First Hike and first swim...

Aaron and I decided that we needed to start doing more of the things we love so we can pass this love on to Sasha. We love hiking and swimming so Sasha had her first experience with both yesterday. Granted, the swimming experience was more like dipping her legs in the water, but we're counting it. We decided to be adventurous and hike in Lamb's Canyon since we hadn't been there before. It was a beautiful day and an amazing hike. We loved seeing the multicolored aspen leaves covering the dirt trail and little bits of snow here and there. Sasha enjoyed the hike as well, especially the sunlight and stream. My mom took the swimming photos so I'll have to get them from her and upload them later. For now, enjoy the hiking pics.

Here's Aaron with Sasha in her Baby Bjorn at the Lamb's Canyon trailhead. I think she's actually sucking on part of the Baby Bjorn, which isn't a new thing since everything somehow makes it to her mouth. :)

The happy hiking Henson family
Aaron with Sasha, self-portrait...I think it's a great one, considering that he took it himself while balance Sasha, who was a little fussy at this point (we forgot a binky, silly us)
Sasha beginning to fall asleep. I took this show how she likes to hold out her arm even while sleeping, but it's kind of hard to see. Oh well, at least it will bring back the memory.

Sasha at 6 weeks! Poop stare captured on film!

Can you believe it's already been 6 weeks? We can't! It still feels like it wasn't that long ago when Sasha was just a tiny newborn. She has definitely grown so much and we're excited to see just how much at her 8 week appointment. The best development since the last post is that Sasha is sleeping more at night! She's going down some nights between 10-11 pm and waking between 4-5 am. She even slept through the night once. I'm not saying that it's completely a habit yet, but we sure hope so! There's definitely some colic and gassy business going on (she really hates pooping), but we're excited to be getting more sleep at night. Now, if I can just get over this stinky mastitis, we'll be on our way! Here are some more cute photos of our little one. We hope to take some more adventures soon so until then, you just get more cute pictures of our sweet, little Sashinka (as I call her in Russian):

Sasha loves sleeping with her hands footloose and fancy free. She has many creative sleeping poses, but this one always amazes me. How can you sleep with your arm suspended in the air and be relaxed? It boggles my mind.

Aunt Kim always says that when Sasha is looking around she is looking at the angels so I thought I'd capture a photo especially of this just for you, Kim. Here's Sasha and the angels. :)
I finally caught it...the ever-elusive POOP STARE!
I just thought this was such a cute, innocent expression so I had to take it.
Is it gas or her really smiling at me? I don't know, but it's cute either way. Plus, I'd like to think that it has a little something to do with the fact that I love her and she loves me.

Sasha and her varied facial expressions...

This last month has brought so many changes and fun moments (as well as a few challenging ones). Sasha is almost 5 weeks old and has been growing like crazy and eating like a champ. Now we're just working on helping her to sleep like a champ. :) She is a very alert and active baby, who is constantly taking in her surroundings. She has so many funny expressions that Aaron and I love so we've captured a few of them. I'm still trying to capture her elusive "poop stare" because it is my absolute favorite.

Sasha loves her hands and always manages to have them up by her face. This photo was taken on my birthday on September 15, two weeks after her birth.

No collage of photos would be complete without a good crying photo. I'm laughing because she went from happy to crying in 2 seconds and then back to being okay in another 2 seconds.

Aaron had the flu/cold so he was extra cautious not to give it to Sasha by wearing the attractive mask below. We think it confused Sasha to hear her dad's voice, but see a big white thing on his face; thus, the confused look on her face.

This is Sasha's crusty look saying 'don't mess with me right now.' Hilarious!

Drunk on milk...need I say more?

Another classic drunk on milk look.

The following photos are from bathtime, which Sasha is enjoying more and more. Notice her various facial expressions - priceless!



Aaron and I want to again say a big thank you to all of you who have supported us. We have our challenges, but I'm sure every new parent experiences their own set of challenges. We are so grateful for the increase in love for each other and Sasha in our home. It is exciting to see Sasha develop in so many ways as she changes on a daily basis. She's holding up her head pretty well (and has done so for the last 1 1/2 weeks), especially when we try to lay her head on our shoulder for burping. If she's not done eating, she'll lift her head up and turn her face toward ours to let us know that she's still hungry - what an amazing little girl. She's definitely got some spunk in her personality and we love her!

Welcome Sasha Mary Henson!

After much anticipation, we are so happy to welcome Sasha Mary Henson into our family. She joined us on Labor Day, September 1, 2008, at 8:02 pm. Leave it to our little girl to come on "labor" day...apparently she's destined to have a good sense of humor. She weighed 7 lbs 1 ounce and was 19 3/4 inches long. We have had a crazy 2 weeks and have learned a lot through this whole process. She is such a little angel and we love her more than we thought possible. Here are a few photos of our first week together that I thought you might enjoy:

Sasha at 1 day old sleeping with her papa's hand to keep her safe and secure.

You can see a little bit of her dark hair (lots of it) and her sweet little face. This is at 6 days old...isn't she just adorable?!?!
This is me and my pregnant belly just a few hours before delivery. For those who want to know, I waited until I was dilated to about a 7 and then had a light epidural so I still had some feeling and could push...worked out pretty well.
Sasha was born at 8:02 pm on September 1, 2008 and has forever changed our lives!
Sasha and her proud papa

Sasha was Coon's positive, which means that my blood was attacking her blood...scary...and that gave her basically a really bad case of jaundice so we had to keep her on these alien-looking lights for about 4-5 days. So glad that is over!

I just love the following 2 photos because she looks just like her usual beautiful, precious self. I know I'm biased as her mother, but she is adorable!

Last, but not least, Aaron and I are so grateful to family and friends who have been so supportive and loving, especially during these last 2 weeks. There is no way to express how much we appreciate all that you have done for us!

Prego countdown

Many say that the last month seems go at a snail's pace, but I'm finding that the opposite is true for me and Aaron. It seems like there's not enough time in the day to get everything done and time has been flying by. Don't get me wrong...we're definitely not complaining - just surprised. It just goes to show that every pregnancy experience is unique! I can't believe our due date of September 8 is coming up so quickly. For those of you who would like to know a few of the details, I'm now dilated to a 4 and still 70% effaced. Most people say (including my doctor) that I'll definitely go early, but I'm trying to manage expectations so as not to shoot myself in the foot by expecting her to come tomorrow or the next day. I now know that, although the medical field knows quite a bit about pregnancy, they still can't really say exactly when a baby will be born. So, for now, we anxiously await her arrival. Here are the last 2 weeks of my belly progression:

37 Weeks

38 Weeks

July and August...

Although August has been busy, it's definitely slowed down from July's hectic pace. Aaron and I are getting more and more excited about welcoming our little girl into our family. I'm 36 weeks now so pretty much any time is fair game for her arrival. We've enjoyed spending lots of time with family and friends. Aaron's been on quite a few adventures as well. Take a look at the Photos link to the right to see where he's been.

In mid-July we got to have a BBQ with friends from all over. It was fun to catch up with everyone at Cary and Keven's.

Although we were sad to say goodbye to my grandma Beth Hull, it was a very peaceful funeral and it was such a great experience to hear lots of great stories about her as she raised 11 children and helped run a farm. This was one of my favorite photos of some of the nieces and nephews (Kaylee, Madison, Logan and Salem from left to right).

I had the chance to go to Girl's Camp and enjoy some great times with 19 girls and 7 other leaders. There are 4 of us total who work with the young women who are pregnant so we included this in a funny skit. All the leaders pretended to look pregnant and we had the campers try to guess which ones of us were actually pregnant...pretty hilarious! I'm just glad I survived my first camping experience while pregnant. Can you guess which 2 are actually pregnant? :)

We have a tradition of going to Chick's in Heber for buckwheat pancakes every so often with all the ladies who are in town. Our numbers have dwindled a little, but it's always so great to get together and catch up on life.

36 Weeks - not much longer now!

All the latest prego photos...

July has been a little bit hectic with vacations, girls' camp and family events so I've been a little bit of a slacker with posting the pregnancy photos. Although, I think we at least get a few points for actually taking the photos. :) This month our little one has been moving lots more and I've been getting a few contractions as well. Aaron was a champ through our birthing and breastfeeding classes, especially considering the quite revealing videos that were shown. They were admitedly a little more than both of us were expecting, but we learned a lot and are even more excited for the experiences to come!

Week 31

Week 32

Week 33

Week 34

Week 35