Maternity Photo Shoot

I'm so glad Colin agreed to do a maternity photo shoot with me and even more grateful for the outpouring of love and support from Galizes Photos!  Ana Teresa is extremely talented and I am so thrilled she wanted to capture this exciting time in our lives for us.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the (very cold) day!  We joked this weekend that we haven't had a day as cold as that day since.  At least it wasn't raining!

Date: November 24, 2013 (28 weeks, 6 days)
Location: Durant Nature Park in Raleigh, NC
Photographer: Galizes Photos

Jamaica: A Wedding and a Baby Moon

Colin's friends didn't know they'd be giving us an opportunity to take a baby moon when they planned their wedding in Jamaica, nor did we know it would end up being a baby moon when we first started thinking about going back in May.  After much deliberation and talking with my midwife, we decided it would be fine to spend a week in Jamaica while I could still travel.  The week occurred during the transition from week 29 to week 30 of pregnancy and I had been feeling well throughout, so we didn't see a reason not to go.  We did get travel insurance just in case though.

In this post, I'll write about the resort and the wedding - saving the travel experience for another post.  We had long layovers on the way to and from our trip and managed to find some delicious meals that deserve their own write-up.

The weather in Jamaica was absolutely perfect - sunny and in the 80s during the day and 70s overnight.  There were some afternoon clouds a few days that threatened rain, but we never experienced any.  In fact, the clouds brought some relief from the hot sun most afternoons.

Most of our days were about the same - waking around 8am to enjoy the extensive breakfast buffet with friends we haven't seen in awhile.  I think we actually spent about 2 hours at breakfast one day because our friends arrived in waves.

The buffet area where we ate breakfast and most dinners

The outdoor seating for the buffet breakfast and dinner meals

Once we had our fill, we would spend a few hours at the pool or the beach before enjoying the delicious jerk chicken served on the beach and the lunch buffet.  This was also a leisure meal typically spent with friends looking down on the beach from the second floor of the lunch venue. As an aside, this area was also where we enjoyed the wedding reception.

Our daily view during lunch

The second floor balcony dance floor for the wedding reception

During the afternoon, we'd spend a few additional hours at the pool or at the beach before heading to the room to shower, change and go out to dinner.  Most nights we ate at the buffet - which was the same place we had breakfast - but we did enjoy the Italian and Steakhouse restaurants two of the evenings we were there.  We never made it to the Asian restaurant, but heard it wasn't quite as good as the others.  It's amazing that days of lounging and eating would make you so tired, but we were almost always in bed by 10 or 11pm.  The all-inclusive resort (Riu Montego Bay) offered some nightly entertainment, but we did not attend, opting instead to hang out with friends, use the 90 minutes of free wifi in the lobby, or go to bed early.

This is the area where we spent most of our time - 

either in the water or on the lounge chairs

We all avoided the swim-up bar in the pool - which we called the "urination station" 

based on the fact we never saw people leave that area to go to the bathroom!

The pool area at night

There were just a few deviations from our days of relaxing and eating.  The day after we arrived in Jamaica was the big wedding day - so our evening lounging time was cut a bit short so we could attend the beachfront ceremony followed by cocktails and appetizers and a reception that went late into the evening.  Some people continued partying beyond 11pm, but we were wiped from the previous day of travel and from all the partying. I'll admit that I still managed to do a fair amount of dancing even with my bulging belly.  I took lots of pictures of the wedding, but didn't have anyone use my camera to take pictures of me.  If I receive pictures from others, I'll be sure to update the blog.

The picturesque wedding ceremony site

Enjoying cocktails and delicious appetizers 

(the empanadas were the highlight) as the sun sets

We also decided to join the new couple and their friends (who we had not met before the wedding) on a day trip away from the resort the day after the wedding.  The destination was Dunn's River Falls, a long cascading set of waterfalls that emptied into the ocean about 1.5 hours from Montego Bay (where we stayed), and just outside of Ocho Rios.  Once we left the resort we were reminded of the poverty and rural existence of many Caribbean countries outside of all-inclusive resorts.  During the drive, we stopped at one site where Christopher Columbus landed in Jamaica and stopped at a second overlook to a beautiful beach.

 

Stopping to take a photo at an overlook 

on the way to Dunn's River Falls in Ocho Rios

Dunn's River Falls is a paid-admission-only park that allows patrons to walk through the nature park, down to the beach, and up the falls.  I don't know if people stay longer than that to enjoy the beach, but we basically paid $20 each to do the climb. I was a little nervous since there were signs cautioning pregnant women not to climb, but it was much easier than it looked.  To be safe, I had Colin lead where there were descents off rocks into the water, and follow close behind as I climbed up the rocks.  There were plenty of older adults and young children making the journey as well, a sign that it was not too difficult.  It's too bad we hadn't planned ahead for this adventure. Had we known, we could have brought our Vibram water shoes instead of paying $10 each to buy shoes at the park.

Taking a picture at the falls at the end of the climb

Dunn's River Falls

After going to the falls, we drove into Ocho Rios for lunch. I was not impressed with the town (city?), as it seemed congested and dirty.  It was also mostly cloudy when we were there, adding to the depressed look.  We received a recommendation to try a local restaurant that offered jerk chicken.  Both Colin and I thought the chicken served at the resort was actually better.

Our journey back to the resort was uneventful, though we all arrived tired from our adventurous day.  So, we spent the next two days relaxing in our traditional fashion (as I previously mentioned).  Colin opted to go on a two-hour snorkeling trip with friends two days after our trip to Ocho Rios, but I chose to lounge and read a book.  I did join him to take paddleboats out on our last full day. I was winded fairly easily and had a little trouble with my belly getting in the way of paddling, but it felt good to move a bit.  I definitely felt de-conditioned when I arrived back in the states and finally, after 4 days, am starting to feel more mobile.

While the resort, weather, and company were amazing, I'm not sure I'd travel to the Caribbean this far along in pregnancy again.  My skin is normally sensitive and the pregnancy hormones seemed to make my sensitivity worse leaving me with a heat-like rash and itchy.  I also frequently have stomach issues when I go to all-inclusive resorts. Thankfully, I only had the occasional queasy stomach, but that left me nervous about what it might do to the baby, or fearful that it would get worse.  Overall, I would say I just generally felt nervous about being in a foreign country this far into pregnancy and I frequently felt overly hot in the sun. I had to sit in the shade or stand in the pool most of the time. I think I would have been more content with 4-5 days in Jamaica instead of 7, or if I had gone in the second trimester. 

A Photoshoot Preview

Most of you know Colin is NOT into getting his photo taken.  He had his fake smile on during almost all of our wedding photos and we never did engagement photos. He must be softening because when I told him a friend wanted to take some maternity photos, he agreed!  I guess our little girl already has him wrapped around her tiny finger!

Here's a preview of our very cold session last weekend.

Two-Thirds of the Way There

My pregnancy phone app tells me I've entered the third trimester now that I am 28 weeks, and only 84 days away from the expected big day.  There are days when I feel like the 9 months are flying by and other days when I feel like it is taking forever.  Thankfully, I continue to feel pretty good with only the occasional leg or foot cramp and my blood tests (including glucose) have all come back with good results.

The developments I've read about related to the baby and those that have occurred to my own body over the past 6 weeks are quite amazing. My belly has certainly grown and the pictures don't seem to do any justice to how much larger I feel.

The latest estimates suggest the baby about the size of an eggplant or a head of lettuce/cabbage (depending on which app you use).  She's about 2.25-2.5lbs and 14.5-15 inches long and I can attest to the fact that she is quite the mover.  Thankfully, she seems to rest when I do at night and is fairly active throughout the day.

Here's a photo recap of the past six weeks...

21 weeks

22 weeks

23 weeks

24 weeks

25 weeks

26 weeks

27 weeks

Halloween 2014

Colin carved some pumpkins, Darth Vadar scared some kids away and Princess Leia gave out the candy!

Major Home Renovation Project

We have been dying to get new floors in our house since the first day we moved in.  And after having Darwin in the house for 2.5 years and three dogs for about 9 months, cleaning the carpet in the living room was just impossible.  We steamed cleaned it 2-3 times and within days it looked like it had never been done.

Over the course of the past six months we had several contractors provide us with estimates and show us products for the floors.  Just when we decided on a product we liked, we would be introduced to another product and would consider that.  I think we started with laminate, then handscraped laminate, then bamboo, then hardwoods, then back to bamboo.  It's certainly nice to have options, but sometimes they can be overwhelming!

We ultimately decided on the contractor that was recommended by a trustworthy friend. He wasn't the least expensive estimate we received, but he wasn't the most expensive either.  He was patient with us and answered all our questions, was honest about what we could do ourselves, and was able to do the install in two days while we were out of town!

The hardest part was all the prep work that we did.  In an effort to cut down on costs, we did the demolition and debris removal ourselves.  We also rented a truck and Colin moved all the supplies into the house. We were a bit peeved that Lumber Liquidators wouldn't deliver for free after dropping so much money on 1200 sq ft of wood, molding, underlayment, and threshold.  In the end, we saved about $1000 between the delivery fee, demolition fee, and debris removal fee by doing about 30 hours of work ourselves (and dealing with lots of dirt/dust).

If pulling up stone, laminate, vinyl, and carpet weren't enough, we also decided to paint the master bedroom, formal living/dining, and half bath before having the new floors installed.  And did I mention we did this all in about 4-5 days, 2 of those while working full time and the other two taking up the whole weekend!?!?  Thankfully, my husband is awesome and did most of the major work, and obviously all the heavy lifting.  I took care of the details, like pulling up about 500 nails in the floor, painting along the baseboards and doing all the cleanup.  We are a pretty good team.

Coming back from a long weekend away to new floors was amazing! It was like walking into a new house. And now that we've been in the house with the floors for about two weeks, I will definitely say they are much easier to clean.  There was a fair amount of dust that needed to be cleaned when we first got back, baseboards/molding still needs to be painted, and I have no idea how to decorate with area rugs, but all-in-all, I am so glad we got the floors done.  Check out the photos to see for yourself!

The formal living/dining room before

Formal living/dining after laminate removed and walls painted

Formal living/dining with new floors and walls painted

Kitchen before (with two layers of vinyl!!)

Kitchen after removing both layers of vinyl and shoe molding

Kitchen with new floors

Breakfast area before

Breakfast area, kitchen, and part of family room during demolition

Removal of carpet and underlayment in family room
reveals just how ingrained the dirt was in the flooring

Family room and kitchen with new floors

Master bedroom with carpet out, walls painted, and 61 boxes of bamboo

(Did I mention that each box is heavy and Colin brought each one in the house himself!?!?)

Master bedroom with new floors

Not only do I love the new floors, but I love the colors in the bedroom and living room.  We used the darker blue paint (Sherwin Williams 6227 - Meditative) on the accent wall that's in the bedroom to also paint the half bath and it is an amazing color!  The blue we picked for the master bathroom was not quite what we had in mind, but re-painting will be a project for some other time.  For now, we have to find the motivation to paint the baseboards and shoe molding and touch up a few spots from this project.

BTW - Who puts carpet in bathrooms?!?! If you've ever lived with a guy (or are one), you would know that is just gross!

In case you were wondering, the floors are Morning Star Click Strand Antique Bamboo.  

A Weekend in Asheville

Back in early September, we had the opportunity to spend a long weekend in Asheville, NC.  Colin had a work meeting on a Monday and the weekend had a promising forecast, so we decided to make a last minute trip as a family.  Thankfully, there were a few airbnb rentals available that seemed nice and were reasonably priced.

After work on Friday, we packed up the car and made the 4 hour journey west on I-40 without any problems.  Our airbnb rental had a key lock box, which was perfect for our late arrival.  The small 3 bedroom house was cozy, but not crowded, with only one other person staying there that weekend.  All that really matters is that there was enough room for Darwin's bed on the floor and for us to sleep in the bed. We didn't chat much with the owner's father (who was staying with his daughter for an extended period of time) until the last day.

Saturday morning we were up very early thanks to our morning dog Darwin. We had plans to drive to several waterfalls in the Brevard area of the Pisgah National Forest, but spent a leisurely morning in Asheville before setting out.  We found a food co-op close to our airbnb rental and made our way to a store that was essentially Whole Foods with its own name (Greenlife Grocery) to have breakfast, then wandered through some neighborhoods in the area of Asheville between the main downtown area and the Grove Park Inn, and finally stopped to check out a festival at the Habitat for Humanity Restore that wound up being an anniversary celebration.  There was a bunch of free food that nourished us before we set out to the mountains.

Around noon, we made our way from Asheville towards Brevard and entered the Pisgah National Forest on route 276.  I had mapped out a route into the forest that included several waterfalls and a couple of hikes.  We decided to hike the first trail on our route, John Rock Trail, which we thought was going to be 1.8 miles, but was actually closer to 3 miles.  The hike was fairly easy, rising only about 800 feet to the summit of John Rock and the views were pretty.  After having hiked in New Zealand, Washington, Oregon and California, it's hard to call the North Carolina mountains impressive, but it was certainly a very nice view.

Colin and Darwin enjoying the view from the top of John Rock

After our hike, we got back in the car and drove two miles farther into the national forest to Looking Glass Falls, an impressive, 45-foot waterfall just off the side of the road.  The falls were visible from the road, but we descended the 30 or so steps down to the water and put our feet in.  Darwin seemed to enjoy the water, which was fairly cool and I was surprised at how many people were actually swimming in the plunge pool below the falls.

Colin's newest favorite picture of Darwin, 

with Looking Glass Falls in the background

Just one mile from Looking Glass Falls, we arrived at the trailhead for a hike that led us to another waterfall called Moore Cove Falls.  The very easy 1.4 mile out-and-back hike brought us to a waterfall that was beautiful in the sun's rays.  While the water was not as forceful as Looking Glass, the spot was a peaceful retreat in the middle of the woods.  Unfortunately, we were not the only ones enjoying the view, so we didn't linger too long.

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Moore Cove Falls with a mid-afternoon sun

I really wanted to see Sliding Rock since I had heard such great things about it, so when we came upon the sign for it one mile beyond Moore Head Falls on Highway 276, I was glad we could stop to check it out.  The forest service charges $1-2 per car, and most people were leaving when we arrived.  The many teenagers enjoying the slide made it look like tons of fun and I was a little bummed that I couldn't participate. I didn't want to risk any injuries with a bun in the oven.  After Colin told me how cold the water was on his trip down the slide, I was grateful to have an excuse!  While it may have been fun, I'm just not a fan of freezing cold water.

Colin braving the cold water on Sliding Rock

The last waterfall on my list, Skinny Dip Falls, took us about 10 miles off the loop back to Asheville, but I wanted to check it out since the reviews made it sound like it was worth the trip.  Instead of heading north (back to Asheville) at the intersection of Highway 276 and the Blue Ridge Parkway, we drove about 5 miles south to mile marker 417.  Before hiking the mile into the waterfall and while enjoying a lovely view from the Parkway, we decided to have a second lunch/snack of sardines, chips, and apples that we had purchased at the food co-op.  Darwin also enjoyed his dinner (and a little of ours too).

View from the car at mile marker 417 on the Blue Ridge Parkway

The mile hike to the cascading waterfalls was super easy and we were at the falls in no time.  With the light getting lower in the sky, I didn't get great photos, but I ended up going back on Monday when Colin was at his meeting, so there is a photo of one of the falls farther down this post.  The falls reminded me of an area in Vermont called Triple Buckets, where people would jump from the rocks into one of three deep pools.  These cascades may not have been as deep, but did have a few pools that looked perfect for swimming.  

From Skinny Dip Falls, we drove the 40 minutes back to Asheville on the winding Blue Ridge Parkway, going through lots of tunnels on the way.  It was already dinner time when we got back, but I needed a shower before setting out. With our late arrival into downtown and our inability to choose a restaurant, it was pretty late for us to have dinner when we were finally seated at the Italian restaurant called Modesto (around 9pm). I didn't bring my good camera and had to rely on my phone, but it served the purpose.  We ended up splitting a salad and having a few bites of the chicken parm pasta dish, with plans to save the rest for Sunday, but ended up giving our leftovers to a man on the street who asked us for food.  While we frequently refuse to give individuals on the street money, Colin always gives food if we have some and people ask. In fact, Colin will actually offer people our food (leftover or food we just purchased to eat), and many times it is refused.

Our shared salad

 Eggplant Parm

I think we were all exhausted when we arrived back at the house. Even Darwin, who is frequently restless, was passed out all night.  Thankfully, being tired meant we all got to sleep in a little later on Sunday morning.

Our main adventures were all planned for Saturday, so on Sunday we did much more relaxing. After a light breakfast at the house and some chatting with the airbnb host's dad, we set out to enjoy the day in Asheville. We started out at the dog park and then made our way downtown to the Organic Festival going on in Pack Square.  There were a bunch of dogs at the dog park and they were all very friendly, and I was somewhat disappointed that the Organic Festival included only a handful of tents, one stage, and didn't allow us to walk around with Darwin.  Colin and I took turns checking out the single block of vendors while the other sat on the perimeter with Darwin.  

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Darwin meeting some Asheville dogs at the dog park

The weather threatened rain most of the afternoon, but we were lucky to enjoy our meal outside at Salsa's Mexican Restaurant.  Thankfully, I had my camera ready when the meals came out so I could document how beautiful each plate was.  Both of our meals were delicious, but I would say that my slow-roasted pork empanada was a little bit better.  In our usual fashion, we shared both meals, and I did enjoy Colin's burrito that was filled with shrimp and steak and included french fries and cheese.  The only thing we didn't really enjoy was the rice, which Darwin was glad to have.  Colin also gave him some tortilla chips.

Slow-Roasted Pork Empanada with rice, beans, and salsa

"The Asheville" burrito with shrimp, steak, fries, and cheese

On Sunday night we stayed at the Crowne Plaza, located just outside of the downtown area.  It was nice to have a big, spacious place to put our things and Darwin enjoyed laying on the second bed while we relaxed and watched some football.  The hotel, while not right in downtown, had a really nice outdoor area with hang gliding, a walking path, and outdoor pool.  The only down side was that someone complained about Darwin's bark, even though he barked twice to alert us that people were in the hallway.  Thankfully, we only received a warning.

On our last day in Asheville, while Colin attended his meeting for most of the workday, Darwin and I went to hike Mt. Pisgah and enjoy Skinny Dip Falls.  We made our way back onto the Blue Ridge Parkway and hiked up to the top of the "mountain" in the morning and then enjoyed our lunch on the rocks at the falls.  The weather cooperated all day, though there were some spotty dark clouds around all day.  

Looking up at Mt. Pisgah from the Blue Ridge Parkway

View back down to the the Blue Ridge Parkway from Mt. Pisgah

Enjoying lunch with our feet in the water at Skinny Dip Falls

When Colin's day was done and before heading back home, we made one last stop at French Broad Chocolates to pick up dessert for the road.  I stayed in the car while Colin went in and I was very surprised that my chocoholic husband opted for a carrot cake at a chocolate factory!  It was very rich and tasty and didn't last long into the 4-hour drive.

It's always nice to be home after traveling, especially after having Darwin stay in the same room with us, but I will say we had a wonderful weekend in Asheville.  While the rain threatened most of Sunday and part of Monday, it never actually rained.  And, we were able to enjoy beautiful clear skies on Saturday while hiking and exploring lots of waterfalls. I really wanted Colin to see the beauty and enjoy the amazing food the Asheville area has to offer and I think after our long weekend there, he now appreciates it much more than he has in the past.

What do you think is the best thing about the Asheville area?