Maternity Photo Shoot!

I said I wasn't going to do it.  

I LOVE professional pictures...a lot.  And as a result of that I also have a lot of professional pics which is fun.  What I know about those shoots is that maybe one, two pictures usually end up in a frame or on a wall and the rest live on a disc.  After some encouragement from a few mommy friends I decided to take the plunge and book a maternity mini-session to capture this baby bump.  I mean, the bump is cute, but to be honest, I have not been feeling overly photogenic these days at 8 months pregnant.

Our photographer was great and I'm glad we ended up capturing this neat time in our marriage.

Here's a few of my faves...

The Other Kids

My baby shower was lovely...all four of them! 

We've got a house bursting at the seams with things for this little guy.  Amidst all of the home improvement projects we've got going on we have stashed all of the baby things in the dining room for now.  Hopefully starting this weekend we can begin to put the upstairs back together and start the process of setting up the nursery.  This kid has so much stuff!

Amidst all the celebrations for baby B however, a recent church service made me ugly cry for an ENTIRE hour as our pastor talked to us about compassion, child sponsorship and the new ministry our church is supporting.  We are now funding a Compassion International project in Ecuador and along with it, the congregation received the opportunity to sponsor children from the area we'll be helping to support. 

As the pastor told stories and showed videos of how much getting a sponsor meant to the children in this impoverished area my heart just broke.

How does my baby have so much and these babies and children have so very little.  Baby Bruce is loved just as much by God as these other children, yet will enter this world in a few weeks wanting for absolutely nothing.  He'll have a safe, modern home, married mom& dad who love him, clothes, blankets, toys, books, food, clean water, air conditioning, even a room and bathroom all of his own.  Shoot, this kid won't have to beg for a dog (he'll have 3 to pick from) or even a pony, we've got one of those too (not that I'm letting him ride Spots anytime in the next 10 years, safety first).

But in all seriousness, I just don't get it.  What I do know is that we've been given much not for our own comfort but in order to help make the lives of those less fortunate more comfortable.  I think many people, especially non-Christians/believers look at God and say:

HOW does a loving God allow children to suffer?  

I think the real question is: 

How do WE?

For those of us blessed with more than we could ever actually need how do we help those who do not have what they need?   That's what God calls us to.  He doesn't call us to wait and watch on the sidelines for Him provide for others in some fishes and loaves way only He can.  He tells those of us He's given so much to already to go out and give what's ours (which is really His technically anyways, right?) to those who are not as fortunate.   We're called to not love this life or the things of this world.  

"Whoever is kind to the needy honors God."  Proverbs 14:31 

We sponsored another child that day at the end of service.  His name is Bryan, he's 15 years old.  Why an older kid?  Well, he was the sponsorship packet on my husband's seat, simple as that.  Older kids needs support too.  So I guess we technically have 4 kids!  Baby B, Bryan (Ecuador), Luz (Columbia) and Ridoi (Asia). 

Living in a very affluent area I think we get numb to what a need really is and we get confused about what compassion really means.  Our pastor made a point in his message that I just loved...

Compassion is not a feeling, Compassion is an action.

We can all feel compassion when we see a poor child or sad situation, but the question is...so what are we going to do about it now that we know about it?  I'm trying to do more.  Now, that's a little tricky 8 months prego, but for now that more is sponsoring our kids and writing them letters of encouragement.  You can go on Compassion's site and sponsor a child today too!

If you love your shoes...

It appears that if you love your shoes, you need to seriously consider adopting your children.

Today after squeezing uncomfortably into nearly any pair I pulled out of my shoe rack I bit the bullet and went shoe shopping.

I got 3 pairs - two pairs of fancy flip flops and a pair of slip on wedge style ones.

Don't get me wrong, they're all really cute...but...

I miss all my shoes.  And while I used to love shoe shopping, buying practical preggo shoes in a gigantic size is just not my idea of a good time.

Maybe I'll just buy giant godzilla slippers and call it a day, these look cozy.

My advice for buying shoes while preggers...

0.  Get over yourself and just accept this is not as much fun as shoe shopping before getting pregnant

1.  Quit kidding yourself and just go up a size, or a size and a half.  I was literally in the store boxes flying everywhere and laughing out loud one or two times at least at the fact I am now apparently a size 10.  TEN.  OMG.

2.  Even if that size and a half is a little big, if  you still have a couple months to go, buy them anyways vs. the ones that pretty much fit and are only one size up

3.  Try LOTS of different brands - I went to DSW and found some brands worked better than others and I didn't need W width so much as I needed the right brand/style in a size (and a half, GULP) up

4.  Skip everything with buckles, basically if doesn't slide on/off easily you'll want to avoid it

5.  Ventilation is your friend - lots of cute perforated leather styles out there right now

6.  Dressy flip flops are your friend

7.  Wedges work better than a heel if you still want some height - just imagine yo preggo self breaking off a heel...dangerous!

The brands I landed on were Aldo, Crown Vintage and Sketchers (Go Walk shoes).  For all those who said being pregnant in summertime sucks, I say no way!  My next stop is Old Navy for $2 size 10 snorkeling fins flippies in every color!  At least I am not having to buy pairs of tall boots for winter, those are expensive!

Aldo Flips and Crown Vintage Stretchy Wedges

Ultimately this is payback I think.  I had a preggers friend who I once joked with about her amazing shoe collection.  I said I'd happily take her shoes off her hands if her feet never returned to their pre-pregnancy size.   Today I had a friend make me the same offer...and you know, I told her once baby is 6 months old if they weren't fitting still, she was welcome to them!  

When Giants Fall

Every morning I read one of my pregnancy apps.  I take stock of the symptoms I should be experiencing at this stage and often {smugly, yes I admit it} get excited that my pregnant body is superior to other women's bodies because those symptoms have not yet manifested.  

That is until the past couple of weeks (28-29) the symptoms just like everyone else's have started to show up one by one like:  

Heartburn...meh, it's not THAT BAD as long as I have a giant bottle of Tums with me {in my purse is ok, but better is if it is physically on my person} at.all.times

Swollen feet...pretty much only my really stretched out shoes fit anymore...even my flip flops are crying for mercy as I shove my squishy flippers into them

Swelling everywhere else (also known as weight gain)...I still have HAD definition to my calves...just noticed while I was shaving them this morning those muscular limbs disappeared seemingly overnight

Peeing...this one...this ONE I thought I had mastered until this week when I went from one trip a night to the potty to two and one trip about every hour at work.  Before I leave the house, pee.  When I get wherever I am going, go again.  Pee even when I don't feel like peeing and sometimes even needing to pee 2 seconds after I finished peeing.

Hemorrhoids...I.just.cant....

Memory...what was I writing about, again?

Here's where I still think I'm doing better than the rest of you are:

Energy...I still have it, provided I get 8 hours of sleep and a 30 minute nap everyday and no one asks me to do anything remotely outside of my normal routine and I remember to take my iron pill

Cravings...ok, I have not really had these, but then again I am kind of eating whatever I feel like so maybe I don't even give myself an opportunity to HAVE a craving.

Emotional Instability...What?  I'm totally fine as long as you're not being mean to me, annoying me, ignoring me, disagreeing with me and/or hurting my feelings or looking at me funny

Stretch marks...NONE!  No, seriously NONE!  I've been using Mustela religiously, but in all honesty really think it's only because I had some chub around my midsection to begin with so stretching that out was just like filling a Build-A-Bear with a bit more fluff to make her extra firm ;)

Linea Nigra...La linea never made an appearance, and for that I am grateful.