Lunch with Princesses at Epcot

Today (13 May) we went to Epcot.  We had scheduled a lunch date with the Disney Princesses a month or so back because KK LOVES the Princesses because "they're nice and pretty". So we decided to spend the day and see what rides they had at Epcot. 

Entrance, KK said "That's a big golf ball that the giants use to play golf" 

Another Character and autograph that KK got

Goofy is Mr. H's character so we got a photo with all of us with him

Waiting in line for the ride "Soarin". 

Notice the buttons on KK's hat, I forgot to mention that yesterday I put some sunscreen on KK because I didn't want him to burn, cause we were going to be outside ALL day.  Well, I did the same today making sure to focus on the tops of his ears and after a couple of hours, while in the line for Soarin', I noticed his ears start to swell up and the rest of his face was red and very bumpy (like small little pimples).  I knew he was having an allergic reaction, but I didn't know from what.  The buttons were cool and felt good on his hot swollen ears.  I didn't realize until later that day that he was probably allergic to the sunscreen.  I wanted to leave and go back to the hotel because I had Benadryl there but KK begged to stay and said it didn't bother him very much (as he was rubbing and itching his ears).  We stayed at the park, but I kept a VERY close eye on him, plus the Benadryl would have knocked him out and he didn't want that to happen. 

Meeting Belle for our lunch date with the Princesses

All of the kids got to parade around the restaurant, it was so cute

Sleeping Beauty

Snow White

Mary Poppins

Cinderella

Yummy Dessert, KK didn't care for it, but I loved it

Hanging out in "Norway" (I'm looking bigger than I thought I was, lol)

At Epcot there are different countries that you can visit.  We only visited a couple since we wanted to ride some more of the rides and it was getting difficult for me to walk because of my severe pelvic pain and my feet hurt.  One of the countries we visited was China, and they were putting on a Gymnastics show for the crowd, this was a nice break.  I sat down and let my feet rest...the only problem with sitting on the ground was that Mr H. needed to help me up after the show.  I'm telling you what, I have a new found respect and empathy for those who have broken their pelvis because that's what I feel like...I feel like it's broken, there's not any comfortable position, not standing, sitting, or lying down...every position brings me great pain because of the separation of my pubic bone.

KK loved this guy...he juggled 8 balls!

This roller skating duo was awesome to watch

These girls were awesomely talented

Phineas and Ferb

Mr H and KK were drooling over this car, which was in the test track ride line

The car that Mr H and KK built, I picked the color

We decided to go back to Magic Kingdom so KK could ride the rides that he really liked, Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain.

Splash Mountain

This little kids name is Asher, him and KK started playing right away.  He can make friends sooo fast

He's in jail

He was able to stay up for the fireworks

We were so close to the fireworks that these burnt pieces were raining down on us

Zurg

Look at that face

A Goofy hat

Mickey ears

Pirates cap

He's making a chipmunk face

Yup, he's out again!

When we went from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom, we took the monorail and left our car at the Epcot park. Well, we learned a big lesson...Epcot closed 2 hours before Magic Kingdom and the monorail only runs for a hour after the park closes, so we were not getting on the monorail back to Epcot.  We had to wait for a bus to drive us back over.  We waited a long time (after being on our feet all day!) and finally when the bus came we had to be quick to get KK out of the stroller and fold it up because there was a ton of people and everyone was cutting and smashing people in line to get on the bus.  I took KK in the bus and left Mr H outside trying to deal with the stroller.  I figured that they couldn't leave without him since I was already on the bus.  Also, luckily there was an extra seat for me to sit down because there was no way I was going to be able to hold a 55 pound KK the whole time, he was such a tired boy that he couldn't even wake up to save his life.

When we got back to the hotel, Mr H went back out and got some cortisone cream and I gave KK some Benadryl  to help with the itching and swelling that had continued during the day then spread the cream on when Mr H. came back.

Mother's Day in Florida

Happy Mother's Day to me (and all the other mother's out there!).  This was THE BEST Mother's Day I could have ever had, to experience Disney World for the first time with my family.  We decided to go to Magic Kingdom since everyone said that that was their favorite park.

Ready to head off to the park

We had Diamond parking, which was the closest parking to each of the parks (besides the handicapped parking) so that was really helpful because I was concerned for my pelvis hurting from all of the walking.  But I think I did alright, I needed to take a lot of breaks and had to walk slower than other people. 

Our Family photo at Disney

Waiting in line for Goofy to sign his autograph book

KK's first autograph

Another Family Photo

So, I am a concerned mom...I was afraid that KK would get lost or that someone would take him.  Mr H. and I decided to buy him a whistle in case he couldn't find us or was lost and also I made a bracelet with our phone number on it, just in case he was lost and they needed to try to get ahold of us Luckily that never happened, but I was just overly cautious.

The very first thing we did was a Monsters Inc comedy show.  And KK was a part of it, he was able to help Mike Wazowski with the jokes, it was pretty neat!  The next thing we did Buzz Lightyear's shooting game...which Mr H. and KK just loved!

This little game you had to shoot the Zurg targets, Mr H got 999,999 points (he's a turd).  KK and I only got about 200,000.

While in the line for our third ride the people behind us said, "Hey, you're Caleb!"  They remembered him from the show, it was pretty cool, KK was so embarrassed. 

KK loved all of the rides

More Characters

Thunder Mountain...this was one of KK's ultimate favorite rides.  We probably went on it at least a dozen times throughout our whole time in Disney

This is 24 week picture...since we weren't at home to do it

Splash Mountain was another of KK's favorite rides, which he rode about a dozen times

The castle lit up at night

Dumbo ride

The electrical show...KK absolutely loved this.  He loved to see all of the characters and dancing and lights

As soon as the show was over he clonked out, he didn't even make it to the fireworks.  Poor boy!

Soooo grateful that we rented this stroller, I couldn't imagine carrying him out to the car

Once we got back to the hotel Mr H. saw a frog by our door and decided to wake KK to show him the frog

KK wanted to keep it

He had a hard time letting it go

After I made shells and cheese (cause I was hungry) I was feeding some to KK, but then he fell asleep in the middle of me feeding him...he was such a tired boy!

 

Did I mention that our hotel had a Jacuzzi tub?  That tub was a saving grace for me and my tired body (mostly feet).  I relaxed in the bath almost every night, plus Mr H rubbed my feet and that helped too!

On our way to Disney

Today (May 11) we left for our Disney Vacation.  We had an afternoon flight, which meant we didn't need to be at the airport by the butt-crack of dawn.  KK actually spent the night at my parents last night and since we needed to go there today so my dad could drive us to the airport...it worked out!  We went to get some breakfast and then remembered that we forgot our underwater camera (KK reminded us) and had to turn around, which worked out because I forgot the snack food that I prepared for our flight in the fridge...then we were off to the airport.  My dad drove us and helped us with the bags and carseat.  After checking in we went to the gate and boarded the flight. 

Getting ready to board the flight

Showing how excited he was to get on the plane

The flight had a ton of turbulence and I wasn't ok with that, I get motion sick and it didn't settle well with me.  The flight was only about 2 hours long, so that was nice and once in Orlando we picked up our rental car (which we upgraded to an SUV) and started making our way to our hotel, which was about 30 min away. 

Loving Mickey

At the Orlando airport

When we were halfway there we were stopped at a red light next to a semi truck, the vehicle in front of the truck was a motorcycle and once the light turned green the car in front of the motorcycle started going (but not the motorcycle yet) and the semi truck lurched forward, just knocking the guy off his bike. the semi stopped less than 2 feet away from is head.  I thought he was going to be crushed...we pulled over to see if we could help.  He was pretty banged up with road rash, KK had the idea to put some bandaids on, so I got them out and put them on him.  It took the police about 1.5 hours to get there, despite the 911 call made by the motorcyclist.  At first the 911 operator wanted him to verify that he was in an accident and she didn't want to believe him!  I was shocked!  After the police arrived we were able to give him the correct information (both of the drivers were pretty shaken and couldn't even recall where the accident happened!) and then we were off again. 

The hotel we stayed in was basically a one bedroom condo.  It had a kitchenette that included stove, oven, fridge, and microwave.  It also had a washer and dryer and two queen size beds in the bedroom.  And of course KK had to jump from one bed to the other just to make sure the bed was alright. 

Living room and kitchen area, the hallway leads to the bedroom

I had to lay down for a few because of the rocky flight I was on the verge of a headache and didn't know my darling husband was going to be taking this picture

While I laid down for a little while Mr H. and KK went and did something "secret".  KK was so giddy about it.  It was exciting to watch him like that.  When they came home, they gave me a dozen roses and a mothers day card.  My boys are so sweet!  Mr H. and KK wanted to spruce up  the room with some flowers and to tell me Happy Mother's Day.  I love them so very very much.

Mr H. couldn't find a vase, so he bought a bright pink cup for the flowers

Once we got settled in we needed to go to the store to pick up some food for the week.  We tried not to get very much because we didn't want it to go to waste and I think overall, we did pretty good. 


The local store had this set up with pop can boxes...pretty cool!

After dinner we decided to hit the sheets so we could plenty of rest for Disney World the next day!

He's holding Monkey Chow, an animal that he got for free at a garage sale that he just CANNOT go anywhere without, I don't understand the attachment to it, but it's a strong one

I have AWESOME friends

I really do have the most awesome friends who love and support me.  Before classes ended I had 2 particular friends who went above and beyond to show me they cared about not only me...but this new baby!  I met both of them through Nursing classes and both are so super fun, smart, and not to mention gorgeous.  When they had found out that I was pregnant they wanted to do something extra special.

Emily, her grandmother knits baby afghans and asked her grandmother to knit me one for Nugget.  Emily knew that we weren't finding out the gender and I told her that I like the color yellow, so she picked up 2 types of yarn and had me chose which one I wanted.  And this is the result:

 

It is so huge and soft, Nugget is sure going to LOVE it when s/he gets here!  It'll keep him/her nice and warm too! 

 

I have talked to a couple people about my plans to cloth diaper Nugget...I know this sounds radical BUT, in the long run it saves money and is better for the environment (people argue that it uses more water and other resources, but whatever!).  I've done a lot of researching and reading about it.  I am NOT an expert an this will be a trial and error process.  I do, however, have one friend, Nandry, who has been cloth diapering her son and she has given me a lot of advice.  She even came over to my home and gave me a gift for Nugget, "from one cloth diapering mom to another"

 

She gave me all of this cool cloth diaper (CD) start up kit.  There is CD safe rash ointment, inserts, the diapers themselves, a wet bag, reusable milk pads, and hand-dyed burp cloths (she made herself!)  I was so happy and surprised!  AND she pre-washed them all for me!  I've asked her a lot of questions regarding CD and she comes with a wealth of knowledge! 

 

I am grateful for all of my friends, but I wanted to give a shout out to these two, who have made me feel very special when they gave me gifts for Nugget.  These gifts have made me realize that Nugget will be here before I know it and will be able to use these gifts.  I hope that I can continually document the awesome things that Nugget receives so that I can always remember! 

Change of Pace

This week has been nice change of pace, not worrying about a schedule or homework/studying.  I have been focusing on getting my life and house in order.  We are planning on a family vacation to Disney World in the middle of May and there is nothing worse than coming back from vacation to a messy home.  So, room-by-room I have been spring cleaning and I will tell you something....it's so much harder to do pregnant.  I'm getting to the point where I have a hard time getting up off the floor and it's super hard to bend down to pick things up because of my hips/pelvis.  So, it's been a very slow process with LOTS of breaks.  I finally did get KK's room cleaned and toys moved out.  We've decided that KK won't be able to keep his toys in his room because we need to set up the crib and other baby things in there.  So a couple months ago Mr H. and I donated our couch and loveseat to Goodwill so we could convert the living room into KK's playroom.  So far the living room is a mess.  I need to go through KK's toys again and toss out the broken and yucky toys...He has SO many toys and things to play with!  He's spoiled rotten.

This week I got my hair dyed and cut.  It's like an auburn brown....I LOVE IT!

Rachel, Brenda, and I

This week I was also one of four bridemaids in a wedding for a great friend whom I met in my Nursing classes.  Her wedding was "May the 4th be with you!"  When she had asked me to be a bridesmaid, I was NOT pregnant and when I did find out I was pregnant I was afraid that she may not want me in the wedding because it might be hard.  She told me that the decision was up to me and I still wanted to be in it.  She picked out very pretty dresses that complemented everyone and that looked good despite the baby bump.  I was excited to support her on her awesome wedding day...and it was so much fun to watch people with one too many drinks in them.  And I was also able to see a lot of friends from my Nursing track.

Coming home from the wedding my mom texted to tell me that KK's tummy had been hurting and that he pretty bad diarrhea.  I called and talked to KK and asked if he wanted me to come get him and he did so even though it was very late and we were tired we went to go get KK from my parents.  By the time we got there he was sleeping.  When we got home Mr H. laid him in our bed while we got KK's sheets made (they had been washed but I hadn't put them on his bed).  KK asked if I could sleep with him, and how could I say no to my sick baby boy!?  So Mr H. decided to sleep in KK's room with Zero and I laid down with KK in my room.  We were up A LOT last night with his problem.  So we didn't even wake up in the morning until 10am!  KK seems to feel a little better today, he still has diarrhea, but a warm bath took care of his crampy tummy.

This week, we will be getting ready for our trip and I hope that I will continue to be able to blog about it...but something is telling me that I will be too tired each day...but there should be lots of pictures once we come back!