Babymoon!

When we found out that I was pregnant, obviously there were so many emotions.  Mostly happy, some terrified... the only thing that I was (just slightly) sad about was the fact that Ryan and I never really had a chance to do any travelling as husband and wife.  I have become even more grateful for the amazing and perfect honeymoon that we got to take, but other than that we have had no married-people vacations!  I realize that this doesn't mean that we won't get to travel after baby or even with baby...but it will never be the same.  No just taking off when we want to, or travelling without 3500 pounds of junk, no leaving town without constantly thinking about and checking up on another little person that we will be missing so much.  I definitely mourned the loss of this (and only this) particular freedom.  And yes, I do feel slightly guilty for feeling this way... after all, God had just blessed us with the most wonderful gift ever.  That is why it was so important to us that we take some time to get away together.  To take a very long weekend trip and be together, just the 2 of us, before we are under house arrest for 20 something years.  (Just kidding... kind of.)

We truly agonized over where we should go.  We had such a hard time picking a place!  On the one hand, we wanted to go somewhere where we could relax, obviously.  We looked into Astoria, OR and Santa fe, NM initially.  On the other hand, we also LOVE New York, we know it, we know we like visiting there...so that was always an option as well.  However, we hesitated to jump right on New York because we have been there several times before and thought that maybe we would want to try something new.  I would also be 31 weeks pregnant... so there's that.  (Not exactly conducive to walking the streets and public transportation of New York - at least to someone who is not used to living that lifestyle each day.) However, we started running into a lot of issues with each location.  We literally had ONE weekend to take this trip, but it seemed that with every option we ran into some huge obstacle.  We started looking into other locations... Florida, South Carolina, Las Vegas...the list goes on.  I already felt quite uneasy about planning to take at trip at 31 weeks pregnant, but literally the next "free" time we had available was 3 weeks before my due date!  Yikes!  That was simply not an option.  (Like, physically not possible.  Even if I was crazy enough to think I could do it... the airlines [and my doctor] will not even let you on a plane past...36 weeks maybe?  Something like that according to their policy...)  There were some points where I got so frustrated, sad and upset with the situation that I almost told Ryan to just cancel the whole thing.  Thankfully, Ryan talked with one of his sisters who was planning a baby shower for us for the weekend following our trip, explained the situation to her and asked if trading weekends was a possibility.  She said yes!  We were still about 6 weeks out, so as long as we made a decision quick and let her know then we would be able to make it work.  I am so so grateful for her flexibility.  (With this plan, I would be 32 weeks pregnant on the trip, so I was still a little uncertain of how I would feel/where I would be at in the pregnancy and how I would cope with travelling - but I didn't care because now we could at least TAKE the trip!)  Once we switched dates, that opened up New York as an option (and Santa Fe was also still an option as well).  I think we both knew what our choice would be.  New York is a place that we know and love, we could spend some time with my soulmate (aka college roommate) Jenny and her husband Matt who live in the city, and NYC is not exactly an "easy" travel destination with kids in tow, so we knew we wouldn't have a chance to go back for a while.

SO... to make a REALLY long story super short... we decided on New York City for our babymoon, and here is a little photo-tour of our long weekend there!

Good morning New York!  Day 1 - the only day with GOOD weather:  sunny and cool! This is the view from our upper west side hotel room at Hotel Beacon.

Day 1 breakfast at Good Enough to Eat.

The most intense (and amazing) french toast I have ever had!!

Walked all the way around the reservoir in Central Park!  (Took us a little longer than the average person because we had to take multiple breaks to find a bathroom!  My fault - too many liquids at breakfast.  Oops!)

Dinner at of our favorite restaurants - Cleopatra's Needle.  Awesome Mediterranean food with live jazz every night!

We love live jazz!  And window seats :)

Cafe Lalo - (think "You've Got Mail!")  We grabbed some tasty dessert to go!  (So hard to decide - literally hundreds of dessert choices!!)

Day 2 - after a long day of walking through Chelsea and all the way back up to Columbus Circle with Jenny, we stopped for a little coffee break.  Now THIS is my kind of (decaf!) mocha... it came with its own pot of chocolate to pour into it!!!  We ended up walking 6+ miles today!

Baby Kresta's first time in New York :)

Day 3 - You can't go to New York and NOT walk by the Friends building at least once.  It's the law.  We just happened to pass by on our way to dinner in the village in some nasty nasty weather - cold, rainy and windy!  Luckily most of the morning was spent indoors, hanging out with Matt and Jenny :)

Day 4 - Walking around after a tasty breakfast at Irving Farm Coffee Co.

Quick stop at Levain to pick up a little snack for the plane... best. cookies. ever.

Ryan and his lobster roll at Luke's.

Pizza and a coke on a stoop.  

A mocha (and a large belly) at Cafe Lalo.  Sadly, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks were NOT there.  Can you believe that??

My advice to any couple married, with no kids... travel while you can!  Go on trips together.  Get away for the weekend.  (Go visit Napa BEFORE you get pregnant!) Even if you just drive a few hours away, take advantage of the time you have together and just be married.  Just the two of you.  Because you just never really know when God is going to say "It's time".  (And if that time happens to be 11 months after you get married... well, then... your time is a little more limited :) )

It's scary not knowing what life is going to look like after the baby gets here, but I know that it is going to be better than it is now.  Not easier, but better.  And I do look forward to taking our children on family vacations and showing them the amazing things (and more!) in the world that our parents showed us.  But I am also very grateful to have had this time to spend with my husband, no strings attached.  And I always look forward to the times when I get to be with him.  Kids or no kids. :)