Daddy's girl

Dad is not short on admirers in our family, but one in particular...

Thinks he hung the moon.  ❤️❤️❤️

A week in the life...

It's a good thing I love my job.  Here's my week in review...

Monday: 

3 am: wake up and to birthcenter to meet client 1 in early labor.

10 am:  send client 1 home still in early labor.  Drive home to rest up.

12-5 pm:  Answer no less than a dozen phone calls and texts from various clients.

5-7 pm:  charting at home.

10 pm:  bed

11 pm: wake up and to birthcenter to meet client 1 in early labor again.

Tuesday:  

2 am:  Still at birthcenter with client 1, attempt to leave student midwife in charge so I can catch short nap.
3 am: wake up and prepare for client 2 coming to birthcenter in labor.
7 am:  catch client 2's beautiful baby boy born into the water.
9-11am:  attend client 1 in labor.  Call in reinforcements.
12 pm:  leave client 1 in hands of one of her other midwives.  check in on client 2.  Find dark quiet corner in childcare room of birthcenter and pass out.
3 pm:  wake up and attend client 1 in labor.
5 pm:  transfer client 1 to hospital, non-emergent, for medication.
10 pm:  leave hospital and drive home.
11 pm:  arrive home, Joe makes me eat something and go to bed.

Wednesday: 

6 am:  up and to birthcenter for a day of prenatal appointments.  No lunch day.
11 am:  Joe drops off sandwich because he loves me.
5 pm:  wrap up charting.  return phone calls.  check on client 1.
7 pm:  arrive home.  finish sandwich from lunch.  kiss kids, read books.
9 pm:  bath and bed.

Thursday:  

6 am:  up and to birthcenter 2 for a day of prenatal appointments.  lunch day!
5 pm:  send student midwife to birthcenter 1 to prepare for client 3 in labor.
6 pm:  evaluate client 3 and send home in early labor for the night.
6:30 pm:  evaluate client 4 to rule out preterm labor and send home.
8 pm: arrive home.  kiss kids, read books.  client 3 texts that her water broke.
10 pm:  bath and bed
11 pm:  wake up and head in to birthcenter to meet client 3 in active labor now.

Friday:  

1:30 am:  catch client 3's beautiful baby girl born into the water.
4 am:  return to familiar dark corner of childcare room of birthcenter and pass out.
8 am:  wake up and get dressed at birthcenter.  Check on client 1 at hospital.
11 am:  Visit client 2 and new baby at their home.
12 pm:  arrive home and climb into bed...
2 pm:  wake up and respond to numerous texts received while napping.
3-5 pm:  charting at home.
6 pm:  dinner with family.  reflect on week.  take vitamins.  write blog post.
               


             

Little Girls, Big Days

Evelyn turned 5!

She enjoyed some unicorn Voodoo doughnut, 

swimming,

library visit,

movie watching,

present opening

and playing with sisters 

and new stuff.

Amelia competed!

She received the 2nd highest vault score for her team.

She missed qualifying for state by 1/4 of a point.

She worked through the nerves 

and completed all her routines.  

How to Cut a Mango

Somehow my sister and I ended up on the subject of mangoes on the phone this morning.  I love mangoes.  My sister likes them, but doesn't buy them because she can't figure out the stone and the dumb fruit infuriates her.

My husband just returned from the Mexican market with a 1/2 lb of ceviche and 2 ripe mangoes.  So I decided to blog a pictorial "how to" for my lil sis.

Here's to you, Lem.  

1.  Size up your fruit.  Figure out it's axis.  I've added a big black line to my mango to help you visualize this.  It takes some practice, so be patient.  The blasted, infuriating stone has been identified.  

2.  Here's another view, stemside.  The tricksy stone is now running horizontally.  This would be a bad angle to start hacking into the thing.  This what you usually do, I'm guessing.  Hack into it.  Just like you hacked into the whiskers of all my stuffed animals when I was 10.  

3.  Cut parallel to the identified axis (see pic 1) in a slight arc.  If you're really good, like me, you should skim the stone with the knife.  

4.   Repeat on the other side.  Now you have 2 big juicy hunks and a big, flat stone.  When's the last time you had 2 big juicy hunks?!  Funny?  No?  You laughed, I can hear you from here.   

5.  Now you cut a checkerboard into your halves and turn them inside out.  You get nice bite size chunks that you can peel off with your fingers and add to your fruit salad or mango cream coconut banana pastry (if you actually make that without me I'll divorce you) or, if you're not sharing, like if this is your "personal mango" you can just go at it.  

Annnndddd... I don't have any more pictures because this was my personal mango and I quickly became much too sticky to pick up my camera.  Mmmmm.  It was good.  Hope this eases your tension next time you eyeball those delicious little exotic mangoes at Kroger.  Peace.   Xoxox

Sisters

Sometimes they're just so sweet.  

More Waterfalls

We woke up on a rainy Saturday and decided to go on another family waterfall adventure.  Dad wanted to check out Silver Falls, so that's where we went!

We walked along a river path until it stopped and dropped way, way down.  You could stand here and look over the edge!  Dad and Mia were the only ones who could stand there without feeling like they were gonna toss their cookies.  

We took the trail down into a little canyon.

And behind the falls!  

Pretty awesome experience, to stand behind a waterfall.

And then we crossed a bridge and made our way back up.  I was observing the girls and musing at the way their personalities come out on these family adventures.

Ali the Thinker will share thoughts and facts along the way.  When I took this photo she was asking whether I thought the water flowing down the trail came from a freshwater spring, which led to her explaining ways to purify drinking water which led to a discussion on algae.  "Algae is a fungi.  Get it Mia?  Fun guy?"  Ali is the soundtrack to our adventures.  

Mia the Trailblazer is our fearless leader.  She likes to be in front.  She's the quiet observer and most likely to take the trail less traveled.  Her vote is always for the tiny game trail that shoots straight up the mountain as opposed to the well worn path.  Mia usually ends up back at the car the wettest and dirtiest with the most treasures in her pockets.  

Eva the Wonderer is most likely pulling up the rear.  Never in any particular hurry, she likes to hold my hand and experience the little things.  Like the feeling of the rain on her face, in this picture.  She'll stop to touch a fern, or stare into a puddle or count how many different greens she can see at once.  Half the time she's looking for fairies and mermaids.  I'm not even sure she was particularly impressed by the waterfall, everything is something to Eva. 

I am grateful for a beautiful place to live, a job that I love, a healthy family and weekend adventures!  And the little lessons I learn from my kids when I look at things from their perspectives!  

Need New Glasses and Several Opinions

So, imagine that you've been wearing your contacts for 12+ hours and your eyes are tired, your contacts need a soak and it's time to take them out and go to bed.  

No sooner do you fall asleep, and your phone rings.

Suzie Q's water broke.

It's go time.

Do you want to put your contacts back in?  Heck no!

For this reason, I need new glasses with no-glare lenses that look cute 

even when I have no make-up on and my hair's a wreck.  

Tall order?

Perhaps.

I found an adorable on-line store called Rivet and Sway

and have in my possession a Home Try-on Kit with 5 frames to try for free!

But I need some opinions (c'mon Baylor Babes!!) before I can order any.

So here I am in several thoughtful, real-life poses.  

My favorite.  Style:  Character Study in copper penny.  Also available in black and purple.

 Joe and Mom's favorite.  Style:  Faster Pussycat (seriously) in black.  

Also available in tortoise and green (I think)

Nobody's favorite.  I thought I was going to love these based on the adorable nerd-chic look my favorite coffee barista rocks, but on me, it's all nerd and no chic.  What do you think? 

 Style:  Belle in cherry cola.  Also available in black and cookies and cream.

Mia and neighbor Samantha's favorite.  Style:  Checkpoint.  Also available in tortoise and blue/green.

 

And finally we have Punchline in Neopolitan.  Also available in tortoise, black and moss.  

(If you were wondering, Ali is neutral on all styles and Eva doesn't like any.  Aren't they helpful?)

My personal preference is for something a bit different, 

not too flashy, and usually with a bit of retro flair.  =-)  Not afraid of a splash of color. 

Okay, now leave your vote in the comments!  Thanks for your help!!  

Fundraising

Mia is asking for competition fees for her birthday.  I'm testing out gofundme.com for this purpose and here's my plug for Mia.  Check out our site whether you wish to donate or not.  It features a very cute picture of our gymnast.  

snowpocalypse

Everyone's facebook feeds have been screaming this headline since yesterday.  I find it very entertaining.  School was cancelled for today and my girls wasted no time getting outside to enjoy the snow.  They made me very grateful for the purchase of snowpants and mittens a few months back!

I will be inside with  hot coffee and a good book watching their antics from the window. 

And planting plenty of kisses on those pink cheeks and noses.  

Juan who?

Living in Portland has been awesome for many reasons, but a major benefit right now is that we are geographically located between my extended family in Washington, and Joe's extended family in California.  During her Christmas break, Joe's sister and her cousin road-tripped up to us and stayed for a few days.  Shortly after that, my cousin and his wife stopped for the night on their way to Washington.  Shortly after that, my other cousin came down from Washington to hang out for the weekend JUST BECAUSE!  It's been such a treat to have so many visitors!  I just want to hang a sign outside that says "Cousins Welcome Here".

When my latest visitor, cousin Kristina, was here we spent Saturday together exploring without kids.  We visited historic Oregon City and the Oregon Trail Museum.

We had an awesome little lunch at Singer Hill Cafe and I finally had my Stumptown latte!

And it was good.  

And then we went to a historic (and obviously haunted) cemetery.  It was cold, drizzly, and foggy.  And beautiful.  The oldest graves date back to the 1840s.   We are not creepy or morbid, just enthusiastic history buffs (or I am, at least).  

Moss had grown into the engraving on this headstone. 

Pretty neat. 

And lastly, I'll leave you with a funny comparison.  

Joe reports that today his students (particularly the 8th grade girls) were calling him "Juan Pablo" which he didn't get.  Eventually they explained that they think he looks like the new "Bachelor".  

So we looked him up.

Juan plays soccer with LA Galaxy.  Joe plays soccer with local club.

Juan has an adorable daughter.  Joe has three of 'em.  

Juan rocks the scruffy facial hair.  Joe does too.

Juan's baby-momma is a Venezualan actress.  Joe's baby-momma is an American midwife.

Joe accused ole Juan of stealing his "look".

Then we both had a nice chuckle.

I already landed my bachelor and he's a keeper.

Chasing Waterfalls

When we were first new to Oregon, we enjoyed a different outdoor activity almost every weekend, but then life happened!  We got busy and it got cold outside and we haven't explored much.  So...

Last Sunday I laced up my hiking boots and announced that I was going to find a waterfall!   Mia was instantly at my side.  Then Eva grabbed her coat and joined us.  Then Ali.  And then Dad.  We headed east to the Columbia River Gorge and found something spectacular!

  Multnomah Falls

620 ft waterfall with two tiers, the tallest waterfall in Oregon!

We hiked up to the footbridge built in the 1920s.

It was worth the anxiety of having my three precious babies standing on a vintage bridge 90 feet above a waterfall.  Continuing up the icy trail along the sheer face of Multnomah Mt. (Eva's idea) was not worth it however, and I quickly insisted that we all turn around and get to an elevation where Mom can breath.  

And quit crushing Evelyn's hand.

Half a mile away was Wahkeena Falls.

242 ft waterfall.

We really liked this one because instead of plunging straight down, it sorta cascades down the mountain to the Columbia River.  It was very pretty.

Another vintage footbridge....

We all wanted our picture taken in front of the waterfall.

I had to tuck my camera into my jacket to keep it safe from all the spray!

It was very wet!

Daddy and his bundled up explorers.

Go Big Red! 

(We met another native Nebraskan up there! Ha!)

In typical 4 year old fashion, Eva's legs became paralyzed on the hike up to the second waterfall and I had to pack her up the quarter mile hike on my back....

Where she fell asleep and went limp.  

Of course, she woke up at the falls and miraculously gained the use of her legs on the hike down...

I'm such a sucker.

And very colorful apparently.

Now we can add "chasing waterfalls" to our list of Oregon sights seen!