Babymoon in the Veneto!

Two weeks ago Josh and I took a little vacation to the Veneto region of Italy and it was fabulous! The Veneto region is on the north eastern part of Italy and includes Venice, Verona, Belluno, and the Dolomites. This region is famous for a few reasons:

• It is one of the most important wine producing regions and produces the most DOC (original location certified) wine in Italy.
• The most important wines produced are Prosecco, Valpolicella, Valdobiadene, and Amarone di Valpolicella.
• It is one of the most visited regions in Italy (thanks to Venice), and is one of the richest regions in the country.
• Bennetton, Sisley and Diesel are all from the Veneto- originally from the town of Treviso

An apartment building in Treviso

On our way to find a place to eat- many places were closed
for Ferragosto



One of the best pizza places we've ever been to! Treviso



Mmm... the pizza!

Even though the region includes Venice, we did not go into the city. We stayed for a few nights just outside of Treviso, then spent a couple nights in Conegliano. We had a great time touring the cities, seeing the Dolomites again (we kept saying that we had to go back this year!), eating the AMAZING food, and of course Josh enjoyed trying all of the prosecco and white wines of the area. I was really jealous of this because I LOVE prosecco and couldn't partake in the fun :( Next time!! We did buy some bottles to open in celebration after Bambino arrives though. We were even able to spend some time with our friends since Josh and Francesco had tickets to see the Foo Fighters. It was a really great trip that I hope to do again some time. The area is beautiful and I happen to like it better than Tuscany for a few reasons:

1. It's cheaper!!
2. There aren't many tourists
3. There is really good white wine & prosecco, as well as some of the most famous Italian reds
4. The regional food is incredible!
5. You are less than an hour from the Dolomites- my favorite part of Italy!



From our day driving in the Dolomites- we visited Belluno,
and Pieve di Cadore

A place where we had coffee in Belluno- the cappucino was almost
twice as expensive as in Milan!

A garden in the main square of Belluno. Can you see the little
duck hiding in the bush?

The main church in Belluno



Across from the church, there was this beautiful building- I think
it was the city hall



We stopped near this river to take a little break. You can see
one of the towns we visited on the hill. We ate lunch not
far from there at a place called the Ski Bar. It was amazing!



Time for another break! And an amazing view of the Dolomites



It looked like the clouds were a waterfall over the mountain.
It was pretty amazing.

Some random gnomes from a house on the side of the road.

  

We have tons of pictures to share, so I'll follow up this post with more pictures. Enjoy!

After our drive through the Dolomites, we stopped in Cornegliano



The main square in Cornegliano

36 weeks and almost full term!

This week starts week 36 for me and Bambino! Next week I'll be full term. It's really hard to believe that we are only weeks away from meeting him/her. It's still surreal to me that we're having a baby! Time really does fly by when you're pregnant!

34 weeks, 6 days in the Dolomites, north
of Belluna, Italy

Last week was amazing- Josh and I spent a week in the Veneto region of Italy and relaxed. It's different traveling now because the car is really uncomfortable (my hips start to really hurt), and I get so winded because my lungs are being crushed by Bambino. This makes it difficult to do the things we used to do when we traveled (IE: spend a day driving around and visiting cities, walking many miles to see everything). Not to mention, needing to use the bathroom all of the time is difficult in Italy... There aren't many places that are open at this time of year! Not to mention they don't always let you use the bathroom. Even so, we were able to visit some pretty amazing places that I'll write about later.

Anything new this week for me? Well, my feet are constantly swollen now and it's driving me crazy. I have put myself of self-imposed bed rest in the afternoons to keep my feet up and that seems to help, but they are just always swollen now. I also feel like a complete hermit these days. Yes, we get out and do things, and I still see people, but I'm mostly happy just staying at home. It's so much easier- I don't have to search for a place to use the bathroom, and I have snacks readily available. My clothes are starting to get too tight now too. Some of my maternity clothes don't fit anymore, so I'm mainly in tanks and a pair of black maternity pj shorts, or a dress. It's been so hot that most of my maternity clothes wouldn't be comfortable anyways.

Things I'm excited for:
There are so many I'm not sure where to start! I'm really excited about Bambino finally arriving and meeting the little one. It will be nice to finally see the face, arms and legs that I've felt moving inside me for the past few months. In addition to that, I'm excited to get my old body back... I miss snuggling with Josh and night, and I miss being able to wear normal clothes. I'm also excited about running again!! I miss it so much.

New cravings?
Not really. I'm still craving sweet things and all of the gelato everywhere is driving me crazy! It's super hot now and everyone is eating gelato to cool off. Unfortunately it's not in my pregnancy diet, so it's just torture! I do have cravings for salty stuff now too though, and I've been craving beef. For whatever reason, Bambino needs lots of meat... so I've been craving anything with beef- tacos, sloppy joes, steak, hot dish, cheeseburgers... if it has beef, I want it!

35 weeks, overlooking the Valdobiadene wine region

Exercise:
It's getting more and more difficult to exercise, but I keep walking as much as possible. I even take the stairs when I can. But I find that prenatal yoga is the best thing for me now. It's challenging, but at the same time it really stretches everything and makes my body feel so much better. It really helps my back with all of the extra weight it's carrying these days.

Names:
We've narrowed it down to two boy’s names and one girl name. And no, I won't be sharing on the blog... you'll have to wait to hear them when we announce Bambino's arrival. But, I can tell you that it's been an interesting ongoing conversation and we've decided on an Italian middle name. Originally I really wanted Lillian (my grandmothers name), and I think my cousin Jenna wanted the same name for a girl! What's funny is that as soon as I told Josh about that, he vetoed it instantly (I believe the same thing happened with Jenna). I love the name, but apparently he had a babysitter named Lillian that he really didn't like, so the name brought bad memories.

Me, constantly eating and my "not happy" face because we've
been in the car all day. Man I feel huge now!

Josh has been so sweet throughout everything and he's even started "nesting" a bit too. I've been mainly preparing for the delivery (since the nursery is pretty much ready) with research and looking at ways to assist a natural birth, and he's been preparing as well. When we went to the grocery store the other day and saw that diapers were 40% off, he was excited to go back the next day and stock up on more diapers. We now have boxes upon boxes of diapers! But hopefully they will last us a while :)

With that, and a few things that Josh is picking up this week while he is in Minnesota for work, the nursery is all set for Bambino to arrive! He/she just has to wait until next week when Josh is back in Milan, and the baby will be full term. After that, I guess Bambino can arrive whenever he/she is ready! The car seat is even installed and waiting.