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Friday, November 25, 2011

Balloon!

Wandering around the Alberta Arts District today we stumbled across this huge balloon attached to a store sign. I love this photo and the wonderful day we had while enjoying a rare bit of blue sky.

Cora is on fire with her words, saying more and more every day. She has just started to combine two words together at once which is really adorable. Harlow has started smiling huge, wonderful smiles and cooing and ooing at us. I had forgotten what a great moment that is, when your baby starts expressing joy.

We had a perfect thanksgiving with friends and family here in Portland. We made the decision early on to not travel this year since we have a new born. I am really glad we stayed close to home, our stress level was much lower then it would have been if we were driving or flying with our two tiny kiddos.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Art

Cora experiencing some amazing artwork. Niki McClure show at Land Gallery, Portland.

More soon:)

Monday, November 7, 2011

Autumn And A Rushing River


It's 6:30am, I've been up since 2am. I am sitting by the wood stove, listening to the water boil on top with the tea tree oil I added to it diffusing into the air. We are sick, well, all of us but Scott. A head cold has us holed up and my suppressed immune system means that the Thrush I have been so carefully eradicating has come back with a vengeance. It bums me out so much, because not only does it hurt really bad, it negatively affects my nursing Harlow. At this point I am mostly pumping and bottle feeding her because it hurts too much to have her latch on. A desperate email to my amazing doctor in the wee hours of the morning was already answered and help is only a few hours and a pharmacy trip away.

I am sitting here looking at the fire, looking at my sweet babe who is finally sleeping next to me, and pondering the future. I do try every day to live in the moment, to dwell in the now, and I feel that I do a good job of it. I am thinking about the future this morning because the tides are changing around here and all of the sudden there is a sense of 'movement'. Do you know what I mean by that? There are times in life that no matter how badly we want change, no matter how hard we push for it, the greater picture is pretty set and the change doesn't come. Then there are times in life that no matter how stationary you feel, it's as if life has become a flowing river and you better just hang on and ride the waves. I can not fully explain it, but it feels like for my family, somewhere downriver of us a dam has been cleared and the tug of the water rushing to meet it's new course is pulling us with it and it will only speed up.

It makes sense to me that I would reach for a water metaphor to explain this. Lately I have been dreaming over and over again that I am standing in a river fly fishing, lifting a trout out into the sun. Over and over. It's a good dream.

I have no idea what the next phase holds for us, but I recognise this pausing before leaping over the precipice. Big, good change is in store, we just have to be patient and let it develop.

Back to the day to day flow, life is so very good and full. I am amazed at how much of every moment is spent functioning for these kiddos. Every moment there is something to be doing, sitting down to blog or check email feels like an oasis in the middle of the chaos.

Cora is changing every day, new words and new behavior so rapid that her poor, exhausted parents can hardly keep up. Some of the defiance of the dreaded terrible two's is appearing. She has also entered a phase where she is experimenting with hitting. Back to the bookstore I went and Cora now has a book called "Hands Are Not For Hitting." Hopefully that helps.

Harlow is growing right before our eyes. She turned 6 weeks old yesterday and is wearing 3-6month clothing, and even some of those are tight on her. This coming Thursday we have a doctors appointment and I am looking forward to seeing where she falls on the % scale of weight/height.

Here are a few photos of this fall. We had a great day at an apple festival and I am just now catching up to putting them on here. Cora's favorite food right now is applesauce so this day was great fun for all of us, and we went home and made applesauce.


And because this outfit is so cute, here are some Farmer's Market photos:

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

A Nice Break

In the middle of this hectic, amazing, circus of parenting, Scott got a "surprise" week off of work. Normally this would be terribly stressful but instead it feels like a last minute vacation.

Cora has been struggling with a double ear infection. The nights have been very difficult, meaning Scott and I are getting really broken sleep and Cora is suffering the worst. Harlow and I are still battling thrush so I've been balancing my days between applying echinacea, probiotic, ear drops, Acetomenophen, and other remedies. It's been challenging so having Scott here is fantastic. Four hands makes the work go much faster.

We also are managing to squeeze in some fun. Yesterday we took the girls on a lovely autumn hike around Sauvie Island just outside of Portland. I took a few snapshots with the iPhone. It was such a good day. It felt so very right to be out as a family of four, watching Cora play in the leaves, cuddling Harlow close as she slept.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Coming Up For Air

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I have started this post so very many times in the last few weeks and always get interupted.  Holy cow what a four weeks it has been! Our little Harlow turned one month old at 9:29 this Saturday morning.  I find myself looking at the clock every Saturday around this time and thinking "Hey ____ weeks ago I was in a tub in the middle of this very living room pushing her out of me."  Then I look at the size of her head and think,  "holy god, how did I ever push her out of me!"

This last month has been pretty consistently amazing. Sure there are challenges, the stereo sound of two little gals screaming at me, Cora adjusting to our new addition which has lent itself to her very first double ear infection which then lead to several sleepless nights for us. All of that considered, it has still been an absolutely amazing time. It feels as if Harlow has always been here, that there was never a time when we had only Cora. I was worried about how it would feel to transition to parenting two so this is a lovely and suprising emotion. Speaking of lovely and surprising, I can not get enough of saying 'my kids'. It is similar to when I was first married and saying the words 'my husband' seemed so foreign and exciting. I catch my heart skipping every time I refer to my girls in the plural.

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My recovery is going great, and just like after Cora's birth I am raring to get out into the world and start moving my body. It is so strange to feel all that weight and bulk gone seemingly overnight and I want to leap around and swim laps until I am exhausted. Of course I can do none of that until the firmly set 6 week mark and hopefully my doctor's sign off on my big plans. So for now some walking, stretching, and just delighting in being able to reach my toes is as exciting as it gets.

I am almost done writing the birth stories, both since I have yet to share Cora's. I will say this in the mean time, there is absolutely a link between quick healing/good bonding/lack of post partum depression and a positive, gentle, non-medicated birth. My two very different experiences brought this into sharp focus. Also, hypnobirthing is a pretty fantastic technique.

I am loving our shift into fall weather. Our current home is located in a stand of hardwoods and all day long the leaves are gently raining down around us. We just had a load of firewood delivered and I broke out the soup cookbook and chose a lovely sweet potato and chard number to start us off. I have big plans to start baking bread again and just froze a huge batch of homemade applesauce. We went back to the apple festival today and fetched another 23 pounds of apples to turn into more magical sauce. Cora can not get enough of it so we will see how long it lasts us.

Cora helping by cooking in her kitchen
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Harlow is growing in leaps and bounds. She has already gained almost two pounds, girlfriend likes to breastfeed. We have fought back an early appearance of Thrush which is such a pain in the butt, luckily it is responding quickly to treatment.  So far she is a champ in the sleep department and most days I don't feel too horribly exhausted, I really, really hope it continues this way. Fingers crossed that she continues to be a great sleeper.

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And even though I can not go running a marathon yet, it doesn't mean we haven't gotten out of the house. We have rocked the local apple festival TWICE in two weeks and hit up the pumpkin patch where Cora rode her first pony and I manage to get a nasty bee sting on my right hand. Our pumpkin patch adventures will always be one of my most favorite parenting activities. I love being able to take my kids to the pumpkin patch, ride the hayride and pick out a perfect squash, it's something I always hoped I would be able to do.


Riding the tractor out to the field
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Grandma Pam (Scott's mom) helping us pick a good one
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Cora with Uncle Jeff who was visiting from Missoula
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Our close friends who are a major part of our Portland family
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Self portrait
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My view these days, oh how I love wearing my babies
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And of course, the pony ride

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This rounding into fall and welcoming the new one has me pinned with an understanding of just how quickly our children grow. The photo below is Cora at the pumpkin patch just one year ago. My oh my, what a difference 12 months makes. Bittersweet to see my first babe leaving behind her baby face and forging full speed ahead into little girlhood. Click here to see my post from last October.


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Saturday, October 8, 2011

Two Weeks!

My oh my what a two weeks it has been.

Harlow is shape shifting every day as her face continues to settle into itself and she gains weight steadily. My mom has been visiting with us. She arrived a few days before the birth and has been helping us in every capacity which has been a godsend.  Unfortunately she left this morning and Scott is starting back at work on Monday so now my child balancing skills will really be put to the test.

It is amazing to me how incapacitated I was just two weeks ago and now I am up running around, juggling babies, running errands, making business calls.  Of course I still have quite a ways to go in the healing department, but it is stunning just how resilient the human body is. I also have infinitely more energy now that I am not 9 months pregnant with a big baby. Even with the current sleep deprivation I am functioning at a much higher level then the belly previously allowed.

Harlow's eyes have lightened quickly from the deep inky blue they were at birth.

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Y'ar, behold the pirate eye!

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Now that I feel well enough to leave the house, we've been rockin' the amazing stroller. Thank you again to our friends and family who contributed to the stroller fund, it is going to make life with two little ones so much easier. We eventually chose this stroller, the Britax Be Ready and have been highly pleased with it so far.

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Cora is loving riding in the lower seat, she seems very comfy/cozy down there and can still see enough to keep her entertained.

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Yesterday was my mom's last full day in town and more importantly, her birthday!!!! We surprised her with brunch at her favorite Portland brunch spot, La Petite Provence.  As always, they delivered with a stunning brunch of decadent foods and strong coffee.

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Life balancing these two little people is just starting to get interesting. Cora is such a bundle of energy and constantly wants to be kissing and hugging Harlow. This photo is what I spend about 80% of my day looking at, it's Cora going in for 'the kiss'. So very sweet and hard to manage. A few days ago Harlow was laying on her play mat, Cora was crouched over her going in for the kiss when Harlow had a baby free fall jump moment (Moro Reflex) and punched Cora in the eye.  Cora was very confused and sad about that for a bit, but forgave her sister quickly.  I can see so clearly how wonderful these two are going to be together, how a year from now my home will be filled with the sounds of four feet running everywhere in unison.

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Saturday, October 1, 2011




After a week of falling in love and soul searching,
 may I introduce you to:



Harlow Gloria Calanca




One week ago at this moment we were two hours away from meeting her. One week ago Cora had just left to go to the zoo with family. One week ago at this moment my midwife was sternly telling me to get into the water because I was in transition which had me horribly confused, I could not believe that Cora had just left and it was almost time for me to push. I am making my way around to writing both the girl's birth stories but suffice it to say, Harlow's was just about the exact opposite of Cora's. Standing on the other side of these births I feel like I have experienced much of both ends of the birth spectrum. What a wild ride it has been.

Harlow's middle name is her great-grandmother Gloria's name (Scott's grandmother). Both of our girls are lovingly named after great-grandmothers which feels so very right to us. They will always be blessed with their love and protection.

Now I am going to cuddle this little pumpkin and go have a cup of coffee with my family on a lovely Saturday morning.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Today on Mamalode

Today I am honored to be featured over at the Mamalode blog. For those of you who are not familiar with Mamalode, you are in for a treat. A finer collection of honest prose on parenthood is hard to find. Enjoy!


The wee one is deep in her newborn sleep phase which we are enjoying while it lasts. Perhaps we will get lucky and she will grow to be a great sleeper. Fingers crossed. 

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Looking Back On Life As Three

Remember the maternity photos I mentioned awhile back? Well the edited, complete set arrived a few days after our newest family member. It is a wild sensation looking back on an earlier time in the pregnancy while holding and nursing this person who was, at that time forming in me. This person who we wondered so much about.

As I move further along the journey of parenthood, the act of documenting has become more and more important to me. These photos were taken at 8:30 in the morning, after a night of vicious teething left us all with about four broken hours of sleep. Driving to the park to meet our photographer, our faces puffy and coffee clutched in hand, we were doubting whether Cora would cooperate and whether any photos we loved would come from the session.  As always, I am so glad we did it. It is uniquely special to have this moment in time captured, to look back on us at that exact moment feels outside of time. All of the little details, how I felt at that stage of pregnancy, that Cora would not fit into those shoes one week later, that Scott took us to brunch right after, all rise up with a succinct crispness when I take a glance at these photos.

Working with our favorite photographer felt even more special this time as she has relocated to Montreal since Cora's birth. We were lucky enough to work with her while she was travelling through Portland this summer. Here are a few of my favorites from a long list of amazing photos. Thank you Hollin Brodeur! Please check out her talented portfolio by clicking here.

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And of course I wouldn't dream of finishing a blog post without an update on our new wee one. Three days old and she is thriving, gaining weight steadily and slowly waking up to this world. When Cora was born she was immediately alert and very interactive. Her little sister is taking her time, sleeping lots and only occasionally opening her eyes. We are paying attention as she unfurls and it is bringing us closer to a name decision. It is a lovely, peaceful time getting to know her and adjusting to becoming a family of four.