Home Sweet Home

MJ and I returned from our glorious vacation this afternoon.  Although it was wonderful to be greeted by the dogs and to be back home, we had a fantastic time on our cruise!  We left out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and went to St Maarten, St Thomas, and the Turks and Caicos islands.  We were also supposed to make a stop in the Bahamas, but high winds that day kept us from that port (although MJ and I weren't too disappointed, since we have been to the Bahamas before).  All in all, it was the perfect break from the hectic holiday runaround, and a nice romantic getaway before Otto joins us.

Lessons learned on this vacation:

1) MJ packs way too many clothes!  When I was packing up to go back home last night on the ship, I counted one pair of shorts and two pairs of pants that he never wore the entire time, as well as about 5 t-shirts and a number of other articles of clothing. 

2) It's not a good idea, when you're pregnant, to pack shorts that you haven't worn for three months.  It turns out that although my jeans are still fitting me fine, my shorts are too tight in the waist.  I had to wear them unbuttoned the whole week.

In St Maarten, we took a (surprisingly strenuous) hike along a coastal cliff.  We had great views the entire time, and it was really nice to exercise after a few days on the ship.  In St Thomas, we visited Blackbeard's Castle (which was neither a castle nor had any affiliation whatsoever with Blackbeard!) and Magen's Bay, which is said to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.  Here's a picture of us on the beach of Magen's Bay:

Our last stop was Grand Turk, one of the smaller islands of Turks and Caicos.  It was a very small area, so we chose to spend the day just lounging on the beach, reading, and taking walks along the shoreline.

MJ was his typical disciplined self, working out every day of our vacation, resisting dessert, and ordering foods like poached salmon and broiled chicken.  After we arrived back home, he announced to me that he'd only gained one pound!  I, on the other hand, wasn't quite so disciplined.  Granted, we shunned the elevators in lieu of taking the stairs everywhere on board, and we took long walks every day.  But although I ate a ton of salads and vegetables during the week, I certainly had my share of desserts, and I am a bit nervous to step on the scale tomorrow morning.

However, we were excited to notice that my belly is getting more obvious.  And no, it's not because of how much I ate during the cruise!  It is a definite baby bump, as evidenced by the following picture.  Check it out! 

I can't wait to take my weekly belly picture tomorrow to see if there's a noticeable difference when I'm standing up.  I think there will be, but for the last month or so, we've been surprised at how the pictures have turned out.  Hopefully this is the beginning of my belly!