Honey/Baby Moon

Happy belated Turkey Day, turkeys!! JBB, Cookie, and I recently returned from the warm cocoon of Jamaica. And what a return it was - we left the resort in 85 degrees weather and returned to a frigid 22 degrees in Indy. As we caught the shuttle, we were definitely rethinking the flip flops and shorts/capris we wore on the plane. B-R-R...Brrr!, as my grandma used to say. :)

Cookie and I resting at the airport in Montego Bay
as we waited for our shuttle.

While we hated missing Thanksgiving with our families, the trip was AMAZING. We stayed at an all-inclusive, which I had never done before, and let me tell you, it was the way to go! I've never been so relaxed in my life. JBB marveled at how my "brain turned off" while I was down there and we just relaxed for 8 days. Between the two of us, we read 12 books, countless magazines, drank a boat load of non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiris (me), Red Stripe beer (JBB), and ate a ridiculous amount of peanut butter cookies and ice cream from the French pastry shop that is conveniently open 12 hours a day.

I have to say, when I realized I would be pregnant on my honeymoon, a tiny part of me was disappointed, as it wasn't quite how I'd imagine spending my honeymoon. Not that I resented Cookie McGee for one second, I just wished the timing would have played out a little differently. I was wrong. Being pregnant on a beach vacation was awesome, for various reasons.

1. Now that I've discovered the utter freedom that comes with wearing a bikini while 5 months pregnant, I may never wear one non-preggers again. I didn't give a second thought to wondering if my stomach was sticking out...it is supposed to stick out! Glorious.

JBB and I on the beach waiting for one of the beautiful Jamaican sunsets.

2. Napping is not only tolerated, it is encouraged. The two days I didn't go in for my afternoon siesta from 2:00 - 3:00, JBB was worried about me. Cookie and I went in for the hottest hour of the day and slept in the air conditioning like our lives depended on it. We pulled the black-out blinds tight and and sawed some serious logs before heading out for more wallering on the beach.

3. Cookie put on her dancing shoes! I'm sure it was just the timing of the trip and my pregnancy, but Cookie really started to make his/her presence known on this trip. She loved when mama drank fruit smoothies - I'm guessing the sugar from the fruit really got her excited, because she would just dance around afterwards like nobody's business. I loved feeling all those movements as the day went along. She was definitely most active at night, just as JBB and I were winding down. (I use the term "night" loosely. It was a rare occasion we weren't in bed by 8:00 pm.) The area where her hiney is wedged is where I felt the most movement, so I couldn't get the song "Rumpshaker" (Wrecks in Effects shout out!) out of my head as she gyrated around. Here's hoping she has better rhythm than I do!

4. The food!! Similar to item #1, when one is 5 months pregnant, you don't worry quite so much about overloading at the buffet. That's not to say I went bananas, but I certainly helped myself to the breakfast buffet and took full advantage of the dessert shop. The great thing here was, the portions were pretty small, so you felt like you were going wild, when in fact you were eating a pretty small meal. It's just that it seemed like it was free, which made it taste all the sweeter! I'm a pretty (okay, majorly) picky eater, so I actually didn't try a lot of the more "exotic" fare. Pancakes and a fresh smoothie for breakfast with whatever the potato of the morning was, and then I usually laid pretty low for lunch and dinner and tried to sniff out either pizza, a burger, or grilled chicken. JBB, on the other hand, was a real foodie. He ate baby octopus in chili sauce (Cookie was NOT happy about that), calamari, shrimp, and all other creatures of the sea. That actually still looked like sea creatures. Eek!

5. Our honeymoon was, in effect, a "babymoon", which is something JBB and I otherwise never would have indulged in. Right before we left, I realized this was the first time we'd ever been on vacation just the two of us (with the exception of a few overnight trips to Chicago, Louisville, etc.) It was so, so wonderful to spend so much time with just JBB. We ate every meal together, swam in the ocean ever afternoon, got a couples massage, played gin almost every night in our room, and even dabbled in ping-pong and checkers. Those 8 days will be the last time it's just the two of us for a long time, and we both made the most of it, although we spent a big chunk of our time talking and dreaming about our little Blythe.

In short, it was the perfect trip. The traveling it took to get there - not so great. Let's just say we both saw our life flash before our eyes several times as we careened down dirt roads (literally) to get to our destination. Poor JBB was green around the gills. The 14+ hours of travel time home was a rude shock, but the fact that we had seats 3 rows up from the floor at the IU/BSU basketball game the night we returned eased the pain. Cookie already loves her Hoosiers!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all from the Blythe family!

Our second to last night in paradise!

Isn't She (or He!) Lovely...!

Today was a big day for the Blythe family - we got to see our little Cookie on the big-screen! It was our "halfway-to-baby" ultrasound appointment, and boy were we excited! It was also the day we could have found out the gender of our little rascal, but we both stood firm that we do not want to know. I was afraid the temptation would be too great for me once we were in the actual ultrasound appointment, but to my surprise, it actually solidified both of our decisions that we don't want to know.

Our appointment was today (Monday morning) at 8:30 am; I always like to make them as early in the week, and as early in the day, as possible. Although everything has gone swimmingly so far (knock on wood!) I always get a little anxious before our appointments, so the sooner the better. Plus, I was so excited about this appointment that I just knew I didn't want to wait all week! One of the things that is so nice about our doctor and hospital is that Carmel St. Vincent's is literally 5 minutes from our house - I clocked it this morning. After getting stuck in traffic before the first appointment and having to run into the room one step ahead of the doctor, JBB has made a point of leaving a little early from work. He's been in the parking lot before me for the last two appointments; what a good dad. For whatever reason, I feel the urge to look nice for these meetings, so I always take a little extra time with my hair and outfit. Don't ask me why; it's not like Cookie can see me or the doctor is going to care. Up until it got so cold (seriously...SNOW!?) I also took care to pick the lightest weight articles of work-appropriate clothing I owned. I'm starting to get over that; so far the scales have been kind to me, but I'm sure that will go out the window soon, and that's fine with me.

So...enough of the build-up and on to the good stuff...drum roll please...JBB and I introduce to you Baby Blythe, aka Cookie, aka the subject of 90% of our conversations...

JBB says Cookie has inherited my large noggin. I told him to look in the mirror...his isn't exactly small! Look at that Buddah belly on our little shoog!

This one just kills me because of how clear a shot it is of the arm. I love that Cookie is curled up in such a snugly position in there. Snug as a bug.


Don't worry - these are the only two shots I'll share, as I realize without the guidance and explanation of our amazing ultrasound wizard, they look a bit "vague". :) I do think it's incredible how the head and face actually look like a skull - you can even see the eye sockets and nose. (Side note - baby's nose was deemed "perfect".  You may or may not know this, but I'm convinced I have a perfect nose. It's my one vanity. The nose will live for another generation. Thank heavens. :))

A few highlights of the appointment:
1.) Most importantly, everything looked just like it was supposed to, was measuring normally, and there were no red flags. I've never been so glad to hear the world "normal" repeated so many times.
2.) Baby B is currently in the breech position, but we were told that is nothing to worry about at this stage in the game, as he or she will flip and flop around countless more times. We don't start worrying about baby being breech until around 34 weeks.
3.) Cookie waved to us. Honest to goodness. She moved her little hand away from her mouth and that little hand danced back and forth across the screen. I waved right back at her. She (he??) also got busted on camera dancing on my bladder - caught red-handed  (or is it red-footed?)!
4.) Maybe the funniest thing - we could see the baby's mouth opening and shutting multiple times throughout the appointment. This was cracking both of us up, but JBB thought it was especially funny. Based on that alone, he has changed his prediction and decided this baby is a girl who is a talker, just like her mama. (We also saw her bladder get bigger throughout the appointment - some of that "talking" was her practicing drinking whatever it is that floats around in there with her).

So, that's the news from the babyfront for this week. We've both been floating on Cloud 9 for the rest of the day. We bought a baby book last week, and I can't wait to update it with this milestone.

PS - if any of you are especially adept at reading ultrasounds and have somehow figured out from the above snapshots what this baby is, for the love of God, please don't tell us!!!

PPS - thanks so much to all of the veterans in our lives and happy Veterans Day. I'm so happy knowing Cookie will grow up in a country where she has the freedom to live as she wants, practice her own beliefs, and can vote as her heart dictates, without fear or censorship. I think it's important to remember after all of the sniping, fighting, and mudslinging of the past month, this is still a great country, and the place where I want my children to grow up.