Pregnancy Announcement!

There are a million-bajillion ideas on Pinterest for how to announce your new pregnancy, and ours is nestled in there at about #7,006,4356 ....but to us, and to me, it's as special and new as the little gummy bear swimming around in his/her little "apartment" in my tummy.  We're 9 weeks along with our second babe, and wanted to share a picture that captured the spirit of our family. 

With so many bright, bubbly, giddy announcement ideas out there, I felt a little left out. I'm more of a moody, introverted soul. So is my husband and son. I don't mind rainy days and cool weather, and I even prefer moss and ferns to grass on most days. There are plenty of announcement ideas that capture the sunset-y, honeymoon glow of pregnancy, but there wasn't anything that really summed us up. I didn't know what I wanted exactly, I just knew it had to be a little moody. 

For me, the parenting journey has been steeped in contrasting hues. My first pregnancy was a story of beauty and pain, as I chose adoption for my first child. There was no fanfare, no baby shower, and most of the time I tried not to think about what was happening. 

I met my husband a few years later and discovered that the whole "soul mates" thing is real. I knew from the moment we locked eyes that I was going to marry him. We got married and after a couple of years, started down the path of parenthood. Aside from normal soon-to-be-parent anxieties, things were going pretty well. I did, on occasion, have flashbacks to the trauma of my first pregnancy, but overall it was a good experience until about halfway through. I was four-and-a-half months pregnant with my son when my youngest brother took his life. To say that the remainder of my pregnancy (and the beginning of motherhood) was traumatic is a massive understatement. 

This is why I needed a "moody" pregnancy announcement this time around. It hasn't been all sunshine and lollipops, but we have seen God's love and compassion through it all. And the beauty that he has brought from the ashes is far greater than any sing-songy nursery rhyme I could come up with. 

So there you have it - the inspiration for these rainy-day, cloudy, cool-weather photos to let the world know that hey, life is still good, still worth celebrating, and still beautiful in more ways than we can imagine. 

That face!!! Oh mah word.

I wish I was this photogenic...*sigh* :)

Can I just keep him this size forever? Pretty please?

It's kind of hard to see, but I'm holding a little sea pebble to show baby's size.
I don't know about you, but using food for scale is a little weird. People eat food :(
That's why I chose a rock. No one eats rocks.

Proud parents! I wish I'd have put my hair back in a ponytail for this one, but oh well. 

Another thing worth mentioning: We didn't hire a professional photographer for these pictures. I was using my Nikon, and I took the ones of our toddler, and my sis-in-law took the last two. I used free photo editor Pixlr to make a few adjustments, and voila! I can't even imagine how much a professional would have charged us. Anyway...I'm glad we packed the nice camera! I don't think my phone would have done the job as well :)