Maternity Henna & Photoshoot

Okay, so I am fully aware that second children can sometimes get the short straw when it comes to pictures and attention.  I know I haven't blogged quite as much about Mitchell's impending arrival as I did about Samara's.  And while I have a full book of pictures and details about my pregnancy with Samara, the little guy's book has a few lines scrawled and some ultrasound photos stuck in between the pages. Half the time, I don't even know how many weeks pregnant I am, and the poor kid's room is still empty with wallpaper glue on the walls!  It's shameful.  But I did do something special this time around that might make up for my otherwise delinquent record-keeping.

I had seen photos of women with their bellies beautifully tattooed with henna (a temporary organic tattoo made from the crushed leaves of the henna plant, and traditionally used in India as celebratory body art for engagements, weddings, etc.), and I knew I wanted to steal the Indian tradition for myself.  Since Garrett and I are pretty sure we're done baby-making after Mitchell, this was my chance.  I made an appointment with Soniya at The Original Henna Company in Houston Heights for the Tuesday after Memorial Day, and asked our friend Jessi (who is quite the talented little photographer) to come hang out with Samara during the appointment.

The whole process, from application through drying time, took about 2-3 hours.  Samara has been teething something fierce the last few weeks, and I was worried she would be a grouch while I was out of commission, but surprisingly, she was a complete angel!  She never once tried to get me to hold her (which was my main fear, since I definitely couldn't pick her up with wet henna all over my belly!), and just crawled around playing with her toys.  (I brought an awesome new toy that pretty much held her attention the whole time - the B. Parum Pum Pum Drum.  She looooves that all the pieces make lots of noise!)  It also helped that Soniya, the henna artist, had her two kids with her at the shop, too.  Her daughter is about 9 months old and was a little extra entertainment for Samara during the process.

After the henna dried, I had to let it slowly flake off for another hour or two until I was finally able to scrape off the dried paste.  Underneath the dried paste was the design, in a very pale orange stain.  I was told to rub some Vicks VapoRub onto the stain (because of the eucalyptus oil and menthol in the ingredients), and that the stain would darken to a deep orange-y brown over the course of 24-48 hours.  Sure enough, the stain darkened beautifully, and by Friday of that week, I was ready for pictures.

Jessi came over around 11:00 and we braved the heat outside to try lots of different poses in the back yard.  Unfortunately, the heat had overtaken most of the colorful blooms in the yard that I had originally planned to use as back-drops, including our purple Vitex tree, yellow Bearded Iris, Gardenias, and Knockout Roses.  Our Crepe Myrtles and Plumbago hadn't even bloomed yet, so we were pretty much stuck with just green for a backdrop; but I think we got some great shots!

Samara and Gabi joined us outside and even inserted themselves into a few pictures.  By the time we finished, it was time for lunch, and we were all covered in dirt from laying (some of us crawling) around in the grass.  Samara got even dirtier after digging into her broccoli casserole and blackberries, so we opted for a bath before nap time. It was an exhausting day, but a fun time!

Below is the slideshow of pictures from the henna appointment and the photoshoot day.  For full-sized pictures from the photoshoot, click here.

A huge shout-out goes to Jessi for taking the awesome pictures - I love them!