bellies

Posted on July 23rd, 2012 by mountain girl  |  12 Comments »

The belly cast is finished–plastered and primed, painted and sealed! Notice that Zia gave me a hand with it.

Here it is next to the one I made while carrying Zia. Both were cast 3 weeks before my due date, and they are almost identical, but not quite. Zia’s appears larger because I plastered a little farther in each direction.

Well actually, Zia’s is bigger in certain parts, but we’ll pretend not to notice. A body can change a little in five years.

I love seeing the differences in the bellies. My “new” belly is more spread out on the sides. When I carried Zia, it was more pointy and forward.

I can hardly believe the little hands that were once curled inside the blue belly are this big now.

Zia had a lot of fun working on this with me. She said she’s going to tell that baby all about how they were each inside one of those bellies.

And before you think I’m starting a hot new fad in mountain lawn ornaments, I’ll have you know I only had the bellies outside for a minute.

Now they’re safely tucked on a shelf, ready to start some interesting conversations. Unless we have visitors of the variety who modestly avert their eyes and quickly think of something unrelated to say.

But we don’t have a million visitors, and these bellies are for us–for David and me to remember these special months of waiting and changing, and for our babies to see the belly that held them safe.

And they are for laughing…because really, how can you look at such a wild, crazy, and beautiful distortion of yourself and not laugh? A good belly laugh, of course.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2012 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Arty, Earthy Possessions, Making Stuff, new baby. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

12 Responses to “bellies”

  1. Mimi says on July 23rd, 2012 at 5:42 pm :

    The Belly Cast is definitely a “progressive move”. I’d never heard of such a thing during childbearing..they look very artsy on a shelf…know what? I wouldn’t have found room for mine back in the day! ha! Gorgeously painted! Love, Mama

  2. mountain girl says on July 23rd, 2012 at 5:54 pm :

    Yup, we would’ve needed an extra room just to house the bellies! Better that you just filled them with kids. šŸ™‚

  3. Courtney says on July 23rd, 2012 at 6:30 pm :

    Those are beautiful!

  4. Hannah says on July 23rd, 2012 at 6:38 pm :

    Beautiful! soon!

  5. rae says on July 23rd, 2012 at 7:56 pm :

    Mia,
    They are both sweet! I never saw Zia’s and its cool you get to have them to compare to each other! ~Rahab

  6. Allison says on July 23rd, 2012 at 10:53 pm :

    So cool!

  7. Leah says on July 25th, 2012 at 12:50 pm :

    Those are great. I love how you painted the current one, it looks like a pregnant Wonder Woman suit to me, with a gentler touch. You truly are a wonder mom!

  8. mountain girl says on July 25th, 2012 at 1:33 pm :

    Haha! I loved Wonder Woman as a kid (didn’t we all?) but I didn’t see the resemblance until you pointed it out. You made me feel like a superhero!

  9. Your Lion says on July 25th, 2012 at 5:38 pm :

    Yep! Wonder Woman sums it up nicely! I LOVE that wonder woman.

    Your Lion /:O)

  10. Colleen says on July 26th, 2012 at 2:53 pm :

    Mia, these are beautiful! <3 It's cool to compare them! I was wider with my boys and stuck out a little further with my girl…..
    I'm thinking….BOY maybe?!
    so exciting!
    can't wait to hear the news and to see a picture of your new little one!

  11. jodi says on July 28th, 2012 at 9:06 am :

    They are gorgeous! I love them.

  12. Tiffany says on August 3rd, 2012 at 8:13 am :

    Those are beautiful! I really should do this if we ever have another one! šŸ™‚