Eggs, Eggs, Everywhere!

Today was the first of two (!) egg hunts planned for the Westside MDC crowd. Not sure if it is easily seen in this photo, but there are eggs all over the ground. We wanted to make it really easy for the toddlers and let them go a minute or so ahead of the older kids.My little egg hunter.


Sitting down to check out the loot. Of course he went right for the silver egg first . :)
Let the feasting begin!
A few of my favorite friend shots.
Maya chompin' on a blue jelly bean.
Nora looking like she is in a sugar induced stupor. I really don't think she had that much - she is even eating fruit leather in this picture - but that look was just classic for the day.

Tati says, "Hurry up and open this mom!"
And of course, cutie patootie Janae. The red curls are to die for!
Eating candy is serious business.

Max's Birthday

The only bummer about Saturday was that I decided I was too tired to go to a couple birthday parties that were happening. But at least we made it to Inflatable Kingdom to visit with Max a bit on his actual birthday. We got there a little ahead of them, and Orion checked everything out thoroughly.

Whoosh!"That was fun!"
Just out of the maze.
Here is Orion with the birthday boy, um, opening his present for him apparently LOL. In all fairness, Max wasn't that interested at first. I mean, the place is pretty distracting! So he just needed a little help. :)
And Orion absconding with the ball. He loves rolling balls down slides, so that added some extra fun to the day.

The Godfather has arrived...

So in all the hoopla, I totally forgot Andy was arriving tonight. Too bad for him I didn't clean the downstairs room! I took a nap but was still a zombie most of the day and didn't remember until Ron mentioned it late at night. He is starting at Vesta on Monday and will be staying here until he finds his own place. That should be nice for Orion to get to know him better. And it will be really great for Ron to feel like he has a friend here in Portland.

What a wild ride!

And I was only the passenger! I posted right after I got home from CA about my friend, Jessica, who started going into labor. Well... that has pretty much been what I have been caught up with the last few days. The poor mama was pretty much contracting ever 10 to 15 minutes for days! Then her water finally broke a couple days ago and we thought things were going to go super fast. I went over for the day, but things didn't pick up as much as she had hoped. A mom I knew used an herbal tincture recently to "induce" her labor, so we tracked some of that down and I went to pick it up at the naturopathic college. She took a few doses, but it didn't look like things were going to start jamming, so I headed home. She pretty much hung out with off and on contractions the rest of the next day and then tried some other herbal mixtures that evening.

They ended up calling around 11 pm to say they thought it was it this time... and it was! She was in the tub when I got there and jamming along. She rocked through transition. I wouldn't have even known that was it except that she was shivering. Otherwise, the contractions hardly seemed any different. Pam and Lennon pretty much got there right around the time she started feeling pushy, and she was working through it pretty well until her csection scar started burning. She was really worried about how it was feeling and thought it might be tearing inside. Pam said that was normal, but I think Jessica felt like she would rather be in the hospital at that point. We thought she was so close, but her mom went ahead and called. When the ambulance got there, we seriously thought she was crowning, but she decided to go anyways. It turned out we were right... the baby's head was out before they even closed the ambulance door! So her baby was born in the driveway! What a story! It still counted as a homebirth and she got her VBAC, so those are the most important things!

She went on to the hospital to deliver the placenta and get stitched up. She got lucky with the most amazing hospital staff ever, and her nurse even asked if she was planning a lotus birth! They were all just really respectful of her wishes. There were so many people there that they didn't want to let the non family members in, so several of us didn't get to see the baby for over an hour later, but at least I got to get a peak at her before heading home. I didn't get back until almost 5 in the morning! Thank goodness it was Saturday and Ron was home to let me sleep in a little!

Pretty much all the pictures I took have nudity in them, so Jessica probably doesn't want them on my blog! But I wanted to include at least one with the amazing Nicole! That is her at Jessica's head. She is working on her doula certification, and this was her first birth, but you would sure never know it! She was so compassionate and always right next to Jess. After being with her there, I am really glad she is going to be at my birth as well.
And a little blurry, but I had to include at least one of little Sophia! Here she is just an hour or so after birth, still with vernix patches and a few flecks She took her sweet time. She is either going to be really stubborn or really patient haha.

First Prenatal Yoga Class

I went to a prenatal yoga class today at an Iyengar place. I only found a few places around here, and then just two of them were at a time I could make. Ron knows alot about yoga and explained that the Iyengar style is all about props. He also said it was known for being more strenuous, so I was a bit worried haha, but I figured a prenatal class couldn't be too bad! It turned out to be great, although the squats against the wall were pretty killer. :o I think the props really help to take pressure off a big tummy. And the relaxing pose at the end was really awesome. They had us set up bolsters so that we were inclined and could lay on our backs. We also used belts to secure our legs into butterfly pose, with blocks supporting our thighs. It sounds odd and complicated, but it was sooo comfortable. Also, I guess I learned a few things in Centergy because the teacher even told me after class it looked like I knew what I was doing! I still want to try the other class, especially because the teacher is a physical therapist, but I am glad I found one that I like for now.

Preschool Visit

I have been trying for awhile to find a Tuesday and Thursday program for Orion for next year, and I prefer a coop so I can be there as much as possible, but I am also hoping to find someplace he can be during La Leche League meetings, since it is hard not to be able to give him my attention at those times when he needs it. Also, he has been asking to go to school, so that was the main thing that got me thinking about it.

We already visited a place really close to us, but they don't allow babies to be brought on helping days, so that would be a big problem. Tonight was the open house for a Waldorf inspired coop not far from us. I had really high hopes after talking to them on the phone and seeing the pictures on their websites, but unfortunately I don't think it is going to work for us either. I was totally in love with the huge wooded area they have, but the room was really long and narrow, and I just think Orion would be bouncing off the walls in there. Also, he is only 2 days from the age cutoff, so he would be the oldest in the class, and the teacher was not sure that would be a great match for him after seeing his energy level. :) The problem is, even if they let him move up, the older program is MWF. I hadn't really thought the age thing through, but the more I think about it, the more I agree it is probably not a good idea. Sigh, scratch another one off the list.

Measuring

We had a pretty quiet day today, but it ended up with a theme.... Orion came to me in the morning and asked how big one of his toys was. I got the thought that since he is recognizing numbers now, he might have fun with measuring, so I went and got a tape. Boy was I right. He was thrilled with the idea! He went all over the house and kept bringing more things to get measured. Some we did by holding the tape upright and talking about height, and others we laid down next to it and talked about length. I also tried to explain a bit about "fractions", or at least the concept that some things were in the middle of the inch markings, and I showed him where a quarter and a half were. When he brought over Daddy's shoe, we found it to be exactly 12 inches, so I mentioned that is actually why it is called a foot haha. He went on to measure the whole length of the table with my help, and later, I found him on the stairs measuring the steps! Yay for real life math!

Here are a few things he measured: