1 Year Ago

June 4, 2011

1 year ago today I married my love.  It was a glorious day with blue skies, a gorgeous venue, delicious food, beautiful flowers, lots of friends & family and a very happy and in love bride & groom.  A year’s worth of planning came together almost perfectly (so in terms of weddings – perfectly).  Even more important than our wonderful wedding was the amazing year that followed.  To recap:

After our wedding we jetted off to French Polynesia for an incredible honeymoon.  We spent a few nights in an overwater bungalow, took a 7 day cruise exploring various islands, saw the most beautiful underwater life during our six dives including sharks!, ate scrumptious cuisine, and both got some serious travel’s tummy.  Travel’s tummy while confined to a cruise ship is quite a contrast to the beautiful bride & groom from the wedding.  For better or worse! 

Our cruise ship in French Polynesia

We came home from honeymoon feeling off and I was convinced we had made a honeymoon baby.  Arthur bought a pregnancy test that I take in a Mexican restaurant during our 12 hr layover in LA.  Turns out no honeymoon baby, just food baby, but both of us are very surprised that we weren't more relieved to see the “not pregnant”.  The seed is planted that perhaps we both are way more ready for a baby than we had thought.

Not Pregnant

After the honeymoon we worked…a lot.  I can’t remember having a weekday dinner together once from July – September!   We did go to Martha’s Vineyard for the 4^th of July, went to a couple more weddings, celebrated Mercedes’ 1^st birthday, went to the annual Lobsterboat Races in Bristol ME, started looking at houses in Maine, and planned a few trips for when work settled down. 

Mercedes turns 1!

September brought a weekend in Philadelphia.   We caught up with friends and did some sightseeing.  We redecorated the master bedroom.  

Philadelphia

Puerto Rico

In November we went to Puerto Rico for a long weekend that neither of us really took the time to plan and decided we much prefer planned trips.  We talked about having a baby & decided to stop trying to prevent one.  In December we went to Argentina & Brazil, made a baby, and bought a house in Boothbay Harbor, ME.  On Christmas Eve we told our parents they were going to be grandparents in August!  We rang in 2012 in Iceland. 

Argentina

Boothbay Harbor House

New Year's Eve in Iceland

Arthur spent the winter working lots both at work and on the Boothbay house.  

Arthur the expert painter

Not happy about my mask

It's a girl!

 I did much 1^st trimester napping and tons of baby reading &   research.  At the end of March we found out we were having a girl!  In April we spent a week relaxing in Jamaica on our babymoon.

Jamaica

Happy 30th!

  In May I threw Arthur a very successful surprise 30^th birthday party.  We ended our first year with 3 weekends in a row in Maine and another wedding.

All in all, an amazing, action packed year.  In some ways it still feels like we are in the honeymoon stage (especially when traveling), and in others it feels like we’ve been married for years.  Except for some seriously long work hours, it’s been a really wonderful year.  I’m pretty sure the whole “first year is the hardest” did not apply (why do they say that?).  Somehow I think adjusting to life with a newborn is going to be a little bit more challenging than this past year, but I’m really looking forward to the next family focused (and maybe quieter?) years with my love.  

Dear Baby - Week 23

April 26 – May 2

Couple's Tower Island Resort

Dear Poppy,

This week you went to Jamaica!  By the time you are born you will be a very well-traveled little fetus.  So far you've been to Argentina, Brazil, Iceland, all over New England & New York, and now to Jamaica.  We are going to have to apply for your passport when we apply for your social security number!

Couple's Tower Island Resort

Mommy & Daddy had lots of fun in Jamaica on one last vacation before you arrive.  Mommy did lots of relaxing on the beach & loved pregnant swimming! Daddy got to go some scuba diving four times too.

Us on the resort's private beach

Daddy & his scuba buddy from NH (also going to be a new dad!)

Daddy scuba diving at a shipwreck 

Snorkeling & 23 week baby bump

We got off the resort a few times for some activities - our favorite was hiking the Dunn’s River Falls.   Daddy was a little concerned about Mommy hiking, but we were very careful & had lots of help from the guides.

Hiking Dunn's River Falls (start of hike)

End of Dunn's River Falls hike

Mommy & Daddy had nice dinners together and took nightly walks around the resort.  There was also a Piano Bar with nightly sing-alongs.

Yummy Jamaican Food

Enjoying the sing-along at the Piano Bar

Another baby bump picture

 The resort also had a veggie bar where Mommy would get fresh smoothies everyday instead of island drinks.  You would bounce around lots after those smoothies!

At the Veggie Bar

Overall Mommy handled traveling at 23 weeks pregnant pretty well.  She did go to the bathroom 13 times on the trip down (2x at home, 2x at Logan Airport, 1x on first flight, 1x at Philly airport, 4x on 2^nd flight, 3x in Montego Bay airport), but the doctor said it was good to move around a lot while traveling.

Last day at the resort

Current Size: Large Mango (11.5 inches long)

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Babymoon

Couples Sans-Souci Resort

When Arthur and I were researching honeymoon ideas last year I came across a new (to me) type of vacation – the babymoon or pre-baby vacation.  I knew right away that when the time came this was definitely something we would want to do.  Traveling and exploring are probably our absolute favorite activities, and to be completely honest it was the one potentially barrier for us to having babies right away.  But then again, I don’t think there ever is a “perfect” time to have children, so we promised ourselves that once baby was old enough we would continue to travel as a couple.   I do believe it is good for both child and parents to spend a bit of time apart, not that it won’t be a little hard.  I miss Mercedes’s cute face and wagging tail after just a weekend away (something Arthur likes to make fun of me for, although I think he secretly misses her too).

Couples Tower Island Resort

So when we got our positive back in December we started to think about our babymoon.  Everyone says the best time to travel is the 2^nd trimester, so springtime!  Being a tax accountant means post 4/15, so we started looking at the end of April, beginning of May.  Originally we had tentatively planned our spring vacation to be another roadtrip – this time through the deep south (blast down to West Virginia, then explore Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana (ultimate destination New Orleans).  We had an awesome time on our West Coast roadtrip, and my Mini Cooper lease is up in July and I’m about 12K miles short of my 30K limit.  Roadtrips are awesome, but I’m not sure how awesome a pregnant roadtrip would be.  I currently pee every 45-75 minutes.  And the Mini Cooper is a great city car, but honestly, not the most comfortable cruising car.  It boasts a “go-cart” driving experience, and it certainly delivers.  So roadtrip out.

My ideal babymoon would probably Greek Island hopping.  Exotic, warm, & water centered.  But let’s be realistic, we are having a baby & babies are expensive!  So Europe out.  Also any place with good wine (mostly France & Napa).  That would just be cruel.  A cruise popped up on our radar – they are easy, economical, and provide lots of options for a husband who can’t sit still and a wife who will probably be happy reading by the pool.  We found one we liked – Southern Caribbean, only 1 day at sea, stopped in Bonaire – a place we both really want to go for diving (so fun for Arthur).  Then we sort of stopped looking.  A few weeks ago we though – hmm if we are going to do this we better book it.  So researching started again.  Flights weren’t looking so hot.  There was only 1 week we could actually go, as it seemed all the cruises leave the Caribbean after April, and April 15 falls in the middle of the week, so we could only go the last week of April.  Then I read cruise ships allow pregnant passengers, but not a minute over 24 weeks.  I get the calendar out, and ugh, I’ll hit 24 weeks right in the middle of our cruise.   So cruise out.  I started to get frustrated – maybe it just wasn’t meant to be and we should save our money.  Arthur didn’t agree, and we continued to look.  Austin, TX?  Palm Springs? No, Arthur really wanted water.  Hawaii? Mexico? Anywhere in the Caribbean?  So many options!

Couples Negril Resort

Finally I browsed through Caribbean Travel Magazine and found an article on the best all-inclusive resorts, which is something neither of us has tried.  They had 4 categories: luxury, family, value, & romantic. I researched each of the four romantic resorts they recommended and finally settled on “Couples” resorts in Jamaica (also an island we haven’t been to).  They have four resorts in Jamaica, all of which are couples only, and all super inclusive (airport pick up, top shelf liquor, all activities including sailing, scuba diving, etc).  Also one of the top rated spas in the Caribbean.  It was hard to pick a resort, so we opted for a special they were running for the more “adventurous” couple.  For a pretty significant discount, we pick the days, they pick the resort and will tell us a week in advance.  All four resorts were in the top 13 out of 130 of trip advisers “romantic hotels in Jamaica” so we figured it was pretty safe.  We settled on 5 nights on the resort, and 2 nights in Montego Bay.  Can’t wait!

Couples Swept Away Resort

Post Proposal Vacation

After the amazing proposal night we still had another week of vacation, which was awesome, but also meant it would be harder to tell everyone our wonderful news. The next day we docked in Grand Cayman and decided that we should call our parents, because well, that really isn't the kind of news you share with your parents via email or facebook, and it was much more affordable to call internationally from the island rather than from the cruise ship. We enjoyed a wonderful day snorkeling and then 430 (when my mom gets of our work) finally came. First we tried Arthur's mom, then my mom, then Arthur's dad, then my dad. Nobody answered!! So we tried again - neither mom answered. At this point we figured we should leave a voicemail so when everyone saw a bunch of missed calls they wouldn't worry. Arthur tries his dad, and leaves voicemail. I do the same with my dad. Arthur says I should try again - call my mom, nothing, so I leave a voicemail. Arthur does the same with his mom. At this point I'm so disappointed because I really wanted to tell my mom on the phone and hear her reaction, but were about to lose Cayman service. Arthur tries his dad one last time, and YES, we got a live person!! He had already listened to the voicemail, but Arthur had only said "We've got some news...you can probably figure out what", so technically Arthur was able to tell his dad that we were engaged. Then I call my mom for the 4th time and she picks up! She had seen the missed call, but hadn't checked her voicemail yet. Finally, we had shared our news!

At that point I asked my parents not to tell many people, as I still wanted to share the news. I made it through dinner before breaking out Arthur's blackberry (his work so kindly gave him an international version for the trip) and sending facebook messages out. Not exactly my first choice of ways to tell people, but I just had to share!!

The rest of the trip was so wonderful. We scuba dove in Honduras, rented a jeep in Cozumel, did more snorkeling in the Bahamas, I introduced Arthur to bingo, and we enjoyed the divine food, dancing, and comedy shows on the ship. Being away definitely extended my excitement, as I still couldn't really gush, and didn't wear my ring that much. No way I was wearing it swimming! Every morning I would wake up and bounce over to the safe so I could wear it for an hour or so during breakfast before we went on shore. Then at the end of the day I got to wear it again! But the best part of it was all the time I got to spend with my new fiancé, uninterrupted by work or wedding planning. Just us. And in the end, that is what it's all about.

Although I am really looking forward to planning a fabulous wedding :)