Photos by Abby Grace Photography // Dress: Evergreen Dress by Elliatt from Rent the Runway // Shoes: Lillian Glitter Low Wedges from J.Crew
There’s a new item on my 30 before 30 list today. Will and I are expecting a baby in July! We are SO excited (and humbled and also a little nervous) to be parents. We aren’t exactly sure what to expect, but we do know our lives will never be the same. In some ways, we still can’t believe it! My growing belly, however, is not shy about reminding us that this miracle is the real deal. I am so glad I have this space to document some of our pregnancy journey (but I promise to try not to go overboard).
These lovely photos are by the wonderful and talented Abby of Abby Grace Photography, and they are exactly what I had in mind. Abby was able to sneak us up to a private balcony at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery on an unseasonably warm afternoon, and we had the best time just soaking in the joy of our news in such a quintessentially, but not stereotypically, DC setting. This place is also special to us, because we visited it on my first trip to see Will the summer he lived in DC, and it is almost next door to our church. There are lots more where these came from, and I promise to share them soon! I love that they document both our second anniversary and the very early phases of knowing we are expecting. We don’t plan to do an official maternity shoot this time, so these may be our last professional photos as a family of two!
The details, though! Here are the answers to my pregnancy FAQs:
What is your due date? July 27, 2017.*
*This is really exciting, because all of my important dates in life so far seem to be 27s or 28s. I was born on September 28th, got engaged on April 27th, got married on February 28th (at age 27), and now our baby is due July 27th! I know it is unlikely that he or she will actually be born on the 27th or 28th, but you never know!
How far along does that make you? 19 weeks!
When did you find out? We’ve been keeping this secret since mid-November when we were in Houston for Scott and Lindsey’s wedding. We were so thrilled but not sure whether or not to believe it! I think the real moment it sank in was when we first heard the heartbeat at our eight week ultrasound.
Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl? Not yet. We are planning to find out very soon, though, assuming the baby cooperates! We also plan to announce the gender, but we aren’t sure how we will yet. (Should we have a gender reveal party?)
How are you feeling? Pretty good! My belly is much bigger than when these photos were taken (at 14 weeks) and seems to have suddenly popped out just recently. My lower back hurts already, which might make this a long five more months, but that’s a welcome change compared to the exhaustion of the first trimester. I’ll recap that here soon.
Have you thought about names? We have tossed around ideas, but we haven’t gotten too serious about names yet. Hopefully knowing the gender will help! We plan to keep the name a surprise until the baby arrives, though (which is easy at the moment since we don’t know!).
How did you tell your families? We told our families way back in November (partially intentionally and partially by mistake) and December with a series of cards and gifts. I’ll share that story soon as well. It’s a pretty good one. As you might imagine, we have lots of excited grandparents-to-be and great-grandparents-to-be.
Do you have any cravings? All the sweets! This isn’t really new, though, so I don’t know if you can count it as a pregnancy thing. Also, orange juice, which I never really drank before (and I’ve heard this is a common one!). Occasionally there will be just one food that I want for dinner, but thankfully we are past the all-carbs-all-the-time phase of the first trimester. For a couple weeks there I couldn’t think about eating a vegetable and basically had the palette of a toddler.
Does this mean you’re moving? Not yet! We are planning to convert our guest room to a nursery for a while. We had this in mind already when we got a two-bedroom place, and we love our apartment. There will be enough changes going on around here already, and moving our guest room furniture out into a storage unit feels daunting enough.
How are you going to decorate the nursery? We don’t know yet, but obviously I’m jazzed to have a new home decor project. I am sure the juices will start flowing once we know if it’s a boy or girl. I actually have a boy nursery already in mind, but if it’s a girl I guess I could think of something! 😉
I think I’m going to start working on our registry soon, so if anyone has great baby gear tips, please send them my way! I can’t wait to share more soon.
