Don't You Know? The Hardest Part Is Over. And we're celebrating at Disney!

[TandLMommy28]

Well, here we go again.

This will be our third Disney vacation as a family but it will be our FIRST Disney vacation as a family of five. Surprise! About a month after our last Disney vacation our world was rocked quite a bit with the news that our family was growing.

It was a rough pregnancy. I always get Hyperemesis gravidarum with my pregnancies but this time around seemed especially rough. I was on four medications just to try to keep any food down and I could barely function. It took a toll on the entire family. I lost so much weight that at nine months pregnant I actually weighed LESS than I did at the beginning of the pregnancy.

But then, our amazing little boy was born! It was my easiest birth by far, which made up at least a little for the difficult pregnancy. It was 96 minutes of labor followed by one push and there he was! Perfect in every way, all seven pounds and fifteen ounces of him.

After his birth I still didn't feel good. My hand was extremely swollen where I'd had an IV in place and it wasn't healing. I was exhausted all the time. Not the normal newborn phase of life exhausted. Baby was actually sleeping amazing well. I was just... something wasn't right.

It took several doctor visits and two trips to the ER but finally, I had an answer. That swollen hand? Blood clot. After the first ER trip when it was diagnosed, I started blood thinners. Giving myself shots was super fun, ha! They burned so badly, it was so incredibly painful. And not long after I started the medications, I was having trouble breathing. Back to the ER I went and lots of tests later they found my blood clot--no longer in my hand, but nestled in my lung. A pulmonary embolism. A lot of "you are lucky to be alive" and "do you know how close you came to dying" comments from doctors and nurses. A week in the hospital with hubby and the new baby staying in my room with me so I could continue nursing the little guy.

This was followed by a period of intense anxiety and panic attacks that left me almost unable to leave the house. Those were some of the darkest days of my life. I never knew how bad a panic attack could be. I didn't know that it actually FEELS painful. Wow, that was a tough time!

So then, then, THEN when my lung began to heal and I was conquering the anxiety (counseling and meds and some dietary changes), the baby stopped sleeping.

My perfect baby who slept through the night practically from day one just STOPPED. He was up ALL NIGHT LONG. Every night. I'm talking about going 2-3 weeks at a time with only getting to sleep a few 20 minute stretches per night. I have no idea what happened to my good sleeper! We are still working through this but it's slooooowly improving. He's 7.5 months old now and he is down to waking 5 times per night. And I know in light of every thing else I've been through, losing sleep shouldn't seem like a big deal but my poor body has been through so much and I desperately need the rest to fully heal. So it's been pretty tough!

OK, so that's my terrible horrible no good very bad year SOB STORY. But seriously, it's been a tough ride and now that it's pretty much over, we are going to Disney to celebrate. We are celebrating life and health and being able to make new family memories. Because there was a time during that blood clot scare that I honestly didn't think there would be any more Disney trip or family vacations or memories together.

But there will be!

I chose my PTR title from the Rob Thomas song Little Wonders from Meet the Robinsons. I played it non-stop during my pregnancy, trying to encourage myself that soon the hard stuff would be over.

Let it go,
Let it roll right off your shoulder
Don't you know
The hardest part is over
Let it in,
Let your clarity define you
In the end
We will only just remember how it feels

Our lives are made
In these small hours
These little wonders,
These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away,
But these small hours,
These small hours still remain

Let it slide,
Let your troubles fall behind you
Let it shine
Until you feel it all around you
And i don't mind
If it's me you need to turn to
We'll get by,
It's the heart that really matters in the end.

So there's my intro. Up next, the details!

 

[TandLMommy28]

When: September 21-27, 2014. We will arrive on the 20th and stay offsite for one night because we are driving this year and arrival times are unpredictable. I'd rather feel like I'm "running late" to our offsite room than running late to the official start of our trip! We did this last time we drove (2010) and it worked wonderfully.

Where: After changing my mind a MILLION times since the last day of our 2012 trip, we are going to go with a Cars Suite at Art of Animation.

This was a tough decision. This is our last chance to stay anywhere the only sleeps four because our next trip won't be until after the little one turns three. However, my middle child will be six on this trip. Actually he turns seven on the drive home after the trip! He's growing up. I feel like THIS is the year that a Cars suite will be 100% pure magic for him. Plus, with a baby the extra space of a suite is just going to be nice. With a stroller, a pack n play and all the random crap that a 15 month old requires, a suite is going to be very nice!

Who:

I'll have to add pictures later but for now, here's the run down...

Grumpola: I named him before our first family trip back in 2010. THe one he dragged his feet about and rolled his eyes every time I mentioned it. He used to say "nobody needs to go there more than once, so make this trip good because it's never happening again." By day three, the words "so on our next trip, I want to" slipped out of his mouth and there was no turning back. He's as hooked as I am!

Tori: She was five on our first trip and it's hard to believe that she will be NINE when we go this time. Where does the time go? One of my favorite memories of her entire life was meeting Cinderella on the first day of our 2010 trip. Happy sigh. Thankfully she's still pretty into the magic of Disney and isn't (yet) getting all grown up and too cool.

Lucas: Lucas started off our 2010 still 2 years old and celebrated his third birthday at Magic Kingdom. When we went back in 2012, it was a few days shy of his 5th birthday so technically he's been to Disney at age 2, 3 and 4. He's 6 now and getting so grown up! This trip will be the last week before he turns seven. Hard to imagine!

Oliver: Dear, sweet Oliver. Remember how I said Lucas turned five the week after our trip in 2012? Well, I bawled. I sobbed. I was an emotional wreck. Why? Because I was NEVER going to take a five year old to Disney World again. Five is the most magical age, in my opinion, and my heart was broken. Grumpola says I got a case of "emotional uterus" because it was exactly one month later that we were surprised with a positive pregnancy test. Honest and truly the first thought I had was "I get to take a five year old to Disney again!"

And, oh yeah, me! Lover of all things Disney. First trip? My parents pulled the ultimate surprised on us. ANd that was back before the Internet and YouTube and surprise trips being the cool thing to do. It was pretty epic and I will share that story later on. Let's just say they put NINE YEARS into planning the trip.

 

[TandLMommy28]

It's booking day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waiting on the email from my TA with the link to make my deposit. Yippee! I have to book by Saturday to get the PIN code price. And I'm doing that just in case a better deal doesn't come along. But I am PRAYING for free dining!