Beach bump

I thought I would post a couple of baby bump pictures Kristin emailed me from our beach day on Friday. We are 6 months along here and we sure grew fast!

To be honest, I have had a little trouble embracing this rapidly growing belly of mine. There are many ways and times I LOVE it, adore it, and wish I could hold it and kiss it the way Matt does. I love that our daughter rests within it's walls, I am honored that I have been given this incredible opportunity and this amazing gift, I'm in awe at the miracle of it all, and I'm speechless with the wonder contained within my very own skin.

Then there are times when I retire yet another pair of pants or shirt that doesn't fit and I realize that June is still so far away and the bulk of growth is yet to occur. It's hard being too big for your clothes, even if you do have such a wonderful reason . . . it's still hard.

I have had several friends tell me one of their biggest regrets is not having more "belly shots" of their pregnancy and I can already see exactly what they mean. The last thing I wanted was to have my picture taken in a bikini, but their words of motherly wisdom rang in my head and I struck a pose. I felt so . . . well, pregnant, big, and exposed. My chest is unattractively bigger, my skin is pale, and my belly is round. I wanted to sit and curl around her to hide. I wanted to suck my gut in, but there was no getting away with that with this little girl.

As reluctant as I was, when I opened the pictures in my email today I LOVED them. They are far from professional and we didn't try very hard for very long, but they captured me the way I imagine other people see me. I looked like a cute pregnant girl. I can almost see the glow people talk about, and even though I can't see it, I am definitely feeling it. I don't look too big, I look pregnant. For right now, today, this is the proudest and most confident I have ever been of my body.