dripping with passion

  ...still no baby! of the twenty four babies born to my mom, sisters and i, not one  has been born on his/her due date or after - all twenty four were early!! and tomorrow  s this new little love's due date - so he may be a new trend setter. we are waiting, waiting, anticipating - and i've decided to just have fun with all the old-wives-tales natural induction methods i can find. bring on the pineapple cores, reflexology, raspberry leaf tea, etc etc... i'm also just trying to cherish my last days being pregnant and with only moses, the incredible weather london has been experiencing lately, and the precious time i get to spend with my angel mother (who keeps reminding me that the baby is sooo much easier inside than out!). some pictures from the past few days i decided i might as well post while i'm waiting, waiting, anticipating... and something really awesome (and free!) i wanted to share at the bottom of the post... ^^ moses and i have taken grammie to lots of ...

no baby yet! it’s so wild to live every day wondering when things will kick in and get going towards labor and delivery. every single morning i wake up super early and am convinced the sensations i am feeling mean i am going into labor. and then i realize i just really have to go to the bathroom ;) we will see when the little guy decides to make his entrance! in the meantime … we are having a great time with mom in town. she ended up moving her flight up a few days and it is soooo wonderful to have her here. she is the grandest mother and the grandest grandmother - i feel so blessed to have her by my side as i enter a new phase of my own mothering with baby number two! and she just published a new book!! i know i am biased, but this is some seriously  good stuff! my mom is a grandmother to  thirty  and she is the most deliberate, fantastic grandmother i have ever encountered. her vast experience - along with her golden heart - has provided her with so much know...

it’s a …  BOY! we are shocked and thrilled! (and moses - as evidenced in these photos, haha! - isn’t sure what to think … but he’s going to love both being and having a  brother !) 

happy thanksgiving eve! while i have embraced pre-thanksgiving christmas festivity here in london, i am still making good efforts to preserve the hearty celebration of thanksgiving in our little family. sorry, ian, no christmas music can be played until you’ve written down five things you are thankful for on paper leaves and added them to the thankful tree :) six of my eight siblings are together in arizona enjoying turkey day together, which makes me happy and makes me sad. i wish, wish, wish we were there … but i’m extra grateful this year for facetime! today i wanted to share some thoughts and info about our pregnancy! thanks for all the kind congratulations here and on instagram. this thanksgiving, we are tremendously thankful for the tiny bebe in my belly - what a miracle and what a blessing. one. baby is due to arrive sometime around 21 april (i am just over eighteen weeks along). we are particularly excited about this due date because my brother eli and his wife are due ...

dear friends, we have exciting news to share... we're having a baby! more info to come. love, charity, ian, and mo the bro!

there is a segment written by a woman named felice austin in the book  the gift of giving life  (which i cannot recommend emphatically enough - i  love  it) that really struck me. it is about the postpartum period, which is typically defined as the six weeks, or roughly forty days, after childbirth. ms. austin points out that the number forty is a significant number when it comes to spans of time relating to transition and sanctification: god sent rain for forty days in the time of noah, moses was on the mountain for forty days, israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years,  jesus fasted for forty days before his ministry and spent forty days teaching his apostles after his ministry. this context makes it particularly interesting that, physiologically, pregnancy typically lasts around forty weeks and postpartum bleeding typically lasts around forty days.  as i realized this connection and then reflected on the incredible transition my body, iden...

independence day is, to me, definitely one of the top five (maybe even top three?!) days of the year. i absolutely love celebrating the fourth of july. the boy and i have spent the past three independence days together with his extended family in provo, utah, which i am thoroughly convinced is one of the best places on the planet to be on the fourth! this year, we really missed being with family and in the mountains, drinking byu creamery chocolate milk and getting milkshakes at the purple turtle, and reveling in some good ole down-home americana. but we still had a fantastic day here in the country from which our forefathers fought for independence! while ian was a work (feels pretty strange to have work on the fourth of july!), i listened to country music and ate watermelon while continuing my nesting and different pre-baby projects at home. i met a friend in the park and we ate ice cream cones under the blithe summer sun. when the boy got home, we got dressed in our patriotic ga...

we don’t know when this baby is going to decide to go ahead and be born, but we do know that we just finished our last weekend as a family of two here in london. because even if our little one doesn’t come by next weekend, my mom definitely will! she arrives on tuesday morning and we’re thinking baby will coordinate arrival with his grammie. work has been crazy busy for ian (right as it’s non-existent for me due to maternity leave!), but yesterday we were able to sneak in some good time together in an attempt to relish the last of our childless days. we took the tube out to holland park and discovered there such a lovely oasis of beauty and serenity separated from the busy city. after, we walked to portobello road since the boy had never been to the market there, which is a total wonderland. i love the whimsical antique stalls, the wafting lively music from record players and street performers, the food for sale that is just so beautiful and diverse, and the electric energy of the ...

these are unique days of my life - days that feel kind of weird and also kind of precious. i'm waiting for a baby, my first baby ... waiting for an experience i have longed for, prepared for, envisioned with earnestness. i have definitely lived days kind of like this before - days building up to a big, dreamed of, really significant day - but the sheer uncertainty of timing makes this experience different, and new, and fascinating, and hallowing. i feel like i'm teetering on the edge of something miraculous, not knowing when i'm going to drop, and it's pretty exhilarating. i still feel like there's a plentiful list of things i'd like to do and prepare before our baby is born, but i'm also feeling an urge to be still and deliberately soak up these last days. i want to emblazon on my memory the sensations of a moving life, this moving life, inside of me. i want to rest my body and mind in preparation for the great work ahead. i want to draw up any last shred...

i seriously can't believe that there is an essentially full-size baby inside of me . in the past, when i've looked at pictures of newborns, or held/observed a brand new baby, they've all looked so, so tiny. but now, as i near the end of pregnancy, to me they all look really huge! i just can't get over how crazy cool and miraculous and beautiful this whole process is, and i am deeply grateful to be experiencing it - and that both baby and i are so healthy. we had a bit of a scare this week that has required a couple of hospital visits. this experience has helped us prepare to be flexible and take the unexpected or non-ideal in stride, and has stretched our faith (in god's care, in each other, in the process) a bit wider. i officially began maternity leave from work today (yay!), so i'm now in full-time baby prep mode :) since i want to remember so many aspects of this exciting journey, i've decided to spend some time today documenting our pregnancy ex...

today i hit thirty seven weeks of pregnancy, which (at least here in england!) means baby boy and i are full term ! ian and i are freaking out (in a good way! – mostly!) that from now on we can wake up each morning and in seriousness say to each other “maybe we’ll have a baby today!” ahhh! we are so excited and just a tiny bit anxious :) at our last midwife appointment, we learned that baby boy had turned head down! and i am getting better at distinguishing differen body parts as he moves inside me. we have completed our prenatal course (and one couple from our group had their baby yesterday!). i have summarized everything i’ve learned - from reading, classes, impressions and advice - on labor, birth, breastfeeding and postpartum recovery/life into one google doc, which ian has been studying. i am practicing relaxation and pain management techniques, and doing kegels and pernieal massage, and drinking my raspberry leaf tea! we’ve set up the tiny corner in our living room dedicated to ...