oh what do you do at 2am in the morning when all your patients are asleep?

well, i catch up on everyone's blogs, admiring all the cute kiddos. i try to stay awake, until i can't anymore and then i just lay my head down and take a quick nap until one of my patients calls for something. if it's a "good" night, no one wants anything until about 5am. if it's a "bad" night, i never sit down. tonight is a "good" night so far.

i'm thinking about all the fun stories to post about our Oregon vacation. But, maybe i'll just make a list. i like lists, especially if i get to cross things off of it!
• Ellie did better than expected for her first time flying, slept 2 hours on the return flight
• I accidentally scheduled the rental car for the day after our arrival, so to save the $300 extra they wanted to charge us for the one day, we stayed at a $90 hotel in Portland!
• We surprised Nate’s mom for her birthday, on her birthday, and of course the first thing she did was go for Ellie
• Ellie started to giggle and giggle when she met her 1yr old cousin, Avery. Avery just stood there, but it was hilarious to Ellie, and hilarious for us to watch
• Ellie cut her 2nd tooth in Oregon, thankfully it wasn’t too terrible
• The weather was GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS. I don’t think it got warmer than 90, if that even, and there was a nice breeze all the time. Ellie loved being outside with the wind blowing on her
• Ellie was a hit among her cousins, aunts/uncles, & nana and papa, they all especially loved her hair!
• I turned 32, which was fun. Ellie stayed with her nana while Nate and I picked up boxed lunches and ate at the park alongside the Columbia river, another gorgeous day. We sat on the swings, haven’t done that in a very long time. We like our dates without Ellie, but we always are happy to go back home to her
• All of Nate’s siblings and their families had a campout in Nana and Papa’s back yard; we were happy to sleep inside 
Our trip was great, we’re already planning our next trip in April and this time a trip to the coast is on the agenda with 3 nights in a cabin on the coast. And, we’ll be driving next time. Should be interesting: 2 days one way in a van with a child who doesn’t like being in the car. Hopefully, since she’ll be forward facing by then it will be much better, and she’ll be over a year old.

ellie is 6 months old, has 2 teeth on bottom, and when we bring her into our bed in the morning she gives us lots of smiles as she rolls all around, back to front, front to back, and then over and over again. she will be crawling anytime now. she has been getting in the mood with her new Pilates plank moves. she only knows how to move backwards so far, but fortunately, she doesn't seem to get too frustrated. she's been eating cereal now for a few weeks and we just started her on peas. i tasted them and they're not that bad, though i won't make a habit of them. tomorrow it's pears!