In the Land of 1000 Relatives

Random fat dog

I know we are long overdue for an update… the craziness of the past few weeks have kept us so busy we have yet to buy a new camera. But don’t let the lack of pictures fool you. We have been having too much fun for pictures (but thank you, Hans, for sending us some of yours)!

So, in a nutshell, this is what we have been up to.

In late May, our good friend Hans visited us from Denmark. The pictures are courtesy of Hans… we have yet to get a camera but I swear it will be soon. It had been years since we had seen Hans. In fact, the last time we were all together we were soaking up sun by the side of a pool at a castle in Italy. Without wedding rings or kids. Needless to say, I think it was shocking for Hans to see how our lives have changed! Milo loved Hans, and kept repeating “Hans, Denmark” over and over. It was a lovely visit and we miss having him around!

Hans enjoying an American-style Sunday morning

One big hunk of meat… sliced in half

The beginning of June brought with it family, family, and more family. On the first Saturday of the month, Michael called us early in the morning with an offer we couldn’t refuse. The weather was looking nice, so he offered to fly out to DC in his airplane and take the four of us (Andrew, me, Milo, and Proudie) back to Ohio for the weekend. Milo absolutely loved the ride and even flew the plane a couple of times (shortly after, I almost puked). He is still talking about the experience and singing a song he and Andrew made up about “Michael-dad, cool dude, Michael-dad, airplane.” We got to see Billy and Annie’s new house (they bought the house Andrew’s mom grew up in!), have dinner with Nana, Anthony, Lisa, Lily, Jack, Gina, Michael, Katie, Austin, Bill, Annie, Reina, and Baby Liam (who we met for the first time). Milo had a blast with his cousins, especially the ride on Uncle Billy’s tractor (also STILL a common subject of conversation a month later) and with Gina-mom, who took him on a march around the back yard.

We spent the night at Andrew’s mom’s house and had an absolute blast the next morning on the farm. Milo took big tractor rides with Michael-dad, threw rocks and sticks for Proudie with Gina-mom at the pond, and took turns jumping into the shallow water. He also played with Katie and Austin on the play equipment and was crowned “Naked Nature Boy” with a string of clovers around his neck, which he proceeded to pull off and stomp on before running off bare naked. Really, I was in physical pain not having a camera.

Later that afternoon we were flown back to Ohio by Michael-dad, the flight taking only 2 hours thanks to a nice tailwind. Such a fun and exhausting trip!

Only a day later, we welcomed my mom, sister, her husband, and their little boy Charlie into our home for a few days to visit. We had a blast just hanging around the neighborhood, putting together a climber (an early b-day present from Grandma) in the backyard for Milo, and eating lots of yummy food. Milo is still calling our extra bedroom “Grandma’s room” and the futon on the floor “Grandma’s bed.” And at bathtime he talks about the time he took a bath with Charlie, saying “Chaw-lee bathtub… memba dat?”- translation, “Charlie in the bathtub, remember that?”

With slight overlap but no actual meetings, Janine and Dan (Andrew’s aunt who married us and uncle) then visited us while my mom was away on a day trip. They helped us cook an amazing dinner, brought presents for Milo and me, and spent the most relaxing evening with us. It had been half a year since they had seen Milo, so it was fun to see him having actual conversations with them this time around. Also, Dan somehow got Milo to eat a bite of salmon, something I have been trying for the past eight months!

Since that blast of family fun, Andrew and I have been recouperating and gearing up for little boy #2 to arrive. I attended my last prenatal yoga class, although I’m sure I will do a couple drop-ins before my due date, and I have started my bi-weekly prenatal appointments. Milo attends with me and enjoys hearing “baby’s hot-beat,” asking the receptionist to listen as soon as we walk in the door. I’m sure she has no idea what he is asking for.

NewBaby has been moving and shaking more than ever. He also regularly gets hiccups every evening after I eat dinner. It is so strange to feel that again. Milo did the same thing every evening. Let’s hope that their similarities end with the sleep habits, or else I am done for.

We have also been preparing for… dun, dun, dun… the HOMEBIRTH! Granted everything stays normal and healthy (so far so good), I will be delivering this baby at home. And though about half of the people we tell this to look at us like we’re crazy, the other half do not seem surprised at all, and instead are totally supportive. It helps having people in the family who have actually done this! It also helps to know that vast research supports planned homebirths as well, so I am in no way nervous about the safety aspect of it. No, I am more nervous about getting Milo out in time so that he doesn’t have nightmares from the noises I am bound to make. No, Mommy is not turning into a monster… there’s just a small person making its way out. But the planning and gathering of materials has been a lot of fun. I might post the list of items we have been getting together just to see if you can guess what some of them might be used for. So until then… send me a camera!