Pregnancy yoga photo shoot with Robert Sturman!

Week 30 | +24 lbs

Two and a half weeks ago, my husband and I had the pleasure of meeting with Califorinia-based Robert Sturman for a pregnancy yoga photo shoot in the Greenwich Village while Robert was in town for a few weeks! I have been a huge fan of Robert’s work since I discovered it in the New York Times two years ago, and have been stalking his Facebook page ever since. Since then, he’s captured mesmerizing photos of the Africa Yoga Project, Prison Yoga Project, and yogis worldwide.  When he inquired about offering a yoga photography workshop at a studio in New York City on his Facebook page last June, I immediately responded! I was happy to learn how humble and compassionate he is during our initial phone conversation, and was thrilled when he decided to offer his special workshop at my studio!

It was a true honor to see him again, and have him document my pregnancy at our recent shoot.  I will now forever and always look be able to look at these photos, and recall this special time in my husband and my lives.  All photos below were taken by Robert Sturman on May 6, 2014 at 28 weeks pregnant. Some of his photos from his recent trip are currently featured in MindBodyGreen’s “Yoga In The Heart of New York City,” including one he took of me.

Week 29 (5/11-17) training: 37.2 miles 

Sunday: 26.2 miles
Monday: Spin
Tuesday: Yoga
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 5 miles
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 6 miles

It’s a…

16 Weeks | +11 lbs

It’s a GIRL!!!!!!!!!! When family and friends asked whether I was hoping for a boy or a girl, I responded that I didn’t care as long as our baby was healthy, but that it would be great to have a girl some day.

My maternal family would make even some doctors believe that women determine the gender of a baby. I am the oldest of five daughters, my mother has only one sibling, a younger sister, who has three girls, and I have one niece, so far.  Although my maternal grandmother Susie, or Bubu, my cousins, sisters and I called her, was one of 12 siblings, both male and female, she was the matriarch of my family–having helped my entire family and many of her friends immigrate to the United States, started multiple global businesses, and donated time and money to a number of charitable causes.  She was one of the two strongest, most courageous women I knew–my mom is the second, as she owned a successful restaurant, Suzie’s, in the Greenwich Village, that was open for 40 years until she and my dad retired recently, has also led various charitable efforts, and raised my sisters and me. With such strong women in my family to look up to, and having had plenty of experience helping to raise my sisters and cousins, it’s no surprise that, deep down, I had hoped to have my own daughter one day.

Bubu, Mom, Me & My Sisters & Cousin, 8/10

My husband is already worried about having to “protect” our little girl from the inequalities that still exist between men and women in this world, but I am not. I am confident that our daughter will be just as strong as the women in her family–she’ll love, respect and have confidence in herself, play any sport and instrument well that she dedicates her time to, succeed in her studies and, ultimately, her career, voice her own opinion strongly, and know that she is capable of anything that she sets her mind to. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “We must become the change we wish to see in the world.”

Month 4 Belly Photo, 2/11/14

Week 15 (2/2-8) training: 16 miles

Sunday: 5 miles
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday:  4 miles
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 12 miles