Guessing time: Blue or Pink?

In just over two weeks we will be having our important ultrasound. The important part of it is finding out if all is developing well with our new baby (we always decline the genetic testing). The fun part - and honestly, the part that has got me through the past couple of tough months, is that we will also get to see (if baby cooperates) whether Sawyer will be getting a little brother or a sister. I'd like to say "Is it an Aspen or a Hudson?" (but Jacob hasn't agreed to Hudson 100% yet...so if we need to choose another boy name...wish us luck! We've had a couple of girl names in our back pockets now for a few years, so if it's a she the name task will be easy ;)

So...the question is: what's your guess? Are we going to be having another boy? or a girl? It's always fun to guess! Leave your guess or comment below, or vote anonymously to the upper lefthand corner of our blog. Your guess is as good as ours!

Adventures with Uncle Steve (part II)

Saturday we took advantage of the weather and drove up to hike near Bellingham.

We find ourselves at Fragrance Lake at least once every summer. It is a great little hike with a wonderful view of the San Juan Islands about mid-way up to the lake.

In fact, we brought Sawyer here for his first "real" hike last summer when Auntie Tia was visiting from Boston. He was 10 weeks old. This time, he got out of the backpack after a nice snooze and had a wonderful time throwing rocks in the water. At one point during our hike, we stopped and decided to just listen to the silence in the old growth forest, when Sawyer all of a sudden said "tweet tweet!" He loves birds.

Our little family at the Lake.

When we hiked back down the the road, it was just about sunset. We decided to walk down to the beach at Larabee State Park and watch the sunset. It was gorgeous - and magical.

To see a few more images from the lovely sunset, check out my photoblog.

Thanks, Uncle Steve, for the fun times and memories. Sawyer will always remember the Uncle who loves looking for rocks just as much as he does (though he isn't quite as picky about their shape -- we really do hope to see a rock-inspired print one day!)

Adventures with Uncle Steve (part I)

Last week we had a visitor come to town. Jacob's one and only brother (he has 4 sisters), Steve, came to visit us from Texas. While we still aren't settled or unpacked, it was a good visit and forced us to take a break and just relax and have some fun! And what a treat for Sawyer, to get to know his Silly Uncle Steve!

The going's on...

WORK.

MORE WORK.

AND (OF COURSE) A LITTLE TIME FOR PLAY.

Our Itty Bitty Baby Bump

We were at the park at a birthday party yesterday and someone was asking me how I was feeling, etc. and another person said "what? you're pregnant?" The first person joked, and said, "yes, the first time she was pregnant you couldn't tell until about the last couple weeks she looked a little bloated..." I laughed. I didn't get that huge with my first pregnancy (pretty normal, right?) and people always commented how "small" I was. I, on the other hand, hoped and prayed to get a soccer-ball-round-preggo belly to show off, sooner than I did. Well, maybe this time around I'll get my wish! I already feel bigger than I did the first time. I also feel like I am carrying lower (which may be a good thing later on for my ribcage!) I want to make sure to document things for our second child as well as we did for the first. It has been a little harder since we've been crazy busy the last few weeks and also because I felt horrible the last 10 weeks - but slowly, I am feeling a little better. Definitely more tempermental/moody this time, probably from feelilng so sick (my poor hubby! I'm so lucky he's so patient with me...).

Oh, and here were are about 6 weeks ago. You can definitely see growth, yes? Hooray for baby bumps (even itty bitty ones!) No doubt it's gonna be getting a LOT B.I.G.G.E.R. in the next few months!

Eat, Drink, & Be Merry: Our 1st Mama-Son Date

Yesterday, to celebrate Sawyer being 14 months old, me making it through 14 weeks of this pregnancy (bye bye 1st trimester!), and all of us surviving and needing a break from trying to get organized again, I took Sawyer on his first Mama-Son Date. I realized that between being sick and moving, I don't think I've taken any pictures of our son since the week of his birthday! So, here are a few so you can see how fast he is growing and what a big boy he is becoming!

For our date, Sawyer had his first visit to Dick's (a favorite local burger joint). Jacob and I laugh, thinking of how health-conscious Seattleites snub their noses at Mickie D's, but Dick's is okay (you know, everything in moderation, right?)

Sawyer was definitely more interested in the Seagulls begging for fries than the Eats & Drinks at first...but once he tasted that milkshake, he knew where to place his interest...

I can tell you that the strawberry milkshake and fries were a big hit with my boy. He even liked the burger - with lots of ketchup, of course. I suppose he is his Mama's son :)

ps- don't you just love his chubby little boy hands?

And for the merriment, we headed over to U-Village for a little live-music action. We listened to a band called The Paper Boys. They have a pretty loyal following in Seattle, but it was my first time to give them a listen - and I liked! They played mostly original music, all easy to groove to, and then they did play one cover, and of a cover to play, it was a great pick (Jimi Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower).

At first, we sat at a table with a couple of old ladies who were wearing ear plugs and still thought the music was too loud (cracked me up!). One of them offered to take a picture of me and my boy.

Later, we moved on up front to join the dancing fools. It was, of course, much louder there. At first, Sawyer was all eyes and ears. He obviously liked the music, and was curious about the whole scene. He finally got down and started groovin' - big people all around. He got a lot of smiles. I think he was the smallest guy in the group, and, in my opinion, the most handsome!

He was, of course, in awe of the guitars. Blame it on his Daddy who loves to play - I think we are one day going to have a little rocker on our hands. I won't mind one bit. I love it when Jacob has the time to strum some tunes. Lately, there hasn't been much time for that - but soon, we hope to be settled. (And then we'll bring on the pictures of our new place! Sorry it's taking so long!)

To top off our evening of fun, we spent some time at the little playground. Then, we packed it up (just when the warm rain started mind you - I do love a warm summer rain!) and headed to pick Jacob up from work. Yep, he's been working a lot of long long hours trying to meet a deadline this week. Great for job security - a little sad for Mama and Sawyer, who miss Daddy when he's not home for dinner or bedtime. But we do appreciate all of his hard work for our family! Next time, maybe he'll be the lucky one to get a night out with Mama! ;)

*on a side note, since this is where we chronicle things - Sawyer is quite the talker. Who would've guessed, with the mom and dad he has ;) Seriously, this kid amazes everyone - he says over 30 words (including "vacuum", one of our favorites) and he's barely over a year old! Whoever said boys are late talkers hasn't met our son!

Noteworthy: Tot Breaks Sacrament Meeting Record

Sawyer and I are now attending our "family ward" church congregation once again in Magnolia. Today was our first official day back. Jacob is still rendering lots of service in the University of Washington Young Single Adult congregation. Sawyer and I just couldn't stay any longer. They meet in the Institute of Religion building on UW campus, in the gym and in folding chairs. Between wanting to make his way up the stairs to where his Daddy sits, and spending most of our time in the game room under the pool and ping pong tables during church, I decided Sawyer needs to go to a "real" building and see the example of other children sitting with their families during church and not just using the 3 hour block of time as playtime. SO...today...we sat in the middle of a long row with two families, each with two children, on each side of us. Thanks to the Hawkins and the Butikofers for swapping toys, sharing snacks, and blocking us in. Sawyer made it the ENTIRE meeting without having to leave even once! Considering that pretty much ever since he became mobile at 6 months we hadn't made it through barely 5 minutes of the most important meeting, I considered today A MIRACLE. Yes, miracles do happen when 13 month old boys sit all the way through Sacrament meeting. Then, we were blessed by a Sunday school class made just for parents with little movers and shakers. Lastly, for Relief Society, our women's group, he even made friends with a cute little girl just barely older than him. They sat on big chairs looking at books and sharing goldfish and toy cars most of the meeting. I can't tell you all how happy I was to feel like I actually got to listen to a bit of the lessons and talks today. Even as a sort of "single" parent at church, it was heavenly. I guess it's a good thing that Sawyer will get to enter the nursury class just one month before our new baby comes. Then we can do it all over again! Only this time, we'll be in a new congregation, within walking distance from our new home, and Jacob can sit with me and lend an ever so helpful hand when needed. That will surely be the day. Until then, it is SO good to be home again in the Seattle 1st ward!

We are alive!

It kind of feels like we fell off the face of the earth or something, with all the craziness of moving and trying to get settled. It's kind of hard being 13 weeks pregnant (and feeling better but still quite tired and not super good) and chasing my 13 month old very active/busy son. It was hard enough to get packed, with him unpacking as we tried to pack. But now we have to find a place to put everything! I know I am a minimalist, and didn't think we had much "stuff", but it feels like we have a lot! Good thing we have a garage now - that's where everything is until we dig through, one box at a time, and get settled. It might take until Halloween, but we will get there! Since we bought a brand new place, I didn't think we'd have to spend so much time at Lowe's and Home Depot, but we have! Between painting, getting measured for some custom blinds, installing this and that - it's a good thing Lowe's is so close by! I am going to have to give HUGE shout out and an even HUGE-R THANKS to my super mom and sister, Jamie, who drove 6 hours from Oregon to come up and do most of the painting! They were life-savers - even in the 90+ heat wave we had! What troopers, they painted while I chased Sawyer and tried to rest a little. Seriously - it's time like this you realize I realize I can never ever "repay" the love and servie my family gives us. There is just no way to pay off those debts. But then, they're not really debts, are they? They're gifts of love! But I have felt so not-on-top-of-things, I really which I could do something in return for the help they gave us...I'll have to think of something, eventually. For now...back to the boxes! I promise to have more exciting posts in the near future!