Fun Way to Track Pregnancy

As soon as we found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to take weekly pictures to track the pregnancy.  I had seen so many cute ways other people had done this but I just wasn't sure what would be the best way for us.  Some of my favorites are when people photoshop the week onto the picture.  But I don't have photoshop so that was out.  I thought about just holding a number that we had made out of construction paper or something but that didn't seem fun enough.  So I did a quick google search and that is how I found the Little Baby Garvin blog.  Jessica Garvin is a new momma to Baby Harper and a chalkboard artist who tracked her pregnancy with her weekly chalkboard designs.  Her typography and design skills far surpass my abilities but playing with chalk looked so fun and I knew I had found the best way to track my pregnancy.  I looked back through her posts to check out her chalkboards and now I officially follow her blog.  It's been fun following along because her daughter was due February 22 of this year and I'm due February 20th of next.  It's like a little glimpse into the future when I read her posts.  I get to think, "Fun! Baby S. will be four months old in July!  That'll be good time to travel." or "Oh my goodness, Halloween is going to be so fun next year.  Look how adorable her baby is!"

Jessica has a great tutorial on how to make your own chalkboard which is a fantastic option for you crafty mavens out there.  I always fancied myself as crafty so I thought I'd make one myself too.  I went out and got chalkboard paint and was about to go thrifting to find a good-sized picture to paint (see her tutorial) but then I read the instructions on the paint.  You had to let it dry and set for 72 hours and I didn't have the time.  You see, I wanted to be accurate when tracking our weeks and take a picture on the same day every week which means I was in a time crunch to get a chalkboard up and running.  I basically needed it the day I found I was pregnant.  I'm a bit of a stickler for these things.  So instead of getting crafty I ran to Office Depot.  They basically laughed at me when I asked if they had any chalkboards.  They were like, "We have dry erase boards....you archaic animal."  Ok, that last part was added by me. But that was what their eyes were saying!  So then I went to Staples and sheepishly asked - afraid of being ridiculed - if they had chalkboards and they were like, "Sure, over here by the children's supplies."  Victory!  They only had one size and it wasn't as big as I would have liked but it was going to have to do.  And it has!  Here's a little sample:

Look at that flat belly. And that long hair!

Long hair gone. 

Something's starting to happen.

This is how I usually looked after a big meal, pre-pregnancy,
so I still couldn't believe a baby was in there. 

Whoa! Growth spurt! Baby's popping out now.

My shirt has a pumpkin face on it.
A mom trick-or-treating with her kids saw me and shouted,
"Someone has a pumpkin in her belly!"

Every week we have our chalkboard ritual.  I write out which week we are at and what size fruit or vegetable the baby is as big as - according to my What To Expect app - and then my husband draws the weekly produce.  Then we head upstairs, hang it on the wall in our bedroom and take a picture.  It has been fun and exciting every week.  And it still is - don't get me wrong - but last night I found myself dragging my feet.  My back pain was really acting up and I just wanted to finish dinner and curl up on the couch and possibly fall asleep while watching Survivor (which, if you saw Survivor last night, then you know that was impossible!  Best tribal council ever.  Ahem, anyway...).  I snapped out of it though when I thought about how lucky I am to be tracking this pregnancy, with this little boy kicking and moving and growing in my belly.  And I wasn't going to let a little back pain steal away that joy.  So we took our latest picture:

Time to cut my hair again. It really does grow faster when you're pregnant!

Big thanks to Jessica Garvin for inspiring our chalkboard ritual! We also loved how they dubbed their daughter "Little Baby" before she was born and we incorporated it into the header on our board.  That header is getting really chalk-dusty.  We should probably re-draw it.  Or maybe we'll just see how dusty it can get...add a little character to our Staples-one-size-only-rushed-buy board.

Do you have a fun way to track your pregnancy?  I'd love to hear about it!