A Very Merry 4th Birthday! December 2-14

[momabaarjo]

So I put in a form at Make-A-Wish for Rachel. I also put in one for Inspiration Through Art - which provides photography sessions for kids ( & their families ) who suffers from any type of serious illness or life altering disability. Rachel qualifies for her Chiari Malformation.

So now we just wait and see what happens.

But I really need to get ready. Rachel had an awful night. I posted about it on my blog but I'll just copy & paste it here so you guys can read it too.
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Last night was awful. I have no other words to describe it. It started off normal. I put the kids down – Lilly at 6:30 and Troy & Rachel at 7pm. They all went down easy and I cleaned up the kitchen and living room. At 8pm I settled in front of the computer to catch up on e-mail and to see if I could scrapbook a page or two. Well at 8:15pm Rachel starts screaming. I go into her room and I try to calm her down the best I can. After 10 minutes I ask her if she wants to watch TV with me. She nods yes and climbs out of her toddler bed. She instantly falls on the floor but gets up. She takes one step, falls and screams. Her leg was hurting her sooo bad that she couldn’t walk. My heart broke into a million pieces right there. I carried her to living room and put Disney on for her to watch. She stayed with me for thirty minutes and every couple of minutes she would let out a cry of pain. I felt so helpless. There was nothing I could expect hold her. ( I did try to bind her leg but she wouldn’t let me touch it & she wouldn’t let me put an ice pack on it either ). At 9pm she fell asleep and I put her back to bed but this time I kept her door open a crack. Every so often I would hear her whimper.

She woke up this morning and she’s doing better. She walked (well limped since her limp is VERY noticeable today) to the couch and wouldn’t move. So I broke the rules and she had her breakfast there. I let her pick and of course it was her #1 favorite breakfast meal: juice box and a Pop Tart..

Poor sweet baby...this breaks my heart! I hope she is doing better today!

 

[danut]

I love lists too, so I will definitely be watching!

 

[21hearts]

So I heard back from Make-A-Wish. We talked for a little and the lady said that YES Rachel qualifies but we can't start the paper work because she wont be 2 and a half until August. I had thought it was July but is August. So she said she will send me a reminder e-mail on August 20th and then the 22nd I can e-mail her back and get the ball rolling.

We also have decided on February 5th through the 12th. Although DH said we may do the 2nd through the 9th/10th but he's not sure yet. So once the calendar comes out for February I will be looking at what parks to do and/or avoid.

I also don't think I posted it here yet but Rachel got her walker on Tuesday!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Yay for getting approved for her Wish. Unfortunate that she had such a rough evening.

In terms of saving, we also eat breakfasts in the room, have a case of water delivered and snack and bring those to the parks. We also bring crystal light so water doesnt get so boring. We also always bring ponchos. We get the Coleman disposable ones from Target. They used to sell kidys sizes too but I have to order those online now. When we had a stroller, we used to bring extras for the stroller. worked better than the rain cover because we could throw our stuff in the seat part and throw a poncho over the whole thing and go on the rides w/o our stroller/stuff getting soaked

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

So here are some things we do to save some time & money at WDW.

1.) Eat breakfast in the room. My kids loved Pop Tarts. Love with a passion. Give them each one packet of Pop Tarts and some milk and they are happy.

We took picked up cereal for us. The kids actually prefer dry cereal to milk so we stocked up on fruity o's (Kroger's version of Fruit Loops). The Quaker chewy bars are a big hit as well and they travel nicely!

2.) Buy rain gear at home. My dad and I talk about this on every trip we go to.

.... since we don't have a rain cover for the single stroller.

Heck to the yeah! Our Dollar Tree has "emergency" ponchos 2 for $1 and they are short enough that the kids (except the 2 yr olds) don't swim in them.

Here's my tip for strollers: measure your stroller across the from the handle to the foot rest. Then go to the local fabric store (or Walmart) and buy some plastic "fabric". I swear! You can get a few yards for a few bucks which is a heckuva lot better than the expense stroller covers. I know a lot of people throw a poncho over them, but honestly this is better. The plastic is thicker and there is no head hole.

I recommend laying it open, outside for several days to get the plastic smell out though.

3.) Bring water & snacks into the park. We bring a small water cooler in with bottles of water & single serve bags of snacks.

I developed a new theory last trip.

I knew about stinky FL water and I always come prepared with Kool-Aid or Country Time Lemonade single packs.

BUT I didn't want to haul multiple bottles into the parks, even in the stroller.

SO I brought our stainless steel water bottles.

Here's where the theory comes in. I stand by the fact the FL doesn't taste as nasty when there isn't a drought.

Last September, water fountain water was unbearable. There was a drought. Three weeks ago, the water almost tasted like what we drink at home. I took the flavor packs and never used them. (I'm glad they were on sale when I picked them up!)

The good thing about knowing NOW that you've got a trip in the works is that you have time to watch for sales. You can keep an eye out for discounts on the snacky food items all year and pick them up as you go versus doing a major grab all at once - you'll save a bunch there. Just grab a box and keep adding to it during your planning period as you can.

I don't pay more than $1/box for the Kool-Aid packs. I get our ponchos at the dollar store. I'll wait until the store brand band-aids are on sale for $1 and get a couple boxes and set them aside. You can do the same with hand sanitizer (for those who use it) - I found the "travel/handy" size Purell for $1 as well. Glow sticks - dollar store. Heck, knowing our schedule for last September and that we would be going to MNSSHP, I picked up everything to put together our costumes for under $30... total for all 4 of us. Any of the little "things" that help make our trip better, I'll grab all year long.

So I put in a form at Make-A-Wish for Rachel. I also put in one for Inspiration Through Art - which provides photography sessions for kids ( & their families ) who suffers from any type of serious illness or life altering disability. Rachel qualifies for her Chiari Malformation.

I want to tell you how sorry I am. I've not been a good DIS friend as I've not done a very good job keeping up with everyone lately, just my own stuff. So I'm sorry I've not been a good buddy.

Otherwise, it stinks you may need to reschedule but in the long term, it may be better. I hate to hear Rachel has to go through that operation, but I'm glad the WISH trip people are going to help you guys with a trip. I'm not sure how much they do, but I think if they'll help in the planning and all the special little things, I would conceed my planning and let them do it. You've got enough going on.

We also have decided on February 5th through the 12th. Although DH said we may do the 2nd through the 9th/10th but he's not sure yet. So once the calendar comes out for February I will be looking at what parks to do and/or avoid.

They are doing early 2012 bookings. Have you tried looking up the historical calendar on touringplans.com? Disney hasn't deviated much from the previous years' schedules - so maybe that might help you out a bit?

Last night was awful. I have no other words to describe it. It started off normal. I put the kids down – Lilly at 6:30 and Troy & Rachel at 7pm. They all went down easy and I cleaned up the kitchen and living room. At 8pm I settled in front of the computer to catch up on e-mail and to see if I could scrapbook a page or two. Well at 8:15pm Rachel starts screaming. I go into her room and I try to calm her down the best I can. After 10 minutes I ask her if she wants to watch TV with me. She nods yes and climbs out of her toddler bed. She instantly falls on the floor but gets up. She takes one step, falls and screams. Her leg was hurting her sooo bad that she couldn’t walk. My heart broke into a million pieces right there. I carried her to living room and put Disney on for her to watch. She stayed with me for thirty minutes and every couple of minutes she would let out a cry of pain. I felt so helpless. There was nothing I could expect hold her. ( I did try to bind her leg but she wouldn’t let me touch it & she wouldn’t let me put an ice pack on it either ). At 9pm she fell asleep and I put her back to bed but this time I kept her door open a crack. Every so often I would hear her whimper.

She woke up this morning and she’s doing better. She walked (well limped since her limp is VERY noticeable today) to the couch and wouldn’t move. So I broke the rules and she had her breakfast there. I let her pick and of course it was her #1 favorite breakfast meal: juice box and a Pop Tart..

 

[21hearts]

Kwitcherkicken99 -- way too much to quote. lol..

First off you are not a bad buddy at all! The fact that you keep coming back shows just what an awesome buddy you are! Don't doubt that.

The water in Orlando tastes similar to the water we have at home. So DH and I usually drink the tap water and have no problems. The kids complain that it taste weird so we bring the bottle water for them - esp for when we were making bottles. We found out the hard way on the kids first trip that Rachel would not drink her bottle if we used the water from Orlando. We had to buy Disney's crazy expensive bottle water all day for her bottles.

The plastic idea sounds great! I'm def going to bring it for the days we use the stroller. We rotate the days with the stroller since DS can walk but he can't do a whole trip.

From what I heard the Make A Wish people will ask us for three dates that we would like to go and then let us know when we can go and then besides that I believe its all up to us.. I think? Maybe? I know that we can stay at Give Kids The World or a Disney hotel if that's part of Rachel's wish. Then I heard that GKTW gives everyone 2 tickets for Universal Studios, 3 (or 4?) Disney tickets, a one day Sea World ticket and I'm not sure if there's anything else.. I've been lurking on the Make A Wish thread on the DISabilities thread for a while now... I like seeing all of the kids get their wishes. It gives me hope.

 

[21hearts]

So Rachel's photography session with Inspiration Through Art is on September 3ird at our local beach. The photographer is awesome! In fact we've actually used her before when we had Christmas pictures of the kids done on the beach (her husband dressed up as Santa). So we know the pictures will come out great.

She told us that she's going to see if some of the vendors she's used a lot in the past will donate some stuff for the shoot. I'm not sure what exactly she has in mind but I'm sure it will be awesome. Since Rachel loves the Disney princesses - esp Aurora I want to find a t-shirt or dress for her to wear for some of the pictures.

Or maybe I can find a pattern and sew one. Oh man don't let my DH read that one. A friend of mine recently showed me how she made a few of her stuff and it didn't look that hard... My MIL has a sewing machine and said she would let me use it and help me with whatever I need. Hm that's an idea. That would be cool to make it.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

That's great!

I'm sure you will get loads of help donation wise! And I'm glad to hear your photog is someone that you've used before. It really does help having a familiar person work with you!

I can't wait to hear more about the Inspiration through Art group!

 

[momabaarjo]

Or maybe I can find a pattern and sew one. Oh man don't let my DH read that one. A friend of mine recently showed me how she made a few of her stuff and it didn't look that hard... My MIL has a sewing machine and said she would let me use it and help me with whatever I need. Hm that's an idea. That would be cool to make it.

Best of luck with this idea...I was determined to make dd 1st Christmas dress... She is now 14... First and last dress I made her!

 

[21hearts]

Hey guys.

I just wanted to say sorry that my trip report is more on Rachel lately then Disney. We have everything done expect we need to finish paying off the hotel (not too much left). Besides that we've been trying to not get too attached to the trip since we may need to post pone it (depending on when Rachel's surgery is).

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

You do what you need to do, we will be here!

Even if you have to switch things up completely, you still have something to look forward to after surgery (when it takes place). Just let it ride mamma!

 

[21hearts]

So Monday is the day. We find out when her surgery will be. I'm a bundle of nerves.

DH had a good idea through for her recovery. We're going to ask my uncle if he'll get some autographs on postcards from Mickey, Minnie and the Princesses with a "get well soon" "can't wait to see you when your better", ect messages on them for her. Then each day we'll give her one. Now I just need to get my uncle on board with it. lol. I don't think he'll have a problem with it through.

I talked some more with my contact at Make-A-Wish. I love this lady. Even through we have to wait until next month to register Rachel's wish she e-mails me once a week to see how she's doing and just to say hello. What a wonderful program this is.

 

[momabaarjo]

I will be praying for your sweet little girl (and for strength for you and your dh). I like the postcard idea...anything to give her a smile!

 

[21hearts]

So my husband & I went and tweaked our plans. We're keeping our fingers crossed that we can keep it.

Friday 12/2
- 7am leave house
- 9am arrive at Legoland
- get hotel by Legoland
Breakfast at home or in car on ride up. Lunch in park & dinner outside of park.

-Cost for Legoland part of the trip
$165 for 2A/1C
$80 for hotel
$60 (lunch & dinner)

Saturday 12/3
- 7am leave hotel
- 8am arrive at WestGate (Universal Studio Partner Hotel) 2 Bedroom with full kitchen
-9/10am head to Universal Studios
- Our plan is to eat breakfast at McDonalds about $20-$25
-- Dinner at hotel - bringing pasta, juice boxes, soda, sauce, ect from home.
After the kids are in bed DH said he would go to the store to pick up some stuff for lunch & dinner for tomorrow.

Sunday 12/4
-Island of Adventures
-- 7am Early Entry to WWOHP (heard to arrive by 6:45 through because they sometimes let people in early)
-- Breakfast with the Grinch
-- 12pm lunch at hotel head back to park at 1:20/2
-- Dinner at 5/6pm

-Cost for Universal Studios part of the trip
$20-25 McDonalds Breakfast
$85 Grinchmas Breakfast (including a tip)
$627.11 for WestGate hotel & 2A/1C 1 park/2 day tickets (Rachel & Lilly are under 3 & free)
$80 lunch for two days - DH wanted this factored in just in case he decides to not go to store on first night and get cold stuff.

Monday 12/5
- 8/9am check out of WestGate
- get to Old Key West between 8:30-9:30am -- may be later it depends on if we take our time checking out.

- Go to DTD: upgrade 1 day tickets to annual passes and do some sneaky shopping for Troy's birthday (hide in villa to be wrapped when DH takes Troy out later)
- Go to store: doing a few breakfast & dinner's in villa. Plus need water & snacks for in park.
- Besides that relax! Maybe do pool if warm enough? Check out resort.
-- Do laundry!

CS for lunch or dinner.

Tuesday 12/6
-Magic Kingdom
- Lunch at 11:20 at Chef Mickeys
Breakfast in room / Dinner - CS at park
- See new princess & Mickey Mouse meet-n-greet, find Peter Pan, find PUSH, Cinderella's step sisters.

Troy - BTMRR, Buzz Lightyear & people mover
Rachel - Princesses and Dumbo
DH - see Peter Pan & Capt Hook

Wednesday 12/7
-Hollywood Studios
- Lunch at 12:15 at Sci-Fi Drive In
- Characterpalooza (if they are still doing it at 4:50pm)
- 6pm - Christmas lights
breakfast in room // dinner - CS

Troy - TSM, Star Tours and characters
Rachel - Honey I shrunk the kids playground
DH - ride TOT & RNRC twice also new Star Tours

- Do laundry

Thursday 12/8
- Epcot (Future World)
- 8am breakfast at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
Lunch - CS // dinner in room

Troy: Test Track, Turtle Time, Soaring
Rachel - aquariums at end of Finding Nemo, gift shopping with mommy
DH - Test Track, Soaring,

Friday 12/9
- Magic Kingdom
- 8:05am 1900 Park Fare
Lunch - CS // Dinner in room

DH - all of the mountains , do the kids favorites again, see some of the entertainment on Main Street USA and gift shopping.

Saturday 12/10
Epcot (world show case)
- Lunch 11:45 at Whispering Caynon Cafe - go early to check out hotel
Breakfast in room // Dinner - CS
-- the plan is to have a light breakfast in room and relax. Then at 10am to head over to Wilderness Lodge to check it out and to be early for our ADR. Then we'll go to Epcot from restaurant.

Dh & I want to take our time going through the world show case, let the kids hear some of the Christmas stories, check out all of the decorations, meet some characters (to keep kids entertained & happy). DH wants to try some of the beer and I want a slushie from France!!! We want to eat dinner in the park and then maybe hit up Nemo again depending on what time is and how kids are doing.

Sunday 12/11
- 8am Grand Floridian Cafe
- 5:15 Planet Hollywood
Lunch at a CS place.

Today is Troy's day! We will do whatever he wants today. I am thinking of changing today's breakfast ADR to tomorrow.

- do laundry!

Monday 12/12 - Troys 4th birthday
head home

- Cost for Disney part of the trip
$2,102 - Old Key West 1 Bedroom (40% Military Discount)
$798 - Dining plan (2A/2C)
$332 - Annual Pass Down Payment
$100 - Pre-pay Photopass CD
$100.30 - 1st month payment for passes

 

[21hearts]

Charles (DHs) first trip to Disney was on August 31st 2007 (my 19th birthday ). He was amused and thought it was okay. When we left he asked me if he had to come back any time soon.. I asked him to define the word "soon". . I was 6 or 7 months pregnant with Troy when we went. The buttons say "Honorary citizen of WDW"

 

[momabaarjo]

I love the pictures of you and Charles...looks like to me you have gotten him to go back "soon." I love your day by day budget. I am really trying to find some ways to save a few $$$ too!

Legoland...I am jealous or at least I know my boys would be if I told them it was even remotely near WDW! They will just have to do with Discovery Cove!

 

[21hearts]

We wanted to see how much each part of the trip would cost.. But DH and I may be tweaking it ago. We may be doing a night (or 3) at the Grand Floridian - my dream resort! We may drop the Legoland part of the trip and visit our families (DH's uncle lives in Orlando and my aunt & uncle live there as well) on that day. We're crunching numbers tonight. Planning this trip today has kept our minds off of tomorrow.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I'm a bit behind... again...

Anyway...

1) praying for you guys today, well everyday, but today a bit more than usual

2) the schedule looks great! Legoland or GF... it's a tough call!

3) if for some reason you guys do have to postponed, LMK. I'm willing to get some postcards signed and sent for you guys when I'm there.

 

[21hearts]

I love Rachel's Neurosurgeon! Instead of having to drive 2 hours for her appointment we did it over the phone. He wants her to have another MRI (this will be #7..). If things look worse then he wants to schedule surgery in early to mid September at the latest. If they look the same then it depends on how often she gets headaches. Right now once every two weeks she gets a bad headache that she actually asks for medicine for, she screams, is a complete terror, ect. So if they keep up & things look the same then he said he's on the fence. If she had more then 1 headache in a two week period he would be more worried.

So now I'm waiting for them to call me back with an appointment time. We're thinking it will be soon since if things are bad he wants to do surgery by mid September at the latest but it all depends on when Radiology can fit her in.

So for now its full steam ahead with our planning.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

That's great news hun!

Hopefully they can get her in quickly so they have time to fully review the "films" from the MRI.

Are there any regular things that have happened before she gets her headaches or do they think it's all related to her disorder?