Lisa Lisa Bo Bisa

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, ...

31 weeks at Battle Creek for our maternity shoot and 32 weeks at home. Holy smokes, did my belly grow massively over one week, or is it my clothing/posture in my photos? I certainly am feeling massive. Baby is probably almost 4 lbs and 17-18 inches long now - like a large jicama. (Won't lie, had no idea what that was and had to Google it). He/she is plumping up daily and has all five functioning senses (among a whole other slew of speedy brain development). My stomach, and every other organ, is mashed up under my lungs, which is pleasant.  Baby had flipped back to head-down at my 31 week appointment (hooray) and seems to like to curl up on my right side. That side of my uterus must be extra cushiony. A week ago the baby situated itself on a nerve or ligament that caused me extreme pain for most of the day. I laid down on my right side and gravity encouraged baby to move a bit, and fortunately there has been no pain since. Lately, this baby has been trying to escape thro...

Doing my "Photo a Day" challenge this year, I've realized that there are many days where I have multiple photos but can obviously only choose one to represent the day. The others sit on my phone until I run out of space, and then I save them to my computer.  Occasionally they make it to my Instagram, but otherwise go unnoticed. Thus, it's about time for another edition of The photos that went nowhere. First I am going to start with a video, not a photo.  It makes me laugh every single time I watch it.  My nephew's giggle, Jon's weird antics, my sister's reactions...I love this family. A dear friend from college got married up on Madeline Island a few weeks ago.  I caught this sunset just in the nick of time! And this is one efficient way to get out of your car on a crowded ferry.  Somehow I managed to squeeze my giant belly out the actual car door, which was miraculous. (and funny that I thought my belly then was giant, now 5 weeks later). ...

September was a fun month. It's usually my favorite of all the months, and no not because it's my birthday.  This September did not disappoint.

29 weeks at my in-laws and 30 weeks at home. 30 weeks down. A quarter of the way left. Single digit weeks remaining. 70 days (give or take) to go. No matter how I put it, I really can't believe it.  This pregnancy really is flying by.  Where waiting to hit 10 weeks felt incredibly long and torturous, I'm amazed that I'm already at 30. My almost-3-year-old godson told his mother and me last week, very matter-of-factly, that my baby's name is Sweetie. And that Baby Sweetie and Baby Nubs (his soon-to-be sibling) will play with all their toys, particularly this one toy dog. My heart just about burst from the cuteness, and I'm pretty sure I had a grin on my face the whole night. This kid was already acknowledging my baby in the outside world more than I think I have! And with that, Baby Sweetie is doing well, and so is Mama (for the most part; feeling sleep deprived already, which is probably nature's way of preparing me for having an infant).  The bab...