Hi Julius,

Wanna see pictures of mommy’s new dreads? Here they are :

Daddy took this photo of me at the dinner table reading a book about black holes and astronomy:

Love
Mommy

Wow Julius, you’ve been kicking a lot! Sometimes Daddy rubs my belly and can feel you kicking!

I jokingly asked your father, “So how do you know it’s a baby and I’m not just having gas?” And he said, “Are you kidding? You can’t feel gas do that! Every time I feel him kicking, they’re sharp, apparent kicks.”

So here’s a list of stuff I’ve been experiencing during pregnancy:

1) Hiccups, hiccups, hiccups
2) Burping
3) Farting
4) Heartburn
5) Headaches
6) Morning sickness (still)
7) 70+ pounds weight gain
Can’t sleep on back or belly anymore (sad)
9) Sore nipples
10) eh… lots of stuff you don’t want to know about

The good news is that I feel you kicking stronger and stronger every day so we know you’re in there! This is very exciting! Daddy jokingly wanted to rename you “Dungeon Dangler” instead of “Julius Dior.” Maybe when you’re older, we’ll explain why.

Love
Mommy

Hi Julius,

Your daddy and I are visiting Virginia right now to see his family. Your grandmother (on your daddy’s side) has saved us lots of baby boy clothes that were passed down by your aunt Ebony. We have sooo many clothes and a lot of them are new or hardly worn at all. None of them look “worn” and none of them have stains or any icky stuff. They look brand new if you ask me! And we have nearly 2 or 3 giant trunks full of them now! We have so many cool clothes for when you’re really young and even up to a year old. We’ll still need more of course, but it feels so nice to have all these. It will save us a lot of money! There are so many things we need to prepare for your arrival, but at least we’ve got the basics.

I’m now 22 weeks pregnant with you. You’ve been kicking and kicking and kicking. Most of the time you kick when I’m hungry and SHOULD be eating. And you also kick whenever I’m just resting on my back with my head propped up on a few pillows. When I’m in that position, both me and daddy can feel you kick kick kicking!

You also kick when I’m “picking on” daddy and joking with him. You usually kick at the EXACT moment that the punchline gets delivered. It’s sooo funny. I’ll say to daddy, “Even Julius agrees with me! He’s kicking!”

Love
Mommy

Julius,
Topics I can’t wait to discuss with you:

Astronomy
Shamanism
Theology
Psychology
Philosophy
Physics

My hope is that no matter what happens throughout our lives, you feel you can always express how you feel on any of these subjects. The important thing is that we always keep an open mind and always remember that no one has the right or the only answer. There are theories to everything! One thing I have learned is that for everything I believe in, there is always someone else in the world who believes the exact opposite. It’s important to not be swayed by friends and family, but by your own internal beliefs in what feels right for YOU. I’ll never enforce any belief on you or surround you by people who enforce theirs either. When the time is right, you’ll know what sits right with your spirit.

I’ve often heard it expressed that talking about people is boring, talking about events is slightly better, but talking about IDEAS is the reason we’re on the Earth.

Love
Mommy