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!