1.24.2014

Happy 9 months Henry!

My baby is 9 months old! He is getting so big! It has been such a joy watching this little boy grow up. Here are some things Henry's been up to:

- he throws major tantrums if you take something away from him
- he is always looking around to see his sister
- he bites!!!! This is the worst. Not only does he bite to the point of bleeding during nursing (I am so over this) but if I am just holding him, he bites my arm, my face, whatever he can get his little teeth around
- he has 8 teeth
- he can creep in all directions and do 360s
- he can get on his knees and rock
- he says mama a lot
- he has slept through the night once. But he still wakes up 2-3 times a night.
- he eats purées really well. His favorites are apples, pears, sweet potatoes, and a combo of spinach, pea and apple.
- he refuses a pacifier
- he takes a morning nap around 10 and an afternoon nap around 230.
- he nurses 4x a day and a couple more times at night :)
- he likes to sleep on his side or stomach
- he has the CUTEST smile!
- he looks very similar to Eloise at this age

9 months flew by! I'm already starting to plan a birthday party!!!
I am so blessed to be this little boys mama! I could snuggle him all day (well until he bites me).

He is 18 lbs 7 inches and 25% across the board (except his head is 90%)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone



1.16.2014

All about our Disney Vacation 2014

So, we are back and we are STILL recovering from our Disney Vacation! It went so well (except for the minor flight cancellation).  I didn't know what to expect with a baby and a toddler, but it all worked out and our kids were ROCK STARS for most of the trip.



Recap time:



Our trip was originally scheduled for Monday January 6-Saturday January 11.  Well, we woke up at 6:00am to get ready to leave for the airport for our flight to find out Jet Blue had cancelled our flight at 4 AM. It was a mad rush to find another flight to take that day.  We finally got on a Spirit flight.  We were so mad that we weren't going to be able to be getting the extra day (because the flight was later in the day), that we booked an extra night at a value resort (Art of Animation -- where we stayed last time) so that we could do pool and downtown disney. Our new flight wasn't leaving until 5:30pm which was delayed and delayed.  We didn't end up taking off until 6:50pm.  Henry did fine and just nursed and slept on the plane. Eloise did well with her iPad but by the end of the flight was getting very tired and cranky and was ready to go to sleep.  We finally get our bags (because magical express doesn't pick them up if you land past 10pm) and get on a bus. The bus driver then announces it will take an hour to get to our hotel because they have two stops to make. Both kids fall asleep on the bus and we FINALLY make it to our resort at midnight.



We stayed at Bay Lake Towers at the Contemporary.  It is a Disney Vacation Club one bedroom Villa.  Usually, this would be about anywhere from $700-$800/night or more if you were to book it straight through Disney.  But, we rented points which was such a blessing. We used www.dvcrequest.com and were so pleased! There was a huge king size bed, two bathrooms and a very big and spacious full kitchen and a pull out couch for Eloise. There was a washing machine and dryer IN THE HOTEL ROOM. This is huge for me, because I do a lot of laundry with Henry and Eloise.  She had an accident one night and I was able to wash everything and it didn't make a difference. Plus, it was within walking distance to Magic Kingdom and the monorail runs right through.  We paid a little over $2,000 for 5 nights, which is like about $400/night.



Where we stayed last time, Art of Animation, was great. We were really happy with it last time and said we would stay there again in a heartbeat.  But, the buses were the big downfall for us.  Having a double stroller, a toddler and a baby and all the 'stuff' that comes with having two kids in Disney, we wanted to avoid long bus rides as much as we could.  Plus, that resort ended up being over $300/night.  So for a much bigger room and the convenience of being so close to the parks we were willing to pay more, but not too much more! But, you do miss out on a much more kid friendly resort.  Art of Animation had the more fun pools and decorations and the like. We were happy to have our final night there this trip to end our trip with super Disney magic.



With that being said, I think we will always try to rent points for the bigger place. It was nice sleeping on a comfortable, very big bed! And having enough room for everyone was fantastic.



Anyway, so since we had a full kitchen, we had groceries delivered using The Garden Grocer. That gave us the flexibility to do breakfast in our room every morning (well except one) and lunch and snacks if we needed to.  Eloise at her signature "Cheese Sandwich" every night, because who eats the $30 kid meal that we paid for? Not her.



The groceries were waiting for us when we arrived in the middle of the night and so was our stroller which I rented again from Orlando Stroller Company.  We actually brought a single umbrella stroller for Henry in the airport and it worked out well.  That way, we had a single stroller for Julian to take Eloise at night to the parks after Henry was asleep. We used the double during the day when both kids were hanging out.



We also used A baby's best friend (abbf.com) and rented a full crib, high chair, and boppy pillow. That worked out well except we needed to meet with them in person so that stuff didn't arrive until the next morning.





DAY 1 : We went to Magic Kingdom!! Eloise was pretty cranky this morning because she went to bed at almost 1 am and was up by 730am.  That is wayyyy less sleep than she is used to. So we took it easy and did breakfast in the room and go to the parks by 930.  We rode rides and tried to pep up Eloise with lots of candy and sugar.  It was very cold that day and we bought hats and gloves in the park.  both kids were bundled up with blankets and jackets and hats. We ate lunch at the Pinocchio Haus which is a quick service that overlooks "It's a Small World" and we really enjoyed it. Eloise loved waving to the people on the ride and thus began her love affair with the "boat ride".  She probably rode "It's a Small World" 7 times the whole trip and still talks about it. I would say it was by far her favorite ride. After lunch both kids fell asleep in the stroller and Julian and I got to ride Pirates while my mom and sister watched the sleeping children. Then I found the baby care center so I could nurse Henry when he was awake.



Thank goodness for Baby care centers. In Magic Kingdom, you walk in and these nice grandmotherly ladies show you to which room you are looking for. There is a nursing room with dimmed lighting and rocking chairs, there is a kitchen, a room with high chairs and a TV for feeding and a room with a bunch of changing tables.  It was a fantastic place to get out of the cold and to sit quietly to nurse Henry.



After that, we did more rides! Julian has now become a pro with fast pass plus. He had the app on his phone and was able to get Eloise in on any ride she wanted without much wait. It was fantastic.  Made life easier knowing we didn't have to spend time waiting on lines for the popular rides (Peter Pan, Teacups, etc) Then we headed to dinner at Tony's (The Lady and the Tramp themed restaurant). We went to bed early this night!!



This night is the night we found out our room (with a beautiful view of the Lake) was right where the electrical parade was at 1015pm.  It was so loud that everyone woke up.  Julian quickly changed our rooms the next day. Which meant we had to have everything packed up and ready to go the next morning. They moved our stuff for us while we headed to HollyWood Studios.



DAY 2: We were going to go to Animal Kingdom this day but with moving rooms and having to pack we skipped it and went straight to Hollywood Studios.  The first thing we did was see the Disney Junior Live show and Eloise LOVED it again. Last year when we went she loved it and this year she loved it. This time it was Doc McStuffins and Sofia and Jake.  She had such a smile on her face, this was definitely one of the high lights of this trip.! After that she rode a Toy Story ride and I went to the baby care center to nurse Henry. WORST BABYCARE CENTER EVER. After Magic Kingdom, I had high expectations. It was small and cramped and not good at.all. After that I met everyone for  lunch at Hollywood and Vine. This was a character lunch with Disney Junior Characters. The characters we had were Oso, Jake, June and Handy Manny. It was just OK.  It was pretty expensive for a pretty bad buffet. Eloise wasn't really into the characters and Henry is very against any sort of character so we definitely won't be doing this one again.



After lunch Henry was having a tough time of it. He wouldn't stop crying FOR ANYTHING. I even tried to leave my mom with him so I could ride rides with my sister and Julian while Eloise slept. But, that didn't work out. I finally just nursed him on a bench to sleep because he was just inconsolable.  Julian and my sister did a ride and then we decided to go back to the hotel to get ready for our dinner!



Dinner at Cinderella's Castle was amazing. If we can, we will continue to do that every.time.we.go.  The food was good and the atmosphere was great. It was a pre-paid dinner and was pretty expensive but each princess spent ample time with Eloise. I mean like they were WONDERFUL with her AND Henry.  Snow White played peek-a-boo with Henry.  Princess Aurora played Aurora figurines with Eloise at our table for probably 10 minutes.  She got to play her favorite thing (princess figurines) with her favorite princess (Aurora) I mean she was beyond elated. All the princesses spent a lot of time talking and whispering with her. It was so worth the money. And the princesses must study their character bc aurora knew about all the details of her story.



After dinner, my mom and I took Henry back and my sister and Julian took Eloise to do more rides.

What was really nice was we were able to walk back to our hotel while Henry slept in the stroller this night AND I could watch the fireworks from our hotel room. AMAZING. So even though Eloise and Julian got  to see them in the parks, I still saw them from my room in my pajamas :)



DAY 3: Epcot Day!  We did breakfast in the room again this day and headed to Epcot.  As soon as we got there I could tell Henry wasn't going to be sleeping in the stroller so I headed right to the baby care center so I could nurse him to sleep.  This worked out well because my Aunt Judy was meeting us and we didn't add her to our lunch reservation.  I just dipped out of lunch and she took my spot.  They did some character meeting and ate at the princess place in Norway, which they said was OK. Julian said the food was fine but after just doing Cinderellas castle , it was not as good. The princesses didn't spend as much time with her which was a big plus of Cinderella's Castle.

We met up afterward and walked around Epcot while the kids napped. All the other adults did adult rides and Julian and I just hung out and walked and talked. It started raining about an hour into their nap and they woke up. We decided to cancel our dinner reservation in Mexico and just go back to the room and get pizza. Everyone agreed and they all met up in our room and we had pizza. Then Henry and I did bedtime and everyone else went back to Magic Kingdom once the rain stopped for more rides.


DAY 4: Back to Magic Kingdom Day! But,first we had breakfast with everyone at Chef Mickeys.  We really loved breakfast here and Eloise really enjoyed seeing all the characters and wasn't shy with them.  She hugged them and we were able to get some good pictures. After breakfast we headed back to Magic Kingdom to do more rides. We ate lunch at Pinocchio Haus again because we liked it so much. After lunch the kids slept and we headed back for the pool.  While they napped, we walked around, got a frozen banana and walked back to our resort which was a plus of staying at Bay Lake Towers. Then we got them ready for the pool and headed there. We spend the rest of the afternoon at the pool and we had dinner with everyone at our resort at The Wave. VERY VERY good in my opinion, but super expensive.

The next day we were originally leaving, and my mom and sister actually did leave. We added on another day so we could do another pool day and see Downtown Disney which Julian really wanted to see. So in the morning, Bell Service moved our luggage to our next resort (Art of Animation) and we headed to Downtown Disney.  It worked out well because the kids slept while we were able to explore and when they woke up we got a fast lunch and headed to our new resort for a pool day. We really enjoyed having this extra pool day. Then we had an early flight in the morning!


We had so much fun and can't wait to start planning our next trip which we think will be September 2015!! I really want to stay at the Villas at the Grand Floridian next time so we will see how that works! I also need to upload the pictures to the computer so I can add them! We will see when that happens....