life lately

Belly Shot (Goodbye, toes!), 20 weeks

SO MUCH GOOD STUFF! I might as well just start listing.


1) I took over as lead in my classroom a couple weeks ago, and dang, it feels good! These last few days we've been doing tons of shared inquiry activities, which seems to float all our boats. Love love LOVE my job.

2) We got an air conditioner!!!!!! (Yep, after a bajillion back-to-back sweaty, sleepless nights, sharing that merits way more exclamation marks than I would normally feel comfortable using.)

3) Our last bits of furniture in Abu Dhabi were finally SOLD by friends of ours (it was a process), so we got a nice chunk of change just in time, since . . .

4) Our second trimester ultrasound is tomorrow morning! Because I'm having a natural birth using midwives and my pregnancy thus far has been healthy, it will also be my first-ever ultrasound. Cross your fingers they'll be able to figure out the gender, because we REALLLLLY want to know!

5) I just ordered a STACK of awesome children's book (for my classroom . . . for now), as well as a full-body pregnancy pillow. Here's to an even more improved night of sleep, glorious sleep! Feels like I should take full advantage while I still have the option, ya know?

6) One of my closest friends from Germany is arriving tomorrow night! She's never been to Chicago before, and I can't wait to show her around. (She's never even met Andy, so that gives you an idea of just how much there is to accomplish in the next few days!) I'm excited.


Life is moving pretty fast and lining up in some miraculously unexpected ways. The world feels so good again. x

just because

Image via

"Should is a futile word. It's about what didn't happen. It belongs in a parallel universe. It belongs in another dimension of space."

Margaret Atwood in The Blind Assassin

. . .

Working not only on accepting what is, but also on being grateful for it and content within it. That said, I'm finding myself more motivated than I ever have been to push myself a little farther and accept myself ever so slightly more each day. I've always loved children, but this is the first time I've ever truly wanted to be better for a child. It's easy to do right by myself when I ask what I'd want for my baby - and isn't that what my own mother most likely wants for me? Why get lost in the "shoulds" when we can transform what is (if only by first accepting it)?

Sweet Pumpkin Baby, you are the best blessing I've ever known.

sunday belly shots

16 weeks, 5 days

. . . 

Not that I want this space to suddenly become pregnancy- and baby-centric, but it is sort of the number one thing happening in my life right now. It's a baffling, miraculous, boundary-testing journey, something I don't think I ever really could've been fully prepared for. Some people try for years to finally have this experience; I'm still a little shocked it happened so easily and instantly for us. (Honestly, I often feel a tiny bit guilty, too. Some of those years-long "try-ers" are friends of mine. As always though, I do my best to turn that guilt into gratitude. I'd rather grow this baby full of joy, you know? I guess the plus side of the guilt, if there is such a thing, is the increased awareness of what a crazy-good blessing this is. I've never been so in love with the unseen and unknown.)

thank you/love you

From one expectant mama to those that came before me (and most especially my own) . . .

Happy Mother's Day

Meeting Grandma Berns, June 18, 2011 

(Left to Right: Andy's grandma, Andy's mom, and my mom)