pics of laura and steve

Hi, I left these out from our Chicago trip. It was great to see our friends Laura and Steve who recently moved from Portland to Chicago.
Much love,
nat

7 months!

Greetings friends and family!
Well, a lot has happened since the last post. Erick finished his pediatric ICU rotation (gracias a dios), we said goodbye to Grandpa John after a wonderful 6 week stay, Matthew visited from San Fran, we decided to stay in Portland for Erick's residency, my master's research was accepted for presentation at the national midwifery conference, and we all went to Chicago so Erick could take his step 2 clinical exam and to see friends. We are headed off to Kauai tomorrow for a much anticipated family vacation. Emily is flying from Maui to meet us for the first few days.
Here are some photos from the last month and a video of Meera in the johnny jump up from Grandpa John (how appropriate) and of Erick and Meera. This photo was taken after John and I fed the girls prunes (no it is not chocolate) for the first time. They were a hit, now we just need to work on our aim! We will send more photos when we return. Sending you all love,
Team MEENS

Since the titles to the photos never seem to line up, I will just describe a few here. Below are photos of Grandpa John and the girls; Erick, Matthew, & Meera; Em falling asleep with her hand extended up; Ethan Eno (Suzanne's second) and Emma; Aidan, Julianna (Suzanne's third and fourth) with Meera; Julianna, Georgia, Ethan & Aidan playing at Sandy and Betsy's (in Chicago); Suzanne with the girls; Meera, Georgia, Augusta (Sara & Cheryl's new baby, yes she is almost as big as the girls! and she is only 3 months!), & Emma; and finally dear Sandy and the girls (she woke up at 5:30 am to see us off. Now that's love.

Videos of Emma sitting and the girls playing

Hi again,

We took some fun videos of Emma sitting (mostly) on her own, the girls playing together, and Meera playing the piano.
Enjoy!
n














Sadie "honoring" a toy

6 months!

Hi all,

The babies turned 6 months on February 10th. We can hardly believe it. Sometimes it feels like it has been years, other times it feels like they were just born. The day before their birthday Emma sat up on her own. Impressive considering we usually see them reach their developmental goals a few weeks late. She is such a little athlete. She still kicks and squirms just as much as she did in utero.
I don't have a video of her sitting, I will get on that. Here is a video of her doing her new trick of spitting and saying "kee" at the same time. The video is not that great actually, but thought it would be at least mildly entertaining to see how stimulated she is when you just look at her. There are a few fun videos in the previous posts for those of you who haven't received an update in a while.
Erick is on his pediatric ICU rotation right now, which sucks. He spends every fourth night at the hospital, so the babes and I are on our own for the night feed. Really it is okay, just not as smooth as when papa is here. Grandpa John is still here (thank god) helping us out with everything. I am working part time as a Grad assistant (my official title is "clinical lecturer") for the OHSU midwifery faculty. It has been wonderful to stimulate my brain in a different way as I do research and work on developing a lecture for the antepartum/postpartum course.
We are headed to Chicago in March to visit friends and so Erick can do the clinical component of his Step Two board exam. (they only offer it in a few cities). Then we are off to Hawaii for a much needed family vacation. Should be a fun adventure.
We are turning in our rank list for Erick's residency choices February 24th. We are still debating where to live, right now San Francisco and Chicago are at the top of the list. Ask us which programs will be at the top next week... We will then find out where he will be placed March 19th. Ugh. It has been very stressful to think about moving and starting over in a new place.
We hope you all are having a great winter. The weather has been warm and sunny here, except for the past few days of snow!
Sending you love,
Team *MEENS (Meera, Erick, Emma, Nat, & Sadie). *devised by Greg and Laura



Meera, avocado and papa













Melanie, Meera and Lily. Melanie has since had her "baby man". Congratulations Melanie!

Emma & papa













Grandpa John with Emma (left) and Meera (right)



































Emma sitting for the first time!













Emma has been drinking too much, so we started her on non-alcoholic beer