A Very Merry 4th Birthday! December 2-14

[21hearts]

Rachel's surgery is scheduled for September 21st. Her recovery will be anywhere from a day & a half to 5 days and we won't know for sure how long it'll be until the surgery is done. She will have to take it easy for two months and will have a follow up towards the end of November. If her doctor doesn't think it's healed right/enough then we will have to post pone our trip.

 

[momabaarjo]

Keep us posted...prayers for your little girl!

 

[21hearts]

We took the kids to Busch Gardens this weekend for our 5 year anniversary (I can't believe we've been married for 5 years). We haven't been there since New Years Day & it was cheap to do (we have annual passes & we got a great rate on a hotel - dh's uncle owns one so we stayed for free).

We went on Sunday the 4th & Monday the 5th and what a difference between the two days! Sunday was beautiful! The weather was great, the crowds were low & we got a lot down by 3pm. Monday was awful! It was hot and the park was packed!!!

We also learned a very important lesson! Troy & Rachel can not sleep together on a couch bed. Troy is very good about laying down & going to sleep at night but Rachel is not. So she would keep Troy up. We ended up bringing her into the bedroom and I slept with her on one of the double beds. Rachel likes to sleep sideways. She ended up kicking me in the back all night. It was awful. So this made us realize that come December Troy & Rachel can not sleep on the couch bed together. So now we're adding a blow up mattress for Rachel to sleep on. We also found out that Troy & Lilly can sleep in the same room as each other & not wake up. In fact Lilly slept great in the hotel! She didn't wake up during the night at all.

So Troy will sleep on couch bed and Lilly will sleep in the play pen in the living room while Rachel will sleep on the blow up bed in the bedroom.

** I re-sized the pictures to 400x400 but for some reason they won't re-size on the site. I am trying to figure out why**

 

[momabaarjo]

Glad you got to take a "hotel" trial run! What is it about little ones wanting to sleep sideways! I plan on taking a little school math that they use for naps with us...for Goo to sleep on. At WDW/BWV the bed will not be so much of an issue...he can sleep with us in the king...but at RPR/USO I really don't want to pay for a roll away cause I know it will not be used...KIDS?... so that mat will be a back up...


I so love the picture of 2 of yours hugging each

 

[21hearts]

So a little under two weeks until Rachel's surgery.

Thanks to some VERY awesome Dis members Rachel will be receiving postcards with autographs! Four people have stepped forward and asked if they could send her a postcard. One even asked about Troy. How sweet was that? Hopefully he won't feel too left out.

I cried last night thinking about these people. They don't even know Rachel but are willing to take five minutes out of there vacation to do this for her. How awesome is that? My husband even teared up when I told him. This is really going to brighten her day and make her smile.

I promise to take pictures and to share them when we get home.

 

[21hearts]

Things that we do that other people think is nuts

1.) We drive to every park (unless only one of us is taking Troy back to a park for a few hours then we took the bus once). Yes that's right we drive. I know your shocked arn't you? We pay to stay on site and don't use the buses. Why? Because we like to drive. We like knowing that at the end of the day we just have to get into our van (which is not crowed & we have get our own seat) and just drive back to the hotel. Orlando is not that busy to us and we don't mind the traffic at all (in fact we hardly EVER hit traffic). Can it be a pain in the ***? Yeah a few times but its what we prefer.

2.) On our last trip we used a stroller for our three year old. He walked the entire day at AK but at noon at Epcot (day two) he complained that he was tired and his feet hurt him. So we bought him a stroller and used it. We plan on bringing it back with us in December but we don't plan on using it unless he asks for it. So we will be the family with a double stroller & a single stroller.

3.) I'm also the lady with a double stroller in an area where strollers aren't usually allowed. Why? Because my daughter has a rare medical condition that makes the right side of her body bigger then her left. We are still trying to find a pain management treatment that works for her and so far have not been able to find one. She can not walk more then 6-7 minutes (now this use to be 4 to 5 minutes so she's improving) without her leg hurting her to the point where she can not walk. So please don't make comments to me about it or ask why you couldn't bring your stroller in but I could. If Rachel had to walk everywhere and wasn't allowed to stay in her stroller then there is no way we could do a Disney vacation. We wouldn't get very much park time without her being in constant pain.

So you say why bring her? Why not wait until she's older? Well WDW is the only place where she can be a kid. Yes that's right. WDW is the only place in the world where she can smile and pretend for a little while that she's "normal". This is why we've taken the kids so many times already. I don't post our little day trips in my signature but our kids have been to WDW a handful of times. We feel so extremely blessed & lucky that we can take them and let Rachel be just another kid there. So as long as Rachel continues to love it we will continue to go back. And if she continues to need a GAC card then we will continue to get one.

Hmm I'm sure there are more.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I will never argue that driving is a PITA over the buses. Ever. I prefer to not have to wait in yet another line, but this time holding 2 very tired children.

Screw anyone who says anything about kids and strollers. If you need one, you need one.

To those who give the "talk" about waiting... forget them too. They have no idea what those trips mean to kids, at any age. I have been amazed with my kids since our impromptu trip in May. They play "let's go to Disney" on a regular basis and can tell anyone about the wonderful things that happened on the trip or who they saw or what they rode.

On the upside, there are so many people on the DIS that are truly wonderful people. Being a Fairy God Mailer is an honor and privilege. If you need anything else for the family, I can always tap into my resources through Touring Plans - see if anyone else can pull something off. All you have to do is say the word.

 

[21hearts]

On the upside, there are so many people on the DIS that are truly wonderful people. Being a Fairy God Mailer is an honor and privilege. If you need anything else for the family, I can always tap into my resources through Touring Plans - see if anyone else can pull something off. All you have to do is say the word.

Thank you for this. I was just having a really bad day and some things people had said really got to me. I just needed to vent.

That is so sweet of you! We have the Princesses covered and a few others as well.

 

[momabaarjo]

Thank you for your post...it made me stop for a moment and remember not to judge people...need that reminder sometimes!

 

[gatormommy07]

Hi!!! I just saw your title and wanted to say hello!! We will be in the World from Dec. 4-9 to celebrate out 2 boys birthdays... our older son will be 8 on the 5th of Dec. and our youngest will be 4 on the same day!!!!!
I did not get a chance to read everything yet, but I will come back later!! Your kiddos are adorable!!

 

[21hearts]

So my mom let it slip that my uncle and one of his friends (I think another CM) went and got Rachel some autographs. She didn't say who exactly they got but apparently between the two of them they spent four days and gathered around 40... Oh wow. I do however wish that my uncle had told me because then I wouldn't of asked others to get them for Rachel. I never heard back from him so I figured that he couldn't do it.

 

[momabaarjo]

So my mom let it slip that my uncle and one of his friends (I think another CM) went and got Rachel some autographs. She didn't say who exactly they got but apparently between the two of them they spent four days and gathered around 40... Oh wow. I do however wish that my uncle had told me because then I wouldn't of asked others to get them for Rachel. I never heard back from him so I figured that he couldn't do it.

WOW...how cool! Saying a prayer and thinking of your family and precious little girl on Wednesday!

 

[21hearts]

Thank you to everyone for the kind words. We leave today to make the ride to the Ronald McDonald house. Her check in time is 6am on Wednesday morning.. Crazy early! But it means that Rachel is the first surgery of the day and should be able to have visitors by noon (which her grandparents & great grandparents were happy to hear).

We still have to pack the van then I'm taking the kids to the park while DH steam cleans the floors. When he's done we all get into the van and head out.

 

[Grace and Mickey]

You will be in my thought and prayers

 

[21hearts]

So we get to the hospital on the 21st and a nurse tries to tell me that Rachel is sick (because she had a funny nose & cough). Well no I know my child and she is not sick. So her DR had a chest xray done & it comes back clear.

We go to do the surgery today and she has a double ear infection. Ugh. Its a no go. So we get to do this all over again in three weeks.

I did receive her fairy Godmailier cards and I will hold onto them for when she does have the surgery.

 

[21hearts]

So I've been to WDW four times with four different strollers....

The first trip was March 2008 when Troy was 4 months old. I can't find my pictures but it was a single stroller and it worked out really well. I loved that stroller.

Our second trip was when Troy was 2 & Rachel was 11 months (a few days shy of her 1st birthday). We had a double Combi stroller. I loved that stroller. It turned great, wasn't too huge and folded up really tiny. Sadly the infant seat we had didn't work with the stroller so my DH made me sell it. (This picture isn't from WDW. Its at Busch Gardens - I can't find any pictures from that trip ) This stroller has no cup holders for the parents and a very tiny basket. We were able to live with that (the basket forced me to not over pack the diaper bag) and we just carried drinks for us.

The third trip was in August/September of 2010. We had a Baby Trend Jogging Stroller. I HATED that stroller. This was the stroller DH had us buy after we sold the Combi. I will NEVER take this stroller back to WDW. It was huge and a pain in the butt. But it was huge & people did move when they saw us coming through.

The fourth trip was in February 2011 and we had a Contours® Options® II Tandem. I have mixed feelings about this stroller. We bought it because 1.) I hated the baby Trend stroller and 2.) Rachel was making herself sick if we were out and she couldn't see us. The seats on this stroller can be facing either front or back so this stroller seemed like a dream. The only thing I really don't like is that the seats don't recline flat. They do rotate but don't lay flat. This stroller will be returning to WDW with us so we liked it. It is a bit big but it turned okay, Rachel didn't throw up from anxiety and it has a huge storage basket under it that her walker can fold up & fit into.

 

[21hearts]

Halloween Costumes

Rachel as Tinkerbell

Troy as a Magician (his jacket needs to be taken in)

Lilly as a Rainbow Chick

 

[21hearts]

Alright so Rachel's surgery is in 4 days now. She has a pre-op appt with her local Ped Dr on Monday to get checked out and to make sure that she's physical fit & healthy enough to have her surgery.

Besides that DH decided to make some changes to our trip. We can 1.) stay on-site for 6 nights/7 nights (has us leaving on the 11th) or 2.) stay off-site and stay until the 18th (this also includes 1 more day at Universal Studios or Island of Adventures).

We found a great deal on a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo vacation rental house that's $800 cheaper then Old Key West & Its for more nights. So we'd be saving money and staying longer. But we won't be on the DDP so we'd be eating breakfast & dinner at the condo and a CS at the parks expect for the Princess breakfast at Epcot & Chef Mickeys for Troy's birthday lunch. Plus our parents can come up and stay for a few days each and not have to pay for a hotel room.

So now I'm torn. When ever I went to WDW with my parents we always stayed at my uncles house and that was not ideal at all. So far we've stayed onsite for all of our family trips but if we get to stay for longer wouldn't that be better? I don't think our kids really care if they are staying in Mickey's Hotel (or we could lie & say its a Mickey hotel). It'll be December (or February) so they won't be using the pool.

 

[momabaarjo]

Crossing my fingers and saying a little prayer that everything is a GO and goes well in 4 days!

I kept going back and forth between on site and off site. I think your little ones are a little young to worry about whether they were a Mickey's house or not for the night. It might be nice to be able to get away from it all and be off site for your family. You would be able to spread out and be comfortable...plus extra days...I think I could go for that!

So glad the stroller days are behind me...although I have considered getting one for Goo during our trip...but I just think it would be too much hassle. If we need one, I will just rent one is what I think I have finally decided.


The Halloween costumes are so precious...thank you for sharing! Rachel melts my heart...but so does the rainbow chicken and the magician!

 

[21hearts]

Rachel's surgery went great! She had her surgery at 10am on Wednesday & by 11:30 was in her room. She got released at 3pm on Friday. She's right back to her normal happy self.

So far she hasn't had another headache!!!

She LOVED her post cards. She would show everyone who came into the room and she must of looked at them at least every ten minutes.