and nap time ended up being a complete bust. There was lots of laughing and talking and jumping....and no sleeping. And of course it would be the afternoon I decided to do my new prenatal workout dvd and have to keep pausing it to go tuck them back in, scold and plead to go to sleep! In the end, I got through my work out (which felt great! I recently purchased Summer Sanders prenatal workout dvd, recommended by none other than that fabulous Grace of Camp Patton), and went upstairs to close my eyes for a few minutes, fingers crossed the kids would pass out already. I don't know how long I was peacefully dosing but I woke up to Hailey next to me shaking a change purse of quarters saying, "wook mama!" She then proceeded to turn off the white noise in the hall, turn on the hall light and take off down the stairs. I followed, turning the white noise back on for Casey (who had indeed fallen asleep), shut the light off and get downstairs to see, what it tuned out, she had been up to during my sweet slumber! Thankfully, it appeared to just be some puzzles. Anyway, we later got to go out for dinner with our chaplain and the team which was such a nice break from cooking. Then, per our Sunday evening tradition, we got Rita's custard and both kids were in bed, asleep at 7:30pm! Since they had already had too much sugar for the day, they actually didn't get any ice cream, such cruel parents I know. Casey didn't care, but Hailey let us know how mad she was. We told her she  had plenty of treats for today and she eventually got over it.

She is already so attached to her little sibling! It is the sweetest thing ever. She is constantly kissing and hugging my belly. 

Not the best photos, but they'll do. Counting down till we find out if this lil peanut if a boy or girl! May 16th is our ultrasound!

I hope to be around a little more blogging this week, but I may be hanging out over at Finding Great Joy, for Cynthia's Mother to Mother series on Disciplining! I'm really looking forward to hearing what other mama's have to say, Hailey and Casey give me new challenges every week!

Make sure you see what all the pretty girls on a Sunday are wearing. (Fun was in my head as I typed that.....)

ps: Happy wedding Emily! Congratulations!