24 weeks

so here are some belly pictures a 24 weeks. i am still feeling fabulous and enjoying the babys' frequents movement. also, if you observe my belly for a while you can see it moving from the outside. it's really cool and sometimes really weird when the baby is flipping around. the baby is about a pound and a half in weight and developing it's tastebuds and teeth buds as well as surfactant in the lungs which is going to help for oxygen exchange. he or she should really be gaining some weight this month, about 6 oz per week. size wise it's about 8.5 inches, the size of a standard letter envelope. i have purchased my first 2 pairs of maternity pants, which i am wearing in this picture but i'm still able to wear a lot of my regular clothes. i still feel like my regular self and have had no sickness or other complaints...praise God for such an amazing pregnancy!!!!

cruise pictures: semana-dominican republic, st. thomas and boat pictures

first day on the boat....enjoying the warm weather on the windy deck at our departure party and cook out

dinner at one of the many restaurants


breakfast buffet time...one of our faves....mike ate bacon everyday, which he loves, and i had a special order omelette and tons of fresh fruit...so good

water everywhere!!!!

more dinner pictures

towel animals!!!!

our first destination...semana.. in the dominican republic....a pretty poor and impoverished place but we were able to book a tour with some locals and go on a hike to see a beautiful waterfall and go to a private beach which we really enjoyed

a local donkey

beautiful views

we saw banana, plantain, mango, coconut and cacao (chocolate) trees

the hike to the waterfall was really cool here is one of the streams we hiked across

pretty impressive waterfall

this was our guide that led us to the falls

local poultry

and of course the beach!!!!! the guides had some kind of deal worked out where we were able to come to this resorts private beach and hang out...it was perfect!!!!

that tower is the elevator that leads to the resort. there is also a tiki bar and lounge chairs as well as water sport rentals right on the beach for us to enjoy

lounging

mike reading and listening to some tunes

so there was this weird bridge that you see in a lot of the pictures that seemingly led to two small deserted islands....who knows why...we explored it a little....but it looked bit sketchy

the one nice part of town where the casino and shops are for the tourists

here you can see the bridge in the back ground

leaving semana

this was our little ferry boat that took us to and from the boat

in the stardust theatre waiting for some great show to start

out on the deck

more towel animals....mr. bunny

mike in the morning....slow to awaken

so this is me after the gym, so not the most attractive pictures, but i thought my belly looked huge since i was wearing tight clothes you could really see my baby bump

hello baby!!!

this is st. thomas.....it rained for a good part of the morning so we didnt get any beach time on this island but we did do some shopping and just enjoyed the day

a cold carribbean bruski

thats our boat in the background

and we're off!!!