Oregon Angels Online

A Little Story About Pacifiers

 This post is about lessons learned. Specifically lessons learned around pacifiers. When our daughter Everly was a month or two old, we tried several pacifiers with her – all of which she spit out. She was constantly trying to comfort nurse and had a hard time self soothing and that, coupled with the studies that have shown they reduced the SIDS risk made me eager to find one she liked.

We eventually hit the jackpot with a version made by Weil Baby that I was sent for review on my blog. It was massive, took up half her face and made her look like a hockey goalie, but she happily took it from the start. It was a solid silicon piece with a large orthodontic nipple and we affectionately referred to it as the “Blue Whale” of pacifiers. All was well in paci land for many months until we needed to buy more – suddenly, every place I looked online and in stores was sold out. Desperate and down to one precious paci, I finally found a company that made an almost identical pacifier. Then they stopped making that one too (insert explicative here!) and it took me forever to find another all-silicone pacifier similar enough that she would take.

Everly is 17 months old now and the pacifier is her best friend. While we don’t let her walk around with it in her mouth all of the time, it does accompany her on every car ride, nap and bedtime. And trust me when I tell you that for the sake of your ear drums and your sanity, you better pray you don’t lose one. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait 3 to 5 agonizing days for another to arrive by mail.

We’re already deciding our exit strategy on the pacifier, as she’s quickly reaching an age where it’s time to say goodbye,  but I did learn something from the experience. We recently decided to introduce a pacifier to Arlo for the SIDS risk reduction and to ease his reflux.  When he spit out the first pacifier I tried, I went to another well known brand, and then another. I stuck only to ones that I knew I could easily find at my nearest drugstore. Eventually, we got lucky and he decided that the old reliable Nuk brand would work for him (insert angels singing!)

No longer will we be slaves to the world’s rarest pacifier! A hard learned lesson on our path through parenthood.

OEN Online Community: OEN Blog: Oregon Entrepreneurs Network ...

March 2, 2011, Portland, Ore. — The Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) today announced six Launch Stage and six Concept Stage companies were chosen as finalists to present at the annual OEN Angel Oregon 2011 conference, to be held at The Governor Hotel in Portland on March 16, 2011.

Finalists for OEN’s Angel Oregon were chosen from nearly 40 companies that are based throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington. One Launch Stage finalist, GlobeSherpa, Inc., was selected as part of a round robin competition at OEN’s Seed Oregon PubTalks over the past three months. The list of presenting companies follows below.

The field of finalists was narrowed after weeks of due diligence, research and debate among the more than 30 angel investors who provide the majority of the investment award approximately $200,000. The angel investors participating in the OEN Angel Oregon investment prize will select the top two companies that will receive investment awards upwards: $175,000 for the winning Launch Stage company and $25,000 for the Concept Stage company.

New for the OEN Angel Oregon 2011 award prize is the participation of Oregon Growth Account (OGA) who is providing a 25 percent match toward the total raised by the OEN Angel Oregon LLC for the angel investment prize. OEN announced earlier this year that OGA would be providing matching funds to the state’s other angel conferences that have been fostered by OEN and the success of OEN’s Angel Oregon. This year the angel investment prize will also include participation from the University of Portland , the Willamette University Angel Fund and from the Portland Development Commission via OEN’s Catalyst Fund.

OEN‘s Angel Oregon was designed to recruit and educate more people to become accredited angel investors. It’s been a tremendous success, resulting in more people investing in local companies and fostered participation in the Portland Angel Network, and led to the formation of the Oregon Angel Fund, the Willamette Angel Conference, Gorge Angel Conference, and new for 2011, the Southern Oregon Angel Conference.

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