7 months on Tuesday

Andrew snagged this one while I was trying (in vain) to give more volume to my hair

Have I mentioned how much I don't like posing for pregnancy pictures?

They make me look tired and I'm not, and my face isn't swollen, and I promise that when I look in the mirror my hair is a lot cuter. ....But then I've ALWAYS felt that way about pictures of me without pregnancy. Perhaps everybody says to themselves when they look at pictures of them, "that is not the face or body I woke up with today."

So it took a while (and a few wardrobe changes) before I got one that satisfied me.
Looking back (as Andrew took this photo a few days ago) it probably would have been easier to get a decent preg-go pic if I hadn't been in a very pouty mood earlier that day. We don't need to go into details here, but we all know that there are days when you run into the harder realities of life. They are not pleasant, but they're not trials either--at least they don't have to be, with the right attitude. In my opinion they're actually very few things in life that really count as trials. There are just certain circumstances in life and if we should accept them and be grateful for what we have in our lives. The other day I wasn't doing that, I was just focusing on how I wasn't getting something I wanted. And even though it was a very worthy "want", nothing superficial or only beneficial to moi, there was no reason to feel so sorry for myself. I was sitting in the living room sorting laundry when it hit that I was being very ungrateful and selfish. I was inside a comfortable and reasonably priced apartment--residing in a terrific community. I was surrounded by a room full of furniture, although not the cutest or most elegant, I did not have to pay one cent for. Inside my bedroom there is a crib filled to the brim with baby clothes to be sorted, and a few boxes more besides, that had all been given to me. I have a wonderful husband and family and countless other blessings--so what right did I have to complain if some plans for the future weren't going my way? It was a very humbling moment not only for that but because just that morning I had been thanking my Heavenly Father for the manifold of blessings with which he has bestowed on us and asking Him how I could show more gratitude to Him for them.
Did I mention that Disney songs on Pandora are surprisingly apropos at these meetings with reality--eventually  you come to the realization that this is all just a part of the circle of life, and that just around the river bend there will be happier moments so when the less joyous ones are upon you, you say to yourself, "hakuna matata" and get on with life. It also helps that your wonderful husband will forget himself and the feelings you might have injured in a moment when you were less than who you ought to be, and do his best to cheer you up--even if it means slow dancing to "I'll Make a Man Out of You" (from Mulan) in the Laundry room--some how that just works, don't ask me why. Nope, no matter how many bad pictures or disappointed hopes and plans come my way--I cannot deny that my life is very blessed and that I have every reason to be happy.

Somewhere Bro. Clark is cringing over the photographic talent and training I am squandering in this pic

The clothes line of baby clothes is our storage solution... until she's about 3 or 4 months, then we have to look into other options--but this was penniless and painless and will make changing her clothes and putting away Poppyseed's laundry a lot easier. There really is no satisfying way to fold infant clothes.

Mrs. Baker, Tschuss!