39 weeks, 3 days...

Hehe. It has started.  The emails, the texts, the calls.  No, no baby yet :)  Maybe I'll do a brief post each night to mitigate the messages...

But it officially feels imminent.  As P explained to E tonight, when we were discussing something we'd like to do before the baby comes, "Papa!  Papa, the baby could be born, anytime.  Tomorrow even!"  And though contractions keep me up part of the night and the FIVE pee breaks a night are helping me to really get used to that constant newborn need to nurse, I'm thinking it may still be a while.  P was a freaking hardboiled egg (ten days late!) and I haven't hit that ohmygod-I-can't-stand- to-be-pregnant-for-another-second feeling yet.  Yet ;)   In fact, other than the fairly regular belly bashing (gauging my girth seems to be outside of my abilities lately:), it all feels much easier.  I know not being sick helps (!) but its also at the point where I've been pregnant for So Long that it finally feels normal :)

But enough baby babble.  The stuff spread all over our kitchen table (above pic) made me smile the other day, so I had to snap a shot.  This is our life.  The child drags in nature at every event.  There were seedpods, a captured bug, a crown of sticky burs, a seashell and a few old cicadas thrown in to explore the mix.  I can't seem to keep up with the collections, so I think we might make a giant project out of it.  Or maybe two.  I have some plans for our rainy winter that I'm kinda excited about...

Meanwhile, the child is growing into a stage of happy helpfulness.  Of course, bursting with baby, this seems like ideal timing.  In fact, he even stated he'd like to do some "chores." We already give him money every month, its something he was interested in a year or so ago and he is still very happily collecting his savings.  (He's saving for a house;)  Then, a few weeks ago, he said he'd like to earn his money.  Tricky, tricky spot...

We told him we were all for him helping - super yay!  But that we weren't super comfy "paying" him to help.  That, to us at least, family just helps family, well, just to help ;)  Much like we give him his share of the family money, just cuz he's part of the family.  No strings attached. I make him breakfast out of love, not duty.  We had a nice chat about it.

At the end of the conversation, he'd decided to get his money in smaller, weekly (rather than monthly) installments and do chores each week.  This Sunday was the end of the first week and when I went to give him his Sunday sum, he reported he was no longer interested.  He'd like to help out just to be helpful ;)  He didn't take the money :)

This actually ties into the table, I swear :)  So, today, as I was fixing our food, he noticed the table was, erm, less than pristine, as he went to set out the silverware and plates (something he independently started doing a few weeks ago).  So he grabbed a rag and our vinegar spray and went to cleaning.  As I sat the food down, he finished up and grinned at me, "Arent' you glad I'm so helpful?"  Lol :))))

His comment reminded me of something he'd said last month as we headed to the grocer.  Something to the extent (oh that I could remember his quote!) of how great of a kid he is.  Apparently, we have no need to worry about his self-esteem at this point :)  But he seems to have it grounded in some sort of spiritual spot too...  As we cuddled to sleep the other night (oh the simple sweetness of the last nights as a family of three!) I kissed him and thanked him for being mine.  "Your welcome,"  he said, "But you should really thank the Universe.  I wasn't in charge of that."  Phew.  Self esteem?  Affirmative.  God complex?  Negative ;)

Crescent Beach

We totally hit the beach jack-pot this weekend!  I was less swollen, the kid was psyched, the picnic cooler was packed and we were ready to roll...

To a dead halt.  We're guessing now it was an accident.  But the highway to the beach came to a stand-still for a bit and we crawled across the countryside.  Not wanting to plant worried seeds in little minds, E and I just exchanged "this does not bode well - holiday weekend" glances.  Then, just like that we were zooming through the mountains...  Phew.

We're (in our limited experience;) used to empty Oregon beaches.  And while it was reassuring that we could easily find a place to park on the July 4th weekend, I dreaded our quiet escape had converted into Coney Island for the summer.  The smaller lot we had planned to visit was full and there were actual other humans mulling about...

So, we picnicked and tried to put together our new plan.  We spied a trail sign for Crescent Beach, warning hikers that it was an advanced trail, muddy and steep.  Hmmm, this seems like just the sort of thing that would send the flip-flopped tourists another direction...  I suggested we do it.  It was only a mile and a half in.  The kid was game.  E reminded me I sometimes have trouble walking these days :)

The scenic overlook.  The big bag?  Almost entirely dedicated to digging toys and water...  The beach beyond the lookout?  Our destination...   P's bag?  BB of course!  With his favorite (real) dog (his imaginary one, Woof-Woof, is always with us...) Poodlena.

 The hike was gorgeous.  It alternated between canopied forest and little meadows with breathtaking views. 

The high cliffs both called to P and made him a wee bit nervous.

(Belly shot, Dina!;)

The child has been hiking on his own two heels really well lately, but this one tuckered him out.  Super Papa carried him some.  And the bag :)  Super stud.

 The final downhill run of switchbacks.  The child sprinted through them.  Here, we passed one family, leaving the beach.  

The Little Man immediately set to collecting, talking to himself and the objects he found.

E planted our stuff behind a rock, ran in the water, and then pointed out his plan.  He thought he spied some tidal pools (P's favorite) just beyond the only other family on the entire beach.   The hike was worth it;)

A lovely waterfall fed a small stream that ran into the ocean.  Tiny fish skirted around our ankles.  P was so alive it was adorable.

The tidal pool promising rocks in the distance, with lighthouse!

Bingo!  

Then we rounded bend after bend, fortunate for the low tides, and found a series of caves.  That connected to one another!  E mentioned the Count of Monte Cristo :)

Examining cave walls.

Checking out starfish and crabs

Playing with the tide and Papa

And finally, it was evening.  Fortunately, the one other family had mentioned a, erm, shortcut.  The hike back would have been pretty arduous, and definitely cut into our beach time, so we were excited to see about this trail that supposedly led straight up to the parking lot.  Well, come to find out, it wasn't really a trail.  This family had basically bushwacked through a protected area to make it down to the beach that morning :)  But it was really too late for us to attempt the other hike and chance getting caught in the dark woods, not to mention that once we'd made it up the super steep, sandy embankment and realized the folly, I had no idea how I'd backtrack back down!  I believe Ethan's exact words, as he hovered behind me as we climbed almost straight up were, "If your mother could see you right now, she'd tar and feather me."

All I could think was how happy I was that the child was so sprightly and I could comfortably let him climb ahead of us.  And the view was unbelievable.  Not to mention how great it felt to feel capable again for the day.  But I didn't stop to take any pictorial evidence, knowing my mother is coming for a visit ;)

P takes it all in before we start our return climb.

We picnicked again, watched some elk walk around and then took off into the sunset, supremely happy.  And listening to, of course, "Train to Barcelona"...    The child, he's nothing if not consistently obsessive ;)

Sand, strawberries and sun

P seems to really love the beach access here.  I mean, he always talked about going to Coney Island back in Brooklyn (and we did go quite a bit), but when push came to shove, he often didn't "feel like it."  I'm not sure what it is here that is making the difference, but he pretty much always feels like it these days.  And after a loooong first trimester of hibernating and a looong, cold Spring, all of this activity is a welcome reprieve!  I just need to do better with remembering to sit down during the day to keep all of this swelling down.  I think I'm a little nervous that learning a new city with a new baby will be overwhelming to me, so I'm trying to get it all figured out in the next two months :)

Sauvie Island is definitely something I want to be able to do, sleep deprived or whatnot.  Its close and lovely and a real afternoon getaway.  P and I hit the organic strawberry U-pick for an afternoon of harvesting last week en route to the beach.

Walking the fields

Down to business

The kid picked a couple pounds of berries.  By the time they made it home that night, I figured they'd probably had a little more rough treatment than most store bought berries ;), so we washed and worked them into a bunch of jam.  Yu-u-um.

But before heading home, we headed around the corner to the beach.  It was the official first day of summer and people were definitely out to celebrate.  We're used to empty Oregon beaches and I was startled to see someone else :)  But it was still a pretty calm scene compared to Coney Island, and the little New Yorker didn't bat an eye.

The water felt amazing 

Silly Mama forgot the sand toys, so the kid busied himself with a plastic sack.  He was really tickled that he could cart water with it.

Then things turned serious and he started his sand collecting.  He had big plans on biggering his crab abode with more sand...

Where we parked, the beach was over a tall embankment... with no stairs down one side.  After climbing up and then sliding down (yah, a lot of people got a good show - look at the idiot pregnant lady sliding down the concrete embankment...) to cart sand to the car a couple times, I told him I was all out.  Last trip.  He decided he better make it a good one. Hohohohoh!  That plastic bag was so full I thought it would burst!  But the kid carried it up the hill, down the stairs and to the car...  Determined :)  He just needed a couple breaks....

He was quite pleased with himself.  In fact, he figures we should go back and get some more :)

Post trip bliss

P has been infinitely pleased with his ever growing beach collection.  It has filled many, many hours.  Then, crab world got a sand boost from another outing we made recently... in fact, there ended up being more sand than the crabs needed, so the child fashioned an indoor sand pit.  Sand play is so self-soothing to P, I don't even mind the extra vacuuming.  He is in both bins multiple times a day - pretty much whenever he isn't working in the yard or playing with the neighbor boys that are finally out of school!

Sick at Six... but with a yard...

I knew from the many moments of coughing and snuffling during the night last night that today might not be the beach day we had originally planned...  Sure enough, he woke up with a wee fever, asking, "I wash my hands, why did I get sick?" :)

And just like that, today sold me on Portland.  In Brooklyn, when he was sick on beautiful days, we always felt a bit trapped inside (even though he wasn't miserable today, as will be obvious from the pics, I'm super adamant about not spreading germs when running warm.  Its often just... well, erm, rude??  I mean, is it really necessary to be out and getting everyone else sick??  Sure, sure, sometimes it is, but typically...  End rant.) .  There, we could see the sun and the warmth and the green, we just couldn't get to it....  Here, things were a bit different...  

A day in the life.  How to be six and sick and happy.

Wake up whenever, move the furniture around to face the fire (even though its not cold...) and cuddle with the cat.

Take some time to smell the collected flowers.

 Do a little light housework. Always more interesting when perched on a washing machine...

But watch out for that curtain...

Decide its time to go outside (because you can.  Because you have a yard).  Maybe catch a bug or two.

Check and see how the spiders are doing with their catching.

Look under all of the stumps for, well, more bugs.

Take a break in the shade on the Sumos (with the bugs) and read a book.

Double check those stumps.  Getting a bit obsessed now.

Realize that the tiny bug box is not appropriate for over 40 pill-bugs and the happy habitat you are trying to arrange.  Search out other options.

Spend time collecting to create the perfect pill-bug habitat in the old fish tank.  Add sphagnum moss for moisture.  Add broken acorns for houses.  Delight when they actually use their houses. 

While the (pissed) cat sits and meows at you.  As you are outside, and she, alas, is not.

Letting the obsession go full throttle now, name your bugs.

Take a break from bug collecting (you've only been doing it for six hours (straight) now) to try flying when the neighbors (pre-warned about head warmness and boogers) come over to play.

Take turns until dinner.  Then go back to bug collecting till bath.  

Finally give up the ghost and go to bed.  Tell mother, as you drift off, that you can still feel the sensation of rollie pollies crawling on your hands...

A few of his favorite things: Food, Fauna and Fire

Its amazing how much a place defines you.  Not that you can't be utterly not of a place, more how much it informs your ideas and options.  And the kid, seriously, has some different options now.  Its going to be fascinating how they inform his opinions...

The changes are already apparent.  He is relishing a freedom that just didn't feel safe to him in NYC.  The neighbor boys invite him to their house and off he zips, without me.   The larger, more friendly grocer has him feeling fine flitting off to find fruit, without me.  And skipping solo down the sidewalk, without oodles of (often grumpy) pedestrians blocking his sight of us, has become a favorite past-time.  And during our last venture to the food carts, he went off with money, ordered his food by himself and brought it back, all triumph, to our picnic table.

But the tip of the top is the yard. Before breakfast, during lunch, while I'm washing or anytime in between, he's in the yard, busy.  Yes, he pops back in with frequency.  Yes, he requests I join him with regularity.  BUT, he happily hops out the back door, multiple times a day, by himself, with complete comfort.  The independence he's been leaning towards, flirting with, for the last few months now has the happy space to flourish.

Which brings us to a new favorite: pill bugs.  He has a bug collecting kit, has built a habitat, and scours the yard for rollie pollies, regularly.  

Fire is another fave (though not a new one:) that is now an option.  Within days of moving here, E and P purchased a fire pit, to satiate the child's burning desires.

Grandpapa gets wafted with smoke...  The kid is slowly learning how to build a nice, non-smoky blaze...

Of course, fire (when blessed with a yard!) comes in so many forms.   My mother (perhaps in a desperate attempt to help us settle a titch more permanently, somewhere??) gave us the most spectacular housewarming present: a grill (hint: don't go back to Brookyn;).  The child had his first grilled steak while staying in Colorado and declared it food for the gods.  She listened, attentively :)  Ethan, though a long time fan of the food, was slightly less enamored with the fire building experience than the child (who, literally, danced and hopped around the poor husband as he tried to figure the thing out:).  I think being darn close to 40 and completely clueless about grilling is a ego-destroying moment for a man (at least one who hales from the wide plains, filled with grilling men).  But, armed with good, grass fed steaks, a book of directions and a book from the library (I wanted to cover our basics;) the guy went from grumpy to grinning when he put the food on the table.  After one bite, he declared weekly grill nights a must :)  This, something not possible with a fire escape, is also a current fave of the child: the grass fed grilled cow dinner.

And, lest smaller fires be left from the list of faves, the magnifying glass that came with the bug box has done much more than merely morph bugs.  The child cooed with happiness, while curled on the couch in the sunny window, when he realized he could burn said couch with his new little looking glass.  The complete innocence of six cracked me up. There I am, cracking eggs, when the child whoops with joy, "Mama!  I can burn a spot on the couch with this magnifying glass and the sun!"  Erm, child, can you please use a piece of FREAKING PAPER instead???  Oh, sure, sure, he says, you can't really see the dark spot...  (Um, yah, Mom, this is why we went with another thrift store find ;)  Yeesh...

Said paper, with bigger holes ;)  We spent hours outside burning stuff....

But its not all just fire for favorites here.  Fauna figure in too.  Flowers, specifically.  The child brings in bouquets regularly.  And we don't leave home without a collecting bag.   Like I said, the yards here (at least so far in the spring) are unbelievable.  This tree, is P's current favorite spot.

But even the flowers at the grocer wow him.  The options are far beyond those we're used to.  These "beehive" flowers really tickled him.

And then, of course, there is food.  Though he's still wild about tomatoes, he's found a few new faves here.  And he absolutely luuuuuuvs his snacks served in a "snack tray."  Hand him one of these and he acts like you've just carried him across the Sahara on your nose.

The obvious, tomatoes.  Finally seasonal peaches and strawberries (duh) and a local cheese from the factory we visited last summer (Tillamook).  He's also fallen in love with these local jalopeno stuffed olives (!) and fermented pickles.

But his (and our) reeeeeal new love is: Portland Food Carts.  They, quite simply, rock.  In a city truly devoted to indie businesses and low start-up costs, food carts pop up in "pods" everywhere.  There is one a few blocks from us.  Organic or vegan, local beef, handmade candies, locally brewed beer, wood fired pizza or the best line caught salmon burger we've ever had, the stuff is pretty yummy.  And cheap.  And each of us can get whatever the heck we want.  Then come together under a white tent, lit with strings of lights and chill at a totally relaxed picnic table.  It seems the vendors are really aware of how much trash their product produces, so there's no styrofoam carry-out containers or any of that bullshit.  We brought our Klean Kanteens and had a ball.  The kids all kind of flit about the space (one "pod" even had a tiny merry-go-round ride) and eat with their fingers.  This weekend, when I asked the boys what they wanted for breakfast, P skipped his usual request of saucy eggs and chanted "Food Carts!"

I'm sure the handmade, local passion fruit sorbet had nothing to do with that ;)

 Another favorite new to Oregon: Sunsets.  The sky here (though this may not be true in the winter;) is glorious in the Spring.  The cloud formations are stunning and the sun shining through them thrills us.  We were playing in the backyard tonight around 8:30 when we noticed the sun glinting off the side of the house and the clouds.  P was pumped.  I thought it might be nice to be a bit higher.... so why don't we pop up to Mount Tabor and watch the sunset?  A few minutes later, we stood, overlooking the city and the sun sending out colors.

  The drive home was peppered with the chatter of his last new favorite thing:  imagining what to name his sister :)  He loves thinking up names.  Fortunately, he's decided he will have a separate name from ours (phew), his very own special name.  The current fave for that: Lulabelle Rose :)