Babymoon

Mark and I went to San Diego for three days for one last horrah together before our twosome becomes three. We stayed at Tower 23 in Pacific Beach for the first night, what a treat!

Yes, water came out the ceiling to fill up the tub. Awesome.

Brooke and Hank live just a couple of miles away from the hotel so we got to go out for drinks (virgin please) and appetizers with them. It was great to see them doing so well. The next day we got up early and went for a walk on the promenade by the beach, watched the surf, picked out what beach houses we'd want to be ours one day, shared a breakfast burrito and got some coffee.

 

Then it was off to Sea World for the day. It was a Friday so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We had the best time going from exhibit to exhibit, hitting everything there was to do and of course going to the Shamu show.

And I only got kicked off of one ride. A British ride operated looked at me wide-eyed and asked in his accent, "Wait, you're in the family way, aren't you? I'd never heard that phrase before but guessed he was asking if I was pregnant so I said, "Yes." He quickly whisked us out of line. It was part funny, part embarrassing. We've been referring to me being "in the family way" ever since. So we settled on a ride I could go on, a gondola going across Mission Bay and back.

We traded the beach for the city our second night there and stayed at our of our favorite hotels, Hotel Solamar in the Gaslamp District. We had THE BEST burgers at Bare Back Grill, a New Zealand inspired bar/restaurant.

The next morning we got up early and explored Ocean Beach before meeting up with Josh and Sara and Sara's two year old cousin who was staying with them. She took quickly to calling Mark "Daddy," which we all got a kick out of.

We were supposed to stay in SD Saturday night too but we started to get antsy to get home and start on the baby's room so we canceled our reservations for that night and made plans to see Danielle and Gabe on our way out of town. After seeing their place and catching up a bit we headed home to tape of the room, cover the carpet, buy paint and get to it.

Crack kills.

We couldn't be happier with the finished product and hope Ava loves it too!

7 months

This is the belly these days:

Her pink and chocolate brown room came out perfectly! We just love it and know she will too. It looks like a chocolate cupcake with pink frosting and makes us hungry every time we go in there. It's completely bare right now, the month of April will be about buying and assembling furniture. But her closet is already pretty well-stocked and this is before any baby showers.

 

[Ava Baby, we promise to get the surf board out of there before you arrive.]

After putting all her miniature clothes on miniature hangers I stood back and just stared. It was a sobering sight. One of those moments where it just hits you like a ton of bricks, "This is really happening, isn't it? Whoa." I showed Mark when he got home from work and he did the same thing, just kind of stood there and stared without saying anything. I asked him what he was thinking and he said slowly, "That's a lot of pink... she better be a girl." Agreed.

Baby's got new moves too. She has traded her spastic kicks and punches for slow rolls and big stretches. It's the weirdest sensation. My stomach drops like when riding a roller coaster when she does a full roll. She must be running out of room because she stretches her arms and legs at the same time, really using her elbows and knees for leverage. I feel her and see her all the way to the left and the right of my belly.

I'm starting a four-session Prepared Child Birth Class on Monday evening. Mark can only go to the last session so I'm a bit bummed about that, but I'm excited to learn more about this whole process. As soon as you get this pregnancy thing down, it's time to learn about the "big event" and what to do after this little alien arrives.