Motherhood

One of the amazing things about Motherhood, is that everyone encounters hardships and everyone encounters blessings---and while those individual experiences are seldom identical, there is a strength knowing that, collectively, we have overcome and achieved so much.  

If you had asked me back in August what I thought our growing family would be like, I would have never anticipated the turn our lives took on February 20th.  As many of you know, the last few months of my pregnancy were difficult as we faced the news that our baby, K2, was going to be born with a missing radius bone in one arm.  That flaw in itself was not our primary concern, but the spectrum of associated complications that can occur alongside a limb deformity are vast, and many with very serious consequences.  Needless to say, it has not been an easy path.  Fortunately, the ensuing tests have been able to rule out common chromosomal anomalies.  There will be much excitement at the time of delivery because only then will the remainder of our questions be able to start being answered.  It is with great anticipation that we await the arrival of our newest family member.

And that day is TOMORROW!

Jonah is looking forward to being a big brother.  He told me yesterday that "When the baby comes out, I'm going to take the baby for a bike ride."  This baby will be going on a lot of adventures.  We can't wait to learn all about it and love it for being the unique individual it will be.  

Thank you for all the support, prayers, and well wishes....I plan to take a mini blogging break while  our family of FOUR gets acquainted!  I have a few posts from recent trips that are scheduled to come online in the interim.

xoxo

Spring Shearing

Baa-baa!

Today we got invited up to Underwood to see the lambs and watch the Mamas get their annual haircut.

From a perch atop hay bales in the barn, we watched as the herd got shorn, one by one, by a Basque farmer who came out from Hermiston for the day.

  

The babies were in the pen next door waiting for their mothers and making quite an entertaining racket.

These little lambs are 2 months old, and already as big as Jonah!

The shearing could not have been more perfectly timed...it's supposed to be in the 80's tomorrow!

The animals seemed to be a little extra frisky in the warm sun.

Jonah got to shepherd the sheep to their pasture.  The variety and intensity of green in springtime is so stunning.

Guess who wants a sheep now?

xoxo

Egg Hunt

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.  Here are a few pictures from our visit to Portland where we shared the Easter holiday with Dave and Steph.

"I Spy" is one of Jonah's favorite games, so hunting for eggs was a huge highlight.

We enjoyed lots of yummy food...including these pickled eggs that Steph made, local ham, and fresh rhubarb pie.  mmmmmm.

Happy Easter!

Train Trip

Yesterday Jonah and I decided to go on a transportation adventure.  

We bought tickets to take Amtrak from our local station to Portland.  Here we are waiting for our ride.

Jonah is crazy about trains...we see them all the time from home, but his interest has never waned. 

Jonah's first Train Trip.  He was very excited!

I took these photos with my phone, so they aren't the best quality, but I think they capture his general state of wonder and enthusiasm.

We got to travel though 7 tunnels....that was another highlight.

Jonah was super happy all day.  What a cutie!

Here we are in Vancouver crossing over I-5.

 Jonah kept asking "Who's drivin'?  Who's drivin' us?  Where's the engineer?"  So after we disembarked, we took a good look at the engines.

The forecast was for rain showers, so we decided to take the bus to OMSI for some indoor play.

There's so much to do at OMSI, but the water, sand, ball popper, and computer coloring are Jonah's favorites.

Baby delight!

Jonah loves coming to OMSI.

We played for a while, had a delicious meal at Theory, and then caught the bus back to the train station.

Here we are on the bus.  This is the first time that Jonah has ever skipped a nap.  

He started to get really silly. 

Getting goofier.

We tried to make the train trip home a bit more mellow, so we spent a bunch of time reading and looking at the rain and sunlight out the window.

 Jonah took this photo.

With a slice of rainbow and home in sight, we got ready to say goodbye to the Amtrak.

We had a lovely and memorable outing.