Consentida

So, I’ll admit it, when we arrived at the Carnival cruise terminal, I was a more than a little nervous about our decision to spend 5 days in the Caribbean waters. First of all, they have a 27 week cut off for pregnant ladies, and I was 26.1 weeks. I’d had visions of having our baby at sea, a romantic but crazy thought from the girl who promised her doctor she’d not deliver underwater. Despite the fact that I chuckled every time Marina saw my belly and yelled ‘Free Willy,’ it wasn’t quite what I had in mind! (Note to Neow: that exclamation will lose it’s charm the second your niece…or nephew is born!) Secondly, it did seem we were short several body parts full of tattoos, apparently, to board! First impressions are often wrong, however, and by the time my feet hit the air in our small but cuddly ocean view cabin, I knew we’d chosen the perfect before baby holiday. The room was decked out with the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in, a huge compliment from a fatty, wonderful robes, evening towel animals on the bed (and chocolate on the pillows) and much more than I ever expected for a cabin. The days passed quickly. Endless hours were spent soaking in the ocean air, relishing in every sunrise and sunset and enjoying unlimited, delicious and gourmet dining. It felt like a second honeymoon, and we quickly found a quiet little spot in the shade with cushioned deck chairs that became ours for the duration of the week. I was impressed by the ship, the amazing service, the food, as I mentioned, and the efficiency of everything. In the evenings you could entertain yourself with every type of dancing, my favorite, hilarious onboard comedians, acrobatics shows and such, mini-golf, the casino, walks on all the windy, starry decks, whatever you wished. I even braved the kiddie, not big-boy, water slide! The Caymans were spectacularly beautiful, the water as clear and turquoise as only a dream could be. Jamaica, at least Ocho Rios, I wouldn’t recommend as highly, but we still enjoyed our time tremendously. Here and there on the trip, I experienced my first special treatment as a preggers puppy. It was nice to finally have people recognize my bump as something more than fat and have an excuse for mis-throwing the hoop toss by about 30 feet when trying to win the three of us a prize on the boat. The lady behind me simply said, “it’s hard throwing for two, isn’t it?!” As you can see from the expanded photos, Baby D. truly loved the endless frozen yogurt, prime ribs and 24 hour deli, pizzeria and other treats. I put on 6 pounds in the 8 days we were away! Yikes!
Back in Miami, we ventured out to Ft. Lauderdale where we had a tremendous reunion with Mummy, Daddy, Squirrel and Marina. Despite enjoying South Beach, Little Havana, the Everglades and the Sawgrass Mills Mall together, the best was the endless hours of chatting, sometimes over delicious food, sometimes cuddled up together in our most comfy king size Hyatt beds, sometimes with four hands on my tummy, sometimes just anywhere. It’s not as if there was any doubt in our minds, but the three nights we had together just made us long to return to Boston even more to have those special times everyday. Life is too short to be watching the clock, dreading the next plane that will take us all away from one another. Mummy, always the most baby-crazy lady I’ve ever known, has recently also become Mrs. Crowned Marshalls of Marblehead 21st century! The two are a rather dangerous combination, but we came away feeling very spoiled with a few compact treats and necessities for our little one, and a couple of essential maternity clothes for me! Here I was thinking I could get by with my fat pants until month nine… I was wrong! This is a whole new type of phat! Saying goodbye, even with three months worth of cheddar cheese and granola bars in our luggage, was extremely hard, and while Bogota has been better to us as of late, we simply cannot wait to be home. I just can’t believe that next time we see them all, our little one will be here!
And so we are back. I’m at school, Steve’s at home as he has four more days of break. He’s applying to lots of jobs as nothing has materialized just yet, I’m willing our condo to be leased-out again, but mostly, we’re counting down the days until June. A year ago we were 90 miles away from where we just spent our fantastic Semana Santa, and today we’re 90 days away from all we ever dreamed of. The days are passing quickly and we are so grateful for all we have.