Austin Maternity Shoot

I always knew I wanted to take maternity pictures. I wanted to document this special time in our lives, our transition from a family of two to three, with some nice photographs. So I asked my nephew Shannon to help us out. He's not a professional photographer (he is a filmmaker), but he agreed to do it because he loves his aunt. I think we still owe him dinner.

It was an exhausting day for me--temple attendance that morning, rushing to a friend's baby shower in the early afternoon, and then getting ready and walking all over creation for this shoot--but I am as pleased as punch with how the photos turned out. I'm so glad we did it. Thank you, Shannon.

My Pregnancy in Photos

 

The text says:

"For the most part, being pregnant was not what I expected. Your dad and I both braced ourselves for the hypothetical “worst”--lots of vomiting, over the top emotions--but the truth is, I think I make an excellent pregnant person. Yes, nausea was my daily companion throughout the first trimester, but I didn’t actually throw up until 12 weeks, & then it was only a few times. Instead of having crazy mood swings, I felt happy and confident. I count those as huge blessings!  Most importantly, you & I stayed healthy. It seemed like it took me forever to actually “show.” As proof of that, I didn’t officially announce my pregnancy at work until I was 6 months pregnant! Even though people continually told me that I looked “so small,” I gained an appropriate amount of weight, & my doctors were never concerned with your size. That was probably the weirdest part of pregnancy for me: having so many people comment on my changing body.  I attribute feeling & looking good for so long to lots of walking, both in my daily activities at work & weekly modified workouts at the gym. My favorite part of pregnancy, the thing I miss most, is feeling your kicks and wiggles, but I don’t miss you pushing against my ribs or my bladder."

For the record, I did tell my boss right away at 3 months so that she could plan for my maternity leave. However, I did hide fail to mention my pregnancy to the principal and assistant principal at one of my schools until Thanksgiving! There just didn't seem to be a good time to bring it up before then...

Baby on the Way

Well, my baby girl is a month old today! I can't believe it! Now that I'm on maternity leave I spend almost all of my time at home. It's weird. It's been a bigger adjustment than I anticipated, but I am getting used to this slower season in my life.

Being at home has allowed me to get back to my design roots. This week I started working on creating my daughter's baby book. I'd like to start blogging here again, so I'll be sharing pages from her book as I complete them to tell our story.

My first page goes back to the beginning, to when we first found out we had a little one on the way. =)

The text at the bottom says,

"Those early weeks of pregnancy were filled with worry for me. One of my pregnancy hormone levels was low, so I took supplements daily and had my blood drawn weekly throughout the first trimester. On June 29th, my doctor requested an ultrasound to make sure you looked healthy. That afternoon I wrote this in my journal:
        'The ultrasound made me feel MUCH better! The nurse and doctor said the baby is measuring about 6 weeks. We could see its little heartbeat flickering on the screen. It was amazing. The nurse said its heartbeat is 114, which is a little low, but since I'm only 6 weeks, its heartbeat is probably very new. I got my first baby picture too! I'm so excited that this is really real. I'm ridiculously happy that everything seems okay. I just hope the little guy or gal continues to grow!'”