This is Summer

Scarfing marshmallows on the run-

 

 

Catching baby frogs-



Picking dandelions; one for him, one to share- 

Weekend Mirths: Bob's Bday

 

We celebrated Papa Bob's birthday yesterday with Uncle Steve and Auntie Ashley,

some good old comfort food, and a Coldstone cake.

 

Thanks for letting Sawyer blow out the candles!

 

Merry Christmas to All!

And you all had better wish me a good night! Starting sometime around December 24th, the creatures will start stirring and sleep deprivation will start all over again, but I couldn't possibly be more excited about losing sleep. 

Our second baby is well on the way, I'm already at 18 weeks and feeling like someone is most unkindly over-inflating my belly.  I think I've already started to waddle and I know that my belly button popped out WAY early...it showed itself like 6 weeks ago.  I've got all the usual symptoms: heartburn, nausea, exhaustion, trouble sleeping....and a few new ones too.  It's a bit rougher the second time around since I'm chasing after an active toddler, but Jeff has been really helpful and steps in to take over as soon as he gets home.

We're overjoyed about our newest little bundle of joy.  I'm so excited to be having another baby with my midwife team at the birth center since it was such a beautiful and perfect experience with Sawyer.  I really love midwives, I think they deliver very personal and detailed care, focused on doing exactly what I want within the safest, most healthy bounds for me and our baby.  So I'm glad we squeezed that in, because Jeff will be kaput with school in mid-December and then we'll be going wherever we decide is the best job/place for our family.  It will be a quick turn around but it guarantees me a Christmas at our adorable little home!  Everything is going according to my plans....

But more importantly than that, we know that this baby is another special one, and a few months ago we were both overwhelmed by the feeling that we needed to have another baby, and have one very soon.  So here we are, 2 weeks away from finding out if we'll be a family of 3 boys and 1 girl, or even out our ratios to 2 boys and 2 girls.  Care to take a guess at what's coming our way?

Steve and Ashley's Wedding

Jeff's brother Steve got married this weekend and somehow the only pictures I managed to take were during our potty break while Sawyer was playing with Great Grandpa Bob's hat.  He wore a suit practically all day long but this is all I got.  Oopsie.  That's probably because we were too busy chasing this mad man around-seriously, he took party to a whole new level.  Thankfully, he behaved during the ceremony, which was beautiful and took place in the DoubleTree Hotel in Bloomington, MN.  Ashley was beautiful in her dress and Steve was the sweetest, most sincere groom. 

Jeff was the best man and also the best dad, wrangling our little maniac while managing not to lose the rings and delivering a smashing good toast to the newly weds. We were all exhausted after a long weekend of festivities but we're so happy for Steve and Ashley!

Sawyer Boy at 18 months

Sawyer is amazing.  He's growing like a weed and eating like a hog, and every day he leaves a little bit of his baby self behind and picks up bits of little boy.  I'm going to miss his rubber band wrists and breadstick arms, and his Bernstein-bear chub feet, and his ever-happy, all is well attitude.  He's starting to grow up instead of out, and he's figuring out what he wants and letting me have it.   On the rough days, I remind myself that I need to watch old home videos, and when I do I love seeing that Sawyer exhibits some of the same mannerisms, squeals, and fire that I did. 

I love that he likes to be sneaky, and that he shushes everybody from the dog to his dad when he's sneaking about. He loves sticks and sand and hoses and puddles and rocks.  He knows how to catch a frog all by himself. Nary a bug has ever scared him.

When we go out, he likes to see his Mama at all times, unless he's running away in a fit of laughter, daring me to chase after him.  He runs with his little arms pulled up tight by his rib cage, and flops his feet up and down with remarkable speed-eliciting an "oh my he's fast" comment from onlookers nearly every time he takes off.

He loves people, especially his Mama and Dada.  He also loves animals and nearly anything with a motor: trucks, tractors, boats, motorcycles.

He is a master escape artist.  He's most elusive at church, when he doesn't want to sit still for an entire hour in someone's lap.  To aid in his escape he employs many different departure tactics: the alligator roll, the limp noodle, the chute, the flip and slide, the crawl-away, the sneak flight, the backbend, etc. It's a workout for everyone, and just as we're all about to pack up, he'll fold his arms or sing along with a hymn and melt all of our fast-beating hearts.

He's a sweetie.  A lover and a fighter.  A hand holder and a toy-snatcher.  A cuddler and a run away.  He's pretty fabulous, and he's already a year and a half. 

Perch Lake

{a bald eagle!} 

{zen sand raking, on a mega scale}

 

The boy loves sand and water.  And giant alligator floaties loaned to him by ultra-neighborly Midwestern folk.  This nice older man was out swimming when he told us Sawyer was welcome to the oversized, inflated reptile. I think Sawyer understood every word the man said, because he proceeded to lead us out of the water, then ran up the beach and flung himself unabashedly overjoyed at the floatie. Sand and water (and bald eagle sightings and calls for nap time) meant nothing after that, it was all about the alligator. 

Glam Doll Donuts

 

I love doughnuts.  I really have a weakness for fried foods in general, but fried dough-ummm, that's bread, and it's fried- how can I ever resist?  So when rifling through a magazine I stumbled upon this little gem of a review, toasting "Glam Doll Donuts" as retro-chic gourmet doughnuts, I planned a trip to the city to try them.  (I mean come on guys,  fried food + retro + gourmet, did I really have any choice?).

All the sweet dough balls were given pin-up names like "Chart-topper" and "Dark Angel," and were made up of flavor combinations like peanut butter and sriracha, chocolate and bacon, ginger and cinnamon, vanilla and fresh raspberry curd, and salted caramel and dark chocolate.  Jeffrey munched on a cherry cheesecake, Sawyer licked and chewed on a glazed cinnamon, and I sampled several of the aforementioned flavors. Sawyer was so delighted to have a whole doughnut all to himself, he wiggled and laughed in my face and absolutely could not sit still. I was pretty giddy myself, these doughnuts we fabulous! Different not only in flavor combos, but the dough was fried a little longer than usual so the outside edges were crisp, while still leaving a soft, pillowy dough inside.

 I don't know if Jeff would agree, but I know I have Sawyer on my side when I say we need to make a trip back here before we leave.

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay

 

 

 

 

 

For one of the first scorching hot, rain-free days of summer we took Sawyer down to the St. Croix river to do what he does best: throw rocks.  The river was swollen from heavy rain and was lapping up over the dike in some areas and completely flooding lower outlets; add rocks and puddles and motor boats to the mix and we had stumbled upon a mini-paradise for our little boy.