Life of Miric

Auggie's sixth month

2012-01-27T13:28:00.000-08:00

So far in 2012, Auggie...

has begun enjoying bathtime -- the kid is serious about splashing...

has been growing out of stuff like it's his job...

has taken to devouring books...

(When Eric saw this one, he said, "Awww, how cute. Auggie's first bad picture!")

has experienced his first Oregon snowfall (you can see here how fierce this storm was and why they had to close school that day)...

sits with us at the table (and ponders some deep stuff)...

has had lots of fun being with papa...

turns into Captain Fluffenstuff, Jr for his cold-weather walks and runs (thanks for the suit and for the stroller, Lil and Juncle -- he's finally big enough to ride in it!) ...

joined friends for the second roller derby bout of his lifetime...

has enjoyed many Sunday evenings with our fellowship group...

has begun to get down on the floor to play with the other kiddos at the indoor play area our church hosts...

especially when his buddy, Kevin (almost exactly one month older), is there (they even like to dress alike)...

likes to "help" me work by hanging out next to me and providing entertainment while I'm on the computer (by performing CPR on his doll, perhaps?)...

has been putting a foot in the mouth at every opportunity...

keeps getting chunkier, incredibly (the upper knee fat will cease to be cute one day, but for now it's so squeezable!)...

has been exploring his new play mat from Emily and Bobby...and usually deciding after a while that he would much rather chew on the rug (and scooting his way over to get it!). Have I mentioned he gets up on his knees now and can move several feet across the floor?! No good pictures yet, but I'll post some soon!

"Oh, yeah...I almost forgot to put my foot in my mouth..."

has been doing some bedtime reading...

keeps jump-jump-jumping...

likes to proudly show off his bear butt :) ...

has been teaching Freya how to be a good big sister, cause she will be one soon!

oh, wait -- she already knows what to do.

has been talking to his reflection...

turned seven months old!!

More Christmas

2012-01-24T19:36:00.000-08:00

We got some surprise mail the other day from my brother and sister-in-law that included a disc full of pictures from their Christmas visit. Lil is a wonderful photographer (check out her website) and these reminders of our time together make me smile.

Out walkin':

Our wonderful neighbors and one of my favorite families, minus a few (Matilde, in the red sleeves, made our Christmas tamales):

Juncle:

Auggie's first gift on his first Christmas:

It's probably good that I didn't see this when it was actually happening:

Happy.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-07T14:53:00.000-08:00

Nannie and Pops have the perfect rug for rolling around.

Cheers!

More Telestrations!

Conklin boys reading the morning paper.

Emerson and Mouse Emerson.

Last moments with the tree.

Auggie watching Pops and Papa take the tree down.

We were all excited to be headed home!

Christmas with Juncle and Aunt Lil

2012-01-05T20:43:00.001-08:00

It was so wonderful to see Justin and Lil for the first time since their wedding in October. Lil has been part of the family for a long time, but I love that she is now officially my sister-in-law.

Vegan pancakes for breakfast (have I mentioned that we have been eating vegan for about the past month--so far so good)!

Good morning!

Perfect lunch for a cold Christmas day, which was actually quite mild.

Justin and Lil's new mini-van, in which they plan to tour the country, incognito, someday, and which now carries their kayaks to all the rivers they want to explore.

A Christmas walk in the park. Thank you, City of Cornelius, for improving the park path!

Aug loves his Juncle.

The chefs.

Lil donned Eric's grandma's apron before working on the meat(less)loaf.

Assistant to the chefs.

Christmas dinner! We had sage onion gravy over the meatloaf and mashed potatoes, plus some colorful carrot and beet salad from one of our favorites, the Monastery Cookbook. And tofu cheesecake with a graham cracker crust and berry chocolate sauce on top.

Auggie sandwich.

This wrapping made a fun scratching sound. Auggie looks like he has some intention as he opened...

...but, no surprise here -- he just wanted to put it all in his mouth.

New kicks.

All tuckered out.

Six months old! Can you believe it? Happy 0.5, Buddycakes!

These sweet overalls were a gift from Aunties Cessie and Cindy.

And in case we hadn't eaten enough over the weekend, our neighbor, Matilde, brought us a huge batch of vegan veggie tamales, a Christmas specialty for lots of folks in Mexico (not the vegan part!). They were soooo delicious, and so numerous that we had to freeze a bunch before leaving town. By the time we returned home a few days ago, I had completely forgotten about them until I opened the bare-looking fridge and freezer to find something to eat. Joy! Two more meals' worth of those tasty tamales! Merry Christmas to us!

After Auggie's 6-month appointment (he is 19 lbs, 12 ounces, by the way -- still off the charts!), and a trip into Portland to visit Next Adventure, a used sporting goods store, we had a wonderful day-after-Christmas tamale dinner.

Happy.

Adventures in Advent

2012-01-05T20:40:00.000-08:00

Auggie going in the potty.

Peek-a-boo!

Fast asleep with his lovey.

He doesn't quite get the "sippy" part of the sippy cup yet, but he likes playing with it.

A trip into Portland for the Saturday Market's Festival of the Last Minute on Christmas Eve.

I was super bundled up because last year's Festival day was free-ee-eeezing. And this time it was a gorgeous, warm day. Just fine with me!

Spokonklins, part two

2012-01-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

Spokonklins

2011-12-30T19:03:00.000-08:00

Here we are in Chewelah again, just an hour north of Spokane but far away from anything but this toasty house and quiet roads to walk. Instead of an 8-hour (or more!) drive on potentially dangerous roads along the gorge and through the endless rolling expanse of eastern Washington, we hopped on a quick one-hour flight, then made the short drive to Nannie and Pops' place for a post-Christmas Christmas.

Emerson was Santa again. Did you know that Santa can also help you open your gifts?

Chew-friendly family album from Scott and Hillary:

Christmas cookies anyone?

A round of our now-favorite game, Telestrations. You should get it. Sooo hilarious.

Auggie had a few bites of sweet potato, his first food that was not mama's milk. The jury is still out. Actually, it's not. He was not a fan.

Ready for a trip into town.

For Chinese food! Some of the best I've had. And the decor is...unique.

A little bit of nakey dancing before Auggie's bath. A little bit of nakey dancing does a person good.

More pictures coming soon! Merry Christmas to you!

Around here

2011-12-23T20:42:00.000-08:00

A few that are making me smile today

2011-12-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

Auggie's December

2011-12-18T13:08:00.000-08:00

Exploring the Sellwood neighborhood of Portland on a coooold Saturday afternoon before my roller derby class (!!!!!).

Hi Papa.

Helping to clean out the drawer of cords.

Hanging out with some of his buds and my mamas group.

Getting his first Christmas tree.

Joining (most of) our Sunday evening group for a Christmas tea.

Sucking on his lower lip. I call him "Beeker" when he looks like this.

Looking a tad pitiful with his first real cold.

Shopping at Thrift City, the new thrift store in our town. We were deciding between these two travel play yards when we realized that they were both 75% off their (already cheap) original prices. We got both for $20 and have to decide which to keep and which to pass along.

Auggie loves his new toy, also from Thrift City, though he mainly tries to put the whole thing in his mouth.

He is his papa's son.

Playing Baby Jesus in the church Christmas play. Thankfully, he ate just before and slept peacefully while the animals cheeped and brayed.

Still out.

Loving his new-to-him walker from a sweet mama from my group.

Hanging out on papa's lap before church. Definitely one of his favorite places to be.

Some stuff Auggie's been up to

2011-12-03T09:57:00.001-08:00

growing out of (and into) hats.

sitting in his new (to him) high chair.

trying to sit up by himself.

putting everything in his mouth.

grabbing his feet.

gallivanting around town.

So grateful

2011-11-25T22:41:00.001-08:00

Cachetón

2011-11-23T10:04:00.001-08:00

In Spanish, "Cachetón" is a nickname that means, roughly, "Cheeks-a-plenty." It's Eliser's nickname from childhood (and still what his family calls him, really :)) and he has begun to call Auggie by the same. I think it's right on. To see some more of Auggie's cheeky kinfolk, you should do an image search on Google for "cachetón."

Lately

2011-11-22T20:17:00.001-08:00

I'm having a bit of trouble keeping up with the blog. Clearly. At least one arm is usually occupied with a nearly 20-pound baby when I'm not eating or helping someone get food from the food pantry (though I've often got the babe with me at those times, too) or learning to do roller derby (a girl needs to do something for herself now and again), and when Auggie is with Eric and I have both hands available, I usually opt to do something work-related on the computer or post something for my online class. Whew! Finally, with Auggie about to celebrate 5 months of life in the outside world, I think it's time I lowered my standards. How does this sound? I will post more pictures but without much narrative. And you just be creative and imagine what is happening in said pictures. Deal? Deal. Just so you are warned, a few of them will be of Auggie.

A walk in the woods

2011-11-20T21:40:00.001-08:00

The rest

2011-10-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

The morning after.

The gathering area.

Just jamming.

Blessings offered to the newly married couple.

Our Redwood home.

My Grandpa had never played cornhole, but he kicked Eric's butt -- twice!

Thankfully, the rain held off until the last night, but boy did it come down. All night and all morning.

Justin and Lil found this outfit at the Saturday Market when they were in Portland.

And...all packed up!

Add caption

Stop on the way home. This tree was kind-of big.

It's beginning to look a lot like Oregon!

The party

2011-10-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

The appetizers.

Justin's high school buddies.

Auggie and Grandpa.

The synchronized dance to the hilarious song written and performed for Justin and Lil by Justin's band mates.

They liked it.

Impromptu late-night hoe-down in the kitchen.

They do!

2011-10-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

Married!

Baby in the Redwoods!

2011-10-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

Lil's friend, Robin, would always sing it out when we saw her: "Baby in the Redwoods!" It still makes me smile.

The pre-wedding days at Pamplin Grove. Fun times with great people in an incredible place.

Pre-wedding goodness

2011-10-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

Before Justin and Lilita tied the knot beneath the towering trees, we stayed at their place in Chico for three nights and helped out with final wedding preparations. The shot above is of Mt. Shasta behind an S2F, which is one of the planes that Eric's dad flew while in the Navy.

Because fall had already made its appearance in Oregon, it was especially wonderful to drink coffee on the front porch glider, enjoying the warmth and marveling at the clear sky before the day go too hot. Mid-90s in late September seems crazy hot!

Some shots of our days together, finalizing ceremony plans, visiting antique stores to find the perfect last details for our wedding outfits, packing the UHaul... not to mention late nights talking on the couch, pick-up basketball games and dinner by candlelight. Just perfect.

Quarter year

2011-10-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Our sweet chunky Buddy Cakes is 3 months old, and he celebrated by driving with us to California that day (more than a week ago now) to see his Gramsy, Juncle and Aunt Lil for the wedding of the year (more later on that for sure).

While camping in the Redwoods, Auggie led out his first long, lovely laugh, and I've been trying ever since to get a repeat performance. The smiles are tiding me over for now.

Now that his little neck can hold his head up most of the time, he is digging the jumper that hangs in the doorway, though so far he just spins around slowly and bobs up and down occasionally.

He is also a bit more into tummy time these days and has even managed something resembling a roll-over a few times.

Oh, and he is not shy about showing a little crack.

The perfect lunch for this cold, rainy fall day: grilled cheese with tomatoes, plus tomato basil soup.

Sweet Cheeks

2011-09-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

Roadtrippin'

2011-08-29T16:02:00.000-07:00

We were unsure how much Augustine would like to travel, so we set out on the long drive to Spokane before sun-up in hopes that he would, at the very least, sleep the morning away, as he often does at home. So far, he seems to be the perfect traveler! He slept nearly the entire time he was in the car, and with regular breaks to eat and burp and change and get some fresh air, we only added 2 hours to our normal 8-hour trip! In my limited parenting experience, I already know that this, like any of his rhythms, could change at any time, but for now, I'll take it!

Our first stop was Multnomah Falls! We considered a quick hike to the top of the falls, but Auggie had forgotten his hiking boots, so we decided to get back on the road instead.

It was a wonderful, relaxed week of hanging out and enjoying the perfect summer weather! Brothers with each other's babies:

Pops and Auggie at an afternoon pool party:

Unckage and Emerson on a "walk." Emmy wanted to run the entire time.

The view of Chewelah from the end of the runway near Nannie and Pops' place:

Niece Emerson, up close and personal:

One lovely morning, Eric and Brody played a round of golf and Mike, Emerson, Ann, Auggie and I headed to town to check out the farmer's market. Chewelah is a small town, but has a wonderful market in a shady park with a shallow, clear creek rushing through it.

Enjoying zucchini arugula quesadillas and cold zucchini soup "backstage" -- behind a family band with kiddos of all ages in suspenders and long dresses playing stringed instruments and singing tight harmonies.

We were lucky enough to be there for the third annual zucchini boat races, in which folks carved out zucchinis and squashes of all shapes and sizes, decorated them, and released them in the creek in heats to see whose would survive the "rapids" and reach the banner of flags first, while a blond teenage boy raced along them, commentating dramatically with a cordless mic. Very quaint. And pretty hilarious to watch.

Auggie was super into it.

Sharing some juicy plums. Mike looks like he has no lower jaw here.

Emmy was most interested in the play area, as any 3-yr-old would be.

Saturday morning cartoons with Nannie:

I think Nannie liked having them around alright.

Toward the end of the week, we drove across the WA-ID border, along with Mike and Em, out to the family cabin on one of the Twin Lakes (is it Upper or Lower? I can never remember). The cabin has been in Eric's family since it was built in 1909, so it is the home of much family history, and it is a site for constant projects and upgrades. Since we were there last, the bathroom had been redone and the new ceiling in the main room was finished. And some "new" green leather furniture (a la Craigslist) was in place. So great!

Again, it was a perfect summer afternoon! Not a cloud in the sky. Hot in the sun, cool in the shade. So great.

Trying to catch bubbles:

After our cabin visit, we headed south, past Spokane, to see Mike and Tanya's new house for the first time since they moved in! Their house is on a gorgeous piece of farmland that has been in Tanya's family for some time, a mile outside of a teeny rural town, and it is awesome! It was fun to be the first to stay in their guest room!

The view out their front door:

And out the back:

Kisses for Baby Auggie, as Em calls him:

Dinner out to celebrate the birthdays of Brody and Tanya's dad, Denny.

While Tanya worked, we took a field trip to Riverside Park in downtown Spokane and where we enjoyed a tasty picnic lunch with shaved ice for dessert!

And where Emmy showed off her dancing skills on the stage of an amphitheater we happened upon. A born performer, for sure.

After one final lazy morning, we waved goodbye and headed toward home.

Some 8 hours later, we came around a bend to see this familiar face and knew we were getting close:

Dos meses!

2011-08-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

Augustine is two months old! New tricks include smiling, staying awake for long periods of time, holding his head up and looking around the room, and eating even more than before. He weighs in at 13 pounds, 4 ounces and was called husky by a sweet old lady for the first time the other day. Other favorites continue to be snuggling in the Moby Wrap, being outside, sitting in his vibrating chair, the hair dryer recording (which we have also come to love), and sleeping on papa's chest.

Said chair:

Dinner out with Leah, Freya and Mat. A big thank-you to the parents of Leah's student who gave her a very generous gift card to P.F. Chang's. We ate well.

All attempts at the "same bear, same chair" photos showed a sleeping Auggie, but I suppose that captures what his days are like as well as anything, no?

I love to notice all the little ways that Auggie changes each day and I already miss some things about Auggie's first days, like how the wrinkled skin on his back made him look like a shar pei, or how he was always the smallest baby around. Now when I go to the farmer's market or the store, I often see at least one baby who is smaller than he is. But he is still small enough that every other person smiles at me when they walk by or crane their necks to get a peak at his sweet sleeping face poking out of the carrier. I would, too.

2011-08-25T08:37:00.000-07:00

There is something special about spending time with people who have known you forever (i.e. since seventh grade) and it's even more special to see those people love your child nearly as much as you do. We had such a wonderful visit from Cessie and Cindy, who flew out from Michigan to spend time with us and with Cess's brother and family in Washington.

The golden shoulder strikes again! Cessie could make this kid sleep within minutes of her picking him up.

Cindy made so many delicious meals and little snacks.

The center of attention, as usual. I don't think he minds.

An incredible dinner out at a lovely remodeled theater.

A less glamorous experience, but still tasty, at Burgerville. Mmmmilkshakes. Cessie and Cindy loved riding in the back with Auggie.

Eating again, this time in SE Portland.

Just chatting.

Auggie misses you guys!

Starting to smile

2011-08-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

Auggie seems to have taken his time in deciding to smile, but it was worth the wait. Here are a few of the early glimpses. Is is wrong for me to say that our baby is the cutest of all the babies?

Not a smile, but still cute shot of the kisser. It's not a surprise that this kid ended up with big lips.

Swoon.

Good times

2011-08-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back, we had a visit from Tyler, a good friend of Eric's from college, and Tyler's partner, Athena, who were up from San Francisco. It was so great to catch up with them, and they got along wonderfully with Augustine.

We spent most of our time lounging at home, but we also enjoyed the perfect summer weather on a long walk around Forest Grove. When Tyler and Athena spotted a swing hanging from a hiiiigh branch in a yard as we passed by, they decided they just had to try it out, and the owner, who was in his garage, said to go for it. I hung out in the grass with the man's 9-yr-old daughter and watched them sail back and forth.

The edge of town.

Before we sent our friends on their way, we stopped at Maggie's Buns, where we discovered we had worked up some crazy big appetites on our walk. We planned on getting a few cinnamon rolls, Maggie's mouth-watering specialty, but ended up with a table full of incredible food--a beautiful quiche, gooey mac and cheese, thai salad, plus the cinnamon rolls, with extra icing of course--and ate til our bellies were full and happy.

Sixish weeks

2011-08-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

Augustine is happy and healthy and growing like it's his job. He still loves to be in his papa's arms.

At his six-week appointment, our final at the birth center, Auggie weighed in at 12 pounds, 4 ounces, and maybe 21 inches. He happily demonstrated his skills for the midwives, generously burping, farting and pooping, and generally being sweet.

It was our last appointment with our midwives, and we will greatly miss seeing them regularly. Caroline was at a birth and not present, but here are Stephanie and Cassie with the chunker and me.

The Cornelius church women had a wonderful shower for us and enjoyed passing Auggie around. So far, he loves being in a crowd. Fitting for a preacher's kid, I suppose.

At our Sunday evening group, Auggie is often the center of attention.

A variation of the "same bear, same chair" monthly photos that I've loved seeing on the blogs of friends. It took me until week six to take this one, though, so we'll see if I can keep it up!

These cute legwarmers were a handmade gift from our friend, Abby. I love them! She sells some of her goods here. Talented, indeed.

And this guy was a gift from Eric's aunt Nancy and uncle Dave. He is almost exactly the same size as Auggie right now, with a bit more hair.

We've been busy with visits from friends and are off tomorrow to Spokane to visit Eric's family. More pictures very soon, I hope!

This week...

2011-08-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

...was beautiful! Our perfect summer weather has finally arrived! Today was 80 and sunny.

Auggie enjoyed his first walk in a stroller (an awesome BOB that Mat and Leah lent us while they are traveling in Europe for a few weeks). We received a great jogging stroller as a gift, but it doesn't recline enough for Auggie to use until he gets a bit bigger.

We celebrated Mat's birthday with lunch at the famed Helvetia Tavern, which is known for it's ginormous burgers. Thankfully, they had a good veggie burger on the menu as well!

Augustine and Papa spent a lot of time just hanging out.

He's really chunking up, no?

He's learning to love baths. I was amazed that he slept through this one.

This was his first bath at home and he fought it all the way. And he looks so tiny!

We started doing a little tummy time here and there.

We picked blueberries with Leah.

And we made s'mores in the backyard with Mat, Leah, Joannah and Freya.

It's been a wonderful week!

The many faces of Auggie B.

2011-08-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

Not a face, but I couldn't resist.

Lil and Juncle come to town

2011-07-28T17:07:00.001-07:00

Lil was planning to stop by on her drive from north central Washington, where she'd been working with Outward Bound for six weeks, back to Chico, and Justin decided at the last minute to take the overnight Greyhound and meet her in Portland so they could both visit friends and meet Auggie, then drive home together.

It was so great to see Justin (who will now be known as Juncle) with Augustine. A sweet uncle, indeed. Though he was a little disappointed that Auggie is not old enough to throw in the air. Hmmm...

Augustine is an equal-opportunity spitter-upper.

Augustine with Aunt Lilita, who will officially be my sister-in-law two months from today, but who has been family for a long time.

The next time we see these two, they will be saying I do in the beautiful redwoods of Humboldt County. And Augustine will be three months old! It was fun to RSVP to their wedding -- for three!

This woman is amazing

2011-07-28T17:07:00.000-07:00

My mom gave up one of her favorite events of the year, a week as a nurse for a youth camp in Virginia, and spent most of her vacation time to come to Oregon. She arrived three days before Augustine's due date, which ended up being two days before his birth and was present to rub my back and hold my hair and speak calm, empowering, motherly words to me as I labored and pushed our little guy into this world. She stayed in our home for nearly a month, where she did all our laundry, cooked us healthy meals, kept my bedside table full of beverages and midnight snacks, changed the sheets during the few times we left the house, and even took a few night shifts with Augustine in the living room so Eric and I could have a few hours of deep sleep. And she spent lots of time cuddling her new grandbaby.

We visited a La Leche League meeting while she was hear and learned lots more over the weeks about her experiences parenting three little ones, including her time as a La Leche League leader and childbirth educator. Amazingly, much of that time was as a single mother, which is even harder for me to imagine now that we have our own little guy.

We spent her birthday together for the first time in who knows how many years by visiting Pittock Mansion, a neat historic mansion in Portland that closed just before our arrival on mom's last visit. And then Eric made her the best cake ever. Super hearty and dense, just like my mom likes, with heaps of cream cheese frosting. Doesn't she look great for 64?

Before she left town, we made a trek to the coast to introduce Augustine to the Pacific Ocean for the first time. I think they liked each other.

I am so grateful that my mom and I got to share this incredible time together and that my mom will be able to tell Auggie about his birth, just like she tells me about my birth every year on my birthday.

This boy misses his Gramsy. If there is one thing we don't like about living in Oregon, it's that we have no family members living very close. But I am grateful for the slices of time that we do have to share the day-to-day and express our love to one another, through words and also through laundry and cakes and carefully prepared peanut butter toast.

A few more birth day shots

2011-07-26T21:30:00.001-07:00

My mom sent these pictures that she took on Auggie's birth day and the days that followed.

Lovely entryway to the Alma birth center:

Laboring together:

Meeting for the first time!

Chunker.

Two days old, with clothes on for the first time:

At home on day 4, some of our first visitors were the neighbor kiddos:

Nannie and Pops meeting Auggie for the first time, one week after his birth.

Today our sweet boy is one month old!

Birth day :: part 2

2011-07-22T16:30:00.001-07:00

If this is the first post you're reading, you might want to start with Birth Day :: Part 1.

After a few hours at the birth center, Cassie, another of our midwives, asked if I'd like to get into the tub, which sounded fabulous. The contractions had become very close together and quite strong, and I was starting to feel tired -- and impatient. How long would things keep going like this? I had hoped for an early labor with lots of walking and continuing to do household tasks, but that had not felt like an option at all. At some point, one of the midwives asked if I'd like to go outside and take a walk and I felt like I yelled "No!" It was around this time that I threw my breakfast up into a pan.

Stephanie, our senior midwife, checked my cervix and let me know that I was dilated to 8 centimeters. And though I had been leaking amniotic fluid for some days, she said that my bag of waters was still intact.

The warm water of the tub felt so very nice and I labored in there for...a while. I had seriously entered laborland by this point, so any statements about when things happened and for how long and in what order should be heard with a slight lilt at the end and a shrug of the shoulders. I had begun to vocalize during contractions (I think the sound I made most was "hooooooe") and Eric helped me keep my voice low when it began to rise in pain or desperation. My mom and Eric were on either side of the tub and were constantly rubbing my back and offering encouragement and (lovingly) shoving glasses of water and Recharge and smoothie in my face, out of which I took tiny sips from bendy straws. Cassie would occasionally dunk the doppler under the surface of the water and hold it to my belly and I was reassured by the strong waow-waow-waow-waow of the baby's heartbeat speeding along. I tried to focus on the tiny tiles that spelled out "breathe" (which I felt like I was doing) and "open" (which I did not feel like I was doing) on the floor around the outside of the tub. Eric sometimes told me that I was a prizefighter when he put the straw to my lips.

I moved back to the bed and labored there for a while, mostly on my hands and knees and wondered when I would start to feel a need to push. In the only moment that I remember feeling upset during the labor, I desperately asked Caroline something like, "How do I know how much longer it will be?", hoping that she would say something encouraging like "Soon!" or "Any moment," but she kindly responded with something vague, like, "We can't know how things will go," or "Things will progress in their own time." I know now that she was right, but in the moment I was like, "Come ON!" Someone made sandwiches for my mom and Eric and my mom took a break to eat in the kitchen.

Some time later, I got back into the water and it felt like the contractions were right on top of each other. After each one, I flopped onto my back in the tub, exhausted, eyes closed. My mom had found some barrettes in my purse and used a whole bunch of them to clip my hair back out of my face and I suddenly became irritated by them and demanded that they be taken out. Cassie pressed the doppler to my belly again and the waow-waow sounded slower, but I was in such a different world that I wondered if it was simply that time was slowing down. After that check, though, I thought I saw her go directly to the hallway out of the corner of my eye and I thought that maybe something was wrong, but I wasn't present enough to ask.

I moved back to the bed again and things seemed to get even more intense, which I wouldn't have thought was possible. The time between contractions was very short, but I would lie on my side on the bed and sometimes fall immediately to sleep until the next one would awaken me rudely. Eric left to eat his sandwich, but after only a few minutes, I needed him at my side again, so Stephanie sent for him after I asked, "Where's Eric??" He kindly grabbed a stick of gum on his way back in, but I remember that his breath smelled so strongly of coffee when he whispered something in my ear that it was almost unbearable. Labor does crazy things to your senses.

Stephanie checked my cervix again and said that I still had a lip that wasn't dilating. They checked the heartbeat again with the doppler and Stephanie brought out the oxygen tank and asked Eric to hold the mask to my face. I thought it was because I was getting exhausted and a bit panicked and was breathing too quickly (which I felt that I was), but I learned later that it was because the baby's heart rate had dropped dramatically and my midwives were concerned. Cassie told me that the baby wasn't liking the hands and knees position, so I stayed on my side through a few contractions. Apparently he wasn't coming down.

Suddenly, while I was on my side, my water broke and splashed like an exploding water balloon onto my mom's pants and the floor. I think it even reached the wall across from the bed. That period was a haze of contractions and exhaustion and pain, but then Stephanie said something that pulled me out of the haze. "Mira, we called an ambulance to come and transport you to the hospital, but let's see if you can push your baby out before they get here." I was not aware that anything had become that worrisome, but I was suddenly struck with the realization that something was wrong. There was a moment of fear, but then something shifted in me. I realized that it was up to me. If that baby was going to come out, it was because I was going to push him out. Caroline put a dropper to my mouth and said that she was giving me a homeopathic remedy that would give me confidence for the pushing. Eric told me later that she gave him some, too. I think it was Rescue Remedy and that it really was to help take the edge off the fear.

On the next contraction, with Eric at my head and holding the oxygen mask to my face, the midwives holding my legs, I attempted to push as hard as I could and let out what felt like a screaming roar -- a sound that surprised me. I wasn't even sure if I knew what pushing was supposed to feel like, but I remember that my sister-in-law told me that it was much like going to the bathroom, so I tried to use those muscles. I pushed a few times in that position, then flipped to my hands and knees and pushed for a contraction, then flipped back to my back. I thought I would feel very sharp pain at particular points, but it was an all-over pain and pressure. When Stephanie said that the head was coming down, I was incredulous. On the next push, I roared again and his head came out, and on the next, his little body. I did it! Suddenly, he was on my chest, and I was kissing his little blood-covered head. It was 4:24 p.m. My mom said, "It's a boy!" and I hugged his slippery-little body while they suctioned some fluid out of his mouth and he let out his first little cry. He was perfect. My body was shaking and Eric was right there, telling me he loved me and smiling at our little boy. Our Augustine. Around that time, though I didn't know it, the ambulance arrived and they were sent away because they were no longer needed. Thank God. I don't know how long I pushed, but I think it was only a few minutes.

The midwives checked that Augustine and I were both doing well and they gave me a spoonful of honey and some Recharge to help my body begin to recover. I remember feeling so grateful that I wouldn't be feeling any more contractions! A short time later, Eric cut the umbilical cord and I delivered the placenta and we got to look at it (it's pretty cool!) before they put it in the fridge so it could be dried and put into capsules (more on that later, perhaps).

Our dear midwives cleaned up around us and we got situated at the head of the queen-sized bed, our sweet naked Augustine still on my bare chest, where he stayed for an hour and a half or so.

Eventually, they weighed him (8 pounds, 2 oz. -- a chunker) and measured him (19 1/2 inches) and I got a few stitches. Not the most fun, but certainly worth it. Stephanie said that she was impressed -- that I had pushed harder than any other first-time mom she'd seen.

It was quite an experience. The labor and birth were more intense than I ever expected, and the pain was greater than anything else I've experienced, but it was also so very beautiful and empowering. I pushed that baby out, with the help of the people I love most and some very competent midwives. Even when things got a bit scary, they knew just what to do and I had complete trust in them. I am so grateful that even though things became emergent, I was able to have a natural birth center birth, that my body was able to do what it is able to do. And I felt so loved and cared-for and honored through the process.

Our midwives--Cassie, Caroline and Stephanie:

We stayed for two nights at the birth center and had around-the-clock care from a team of postpartum doulas. They made or ordered delicious food from local restaurants for us (I was SO hungry, especially the next morning), kept our beverage glasses full, helped with breast-feeding, drew me a bath, answered lots of questions and were gentle and kind with us. On the day we left, I even got a massage!

My mom helping Eric put on Augustine's first diaper. It was Eric's first diaper, too! Now he's a pro.

I am sooo happy that my mom was able to be there. I think she is, too. She said that during those most stressful moments of the birth, she sensed the presence of angels in the room and felt that we were all being protected.

Our sweet boy:

The names of other Alma babies born during the weeks before Augustine's arrival:

Ready for his first ride in the car:

And now our Augustine is almost 4 weeks old. We feel so incredibly blessed to have been entrusted with caring for and raising him. He is a gift.

Birth day :: part 1

2011-07-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

I woke up around 7:30 on a warm Sunday morning and almost immediately felt what I thought might be a contraction. The day before, I had gone to a community acupuncture clinic and received treatment for natural induction of labor because I had been leaking small amounts of amniotic fluid for a handful of days. It was June 26th, what was scheduled to be Eric's final worship service at Cornelius UMC before 2 months of paternity leave and Eric's final final day at Yamhill UMC as he had requested to not be reappointed there starting July 1st.

I stayed in bed for a bit and felt another pain. Yup, pretty sure that was a contraction. Eric came back from his preparations at the church and he helped me pay attention to the timing. Another contraction came along about 10 minutes later, but it wasn't unbearable. I got up, took a shower, made coffee and some oatmeal with raisins and took this picture, the last one with Augustine no the inside:

By the time we sat down to have breakfast, the contractions had gotten a little closer together and a little stronger, and I once had to set my spoon down, close my eyes, and focus on my breathing. Our midwives had encouraged me to try to ignore any contractions until I couldn't ignore them anymore, and I was surprised at how quickly they seemed impossible to ignore. Were things proceeding at a rapid rate, or was I just a wimp? Or both?

Because we didn't know how quickly things would progress, we decided that Eric would go to the Cornelius church service and check in with me afterward. My mom, who had arrived from Michigan on Friday evening, would stay with me. I called Stephanie, our senior midwife, soon after Eric left to let her know that the contractions were now about 6-7 minutes apart and about a minute long and she told me to call back in about an hour, or sooner if things changed dramatically. My mom wondered if there was anything I would like her to do to get ready to go and I told her, "I know it sounds strange, but I've been wanting to vacuum the living room and I'd really like to do it before we leave." Before I could tell her where the vacuum was, another contraction began and it was strong enough that I knelt in front of a living room chair and leaned forward onto the seat. My mom got out the vacuum and plugged it in and I walked around the house, gathering the camera and other items for my purse. The next couple of contractions came quickly and were quite strong, and my mom pressed on my back and timed things as best as she could. After a short bit, they were only 3-4 minutes apart. I called Stephanie back and let her know about this development, and she said that it sounded like it was time to come into the birth center! My mom went to the church (right next door to our house), and walked in the door at the back of the sanctuary. Eric was in the middle of his Annual Conference report, but he stopped when he saw her and she waved for him to come. Eric asked, "It's time?" She replied, "It's time." Then she turned to the congregation and said, "Hi, I'm Kris. I'm Mira's mom. Mira's going into labor and the midwives said we should come now." A woman from the congregation offered to pray for us and for the baby, and then someone requested to know the end of the story that Eric had been in the middle of. So he filled them in, and then he headed back to the house to change clothes and load up the car. And my mom declared that she was giving up on vacuuming and put the thing away. There would be no trip to Yamhill that morning.

I sat in the front passenger side, slightly reclined, eyes closed, quietly giving thanks that it was Sunday morning and we wouldn't be heading into Portland during a high-traffic time. Apparently I was burning up and requested that the air conditioning be kept on high for the whole trip, completely oblivious to the shivering of the other two passengers. They wisely kept this to themselves until later. To our surprise, we ran into traffic that was almost completely stopped on highway in Hillsboro, which is only a third of the way into Portland, but it cleared up after we passed what looked to be a medical situation on the side of the road.

We arrived at the birth center at Alma Midwifery around 11:20 a.m. and things started to get a bit fuzzy for me after that. Caroline, one of our midwives, met us and led us to our room, the Lili Room (you can see a picture at the bottom of this page). It's a beautiful space. The contractions were coming hard and fast and I breathed through them in different places around the room and in different positions, sometimes kneeling in front of a chair or on my hands and knees on the bed, sometimes standing with my arms around Eric's neck and swaying a bit.

To be continued...

What Augustine has been up to...

2011-07-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

...besides eating and pooping and sleeping and being cute.

Hanging out with papa.

Doing some good reading.

Bein' hip. Our Creation Vacation friends made him some cute onesies while at Camp Magruder.

Bein' hip with Gramsy (she's still trying on grandma names).

Having a snack at the Pittock mansion which we visited on Gramsy's birthday.

Happy 64th!

Listening to live music with friends at the McMenamins Grand Lodge. Poor Mat, enduring Freya's "smash your face" game.

Making funny faces.

Staying up late.

Did I mention being cute?

I'm still working on getting Augustine's birth story down on paper. I spend so much of my time now with at least one arm occupied, which means that my online time is more reading than typing.

Well, I think the sweet boy is getting hungry again. I'm out.

Auggie at home

2011-07-05T22:28:00.000-07:00

So we have a kid now. How wild is that? I plan to share more soon about the birth and about our first days with Augustine Brodrecht, but here are a few shots for now. We think he is pretty amazing.

With Grumsy, here from Michigan for 3 weeks!

First trip to the park.

First visit from Nannie and Pops.

One week appointment with our midwife, Cassie.

Hanging out with Eliser.

More soon!

Good

2011-06-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

Life has been full lately. Full of preparations -- of our home and ourselves for this baby, preparations to step away from work for two months, preparations for camp I won't attend but which has held my heart for three years now. It has been full of meetings and farmers markets and hanging out with friends as we reflect on all the ways life will change in just a few days. There have been naps and movies and popcorn and trips to baby stores and appointments. There have been countless prayers for this new little person and for the new intentional community that has gathered for a month now -- both things about which we are super excited and whose paths seem a bit mysterious at this point. Life has been full and it has been good.

Hanging out in Portland with Eliser and his friend, Jorge, who came to visit from Tecate.

With Freya and Kayleigh, who both love Mat's homemade horsey so much!

We got to hang out for a morning -- just me and Kayleigh Bea.

Max's graduation party, where he showed off his I love Calculus creation.

Eric with Gerry, an excellent mentor and great friend.

Freya loves ice cream. And we all love Sweet Tomatoes!!

Hanging out in the backyard with some new friends and growing community. A huge gift.

The growing baby and the growing belly. We marvel daily and how big they both are!

Hmm... a sign that it is time to stop washing and start folding.

We met up last week with Ben and Claudia, who were Eric's mentors and supervisors during his many years at Twinlow Camp in North Idaho. They are back in the northwest after some years in Illinois and it was great to reconnect!

Our trip to Salem for Annual Conference included a wonderful visit from Justin and Lil, who made their yearly drive from Chico, CA to northcentral Washington so Lil could start her summer work with Outward Bound. We may or may not have visited Marco Polo three times over the weekend.

Justin found a suit for their wedding!! I hope this isn't supposed to be secret.

Have I mentioned that they are getting married? In the redwoods of Humboldt County on the first day of October? And that I will officiate? We are so happy and I think they are, too.

Back home, it finally got summery for a day. Eric set up his home office in the backyard.

My wonderful midwives at Alma Midwifery after our appointment this week. I'm 39 and a half weeks, so my next weekly appointment is scheduled for after my due date! Crazy! This baby could decide to show up at any time!

And here is the view from the room we are preparing for my mom, who will arrive from Michigan tomorrow and stay for three weeks. I'm so excited!

Walk There: Ardenwald and Johnson Creek + Rood Bridge

2011-06-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

On a cool sunny day a few weeks back, we walked along Johnson Creek, which traces the boundary between Portland and Milwaukie. After passing through a lovely wildlife area, we turned around at this bridge. We think that this path connects with the waterfront path that follows the Willamette to downtown Portland and beyond. It would be fun to ride it sometime.

We left the path and walked through a neighborhood, stopping in this schoolyard to eat our sammies (and check voicemail).

The next week, on our anniversary, we headed to Rood Bridge Park, which looked interesting when we discovered it online. It has a nice park-y picnic and play area close to the main road, but also has some hiking and biking trails that wind through quite a few acres of forest.

We'd love to come back and ride here once I have my normal center of gravity back.

And we ended the day with milkshakes at Burgerville. Fresh strawberries are in -- my favorite of all the Burgerville seasonal specials!

It's wonderful to have so many green places nearby to wander.

The city of our baby's birth

2011-06-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

At least that's the plan! We've been spending a good amount of time in Portland as we prepare for the arrival of Lil Miric to the outside world. This is the Alma Midwifery birth center, where we've received wonderful, personal care by our team of three midwives. Inside this old house are gorgeously finished birthing rooms with unique woodwork and huge tubs. You can see some of the rooms here (their newest one is almost ready and isn't yet on the page).

This is the Alma meeting space a few blocks away where we took our childbirth class and where I've attended summer mama groups and taken a breastfeeding class.

Across the street from the meeting space:

This is the neighborhood around the birth center.

These two are in front of the Metanoia Peace House, where Eric and I have been gathering with folks monthly to dream about new ways of engaging in intentional community in the Portland area. One of us always comments about how lush it is here and how amazing it is that this is "inner-city" Portland. And then we always get this Flight of the Conchords song in our head.

Last time we visited, we were surprised by some clucking hens that were nestled in under some bushes just behind where we stood when this picture was taken.

This one is technically taken across the river from Portland in Vancouver, but it seemed fitting to include it here. After one of our appointments with our midwives, we headed to Cotton Babies, a cloth diaper wonderland and natural parenting store where we purchased our car seat and got to try out some wraps and carriers with a weighted doll. They do lots of their business online, but we are lucky enough to have one of only three national stores near us!

Goodness

2011-06-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

Ann, Brody, Mike and Emerson came down for our Lil' Miric celebration and we made the most out of their short visit, though we were bummed that Tanya couldn't make it. There are good and bad things about having a job, no? We wandered around the St. Johns neighborhood of Portland, hung out at a cool coffee shop, climbed on a fun play structure, then met some of Mike and Tanya's good friends for dinner.

Marnie, Scott and "Baby" Foster, who used to live in Spokane but just moved to the Portland area from Texas, joined us at a local brewery for some great food.

And Em provided the entertainment. She danced in the aisle, made faces and did every cute thing she knows to make Foster smile, and she was quite successful.

The next day, the out-of-town Conklins headed north after church and I got to experience another lovely shower, this time with the wonderful women of Hillsboro UMC. And then we had a whole bunch of friends over for dinner that night. It was a packed weekend, but a great one!

Loved

2011-06-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back, Leah and Emily threw us a shower at our place, and we had such a wonderful time visiting with friends and family, eating delicious food, and seeing folks we love meet and get to know one another better. It was a nice enough day to hang out in the backyard until the wind picked up.

I took very few pictures because I was enjoying being with people so much, but Leah got some good ones that she'll be sending me, I think.

Ron, Cathy, and Eliser enjoying the spread:

We moved inside and got cozy for the gift opening and Eric volunteered himself for the tradition I got to experience at our previous shower. Before opening each gift, he guessed who the giver was, and a wrong guess meant that the giver could make a mark on his face with lipstick. A correct answer allowed him to mark the giver's face. He looks good in hot pink, no?

Some of our dear circle:

Nearly all the Conklins ended the night with a little something to show for it:

I can't express how incredibly loved we felt that night and how grateful we are for the wonderful communities into which this baby will be born.

A little less naked.

2011-05-18T21:33:00.000-07:00

You may remember this lovely shot of our guest room from a week or so ago:

Now the naked window and blah walls are jazzed up a bit by the curtains that I made (with Leah's help, of course)! Eric put up the rod that has been hanging out in our storage area for too long and voila!

It's a bit hard to tell, but the stripes on the curtains are similar to those on bed skirt and top sheet, which we found at the Goodwill some time ago, and the colors match the duvet (an Ikea cover over a Goodwill comforter) really well.

We are not decorators by nature, but I sure like to have a bit of color here and there. I still harbor hopes that someday we can organize ourselves enough to get some paint on the walls. And that I am not beyond learning to develop something remotely resembling style. Still likely a long way off, but probably not impossible.

Farewell, friends

2011-05-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Ron and Cathy are off to New York City for some new churchy adventures. We're so grateful that we've gotten to know them over these past few years (they arrived in Oregon just before we did) and they have been wonderful friends as well as really great colleagues. They have showed up for many, many Hispanic ministry gatherings, they have supported us during difficult times in life and in ministry and we've celebrated lots of holidays with them, as we are all far away from family. So it seemed appropriate to head to their place for a Mothers Day dinner. We'd all talked with our mothers and they had talked with their kids, including a skype conversation with their daughter, Meg, who lives in Argentina and is almost exactly my age, and though I don't often think about the fact that Ron and Cathy are much older than we are, I reflected on how neat it is to have good friends that are close to the age of our parents. In many ways, we are equals, but they are also wisdom-keepers for us...people with so much experience and many, many good stories!

The rain was giving way to sunshine that afternoon, and we enjoyed taking the back roads to their place. I sure love the western Oregon countryside.

As usual, they fed us well and we talked around the table until it was late, then they sent us home with leftovers and some (more) goodies from their recent garage sale.

This first attempt makes me giggle. Hmm...maybe perching the camera on a pile of bubble wrap isn't the best option.

We're not saying our final good-byes yet, as they'll be coming over at least twice more, but I am already sad. But maybe now we'll finally have enough reasons to go to New York City -- I've never been!

Un baby shower

2011-05-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

The first time I asked a Spanish-speaking friend how to say "baby shower" in Spanish, she simply replied, "Un baby shower." And last week, I got to experience un baby shower. My friends and neighbors, Matilde and Lupe, gathered these wonderful women and their kiddos without my knowing and then invited me to stop by their "meeting." Surprise!!

We had a wonderful time playing silly games and visiting and eating tostadas followed by a homemade tres leches cake and some baby shower flan...mmmm......

Their sweet and generous gifts made my heart grateful and, though I feel a little strange being the center of attention, I couldn't help but smile with each tiny little cap or onesie or package of wipes I held up.

Though we may be accustomed at showers to opening each gift, announcing the giver, and ensuring that someone writes that name on a thank-you note list, not everyone does it that way! The tradition of these party people is that the recipient holds each package and, before opening it, guesses who gave it. If she guesses correctly, she gets to make a mark on the giver's face with some sort of make-up. If she guesses incorrectly, the giver is revealed and that person gets to make a mark on the recipient's face. And that's why I look like the Joker here. I was clearly not a very good guesser.

I am so very grateful that our little one will be born into this wonderful community of women and, as you may guess from this picture, will join a few other little ones who will likely be born within a month on either side. I know that I am loved, but being on the receiving end of such generous, surprising acts of love are so special.

Curtains!

2011-05-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

Leah and Freya showed up at our door Saturday morning, extra straight pins, a rotary cutter, and two hot cups of caramel apple spice (yum!) in hand, for a day of sewing.

This fabric isn't my all-time favorite, but it matches the hodge-podge of colors in the guest room bedding and it was cheap! I picked it up at Ikea a long time ago--it may have actually been our trip to Ikea two years ago where we received the phone call that Freya had been born that morning!--and have been planning to make guest room curtains ever since. Here's the sad, naked window that has greeted our visitors over the past two and a half years:

In my phone conversation with my ministry coach a few weeks back, I mentioned the curtains as one project I'd like to complete before this baby comes, and she suggested making a date to do it. So I asked Leah, who has made simple, beautiful curtains for her whole house, if she'd help me and we put it on the calendar for a day that Eric would be off playing golf. Mat was going to hang out with Freya that day, but he was invited to help dig a ditch, which I'm sure was loads of fun, and Freya came along to help.

Here I am using the rotary fabric cutter like a pro:

We only had to pull out the sewing machine manual a few times (there are so many dials and buttons on that thing and winding the bobbin always mystifies me) but we did it! After a few hours, some cheese sticks, many measurements and scribbled math, breaks to eat yogurt and granola and crawl around like farm animals on the floor, one failed nap attempt and lots of oldies but goodies on the Raffi pandora station, we had two curtain panels!

Now I just need to get the rods (which have also been gathering dust in storage) mounted so I can hang these babies! I think having a new little Conklin around this summer will be the main draw for potential visitors, but having a more hospitable space to offer won't hurt. If you'd like to see these curtains in person, please come visit!

Din-din

2011-05-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

While Eric was playing in a three-day golf tournament organized by our friend, Bobby (which Eric won, by the way, earning him an awful, ginormous, yellow Hawaiian shirt), I went to Maria and Andy's for the monthly dinner that they have with Mat and Leah and whomever else is around.

After some incredible paella and lots of conversation around the table, we decided to take our full bellies out into the drizzly evening and walk them down the half mile or so to the aptly named Divine Frozen Yogurt for some dessert. It may or may not have been my second visit to a self-serve yogurt place within a week.

Freya loves her umbrella!

This stuff is soooo good.

Later in the evening, Maria decided that Freya needed to experience having her toenails painted for the first time.

Hanging out with these guys makes me happy.

May Day

2011-05-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

It was a gorgeous day to march for immigrant and worker rights!

Only problem with being super pregnant during this march: not enough public restrooms!

A much-needed stop for self-serve frozen yogurt. Fill your own cup and add your own toppings? Dangerous. And delicious.

Enjoying a bit more of the nice afternoon along the Willamette before hopping on the MAX again.

Project: Simplify -- The Garage

2011-05-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

If you were counting (you probably weren't) my posts about the 5-week organizing challenge, Project: Simplify, from Simplemom.net, you may have noticed that I stopped after only 4 weeks. The final week was a choose-your-own-mess hotspot, but I never chose one. I looked at my ridiculously full calendar and I looked around the house and I said, "good enough for now" and put it aside for a week (or 4). And then a full day off and a bit of sunshine came our way and Eric decided that it was time to attack a space that, I'm a tad embarrassed to admit, has never been cleaned or organized since we moved in almost three years ago. The garage.

Here are a few before pictures:

What you can't see in these pictures are the millions of strands of cobwebs and spider webs that connected every window corner and every shelf edge to every piece of sporting equipment or yard tool that hasn't been used in a few months. Yuck!

Part of Eric's motivation came from the acquisition of a new-to-us shop vac that he found at Ron and Cathy's yard sale.

And now...

Not a cobweb in sight!

Yay!

But we couldn't drive our trusty, dusty little Kia Spectra, Silvie, into that nice clean garage looking the way she was looking, so Eric decided to give her a good wash and even vacuum out the inside. Isn't she shiny?

Pulling this clean car into a clean garage makes coming home that much sweeter.

Easter sweetness

2011-05-01T12:53:00.001-07:00

A few shots from Easter weekend that make me happy...

Decorating eggs with Leah, Joannah and Freya:

The ones that Freya did not joyfully smash into the table:

Wish we could have seen this lovely bunny in person, but this shot of Sadie sent from Scott and Hilary in Chicago made us smile:

Happy Easter!

Aaaahhhhh!

2011-04-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday was by far the best weather that Western Oregon has seen in 2011! Granted, the standards are low. This has been an exceptionally cold, rainy winter and spring and we recently went for something like 43 days in a row without a clear day. But this day was perfect. Upper 60s, not a cloud in the sky. No wind.

We went into Portland early for our third of four Birthing From Within classes, with plans to walk around the neighborhood and enjoy the sunshine. We didn't know that there would be an Earth Day festival that would be taking up the entire playing field area of the former school that is across from our birth center's meeting space. We wandered around the ring of booths and enjoyed the two stages of live music, and we even ran into a friend, Sarah, who was on a date with Bryn, her sweet son. It was the perfect place to sit down and eat our picnic lunch!

Our instructor was running late, so we decided to pop on over to Sweetpea, the best vegan bakery ever, which is conveniently located three doors down from our birth center's meeting space. This peanut buttery treat was sooo delicious!

After our class, we headed to another vegan establishment, Papa G's, to get some work done. But first....curry tofu and veggies with greens and sweet potato mash...and some vegan chili nachos.

Again we felt the need to follow a day of vegan eating with some rich dairy item and stopped on the way home for fresh strawberry sundaes at Burgerville. Two desserts make for an indulgent day, I know, but we'd been saving our wallets and our bellies for this all week! And it was worth it! The next day, Easter Sunday, was cold and rainy, but we certainly got the most out of that short stint of gorgeous weather! And I'm confident that it will be back soon.

I love these guys!

2011-04-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

We've been going into Portland a lot more frequently lately for baby-related things like classes and appointments, and it's been great to explore and connect with friends on those trips whenever we can. Recently, we met up with Alexis and Lalo, who are about to celebrate their one-year anniversary of moving to Portland from Oaxaca, Mexico. A long neighborhood walk, some tasty Mexican food (plus a virgin margarita--yum!), and some great conversation made for an excellent little outing.

Have I mentioned that I love these guys?

Signs of hope

2011-04-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

Eric brought these home from church recently and, for days, it was impossible for me to pass quickly through the room without slowing, or even stopping, to take in their incredible springy perfume. Though we may still have some days of Oregon rain and clouds ahead of us, we have also had a taste of newness. So many little, ordinary resurrections surround us and they point us toward the bigger ones. Happy Easter!

33

2011-04-23T18:34:00.000-07:00

The first birthday of Eric's that we celebrated together was also the beginning of an "us." It was 2003, and after months of neighborly chats in the hallway, finding excuses to dawdle in each others' doorways, studying together at the student center, and being wimps about sharing our real feelings, our wonderful friend, Mark, lovingly lied to Eric to get him to spill his guts. On Eric's 25th birthday, Mark told him a half-truth: that I had told Mark (which I hadn't) that I was interested in Eric (which I was). And as we all prepared to go out as a group to celebrate that evening, Mark "sent" Eric to my apartment to talk to me. But it wasn't until the end of a wonderful night with all our buds at Nevins, one of our favorite Evanston spots, a night which Eric and I spent laughing and talking on side-by-side stools, that he dawdled once again in my doorway...then came in at sat in my hideous, crunchy orange upholstered chair... And we kept finding reasons to keep talking until we wound our way slowly around to the truth that we both already knew: that there was something more there. Oh, how we laughed late into the night and early morning about all the ridiculous and sweet ways we had been so obvious while thinking we were sneaky as we both tried to protect ourselves from the possibility of rejection. Within days, Eric had met my parents, and six months later, we were engaged to be married.

And so Eric's birthday is not only a celebration of his life and of the miraculous day that he emerged from his mother, but a reminder of the gift of the life that we have together. A life that was birthed that day, with the support and encouragement of our friends, the midwives.

This 33rd birthday of Eric's was a sweet one, and, si Dios quiere (= "God willing" in Spanish), the last one that we will celebrate with just two of us! The day before, after the first session of our Birthing from Within class (which has been awesome!) in Portland, we went to the Alberta neighborhood and wandered around.

This is a wonderful little vegan bakery where we stopped for a snack:

Alberta Street:

A great little toy store where we found the perfect gift for sweet Freya, who just turned 2. If you haven't heard of The Imaginary World of Mr. Toast, it's pretty cool. We got Freya this and this. Maybe next year we can get her Shaky Bacon, unless that would be too weird coming from vegetarians.

We eventually worked up an appetite and made our way to the Vita Cafe, an amazing restaurant with endless vegetarian and vegan options. Sooooooo good!

After our vegan day, we indulged in some Tillamook Cookie Dough ice cream at home, cause we didn't want to make dairy feel too bad about itself.

Eric's actual birthday was on Sunday and so was a work day for him, but he spent much of the evening on the couch with some good buddies: the Sunday paper, a Rolling Rock (just because it has a "33" on the bottle--who knows why), some almonds, and some sort of sweet homemade goodies from some sweet church ladies.

Meanwhile, I was pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen (ha!) making him the most delicious cake in the world. It think it may have been my first from-scratch cake, a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Pregnancy just might be waking up that one tiny spark of domesticity within me.

By the time I finished, it was definitely nighttime, but it was worth the wait!

My mom would be proud of the dense-ness (she is famous for her hearty, whole-wheat, super-tasty cakes) and my step-dad would be proud of the frosting-to-cake ratio, which was ridiculously high.

He liked it! And we happily ate it for three days! And I had so much frosting left over that I just had to make some red velvet cupcakes to use it up. We gave *most* of them away.

Happy birthday, my sweet Beez. I have a feeling that this 34th year of yours will be full of adventures.

Mysterious delivery

2011-04-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

So apparently we get the Oregonian now. We started receiving the paper daily this past week, and today the thick Sunday Oregonian arrived. The funny thing is, we never requested it, though we had been talking about it for a while. We read news online, but there is something special about holding and folding that paper in your hands, about spreading out the comics under your cereal bowl, about searching, hopefully, for coupons for stuff you were already planning to buy. Perhaps it is a mistake, or a special promotion, or someone took pity on us and secretly bought us a subscription. Whatever the case, wahooo!

Weekend of friends

2011-04-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, while Eric was visiting a Portland synagogue as part of a youth confirmation retreat, I joined Joannah and Maria and Andy and kiddos at Leah and Mat's house for a delicious dinner, plus dessert, of course. Mmm...Umpqua vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and hot caramel--the best!

And on Saturday, I got to see dear Sarah for a bit on her short trip up from the Bay Area for her bridal shower and brunch. Her wedding to David will be right after our due date and we won't be able to make the trip, so I was especially happy to be able to see her! It was a Bon Voyage-themed party, so there were lots of travel-related gifts and themes given (they are going to Belize for their honeymoon!). So much fun!

Checking out one of my gifts:

Being showered with blessings:

I can't believe I didn't get a single picture with the two of us together! I was there--I promise. I am so very happy for Sarah and David and excited for their new life together as a married couple!

Project: Simplify -- the fridge

2011-04-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

I didn't do any de-cluttering this week until Saturday evening, but because it was a doozy of a week, I am choosing to feel accomplished for completing this small task and not disappointed for not getting to some other drawers and cupboards that shall remain nameless (and closed) for the time being.

So this week's hot spot on Simplemom's Project:Simplify is the fridge and pantry.

Here's what things looked like before (hmm...I hadn't noticed that the light was out until I saw this picture):

And here's the situation now:

Note: on the bottom left are some take-out packages of General Tso's "Chicken" from Marco Polo, which is the best food in the world. I went to Salem today for my dear friend Sarah's wedding shower, and it is rare for me to enter the city of Salem and not leave with an order or two of this delectable goodness. And behind that is a bag full of fresh spinach tamales made by a friend who sells them at the local farmer's market. As the market has been closed since October, it is a huge treat to have Guadalupe's tamales!!! And no cooking tomorrow!!

I love having a clean refrigerator!! No stuck gunk, no mystery mush, and, best of all, no unidentifiable smells!!

Project: Simplify: baby stuff

2011-03-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

So this week of Project: Simplify was a bit easier for us, as hot spot #3 is officially "toys and/or kids' clothes" and we do not yet have kids. (If you want to get really technical about it, I'm not a parent yet, and the blog hosting the challenge is Simplemom.net, but I can honestly say that both parts of the name are things I'm aspiring to be.) We have, however, begun collecting baby stuff--gifts, borrowed items, hand-me-downs--so it was a good week to finally organize some of that stuff.

Here was one of my little collecting corners, plus the bassinet some friends lent us:

I cleaned out this empty dresser and put some stuff away here (like non-newborn clothes and diapers)...

...then had Eric move some stuff around in the other room.

He put together this changing table, also a loaner, and switched the dressers with the shelves and I filled the baskets with diapers and newborn clothes. Now we've got this handy changing area right next to the bathroom!

I also moved a few baby items that we won't be using for a while into the storage closet at the back of the house. As I look at these photos, I'm struck by the fact that we don't have a single thing on the walls in the bedrooms. I would like for that to change. Hmm...anyone have ideas?

It's been fun to see Eric take the organization process seriously. I didn't realize until he told me that when he cleaned out his closet, he organized his shirts--short-sleeves together, then solid button-downs, then checked button-downs... Wow. He's been putting his shoes away when he takes them off (a small miracle) and even suggested that I could use the top shoe spots to hang my slippers before getting into bed! Sort of like a guest row. Cause even though it's our bedroom, only his clothes are stored here.

In case you get your kicks looking at other people's messes (and inspired by their newly organized spaces) like I do, you can go to the results pages, like this one and scroll down.

Lots of kiddos and a happy heart

2011-03-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

Just a few of the good people I've been blessed to hang out with recently...

Happy hour and the McMenamins Grand Lodge. Veggie burgers and Cajun tots, baby.

Beautiful Freya.

Reading Kayleigh Bea's alphabet book that we made for her at Emily's baby shower:

KB's newest way to get around:

Chase being Chase.

Today was Kayleigh's first birthday party at the Children's Museum. Fun!

Brother and cousin helping Kayleigh open her gifts. Wish I had a good shot of her birthday outfit, which was so very cute.

And some other kiddos I've been hanging out with...

I've been coordinating an indoor play area at our church for the past month and a half and it has been so much fun! We usually have 5-10 kiddos and their parents, but because of spring break, many older siblings were home and we had 15 kids! I occasionally write about it and post pictures at my ministry blog if you want to check it out: wwchispanicministries.blogspot.com. Being with kiddos makes my heart happy.

Silver Creek

2011-03-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

Spring has sprung in Western Oregon and it seemed fitting to take advantage of the spring weather (= warmish rain) and take a hike on a free Monday after a long, full weekend! We headed to Silver Creek State Park, which was our go-to hiking place when we lived in Woodburn. It's a bit farther away now, but it's certainly worth the drive, especially when we take the back roads.

South Falls:

Walking under the falls:

Part of the loop called the Trail of 10 Falls was closed due to a rock slide, but we still saw plenty of gorgeous cascades. The water is very high at this time of year. If you click on the picture and zoom in, you can see the tiny people to the left of the water and get a sense of how big this waterfall is.

Behind the falls:

Our lunch stop. Just after this picture was taken, it started to hail!

The lovely boots passed along to me by our dear Chicago friend, Megan, when she was out here last year. They have accompanied me on some wonderful adventures.

It was a really lovely hike. I always feel so grateful for the time that Eric and I can be together in the quiet beauty of nature.

After, we stopped in the quaint little town of Silverton for the 1/2 price pizza deal at this great little pub on the main drag. It was a bit chilly outside, but the heat lamps made it cozy and it was great to hear the rush of water again. The creek you can see behind Eric is the same one we walked along several miles up in the hills.

A day well spent.

Stuff I love: Public Libraries!

2011-03-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

Isn't it amazing that we have these places we can go and just by showing someone a little card, we can take home as many books, CDs, DVDs, and magazines as we want--for free?! They say, "Just be sure you bring them back." Oh, ok. And we pretty much always do. I also love just wandering through the library and picking up things I never imagined I'd be interested in, but I find myself leafing through, totally absorbed. And if, amazingly, among the thousands of volumes there, they don't have exactly what I'm looking for, I can enter the title into the computer and request that someone drive the cute little library truck across town and bring it to me from another branch. Cause they always have it somewhere.

You can stay at the library all day if you want, wandering around or watching the ducks at the pond through the window or doing nothing or working away on your laptop or reading the newspaper. Their restrooms don't say "For customers only" and all you have to do is show that you're from around here to access it all! And at the Hillsboro Main Branch, the beautiful library pictured above where we've spent a few Saturdays recently, they have cheap but tasty coffee and donut holes at the cafe. How great is that?!

Extra Credit

2011-03-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

Eric was inspired by my sudden flurry of organizing activity and decided to clean out his closet. I didn't tell him he needed to do it, but I did take a "before" picture and show it to him (hint, hint, wink, wink). So maybe he was inspired, or embarrassed, or maybe he's nesting, too :) Does it matter, really, if the result is a clean closet?

The before shot. Yes, that's his purple bathrobe--a hand-me-up from my sister. I think it's from Victoria's Secret:

After:

We found this sturdy shoe rack for $12 at the Goodwill and thought it might fit in the closet, but no dice. These shelves used to be overflowing with craft supplies, but I found a new place for those, so I can use this for anything I want. Hmm...maybe some baby stuff :)

I love it when everything has a place!

Project: Simplify -- Paper Clutter!!

2011-03-19T22:23:00.000-07:00

The never-ending pi-i-ile...ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah...

The second hot-spot in Simplemom.net's Project: Simplify is paper clutter. Joy! Unlike last week's challenge which I tackled in a day, this one took my alllllll week.

Where did all that paper come from? Here:

Here:

And here:

I got excited about sorting while catching up on old episodes of...wait--I gave up internet TV for Lent. Oh, yeah. How about some music?

This find in the pile gave me a good laugh:

I think I picked this up at a community event last summer!

With all the paper on the dining room table, I marveled at my cleanish surfaces.

Piles in process. I'm down to stuff-to-be-recycled, stuff-to-be-filed, stuff-to-attend-to, and stuff for-Eric-to-go-through.

Filing and attending.

Ta-da!

A clean table again!

It's not pretty, but that's what the roll-top is for, is it not? Oh, you have something that needs to be attended to? Just put it in the artichoke hearts box please.

Now the trick is to stick to the system! I will do it this time!

Good stuff we've been eatin'

2011-03-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

We don't usually try out so many new things within such a short period of time, but we've been inspired these past couple of weeks by some recipes found in the magazines Sunset and Mothering, and all of them have been exceptional! The first two and the last one are tasty ways to get in some good spinach, and they are all yummy!

Veggie Enchiladas -- these were a bit spicy and super delicious, and they got better every day (though it didn't take us too long to finish them off)!

Spinach Dinner Salad with Sesame Tofu -- this salad has a kick to it and is quite filling. I would have never considered putting radishes and apples and celery together in anything, but they come together nicely.

Curried Carrot Coconut Soup -- we used plain, non-fat yogurt on top...mmm....

Mat's special banana bread. Hmm... I have this recipe written on a the back of a receipt somewhere. I'll have to find it!

Spinach Strata, with all our substitutions :) This is an incredible dish!!!
1 med. onion, finely chopped
3 tbs unsalted butter
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (ours was in powder form and freshly shaken from a bottle)
1 1/2 c. cooked spinach (or what we used: 10-oz pkg of frozen spinach, thawed with all the excess liquid squeezed out)
8 c. French of Italian bread, cut in 1-inch cubes (we used whole wheat bread from a sliced loaf)
2 c. Gruyere cheese, coarsely grated (we used sharp cheddar, but Swiss cheese also works)
1 c. Parmesan cheese, finely grated (we used the bottled stuff)
9 large eggs
2 3/4 c. milk (I think we used soymilk or rice milk)
2 tbs. Dijon mustard

In large, heavy skillet over medium heat, saute onion in butter until soft (about 5 minutes). Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and continue cooking 1 minute. Stir in spinach. Remove from heat and set aside.

Spread out 1/3 bread cubes in well-buttered baking dish. Top with 1/3 spinach mixture and 1/3 each type of cheese. Repeat layering twice with remaining bread, spinach, and cheeses.

In large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and mustard. Slowly and evenly, pour this mixture over strata. Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 8 hours, up to 24 hours.

The next day, let strata stand at room temperature 30 minutes while preheating oven to 350 degrees F. Bake uncovered in middle of oven until golden brown and cooked through (45-55 minutes). Serves 6-8.

Walk There: Orenco Station

2011-03-13T15:30:00.000-07:00

I don't remember if "Orenco Station" is the name of this particular route, which we've done once before, in the Walk There book, but that's where it was. Friday was a gorgeous day and I'm so glad we got out and enjoyed it, because the relentless rain seems to have returned for a while.

We started at the Max station and meandered through a very, very old neighborhood of Hillsboro, which still has a few buildings left from when the Oregon Nursery Company (--> Orenco--get it?) established something of a company town. If you look closely at one of those upper middle windows, you can see the old doll that was waving at us and freaked Eric out.

I love all the big old trees that arch over the narrow streets and the funky little houses, and Eric is intrigued by the abandoned golf course that's next to this neighborhood.

We crossed one main road and suddenly we were in the middle of trying-to-be-urban suburbia. There are lots little parks and big houses with tiny yards, then those fade into apartments. It is a good location, though. Right next to the Max, just a few blocks from a cool shopping center that has apartments and condos above local businesses, including one of our favorite natural grocery store.
A little bit of pergola. Pergola is a word I'd never even heard before I met Eric.

We ended up stopping at that store, New Seasons Market, to use the bathroom and sample their samples. They always have the best samples!!

I saw this sign on our way home and it struck me as funny:

And, just for kicks, here's my ginormous belly. And speaking of kicks, I've been feeling a lot of those these days. I love it!

Project: Simplify -- the closet!

2011-03-12T21:08:00.000-08:00

Warning: the pictures in this post are not for the squeamish!

My friend, Abby, recently took on the Project: Simplify challenge posed by Simple Mom and I decided to join her (the nesting instinct is real, people!)! The first step is actually writing a family purpose statement, but we haven't done that yet (I'm excited about sitting down with Eric to do it soon, though!). Every week, a new hot spot is announced, and participants agree to post before and after pictures. Gulp.

Hot Spot #1 is the closet/clothing area. I don't actually hang up most of my everyday clothes, so I don't go in my closet very often, but I do store my shoes there. A few things you might notice:

1. there is a hanging shoe storage thingy, but most of the items in it are not shoes;
2. there is a second hanging shoe storage thingy in the basket on the floor, still in its package (helpful, I know);
3. my closet may or may not have a floor.

Here's what the rest of the room looked like. This used to be our bedroom, but we moved our bed to the other room and started collecting gifts and loaned baby gear here. It also serves as my changing room, as it houses my dressers and closet.

So, I pulled out everything that was on the floor, turned pandora to something lively, and got to work. I ended up getting rid of about a third of the shoes that were in there, plus a bunch of clothes. Thankfully, our church is having a rummage sale next month, so I had Eric take the stuff over right away. The pregnant lady's not supposed to be lifting those heavy grocery bags of clothes, you know. I also packed away some clothes that I won't be wearing for several more months, put the bags and suitcases in a storage closet and organized what was left. Turns out, my closet does have a floor, and it needed to be vacuumed very badly! Ta da!

And just for kicks, I cleared out the rest of the room, too!

It actually feels good to go in that room again! And I love that every pair of shoes (even my slippers!) has its place. I'm not sure that there has been a time in my entire life when I could say that.

Anyone else want to simplify with me? You'll be glad you did!