playing or winning

I was informed the other day that since I liked to play games and grandma liked to play games we should play a game with isaiah cause he likes to WIN games...and since the zoo and water park and sentosa were already done we decided to play a game at home with A 5 year old (who likes to win) and his 3 year old sister. Dora's snakes and ladders. How many adults does it take to teach 2 kids how to play a game...we had 4 and it still wasn't enough...sneeky little hands...and after all that well, a certain 5 year old didn't win and ended up with a talk with Dad in the bedroom and poor Hannah was crying by the end. I forgot that drama is about 2 seconds away in our family. Snakes and ladders has never been so melodramatic. Sorry about the blurry pictures...I really am not usually the photographer...I never am.

Half-way thru Holiday

apparently swimming has changed to becoming an extreme sport since I was a kid...no more throw on a swim suit and jump in...a day at the pool involves a body suit complete with cap and sunscreen...but we still had as much fun as ever...you just have to get over what you look like first though...well I guess that hasn't really changed much either...

happy 7th b-day rose

the little sis playing with a present...
this is what happens when you forget to bring water baloons for a game...you become the game

Claire Avril

...meet Claire...she is a tiny little cutie born at home with her older sister peeking in to watch the birth. Yes, her middle name is after avril levigne...kinda funny in this one week two births with major avril emphasis.

to name a clinic...

coming up with a name for the little clinic we have been working at has been a recent obsession...here are some contenders...

bethlehem's manger

blessed...something?

precious jewels

daughter's of faith

children of faith

away in a manger

three sister's (she has three daughters for real)

delivery place

miriam

Mercy and Joy

Graceful Delivery

The Basket

deliver us

helping hands

heart and hands...wait a second...

open hands

merciful hearts

careful hands...catching you...there for delivery...just breathe...push...woven hearts


the list goes on...this search has endless possibilities...

beautiful birth

Last nite, got a call at around 8:30pm to go to a birth ASAP. Off we go, the clinic had a brown-out but in the home of our laboring mum there was power, so light or no light is basically the options here...we chose light. Emelia has 3 kids already so we knew things could go fast. The room was set up and then we wait...and talk and bond and wait...Emilia told us to sit in the labor room while she labored in the living room with her 2 little girls. 10:40 she pulls herself off the floor and makes it to the bed just in time for crowning and catch. Little cutie is barely 5 lbs so when she was ready she just shot out. The most incredible part of the birth is most mums are out of it and just kinda lay there after a birth, they let you take care of things for the one time they can drop the ball and all hands are on deck. But not Emelia, she wanted to dress her baby after the bath and started breasfeeding right away. We thought she would lay down eventually but she was still sitting up and nursing when we left, her little girls had come in to see their new baby. It was such a great thing to see, a little family all excited and welcoming a new little life. I was kinda worried cause in the beginning Emilia was a bit unsure of how excited she was about the pregnancy...she already had 3 kids and she really didn't want any more for a bit. Looking at her dressing her baby and checking every toe and finger for herself-i was thinkin mum was pretty in luv with her babe's already.

moving and alittle ranting

So, I am moving with my roomie Alex to a clinic on the other side of Metro Manila. Tuesday is the big day. We are hoping to help Gerlene paint her clinic before then and there are two ladies whom I have been doing prenatals on that are due any day. Actually they were due the other day but nothing has happened yet. I dreamt that the babies came last nite-so fast there was no time to call me.
So I am packing. I've moved alot lately so I'm pretty pro at it.
Doing laundry.
It has been stressful cause good-byes are not a strong point for me. All these women who watched me just come and go and they probably think i like breezing in and breezing out. I'd rather just wave from a distance and then be done-no rehash, no how's life back at the ranch, no periferals just good-bye. all this messiness of hello and good bye thru life is a bit of a gong show. why can't things be straightforward.
Anyway, enough, I am slowly gaining back my voice. i am going to visit the parentals on the 26th...hurray...also my sis and her fam will be there enroute to Canadia.
So maybe after a holiday with the folks, alittle tlc from the munchkins and Dad making (and bringing:) me coffee for 4 mornings it will be worth another hello/good-bye experience.
Seriously though, it's not as easy as it sounds...good-bye's are about ending things....I am not into endings...thats why i got into midwifery...beginnings are more 'in the moment', 'exciting', they have potential...goodbye's are baggage, messy, awkward (as in do i really have to hug somebody I've only known for a sum total of three days just to say good-bye?) and could happen over and over again with the same people. So it's a rythmn of messy baggage and hugging people you don't know. Why do I subject myself to this? Why am I subjecting you to this? I would have to say that in both cases I don't know.