One Year Ago

One year ago today, I was 39 weeks pregnant, walking at the lake near our house with Todd, feeling gigantic, hoping that the walk would accelerate Baby Lacher's arrival.  A few different passersby remarked, "You're trying to have that baby right here, today, aren't you!"  Since I had been incubating a human being for about 270 days at that point, going into labor at the lake would not have been altogether unwelcome.

We slowly made our way along those familiar lakeside paths, finally chose a girl name (we had long since settled on a boy name), and talked for the thousandth time about the things we were eagerly anticipating about starting parenthood, the things that frightened us, and the many, many ways things were about to irrevocably change.

These are the last photos I have of pregnant Anna... a few days later, Eli Gregory was born.

What a difference a year makes.  It's a whole new life we're living now, a year later. It's a wilder, messier, more vibrant, more fiercely emotional life.  It's a life I love.