Allie in the South of Spain

First off, we went back to the doctor this week and everything looks good with the girls. Vera is slightly larger than her sister but we were told that this is normal in fraternal twins since they are in reality not any more alike than any other siblings. Here are their latest ultrasound pictures: Here is probably the best picture we have gotten of Laura And here is Vera Jose and I have finally decided on the name for our second twin: Laura. I felt bad for a while since we had known from the beginning that if we were going to have a girl that we would name her Vera. It is a name that we both liked but it isn't a family name or one that has any special kind of meaning in reality. I just think it's beautiful and like that it is short and simple. When we found out we were going to have two girls we started to explore other names. For me it was important to chose names that would be easy for people to pronounce both in the U.S. and here in Spain. I didn't want to hav...

Here we are again with another Christmas card blog for everyone. These are actually some of my favorite to write. I just looked back at the last three years of card blogs and it's really nice to have a wrap-up of everything we did and enjoyed throughout the year (and I hope you enjoy them too). Plus the pictures are fun to compare as well. The last three years we have done the same pose in our apartment with Cooper and our tree. Next year with the twins here we might have to mix things up. Here you can read past card blogs and see how we have changed: Christmas 2012 Christmas 2013 Christmas 2014 Usually I do a top 10 countdown of wonderful things that we did or experienced over the year. I am going to follow that format again and here goes: 10. Having some very good friends, Erica and Ernie, visit us over our past Christmas vacation. We had an awesome time with them doing a lot of wine tasting and showing them the south of Spain. 9. After Erica and Ernie left we heade...

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the U.S. and obviously like most everyone else we have a lot to be thankful for here in Spain. It might not be surprising that the foremost thing that comes to mind at this point when listing things that I appreciate are the two little babies that will hopefully be coming sometime in March. We are over half way through the pregnancy and things continue to progress well. Everyone involved is healthy though not always comfortable. Growing two little people is exhausting and though I have had relatively few complaints up until now in this pregnancy (no nausea for example) it seems like lots of little issues are cropping up now. Hello heartburn! Or needing to be very close to close to a bathroom thanks to the little girl sitting on my bladder. All in all though, I can't complain (though I am sure that is coming). Before I move on to another twinning update I would also like to point out that I am thankful for the doctors and nurses who helped us during ...

I figure it is about time for another baby update, so here it is. We are now about 5 months into the pregnancy and things are chugging along. I am still pretty tired a lot and haven't been gaining weight but I do have the start of a baby bump. It seems as if my weight is redistributing itself and each visit to the doctor confirms that both babies are growing exactly the way they should.  Baby A, the best ultrasound picture where you can actually see a baby shape We are not having identical twins but rather fraternal which means that they won't look the same. In fact, fraternal twins are basically like any other kind of sibling just that they are born at the same time. Since they are fraternal we are looking at any combination of sexes for the two babies. A few months ago when we went to the doctor for an anatomy ultrasound in which they checked all the organs and limbs, sizes and whatnot of the babies, neither baby cooperated with the doctor and both stayed in whatever...

I shared this on Facebook last week and wanted to come back to the blog to share our good news here as well: WE ARE PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah, and we are having twins. After about three years of trying we are finally on our way to expanding our family. Of course we are incredibly excited and are trying to wrap our minds around the fact that this spring we will have not only one, but two little ones (if all goes well of course).  Right around this time last year I wrote a blog about my struggles with PCOS for PCOS Awareness month in September (read it here ). I had hoped and prayed that within a year I would be able to share some good news. And here it is! In fact, one of my goals on my 30 before 30 list was to have children and it looks like this is in reach as well. I won't say that getting here was easy. We had to have a lot of patience and positivity when those were in short supply. We luckily found an amazing group of doctors to give us the boost that we needed. It ...

Jose and I have had a sort of rough start to the month of July. We both taught some intensive English courses while also undergoing a pretty serious fertility treatment. Add to that oppressive heat that comes with living in the south of Spain and I was more than ready to see at least part of my family and spend some time with them. Somehow I managed to talk my little sister, Andie, and my mom into a week-long visit. Overlooking the river in Seville Our first two days were spent in Seville where we visited all the major sites in the morning and evening when it wasn't so incredibly hot. Midday was spent back at our apartment. It was a pretty relaxing way to see the city. First lunch at home My mom has been here several times before but it was Andie's first trip to Europe. I am glad she chose to come here to Spain and I think she enjoyed herself. I know she certainly liked the food, especially patatas bravas. Plaza de España  We also had dinner in the village wh...

This summer Jose and I will be staying here in the south of Spain. It's the first time in many years that I will not be back in pure Michigan to spend time with family and friends during my vacation. I am pretty bummed out but by sticking around here for the summer we are hoping to finally be able to grow our family (cryptic enough for you) so I am trying to keep that in mind so as to not get too depressed about having to brave the sweltering sun during the next few months.  In any case, we have to be pretty close to Seville during the month of July and somehow I managed to talk my younger sister (now Dr. Krieg) and mom into coming for a visit. They arrive toward the end of the month and though it will be hot, we plan on lots of time at our pool and visits to places early in the morning and later in the evening. I love hosting visitors and having at least some of my family here will make this summer much more tolerable. Besides seeing Seville and since they arrive to and leave f...

It's been a while. I'll admit that things around here haven't been too exciting and I took a break from blogging but as you can see I am back from my semi-retirement because I. just. can't. I. CAN'T. Maybe you have heard (or maybe it's news to you) that we had our first case of diphtheria here in Spain since 1987 recently because a family decided not to vaccinate their child.  Turns out a six year old contracted the disease and the Spanish government had to go to Russia to find a treatment since nowhere in Europe had it because it's a disease that has basically been eradicated.   I thought that in this sense I was living somewhere more reasonable than the U.S. and that the anti-vaxxer movement nonsense hadn't really made it to this side of the pond. Apparently I was wrong. There are idiots here in Spain too. From the very beginning of this tragedy the press and government have been portraying the parents as victims. Let's get something straight ...

Recently we just wrapped up Semana Santa here in the south of Spain, which is one of the biggest holidays that is celebrated throughout the year. Holy Week is a huge deal around these parts and you can read all about it here . Though I appreciate Semana Santa for its cultural implications, I am not fanatic about going out to see processions each day; I can get by with seeing just one or two. I do enjoy having a week off work and this year my parents came to visit so all in all, it was a pretty nice Easter holiday. First, Jose and I started off visiting the beach in Portugal for a few days before my parents arrived. We went and stayed in an apartment hotel in Quarteira which was right next to the beach and had a pool. The weather was fabulous and there was basically no one around so we had a couple of fantastic days of rest and relaxation. When my parents got to Seville we went back to Portugal since the weather was perfect for heading to the beach. We showed them our favorite ...

As you might know Jose and I love spending time at rural houses around the south of Spain. It is one of our favorite ways to travel and see new places and just recently we headed out east to the Alpujarras region for a long weekend. The Alpujarras are a mountainous area dotted with cozy white villages extending from Granada into Almeria. We spent the first few nights in a tiny town called Laroles after crossing the Sierra Nevada and then the last in Trevelez which is the highest village in Spain. We enjoyed hiking, good food and relaxing by the chimney. Our hike ended up being a bit longer than we had planned but the views were beautiful. Poor Cooper by the end was exhausted. This hike was about 9 kilometers long and wound up through the mountains passing an incredibly old chestnut tree. The weather was just about perfect during our whole trip, warm during the day and cooling off at night. One of our requirements when we book a rural house is that there be a chimney. Usua...

Things have been quiet here on the blog for the last few months but let me explain why. Besides the fact that Jose and I haven't been on any big trips since our last one to Istanbul, life here in the south of Spain has been a routine of work, studying and trying to get through the winter (which is admittedly much milder than what the folks back home have been suffering). When you get right down to it, we have been boring lately, in a bit of a rut. Why you might ask? First because since October I have been completing the CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) offered by Cambridge University. A bit of background: English is very important to people here in Spain. It seems like everyone wants or needs to show their English level whether for job prospects, for University or even as a young learner in primary school. Most people study and prepare some kind of exam and official Cambridge exams are incredibly popular. In any case, native English speaker...

Here is the latest in my 30 before 30 updates. In April I turn 29 which gives me just over a year to try to cross off a whole lot of things from my list but I still feel like things are going well. So far I have completed 17 items and am working on a few more. Who knows, in a few months I might adjust my list again to include different goals or things I want to accomplish. I'll keep you updated! 1. Go on another cruise.  2. Learn to cook Indian food . 3. Start a family (read: have a baby). We are still plugging away at this. Keep us in your prayers. 4.  Find a job in which I am happy with what I do, feel accomplished and appreciated.  5. Visit Morocco. 6. Spend Christmas in Michigan. 7. Walk at least a part of the Camino de Santiago. 8. Drive comfortably here in Spain. 9. Go to (and enjoy) a soccer game. 10.  Find a list of books every person should read, and read them.  11. Visit Ireland.  12. Cook a Thanksgiving dinner solo.    13...

Jose and I had been planning our trip to Istanbul for months, ever since we discovered the low cost airline, Pegasus, which has flights from Madrid. We flew out in the afternoon, arriving in the evening after a looooong four hour flight. Since the company we used was low cost we of course got inexpensive tickets but also had no in-flight entertainment which made the four hours drag. When we got to Istanbul we arrived to the Sabiha Gokcen airport which is about an hour outside of the city itself. We took a transfer to our hotel which was located in the old city center known as Sultanhamet.  We went to check in only to find that we were taken away from the main hotel to a sketchy hostal-like set up complete with rickety staircase, stained pillow cases and disgusting floor. Seriously, Jose and I have stayed in some questionable places (youth hostels) in the past but they were at least clean. This place had been advertised as a hotel and was completely not what was shown online....