Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Maternity photo shoot

My lovely friend, Amanda of AJ Halliday Photography took some beautiful shots of our family a few weeks ago. Even though it was 39° outside and threatening to rain on us the entire time, we were able to quickly capture a few wonderful moments together.

If you are in the Portland/Vancouver area and are looking for a photographer to capture some family, maternity, engagement, wedding or even boudoir photos, I highly recommend Amanda. She's easy to work with, her prices are very reasonable and the best part is that she gives you a CD with your images, so you don't end up paying a billion dollars to order prints directly from her! You can contact her here :)




















Sunday, March 25, 2012

March happenings and some of our last outings as the 3 muskateers

By Liv

So many things have happened in the last month, and most of them were pretty unexciting. And as my darling friend (Annie) has so bluntly informed me: I haven't been posting or blogging nearly enough. I guess maybe she's bored because she's about 12 months pregnant and understandably impatient, but I'm sure she speaks the truth. So here are a few photos to appease those who want to keep up with our lives (or just want to see pictures of Stella)!

 
Auntie Jess came to visit - and (of course) cuddled Stella.
 
This is what it looks like when TWO Hernandezes are pregnant at once. (I'm almost 37 weeks, Jess is 17-ish)

 Stella-pie got a new kitchen... and apparently needs a new belt :)

 Just like her Mommy - she loves to cook.

 We live about a mile from the Seattle Zoo, so it's a regular outing for us. Stella insists on bringing Minnie-Mouse and showing her all of the animals.

 Learning how to milk a cow: this is an ever-important skill to have - for those times when the apocalypse is near or zombies take over the local grocery store. 

Dorks!

 Trying it out the new pram. Baby Sister will fill the extra seat, but in the meantime, Minnie Mouse gets the smoothest ride in town. 

 Sporting my new Bob duallie. I can't wait to put this jogger to good use after Baby Girl arrives.

 Chillin with my homies: Tiff and her daughter Navah @ the Zoo.

Stella's new wheels. 

Preparing for baby girl's arrival

By Liv

I'm 36.5 weeks along now. 37 weeks is considered "full term" and 40 weeks is the average length of gestation for most women. Because baby's Birth Day is coming up so quickly, our house has been busy getting things ready for her birth – and I'll admit, I've been nesting quite a bit.

The major difference between Stella's birth and the new baby's birth is that this labor and delivery will take place at our house, instead of the birth center. We will (again) have just a midwife and the midwife's assistant there for the birth, but this time we get to stay home – yay!

Because baby will be born at home, there are a few extra comforts that we get to enjoy: my very own super nice birth pool, I get to eat/drink whatever I want during labor and the most wonderful part for me: I don't have to get in a car during my powerful pressure waves AND I don't have to get in a car postpartum and make the drive back to the house. I get to sleep in my very own bed and I can walk around the house (or neighborhood) and labor/birth wherever I want!

 This is our fantastically awesome birth pool. It's quite big - big enough for Stella to splash around in until the big moment comes :) 

 I'm sure you know all about my cloth diaper obsession. While visiting my in-laws last weekend, I brought along all of my diapers and prepped them for baby #2. It was then that I realized that I just might have a few more than I need...

 In preparation for Stella's arrival, Nick and I had visited one of those paint-your-own ceramics places and together we painted a beautiful (and huge) bowl that we named "The Placenta Bowl". This is what Stella's placenta was delivered in to. Afterwards, we washed it and have it saved as a commemoration of her Birth Day. Along the lines of tradition, we just went to paint a bowl for baby girl. Stella decided she would rather paint her own teacup :) 

I have baked and frozen a huge batch of lactation cookies. These cookies contain ingredients that help a new Mama's milk supply. They contain powerful milk-making ingredients like oats, brewer's yeast and flax. And it turns out they are delicious, too! Here is the basic recipe that I use to make the cookies. (I use coconut oil instead of butter and egg replacer instead of real eggs to make them vegan.)