First Family Vacation... EVER // Update 2/28

[Lidian]

Grats on weaning! I tried breastfeeding with both of my kids, but didn't have any help or support with DD so gave up quickly. DS's tongue is too short, so he couldn't latch. They told me he'd have to have surgery, so I passed. I was able to pump milk for him, though, so that helped. I just missed out on the bonding.

For milk replacement, have you tried Soy? My DD has a milk allergy, she doesn't like the Almond or Rice, but she loves Soy milk. Just a suggestion. G'luck!

 

[danielle79]

Ohh excitement. Found out the my cousin will be in Orlando some of the same days as us. Her DS just had his first birthday on the 14th. Shes going to meet up with us at MK on the 29th to catch up. She scheduled his first haircut for 11 so I think I may book DD1 for about the same time. Pretty excited.

So on my packing report.... I've got all the girls clothes "matched up" I have to go through their bows and see what I need made.
I started going through my closet and putting some stuff aside to pack... I plan on packing a few dresses... But will probably only wear them at night maybe?
Dh... you guessed it.. hasnt touched his clothes -- Can not beat him before the trip... can not beat him before the trip.... or during...--


BELOW is about breastfeeding... Just a heads up if your not interested in that. you wont miss anything exciting (well exciting for you) if you dont read below


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On a side note.. I think my daughter has weaned herself from breastfeeding... Sorry if thats TMI but HUGE for us... I started trying this week to get her down to just 2 times a day but she went all day with out nursing. WOO HOO. I've loved nursing her the past year but honestly I was just done... However she wont drink milk.. which may have to do with her mastocytosis... Milk and dairy in general is very high in histamines and well she some how just knows what she can and can not have.... I've tried almond milk with vanilla flavoring and she wasnt amused by that either... Will try rice milk next... If all else fails she can get her calcium from veggies I'm a pro at hiding them mwa hahaha

So excited to read your ptr! We brought my oldest when she was 5 and I was 23 and it was so much FUN! Now I have 3 daughters and we brought them all last year, Triple FUN! Ate at Akershus for lunch and it was GREAt, the cauliflower soup was heavenly! I will agree with a previous comment about Boma at AKL, this was a wonderful buffet! My husband could eat meat until he burst and I could eat so many non-meat options! Also the staff there was awesome, dressed my daughter in a chef hat and coat and brought her behind the line to take pictures with the meat carving chef! Be sure to get your daughters the First visit buttons, some magical things happen with those on!

 

[MrsFerrell]

Grats on weaning! I tried breastfeeding with both of my kids, but didn't have any help or support with DD so gave up quickly. DS's tongue is too short, so he couldn't latch. They told me he'd have to have surgery, so I passed. I was able to pump milk for him, though, so that helped. I just missed out on the bonding.

For milk replacement, have you tried Soy? My DD has a milk allergy, she doesn't like the Almond or Rice, but she loves Soy milk. Just a suggestion. G'luck!

With DD3 I had no support and gave up after doing it 1/2 time for 3 months. I was shocked DD1 went so smoothly but I give total credit to the awesome hospital staff.

Soy is also high histamine but I plan on testing her with that to see how she does. Its total trial and error.

So excited to read your ptr! We brought my oldest when she was 5 and I was 23 and it was so much FUN! Now I have 3 daughters and we brought them all last year, Triple FUN! Ate at Akershus for lunch and it was GREAt, the cauliflower soup was heavenly! I will agree with a previous comment about Boma at AKL, this was a wonderful buffet! My husband could eat meat until he burst and I could eat so many non-meat options! Also the staff there was awesome, dressed my daughter in a chef hat and coat and brought her behind the line to take pictures with the meat carving chef! Be sure to get your daughters the First visit buttons, some magical things happen with those on!

Oh how fun!! And them and my DH will be rocking First Visit buttons for sure!!

 

[Lidian]

With DD3 I had no support and gave up after doing it 1/2 time for 3 months. I was shocked DD1 went so smoothly but I give total credit to the awesome hospital staff.

Soy is also high histamine but I plan on testing her with that to see how she does. Its total trial and error.

Oh how fun!! And them and my DH will be rocking First Visit buttons for sure!!

I didn't know anything about it having histamines in it. You learn something new everyday!

G'luck with finding something that works for her!!

 

[MrsFerrell]

Omg nearly everything has histamine... Doesn't bother most.. Luckily DD1 isn't as sensitive as most Masto patients... I plan on writing about that later though

 

[MrsFerrell]

....Steps on to soapbox...
---taps mic--- This thing on?---

Okay so I briefly described my DD1s disease... mastocytosis... In her case Urticaria Pigmentosa. As far as masto goes we have it pretty easy... Some kids have reactions from the slightless rays of sunlight... a food list longer than you could imagine.... At first I was pretty panicked about masto so I put DD1 on every medication mentioned... She was never a happy baby... She always had tummy issues... It was bad bad. She would SCREAM for hours.

I kept asking her ped for more referrals and more medications... Nothing was helping... in fact her stomach aches where getting worse... Finally on a whim I took her off of everything... I figured worse comes to worse she will hive up and I will start her back on meds stat. And though she got a little red at times nothing bad ever happened. So shes been med free for nearly 2 months now (with the occasional dose of bendryl for a flair up)

DD1 is a total different baby now. More or less always happy... She can throw one heck of a fit... Little Diva.

Anyway on Feb 29th is NORD's Rare Disease Day. RDD is an international advocacy day to show the world rare diseases. The forgotten diseases... Many of which get no funding for testing or research which makes the patents feel very alone and confused. Most doctors have no clue what masto is.. In the US a rare disease is one that affects fewer than 200,000 people. There are nearly 7,000 rare disease affecting nearly 30 million Americans! So thats 1 in 10 Americans!

The focus of this years RDD is solidarity. "Alone we are rare. Together we are Strong." is the slogan this year. So we will be at Magic Kingdom on RDD. DD1 will have on her RDD shirt with "Polka Dot Princess". A bow is getting made with this in the center. I'm pretty excited about it. I will have the pediatric masto ribbon on my lanyard and we had cards made about masto in case anyone ask about it. Or if we get any of the not so nice comments or looks about her "chicken pox" or "bug bites". Luckily I haven't had many negative comments... A few dirty looks but mainly general questions which I whole heartily dont mind!

...steps down....

YAY For making it real

 

[MrsFerrell]

Let the magic begin

The mail man has been LOVING me heh First off we've been having Disney Marathons over here.... DD3 already has the Little Mermaids, Aristocats (a favorite), Princess and the Frog, Tangled (which is MIA! NO clue where the DVD is ), Lion King, Cars, Monsters Inc, etc etc so on and so forth (name that movie!)

Bit recently we have added Snow White, Cinderella, Winnie the Pooh, and 101 Dalmatians to our collection. And we watch at least 2 a day in seems!!!

And these came for mommy

I love the toddler versions of the princesses .... Seriously with Disney putting out so many different dang versions of them its like OH MY GAWSH DD3 REALLY needs ANOTHER Belle... Ariel.... Rapunzel... doesnt she??

I also picked up these bad boys today

Our Salute the the Armed Forces cards. It was cheaper to get 2 of each of those for our 8 day stay (even though we may not use all 8 days...) than to get the 7 day military park hopper option.

Our new maps also came in

Ahhh happy day!!

Can I get a cancellation??

 

[Lidian]

to you for standing strong and helping to fight for awareness of rare diseases!

Movie nights are so much fun!

I adore the toddler Princess pins! SOOO CUTE!

 

[wakica]

I had never heard of mastocytosis - thanks for the education on it. I would never stare or say something upon seeing the polka dots but i definitely would wonder for sure so thanks - now i will know I'm so glad you were able to take her off meds!! That is WONDERFUL that she can function without them.

The pins are adorable!!! and your right - they come out with so many different things it's crazy - gotta make a sale anyway they can and they sure know how to. lol

Those park maps look GREAT!!! Way better than the ones we got SSOOOO many years ago that we've been looking at but they didn't used to send them to Canada so I never bothered trying for new ones plus i figured they would look the same anyway. Now that I know I'm going to check and see if they do mail them to Canada now b/c I SOOOO WANT A SET!!!!

 

[MrsFerrell]

to you for standing strong and helping to fight for awareness of rare diseases!

Movie nights are so much fun!

I adore the toddler Princess pins! SOOO CUTE!

I'm a sucker for toddlers...

I had never heard of mastocytosis - thanks for the education on it. I would never stare or say something upon seeing the polka dots but i definitely would wonder for sure so thanks - now i will know I'm so glad you were able to take her off meds!! That is WONDERFUL that she can function without them.

The pins are adorable!!! and your right - they come out with so many different things it's crazy - gotta make a sale anyway they can and they sure know how to. lol

Those park maps look GREAT!!! Way better than the ones we got SSOOOO many years ago that we've been looking at but they didn't used to send them to Canada so I never bothered trying for new ones plus i figured they would look the same anyway. Now that I know I'm going to check and see if they do mail them to Canada now b/c I SOOOO WANT A SET!!!!

The maps really are nice! And whats even "funnier" with masto some kids have spots and some won't (Cruella de Vil moment.... "NO SPOTS! NO SPOTS AT ALL!! )

 

[Moodyzblu]

Joining IN !

 

[MelMel11]

Count me in!!

 

[MrsFerrell]

Joining IN !

Count me in!!

YAY and WELCOME. Its almost time to be in TR mode!! Heh
---slowest week of my life coming up---

Dare I say the wait before Disney is slower than the wait for DH to come home from a deployment?

 

[MrsFerrell]

Man the more I looked at the food porn and read others trip reports... I REALLY want to do dinner at O'Hana.... It looks SO yummy... Gah COME ON PIXIE DUST CANCEL CANCEL CANCEL hah

7 days... 16 hours.... oh the agony of the wait... Starting to finalize my trip plans and begin a room by room "super clean". It would be a bummer to come home to a meh house lol


Come on reservation Pixies and fast-forwardeder of days hah

holy cow its almost here

 

[blancah76]

I have not been to Ohanas yet but it really does sound good.
That food porn can be dagerous

Hope you are able to get an ADR, do you have to call everyday know and check for cancelations?

 

[MrsFerrell]

I have not been to Ohanas yet but it really does sound good.
That food porn can be dagerous

Hope you are able to get an ADR, do you have to call everyday know and check for cancelations?

I've just been checking online really... For everyday of our trip...

 

[Lidian]

Man the more I looked at the food porn and read others trip reports... I REALLY want to do dinner at O'Hana.... It looks SO yummy... Gah COME ON PIXIE DUST CANCEL CANCEL CANCEL hah

7 days... 16 hours.... oh the agony of the wait... Starting to finalize my trip plans and begin a room by room "super clean". It would be a bummer to come home to a meh house lol

Come on reservation Pixies and fast-forwardeder of days hah

I've just been checking online really... For everyday of our trip...

First of all, have you subbed to the cancellation threads that fall into your trip? It's how I snagged a Chef Mickey ADR.

If I recall correctly, you'll want to sub to the February and March threads and have instant notification, so you can check ... but that requires stalking your email (which mine pushes to my phone, so no big deal for me, but not everyone has that luxury).

Outside of watching the threads, check the ADR website frequently (like everytime you have a few minutes), and call the hotline at least once a day. I've been lucky and not found things online, but when I've called, they've found it in their system. It never hurts to over-check if it is something you really want.

G'luck getting an O'hana ADR! Let us know if you score one!!!

 

[wakica]

Man the more I looked at the food porn and read others trip reports... I REALLY want to do dinner at O'Hana.... It looks SO yummy... Gah COME ON PIXIE DUST CANCEL CANCEL CANCEL hah

7 days... 16 hours.... oh the agony of the wait... Starting to finalize my trip plans and begin a room by room "super clean". It would be a bummer to come home to a meh house lol


Come on reservation Pixies and fast-forwardeder of days hah

i agree i like to come home to a nice clean house too. It just feels so good. Hope the packing is coming along smoothly.

 

[MrsFerrell]

First of all, have you subbed to the cancellation threads that fall into your trip? It's how I snagged a Chef Mickey ADR.

If I recall correctly, you'll want to sub to the February and March threads and have instant notification, so you can check ... but that requires stalking your email (which mine pushes to my phone, so no big deal for me, but not everyone has that luxury).

Outside of watching the threads, check the ADR website frequently (like everytime you have a few minutes), and call the hotline at least once a day. I've been lucky and not found things online, but when I've called, they've found it in their system. It never hurts to over-check if it is something you really want.

G'luck getting an O'hana ADR! Let us know if you score one!!!

Subbed those threads thanks!! If it doesnt happen I will just have that to look forward to next time

i agree i like to come home to a nice clean house too. It just feels so good. Hope the packing is coming along smoothly.

Thanks Wish cleaning was coming along better But DH is off the next 2 days so I plan to form a blitz attack starting upstairs and working my way down room by room. Hoping to find time to steam clean my carpets too

 

[MrsFerrell]

1 day... 13 hours...

OMG

My house is a MESS. We have been so busy the last few days! Friday night I had a Girls Night Out... First time in years... Which is sad since I'm only24.. lol Then Saturday... oh dear Lord... We had a Squadron Spouses Pot Luck which was more or less a flop... As usual... Our spouses just don't want to get invloved Oh well no one can say we didn't try... Then DD3 had a birthday party at her old gymnastics school which she LOVED but which was insane... They really dont give enough time for the actual party and we where pretty much pushed out lol Then we had a Mardi Gras party at a friends house. Which was lovely but we where all asleep by 930! lol And for Mrs Insomniac here that is RARE.

Today we had church and DD3 at Religious Education. I started to clean again but the kids didn't help much and it was rough since DH was at work... So I gave up and we watched Disney Movies on ABC Family :-D

Then after dinner we PACKED and PACKED. We have a bit of laundry to do for other random items but more or less we are packed.. Thank God everything is under weight... I washed the stroller (opps need to go hang it to dry...)

I'm so excited... We started explaining it more to DD3 and (though I still dont think she GETS it... She keeps saying we're going to Disney AGAIN? So I think she is referring to the Store.. lol And she thinks we're flying to see Maw Maw and Paw Paw (my grandparents) :-( Which makes me sad... Wish they could come...) everyone is super excited...

Did I mention we're excited?

Tomorrow will be my last PTR!!!! OMG!!

On the agenda for tomorrow is

CLEANING
Getting my eyebrows waxed
Laundry
buying new "Carabiners" for the stroller... ones we bought where too small
Pack the girls plane bag
Clean out car
Finalize travel arrangements with friends that are driving us (were returning the favor in April)
and Making Minnie Valentine Cookies that I have been saving for the trip
and withdraw cash for the van and tips ... also thinking of getting change incase DD wants pressed pennies

ahh well until tomorrow...

1 day 12 hours 53 minutes

My oh My