A Baby Named Roll, 15 Weeks

On Monday, during a conversation about motherly advice that I co-hosted over at TheMotherhood, Casey Mullins reminded me of the importance of taking pregnancy photos. I mean, I take lots of photos, but anyone who looks at my albums will notice that I’m rarely in family photos since I’m always the photographer (compared to blog conference photos, at which times bloggers are constantly passing cameras around to share and shoot). Casey mentioned how much she loved seeing photos of her mom pregnant, which made me realize that -- sadly -- I have never seen evidence of my mom pregnant, even though she delivered seven babies. So, I’m going to try to go forward with this pregnancy and document my growth. Because after 6 years, it’s hard for me to even envision how far out my belly really went with Laurel (yes, I’m also planning on doing a belly cast this time around -- Laurel is psyched about the idea of getting to paper mache me).

So let me introduce you to a baby named Roll, at 15 weeks:

Okay, okay, hang on, I'll take off my jacket:

Laurel came up with the name Roll (as in, dinner roll) several weeks ago. I have no idea where the name came from (I can't remember the last time she's been in the presence of a dinner roll), but now she says that if it’s a boy we’ll name the baby Roland and if it’s a girl Rolinda or Rolafina.

Hmmm.

Anyway, as you can see, Roll hasn’t yet gone dramatic and I’m still wearing my regular clothes (this is part of my stellar Gap magic ensemble). However, in the last couple of days I’ve definitely felt a shift – thicker around the middle and I can feel the uterus lump distinctly when I’m lying on my back in the morning; I’ve also got to go easy when I’m going for the upward dog.

You’ll also see that I find it super challenging to take self-portraits. My new Canon DSLR takes beautiful portrait pictures, but attempting to take photos of myself in the mirror is a totally different ball game. I took about 20 shots and almost everything came out blurry or comically off center (when I tried not looking into the viewfinder). Also, it was challenging not to stick out my belly while twisting to keep the lens forward but my body sideways. This was the best I could do (thanks Lindsay, for encouraging me to just keep on trying!). I guess the upshot is that I have some 25 weeks left to practice.

So what do you think? Do I look distinctly pregnant or simply as if I should have laid off the lamb korma last night? Either way, I’m loving this pregnancy. It’s the glory zone and I feel fantastic; it’s truly a blessing.

p.s. On a total aside, this photo also reminds me that: a) we really need to hang my friend Heather's beautiful painting; and b) I love that Jon rocks out on an electric blue electric guitar.