Announcing....

Baby G

(George-Ephraim Blake Perlingieri)
born April 27th, 2008
2:23 AM
7 pounds, 9 ounces!!!!
active labor: about 7 hours

After I posted, Blake got home around 7 and sure enough things picked up to 4 minutes apart and they got much more intense.

8:30pm: the girls head to bed but we assure them that they will be woken up when the baby comes...
and by 11pm my smile has turned to this:

and then, after 2 hour in the bath, to this:

But by half past 2, the smile is back....because Baby G is here!!!

As promised, the girls were woken just in time thanks to our quick across the street support, Breana. Mayan was enthralled by the while process but Isadore upon hearing the news of her brother, smiled and headed right back to bed.

Blake holds his son:

...and stays by his side while the 'wives check him out:

After some sleep, we reconvene as family and a clear-headed Isadore comes to see whats up:

I think she approves!

Here is our boy!! Yes, I believe his utter cuteness fits right in...

Little boy blue:

He has the Lou lips...and look at that hair!

Oh, smootchy smootchable!

just another reason why having your baby at home rules--breakfast with the fam in bed while watching some videos. no interuptions, no hospital food, and the comfiest bed ever...

uh-oh..i am IN LOVE

George-Ephraim translates to "fruitful earthworker"...George is the name of Blake's dad and Grandpa. (we are still working out the spelling of Ephraim which is pronounced EF-rem)

Look at what we made!!!! And we had him at home!!!!

(Birth junkies/MDC mama's: I will post the real details of the birth on the thread when me and the thread are back in action)

could it be today?

i woke up around 9am to some strange new contractions that felt at first crampy, then like they were grabbing at my cervix. i laid there and waited....sure enough another rolled around....could it be? i was happy that my reaction was not that of "oh, craaaaaap" but more of excitement...nervousness, really, but i wrangled it into excitement as soon as it occurred to me that i might "scare off" the contractions that i have have really been hoping for. not that i am excited to be in labor...but i don't want to go too long and start having more worries that maybe something is wrong with me, blah blah blah, and i am anxious to meet our new baby.

so i stayed side-lying for a good 45 minutes, and i had one about every 7 minutes. some were intense, others petered out before they got big. none lasted for very long, maybe 20-30 seconds. blake brought me breakfast in bed (not unusual) but i didn't say a peep, again didn't want to syke myself out. i ate my scrambled eggs and ham with toast...they still kept coming. so i finally got up and peed and had another good sign that these contractions were doing something significant: lots of mucus. i headed downstairs with a silly, nervous grin on my face, and met the family out back where the sun was shining (finally)--blake was in great spirits and exclaimed "isn't this the perfect day?!" they had already started weeding the lavendar bed. i just grinned and said "yes...it is a perfect day....maybe to have a baby?" i told him what i was feleing but we both played it super cool. we're professionals, we know when to get excited and when to ride it out. we headed to breanas to borrow her lawn trimmer, and i let her in on the haps, still playing it cool but of course she was all excited. we told her that blake was still headed to work-as-usual and she said she'd run her errands quickly then come back just to be at my disposal.

i went on as usual as well--sitting at the computer slowed things down, going outside and weeding felt good, but also my hands were really tight and puffy and it made that task difficult. i sat on the pot for a while and there was lots of bloody mucus--i knew my cervix was doing something good! i decided to call the wives just to let them know where i was at. wondered if they wanted to come and take my blood pressure since my hands were so puffy and i'd had slightly elevated bp last visit. but the oh-so-calm beth assured me that it had just been a little high for me, and i'd had no protein in my urine or any other signs of concern this whole time--the puffiness for me is not worrisome. keep about my normal routine and call if there were changes. can do! i took a nice shower and had a snack of cottage cheese and canned pears, my new favorite snack. so white trash, i know...


breana came home and the girls went to hang there for the afternoon while i rested--by rested i mean i ate cookies and drank milk and watched a few episodes of "what not to wear." by 4, i realized i had not had a real lunch and brought a chicken, bacon, avocado and lettece sandwich across the street while the kids rode bikes. breana began photo-documenting what i know she believes to be a "birthday"--what a dork! (heeeeheeehhee, i love you, dork!)

its 6 now and i am back home, waiting for blake to get home. i really want our family put back together! tomorrow is the start of our weekend and i am curious to see if things pick up when he gets home. oh, here comes another one....forgot to time it since the last...maybe another 7 minutes....open mouth, deep breath...wowser......okay it passed.

Happy 1-year-in-Portland Anniversary to us!

Today, April 20th, we celebrate this one year anniversary of our move to Portland. Last year, we woke up bright and early in Bend, Oregon and Blake jumped in our moving van (packed to the gills) while I followed in our Suburban (also packed to the gills) and we headed over that pass the last time as mere visitors and arrived in Portland to our new home! Here is us the first night:
These are some of the things we've accomplished so far....we've gone from this:
....to this:

and this:
...to this:
another before:
....and after:
my favorite before:
.....after!
finally a playroom before:
..and after:
During our year here, we spent a lot of time here:
....doing a lot of this:
which, for Blake, looked more like this:
...and to the girls, like this:

We romped around downtown Portland enjoying the art and culture:

And all the while, in our beautiful backyard...
...our garden grew:
...as well as our business:

...and also our TRIBE:

Fertile soil here, I tell ya....
Already this place feels undeniably like HOME...
So, if you don't mind, Portland, I think the Nomad family may stay for a loooooong while....

step right up, ladies and gents!

time to wager your guesses: this is definitley the biggest i've ever carried...so, care to guess the baby's weight?? (at time of birth of course, and who knows when that will be....)

(hint: Mayan was 5 lb 13 oz at 42 1/2 weeks; and Isadore was 4 lb 6 oz at 35 1/2 weeks....Wednesday I will be 39 weeks)

(just in case you forgot the face that goes with this belly:P)

so sad, no boat

thursday, blake got up early to meet the surveyer who would inspect the boat that we were hoping to buy.

just a little background first on WHY we are looking for a new boat, especially since the Flicka is by far blake's dream boat and gift to himself when he turned 40. we LOVE LOVE LOVE the Flicka for sure; its a "salty" boat with tons of character and built like a ship for its humble dimensions. there are only 434 flickas in the world and we have had the time of our lives (as Mayan would say) on ours. BUT it's tiny. for a boat its size, yes, its amazing to have headroom and a kitchen (a "galley"), but it doesn't have a bathroom (a "head".) so a few weeks ago, while on what was supposed to a sleepover for blake and mayan, it was discovered that the potty we usually bring was at home and mayan had to take a poop in a cereal bowl--this lead to a big realization for blake: our boat is not big enough for our growing family. blake and mayan have spent countless hours on the flicka--scrubbing, fixing, puttering, and down-right loving on this tiny beauty. our summer sails on the columbia were memorable and we even got to include some family and friends.

but going out on the water and not having a place to go pee is a pain. knowing that we can only take out a few extra passengers at a time is lame. we want to take out some families with children. we want our own family to have a sleepover and be comfortable. i want to make a grilled cheese sandwich with some elbow room when we come in from a blustery sail.

so blake started looking and soon found a Pearson 365--36' feet (the flicka was 20') with an actual bedroom (captains quarters), and head (with toilet, sink, and a stand-up shower), a bunk for the girls, a clean and spacious galley, a navigation station, and all sorts of storage space to hide the clutter! she is a beauty! and the price was really really great--affordable for us as long as we sold the flicka. we pondered, we visited it a few times, we talked....then we offered. and the owners accepted. just like buying a home, it was contingient on a marine survey and a test sail. you all saw the test sail pictures from last sunday--it was epic.

so back to this thursday....blake met Larry at the docks. Larry had already been at the boat and had seen something that made him say "there is something i need to show you before we continue with the survey..."--a detailed inspection of the rigging (the cables and metal apparatus that the sails attach to) revealed significant damage to the spreaders and upper mast. the mast, the gigantic main pole that is the center of the whole sailing process, had a major "smootch" in it. the analogy here to explain why this is so so bad, is this: imagine an aluminum can...in perfect shape it could hold person's weight if they were to stand on top of it. but one small dent in the side and the can would be crushed by that same person. dent in mast=not good. the estimated value to replace the mast and rigging would be half the value of the boat.

here is where we curse and kick and shake fists at the sky. damn, we were really falling for that boat. even the surveyer was super bummed for us, he agreed that is was a sweet boat, and a sweet deal...but this is a deal breaker. he believes the damage was most likey caused by someone (the dumb owners) hitting a bridge.

*big huge fat sighs*


we're rolling with it though. we're going to wait for the flicka to sell then start shopping when the weather is looking up. looking is always fun--hey, it's blake and mine's favorite passions combined: sailing and shopping!

Dorothy goes punk/38 weeks

Isadore accompanied me to the hair salon yesterday where our friend Traci hooked her up with some magenta. I think she should start a band called Dorothy Effin' Gale and the Totos.

38 weeks today. But who's counting?

just another oh-you-know-i-could-have-a-baby-any-second sundays....

Blake and Mayan got up early to test sail a boat that we have put an offer in on. It's 36 footer, which is the biggest boat Blake has ever sailed. They came back so HIGH from their adventure, it was adorable.

Mayan is a total natural on the boat and in the water. She scrubs decks without a peep and ties knots and just soaks up all the knowledge Blake shares with her about sailing. See how in this picture the boat is leaning really far to one side...that is called "heeling. " True sailers get all excited when you get the side rail to touch the water. Mama NO LIKEY heeling. But look at MG...totally into it. Oy vey, this is Blake's child.....

I spend most of the day in the tub soaking my poor achin' hips, and chatting ont he phone with my sister while Isadore watched the Wizard of Oz (dressed up as Dorothy and clutching her Toto stuffed dog, no less.) When Blake and Mayan got home I fed them then swooped the girls off to see a real professional puppet show of their fave book "StellaLuna" at the Winningstad theatre in downtown Portland. I love living in the city.....

Finally evening....what is the one thing that can get between a man and his Star Trek? A pregnany belly! Don't I look freaked out? That is because I AM! I will be 38 weeks on Wednesday and today I woke up to the feeling like someone had kicked me in the crotch and my pelvic bone was bruised. This proably means the baby has dropped a bit which it looks and feels like. And, oh yeah, if it wasn't for me seeing this picture I would not even know that I have stain on my sweatpants b/c I can't actually SEE my sweatpants.




A few people have asked me why I have not blogged about my blessing. Well, I guess for a few reasons--one being that is was overwhelmingly sweet and it spend days spinning on the wonderfully kind things that were said to me--blogging it wasn't really on my mind. The other reason is that, it was very, very special and intimate. To me a blessing is not merely a party. It was carefully thought out and planned by my best friend Breana, who took great care to make it something that reflected ME, and my wishes. There were parts that were very ceremonial and healing, and really can only be known by those that attended. One of my favorite parts was when we threw our fears in to the fire....one at a time, gathering up our biggest fear and tossing some lavendar into a flame to help let go. I loved this part b/c it wasnt just about me, it was a chance for everyone there to have some healing. And it wasn't as woo-woo as it sounds, really. It's as natural as any room full of compassionate women being present and being open would create for themselves. The most mind-blowing part for me was just hearing what others had to say about me and what characteristics had drawn them to me. Talk about a confidence booster just when you need it the most! I seriously needed a reminder that I AM strong, I do have things to offer the world, I do bring beauty and light, and I will bring all of that into my birth and into my new child's life. How did I forget all of that and let so much fear and doubt in?

Here are a few shots from that day. Our sacred circle in our amazing living room which was the perfect setting:
Me, in my cute new dress, sorting through some gifts sent by Chemynne:

I was so happy to have my parent risk the crappy weather conditions, and embrace a sense of adventure to join me and my family for this event. It really made the day extra wonderful! A picture with the grandkids:

Amy and I due the same time, feeling each other's bellys...Baby Max has the hiccups:
Thank you for who came and filled me up with all of your warmth and love. Those of you who could not attend were very much missed! Breana, you have gone above and beyond for me and I love you!