Natalie's Ghoulish Entry Into Story Making

Here's a little storyline I worked with Natalie to make. She's got quite an imagination, and is good at mixing in stuff she's seen from movies.

The story begins with a baby ghost looking for the mama ghost. It's flying through the air going "wooooooooooo". The ghost & grass were drawn by me, however everything else was colored by Natalie. The "wooo" is most likely a little reference by Natalie to one of Daniel's sounds he makes when he just wants to make a bunch of noise.

The mama ghost is looking around for the baby ghost and doesn't know where to find him. Everything in this was drawn by Natalie. I helped coloring the sky/grass a little bit.

The mama ghost found the baby ghost and did what mama and baby ghosts (apparently) do: squish together and be one. They are flying over a beach with a little water looking for the daddy ghost. I took the mama and baby pictures and traced them together. Natalie did all the coloring in this one.

Here a ghost is in the water... it was going to be the daddy ghost but Natalie vetoed that. Natalie directed what the picture would be with the ghost, water, and fish. She colored in the water, and I did the fishes. The story "ended" with disinterest as Natalie embarked on another idea.

In this picture, a baby ghost is trying to turn a baby that the mother is holding into a ghost. I did all the quick drawing here, anticipating Natalie changing/coloring... but she didn't. She took this idea from Ghostbusters 2 and the flying ghost-Janosz taking Oscar.

Daniel the Dinner Fiend

At dinner-time, Daniel has proven to be significantly less picky than Natalie is nowadays. He normally puts away twice what she eats... except on the occasional day where she eats 3-4 helpings of whatever she's eating at the time. Last Sunday, Daniel enjoyed Jenn's "Shepherd's Pie" (2nd helping pictured). He loved the peas and when not shoveling handfuls of the mashed potato+cauliflower +meat+etc mix, he was mining for peas.

Today he had a dinner of some of the left-over Shepherd's Pie, cheese, and some of the herb-crusted chicken that, ever since we tried it, has been on our menu just about every week. He didn't do so well at eating dinner today as he was very tired when we started dinner late.

One of Daniel's good traits is that he LOVES his sleep and has no qualms about trying to get himself upstairs at bedtime. Now... when he gets up there, he's not always the best about getting ready for bed, but more often than not he goes to bed quietly once the lights are out. The downside to his love of sleep is that if we cannot let him get his sleep when he wants it, such as when we're out, he can turn into quite the cranky kid.

Battling Natalie's Ghosts and Monsters

Tom here again. A short while ago I made the mistake of letting Natalie watch Ghostbusters 2. She loved the movie and kept on watching it. I went to the library and borrowed the first Ghostbusters for her to watch. She loved that too.
Recently, though, she's been afraid of monsters and ghosts. She had the problem a while before Ghostbusters, but its back again. It's quite a challenge to help her to not be afraid. Some things we've tried:

• Tell her that we've made the monsters/ghosts go away. Doesn't work so well since she reasons that they'll come back.
• Take a note from the Ghostbusters and "trap" the monsters: Have her either color or draw the monster/ghost and then have her draw a "trap" for it. She loved coloring them in and then drawing the trap. Taking it a little further, she enjoyed tearing/cutting the picture to make that monster go away. Not a good long term solution though as she thinks up another.
• Recent one, working so far: we don't let monsters in the house.  We lock the door.

Amazingly enough... that one seems to be working ok. She hasn't come up with a way the monsters can get here since we lock the door. Guess we may have to hold off on "Monsters, Inc." since she might be afraid of those monsters or come up with the idea that mean monsters don't need to come through the front door, they can just come through closets magically.

Snow Fun with Natalie

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Tom here for another bi-weekly post :)
Today Natalie went out to have fun in the snow as I started the task of shoveling the snow off of the drive-way. She started out by trying to help pick up snow in the driveway and throw it to the side. It wasn't until Jenn came back from the YMCA that Natalie was convinced that she should go into the yard to play in the snow.

It was a very snowy day and didn't stop until around 3 PM. It was also the light-and-fluffy kind of snow that is not very good to play in... However I did convince her to "dig" a snowman by digging a small hole for the head, and having her dig other holes for the body. She suggested arms, so we dug those out. It did not photograph at all well. After that, Natalie made a snow angel and stomped around in the snow.

We also managed to take a little video of her walking around. Too bad I took it sideways so it doesn't look to good in Youtube (though at least I was able to rotate it!). Depending on how it shows up, you might have to open the link.

Some of Tom's Christmas Presents

Tom here, again. Thought I'd put a little post on some cool things I got for Christmas as sort of a general thanks and hi-lite on some cool things. Now... I'm limiting this to a few things... otherwise the post would be WAY too long, I got tons of cool things.

Awesome little keychain I got. I finally can manage all the many keys I have to deal with and pop off ones I don't need all the time. No need to keep van keys on the chain all the time during the work-week... no need to keep work keys and USB stick on the chain during the weekend.

Awesome teapot! Makes brewing quality tea quite a bit easier. Put your tea in (loose-leaf or tea bags are just fine), pour in the water, wait, then put the teapot on top of your pitcher/cup to drain. Just need to remember the pesky little task of remembering to get it taken care of after ~ 3 minutes to keep the tea from going bad. Some tea I had last week from Christina's loose-leaf tea from India she got me didn't taste so good. Today I made some and it was perfect... must have forgotten to keep track of time last week.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers is a pretty fun and unique game for the Wii. This game is pretty cool and VERY different from any other Final Fantasy game that I have ever seen. Broken down, the gameplay involves you taking control of things and moving/throwing using the Wiimote. A fun battle I played recently was a battle in a frozen wasteland against a King Behemoth. Battles have quite a different feel from other games and often take a short while to complete... although if you're too slow, all the monsters go away and you miss out on completing the battle for more treasure.

Oberon Design Sky Dragon Nook Cover. I got this cover for my Nook eReader and it works GREAT. Oberon Design did a great job on putting together this nice dyed leather cover. I find that besides looking good and protecting it, it makes it much more natural to read. When folded back, it adds enough body to make it like reading a normal book as opposed to a thin eReader.

Tom's Day Alone With The Kids

Time to put in my bi-weekly blog-post.

Today, Jenn went to my cousin's baby shower down in Indianapolis while I watched the kids for the whole day.
The day started with Daniel, early in the morning as Jenn left. He was pretty good for me and even went down very well for his morning nap. Right after that, Natalie was up and ready for her breakfast.

The whole day went pretty well. Daniel played with his bike quite a bit and hopping up on the couch with me when I was on it. Natalie had me read some of her library books and watched some movies passively. I have to say that Daniel's ability to point out exactly what he wants... sometimes... helps out immensely. A good example is when digging through the fridge for something for him, I pulled out milk and he was passive, but when I pulled out apple-juice, he pointed at it and said with a happy face "that!".

Looking forward to a good night's rest, however... even on a good day, watching the kids alone can be a bit of a drain (though being sick doesn't help any).

I read an article lately that people who exercise get sick less and when they do their symptoms aren't as severe. Apparently my body failed to read that article because I am sicker than I have been in years! This is especially frustrating because it is hampering my workout efforts. I have been suffering through swimming (not easy when you can't breathe!) but can't go run until I can breathe again.

And of course, Daniel is sick... AGAIN! This means that he can't go to childwatch at the Y. So, even walking is out of the question. I am worried about Daniel, the poor kid is ALWAYS sick. He catches EVERYTHING and of course when he does get something its never the mild form of it, he gets severe symptoms. It hasn't ever progressed past a cold so there isn't much the doctors can do for him.

Natalie so far is healthy, but I am sure she will catch it soon enough! I am praying that we are all healthy enough for this weekend. I obviously need to be healthy, but I need the kids to be semi healthy too because I wouldn't leave Tommy with both of them sick (or even one of them sick if the symptoms are bad).

Natalie goes to the dentist tomorrow morning for a consult on a cavity that she needs to get filled. So sad for her, but unfortunately she probably needs to get used to it. They said her teeth are very "pitted" and will get cavities easier. Lovely. :(

Following Tommy's lead...

Since Tommy has vowed to update this blog more I figured I might as well try to make the same commitment.

Many of you may know that the last three months of my life I have made some major changes to my lifestyle...
- from 6-8 cans of diet coke a day to ONE per day (some days none)
- started exercising again, started out swimming an hour a day, then added in walking and now I am running as well. I spend 2-3 hours a day at the Y working out.
- adapted healthier food habits - less fast food and boxed dinners more home cooking, low cal, low fat, and low sodium!
- realistic dieting! I am not depending on salads at all, I am just cooking very low fat recipes and eating things I want in moderation... it feels much more sustainable this way!

As a result of these changes I have lost a total of 48.8 lbs to date in 13 weeks. This is a huge amount of weight to lose but I still have at least 50 more to lose. I would love to lose even more, but my goal is 50 lbs for the time being.

Tommy's resolutions revolve around writing, mine revolve around dedicating myself to being healthier!
1. Lose another 50 pounds
2. Run a 5K (at least one, would love to do more)
3. Walk a half marathon.
4. Start training for a mini triathlon.
And last but not least, to throw in something thats NOT about me working out...
5. To be a better wife and mother.

That last one needs a bit of explaining. I have been so wrapped up in getting into shape that I feel like Tommy and the kids are kind of getting shafted as far as my time goes. (I try to feel less guilty about it by telling myself that they want me to be healthy and its just a temporary thing!) So while I can't eliminate the time at the gym, I am hoping to use my time at home with the family in a more positive and constructive way!

Natalie: Natalie is 3 and a half now, hard to believe... it feels like yesterday that we found out we were expecting her. She is starting to show a rambunctious and sassy side! She will be starting preschool next fall, we just sent in her registration and deposit. She will be in a 4/5 class to make sure she is (hopefully) prepared for kindergarten the year after! We find ourselves saying alot "she's to smart for her own good," and its quite true. She can do simple math and identify letters/colors. But, most impressive are her reasoning skills. There are often times that Tommy and I just look at each other and shake our heads... she never ceases to amaze us. She has been on a dress streak lately, she only wants to wear dresses - and let me tell you, winter is NOT the time to decide you only want to wear dresses. It's definitely been a challenge.

Daniel: My little bruiser... he is 16 months old now. He is SOLID, you'd never know that there was a point in his life where they were worried he wasn't big enough. Not to say he's fat, I think solid is definitely the right word. He loves balls and cars, and anything "boy." He got a tricycle that converts to a rocker for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Harning and he loves to get up on it and rock all day long. He doesn't talk a ton, but I am told thats pretty normal for boys. His favorite word is "mama" and he is definitely a momma's boy. He also says "dada"and "duice" (juice) on a regular basis. He has many other words, but he relies alot on those three and we don't hear the others as often. He will eat almost anything and sleeps a ton!

Looking forward to a trip down to Carmel in about a week and a half, it will be the first time that Tommy has been totally responsible for the kids for more than a few hours. I have never spent the night away from Daniel, and was only away from Natalie when I was in the hospital after Daniel was born. I am nervous to say the least! I am actually going down for a baby shower on Saturday, but plan to stay in a hotel Saturday night and then go home on Sunday to give Tommy more time to fly "solo" with the kids. I think he is going to be very surprised and EXHAUSTED by the time the weekend in finished!

Well, I think thats all for now. Hope everyone has a pleasant 2011.

Tom's New Year's Resolution for 2011

I'm submitting that my New Year's Resolution for 2011 is "To Write".

To clarify and make it measurable, I am starting out with the following goals:

* a family blog post every 2 weeks
* a published book this year

This blog post does not count against the blog post every 2 weeks, except perhaps to kick off the deadline measurement. As for the published book... it would be through Smashwords, a great resource for self-publishing. Depending on the type of book, I might even offer it as a paper-form through some service... not sure which.

Look forward to putting a blog post out 2 weeks from now. :)

Disney Trip - Warning: I ramble!

Thursday -
We left Ft wayne about noon on Thursday to start our trip to Disney. We got just south of Indy and Natalie was getting sick on herself. We assumed it was just car sickness and plugged away the best we knew how. This meant a lot of stopping between her puking and Daniel needing to eat. We got to Huntsville somewhere around 10 pm. Don't remember the exact time.

Friday -
Natalie seemed better. Bad weather in Huntsville - snow and slush! We needed to get Daniel's 5 month pictures done so I braved the weather and headed to Portrait Innovations. The photographers were having a great time photographing him and we ended up with some great pics. Mom and Melissa worked. Mom came home and thought she had a dental infection.

Saturday -
Took mom to the urgent care clinic, turned out she had a sinus infection rather than a dental infection. This is very good news, she gets a steroid shot and an antibiotic shot and goes on her way. This turns out to be a good thing as the steroid helped her be more comfortable while traveling. Mom and Melissa worked until noon. In the mean time I dropped off the puppies at the kennel and got everything packed in the cars. We stopped by HL at noon and we were on our way!

About two hours into the trip Natalie started getting sick again... tried Dramamine thinking she was getting motion sickness, she proved that wasn't the problem and continued to get sick most of the trip...

Sunday -
We got to our destination at about 3 am (Summer Bay Holiday Inn Express in Clermont, FL - very nice). This was just a place to lay our heads for a few hours. We were up by 6 am getting ready for the day. Mom and I took Daniel over to the resort and got all checked in and picked up our "keys to the kingdom" so that we could hit a park while waiting for our room to be ready. We got our connecting rooms in building 18 so we were really excited.

Our first park of the trip was DHS because we figured we wouldn't need as much time there. First thing we did was ride toy story mania and then got fast passes to ride again later(btw, best advice ever: ride standby first and then get FP for later... the FP line at first was longer than the standby line). We went back on several times and each time was awesome! Then Dad, Tommy, and I headed towards Rock N Roller Coaster. This ride was AWESOME! Definitely one of the most thrilling rides of the trip. We got photos in front of the attraction and got back on our way. It was cold and VERY windy (not the original forecast). So, we ended up spending money that first day to buy both Natalie and Daniel warmer clothes. Note to self: Pack warm clothes in the diaper bag even if you don't think you will need them. We had a heck of a time finding something to fit Daniel. And poor Natalie was totally mis-matched and looked like a bum! At least they were warm!!

I messaged my friend from high school who works here and we met up with him at the Monsters Inc character meet and greet. It was great to catch up for a few minutes. Also great to see that he is doing so very well. I couldn't have picked a better job for him, he seems to love what he does. He gave us some tips about the park and we went on our way. Mom and I stayed with the kids while the guys and Melissa went to the star tours ride. Natalie took that time to explore the Honey I shrunk the Kids playground. Lunch was at the ABC commissary. Mom and I had the Cordon Bleu Sandwich, Tommy had curry, Natalie got a chicken kids meal and Melissa had a burger (not sure about Dad). We saw Beauty and the Beast while the guys caught the Indiana Jones stunt show. Time flew by, and it was time for the Block Party Parade. It was a ton of fun, Jessie (from Toy Story) tried to get Natalie to go out and dance with her, but she was shy of course! We decided to leave then so we had time to get back to the resort and get ready for dinner. We had a great dinner at Boatwright's (the hotel table service restaurant). Natalie fell asleep before dinner arrived. Mom, Dad, Melissa, and I all had filet mignon and Tommy had blackened fish. (drove ourselves this day)

Monday -
Rainy day at Magic Kingdom! This was our "park nazi" day... I was horrible and made everyone run from ride to ride in the rain so that we could get 90% of the rides we wanted to get done. Magic kingdom has so much to do, I figured if we had one day were we hustled from ride to ride we could appreciate the other days more taking our time. In the end, I think this payed off. Because we hurried around I don't have a ton to write about. I just don't remember the details :( Best part of today, riding Space Mtn twice in a row, both times we walked right on! Awesome! We did have lunch at Cosmic Ray's which was VERY good. Tommy and I got the ribs and chicken meal, my sister got a burger, and mom and dad got a pulled pork sandwich I think? We stayed at the park all day to see the spectromagic parade but left before the fireworks. We were all pretty miserable and the cloud cover was heavy so we figured we wouldn't miss much. We were right, on the monorail, we saw some of the fireworks and they just weren't that pretty. We were glad that we got out of there before the rush. We had dinner at the cafe at our resort this night. It was very good as well. Tommy, Melissa, and I all had a create your own pasta while Mom and Dad got brisket from the carving station. (drove ourselves)

Tuesday -
This was our first day using disney buses. We got to Epcot for "rope drop" and EMH. I ran off to test trac to get fast passes and met up with everyone else at soarin. Unfortunately, we were delayed here because Natalie was sick and we had to get her all cleaned up. Then, Tommy, Dad, Melissa and I road Soarin. When we were done it decided to start POURING so we ducked into the building to watch the circle of life. After the show we ate breakfast at sunshine seasons. Again, good food. I think you will see this as a common theme. I don't think we had a bad meal the whole time we were there. It was still raining so we ducked over to the Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavillion. We rode the ride and spent a ton of time in the pavillion due to diaper changes, potty breaks, and Natalie just plain LOVING IT!! By the time we went to leave, it was "monsooning" again (this is my made up word, bear with me!) I ran to get our stroller only to discover someone had disturbed the rain cover and the stroller was SOAKED. I took the stroller back to the store and we jury rigged - put ponchos over the seats, and then dry blankets. Then we put the stroller cover on and tied a disposable poncho on the exposed area. It was at this point we decided the disposable ponchos just weren't going to cut it so we purchased Disney ponchos. Yes, they were $8 a piece, but we felt like we got our moneys worth given the weather we had. So, after getting all that settled, we headed to Innoventions to waste some more time inside, we watched a show "whats your problem?" about velcro and Natalie made a velcro frog. Then we found the epcot character spot and got in line. The line was sorta long, but we got to get pictures with the "fab 5." At this time we all had a mini meltdown and we almost left. But, we gathered ourselves together and both kids fell asleep so we pushed on.

The sun was finally coming out and the rain was scattered so we headed towards the world showcase and got lunch at the temporary Mexico cart. We got Nachos and they were very good and the churro with caramel sauce was awesome too! We unfortunately had to sit on the ground to eat because we couldn't find anyplace else, but it wasn't too bad. We walked to Germany because we wanted to really see that country. At this time, I realize that we are running low on Daniels "every three hour" medicine and barely have enough for the dose he needed then. Tommy and I talked and he offered to run back to the resort and get it. Dad went with him and they got coats for everyone too as it was chilly. We decided to "hang out" in Germany because we knew Dad and Tommy wanted to explore this area. We ended up sitting there waiting for nearly two hours (UGH, disney transport is slow!) It was nice though, very relaxing and the pretzel we got was super yummy. Melissa and I ducked into nearly every country along the way to get pressed pennies, but we didn't have time to really explore. :( We did spend some time in Japan as well because Tommy wanted to explore that one. Melissa and I did the "pick a pearl." I let Natalie pick my oyster and ended up with a 7 3/4 mm pearl! It's so big it won't fit in a traditional cage so I am glad I waited to buy that til I was home! By the time we got done with that the candy lady was about to start so we watched her make rice candy into the shape of animals. Natalie was so intrigued but wasn't chosen to get one. So, we reluctantly continued on, Natalie got autographs and photos with Princess Aurora and Marie the cat along the way while Melissa and I got more pressed pennies. When I got back to Natalie and my mom I realized I had time to get Natalie back to the candy lady again. I grabbed Natalie and ran back down to Japan from almost UK. We got there just in time and got a front row "seat" and Natalie was chosen and put in her request for a purple elephant. It was awesome watching this lady work, just amazing!

By the time we got done with that it was time to head to Biergarten for dinner! OHHHH SOOOO YUMMY!! My favorite: the chicken schnitzel with gravy. It took us a while to get seated, but it was worth it! After dinner Tommy, Dad, and I ran over to test trac to use our fast passes. Tommy and I liked it so much we watched it a second time! We walked off just as illuminations was starting. We found a decent spot to watch just outside the pavillion and it actually turned out to be a great location, quick exit when it was over! This was one of our longest days so we all crashed when we got back to the hotel!

Wednesday -
Just a leisurely day at magic kingdom, I am sure we rode Dumbo and probably the carousel and several other rides in fantasy land. Dad went golfing. We met Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. We went on the speedway and Natalie illustrated how not ready she is for a drivers license. She had a great time though. We tried to go to Columbia Harbor House for lunch but they couldn't guarantee that my sisters food wouldnt come in contact with shellfish, so that was a no go. Instead, lunch was at Pecos Bill - YUMMO! The toppings bar is awesome and the new angus burgers are delicious! Tommy had the taco salad and said it was good as well! This was so good we went back on Friday in place of one of the other places we wanted to try!

We left semi early this day (around 3-4 pm) to go back to our resort so that we could rest and swim before dinner at Ft. Wilderness. This is where the trouble starts, I called down to the front desk and they told me it would take an hour to get there so we had plenty of time to swim. So I sent the rest of the party down to swim while I went to pick up the tickets, can you imagine where this is headed? The conceirge desk tells me that I need to allow TWO HOURS to get there so I run to the pool and tell everyone we have to get ready and leave within 30 minutes. They were not happy about this obviously, especially my dad as he had just gotten into the hot tub and was enjoying it after a long day golfing! So we hurry hurry and leave when they said we needed to. We ended up having to sit around in the cold at Ft. Wilderness for over an hour, because it took the hour we were originally told! So frustrating!

Then, we we were finally let in we had a rude lady that insisted I had to put Daniel's car seat onto a high chair thing even though it wasn't stable. She never once made eye contact, nothing. Luckily, a nice CM (from MI no less) came over and helped me, she explained to me why I couldn't have Daniel's car seat on the floor and offered several other options and finally we came up with something that worked. In the end, she also gave us the pictures from that dinner for free. It pays to be calm and explain your situation! Natalie got sick this night too :( Again, the food was worth it though, and we thought the show was great. The dessert was the best part - strawberry shortcake MMMMMMMMM good! I probably ate enough for three people! Dinner included: fried chicken, ribs, mashed potatoes, beans, corn bread, salad. This meal took two credits but was worth it... they even included some alcoholic beverages!

Thursday -
Animal Kingdom!! We were there just after rope drop. Got a character signature done and then headed off to Kilimanjaro safari, we were disappointed actually, we felt that it was much too fast paced for you to actually enjoy and take pictures! We snagged a fast pass so we could do it again later if we needed for pictures sake, but never ended up going back on it as we ran out of time! We then worked our way towards expedition everest. Natalie and Daniel couldn't ride this and Mom didn't want to. So, she got Natalie some breakfast and sat with the kids while we went to ride.

It took some convincing, but Melissa finally decided she would ride with us. She enjoyed it so much we rode it again later in the day (not sure exactly when?!?) Tommy wasn't feeling well and didn't want to get wet so he stayed with Daniel while we went on the kali river rapids. He needed some rest time so he did that while the rest of us went on the pangani forest trail. We also saw the tree of life from about 100 different angels and had some photos taken. Lunch was at flame tree bbq - again, great food. I had a BBQ chicken, Tommy had a sandwich, parents had pulled pork again? Towards the end of the day we took the train over to affection section for Natalie. While there we got a few more signatures and photos: Jimminy Cricket and Rafiki I think? By the time we got back, we ran right into the parade. So we watched that and then followed it out of the park.

We had dinner at Boma which is at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Let me just say this lodge is NICE, I would love to have the money to stay there some day! Dinner was very good - it is definitely different and some people will have a hard time eating here. Everything is unique and seasoned different that people are used to. No one in our party had a problem finding something to eat though. I was disappointed they didnt have the squash soup I had heard to much about, but they had a superb potato bacon soup! The prime rib was also very yummy!

Friday -
yet another leisurely day at Magic Kingdom. We rode Dumbo and the carousel again. We also did Buzz Lightyear and Dad did the astro orbiter. We wanted to ride space mountain again, but it was apparently having some technical difficulties. Since my sister got stuck on a coaster as a kid, she decided she didn't want to ride it just in case. So we skipped that. We did get a "special pass" from a CM which we used as a fast pass on buzz. Glad we did, because I wasn't a huge fan, especially after Toy story mania on Sunday. We got the pass because of some problems we encountered at the park. Again, just calmly making my concerns known to a CM got me this "golden ticket." I didn't even know these existed so I was surprised to get one. Dad and Tommy took Natalie back on Barnstormer - which she LOVED! (Melissa, Tommy, and I had taken her on it earlier in the week) She is going to be my roller coaster buddy!

We waited FOREVER and a day to do the character meet and greet at pixie hollow. It was our longest wait of the week - over an hour!! Natalie LOVES tinkerbell, so we figured it was worth it. So glad we waited, because she just beamed getting to meet her! Wish we had done this Monday when she was wearing her Tink outfit though! We didn't coordinate outfits with characters very well because we tried to squeeze them in when the waits were the shortest! We gave Natalie the choice of riding either the tea cups or the cars as we were trying to get out of there before the bad storm hit. She decided on the tea cups.

Tommy tried to sweetly surprise me with a lunch at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian but I just didn't want to miss out on 2 - 3 hours of our last day at the park with the kids, so instead we dined alone at Pecos Bill while my parents took care of the kids. It wasn't much, but it was MUCH appreciated. THANKS HUNNY for thinking of me and trying to celebrate our 8 year anni of meeting! And Thanks Mom and Dad for watching the kids for us! Somehow we managed to do a few more things and got stopped on our way out by the 3 pm parade. We never once meant to see this parade, but it seems like we ran into it every single day we were at MK. So, by time the parade was over, the storm was in FULL FORCE. So much rain. It was standing in over ankle deep puddles within a few minutes. So ridiculous.

Luckily, the line for the bus wasn't too bad. We got back to the resort and got ready for our dinner at the Grand Floridian. Our reservations were for 7:05. This was our other BAD experience of the trip. We checked in at about 6:30. We had planned to ride the monorail around the whole cirlce but were short on time so we decided to put it off until after dinner. Well, what they failed to tell us when we checked in was that they were about an hour behind on reservations due to a computer crash earlier in the day (they were aware of the issue, why not tell people when they check in?!?). So, after waiting and waiting we finally find out. I was fuming. My poor kid was starving and we had promised her the monorail. :( So, after speaking with a manger we were FINALLY seated. I do believe we were jumped up in line (again, I was nothing but nice... I was mainly concerned with them not telling us at check in. If we had known, we could have gotten Natalie a snack and ridden the monorail first!).

Dinner was great once we finally got in, it was a bit disappointing because Natalie was tired and less receptive to the characters (Cindy, Prince Charming, Stepsisters and stepmother) then she probably would have been if we got in on time. However, we loved the food (the chicken marsala, mashed potatoes, and strawberry soup were to die for), she loved the strawberry soup and we got pictures, so it wasn't a total loss! Unfortunately, by the time we were done with dinner we didn't have time to get the monorail done. They did "comp" us two meals for our troubles which was a nice gesture. I just wish we hadn't had such bad luck this week. Everyone we talked to said we had more bad luck than usual!

Saturday -
We had a hard time getting up and moving this morning... well, my sister, my dad, and Tommy did at least. Mom and I were up and spent 20 minutes in the hot tub at 7 am this morning. We were hoping to be on our way at 9 am to downtown disney. Unfortunately we weren't able to get moving that fast and we didn't get to DTD until almost 11 am. We had photos scheduled for 3:30 at the Wilderness Lodge and needed to get ready for those, so as you can imagine we didn't have much time. We were able to hit 4-5 shops including Once upon a Toy, World of Disney, and Goofy's Candy Co. Tommy got lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. We had plans to share it, but with time running short I just told him to grab himself lunch. The rest of us grabbed something from the cafe at the hotel, it was much quicker, he grabbed lunch while we stuffed Potato Head boxes at Once upon a toy. I also high-tailed it to the other end of DTD and got our "free souvenir" from Planet Hollywood.

We made it to our photos on time thanks to driving. We found Disney transport to be VERY slow, especially from resort to resort. Nearly an hour of getting photos taken, then we had dinner at 5:00 pm at Whispering Canyon Cafe. This dinner was tons of fun and the waiter decided to "pick on" my sister! It's part of the whole experience and was wonderful. I will DEFINITELY go back here in the future. With the dining plan, we were able to get bottomless milkshakes as a drink, the food was all you care to eat, plus a desert. Yum. Dinner included chicken, brisket, pulled pork, ribs, beans, mashed potatoes, corn, salad, and corn bread. SO good. We got our desserts to go as we had already filled up on all the other yummy food!

When we got home, we worked on getting things packed and into the cars so we could depart first thing in the morning. Tried to hit the hot tub in the pool area, but it was overrun with RUDE teenagers who were having a pizza party there. I went and talked to management and they cleared those kids out, but because everyone had been waiting, the hot tub reached its 7 person limit before we could get out of the pool. So, we decided to just head back to the room because it was cold.

OVERALL:

We left alot undone, but we had several factors working against us. Number one was the weather. We only had two nice days the whole time we were there. The weather can really slow you down. We aren't talking a few showers, it was near monsoon on at least two occasions! Second was illness. Over the course of the trip nearly very member of our party had the stomach flu for a day or two. You can imagine how that might slow down progress.

We felt like we needed much more time at Animal Kingdom. I have NO clue how people say its a half day park. I can only imagine they cared ONLY about the rides. There was so much there to see, especially with Natalie. She was taking in every detail, at every park really, but especially so there. She has such a love for animals...

We also felt like we could have used more time at Epcot, but if the weather had cooperated, Natalie not have been sick, and we hadn't had to wait for Daniels meds, we might have gotten everything done there. We skipped Mission Space as well as Spaceship Earth, and only quickly walked through most of the countries.

The disney buses are fine for resort to park, but expect that you will miss the bus by a minute, so always allow 40-50 minutes to get from your resort to the parks. Maybe, its just our bad luck but EVERY day we took the bus we missed it by a minute or so - we normally saw the bus pull away as we walked up. DO NOT rely on Disney transport to get from resort to resort for dinners. The one night we did it took us FOREVER to get home. Honestly, if you are good at navigating and don't get overwhelmed in traffic I would recommend driving, because who wants to wait 30 minutes or more at the end of the day for a bus. (our wait was over an HOUR)

Dining: We liked having the disney dining plan, but most likely will pick the quick service dining if we go back and just supplement out of pocket for a few sit down meals during the week. It took quite a bit of park time to eat dinner each night. Each dinner took us about 1.5 hours to eat, that doesn't include travel times etc. So, you can imagine.. you lose 4 or so park hours for every sit down meal you do. That doesn't mean we would get rid of them all together, but definitely reduce the number of sit down meals.

Last but not least: Try to make the best of all situations. We had hopes of having a perfect trip but so many things kept that from happening. However, we kept calm for the most part and tried to remember we were at Disney. We did find that there were far more trainees and "unmagical" cast members than we expected. There were also a ton of refurbishments going on. All in all, it was a great trip. We are so glad we went and are hoping to go back in about 5 years when both the kids will remember it and the FantasyLand expansion will be done.

I wish I could explain what it was like watching Natalie experience Disney world. She had such a blast and developed so much in just that one week. She has come out of her shell so much more than we could have ever expected. It was awesome. She makes us so proud to be her parents. She did marvelous and had only a few short "meltdowns." Most of which were taken care of by getting down on her level and talking with her. She had one bad moment when she was having a bad dream we think, she had been napping in her stroller and woke up screaming. All she wanted was Mommy and we never really saw her eyeballs! Daniel had a few more meltdowns, mostly due to being overdue on medication. Tommy set an alarm on his cell to remind us to get it to him on time,but with all the noise, many times he didn't hear it. So, there were several times when he was over an hour overdue for medicine.

Oh, and last but not least. I am proud to say nobody in our group got any blisters! And, we had more medicine and such than we needed. So, planning did help some. If we hadn't had the moleskin I am sure we would have all had blisters, its one of those things... like, if you carry an umbrella you normally don't need it!

I am sorry this is scatter brained and such, it took me a long time to write this all out, I may come back and edit or add if I remember more things, but I wanted to post some sort of trip report. I will post pictures as I get them.. I screwed up and only took my zoom lens for my dslr camera so most pictures were taken by my mom, sister, and the photopass photographers. :(

Time Flies!

It seems like just yesterday I was checking into the hospital having a nervous breakdown about the c-section --- yet, Daniel is over 5 weeks old! It's crazy how fast time can fly when you are busy!

The birth: My c-section went much better, I was in the hospital only the required 48 hours, no extra. No wound infection this time, and at my postpartum appointment, my OB said everything looks great, apparently the incision looks much better than he expected. He said it looks like at least a 6 month old scar! During my stay in the hospital we all picked up the crud and that made the first two weeks pretty miserable. Natalie ended up with pneumonia.

Between all the appointments for Daniel and Natalie, I think we have been at the doctor at least 6 times since Daniel was born. He seems to be growing well, at his one month appointment he was 9 lb 13 oz. We are having some problems with him, but we are working through them. Daniel is having the same reflux issues Natalie had but much worse and much earlier. He is on medication for that and it seems to be helping somewhat, but he still has several periods of the day were he seems to be in excruciating pain. I had some suspicions that he was tongue tied and my pediatrician confirmed that last week at his check up. We are currently awaiting an appointment with a specialist to discuss whether we will have his frenulum clipped or not.

Daniel is changing so much, he does some babbling and lifts his head a ton. We have recently noticed some smiles and such, he seems to be developing slowly compared to Natalie. But she was always ahead... the pediatrician isn't worried at all about his development, and I think we will notice some improvements if we can get the reflux and such under control.

Pictures later...

Natalie is a GREAT big sister. She loves her little brother, perhaps a bit too much! She loves helping take care of him. She is growing up so fast, and its even more obvious now that we have Daniel to compare with. She is talking in sentences and asking all sorts of fun questions. She seems to be very intelligent, but I figured she would be.

Personal stuff: had post partum depression again, finally got that under control, I am exhausted, I got a new laptop, Tommy did a really neat extra project on the side at work, we are doing great... sorry this is so hard to follow, my brain is fried!

Hope everyone is well!

Getting there!

FIVE MORE DAYS, well, actually I consider it 4 because today is basically over! I had my last OB appointment today - WOOHOO, no more waiting an hour to be seen with a cranky two year old! It went about how I expected it to. I got the ultrasound, baby passed the biophysical profile... they guess he will weigh somewhere between 8 and 9 pounds at birth on Monday! His heart rate was 155 today and he was moving and breathing great. Then I waited to see the doctor, blood pressure and all looked great, he basically said "any questions? see you Monday!" So, as long as baby stays put for a few more days we are on for Monday! And, he better because my doctor will actually be gone the rest of the week!! And, at this point, he has made me wait this long, I would prefer that he come when he is scheduled so we have no problems getting someone to care for Natalie, etc.

We are busting our butts trying to get the last minute stuff done before Baby arrives. We have the house basically clean, but every night we have a task or two we are trying to get done. Things that are more last minute, like vacuuming and steam cleaning carpets, organizing the fridge, etc. We also have to get the new fish tank set up - Natalie is OBSESSED with fish so we are putting together a small 10 gallon tank for her to hopefully help with the transition to having a baby brother. I really think she is going to do great though, she seems to love him already!

At this point, I am not sure there is much point sharing them, but here are the last two ultrasound pictures of the pregnancy! The top one is a straight on shot of his face, the white area in the middle is his forehead and his nose (it looks so big!) the dark spots on either side are where his eyes are. The second is a profile shot and to me it looks like his hands are up right below his chin.

11 days to go!!!

So, second to last doctor's appointment today. 37 weeks, 2 days pregnant - baby boy will be born in a week and a half! I am SO excited I can hardly stand it, but I am still scared to death of the surgery aspect of it. I know I have had one already and I survived that one, so I am trying to let that comfort me.

We had an ultrasound again today... it took longer than usual. Baby's heart rate was elevated again, but within normal so they aren't worrying about it. I ranged between 158 and 190 today during the ultrasound, closer to 160 and 170 most of the time... he also didn't want to cooperate with the moving part of the ultrasound so we had to wait for a while to make sure he was moving okay. My bp is still in the 120/80 range which I think has surprised my doctor immensely. He was expecting that I would need to start the BP meds before the end of my pregnancy. My weight is also good still, basically gained 5 lb or so from my pre-pregnancy weight, so that's good.

--Baby's heart rate as mentioned above ranged from 158-190
--femur is measuring approx 39 weeks 2 days, so two weeks ahead
--abdomen is measuring approx 37 weeks 3 days, so approximately normal
--head is measuring approx 40 weeks 2 days, so three weeks ahead
--his weight is estimated to be approximately 7 lb and 7 oz - most likely baby boy will end up being close to what Natalie weighed at birth (she was 8 lb 2 oz

I am too lazy to cut the ultrasound pictures apart in the photo editing program so you will have to click this to enlarge it and hopefully you will be able to see everything okay...


My next appointment is next Wednesday, then the c-section is scheduled for Monday August 31 at 7:30 am (we have to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM- ew), so we are hoping to have an email out by noon with birth details!

Things are as ready as they can be here, the house is slightly cluttered and not as clean as I would like, but I think that goes along with having a two year old! Natalie's potty training is going pretty well, will be happy when she is totally potty trained!

Tommy and I may be going to a concert in October, depending on the price and availability of tickets. Daughtry will be here October 26 and its one of the few performers that we can both enjoy - we have COMPLETELY opposite taste in music for the most part! Will be a first for us using a babysitter, which I am nervous about, but I thought it would be a nice post baby treat for us!

Time to get running, Natalie is making a mess of my house!!

36 weeks 3 days...

So, the countdown is on! Two more appointments to go, 17 days left as of today before my c-section. I can't wait for the new little one to be here, but I am really scared about the surgery. I know its so common now, but it is still major abdominal surgery...

My appointment today went well, was at the office for over an hour and a half again today... can't wait to be done with that!!! I am down almost 10 lbs in two weeks according to the doctors scale, I don't think I have lost that much but any loss is good at this point, less to lose later. I'm not dieting, so I guess its just the decrease in pregnancy hunger that is causing the weight loss. My bp looks good still which is always a relief. I got out of the group B strep test today since I am having a c-section... woohoo! I hated that test last time around!

Baby looks great on the ultrasound - heart rate was at 158. Moving great and breathing great. Amniotic fluid levels are perfect. He has his feet in the left side of my ribs and his butt in the right. He seems to rotate alot, most weeks he flips and will be the other way by the next ultrasound - guess he can't get comfortable in there. That makes two of us!

Baby had his face hidden, so we didn't get any face shots today. But we did get a shot of the foot as well as his boy parts. At least we know he is definitely a boy... LOL

I stopped by Babies R Us today to set up a small registry for people who have asked what types of things we need for baby still. They are running a deal where I got a $10 gift card for that, which was pretty nice. That will buy a pack of diapers at the very least!! I love it when you can find deals like that!

Anyway, here are the ultrasound pictures...

35 weeks, 2 days

Don't have much time tonight, just wanted to post really quickly for anyone who may actually read this... the appointment went well, didn't get to see my OB as he was called in to do a c-section.

Baby is still measuring large. His measurements put him at 37w3d - so two weeks and a day large. Head is measuring 38 weeks 4 days, as is the femur. His abdomen is measuring 35 weeks 4 days. With these measurements that puts him at approx 6 lb 11 oz. His heartrate was 153 bpm today, which is perfect. He rotated himself and now has his butt on the left side under my ribs and his feet are in the right side of my ribs! He was sleepy this morning so they had to buzz him, but he passed his biophysical profile.

The ultrasound pictures are getting ridiculously hard to see, but here is a face on shot, all you can really see is the outline of the top of his face, the dark area of one eye, the light area of the nose, and light areas showing the chin and maybe teeth buds?



My blood pressure was good again today 122/78. Weight went down according to the OBs scale, which is always nice at this point in the pregnancy. I did get a prescription for a z-pack to try to make sure I don't end up with bronchitis before my surgery. I have had a cough that I thought was allergies for a week, but its just not getting better, so preventative meds were prescribed. Love the NP I saw today, but wish I could have seen my OB as I had several questions for him.

Need to get to bed, long day tomorrow, errands, playgroup, groceries, and then Tommy's family is stopping down tomorrow evening... glad its almost the weekend!

34 weeks, 2 days!

It seems like I live at the doctor's office anymore. Today was my 34 week ultrasound/appt. Everything is still looking good. Baby scored 8 out of 8 on the biophysical profile again. Fluid levels are good, breathing and moving well. His heart rate was a bit high again today, but well within normal - 165 bpm.

My blood pressure looked great today! 120/68!! I was really excited to see that and my doctor was very pleased as well! We talked about the preventative measures we will take to avoid a wound infection this time around - hopefully they pay off.

That's really about it, nothing too exciting going on in our lives right now... just trying to get by... 32 more days!

Some ultrasound pictures...

33 weeks, 3 days today!

The countdown is on... 38 more days until my scheduled c-section. If all goes well we will be holding our new son in a little more than a month. Of course, that still seems so far away. I am still going to FREQUENT doctors visits and ultrasounds so they could decide at any point that baby is better outside than in my tummy. So far, he's looking pretty much perfect though. He scores 8's pretty much every week on the biophysical profiles... typically the score can be to 10, but they aren't doing stress tests, so I believe 8 is the best he can do.

For those of you who aren't sure how the biophysical profile works, I found this online:
"In a biophysical profile, the fetus receives a score of either 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10, based on the presence or absence of five elements: reactive nonstress test, adequate amount of amniotic fluid, fetal tone (bending and straightening the joints), fetal body movements (rolls), and fetal breathing motions (in-and-out motions of the chest wall). The fetus gets either 2 or 0 points for the presence or absence of the above five factors. A score of 8 or 10 is considered normal. A score of 0 or 2 is never considered normal. Scores of 4 and 6 are worrisome; delivery would be appropriate at term, but further evaluation may be appropriate in the case of pregnancies far from the due date."

I did have a scare yesterday at my appt, during the ultrasound baby boy's heart rate was up to 178-200 range. Mostly around the 178 but still, much higher than usual. This of course had me very worried - the tech took the heart rate several times so I knew it wasn't something they were expecting to see. She told me we would see what my Dr. said. Of course, then I had to sit in a waiting room thinking the worst for 30 minutes which got my blood pressure up there. So, after a blood pressure reading of 142/90 I was devastated and was sure that my doctor would put me on the blood pressure meds. I was right, he was VERY concerned about the BP, but I did convince him to let me come in today and get it re-checked due to the stress of the ultrasound.

Luckily, my bp was down today... 130/74. Normally I am around 120/80. The nurse practitioner told me I don't need to worry about the meds... apparently the bottom number is good, and the top number they don't worry about til it gets near 150. And baby's heart rate was back to normal: 155 bpm. He did hide from her doppler machine though, he didn't want her to hear him.

And, as usual, an ultrasound picture from yesterday... just a profile shot.

32 weeks

32 weeks down, 7 more to go.... well, down to closer to 6 weeks now because this update is overdue.

This was a non-appt week, I just had the weekly ultrasound (no measurements, just checking on breathing and movements etc). Baby is looking good still. Amniotic fluids level are good, as well as the placenta and umbilical cord. Baby boy did excellent this week on the breathing but had to be convinced to wake up to do movements. Heart rate was at 150 bpm.

Ultrasound pictures:





Not much else going on, lots of contractions and pelvic pain, but thats to be expected with the second pregnancy and with a large baby. We will see if we make it to our August 31 c-section.

We are slowly trying to get our house picked up and ready for baby... its slow going with a two year old tearing everything out behind you, but we are getting there. We have a few rooms per weekend on our to do list. We are going to get the nursery done this weekend so its ready if baby comes early.

Time to go to bed!

4th of July and 31 week Appt!

We celebrated the 4th a day early with a BBQ for Tommy's work at his boss' house. We had a good time, good food, good company, and nice fireworks. Here are a few pictures of Natalie and the fireworks...












Today was my 31 week appointment, things went well. Baby looked good during the ultrasound although they did have to "buzz" him to wake him up, but he had been active all morning, so I expected this. His heartbeat was 159 bpm and he is measuring about 4 lb 7 oz!!!! Normally at this age they would still be less than 4 lb, so he's definitely not a small baby! His measurements are:
- head: 34w6d
- stomach: 31w2d
- femur: 33w3d
Based on this info, they say he's measuring at 33 weeks and 5 days! And I am only 31 weeks today!!!

My BP looked great again today and I had a minor weight gain... I am officially up 6 pounds since this pregnancy started. Not too bad, but I hope I can keep it under control for the last 2 months! Anyway, a few ultrasound pictures and then I have to get running - baseball game tonight...

30 weeks and counting!

I had my 30 week ultrasound yesterday, followed by a add-in appointment with my OB. The ultrasound went well, though it was with a different tech than usual, which made me kind of sad, I love Stephanie! Baby did very well though, they didn't do measurements as they only do those every two weeks. However, baby did all his practice breathing and movements that he should be doing. And, my amniotic fluid levels look great, so thats always good news. I only got one photo, and its not the best, but here it is:



On to the appointment: I called on Monday due to some intense pelvic pain I have been having and frequent braxton hicks contractions. My doctor said that unfortunately there isn't much that can be done for the pain, and they will just monitor to make sure I am not having any cervical changes (which could indicate preterm labor). He did tell me on days that I wake up in pain to make that a day I don't do anything. That doesn't seem to be very helpful in getting things done around the house though. My blood pressure is still doing great and I haven't gained any weight in a while either, which is good news.

I got a call this morning from the nurses to schedule my c-section... we are on the calendar for August 31 at 7:30 am, which means I have to be to the hospital at 5:30 am! EW. I tried to schedule for Sept 1, but doc was unavailable. Oh yay. Monday's are Dr. Boyd's OR days though, so that works out good for me and I shouldn't have to worry about his schedule changing.... as long as baby stays in there until then. And of course any emergency c-sections could push my time back, but it can't be worse than last time... I'm HOPING!!!