Belly Painting- Celebrating and Commemorating Pregnancy With Your Children

By Jessica Martin-Weber with Squiggle Bug, Smunchie, Sugarbaby, and Jeremy Martin-Weber

Each person deserves to be celebrated. A theme that is common in our family. Most often , the ways we find to celebrate are small and simple but very special.

We’re going to show one way we enjoy celebrating a coming baby. Belly painting! Together we cooperate to celebrate and commemorate the new person joining our family with creative expression.

Today we already agreed on a seasonal theme but it could be anything! Comment telling us what you’ve done to celebrate a pregnancy and the new family member joining your family.

Baby Bump, Baby Bed- Arm’s Reach Concepts Cosleeper Giveaway

Henna belly

For approximately 40 weeks your uterus is your baby’s playground, carrier, and bed. It’s a cushy and safe spot for them, rain or shine. If everything proceeds normally, a baby in the womb faces very little threat and though plenty of mothers will have scary dreams and anxieties about what could possibly happen, most will encounter nothing more worrisome than dealing with maternity clothes and figuring out the estimated due date. With all the protection they need, most babies usually grow in a secure environment. Plus, it’s attractive. There is something so special about seeing an obviously pregnant woman. Maybe it’s the glow from sweating thanks to the increase in hormones and body temperature. Maybe it’s that life is growing and a new person is expected. Maybe it’s the way the hormones have relaxed all the joints and there’s a waddle to her step. Maybe it’s the grimace of pain mistaken as a smile from the bowling ball pressing on her pelvic floor and nerves. Maybe it’s just how much everything is about to change. Whatever it is, it’s beautiful.

Then baby is born and that beautiful bundle is significantly way more exposed. Cute, but now there are safety concerns with how they are transported, what they’re wearing, how they’re held, and where they rest. Even when they are sleeping you have to be careful. There will be a lot of checking to be sure that little chest continues to rise and fall with each breath. It helps when there is another attractive safe place aside from mom’s arms for them to rest securely once they are outside of mom’s body.

Enter Arm’s Reach Concepts co-sleeper.

Arm’s Reach has been there for me and my babies so I was excited to see the new products coming from Arm’s Reach Concepts that I just had to lay down and try them out right on the show floor of the ABC Kids Expo in early September. They even had a weighted baby doll for me to get the full experience with. I may have tried to breastfeed it because that’s just what I expect to do when I lay down next to a baby. Then I wanted to take a nap because it was actually more quiet in that hall with thousands of people than it is at any given moment in my home with 6 kids. No joke.

Also not a joke is Arms Reach Concepts. ARC has been helping families sleep closer since 1997 and just continues to improve how they support families in getting the rest they need. Today they are bringing new designs and new innovative products to the market responding to the needs of the modern family. The designs are beautiful and stylish with a classic feel, I don’t know how many times I said how I wished they had something when my babies were tiny. It’s almost enough to make me think about having another. Almost.

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Trying out an Arm’s Reach Concepts Co-Sleeper at the ABC Kids Expo, September 2014. That’s not a real baby, that’s a doll.

But instead of me getting pregnant and having another baby (no, cool new baby products is not a good reason to have a baby…) we’re just going to send one of these new co-sleeper designs to a lucky Leaky. One of my favorite co-sleepers in the ARC booth this year was the Arm’s Reach® Co-Sleeper® bedside bassinet Clover Cambria:  beautifully curved ends are solid wood panels with built-in leg extensions, caster wheels for easy movement around the house, ample storage basket under a well-ventilated mesh sleeping nest, and an anchor plate attachment system for greater security. I didn’t get to lay down and try this one personally but I did get to ask a lot of questions, play with it a bit, and oooh-and-aahhh over the clean lines and elegant wood. There was no doubt in my mind that I needed a Leaky to try this out and let me know what they think. Here’s what it looks like:

Cambria-Clover-cs-2000x2000But this isn’t just for any Leaky. We want to get one of these stylish co-sleepers (a $249.99 retail value) to a Leaky with a bun in the oven, a baby bump, a list of baby names, crazy pregnancy dreams, a waddle in her step, and a due date November-Feburary. This giveaway is specifically for Leakies in the USA expecting a new bundle of joy sometimes in November 2014, December 2014, January 2015, or February 2015.* And we want to see your beautiful baby bumps, your baby’s current bed and home. Check out the widget below to enter. Good luck Leakies!

*Due to production timing, the Clover Cambria Co-sleeper won’t be available to ship until mid November.
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