y’all, i love this bump. i really do. but i hope i do not have another bump day post next week. i hope i have a baby. in arms. not in belly.
i officially have a big sister on my hands. the photo below is of darla telling the baby he/she has a “stinky poop toot butt.” this sounds like older sister teasing at it’s finest already.
sigh. all the love for this rounded belly.
dear baby,
i baked a stock of biscuits for the weekend. and there’s jam. this means we’re ready to meet you.
i’m in my final weeks {days?} of pregnancy. i think i’ve earned to eat fatty foods in secrecy!
the fruits ripening and coming to harvest in central ohio at the end of my pregnancy is one of the most generous blessings the universe has ever bestowed on me. i didn’t think it possible, but black raspberries taste even better when you’re 9 months pregnant.
so this is me as of late. fresh fruits over ice cream paired with ginger ale + homemade strawberry syrup. and yeah, there were some jalapeno stuffed olives in the mix too. because, pregnancy cravings. yes.
gawd i love food while pregnant.
how
i did
avoiding
maternity clothes
this week……………
^^^ berry picking in all white because i never really make good fashion decisions ^^^
^^^ dark colors and long sleeves for an outdoor festival during a 90 degree day because again…. ^^^
^^^ a very important outfit these days. i’m very thankful to my regular bathing suit for hanging in there as a maternity suit. this may or may not qualify as a good fashion decision depending on which side you’re on ^^^
* wish me luck with next week. or better yet, wish me luck with a birth and a first week in postpartum clothes!*
when i was a young girl it was my job to pick the berry bushes outside the back of our house. i find it rather funny that i pay people now to let me do it at their house, when i acted like it was SUCH A HARD CHORE back in my youth. but still, it does take me back to that time in my life and i hope darla will look back fondly at going to the berry fields with me since we don’t own our yard to plant berry bushes and give her the chore of berry picking.
well, she didn’t look on it very fondly today, that’s for sure. last year it was a novelty. this year it was one of those things her ol’ pregnant mom dragged her along for. so, i eventually just handed her my phone and told her she could just take pictures if she wasn’t interested in picking and i’m glad i did because she had a few good ones in there amongst the hundred or so she snapped away. it’s nice to have some pics of the big bump amongst the berries. i especially love the second photo, which isn’t that flattering of an angle for me or facial expression but it accurately depicts how it was out there: hot, sticky and pretty uncomfortable but incredibly gorgeous and so worth it.
worth it because i got my first taste of black raspberries. i’m 100% telling the truth when i say that i’ve been having anxiety that this baby will come during black raspberry season and i’ll miss out entirely. this was still pretty early for my black beauties but we got enough to wet my whistle for the taste and leave me satisfied should this human come before we can get back to the ripe patches next week. i will type it in all caps again because i’m serious that BLACK RASPBERRIES ARE MY CHILDHOOD ENCAPSULATED IN FOOD FORM AND I LOVE THEM.
{ people of central ohio, if i could send you anywhere for your raspberry needs it would mitchell’s berries. they are simply lovely, affordable and delicious. tell them we sent you on your next visit! }
who wore it best edition.
cast your vote! who wears this pretenders tank sweatshirt a la josh brolin in goonies the best???
contestants:
^^^ mike ^^^
^^^ phil collins ^^^
^^^ elaine ^^^
^^^ alaina moore ^^^
^^^ or wrucker bump? ^^^
Send in your vote today!
postpartum planning and fresh produce availability are converging at one time to make my pregnancy eats focus directed a little more towards the post-pregnancy period. the garden is starting to yield and so are the farms in central ohio. i’ve been gradually putting away freezer items and have gotten into some canning with our lovely neighbor. i still have quite a bit to put away before i will feel satisfactorily prepared but any progress is good progress, right?
so, we’ve put away some
^^^ cilantro lime rice ^^^
^^^ taco pickles ^^^
and
^^^ d has been doing her own preserving, making teas and drying bunches from bolted cilantro ^^^
but that’s all i’ve got so far. this is where i need help. i have some ideas like making some crockpot pulled chicken and more taco meat but i need ideas. pinterest is chock full of them but it’s hard to know if a recipe is going to be a bust or not based on the internet so, i am asking you to leave a comment with your tried and true pinterest link for your favorite freezer meals {or any recipe link will do} so i can add it to my board and get some more variety going in our freezer. healthy and cheap options are always good.
and please someone ease my guilt and tell me that i get a zero waste free pass since this is the first time i’ve bought plastic storage bags in at least 3 years? i tried to figure out a way to zero waste this process but there is only so much one mama mind can take on at one time…
thanks in advance for your help!
how i did this week avoiding maternity clothes…with a little help from my friends.
this weeks post is a tribute to a few people who popped up in life to say “hey, i have some flowy, fabricy garments. you can put them on your big body if you’d like!” it was nice to have my maternity wardrobe double in size.
^^^ prairie dress. i pretended i was a pregnant laura ingalls wilder ^^^
^^^ i love the look of a belt cinched above a baby bump ^^^
^^^ story about this shirt: i was literally walking around my house in just pants, bra and support tank top sulking to myself that i didn’t have any shirts left to fit over my body when i said “i wonder what is in this package that just arrived from my aunt?” it contained this shirt, which happens to be my power color this pregnancy, and also happens to be non-maternity and comfortable as heck. i love my family’s cosmic ways. oh and the flower was added by darla just before i left for work. she said it made me look like a beautiful senorita. how could i not wear it then? ^^^
^^^ and i’m so in love with this red dress ^^^
so thank you to those of you who gifted/loaned me something in this past week or two. i have definitely put it to good use. wish me luck with this week!
^^^ the outfit we brought darla home in, including my baby hat my parents brought me home in ^^^
i spend a good deal of time belly gazing these days, thinking and imagining what this little person is going to look like and be like. i actually sit around and change the lyrics from the sound of music to what will this babe be like, i wonder? like i’m maria von trapp.
it’s funny to know so much about a little person, yet so little at the same time. i know that this human likes to be up all night. i know that this person likes the sound of his/her sister’s voice. i know this person might just be slightly less rambunctious than miss darla marie.
but that is it at this point. i guess there isn’t much to this little one yet. this person is still part of me, an extension really. and yet he or she is going to come earthside and have a unique path very soon.
who will this little person become?
will he be like the rest of us? will this baby have dimples? will she be another strawberry blonde like miss d and me or might she get her daddy’s brown locks? will this baby like watching sound of music with me? b/c big sis has been a disappointment in that department thus far.
i think i’m getting more and more ready to find out with each day that passes. when i look at that belly up there i get the same wave of awe come over me that i feel when i look at a seed or an acorn. the potential for perpetual life on this planet is just astounding to me. the sheer multitude of possibilities encased in each egg on this earth is humbling. have you ever stopped to think about the fact that there are as many different options for life paths as there have been humans born of this earth and will always be? that makes the fact that we sit around and argue about ways of living so ridiculous. life is incredibly abundant with us. if only we could stop closing doors on ourselves…
i’m thankful to partake of this abundance. i’m humbled to perpetuate it.
“Women can change better’n a man,” Ma said soothingly. “Woman got all her life in her arms. Man got it all in his head.”
“Man, he lives in jerks-baby born an’ a man dies, an’ that’s a jerk-gets a farm and looses his farm, an’ that’s a jerk. Woman, its all one flow, like a stream, little eddies, little waterfalls, but the river, it goes right on. Woman looks at it like that. We ain’t gonna die out. People is goin’ on-changin’ a little, maybe, but goin’ right on.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
bump day this week is another homage to our baby shower when i was growing darla. i’m happy to keep this circle and tradition going with her. i asked her to draw her prediction of whether this will be a little brother or sister.
she set to work with her predictions….
and prophesized that i would be giving birth to…
Bubbles from the PowerPuff Girls.
and of course she wanted to sign her artwork.
so now we just wait and see if her predictions are correct…
from the non-maternity files this week…
you may remember this birdie top from an earlier post. yeah i got it. and i now know why big, beautiful black women wear loud prints. i know why the largest woman at church wears the biggest hat on easter sunday. i know why the caged bird sings… living large and in charge means covering your largeness in prints that say “yeah, i’m proud of alllllllll of this.”
or you can just put conway twitty on your largeness and call it a day.
momjeanz 