A Love Renewed

21 | Showers

Baby Nelson was growing more and more by the day. During the first few months, I felt like I was growing at a rapid rate. It was like once I found out I was pregnant, my belly would not stop growing. However now that I'm into my sixth month, she's slowed down on the growth spurt.

Yes, we're having a girl!

When we found out the gender, I thought I was going to pass out from shock. Lord knows I'd be happy with either, but deep down inside I truly wanted a girl. I guess part of me wanted to make up for the life I didn't get to share with Iris. I've dreamt of having another girl ever since I lost her.

Prince was ecstatic. Even though I'm sure he wants a boy also, probably for the same reason that I want a girl. But I think the idea of her being "Daddy's little girl" really resonated with him.

Once we were over the hump of my first trimester, we went ahead and told the family. We flew out to LA and took my parents to a nice dinner; we wanted their announcement to be a bit more personal. So over dinner we handed them an envelope with a handwritten note, and inside was a copy of our sonogram. I honestly thought my Mom was having a panic attack. She didn't know whether to shout, cry, get up or continue to sit down. It's hilarious to think about now as we look back on it, but in the moment it was so sweet.

After our family and friends found out, we had no desire to hide it any longer. I was able to let my bump fly free! Of course as soon as I went out publicly the rumors began to fly. I was on the cover of every gossip tabloid you could find. As soon as that happened, all of the "first photo" requests started flying in. Every magazine wanted to pay top dollar to be the first to release images of the baby; we turned each and every one of them down. We don't need the money, and we wanted to present her to the world when we feel the time is right and on our own terms. We know the world is curious, his fans especially, but we want a little time to keep her all to ourselves.

All in all, I have to say everything was going pretty smoothly. I haven't really gotten sick, although my sense of smell is through the roof. Half the time I would wake up, shocked to see my growing belly still there; I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and this will all be a dream. Luckily for the both of us, it wasn't.

"Ri, are you ready?" I could hear Prince call out from the bedroom. I was in the closet, trying to find a pair of shoes. "I want to shoot before we lose more light"

"Yea gimme a sec"

Photography has always been a hobby of his, but I'd never seen him pick up a camera more than since I've been pregnant. He wanted to document everything; whether it was me napping, cooking, doing my makeup, it didn't matter. To him, every little thing was a milestone and I don't think I've ever seen him this excited about anything.

Today we were going to walk through our house that was finally complete. We ended up being a couple months behind schedule due to my pregnancy. We were wrapped up in other things and all the excitement, it was a little hard to focus on all the small details of the house. But we finally did it!

Prince did the final walk through with the contractors and builders but he wanted me to see it privately with just the two of us...and of course to document the whole thing as well.

I grabbed my coat and met him downstairs in the atrium before we were on our way. Fall was in full swing and the weather was hit or miss so we decided today was the best day to do it. Minnesota this time of year has always been my favorite. Living in LA, I never really got the full experience of every season. It rains, and it gets cold but it's still on the warmer side 85% of the time.

I loved watching the leaves change, and the sea of orange and yellow on the ground after they've fallen. I loved when the weather was cool enough for me to wear cute sweaters, jackets and boots but still not quite cold enough to snow. Today was that perfect day.