Baby Blogging: The End of Maternity Leave!

It's been 3 days of being back to work after maternity leave. My wonderful wife helped me time my return so that I had a bank holiday at the end of my first week and start of my second. So even though Annabelle and I have had 3 days apart we will have 4 days together to make up for it.

How have I felt? Well where do I start. Emotional. Pleased. Sad. Positive.

I had grand plans to be in London twice in the week to see my team but last minute the company who acquired us announced we had a company day in Bournemouth on the Wednesday. On reading the email my heart sank. I had prepared myself to head to London for the day and race back to see Annabelle at bedtime. I hadn't prepared myself to be away overnight immediately.

After a few deep breathes, a lot of tears and a period of gathering myself Laura and I started on a plan for the week. If there is one thing Laura does so well it's plan. And once a plan was in place things didn't seem so bad.

Lovely good luck messages

Rather than heading into London on Tuesday I would work from home clearing my inbox and completing eLearning. The urgency of seeing my team was lessened as they would all be in Bournemouth the next day. Laura dropped Annabelle at nursery and she popped home for lunch. We went to pick Annabelle up together so we could both get the low down on her first day at nursery. My first day was a dream.

Heading to nursery

The good news is nursery went well. We have video access that means we can log in and see how she's doing. We saw her eating, sleeping and crawling around the place. No tears and no drama. She is a superstar. Laura and I on the other-hand had a kind of heavy sadness and missed her all day. The sadness only lifted when the nursery staff said she had a great day.

After I finished work we spent the evening as a family, this included bathing Annabelle as she stunk of the mackerel she'd had for snack at nursery. We played, we made her smile and it felt so good to be back in our bubble. After getting Annabelle to bed I then hit the road.

A three hour drive from Birmingham to Bournemouth meant I arrived at my hotel at 10pm. Well I say my hotel.....they had no record of my room being booked and there were no rooms left. After 45 mins and the receptionist rushing around looking stressed they found me a room and I fell into bed at 11.15pm.

My trip to Bournemouth left Laura to get Annabelle up and ready the next morning. Not a major challenge except as I have never spent the night apart Annabelle has never had a bottle in the morning - first thing feeds are our thing. Laura rocked it though, after initial tears Annabelle took the bottle and made it to nursery in time. Laura is a hero!

My all day meeting in Bournemouth had an end time of 4pm (and then drinks which I skipped). As soon as I could I rushed up to my colleagues room where I had my bags and where I been pumping. Turns out breast feeding and work - especially all day meetings - are not good combinations. I had to leave the meeting twice (although timed one pumping session for lunch) and pumping is not a 2 mins task. Each time I was gone for almost half an hour. What with the sterilising and the prep and then the pumping. Oh and then having to have storage - I went with bags and ice packs that the hotel kindly kept in their freezer.

So after getting all my stuff together it was 4.30pm. A 3 hour drive - at rush hour - made the likelihood of getting back for Annabelle's bed time unlikely. I was devastated. I had consoled myself on missing the morning by being home in time to see her face before bed. Throughout the journey the traffic got worse, then better, then worse, then better and then by some miracle cleared so that my journey took 2 hours 48 and got me back for 7.20pm. Laura had kept Annabelle awake and it was so worth it. The smiles and hugs were amazing. My heart was so happy.

And then as all my team stayed down in Bournemouth it made my Thursday trip to London  redundant as there was no-one there to see. Instead I worked from home getting myself set up for the next week and getting all my log-ins restored. It meant I could have from 7am until 9am with Annabelle before my parents took her to theirs. It made up for the being away from her the day before.

I know the whole work/life balance is a challenge for everyone and our challenge isn't unique. What I am proud of is the way we handled this challenge. I know we are 3 days in and it's nothing to get excited about BUT Annabelle got on well at nursery, Laura managed to manage everything and I managed to go to work. We managed, we succeeded and we survived without too many tears! And our reward - four glorious days together, back as a four, back in our bubble, back being us.

The new us can wait a few days, we'll figure that out soon enough!

Annual Bloggers Bash - We've Been Nominated - Please Vote!

Hello there!

How are you?

This post is going to deviate from our usual posts. Rather than sharing our experience of life, travelling, recipes, wedding guides, fun facts, pregnancy, motherhood or LGBT info this post is a simple request, a request for your vote.

Last week we were informed that SarahplusLaura.blogspot.co.uk has been nominated for best lifestyle blog at the Annual Bloggers Bash.

We are up against great competition and are one of 30 blogs in the category so even being nominated is something of a shock.

So if you have ever read anything on our blog and taken anything away; a bit of advice, a smile, the feeling of 'me too' or that you aren't alone then please give us a vote. If you have ever learnt something - a travel hack, a fun fact or something about LGBT rights then please vote. If you stop by here frequently or this is your first time (stick around a while) then please vote. If you like our pictures, our stories or just our approach to life then you know what we'd appreciate the vote.

And here's how you vote, just click this link it'll take you to the official voting page. Once there you will see a list of categories and the nominated blogs. Find the lifestyle category about halfway down and Sarah Plus Laura towards the bottom of that list.

Simply select the circle by our name and job done! You voted and we are super grateful. 

The closing date is the 24th of April

For anyone who has followed our journey from the very start when we were called Sprezzatura (appreciating the little things) to our name change to SarahplusLaura, from our getting together in London in 2009, to moving to Australia in 2010, getting engaged in 2012 and married in 2014 (twice), getting Bisbee and buying a house in Birmingham and then adding Annabelle to our girl gang in 2018 - thank you for being part of it! For anyone who has joined us along the way - thank you too! And if you are just joining us, well hi! Our blog may not be the best organised (we are working on it) but it is full to the brim with posts on so many things, so we hope you find something of interest.

Blogging is our hobby, a joint effort to help us track our life, but also to share things we have learnt along the way, especially lessons and insights we think will be useful to others. It has presented us with amazing opportunities and we have met wonderful people, for that we are always grateful. It's helped us get to know the great city we live in and have experiences that we never expected. In no way did we start it to get awards but as with most things in life the unexpected can be a great (and pleasant) surprise.

And so if you did vote, thank you. If you didn't vote then no worries we hope you come back and find a post of interest some other time. Or if blogs aren't your thing find us on Instagram (and Instagram stories where you'll see all sorts), Twitter or Pinterest just search SarahplusLaura.

Laura on the right and Sarah on the left, not our usual order :)

Ah that's better!

10 Years Together!

10 years ago this beautiful American girl came into my life and I didn't know then but she would change everything!

I was in awe, I was amazed, scared, impressed, confused, smitten all at the same time. And before long I knew I was infatuated. After infatuation came love and after love came more love, and more love until I realised I couldn't be without her. The love I felt made every minute apart feel like a waste and every second together feel like the best. 

Her strength, courage, patience, perseverance, ability to plan, her expectations they are everything that has made our life what it is. I am beyond grateful that the life she planned is beyond my wildest dreams.

It is because of her that we are who we are and have what we have. 

Laura I love you, I loved you then, I love you now and I will always love you.

Our all about our post can be found here!

Our seven year together post is here!

And our love story is here!

We may be 10 years in but honestly we are just getting started!

I read this post from Twitter the other day and agree that to make things work you HAVE to be team mates. It really is that simple - here is the Twitter thread! 

We are celebrating down in Cornwall thanks to Love Newquay, a new location for us and great place to have our next adventure!

Happy Saturday!

Valentine's Day - Throwing It Back!!

Bringing back a 2012 post:
Love was in the air yesterday, as we celebrated our first Valentine's Day together in London. Laura has always loved Valentine's Day (heck, what holiday doesn't that girl love??), and though Sarah hasn't ever taken much notice of it (except since being with Laura, because it gives her a chance to show off her amazing present-giving/spoiling skills!), she (Laura hopes) has learned to love it too. This is why we thought we'd share with you our Valentines Days of old. 

Now, we've talked a lot about Valentine's Day on this blog over the last week or so, but we hope you'll bear with us and enjoy a look back at our three V-Days as a couple. And also a fourth, when we were just close friends. It'll give us a chance to see how our relationship has changed and grown over the years! Lets go in chronical order, because we like it that way. 

V-Day 2009 
Valentine's Day happened less than one month after we became inseparable 'friends' (if you haven't read it, you can check out our love story here - SPOILER: The girl gets the girl in the end). We had become close (while Laura was consoling Sarah's ex-boyfriend) and Laura blew off her then-boyfriend to spend the evening with Sarah at her flat. He should have seen it coming, right? Anyway, we spent the evening eating Chinese takeaway, watching the Top 50 Love Songs countdown on VH1, singing along dramatically to most of them, and...full on spooning. Even though we didn't actually get together for another month (our anniversary is March 16th). Seriously, looking back, we were never really 'just friends'! Laura couldn't have been happier with her choice of date for V-Day. 

V-Day 2010 
Almost one year into our relationship, and practically living together to the point where Laura's poor roommates almost called an intervention about their elusive 5th housemate, we said goodbye to the awful job we were working at together, and headed to Australia for a year. As ya do. We spent our first Valentine's Day officially together on an airplane to Singapore for a 14 hour layover before heading to Sydney. As we sat in the departure lounge together, we each sheepishly pulled out little gifts we had gotten each other, despite agreeing we weren't going to get presents!! *Insert collective awww here* The little monkey in underwear (Hot Pants Monkey, as we call him) has gone on all our trips since. We drank our first Singapore Sling on the plane (at Laura's Mum's suggestion), watched movies and enjoyed our plane ride. When we arrived in Singapore, we explored the city in the time we had - took a London Eye -like ferris wheel, saw some monuments, temples, and got incredibly hot and sweaty. We actually fell asleep on the bus back to the airport, and the driver had to wake us up when we arrived!! 

VDay on a plane and in Singapore!

V-Day 2011 
This is the only not-so-great Valentine's tale. Laura flew back from her home in Idaho for the first week of February to be with Sarah in time for Valentine's Day (to provide back story, after Sydney we went to Idaho, Sarah came back to the UK for Christmas and Laura stayed behind with her family), but Sarah, who had just gotten a new job, had to go on a business trip to Barcelona for Valentine's Day!!! So Laura spent V-Day job hunting, and Sarah spent it at a conference. Essence of romance, right? When Sarah returned, Laura lit candles and placed them around the house, made her a few gifts, and we had a little celebration. 

That brings us to today!! 

V-Day 2012 
All is right in the world again [read: we work together now]. Before work, Laura got a lovely homemade card. Laura wrote on 30 or so red paper hearts - each one with one thing she loves about her Sarah. She hid them around throughout the day. Sarah obliviously missed two in the morning, one in the bathroom and one in the bedroom, but she can't be blamed, as nobody is fully awake until about 11am in our house! 

Ahhhh nice to know there's more than 1 reason to love me S xo

Sarah gave Laura a beautiful little card and a clue to the activity we would be doing in the evening. The clue was a handwarmer!! Laura was as in-the-dark as ever. 

Laura got delivered to work (actually, she snuck out to pick it up, and got the receptionist to tell her it had been delivered. Shhhh!) a giant cookie with the words 'Nothing's as sweet as you!! L&S' on it in strawberry icing, Sarah's favourite!! Funny though, when she went to pick it up, they had written 'Nothing's as free as you!! L&S' on it - erm... I don't think that sends the right message!! But they fixed it and Sarah was none the wiser. 

'Nothing's as sweet as you' - ahhhh

After a full day's work, lots of little paper hearts and even more cookie-eating, we headed off to our surprise location. On the tube on the way there, Laura got a card that finally told her where we were going - ICE BAR LONDON!!!! SO EXCITING!!!

It was really cool ;)

The Ice Bar was amazing. We were given warm hooded ponchos, and went into the bar - it was like stepping into a completely different world! The bar was made of ice, the walls were made of ice, the glasses were made of ice - so wonderful! We had 40 minutes in there, drank some yummy cocktails out of the ice glasses, and Laura took over 100 photos. In 40 minutes. That girl takes pictures at the speed of light. It was a lovely surprise, and Sarah kept her title of best present giver!!!

We then went home, like the poor old ladies we are, and ate Laura's homemade stew for dinner with Sarah's famous mashed potatoes (instead of going out to eat). It was delicious, and the added bonus of being able to snuggle right afterwards was so great!!

We ended the night Skyping Laura's little brother, Jason in Idaho - not the most romantic end to Valentine's Day, but as usual he was hilarious and we loved seeing him!

V-Day is over for another year, and we can't wait to see what next February brings!!

What was the best Valentine's Day you have ever had and why??

Lots of love,

Laura & Sarah xo 

Baby Blogging: Vlog 6 Months Of Annabelle!

Somehow Annabelle is 6 months old! Time has absolutely flown and at some point soon we will do a roundup of all the milestones we have experienced so far.

Being Mummies has been the best challenge we have had together so far. We make sure and enjoy time with Annabelle together and separately every single day. Watching her grow and develop has been fun and a privilege. Sometimes we can't believe how lucky we are.

That's not to say we haven't experienced major challenges, just as we feel like we are getting the hang of it something changes. The nap length, what makes her smile, what makes her cry, what makes her giggle. Her favourite toy, her favourite position to sit in, her favourite people and the latest one - the position she sleeps. Everything is up for changing. Or we'll have a cold that throws everything out of whack and we have to figure everything out again.

You may have seen this post on the the Sleep Situation which I think has been our biggest challenge overall.

However Annabelle is a 6 month bundle of joy and here's our latest vlog with a few updates, click here.

So if you have a spare 12 mins and want to check it out enjoy :)

We will be trying to do more videos this year but in the meantime we are always on Instagram and Instagram stories, you'll find us @SarahplusLaura

Annabelle's Naming Day Ceremony!

What's a naming day ceremony is usually the first question we get asked when we mention that instead of a christening we opted for a Humanist Naming Day.

The answer is simple, it is a simple, heartfelt, personal ceremony where the child, Annabelle in our case, is officially named in front of family and friends.

For our Naming Day the ceremony included the following:

• A Humanist Celebrant, Blake, who lead the ceremony and had helped us come up with what to include
• Readings by Sarah's sister and close friends Allie and Anita
• Introduction of the Guideparents (think God parents without the religion)
• Time for the Grandparents to place handwritten letters to Annabelle in an envelope that we sealed and will open on her 18th birthday
• A ceremonial rose planting from Laura and I
• Parents promises to Annabelle
• Bracelet warming

In total the ceremony lasted half an hour and we were lucky enough to have a stunning, autumnal, sunshining day so were able to have it in my parents back garden surrounded by loved ones. 

With a selection of chairs placed on the lawn we started the ceremony. Thankfully Annabelle slept through the entire thing. Laura and I were emotional from the very beginning and cried more than a few times. By the end we were being told it was far more personal than any christening anyone had attended. And at least half the attendees had shed a tear.

Annabelle wore a dress we had been gifted and a cardigan I had worn at my Christening, knitted by my Mum. 

We had met Blake a few weeks previously to talk through the ceremony and listen to his suggestions about what to include. We combined these ideas with our own touches. For example the bracelet warming was just like our ring warming at the wedding. We placed the bracelet/rings on a heart and passed this amoungst the guests. Each guest had to pass on positive thoughts and wishes whilst holding the bracelet/rings and then pass it on. It is a lovely way to include everyone. 

The readings we chose included a more general one about our hopes for Annabelle as she grows - strength, compassion, empathy, love, laughter and a million other things that will make her into a well rounded person. 

Allie and Anita did a reading - they have been super supportive since Annabelle arrived

The second readings were lyrics taken from Jason Mraz 'Have It All'. It was the song Annabelle arrived into the world to and will always be special to us. We mentioned it in her birth story here. The lyrics include:

May you have auspiciousness and causes of success
May you have the confidence to always do your best
May you take no effort in your being generous
Sharing what you can, nothing more nothing less
May you know the meaning of the word happiness
May you always lead from the beating in your chest
May you be treated like an esteemed guest
May you get to rest, may you catch your breath

And may the best of your todays be the worst of your tomorrows
And may the road less paved be the road that you follow

Well here's to the hearts that you're gonna break
Here's to the lives that you're gonna change
Here's to the infinite possible ways to love you
I want you to have it
Here's to the good times we're gonna have
Here's to you always making me laugh
Here's to the fact that I'll be sad without you
I want you to have it all

*Tears rolling just writing this*

The Guideparents were all chosen for different reasons. When asking each person we had created a box that included the reasons we were asking them. From being thoughtful, charming, 'all in', empowering, strong, generous we gave reasons we wanted Annabelle to be like them. Unlike God parents this wasn't about asking them to teach Annabelle about God, it was asking them to guide her as she grows. 

The rose planting was symbolic as we have a rose planted for each of our Mum's, (my Mum is red, Laura's Mum is yellow) our wedding (white) and our anniversary (pink). We chose an apricot rose for Annabelle. The sentiment is that as Annabelle grows so will the rose. We will help her take care of it, as we will help to care of her. My Mum has had roses she takes with her whenever she moves house, we plan to do the same (if we ever move). 

We set our parents the biggest challenge as we asked them to write a letter of advice, of lessons learnt, of things they want her know. It meant the world to us that they put so much time and effort into the letters and look forward to reading them with Annabelle.

We also explained why we had picked the name, Anna = graceful, Belle = beautiful. We also liked the fact (that unlike Sarah and Laura) Annabelle can be shortened to different names. We actually picked it at the 20 week scan when we found out she was a girl and I was wearing a top that said 'tu est Belle'. Her middle name Robin, is in tribute to Laura's Mum who is battling cancer.

Our guests had travelled from Scotland, Brighton and tons of places in between so we also asked each guest to sign a puzzle piece and add a note so that when Annabelle is old enough she can play with the puzzle and see who was there on her naming day. 

After the ceremony we had 'Annabelle's afternoon tea'. Laura had made scones, that we added clotted cream and a selection of jam to. We also had a Victoria sponge, other nibbles and a Bellini bar! 

The ceremony was even more perfect than we could have hoped and the memories made are ones we look forward to sharing with Annabelle as she grows.

Laura's Disney Themed 30th!

Okay so just a heads up the next few posts will be photo heavy review posts because we have had a busy few weeks and I want to document the events before they become a distant memory.

• First - this post - a look back on Laura's 30th birthday celebrations.
• Second - Annabelle's Naming Day, a non-religious celebration of Annabelle to officially welcome her into the world.
• Third - 4 years of Bisbee. We can't quite believe it but our furry daughter is a whole 4 years old!

So on the 6th of October 2018 Laura finally turned 30. We always say finally as Laura has always seemed the older of us, more mature, more sorted, more capable. Most of our friends are in their 30's and if anyone knows our 'how we met' story they may remember that Laura said she was the same age as me. So yes finally Laura turned 30!

My tribute to her was shared on the day here.

With more than a little help from friends and family the party prep had all happened the week before. A marquee had been put up in my parents garden, a trip to Costco had filled the fridge and freezer and costumes were prepared. Our lounge had become an arts and craft zone with Hobbycraft making a small fortune from us. I had the idea to turn my parents dining room into a fairy tale castle complete with stain glass window, chain-link castle door, bunting and fire torches hanging from the wall. It would be where Laura's birthday cake would sit and where people would come for the food.

The marquee was decorated with banners, balloons, more torches and fairy lights - so many fairy lights and Laura's very own Disney Castle. Okay this was a 6ft cut out version but it was Laura's castle.

If it hadn't been for the collective effort of friends from across the world it would never have happened. Kate had flown in from Australia on Wednesday and threw herself into the prep, Mike (Kate's brother) arrived on Friday from his European travels, Alison arrived from Norway on the Saturday and we met Wally who arrived from Brighton at my parents. The whole gang went to work and the result was better than my vision....and better than I could have achieved.


My parents had kept the team well fed with fish and chips and after the house was decorated it was on to everyone getting themselves getting ready.

Everyone who came dressed up. Laura's parents had flown in from the USA and with Laura as Elsa her Mum had chosen to be Elsa's Mum in Frozen. Her Dad was the beast.

My parents stayed true to their British roots and opted for Mary Poppins and Bert.

Laura's brother and my Sister and boyfriend went for a Toy Story theme as Buzz, Jessie and Woody. Cute as they are Annabelle's Aunt and Uncles.

The effort put in on costumes was amazing, all the Princesses were there - Belle, Alice, Ariel, Cinderella (in a furry form) Sleeping Beauty, Snow White....and Elsa.

There were a few villains including Ursula and Creulla. Sebastian ad Dory found their way from the sea, as did Captain Jack Sparrow.

A few 'true' Disney characters - Mickey, Minnie, Daisy Duck, Pinocchio, Popeye! And so many more. The effort everyone put in made Laura's night. Plus the photo opps were endless and anyone who knows Laura knows she loves a good photo opp.

The cake that sat in the castle room was made by Laura's good friends Allie and Anita. It was surrounded by delicious cupcakes in different flavours.

The other star was a delicious taco dip made by Kate, it was so good people queued to get some, and a few just pulled up chairs to eat what they could.

The night also included pass the parcel and a pub quiz - mainly Laura and Disney themed so there was something for everyone.

What my parents neighbours must have thought as the party ended and everyone streamed out to taxis is yet to be heard.

We can't thank those who attended enough. It was a dream come true for Laura and it was a magical evening that we will remember forever!