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Friday, November 25, 2011

Balloon!

Wandering around the Alberta Arts District today we stumbled across this huge balloon attached to a store sign. I love this photo and the wonderful day we had while enjoying a rare bit of blue sky.

Cora is on fire with her words, saying more and more every day. She has just started to combine two words together at once which is really adorable. Harlow has started smiling huge, wonderful smiles and cooing and ooing at us. I had forgotten what a great moment that is, when your baby starts expressing joy.

We had a perfect thanksgiving with friends and family here in Portland. We made the decision early on to not travel this year since we have a new born. I am really glad we stayed close to home, our stress level was much lower then it would have been if we were driving or flying with our two tiny kiddos.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Art

Cora experiencing some amazing artwork. Niki McClure show at Land Gallery, Portland.

More soon:)

Monday, November 7, 2011

Autumn And A Rushing River


It's 6:30am, I've been up since 2am. I am sitting by the wood stove, listening to the water boil on top with the tea tree oil I added to it diffusing into the air. We are sick, well, all of us but Scott. A head cold has us holed up and my suppressed immune system means that the Thrush I have been so carefully eradicating has come back with a vengeance. It bums me out so much, because not only does it hurt really bad, it negatively affects my nursing Harlow. At this point I am mostly pumping and bottle feeding her because it hurts too much to have her latch on. A desperate email to my amazing doctor in the wee hours of the morning was already answered and help is only a few hours and a pharmacy trip away.

I am sitting here looking at the fire, looking at my sweet babe who is finally sleeping next to me, and pondering the future. I do try every day to live in the moment, to dwell in the now, and I feel that I do a good job of it. I am thinking about the future this morning because the tides are changing around here and all of the sudden there is a sense of 'movement'. Do you know what I mean by that? There are times in life that no matter how badly we want change, no matter how hard we push for it, the greater picture is pretty set and the change doesn't come. Then there are times in life that no matter how stationary you feel, it's as if life has become a flowing river and you better just hang on and ride the waves. I can not fully explain it, but it feels like for my family, somewhere downriver of us a dam has been cleared and the tug of the water rushing to meet it's new course is pulling us with it and it will only speed up.

It makes sense to me that I would reach for a water metaphor to explain this. Lately I have been dreaming over and over again that I am standing in a river fly fishing, lifting a trout out into the sun. Over and over. It's a good dream.

I have no idea what the next phase holds for us, but I recognise this pausing before leaping over the precipice. Big, good change is in store, we just have to be patient and let it develop.

Back to the day to day flow, life is so very good and full. I am amazed at how much of every moment is spent functioning for these kiddos. Every moment there is something to be doing, sitting down to blog or check email feels like an oasis in the middle of the chaos.

Cora is changing every day, new words and new behavior so rapid that her poor, exhausted parents can hardly keep up. Some of the defiance of the dreaded terrible two's is appearing. She has also entered a phase where she is experimenting with hitting. Back to the bookstore I went and Cora now has a book called "Hands Are Not For Hitting." Hopefully that helps.

Harlow is growing right before our eyes. She turned 6 weeks old yesterday and is wearing 3-6month clothing, and even some of those are tight on her. This coming Thursday we have a doctors appointment and I am looking forward to seeing where she falls on the % scale of weight/height.

Here are a few photos of this fall. We had a great day at an apple festival and I am just now catching up to putting them on here. Cora's favorite food right now is applesauce so this day was great fun for all of us, and we went home and made applesauce.


And because this outfit is so cute, here are some Farmer's Market photos:

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

A Nice Break

In the middle of this hectic, amazing, circus of parenting, Scott got a "surprise" week off of work. Normally this would be terribly stressful but instead it feels like a last minute vacation.

Cora has been struggling with a double ear infection. The nights have been very difficult, meaning Scott and I are getting really broken sleep and Cora is suffering the worst. Harlow and I are still battling thrush so I've been balancing my days between applying echinacea, probiotic, ear drops, Acetomenophen, and other remedies. It's been challenging so having Scott here is fantastic. Four hands makes the work go much faster.

We also are managing to squeeze in some fun. Yesterday we took the girls on a lovely autumn hike around Sauvie Island just outside of Portland. I took a few snapshots with the iPhone. It was such a good day. It felt so very right to be out as a family of four, watching Cora play in the leaves, cuddling Harlow close as she slept.