Cheryl and family =)

Cheryl has been my best friend since 7th grade. We got to see her for a quick visit while we were home too. It was great to see her twin daughters, they are SO MUCH bigger than last time I saw them =) They have a beautiful new house that we got to check out. We love you Cheryl!!!!

Soleil and Judah

Now that I'm a mom, it makes me really appreciate my friends that have kids even more. Some of my best friends have kids and I just love them so much, because they are super cute little people, with big parts of my friends inside them. We had so much fun on our trip home for Easter. We stayed with my dear dear friends and their cutest kids ever. Adelaide got her first dose of "big kids" and they all loved her. It was great to see them all interacting. It's nice to know that she will be friends with these kids for a long time, because I will always be friends with their parents =) I love you Leah!!! Thank you so much for everything, the amazing meals, comfy bed, clean place to hang out, and of course for staying up all hours of the night chatting about birth and the other things that just need to be chatted about. I love you!!

Soleil got out her Moses basket because she thought Adelaide might want to sleep in it. Judah was pretending HE was the baby and sleeping in there. He's so cute!


Soleil and Adelaide

The prettiest Easter dress I've ever seen =)

I think these two had a crush on eachother

Judah kept kissing her, and she was opening her mouth to kiss him back!!!




We can't wait to come see you again soon!!!!

Sunny Sunday - walk through the Forest

Placenta

WARNING: this is a bit bloody and weird....so continue on with caution. You aren't allowed to judge us on how weird we are...promise?

When Adelaide was born we kept her placenta in Tupperware in the freezer, with the intention of burying it under a tree when Spring came. Well today was the first sunny day we have had all year, and so it was time to bury the "twin". I looked online and found different rituals and things that people do around the world with the placenta. We took it out of the freezer last night to thaw, and Myles got two kiwi vines to bury it under. They are some special kind of kiwi that will grow good here, and you can pick the fruit off the vine and eat the entire thing. That sounds good right? Placenta flavored kiwi =/ The first thing that we did was cut the umbilical cord from the placenta. It was still attached, and represents the cord that held Adealaide and I together for her 9 months in the womb. It's also the way in which she was nurtured. So we took the cord and made it into a heart shape. (Myles made the heart, he is really good at making hearts!) Then we dried it and it now is hard and dry, and stuck in a heart shape. We might frame it to put on the wall, or just keep it somewhere safe. It's really beautiful looking, and I'm really glad that it wasn't just thrown away or buried with the rest of the placenta.




The next thing we did (and thank you Natalie and Shauna for this idea!) was make "placenta prints". I figured that after being frozen, there wouldn't be much blood on the placenta, so I didn't think it would work. I was wrong. So I got out the drawing paper, and Myles and I took turns making prints with the placenta! I know, we are weird and YES it was kind of gross. The placenta smelled and was really weird to touch, and quite heavy actually. There was a lot of blood, so it made quite a mess, but I think the prints turned out pretty interesting. They are all very different. Myles did one with the "sack" that Adelaide was in spread out as well. I don't know what we will do with these, but they are really beautiful in their own way. Here is our artwork drying on the porch.




Once we were done making our keepsakes of the placenta, Myles put it in the ground, back to the earth where we will all return someday. It is done nurturing Adelaide my sweet baby, and now it will nurture her kiwi plant! Here is a picture or Myles burying it.



And lastly the video. Myles actually dug it up and buried it a lot deeper after this, to be sure the raccoons couldn't smell it and dig it up or something! I'm sure Adelaide will find all of this completely disgusting when she gets older, but it's just one more thing we did to cherish her. Hey....at least we didn't eat it...some people do that too!

Ready to party

This is Adeliade and her buddy Pheonix on our way to the baby party! They were so cute next to eachother, but couldn't see one another because the car seats are too bulkey. It was cute anyway!

Space bags and a Brand New King Size bed!!

After doing lots of research and saving our Christmas and Birthday money, we finally got a new bed! We got a king size because Punki sleeps with us, and really a Queen size just wansn't doing it for us, even with our skinny little selves. For one thing, Adelaide takes up half the bed because she loves to sleep with both arms straight out to the side. The other problem is a dip in our mattress that causes everyone to roll to the middle (where I am usually sunk). There is nothing I love more than being squeezed between my two favorite people in this world, but it gets a bit uncomfortable some nights after a while...I must admit. The king size bed seems HUGE!

We ordered it from Costco and got a great deal, much better than the local Mattress store could offer. The guys that delivered it were friendly enough and even helped me to move our old Queen size out to the garage to be sold on Craigslist. I'm excited to try it out, although I spent a lot of money on some fancy organic sheets, and after washing them, they don't feel half as soft as they did in the store. I'm kind of a sheet snob, I like to have a comfy bed! And we have the bed on the floor now so IF Adelaide ever falls off, she won't fall far. It actually makes the room look bigger somehow, because the bed is lower I guess?

The other exciting thing is I invested in some "space bags" to store the pillow top from the old bed, along with some other pillows, sheets etc. Those things are amazing, however impossible to zip closed by yourself unless you have 4 hands...and the design of the zipper sucks - I ended up poking holes in both bags I used with it, which defeats the purpose all together. Good thing a little tape sealed the holes and the vacuum sucked the air out making the bags a little smaller. I really did feel like we are in the space age now. And with our king size bed...we will be livin large!

P.S. it's after 7:30 pm and still light outside!!! That means Spring is on the way, or is it just because the clouds are parting, and we might have a sunny day tomorrow!? I bet it stays light out a lot later in places where it isn't raining everyday. I love the rain though, no complaints, I promise.

Mom and Baby yoga

Today we tried out a mother-baby yoga class just to see what it's like. I have been pracitcing yoga for over 3 years now, and really love it. I bought a book called Baby Om that has yoga for Adelaide and I to do together, and we have tried it a few times. She really likes it. Usually I take her diaper off so she can really stretch, and now she can reach her toes to her mouth without the diaper, so it's a lot of fun for her. She really likes doing back bends and being upside down, a natural yogi!

The class wasn't as I had hoped. The teacher said "Some classes have you holding your baby and doing things with them...this is NOT one of those classes. It's a class for you, the moms, because you are the ones that need yoga, not the babies". I was so sad to hear this. I feel like Adelaide needs yoga as much as I do, as she is growing so fast and she is so flexible now, and would be nice to keep her like that. If I wanted a class for myself I would go without the baby, so I could get the most out of it. I like bonding with my girl and doing things together, and I hope to show her how fun yoga can be...that is why I took her. Oh well. The class was spent trying to do poses, while some babies cried, and Adelaide wanted to be involved, so I did some poses, but also spent lots of time playing with her and stretching her so she would have a purpose of being there too. Oh well, at least we tried it and now we know it's not for us. We will keep doing it at home. Tomorrow I have a Shiatzu appointement. I hope that helps my back because I've had a pinch for over a week now. I will go back to yoga myself, but I'm sad because my yogi partner Mandy is moving to Ohio in a few days, so I will have nobody but myself to rely on to make it every week. Anyone out there want to start yoga with me?

Toes to Tongue

Today Adelaide was finally able to get her toes to her mouth! She is very happy to gnaw on anything she can get to her mouth, as her poor teeth are working their way in. She was so happy to be able to grab her feet, she even pulled off her own socks! I love these little marks of her growth and development!

Earth Hour

Last night we celebrated Earth Hour. We turned out our lights at 8:30 pm and kept them off for 60 minutes. This was our "vote" for earth. It was actually really fun. Myles light candles, and he played the guitar and sung to Adelaide. I spent most of the hour on the phone with my dad, but it was still nice to be in the candle light without the distraction of the TV or anything. Adelaide LOVED the candle lights, and so did the kitties!
I read that our city turned out a lot of major lights here as well, including the convention center tower lights and the "Made in Oregon" sign. I hope this is something that keeps growing, until one day we all have our lights off for the hour. I really think of this planet as belonging to Adelaide and her generation now, and we need to try and fix some of what we have ruined, and try not to make things worse.

Buddha loves his baby girl - and she can jump

Adelaide just learned how to jump in her jumper! She usually gets crooked and then just jumps on one leg. It's the cutest thing, she looks like she is doing an Irish Jig. Myles even put on some Flogging Molly so she would have good music to dance to =)

It's another Baby Party!

It was our turn again to have the baby party at our house. This time we invited the dad's too, and a couple other dad's ended up coming. It was nice to have them here, and actually a lot of people showed up. Our little house was packed, but we had a lot of fun. I can't wait until Summer when we can all hang outside. All of the babies are getting so big, and it's great to see the different stages that each of them are at. Sometimes I prefer the smaller gatherings, because they are so much more relaxing and we really have time to talk, but it's also nice to have a bunch of us together sometimes just to see how everyone is doing. I am so glad that we have keep in touch with the others in the class. It's cute to see Adelaide with her little boyfriends!!

Inspiring yet Heart wrenching

Yesterday I found the blog that was written by a girl, who's mother I used to work with. She was diagnosed with a rare form of cervical cancer, and kept a blog from her diagonosis, all the way through her recent death. It was so inspiring to read, yet so sad at the same time. I thought about it all night and didn't get any sleep. It just makes me wonder about doctors and hospitals. I wonder if she would have lived a bit longer and happier, had she not had all of the treatment that she did. I have lost a few close people to cancer, and know that it's one of the scarriest things out there. Here is a link to her blog. If you are going to read it, I reccomend you start at the very oldest post and go from there. She was beautiful, super funny, and seems like such a strong person. There is also a place to donate money to her family for her medical bills etc. It's just one more thing that really makes me enjoy every second that I get with my baby girl.

New Crib!

Adelaide's mattress came so I got her crib all set up! I had bought the cutest bedding set for her, all organic cotton etc...and it was so fun to put it all together. I will have to get a better picture of her room now, as there are curtains and everything to match. It was my last big purchase for now, but I'm so glad I spent the money and got what I wanted. The crib itself is very beautiful as well, my dad got if for us when I was still pregnant. It can turn into a bed later when she gets bigger. Now we just need to work on decorating the walls in her room.

I think she really likes it! She has taken 3 naps in there so far today, and all without any problem! The first time I kept the pad from the swing bed in there, and hung the little toys from it as well, so she would recognize sights and smells from when she napped in the past. She seemed very comfy, and laid there looking at the flowers on the bumpers and trying hard to grab them. It was very cute. I put on the music box and gave her a kiss and her pacifier, and she fell asleep really quickly each time. Now I have removed the pad and she is still fine. The hardest part now will be keeping the cats out of her comfy bed!

Little hands

I just think it's so cute how Adelaide clutches her blankie when she is sleeping. I have been putting her down for naps in this really cool swing bed thing that I got her when she was first born. It bounces and swings so it's really easy to put her to sleep in there. She is getting pretty big for it now, so I have ordered a mattress for her crib and we set it all up in her room, so as soon as the mattress comes I will try to nap her in her own room instead. I don't know if it will be hard for her to sleep in there instead, as this little swing is so cozy and comfy.

18 weeks!

I had skipped a few weeks in my weekly updates of her couch picture...but I'm back at it again, and I feel like she really does look older than the last ones. She is growing so super fast. She just gets cuter and cuter too.

Baby and her Daddy

I am never good at picking the BEST one...so here are a bunch of really cute ones =)