It's a...

BOY!

We are just so excited. Hank was convinced that we were having a girl (and I know deep down he wanted a boy), so when our technician announced the gender he just about died from excitement and surprise. It was also super reassuring to hear that every single thing, from the baby's thigh bones to brain to fingers to lips, were perfectly developed. Very relieving.

Hank and I are both the oldest in our families, so it's amazing to think about our next little ones having a big brother. It was truly a beautiful experience- we both definitely cried and it was just so neat to see baby Henry moving around like crazy! Legs and arms flailing, mouth opening and closing...it was so awesome. He calmed down a bit towards the end and we got some good photos of him as well. He is definitely, 100% boy (I made the technician check multiple times), and he'll be taking his Daddy's name, making him Henry Clarence Hampton IV. A big name for a little guy, but so adorable! I feel SO lucky that I love the name, if I didn't, I think I would feel too guilty to break the tradition! haha.

Here are a couple of the ultrasound photos from today. Before I was pregnant, these photos always looked like blobs to me, so it's funny now to be the person who's like "see the hand?! the foot?!" to poor, clueless friends and family members who nod and smile and say "oh, yes, what a cute baby!" It makes me laugh.





Thanks again for all the kind words and sweet sentiments all of you have left here on my blog, through email, and my formspring. I feel like through this entire journey I've had hundreds of you behind me every step of the way and for that I am so grateful.

I can't wait to be a Mommy to this wonderful, perfect little boy.

Leyna's Balloon Keeps Her Grounded

Leyna was leaving the Borders at 2 Penn Plaza when I spotted one of her tattoos and asked about it.

This was the tattoo in question:

It is located on the back of her left leg, on the calf.

The design was inspired by the cover art from the Modest Mouse record We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.

Leyna thought the anchor was cool, and she feels it is a good representation of herself in her 20's.

The tattoo was inked by Derik Snell at Hand of Glory Tattoo in Brooklyn. He liked the design because he had never tattooed a hot air balloon before. Work from Hand of Glory has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Another one of Leyna's tattoos  caught my eyes, as well:

This two-word snippet, "ecstatic and insatiate" is an excerpt from Allen Ginsberg's Howl. I'd speak more about it, but it appeared first on the most awesome blog, Contrariwise. I'd direct you over here to read what Leyna had to say about this tattoo, and encourage you to linger about and check out the seemingly endless array of literary ink.

Thanks again to Leyna for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Fun with Old Wives' Tales

image via weheartit

Since we are finding out the gender of the little one tomorrow morning at 10am, I thought it would be fun to list 10 of the traditional old wives' tales (via parenting.com) for gender prediction, and see how they match up with the reality of our ultrasound tomorrow. Interestingly enough, today we ate lunch at Hugo's, and one of the cooks there, Manuel, told me I was having a little girl. He's usually right, but you really never know. As for me, if I had to put money on one or the other right now I'd say girl, but that inkling changes daily and it's never really a feeling I think I can fully go with. I've said it before, but either way we'd be totally happy. At first I really though I'd want a girl 100%, but as time has gone by, I've become really, really excited about the possibility of having a baby boy. The idea of our subsequent kids having a big brother, having it just be "me and my boys" for awhile...that's such a fabulous scenario. But on the other side, little girls are so magical and adorable. It's hard to choose, but luckily, I don't have to! The "choice" has already been made, and all will be revealed tomorrow morning, barring the baby isn't uncooperative. My friend Erin (who also blogged about me a couple of days ago, check out my feature by clicking here), recommended I drink something sweet, like orange juice, about thirty minutes before my ultrasound to get the baby moving. So I'll definitely be doing that. My parents and sister are coming up to attend the ultrasound, along with Hank's sister and both set of his parents and step parents. It's going to be quite the event. Of course they all won't be in the room when we initially find out, but the ultrasound tech will be projecting the image up on the large screen so towards the end everyone can come in and see the baby for themselves. Now I just need to focus on getting through the rest of the day- my anticipation level is so high I feel like I'm 8 and this is Christmas Eve!

So here are the old wives' tales-

1) This one you can do just by looking south: if you're carrying high, break out the pink. If your bump is low, you're carrying a boy.

I'm not sure how I'm carrying, since my bump isn't super big. Hank says it seems high but I'm really not sure! Someone else said high too, so I'll just go with that for this one!
GIRL!
2) Next time your OB pulls out the Doppler to listen to baby's heartbeat, ask her to tell you what the heart rate is. According to legend, 140+ beats per minute indicates a girl, and below 140 a boy.

The heartbeat has been consistently in the 150s at every appointment.
GIRL!

3) Craving ice cream every single day? Some people believe this means it's a girl. If you have to have salty or sour stuff, then it's a boy.

I've definitely been craving sweet things. I've never been a sugar or candy person but lately things like Starburst or other fruity candies sound really good, which is totally surprisingly for me! I don't go crazy but every once and awhile I'll have something sweet like that. So good.
GIRL!

4) This ancient method uses your age at conception and the month you did the deed to determine gender. Click here to see the chart.

GIRL!

5) This one's a little out there. Pee in a cup (you've been doing it at all your prenatal appointments anyway, haven't you?), mix a tablespoon of Drano in, and watch to see if it changes color. Green = girl, and blue = boy.

Okay, I was a little hesitant about this one but I did it! And it was blue.
BOY!

6) Legend has it that the Mayans determined a baby's sex by looking at the mother's age at conception and the year of conception. If both are even or odd, it's a girl. If one's even and one's odd, it's a boy.

27 years old at conception, in 2010

BOY!
7) This is one for a friend to try. Place a key in front of your preggo friend and ask her to pick it up. If she grabs it by the narrow part, she's in for sugar and spice and all that. If she picks it up by the round part, it's snips and snails.

Luckily someone did this to me earlier in my pregnancy and I picked it up on the narrow part.

GIRL!

8) If you're breaking out like crazy, blame it on your girl babe. The belief goes that girls steal their mother's beauty, hence, those annoying zits.

Oh lord. My skin was a total disaster during the first three months, and here and there it still gets crazy.

GIRL!

9) Pop off your wedding ring -- if you still can! -- and tie it to a string. Hang it over your belly. If it swings in a circle, a little guy's in your future. If it goes back and forth, you've got a girl.

GIRL!

10) Sick as a dog during the first trimester -- or still? Signs indicate you're having a girl. Little or no morning sickness points to a boy.

I haven't had anything even close to morning sickness, luckily. I've felt like a million bucks the whole time.

BOY!

Total count: 7 girl and 3 boy...so according to these old wives' tales, I have a 70% chance of having a girl! We will see soon enough.

I'll be back tomorrow with the results of the ultrasound! And don't forget you can still vote for the gender of Baby H up there in the right hand corner. As of now, 726 readers have offered a guess, and 316 (43%) think I'm having a boy, and 410 (56%) think girl!

Chris Returns with a New Tattoo Putting a Face on Addiction

Earlier this month, I posted about Chris's tattoos (here) and how they represented his battle with addiction.

This past weekend, Chris sent me a follow-up, showing me a new tattoo he had just had inked. It's certainly worth sharing here, as it is not only impressive work, but it continues addressing his struggle with addiction.

Check it out:

Chris explains:

"Just yesterday [June 18, 2010] Ii had an absolutely incredible piece done on my left shoulder. I work at The Painted Bird Tattoo and the newly-opened Boston Tattoo Company (same owners) ... To help celebrate the grand opening weekend of the Boston Tattoo Company, we were fortunate enough to bring in a very talented artist (not to mention one of the nicest most genuine people I've ever met), named Christian Perez. I was able to get an appointment with him and he channeled exactly what I wanted into my skin.

I talked to him prior to his visit and told him that it seemed like every tattoo I thought about getting lately was all dark imagery which I attribute to the disease of addiction which still lives inside me. I wanted to bring all the evil, sickness, and wickedness of my past life to the surface, give it form so I can "see" my demon, if you will. This was the result ... you should think about making trip to Boston sometime. Lots of great artists and great work around here. Also, as of July, Christian will be tattooing out of Hope Gallery in New Haven, CT."

Thanks to Chris for following up with us and sending in this photo of his new tattoo. Former contributors are always welcome to submit their new work for us all to see and enjoy here on Tattoosday.

Anthony's Dragon (and more!)

I spotted Anthony on the N train in Brooklyn and was happy to see him also switching for the local R train at 59th Street.

As luck would have it, both of us were headed home to Bay Ridge.

Anthony has a bunch of tattoos, and I snapped this photo of the dragon on his upper right arm:

It was inked by Joe at Brooklyn Ink.

He estimated that the work so far has been completed in about three two-hour sessions.

Work from Joe and other artists at Brooklyn Ink has previously appeared quite frequently on Tattoosday (all posts tagged as such here).

Anthony later emailed me photos of these shots as well:

The praying hands holding the rosary, I recall him telling me, were tattooed at Distinction Ink in Brooklyn. The tattoo reads "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned".

He did not tell me where he had this tribal sun done, but it's definitely an attention-grabbing piece and certainly worth a mention.

Thanks to Anthony for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

What do you think?

Tonight I spent some time cleaning out my closet, and setting things out on our bed that I haven't worn in awhile. I'm really trying to simplify when we make the move into whatever house we end up buying, and I just have so many clothes. I last cleaned out my closet in the winter and I ended up giving away most everything to my sister and friends. This time, I thought I would try something new. I have a lot of items that are totally relevant and cute, but they just don't get worn enough, and now with being pregnant, I'm just in the mood to clean clean clean. So, out they go! I was trying to think of the best way to do this, and I was thinking of photographing each item, and listing them here in one big sales post. Nothing (besides a couple of MBMJ items, some Citizens, etc) will be pricey as a lot of it comes from various stores like F21, H&M, and other random places. My main thing is getting these out of my closet, not making money. :) So, my loss is your gain. I was curious your thoughts on this! Would you guys be into it if I posted something like this in the next week? It would be final sale and I'd only do it through paypal. I'd mail out within a few days and wa-la, we're both happy!

I'd love to hear what you think below, or even if you have other suggestions on the best way to go about this. xoxo

19 week update

There hasn't been much change in my belly since last week, and I do wonder when it's going to actually POP! It's funny though because I was wearing a dress that would make anyone "look"pregnant, and a woman at the salon this past weekend asked me, "So when are you due?" I looked at her with disbelief, because no one has asked me that yet, and I happily replied that I was about 5 months along and due in November. She said that it was quite the gamble to ask but she did anyway! It made me really, really happy because I truly don't feel like I look undeniably pregnant yet. I know it's different for everyone, but some of my friends are just adorably big right now and they're either behind me in our time frame, or right ahead. It's funny to me to WANT to be bigger, who would have thought that me, someone who has felt throughout her life that bigger was not indeed better, would be so at peace with all of this that I'd be hoping every week to expand?! I love it. I love the sense of true body acceptance I've grown to have. Like I've blogged before, it was hard in the beginning but now it's easy for me to see myself changing. I adore that my little one is growing every single day and literally going through changes at the same rate. Every change in my body is so worth it, and my focus isn't on myself anymore. I am grateful for this gift that I find to be truly peaceful and amazing.





My BIG anatomy/gender ultrasound in in THEE short days. You know...the one I've been talking about in every pregnancy update?! I am beyond excited. Every time I see a little boy I am filled with emotions imagining life with a little version of Hank, wearing Suns jerseys during the games side by side with his papa, being one of "my boys." But every time I see a little girl I am filled with the same emotions about having an adorable little darling to buy the prettiest dresses for and share a lifetime of mother-daughter fun, all the while her being the cliche "Daddy's little girl." haha! It's weird. I usually feel so in sync with the world- I have strong intuitions about everything, but I don't have much of one now. I go back and forth with thinking I do, and at this very moment if I had to put money on what we are having, I'd say a girl. I've thought this more than I've thought boy, but I don't put much weight on this feeling since it does go back and forth. Either way, I am going to be blown away on Friday when we (hopefully) find out the gender. Immediately my mind will be able to imagine HIM or HER, with a name, rather than just "the baby" or "little one." Planning with commence, registering, shopping, etc. The fun is about to begin! At the same time, it's highly possible that the baby won't cooperate and we'll have to come back to find out! I don't know if my patience can't handle it, but I'm also trying to be realistic about it in case that does in fact happen. Three days and we will see.

As far as food, I still haven't had any cravings or anything. I've actually switched from almond milk to regular milk (I LOVE Horizon's organic skim milk), so that's a change. I've found that throughout my pregnancy so far I haven't had much of an appetite which is weird, so I'm curious to see if that changes at the end of the 2nd trimester and into the third. I sincerely hope so. Food doesn't sound gross or anything, but I'm just not super excited to eat like I usually am, but obviously I force myself to, hungry or not.

As far as how I've been feeling, still amazing. I love being pregnant. I feel more centered, happier and at this point in my pregnancy, more energetic. It's hard for me to believe that next week marks the half way point. It seems that time has gone by so quickly, and when the summer is over and I am back to teaching for a short while this pregnancy will be over in the blink of an eye and little baby H will be here! We are still looking for our "perfect" house. We thought that we found it, but we were too late and someone has already snatched it up. We are waiting to see what happens with it this week, but we've already found some great contenders and will be going back out tomorrow morning with our realtor. My hope is that we are somewhere by September the latest so I can get the nursery going in time for the baby's arrival. I don't feel stressed or rushed about it though, but ask me again if we still are in our current house come the end of summer! haha.

Oh, and I almost forgot the "fruit and veggie" update.



Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you. Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

Well, I'm off to the gym. I hope all of you are having a beautiful day. Again, I'd love it if you'd click this little brown box to vote for me, it takes a minute. I've already met SO many new Moms from being listed in this directory and I'm enjoying it so much- I appreciate you doing this for me. I won't mention it again for a week or so, so don't worry that I'll make a big deal every post. They just reset the count so we have to start all over again. I typically hate having my readers do stuff like this, but it's such a positive thing that I hope you understand! Love you!