I had to do it. I’ve been waiting to post this title since I got pregnant.
I started this post before Henry was born, with plans to post it a few weeks before our official due date. I will still post it, with some minor adjustments. Who would have thought we’d have a little guy in our midst already?
Thank you all for sweet words after Henry’s arrival. What a wonderful supportive community we have in blogging. I truly appreciate and am humbled by your kindness.
By the time I hit 36 weeks, my body was truly transforming right in front of my eyes. I could also no longer spot my feet.
Oh, look. I did have feet. And there was a pug hidden under that belly, too.
I was faithfully taking a photo of the belly each week and writing a note about the week’s ups and downs. These were making their way into an in-progress photo book I planned to have printed after Baby Dub arrived. Then, last week, my laptop determined it was time to stop turning on. While nearly all of my photos are backed up on Flickr for blog use and all my important documents are on Dropbox, none of my weekly pregnancy photos made it on the blog. Which means none of them were backed up.
(This is why I should have an external hard drive.)
The pregnancy book I’ve been working on wasn’t backed up, either.
(This is why I should have an external hard drive.)
I tried not to have a complete meltdown until we found out whether the data could be saved. But, it’s not looking promising. And I was pretty mopey about it. I had spent so much time on that book and felt utterly disappointed that I wouldn’t have a record of all those little moments. And I’m kicking myself for not making the book somewhere else, instead of saved on my hard drive. Because my memory is poor, I know it’s nearly impossible to recreate it. Not to mention the fact that I don’t even have the majority of the weekly photos.
Looking on the bright side, I have my computer back with a new hard drive. And I got it just in time for our little guy to make his arrival and fill up my iPhoto with adorable pictures. And the local repair shop gave me an exceptional deal. (Perhaps they knew that this poor little preggo couldn’t handle a huge bill.) They even installed new casings for free, so it’s like a brand new computer. And I brought home an external hard drive, too. About two weeks too late.
But, all those pictures and the pregnancy book? Still gone. My repair guys promised me that they are still working on it, and that there are options to send it off (for big bucks) with the possibility of getting everything removed. But, I’m not very hopeful at this point.
I’m trying to get over it. And my sweet husband has been so understanding about my disappointment. I definitely picked a good baby daddy. He kept trying to subtly remind me that this is not the end of the world. Which I truly realized when Henry did arrive. There are definitely more important things than a few pictures. And there are many worse things than losing them.
But for fun’s sake, here’s the photos that I still have on my camera from the past weeks. I’m pretty happy that I didn’t delete them from my memory card yet. I was planning to share all the weeks at once as a collage, but this is a start, right?
My mom had written a message to Henry on the chalkboard when we got home from the hospital. I thought it was a perfect finish to the weekly pregnancy photos.
I’m still pinching myself. He’s really ours.
newlywoodwards
newlywoodwards
newlywoodwards
newlywoodwards
newlywoodwards
newlywoodwards
newlywoodwards
newlywoodwards
newlywoodwards
newlywoodwards
newlywoodwards
newlywoodwards
Oh, I’m heartbroken FOR you! I’m so glad you had some left on your memory card. He is quite the sweet thang…
Pictures….smitchers…..you have just enough as far as I’m concerned. Look what we have! Oh my, the most adorable, beautiful, perfect little man in our midst. How can I love this little guy so much? God’s most precious gift to a grandma! Arizona Lainey is so very happy!!!! I love you all!
I’m sorry about the lost pictures . . . but hey, you’ve got that sweet little fellow, and that is a GREAT consolation prize! He seriously is so cute. So, so, so, so, so cute. And not all newborns are, but he REALLY is. I wish I could snuggle him
Pregnancy looked great on you, and how nice that you never had to get to the humongously gigantically swollen huge stage in the heat and humidity of an Iowa summer! (Been there, done that, it was not very fun.) More Henry pics, please!
I hate that about your photos! Computer stuff gets me worked up into a tizzy also.
Henry is just oozing cuteness!
Aw, I’m so sorry about the photos. Maybe, with your next pregnancy (?), you can take the photos each month, but just change your clothes? One set for Henry, one set for next baby? No?
In all seriousness, I think you’ll cherish the photos of your growing boy more than photos of your growing belly. And I agree with Rachel, not all newborns are cute, but H-Dub is definitely a cutie.
My computer totally did that while I was pregnant with M too, although I didn’t loose all the pics, just I think the middle portion of the pregnancy. But you know what? she’s almost 2 and a half now (ah!), and really, I almost never think back and say, jeez, it really really sucks that I lost all those pics of my belly when she was inside. And when I do remember, I’m now like, whatever, no biggie. We have some from the very beginning, and the end, and I just don’t miss the middle – I have her!
it sucks, but you are right – he’s really yours – you’ve got him, and thats all that matters!
Precious pictures, one’s to treasure for a lifetime! I love watching your journey through pregnancy and now to the big bold world of motherhood, welcome to the club, your heart will never be the same – but that’s a great thing!
xoxo
Kate
Oh! The pictures you do have are FANTASTIC!!! And the last one totally made me tear up! He’s really YOURS! It’s amazing, isn’t it??
:)
You know what we sit around and look at? Every single picture taken of Gabe in the past 21 months. Know what we don’t ever look at? Pregnancy pics. Oh I;’m sure someday it’ll be nice to have them but really, who cares, you’ve got those freaking adorable ones and that’s enough! Oh and btw, this post made me cry. I love that baby and I can’t wait til I can meet him! He’s such a lil peanut!
When we had our first we bought a videocamera to record all the important moments of her first year. A year later before her 1st birthday I tried to download the videos to dvd to show our friends and family at her party and lost everything! I was devastated! Fortunately it taught me my own lesson about backing things up, but more importantly it taught me what really matters in life. And I will never lose the memories I have of that first year even without the videos to prove it!
I am so sorry about your photos!!!! I understand what you are going through. Our computer died TWICE in the past 2 years ans we lost everything that wasn’t on photobucket or still on our memory cards.
You do still have a few photos of the belly and it’s further along. At least you have those and not the beginning shots where you don’t even look preggo.
I’m so happy for your new arrival! All of your photos on Instagram and seeing your nursery plans on here make me so excited for our new addition in October! Thank you for sharing with us.
XO
Mindy
I’m so sorry about your photos I’ve lost ours the same way before. Then I switched to a MAC, although reading this totally make me take note to back up our photos TODAY somewhere. On the bright side its awesome you still had those bump photos on your sim. I love the last one, your mom sounds like an awesome Grandma already how sweet.
PS: Henry looks like a doll. Seriously. Adorable. But you already knew that
)
Oh Kim that is heartbreaking to hear. The photos you have though are great. I do hope they can recover them. George and I keep talking about getting a backup for our computer and I really need to get with it as I have so many pictures that if I lose them I might cry too.
He is so precious.
I’m so sorry you’ve lost your stuff, I can imagine how frustrating that must be. I’m not good about backing my stuff up to anywhere either and I really need to get on that! But the pictures you did have are adorable and that little man is precious! I hope you’re enjoying your time at home with him and getting at least some sleep
Aww, love your mom’s welcome home message! Hey, guess what? It’s Thursday and I have the day off. I will need to hang with you and Henry some Thursday soon!!
LOVE all the photos, and that sweet message is definitely the perfect way to finish it off. Total bummer about all the lost photos, though. Fingers crossed that the techs can work their magic, but I love your perspective about the whole thing.
I feel your pain my hard drive on my computer died last week. I signed up for carbonate awhile back and it saves your information and I am thrilled I used it. I am still in the process of restoring it from their site to my new hard drive. Hopefully you will be able to get back that pregnancy book.
Cute idea doing the photos in front of your chalkboard. The last one with him in your arms is so sweet. ahh enjoy he is adorable!
Little Henry is just adorable. And oh how I can sympathize with the losing of photos. We had the same thing happened about a year ago. We lost a TON of Tristan’s baby pics and most of them were from the hospital and the first few weeks of him being at home. I was heart broken and sick to my stomach for a few days. Luckily my husband kept at it and was able to recover everything. We learned a lesson and now EVERYTHING is being backed up.
Love all your chalkboard photos. So cute and that last one is my favorite.
love the pictures, I’m so sorry about you possibly losing all of your hard work! I’d be completely depressed about it! I’m so jealous that everyone has their babies already! I’m having mine on the 6th, can’t wait and am still hoping that something will happen before then so I can find out if I’m having a boy or a girl quicker!
I’m so sorry you lost all those photos and journaling, that’s crushing! At least you still have all those photos and they’re amazing!
I hope that they are able to get all of your photos off your hard drive!! We had a hard drive completely fry once and were able to get the majority of the files off of it.
I love the photos you did post, though! The last one with him in your arms is adorable!
Oh I would have had a meltdown! I’m so sorry you lost all of that precious information! I hope there is still some tiny chance they can recover it!
You and the baby bump look super cute though!
oh gosh, i can only imagine how that feels – i know i would be devastated!
but honestly – you’ve got the best ones here – the later ones!! you looked fabulous the whole time, but i gotta say, the last two are my faves
and now you have your backup ready so you will never ever have to worry about losing pics of henry’s first days!
Oh crap! **runs to grab the external hard drive**
That totally sucks, but you’ve got some pics and maybe your friends and family can help you fill in the blanks on the way you were feeling during all those weeks. What a great way to use your chalkboard, too! Love it.
So sorry about your photos- what a bummer!! But, to put a positive spin on things, at least it happened BEFORE Henry was born, because I bet it would have been a lot more painful to lose all those lovely newborn photos. I’m sure you’ll take so many of him that you’ll completely forget about the lost belly pics.
so sorry about your pics! I know how devastating that can be! Wal*mart lost the film pics of my wedding many years ago (before nifty digital cameras). Love the pug pic! How are your pugs doing with the little guy?
Been through a similar photo loss due to a lightening strike, ugh. Dell has an online backup plan too, definitely worth the money! : )
We just have our hard drive fail. Happened at least 3 others times. I have an backup drive, but was not sure when the last time is was actually backup. I did some research and just ordered this Drobo. Look like I will never lose anything again. Check it our. http://alturl.com/qnkth
i’m so sad you lost those pictures!! who knows, maybe they’ll still be able to be resurfaced?? anyways, i just LOOOVE those pictures
you were such a glowing mother to be and an absolutely stunning mother!!
Grr that is so frustrating! I lost all our honeymoon pics when my computer crashed a couple years ago so I know the feeling and I’m so sorry! But the pics you do have are awesome, you look fab!
That was quite a belly you had going there! I can’t even fathom. I’m sorry about your computer. I REALLY need to get an external hard drive for my laptop.
I’m so sorry to hear about your laptop! Wasn’t it possible to save the files at all? Such a shame! It’s understandable that you’d be devastated, given the nature of those files. Thankfully, some of them were already backed up online. I think it would be smart for you to get an external hard drive, but also to back up your most important and treasured files in online storage. That way, should something happen to both your computer AND your hard drive, you’d still be able to access your files from a different computer. They are secure and private, so you needn’t worry about them being shared where they shouldn’t be or until you do so.