Registries

As you may have noticed, I added a link to our registries on the right. I realize it is really early for this, but I was already registered at both of these places with Ada so I just updated them a little bit. The only reason I'm posting them so early is that I've already had people asking about what kind of stuff we want, so I figured I may as well put it out there!

Is it possible?

This morning I woke up at 5:30 and tried to go back to sleep, but I lay there awake for about 15 minutes. As I was lying there, I thought I felt a little flutter in my belly - and then another one! And another one! I felt it maybe 3 or 4 times. I'm really not positive about this, but I think I might have felt the baby for the first time! It's so early though (11 weeks, 3 days) that I just kind of don't believe it. I didn't feel Ada until 20 weeks, which I thought was kind of late, but then again I didn't know what I was feeling for either.

I could tell Hunter was half awake, so I told him about the fluttering. He woke up all the way and put his hand on the baby, although there's no way he could have felt anything. I told him that if it is the baby, it's up way too early and that I better get used to it being awake before I'm ready to get up. I just wish I knew for sure if that's what I actually felt! I want to believe it, but I'm not convinced.

Growing baby

I'm almost embarrassed to put these pictures up because I realize that the baby does not make up 100% of what you see since I never lost all of my pregnancy weight from Ada - but it is definitely growing! What's interesting, though, is that I actually lost about 2 pounds between these two pictures. It's definitely true what they say about women filling out faster with their second pregnancy. I didn't need maternity clothes last time until 13 or 14 weeks, but this time I started needing them around 8 or 9 weeks. I still haven't told my students yet (I'm trying to wait until Jan. 22, the day after my next appointment), but I have to wonder if they're starting to catch on! Maybe they just think I ate too much at Christmas!

Our August baby at 7 weeks (Dec. 17)

Our August baby at 10 weeks (Jan 9)

Rotten cats

This is what we put up with every time we eat cereal - they're staring at me while I eat and waiting for the leftover milk. If you start to drink any of the milk after the cereal is gone, they meow - loudly - at you. They also meow every minute or two while you're eating to remind you of their presence. Like you need the reminder.

We do always give them the milk, of course. They're spoiled rotten! :)

We're home!

Our flight got in to Miami at 12:25 last night, but we didn't actually get into our car until just after 2:00. For some reason the lines for US Citizens to go through immigration were insanely long and we stood there for 50 minutes. It only took about a minute for the guy to let us through, so I have no idea why the line moved so slowly before us. Anyway, we finally got our luggage (no problems there) and waited for another 20 minutes on the shuttle to take us to the parking lot. We live several hours from Miami, so we didn't get home until nearly 5:00 in the morning. We're exhausted, but thankful that we made it home safely without any problems!

Here's one last picture that we took yesterday morning before leaving La Fortuna. I hope you've enjoyed experiencing our trip with us!

Horns

I'm sitting in the San Jose airport and I'm really bored, so I thought I'd write about something I was reminded of on this trip: the meaning of horns in Latin America. During our trip, we saw horns used to convey the following messages:

- Go because the light turned green half a second ago.
- Hello, pretty girl.
- I don't care if this is a four way stop sign and you have the right of way - I'm going to fly through it anyway. (This was our crazy taxi and Hunter didn't have a seatbelt, so he kind of curled up into fetal position. We didn't miss our bus though!)
- Hello friend
- Thanks for pulling over and getting out of my way.
- I'm can't see what's coming but I'm going to turn anyway - watch out for me!
- I am here. Don't get in my way.

So, I have no idea how people know how to interpret the meaning of the horn when it is being honked at them. The only way we figured all of these out was because we were passengers. Also, there were several times that I have no idea why they honked the horn. Anyway, that is life in Latin America!

Our last adventures

Yesterday was quite an exciting day! We left San Jose and took a 4 hour bus ride to the town of La Fortuna. It's the closest town to Arenal, the most active volcano in Costa Rica and one of the most active in the world. (One guide told us it's #2, another said it's #4.) In this town 90% of the people work in the tourism industry. The bus was really nice and it only cost $4/each. I wish public transportation were this easy in the U.S.

The town of La Fortuna - the volcano is in the background

When we got here it was very cloudy and we were afraid we weren't going to see anything on our night tour. On our tour we took an hour hike and saw spider monkeys and cuatis (similar to raccoons). It rained during most of the hike, but it was very peaceful. After the hike we went to a viewpoint to watch for lava. The volcano erupts constantly, but it's very hard to see during the day. At night though, you see the glowing lava. We were very lucky and watched about 10 eruptions in the 30 minutes or so that we were there. I was pretty pleased with my little video I took! There's a picture, too.

Our view of the volcano when we woke up this morning!

After the volcano we went to the Baldi Hot Springs and they were excellent. They have something like 20 different pools in various temperatures. It was pretty luxurious for Latin America. They had waterslides, waterfalls, wet bars, and tropical gardens. I couldn't go in most of the pools because they were too hot for me since I'm pregnant, but the one by the waterslides was nice and warm. Plus, it was funny to watch all of the people coming down the slides. This is the best picture I have since it was so dark.


Today we went on our final tour. We took a 3 hour boat ride down a river very close to the border with Nicaragua. We saw lots of different birds, iguanas, howler monkeys, and "Jesus Christ lizards" (they can walk on water - Hunter actually saw one do that!). I just enjoyed being out on the peaceful river.

Our boat

A howler monkey

Tomorrow we begin our long journey home! We have a 4 hour bus ride back to San Jose, 2 flights, and then the long drive home from the airport. I don't think we'll get home until about 3 or 4 in the morning! In a way we are both very ready to be back home - we miss our cats! - but I will be sad to have this vacation behind us. It's been a great trip!