Sun Burnt Cheeks

I'm feelin' the burn!

Not a good exercise burn though...just too much sun unfortunately.

The good news is:  it's just one cheek.

The bad news is: it's not a cheek on my face.

Yup.

I'll be honest, I haven't been wearing sunscreen this summer. But before you all freak out and send me email lectures, let me explain.

There are a lot of ingredients in sunscreen (the typical chemically saturated grocery store brands) that can be potentially harmful to developing babies. Some brands even say right on the bottle that pregnant women shouldn't use the product. At first I thought this was probably just another case of people over reacting, and after I did some research....it could still very well be people over reacting. There actually hasn't been any definite proof that these ingredients (I won't bother listing them because there's a ton and they're all hard to pronounce and impossible to spell) will cause birth defects or miscarriage or premature labour etc, but there is some support for the claim. Enough for some brands to be concerned enough to put a warning on their label (some European brands...I haven't checked brands like Coppertone or Hawaiian Tropics that are available everywhere because honestly these brands are RIDICULOUSLY expensive over here and I won't be buying them anyway. Like $20 a bottle expensive!) So I decided I'm not going to risk it. I'm not supposed to be eating deli meat either...but that one I do risk. For the 'once in a blue moon' craving I get for salami, I give in. There's a small chance, very very VERY small chance, that salami and other deli meats could have a harmful bacteria on it that could cause complications....but I've still eaten salami about 5 times my whole pregnancy. The risks are so tiny anyway that I feel ok with this decision. BUT when it comes to the sunscreen issue, something tells me to go with my gut and heed the warnings. Besides, it wouldn't be just 5 times in my whole pregnancy that I slather on some sunscreen. It would be everyday for 4 or 5 months out of the 9....personally I think that's just asking for it.

Now I know you're still thinking about 2 big words........SKIN CANCER! What are you doing about that smart ass???!!!

Don't worry, I'm still being careful. 

First of all, I NEVER sit in the sun. If I'm at the beach I'm always in the shade. I can't stand the sun anyway, I get way to hot these days...I'm fat remember. The heat is not my friend right now! 

Second, my face moisturizer is all natural and contains 15 SPF so my face is protected at all times without using any horrible chemicals that are bad for Eleni. 

Third, I have a giant floppy hat that is so Sex and the City chic. I can't really see where I'm going when I wear it because it's that big, but at least my face and shoulders are protected from the sun AND I look amazing while making everyone around me jealous. Fab!

Fourth, I never go to the beach before 2:00pm. Ok I can't say I NEVER go before 2 because I've done it twice now, but most of the time I go after 3:00pm or 4:00pm because the....what the hell is it called? the UV index or something?? ugh, I can't remember...anyway the sun is at it's strongest from 10am-2pm. Ok, I think I sun burnt my brain today too...

Fifth, I'm still on the look out for an all natural sunscreen that is reasonably priced. Unfortunately that's not an easy task here though because our options are VERY limited and being that this is a tourist destination for beach goers in particular...sun screen prices are jacked way up! A very important tip if you ever come here to visit me: buy sun screen from home and bring it with you! Actually that's probably a good recommendation if you're visiting anywhere in Europe that has beaches, is hot, and uses the Euro (which as of yesterday's election, will still be our currency but I'm so not in the right mood or frame of mind to discuss Greek politics right now)

So, that's what I've been doing to save myself from sun burns and so far it's worked perfectly.....until today. I haven't had ANY sunburns at all this summer until today. We were up super early today because I had a doctor's appointment. I'm not going to go into detail right now about how Greek hospitals operate and how Greek people behave in hospitals...I promise I will eventually though because this is a story worth telling....but for now lets just say that sitting in the health center for not even an hour was more exhausting than the piddly 3 hours of sleep I got last night. Anyway, the point is I was exhausted and I accidentally fell asleep on the beach. Before I fell asleep, I was in the shade. When I woke up...my butt was in the direct sunlight. Just my bum. Nothing else. 

And that's the story of my sun burnt right bum cheek.

Here's a couple of pictures from the beach today. OH, the doctor's appointment went well by the way. He just checked out my ultrasound pics that you saw yesterday and he was really happy with what he saw so everything is good there. The nurse had a go at me about my weight....I've now gained 28lbs. 3lbs up from last month. Whatever. I'm so over talking about my weight. Besides, that nurse was no athlete herself. By this time next year, it won't just be my hat she's jealous of! I had to do the usual pee test and blood test, check my blood pressure, check Eleni's heart beat and everything is A-OK with baby! My appointment next month apparently has to happen at the hospital because my doctor will be doing some tests that he can only do at the hospital. I have no idea what that means but actually I wanted my next appointment to be at the hospital anyway because I want to do a tour of the delivery room and I have a massive list of questions to attack him with. So  it all works out.

And finally....here's a couple of pictures from the beach today...

 We went to Psiriara (the NUDEY BEACH!) because we had a car today for the doctor's appointment so we just kept it a little longer so we could get to, and back home again from, our favourite beach. Just a reminder, or FYI for those who haven't read the past post about this beach...yes it's a nude beach, no we don't get naked, no we don't love it because it's a nude beach, we love it because it has beautiful soft sand, there isn't usually any screaming kids running around (for now, HA!) and an amazing view of Molyvos. And they've finally put out their umbrellas and sunbeds which is perfect for me because laying in the sand is not so easy anymore...

I don't know this guy but he was having such a good time with his dogs that it made me miss my Brasco. Aw, it's ok. Brasco's not a big beach bum anyway. Fresh water yes, salt water no. He's a smart dog but for some reason he's never learned that if you drink the salt water you're gonna get sick....and he doesn't just drink it, he guzzles it! Then he throws up everywhere or he gets diarrhea, or if we're really lucky he gets both at the same time. One time at the Beach Bar, with a ton of people around watching, after he went for a swim and drank every drop of water that came into contact with his mouth, we had a diarrhea situation....and you would think that would be the embarrassing part. Nope! Suddenly the diarrhea stopped but I could tell by his face and his stance that something else was still going on in there...and he wouldn't move from the spot he was in because I guess he was too busy concentrating on what was going on in there (he's over 100lbs too so I couldn't just pick him up and run him out of there) ....when suddenly...a tampon came shooting out! OH MY GOD I thought I would die! Everyone was looking and pointing and asking each other "did you see that? did that dog just $*@# out a tampon?"....then they started actually coming up to me and asking me if my dog had, in fact, pooped a tampon. Yes, yes he did, thanks very much for asking now if you wouldn't mind I have a sick dog I need to take care of. No I don't FEED him tampons, I have no idea how he got it or why he ate it you moron! He was perfectly fine after that and he trotted home with a big smile on his face the whole way...and of course I was so glad he was fine but needless to say I never took him back to that beach during the busy time again. And I found a new place to keep my tampons after that....That was a really gross story, sorry for sharing that guys but these dogs made me think of him and our times at the beach and....that happened to be one of our times at the beach so....don't drink salt water and eat tampons?

Kittens sleeping on oranges. So cute! Let this visual replace the last visual I gave you...take a deep breath...think of kittens....and breath out...awwwwww kittens on oranges. That's better!

The moment I realized my bum was burnt.

GIANT BELLY!! My feet look so far away. Weird. Because as you all know, I'm really not that tall. Anyway, as you can see my belly is huge but my belly button is still, miraculously, in its rightful place. For now. 

So, sun burn aside it was a really good day. The water was FREEZING, like Canadian mountain lake freezing which was a bit of a surprise but it's so hot that a swim in really cold water is actually refreshing and welcome. 

And now I gotta go because I'm having a harsh craving for pineapple and I can't be bothered with typing anymore. In fact I'm not even going to edit this that's how much of a hurry I'm in. 

MUST HAVE PINEAPPLE!!!!!