So much for keeping your head above water...

Emmet had big plans for Conor on Friday. The boys were out the door by 8 am to be at Cabrits Dive Shop for a "Discovery Dive" which Emmet has been wanting to try for over a year here. I tried my best to discourage them as I worried it would be dangerous, but they had some Gatorades and ran out of the house :) Luckily, they came back at noon alive and breathing, although Conor had definitely taken a beating from the underwater pressure. The highlight was a school of baracuda which swam by and some beautiful coral, according to the boys. Although it was a great memory, neither one seemed interested in taking up Scuba as a hobby permanently.

Conor and Emmet in full gear, with Cabrits mountains in the background. They got down to 35 feet!

Brotherly Love at PBH Beach

Emmet took his Mini Thursday morning at 8am. After weeks of disciplined studying, he was able to let loose and kick back with his buddies and his little bro. He wanted Conor to get the feel of a typical post Mini day so we walked over to the beach we love most, PBH. There were definitely some beer and rum punches had by all ( I just enjoyed the entertainment of watching them!).

 Gotta get the beers cold :) Kyle Phillips, Conor, Emmet and Kyle Adams

 Taylor and I watching the boys from afar. We'll definitely miss having a beautiful beach like this just ten minutes from our door step...

Hard to believe Conor is really with us on this rock in the middle of the ocean! Love it!

Conor and Carnival

Conor, Emmet's younger brother came to spend his spring break with us in Dominica.He flew in on March 11th, the night before Fat Tuesday and got quite a welcome to the Dominican celebratory spirit.

 

This was a local parade that Emmet and I had to stop for in Callibishie the night we went to pick up Conor. Love the pirate! The best way to describe Carnival in Dominica is loud music and dancing in the street!

 Conor and I in Rouseau on Tuesday.  Bruno took us down with a bunch of the girls to check out the scene. Enjoyed all the miscellaneous costumes and people watching in town.

 Conor and Taylor in front of one of the many trucks packed with speakers blasting music on the street.

 It's not New Orleans, but definitely some creative costumes!

A Valentine's Day to Remember

Once we found out we were pregnant, we sceduled our first doctor's appointment down in Roseau with Dr. Ferreira on February 15th at 11 am. We awaited this appointment for so long, just for some confirmation that the baby was healthy and growing well and to get some information from about the next couple of months. We knew we did not want to tell our immediate families until we had the clearance from the doctor.We had originally planned to wake up early on the 15th and drive to and from Rouseau, which is an hour away, that day but Emmet switched it up on me lovingly.

On Feb 14th, he came to visit me on my lunch break at work and told me that he had gotten us a room at the Fort Young Hotel in the capital city of Dominica, Rouseau. He said that we would be leaving right after work at 3:00 and that we would just run home to grab an overnight bag and go. I was so surprised and so excited to get away for the night, especially since my first experiences with morning sickness had struck me that weekend and I had been too sick to go out to dinner on our scheduled Valentine's Day dinner date that past Saturday. 

We took a bumpy transport down and arrived at the hotel around 4:30. The bed was decorated with heart shaped towels sculptures and there were flower petals sprinkled all over the room. It felt like an episode of the Bachelor. I was in heaven. The hotel gave us some cold fruit juice and Emmet and I enjoyed it out on the balcony. Then we took a swim in the infinity pool overlooking the Caribbean Sea and looking down south at the view toward Scott's Head. Maybe even better than the view and the atmosphere was the cable and the flat screen TV in our hotel room, on which we watched 3 episodes of our old favorite show on the travel channel, "No Reservations" with Anthony Bordain.

The amazing thing about the holiday, believe it or not, was yet to come. We woke up on Tuesday morning, well rested and went to the doctor. He gave me a thorough check-up and told us our due date was September 27th. He said that I had a very healthy heart and that he wanted to take an ultrasound to get a good picture of the baby. We had been hoping he would say that because, of course, we wanted to take a peek, too.

We went downstairs and had our ultrasound done by a Cuban radiologist with very little personality. But no one could ruin this for us. With the little English she had, she moved the device around and finally said, "Bebe." And there on the flat screen TV zoomed in was our little bean, a white blinking life with a heartbeat of 133 beats per minute. It was the most incredible thing we had ever experienced in our lives. There was definitely a baby inside of me, and it was implanted right where it needed to be.

The day was complete with a shopping trip to the only normal grocery store on the island, Save A Lot, where we stocked up on everything salty and crunch and two gallons of fresh milk. We rode home to Portsmouth, happier than I could ever describe with a black and white picture of our tiny child in Emmet's backpack beside us. I think it's safe to say that it was the best Valentine's Day I've ever had. Below are some pictures from the hotel room.

Living in Paradise.

Currently, we live on the island of Dominica where Emmet pursues his dream of becoming a doctor at Ross University and I teach special education at the elementary school on campus. We have lived here since January 2010 and will be moving back to the US in April 2011. As the entire journey draws to a close in just 2 short months, I find myself being more and more reflective and grateful for all of the ways this country has shaped me.

In the next couple of posts, I hope to convey a snapshot of the past 16 months of our life, as we took off 2 weeks after our wedding and moved to a Caribbean island to begin our life as Mr. and Mrs. Ferriter. The beauty we have seen and felt, in the landscape and the people we have met here, has changed our lives forever.