~A XMAS STORY~decorations, crowds, pixies..AND A BLOODY NOSE~ACTUAL UPDATE 11/9 p190

[eemmie1]

Luke has the most gorgeous eyes!

 

[Lamping3]

The parade looks like so much fun! I forgot that Minnie's bathtub smelled like hotccoco! I love the pics of Luke....they are priceless. The tree at WL looks amazing...I am planning on taking our Christmas pic from Disney and sending out my Christmas cards from there...you just gave me some good ideas of where to take the pic! I am planning on a TR...I think you have been to my PTR.

Any questions you have on prenatals...feel free to pm me...I'm a pharmacist and I work retail. I haven't heard of the one you mentioned...might be the regional difference. Most are all the same...all have at least 1mg folic acid. Some just "go down" easier than others. It has been so hard with all of the prenatals. I think 2 of the big manufacturers have went out of buisness so we keep having to switch some customers to other brands. I took some generic over the counter ones before I got pregnant. Once my morning sickness kicked in (and did it ever!) I found I could only stomach the Natelle brand (they have a generic also). They have a coating that made them easier to swallow. I don't know if you are looking for one with DHA also? Those are harder for some to take because they make some nauseous (I couldn't take them). There is one of the generics that smells like vanilla so it is well tolerated! I can't remember the name of it though....I will snif it out tomorrow at work and let you know.

Sorry this is so long!

 

[kschafer]

WL is my deluxe dream. I suspect I will never actually get to stay there so it will probably remain my dream

Luke is so stinkin cute!! He cracks me up.

My 2 cents on the prenatals thing...I would seriously ask your doc what is in the prescription ones that make them worth that kind of money. Personally, I always just took over the counter ones. My doc never even suggested that I might want/need something else.

 

[MeMom]

The Wilderness Lodge is truly a beautiful place, and especially so at Christmas. I think you will love staying there. Nicole786 has stayed there a few times and just loves it.

I appreciate the cast members who seem to enjoy the roles they play in the parades. I'm sure it has to get tiring doing the same parade day in and day out, but the fact that they look like they are having such a good time, even if they might not be, is nice for those of us who don't see it every day.

 

[IluvXU]

Another great update. I sure hope we see the Jammin' Jungle Parade this trip.... it looks so fun. Sorry you missed seeing the WL, I hope to stay there some holiday season, it looks so pretty!

As for the vitamins... I just took Dr Samples or the store brand... sorry!

 

[hlrababy]

I love the update! I still have never been to AK!!!



I want to wish Luke a happy late birthday....


Happy Birthday Luke!!!!

 

[pmama]

Wow, I am joining your TR w-a-y late, but I have to tell you that you are one amazing Trip Reporter. I've been looking for Christmas TRs to help planning my December trip and yours just hits the spot. I am amazed by how much you got done in 4 days and by how many great photopass pics you got in that amount of time. I am getting so excited reading your TR. Amazing firework pics. Thanks for uploading all the video, love it! I hope it is not as cold when we go as it sounds like your trip started out being. Boy you all did get soaked that first day.

I'll be sticking around to hear more about MVMCP. It's worth the wait.

 

[timandlesley]

Hey Dawn,
Wow, such a good update I don't know where to begin. LOVED the pics of Luke's face during the parade, they were precious pictures! The parade looked great, can't wait to see it some day - can't believe it really smells like chocolate. Loved your videos.
The guy playing the monkey. . .when I saw him I immediately thought he looked familiar, then I started thinking and went back to my old photo albums - he was the guy in Festival of the Lion King 2 years ago who pulled Lauren out into the show and danced with her - cool!
The WL decorations are GORGEOUS! So happy Ray promised you a stay there some day, it really is such a great resort.
Well, gotta go get ready for church. Have a good one, can't wait for another update!
Lesley

 

[VandyFan10]

Stinks that your med's are cheaper than the stupid co-pay. I have a RX like that where it's a tier 3 and so the insurance pays like $8....sucks!

Those close up pics you have a Luke are PRECIOUS!!!! Such a sweet face!

i know you've told me but what's going on in LA in december of 2010 that he knows so far ahead? i know it's probably something that happens every year or something. i have a terrible memory about stuff like that!

Oh that's alright you don't have or need to remember . Actually I just looked at the calendar and he will be in LA the week before. They always go do inventory the week after Thanksgiving. So it usually means he's gone on my B-day ....BUT THIS YEAR I WON'T CARE!!!

We might be able to work something out. I say that lightly (and small) b/c he likes to be at work the week after since they are reconciling all the #'s and really it's his baby. But we had discussed going this year and he said well maybe I could go the week after....so who knows???? Hopefully he will have his job (which is the biggest thing overall) and it could be something we have to 'work out'

i think the total cab fare was like $20 with tip.

When you think about it, it really is crazy it cost you guys 20 bucks to get back to your resort. Cabbies do make some $$$$ don't they???

they made their way to the WL after they left us. i can't wait to see this and say, "i'm staying there!"

SUCH pretty christmas decorations! i really wanted to see these myself but i know my day will come.

And you will LOVE it!!!!! I have stayed there before and it is such an AWESOME place!!

I do have to say IF we could make it work I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be staying here, but we could come visit a LOT!!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

The pictures of Luke watching the parade are priceless - you can totally tell he loved it! The ones of him walking back to the car are adorable, too!

As far as prenatals go, I took the Target brand ones. My doc said it was no problem at all! Its just that some prenatals will sit better with one person then another... just like with any other vitamins!

 

[HG_MOM]

Dawn, still loving all you reports...you are making me consider a trip to WDW near Christmas to see all the decorations!

As for pre-natals...I only took the otc Materna brand. My doctor never even mentioned a prescription vitamin. I am not a great "pill taker" and these were no problem for me. I do live in Canada so I am sure there are some brand/name differences, but they are made by Centrum so there must be some comparable! And the $$ was CONSIDERABLY less...I think they were about $25 for 100. Hope you can find something that works out for you.
And good luck!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Congrats on the new car, Dawn! I had a CR-V before our latest car and LOVED it!

Great updates -- love the Christmas parade photos at AK -- Luke is such a precious boy! Wilderness Lodge is just gorgeous with all those decorations!

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Awesome update Dawn! Those parade pics are so good and the ones from WL are great too. It's so pretty over there at Christmas. I wish we could have met on this trip! These past few times we were there at the same time and missed one another.

You were asking about prenatal vitamins. The first time I used them I miscarried. The second and third times I used them as soon as I started I would bleed and have complications. With my last baby I didn't find out I was pregnant 'til @ 13 weeks. I had never taken vitamins with him. Never a glimpse of blood. Then the day I started taking them that night it appeared. I stopped the vitamins immediately and the bleeding stopped. Why this never clicked before I don't know. I just figured I was clueless. They figured out the vitamins were more harm for me than good. DD was a twin and I lost that baby too. I'm just sayin...you don't have to take a vitamin to get a healthy baby. Sometimes the additives can do more harm than good. You need to drink a LOT of OJ and eat healthy. If you do that you don't need them!

 

[DisneyJo]

OMG I just love the close ups of Luke watching the parade his eye lashes are beautiful!!!!

Over here we're just advised to take folic acid prenatally, I just bought off the shelf ones which were pretty cheap. Then if once we're pregnant we need iron or anything we're then prescribed it. Just eat healthy and you'll be fine

 

[princessjv]

Still totally bummed that I missed you by a week! Hopefully next time. Now why is it that you don't get to go for 2 years? I thought it was a one year break?


I must know... where is the banana smoothies? I have never heard or seen them before.

We were supposed to eat at Tusker House for breakfast and I cancelled it to hang with DIS friends. Next time! It looks really yummy!

I've been gone for awhile... but am really excited to catch up on all of my DIS friends TR's! Can't wait for the rest... but it makes me want to go back.

 

[princessjv]

OMG I just love the close ups of Luke watching the parade his eye lashes are beautiful!!!!

Over here we're just advised to take folic acid prenatally, I just bought off the shelf ones which were pretty cheap. Then if once we're pregnant we need iron or anything we're then prescribed it. Just eat healthy and you'll be fine

Ditto Jo!

Folic is what is recommended for sure before you get prego... and no drinking. As for a prenatal I couldn't take them but ate a children's chewable instead with low iron. I get extremely sick with hyperemesis and need to have a PIC line feeding me anti nausea and rehydration meds... but I'm not normal.

Good Luck Kiddo!

 

[punkin413]

we got some sad news a couple of hours ago. lucy, ray's mom's beagle, passed away today. she was 14 years old and has been in bad health for awhile now. we knew it was coming but it doesn't make it any less sad.

so i thought i'd remember her here just to sort of help myself with the situation.

the story of lucy is really cute. ray and i had been dating almost a year in november 1994. we worked at a restaurant in downtown nashville and on the weekends instead of driving all the way back to our hometown (about a 30-40 minute drive) we'd stay at my dad's house because he lived pretty close to downtown. i would sleep with my sister and ray would stay in what used to be my bedroom.

ray has always suffered from occasional insomnia so one night he was sitting up and everyone in the house was asleep. at the time my sister was 11 and my brother 8 so all my parents had in the house were disney movies and other kid-friendly stuff. so ray put in "the fox and the hound" to pass the time while he couldn't sleep. he had never seen it before.

the next day was a sunday and we had to be at work for the lunch shift. on the way ray wanted to stop and buy a sunday paper. i asked why as this was unusual for him and he said he wanted to look at the classifieds because he wanted to get a HOOOOOOOOOOOUNNNNNNNND dog! it was the cutest thing i've ever heard!

so we found an ad for beagle puppies, called the number and went to check them out after work. $40 and one scared little puppy later we had a new beagle hound named lucy!

ray still lived at home with his mom at the time and so we didn't exactly have her permission to get another dog. i too still lived at home and my mom is not a dog person so we knew lucy would live with ray. when we took her back to ray's house that night he walked into his house with her stuffed down in his winter jacket (it was cold out) with only her little head hanging out the top. his mom just looked at him and said, "no way. i already have 2 dogs. NO WAY!!!!!!" she told us we had to get rid of her and we had a month to do it.

needless to say, that never happened. we sort of just didn't bring it up again and eventually she became a part of the family. ray and his family moved to georgia a year later and when ray decided to get his own apartment a few months later, he made plans to take lucy with him and his mom was like, "um......no......she's MY dog!" that's why we ended up getting sherman a few years later.

lucy has always been sort of "ours" just because we picked her out. sometime around 1998 she swallowed a button off the couch and had to have surgery to have it removed from her stomach. not a major surgery except that a spinal disc slipped into her spinal cord and paralized her from the waste down. it was the saddest thing i've ever seen. she fortunately got the function back in her legs after about two weeks but she's never been the same since.

anyway, here's our dear little lucy. this was taken not long after we got her.

i took her to meet my grandparents around the same time. my grandmother took this one of us.

here's a couple more a few years later. i'm guessing this was 2002, right after ray and i got married because we were still in our apartment. lucy would've been about 8 years old here. you can tell how she aged really quickly after her surgery incident, but she was still a sweetie!!!

lucy giving ray a kiss....

this was taken around 2005. lucy and sherman actually getting along for 10 minutes to take a nap together!

ray and i are going to his mom's house to plant a butterfly bush over lucy's grave tomorrow. we've had it for about 2 weeks now - like i said, we knew it was coming.

she will be missed.

 

[MeMom]

So sorry for your sadness.
I will cry many tears when my sweet, but set-in-his-ways cat goes.
Planting the bush will be special and a sweet way to remember Lucy.

 

[teruterubouzu]

I'm so sorry! I know what it's like to lose a beloved pet, even when you know it's coming. There are times I still cry about my first dog even though he died many years ago. Our next family dog is probably not going to be around much longer and I'm not sure what I'll do.

Anyway, I'm so sorry you lost your Lucy. Those photos are adorable. She looks like such a sweet dog. And you guys were so young! It's sweet of you to commemorate her by planting something.

 

[VandyFan10]

Sweet Lucy!!!

You have told me that story a few times...but it is SO sweet!!! And I love that Ray fell in love with all his babies from the Fox and the Hound

I hope you guys are doing ok, and that is very sweet you are planing the butterfly bush there. I like that idea!