Lisa Lisa Bo Bisa

On Friday, December 12, we welcomed the most precious little boy into our lives, Carter Joseph. Just one day shy of his official due date. I took a quick bump photo that morning before heading to work, though I'm not sure why. Looking back, I suppose it was intuition that this was my last chance to capture that belly. Lo and behold, 12 hours later, I was holding Carter in my arms.  Here's his birth story, for my own record (and your *curiosity/entertainment*?). At work that Friday morning I had irregular contractions, ranging 10-25 minutes apart. They weren't strong enough that I couldn't continue about my day, so I assumed they were Braxton Hicks. They stayed pretty irregular, but by 12pm I was feeling very uncomfortable sitting at my desk. Added to the fact that I didn't have much work to do, I tracked down my boss and he readily agreed that I could work from home the rest of the day. (He was always afraid I'd go into labor in the office). I headed ...

I say last "days" hoping it is just a matter of days, but it could be another two weeks. Eeesh. I'm doing just fine, and shouldn't be thinking about the timing. But I am, for both emotional and superficial reasons.  Emotionally, I am just done  with this pregnancy and really eager to meet my child and know who he/she is. I'm ready to hold him/her in my arms, give them the name we picked out, and take them home to cuddle forever. It's such a wild thought that I write this now and could be holding my baby tomorrow (or, if I'm anything like my sister, a few hours from now). I can't wait. And superficially? I don't want my child to have a birthday super close to Christmas. And I would love to feel a bit settled in with the new babe before our family holiday festivities begin. I know, it's silly. Clearly, this child will arrive when he/she is meant to, and ready. And if that means it is on December 23rd, I just have to accept that. My child will n...

The baby's nursery has been a long project, and I'm thrilled that it's just about finished. It used to be our "workout/extra lounge/storage" space, and now, a precious space for our sweet babe. I didn't have an exact vision for the space, aside from the color scheme and a few furnishings I knew we'd have. If anything, I felt anxiety over how to make this room perfect. After all, I'm no interior decorator, as evident with the rest of our house, and this was the first room that we have painted and made a real transformation with. Throughout this pregnancy, I scoured Pinterest for hours looking for ideas, wandered aisles for decor and inspiration, and stared at the blank walls hoping something would come to me. While I can't say it's perfectly designed, I'm happy with how it turned out. (And frankly, I know that our child will not care one bit about the color, or what is hanging on the walls, or how coordinated it looks). I imagine that ...

 37 weeks and 38 weeks   We are getting so close to meeting our little one, I really can't believe it.  Apparently "all systems are almost a go" in terms of baby's development, and my OB says he/she could arrive any day now (I wish she could give me an exact indication of suspected timing based on my progression, but that's not how it works). Baby is continuing to fatten up, mature his/her lungs, and fine-tune his/her brain and nervous system. And still quite active, stretching and rolling left to right most frequently in the evening. I want this baby to stay in as long as he/she needs to, but at the same time, I cannot lie that it would be nice to not draw this out too long past our due date. We'll see, that's still two weeks away. I'm slightly dilated already, and feeling a lot of cramping and backaches, so I know my body is definitely in preparation mode. But how long? We'll see. People ask me all the time how much time is left. I...

Happy Thanksgiving! On a day where we gather with family, stuff ourselves with delicious food, and then scour the newspaper ads to make a game plan for Christmas shopping, I don't want to forget the real reason for this day. And this year, I have a lot to be thankful for. First and foremost (this year), I'm thankful for this baby we are expecting. A day doesn't go by that we don't recognize the blessing that it is to become a parent, to bring life into the world, and to be able to grow our family. This child was so prayed and hoped for, and to be thankful that he/she is almost here in the outside world seems like an understatement.   I'm also thankful for a healthy pregnancy. Despite a few hiccups (ie placenta previa scare) and some very unpleasant pregnancy "side affects" for lack of a better word, I have no complaints. I am healthy and baby is healthy. Now we look forward to a positive birth experience and holding this child. My husband is ...

              36 weeks in the (unwelcomed) snow Baby is supposedly the size of a head of romaine lettuce, pretty much at birth height, and packing on the pounds. (Not too many, ok, Baby?) I think I'm feeling every single one of the 36 weeks of growth at this point. There is no more pep in my step. I pant and sweat when putting on socks (or worse yet, boots, aka the devil). I am awakened nearly every two hours for a bathroom break, which is a bit more frequent than previously. My appetite has somewhat decreased, which is fortunate for my weight gain (although I did manage to chow down a whole thing of nachos myself in 5 minutes after dinner last week - ask Jon, I'm not joking). Maneuvering out of bed, or from side to side in bed, is a full on production that involves moaning and panting and an occasional expletive. Heartburn is still atrocious, and Tums are my newest friend. Several of my shirts no...

35 weeks down, 35 days to go.  (To our official due date). Wow. For some reason I have been super excited to reach this milestone. I'm a sucker for moments like these where numbers align creatively in perfect harmony. 11:11am? I make wishes and expect them to come true (though my logical side usually catches up and acknowledges that the numbers on a clock can't control my life in that way). I recall 12/12/12 was the most awesome day ever and I also made a wish. Spoiler: it came true! The fact that our due date is 12/13/14 is just the ultimate icing on the cake. Even crazier would be if the baby was born that day. So yes, 35 days to go to our due date. I've said it before, but I really mean it now that things are getting really  real. I'd love for baby to stay put for another few weeks, but knowing that 'D' Day could potentially be any time now it so exciting and nerve-wracking. We are mostly 'physically ready' for baby, thanks to some very gene...

Themes for this month's photos: Baby, food, and fall colors. Two months to go - this year sure went quickly!

A couple of weeks ago Baby K and I had our first baby shower. It was hosted by my best friend, and she really went all out to make it a special, adorable affair. She had an Up, Up & Away theme, which was just so fitting to my nursery color scheme, to my engagement story (hot air balloon), and frankly to my feelings of being on Cloud Nine about this pregnancy.  The decor, the beautiful presentation of food, the tasty  food, writing sweet messages to my baby, many of my dearest friends...it was a lovely celebration. I was honored to have so many close friends attend, from my two childhood best friends to dear college buddies to husband's friends to girls that I have grown close to through said childhood friends. Having all of them together in one room was pretty surreal and awesome. I am not one to seek a lot of attention, so sitting center stage opening gifts with 16 pairs of eyes on me was a tad unnerving. (I'm pretty sure I sweated through my dress). But in all hon...

       33 and 34 weeks in the nursery, which is coming along slowly. By now, baby is the size of a cantaloupe! At our ultrasound two weeks ago, baby's weight was estimated to be 4lbs 4oz, give or take 11oz.  Which just proves there's no accuracy in it at all. Baby is measuring at the 62 percentile, which also doesn't mean much, except offering a little relief in knowing I'm likely not having the most giant baby around town. At our last u/s the tech showed us the baby's growth rates over the last 3 scans, and our little one's measurements fit right within the ideal rates. All that protein and other nutrients I'm trying to get seems to be doing baby just great. (We'll pretend the Halloween candy is too, since I just ate a TON).  The most important news for this update is that I no longer have marginal placenta previa! This means I can proceed safely with trying for a med-free, natural birth. Yeah, med-free...we're going for it. I have...

A couple weeks ago, my dear friend and photographer-extraordinaire took some maternity photos for us. Up until recently, I hadn't given much thought to having them taken. I had already lined her up to take a few at the hospital of our new family of 3, and was dreaming up ideas for doing a newborn shoot. While I am enjoying this growing baby bump, and having a belly I can be proud of, I had thought my weekly bump photos were enough. Then I realized that this may be my only pregnancy. If not, it is my first , and in many ways extra special. I also realized I didn't have many of my own photos with Jon and the bump. And the ones of me I do have are all in the same position for comparison's sake. And this is a flipping big moment in our lives, so why not get some beautiful photos to capture it? Mandy was on board, and mere days later we were out taking photos. I wanted to capture some photos as late as possible when my baby and belly are in it's fullest, craziest glory, ...