The Big 4

The birthday party...

Thrown together a few weeks before...the OB kept telling me I would probably end up on bedrest at every appt so we just wanted to have a small family party but Tavish kept inviting everyone to his birthday party so we had to throw one whether we wanted to or not. Auntie Lana cooked, we had balloons, a pinata, cupcakes, ice cream sundaes and bunch of crazy kids. I have realized I'm not really a party planner but I don't think Tavish noticed.

The actual birthday...

 Donuts from 7-11 on the way to preschool.

 Can you guess how old I am?

Dinner and games at the place parents hate the most and kids love the most...

Chuck E. Cheese.

Not so bad on a week night. 

Ice cream with sprinkles. 

Packages and presents.

And a happy 4 year old.

Dentist

I go to the dentist once a month to have my braces adjusted and Tavish is always very curious about it and even went with me one time. I've been pretty slow about making an appointment for his first cleaning, like everything else these days it seems. Well we finally made it and here he is, cool as a cucumber and ready to go. He was very interested in the whole process and got to pick out three prizes at the end because he is three. Good job buddy!

Whoa baby...

Our Pittsburgh pals came down for a visit...and I just had to get a pic.

Susan and I are due within days of each other.

So the question is...who's going to pop first????

I vote me :)

Family Photos

I've been wanting to have some family photos taken for a while and was reminded of this even more when we went to Poland this summer. Rafal's mother has photos of all three boys with their respective families hanging on the livng room wall and I hate  our photo. So every day we were there I was reminded that we need a new one, especially to document our little family of three before it becomes four. Here are some of my faves... 

Just to end it with a little dose of reality :)

Halloween-Take Two

In the month leading up to Halloween, I kept asking Tavish what kind of costume he wanted...he briefly toyed with Cookie Monster ($$$) and a dragon, but in the end he wanted to be a robot...again.

Luckily last year's costume still fit.

 

 

 

 At preschool they had a little costume parade and party with the parents.

Mr Sweettooth was very focused on having this specific cupcake. Apparently he had been asking his teacher for it all morning.

In the evening he was invited to go trick-or-treating with his BFF.

They live in a neighborhood where all the houses are decorated and it's a big street party full of kids in costume hitting up all the houses. It was a perfect big boy trick-or-treating night. Both boys got tuckered out and ended up riding back in the stroller with their impressive haul.

And we've been on a sugar high ever since.



Five

Five years.

An eternity and a blink of an eye at the same time.

Lots of changes.

Plenty of craziness.

And happy ever after...

(despite everything else!)

 

 

The weather was gorgeous, just like 5 years ago, so we took a drive up to Buckeystown to visit our little reception B&B. She's faded some and certainly didn't have a little boy on her front steps back then, but a beautiful day for a drive (including a speeding ticket).

 

In the evening we headed out, just the two of us...

First stop...pedicures. Rafal has been converted and now gets put out if I get one on my own.

Then Indian food for dinner (so glad he loves it too!) and a stop at a Halloween party. I dressed as a preggo. And called it a night early. Preggo=boring.

Tree Hugger

Our little tree hugger wants to name the baby "Leaf".

We are having a hard time convincing him otherwise.

Especially because we can't think of a good name.

Boy names are hard!



Check Up

Twice now Tavish has accompanied me to my OB appts.

The office is totally set up for kids to get involved and excited for the new baby.

 



 They have little lab coats with a tape measure in the pocket to help measure mom's belly.

My belly is right on track, even though it looks humongous!

But Tavish gets pretty caught up listening to the baby's heartbeat.

 Doesn't he just look like a little doctor?

Being the patient.

We thought we would try to trick the doctor and have Tavish lay on the table waiting for her instead of me.

She figured it out pretty quick.

 

I think next time I'll come by myself though...a little less distracting.

 

Great Country Farm

Two posts in a row with country in the title.

This one was all for Tavish though.

Fall out here is gorgeous, totally my favorite season.

So we headed out to the Great Country Farm for some fun.



 First there was jumping on the giant inflatable jumping pillow.

I'm telling you if I wasn't laden with child and all I so would have been on that thing with him. 

 Then we ended up playing in the corn bin.

There really should have been a hose and a warning sign outside that said "this is the messiest place your child will ever play, do not go in unless you have a change of clothes".

But, of course, there wasn't.

And, of course, Tavish loved it more than anything. 

 He climbed the tower of tires.

 Fed some ponies.

See how messy his clothes are?

 Drove a tractor.

 Played a little chess.

He asked me how to play...I said first you move a black one, then you move a white one.

I am a chessmaster.

 When we (I) were done playing, we took a wagon ride over to the apple fields...

 to pick some apples!

We picked a big bag of apples and apparently a bunch of fruit flies too.

We are still trying to get rid of them weeks later... 

But we did make a yummy Cocoa Apple Cake.

 awww...don't leave me yet!

 On the way home, we stopped in Bluemont and had lunch at the general store with some bikers.

Tavish got attacked by a rooster, so we headed home.

We were exhausted and fell asleep on the drive back.

Wait, I was driving.

I really wanted to though.

 

 

 



Country Living Fair

So two years ago my friend Susan says to me "we should go to the Country Living Fair".

We are both fans of the magazine and fans of ditching our kids with the husbands so I said "sure!"

Well that year I had a conflict with an anesthesia conference.

So the next year I planned it better and was all set to go...and the house flooded.

Third time's the charm...

 

 

 

So we headed to Pittsburgh to drop off Rafal and Tavish with Paul and the kids to juggle soccer games and waste-water treatment plant visits. Rafal got ready by eating a Primanti Bros. sandwich...

while Susan and I hit the road for Ohio.

 

 

 

For some crazy reason I took no pictures! Oh wait, pregnancy brain.

But we got to hang out with my BFF DeLAuna and do what we wanted to do without anyone fussing!

Lots to see, but we all came out of it thinking...oh I could make that! As if I had time.

 But just before we left I found it...the one thing I couldn't live without...

 

 



a kid size version of the Amish rocking chair I bought when I was pregnant with Tavish.

And guess who loves it???
It's just his size and story time is that much better when you have your own rocker to sit in...

Pumpkin Carving Party

Sometimes doing things with an only child can be a little boring...like carving pumpkins. So this year we invited some friends over for a pumpkin carving party...

 

It started off with the kids helping...

But quickly turned into parents carving and kids getting crazy...

Of course everyone was ready to join in for s'mores after the carving.

The final products...I think Dan wins for most pumpkins carved...4! And all to very specific requests.

Preschool

 

I dropped the ball during the spring sign-up for preschool, so I had to hustle to find one in the fall that still had openings. Everything here is competitive. Totally ridiculous. Anyhow, here is our big boy on his first day of school with some of his artwork.

BTW, it is getting increasingly difficult to get a good photo of the boy.



The Great Escape

Here's one of the perks of visiting Poland. Tavish loves his Uncle Tom and doesn't mind being left with him for a few days so we can run away. Another reason we love Uncle Tom too, and Edyta, and Ola and Agata. So while Tavish was playing with the turtle and feeding the fish at their house...

We were driving through the Czech mountains, soaking in the scenery and getting completely lost trying to follow a borrowed GPS that insisted on sending us to washed out roads to nowhere. Eventually we made our way out and ended up in Prague...

 

 



 Here is the view from our hotel room...Prague Castle.

 

 After Rafal's forced march up the hill to the castle (every hill seems huge when you are pregnant) we were greeted by the guard outside the castle. I told Rafal he could never do this job because he wouldn't be able to stop himself from smiling at all the crazy people trying to get a reaction from him.

 Inside the castle walls is the cathedral. Here's the thing, when you travel around Europe once you've seen a few cathedrals you feel like you've seen them all. Still pretty though.

 The castle itself...pretty anticlimactic. My favorite feature...the cool door handles.

A pretty canal off the Vltava River.

 These locks were all over the bridges, even the Charles Bridge (which is gorgeous at night and I wish I had a camera that could take a worthy picture). Had no idea what these locks were for...found out later they are called "love locks". A couple fastens the lock on the bridge and then throws the key into the river, somehow symbolizing their everlasting love.

Hmm, I guess we missed out.

 Nearby is a stepped passageway that is so narrow it has it's own traffic light for pedestrians since only one can pass through at a time. Good thing we didn't wait a few more months or I probably wouldn't have fit.

 And my favorite....no gas water.

For some reason, most of Europe loves sparkling water. I hate it. So I love the no gas.

And if it guaranteed Rafal never had gas, I probably would have bought both baskets!

 

 

All in all, Prague is huge! and overwhelming! And apparently full of pickpockets...Rafal's mom sent us with safety pins to pin our pockets shut :)  A very cool city with a lot to see, but I think we were both ready for something smaller and more relaxed. So off we went to Vienna...

 Look! Another Cathedral!

 And a castle! I was getting a little tired from walking around so much so in Vienna we went on a bus tour of the city which included a tour of this castle. I cannot recall the name of the castle or the ruling family...but I do remember the Queen was the ruler and she had 15 children. And they each had five rooms.

 Makes my mom seem like an amateur.

 And did you know Mozart lived in Vienna???

If you didn't you will be reminded at every tourist shop.

 He may even try to sell you some chocolates.

 

 

 Vienna is a very pretty city, just right in size with a good vibe.

Perfect for Rafal...they have bike lanes, similar to a service road, that parallels the main roads with their own traffic lights.

And here were are having a traditional Austrian meal of...not noodles or wurstel...but kebabs.

We did have schnitzel one night of course and Rafal thought it was hilarious to say schnitzel over and over...I have no idea why.

 

 

I originally had wanted to go hang out on a beach in Italy for a few days...Rafal has never been to Italy if you can believe it...but it just wasn't working out.

So Prague and Vienna were our backup plan, but we had fun chilling out just the two of us.

And when we got back, Uncle Tom said Tavish didn't even miss us.

Little stinker.