Cannon Beach

For our last weekend in Portland, we drove to Cannon Beach and spent some time on the beach. Despite the chilly weather, we played in the water, buried Melody in the sand and walked along the beautiful coastline. The views at this beach are absolutely gorgeous. After coming back to Denver in the 90+ weather, I would take a cool day on the beach any day.

Testing out the sand

She got more daring as the day progressed.

David's B-Day!

While we were in Portland David turned the big 27! We celebrated with our nieces and nephews at home, and had all of David's favorites - homemade hamburgers and curly fries for dinner, root beer floats, strawberry lemonade cupcakes, and lemon cheesecake!

Brayden, Landon, Charlotte and Melody. She looks super tiny in this picture.

Seattle

We couldn't go all the way to Portland without visiting Seattle, especially because David had never been there and because my oldest brother and his family live there. The first night we were there, my brother, Ric, treated us to a night out at Jazz Alley. We had dinner and were entertained by a great electric jazz band. It was so nice to get away on our own, hire a babysitter, and have a grown-up date that didn't involve renting a Redbox. The next day we ventured to the city and walked through Pike Place Market, hung out at the pier, and went to the Space Needle. We really liked the feel in Seattle, and if it weren't for the almost constant rainy weather, would love to settle there.

Pike Place Market

Melody loved chasing the pigeons. 

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Portland - Food Network Style

When we found out we were going to Portland, rather than look up the "must-see" sites, I immediately looked up the "must-eats" on Food Network. David and I are big fans of 'Man vs Food,' and 'Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,' so we were excited to explore some of the places we saw when these shows covered Portland. We ended up getting to go to most of the places on our list. The food did not disappoint, but we were surprised at how much of a dive some of these places were. The Food Network definitely doesn't show the less glamorous parts of the restaurants.

While there we had man-cakes at Stepping Stone Cafe, ate a 'Reggie' at Pine State Biscuits, savored salted carmel flavored ice-cream at Ruby Jewel Scoops, and tasted a variety of eccentric donuts at Voodoo Doughnut.

Mancakes

Caution: Do not do the Voodoo on Memorial Day - 2 hour wait

The Voodoo Doughnut truck

Therapeutic Associates

We have been in Portland the last eight weeks for David's second clinical rotation. While we were there, we stayed at my sister's house. I enjoyed lots of sister bonding, and Melody loved running around with her cousins. She has been running around the house aimlessly since we have been home, looking for someone to play with.

David's clinical was at an outpatient orthopedic clinic called Therapeutic Associates. David knew that he would love to specialize in outpatient ortho and the last few weeks just confirmed it. He had a really great experience, and was lamenting having to go back to classes this morning. We can't wait for him to get his real job, just two more semesters...

David with his Clinical Instructors, Laura and Kevin

Easter Fun

 

Doesn't this girl look excited for Easter? 

It was an eventful Easter weekend, and I think we all ate enough Reeses eggs to last us until Halloween (or maybe Mother's Day:). We started the weekend off with a community Easter egg hunt on Saturday. It took Melody a while to catch on to picking up the eggs. She loves kicking balls, so she thought the Easter eggs were meant to be kicked too. Her haul was much less than the other kids, but she was just as excited when it was over. You would think having Easter later in the year would mean better weather, but alas, it was pretty windy and on the cold side. That's just Denver weather for you, always unpredictable. 

The Easter bunny came that night, and brought Melody her first pair of dress up shoes. The girl is obsessed with wearing other people's shoes so I thought these would help. She's still not convinced they are better than my shoes, but we are working on it. 

We went to church in the afternoon and had an amazing sacrament meeting. After church we got together with David's family and had a traditional Easter dinner, aside from the fact that rice was served instead of potatoes, but it's not a Main family meal without the rice. To top it off, I made sugar cookies and brownstone cake for dessert. Overall it was a great weekend and a nice way to start the week. David has finals this week and next week then we're off to Portland for eight weeks, yay!

Evil Knievel

  

How exactly does she get up there? We aren't quite sure but this is how we have found her on several occasions. And this was just the beginning. She has now found out how to get on the counter, up a step stool to push the water button on the fridge, and to the ledge at the top of the couch. When I learned I was having a girl I was so excited because girls are mild mannered and love to sit and play. Only boys are rambuncious and fearless right? How do you baby proof a house from a climbing baby? I have yet to figure that out.

After we took the picture above, we put Melody on the ground and she attempted to get up again. As you can see she is not always 100% successful (Please excuse our laughing).  

The Doc

Does anyone else have the hardest time deciding when/if to take your baby to the doctor? The last few weeks have been filled with sick baby drama.


Visit #1 (three weeks ago): Melody had a fever for four days, a bad cold, and wasn't sleeping well. So I bit the bullet and took her into the doctor. Diagnosis: it's just a cold. Mom got to take the walk of shame out of the office feeling like a paranoid first mom.


Visit #2 (Yesterday): Melody had a fever for four days, a runny nose, a congested cough and wasn't sleeping at all. Despite feeling like I would take the walk of shame again for the second time in three weeks I went to the doctor. Diagnosis: Double ear infection and RSV (I didn't even realize babies her age could still be affected by RSV).


Lesson learned: As much I hate going to the doctor, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry.

The Semi-Annual Update

Ok, I wish the title of this post was not a joke, but given my blogging history I don't think it's a stretch... but that is about to change. I got a new computer this week (whoopee!), meaning I don't have to wait around to use David's computer which is always at class or being used to study. 

Since my last post, David had his first clinical, we had Halloween, Melody's Birthday, and Christmas. Lots of photos to catch you all up on, but I will just post a few highlights.

Melody picking our pumpkin for Halloween.

 

We celebrated Melody's first birthday at the end of November. Her favorite part of the party was getting dirty in her birthday cake.

This girl loves her new chair. She mostly uses it to climb onto something more dangerous.

My most recent picture of our almost 15 month old.

Count on more posts to come. I am trying to set a realistic goal of one post every two weeks. I gotta ease myself into the blogging world!