our first solo ladies adventure

this morning was the first time that i got the kids (whoah...that still hasn't really sunk in) ready to go all by myself. i got nolan all changed, vitamined, dressed, toothbrushed, packed, etc for a trip to the ocean with abuelita and then me and the girls left the house...alone...dum, dum, dum...haha.

this is only our 3rd adventure total in the car. the first was home from the hospital. the second was a rather poorly orchestrated (by yours truly), rushed trip to the farmer's market last sunday morning. this one was much more well planned, but scary as there was no daddy back up.

it went a little something like this:

*a positive: i re-figured out the moby wrap so that i could get things done, play 1/8th of a game of "shoots and ladders" with nolan (and then he moved on) and have a happy, sleeping baby at the same time. alice was sweet enough to conk out in the baby seat...until i moved her...

*a positive: lilah was cake to load up. she was asleep and luckily stayed asleep throughout the process. thank you, moby.

*of course our first outing wouldn't be complete without an appropriately timed full-on poo blow out by sweet alice right as i'm about to load her into the car seat. well played, little one. well played.

*alice then proceeded to scream her way down stairs and into the car.

*i couldn't figure out for the life of me the mirrors that i purchased and had yet to install, so i was driving blind. i mean...i clearly i could see the road, i just had no "eyes in the back of my head," if you will.

*alice then proceeded to scream most of the way to my beautiful friend maura's house, only somewhat appeased by holding my hand (as i reached around backward to the seat directly behind me...comfy...safe...awesome).

*the highlight: we got to hang out with an incredibly healing woman who always has a way of saying and being and giving love and support in exactly the way that i need it. freaking amazing, really. everyone should have a "maura" in their life. i cried and laughed and smiled and it felt great.

*thought it wise to change lilah's diaper before loading her up to go home and discovered that she had actually poo'd on the way and then sat in it throughout the 45 minutes we were there. ew. and gross. and poor monkey.

*lilah then proceeded to cry through load up and the entire way home...again only slightly appeased by sucking on my finger...as i again reached behind me, this time to the center seat.

*a positive: after her adjustment, alice was wiped and has pretty much slept straight through (with some lazy nursings in the middle) from about 10:30 this am, thus the whole way home, until about now... 4:00pm! woah! work it out, little mama!

*i realized only after arriving at home that my shirt had been on wrong side out.

*a positive: somehow everyone (nolan, lilah, alice and me) were all asleep by 1:15 for a nap.

all in all not terrible. even with the blowout, tears on the way to and from, and failed mirrors, we were only two minutes late! for anyone who knows me, you should realize what an incredible feat that is with two newborns! i am nearly always more late than that with just myself! could have been a little smoother, but i'll take it for attempt number one. oh...and i forgot to take a single picture. boo.

tomorrow is a BIG adventure. the whole fam of five will be up crazy early to drive far, deal with parking traffic and walk three miles (quite possibly before my body is really ready for that) to celebrate the march of dimes march for babies event and honor our sweet angel sofia. prayers and positive thoughts for survival of said undertaking welcomed. ha!

the loss of our matriarch

last thursday morning, march 14th, i heard from my momma that my grandma had passed away, peacefully and with two of her girls by her side. call me naive, but while i knew she had been sick (and was in her mid-80s), i apparently didn't understand the gravity of the situation. i had selfishly hoped she would hang on until the end of the year. i had imagined my family moving back to oregon and taking at least a couple road trips up to visit her and grandpa after my bubs were born and spending one last thanksgiving with the family like i had almost every year growing up. sadly, none of that happened. but thankfully, she is no longer in pain or discomfort and is up in heaven helping take care of my sweet sofia.

today was her funeral. pregnancy, toddler-hood, husband's work schedule and finances kept me grounded in southern california while much of the family gathered together in central washington to celebrate her life and mourn our loss. i couldn't be there in person, but i was certainly there in spirit. none of them have been far from my mind all week, but especially today.

as i think about my grandma's life and her passing, i'm continually astounded by the number of people affected by this loss. most obviously, my grandpa. they had been married 67 years (wow!). i can't even imagine having my husband of 4.5 years taken away from me and what i would do, let alone after living together and loving one another for 67 years! last november(ish?) he was moved from the house to a memory assistance facility as he is struggling with alzheimers/dementia and she visited him all the time. so now, not only does he no longer have a home to come and visit, he no longer has his partner to come and visit him. in addition, in the last few months as grandma has been sick, my uncle, aunts and mom have been around to help a lot...thus able to visit grandpa with relative frequency too. this will be greatly reduced as well.

then there are her kids - my uncle, two aunts and my mom. they have all been such rocks during all the transition and illness in the past half a year or so...putting their lives on hold at times to go and help their parents. i'm so glad that they are such amazing human beings who all get along and work together, especially when times are rough. and now...their momma is in heaven. i know they are grown and i know she was old, but that still can't be an easy thing to swallow.

and the grandkids...some of us are grown and building families of our own. we are old enough to have many, many great memories of visiting grandma's house and getting to know her. some are a little younger and will not perhaps remember as much as we can. and what about the great grandkids who are younger yet and those yet to be born who will never have the opportunity to meet, know and love her?

and of course her community, her church and her friends. she was so involved and has touched so very many people.

it is absolutely amazing (and beautiful, really) how many people one woman's life can affect. makes me want to be a better person myself.

so...while i pondered all the above and reflected back on my memories, a few things really stood out to me. things that will always remind me of my grandma and of growing up. things that to most may sound insignificant or silly, but will always put a smile on my face...or a tear in my eye depending on the circumstance and my mood. ;)

basements (especially ones with scary "shops" at the foot of the stairs), laundry shoots, ping pong tables, red tricycles, glass door knobs, push button light switches, stilts, croquet, twirly kitchen chairs on wheels, a honey pot on the table, cheerios, cinnamon rolls, gliding rockers, quilts, sewing, thanksgiving, "green" salad, the generations old measuring door, plastic cups full of coke, and the warm, homey slightly sweet smell of her house that every once in a while, depending on what i've recently cooked my house smells like...and when it does, i inhale it with joy and smile.

oh, grandma...you will be so missed. and you are so loved. rest peacefully and watch over us from above like you always did while you were here on earth. xoxo

july 2010 - nolan 5 months old

thanksgiving 2011 - nolan 21 months

the lovebirds - february 2013

march 7th, 2013 -

one week before gma passed

restored faith in toddler humanity

as if i hadn't puked enough during this pregnancy, last week (at 33 weeks pregnant with twins) i got the stomach flu. oh good golly. that was rough. i spent about five days puking, feverish, sleeping, generally feeling like poo, dizzy and experiencing all the other digestive goodness that comes along with the stomach flu. gross. i was in the hospital one evening for four bags of IV fluid for dehydration and a shot of something to stop early labor contractions. then it was followed up by a couple of days of the worst heartburn that i think may exist on the planet. all in all, it was really not awesome.

meanwhile, my husband entertained or organized entertainment (thank you to my dad and rog, my mil, our sweet neighbor and a couple servers at sonoma wine garden) for nolan so i could rest. the upside: i got to rest. the downside: nolan doesn't seem to come out of these mom-is-out-of-commission phases very well at all. there is a lot of yelling, screaming, anger, hitting, tantrums, throwing and general discontent. apparently it is rough to be three and have your world (even temporarily) turned upside down. i fear this doesn't bode well for the arrival of two new babies...errr....doh.

for the first couple days of my feeling "better," i still had very low energy and felt generally gross, so though i was "on duty," i was not my normal mommy self. i was tired. i felt dizzy and a little nauseous still and my patience was paper thin. combine that with toddler-hood rearing its ugliest head and things get really nasty, really fast. i will always love my little guy, but man...i did not like him much right then.

and then...there was today.

he was sweet and loving. he gave hugs and kisses. he listened. he helped me unload the groceries from the car and laid down for diaper changes all on his own. he didn't throw anything at me...in fact, he didn't throw anything at all (miracle). he didn't yell or scream. he didn't hit me. it was exactly what i needed. i had been in a rough space and was crying all the time and dreading the arrival of my new bundles for fear of what it would do to him. and just in time, he showed me a glimpse of the sweetness that is within him.  i know that it isn't going to be like this everyday and that we will surely have more rough patches, but today, he restored my faith in toddler humanity...if even just for a minute. thank all that is good.

our one rough patch was at the grocery store when he refused to ride in the cart any longer (which of course had to be the "car" cart that is huge and ridiculous to maneuver around) and wasn't listening when given the chance to walk. half way into our grocery journey, i was hearing, "mommy, up, please," which is really not an option at this point. luckily, i had remembered the ergo (which i haven't worn since i've been pregnant) and managed to finagle him into it on my back. and away we went. over nine pounds of twins (plus all the other weight of two placentas and two amniotic sacs) in the front and nearly 35 pounds of toddler in the back...four bodies walking through the store on two legs. whew. luckily, we made it.

the girls 33 weeks 6 days (combined weights of over 9#)

nolan 3 years and about 35#

my attempt at a full effect pic. :)

finding/using my voice.

32+5...all bebe

as you can see...belly is preeeeeeeettttyyy straight out from the front. haha. (also...pay no mind to the mugshot expression. it had been a long morning) ;)

my sweet baby a (32+5) with the cord covering her face a bit. baby b was camera shy.

wowsa...it has been a long time...august 2012 was my last post. well, a whole lot has happened, but i have no time for updates now. it is suffice to say that the last time i posted, i had no babies in my belly and now i am nearly 33 weeks pregnant with twin little gals.

the first 20 weeks were hell. i was literally walking (on a good day) dead. to the ER for the day once and a five day stay in the hospital a week later. gross. weeks 20-24ish were slightly better. i was finally off my anti-nausea medications, but still pretty out of it. then i felt good for about one month, which was awesome, but short lived. from about 28/29 weeks until now (and i'm sure as we continue) has been rough again in its own way. low energy, uncomfortable, anxious, nauseous at night...yadda, yadda. when i was pregnant with nolan, i was walking a minimum of three miles daily up until the day i went into labor. i can barely walk the 500 yards down the street to the park without contracting. it is a whole different ball game. and not necessarily a fun game at that.

anyway...this pregnancy has been a HUGE lesson in a) figuring out what i need, b) letting go, c) asking for help and most recently, d) using my voice to express my feelings/opinions/desires/wants when it comes to this pregnancy.

seems like a, b, and c are probably pretty self explanatory and to save time and energy, i will just hope to remember them when i re-read this someday and will focus on d: using my voice. namely in regards to the fact that this is my body and these are my babies, thus...i should be a key player in the decisions being made. thank you. the end. ok...not really...i'm much to chatty for that the be the end of the post, just the end of that particular summed up point. now comes the most recent story/ies.

if you know me much at all, you should be able to easily assume that there is no way on the planet that i was going to have a c-section simply because these bubs are two and not one. thus begins my journey of figuring out how to best assist my body and the girls to move into the most ideal positions. a little more than a month ago, i had an ultrasound that showed they had both turned breech (heads up, feet down)...while there are docs that will deliver breech babies, mine isn't one of them (and insurance is king, isn't it? boo). if they stayed breech (in spite of ALL my to-be efforts that range in level of crazy from totally normal to a pretty nuts), i would have pretty much zero option other than a c-section. don't get me wrong, i am very thankful that c-sections exist for situations in which they are 100% indicated. i just don't believe that is or has been the case with me at any points in the past 33 weeks.

lucky for me...and thanks to a lot of talking to the girls, positive thoughts, praying, listenting to hypnobabies affirmations, essentially standing on my head (a la: spinningbabies.com) and help from the most amazing chiropractor ever with the biggest heart i've ever seen (maura, i'm eternally indebted to you for all your hard work and love) they have turned and stayed turned for the last four-ish weeks (if they decide to flip again, i assure you, i'll get much, much wackier than the above to try to turn them)! crisis averted (at least for a time). however, during the time between the breech ultrasound and the head down ultrasound, you best believe in addition to my spinning efforts, i was researching the sh-- out of breech births and trying to figure out what my game plan was gonna be if they didn't turn. i pretty much didn't sleep for three days.

once they turned, i thought..."yes! as long as they stay, i'm home free!". well, possibly not so much. i guess technically i won't know a whole lot more until my next ob appointment next week, but my most recent appointment with him ended with a bit of a confusion looming over it. babes looked great. position still great, but as we wrapped up, i said i had many questions regarding delivering the girls vaginally. he said, "let's talk about that a little later when it is more certain...because i have a lot of opinions".

 uh...ok. i was a little baffled and wasn't sure what to say. it took me a minute to arrange my thoughts and let that sink in and try to figure out what it meant and by that time, he was walking out the door. so as he went i said, "well, i hope they align with my opinions..." and that was that.

commence freakout. what are his opinions? is there something that he isn't "going to let me do" that i want to? am i not going to get the natural, gentle, vaginal birth i want even though the girls are in the right places? i called my go-to girl (thanks, kari), talked to anthony, called my doula, posted the situation on a facebook group that i'm a part of made up of moms of multiples (or expecting mamas of multiples) who have had/want natural births, messaged a lovely midwife friend and researched like a mad woman.

some of the advice i received was the same, some differed a bit, but it was all incredibly useful. one piece of advice that was hard for me to swallow at first because it didn't give me the hard and fast answer that i wanted was this, "maybe this IS how its supposed to go, you know? so that you can really find your voice in this and hear the truth that is moving through you. you are the one who will be giving birth to these ladies and they have chosen you as their mother. you will find your way and they will help you". wowsa. this wise, wise mama could not have been more right.

i was also given advice that helped me get out of my head, into my heart and onto paper. what ended up happening is that through my research and soul searching, i realized that the "questions" that i had for my ob were not questions at all. they are in fact my hard and fast desires for how this delivery will go and now, backed up with research (because that's just how i am), i feel confident that there is no reason that i shouldn't have it MY WAY (obviously unless there are emergency circumstances as things progress...which clearly there will not be). instead of writing out those "questions," i wrote out my birth plan. and i wrote it out with strength, confidence and oodles of conviction. i no longer have to stew over everything for the time between my appointments, i feel so free! i have found my voice, y'all.

and i got to use that voice again today. practice makes perfect, you know. ;) i visited my perinatologist and again, babies look great. they are still in the same "favorable" positions and perfect size. baby a is 4#10 oz and baby b is 4#9 oz, measuring exactly right for their gestational age. i should note, that also means that i have 9oz more baby in me now at just shy of 33 weeks as i did when i delivered nolan at 40 weeks, 1 day (8#10oz)...woah! my belly doesn't feel all squishy at all. i passed my glucose test (weeks ago) with flying colors and i've only gained 21# from my pre-pregnancy weight (after gaining back the 15# i lost in the beginning). but...my amniotic fluid levels were apparently a little higher than ideal, so she recommended that i re-take the glucose test.

now...if you have never been a pregnant mama, you may not know how much of a pain that stupid test is. first, you have to drink this nasty, nasty sugar drink all chuck full of disgusting things that i don't normally want in my body in the first place. then you have to have your blood drawn and then you get to feel like crap all day because of said nasty sugar drink. i was not super pleased about her recommendation, but my first response was, "gee, that sucks. ok. i'll go next door to the ob's office when i leave to get the nasty drink so i can be re-tested at my appointment next week". and i did just that. then i got home, talked to anthony and re-thought all the points that i mentioned above that point to pretty much zero possibility of me having gestational diabetes and decided to call my doc. he called me back a few hours later informing me that he felt that re-taking the test was unnecessary. phew. had i not spoke up, i would have gone through all that yuck for nothing.

i'm feeling my voice getting stronger and stronger. what's next, docs? bring it on...but let me think about things for a minute before i have to make any decisions because i may have to remind myself again to listen to my body, my babies and my heart.

week two of our nw adventure

week two is complete and we have a mere five (now one... belated post completion) days left to pack full of fun. boo. we started our second week a little slow (after daddy left) to recover from a crazy week one.

day 8 (thursday, june 28th):

we got a bit of a lazy late start, but ended up at the library down the street after nolan had asked all night about his "all in a day" and "goodnight, goodnight, construction site" books that we had returned to the library weeks before. the library here is pretty cool. puppets and a mini-theater for putting on puppet shows, a pretty elaborate train set up, books (obviously), stuffed animals, puzzles, a doll house and all kinds of little figurines to play with.

we followed the library with a trip to the pet store on our walk home. so many fun animals and they let you pet them all. sad and fun all at once. nolan LOVED the turtles.

after nap we took a late afternoon trip to the playground for sliding and ball kicking. after typing all that out, it doesn't sound nearly as lazy as i though. ha.

wilsonville library kids area

checking out the birds at the ol' critter cabana

"tur-tle!"

"pet turtle, please" - sure, bug.

day 9 (friday, june 29th):

we headed into canby (where i went to 1st-12th grade) to visit the community park, aka: the canby pond. before we arrived, i had vague memories of girl scout day camp and remembered the canby pond as the place kids where went to smoke during lunch in high school. i wasn't all that amped up about it, but my mom assured me there were ducks to feed, so we gave it a go.

when we arrived, i nearly peed my pants. it is amazing how differently i perceive things now that i'm an adult with a little guy versus being a teenager. or maybe it is how differently i perceive things as a californian rather than an oregonian. that place was freaking awesome! yes, there are ducks and geese and they were great, but it was the rest of the space that i was blown away by. there is a playground, a small baseball field, tons of open space, trees, trees, and more trees and access to the molalla river.

my vague girl scout memories came flooding back in full-color detail. it was incredible. nolan fed the (rather aggressive) ducks and geese, watched a boy and his dad fishing in the pond, played on the playground, ran up and down hills and in between giant trees (fir? coniferous of some sort. ha.), blew bubbles, kicked the ball, picked daisies, walked along the edge of a river, held a little river-living snail, stacked rocks and "skipped" stones (read: chucked them full throttle in the general direction of the river, overjoyed at the fact that i actually told him it was ok to throw rocks).

that night, we went to dinner down the way from my mom's at a new mcmenamins restaurant and one of my besties, caitlin, joined us too! best burger (complete with gluten free bun!) that i've had in a long time. it was called a "communication breakdown burger" - 1/2# of delicious meat topped with onions, mushrooms and peppers and served with a salad dressed with homemade balsamic vinegarette. nolan and i shared it and could have probably shared another.

grandma even got goosed!

i had to pick nolan up shortly after this picture.  :)

merry-go-round!

bubbles!

wondering around in the trees.

holding a little snail

hanging out by the river, playing with the rocks. 

resting on a bench while we waited for our dinner to arrive.  i did a round-off back handspring right after this picture, shocking both nolan and auntie caitlin with my mad skills. haha.

day 10 (saturday, june 30th):

a morning at the farmer's market in lake oswego. so awesome. the first place we spotted was happy campers, a local gluten free bread vendor. freaking incredible.  our stash from the day included: local pork, local honey, local cashew butter, local gf bread and buns and some lovely produce from a farm in canby (where i went to high school and roughly 10 minutes from where i grew up). there was live music and they even have little red radio flyer wagons you could borrow while shopping! what?! we ran into one of my bro's friends from growing up and managed to get into the car and drive away just as the rain started! whew!

when we got home, my dear friend adrienne and her little one, alora, came over to visit. nolan may have fallen in love. :) alora is four months old, a tiny little squirt, has a lot to say and has some of the most beautiful blue eyes i've ever seen. he held her. he kissed her. he rolled around on the floor with her. it was so stinking cute.

a LATE (i mean really late) nap led to an even later evening - dinner and a walk around the neighborhood jumping in puddles left over from a hefty afternoon rain and the exploration of the scoop on a giant tractor, followed by popcorn and part of a mariner's game on tv before a 10pm bedtime. pure madness. but, so much fun too. nolan is a sucker for popcorn and sports on tv.

delicious bread samples from happy camper 

picking out peas. they were so tasty! the farmers even gave nolan a half a pint of blueberries just for being cute! ha! too bad he doesn't like blueberries. doh. 

kissies for alora (not the only time he did this).

holding baby alora. nolan's first baby holding experience. brave auntie adrienne!

rolling around together 

experiencing a piece of portland childhood... and loving it!

measuring up on the fork lift wheel. looking like a little farmer in his wellies!

found a (gross) puddle in the scoop.

that's one big scoop!

it started to sprinkle while we were out... we didn't mind! look at the nolan/gma resemblance!

my mama is so smart. she makes her own microwave popcorn. plain popcorn kernels in a paper bag, folds it up and presses popcorn! takes it out, puts some butter and salt and ta-dah! pretty tricky! i suppose air popped is nearly as easy, but if you don't have an air popper... 

he would do this every night, if i'd let him. popcorn and a ball game (any sport) on tv. his daddy's kid!

day 14 (sunday, july 1st):

after the previous night's bedtime, we decided to lay super low. play dough fun and a trip to the little park around the corner. that sums up the day.

that is a serious mound of play dough!

day 13 (monday, july 2nd):

nolan's first trip on a ferry! on our way to visit auntie caitlin at her parent's house, we went the long way around from wilsonville to canby via ferry over the willamette river. as of late, nolan has not been big on water...at all. while we've been in oregon, he has tried to avoid walking by the pool in the apartment complex at all costs, refused to go in to a fountain (that was filled with littles playing and having so much fun) and has said, "no bath" every single night after dinner. we did have luck near a small river in canby a few days prior, but i wasn't sure how the ferry was going to go over. i imagined it to either be super awesome or the worst plan ever. aaaaaaannnnnd... it was super awesome! yay! it is a tiny ferry and we were the only car on there. :) we got out of the car and looked over the edge while we crossed. snapped a couple pictures, got back in and off we went. apparently pools and 6" deep fountains are terrifying, but a river, a river he's in to. kooky kid. :)

we played ball in the o'connor's beautiful backyard with an incredible riverfront view, got to play with oodles of toys (many that i recognized from my childhood) in their upstairs play area, walked down the street to the molalla state park, picked a turnip out of the field on our way by and searched around for some non-existent ducks to feed, returned to the house and nolan rode a tricycle for the first time!

that afternoon, we headed back down to the huge park surrounded by old growth trees, with baseball and soccer fields, tennis and sand volleyball courts, a skate park (small), a play ground, access to the river and tons and tons of open space. after nearly two weeks of sand-free play, we took nolan over to the sand volleyball court. he was super stoked - felt at home, for sure. haha. we blew bubbles, ate lunch on a picnic table while we watched some little boys play baseball, and nolan ran the bases of an empty diamond and even "pitched"to me from the mound!

driving on. 

crossing the river. 

hello, gnome.

"litte wee!"

admiring the view.

playing with auntie caitlin.

"neigh neigh"

strolling through the field/meadow at molalla state park.

nolan's first tricycle experience.

sand castles! a little piece of home.

running the bases.

day 14 (tuesday, july 3rd):

up and out the door early. drove into town to the portland children's museum. we arrived six minutes after it opened. our most prompt arrival anywhere on the trip to date. it started a little rough, with nolan running chucking a tambourine and drumstick approximately 15 feet before fleeing toward the door saying, "outside, outside, home, home" and then screaming in my ear when i caught him and picked him up. best. start. ever. wait... no. it was a slow warm up after that and definitely not completely free of limit testing, but i suppose that is to be expected with that much stimulation. overall, it was fun-ish. i think. sometimes nolan is a hard kid to read. he is very observant and a bit stand-offish and serious face when he is taking thing in, so i often forget to just let him be and let him explore at his own pace (especially when trying to make it through a whole museum on limited toddler time after paying a good chunk of change for admission...i know... not his problem.).

his favorites: driving the ambulance and the bus, the "market" and cooking area (he made grandma a delicious cheese pizza), the toddler/baby area (imagine that), picking the flowers in the floor (they are supposed to be picked - their stems go in specific little spots in the ground for pulling out and putting in), the truck room (until he started throwng tire chunks across the room) and playing in the water room (after i nearly had to force him into it in the first place). his least favorite: arrival, the dress-up area and the stage (there was no way he was letting me put that cloth knight's armor vest on him), the many areas designed for older ones that he was just too young for, the crocodile getting his teeth cleaned (not real. hehe.) and leaving (when he decided to throw a pretty sizable toy car down the hall of a restricted area when i told him that was not an area he could run into). but, he is still talking about the ambulance, the bus and the water, so i guess he had fun.

mommy lesson learned: let the toddler move at his own pace. worry less about getting through everything and instead let him enjoy the parts that he is enjoying rather than constantly saying, "nolan, look at this" and directing his attention elsewhere. duh.

it looked so promising at this point. ha.

bongos on stage! that tambourine on the floor there is one of the items flung across the room shortly after this picture was taken. 

"10-4. over and out." 

the driver on the bus says, "move on back". 

truck room!

flower picking and re-planting.

grocery shopping.

of all the thing he could choose, he picked out the organic butter. that's my kid. i'm so proud. haha. 

a very serious shopper.

scarves are fun.

sound makers. loved these.

whew. we made it to the water room.
nolan: "what am i wearing?"

day 15 (wednesday, july 4th):

yet another busy, busy day. we started out the morning with a fourth of july parade in lake oswego. i had (incorrectly) mentioned to nolan that there might by horses in the parade. apparently i have forgotten the difference between canby and lake oswego. haha. while he enjoyed the parade, especially the fire trucks and tractors, he was pretty pissed about the lack of horses. we headed home and luckily had a very early nap, allowing us to bust back out the door pretty much as soon as he woke up and made it to the canby parade just in time to miss the only horses that were at the very beginning. ugh. we thought to head to a different part of the route to try and see the beginning again, but didn't make it in time. horsey failure.

we walked over the wait park for general canby day (big fourth of july celebration with vendors, food, music and pretty much the town's entire population. nolan managed to hold his own on an incredibly packed play structure while i held my breath. he climbed things that he doesn't necessarily always climb on his own and went down a type of slide he rarely goes down all with me at least 20 feet away. i was super impressed.

when we arrived home, we loaded up the stroller and went for a walk to the grocery store to pick up a couple of things for dinner and stopped by goodwill (the best goodwill ever) and found nolan a cool little fire truck for $.99 and then enjoyed a lovely dinner out on the patio. we loved the summer sun today.

patiently waiting for the lake oswego parade. 

"hello, wirey ta" - hello, fire truck

"more tractors, please??"

"ohhh!"

my sleepy patriot.

searching and searching for horsies in the canby parade.

hangin' with the big boys at general canby day. i was so impressed with how friendly they were with him. they invited him up to play with them and everything! ha!

"weeeeeeeee"

me and my bug listening to music at wait park in canby.

nolan had his first DQ hot fudge sunday experience. while i'm certain that it contained roughly 100 ingredients that i don't approve of, i couldn't help myself. it is DQ! also... just to be clear. he only had a few VERY small bites (nearly licks) of my small sunday. :)

bug and grandma enjoying a delicious dinner out on the patio. lovely, lovely. slow cooked local bbq pork (cooked in homemade chicken broth and homemade bbq sauce), homemade coleslaw and yams. mmmmmmmm...

well, that sums it up. time is flying so very fast. just shy of one week left (nope... actually only one day. boo). before we know it, we are going to be back in santa monica - glad to see daddy and kitty and be in our own home, but missing grandma and all oregon has to offer. *sigh*