Monkeying Around...

First of all, a BIG THANKS to all of you who wished me a Happy Birthday yesterday. It looks as if Aspen wants a day all of her own to celebrate :) which is fine by me. She'll come when she's ready, right? Feeling sick to my stomach all day, and then a super dark, rainy, day, didn't make it my best birthday ever...but what did make my day were all of the sweet comments and phone calls from friends and family that made me feel special and loved. Jacob made it special, of course, but - to be really honest - he makes every one of my days special. I'm super lucky like that!

So...this morning as I was making our bed, Sawyer comes running into the room and climbs up on the bed. (He's only recently gotten tall enough to crawl up on things like beds and couches, and he loves it). I have these moments lately where a gush of emotion rushes over me as I look at Sawyer and realize how his world is going to change very, very soon. Part of me is a little sad for him - and part of me is ecstatically happy for him. He is going to have to learn how to share the two people in his world that mean the most to him...but at the same time, he is going to get to share his world forever with a sister who will always be his friend. I decided to quit the bed-making business and just play with my little monkey...

He loves the book & song "no more monkeys jumping on the bed". I asked him if he was a little monkey, to which he replied "yes! monkey!" and went on to roll, rumble, jump, do somersaults, etc. (I always have a small concern about the "fell off the bed and bumped his head" part...but sometimes you just gotta go with it!) We had a BLAST. He also stuck out his toes and said "tickle, tickle", so of course there was a lot of tickling going on, too!

At one point, when he finally settled down and we had a few moments of just sitting there together, I decided to have a little conversation with him.

ME: Are you ready to be a big brother?
S: Yes!
ME: Did you know you were in Mama's belly first? And you will always be Mama's first little baby...always.
ME: When Aspen comes out of Mama's belly she is going to be a tiny little baby...she might go "wah, wah"...we might have to give her kisses and say "shh, it's okay"...
S: (knocking on my belly with a big smile) hi...
ME: Is Aspen going to be your sister?
S: Yes!
ME: Guess what? She's also going to be your friend! She will be very little like you were and then she will grow and you can play together every day!
S: Yes!

And then he burst into smiles and giggles. I'm not sure how much he really understands, but I do have a feeling he understands more than we think he does.

To my dearest little monkey: Oh, how I love you so!

Forever and ever and ever...

Love, Mama