Baby Moon

Baby Moon has two meanings for me. Eric and I were married on the winter solstice, we had our wedding party on the summer solstice and when the doctor called to say I was pregnant it was again the summer solstice. So seeing that the solstice always starts on a new moon...I have nicknamed my baby boy as he grows inside me, Mika. (Japanese for new moon) Also the process of the baby growing reminds me of phases of the moon, starting new and small and growing big, like my belly.

The second meaning others told me when I mentioned we were going on our last trip as 2......people say it is called a Baby Moon.

So earlier this month before the holidays hit the gallery and before I got too dang big, we went to Kauai for some rest & relaxation. I wanted to float my belly in the ocean. So now a few shots of our adventure:

We stayed on the North Shore in Hanea. Beautiful, wet, rainy, humid & relaxing. Here is my belly and the mountains behind me have 12 waterfalls pouring down from the rains.

A muddy climb to the first look out point on the Nepali Coast. I didn't go any farther, too much extra weight to keep going, but I did want to see the view down the coast line......breath taking.

Eric sketching in the Limahuli Botanical Gardens, the mosquitoes where having their way with me.

Eric and his pods. Everywhere we go Eric is always picking up pods and photographing leaves.

Nepali Coast Sunset and me in the ocean, I did get to float my belly but didn't get a photo of that. Too bad.

It rained so hard the Hanea bridge over flooded and we were trapped on the other side. This is the way we spent a lot of time because of the rains & flash floods. Eric strung up a Ukulele in the apartment and wrote songs. You can see the rains running off the roof. They have big raindrops in Kauai.

And me, well I rested, read, ate,

& felt baby Mika moving around. He's growing so fast....

It was actually a vacation we came home rested & ready for the holidays!

(note* the photos in this entry were taken at 24 weeks, I am currently at 28....the clock is ticking!)

Who's in there?

My little guy is certainly bumping around in there. I started feeling him moving on exactly 20 week date and he seems to be getting more active all the time. Or just bigger & hence bigger movements. OK so for those of you requesting belly photos here is one. We really haven't taken many photos so I'll try to remember to take more. I know I don't look huge but I am feeling huge. There is a reason that you won't be seeing me from the backside. I guess it is good my hips are spreading but I thought perhaps I'd be spared of that since I've always had wide hips anyway. Well hopefully it will aid in getting him out quickly and easily when the time comes. I know I have a ways to go. When I read the books and see that he still needs to get 8x bigger I think, I don't know if I can do this. But that is what I thought when I read that he needed to get 15x bigger and here I am.

I'm through the nausea so that is one plus on my side. I spend my time thinking.... just who will this little guy will be? I can't wait to meet him! The whole pregnancy thing is still shocking to me. I can't believe it is happening some days and then I try to bend over and yep it's real. 23 weeks~ and I'll just say we are doing great! I'll save my pregnancy sufferings for another day. Honestly the whole thing is going fast. Much faster than our adoption wait. I do hope that the doors to International adoption open soon in Kyrgyzstan. My thoughts are with you all! I'm still keeping tabs on what is happening. Fingers crossed for you out their waiting!