Catching up...Photos of the final Casting

This was a truly spiritual gathering of women that have made it their intent to unequivocally love this child. These women are my mother, Ingrid, and my dear friends Helaine, Rosemary and Ursula, and, of course, myself :)

Applying the Cast

All of the Loving Hands

My Maternal Grandmother's Ivory Owl Pendant 

Sharing our Wishes for the Bean

Second vs. Third Trimester Casts

Thank you Ladies! I love you all!

Photo shoot pics from 36 and 37 weeks to tide you over...

So I am now 5 days past my due date and still feeling great! I'm getting the impression that all of my family and friends are a lot more worried/ anxious/ impatient than Alex and I are. To help calm you, I'm posting these beautiful/eclectic/amazingly funky shots that were taken by my dear friend Elizabeth Cantrel. Also, a little info: The average gestational period of today's women is 41 weeks and 1 day, so, I am not actually overdue yet in my mind. Babies are just fine even past two weeks :) So relax and enjoy the pictures :)

All our love,

M&A

36 Weeks-Purple Dress

37 Weeks- In the Garden

 

Wow, how time flies... (38 weeks)

Hey there lovely, loyal blog followers :)
The past 11 weeks since my last entry have FLOWN by...quick update:
The baby showers (yes two, one in Crozet, VA and one in Mathews, VA) were amazing, see pics below
Little Bean is head down and in launch position
All is well at home and at work
We are getting very excited and the realness is setting in for both of us
The nursery is 99% finished

Baby Shower pics!

A great time was had by all who attended :) The food was amazing and the company even more so. As you can see by my shawl, it was an unseasonably cold and rainy day, but we definitely made the most of it!

Belly Casting (#2) Pics!

I have a few pics that I wanted to share from our second belly casting session, I will post some more amazing ones from the third and final one as soon as I get them back, but check these out for now :)

CAUTION: Partial and alluded nudity!!!

Peace and love to all as we get closer to meeting our little bean...I will be more vigalent about getting pictures up, I promise :)

Love,

M

Just a few pics (27 weeks)

Hey there!
I am feeling great, especially with the weather behaving the way it has been. The gorgeous temperatures and daffodils all over the place have gotten me energized and wanting to spend more time outside. Hence the following belly pics :)

 25 Weeks - Outside the Healthy Birth, Healthy Baby Fair in Charlottesville, VA

26 Weeks - Enjoying a mug of tea in the beautiful sunshine at the house on a Sunday morning

 27 Weeks - These pics were taken today! What good puppies :) They don't stray far from me anymore :)

We are soon heading off to another Brio Birth class where we will be doing mock-labor exercises tonight. I hope to be going to my first Birth Circle meeting with my new friend Megan Bloom tomorrow, that should be a good time :) That's all for now, thanks for checking in!

-M

Man! Did I just swallow a melon of some sort? (24 weeks)

Hello Bean Followers!

It sure has been a while (7 weeks to be exact) since I have written an update. 

Let's see...in the past seven weeks, I have:

• Visited our wonderful midwives two times
• Been to 3 Brio Birth classes (or has it been 4?)
• Gone through 48 hours of an "out both ends" kind of stomach bug
• Gone to see Railroad Earth in Charlottesville (see pics)
• Felt the baby kick (a lot)
• Spent a wonderful Valentine's Day with my hubby, Momma and Dan at the Melting Pot (see pics)
• Had a cold that put me out of commission for 4 days
• Watched my grandfather turn 97 (see pics)
• Learned to sleep in a different position (again)
• and watched my belly go from "Can you tell I'm pregnant?" to "When are you due?"

February 12, 2011 Railroad Earth at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville, VA

Okay, so, the Railroad Earth Concert was my surprise V-day gift from Alex. Right before the show was to start, they started playing some of the band's music over the speakers. Almost immediately, the bean started bumping around for the first time. I grabbed Alex's hand, shoved it down my pants and said,"Can you FEEL that!?" It took a few minutes but he finally got one good kick to the palm. The WHOLE rest of the night, this little bean was jivin' and bumpin', jumpin' and movin'! I guess Bean really enjoyed it's first concert, I know I sure did :)

  

FYI, I ganked this pic from a website, we didn't bring the camera! 

 

This is the sticker that I got from the show for my car.

Valentine's Day at the Melting Pot in Downtown Charlottesville, VA

 It took some major finagling, but we got a reservation for four at 5:45! What a great night, oh, except that I had a terrible cold coming on. I didn't know how bad it was going to be until we got home. I had to call out sick for the next TWO days. That never happens, people. Anyway, the food was great (until I couldn't taste anymore), the atmosphere was lovely and the company was tops! 

 Our landlord, Heidi, stopped by just in time to get some pictures of us kids before we left for prom, oh, I mean dinner :)

Pop-Pop's 97th Birthday-February 21st, 2011

Pop-Pop's birthday weekend was a blast except the cold that I was just getting over, Alex was now in the trows of. Poor guy, never have I seen him with such a horrible man-cold :( None the less, we had a great time and spent many hours just soaking in my Pop-Pop's 97-year-old humor, music and general awesomeness. Alex made amazing shrimp scampi and brussel sprouts with garlic bread and my Aunt Becky made a really good chocolate banana cream pie, just like Pop asked for :) Dinner was delicious and then we played Catch Phrase, which was a riot! What a great weekend :)

 

 Well, that's all I've got for now, I am planning a photo shoot at the end of the month with a friend, hopefully we can make it happen :) Thanks for checking in!

~M