a stroll in the city before a move to the suburbs

On Memorial Day, we had a new baby and a big move looming only days ahead of us, so being 9 months pregnant on a regularly hot and humid DC day, we did the obvious thing to do—got on the metro and strolled the National Mall with the kiddos.

Jon and I thought it would be fun to take the kids in one last time while it was so close, and they loved it. We hadn't been up close to the monuments for some time, so they were pretty excited about seeing how big they were in person (probably not remembering that they've seen them all before). Although I have to admit...the only monuments we made it to were the Washington and WWII, because it was crazy hot. And I was crazy pregnant. And the kids only wanted to play in the dirt and run around like wild people anyway.

We were actually hoping to catch some Rolling Thunder while we were there (the veteran's motorcycle parade, etc, that happens every Memorial Day weekend), but of course most of the festivities were held on Saturday and Sunday...so we got there just in time for most of the excitement to be over. I think we saw a dozen motorcycles, literally. BIG disappointment for the kids. Pretty pathetic, fruitless, 10-block-walk for the {sweaty} grown-ups. (You can imagine us walking around pushing 2 kids in a stroller with pink faces from the heat, me looking like I could give birth at any moment, and us asking random people, "Are there any motorcycles left? Have you seen any motorcycles around here?" You'd think we would know this by our 7th summer here. Fail!

But as always, the kids seemed to not notice too much that our plans ended up not being plans at all. I'm sure we gave them both a popsicle when we got home and all hard feelings were forgotten. Childhood is blissful like that.

 

 

portraits by Van

 

   

I mean...wow. That's some belly. Straight out. Waaaaaayyyy out. No wonder I could hardly breathe!

 

After the Washington Monument, we were off to the WWII Memorial to get some relief from the sweltering heat. You're totally not supposed to get in the water at all, but everyone still sticks their feet in. Especially on a day like that. Or you could do what Lila did, and just walk on into the water until you fall in face first, about 5 seconds after entering the water. Our kids didn't just wade, they swam. Rule breakers. My only disappointment is that I wasn't taking pictures when it happened, so the glory of the moment will have to live on in our memories. Shame. Seriously, it was awesome.

 

 

She looks sweet, but the Lila's sassy side is pretty evident without looking too hard.

Yes, she's unloading a mouthful of water from her sippy cup right into Van's hair. Not my idea. We specialize in manners and class. Let me know if you ever want any tips. 

 

 I adore this shot.

 A normal day with the crazies.

baby bump #3 {full term!}

Here it comes...ready or not. Baby number three! From what I've heard, we're about to have our world rocked.

I've noticed the things people say to me when they hear we're expecting our third child so close to the first two can sometimes be less than encouraging. It's usually something along the lines of "You'll never leave the house again!," "Three kids takes parenting to a whole different level," "Three was really hard for us,"  "Get ready to be outnumbered!," "You've definitely got your hands full!," or "Oh wow, good luck." I understand why anyone might think like that, because I'm pretty sure I think those things every day all on my own. But wow, hearing it said out loud has a way of making it worse!

One thing I keep hearing that I cling to is people mentioning their third baby being their best baby, or if they were a third child (which I was), remembering that they were their mom's best baby. Crossing. My. Fingers. Let this baby be an angel!!

But something even better has stood out to me above everything else. Shortly after we first announced the pregnancy to everyone, I received an email from one of Jon's sweet aunts, congratulating us and saying exactly what I needed to hear. Here is my favorite part:

"May I just say, I fell in love with motherhood at baby number 3. All of a sudden, I was no longer trying to fit two little people into my life—they WERE my life! And I loved it! Babies number 1 and 2 had each other, and I got to love and enjoy baby number 3 like I had not been able to before."

When I read her kind words of excitement and encouragement, I felt like my fears and worries let out a big internal sigh of relief, and I was reminded what a wonderful thing this is. A growing family, another little life, another beautiful blessing...our third child.

I don't doubt what everyone else says. We are about to have our world rocked. This is probably taking parenting to whole new level. It will be really hard sometimes. Our hands will be completely full. It may take us a LONG TIME to leave the house again. And we will need all the luck we can get. But at the same time, we are being blessed with the opportunity for these little people—all three of them—to BE our life (not just be squeezed into it). And to love it.

Before we welcome this new little life into our family, Jon was awesome enough to know I would want a photoshoot to document our little family now, and that's exactly what he gave me for our anniversary/Mother's Day (which, by the way, were one day apart this year). Turns out a photoshoot of two kids plus a maternity session is no easy feat, and we spent most of the time chasing our wild children around (and let me tell you, they are FAST. And fearless. And they think it's funny.). But you'd never know, because Jon caught everything on camera perfectly! I love how they turned out!! And you can probably tell, because there are a lot...

Here are the end results. A 3.5 year old, a 22-month old, a babe in utero, and a mother of 2.5. (These were taken less than 2 weeks ago, when I was 37 weeks pregnant).

Babes 1 and 2. Van has been obsessed with his Superman costume lately, and we pretty much love it. If he wants to wear it, we are happy to oblige every time! Even if it's on the way to our photoshoot. :)


Fly Super-van!


1. 2. 3. 












Watching airplanes in the sky.


Our kids have dance moves that you should probably be jealous of. Just sayin'.












Love that face of hers!


This lasted 2 seconds, but Jon snagged it!


Baby bump lovin'.




What most of the photo session really looked like. 


This kid can't get enough of jumping and flying.






I love how this captures a hint of the wildness in their eyes. :) This is SO our kids.




Love these two crazy kids!!

the new babe {fashionably late}

lila gwynn smith
{pronounced "lie-luh" not "lee-luh" or "lil-uh", and "gwin" not "gwen"} :)



July 27, 2010
4:28 am
7 lbs 15 oz
20.5 in

We've clearly been behind on posting, but with not much time to catch up, we'll just skip the last three months and get right to the important part.

Our little girl arrived 6 days late, and after literally having tried EVERYTHING to get her out sooner (walking, running, jumping, eating spicy food, walking half-on half-off curbs, hiking up huge hills, bouncing on an exercise ball, going up and down stairs, and yes, anything else you're thinking of), we are absolutely convinced that none of it works. The baby will come when the baby wants to come, and your body will spit it out when it wants to spit it out. Take it from us. If those things have worked for other people, I'm pretty sure it's because they were about to go into labor anyway and they falsely attributed their success to the last thing they were doing. Totally not a believer. But we're so happy she finally came and that everything happened all on its own!

The best news of the day was that I opted for an epidural this time, which was every bit as awful to receive as I'd imagined, but as soon as it was in place, I was loving life. We talked. We slept. We laughed. I could LAUGH. I totally enjoyed it and couldn't believe how nice it was to not be hyperventilating and worrying about how I would survive a head coming out of my body. No need to suffer willingly twice! We got to the hospital at 11:30pm, and our little lady was born by 4:30am. It was awesome. She was a perfect, purple, squishy, screamy, newborn. We're suddenly a family of four, Van's a big brother, and we've got our hands full. But it's so much fun, even when we feel totally crazy. :)

The hospital day in photos...









Fresh out of the oven.




Obviously a daddy's little girl from day one. Her face clearly says "see mom? I can get whatever I want from him!"






Flowers from my lover.




Van's so sweet to her, it's the cutest thing to watch. He wants to kiss her on the head and hold her all the time (even though that only lasts about 5 seconds, we're sure it's safer that way).






Those beauties on the right are one of my token symptoms of the last month of pregnancy. And it took a big nasty week after delivery to get them down to normal size. They're super painful, don't fit anything, and I can't believe I don't have foot/ankle/cankle stretch marks to show for it. Four weeks of hugeness. Even my toes were getting rolls. oh. my. gosh. I couldn't BELIEVE how little my feet were when I finally welcomed them back last week. It was a beautiful day. Jon's so proud of me for posting this photo online, I'm so embarrassed by them. And I hate feet. But the little girl on the left, I like her lots.


Going home outfit. We had to put a bow on her head to remember she was a girl, or we kept calling her "dude" or "buddy" out of habit with our little man. We're sure she'll grow out of the "I-could-be-a-boy-or-girl" phase and into her girly self soon enough. :)


Waiting for Jon to roll up in the getaway car just over 24 hours after birth. We were on the accelerated leave-the-hospital plan since my mom would be in the airport flying away 48 hours after birth. That's what happens when babies hang out in the womb almost a week longer than expected.


First almost-family pic, sans Van.


I love her eyes in this photo! Headed home!