amazingact21
Upendi
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2010
The Jingle Jungle Cruise looks fantastic! I'm so happy they came up with the idea for the holiday season. 
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We're Doing Disney Again Someday...Plus One! ~ Come Read my Trip Report!!!
- Thread starter Dugette
- Start date
Disney9.9.10
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2010
How neat that you can use 1 FP+ and do rider swap - this is good information to know! I hope that it works out well for you guys. A holiday themed Jungle cruise sounds amazing!
Dugette
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2009
I can pretty much "ditto" all you said! I try to avoid reading too much about the FP+ negativity and am focusing on the things that may make it helpful for us. Like you, we were good at the old system and it's hard to change.Looks awesome!' Can't wait to hear back about your FP+ experience. It all sounds so scary (for lack of a better word) on all the doomsday FP+ threads right now.I hope you love them and they make things easier with dug baby! Personally I think they sound like something I can make work for us but I also hate change and I was great at working the FP system before. So we'll see.
Yes, I'm glad not to have to keep checking back on it. It will be interesting to see how it all works out. I asked in another thread and was told that people are reporting that FP+ works the same for Rider Swap as it does with the existing system...just one FP needed.
I think she'll be a pretty good Disney traveler. We had a little practice trip (to WI) this weekend and learned a lot from it (will try to write a mini TR). We tried to stay really flexible in our days.I've been trying to comment on your thread but always end up closing before I finish!Here's another try!
Your plans sound really great. You both know the parks well enough that adding Dug Baby shouldn't be much trouble. She sounds like she'll be a great little Disney traveler. Stay open to completely tossing the plan if needed and you'll be great. Love that you've set a time for a haircut!
I don't understand this rider swap stuff, but your FP+ plans look good. We've used our bands on two visits and I'm starting to like them. Having rides set for the evening is wonderful anyway. (So is sleeping in!) I'm hoping the old fastpass sticks around a while longer. We had a fun time using FP+, our APs, and our KTTW during the first test. It would definitely make your visit more interesting.
That's great that you're liking the magic bands. I like the aspects you mentioned. Also hoping the existing system is still working. We'll see, I guess!
I can't wait! So cool!
Thanks, that's great to know about the haircut! I hope it goes well!Your plans look fantastic! So excited for you guys and looking forward to reading about the haircut. Don't want to give too much away, but they were AMAZING for DS's haircut. So gentle and awesome!
Oh my gosh! The Jingle Cruise sounds so cute! Can't wait to hear about that too
Yes, good questions on the Fast Pass systems. I would think the old system would still be around for off-site guests, at least for a bit. Who knows, though?
That's great to hear! I hope that's the case for us too!Looks like a great schedule!
I'm so excited to experience something new!The Jingle Jungle Cruise looks fantastic! I'm so happy they came up with the idea for the holiday season.
Thanks, I hope it works well too! Can't wait for the holiday Jungle Cruise!
Leshaface
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2008
AprilRenee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2010
OMG!! Adorable!!
Did you and Dug dress up too?
Did you and Dug dress up too?
Dugette
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2009
Aw, thanks! Can't wait to see your little guy's pictures too!I LOVE THIS!!! Happy Halloween!
Thanks! You know, we didn't really dress up, but if I was more crafty, it would have been pretty funny to dress up as "the Claw" and carry her around.
I did, however, see your comment before we went out and it prompted me to at least wear the Mickey & Minnie Halloween t-shirt I got for MNSSHP 2011. So, something... 
Thank you! I had seen that costume several years ago, pre-baby, and thought it would be the cutest thing to dress a baby in. However, by the time we had Dug Baby's first Halloween last year, they couldn't be found anywhere in baby sizes. However, I found this one at a consignment sale I went to, so it worked out great. She was Yoda last year. And we have accidentally created a pattern of green alien costumes for her...
Dugette
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2009
Hi, all. Hope everyone had a good Halloween!
We had a fun one. Pretty much did the same thing we did last year: put Dug Baby in a green alien costume (Yoda last year and Toy Story Alien this year), walked down to our mailbox stopping at a few neighbors' houses on the way to visit/trick or treat, drove to a friends house that wanted to see her costume, then drove to my dad and step-moms place for dinner. So, Dug Baby got to "trick or treat" 6 times, I guess. And one place even had "age appropriate" treats for her...goldfish crackers!
Actually, she also got to trick or treat a couple days earlier (where the previous picture was from). A local grocery store does a "Boo Bash" for the little ones and our daycare provider sold us on going. It was a ton of toddlers dressed up and going station-to-station to collect things like apples and string cheese and other non-traditional treats. Also, Tinkerbell was giving out some of the treats, so we made sure Dug Baby took note of that.
Here she is trick-or-treating at the most-impressively-decorated neighbor house. Note all the big eyes in the picture:
And she wore a semi-outfit/semi-costume to daycare earlier that day. Here it is (from the same consignment sale I got her costume at, actually):
Shortly before that picture was taken, she decided to start walking! She'd taken a couple steps here and there so far, but otherwise had to be holding something. This time, she took 10 steps without touching anything. She's been doing it since. She still crawls when she wants to get there quick, but she's really working on walking now. I can just see her walking towards Cinderella's castle in just over a month!
Shortly before Halloween, she joined me for one of our many Target runs. Strangely enough, someone had left a Minnie Mouse randomly sitting in the Halloween candy section. Dug Baby spotted it and demanded it, so Minnie was her shopping buddy:
Well, they were buddies until I scanned the price and saw $20 and ditched Minnie before the checkout.
Going back a little further in time, we had a "Disney training" session of heading to the Mall of America. Actually, we had to go there to get Dug's computer fixed at the Apple Store. While he was at the Genius Bar, I took Dug Baby to the kids' table of iPads. I tried to get her to play with this Mickey app I found:
However, she was far more interested in the peek-a-boo capabilities of the iPad:
That's her game, lately. Peek-a-boo everywhere with anything. Heck, she put a fettuccine noodle on her head tonight in a peek-a-boo attempt.
She is also in a phase that may prove difficult at WDW: she wants to hug every stuffed animal she sees. She swiped this one as we walked (apparently a bit too close) past the Pillow Pet booth:
Those gifts shops after all the Disney rides are going to be treacherous terrain! Also, she calls any animal that is NOT a cat "ghee." We thought that was her word for dog (like the end of "doggy"), but it works for bears, pigs, whatever. She yells, "Ghee!" and points and grabs and hugs. Too cute. (But if she sees a lion, she'll yell "Kih-eee!" instead, since it looks like a kitty to her).
Naturally, we also made a stop into the Disney Store. Where she found herself another "ghee":
She had no interest in having more hair:
But she is a little
So, I guess what I learned from this outing is:
1.) The advice I keep hearing about bringing an iPad on the plane to amuse baby may not work for us. Except for peek-a-boo. Which I'm sure we can do with something already in the seat pocket. She is more interested in our phones - and we'll have those with us anyway - so that may be all the Apple product needed for our flight.
2.) Steer around the stuffed animals. Also, I was thinking that maybe we buy one for her early on and use it to get her to put any others back on the shelf (distract and trade). It's an idea, at least.
In other trip-prep news, I got my order of baby-related things from Amazon. Here are the items (sorry for the phone pics of my laptop screen...I couldn't get screen shots to work today):
I got a couple of the Bumkins Junior bibs (saw AprilRenee recommend them in another thread) and one of the Long-Sleeved bibs. We've been using the smaller size of these bibs since 6 months, but I think these will provide even better coverage at Disney. And they can be washed off in the sink each night. And, if she does still make a mess of herself at meals, we have PLENTY of extra Disney outfits for her.
I got a couple of the Zoli straw cups, as I've seen them recommended a lot and I want to get Dug Baby using straw cups. She's great with her sippy cups, but I think that straws are supposed to be better for their teeth or something. She has one straw cup now, but she always tips it way up to drink, which doesn't really work. These ones have a weight at the end of the straw, so they should work at whatever angle. And they close nicely for travel. I'm planning to try one out with her tomorrow and see how she likes it. Thinking of using them primarily for water on the trip.
I got a couple packages of Minnie Mouse sticky placemats. I've been meaning to get these forever. I've heard they're great for eating out. I'm that terrible parent that lets her baby eat directly off of restaurant tables, sometimes forgetting to wipe them down first. Oops. She seems okay so far for it. But Disney is Germ World (see my January 2010 TR if you don't believe me), so I want to get in the habit of using these. I threw some in her diaper bag to try locally before we travel.
I also got a Thermos straw bottle that says it keeps liquids cold for up to 10 hours. I'm thinking we will buy milk at the resort and keep it in our fridge, then fill this each morning before we head to the parks. She's good with drinking cow's milk at meals currently and just nurses night/morning, so I think this will work well for us. I'm hoping they sell jugs of whole milk at the resorts, but if not, she's had 2% and done fine with that too. I'll have to have her test out this cup soon too.
I got a travel version of our nursing pillow, as she's still going night/overnight/morning. Originally, when I planned this trip, I figured we'd be done with nursing, as she'd be over a year. However, I don't see the current sessions going away anytime soon, so I think the pillow will be nice. And I don't want to lug the regular one along, so inflatable it is! I don't think I'll bring it to the parks, just leave in the resort. If we're out late, I may use the baby care centers to nurse, but we'll be okay without the pillow if we do that.
And, finally, I saw someone in a PTR recommend a strap to keep sippy cups from being tossed from the stroller. I got a set that has both a cup strap and a pacifier strap. We tried the cup one out on her high chair tonight and it worked great. No more cup hitting the ground! She seemed a little baffled by the lack of clunk. I think this will be great for her water. And her milk at restaurants. It can strap to strollers, high chairs, whatever. The paci grip will be handy, as she likes to throw it sometimes. It's hit the floor at Target more times than I can count. We tested this thing out today (normally, we just do paci when she's on wheels or in crib, but we made an exception to try this out). She loved how the paci followed her around when she dropped it. She was confused when she tried to throw it and it bounced back, though! Here she is collecting her pacis:
I'm pretty sure she's going to be the star of "Hoarders: Pacis".
Unfortunately, the timing of this worked out that we got all the stuff right after we got back from a brief Wisconsin trip last weekend, so we couldn't put it all to the test. However, I think we learned a lot about traveling with a baby and I'll be doing a brief mini-TR about our adventures. Stay tuned!
We had a fun one. Pretty much did the same thing we did last year: put Dug Baby in a green alien costume (Yoda last year and Toy Story Alien this year), walked down to our mailbox stopping at a few neighbors' houses on the way to visit/trick or treat, drove to a friends house that wanted to see her costume, then drove to my dad and step-moms place for dinner. So, Dug Baby got to "trick or treat" 6 times, I guess. And one place even had "age appropriate" treats for her...goldfish crackers!
Actually, she also got to trick or treat a couple days earlier (where the previous picture was from). A local grocery store does a "Boo Bash" for the little ones and our daycare provider sold us on going. It was a ton of toddlers dressed up and going station-to-station to collect things like apples and string cheese and other non-traditional treats. Also, Tinkerbell was giving out some of the treats, so we made sure Dug Baby took note of that.
Here she is trick-or-treating at the most-impressively-decorated neighbor house. Note all the big eyes in the picture:
And she wore a semi-outfit/semi-costume to daycare earlier that day. Here it is (from the same consignment sale I got her costume at, actually):
Shortly before that picture was taken, she decided to start walking! She'd taken a couple steps here and there so far, but otherwise had to be holding something. This time, she took 10 steps without touching anything. She's been doing it since. She still crawls when she wants to get there quick, but she's really working on walking now. I can just see her walking towards Cinderella's castle in just over a month!
Shortly before Halloween, she joined me for one of our many Target runs. Strangely enough, someone had left a Minnie Mouse randomly sitting in the Halloween candy section. Dug Baby spotted it and demanded it, so Minnie was her shopping buddy:
Well, they were buddies until I scanned the price and saw $20 and ditched Minnie before the checkout.
Going back a little further in time, we had a "Disney training" session of heading to the Mall of America. Actually, we had to go there to get Dug's computer fixed at the Apple Store. While he was at the Genius Bar, I took Dug Baby to the kids' table of iPads. I tried to get her to play with this Mickey app I found:
However, she was far more interested in the peek-a-boo capabilities of the iPad:
That's her game, lately. Peek-a-boo everywhere with anything. Heck, she put a fettuccine noodle on her head tonight in a peek-a-boo attempt.
She is also in a phase that may prove difficult at WDW: she wants to hug every stuffed animal she sees. She swiped this one as we walked (apparently a bit too close) past the Pillow Pet booth:
Those gifts shops after all the Disney rides are going to be treacherous terrain! Also, she calls any animal that is NOT a cat "ghee." We thought that was her word for dog (like the end of "doggy"), but it works for bears, pigs, whatever. She yells, "Ghee!" and points and grabs and hugs. Too cute. (But if she sees a lion, she'll yell "Kih-eee!" instead, since it looks like a kitty to her).
Naturally, we also made a stop into the Disney Store. Where she found herself another "ghee":
She had no interest in having more hair:
But she is a little
So, I guess what I learned from this outing is:
1.) The advice I keep hearing about bringing an iPad on the plane to amuse baby may not work for us. Except for peek-a-boo. Which I'm sure we can do with something already in the seat pocket. She is more interested in our phones - and we'll have those with us anyway - so that may be all the Apple product needed for our flight.
2.) Steer around the stuffed animals. Also, I was thinking that maybe we buy one for her early on and use it to get her to put any others back on the shelf (distract and trade). It's an idea, at least.
In other trip-prep news, I got my order of baby-related things from Amazon. Here are the items (sorry for the phone pics of my laptop screen...I couldn't get screen shots to work today):
I got a couple of the Bumkins Junior bibs (saw AprilRenee recommend them in another thread) and one of the Long-Sleeved bibs. We've been using the smaller size of these bibs since 6 months, but I think these will provide even better coverage at Disney. And they can be washed off in the sink each night. And, if she does still make a mess of herself at meals, we have PLENTY of extra Disney outfits for her.
I got a couple of the Zoli straw cups, as I've seen them recommended a lot and I want to get Dug Baby using straw cups. She's great with her sippy cups, but I think that straws are supposed to be better for their teeth or something. She has one straw cup now, but she always tips it way up to drink, which doesn't really work. These ones have a weight at the end of the straw, so they should work at whatever angle. And they close nicely for travel. I'm planning to try one out with her tomorrow and see how she likes it. Thinking of using them primarily for water on the trip.
I got a couple packages of Minnie Mouse sticky placemats. I've been meaning to get these forever. I've heard they're great for eating out. I'm that terrible parent that lets her baby eat directly off of restaurant tables, sometimes forgetting to wipe them down first. Oops. She seems okay so far for it. But Disney is Germ World (see my January 2010 TR if you don't believe me), so I want to get in the habit of using these. I threw some in her diaper bag to try locally before we travel.
I also got a Thermos straw bottle that says it keeps liquids cold for up to 10 hours. I'm thinking we will buy milk at the resort and keep it in our fridge, then fill this each morning before we head to the parks. She's good with drinking cow's milk at meals currently and just nurses night/morning, so I think this will work well for us. I'm hoping they sell jugs of whole milk at the resorts, but if not, she's had 2% and done fine with that too. I'll have to have her test out this cup soon too.
I got a travel version of our nursing pillow, as she's still going night/overnight/morning. Originally, when I planned this trip, I figured we'd be done with nursing, as she'd be over a year. However, I don't see the current sessions going away anytime soon, so I think the pillow will be nice. And I don't want to lug the regular one along, so inflatable it is! I don't think I'll bring it to the parks, just leave in the resort. If we're out late, I may use the baby care centers to nurse, but we'll be okay without the pillow if we do that.
And, finally, I saw someone in a PTR recommend a strap to keep sippy cups from being tossed from the stroller. I got a set that has both a cup strap and a pacifier strap. We tried the cup one out on her high chair tonight and it worked great. No more cup hitting the ground! She seemed a little baffled by the lack of clunk.
I think this will be great for her water. And her milk at restaurants. It can strap to strollers, high chairs, whatever. The paci grip will be handy, as she likes to throw it sometimes. It's hit the floor at Target more times than I can count. We tested this thing out today (normally, we just do paci when she's on wheels or in crib, but we made an exception to try this out). She loved how the paci followed her around when she dropped it. She was confused when she tried to throw it and it bounced back, though! Here she is collecting her pacis:
I'm pretty sure she's going to be the star of "Hoarders: Pacis".
Unfortunately, the timing of this worked out that we got all the stuff right after we got back from a brief Wisconsin trip last weekend, so we couldn't put it all to the test. However, I think we learned a lot about traveling with a baby and I'll be doing a brief mini-TR about our adventures. Stay tuned!
Leshaface
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2008
What a fantastic idea to have a 'Boo Bash' for smaller children! That would be great if there was something like that around here.
Yay for walking! DS is not at ALL interested in walking or even standing. We try to stand him up and he'll do it for 10 seconds but then his legs turn to jello and he sits right back down. Oh my goodness AND she's speaking small words?! 
Geez, DS is so behind.
You got some great buys! I love the disposable placemats (when I remembered to pack them in his diaper bag
) I'm so bad about using bibs! I brought some, but I'm not even sure that I used them. We don't use them at home either. Good for you on still breastfeeding! That's amazing! I've been having a lot of problems with cysts, which is one of the reasons I stopped. My grandmother had breast cancer in both her breasts and i'm so concerned about me possibly getting it someday, that I want to do everything I can do to prevent it. I was told that once I stopped breastfeeding, cysts shouldn't be as prevalent Anyway, if there is ever another child in our future, I would love to make it to 1 year. I was almost there by 2 months!
Oh my goodness! Look at all those paci's I bought some extra soothies for our trip but he always knew which one his 'regular' one was so he never used the others.
Your trip is coming up so quick now!
Yay for walking!
DS is not at ALL interested in walking or even standing. We try to stand him up and he'll do it for 10 seconds but then his legs turn to jello and he sits right back down. Oh my goodness AND she's speaking small words?! Geez, DS is so behind. You got some great buys! I love the disposable placemats (when I remembered to pack them in his diaper bag
) I'm so bad about using bibs! I brought some, but I'm not even sure that I used them. We don't use them at home either. Good for you on still breastfeeding! That's amazing! I've been having a lot of problems with cysts, which is one of the reasons I stopped. My grandmother had breast cancer in both her breasts and i'm so concerned about me possibly getting it someday, that I want to do everything I can do to prevent it. I was told that once I stopped breastfeeding, cysts shouldn't be as prevalent Anyway, if there is ever another child in our future, I would love to make it to 1 year. I was almost there by 2 months!Oh my goodness! Look at all those paci's
I bought some extra soothies for our trip but he always knew which one his 'regular' one was so he never used the others. Your trip is coming up so quick now!
AprilRenee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2010
Those bibs are THE BEST!!! We use ours daily and I fully intend to take them on our trip (in a year...lol)
Looks like you got good stuff!! And she was super cute for Halloween! What a fun boo bash event!
Looks like you got good stuff!! And she was super cute for Halloween! What a fun boo bash event!
Disney9.9.10
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2010
I love the alien costume!! So cute
amazingact21
Upendi
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2010
Glad to hear Halloween was fun for you. cute costume!
Making an Amazon order for all those little necessities is so helpful; I hope your trip is a bit easier now! I don't know if the Polynesian is effected by it, but I know a lot of the resorts have fridge refurbs going on, so you might wanna double check in regards to milk. As of right now I have to bring a cooler for Landon's.
The stuffed animal infatuation had me laughing, if only because that has to be the worst thing when going through Disney gift shops. Best of luck!
Making an Amazon order for all those little necessities is so helpful; I hope your trip is a bit easier now! I don't know if the Polynesian is effected by it, but I know a lot of the resorts have fridge refurbs going on, so you might wanna double check in regards to milk. As of right now I have to bring a cooler for Landon's.
The stuffed animal infatuation had me laughing, if only because that has to be the worst thing when going through Disney gift shops. Best of luck!
dtr_angel
Sorry I'm Late
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2008
I love all the pictures of Dug baby!
I had thought about bringing our Kindle (we don't have an iPad) but didn't want to have to keep track of one other thing so we didn't... and we did fine. But I have never had to use our phones or the like to entertain Gavin so if that is what she is used to, I think you'll be fine with the iphone.
We use those bibs... we took 3 with us to Disney, and just wiped them off or rinsed them at night in our sink. I bought one of those bibs with sleeves a few months ago and the first time I put it on him he Houdini'd himself out of it, lol.
We had a "Sophie leash" for Disney but not for sippy cups. Seems like a great idea! The placemats sound cool too, might have to get some!
I had thought about bringing our Kindle (we don't have an iPad) but didn't want to have to keep track of one other thing so we didn't... and we did fine. But I have never had to use our phones or the like to entertain Gavin so if that is what she is used to, I think you'll be fine with the iphone.
We use those bibs... we took 3 with us to Disney, and just wiped them off or rinsed them at night in our sink. I bought one of those bibs with sleeves a few months ago and the first time I put it on him he Houdini'd himself out of it, lol.
We had a "Sophie leash" for Disney but not for sippy cups. Seems like a great idea! The placemats sound cool too, might have to get some!
Dugette
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2009
Yeah, it was really neat. I'm glad our daycare lady mentioned it, because I had no idea it existed. I think it will be a tradition for us now.
Oh, I'm sure he's right on track! There's a pretty wide range of "normal" on these things. He'll do it when he's ready. Dug Baby has loved to stand since she was tiny, but just didn't believe that she could walk until recently. And her words are pretty limited - she's pretty much just an animal-lover, I guess.Yay for walking!
Wow, he must be a really neat eater! Or you are really good at stain removal!You got some great buys! I love the disposable placemats (when I remembered to pack them in his diaper bag
I need to try out one of these placemats! We haven't gone anywhere since I got them. I am liking the bigger bibs, though. They keep her from being such a disaster after eating.You did a great job getting as far as you did with the issues you had. I was pretty lucky...after the first few weeks of initial pain, we really had no issues. And I'm pretty sure I've heard that having breastfed reduces your risk of breast cancer. I'm really liking not having to pump at work anymore! Not really sure when we'll stop with the night/morning nursing...I guess keep going as long as she's interested.Good for you on still breastfeeding! That's amazing! I've been having a lot of problems with cysts, which is one of the reasons I stopped. My grandmother had breast cancer in both her breasts and i'm so concerned about me possibly getting it someday, that I want to do everything I can do to prevent it. I was told that once I stopped breastfeeding, cysts shouldn't be as prevalent
Oh, funny! She has so many that she doesn't have a "regular". However, she does prefer the green (newborn) ones to the pink and blue (toddler) ones.Oh my goodness! Look at all those paci's
I can't believe it...only 4 more weeks and we're on our way there!
Yes, I really like those bibs. I think it will work well to have one for each meal at Disney, then rinse them off each night. And, thanks for the compliments on our little alien!Those bibs are THE BEST!!! We use ours daily and I fully intend to take them on our trip (in a year...lol)
Looks like you got good stuff!! And she was super cute for Halloween! What a fun boo bash event!
Thank you very much!I love the alien costume!! So cute
Thanks!
I've been searching around and I can't find a for-sure update on the Poly. I *think* they may have finished replacing the fridges, but I'm not 100% sure. I know that all the resorts keep some on hand for medical needs and I think feeding a baby may be sufficient to get one, if they have enough on hand. Hoping all the rooms will have one, though, so I don't have to go that route.
I know, this will be crazy!
I did get a little something to hopefully divert her attention and keep the don't-take-that-animal-from-me fits at bay:
I actually have both of these (from the Target HQ gift shop). The Sulley one we've had for a while. Dug thinks it's kinda creepy and looks like Sulley ate Bullseye!
Mickey I just got the other day and have not shown it to Dug Baby yet. I think I'm going to hide it and pull it out on the plane for her.Thanks!
Yeah, we don't really want to deal with bringing an extra electronic item either. We may just load the phones up with baby apps and hope for the best.
Sounds like what we're planning. Wow, you've got quite the escape artist on your hands!
I think you can get those placemats at most baby stores too. Ha ha on the "Sophie Leash". Although, maybe I'm going to need a Bullseye Mickey leash... hmmm....
Dugette
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2009
So, we took a 4-day trip to Wisconsin last weekend. The actual purpose was sad (funeral for my uncle who unexpectedly passed away from a heart attack at 56), but we tried to make the trip as fun as possible. The plan was to drive out Friday, attend the service that afternoon, and spend the next couple days in Madison with my Grandma. Sunday afternoon, wed start our trip home, but only go a little ways and spend the night in Wisconsin Dells. Enjoy the toddler area of an indoor waterpark that night and head the rest of the way home on Monday (about a 4-5 hour drive each way). Ill point out the DOs and DONTs of traveling with a toddler that we learned from this trip, by the way.
The drive went well. It was a nice day and roads were fine. We left home around 9:30am. The plan had been to leave at 8am. And this was the best we could do, somehow. I think that our being on a later-than-desired flight out to Florida will probably be a good thing.
DO: Plan a realistic time to leave for the airport. Then add 90 minutes to it, no matter how ridiculously early it seems.
DO: Have everything that can be in the car loaded up the night before. Have everything else as ready to go as possible, with lists of what remains.
DONT: Keep that list in your head. That makes it seem shorter and easier to complete.
Dug Baby was a great traveler. She did some napping and she did some playing. We got her a buckle toy for her birthday and she enjoyed playing with that during the drive. Its basically just a little stuffed toy with a bunch of buckles on it and she was really working on them. She loves playing with buckles. I often struggle to get her out of the stroller and car seat because she just wants to buckle herself back up again. Silly girl!
DO: Bring buckle toy for flight.
We made a quick pit stop at a little coffee shop/cheese shop/restaurant/etc. that we love about halfway there. Dug Baby was quickly converted to a Wisconsinite:
Surprisingly, she didnt mind a wedge of cheese on her head. She hates all hats and headgear. Except cheese, I guess. Well, cheese is good
We did a diaper change and snack/sippy break while Dug got some coffee and cheese curds and sandwiches to go (we would have eaten there, but not enough time, due to our late start).
DO: Always have mini diaper kit handy. Love that thing. So nice to not have to lug a big bag around.
DO: Have small portions of snacks handy. We had some individual servings of puffs. I think well try to have that plus some goldfish and cheerios handy at WDW. But well-packed, so those darn Disney squirrels Ive heard about dont get them. Im thinking theyll probably be safe in the magnetic compartment of the stroller organizer? Hopefully?
Back on the road, we ate our sandwiches (yum!) and enjoyed munching on fresh cheese curds. I wanted to have Dug Baby try them, but not while we were on the road. We saved some for later in our cooler.
We got to the cemetery right on time. It was a very small service (just my grandma and a few other relatives and us she wanted to keep it small). The priest was very nice and the service was short but sweet. Sad that my mom was unable to come with us, as shed come down with the stomach flu earlier in the week. I think it would have helped my grandma to have my mom staying with her. At any rate, Dug Baby did really well during the service, considering shed just finished a long car ride. She drank from her milk sippy and babbled probably a bit too much while the priest was talking.
DONT: Go into a quiet situation without some playtime first. Let some of the babbles out beforehand, if possible.
DO: Make sure the sippy is in good working order. Having to fish the fallen valve out of her milk (and milk spilling everywhere before that) wasnt really fun.
After the service, we said goodbye to the other relatives (they werent feeling up to going out) and went to Perkins with my grandma. She apparently goes there weekly and they know her well. Our waitress was fantastic!
Dug Baby enjoyed some of the food off of our plates, especially my grandmas grilled cheese sandwich. She had some of my chicken pot pie and some of our broccoli. I think she probably ate a fruit and yogurt pouch we brought too. And maybe some puffs or yogurt melts or freeze-dried fruit. I dont remember exactly.
DO: Bring a pouch and some munchies to each meal to supplement the table food. Especially at Disney, where nutrition isnt always the best, it will guarantee that she gets some fruit/veggies/yogurt/protein (depending on what we bring) at each meal.
We went over to my grandmas place for a bit after that. Dug Baby loved playing with all the teddy bears my grandma had strategically placed around her apartment!
We soon said goodnight and headed to the nearby Hampton Inn to get settled into our room. The room was nice and we had a pack n play waiting for us.
DO: Get some practice setting up hotel Pack n Plays. Took both of us and too much time and effort to get it right.
DONT: Leave the bedtime-environment setup until the last minute. When we check into the Poly before we go to dinner we need to get the Pack n Play set up, the sound machine set up (well bring this), and the video monitor set up (also bringing this thinking we may be able to sit outside after she goes to bed, if the weather is decent). We should also have her jammies ready and her teddy and fitted sheet (bringing both) in the Pack n Play. And the travel nursing pillow inflated. Not to mention that wed like to unpack our own stuff too. Doesnt seem like the most relaxing start to our vacation, but hoping to make it easy to get her to bed right after dinner, in preparation for an early-ish morning.
I think this picture is from the next day, but here was our set-up:
Between having trouble leaving my grandmas place in a timely manner and taking a bit to set up the bedtime environment, Dug Baby got to bed later than usual that night. And she did not sleep very well. She woke up a whole bunch of times (7, maybe?), just screaming her little lungs out. At home, we may have given her a few minutes to see if shed go back to sleep, but I didnt want to be waking up other hotel guests, so we went to her pretty quickly. Depending on the time, we did some nursing and some holding. I should point out that she is normally a decent night sleeper. She usually wakes once, just crying, but not screaming, and nurses back to sleep until morning. But not this night. Part of it may have been that we were in the same room, so if she stirred a bit, she saw us and woke up, versus stirring a bit at home and drifting back off. But we were pretty good at being quiet and non-distracting, so I think there were mostly other things at play.
DO: Expect to have a bad nights sleep the first night. Hopefully she will adjust the rest of the trip.
DO: Make every effort to get her in bed as close to normal bedtime as possible. Also know that she will likely want to sleep until 12 hours after she goes to bed we noticed this on the trip. So, late bedtime and early morning may be tricky. Well see.
DONT: Let the room get TOO dark. She seemed happier with some light coming from the bathroom. Pitch black was when the screams would come.
DO: Bring the comforts of home, such as her sound machine and favorite teddy bear.
So, back to this night, she was up (and unhappy) most of the 2-4am time period. We ended up reverting back to an old standby that we hadnt used in quite some time: Soarin her to sleep! Dug broke out the Soarin soundtrack on his phone and a couple rounds later, she was asleep until morning. Thank goodness.
DO: Have Soarin cued up at bedtime.
The Hampton Inn had a nice breakfast in their newly remodeled breakfast area in the morning. We went down to enjoy:
Dug Baby was in a good mood and well-behaved, despite the poor nights sleep that left us rather worn out. She enjoyed a pouch wed brought, along with some scrambled eggs with ham, fresh fruit, and bagel with cream cheese from the breakfast spread. We filled her sippy with milk from the cereal area (2%) and kept it in a bottle cooler all day.
We headed over to my grandmas apartment after breakfast. Spent some time there. Nothing stands out. I mostly chased Dug Baby around the place.
My grandma made us some chili for lunch. Dug Baby actually loves chili (especially the beans), so that was great. We also gave her a pouch, some more of her milk, and some freeze-dried fruit and yogurt drops (side note: there are baby food yogurt melts, but I also found that Target sells in the regular snack section their Simply Balanced brand Smoothie Bites. Its freeze-dried fruit and yogurt melts together. Dug Baby loves them. They also have freeze-dried mixed veggies, which she likes too).
Only one problem: chili is messy. Especially when you are wearing a long-sleeved white onesie. Oops. Good thing we had a spare onesie with us. Heres the chili-loving girl:
DO: Roll up sleeves at meals or use long-sleeved bib.
DO: Always have a spare outfit handy for baby.
Dug Baby also got to try fresh Wisconsin cheese curds. She loved them!
After a bit, we knew that Dug Baby would need a nap soon. Shes generally been taking one 2-hour+ nap midday lately, though sometimes will still do two 1-hour naps. We wanted to make sure she got that long nap in. We were meeting up with friends (actually, the same family that will be in WDW the same week as us) late afternoon, so we left my grandmas early afternoon and got Dug Baby settled into the car for nap. She naps well in her car seat and we decided that was our best option that day.
DO: Be flexible with plans. Make sure naps happen, but dont be a stickler on the where or when.
We had a couple errands to run, so we traded off going into stores with one person remaining in the car with a sleeping Dug Baby. Also, if you remember me mentioning the shopkick app in an update months ago, I collected a bunch of kicks for us too, since we had some time to kill. Then we drove to the pizza place across town where we were meeting up. Turns out that they were there for their older daughters last soccer game get-together and were almost done (and were hanging out with the other parents). We decided not to eat there, since we figured wed be heading out soon. They also have a son and a younger daughter, who is about 3.5 months younger than Dug Baby. But, interestingly enough, about the same size (Dug Baby is small and theirs is big):
Once the other baby got out of her way, Dug Baby took a few steps towards that high chair, in pursuit of the buckle that was hanging off it.
We ended up hanging out at the pizza place and chatting (mostly about our upcoming Disney trips) for longer than we planned. We probably should have eaten. Oh, well. After that, when the rest of their group started to scatter, we took their suggestion of all walking out to Picnic Point, which is a nice scenic walk along the lake. It was chilly out, but luckily, we had plenty of warm things for Dug Baby in the car (not so much for us, but oh well):
Dug Babys new winter jacket seemed to keep her nice and toasty. She was content in her stroller for the walk down to the end. They took a nice family photo of us:
Some scenic photos (can you see the WI Capitol building?):
On the way back, Dug Baby was wanting to be held, so I pulled out the Ergo carrier that I had stashed in the back pocket of her stroller.
DO: Keep the Ergo in the stroller pocket at WDW. And, generally, be prepared.
She enjoyed being in the carrier and we also got to see how well the B-Agile stroller handled bigger kids (since they wanted rides). Very well is the answer. Good to know that we should be able to use it for years.
Also, I still have only worn her in a front carry in the Ergo (we have the Sport version, in case it matters). Shes 20 pounds now, so on the small side for her age. I doubt shell gain a lot more in the next month, before we travel. So, Im not sure if I should even bother trying out the back and/or hip carry positions or not? Is there a weight recommendation? Granted, this walk was not even a mile, but it didnt bother my back or anything to have her in the front carry.
We had a nice walk and enjoyed chatting with our friends. Again, lots of Disney talk. Were all so excited to go back to our happy place. They are staying off site with a bunch of extended family and our schedules do not overlap much, but we should be able to meet up at least one time.
It was dark by the time we got back from the walk. We split up at the cars and said our see you in Disneys.
Even though Dug Baby had been great on the walk, she must have been really tired, since we were once again going past her bedtime a bit. She literally screamed and screamed the whole way back to the hotel. She normally is a good car rider, but she was just at the end of her rope, I guess. I had Dug stop at one point and I went back and made sure she was comfortable and gave her a snack and her sippy cup and a toy, but nothing was helping. We ended up just driving across town with a screaming baby.
DONT: Let Dug Baby get over-tired. This may be tough at WDW.
Once we got back to the hotel, she was back to her normal self. We got her jammies on and she played on our bed for a few minutes:
Nursed her and got her down for bed while Dug went to get us some dinner. He got us burrito bowls from the nearby Chipotle. We took turns going down to the breakfast area and eating them (so as not to wake Dug Baby). I got to go first and Dug told me to take my time and enjoy it. I have to say that this was one of the nicest meals Ive had in a long time! I didnt have to rush, I didnt have to catch falling sippy cups, I didnt have to entertain anyone, I didnt even have to watch a monitor. I was able to just eat and play on my phone and relax. SO nice! I hope to have some moments like this at Disney too.
Dug Baby slept much better this night. Maybe because we were a bit closer to her normal bedtime. Or maybe she was getting used to the accommodations. Or maybe we were better about leaving some light shining in. She did still wake up one more time than usual, but there was no screaming, just her normal nursing and going back to sleep. So much better!
Sunday morning, we got up and headed to the breakfast area. Dug is not a morning person:
Dug Baby enjoyed the offerings again. There were cheese omelets, bagels, fruit, etc. But the real hit with Dug Baby was the small bowl of oatmeal I brought her. I didnt want her to throw it all on the floor, so I held the bowl and loaded the spoon and gave it to her. She made faces and acted like it was gross initially, but then decided it was highly desirable and wanted more and more. Eventually, spoonfuls were not good enough she wanted the bowl. Since there wasnt too much and it was pretty thick (not easy to spill), I let her have it. She went to town eating out of the bowl:
A cool thing happened around this time. A random lady stopped by our table and said how great it was that Dug Baby was just sitting at the table sharing a meal with us. She knew someone else who did the same with their baby and thought it was just great to have baby sit down with the family and share the food. That was sweet of her to mention to us.
DO: Let Dug Baby enjoy as much of our meals as possible. But bring pouches and other munchies as back-up, in case there are not a lot of good things to share. And to make sure she gets her veggies and fruits.
After we ate, I grabbed a mini-box of Cheerios for later and we headed up to the room to change into our swimming attire. Finally, after several stays at this hotel, we had managed to find a bit of time to use the pool! Plus, Dug Baby was missing her last swim lesson of the session this weekend, so we had to make up for that!
I LOVE her Minnie Mouse swim cover-up:
And, yes, theres a Minnie Mouse swimsuit under that!
We had a great time in the pool. Nobody else was there, so it was nice and private. We tried out Dug Babys swim float thing for the first time. She liked it okay, I think, but preferred to be in our arms. Im not sure if well bring it to WDW. We re-created most of the songs and games and activities from her class. She really enjoys playing in the water. Dug and I also each took a turn in the hot tub.
DO: Enjoy some relaxed pool playtime with Dug Baby.
After our swim, we returned to the room and got ready to go. Packed up and headed over to my grandmas apartment.
This is where Dug Baby invented one of her current favorite games: repeatedly close the bathroom door. Yes, she and I spend a lot of time standing in the bathroom these days! Also, notice in these pictures that she found a little picture of me when I was 3 and loved it and carried it around the house with her too cute!
My grandma had strategically located bears and other fun things around the house, so Dug Baby had a good time finding them:
And her favorite got a bear hug:
We ended up going out to Red Lobster for lunch. Im not a seafood person, but I was happy eating biscuits and chicken. As was Dug Baby. She also had some broccoli and cheerios and some of my grandmas fish sandwich. And she flirted with the couple behind us. And kept throwing her pacifier on the floor.
DO: Keep pacifier and sippy cup attached to stroller or high chair with the new straps I got!
As we finished up, Dug suggested that my grandma say goodbye to Dug Baby at the restaurant. Even though we were stopping back at my grandmas place to pick up some things we left there, he didnt think shed be awake after the 5-minute drive, since it was so very late for her nap. He was right:
DONT: Stress too much about an exact sleep schedule. I think regular sleep is important, but the exact timing isnt as much. Even though she was up for a long time, she was totally happy and fun at lunch. But the napping opportunity does need to be provided just with some flexibility. Same with bedtime.
Luckily, my grandma said goodbye to her at the restaurant (and I totally forgot to get any pictures of them together!) I went into the apartment and gathered our things and said goodbye to my grandma.
We hit the road and headed towards Wisconsin Dells. Dug Baby was still napping when we arrived (not surprisingly, since it had only been an hour or so and she usually takes 2-hour naps). We drove right by our destination for the night:
However, to get her some more nap time, we decided to cruise around the Dells a bit. It was off-season, so less crowded and easier to get around. I had fun taking pictures of all the sights from the car:
Dug Baby woke up shortly before we arrived back at the resort. And she was not very happy. Until we got out of the car. Then she was fine.
Continued in next post...
The drive went well. It was a nice day and roads were fine. We left home around 9:30am. The plan had been to leave at 8am. And this was the best we could do, somehow. I think that our being on a later-than-desired flight out to Florida will probably be a good thing.
DO: Plan a realistic time to leave for the airport. Then add 90 minutes to it, no matter how ridiculously early it seems.
DO: Have everything that can be in the car loaded up the night before. Have everything else as ready to go as possible, with lists of what remains.
DONT: Keep that list in your head. That makes it seem shorter and easier to complete.
Dug Baby was a great traveler. She did some napping and she did some playing. We got her a buckle toy for her birthday and she enjoyed playing with that during the drive. Its basically just a little stuffed toy with a bunch of buckles on it and she was really working on them. She loves playing with buckles. I often struggle to get her out of the stroller and car seat because she just wants to buckle herself back up again. Silly girl!
DO: Bring buckle toy for flight.
We made a quick pit stop at a little coffee shop/cheese shop/restaurant/etc. that we love about halfway there. Dug Baby was quickly converted to a Wisconsinite:
Surprisingly, she didnt mind a wedge of cheese on her head. She hates all hats and headgear. Except cheese, I guess. Well, cheese is good
We did a diaper change and snack/sippy break while Dug got some coffee and cheese curds and sandwiches to go (we would have eaten there, but not enough time, due to our late start).
DO: Always have mini diaper kit handy. Love that thing. So nice to not have to lug a big bag around.
DO: Have small portions of snacks handy. We had some individual servings of puffs. I think well try to have that plus some goldfish and cheerios handy at WDW. But well-packed, so those darn Disney squirrels Ive heard about dont get them. Im thinking theyll probably be safe in the magnetic compartment of the stroller organizer? Hopefully?
Back on the road, we ate our sandwiches (yum!) and enjoyed munching on fresh cheese curds. I wanted to have Dug Baby try them, but not while we were on the road. We saved some for later in our cooler.
We got to the cemetery right on time. It was a very small service (just my grandma and a few other relatives and us she wanted to keep it small). The priest was very nice and the service was short but sweet. Sad that my mom was unable to come with us, as shed come down with the stomach flu earlier in the week. I think it would have helped my grandma to have my mom staying with her. At any rate, Dug Baby did really well during the service, considering shed just finished a long car ride. She drank from her milk sippy and babbled probably a bit too much while the priest was talking.
DONT: Go into a quiet situation without some playtime first. Let some of the babbles out beforehand, if possible.
DO: Make sure the sippy is in good working order. Having to fish the fallen valve out of her milk (and milk spilling everywhere before that) wasnt really fun.
After the service, we said goodbye to the other relatives (they werent feeling up to going out) and went to Perkins with my grandma. She apparently goes there weekly and they know her well. Our waitress was fantastic!
Dug Baby enjoyed some of the food off of our plates, especially my grandmas grilled cheese sandwich. She had some of my chicken pot pie and some of our broccoli. I think she probably ate a fruit and yogurt pouch we brought too. And maybe some puffs or yogurt melts or freeze-dried fruit. I dont remember exactly.
DO: Bring a pouch and some munchies to each meal to supplement the table food. Especially at Disney, where nutrition isnt always the best, it will guarantee that she gets some fruit/veggies/yogurt/protein (depending on what we bring) at each meal.
We went over to my grandmas place for a bit after that. Dug Baby loved playing with all the teddy bears my grandma had strategically placed around her apartment!
We soon said goodnight and headed to the nearby Hampton Inn to get settled into our room. The room was nice and we had a pack n play waiting for us.
DO: Get some practice setting up hotel Pack n Plays. Took both of us and too much time and effort to get it right.
DONT: Leave the bedtime-environment setup until the last minute. When we check into the Poly before we go to dinner we need to get the Pack n Play set up, the sound machine set up (well bring this), and the video monitor set up (also bringing this thinking we may be able to sit outside after she goes to bed, if the weather is decent). We should also have her jammies ready and her teddy and fitted sheet (bringing both) in the Pack n Play. And the travel nursing pillow inflated. Not to mention that wed like to unpack our own stuff too. Doesnt seem like the most relaxing start to our vacation, but hoping to make it easy to get her to bed right after dinner, in preparation for an early-ish morning.
I think this picture is from the next day, but here was our set-up:
Between having trouble leaving my grandmas place in a timely manner and taking a bit to set up the bedtime environment, Dug Baby got to bed later than usual that night. And she did not sleep very well. She woke up a whole bunch of times (7, maybe?), just screaming her little lungs out. At home, we may have given her a few minutes to see if shed go back to sleep, but I didnt want to be waking up other hotel guests, so we went to her pretty quickly. Depending on the time, we did some nursing and some holding. I should point out that she is normally a decent night sleeper. She usually wakes once, just crying, but not screaming, and nurses back to sleep until morning. But not this night. Part of it may have been that we were in the same room, so if she stirred a bit, she saw us and woke up, versus stirring a bit at home and drifting back off. But we were pretty good at being quiet and non-distracting, so I think there were mostly other things at play.
DO: Expect to have a bad nights sleep the first night. Hopefully she will adjust the rest of the trip.
DO: Make every effort to get her in bed as close to normal bedtime as possible. Also know that she will likely want to sleep until 12 hours after she goes to bed we noticed this on the trip. So, late bedtime and early morning may be tricky. Well see.
DONT: Let the room get TOO dark. She seemed happier with some light coming from the bathroom. Pitch black was when the screams would come.
DO: Bring the comforts of home, such as her sound machine and favorite teddy bear.
So, back to this night, she was up (and unhappy) most of the 2-4am time period. We ended up reverting back to an old standby that we hadnt used in quite some time: Soarin her to sleep! Dug broke out the Soarin soundtrack on his phone and a couple rounds later, she was asleep until morning. Thank goodness.
DO: Have Soarin cued up at bedtime.
The Hampton Inn had a nice breakfast in their newly remodeled breakfast area in the morning. We went down to enjoy:
Dug Baby was in a good mood and well-behaved, despite the poor nights sleep that left us rather worn out. She enjoyed a pouch wed brought, along with some scrambled eggs with ham, fresh fruit, and bagel with cream cheese from the breakfast spread. We filled her sippy with milk from the cereal area (2%) and kept it in a bottle cooler all day.
We headed over to my grandmas apartment after breakfast. Spent some time there. Nothing stands out. I mostly chased Dug Baby around the place.
My grandma made us some chili for lunch. Dug Baby actually loves chili (especially the beans), so that was great. We also gave her a pouch, some more of her milk, and some freeze-dried fruit and yogurt drops (side note: there are baby food yogurt melts, but I also found that Target sells in the regular snack section their Simply Balanced brand Smoothie Bites. Its freeze-dried fruit and yogurt melts together. Dug Baby loves them. They also have freeze-dried mixed veggies, which she likes too).
Only one problem: chili is messy. Especially when you are wearing a long-sleeved white onesie. Oops. Good thing we had a spare onesie with us. Heres the chili-loving girl:
DO: Roll up sleeves at meals or use long-sleeved bib.
DO: Always have a spare outfit handy for baby.
Dug Baby also got to try fresh Wisconsin cheese curds. She loved them!
After a bit, we knew that Dug Baby would need a nap soon. Shes generally been taking one 2-hour+ nap midday lately, though sometimes will still do two 1-hour naps. We wanted to make sure she got that long nap in. We were meeting up with friends (actually, the same family that will be in WDW the same week as us) late afternoon, so we left my grandmas early afternoon and got Dug Baby settled into the car for nap. She naps well in her car seat and we decided that was our best option that day.
DO: Be flexible with plans. Make sure naps happen, but dont be a stickler on the where or when.
We had a couple errands to run, so we traded off going into stores with one person remaining in the car with a sleeping Dug Baby. Also, if you remember me mentioning the shopkick app in an update months ago, I collected a bunch of kicks for us too, since we had some time to kill. Then we drove to the pizza place across town where we were meeting up. Turns out that they were there for their older daughters last soccer game get-together and were almost done (and were hanging out with the other parents). We decided not to eat there, since we figured wed be heading out soon. They also have a son and a younger daughter, who is about 3.5 months younger than Dug Baby. But, interestingly enough, about the same size (Dug Baby is small and theirs is big):
Once the other baby got out of her way, Dug Baby took a few steps towards that high chair, in pursuit of the buckle that was hanging off it.
We ended up hanging out at the pizza place and chatting (mostly about our upcoming Disney trips) for longer than we planned. We probably should have eaten. Oh, well. After that, when the rest of their group started to scatter, we took their suggestion of all walking out to Picnic Point, which is a nice scenic walk along the lake. It was chilly out, but luckily, we had plenty of warm things for Dug Baby in the car (not so much for us, but oh well):
Dug Babys new winter jacket seemed to keep her nice and toasty. She was content in her stroller for the walk down to the end. They took a nice family photo of us:
Some scenic photos (can you see the WI Capitol building?):
On the way back, Dug Baby was wanting to be held, so I pulled out the Ergo carrier that I had stashed in the back pocket of her stroller.
DO: Keep the Ergo in the stroller pocket at WDW. And, generally, be prepared.
She enjoyed being in the carrier and we also got to see how well the B-Agile stroller handled bigger kids (since they wanted rides). Very well is the answer. Good to know that we should be able to use it for years.
Also, I still have only worn her in a front carry in the Ergo (we have the Sport version, in case it matters). Shes 20 pounds now, so on the small side for her age. I doubt shell gain a lot more in the next month, before we travel. So, Im not sure if I should even bother trying out the back and/or hip carry positions or not? Is there a weight recommendation? Granted, this walk was not even a mile, but it didnt bother my back or anything to have her in the front carry.
We had a nice walk and enjoyed chatting with our friends. Again, lots of Disney talk. Were all so excited to go back to our happy place. They are staying off site with a bunch of extended family and our schedules do not overlap much, but we should be able to meet up at least one time.
It was dark by the time we got back from the walk. We split up at the cars and said our see you in Disneys.
Even though Dug Baby had been great on the walk, she must have been really tired, since we were once again going past her bedtime a bit. She literally screamed and screamed the whole way back to the hotel. She normally is a good car rider, but she was just at the end of her rope, I guess. I had Dug stop at one point and I went back and made sure she was comfortable and gave her a snack and her sippy cup and a toy, but nothing was helping. We ended up just driving across town with a screaming baby.
DONT: Let Dug Baby get over-tired. This may be tough at WDW.
Once we got back to the hotel, she was back to her normal self. We got her jammies on and she played on our bed for a few minutes:
Nursed her and got her down for bed while Dug went to get us some dinner. He got us burrito bowls from the nearby Chipotle. We took turns going down to the breakfast area and eating them (so as not to wake Dug Baby). I got to go first and Dug told me to take my time and enjoy it. I have to say that this was one of the nicest meals Ive had in a long time! I didnt have to rush, I didnt have to catch falling sippy cups, I didnt have to entertain anyone, I didnt even have to watch a monitor. I was able to just eat and play on my phone and relax. SO nice! I hope to have some moments like this at Disney too.
Dug Baby slept much better this night. Maybe because we were a bit closer to her normal bedtime. Or maybe she was getting used to the accommodations. Or maybe we were better about leaving some light shining in. She did still wake up one more time than usual, but there was no screaming, just her normal nursing and going back to sleep. So much better!
Sunday morning, we got up and headed to the breakfast area. Dug is not a morning person
:
Dug Baby enjoyed the offerings again. There were cheese omelets, bagels, fruit, etc. But the real hit with Dug Baby was the small bowl of oatmeal I brought her. I didnt want her to throw it all on the floor, so I held the bowl and loaded the spoon and gave it to her. She made faces and acted like it was gross initially, but then decided it was highly desirable and wanted more and more. Eventually, spoonfuls were not good enough she wanted the bowl. Since there wasnt too much and it was pretty thick (not easy to spill), I let her have it. She went to town eating out of the bowl:
A cool thing happened around this time. A random lady stopped by our table and said how great it was that Dug Baby was just sitting at the table sharing a meal with us. She knew someone else who did the same with their baby and thought it was just great to have baby sit down with the family and share the food. That was sweet of her to mention to us.
DO: Let Dug Baby enjoy as much of our meals as possible. But bring pouches and other munchies as back-up, in case there are not a lot of good things to share. And to make sure she gets her veggies and fruits.
After we ate, I grabbed a mini-box of Cheerios for later and we headed up to the room to change into our swimming attire. Finally, after several stays at this hotel, we had managed to find a bit of time to use the pool! Plus, Dug Baby was missing her last swim lesson of the session this weekend, so we had to make up for that!
I LOVE her Minnie Mouse swim cover-up:
And, yes, theres a Minnie Mouse swimsuit under that!
We had a great time in the pool. Nobody else was there, so it was nice and private. We tried out Dug Babys swim float thing for the first time. She liked it okay, I think, but preferred to be in our arms. Im not sure if well bring it to WDW. We re-created most of the songs and games and activities from her class. She really enjoys playing in the water. Dug and I also each took a turn in the hot tub.
DO: Enjoy some relaxed pool playtime with Dug Baby.
After our swim, we returned to the room and got ready to go. Packed up and headed over to my grandmas apartment.
This is where Dug Baby invented one of her current favorite games: repeatedly close the bathroom door. Yes, she and I spend a lot of time standing in the bathroom these days! Also, notice in these pictures that she found a little picture of me when I was 3 and loved it and carried it around the house with her too cute!
My grandma had strategically located bears and other fun things around the house, so Dug Baby had a good time finding them:
And her favorite got a bear hug:
We ended up going out to Red Lobster for lunch. Im not a seafood person, but I was happy eating biscuits and chicken. As was Dug Baby. She also had some broccoli and cheerios and some of my grandmas fish sandwich. And she flirted with the couple behind us. And kept throwing her pacifier on the floor.
DO: Keep pacifier and sippy cup attached to stroller or high chair with the new straps I got!
As we finished up, Dug suggested that my grandma say goodbye to Dug Baby at the restaurant. Even though we were stopping back at my grandmas place to pick up some things we left there, he didnt think shed be awake after the 5-minute drive, since it was so very late for her nap. He was right:
DONT: Stress too much about an exact sleep schedule. I think regular sleep is important, but the exact timing isnt as much. Even though she was up for a long time, she was totally happy and fun at lunch. But the napping opportunity does need to be provided just with some flexibility. Same with bedtime.
Luckily, my grandma said goodbye to her at the restaurant (and I totally forgot to get any pictures of them together!) I went into the apartment and gathered our things and said goodbye to my grandma.
We hit the road and headed towards Wisconsin Dells. Dug Baby was still napping when we arrived (not surprisingly, since it had only been an hour or so and she usually takes 2-hour naps). We drove right by our destination for the night:
However, to get her some more nap time, we decided to cruise around the Dells a bit. It was off-season, so less crowded and easier to get around. I had fun taking pictures of all the sights from the car:
Dug Baby woke up shortly before we arrived back at the resort. And she was not very happy. Until we got out of the car. Then she was fine.
Continued in next post...
Dugette
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2009
Continued...
We went in and Dug handled the check-in while Dug Baby and I wandered around and checked the lobby out. And then she discovered her very favorite ghee:
She could not get enough of that guy! Every time we walked away, she did everything she could to get back to it. Silly baby!
Our room was ready, but in another building, so we had to drive on over there. We had upgraded from a standard hotel-style room to a small suite (extra $30). Well worth it! I wish we could have accommodations like this at WDW! (But please spare me the lectures on Disney Vacation Club).
Heres the view from the living area looking back through the bedroom towards the hall entrance:
Heres the kitchen, dining room, and patio:
And heres the living area where Dug Baby slept (the pack n play ended up about where the stroller is):
We requested a pack n play and it arrived and the guy actually set it up for us too, which was nice. We got her sound machine and monitor hooked up and ready for later. Dug moved one of the nice armchairs into the bedroom for himself. Dug Baby explored our bed and enjoyed the headboard full of ghees:
It was late afternoon/early evening at this point and time to hit the toddler pool before Dug Babys bedtime. We didnt take any pictures, since we left our phones in the room. However, we did walk through and take some the next day, so you can see what it was like:
I went down some of the slides with Dug Baby. However, I managed to get pool-bottom-burned on the back of my thigh on one of them, so probably not the best idea. Ouch. The little swings were great. Her favorite things were all the little animal statues. Shed walk or crawl over to each one and exclaim ghee! or kitty! (lion) and play with it.
That last picture was of the toddler lazy river. Since it was slow season, theres nobody in it, but Dug Baby took a spin. There are little baby inner tubes with the middle filled in. She sat in one and we walked around the river loop with her, making sure she didnt vault off. She seemed to enjoy it, but wanted up about ¾ of the way through. I picked her up and we walked the rest of the way.
We played for a bit more and decided to head out when all Dug Baby wanted to do was try to climb UP the slides. And shed get upset when I wouldnt let her. Rules, kid!
DO: Expect random toddler moments of upset. Try to roll with it.
Since we had a dining room in our suite, we ordered some food to go from one of the places we walked by. I got a grilled cheese and sweet potato fries to share with Dug Baby. I also ordered a warm chocolate chip cookie with ice cream as a treat to myself! Dug stayed to wait for the food and I headed out with Dug Baby.
We took the long hike back to the room and got showered up and changed. I put Dug Baby in her jammies, even though we still had to eat dinner. Dug arrived back with dinner and we got Dug Baby set up in her travel high chair:
I also gave her some freeze-dried fruit and yogurt bite mix. She made a mess of herself, but not her jammies, so that was good. After dinner, I nursed her, turned on the oven night light for her, and got her to bed.
So, you remember that cookie I ordered? They forgot to give it to Dug. He called and asked to get it refunded, since it was such a long hike from our room and we didnt feel like going all the way back for it. The gal on the phone said that she could bring it by our room, so we said okay just knock quiet with the sleeping baby. She did and it turns out that she brought BOTH of us a cookie. Very nice!
We enjoyed our treats, but could only eat about half of them. We each finished the ice cream and stored the rest of the cookie in the fridge.
Originally, wed had big plans of after Dug Baby goes to bed, I want to do blah, blah, blah. But it was later than usual bedtime (like 9pm!) and we were both wiped out. As much as I wanted to go wander around and check out the rest of the resort, curling up in a nice bed sounded way better. So, we ended up spending the evening in and catching up on sleep a bit.
DO: Change plans as necessary and enjoy the moment.
Dug Baby slept okay, but had a bout of crying and not wanting to go back to sleep after a middle-of-the-night feeding. We ended up playing Soarin to her through the baby monitor and she was out again after a couple rounds. Yay, Soarin!
Since shed gone to bed so late, she also slept 2 hours later than normal. Which meant I got to sleep until 9am! Sweet! It was a much-needed night of sleep for all of us.
DO: Remember that late bedtimes lead to late wake-ups.
We could have hit the pool area again in the morning, but just werent feeling up for it. I didnt want to wrestle her off of waterslides again. Instead, we decided wed just wander the resort and take it all in.
After breakfast, though. And what do you have for breakfast on vacation? Leftover warm cookies from the microwave, of course! We gave Dug Baby food with more nutritional value for her breakfast.
I washed up her travel high chair afterwards and decided to take along the rest of the sample-sized bottle of dish soap can use that at Disney!
We packed up our stuff and brought it right out to the car, which was very close to our patio. Handy shortcut! The outside of our suite:
After that we walked around the place. There is a huge outdoor and indoor waterpark. We only played in a small portion of it, since the focus was on Dug Baby. And the outdoor one wasnt open this time of year:
Dug Baby amused herself during our walk by playing buckle myself up:
We explored the indoor amusement park as well. Dug described the place as Animal Kingdom Lodge, if Disney had no taste. The lighting in this restaurant reminded me of Boma:
We stopped at the coffee shop and admired all the baked goods (think Starring Rolls). Dug wanted a coffee drink and we both wanted something a bit more substantial than our ½ cookie breakfasts. I got a breakfast sandwich and Dug had a breakfast burrito. We also got a bag of cheese curds and, once again, Dug Baby loved them. She also had a pouch and some milk and probably some puffs.
After we wrapped up the brunch, we decided to head out. Dug Baby said goodbye to her favorite ghee:
And we took a picture with a Wisconsin Dells classic that was outside the resort one of the Ducks love riding those in the summer:
Time to hit the road! Since we had the time, we decided to take the scenic route home. Driving along the river with the fall colors. Great decision! This was probably the best day of our trip, since the drive was just so nice:
We stopped at a park along the river:
Dug Baby and her teddy did some napping and had a good time:
The highlight for Dug was seeing that one of his childhood memories was still standing. There was an old train depot that he remembered going to as a kid. It was a Hardees at that time. Now, however, it was his favorite a Caribou:
We were still a bit chilled from our stop, so it was the perfect time to stop for a hot drink. I had a hot chocolate and Dug had coffee. Turns out that they also had warm cookies, just like in Dugs childhood memories. He got one for all of us to share. Dug Baby enjoyed her piece with milk:
After our quick break, we headed back towards home, stopping at Dugs parents house on the way to visit briefly and pick up Bailey (they dog-sat for us). Then, home, dinner, and bed.
DO: Upon returning home, have one person eat dinner with Dug Baby while the other gets the monitor and sound machine set up for bedtime.
It was a nice little family trip and I think we learned a lot about traveling with Dug Baby. (Ironically, Dug Baby was having a rough time sleeping tonight and Dug is in there Soarin her back to sleep Im listening on the monitor!)
We went in and Dug handled the check-in while Dug Baby and I wandered around and checked the lobby out. And then she discovered her very favorite ghee:
She could not get enough of that guy! Every time we walked away, she did everything she could to get back to it. Silly baby!
Our room was ready, but in another building, so we had to drive on over there. We had upgraded from a standard hotel-style room to a small suite (extra $30). Well worth it! I wish we could have accommodations like this at WDW! (But please spare me the lectures on Disney Vacation Club).
Heres the view from the living area looking back through the bedroom towards the hall entrance:
Heres the kitchen, dining room, and patio:
And heres the living area where Dug Baby slept (the pack n play ended up about where the stroller is):
We requested a pack n play and it arrived and the guy actually set it up for us too, which was nice. We got her sound machine and monitor hooked up and ready for later. Dug moved one of the nice armchairs into the bedroom for himself. Dug Baby explored our bed and enjoyed the headboard full of ghees:
It was late afternoon/early evening at this point and time to hit the toddler pool before Dug Babys bedtime. We didnt take any pictures, since we left our phones in the room. However, we did walk through and take some the next day, so you can see what it was like:
I went down some of the slides with Dug Baby. However, I managed to get pool-bottom-burned on the back of my thigh on one of them, so probably not the best idea. Ouch. The little swings were great. Her favorite things were all the little animal statues. Shed walk or crawl over to each one and exclaim ghee! or kitty! (lion) and play with it.
That last picture was of the toddler lazy river. Since it was slow season, theres nobody in it, but Dug Baby took a spin. There are little baby inner tubes with the middle filled in. She sat in one and we walked around the river loop with her, making sure she didnt vault off. She seemed to enjoy it, but wanted up about ¾ of the way through. I picked her up and we walked the rest of the way.
We played for a bit more and decided to head out when all Dug Baby wanted to do was try to climb UP the slides. And shed get upset when I wouldnt let her. Rules, kid!
DO: Expect random toddler moments of upset. Try to roll with it.
Since we had a dining room in our suite, we ordered some food to go from one of the places we walked by. I got a grilled cheese and sweet potato fries to share with Dug Baby. I also ordered a warm chocolate chip cookie with ice cream as a treat to myself! Dug stayed to wait for the food and I headed out with Dug Baby.
We took the long hike back to the room and got showered up and changed. I put Dug Baby in her jammies, even though we still had to eat dinner. Dug arrived back with dinner and we got Dug Baby set up in her travel high chair:
I also gave her some freeze-dried fruit and yogurt bite mix. She made a mess of herself, but not her jammies, so that was good. After dinner, I nursed her, turned on the oven night light for her, and got her to bed.
So, you remember that cookie I ordered? They forgot to give it to Dug. He called and asked to get it refunded, since it was such a long hike from our room and we didnt feel like going all the way back for it. The gal on the phone said that she could bring it by our room, so we said okay just knock quiet with the sleeping baby. She did and it turns out that she brought BOTH of us a cookie. Very nice!
We enjoyed our treats, but could only eat about half of them. We each finished the ice cream and stored the rest of the cookie in the fridge.
Originally, wed had big plans of after Dug Baby goes to bed, I want to do blah, blah, blah. But it was later than usual bedtime (like 9pm!) and we were both wiped out. As much as I wanted to go wander around and check out the rest of the resort, curling up in a nice bed sounded way better. So, we ended up spending the evening in and catching up on sleep a bit.
DO: Change plans as necessary and enjoy the moment.
Dug Baby slept okay, but had a bout of crying and not wanting to go back to sleep after a middle-of-the-night feeding. We ended up playing Soarin to her through the baby monitor and she was out again after a couple rounds. Yay, Soarin!
Since shed gone to bed so late, she also slept 2 hours later than normal. Which meant I got to sleep until 9am! Sweet! It was a much-needed night of sleep for all of us.
DO: Remember that late bedtimes lead to late wake-ups.
We could have hit the pool area again in the morning, but just werent feeling up for it. I didnt want to wrestle her off of waterslides again. Instead, we decided wed just wander the resort and take it all in.
After breakfast, though. And what do you have for breakfast on vacation? Leftover warm cookies from the microwave, of course! We gave Dug Baby food with more nutritional value for her breakfast.
I washed up her travel high chair afterwards and decided to take along the rest of the sample-sized bottle of dish soap can use that at Disney!
We packed up our stuff and brought it right out to the car, which was very close to our patio. Handy shortcut! The outside of our suite:
After that we walked around the place. There is a huge outdoor and indoor waterpark. We only played in a small portion of it, since the focus was on Dug Baby. And the outdoor one wasnt open this time of year:
Dug Baby amused herself during our walk by playing buckle myself up:
We explored the indoor amusement park as well. Dug described the place as Animal Kingdom Lodge, if Disney had no taste. The lighting in this restaurant reminded me of Boma:
We stopped at the coffee shop and admired all the baked goods (think Starring Rolls). Dug wanted a coffee drink and we both wanted something a bit more substantial than our ½ cookie breakfasts. I got a breakfast sandwich and Dug had a breakfast burrito. We also got a bag of cheese curds and, once again, Dug Baby loved them. She also had a pouch and some milk and probably some puffs.
After we wrapped up the brunch, we decided to head out. Dug Baby said goodbye to her favorite ghee:
And we took a picture with a Wisconsin Dells classic that was outside the resort one of the Ducks love riding those in the summer:
Time to hit the road! Since we had the time, we decided to take the scenic route home. Driving along the river with the fall colors. Great decision! This was probably the best day of our trip, since the drive was just so nice:
We stopped at a park along the river:
Dug Baby and her teddy did some napping and had a good time:
The highlight for Dug was seeing that one of his childhood memories was still standing. There was an old train depot that he remembered going to as a kid. It was a Hardees at that time. Now, however, it was his favorite a Caribou:
We were still a bit chilled from our stop, so it was the perfect time to stop for a hot drink. I had a hot chocolate and Dug had coffee. Turns out that they also had warm cookies, just like in Dugs childhood memories. He got one for all of us to share. Dug Baby enjoyed her piece with milk:
After our quick break, we headed back towards home, stopping at Dugs parents house on the way to visit briefly and pick up Bailey (they dog-sat for us). Then, home, dinner, and bed.
DO: Upon returning home, have one person eat dinner with Dug Baby while the other gets the monitor and sound machine set up for bedtime.
It was a nice little family trip and I think we learned a lot about traveling with Dug Baby. (Ironically, Dug Baby was having a rough time sleeping tonight and Dug is in there Soarin her back to sleep Im listening on the monitor!)
amazingact21
Upendi
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2010
Well, the reason for taking the weekend trip to WI is unfortunate, I'm glad you were able to get a test run in with Dug Baby. Don't you learn a lot on those?
I agree that little ones tend to wake up more often when they can see you and it's really dark; hopefully after a few nights Dug Baby will get into a routine at Disney and sleep well.
Bringing some nutritional snacks along is a great idea. If anything it will prevent their stomachs from getting upset over all the different foods. And these freeze dried mixed veggies from Target sound fantastic! Thanks for going into detail as to what Dug Baby ate, because I'm making a Target run today and might have to check those out. They sound like they'd be convenient to carry for meals at Disney.
I had to laugh at the dinner break portion of your trip. As a mom, it sounded wonderful! Even when the babies are napping/asleep, you still have to keep one ear peeled to the monitor, so I bet that break was very relaxing. I would have been eating the last few bites of my food super slow, dragging the break out.
How was Dug Baby the following days after you returned home? I'm curious to see how the temporary change does to their normal routine.
I agree that little ones tend to wake up more often when they can see you and it's really dark; hopefully after a few nights Dug Baby will get into a routine at Disney and sleep well.
Bringing some nutritional snacks along is a great idea. If anything it will prevent their stomachs from getting upset over all the different foods. And these freeze dried mixed veggies from Target sound fantastic! Thanks for going into detail as to what Dug Baby ate, because I'm making a Target run today and might have to check those out. They sound like they'd be convenient to carry for meals at Disney.
I had to laugh at the dinner break portion of your trip. As a mom, it sounded wonderful! Even when the babies are napping/asleep, you still have to keep one ear peeled to the monitor, so I bet that break was very relaxing. I would have been eating the last few bites of my food super slow, dragging the break out.
How was Dug Baby the following days after you returned home? I'm curious to see how the temporary change does to their normal routine.
Dugette
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2009
I'll reply to the rest later, but since you're making a Target run: if you have the Target app, you should be able to search "Simply Balanced freeze dried" in there and it should tell you which aisle to find it in (otherwise, it's kinda tricky.. I want to say it might be near, like, beef jerky). Not where I'd expect to look. Also, if you have Target's Cartwheel discount app, they are 5% off on there right now.
On another baby food note, for any moms reading this, Plum Organics just recalled a bunch of their pouches. Details on their website. FYI, since 13 of the 20 I bought the other day were included in the recall (luckily she hadn't eaten any yet). I called and they are sending vouchers.
On another baby food note, for any moms reading this, Plum Organics just recalled a bunch of their pouches. Details on their website. FYI, since 13 of the 20 I bought the other day were included in the recall (luckily she hadn't eaten any yet). I called and they are sending vouchers.
AprilRenee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2010
Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun!
My mom, Caden and I just went to visit my brother at college and had the worst night in a year with him in the room with us! Oh man! Not fun.
We have a trip to Chicago planned for the weekend before Christmas just Andrew, Caden, and I. But we'll have a suite and I'm hoping that solves the bad night issue. Your mini TR makes me excited for our trip!
I can't believe you haven't done the back carry in the ergo!! I guess dug baby is a lot smaller than Caden was at that age but I had him on my back from about 8 or 9 months on. He likes it cause he can see better and I like it cause I can use my hands more without reaching around a baby. I find it way more comfortable too. Try it!! Lol
On a related note, I had to pack up the ergo yesterday. I wore him in a store for 10-15 min and just about died. So heavy. I cried on the way home. So sad to put it away. We had a lot of adventures together in that thing. so enjoy the time while you have it. I'm gonna miss the cuddles.
My mom, Caden and I just went to visit my brother at college and had the worst night in a year with him in the room with us! Oh man! Not fun.
We have a trip to Chicago planned for the weekend before Christmas just Andrew, Caden, and I. But we'll have a suite and I'm hoping that solves the bad night issue. Your mini TR makes me excited for our trip!
I can't believe you haven't done the back carry in the ergo!! I guess dug baby is a lot smaller than Caden was at that age but I had him on my back from about 8 or 9 months on. He likes it cause he can see better and I like it cause I can use my hands more without reaching around a baby. I find it way more comfortable too. Try it!! Lol
On a related note, I had to pack up the ergo yesterday. I wore him in a store for 10-15 min and just about died. So heavy. I cried on the way home. So sad to put it away. We had a lot of adventures together in that thing.
so enjoy the time while you have it. I'm gonna miss the cuddles.Share this page
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