A Photo A Day #2 - Carkeek Beach

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!

So, there it is - day 2 (maybe I should call it "several photos a day"?)

PS ---

Week 38 Update

No changes. Still the same as last week. Although the Doc is still convinced I won't make it to the due date...at this point, do I care? Well, it would be nice to be more comfortable and have a beautiful new baby in my arms...but besides that...I'm just having fun taking it a day at a time!

A Photo A Day #1 - Oxbow Park

This morning, I came up with a brilliant plan (well, at least I thought it was brilliant!) To save my sanity, help pass the days until Aspen comes, and to get Sawyer out of the house as much as I can on decent weather days...I have decided to take A Photo A Day - because, all you photog friends know what joy that brings, even though the rest of you may find it strange. When you see the photos stop coming, you'll know Aspen has decided to come, instead!

Our first day and first outing was this morning. I had always wanted to go to this park where there is the largest sculptures of a hat and boots in the U.S. Why, you ask? I don't know...I just thought it would be strangely interesting. So...we went!

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 :)

So, there you go - day 1!

Sawyer as Sasquatch

Tysha filmed this awhile back and as I was watching the video just now I thought it must be shared! Enjoy!

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

Hooray for Tysha!

Well, I guess before I say anything I have to add the disclaimer that I recycled the seal from a freelance assignment I did awhile back but I think Dan will forgive me for that.

Today we celebrate my wife Tysha! Sawyer and I just finished wrapping some presents and now we're going to make a cake. Of course Sawyer mostly helps by getting into things and just a moment ago he was pointing at the seal on the computer screen making seal noises. But I'm sure he wants to wish his wonderful Mom a Happy Birthday in his own way too.

So everyone please join me in expressing love and appreciation to Tysha. We love you Tysh!