Forest Park

Baby Calf

We live near by a free park that has a petting zoo and sprinkler park in the summer. Luke loves this place. Who wouldn't? On this trip, my mom, Jordan, Alan, Luke and Marie explored the area (I was working :(

Luke and his sheep friend

Luke thought the sheep was playing "get me"

Nana and Luke with a bunny

Luke kissing the bunny

Alan put together these photos of Luke in action. If you can't tell, he's shouting "RUN!!"

Walking on the benches

At the sprinkler area, shouting and running.

Marie was dancing

Waiting for the water to pop up

Posing in front of the mosaic wall.

Aliya's 3rd Birthday

The Birthday Girl!

July 20th was Aliya's 3rd Birthday! Tracy put together a fun pirate theme party with a pirate ship pinata, treasure hunt, and pirate costumes (eye patches, tattoos). She and Craig are now renting my mom's house in Forks. And my mom is staying (or will be soon) in the apartment upstairs on weekdays since she is still working in Forks. She'll be commuting until her contract is up. On a side note, July 26th was Tracy ad Craig 's one year wedding anniversary! Congrats you two!

Craig manning the grill

The awesome pinata

Marie was up visiting for part of the summer. She nailed the pinata.

Luke's first time hitting a pinata. He tried one handed but that didn't quite work out for him.

The grand kids (minus Russ)

On the treasure hunt, complete with maps.

Hmm... which way?

Yay! The treasure!

Candy!

My tough guy tattoo and bandanna

Aliya on the swing set in her cute pirate outfit.

Luke flying the airplane

Aliya was showing me her loot!

Even more unsure

So... I am getting very excited about the idea of being a Midwife but I haven't made any decisions. The Seattle Midwife program has recently changed to a 3 year Bachelors to Masters program (!!!!). Which would be give me a Masters in Science of Midwifery and then I could test with the state to get my Midwife License (not a lay midwife, they aren't licensed). It's an intense program that goes year round and would not allow me to work since so much of my training would be at live births (read: unpredictable times and long hours). Here's a link to the program:
http://www.seattlemidwifery.org/midwifery-education/two-degree-opt.html

But the super bad news: it's expensive! $25,000 a year! Even with financial aid we would have to get a substantial amount in student loans. Is it worth it to go in debt for a degree? If so, how much? Plus, once I get the degree who knows how long it would take me start making some good money.

The other option is to become a Nurse-Midwife, which is also a Masters degree. There is a program at The University of Washington but it would take longer and is very hard to get into. Nurse-Midwives practice mostly in hospitals, Licensed midwives practice in birth centers and home births. There would be more funding available for a nurse-midwife program and I would already have my RN and could potentially work. Blahhh I'm rambling now. Still very unsure.

Directions please

As I get closer to applying to nursing school I feel pulled in another direction. I have been thinking about this for some time, but being a focused person I have refused to indulge the idea of changing my mind. Through my own experience, extensive research, and encounters with the culture I have been considering becoming a Midwife. Not completely different than a Nurse, but overall different philosophies on the medical field and what should be apart of routine care and what shouldn't. I am very passionate about providing birth choices for women.

I haven't decided. If I went into nursing I would not want to work in Labor and Delivery, the hospital policies and skyrocketing c-section rates drive me crazy. Either way, it's still an Associates degree and about the same amount of time to complete. I think both would be very rewarding. Nursing would allow me to work less for more money. As a Midwife, I would run my own business. I'm probably romanticizing the idea of being a Midwife a little bit. The reality is long hours and a practice that could take years to develop. Plus, my mom is a little skeptical of midwives... especially when they birth outside of hospitals. Maybe that's why I want to do it! She'll be thrilled when I tell her that our next baby will be born at home ;)

I don't know... I'm a little lost.

4th of July

A view of the reservation across the bay. I think we'll watch from there next year. It was blowing up!

For the 4th we went to a park that looks over the bay in Everett. We thought we'd have a great view but it turns out that we were pretty far away, oh well. And it was super cold for July. Luke didn't seem to notice. He just wanted to run and meet everyone's dog that was at the park.

It was a pretty view of the sunset.

For the moment I had bribed Luke with popcorn to stay on the blanket.

That's as big as they got. To the left and the right you can see the two drunk guys that sat down in front of us (still drinking of coarse) and proceeded to loudly describe that previous nights conquests in graphic detail. Again, Luke didn't seem to notice but it was pretty irritating to us.

This is a picture of firework mortars. They are legal on the reservations and in unincorporated parts of the county. But that doesn't really stop people from letting them off in town. We bought a box. They are AWESOME! Luke loved them. He got very excited shouting "Fireworks!" and using hand gestures to help get his point across. After lighting one off that blew over the neighbors house we decided to hold off on the rest.

Luke-isms

We have an awesome park that has a free petting zoo in the summer. Luke mostly freaks out the animals by shouting and running.

• Loves to run... especially in wide open spaces. He normally shouts "RRUUNNN!!!" at the same time (in can we didn't know what he was doing).
• Is talking like crazy and using short 2-3 word sentences: What's that, mommy? Lucy sleeping. Drink juice. Buzz TV mommy? I luv you! (my fav :)
  
• Favorite game is "get me" which is what he has named it. It's basically "chase/hide n seek" but Luke is always the one hiding/running away.
• Sings. Mostly mumbles but we get a few words here and there "lalaa sun allalaa"
• Combine his love to run with the "get me" game and you start to get a picture of what it's like to try and load him into the car or go to the store with Luke. I chase him a lot.
• My least favorite: doesn't stop when I call him. I'm hoping it's just a phase.
• Picks me flowers (even the ones I've planted in the flower boxes).
• Wants his boo-boo's kissed when he falls.
• Asks "You ok mommy?" in a very concerned voice after I bang my leg. Though, he also says that after he hits me.
• Loves to cuddle. He does this thing were he pats my face or plays with my earlobe, it's very sweet. He'll always cuddle with me, right?
• Is becoming more social. He asks to go play with his friends. They give each other hugs when they see each other but they all mostly fight over toys. Luke gets most of his "sharing" and "taking turns" lessons then.
• Here's our conversation this morning: I was putting on lip gloss.

Luke:"grab it?" as he reaches for my lip gloss.
Me:"ok, but you have to stay right here".
Luke:"ok" grabs it and runs away.
Me:"Luke, please bring that back."
Luke: giggles "Hide it"
Me:"where is it?"
Luke: "hide it"

I found it under a chair in the kitchen.

Luke's 2nd Birthday!!!

Eating Dirt n' Worms cupcakes

I have been trying to upload videos but I haven't had much luck :( I'll keep trying. Luke is offically two! He's been acting 2 for a while now, Mr.Indepent/Mr.Impulsive/Mr.Uncontrollable Laughter. We had a BBQ with bubbles, balls, and balloons. We were going to pull out all the sprinklers but the weather wasn't quite cooroperating. All of Luke's toddler friends and near-by relatives came to celebrate.

Luke and Jack eating at the kiddy table

Playing with bubbles

Luke was very into his "hawk"

Tracy, Aliya, Luke and Dave

Happy boy! He put bubbles on a plate with his bubble gun and called it food.

Present time!

This is the first time Luke got the concept. Unwrap the boxes, get a gift... awesome! Christmas should be interesting. Luke got a Buzz Light Year which was a big hit (he had just seen Toy Story for the first time), a ton of clothes (yay!), water guns, stickers, wooden trains, some music toys, a tent and a rug with roads all over it. My house is currently littered with toys until I find places for everything. He has also been especially entertain for hours on end with his new toys, which has come in handy.