Florida Vaca March 2017: Part 1

Day 1, Sunday March 5:
The night before our trip I was really hating myself for picking the early flight. I procrastinated with a lot and felt unprepared. I was googling parking reviews at 10:30 PM and Andy was angry with me..

Neither of us slept well but were both feeling fine come 2AM. Everything was ready to go so I pretty much rolled out of bed, grabbed Elliott and went to the car. She didn't fall asleep till 9:45 the night
before, so I was hoping she'd sleep in the car. Nope! But she wasn't cranky. The roads were empty and we got to our parking lot shortly after 4AM. We booked with PreFlight Airport parking which was really nice as far as airport parking goes. The shuttle was fast and we were at the United checkin desk around 4:30.

Security wasn't bad at all and we walked to our terminal. I had Elliott in the carrier and noted that would not be happening the rest of the trip - not comfortable while pregnant. Our gate was full, but Elliott was happy walking around and munching on food. I had called United the day before when check-in wouldn't let me select seats. I got real worried we'd be separated but customer service assigned for me, row 9, extra legroom for no charge! Yeah! Note to self: make the call.

We boarded early despite my gut telling me to keep Elliott out but she did really great. She cried in her seat during take-off (surprise, she has control issues and was clearly anxious about what was happening). But she slept once we were sailing and napped for probably an hour and a half until the captain called for landing. We arrived in Orlando at 9:29 AM- early for our 10AM ETA! We were off the plane in a second and even though we moseyed, were at baggage quickly. We waited until 10:30 for our bags, but Elliott was happy as long as we let her roam free. We trekked down to Avis for the rental car and waited probably 20 minutes before going to get it. We got a new Ford Escape which was perfect. We hit the road around 11:15. It was comfortable 70s weather.

We were pooped so decided to just go to the resort for lunch. I updated our checkin time online (we were earlier than expected) and got the text our room was ready as we were walking from the car. I immediately was bummed about our building selection. The resort reminds me of teen spring break and is hoppin with activity. Our room is fine for the 3 of us but pretty small - definitely wouldn't want to be here for a week. It works fine for the price but we will upgrade for future trips. We head to the food court around 12:15 and get pizza for lunch.

Despite running on little sleep, Elliott won't nap. We do rest though and she falls asleep around 3:15. We wake at 4:45 and head to Disney Springs. Although things are way nicer than they used to be, this still isn't my scene. It's crowded and touristy. We make it over to D-Luxe burger for dinner. Andy waits in line for a while and I run around with Elliott. I get a veggie burger, Elliott and Andy get cheeseburgers. I really liked my burger. We split a root beer float and it was just okay - needed more ice cream!

Andy wants to shop at leisure but I remind him how busy the next days will be and the importance of pacing ourselves. We stop at UA before trekking to the car around 7:30. Elliott fights sleep for hours but finally is asleep at 9:45.

Day 2, Monday March 6
We had a hellacious night of sleep. I was on the edge of the bed and Elliott woke a lot and was up in my business. She wants to be up at 5am and plays until I get her back to sleep around 6:40. Andy goes out to get food for us. I get up to shower at 7:20 and am quick. Andy gives Elliott some fruit, yogurt, and milk and I scarf some cereal. We get to the car at 8.

The drive to Magic Kingdom is quick and easy. We get to the lot and fight about Andy paying $20 for parking when it should be free for us. Get on the tram and fight again because I forgot to tell him selfie sticks aren't allowed. He thinks he's going to be sent back to the car and I tell him to chill.

The monorail is closed for servicing so we have to take ferry which is a process. We get through bags and I look down while at turnstiles and it's 8:52!!! Freak out at how long that took and tell Andy we have to run. The morning show starts just as we walk into the park and I book like a mad woman. I head through toward Tomorrowland ignoring that everyone is just standing there. Get to the entrance just as the show ends! It's crowded but almost everyone goes to Space. We are one of the first to Speedway but Andy stops to take off Elliott's coat while a dozen people pass him!!! I wait while the two of them go. I seethe a little about our start but lighten up when I see Elliott's face smile when they pull by at 9:15.

We head to Pooh for a 20 minute wait. Am thankful for interactive queues and she plays with other kids. She's very antsy but it's doable. She really likes the ride and claps when it ends. We head over to Dumbo where the wait looks overwhelming. The interactive queue isn't open there but we wrangle her and it goes by okay. Her face is funny when Andy does fast drops but she really likes elephants and is having a ball.

We go to Little Mermaid and it's a walk on. Another ride that she loves, surprise surprise. I'm thinking this is just too good to be true how well she's being.

At this point I remember we forgot to put on sun screen.. bad mom award. It's mostly overcast and we are in and out of buildings but I pray we don't burn. We head over to Small World for a 20 minute wait. She has hit the wall and is tired but enjoys the ride. We hop on Peter Pan with our FP and she is again tired, but in awe. We go across to Pinocchio's for lunch at 11:00. It's not busy so we get food quickly. Pepperoni flatbreads for Andy and I and mac and cheese for Elliott, all okay.

Elliott and I go to use our FP for Rapunzel. I let her watch Mickey in line but it's a short wait. I'm not prepared when I walk in the room and tiana is like right there. The exchange is awkward since I'm fumbling so much. Elliott just sits there pretty free of emotion. Rapunzel is super chatty, but again doesn't get any reactions from her until I tell her to blow kisses as we leave. Of course the photos of all of this are terrible.

It's 11:45 and We need to go recharge our batteries. I'm really happy with how the morning went and don't want to push it. Andy wants to ride a big ride so goes to Splash for a 30 minute wait. Elliott and I walk in the stroller, get a Dole Whip Float before going to buy the new baby some goods on Main Street.

At 12:15 I really want to go so start heading back to the car. Andy can take the bus. The ferry takes forever and getting the stroller on the tram is interesting to do alone, thankfully a man offers to help. I don't remember our exact lot name so spend 15 minutes roaming around. Get to the car at 1:00. Elliott passes out in about 30 seconds. Andy is on the ferry at this point so I wait for him there. He walks right by me so we fight again about the whole situation. We get to All Star Sports around 1:45 so Elliott got about 45 minutes of sleep.

Her nap is ruined and she's wired. I'm still tired though so we all hang in the room and decide to get up around 4 and eat at the resort since We ate lunch early. Burger and chicken nuggets are standard.

After the morning debacle we decide to bus it tonight. We wait maybe 10 minutes and get on at 4:45. We are at turnstiles at 5:15 and note that it was much more chill than earlier.

We get a picture together in front of the castle before heading to our FP at jungle cruise. Elliott is tired and waiting in lines is getting rough. But she likes the ride. Then we go back over to tomorrowland and decide to do Peoplemover. She definitely enjoyed that one. Then Andy goes to use his Space FP and I get in line for Buzz. It takes way longer than necessary and even though she is excited in line, isn't into it once it's our turn. By then Andy is back and we head to teacups since we never did those earlier. We wait maybe 15 minutes and again she likes it.

At this point, she is real tired so we go to Baby Center to change into Jammies. We walk down Main Street to the Confectionery and get cotton candy to share. We play by the Train Station until Wishes starts at 8. Despite being cranky, she is into the fireworks and sings along with me in awe. Standing in the back gave me new insight to Disney Goers. People are stupid. A lot of people left after the first section (at minute 4). Since I'm a nutjob I know that Wishes is 12 minutes long. We did decide to leave just before finale fireworks since we really wanted to get the first bus back. That was a good idea because our line was already pretty full. We got on quickly and we're on our way by 8:20- back in our room before 8:45!

She fought sleep once again so I eventually gave her a bath. She ended up falling asleep around 10 (OMG).

I should note that she started to cough tonight at MK. Throughout the night it got real gross and she would wake up choking on phlegm. But somehow we both slept better than we did the night before. She woke up at 6:10 and I was just thankful it wasn't 5.

 

         

Pregnancy #2 Update

Written 21 weeks

Not much has happened the last 10 weeks. I've gotten past any nausea and am feeling really great. I'm in much worse shape this time around so need to get in gear to prep for labor. Nicer weather should help with that! I started feeling kicks between 17-18 weeks and shortly after could see them from the outside. This kid is pretty active and almost any time I lie down I can feel nonstop movement, which I love.

I'm at the point where you can tell I'm pregnant depending on what I wear. Some people may just think I have a beer belly or something. It's definitely there from my perspective, though. Seems to be on par with my previous pregnancy growth but I don't take belly pics so who knows. #2ndchild We never made any formal announcement and really just told close friends and family. It doesn't really come up otherwise and I'm fine if people wonder. We're just letting the news spread the old fashioned way, I guess. Maybe we will address it at some point, I don't know.

I've had a few appointments since the last update. Elliott has gone with me the last two and behaved very well. She is very interested in what's going on. She gets that a baby is in my belly and is all about giving it kisses by the dozen which is super sweet. She's a baby lover!

Nothing at all important medical-wise to report. My doctor is switching practices and I'm actually quite excited. Her current office is older and she's upgrading to a nearly new building. My first appointment with her there is this week when I have an ultrasound. She said it's a fancy new 4D one so I'm pretty stoked about that. I definitely see her for her and not her staff /facilities so now I love her even more.

We should find out gender this week! I'm still convinced on boy and will be pretty shocked if we have another girl. Though I have no preference. I bring up names every now and then (I'm decisive and have mine selected) but Andy is hard to convince and changes his mind every time it comes up. We'll see. I'm not sure if/how we'll announce. Totally playing this one by ear.

Parenthood: Round 2

Yep, we are going to do all this again. I'm pregnant.

I sort of had a hunch and asked Andy to pick up a test for me. He apparently doesn't know the difference between a pregnancy test and an ovulation kit so that delayed that for a day :) Officially tested on Monday, November 21 and I just said "shiiiitttttt" when I saw the result. Taking a pregnancy test at home by myself (except having a toddler two feet away staring at me) was a little different than before :) After sort of deciding we would add another to our brood, it happened immediately. Kids, it really only does take one time! I wouldn't have it any other way, though!

Since I took progesterone with my last pregnancy, I called my doc to order a blood test. It was already the day before Thanksgiving. I normally avoid going to St. James like the plague because I know too many people but I was lazy and my SIL who works the desk was gone that week. I figured why not? I was still registered by a basically-family member but oh well! I hope HIPAA holds up. I went back on Friday and the place was dead. Still a little low on the progesterone so we are going ahead with supplements this time.

Since I'm writing this at 11 weeks 2 days, I can say the second time around is way different. I am lazy and way less obsessed about it. I am terrible about taking my supplements as needed and actually stopped at like 10.5 weeks (rather than 12). Overall things are just more lax.

Otherwise, things are comparable. I didn't ever get ill, but this time around I have gagged way more than before (every morning while emptying Elliott's old milk cups..).  The past few days have been much better. I was pretty equally exhausted both times, but this time is worse because I have a child to keep up with. Elliott has watched more TV in the last 6 weeks than she had her whole life before that. I vow to be a more enriching SAHM! (Who's kidding though, right?)

I was NEVER emotional when pregnant with Elliott, but this time around I am a real basket case. It is so unlike me!! The number of times I've sobbed is truly stupid. Mushy commercials get me (this has never happened). Yesterday, I showed Elliott a bunch of random videos of family trips to WDW and just cried thinking about taking her. I usually go months without crying or even tearing up at all.

I went to the doctor by myself December 14 when I was 7w5d. All was good and heartbeat was 167. Not much else to add. I left Elliott with my mom. She doesn't ask questions but probably wondered where I was going. She's intuitive.

Nobody knows the news yet at this point (except that time I broke down sobbing to my cheer bus driver, who gave me a hug and mumbled "are you pregnant?" I was too shocked to be able to deny it, and rather said "how do you know that? Nobody knows that." Otherwise we will keep it to ourselves AT LEAST until the end of January when I'm 14-15 weeks. We will find out gender at our ultrasound early March. But I'm telling you, it's a boy.

I went back to the doc last week at 9w5d just to go over medical history and get blood drawn. Since I've done it all before, not much is new. I go back in a few weeks toward the end of January.

Just per usual, I am cautious about things and will feel much better once we get past the first 12-14 weeks. I had started taking some anxiety medication not long before getting pregnant, but have slowly weaned myself since finding out. I notice a difference, but it's manageable. We are just plugging along every day! So happy to have this dude to grow.

Due Date is July 28!

Elliott: 18 Months Old

Better late than never writing this post.

On the food front, Elliott still enjoys a good variety of foods. Yogurt and cheese are favorites, and she can get to that drawer on her own if the fridge is open. She Loves fruit and is fascinated with bananas. She pretty much likes everything, though does have a major sweet tooth. She knows what a package of Oreos means... 

Girlfriend had 16 teeth in around 13 months of age (read: she is a mutant). Tylenol was our friend for a while at bedtime because of it. There was a time she slept through the night but she definitely regressed. We just made our first trip to the pediatrics dentist and all is well! Then she got Strep throat in July. She had been super cranky and boycotting sleep, not to mention not eating well. I took her to the doctor because one night she was awake straight until 5am!! We finished 10 days of antibiotics and thought it was over. Nope. A few days after finishing she was acting the same way. Another positive test and we tried another med. She got another virus of some sort in October that left her with a low fever and some slight puking. She was a total crabby pants for a good week. We have now begun another cold:(

One major development has been sleep! In the beginning of August, she finally transitioned to her crib at night. We didn't really do anything different than normal so it's like she just decided to stay asleep in there. Although she occasionally wakes up at night if she's hungry or sick, she mostly sleeps a good 12 hours or more. Bedtime is at 7 but she takes a while to fall asleep and will sleep till 8 am or so. It is so wonderful to have nights back!! Nap length is really sporadic. Sometimes they're 3 hours or 1 hour or not at all.

We are still nursing but are almost phased out. She doesn't have to nurse before naps or bed and the timing of our sessions is completely sporadic. I know she pulls for me when she's genuinely hungry (mostly right when I get her from bed in the morning). It comes out to be once a day or so. She doesn't drink a ton otherwise so I'm fine with this arrangement.

Personality wise, Elliott is a blast. As long as she isn't sick, she's usually pretty happy. She does get stir crazy if we have a few slow days at home and wants to be outside at all times. We don't have much to do outside at our house but she is fine just running around the property exploring. We've started in on more of a toy phase too. We still have fewer toys than most but our collection will surely grow at Christmas. I am sure to not go overboard and know we still have many fewer toys than the typical American family (and I am a sahm)! Hopefully we have a playroom space in the basement in the near future.

Elliott loves other kids and seems to interact well. If other kids are at the park she usually isn't shy. We took a Kindermusik class and she was not into it, but I don't think she was feeling well then. We've started tumbling and she is absolutely in love. It's only a 30 minute class and she is always sad to go. Her cousins are her favorite and if I tell her we are going to see them, she instantly perks up and runs to the door. She calls Holland Sissy and has a good attempt at Barrett. She says Jace super clear. We are working on Luke and Landry!

She can repeat most words if you ask her. A few recent ones have been "Safe" and "Jesus" :) I can't even list all the words that she says, there are too many. She says Thank You in the correct context without prompting which as parents we are really proud of. She can name several body parts as well, belly, nose, eyes, and toes are favorites. She also loves to mimic burping, coughing, etc which is pretty adorable. I've taken her to cheer practice with me a few times already and she copies the girls as they stretch 😍

At the beginning of harvest she was real obsessed with combines. Everything was a combine and she loved a daily ride in the tractor with dad. Her current obsession is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She's always had a love for Minnie but it's becoming a problem and I have to limit her to like 2 episodes a day. Anytime she sees a remote she grabs it and asks for MiMi. Of course we had to be Minnie for Halloween! 

Even though we've had a few rough patches, overall she is so much fun.

Elliott: One Year Old

We made it! Although it's been a fast year, it seems like forever since we came home from the hospital. At this point, the newness of parenthood is long gone (although we are still learning a lot as we go) and we can't imagine life without Elliott.

She is so much fun. Really. Elliott has such a personality and has always been outspoken (as a colicky baby and now a spunky toddler). She is chattering all. the. time. So much babble to be heard. She plays games with you and is big on imitation at the moment. She takes 3-4 quick steps at a time before stopping, although Elliott will walk everywhere if she has a wall or piece of furniture to use as a guide. She's getting an interest in climbing, so we will see how that goes.. 

I'm still breastfeeding her three times a day and probably once a night. She eats three meals a day and loves all the food that I do. Meat is the toughest thing to sell - deli ham seems to be the best. Elliott has a sweet tooth because she has enjoyed the several special occasions we've been to with cake and other treats.

Sleep is a freakin' hot mess. After vacation messed with her schedule, she got a really gross cough, followed by a round of teething. It's been a rough 6 weeks around here. When Elliott is getting teeth, she will not sleep by herself. I spent a good week holding her for every nap (otherwise she went all day without and was miserable). She's always been clingy at night but any free time for me is nonexistent. After a few nights when crib sleeping seemed imminent, all went haywire. She's still in our bed at night. And because of the teething issue, she's waking up crying a lot. Sometimes she's awake for hours in the middle of the night. It's awful and I wish I drank coffee. Here's hoping for a better phase of sleeping. I have discovered that she can manage without a morning nap if needed, which is nice. Remind me that my #1 parenting fail is not forcing Andy to put her to sleep from birth. I'm the only one who can ever get her to nap or sleep without a moving vehicle. This is extremely inconvenient and a definite pro for her going to one nap a day. 

With a few glorious and sunny days, I've discovered Elliott enjoys the outdoors. She doesn't mind being in grass and loves a good breeze. The water table will provide a lot of fun this summer. We have visited daddy in the field once and Elliott was into it - we rode with him for over an hour!

We had her first birthday party a few days early on Sunday, April 17 with just close friends and family (maybe 25 people total). It was pink and gold Minnie Mouse themed and a big success. she got a few big ticket items (water table and slide/climber, as well as outdoor picnic table from us) but otherwise clothes and a few puzzles and such. Although we do our best to encourage a love for Disney, Minnie is a real favorite for Elliott. It's fitting because her Minnie doll was the first ever thing we really bought for her while I was pregnant on our last WDW trip. I'm so itching to take her there but know that a real life visit probably wouldn't live up to the expectation in my head. 

Elliott: Eleven Months Old

My baby isn't going to be a baby much longer! Elliott is still thisclose to walking. She's getting gutsy and stumbles pretty quickly along the couch. She can also walk using her push toy (mini baby stroller). She will use any and everything to get herself to standing position! 

Missy took her first airplane ride and trip to the beach this month. I'm planning to do a separate post, but in short, she loved the beach. The plane rides could've been better but were certainly manageable. All three of us were sick, so that was a bummer, but we did manage to have a good time. Overall, we learned traveling with a baby is HARD WORK. Gone are the days of napping on the beach all day.

On the eating front, we haven't introduced anything too exciting, although Elliott did get some of my fish in Florida (she also got her first French fry, followed by many more). Elliott is starting to eat a bigger volume of food and really does seem to enjoy it. Cottage cheese, applesauce, Ritz crackers, puffs, and yogurt drops have been the biggest favorites this month. I feel like we haven't been home at all for dinners, so variety has been poor. One goal this month is to push the sippies. At this point, she can survive just fine without milk when I'm away, but it'd be nice to have that option. Plus she needs to start liking water. She nurses 3-4 times a day with a few quick sessions throughout the night. No end in sight for us and breastfeeding.

If motherhood has taught me anything it's to expect the unexpected. Consistency doesn't seem to exist

(atleast for very long), and Elliott is forever teaching me to break the rules. Vacation really screwed up her sleep cycle. We got it back only to have it messed up again thanks to back to back to back nights of late bedtimes for social reasons. Now I understand why some parents are so strict about being home early! Her sleep cycle is all over the place currently but on a good day we will get back to the 7:30pm-8am nights with 1.5 hr naps at 9:30 and 1:30.

One good thing is that we may be edging toward getting her out of our bed. Since we got back from vacation, she has actually been letting me put her in the crib at bedtime! It's still typically for short spurts, but I have been able to stay up until a decent hour. There were even a few nights when she stayed in her room till 1 or so (getting out of bed to tend to her will never NOT be a dread for me-I'm lazy). Truthfully, I miss her when she's not in bed with us. Getting over my anxiety and overprotectiveness will be a big feat for me, but if Elliott is telling me she's ready, I need to do it.

Elliott still has some anxiety when I am away. She always is fine if Andy is around, and she is definitely making a lot of progress with others, but it seems to be hit or miss. Last week, I filled in working at the hospital and she stayed with my mom and sister for 5 hours with virtually no tears! However, Andy and I had a wedding to go to and took it as our opportunity to have an actual night out away from her. I'm the only one to ever put Elliott to sleep so I knew it would be interesting for my mom. She surely wanted to pull her hair out, but Andy and I had a great time and it was really needed. I'm thankful that my mom never pressures me to rush home even when Elliott is being awful. I can still always sense how things are going, though. 

One adorable new trick she has learned is clapping. It's constant and super cute. Elliott is also an expert at 'sharing.' She takes her paci out of her mouth and puts it to your mouth until you put it in. She does the same thing with food. At first I wasn't sure if sharing was her intention, but the more she does it the more I'm convinced that it's definitely to show us whatever she's got at the moment. It's precious. She's also still loving books and constantly is flipping through them. They are all over her bedroom and our living room. I also keep a few in her crib, and when she wakes from naps, she will sit quietly and read for a while. Sometimes I don't even know she has woken up. This also melts my heart. 

Now that we are back from our trip and the cheer season is over, I'm really looking forward to slowing down this month. The only things on the calendar in April revolve around her birthday. With the cold Midwest weather wrapping up, I'm looking forward to some outside fun, too. :)

Elliott: Ten Months Old

We have such a big girl. Elliott still loves to stand and can crawl wherever she wants at the speed of light. I think she will be taking her first steps sometime this month thanks to Andy basically forcing her (he is so into her physical milestones and things like handedness). She is babbling nonstop and is overall much more social thanks to the independence that moving gives her. When meeting new people, she is still guarded and really examines them, though. Elliott is happy all the time unless she gets tired.

As far as sleep goes, naps are either awesome or not happening. I aim for one morning and one afternoon nap. If she does sleep, it's usually for 1-2 hours.  Teething messes us up and makes it tricky to get Elliott to sleep sometimes (the fighting is still way better than what is was when she was younger). She is also moving toward not wanting to be rocked to sleep, which is wonderful. We have yet to master getting her to fall sleep on her own while in her crib, but I'm hoping we are close, otherwise she doesn't know how to fall asleep! When Elliott learned how to sit up/stand up that really pushed us back in that department, she would wear herself out eventually when all she could do was lie there.

Night times are pretty great. She sleeps a 12-13 hour span with maybe two very brief wake ups (I'm usually awake for about 1 minute, no lie). However, she is still in our bed. I don't mind sleeping with her one bit other than the early bedtimes it forces upon me. Even though I have always started bedtime in her room and move her when she just won't have it anymore, she is becoming increasingly more resistant. There was a time when I could get 20 minute spurts of her in her crib, but now she won't even accept being in there for one second after nightfall (she has ALWAYS napped in her crib so I don't know why she fights so much at night). And like I said, she doesn't want to be rocked, so I pretty much just take her to our room right away. She tosses and turns in our bed but can fall asleep on her own with me next to her. It's actually really adorable to watch her switch positions and lie on me. I can't blame her for being more comfy in our bed, so we are working on making her crib a little more plush (yeah, I know kids shouldn't sleep with pillows, blah blah). I keep saying I'm just going to transfer her to her crib while asleep but I'm too chicken. Elliott is incredibly smart, knows what she wants, and doesn't take no for an answer. She better get Atleast a 30 on her ACTs...

Elliott eats whatever we eat. Frequent foods are avocado, mango, grapefruit, and pears. She is also becoming a big fan of cheese sticks and yogurt. Meat and bread she just does okay with. She has a more exotic diet than most adults, I feel (ahem, her father). Baby girl does hoard quite a bit of food (and paper and floor crumbs unfortunately) in her chipmunk cheeks.. Nursing is still happening about 5 times over 24 hours. Sippy cups are being introduced at most meals but I have to tilt it for her and it has to drop into her mouth on its own..

Elliott's fifth and sixth teeth just poked through. Even though it feels like forever since we brought her home from the hospital, I can't believe we aren't far from having a toddler. And yes, her birthday party is already planned.

We are looking forward to nicer weather and a trip to Florida. Pray for us that miss thing does well on the flights and we don't have SW airlines hating us...