Sunset in Maui

Our hotel (like a lot of the hotels in Maui) is on the west side, so every night is sunset night.  (Every night is
also tiki torch night.)

 

If I recall correctly, these pictures were taken after we woke up from an hour-long nap.  Vacationing is hard work.

Hawaii has amazing views everywhere you go, but the views at sunset are some of the best.

All the adults on the beach were obsessed with the sunset, but the little girls were much more interested in playing in the waves.

Hopefully it won't be too long until we are back in Maui watching our little girl play in the waves with a beautiful sunset in the background.

My Favorite Maui View

This somewhat random view in Maui was my favorite of the trip.  We got to see it when we waited for the elevators, and it always took my breath away.  Is it time to go back yet?

Maui Lavender Farm

Is it weird that both John and I love going to lavender farms?  We went to one on our honeymoon and both were excited to see there was a lavender farm on Maui.

If loving lavender is wrong, I don't want to be right.

This farm was unique because it also had lots of tropical flowers in the gardens.  This one is pretty nuts, right?

Lavender is such a fresh and natural scent.  It smelled heavenly here.

Us pregnant ladies need to take rests in the gazebo.

And husbands need to pose for weird pictures?

You can't really tell from this picture (due to the haze), but the view was great at the farm.  We were half-way up the side of a mountain (aka volcano).

We picked up lots of lavender goodies in their gift shop, though somehow I managed to walk away without trying a lavender brownie or scone.  Oh well, there's always next time.

Mini Golf

No beach vacation is complete without a round of mini golf, right?

When my family vacationed in the Outer Banks every year, we always went to mini golf at least once and sometimes twice.

Hole-in-ones were rewarded with a crisp dollar bill from my dad's pocket.  Sadly, neither John nor I got any hole-in-ones on this tough Maui course.

The kid at the front desk told us which was the easy course and which was the hard course.  John, of course, chose the harder course.

It was definitely one of the more challenging mini golf courses I've ever been on.  Or maybe it was just my big belly throwing off my game.

John beat me by about 9 strokes, and somehow managed to keep finding the score card around the hotel room and constantly reminding me of my devastating loss.

Totally unrelated to mini golfing, there is a cafe that specializes in cinnamon rolls in Maui.  About 10 minutes from our hotel.  Dangerous, much?

I had to get mine with cream cheese icing of course.  These rolls left John and I stuffed for several hours (which of course did not stop us from eating two hours later).  Oh, vacations...

While We Were Away

While we were away, the dog did play!

Our amazing neighbors, Joyce and David, had her over at their place the whole week and sent us constant videos and pictures to let us know she was doing okay.  (Above she's eating ice cubes on a hot day.)

Apparently she got quite attached to this little piggy and took it everywhere.  I like to think she was compensating because she missed her mom and dad so much, but I doubt that's true.

She has so much fun with Latte, Mochi, and Popcorn that she barely notices we are gone.

She plays and plays and then conks out only to wake up and realize she's still at Disneyland and gets to do it again!  Thanks so much to Joyce and David for keeping our little girl happy!

I'm Never Leaving

It's safe to say we are absolutely enamored with Maui.  

What's not to like?  The scenery is beautiful and the weather is great.  We're staying at the Fairmont and love it.

Driving to Lahaina yesterday we happened upon a great fruit stand.

It also sold macadamia nuts.  I was really tempted to pick up a bag, but it seemed like a lot of effort.

They kindly offer to use their machete to lop off the top of your coconut for you.

Sugar cane!  Clearly this is not something the random person off the street AND on vacation buys.

Maui onions, of course.

I'm not sure if these were bananas or some form of plantain.  I'm sure they are delicious.

I almost bought a papaya but I seem to remember that they have a serious seed situation going on inside, so I passed.

I did, however, pick up some mangoes.  They are chilling in our fridge now, and I can't wait to dig in.  Since it's mango season here (or is it always?), there are mangoes in everything.  Delicious!

They also had a food truck where you could get smoothies.  John got mango strawberry and I got pineapple strawberry.  They were incredible.  (Our hotel offers "smoothies" too - except two of the flavors are Oreo and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - huh?)

One of the great things about Hawaii is that you can actually trust food you get from a cart like this.  I can't say I'd be getting a fruit smoothie from a food truck on the side of the road in the Caribbean (especially while pregnant!).

So essentially, I'm never planning to leave.  This place is wonderful and really the perfect vacation spot.  My doctor did warn me that they can't guarantee epidurals on Maui b/c they don't have enough anesthesiologists...so perhaps we'll just move here after the baby is born.  We hope you are willing to come visit!

Off to Maui

T-minus 12 hours until we on a plane to Maui.  It's our last big trip before the baby, and I can't wait.  Tomorrow will be my first day not working for a month, and seven days not working will be a dream come true!  Whenever John goes scuba diving, I'm hitting the spa.  Apparently our hotel offers three different prenatal massages, so it's probably best if I try all three.  There might be some whale watching in our plans, if I can peel myself away from  Game of Thrones long enough.

Getting a Few Things Right

With all the pregnancy advice out there, it's easy to get a bit overwhelmed with all the things you are supposed to be doing, but aren't.  So I'm trying to focus on the positive --- the things I'm doing that I feel warrant me a pat on the back:

1)  Getting enough calcium.  I am going through more dairy than I ever have in my life - milk, yogurt, and cheese sticks are a daily part of my diet, and I'm trying very hard to make sure baby girl doesn't need to steal calcium from her mama's bones in order to build her own.

2)  Exercising a little bit every day.  Now that I'm passed the nausea stage, I've been pretty consistent with doing a some exercise every day.  I can't handle running or anything too exhausting, but prenatal yoga and walking in my neighborhood are still worth doing.

3)  Eating protein.  Apparently you need a butt-load (the scientific measure) of protein when you are pregnant.  My pre-pregnancy diet was almost vegetarian during the week, so I needed to adjust and start eating meat at least once a day.  (All the dairy I'm eating now helps too.)

4)  Sleeping in!  Okay, this isn't exactly a pregnancy recommendation, but you are supposed to rest.  I used to wake up at 6:30 every morning, but now I sleep in until 7:00, 7:30, or 8:00 depending on the day.  That extra hour or so makes a big difference, I'm finding!  (And soon I'll be subtracting several hours of sleep from each night, so I figure I better make the most of it now.)

5)  Consuming at least some nutritional food.  Carbs are definitely my favorite food right now (or always?), but I am doing a decent job of at least eating a few pieces of fruit or some vegetables every day.  Some days are better than others, but that's what that prenatal vitamin is for, right?

6)  Taking care of my chompers.  Apparently pregnancy wages war on your teeth, and I'm trying to be extra careful about my dental hygiene lately...mostly because I detest Novocaine shots.  It's amazing how smug you can feel flossing and using mouth wash every day!

It obviously goes without saying that I'm not drinking or smoking or taking any medication on the off-limits list (oh, Excedrin, how I miss thee).  I haven't had an opportunity to turn down any unnecessary X-rays or cosmetic surgery, but let's pretend I get a gold star for that too.

Hoppy Easter

Happy Easter, everyone!
Love,
Harper

23 Weeks

Despite the craziness at work, I managed to snap a picture of my belly before work this morning.  I'm 23 weeks now, which mean the baby weighs roughly a pound.  Pretty amazing our girl will be putting on about six times that amount of weight in the next few months.

So far no strangers have asked if I am pregnant, which probably shows that people are quite polite where I live.  No one has been trying to touch my belly either --- thank God!!

I'm back in the kitchen cooking again.  Lately it's been a lot of Italian food with a side of roasted pre-cut vegetables.  We are calling macaroni and cheese Italian food, right?

Four Months

My due date is in exactly four months.  It is, therefore, likely that in roughly four months we will finally get to meet our baby girl.  Mind blowing, people.

(Sorry for the lack of posts - I've been working for 21 days straight now.  More soon!)