As I said to my awesome girlfriend: It’s just not fair that Josh gets to hold a sweet baby on Father’s Day 2011, while I get a few swift kicks to the ribs and some heartburn to keep me up at night.  I hope this doesn’t foretell future Mother’s Days.

Everyone keeps asking when I’m going to get maternity photos taken.  Since I’m so into photography, I think they just assume that I’ll get the standard mama-to-be photos all tangled in a sheet, head thrown back, belly exposed.  But…no please!  For some reason, maternity has just never been something that floats my boat.  I think pregnant mamas are absolutely gorgeous, don’t get me wrong, they just don’t inspire me like the sweet babies they produce do. 

However, first thing this Sunday morning, on my almost first Mother’s Day, Josh convinced me to let him take a few pictures of me in the nursery.  And honestly?  I’m really glad he did  

I wasn’t dressed, my hair was all a ruckus from our evening out on Saturday night, but I look happy.  And pregnant.  And that’s how I want to remember this pregnancy.  Because although it’s had its highs (baby’s movin!!) and it’s lows (OMG opening my eyes makes me want to puke), it’s been an awesome ride so far, and I’m so thankful for that.

I’m a little concerned.  See, you’re currently at 30weeks, 2 days gestation – which means that you still have AT LEAST another 6 weeks of cooking to do – and I can tell you already want out.  You have wiggled, poked, kicked, punched, rolled, and stretched more in the past 3 days than I ever thought was possible for someone who only weighs in at around 3lbs.  Even now, as I sit at work and lean against my desk to type, you are pushing so hard that my body is being physically shoved away from my desk.

Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely LOVE to feel you move around.  It’s a constant reminder of the perfect little life growing inside me, and it makes me pause for a moment to dream about what you’ll be like when you finally arrive.  Since we don’t know if you’re a boy or a girl (though your daddy and I each have our own opinions on that), my thoughts lean more towards what you’re little (or big!) personality will be like.  I’m guessing that you’re going to be a bit of a firecracker. 

So thank you for the little hello’s during the day, and feel free to keep them up as often as you feel necessary.  Let’s just be clear – no coming out until week 36 please!

Love,

Mama

It’s funny, when you can’t drink, exercise, or eat deliciously unpasturized cheeses, it really is the little things that do it for you!

Fittingly, I woke up with Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” stuck in my head.  (You know – “Whoaaa, we’re half way there”).  Awesome – happy Tuesday!

I’ve started to feel teensy tiny baby movements, which has to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever felt.  Finally some “proof” that there’s actually a baby in there (and that I’m not just getting pudgy with a superhuman sense of smell).  I think I felt them for the first time almost 2 weeks ago, and even in just 2 short weeks they’ve gotten significantly stronger.  At first I could only feel them if I laid perfectly still on my back and kept my hands on my little bump, but now I’ll feel them at the dinner table, or watching tv.  It honestly feels a little alien-esque!  It’s awesome.  Josh finally felt some significant “bumps” last night, and I know it just made his evening.  Up until now, I’m not sure he knew what he was feeling for, but last night baby gave a few swift kicks that moved both of our hands.

In other pregnancy news, I’m finally back up to my pre-pregnancy weight.  I can’t believe it took me that long to get back.  I was sure that through the holidays I’d gain quickly, but body and baby had other plans.  Regardless, I’m thrilled because this means that I finally get to start eating normally.

In the beginning I didn’t eat a damn thing – lived off G2 gatorade and one taco bell bean burrito a day.  I just can’t believe that’s the ONLY thing that didn’t make me want to hurl!  It’s got to be drunk college kids and pregnant women keeping that place alive.  After that I was just eating everything in sight to try to gain my 10lbs back.  I was so worried about baby’s development falling behind that I was packing in calories left and right. (Not that I’m complaining, mind you.  It was deliciously amazing). Now I’m finally where I should be, so I can start to eat yummy, but healthy, foods regularly.

However, I’m still not giving up the TB or the ice cream.  Sorry baby

The thing is, we got iPhone’s for Christmas (well…2 weeks before Christmas…but I put them in our stockings to make it feel more real), so I got all jazzed about the WordPress app.  OMG – I could do EVERYTHING from my iPhone!  Unfortunately I got nothing but errors when trying to load the blog, and after doing a little reasearch into ratings and such, it seems I’m not the only one who had these issues.  Boo. 

So I guess my point is, it’s not my fault!  Clearly WordPress has something against my posting.  It’s a conspiracy.  Just like all those dead birds and fish…I bet WordPress had something to do with them too. 

I suppose I’ll have to sit at an actual computer to post a blog. 

Isn’t it funny how something that seemed so simple, can turn to such a “burden” with the introduction of new technology?  Remember how super amazingly cool cordless phones were when they first came out?  You could finally throw out that extra long cord – you know, the one that allowed you to walk all over your room while still on the phone with your BFF?  Then cell phones came out, and we were all OMG my cordless phone doesn’t even WORK when I walk to the neighbors house!  Ludicrous!!  Now here I am complaining that my cell phone application doesn’t easily allow me to create a blog post. 

Maybe I should get my extra long cord back out for a day, then see how much of a “burden” this really is.

WTF??

So on Wednesday I woke up and prepared myself for yet another disheartening morning.  I mean, we’d been trying for 9 months, and nothing had come of it so far.  Hell, I hadn’t even registered on the ovulation kit a few months.  But this time had been different.  This time the lonely blue horizontal line wasn’t so lonely.  It had a little intersecting friend.  And that little intersecting friend said very clearly that our lives were going to change forever.

Pretty little thing

We were way too hungover to be participating in sunrise photo shoots, but I’m so glad we did!

This road may have been a bad decision.  1hr to go 8miles.  Ouch.

Awesome vineyard that we stopped at in N. GA.  Aren’t all vineyard’s awesome though??  Check them out here.



Fabulous trip, for sure.

I won’t lie – I adore being from Tennessee.   It works as a great excuse when you want to wear no shoes or use “bless her heart” as a backhanded compliment or refer to the police as “the law”.   It also doesn’t hurt that this particular weekend we were up in the Sevierville/Gatlinburg area, which just calls to you to let your inner Dolly out.

I digress.  What I wanted to share was a picture I took of my niece and my father in law that melts my heart into a Paula Deen sized pool of butter.

I L.O.V.E. this picture.  I want to blow it up and frame it in my house, and it’s not even my child.

They were snuggling on the porch of our cabin, he was tickling her in her “pandi” pj’s and she was giggling hysterically.  I had my camera out to take some pictures of the mountains, and I turned around and just started snapping the two of them.

The great thing about always using your family as practice when you’re starting out a photography business is that they all become immune to the camera.  No one blinks when I pull out the big guy and start taking pictures of them doing whatever it is that they’re focused on at the moment.

I hope that in many, many years, when my father in law is long gone and my niece has children of her own, she’ll look at this picture and remember how sweet is was to be 5 and able to curl up so comfortably in her Papa’s lap.  How easy it was to laugh and giggle and wear pandi pajamas and not worry about anything other than where he’s going to tickle next.