Endless Summer

For as long as I can remember, mothers have shared their stories of being pregnant. A topic that always seems to come with those stories is the weather. Were they 9 months pregnant in the middle of July with no air conditioning and unwilling to move from the fan by the couch or was their sweet bundle born in December allowing them to skip the torture of carrying another human being in the dead heat of summer. Each story is deeply personal and now I know why.

Since I became pregnant, I have received many of these weather related comments like "thank goodness your baby will be born in October. You won't have to be hugely pregnant during the summer months." It sounds good and normal to any American who is used to 4 seasons (or 2 seasons in the Bay Area). To me, I can only dream of one day being pregnant in anything but 95 degree weather with 100% humidity.

Unlike the good USA, Singapore only has 2 seasons: hot and humid or rainy, hot and humid. The weather can fluctuate daily here from 85-105 degrees and 60-100% humidity. And since we chose not to get a car here, walking in this heat is a daily part of my existence. At 18 weeks pregnant, the heat is already beginning to make me crazy. I can't imagine what 40 weeks pregnant will look like.

As I walked to the grocery store this morning, I was thinking about how I can embrace this heat. I've decided to take advantage of our amazing pool and start swimming everyday. It seems to be the only option me and my unborn child have to help us beat the heat. So, here's to an endless summer. It will be filled with lots of swims, relaxing in the AC and hopefully some yummy BBQs!

Babymoon

My hubby and I had been planning a trip to the Maldives for a while now. The Maldives consist of 1192 islands of which only 200 are inhabited. Everyone we know in Singapore said it was so beautiful and we HAD to go. My friends joked late last year that maybe we would go as two and return as three :-). Well, we ended up going as three and therefore decided this would be our "babymoon," a trip you take together before baby arrives and those trips become few and far between. So we packed our bags and off we went.

After a 4 hour plane ride, we arrived in the capital city, spent the night then boarded a sea plane the next morning. The sea plane ride alone was beautiful. Sitting in this tiny plane with 6 other people, we looked out on tiny islands and crystal blue sea. 45 minutes later we landed in the middle of no where at a gorgeous resort with about 50 other people (occupancy was low thanks to the volcanic ash!)

This place was more than incredible. It reminded me of how many beautiful places there are in the world that I have no idea exist. I had never heard of the Maldives until I moved to Asia, nor had I imagined ever being able to go there. For a couple who had seen each other about 5 whole weeks since the year began, this was the best place to explore and hang out with very little do.

Michael was able to go scuba diving, which I couldn't do because of my delicate condition. But, like a good wife, I went with him to hang out on the boat and take pictures. About 10 minutes after he went under the water, I noticed some fins off in the distance. The boat crew noticed them too and the captain steered the boat towards them. Before I knew it, I was watching 30 dolphins swim around our boat. It was so amazing!!! Seeing so many dolphins swim in the wild was a wonderful surprise. They were pretty incredible up close.

We spent much of the week laying on the beach, boating, fishing, reading and just doing nothing. It was the perfect place for a babymoon. Who knows when we'll be able to do it again but I'm glad we had the opportunity.