There's No Competition...

Ok, Ok, I know I keep saying this, but this

guy is the absolute cutest around! All you

other dudes can just step aside....

Crafting for Baby Norton

Cousin JN and her husband BN are expecting a baby in April! This is their first, and it is predicted to be a little boy! So I decided to take this opportunity to do some baby crafting...



I started with a white onesie and some little green pants. I crafted some little guitars, and sewed them onto colorfully striped circles cut from fabric.



I sewed one circle onto the front of the onesie, and the other to the little butt of the pants.




Lastly, I embroidered a hand cut guitar arm with the name "Norton," and sewed it onto the left pant leg. He'll be a stylin' little guy out in Knoxville!

NICU: Behind The Scenes

I work in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and when I tell people that it seems like they either have no idea what that is, or they think it is a baby nursery. So I am putting up some pictures and an explaination for those of you who are interested.

First of all it is an intensive care unit, so if you think of an adult ICU you can get a general idea of how serious these patients' conditions are. The next thing you should know is that most of my patients are EXTREMELY premature. A full term infant is born between 38 and 40 weeks... I take care of kids who are only 24 weeks gestation at birth. That means they were born when their mom was just under 6 months pregnant. Not cool. The majority have to be revived at birth and immediately put on ventilators. No part of their little bodies (usually just over 1 pound) is ready to support life yet. So there are machines breathing for them, they have central lines surgically placed to provide artificial nutrition, and we are pumping them full of drugs to keep their hearts going and blood pressure strong enough to perfuse their bodies. Often we have them under phototherapy lights to keep jaundice under control.

Some common complications that we work around the clock to prevent are blindness, brain bleeds, tissue death in their intestines, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, sepsis (blood infections), bacterial meningitis, apnea (they stop breathing constantly), dangerously low heart rates, and hearing loss. We usually end up keeping these kids on the unit until they reach what would have been their due dates.

These babies are covered in lines, tubes, and monitoring wires. As a nurse, my job is to assess them through the night and look for the slightest change that might indicate something is going haywire. I am constantly running and changing IV fluids and drugs, inserting nasogastric tubes for feedings, adjusting oxygen levels and pressures, inserting IVs, drawing blood for labs, checking capillary blood glucose levels, mixing and calculating formula prescriptions, physically assessing their little bodies, stablizing temperatures, changing miniature diapers, and interpreting all the subtle clues these guys reveal. Not to mention educating and coaching totally stressed out or uninformed parents, and interpreting for Spanish speaking families! It's pretty intense, but I LOVE my job!

Winter Hiking

[AH, MW, and NK]

In late January a small group of friends and I went to Sauvie Island to do a little hiking. We ended up walking down the beach because the path through the woods was super muddy, and I was the only one wearing hiking boots...


[AH, MW, NK, and I looking like we are on some sort of mooncraft]


[Me and MW with some wreckage]
We found some weird wreckage along the shore. And NK found a bright green frog.



Saleh came along and enjoyed getting in the water. She hadn't had the opportunity since last summer! She even got overly ambitious and went for an enormous branch that was thrown into the water for her!



After our hike we stopped at the local cafe for hot chocolates and chili dogs. Delish!

Happy Birthday Cousin D!

[Cousins J, D, and T]

Cousin D came back to Portland in January for her birthday. She has been a busy woman out in New York City for a couple of years now, so it has been a long time since I've seen her!

We celebrated her B-Day at Uncle T and Aunt A's home. We had a delicious dinner, and fabulous tea cake that the Crafting Cousin J made. Yumm!

[What's for dinner?]

[Sweet Melon Head!]

Baby MC had a good time with his Aunt D, lots of playing and helping unwrap her gifts!

Christmas 2008

[Cousin K's friend V, Cousin K, Cousin M, me, and Brother S]

Christmas 2008 was fun and interesting! Poor Brother S got stranded in Denver overnight due to the region's snow cover (he was flying in from Chicago). Luckily, I found him a flight to Seattle the next day, so he didn't have to stay there through Christmas Day like his fellow passengers. He and Mom came down to Portland a couple of days later, through the snow and all! They slip slided down I-5 just in time for Christmas.

[Mom with her hand stamped gift]

[L: The infamous "Sham-Wow" R: Me and Saleh]
Christmas Eve was spent having a delicious dinner with KM's side of the family, and then we did some gifting at Dad's house. Christmas morning and day took place at my house, where we had a cute little tree with lights, and a fabulous holiday feast!

[L: Dad gathering beers R: Brother C, me, Brother S, and Dad]

[L: Cousin M and Cousin N R: Cousin E and Dad clowning]

[Cute litte teapot]
This year I crafted a lot of gifts for people. Dad and KM received a set of 8 reversable napkins with little gnomes embroidered on them - each one unique! KM's family members each got little felt bird ornaments with their first initial sewn into the wing. Mom got a quilted farm pillow embellished with little garden tool charms. Brother S was gifted a set of dark blue pillow cases embroidered with a series of 8 evolving Chicago Cubs logos. Brother C was given a pair of fingerless gloves for running (he is a cross country runner). Baby MC received a set of moody softie foods for his "kitchen."