Spring is springing

I am trying everything I can think of to speed along the birth process. The number one thing everyone recommends is walking, and so today my friend Katie and I went for a walk. Even though my back felt broken, I had such a great time. First of all, Katie is a delightful walking buddy. She is so positive and cheerful that it is hard to feel down around her. Thank you, Katie!

Secondly, this is the first day of March. The snow was melting, the weather was mild, and we even spotted buds on the bushes. By the end of the walk, I felt so buoyed up.

We are happy! Wouldn't all that feathery foliage in the background make you happy, too?

BUDS! On the branches!!! This thrilled our souls. Spring is springing.

After the walk, Clark and I had dinner with our wonderful neighbors from across the hall. We had lasagna--but not just any lasagna. This lasagna took us EIGHT hours to make. We started yesterday and worked on it intermittently for an entire day. I got the idea to make the lasagna when Clark casually dropped a 1 lb package of ground grass-fed beef on the counter and suggested we make dinner. We went back to the store, bought a ton of other ingredients, and a day later we were ready to eat. Thank goodness Dick, Sarah, and Ethan came over to help us eat. There was no way we could have tackled it by ourselves--especially since Abe had to work late tonight. (Don't worry--we saved him some!)

Clark sharpens his knife as he prepares to tackle the chopping ahead. With the food processor not working, we had our hands full chopping onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and prosciutto.

Clark, Sarah, Ethan (looking cute!!), and Dick. We miss you, Abe!

 Abe has his late night inspections tonight, so Clark has been subjected to endless verbal streams regarding my desire for Lydia to come NOW. In one of my less than finer moments, I grabbed his headphones and blasted the Jay-Z song from his laptop onto my stomach, hoping that this would encourage Lydia to get going. To my horror, I discovered that the song was a remake of "Forever Young"--definitely not the message I want to be sending to Lydia right now! She certainly doesn't need any more encouragement to cling to this stage of her youth. 

Sigh. But Spring is coming, and I am hopeful that Lydia is coming, too! I can't wait to meet her. In the meantime, I guess I'll try to get some sleep. That would be lovely right about now.