Sacrifice

Today as I finished yoga, lying on the floor in relaxation pose, I almost fell asleep. I always come close to falling asleep. This time, though, I had this crazy flash back to child birth. My birthing instructor had us end every class with relaxation techniques that were to enable us to get through the pain of the contractions. She had told us that moms from her previous classes were even able to fall asleep between contractions right up the birth. I found this absurd. However when it came down to it, as I was 9 cm dilated with Fiona, sitting in a bath tub of warm water I was able to push myself in to fairly deep levels of relaxation. I never came close to sleeping, at least that I remember. I actually asked if it was too late for an epidural which wasn't really a rhetorical question. But the next morning, the nurse that was with me came in and told me that she had never seen anyone look so relaxed and peaceful while giving birth. I took it as a compliment and in turn said "well, I am glad I got to experience it but next time I am getting an epidural." I didn't really mean it. I was more than happy to feel birth. The 40 weeks of pregnancy were way more difficult for me. All good things come with a price tag. Whether it means sacrificing your body, pain, pride, whatever. The end result is all that matters.

My Rack and My New Rack

So it is self-proclaimed "love your bike day" at my house. My day has consisted of giving only the best to my sweet little KHS. Don't tell it I would rather have a Clever Cycles Bakfiet.....it would crush her precious little soul. I digress. Anyhow, my day started off, picking up my newly tuned baby from Veloce bike shop on Hawthorne at 10:00 am. From there, I rode towards Mall 205, for maybe half a mile, until I realized "shit, no lock." at which point I turned around and headed back to my house to grab the bike lock from the Burley. I proceeded to backtrack again, toward my original destination of Mall 205. I always say that I can ride anywhere I need to go with exception to Target and Home Depot, so today I decided to put this theory to the test. I was in desperate need of some peg board accessories from HD and big girl panties from Target, not for me, duh! I hate panties. Digressing again.....So I figured small enough items to carry, no lumber involved...I am taking the bike. I hit Target first, loading up on big girl panties, a sippie cup, a conductors hat and train whistle for Fi and a hat for myself (total sucker for hats!) Then I almost managed to get to HD without stopping when Performance Bike shop sucked me in. I ended up leaving with some new tires, but they were half off and she needed them so she could go faster , faster, faster. Luckily I managed to get in and out of Home Depot without any excessive purchases, partly in fact that I had no more room to cram things and was already wearing a pair of tires over my shoulder. I got back home, put on my new tires and became obsessed with buying a new basket, so I hopped back on my bike and headed toward downtown. I stopped in to City Bikes where they trued my rear tire. I am sure it was not due to an operational error...and they gave me the bad news. No front basket, at least not the any of ones I was looking at, would work with my shocks, so I settled on a new rack which will soon enough have a pannier attached to it, unless I get too lazy and bungy a milk crate to it so that I can ride like Leon. Needless to say, my bike got some super extra special lovin' today and I never heard it complain once. And how gay am I hitting three bike shops in a day all while wearing this shirt?

Sushi, anyone?

Fiona is the only toddler I know who eats sushi which says a lot considering I know some toddlers with pretty adventurous palates. Actually, this is the first time she has eaten the sushi with the nori wrap. I usually make her a roll with rice paper, instead. She ate two pieces, some sticky rice, grapes and a bowl full of edamame (as usual.) She was even able to use her beginner chopsticks to some degree, shown in the middle pic...pretty impressive, well at least this mama thinks so.

My beautiful butterfly

Lately, when Fiona goes down for nap, I tell her to dream about puppies, pears, cookies, being happy and anything else I can think to tell her in sign language. Then I tell her I love her. She really enjoys signing, even though we haven't done much of it in a long time. We took a baby sign class when she was 6 months old but all she really ever wanted to sign was "puppy" and "more" so eventually we just stopped doing it all together. I am trying to find our sign sheets so that I can add some new things to the dream list. Of course, my office is a constant pit so that could take weeks. I love seeing her do the sign for "happy." And today, when I put her down and told her I loved her, she signed back and then put her arms up like she wanted a hug. When I leaned down to her, she grabbed my neck and whispered in my ear "berry much!" There is nothing like that! She is pretty darn amazing.

Waterfront Park

Oregon Zoo