Adelaide and Morgan

Egg hunt at the park

Mama's boots

Balance Beam in the driveway

Doe, a deer, a female deer

Dinner on the porch

Getting ready for Easter

Here are some pictures Myles took  of Adelaide getting ready for Easter!

Eating a banana

Drums

So sick

 Adelaide and I have both been fighting the most aweful cold. It's so hard to be sick, and even harder when you have a two year old. We have spent lots of time watching movies.

After a few days I think Adelaide got cabin fever. Myles filmed this video of her right outside of the kitchen window. She was SO sick...but still wanted to dance around and sing.

Where is Spring? Where is my health?

It is still so rainy and cold here. I feel like Summer is just some place in my dreams that doesn't really exist. Both Adelaide and I have a bad cold so we are relaxing in the house today. It's a bit sad because today was supposed to be her first ballet class, but we need to stay home and rest and nap.

I learned a new trick with the bulb sucker though! - I put a bit of warm salt water inside and squirted it up her nose before I sucked everything out. I think it really helped!!! She is actually asking for me to suck her snot out with that thing these days...poor little thing!

I have been seeing a Naturopath and am relieved to learn that my feeling run down and tired all of the time is for good reason! My iron stores are LOW...almost non existent actually...so up with the iron. My vitamin D is VERY deficient! I knew that was normal for those that live in this part of the country, we never see the sun, and when we do it's at such an angle that we don't get as much D from it as our friends down south. But I am VERY deficient and taking quite a large dose to try and get my stores up. Both of these nutrients are so important for having good health and energy. The other problem is that my thyroid is under producing by a little bit...and my adrenal glands are taxed to their limits. These are all things that can happen when you have a new baby, from being pregnant and nursing (which I did for over 2 years) as well as the added stress, lack of sleep etc.... SO I am eating protein with every single meal, taking lots of supplements to get myself back to where I should be, and hoping that I will really tell a difference in the next few months.

Adelaide's favorites

28 months old ~ here are some of her favorite things currently.

Fav toy - band aids.
Fav song - yankey doodle
Fav movie - circus Barney and Mary Poppins
Fav word/saying - "that's weird!" (and she uses it correctly!!)
Fav clothes - her ballerina swimsuit and ballerina slippers
Fav activity - finger painting

Weight - 28.5 lbs!!!

New Doula Blog

I decided to start another blog that is dedicated to birth and doula stuff. I have started my doula training and feel so happy and comfortable knowing that I am doing something that I truly love. My trainer is amazing and I get to hang out with a big group of other gals for 8 weeks. I wanted to have something that I can show to potential future clients, without disclosing my entire private life with Adelaide...so here it is!
http://focusonyourheart.blogspot.com/
In the future it may become http://www.focusonyourheart.com/ - but for now that links to my photo site. I am keeping the name focus on your heart for my doula services as well. What do you think? I know it seems strange if you take it literal...but I have already used that name for other things so feel like I might as well keep it going. I would love to get followers on that blog as well and comments too. Several of the posts are taken from this blog so may be familiar...but in the future I will probably post birth related stuff to that blog only. I'm excited to share this amazing new journey with everyone!

Go West

"and I said, go west emily
grab your boots and find yourself somewhere
I'll find another lover in the East"

"go west Emily, you know you've got my blessing but you can't expect the eyes of mine
to watch you leave"

Video updates

This is how Adelaide does push ups.

This one is a small preview from Adelaide and Hazel's dance party in the living room. I think Hazel is really funny and cute in this one!

This one is Adelaide trying to clip her toenails. She is so cute, holding the clippers upside down.

Another sweet ballerina video. Check out her pigtails =)

Last but not least is the CUTEST hullahooper ever!!

Birth Doula Film

I just found this trailer for a film about Birth Doula's. If anyone out there isn't quite sure what I will be doing in my near future...here is a glimpse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRc36qMxNak&feature=related . Most of the births I attend will most likely be hospital births...although I am very lucky to have one homebirth in the works!!! I am so honored and lucky to get to do what I love. What a special part of life to get to witness!!

Yoga Rant

I assume I must be PMSing... because I just got out of my yoga class and I'm feeling like bitching. Just a few things I want to get off of my chest if you don't mind. All of you that go to yoga (or any other class for that matter) can keep these things in mind if you want to...

1) WHY do people feel they need to walk up and SMACK their mat down on the floor or FLING it out as loud as they can on the way to laying it down. I like to get to yoga early and relax for a minute and get into the space before class starts, and some nights I lay there listening to smacking mats for 10 minutes straight. There are quieter ways to put your mat down.

2) Here is a situation that has happened TWICE in a row now and for some reason it drives me CRAZY...
When someone walks in the room and there isn't a space for them to put their mat down because everyone wants to have a giant space around themselves and the room is full...MOVE OVER and let the guy put his mat down. TWICE in a row I have been right next to someone who is trying to take up an entire row (along with the person next to them) and then someone walks in with a mat, walks around the room a few times Looking for a place to settle...and nobody does ANYTHING...and then they try and squeeze their mat in between the props on up in the very front where the teacher usually is.... and then I yell out "hey...it looks like "we" can make some room for you back here...and then I look at the people to my right who suddenly realize that hey...what do you know??? And they simply move just a few inches closer and open up a whole new space. AMAZING isn't it??? Then I get a huge "thank you" from a few people, and a few glares from others...if you don't want to accidently graze someones fingertips as you are flying forward then don't come to class, do yoga in the privacy of your own home or something.

And this 3rd thing doesn't have to do with yoga...and is so controversial here in Portland but I can't help it....IF YOU ARE GOING TO RIDE YOUR BIKE, DON'T DO IT ON THE MAIN ROAD WITH LOTS OF TRAFFIC AND NO BIKE LANE. It's not that hard to go one block up or down and be safe so that you aren't taking up the whole busy road and backing up traffic at five o'clock for two miles because you feel like you own the street. I ride my bike a lot. I don't want to get hit, and stay off of main car roads. It's so much safer and faster and better.

There. I did it. I'm usually so good at keeping my lip zipped, but I just had to get a few things off of my chest.

My heart feels heavy because

Updates for this post are in this beautiful color =)

1- An earthquake and tsunami in Japan has left thousands and thousands of people dead, missing, and homeless. I just can't imagine how the survivors must feel, and what they have been dealing with.

2- They say a "twin" to that earthquake will happen HERE anytime...could be tomorrow, could be in 50 years, but it WILL happen, and Portland is nowhere near as prepared as they are in Japan. None of our bridges would survive, none of our schools would survive....can you remind me again why we live here?

3-There is a chance that a big plume of cancer causing radiation could head our way from Japan, affecting our health, our soil that we rely on to grow our food, and our abilities to go outside safely. We live in a really rainy city. We love the rain. We love to walk in it and feel in fall on our cheeks. Being afraid of the rain just seems scary and wrong.

4- Earthquakes tend to happen near a full moon. Tomorrow's full moon will be closer to the earth than it's been in 18 years, making it's pull extra strong, and the probability of earthquakes higher.

5- It seems a war with Libya is imminent. It will be the third war that our country is involved in. Tragic!

6- My horoscope told me this...
The full moon of March 19, in Virgo, operative plus or minus four days from the date of the moon's appearance, will pull your attention toward your career and reputation in your industry. This could initially be a tense time, as Uranus will oppose this moon and create some sort of challenge that comes without warning. Mercury will oppose Saturn on the day before, March 18, and be part of the message of the full moon, an indication you will have to stay very practical and realistic through this episode.
There was some real truth to this so I would like to say what happened. Of course it was nothing as gruesome as I was imagining...but it turned out to be true!! I had scheduled to go to a doula meeting on March 18th (the night it says) if I didn't end up called into work. I was not called in that day so proceeded to the meeting that I have been excited about for weeks. I drove around and walked around a single block over and over for about a half hour trying to find the address that the woman emailed me. I even called Myles so he could confirm it by my email. After no luck and no response from the woman in charge I came home in tears...so confused about what my problem was. She ended up emailing me late that night to apologize and say that she forgot to send me the updated email with the new address and blah blah blah...so there was my challenge having to do with my career! Weird eh??

but even more troubling is this part of my horoscope...
Neptune opposition Saturn: A new perception
Mid March 2011 until mid January 2013: This is an extremely significant time, but it is not usually very pleasant. During this period some aspect of your reality will be severely challenged in such a way that you will not know for a time what is real and what is not. Your sense of proportion will be distorted so that you place too much importance upon matters that do not deserve such emphasis and perhaps ignore the matters that really are important. And the matters that you are overemphasizing are those that make you afraid and fearful. In fact the chief problem with this influence is that it produces fear and anxiety for no apparent reason. With this influence you should always keep in mind the fact that things are almost certainly not as bad as they look.
This is all totally true as well (as per all of my worries above). I realize that many things are not in my hands, and happen for reasons that we don't understand...and I'm feeling much less stressed and much more faithful in what is meant to be. I just need to remember this for a while though, as it looks like this one will last another year and a half =(

does anyone out there believe in astrology? Do you let it affect you? I try to ignore it, and tell myself that I'm NOT going to look up these things anymore...but these words have been weighing me down for over a month now. I'm just glad the middle of March, and the full moon will be here tomorrow. We will see what's in store for me, and how bad it really is...

Yankie Doodle

This is Adelaide's favorite song right now. She was a little distracted at the end because her daddy got home from work right as she was singing...

Little ballerina

I found another little swim suite with a tutu attached just like one Adelaide had last year. I told her that she is going to take some ballet classes in a few weeks, but for now she is practicing at home. I have no idea how to do ballet, but I'm trying to teach her anyway... I also found some really cute little ballet slippers that I gave her. What she doesn't know is that there is another little ballet outfit that she gets to wear to her class =)

Her first tutu last February