Since the docs here in Kyrgyzstan aren't quite up to par- I flew out to London for a big ultrasound and check up! It was fun! I went alone. I left for the Kyrgyzstan airport at 2 am and didn't arrive at my hotel in London until 16 hours later and didn't sleep at all. Maybe 20 minutes??? I've never been good at sleeping on planes. That night at London, I just woke up every hour. Couldn't get my sleeping together- but went to my appointment, the next morning and it was SUPER FAST. Within 20 minutes of walking in the door I found out that, as far as we can tell, the baby is perfectly healthy and is a BOY!!!! First off they almost didn't tell me! I kept trying to catch glimpses and one time I thought I saw something, she said it was the umbilical cord, so I really had no idea which way it was gonna go and then she hangs up the wand thing and says, "All done!" and gets up to leave and I say, "Am I having a boy or girl?" And she stops and says, "Oh. You want to know?" In which I say, "Yes!" Hello???? Is that not normal in the UK? She immediately goes right to the crotch and there it was. I can't begin to tell you how CONVINCED I've been that we were having a GIRL. Even as I was staring at the evidence on the screen, I asked several times, "You're 100% sure? No doubts about it? Absolutely having a boy. Definitely?" And she says yes, FOR SURE, but I still couldn't really believe it and still felt like there was  a girl in there! I really couldn't shake the girl vibes, even though I was staring at a penis, right on the screen. Last night (while talking about names), the idea is finally sounding natural to me. That's a weird thing to say, but it is. Of course we're not telling anyone, but I think we picked out the name last night, and I'm getting really psyched about it! We think it's a really cool name!

Well after my appointment I had the WHOLE DAY to myself and wasn't EXACTLY sure what to do, didn't want to make concrete plans, still being jetlagged and all, but wanted to do SOMETHING. So I went on one of the tour buses! And it was actually really great!

 I didn't have high expectations at all and for some reason thought it might be kind of lame- but it is a really great idea, on so many levels and seriously reasonable priced for what your getting. It was a hop on, hop off bus and it took you straight to every main sight in London. Pretty cool. So I got off at Westminster Bridge and walked a few minutes to Big Ben. I don't know why I love that clock so much, but it's my favorite thing to look at in London. I just think it is the coolest looking building. Last time I was here, I only saw it at night. It was fun seeing it it in day light. Which by the way- it was so beautifully sunny! Couldn't have done better, weather wise. It was awesome- and it was WINDY.

 The whole reason I even went on the bus ride was because it was attached to a HARRY POTTER walking tour. SWEET!!! I was worried I wasn't gonna make it 'cause when I went to the meet spot, the workers (2 of them) had NO IDEA what I was talking about and kept saying to me, "I don't know anything. Ask the other guy. He knows." Then that one would say the same thing and when I went back to the original he sent me AGAIN to the one that said he knew nothing. Before I knew it, I was honestly yelling at him, telling him what an idiot he was. Ok. I never said idiot and maybe I was half way between snippy and actually yelling. But I may have been yelling. I was pretty irritated at how nonhelpful he was being. I was pretty snippy and short patienced with a lot of people, this trip. I was pretty surprised at how confident I was being. And I don't mean confident in a positive way, like it's usually meant. Usually I just keep my anger to myself, let people get away with things that aren't right, because it's not worth the fight and whine about it to Greg later. But this time I just let it all out, nothing held back at all. Even though I was pretty rude, I have no regrets. 

It doesn't show in the pic as well, but this was the alley that inspired Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. It really had a similar appearance and vibe! It quite blew me away, actually! It doesn't show in the picture.

And this was the inspiration for Nocturne Alley and really, in real life it looked so much darker and dingy. It was so cool! So much cooler than the pic. We walked around to sights from movies and sights that inspired her while writing the book. 

Besides the actual TOUR, it was just cool walking around London. The last time I was here, we took the tube everywhere (the metro) and so there wasn't much seeing between the sights. It was straight to and from. I LOVED seeing everything else! Normal shops, normal restaurants. Normal life. It was really cool and I think London is just great. And everyone is SO FRIENDLY and c'mon- everyone speaks english! So that's a major plus. But really, what a beautiful city with beautiful old buildings (like so much of Europe). It was so nice being in a first world country. Since Kyrgyzstan, stepping back into the first world is like stepping into Paradise- and that is no exaggeration.

This pic isn't really exciting, but it's Trafalgar Square. There was a free bathroom there.

The next day I was really tired, probably from walking around the day before, and so I just lazed around in my hotel room until my taxi took me back to the airport. I really had a great time! The only thing I DIDN'T get to do- was go to a Chef Ramsey restaurant. It's sort of a dream of mine. Well, the REAL dream is to eat at Hell's Kitchen, but I'll take a Ramsey restaurant in it's place. There was one pretty close to my hotel, but the timing never worked out. But that's ok. I liked experiencing London, better than eating an amazing meal. Though I don't think there's much that compares to a meal that changes your life forever. I really wanted to see a Broadway show, but since I couldn't stay awake past 7pm (jetlag) that wasn't an option.

It was so nice to have uninterrupted time. I don't know whether I "lived it up" while I was there- but I had a really good time and was glad I got to do a couple fun things. I was ready to get back to my loved ones though. One day of fun was enough for me. I missed holding my little Brighton! I wanted to kiss all those soft cheeks of my kiddos! I was really surprised- we really thought B was gonna melt  down when I left, but Scarlet seemed to miss me a lot more. It was good- I was glad he was fine without me, and it made me feel good that Scarlet missed me so much. 

I'm happy to be staying home for awhile and not traveling. I'm hoping the warm weather will bring with it healthy living! We shall see. I am letting my driver go in 3 weeks and I'm actually really excited. We've never used him, for as much as we're paying for him, but it was always worth it because I never knew where to go and we were constantly sick and he helped a lot with that, grocery shopping a such. But I have faith we'll be well, and even if we aren't, we'll still get by. Now we have a couple friends that live around the corner, so we don't have to drive somewhere just to have entertainment, and when the snow melts I can walk to the bazaar for groceries and even walk to a little park. I LIKE walking and miss it so much, as well as my independence. It will be nice to be free of the pressure of getting out more than I want to and having to constantly time everything to the minute. That's difficult with little kids! Walking awakes all your senses where as a car, just binds you to the seat and sitting traffic and I feel my life being sucked away as the minutes tick by. Not to mention my kids always struggle in the car and I have had to suffer a LOT of crying while stuck driving somewhere. Walking 15 or 20 minutes in the sun, moving your body, feeling the fresh air- there's nothing bad about that. And then just leaving when you want to- not the exact time you committed to is so much more freeing. I won't feel the pressure of having to call someone or use someone or not be able to change my mind later. I think many would think not having a car would have the opposite effect, but I really think the quality of my life is going to greatly improve! We'll see what happens next winter. Walking on ice, isn't so much of an option- so we may get a driver again, or just stay at home a lot more. We'll have to see when it comes. But I really can't wait to start walking again! Hopefully the ice is gone by then!