Maui and New Stats

Maui was great. Drew and I both felt very relaxed the entire trip and it was wonderful to see my parents. They both got a kick out of my growing waste line. Also, I really started to feel obvious baby movements while we were there. I felt my first little flutters on Nov. 8th during the football game, but then not much else until we were in Hawaii. During the Colts versus Patriots game that we watched Sunday night in Maui, however, I really noticed that the baby was kicking me. I still cannot feel it from the outside, which has Drew frustrated. Hopefully, we will both be able to feel baby kicks in a few weeks or so. The funny thing about the baby moving is that is feels exactly how I had imagined is would, but I still love the daily reassurance that a human is growing in there.

Anyway, here are a few pics from our Maui trip.


This was the view from our condo balcony. A lot of green sea turtles live in the bay shown on the left side. We swam with them almost every day. In fact, it was impossible not to spot turtles when snorkeling in that bay. I almost accidentally swam into one when I was looking at some eagle spotted rays and not paying attention.


This is a fresh water pool on a trail in a state park near Hana. The dog drinking out of the pool was this very charming stray that followed us around the park for over an hour. He was quite the tour guide even though none of us wanted to pet him because he had fleas.


Here is the gang in front of an impressive banyan tree on the trail to a bamboo forest outside of Hana. You can kind of see my expanding baby bump here.


This is the start of the bamboo forest, which is one of my favorite places on earth.


...More bamboo. I wish I could live in here.


This is big beach, which is a perfect white sand beach that we spent an afternoon lounging on.


Drew and I on our last night in Maui. My parents were gone by this point, which was a shame because it was the first night that one could actually see the sunset.

After we got back from Hawaii I had another doctor's appointment. My weight is now up 9 pounds and my stomach has increased by 6 inches. Additionally, my alpha fetal protein test came back normal, meaning that the spinal cord has developed appropriately. My next appointment is on Dec 18th and this is when we will find out the sex of the baby definitively. It seems like an eternity away. The most frustrating thing about being pregnant (other than the booze ban) is that time paradoxically crawls along at a snail's pace while also flying by.

Stats

I had my four month doctor's appointment today. My belly perimeter has grown by 4 inches and my weight is up 6.5 pounds. The baby's heart rate was between 140 and 150 bpm, which is right in the normal range. I can now wear maternity pants and I think I am starting to feel the baby move, but that could also just be gas or my imagination. So far I love the second trimester. Jenne baked me a celebratory pie and our friends Kim and Jeremy Bohne gave us a bunch of baby gear. This is all starting to feel very real.

Drew and I are off to Maui tomorrow so more when we get back. Aloha!

Halloween

This was the first time in many years that Drew and I actually acknowledged Halloween. Because of all the kids in our new neighborhood we even carved pumpkins.


My pumpkin is on the left. I used a tiki design to get in the spirit of leaving for Hawaii next week. Drew carved the pumpkin on the right.

On the morning of Halloween Drew woke up and decided that it would be hilarious if he dressed as a kitty. So we went to target and got some eye-liner and I made him ears.

Despite the fact that Drew dislikes cats and is allergic, he makes a cute one.

I was less inspired and just wore Drew's clothes and my Grandpa's Fedora.


We had at least 30 different groups of kids stop by for candy. Some of them were really cute and some were just plain creepy. I get weirded out by trick or treaters that are taller than me and tweener girls in sexy costumes. One girl about age 11 was wearing nothing but a bikini and a short little sarong. After about 8pm the cute little kids stopped coming by and it was mainly older kids. We were also running out of candy so we turned out the lights and went to a party a friends.

On Monday, we found out the hard way what happens to pumpkins left outside with unattended dogs.


Notice the teeth marks. Each dog took a pumpkin but I am pretty confident that it was Scout's idea.

In other news, my belly has grown by 3 inches. Although I am still in that awkward stage where I could either have a beer belly or be pregnant, I broke down yesterday and got a belly band and some maternity clothes. My jeans had become really uncomfortable so it feels very luxurious to not have to button them.