We're still working on the patio. Somehow our Spring 2010 project of expanding the area around it, building a fire pit, and making a hammock stand got pushed back to Spring 2011. At least we got the landscaping done, and our willow tree is growing big. Hopefully in a couple years, it will hang over our hammock and make the best shady spot to relax.
I am daydreaming about snuggling in the hammock with babyjoon this Spring.
This is an exciting week for us. On Thanksgiving we will tell your families the results of our big ultrasound. I can't wait to start the nursery and dream up names. I love this time of year, and preparing for the little one has added an entirely new level of love and excitement to our lives.
I'm 20 weeks pregnant, and halfway done. Baby is 10 inches long, and growing fast. I can't believe I can already say "5 months pregnant" when I feel like we just found out.
We've been having a laugh about all the guesses people are giving us. I have heard anything and everything about the way I'm carrying, my face, skin, and body shape. Everyone seems to just "know" that it's a boy, or a girl.
Last night Grandpa told me that baby was a tiny little girl, with lots of dark hair. He said she was beautiful, and her name would suit her perfectly.
We don't care, and Michael would like to not even find out. Whoever and whatever you are little baby, you are just what we wanted.
37 comments:
I wouldnt want to know either (if i would be pregnant), is it boy or girl. I couldn't even decide the name beforehand, needs to see the face of the little one to tell who she/he really is :) In my culture, we don't tell normally anyone if it's boy or girl,most parents don't want to know in the ultrasound.Same with the name.
Your patio looks still great, I'm wishing to find soon a job so we could find a small house to rent with backyard and terrace.
These pictures are beautiful again, love the eggs.
And I'm sure your grandpa is right, the baby will have lots of dark hair! :)
beautiful photos!
feel free to follow xoxo
twitter: @FASHION_ICE
Those eggs look absolutely yummy. I can assume the yolks are super bright.
I often ask my friends why they did or did not find out the sex of their baby. One friend said she didn't feel she could properly bond with the baby unless she knew the gender. Another one said she just wanted the child to exist without gender for as long as it could.
I'm glad it doesn't matter so much to you two and that you're both so happy and excited for babyjoon's arrival. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Much love to you and yours.
P.S. That trunk is freakin amazing!
Sini- Americans are over-planners, we have to know EVERYTHING.
I hope you get your little yard, soon.
Monique- Yes, they were! They were fresh from a local farm, given to me by my midwives who had a client with chickens. They were the best eggs I've ever had. I normally don't eat a lot of them, but pregnancy has turned me into a meat-hater and I'm trying to get protein in any little way possible.
Speaking of the child existing without gender - Michael and I have had a lot of talks about that. Even before I was pregnant we would talk about not assigning a role to a baby. A baby is a baby. Not a huge splash of pink and blue and bows and trucks. We are doing a gender neutral nursery, and plan on dressing the baby in BABY outfits. Ones that will probably get us the dreaded "is it a boy or girl?" question, but I could care less. There are worse things in this world than your child being mistaken for another gender.
And thank you! The trunk is where I store all my (and "all" is a huge understatement) jeans. It weighs a ton.
We found out the gender, and although I didn't care if it was a boy or a girl it made it much more "real" for me. I'm not sure how to explain it, maybe it had something to do with imagining those first conversations, or what she would look like. I also insisted on not painting my daughter pink. Infact i hate that color, her room is a nice sage :)There are too many gender rolls in our society and it was so important to Jake and to give violet a CHOICE instead of shoving thing in front of her that society wants females to be.
Ps have you had dreams about the gender?I had crazy dreams that violet was a boy and had snake tounges.. Weird turns out I was wrong. Girl, no snake tounges.. your yurt baby will most likely have lots of hair:) violet was so fuzzy but allll her black hair fell out and turned blonde. People don't think I'm her mom. Did Michael have blonde hair when he was little?
I feel like I learn so much from just looking at your posts. Like I just noticed how on your vertical pictures you extend the canvas to make all your images the same size. So much more pleasing to the eye!
Also I just checked out your about me page - very beautiful
K- I can completely relate on it feeling more real. I have a hard time imagining us with a little baby. I think a lot about a small child and vacations and things of that nature, so it will be nice to visualize that a little more clearly.
My parents did a great job of not forcing gender roles. I wore dresses and played in the dirt with my pet turtles. I was a little bit of both, and we plan on allowing our children to turn into whoever they choose to be. Michael already insists that even if we have a girl, she will ride motorcross with him. I'm fine with that, as long as my son learns to garden and cook with me :)
I have only had one dream. I was sitting on a deck nursing baby, who had a head full of dark hair and was wrapped in white, only. Later in my dream I realized she was a little girl. It's funny that I couldn't tell that from the beginning, because that kind of goes along with our theory on not letting their image scream who they are. The girl realization came later when in my dream, I picked her up from my Mom's house and was mortified that she was dressed head to toe in pink frills. I immediately came home and changed her into a white onesie.
I always wonder if our baby will take on a lighter appearance, but I doubt it. My sister's husband has light hair and blue eyes and baby Brady is still dark with dark hair and eyes.
Michael had brown hair when he was a baby, but it wasn't dark. And his eyes are blue, with a blue eyed Dad, and a green eyed Mom. We will see what the science of genetics throw at us!
Thank you, Melissa! I am compulsive about things like that in real life, so it's obvious that it translates into my blog. I used to just make my vertical photos as wide as the horizontal ones, but since I've been doing much larger photos, they'd be too huge that way.
And thanks, I just changed the About Me last week.
you're just cool.
Aura, this photos are so wonderful (as per usual). My Michael doesn't want to know boy or girl, either, when we eventually have some. I don't think I could stand it!
<3
You are positively glowing, Aura. :) I'm so enjoying your posts and random photos...as always, I read your entries and feel...peaceful.
I love that we get to read Grandpa's guess, too. :)
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family!
xo!
my parents thought i was a boy until i was born. i don't think that they knew the gender of my brother's either.
you look marvelous. I was convinced my baby was a boy and finding out the gender - and actually getting to know she is a girl made it all so much more real. Your pictures look wonderful, and so is your peaceful sleeping man :)
You are having a girl!
Haha. And I agree that it doesn't really matter what gender your baby is. One thing that is sure is that your baby is loved, and that is what matters. I am expecting our second baby, my first being a son. While I would love having a little girl, I would equally love having a little boy. My son would have a little compadre to play in the dirt with and someone to run outside with to see the planes that occasionally fly over our community.
We found out before his birth what our baby would be but kept the name a secret to announce when he was born. It was very fun. Our family would try to guess the name or pry it from us subtly but they never did!
You look lovely, as always, and continue being an inspiration to me. Thank you.
aww, I can't wait to learn what you're having! Exciting, either way.
I used to get so tired of people telling me what I was having! I had dreams I was having a boy the whole time I was pregnant.
So many tomatoes! :) Mine are all officially dead (as are most things I planted this year) - it's a bit sad, but I've moved on :)
I really like the picture of your arm out of the car window in the mirror. It just seems to represent you so well - free adventurer :)
Have a lovely week!
your posts always inspire me, dear. <3
This is all just so beautiful... you look lovely, and every time I read, I want to have another baby. Your words remind me how precious the pregnancy time really is... even though it can be hard. It is so worth it. I remember what it was like wondering who my child would be, eagerly anticipating her arrival. This is such an amazing time in your life. I agree with Melissa-- the about me page is amazing, and you have a wonderful visual history to share with your little one. Can't wait to keep reading :)
You look absolutely beautiful Aura! I have been reading your blog for some time and just come back to browse when the inspiration strikes, your outlook on life, your wisdom that you express through your writing and your photos are a kind of catharsis for me. You are a true inspiration girl!
I wanted to ask, how are you liking having midwives? I am very interested in natural birth and having a midwife/doula hopefully for my second child (whenever that may be :). My first daughter was born in a hospital with my ob/gyn and although I like her a lot, my overall experience left something to be desired.
I hear from many womens experiences that once they have a midwife assisted birth/home/natural birth they would never do it any other way! :)
I wish you all the love and blessings in the world! Your family is beautiful!
Thank you for your sweet comments, everyone.
Chela- We are also planning on keeping the name to ourselves. Michael suggested it, and I agreed after I thought about it for awhile.
Keeping the gender a secret will be harder! It will only be a few days before we tell everyone, but I've already been threatened, guilted, and pleaded with.
Annie- I probably filled that bowl up 15 times this Summer. Even though we've already had a couple freezes at night, my plants are still full of tomatoes. I had so many more than I could handle. Next year I'll cut back a couple plants :)
Paige- I wonder so many things about who this little one will be. The most amazing part of it all is knowing that even though he/she will be born with their own personality, so much of it will be shaped because of Michael and me. It's terrifying and so exciting at the same time.
Jessica- Thank you for the sweet compliments.
We were using out of hospital midwives for the first 16 weeks of care. We had planned on doing a home birth, but decided for quite a few reasons (insurance, finances, and risk) to switch to a hospital birth.
We are however still using midwives, and planning a natural birth there. They allow you to labor in the tub, which was one of my biggest requests for the birth.
If you feel comfortable with a home birth, I say go for it. Do some research, read birth stories, and prepare yourself in any way you need to get ready.
If you choose to do a natural hospital birth, I would definitely suggest seeing if you can find a midwife for your care and delivery. If they're not available in your area (we only have one hospital in state that allows midwives on staff) then I'd find a natural-friendly OB who is on board with you, and I'd look into hiring a doula. They are relatively inexpensive, and can provide a lot of support and knowledge for you if you need it.
Also know that even though your first hospital birth was less than desirable, your second does not have to be the same way. One thing that I wish more women understood about their births is that we are in charge, not the hospital. They are there to provide medical assistance in case of an emergency, and that is it. There is a Patient's Bill of Rights, and we are entitled to a lot more than we think.
It's best to educate ourselves, write out a birth plan, and make sure the people who are there with us are on the same page. Some doctors and nurses (not all) will say anything they need to say to try and scare you into the kind of experience you are trying to avoid. The more we know about the process before we go in, the less chance that things will go against our wishes.
Good luck with whatever you decide!
Hello Aura,
I've been reading your lovely blog for some time now, but I finally HAVE to ask.... how DO you pronounce your name? Is it Aura as in OR-A, or, AR-A??
Strange question, I know, but I'm so curious!
Katie- It is pronounced "ARE-uh."
:)
Hi Aura,
It's lovely to watch the excitement build through all of your posts. You look like a healthy, glowing, mama-to-be. Can I ask, were you and Michael consciously trying to conceive, or was it a serendipitous conception? I wish you the best of luck, and thank you for sharing this wonderful journey with us.
Five months! Ah congratulations! I'm so happy for you!
gorgeous pictures as always, I love your shoes in the second photo! Haha
You look adorable and healthy but most importantly: you look HAPPY!
Also, your sitting area looks amazing as-is, but I'm a sucker for hammocks, too, so I can't blame you!
I'm 13 weeks pregnant with twins. The twins were a very big unexpected surprise with us. Originally when we thought it was one, we were not going to find out but for some reason now with two we feel like we need/want to. It's crazy.
You are beautiful and I hope you have a wonderful pregnancy and I know that baby will be gorgeous!
You have to be the cutest pregnant woman I've ever seen. You look fabulous and Ilove all your photos.
Anonymous- Thank you, I'm very excited.
I call baby our "planned surprise." We have been talking about having kids on a regular basis since before we got married. I think it's really important for couple's to keep an open line of communication about topics that important. We knew we wanted to be married for a few years so we had time to travel, get to know each other, and grow both as people, and a couple.
Over the Winter and early Spring (and you can actually start to hear some of my baby babbling in my posts if you read back) we started to discuss it more seriously. We decided to spend a lot of time traveling this Summer, because we assumed it would be our last one as just the two of us. We never wanted to "try." We knew we wanted to be surprised, but without the whole accident situation involved. We thought it would take the average amount of time that it normally takes to get pregnant - which is around 6 months or more for most couples. It took one :)
Michelle- How exciting!! Congratulations! I bet you were so surprised to see two little ones in there :) Best of luck to you, you will have your hands full.
Yum, I noticed that big slice of jalapeno in your sandwich. Do you still eat alot of spicy food? As a mexican I can't stay away away from the jalapenos but during my pregnancy I ate less.
I think it's pretty interesting how some people just knew what I was having! LOL something about my belly being the shape of a basketball, or 'carrying it high, or too low'.
I didn't want to find out sex of my baby just because you don't get alot of surprises in life, of course everyone has their own way as hubby wanted and 'needed' to know so nurse wrote it in a piece of paper and he knew the whole pregnancy but with condition he couldn't tell any of my family or friends. he kept the secret until the end! so it's just a personal preference.
I like it that you're going to wait to find out...that's how I feel when I have a baby someday. Although, easy for me to say now, but maybe when I'm pregnant I won't want to wait! I love the fresh eggs...you've just inspired me to take my eggs out of the cardboard and place in a bowl in the fridge...what a nice feeling to open up the fridge and see that, respecting them. Thanks for all the beautifulness. xo
So I've been reading along for quite a while now and just felt compelled to finally comment!
I drink in every one of your posts, and find myself relating all too much - ESPECIALLY with this pregnancy of yours (& MINE!). I got married in May, went on a honeymoon adventure backpacking in Europe, and within just a couple weeks of coming home (in June) - I broke out in chronic hives. Out of NOWHERE. Sound familiar??? :)
I spent over a month enduring a whirlwind of doctor visits and process of elimination. No one could figure out what it was. All they could tell me was that I was having an allergic reaction. After a vivid lifelike dream one night (where I met baby-to-be.....before even consciously knowing he was steadily growing already in my belly) - I woke the next morning and raced to the store to buy & take a pregnancy test. It was positive, and we're about the same timeline! I'm due the very end of March, 2011!
Was SOOOOO happy to see such a similar story - to this day, doctors STILL will not confirm that my hives were pregnancy related. I know in my heart that was the cause.
And it was the biggest comfort when I saw your post re: the STRUGGLES we face in pregnancy that are NOT enjoyable. I had been feeling the same way and in that moment was relieved and happy to see I wasn't the only one - you took all the words right out of my mouth!
My background is middle-eastern as well (Lebanese) - your cultural decor and DELECTABLE photos of kebobs, homemade yogurt (the besssssst) and the like make me smile inside. Feels like HOME. :-)
Wishing you the BEST - from my own little piece of the world in New Hampshire!
Always a pleasure :-)
I've been wondering how you pronounce your name, too, and I LOVE IT! So beautiful.
As I was looking through your post, I was thinking that you are such an amazing photographer that I can't wait to see your creative photographic concepts for babyjoon. And the last-the self portraits, are gorgeous! You are the first pregnant person I can honestly say is and GLOWING!
We have twins-a boy and a girl. So very funny that we are careful to not impose gender restrictions on them, but they are both very girl and very boy, and then not so. My daughter loves dress-up and dolls, my son loves trucks and trains and cars. BUT, my son also loves to dance and sing, my daughter loves to run and play in the dirt. As they grow (they're 5 now) they become more like us, my daughter is very crafty and loves to create, like me, and my son can amazes me with his attention to detail, like his dad. Long story short (too late), in our experience, kids have a funny way of being their own person, whether it's nature or nurture. From what you share of your husband and yourself, your baby is destined to be an amazing person!
-Lexie
I'm newbie to your site, so my apology if these qs have already been asked and answered.
1. What camera do you use to take these amazing pictures?
2. Are you a professional photographer, if not you should definitely think about it.
3. What advice or suggestions would you give to amateur photographer like myself?
aww! that last sentence melted me!
is it weird that your feet pics are always my faves? although i do love your food photography as well. and that one of your sleeping hubby is too sweet.
You are such a gorgeous, glowing mama! I can't wait to find out what sex your little Joon-Bug is!
I'm so excited - I can't wait to hear the news. Your outfit is precious I love the shirt and the high belt. It's already 5 months, amazing!!!
you look beauuutiful.
Aura,
I'm not sure if you will read this since you have posted this so long ago.
You have had your beautiful baby E and I was reading past posts on this blog
I read the line "Grandpa told me the baby was a tiny little girl, with lots of dark hair. He said she was beautiful, and her name would suit her perfectly"
And that is just what your little one is.
I just thought how he predicted it was so funny and beautiful.
Congragulations once again!
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