A NEW SEASON.

It is the first official day of Spring and I'm curled up on the couch sipping mint tea as the rain falls outside. The Seattle gray is settling in for a what is predicted to be weeks and I am dreaming of sunnier days. It was exactly a month ago that Dashel and I escaped to the desert for our last trip as a family of two. On our second night there, we drove to Joshua Tree just before the sun dipped behind the rocks. As we ran through the sand exploring, we found ourselves tangled in cacti, laughing about our impending death by scorpion bite. It seemed like the perfect location to quickly take some maternity pictures* and we grabbed a camera to snap as many as we could before the night set in. I am so grateful we took that time together and so grateful we will have these pictures to remember that magical evening in the desert.

*I apologize in advance if you were hoping for some naked pictures of me wrapped in a gauzy sheet while Dashel kissed my stomach.

FIRST PICTURE.

Months ago, when we had our first ultrasound we were given a little envelope with “Baby’s First Picture” printed across the front. Inside were several blurry images of our baby’s feet and a profile that closely resembled a monkey. For almost everyone I am sure that this is, indeed, the first picture they receive of their baby. But, for us, our very first picture of our baby was an image of a five-day-old embryo that had been selected as the “best” among its twenty-four siblings.  Because of a ruptured appendix that was left untreated for five days when I was a small child, I knew that I would not be able to make a baby the good old-fashioned way.  Instead, our little one would be the result of some seriously, mind-blowingly crazy science. Becoming a mother was a long, and often very painful, process and it’s taken a long time for this baby to seem real to me. I have so much to say about the tears and doctors and feelings and injections and gratitude and friends that got us to where we are today, but it seems like too much to write about all at once. So, for now, I’ll just share this… our baby’s first picture.  

SHARING.

My due date is two months from today and, as it approaches, I can't help but feel a little sad that soon I will have to split my time between Dashel and our baby girl. You see, the amazing part about marrying someone you have so much fun with is that everyday feels like you're on a never-ending sleepover with your best friend. We woke up this morning and cuddled for those few, quiet minutes before we had to start racing around getting ready for our day and it occurred to me that soon our time would be interrupted by another tiny person. Writing this I feel like I should only be talking about how excited we are to meet that tiny person. It's true, there is nothing I want more than to hold her, to be her mother, to see Dashel as her father, to watch her grow up. But, at the same time, it will never be "just us" again and, so, I will spend the next two months loving my family of two.