Less than 4 Months to Go!!!

Whew! What a ride this has been. Oh this is the Non-bio Mom writing, aka Ja'Nae`. The last 5 months went by so very quickly. From the insemination to watching the pregnancy test tell us we're pregnant to the times when Beth's best friend was the toilet. She says this is something that she will not go through again, but I think I could change her mind because I am not doing it. Not after everything I have seen her go through. Yes, I know....'Every pregnancy is different.' Sorry, that just isn't helping. Beth tries to bribe me by saying ,'Oh, Ja'Nae` you will have very cute kids. I can't wait!' She's talking like I have already decided that I will carry the next one. Um, she's going to need to bribe me a bit more.

The baby sure is growing and getting stronger each day. For the last couple weeks I have actually felt him kick and even seen the kicking. When I first saw him punch/kick it was as if I was watching the segment from the movie Alien when it bursts the host's stomach. Seriously though, it did look like he was going to bust out of Beth's stomach at any second but then he stopped. He has been doing this quite a few times. (Oh, I guess I should also mention to you that we are having a boy!!! We found out earlier this month. I am so excited about having a boy. I can't wait to dress him.) Just a couple days ago he was kicking and punching like he was having a fit, and just like any other kid he soon settled down and was either sleeping or was bored of his fit. This makes us a little nervous as to how he will be when he is actually here. Will he keep Beth up all night and give her trouble? Or will he let her sleep and be calm. (Notice that I didn't mention he would be keeping me up. I love my sleep and if he disrupts it, he will be put in the naughty chair for 1 minute. Each minute for how old they are. Oh yes, I've learned quite a few things from Jo - the Supernanny.)

To help overcome the lack of sleep, Beth and I have a plan once little man is born. One of her co-workers suggested that during the first four days I have night duty and Beth has the day duty. So as long as I can keep him asleep that means I will get to sleep. Bring on the Brandy!!!!! Her co-worker has four kids, so I trust that he knows what he is talking about. Come to think of it, I don't even know if my mom and dad had a plan like that one. But I rarely remember my sisters (I have three younger ones) crying in the middle of the night. Oh well. We have plenty of resources at hand. The internet, books, family, and friends. I am sure that we will receive plenty of advice from those with more experience. It reminds me of when we had the dogs. Other dog owners were more than willing to share their experiences and tell us what works and what doesn't.

Beth's energy has increased the last few weeks, which I am thankful for. There was a time when we didn't think she would ever get it back. She has been able to walk home from work a couple times and feels good enough to get out of the flat. This has been nice for me as I don't like to go to places without her. What's even better about her lack of energy is that she sometimes lets us take a cab home!!!! Sounds a bit lazy, but when it is 30 Farenheit at 10:00 pm and you have to walk 15 minutes home sometimes a warm cab ride is the best thing on Earth!!!! I'm just saying.

We purchased a 4D ultrasound scan and should be doing that around 30 weeks (end of January). Excited to see what the little guy looks like and confirm if it is really a boy. I understand that sonographers are apparently experts, but I am sure they have been wrong before. Look at the weathermen. They are expereienced and how often are they wrong?? But for some reason we will check back with them for the next day's forecast. With a 4D scan, you really can't mistake a willy for a vajayjay now can you?

This is Beth:
There are a few things I know at this point -
JaNae and I will be great mommies.
You can be completely, totally, head-over-heels in love with a little being you've never met.
Pregnancy is not necessarily something I enjoy (that sounds terrible, but it's true).
This baby is hard wired like a Giffrow - he likes routine already!
I love when he kicks, but it DOES feel alien and is really weird to see my belly move.
I don't like when people ask me if I'm nervous about labour; I'm not thinking about it as I really have no choice. It will happen and we will make it.
I never thought I would miss my 'pre-pregnancy' body this much.

There are a few things that I suspect -
Our little man MAY be stubborn.
I don't think he will like fruit (he won't let me eat hardly any now).
He may be afraid of Chirstmas lights (we've put them on my belly to see if he will react and he WON'T move).
I am starting to believe the women who say I will forget all the bad times during pregnancy. During the bad times, you are LOW (this is an understatement on my part); but looking back it seems like I could survive it again.
My final and most important suspicion - JaNae is VERY likely to be the next one pregnant! She will forget too ;-)

Today is 14 Weeks

Earlier today we posted our blog that I wrote when Beth was only 6.5 weeks pregnant. Of course at that time we only told a few family members and friends. But now we are in the 14th week and can't believe that we are going to be parents. It has been Beth and I for so long and now a 3rd member of the family will be here. It will be interesting. People acting like they care about us but really only care about the baby. We know how it is....we were those people once. Visiting friends to see how they are, but really our intentions are to visit the new member of the family. But it's alright though we will love having visitors!

Two weeks ago we went to shopping for maternity clothes and ended up purchasing the crib and changing table. Both are made by Stokke and will last for a good 10 years or our money back. That's how much Stokke believes in their product. The crib can later convert into a bed for an 8 year old child!! Check out their website - http://www.stokke.com/en-gb/nursery/stokke-sleepi-bed.aspx?_s_icmp=s12cB948 The changing table changes into a desk when the child has grown out of the need to be changed. I saw these products in the store and wanted to have them. So wifey let me!!! Now I am trying to research the best stroller. This is doing my head in considering there are soooo many out there. I don't even know where to begin.

Beth has slowly been doing better. Since she is in her 2nd trimester, we hoped that the nauseated feeling would go away. Unfortunately, it is still here. She has good days and bad days, but at least we are now able to leave the flat for a bit. I just worry about her as I know that she feels like total crap and there's not a whole lot that I can do for her.The nice thing about it is that we are eating alot and have an excuse to go to the pub. Seems that chips (french fries) and a coke from the pub are the only remedies for her upset stomach!!! That's just a solid excuse for me to get a bit of some alcohol!!! It's a win-win situation for everyone. I just don't want my baby addicted to french fries when it gets older. Oh, wait I forgot...there's McDonald's. I am telling you now, that our kid will NOT be allowed to eat at McDonald's. I will just have to sneak it or sit in my car in a parking lot and stuff my face so there is no evidence that I went to McDonald's. Anyways, as long as Beth has found something that makes her feel better then that's what's important to me.

At our 12 week scan, it hit us a bit that we are really having a kid. We were able to hear the heartbeat and see the baby kick like a maniac!!!! The baby wasn't moving around at first but the sonographer was able hit a good spot for us to see lil Mofrow kick. We are just anxious for the 20 week scan as they will be able to tell us if it is a boy or a girl. However, we have been told that the sonographer will not try to get the baby at the right angle for us to know. If the baby is not in the right spot for our appointment, we will not find out that day. But we are thinking about taking up the offers on Groupon and doing a 4D scan and finding out the sex if we don't already know. It does seem a bit creepy though, right.

Do we have names?? Yes we have names but we can't decide on one. We're two women! We can barely decide what we are going to eat for dinner!!!! We will probably take the advice of going into it with two names. Now I am starting to get nervous. I am going to be a mom. Wow!! My life couldn't be more perfect.

6.5 Weeks Pregnant!

(This is an old post written when she was 6.5 weeks. This will give you an idea of how the process started. I will also let Beth tell her side of things)

Yes, you read that right. Beth is 6.5 Weeks pregnant! Well by the time you read this, she will be at least 12 weeks. I wanted to provide a bit of hindsight of our experience the last couple weeks. For you moms, you may be able to relate or maybe not at all. This is how it all began....

After talking about starting a family and the process, when we returned from our lovely Croatia trip we decided to try to make it happen. Beth got on the ball immediately by calling around different sperm banks/fertility clinics in London in search of black sperm. Crazy enough, we picked one less than 10 minutes away from our flat. Total number of black sperm donors willing to donate their 'juice' to lesbians.......TWO! Candidate 1 - medium dark toned, 5-11, cartoonist, enjoys sports, chillin' with friends, and food. Candidate 2- medium toned, 5-8, carpenter. We chose candidate #1 due to height! We'll see just how artistic our kid is. But they better be a darn athlete!!!

Once our donor was chosen, the week before the insemination, Beth had to stick herself with a massive needle filled with drugs. I guess the drugs were to make her follicles bigger. It wasn't very much fun watching her stick herself in the stomach each night at the same time for a week. It made me feel so happy that I was not going through this. (Don't get me wrong, I still felt bad that she was doing it to herself though.) The day of insemination, I was really nervous. I didn't know what to expect and no one really told us about this part of the 'baby making' process. You always hear the stories after one is pregnant and the labor pains.

We sat in the room of the doctor's office staring at one another waiting for the doctor of insemination to arrive. When he comes into the room, he kindly introduces himself and immediately gives us the stats of the sperm. '10% increased mobility. 23 million spermies.' 23 million??? And all it takes is one. The doctor even showed us the container the spermies were hanging out in. When first looking at the container of spermies, well, it's not really a container. It looks more like a test tube....a test tube full of water. And it looks like 4 drops of water were placed in the test tube. Can't believe there are 23 million in there!!! All it takes is one.

All it takes is one. That's all I could keep thinking right after the insemination. We waited two weeks to take pregnancy test #1. Well, almost two weeks. It was more like 1.5 weeks because we just couldn't wait any longer. On the first day, the test result was a bit faint but it looked like it was telling us the test was positive. Day 2, test result still positive but nearly as faint as the first one. We started to get excited but realized that we shouldn't get our hopes up only to be disappointed. Day 3, we used a digital pregnancy test so there was no confusion. After waiting a few minutes on a Saturday morning, it reads ' pregnant 2-3 weeks'. Holy cow!!!!! Our life may be changing forever after today. The first person we tell is my sister Jasmine. It was about 1am in South Dakota and she was 'hanging' out with friends. ('Hanging out' really means drinking). She was a bit tipsy but not to the point to where she couldn't understand what was going on. We have mentioned this moment in our baby book. So when he or she asks who we first told, we'll proudly say Aunt Jasmine!

So, here we are. 6.5 weeks pregnant. The last couple weeks haven't been very fun for Beth. She has been sick ALL DAY long. Constant vomiting. And I mean constant. I have never felt so bad for her. To make matters worse, she has a chest infection that has lasted one week AND AND AND AND received a bite from something nasty because it left quite a mark. On the first day of observing the bite on her arm, it was swollen and red. Second day, it started to blister and was hard around the edges. Third day, the blisters have formed into one big bad boy that just needs to be popped. It is quite a nasty looking thing looking like a grape stuck to her tricep!!! Of course she wants to pop it but the GP said that she should let it take its natural form. The doctor did prescribe some anti-biotics for the bite and it started leaking today. Should be interesting to see how it turns out in the next couple days!!!

How did this happen?

So, (this is Beth), I wanted to write about our process of getting pregnant. Some details may not be that exciting for you, but for others it may be interesting. And, a little shocking, most people that we've told ask 'How did that happen?'. Well, most of you understand the birds and the bees - but I get the question and will answer it :)

Fertility clinic search...yes, there is one located just 5 minutes walk from our flat! PERFECT! I set up an initial appointment (July 3rd) and...it begins. We first met with a genetics counselor; what is my lineage like and who has what, blah blah blah. Well, I need to be checked early for breast cancer....yea, I know this.....and I should be easy to match to a donor depending on how all my blood work goes. Then, we meet with 'the doctor', a slightly plump Indian (ie from India, not Native American) woman. She goes through all the options with us and explains all the tests I need to get done - 'woman part' scan and numerous blood tests. Now, many GPs (general doctors) won't do the blood tests through NHS (national health system) for lesbians - RUDE! (NHS provides free blood tests whereas the fertility clinic would cost a LOT). Our GP is amazing and literally sets me up with ALL the blood tests that I need - thank you to her by the way! OK - that was a sidebar. Then the doctor tells me that my BMI is too high and I need to take a few months and lose some weight. I calmly (at least I tried to be calm) tell her that I've been eating right and doing personal training for the last 8 months - my body won't get any better so I'm not going to wait. JaNae pretty much thought I was going to take the woman down....the doctor did press it quite a bit.....not smart. She says we can do what we want, but first need to get the tests done and set up the scan.

Right - next morning I head to the GP and get the form for the blood tests. I then head to the hospital and get the blood taken. Right - now I just need to wait for the scan appt to come up, which was only about two days away. So, the scan. No need for details, but the same doctor who told me to lose weight also told me that I was 'beautiful' inside :) Dang right woman! I may be a big girl, but my stuff is all good! The next week I get my blood tests back and set up the second appt with the main doctor. During this time, we are speaking with the cryo bank located within the fertility clinic as well. They can match me with donors once my bloods come back. Alright - I get them copies of the results and they tell me I was missing a few tests! UGH! So, I call the GP and ask why the results that I needed weren't there. Well, they didn't request it! So, back to the GP, get another form, and get more blood taken at the hospital. The woman at the hospital who took my blood (Elizabeth Louise...nice!) tells me she will put a rush on my results. Yea! Once the results are back, the cryo bank can get my matches to me same day. Sweet.

Our second appointment with the clinic doctor. Right, all my tests are back and look good. We go through all the options and decided that assisted IUI is the right choice. Assisted means - drugs; yup, this is where the needles come into play. Anyway, the doctor still thinks I need to lose weight and due to my cycle timing, we would be rushing to get everything in order for this month. I tell her I'm not going to wait and see if I can lose weight and as long as the cryo bank and nurses have time to get me ready, we are GOING to do this NOW!

As a side bar, I was VERY motivated to get pregnant. Something in me was saying 'It HAS to happen now and it WILL happen now.' I was going to do everything in my power to make sure it happened. So, I was on a mission!

After the doctor appointment, I needed to make a nurses appointment so they could go over the drugs with me. SET for the next day! LOVED the nurses at the clinic - so nice, happy and helpful! I call the GP and the hospital lab to get my blood results back. BOOM - donor chosen and ready for our use! Thank goodness they had it onsite! I meet with the nurses and get all my drugs.

3 days later, my cycle starts and the drug use begins. I'd like to say first off - it may sound like I'm a wuss, but I understand there are many women out there who have a very hard time with this whole process. Appointments take forever, tests results are not good, and the drugs are more plentiful! I feel for them and am impressed by their strength! The schedule - days 3-7 take a pill (no this isn't the whining part), then days 6-8 the needle drugs!! AHHH!!!!! I was hoping to get JaNae to do the injections, but got the advice from an IVF friend that I should do it myself. DOH! Fine. I get the needle prepped (keep in mind this is a TINY needle!) and KNOW I have to do this. Phew...I am getting very nervous...sweaty....hot....JaNae is across the room hiding her face in the couch! I stick it in my belly, push the drugs in, and I'm done! OMG - it didn't hurt at all, but I'd made myself so nervous that I almost passed out! I immediately had to set it down and set myself down! I almost puked! I'm not going to lie - I had to do this 5 more times (yes, the days increased because my body didn't react enough) and I was nervous each time. It never hurt, but it also never got easier.

Alright - last scan! My follicle (where the egg is released) is big enough to 'go'. Now, I have the choice of letting my body ovulate as normal or I can trigger it. Well, because I don't want to miss this, I decide to trigger it. One more injection and we are home free! This needle was much bigger, but still didn't hurt. First appointment - July 3rd. Trigger injection - July 22nd, 10pm. Insemination - July 24th. This may have been the fastest fertility treatment in the world!

And, SUCCESS!!!!!

Croatia Part III

Day 7: Hvar
We first started this day with a really long swim - we had 3 hours in the most beautiful bay ever! I'm glad this was our last swim - it was HOT and we were all a bit burnt! AND, JaNae had gotten a lot more comfortable with the water. Each day she would do something a little uncomfortable for her, but this last day she swam on her own!!! Each day she had a death grip on a floaty, but this day, she just had it tied to her back. I tied it to her suit and she swam back and forth like a crazy fish! I'm not going to say she is now 100% comfortable, but this trip helped a LOT!
Anyway, on the way into Hvar we are told this is the glitziest town in all of Croatia. People like Beyonce and JayZ spend time here; wow were we excited! Hvar is TINY though! We dock the boat and see about 6 restaurants, then a couple streets of shops, more restaurants and some street vendors. Yea - took all of 20 minutes to walk around the city! But it was high class and pretty. We had decided this would be the day we would try a couple scooters and scoot around Hvar. So, we each get our own scooter and helmet and make our way up this mountain in hopes of reaching the castle at the top. We take off.....OH....a little shaky....this is our first time! But, we make it up the mountain only to realize we need to climb a ton more stairs to make it to the castle. Eh, we were just fine on the scoots so decided to keep going. We stop (JaNae needed a pee break) and decide to go around again and make our way to the castle. Now, we are half way up this mountain and the roads are met on the side by large drop offs. JaNae takes off and doesn't get the 'gas' right, so the scooter and her take off, fall over and slide towards the edge of the road!! OMG! She is now laying in the middle of the road, scoots on top of her and we are freaking out! Luckily, no cars came and we were able to get back to the parking area. JaNae's toe was bleeding and her legs bruised, but nothing serious - both of course scared beyond belief. With that, we decided just to go back and try to enjoy the rest of the night. Being a bit sore, we pumped JaNae full of pills and had a nice quiet dinner and then went to bed. Hvar was not all we thought it would be!

Day 8: Split
Yes, we'd already been in Split for a day but since we've done everything in the city worth doing, we decided to go white water rafting up in the hills. 6 of us from the boat went and two others from France were at the start to join us as well. We are split into two boats and head off down the river. I'd never been before, but this was REALLY tame! I was looking for a bit of excitement, but it was a bit like canoeing. At one point, we stopped and let the guys (and a few girls) jump off this huge rock! It was scary watching them climb up this rock - our tour guides had to help everyone. But they jumped and lived - it was awesome! We came up to a smaller rock and our guides said it was much easier to get to the top. So three of us girls went up to JUMP! The one girl who'd gone before jumped in like 2 seconds! Next, the other girl decided to go- she took a bit of coaxing, but went. Then, I stepped up and.....OMG....I think I'm going to puke!!!! It seems SO FAR UP1!! So everyone starts yelling for me to jump and I cannot do it! One of the tour guides came up to give me some motivation - told me he would push me if I didn't jump. I honestly wish he would have pushed me...but, I went! It was crazy! But I'm glad I did it!

So, that was that and we were all shattered! It was 5 hours of craziness!
We get back to split, have a quick dinner and meet everyone out at a bar. When we got there, we heard great news that two of our trip mates got engaged!! Congrats Matt and Becky! It was really exciting and they are so cute together!

Final day - we are set to leave the boat by 9am! OUCH early! We all deport the boat in 90+ heat and our flight doesn't leave for another 4 hours! We needed to catch the bus at noon and it was 9am. We take our bags and realize we only have enough energy to sit in the shade and eat :) We met up with Matt and Becky to catch the bus as we were all on the same flight back to London. We get on our flight in Croatia and it's 30 minutes late taking off - of course our connection in Vienna was only 30 minutes. Yup - we are screwed! Matt and Becky were smart enough to run for it and made the flight back to London but we were stuck in Vienna for another 2 hours with a very annoying couple in the same situation as us. So, we finally got rid of them and had a nice meal. On our flight from Vienna to London, we sat next to the nicest guy who gave us some of the best travel tips ever! Thank you Gunter!

We made it back to London and so did our luggage - Matt and Becky had to go back to Heathrow the next night to get their luggage :( I guess it finally paid off to be patient!

All in all, we've been told that Croatia is prettier than the Greek Islands and will take their words for it! The coast of Croatia is amazing and beautiful! The water was amazing and the cities were very neat. It's worth a trip, but no more than two days in any city!! :)

Croatia Part II (by Beth)

So, JaNae wanted me to blog on the last half of our holiday; only she did 3 of the 8 days! So, it looks like I'm doing most of the work here.....just keeping points ;-)

Day 4: Dubrovnik

So, we get to port after another lovely breakfast (not really - food wasn't that great) and wonderful swim. The port was quite a ways from the heart of Dubrovnik! We all set out to get on a bus to take us to the 'old city', only about half of us make it onto the bus though because it was so packed! Luckily, we made it. The walk to the old city was all uphill and about 1.5 miles; not bad, but it was HOT out. Dubrovnik was such a lovely city! We got a tour around the city from one of the locals - her English was pretty good and she made really funny jokes! At the end of the tour, we went to the 'Hole in the Wall' bar. We literally walked up some stairs and walked into a short doorway in a huge brick wall! We turned a corner and next thing we know, there is a bar built into the rocks and people are jumping off cliffs and rocks into the ocean! Pretty cool, huh?!?!

Next, we have a walk around the city - literally! The old city is surrounded by a huge wall; there are only two ways into the city. So of course we have to walk it to take in the views. Holy cow - we've never climbed so many stairs in such a short amount of time before. Whoever said that London is a natural stairmaster had NEVER been to Dubrovnik! It was amazing though! Then we went to the 'bucket bar' - yes, drinks in buckets! Yummy! The dancing was good, but yes, again we were old and left around midnight. Oh right, but that 1.5 mile walk back to the boat.....that was long, cold and got lost a couple times. Phew - glad that night was over!

Day 5: Mljet

Okay, this wasn't the smallest town we went to (that would have been Trstenik) but it was tiny! Thankfully, there was a HUGE national park there. Everyone in the boat decided to go to the park and have some exercise time! Some people went biking and others (us) went on a canoe; yes, JaNae and I in a canoe. The only thing I can say about that is, if you love your partner NEVER get into a canoe together! We didn't work our oars correctly or in sync.....but we made it! It is an experience we will never forget, but won't ever need to do again. Back to the boat and time for dinner! After a not-so lovely meal, we took a walk along the port (yes, it only took an hour because we walked at 0.00001 MPH. There were restaurants and private yachts all along the harbor, but each restaurant had fish tanks. They will filled with exotic fish and lobster that had been caught that day! We were a bit upset that we didn't know about this before having a crappy dinner somewhere else! We would have eaten TONS of lobster. Anyway, having nothing else to do on this island, we turned in. Some of the others on the boat though decided to drink on the beach a bit longer (yes, those in their early 20s). I guess the locals aren't too keen on loud noise, so yes...they called the cops! Don't worry, no body went to jail but we did hear a LOT of screaming and people running :)

Day 6: Korcula

I think this is my favourite city that we visited. It could have been that our tour guide was the same age and looked EXACTLY like my Grandma or that the city streets were built to resemble fish bones or that the lobster was amazing and cheap!!!! We had another tour around the city and saw some amazing, old buildings, had a free glass of wine, then took a lovely walk around the port. We walked for a bit, but only made it a tiny way along the coast. We decided we were going to have a very nice dinner in this city; so we found a place where the lobster was reasonably priced and we tried to order some dinner. Of course, the lobster they had were already spoken for! UGh! But, they recommended another restaurant not too far away. We went on our way and were the only people in this recommended restaurant. Before we even decided to eat there, one of the waiters brought us a free drink :) And, the other guy brought us out the lobster and told us how much each one cost (yea - way super cheap!!!) so we sat down and had our meal. Two plates of shrimp, two lobster, two before dinner drinks, two deserts, and two more free whiskeys later we were DONE! It was amazing and so cheap! Next we make our way to one of the bars to meet up with the rest of the group. Of course it was fun - everyone on our boat was lovely!

Croatia

Hi there! Ja'Nae again. I am in charge of getting our blogs completed today while Beth works on our taxes.

We are still on a high from our trip as we met our fellow passengers last night for a drink. What a great time. Such a shame to go from beautiful weather to rainy weather, but at least I can get back in my routine. (Geez, I am starting to sound like Beth now!)

Croatia was beautiful. We spent 8 days sailing along the different islands and had the chance to swim in the salty, blue Adriatic Sea. Again, all of our pictures are on Facebook but hopefully we will post some of the best ones on our blog.

Day 1 (Friday) - It's my birthday and we spent 4 hours of it travelling to Split, Croatia. 15 minutes away from landing, my head begins to feel like it is going to explode. I had a bit of a sinus infection and the pressure from the flight was making things much worse. My forehead had a sharp shooting pain and my ears wouldn't pop for the life of me. When we arrived at the Split Airport, we were very surprised at how small it was. Only two people were working the Passport Control line, which is unheard of and once you passed that in 2 minutes you were outside. We waited outside for a bit to catch the bus since it was pretty cheap to get into the city this way vs a cab. We waited and waited hoping that a bus would show up. After 10 minutes, we met another couple girls that were on our flight and waiting for the bus as well. We chatted about the bus situation and what we should do. One of the girls asked a rent a car company when the next bus was coming, he told us it would be another two hours because that is when the next flight comes in. At that point we were a bit frustrated because the bus obviously didn't wait for EVERYONE to get off the plane before it left. After waiting 30 minutes for the bus, we decided just to take a cab because it didn't make sense for us to wait another 2 hours. We negotiated 40 Euro to get to the city centre. After almost getting killed because the driver didn't really know how to drive and someone almost ran us off the road, we still had to negotiate the price because it seemed as though he was trying to rip us off. Whatever, we were in Croatia and I was ready to have a good time. Beth and I were a bit skeptical on our hotel that I had booked for the night. The name of the place we were staying had apartments not hotel listed. We had no idea what to expect. We weren't able to find the reception so I ended up calling and the owner came by and picked us up. The place we were staying was quite nice! I expected pure crap, but the furnishings and style was quite modern and sleek. I will be staying there again!!! I didn't mention that Beth and I travelled in jeans, so once we arrived in our hotel room, we quickly changed into shorts and put on our spf 50. We walked around Split, ate gelato twice, bought a bottle of wine, and had a nice dinner. Ater dinner we always feel that it is appropriate to walk it off. And we did just that. We walked up 750 stairs (it may have been less, but it felt like that many) to reach one of the highest points in Split. We have pictures of the stairs and the views too.

Day 2 (Saturday)- Woke up and had breakfast and made our way to the meeting point for our tour. Our tour consisted of visiting 5 islands, swimming in multiple coves, and sleeping on a cruise boat (sleeps 20 people). As we waited at the meeting point, we stared at one of the boats hoping that it was ours and luckily it was. Soon, we were on the boat and getting settled into our rooms. We had a meeting just after lunch where our tour guide, Kasey, explained the house rules and the itinerary for the week. Everyday we had breakfast from 8 to 10, swim at 11, lunch at 1, and arriving at our destiation at around 4 or 5. Shortly after our meeting we make our first swim stop. As most of you know, I am not a big fan of water and I don't know how to swim. Beth, on the other hand is completely opposite. Prior to our trip, I took swimming lesssons (5) thinking they would make me feel more comfortable in the water and it did. But I still didn't know how to relax enough so that I could float or tread water. The first swim stop I did get in the water but held on for dear life onto the ladder. The captain of the ship had his family on board and his kids or grandkids were watching me. I think they were making fun of me, but I have no idea because they were speaking Croatian. Rude little bastards!!! We make our way back onto the boat and make the attempt to shower before reaching Makarska. If you haven't seen the pictures of the shower, then you should. The place where we showered was the same as the toilet. So imagine a stand up shower, with a sink, and toilet. The shower was connected to the faucet. If the boat wasn't moving, hot water and pressure were hard to come by. Since this was our first night as a group, we all stuck together and had dinner together too. My dinner was not so appetizing. I should've known when I asked the waiter what type of meat it was and his response was 'Mixed. Like hamburger meat' that I shouldn't have eaten it. It did not taste anything like hamburger!!!!! We spent the rest of the night walking along the beach and later meeting everyone at a bar to dance the night away. Being the old couple we are, we headed back to the boat at midnight. I am not sure when everyone else came home, but this was one of the quietest nights of the week.

Day 3 (Sunday)- We wake up and we were already making our way to our next destination- Trstenik. Nothing like waking up to the sun and sea. The ride was a bit bumpy though and most people were seasick (or hungover from the night before). Not too many people went swimming on that day. Trstenik was a VERY small place, smaller than Vermillion, South Dakota. It really took about 15 minutes to walk through the town, but still a lovely town. Croatia is knows for its wine, olives, and olive oil. The wineries are on the sides of very high hills so that when it rains, the grapes soak up what they need and let the rest run off, and due to the position of the water (reflection of the sun) and sun. I didn't realize there was such a science to wine-making. The hills are so steep that the workers have to wear harnesses to prevent themselves from falling. Beth and I decided against wine tasting and hit the beach instead. We swam for about 2 minutes and realized that these little fish were attacking Beth ( I guess she just tasted so sweet!) But seriously they were nibbling at her feet and ankles and it just freaked her out. So she didn't swim for very long. Istayed in the water a bit longer and then they started following me! I quickly made my way out of the water. We think the fish in the water may be those pedicure fish that eat the dead skin from your body, but nothing has been confirmed! Later that night we had a Pirate Party. We didn't have anything that resembled a pirate and didn't want to rip our clothing so we just attended as civilians. The boat party consisted of a few competitions such as tug of war, bobbing for apples, ice cream eating contest, and an arm wrestling contest. I participated in the bobbing for apples contest while my muscle woman wife did the arm wrestling. I am not going to complain, but I think that my team won the bobbing for apples competition. My team did win the tug of war competition fair and square! Our tour also went against another tour - Sail Croatia to see who could win at tug of war, of course we won!!!!! We even did a best two out of three!! Go Travel Talk!!!! (I didn't want to mention it, but Beth lost in arm wrestling.)

Next posts will cover the rest of the trip.

Royal Wedding

I know, I know, I know...this is a bit late. Almost 1.5 months late, but better late than never right? Oh, this is JaNae` writing this lovely blog this time. I didn't even realize that Beth had written one in early May. That's so sweet of her to write one dedicated to our friends and family.

As you can see from the title, I will be talking about our experience at the Royal Wedding. And what an experience it was. I think the best part about the Wedding was that we received another day off. This gave those that didn't want to be a part of the wedding a chance to leave London, or England. The weekend before the Royal Wedding, we had a 4 day weekend because of Good Friday and Easter. The weekend of the Royal Wedding, we had the wedding itself and I believe the holiday was called 'beginning of summer'. But if you planned your holiday just right, you could have taken a very long holiday of 11 days and only 3 were used for PTO (paid time off).

Back to the RW (Royal Wedding). After debating for a few weeks whether to attend or watch on TV, the day prior we decidedd that we should attend. My adventurous wife wanted to camp at Buckingham Palace so that we had a spot for when they kissed on the balcony. (A tradition started by Princess Diana and Prince Charles). I am not that adventurous and wanted to just get up the next morning and make our way to the palace. As we watched the news, we saw many people had decided to camp on the streets and in the park the night before. Well, I love my bed too much and so I got my way. The next thing we had to plan was what time were we willing to wake up. Beth wanted to wake up at 3, although I didn't think it was that necessary I later agreed to waking up that early with her to make the trip. (And no, the tubes were not running yet. They don't start until 6 am.) We made sure to pack waters, cameras, umbrellas, and a few snacks. We were ready to do this!

The morning of, the alarm goes off and Beth hits snooze. We ended up not waking up until 5:30am and headed out the door an hour later. We decided to walk to Westminster since it was closer and see just how many people were there and if we could get a good spot. If we couldn't then we would make our way to Buckingham Palace. For those of you that have not been along South Bank, Westminster Bridge, or the Abbey, it is usually jam packed due to the amount of tourist attractions. The Police had blocked off the streets so there were no cars to be seen.

As we made our way towards Westminster Abbey and Parliament, we began to see the crowd and the line of police along the streets. Thankfully, it was not incredibly packed just yet so we were able to mosey around for a bit and find a good spot. Our spot was standing on a ledge along of the buildings across the street from Parliament. We had scored big time. We were able to see over the heads of those in front of us. It was even better knowing that the wedding party and guests would drive by our spot and we had the opportunity to get some pictures.

As we waited for the wedding party and guests to arrive, we met a few good people from Cambridge. They told us about Princess Diana's wedding and funeral and where they were when it happened. Another lady even told us how she was at the crowning ceremony of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Of course, they were delighted to hear that the Queen gave Prince William and Kate the title of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

By this time, my sister has Facebooked me asking me to fill her in on the details as she was watching it at home. We Facebooked each other back and forth and we even Skyped. I tried to do video but it wasn't working for whatever reason. As the cars started to make their way to the church, she was giving me the play by play as to who was in the car and what they were wearing. When Prince William and Prince Harry drove by, the crowd went wild as if their team just won the championship game. (You can watch our video on the 'Coming of the Princes' on our FB page) You could feel the excitement from everyone and in a strange way it brough everyone together no matter where you were from. (And yes, Jasmine is still giving me the play by play)

Watching the Queen and Duke of Edinburge, Prince Charles and his woman (yes, I forgot her name), and the rest of the wedding party just made it so exciting to be a part of it. Finally, Kate's car passed us and boy did she look beautiful. At that point, I was so happy to be standing on the street with thousands of people who also wanted to be a part of this moment.

The ceremony was played over the loud speakers in the streets and some parks had big screens so you could watch it. Once the words, 'I will' were spoken, everyone cheered again! And now we just waited for them to make their way to Buckingham Palace.

The parade started with the guards taking their positions and marching down the streets on their massive horses. A few minutes later, the newlyweds were being escorted to the palace. That was a pretty neat thing to see. Once they and the wedding party passed, everyone made their way to the palace.

We made our way through St James Park (which is directly across from the Palace) and it felt like the State Fair. Port-a-potties and food vendors were all around. What a sight! It seemed as though everyone had made it to the park and was waiting for the go ahead from the police for us to walk in the streets towards the palace.

We make our way to the palace finally and try to get our spot to view 'the kiss'. Unfortunately, the Queen Mother statue was in our way along with the media and their cameras. We were crammed in one spot and everyone was touching each other and most of us did not see the kiss. At that moment I felt a bit bad and realized that maybe we should've camped out at the palace so that we could get a good spot for the kiss. Oh well, I guess I learned my lesson.

For pictures of the RW, check out our Facebook page.

Roller Coaster

(Written by Beth)
So, as you can tell from our previous blogs, we really love London. Life is amazing here and we know we are lucky to have this opportunity. There is so much culture here and the people are really nice/respectful. It's been really great knowing that people won't stare at us or make comments about our relationship; most of you don't have to deal with this, but it's really shattering emotionally. Things are going well for both of us - JaNae is going to be coaching in the next couple months (as you've read in the last blog) and I'm finally figuring out how to take care of my self! I hate to admit it, but hiring a personal trainer is the best decision I've made recently (or was forced to make - thanks Love). I think I've got it figured out and just need to keep it up!
Last week we 'attended' the Royal Wedding (blog forthcoming) and are going on an 8-day sailing trip to Croatia at the end of this month. And, the 2012 Olympics are coming up next year; just keep your fingers crossed that our ticket application will go through! What an amazing time to live in London - I think we really timed this 'path' well!
I know everyone from back home is tired of hearing how great London is or how much we actually love it here - well....this blog is dedicated to you. No matter how wonderful London is or how good it is for us to be here, there are a few things missing: family and friends! When we moved here, a few people told me that the first 6 months are the hardest; trying to figure out a new country with no support system proves difficult for most people. Luckily, JaNae and I are a strong support system in ourselves so the 6 month (and 12 month) mark came and went with no problem. It seemed like we would never feel the home sickness that everyone talks about. I'm guessing the first year was more like a holiday in our minds because the time was amazing and simply flew by! Now that we are into the 14th month, the sickness has set in.
The only thing we've dwelled (is that a word?) on in the past year is that we gave up our dogs. I'm not sure that terrible feeling will ever go away for us. We knew we would miss out on family and friend gatherings, but we still keep in touch so that hasn't really bothered us (and Jasmine and Jim came to visit, so that helped a lot!). I think that is starting to set in and is maybe at the forefront because we aren't sure when we will have the money to fund another trip home. (I know JaNae calls me her sugar mama, but I'm not really...lol) And, if we do come up with the money, I know we'd like to use it to start a family of our own (at some point). Speaking of that, we are still undecided as to where we would like to raise a kid. It's all do ridiculously complicated! I thought we were lucky because we can literally plan most aspects of having a child, but it's expensive and there are so many decisions to make along with it! DOH! Anyway - I'll cut this off because I could just go on and on and on (and because my boss is probably wondering why I've been typing for so long - oops), but we just have one thing to say:
We love you all and are missing you all more than ever right now. Love to you!!

Coaching Basketball

(This is a post written by Ja'Nae`.) As many of you know, I have accepted a position as a head women's coach of a local basketball academy. I am very excited about this opportunity as this is a dream job. Getting paid a good salary for something that I love. (Luckily I have a sugamama and can trly say that the money is good.) I am in charge of the women's program, but also will expand the academy to different areas of London and add other sports. Having a passion for sports is a a great advantage, but not knowing how things really work in London is a disadvantage. But with the right support system, I really think that this is something that can grow. Currently the program is in West London and we want to expand to north, south, and eastern parts of London. The organization does more than just basketball, but they run a football (soccer) program and have one of the best dance teams in the UK. So, I may have to learn a few moves from their dance team or teach them a few things. You know how we do it in Iowa!!! I attended my first set of basketball games over the weekend. All I can say is that it is quite different than the states. First, there were no signs to let people know where they gym is located. No admission! No concessions, so I couldn't get that hot dog or pretzel that I was craving. The games were to start at 11 am. I walk in and see three spectators in the stands, the scorekeepers, a ref, and a couple coaches. The team that I going to be coaching was playing at 11am, and they were no where to be found. Oh wait, the coach and managers were there shooting around. I thought that maybe the game didn't start until 11:30. 11:10 - 3 players from my team show up and 0 from the team we're playing. Hmmm. What is going on. I thought I would be walking in to a gym with two teams that were warming up properly. 11:15. - Now we have 8 players from the team and the opposing team only has 2. Obviously, there is no sense of time here in London. I knew that it was bad, but not this bad. Especially when it comes to sporting events, one should stick to the schedule. 11:20, at this point I am thinking that the other team has to forfeit since only two of their players have showed up. I see the coach of the opposing team, and he doesn't seem to are that he only has two players. 11:30 - We finally have enough players to start the game. Holy buckets!!! I sat and watched 5 more games of basketball and it was great. By the last one I started to get hungry and tired, but it was a such a close game that I couldn't leave. As I sat through the games, I noticed a few rule differences. The biggest rule difference is the existence of a shot clock. These kids are high school age and the level of play is similar to freshman basketball, with the exception of one team. I couldn't believe they have a shot clock and it's only 24 seconds. I believe they only get 8 seconds to cross half court or else it is a violation. No one sets screens or calls plays all that often. It was a track meet. Don't even get me started on the refs. They are horrible. I don't know how many times I saw a kid travel or get fouled. They were so horrible that two fights broke out! The first fight was a girls game. Player A's team had rebounded the ball and they headed down the court. The player guarding Player A was walking back to play defense (poor attitude), we'll call her Player B. Well Player B came up from behind and tried to get the ball back from Player A, but failed. I guess Player A said something to Player B which made Player B a bit upset and got in Player A's face. Player A kinda stepped up, then stepped back down and maybe said something else. Next thing I see is Player B reaching out to grab Player A's hair and the fists are out. Each threw about 2-3 punches before someone broke it up. This happened during the final seconds of the game. Fight #2. Well, this wasn't really a fight but morelike an outburst by the coach. Yes, I said coach. I am not sure what happened, but a timeout was called and I see the coach trying to rush the bench of the other team. I thought, 'Oh, my!'. The refs and his players tried to calm him down but he started yelling and trying to get his 'posse' to stop holding him back. Then he did something reminded me of how some 3 year olds will act when they are upset. As his friends were holding him, they mostly had him by his jacket, he pulled one of those maneuvers where you simply slide out of the jacket and free yourself. Well, that's what he did. I don't know if I did a very good job describing it, but it really reminded me of a 3 year old. One of the bigger refs took him outside to have a chat with him. I thought for sure that he would be kicked out and not allowed back in. I was wrong. 10 minutes later he comes strutting back in and trying to get the crowd hyped up like he is an all star now. He sits on his bench, but doesn't coach or say much. At this point his team is losing. The game was so very close and unfortunately, his team ended up winning by one point. There were so many emotions that I thought they won the NCAAs. This wasn't a tournament at all. Just a game, but it was so much more to these boys because one of them was crying. I chuckled to myself and left the gym. The best team that I saw was Peckham. The way they play reminded me of East. Very, very athletic with a couple having the potential to play at University (College) in the States. They were very fun to watch, but I can't say the same about playing them. It is only April, and I feel like I have so much to do before the season starts. I found a couple players that I would like to recruit and of course, it is entirely up to them whether or not they want to try out. The team has about 7 players already and two additional girls are intested in playing. If I can have a team of 10 players, I will be happy. It's only the first year and these things take time. Ideally I'd like to have 20 players try out for the team. We'll see.................

It's Been A Long Time. We Shouldn't Have Left You...

(This post was originally written in January and now we are finally posting.) Like my boy, Timbaland says off Aaliyah's song from that movie with Chris (I don't remember his last name but it is NOT Rock) and Jackie Chan - Oh yeah, Rush Hour. Wait a second, wrong black guy and wrong Asian dude!!! The movie with this song is with Jet Li and Aaliyah. (The guy's name is Chris Tucker in case you were wondering.) The song is called 'Try Again.'. So, like I was saying... Like my boy, Timbaland says from the song called 'Try Again'. " It's been a long time. We shouldn'ta (or if you are using proper English like the Queen it's should not have) left you. Left you, without a dope beat to step to. Step to..." If you don't know the song, then I am very disappointed. By the way, RIP Aaliyah. Here's a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEF_-IcnQC4 I am sure that most of you are wondering where we have been and why it's been such a long time since we last blogged. You have questions that you want to ask such as 1) how was the trip back home 2) when are we coming back 3) just how different is London vs Iowa, or the states in general 4) when are we going to start having kids. Your questions may differ, but these are the most common we had while we were back in the states visiting. Question 1) How was our trip back to the states? I am trying this new thing of saying how I feel instead of keeping it all inside. Why? Well, when I keep things bottled up, I tend to blow up on the one person that doesn't deserve it. Which is most of the time my wife-Beth. So with that being said, I am going to let loose. If I offend you, don't be so sensitive. I am purely saying how I feel just as much as you have your right to say what you feel. So here, goes. After a 12 hour flight from London we, or I, thought it would be a good idea to meet up with friends in Omaha at a local bar. Those that were able to make it out, we want to say thank you for coming to see us. There were just too many people that we wanted to see in Omaha and this was the easiest way for us to do it. The funny thing is by the end of the night, I think Jasmine had more friends show up to the bar than we did!!! We stayed up for more than 24 hours starting from the time we woke up in London to when we went to bed in Omaha. We hadn't driven for at least 6 months and once we were in the car from the airport, we realized that we hated driving. Having to drive and pay attention to what others are doing as well as still keep my eye on the road, just isn't worth it. Taking the tube is so much easier. I walk to a tube station, wait for someone to pick me up and they drop me off at my location. Heck, I'd rather take a 15 minute walk instead of a 5 minute drive to the grocery store. Which brings to me to my next point, we as Americans drive everywhere!!! Now, there are those that live in the bigger cities like NY and Chicago who make good use of mass transportation, which is good. Cause I simply could not imagine driving in those cities on a daily basis. But on a nice sunny day, why did I get in my car to drive 5 minutes when I easily could've walked for 15 to 20? Why did I go to the grocery store to buy food for two people that could actually feed a neighbourhood instead of buying just what I needed for the next couple days? I know the answer though, it is because we have giant refrigerators that must be filled all the time with food that consist of perservatives that makes it last longer. Gross!!! The food in London is so fresh that it only lasts a couple days. If not eaten, it goes bad. Even the fruit and veg doesn't last as long as it does back home. I am not declaring that I am be the healthiest person alive, but there are big differences that I have noticed in my life when I travelled. If we do move back to the states, having the healthier lifestyle would be difficult because in the states, the unhealthy is way more convenient and cheaper and it's opposite here. Question 2) When are we ever coming back? Well not for awhile.....We really like it here and we've been able to lead healthier lives than back home. Not having to worry about a car, car insurance, etc is really nice. Walking everywhere has really put things in perspective for me - It's not so bad after all. Plus, having the opportunity to walk in a place such as London offers so many opportunities that would be missed in a car. Question 3) Just how different is it? The food standards are higher. When we first arrived, I was afraid to eat anywhere but McDonalds cause I knew it was going to be consistent no matter where I was. I must tell you....the fries were not nearly as greasy, it actually tasted like a potato and the chicken tasted fresher too. The people respect each other more. People do not discriminate nearly as much because of our differences. I don't know how many times we have told people that our marriage is only legal in 5 states and they (the English and Londoners) just can't believe it. Why is it only legal in 5 states? Everyone deserves the same rights no matter what color, race, or sexual orientation one may be. They are preaching to the choir. There have been multiple times that Beth and I have been to the pub minding our own business, and people will randomly have a chat with us. We will end up spending the entire night hanging out with each other because we got along so well. In the states, that rarely happened to us unless we were getting hit on by a couple of guys. Oh, the guys here do not hit on us. Once we tell them we are lesbian or 'she's my wife' they are respectful and leave us alone or ask about our story. It's not the typical 'oh well you have never been with me and i'll make you straight.' Question 4) when are we going to start having kids? After all our travelling is done and when you create a fund that will help us with the process! It is a bit disappointing that no one really wanted to hear about our experiences in London. There were a few that actually cared but not that much. We were warned prior to our travels that it would be this way, but we didn't really believe it. Now we know. People only want to know: 1) When are you coming back 2)When are you going to start having kids 3) Do you miss home. That's it really. I think it is safe to summarize as this: We LOVE our families, we LOVE our friends, we LOVE who we are better in London than who we were in the States. So if you ask me question 2 again, we aren't coming back!!!!!!!!!!! Unless financially we are no longer able to make it or something happens to our families. :-)