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B&M wedding slideshow

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Paper or Cotton?

... Though the question also applies to baby nappies, this one is about the fact that we just had our 1-year wedding anniversary!  How time flies.
Last year 07.09.07 (I love that date) was our big day. After some googling I learn that it’s called a ‘paper wedding’ (because paper was the traditional 1-year anniversary gift), though in the Netherlands it’s a ‘cotton’ wedding. Hmmm, wonder why…

Anyway, the 7th fell on a Sunday, and to celebrate we decided to take it easy and spontaneously go away for the weekend. So after the prenatal checkup on Saturday morning (all is fine!) we hopped on the Chuo Line. It was fun, a couple of hours later we just got off somewhere randomly which became a town called Isawa Onsen, in Yamanashi, which is west of Tokyo, just before Kofu. This was a great way to make it a special anniversary. Fresh air, nature, lots of relaxing, taking a sento bath together… The town is surrounded by mountains but as my pregnant belly wasn’t feeling up for a hike during the hot day that it was, we left the mountain trails for another time and took a walk to one of the graperies where we ate yummy fresh grapes (apart from onsen they have lots of fruit around there). The town has ‘ashi yu’, mini hotspring baths for the feet. We sat there soaking with the locals for a while, too. These things are especially wonderful in winter when it’s cold out. Gotta love japan for this.

We’ve got movement

I forgot to share a very exciting development: I’ve been feeling the baby move since a couple of weeks!

The first time was on the morning of the 14th—right on track at 18 weeks. Initially I was not quite sure if that was it, but it was different from the previous occasions that I suspected something. Those times it felt more like a ‘popping’ sensation, like bubbles (could have been gas...?), but now I’m actually being ‘tapped’. It kind of feels like when you have a muscle move by itself without you controlling it. But I know my lower belly muscles don’t do that, so....

The bub likes doing exercises especially around 8am, and at night when I’m not moving (ergo rocking him/her to sleep). Sometimes the kicks are already pretty hard as well: then I can see my belly move from the OUTside. Bizarre.... I always thought that wouldn’t be until much later in the pregnancy, but I guess not. At least it’s not painful for me yet. It’s cool because finally Manuel can start relating a bit better as well. He felt it for the first time a couple of days ago, that was a special moment.

For all you curious people

Since these seem to be questions on everyone’s mind, here’s our answers…

• We don’t ‘want’ a boy or a girl, we just pray for a healthy happy baby.

• Twins would be nice, but we already know there’s just one bub in the belly.
(My oldest brother has twins, 2 boys. But other than them it doesn’t really run in the family)

• Yes, you will have to wait until the baby is born to find out name and sex.
We are not planning to find out if it is a girl or a boy. And even if we did know, we wouldn’t tell anyone. It’d be our little secret. Ha.

Thinking about it, I find it quite peculiar that this seems to be one of the first questions asked once people --complete strangers even-- find out you’re pregnant. Understandable that with the technology of these days Mother Nature is checkable and can even be controlled/manipulated to a high level, but just not everything needs to be known beforehand. So, ask away but you won’t hear…

Of course we are curious as well, but enjoy surprises better!
And is it really that much more practical to know in advance? We don’t have space for a baby room, and I definitely am not the type of person who goes crazy on pink or blue for the bub anyway. As for name choosing: even if the doctor tells the gender you still have to pick two names just in case, because they are not always right.

I can relate to wanting to bond with your unborn baby though, and who knows, maybe for that reason we’ll change our mind in the next months. In the meantime we’re bonding, just not with a specific name or gender or face to our child yet. Only about 150 more sleeps and then we’ll find out!

17-week echo

Time for another update on our little one. On Saturday August 9 we had a checkup with ultrasound at 17 weeks 2 days. All continues to go well. The placenta is in a good spot. Though the baby seems to be a little bit on the small side, he/she is developing just fine, so there’s nothing to be worried about. I knew this, but must say that I was relieved anyway. The pic shows baby’s spine clearly visible, and the black spot is the stomach. This time bub was asleep AND we could see him/her sucking a thumb! That was soooo cute. The pic doesn’t show this but we’ll try to upload the movie that Manuel made so you can see it as well.

At the time of the echo baby measured 11.4 cm, with a heartbeat of 153 BPM.
Mummy B’s belly is hesitantly starting to show, but still in the dubious phase where people that don’t know me probably think I’m just chubby. Top buttons are being opened and regular clothes are about to be replaced by comfy maternity cloths. It is too hot in Tokyo to be wearing stuff that fits tight.

1 + 1 = 3

We are happy to finally share one of the biggest highlights of our honeymoon: it’s one very special souvenir we brought back ...There will be a little B&M joining our family in January next year...!! We’re 14.5 weeks pregnant, super happy and excited!

I’m feeling good. Baby is doing well too. I’ve been spared from severe morning sickness so we were very lucky that we were able to continue traveling… with the 3 of us!

I just was (am) very tired and sensitive for smells such as car fumes (cars in South America drive on old-fashioned diesel...); certain cooking smells (no shortage of deep fried chicken being sold anywhere); floor wax; anything strong smelling… EEUW really put me off. It sometimes made me feel a bit queazy and definitely took my appetite away. I lost about 2.5 kilos over the past months just because I ate so little (you wouldn’t say by all the food pics we took, but anyway...). Now that we’re back home I’m eating better and started to gain weight. The belly isn’t showing yet, apart from my own pod-belly fat. For some reason that’s the only spot that I did NOT loose weight.

13-week echo

We had a checkup with echo last week Saturday (July 12, 2008). Our first checkup in Japan. Baby now looks like a baby--no more embryo. He/she was moving arms and legs with lots of energy! That was amazing to see. In the echo ‘Little B&M’ measures 6.85 cm from top of head till bottom of bum, with a heartbeat of 150 BPM. Still very little, and mummy B’s belly is not yet showing.

“Made in Colombia”
We found out that we were expecting while in Colombia. The very first echo was taken in Bogota (May 28, 2008). It was also the first time that we heard the heartbeat: 122 BMP. Baby was very very young at this point: an embryo of only 6~7 weeks. Showing up in the shape of a little snowman measuring no more than 0.58 cm, with a small balloon attached to it (= the yolk sack, which supplies blood flow and nutrients to the embryo, and later forms the intestinal tube). Incredible.

We plan to have our little one here in Tokyo. I’m currently in the process of finding a clinic or hospital for the birth. Not an easy task as it requires research because of the criteria I have… I want to go somewhere with English speaking doctors (do not wish to be challenged with Japanese vocab and communication while having contractions); where they support birth plans; and are flexible towards several other wishes we have, such as the father being there during labour and birth. And to add to the challenge, I found out this week that some of the places that make it to the short list are already booked out for January! It’s becoming a bit of a race against time to get this sorted, but we will.

Hasta la vista, baby!
Mark your calendars: baby’s calculated due date is January 14, 2009.

Back…

While the vibes of South America are still rushing through our vains, we have in the meantime arrived back home in Tokyo. Now acclamatizing to the muggy heat and trying to shed the jetlag. Things are not always easy in Japan with it’s cultural “rules” and inability to be flexible, but I’ve got to say: Customer Service in this country is the BEST. What a blessing to arrive at Narita Airport and be helped to the max by friendly employees, who rushed after us to help with our cart loaded with many heavy luggage, while their colleague calmly and smilingly gave us our tickets for the limousine bus. Such bliss to be treated this way - we’ve missed that the past three months.

It’s a double feeling having returned: tired of hopping on and off from airplanes and buses, we are happy to be home and not having to live out of a suitcase/backpack anymore. Not particularly looking forward to getting back to the grind though. But it’s gotta be done because duty and responsibilities call. And that’s OK. We’ve got a fantastic experience in our pocket that will spark our batteries.

Good news for you with regards to our life’s adventures: these are never ending, and we will continue to update this blog with the highlights, so you know what’s ‘que pasa’ with us. Plus we’ve still got loads of trip pictures to sort and upload, and the rest of our honeymoon travel stories to tell. The last tail of the journey took us to Macchu Picchu, lake Titicaca, Bolivia, and Cuba, plus a quick stopover in New York on the way back to Tokyo. You’ll see (backdated) blog posts appear as we get to finalizing them. Keep on checking in!

Below the latest pic of us taken during our stopover in New York, on July 1st. Slightly tired but oh so very satisfied, and nicely tanned (especially M really rocks in the sun!)

Sacred Valley

After Suaita we returned to Bogota for a couple of days, and then took off for our travels in Peru.
The flight to Lima was OK but I got a bit sick towards the end. I’d already been a bit wobbly in Bogota, so maybe I had a bug that finally surfaced… Thankgod for pukebags in the plane. Afterwards I felt much much better.

We started for a couple of days in Lima, to catch up with our Peruvian “Tokyo-friend” Gina. She left Japan about 2 years ago and needless to say it was fantastic to see her again.

Must say that Lima itself isn’t too impressive though. It’s dusty, grey, and full of traffic and car fumes. Even worse than in Colombia. Honking taxis driving me crazy! The weather didn’t particularly help either I guess, because it was cold and overcast. The city has potential, as there’s some areas with beautiful colonial architecture. But it’s all covered with non-artistic graffity, and people just dump garbage everywhere. Not to forget the fact that most men seem to think that just anywhere is a public toilet. Eeeeeeuw (sorry men, us women are really not to blame here). Such a shame.

Anyway, Cusco was next, again we flew there. One step closer to the almighty Machu Picchu. Cold at night but warm during the day, Cusco is situated at 3400m above sea level, in the Sacred Valley of the Incas (Urubamba Valley). It’s nice and green and mountainous. The people there speak Quechua and Spanish. The city is small and friendly, showing an interesting mix of colonial and Inca streets and buildings. Plenty of tourists to be found here, and throughout our stay in Peru we got bombarded with all kinds of handicrafts, paintings and music. No shortage of ‘omiyage’ here. Just limited space in our bags for this neverending flood of souvenirs, heh.

The first day we took it easy to acclamitize to the altitude. After arriving at the airport we negotiated with a taxi driver to take us to town for 10 soles, and show us some hostels. We found that this is the best way to get orientated. As it turned out, the taxi driver also was a member of the police force, and ownes a travel agency. How practical. Once checked in into the hotel, we did something that I usually try to avoid: we signed up for a couple of organised day tours. You know, with one of those tourist buses where the guide makes you hop from one place to the other. hahaha.
At night we visited the local theatre for a performance of the local folklore, music and dance. Nice to hear and see, lovely colourful customes. It would have been better if the musicians didn’t look so bored. The music is a bit repetitive, maybe that’s why. ...Salsa is more fun.

Next day we had the tour of the city, visiting a museum in town; Sacsayhuaman, temple of the sun; and Tambo Machay, the sacred bathing place for the rulers. Funny that it was on this second day that we felt out of breath by doing nothing. It hit us with delay. Other than wishing we had a bottle of oxigen at our disposal we didn’t suffer from headaches or fainting, so it wasn’t too bad.

The day after was for a tour of the Sacred Valley. We hopped from Cusco to the handicraft market in Pisac (there’s impressive ruins as well but the tour didn’t take us there), to the ruins in Ollantaytambo to lunch in Urubamba, to another market in Chinchero, back to Cusco. Every place has some inca history to offer. Incredible to see and hear about the ways of the Incas. They were the creme de la creme of architects, astrologists, and engineers.
The Spaniards should have stuck around and learn from them, instead of bargin in and stealing and destroying the empire!

The Incas also developed incredible techniques for textile. Originally all made from llama, alpaca or wool. Spinned, died and woven by hand. Died with 100% natural dye, made of insects and plants. These days sometimes mixed with synthetics, and by help of machines.
Especially in Cusco and Pisac you can find the best mantas. Really nice to see that the women still use the manta’s to carry anything on their back, from kids to food, to other goods. It seems such a simple solution: pop the baby on your back an go on about whatever it is that you’re doing. Those kids seem always content and comfy and warm, with mum at hands-reach. Have seen few kids cry.

There’s more to write about the inca empire but will leave that to the next entry (Machu Picchu!).
Taking the day tours turned out OK. It was a good solution to see a lot in few days and get an idea of what’s out there. The tour offered an overview but there’s much more time to spend to really enjoy and appreciate these places to the fullest. The Cusco Visitor Ticket we got, easily covers the entrance fee to all of them. If there’s ever a next time, we’ll plan to have an additional week to spend. Then we’ll hire a car and make our own tour back to most of the towns and ruines we visited.

Childhood Memories

Did I ever mention that it´s pretty neat to have family and friends living all over the world?! The great thing about it is that you get to go to places where otherwise you wouldn´t. Especially in Colombia.

The past weekend we drove 3 hours from Bucaramanga to Suaita, to the farm where Manuel´s grandparents used to live. One of his uncles now lives there. Several years ago it wouldn’t have been safe for us to travel there (chance of kidnapping by FARC or paramilitary groups...), but thanks to president Uribe things have gotten better in this area, and these days it´s safe to go. And so the family took us there.

Absolutely gorgeous there. Super green, very countryside. I’ll let Manuel continue from here...:

The village of Suaita is located some 14 Km from the main road that leads to Bogota. To my surprise this road is now paved and took us only a fraction of the time it used to take to reach the village. Itwas also nice to see that the church ws finally finished after several years of ongoing restorations. All in all the village looks much better now than the last time I visited, 19 years ago.
From suaita is a 15 minute drive to the farm on a dirt road. Not much change here.

Arriving at the farm was an almost surreal experience. Everything look a bit different but the small details I remember from my childhood were still there, such as the general layoutof the house, the patios where my Grandfather used to dry the coffee, the smell of the vegetation and the taste of the home-brewed “guarapo” (Local drink made of corn and honey which depending on how long is fermented can kick your ass after a couple of mouthfulls).

Although the kitchen now has a gas stove as well, they prefer to cook the old way, using wood, on a clay-made stove which believe it or not makes the food taste much better! After a late lunch we went for a tour of the farmland and showed B coffee, casava, plantains, mangoes, lemon and pineapple plantations.
As all things Colombian, no family reunion is complete without music and dancing. We salsa and reggaetoned until the wee hours of the evening.

I would have loved for us to stayed longer but time was against us. Nevertheless, it was great to have part of my family reunited in the farm like old times.