14 Weeks

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you already know but in case not I am pregnant! I'm 14 1/2 weeks right now. It's very surreal. We are very excited and still slightly terrified. I can't believe we are going to have a CHILD. ahhhhh! The above picture is Duke and I at 6 years old. So hopefully they get Duke's smile and the rest of my good looks ;)

This is actually my second pregnancy in the last 7 months. I had a miscarriage in November, a few weeks after we arrived in Okinawa when I was 10/11 weeks. It was really sad and hard. But I feel so lucky to have gotten pregnant again a few months later. And to have made it this far! This time around when we saw our little baby on the ultrasound at 11 weeks he/she was moving all around and I just couldn't help but cry. Such a little miracle.

I am also SO INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL to be out of the first trimester. It was a dark time. There were a 3 solid weeks of 24/7 nausea and I couldn't eat or move. I lost 6 lbs pretty quickly and am still trying to put it back on. I still don't love eating, but I can manage a greater range of foods now. I remember trying to find SOMETHING to feed my starving self, so I put some peanut butter on some bread and couldn't get through 1 bite without gagging. After about week 9/10, the nausea came and went, but man...it was so awful. During this time I heard a commercial on the radio for depression and I thought-I have all of those symptoms! Except the sadness. "Do you have loss of appetite? Do you find yourself feeling fatigued and sleeping more? Do you have a loss of interest in activities you use to enjoy?" YES YES YES!! However, it was just pregnancy. Just found it humorous.

Anyways, this has been the reason for my radio silence on this blog the last couple months. It's been a challenge to sit vertically. But I am so excited to be feeling more normal and can't wait until I feel totally normal again...ahh..someday.

Ishigaki Island Girls Trip

About 3 or 4 weeks ago I went to one of the very southern islands of Japan called Ishigaki with some gal pals of mine. The weather wasn't very cooperative-we only had one sunny day, but we made the most of it. Also, I will say the food situation there was less than ideal. We struggggled finding restaurants that looked good and were open. We ended up eating at McDonalds more than I would like to admit! So bring snacks if you go! The best part were the goats that lived in the field across from where we stayed. There was a little baby goat who ran free and we named him Rufus until we found out it was a girl. Then we changed her name to Sally. I loved her!

how CUTE is she?! She would run across the street to hang out with us. BFF's

Kabira Bay-the black things in the pic below are where they are harvesting black pearls.

 Stopped by this little juice hut that made different fruit juices from sugarcane juice. They love sugarcane out here.

Then we got crazy with marble sodas! I never had one before, but you use the marble to open it and then the marble drops down and keeps your drink from spilling over. Pretty cool.

We rented a little car and drove all over the island. It's beautiful!

 Sally being adorable ^

Leaving our hostel for the airport! I'm grateful for the good friends I've made here. Also, the Japanese people are mostly the nicest people you'll ever meet. Crazy polite. So it was fun being treated by them. Even though I still hate taking my shoes off everywhere I go.