Women are like wine...

...they just get better with age (or so I've heard). I just want to say a big Thank You to Jacob - and all of you who left me birthday wishes - for making my day special. It was special for many reasons, but some of my favorites were:

-Birthday breakfast - homemade buttermilk pancakes, courtesy of Jacob.

-Surprise (a la Jacob's hacking into my email account) birthday blog with special notes from my most amazing and wonderful friends and family :)

-The super-yummy-made-from-scratch birthday cake Jacob made for me. It was chocolate with pink cream cheese frosting. I must admit, I had originally requested cupcakes, but decided to go with cake because then I could eat a bigger piece and not feel as guilty (like I would if I ate 3 or 4 cupcakes at one sitting!)

-The sun came out for me (all day long!)

-My birthday dinner. Jacob asked me days in advance where I wanted to go for dinner. I was so indecisive, but finally mid-day I decided to think about what makes me truly happy: that would be warm, sunny weather, bare feet, picnics in the park. Well, obviously it was too cold (not to mention dark) for a picnic outside...so we drew up a few flowers, butterflies, and a sunshine, spread out a blanket on Sawyer's sunny yellow bedroom floor, and had a picnic. We listened to Jack Johnson (always reminds me of summer for some reason) and I dressed in a light skirt, and even put some short-alls on Sawyer. Our baby crawled around and played, having a wonderful time, while we ate our ordered-in meal. No keeping Sawyer from grabbing silverware or plates - no passing him back and forth, or retrieving toys from the floor...It was perfect. Bright, warm, sunny - a perfect birthday dinner!

Of course, the best part of all was just spending the day with my two favorite guys.

I especially enjoyed watching Jacob and Sawyer play the guitar together. What a way to make my heart melt! I also enjoyed taking a 2 hour nap with Sawyer while Jacob finished designing my business cards (I can hardly wait to show you all...)

Yes, it was a great day. May there be many, many more!!!

Let's Celebrate

About four years ago I met a friendly smile at a church activity. That smile belonged to Tysha and I think perhaps in that moment we first met I was able to catch a glimpse of a wonderful person.



I'm excited that today, January 24th I get to celebrate Tysha's brithday. I'm not sure the world shook when Tysha was born but I'm sure my world would be awfully barren and dreary without her. What a great times we have together! I truly enjoy sharing my life with Tysha.



I'm not much for paragraphs of words. Tysha's more adept in that department so I'll just express my deep love for this wonderful person I have in my life and invite everyone else to wish her a very Happy Birthday. So please get that comment board buzzing! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYSHA!

Reminder: Going Private (pretty sure)

I know, I know. We should've done it already...but with the holidays and all I procrastinated. This is just a reminder that we will be going private with our blog in the next 2 weeks, so if you haven't already requested to stay tuned in with us, now is your chance. You can leave a comment with your email (I won't publish it) or send me an email at tysha_denae@yahoo.com and we will add you to the list. Thanks!

One more thing: do you readers think it's a hassle to read private blogs, that is, to have to log in first to do so? I find that I read private blogs less frequently...hmm...just a random wonder...I hope our going private doesn't make it harder to stay in touch! Feel free to leave an opinion and who knows, maybe we'll reconsider!?!

Update: So, I've got a huge list of family, extended family, friends, and friends of friends who read our blog and would like to continue doing so. Some of you call yourselves "blog stalkers" but I beg to differ. I we know you and you read our blog and don't leave comments on a regular basis, that does not make you a stalker! There are also a handful of people who we don't know at all who like reading and want to continue reading. I am having mixed feelings about the whole going private thing: Jacob and I are going to conduct a bit more research to see if any of our fears are truly founded, or if we're considering going private more out of fear. Initially, we had a few comments that made me uneasy - hence, we started moderating our comments and haven't had another weird one yet. Sometimes it's just a little creepy knowing that the people who left the yucky comments perhaps are still looking at our blog silently, ya know? I understand the need to not tell too many details about day to day routines or where you live or work or when you'll be away on vacation etc., those kinds of precautions make sense. Another reason we are considering going private is that (shh) I am going to be launching my Photography website and blog shortly, and we thought it might be nice to keep our family one more private. Hmm...we will keep you posted. Again, any other opinions out there - feel free to share, this is kind of an interesting discussion!

Our 7 Month Old!

We are lucky to have such a healthy, happy, active baby boy! Sawyer is a pure delight!

On Monday, Sawyer turned 7 months old! I know I've said it before...but oh how the time does fly!

He is growing in leaps and bounds. He is crawling around like crazy (he started going forward the day after Christmas) and getting into...everything, of course!

I took him to one of the parks close to our home (Gas Works Park) for a little photo session to commemorate his 7 month old birthday. He was fascinated by the pigeons.

My mission, though, was to capture his toothless grin. Jacob recently told me that he will miss seeing that toothless grin once Sawyer's teeth come popping through, which should be anytime now. So I wanted to capture his toothless smile before it's gone, and give it to Jacob. I made it into a card for our anniversary. I have to admit, I think I managed to capture it in all it's glory! Here's to our fun little, active little, mobile little toothless-grinning man! May his smile brighten your day!

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Today, we have been married for 2 years! It seems like we've been married much longer than 2 years...in a good way :) How the time does fly when you are having fun, and are busy working, playing, and creating and managing a family together. We got married exactly 1 year and 1 week after our first date, so every year we celebrate by having our first date over again. It was the first weekend of January, so it's a great way to start off the year. I remember always wanting to get married in the Summer - my favorite time of the year. I never dreamt I'd get married in the dead middle of Winter - but, surely, I would not have changed it! We still had our reception on the beach - we just never thought we'd be on the beach, with both sunshine and snow in the middle of January. It was truly a unique and special day, one we treasure. It's wonderful to reminisce about that day.

On Saturday, we went and celebrated a combination of our first date and our anniversary. Our first date was at a little Italian restaurant in Columbia City, called Tutta Bellas. We enjoyed great food and conversation - and a Brazilian guitarist. Afterward, we went to a Contemporary Art Exhibit at a gallery on the street we now live on. Since that first date, Tutta Bellas has opened 2 new locations. Last year, we went to the one in Wallingford, and this year, they opened one in our Westlake neighborhood! As we were sitting there, juggling babyfood, napkins, toys being dropped and re-dropped on the floor, etc. I wondered if Jacob wished we could just be alone for our date and celebration of our anniversary, afterall, it was my idea to bring Sawyer along, even though it was past his bedtime. At one point, he just looked at me and said, "would you have imagined 3 years ago on our first date that you'd be sitting here, married, and with a son right now?" He said it with so much fondness and love, such blessed amazement. Yes, children do change marriage. But love is something that just seems to grow and deepen with time and the right circumstances. We are certainly blessed from heaven. The two things I wanted most in life are mine: to be a wife and a mother. There is nothing else I need.

We concluded our celebration by stopping by Whole Foods on our way home to pick out some dessert. We put Sawyer to bed, and then enjoyed some incredible cupcakes, herbal tea, and couple time. This past year seems to have flown by. The first half was spent enjoying the wonders of expecting our baby boy, and the ills that came with my pregnancy. Then, we welcomed Sawyer to our family. We have spent the second part of the year in somewhat of a sleep-deprived daze, yet enjoying each moment of life with each other and wondering what we did to deserve to be the parents of such an amazing little son. It is a little more tricky to get "alone" time but we sure try to find a few moments and make a few moments for each other when we can. Life is good. No, life is great! Happy Anniversary, Jacob! Here is to many many more wonderful and exciting years together!

Homemade Organic Babyfood

I must admit that I don't much care for Winter. I do love about a week of snow, and I love it all leading up to the holidays...but after that, Winter feels long, cold, dark, and wet. Hence, my quest for projects to keep me busy until Spring decides to, um, spring. :)

For Christmas, I got a wonderful Williams-Sonoma cookbook, Cooking for Baby. I have had my eye on that book for quite some time (thanks, Santa!) as it includes recipes for baby from first food purees, to toddler foods that will please the parental palette as well (ie. edamame & yogurt puree, chicken & mango quesadillas, buckwheat crepes, pumpkin pancakes, etc.) I was so excited yesterday to give some of the recipes a whirl!

Purees, of course, are quite simple. I started with a variety of organic fruits and veggies, and did some chopping, peeling, roasting, boiling, and steaming.

Then, wah-la! The puree. There was only one thing I didn't puree, which was the blueberry sauce. Oh-my-oh-my-goodness! What a treat for little tastebuds!

It is amazing how different fresh babyfood looks. Even when I buy the organic babyfood, it just doesn't compare to the bright, fresh colors, textures, and flavors of homemade food. Not to mention, the price! Here is an example:

Generally a 2.5 oz jar of Earth's Best Babyfood costs about $1.05 at the market. Well, 2 bags of organic carrots at Trader Joe's cost $2.78 and made the equivalent of 22 jars, which means it ended up costing about .12 cents per jar. Or, you could say if I bought 22 jars it would have cost me about $23 dollars, instead of under $3. Pretty sweet deal, eh? Well, of course I should factor in the time it took. It took the better part of the day to do all the food. FUN, should also be factored in, though. I had a great time listening to music, dancing with Sawyer in-between steaming and pureeing, and felt so satisfied and happy with what I had done at the end of the day.

After the puree was done, I put the food in ice-cube trays and let it freeze. Later, I transferred the ice-cubed food to a labeled freezer bag (it is good for 3 months frozen, or 3 days fresh in the refrigerator). I am stocked up for at least a month!

I also saved some of the containers I had from store-bought food to reuse. I froze some food in the containers to take with us if we're on the go or out and about. They say to feed your baby the "colors of the rainbow" and certainly, this food is colorful!

Best of all, was when I sat down to feed Sawyer his "dinner". He had organic carrot puree, and organic brown rice cereal with a swish of blueberry sauce mixed in. For a moment I thought "what if he doesn't like it?" But right away, I could see that even he could tell the difference between fresh, homemade, organic food and food from the store. What a delightful meal, he opened his mouth for every single bite and make happy sounds as he ate his meal. I couldn't have been happier!

We are so glad to finally be feeling a bit better. Sawyer still has a bit of a cough and a tough time sleeping well with such a stuffy nose, but all in all, we are feeling much better! Sawyer is such a good crawler, too! I can't believe how fast he is already! He crawls around and gets into EVERYTHING! He is so busy, he even works up a sweat! It's so fun to watch him explore, and so sweet when he crawls right into our laps for snuggles.

Next winter project: Babyproofing!

Happy New Year!

Out with the Old...

In with the New!!!

Happy 2009!

Even us "sickies" managed to party a little bit at least. We had a traditional Southern Soul Food dish (New Year's Black-Eyed Peas with some greens and cornbread), watched a movie ("Surf's Up") and toasted with our cool blown-glass goblets (martinelli's) + 1 sippy cup (H2O) and then called it a night. We almost made it to midnight! Don't worry, the fireworks going on out our window at the Space Needle alerted us to when the New Year arrived. We all snuggled up in bed, said "Happy New Year" and went back to sleep. Happy New Year! We hope you all had a good time ringing in this wonderful, exciting new year ahead!