Pittsburgh Trip

Once I knew we were doing a family reunion in Virginia Beach, there was no question that I would take the kids up to Pittsburgh after for a visit. If I am already on the east coast it only makes sense to add a trip home since flying with my kiddos is not the cheapest thing. It's hard that John usually can't come with us, but I love getting to spend time with my family and seeing my kids with their cousins. This trip had a little twist when my sister Meghan had to stay in Virginia with her newborn Timothy who was having some breathing problems and we brought her 20 month old Lucy back to Pittsburgh with us. Both my parents work so my sister Katie and I were on babysitting duty. Katie was there with her 5 month old Noah and no husband as well. We were more then happy to do it for Meghan, but it definitely made for some crazy days. We were out numbered for sure and had to call on my nieces a lot to come help keep the kids from burning down the house. 

EZ was very anxious for Timmy to come home. He really wanted to be able to see that little baby and I am hoping he is still that excited when our new one arrives. When we got the call the Meghan was officially on her way home we decided to make a welcome home sign. EZ was very very excited about this. Here he is with the sign. He was on an Olympics kick this week and you can't really see it, but the poster is signed "From U.S.A."

Once Timothy was here EZ had to make sure and get to hold him. I love how he is being so careful with his little head. 

A Pittsburgh trip would not be complete without a day at Kennywood. Luckily for me we found out about an unadvertised cheaper pregnancy rate since I really couldn't ride much. The kids were all in heaven. King and Netta are both as fearless as ever and EZ actually only hesitated once before getting on a ride. Here are the kids on the motorcycles in Kiddieland. 

 All of the kids loved the Whip and rode it multiple times. It was a favorite last year as well and it always makes for the best pictures. You can click to enlarge the pictures and see their awesome expressions. 

 The one ride EZ kind of hesitated on was one that took you up in the air and kind of dropped you and you bounced up and down. King and Netta ran straight on with Grandpa. 

 Of course after they went and EZ saw that they survived, he wanted in on the action. He is so funny, because he was afraid to ride this ride, but then insisted on riding the Jack Rabbit, which is a full blown rollercoaster. He actually rode in a car all by himself and my dad rode behind him next to Netta. For once in my life I was actually willing to pay the ridiculous amount they wanted for a picture of EZ on the rollercoaster, but then his never came up on the screen. Go figure.

 I figured I was safe riding a ride or 2 in Kiddieland, but after just 2 rides I had a pounding headache and I felt like I was going to throw up. I was kind of in shock. I didn't realize how much pregnancy would mess with me. 

The rest of the trip was spent making sure we ate at all the places we wanted to like Eat'n Park, Primanti Brothers and Sheetz. I also got to go to water aerobics with my parents at the Y, which was really nice. Water aerobics tends to attract on older crowd and then on top of it this one was specifically for arthritis, so it's safe to say that I was the youngest person by a long shot, but really it is my favorite way to work out at the end of my pregnancies. Of course we also spent lots of time hanging with our cousins and having sleep overs involving ridiculous amounts of pillows and blankets. 

 I almost forgot, because I failed to get any pictures, but we had a baby shower for Meghan and my grandpa and my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Tom were able to come down from New York. I am so grateful that they were willing to make the trip down since it was going to be near impossible for me to make the trip up there. Hurray for more family!

Virginia Beach

Two years ago we had an Eckerson family reunion at Virginia Beach and we were able to have a repeat again this year. Last time I had just had King and I couldn't get in the water, so this time around I was really excited to just be pregnant and at least be able to get in the pool. Hopefully someday we can go when I am neither pregnant nor postpartum and I can really join in all the fun. The funny thing is my mom keeps getting rear ended and with the settlement money she is able to rent the beach house. I really want these reunions to keep happening, but I am not sure I want it to happen if that means my mom has to keep getting injured. ;)

Traveling with kids is always an adventure. Of course King, who is usually our best sleeper, refused to sleep in the room we had. He was staying up till midnight and waking up at 5 am. Then he just wanted to watch tv all day and that was fine by me, because we had no energy left to deal with him. So here is a pic of what he did most of the time at the beach.

He also got away with having his binky all the time. We are usually really strict and only let him have it for nap and bed time, but again he sucked all the fight out of us and we gave in. Here he is hanging out by the pool with his binky. He refused to get in the pool and spent the whole time just throwing things in. What a stinker. 

It was an exciting week for EZ. He lost his first tooth! When he turned six we told him he may start loosing teeth soon and sure enough within a day or two he had a loose one. He was happy to know that the tooth fairy could visit him in Virginia Beach. We were discussing how much things cost and what he could get with his tooth fairy money and he told us "I wish the tooth fairy gave me a credit card." That's one smart kid. He was full of one liners this trip. We were watching a preview for a movie about a girls high school basketball team and EZ yelled out "Girls don't do that." It was such a proud moment as a mother. Apparently we have not watched enough women's sports. 

I don't have a picture to go with this, but the beach trip got really exciting when my sister Meghan gave birth!! She thought she was 36 weeks along and safe to make the trip down from Pittsburgh, but after just 2 days at the beach she started having contractions. She tried to keep them on the down low, because we were all getting ready to go to the church for my sister Sarah's son's baby blessing. Well they got so bad that her and her husband skipped the blessing and went straight to the hospital. She had been in labor for about 2 1/2 hours when they checked in and she still wasn't 100% convinced that the baby was coming. Well then they checked her and she was already at 9 1/2 cm and her son Timothy was born 30 minutes later! He was 9 lbs 12 oz and they later determined that he was actually 38 weeks along. We thought she was kidding when we got the text saying he was born. Everyone was just in shock. It definitely made for a very unforgettable reunion. 

Just like last time, John was only able to stay for half the week. Of course 2 of those days were rainy. Poor John. One of the rainy days we headed out to the aquarium. The kids loved it. It was really big, which is great, except that I was waddling by the end. Here are the kids at one of the photo-op spots.

We spent a lot of nights out on the deck hanging out playing music and having our own sing along. Here is Netta with her cousins Sarah and Ellie. Netta was in heaven with all these older girls to play with. 

My brother-in-law Robert is awesome at the guitar and he and my dad brought a bunch of instruments and even printed out song books for everyone. 

EZ was really into the sing alongs. He decided that we had our own rock band called the "Rockers" and he had t-shirt ideas and everything. 

Of course I have to include some beach pictures. Going along with him being a stinker, King was not a big fan of the beach. He wasn't really interested in the sand or the water. He seemed content to just sit on my towel and dump water all over it. 

 EZ was timid by the water at first but eventually warmed up to it a bit. However he was allover playing in the sand. One day he became obsessed with digging the deepest hole he could. Once he couldn't reach any further his cousins helped take over and eventually they got the hole so deep that EZ could fit inside of it and barely see out the edge. It was awesome!

Netta loved the water and the sand, which was no surprise to me. The next day the girls had to dig a hole too. It wasn't as deep, but I am sure they had just as much fun. Netta and her cousin Grace were best buds. I don't have a picture but they even put on a dance show one night. It was stinking cute.

My brother Ben lives in Seattle and we don't get to see him very often to it was great that he could come. We actually haven't seen him in 2 years and when I showed Netta a picture of him she asked who he was and when I told her he was her uncle she asked "Did he die?" So it was pretty important we get to spend some time with him. Haha. 

Between the lack of sleep and all the time in the sun, I kept finding my kids passed out around the house. 

We were also really excited that my Grandpa made the trip down from New York. I hate how hard it is to get to see him and the rest of my extended family. We wanted to get a picture of all of us together, but of course King wouldn't cooperate. Please excuse how gross we all look. This was the morning we were leaving and none of us exactly got dressed up for the 9 hour car ride ahead. 

   

Since we were already on the east coast the kids and I headed up to Pittsburgh after the beach. I got a rental car and to my amazement survived being the sole driver for 9 hours. I am not going to lie, it was hard on my body, but thanks to my niece Sarah being willing to read me books, we made it in one piece. Stay tuned for a post about our adventures in Pittsburgh.

Let's Give T-Ball a Shot

So for EZ"s third sport at the Y we decided to give t-ball a try. We figured it was a gamble. It would either be a success because it is slower and more EZ"s pace or it would be too slow and he would be building castles in the dirt the whole time. Well I am happy to announce that it was a success!! EZ absolutely loved it and from day one he was completely focused. Whenever they would say "t-ball ready" he was already in position and ready to go. And unlike soccer and basketball it wasn't obvious that he hadn't played before. He could keep up with the best of them. He says he still likes soccer and basketball, but that t-ball is definitely his favorite. Here is he is "t-ball ready."

Unfortunately I don't have any other good pictures of him playing. Partly, because the above picture basically sums up what he looked like most of the time and partly, because every time I tried to get a picture of him at bat the coach seemed to get in the way. I will forgive him though, because he was an awesome coach and we are hoping he will coach again next spring. Here is a picture of EZ getting his trophy from his coach at their end of the season party. 

His friend Bradley was on our team again, just like soccer in the fall, and the two always have a blast together.

Family Pictures

So I have been dying to have pictures taken by my friend Jessica Shumway. I love everything I have seen of hers. We were in desperate need of a family photo, but I was having quite the debate with myself of when to take them. Do I take them while pregnant or after the baby is born and I am all flabby? I opted for pregnant and I was a bit nervous, but Jessica is amazing! She actually got a good picture of our whole family together and amazing individual pictures. Here is just a taste of her awesome work. And I do mean just a taste. It is unbelievable how many great pictures she gave me to work with. I even like how I look pregnant! I can't imagine what great pictures we could get together next year with the newest addition and me hopefully not pregnant/flabby. 

EZ's Birthday

EZ turned 6 in May 26. I have to admit that after all the various celebrations this month, I was kind of burned out by the time his actual birthday came around. We were trying to have a 4th May baby, but now I am thinking it is a good thing that this baby boy isn't coming till August. We let EZ pick the lunch, which of course just like Netta meant we ate at McDonald's. Ugh. John did his best to try and change EZ's mind, but to no avail. We had Sarah and Casey over to help celebrate. Here is a picture of EZ opening his presents. I just love the ridiculous face that I captured.

Now a more normal face opening the presents. 

To show just how burned out I was by birthdays, we didn't even have a cake. EZ just got to pick his favorite ice cream and I bought a number candled to shove in the middle. He didn't seem to mind, so win-win for everyone!

EZ's Class Presentation and Award Ceremony

EZ's kindergarten class had an end of the year presentation and award ceremony. I can't say enough how much we have loved this dual language program. EZ loves learning Spanish and loves his classmates. We are really grateful that all of our children are guaranteed a spot in it. Netta is really jealous of the attention EZ gets when we talk about his Spanish so she has started speaking her own "Spanish." One time in the car she sang a whole song in "Spanish" and then ended it with "six, six, six." We thought we might have to call an exorcist. EZ's presentation was in a classroom that was not designed to hold all the parents that came. I got stuck on the side with a crappy view, but I did manage to get one picture of EZ showing me his puppet. Basically the kids sang a bunch of songs in Spanish. I really had very little idea what was going on. 

After the presentation we moved to the cafeteria for the awards ceremony. It was for all the kindergarten classes so we had to sit around for a while. They had said you could bring siblings, but I had opted to leave Netta and King with a babysitter and I am really glad I did. We had to sit on these horrible little kid cafeteria chairs that had just one leg. I was so sure that I was going to break one of them. They were not designed for adults, let alone pregnant ones. Because of EZ being in a Spanish immersion class the teacher gave out all the awards in Spanish so I had no idea what awards EZ had won until I could take them to John to read and translate. He got two awards "Numbers Whiz" and "Improved Reader" or something like that. I could kind of figure out the "Numbers Whiz" on my own. I think it's time that I start taking Spanish as well. Here is EZ showing off his awards with his teacher Ms. Santos. She must be an amazing lady, because EZ has never once complained about having to go to school!