Not puppy love that twitterpates you in your romantic dating years. Not young love that grows with sincerity and passion, and lingers on into early marriage. Not fur-baby love, although my snuggly cat in my lap would beg to differ!
Children make you do things no other being could expect: We adopted a Vegan lifestyle for our children (because who in their right mind gives up aged cheddar?!); a pregnant mother will stave off sushi and caffeine for their unborn child; and I've heard a man say in encouragement to their toddler, "okay! Go make a big poop, then show me!" We also gave up smoking for our children, and I know our girls kick-started an adventure to healthy, but the point of it all is that we enjoy it, and enjoy them, so we do everything to keep them healthy and happy as well as ourselves.
Kaylee was our first, and a scary adventure, but I had the MOST supportive husband! A surprise, but a welcome one! We figured everything out with her, and she was our inspiration to continue being fun-loving people and just include her in all of it! She was a smiley baby, totally colicky (over milk, so yes I paid my dues, don't be jealous!) and I love her more than myself...
River...she was also unexpected, but I was worn out, and my husband was not exactly excited this time. We were planning on talking about when we were going to have another, but not for a few more months after we found out she was already on her way, and I had to work to be excited for her. Stress came on quickly when we decided our little house was just not going to work, then the house we finally got into needed gutting and remodeling. Our whole lives revolved around stress. Granted, we bonded and teamed together to face the stress (minus the picking the house battle...whoever says it's fun is LYING!), but our contentment and joy ran out the window along with our sanity! I was not breathless with anticipation, but rather anxiety. I hadn't even come to love my new momma-body yet.
But ALL CHILDREN ARE BLESSINGS!!! And I truly do believe that. It's what you do with that blessing that will determine whether you experience the joy. I am determined to enjoy my children, I didn't labor for nothing, that's for sure! So this piece of art is where I learn to enjoy my blessings, and is the symbol of ultimate love.
The project starts when you're in your last trimester, when you feel like a beached whale, and your body is screaming at you, and you're not sure if you want the baby out already, or if you want to keep it in there indefinitely! That is the time. When you are at the peak of what you feel is unattractive.
You can buy a kit, I've picked one up for cheap at T.J. Maxx, or you can just buy Plaster of Paris strips at Michaels, (bring your coupon, of course!) which is cheaper than the most discounted kit I've seen! I had to re-do mine because posture is key, and I would recommend just buying the rolls of plaster tape. Then all you need is a dish of water and scissors. It is best to stand if you can so your belly does not appear slouchy, and apply a thick coat of vaseline. I had the best results using horizontal strips cut to size on my belly, and a mixture of horizontal and vertical strips on my chest, but cut down to half the width so they followed my curves better. Be generous and layer those strips until it looks smooth. Also apply a coat of water over the whole thing at the very end to fill all of the little holes in the mesh tape. When it has dried you can sand it, but only so much!
This process helped me love my body more, even if only for the baby inside! It also gave me some much desired attention from my husband, as he was the one who put all the effort into draping wet strips of plaster all over me!
Since it was so close to River's debut, I never painted my Belly Cast before she was born. Then with the two girls so little and helpless, I had no down time to work on it until she was a year old. Now that she is 2, I have finally completed it! But that is a beautiful thing to have taken so long to finish it, because every time I set to work at it, I would think of River, my love, my mini-me, and Kaylee, her enduring sister, her patient guardian. They are my Ultimate Love! And how befitting that I would finally finish this 2-year project at this "love"ly time of year!
Feel free to Google search "Belly Cast" because MAN are there some BEAUTIFUL BELLIES to get some ideas!!!! Seriously some cute and absolutely gorgeous casts!! Make it yours, after all it's your baby you're lovin'!
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