Maternity shoot x Alafaga

Maternity shoot x Alafaga

My best friend gifted me with some of the best memories as a soon to be mama.

I’ll always look back at these photos and remember all the weekly bumpdates you made me do when I wasn’t feeling it, all the apple waters you fetched for me when I was at my most potato-y, the trip we took to Manu’a, and all the hours we spent huddled over our laptops editing late nights at my office.

Thank you for being there for me at every trimester.

Love you forever my soul sister @alafaga 💌

You, Me, and our baby moon

You, Me, and our baby moon

After an eventful first few days in Samoa for our combined girls trip, Ian and I were in full-on baby moon mode.

We settled in to our cozy AirBnB beach fale at Maninoa and planned a couple activities to take advantage of our time on the south side of the island.

We ventured off to check out Return to Paradise Resort, where my 2020 wedding was supposed to take place, but has been postponed for the umpteenth time lol… it’s okay, we’re not salty about it! It was a great excuse to go back and meet with the lovely team who we’ve been emailing with, and have lunch there.

Then we drove over to the Savaia Giant Clam Sanctuary (click here to read my blog post about that experience!) and swam for the afternoon with the colorful giant bivalves.

By the time we were done with our adventures, it was dinnertime. We ordered off the menu at the little surf shack style beach resto, Ocean Club Maninoa. We ordered the chicken adobo and crispy pork, both were amazinggg. And for drinks, Ian couldn’t say no to an ice cold local Vailima brew and I indulged in the fresh sasalapa smoothie.

Inspired by the warmth of the waning sunset light and the feeling of raw and natural happiness in my heart, I sat on the beach and took photos to remember these moments.

Ian rented a paddle board to catch a sunset surf in the reef break off in the distance. I paddled around for a bit with my 28 week baby bump, and we hugged and kissed and cocooned in bed back in our beach fale for the night. I love the feeling of magic that Samoa gives us…

when it’s just you, me, and our baby moon.

xoxo,

Nerelle

It’s the heart in the sky for me.

You. Me. We.

You. Me. We.

I can’t wait for it to be us three.

Throwback to my first trimester… I was actually not feeling great here.

I felt icky and tired, and I hadn’t showered in a while (because I was an actual couch potato!) so my hair was dirty and my skin was dry and oily at the same time.

Still, we wanted to take pics to commemorate this special time… I was just about to get out of the first trimester, into the clear of the second trimester. I was excited to get my energy back, eat food again, and make it into the “safe zone” of pregnancy.

My best friend Gabby was super sweet as always, and encouraged us to come out and shoot some short clips for a reel to announce my pregnancy to family and friends. It was a well-kept secret until then.

So we went out to the back of our house, walked into the mangroves since it was low tide, and Gabby shot some of the most epic clips of us! I’ll always remember this, thanks to Gabby again for capturing us at such a special time of our lives!

“There has never been a sadness that can’t be cured by breakfast foods.”

– Ron Swanson
Not cute

Not cute

but this is real life hermit crab homebody vibes in pregnancy. I spent this entire day at home just eating, napping, and watching tv lol

pool day for Ian. Just him though because it’s much too cold for regular non-polar bear people lol

I adore my niece and nephew. And I adore that my husband is adored by my niece and nephew.