*Tysha will tell the whole story sometime later this week...and, of course, will take some proper newborn photos sometime in the next 10 days or so...in the meantime...we are SO happy that Aspen is here!
Sorry if this post isn't very interesting...it's a little tricky to make eating a sandwich look very interesting :) BUT. Today was an inning day again. I can tell my body is getting ready to have this baby...just when is anyone's best guess.
I also made our sandwiches more fun today...trains and hearts. It's amazing what a few extra seconds and a couple of cookie cutters can do :) Half the time, Sawyer takes a bite of his sandwhich, looks at it, and declares what it looks like "train!" or "tractor!" or "dog!" It's quite amusing. I can't wait for summer-time clouds when we can lay on our backs and "find" things in the sky, as well. 
Okay, so maybe a photograph of a toddler eating a pb&j sandwich is less than interesting to most...but to his Momma...well...of course it's cute!
Those cookies we made yesterday afternoon came in handy for our picnic, as well. We usually don't have "dessert" with lunch (and very rarely, with dinner), but today was an exception. Today was our indoor picnic!
Today, instead of an outing, we had an inning :) I think we may have a few more of those before Aspen comes, as my body is so so achy and tired. 
One of the favorite gifts I gave this Christmas was a gift from the heart to Jacob: I bought him a cookie jar (we didn't have one) and then inside I gave him a gift certificate for basically a cookie-of-the-month type thing. He loves cookies, and I'm not too much into baking, so I thought he'd really appreciate it (and he did/does!) He did tell me that it can be every other month, if I want, so that he doesn't get fat from all those cookies! I thought I better get on it and do the first batch, before Aspen comes. I'll probably take him up on not baking a batch of cookies next month :)
Sawyer was more than happy to help bake cookies for Daddy...
And, of course, give them a taste-test, too!
Sorry for the late post! Aspen didn't decide to come today...we just had some errands to run in the morning and didn't get to our outing until after nap today (or lack of nap, should I say? since Sawyer slept in the car for 20 minutes and then couldn't sleep - can I blame him? the sun was out in full force!)
We live just around the corner from a wonderful beach. We go there a lot - but we haven't been since the day after Thanksgiving because of cold weather (and not feeling well...) Have you noticed my new attitude? Even though my back is KILLING me and I waddle around and feel like this baby is going to just fall out of me one of these days...I am trying hard to have happy spirits and enjoy these last days I have solo with our son. I'm trying...
So - picture this: our garage is so small that we can only get in one side (the other is too close to the wall). Normally, not a problem. But now that we have two carseats in back, and Sawyer's is on the far side...I have to sit him on my lap (what lap?) to back out of the garage before I put him in his seat. He, of course, loves it. He says "back out, back out" and, so far, doesn't complain when after we back out he has to go sit in his seat in back. But me...well...let's just say it's kinda tricky when you have no lap left to sit on! I am grateful for our garage...but, my oh my, who designed such a tiny thing?
We had a BLAST playing with sand toys, watching for trains, throwing rocks in the water, and sitting on logs (not to mention splish-sploshing through the water in our boots). 
My happy, handsome, little man! 
We stayed all afternoon, until the sun started to make the water glisten as it got lower in the sky. Man, oh man, we've scored the past two weeks with Spring-like weather! Gotta take advantage! 
One more note from our outing: my name is now on file with the police. If you live in the area and visit this beach, take note! They are painting the walkway over the train tracks that leads down to the beach. I asked the painters if there was any other way to the beach, since we'd made the effort to get there and I didn't want to disappoint Sawyer. They told me that someone had unlocked the fence and that you could go across the tracks that way on a path down to the beach. Well...did you know (as I do now!) that crossing tracks is a FEDERAL OFFENSE? Yep. You can get fined $1000 and serve up to 3 months in prison for doing such a thing! Yikes! Good thing the officer who "caught" us was super nice about it all and just put my name on file (which means I do not have a police record, I just got a friendly warning that if I did it again, they would then definitely be more serious!) So...lesson learned: don't listen to the painters!
Sawyer kept saying "BIG BOOTS!!! and BIG HAT!!!" as he maneuvered his truck and dog along the path around the sculptures.
Most of the morning, we were the only ones at the park. Just before we brought out our snack, someone joined us: a photographer from the Seattle Times. He asked if he could photograph us (I told him sure, but please focus the most on Sawyer and not my big belly! he he!) We had a good time chatting about photography and journalism (did you know I have written a couple of stories for the 6 o'clock news? yep! back in my Senior year of high school I wanted to be a journalist). Pretty much, he didn't have any major news stories to follow so he was just scouting out photo ops. They recently re-painted the boots (and the hat is still a work in progress) to cover up a bunch of graffiti, so he thought he'd check it out. I can't tell you how many times Sawyer and I have been at random parks and people (some pros, some strangers or tourists) have asked to photograph Sawyer. It makes me laugh! Well, at least he's used to being followed around by a camera :)
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!
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. 
My first project was to embellish some onesies. I had read about doing this on Jordan Ferney's blog "Oh Happy Day" quite some time ago...and decided to give it a whirl. I had some newborn sized little pants in yellow and green that were Sawyer's...but all of a sudden they didn't look "neutral" to me...so I decided to make something that would coordinate with the pants and make them a little more feminine. I love how the bird turned out. It might be hard to tell that the second one is a baby elephant. At least I made a cute headband to go with it, if no one can tell what it is!
I also got the itch to make some tutu's...so I made the lavender one below (plus headband) for a dear friend who is also expecting a baby girl a few weeks after me. And, of course, I made one for Aspen - although I'm still working on a headband to match her pink tutu.
Okay, I have to give myself a pat on the back for this one. I have never made an article of clothing before (besides Sawyer's Superman Cape for Halloween), and I found this cute dress pattern on the blog "Made by Rae". It's made for teeny tiny babies, so it should fit Aspen right away! I'm really proud of how it turned out, it being my first try and all. I embellished it a bit with some details...and yet another matching headband. This baby is going to be much more stylin' than I ever am!
I also got carried away "browsing" the shoppes on Etsy one day during Sawyer's nap. First, I was inspired by my friend, who made some amazing headbands recently for her upcoming baby girl, and then as I looked at all the boutiques on Etsy, I was like "WOW, I've got to try this for myself." Mostly, because I can't afford to buy one of theirs for $15-$30! I think Lou and Lou (on etsy) inspired me the most. I got a bunch of felt to try...but I ended up doing fabric and I really like how it turned out. I also did a simple adult-sized headband that could easily go along with hair thrown into a ponytail (most moms I know!) The one below is for a friend of mine...I will be making more!
I had my little model try the headband on, for size. He had been watching what I was doing and was pretty excited to try it on. I can't think of a way to make a boy-ish headband - maybe add some trucks or trains? Either way, he is a cute little model (and I hope his dad forgives me for turning him girly for a few minutes!)
Next project: The Nursing bag. My friend, who happens to also be our pediatrician (I was nanny to her 3 kiddos for a time)gave me this idea. Since Sawyer is still so little, she advised a bag like this with a few novel toys that I can bring out only when nursing the new baby. The thought is that it will be something special to look forward to and the hope is that Sawyer won't feel as pushed to the sidelines as I spend a great deal of time nursing the first little while. I thought it sounded like a good enough idea so, why not give it a try? I stocked the bag with just a few little things - most found at the $1 bins at Target. I thought the baby with a bottle might be fun in case he wanted to "feed" a baby alongside me. And I did splurge a little on the playmobil car and driver - I just couldn't resist! Sawyer has been really into owls lately, hence the owl on front of the bag. (I told Jacob is was a sneaky reference to "hooters" since, really, that is what nursing is all about, right? :)
Last, but not least, the ABC Blocks. I put bells in 3 of the blocks, for added fun. Sawyer already tested them out - he pitched them across the room. I figure, at least if he likes throwing them around - if he throws them at the baby, they are super soft. But, they are for the baby, mostly. Just a fun little experiment. I did so many experiments this week, and had a blast doing them! I really need to quit, though, because I need to get more rest. I really do!
As promised, here is my belly at just about as big as it will get. Well, maybe it will get a tiny bit bigger - but there's not a whole lot of time left. This is at almost 37 weeks. I was being a little too serious in front of the camera (who wouldn't be...when you're baring your big belly? I'm much more at ease behind the camera)! Jacob got me to smile by having me say - instead of "cheese" - "Aspen will be beautiful". Well, I think she will be beautiful, to us at least (and if she follows suit with her brother everyone,everywhere we go will comment on how cute she is!)
Isn't it amazing how it can grow so big, in such a (relatively) short amount of time.(With any luck, it will shrink back just as quickly!)
I will be honest in saying that pregnancy is NOT as glamorous and wonderful as I always dreamed...but there are certainly some amazing moments. My very favorite part is just feeling our little baby dancing around in there. She is SUPER active! She always pushes her little foot out in one particular spot (kinda like how Sawyer used to jab me in the ribs in a particular spot!) and I love that I can touch her little foot through my flesh and interact with her. It's fun when we talk to her, or sing to her, and feel her move around: she's listening! We keep telling her to come as soon as she's ready, and then she can meet her awesome brother, who will be so excited to see her (we hope ;)
