Free Dining Designing!

[disneychic2]

YES….What Mo said! Prayers for sanity all around!

 

[lovedonaldduck]

Thank you ladies for hanging in around here while I was MIA working a million hours.

I mentioned getting home incredibly late from my Richmond trip, I followed that up with a day of working from home, a day of working in the office, and a fairly normal weekend. Then, I worked from home 4.5 hours Sunday night, 8am-6:30pm on Monday, 8am-10pm on Tuesday, 9am-12:15am on Wednesday, and 8am-5:30pm on Thursday. I was completely burnt out for the long weekend for 4th of July. I'm trying to get back to myself, but I am still feeling a little burnt from last week.

Charlotte has her ear tube surgery next Monday. I just found out today, our responsibility for the hospital portion of her bill is over $900. I don't know what I was expecting it to be, but that was much higher. So, I am putting my DSLR back on hold for now - hopefully we'll be able to swing it by our trip, but if not I'll have to just get a new point and shoot for now.

I am still swamped at work with the new responsibilities I am taking on. Plus I just got a new boss that works in our Richmond office which has it's own challenges.

I think I'm about to jump in to Disney planning full steam ahead, just to distract myself from all this work!

I do have an update on the Disney front - since the initial trip was my idea and I had it booked before clearing it with anyone other than myself, I paid for our deposit. My parents have actually offered to pay the balance in full! This is so generous of them, essentially giving us a free trip to Disney, outside of tips on our meals and spending money.

I need to call Disney with some ticketing questions before I pay off the balance. I'm not sure I have the energy to lay it all out there clearly for you all right now, but our November package currently has 7 day tickets on it, so we can upgrade to annual passes with very little out of pocket cost. However, I need a ticket for my girls trip for Food and Wine Festival in October. I'm trying to decide if it makes more sense for me to get an extra day on my F&W ticket, and then upgrade that in November (and switch our November package to 2 day tickets) or if I should just get my annual pass in October (and switch to 2 day tickets and save mine for another trip) or if I should just leave all the November tickets at 7 days and just get what I need for October. Decisions, decisions.

 

[Chicago Mo]

WOWZA!
Will your parents adopt me??? that's amazing they are paying off your trip for you!

I understand about work.. Don't you hate when it gets in teh way of planning and dis time?!? What's wrong with them?!?!?! geesh!

 

[disneychic2]

I'm so glad you're back! That is crazy hours right there. I'm glad you survived. And a new boss on top of it all. Wow! Dan has been working crazy like that since April and there's really no relieve in sight until the last of three projects are completed in November. So I feel your pain. Make sure you take a smidgen of time for yourself just to breathe!

Your parents are paying your package off?? I'm with Mo…can I be adopted??? That is awesome, especially with your added expense of Charlotte's surgery! Are you feeling a little better about the whole surgery thing? Hope so. She'll feel so much better I'm sure. Good for her on the pull ups only at night!!

I'm not sure I completely followed the "when to get APs" scenarios, but I'm sure you'll choose the right one. I hope you find your happy place while planning and thinking about your trip. You deserve it after all the work you've been doing! Have a great day!

 

[lovedonaldduck]

Tell me about it! We are so blessed that my parents are willing and able to do this for us. My mom did say we'll need to consider it part of our Christmas present - which of course I am fine with. I think my parents feel a little bit guilty about how I grew up (although they have no reason to) - my dad was enlisted military and my mom worked part time so we didn't have a lot of money. We never went without, but vacations for us were usually road trips and camping or visiting family. At this point, my dad makes way more money then he ever did when I was growing up, plus he has his Navy retirement so they are very generous with us - and we are very appreciative of it!

I am so over this work thing! Perhaps my plan of winning Powerball will finally work out tonight!

 

[lovedonaldduck]

Sad news, I did not win Powerball last night so I'll have to stick with this work thing awhile longer.

All of my dear Dis friends with your trips fast approaching before mine have inspired me! I am going to start on my massive to do list now so hopefully I can avoid a last minute rush around trip time. For now, I'm just going to start the list - in no particular order:

• Organize the girls daily gifts
• Make sure we all have enough Disney shirts for the trip
• Organize our trading pins
• See if we have an extra lanyard for pins for Charlotte
• Buy a camera - research point and shoots in case my DSLR isn't in the budget
• Print out gift tags for the girls presents
• Daily plan sheets
• Schedule FP+ (not until September)
• Book Hoop Dee Do Review
• Finalize daily plans
• Schedule and plan movie nights (Lion King, Nemo, Cars)
• Schedule and plan planning nights - need to start ASAP!
• Poster board for daily planning nights
• Plan shopping list for breakfasts, snacks, and drinks
• Check inventory of travel toiletries

That should be enough to get me started.

A little background on our planning nights - I always plan our vacations pretty much single handedly. Typically, when I ask for input we are doing 15 other things and it gets lost in the shuffle. Or I'll offer two alternatives, Hoop Dee Do on AK day or MK day, and I'm told to just do what I think is best. This all works fine on the planning front, because I am a bit of a control freak. However, when we are at Disney, I tend to take complaints, changes, or suggestions on what we should have done/be doing a little personally. So, this trip, we're not doing that. We are going to do the high level planning together. I will take that and schedule FP+ and map at Touring Plans, but the high level is going to be done together.

The first thing I need to do is map out our park days and dining reservations, which I feel pretty good about - although I am open to changing them if we need to. Then we will spend one planning session on each park. This part is still coming together - but I think I may have just figured out the planning board - I need to check and see if the big white board I have at home is magnetic or not - then I can move forward with this and share what I'm thinking.

Off to work for me!

 

[disneychic2]

A high level planning meeting is good idea…if you can get them to voice their thoughts at that time instead of in the parks!! I would take it personally too. You put a lot of time and effort into it (no one has to know how much we love it!) and then they second guess you at the parks. I call foul!!!

Your list looks good. I am SUCH a list maker!! My family makes fun of me, but I seriously need a list or I just drift through my days. And is is crazy that I really love the process of making the lists?? And don't even get me started about crossing things off…heaven! I know. I need a 12 step program!

Well, I hope you have a good day at work today and a wonderful weekend! And I am praying for Charlotte's surgery next week!

 

[lovedonaldduck]

Lois, thank you so much for the prayers for Charlotte. I really appreciate them. I am nervous for Monday but I know we are doing what is best for her. I hope she'll understand the process and it won't be traumatic for her. The hospital that she'll be having surgery at has a serious of videos so the kids know what to expect so we'll be watching those with her this weekend.

Lists are awesome - and there is nothing like crossing items off the list! I checked last night, and my big white board is magnetic! I'm excited because it's going to let me map everything out for the trip and make it a little more interactive and fun for the girls. I'm probably going to write out all of the attractions at each park - I'm thinking on index cards. Then we'll let everybody chose their 2 must dos (with 6 of us, that can make for a full day). Then I can put them all on the board, call out which ones we can get FP+ for, and then, prior to the trip, I can put everything in the order I think we'll actually do it in. I'm excited about the planning!

I missed your last post, Lois, I think we were posting around the same time. I'm sorry Dan has been working such long hours for such a long time. That stinks! I've taken over responsibilities for someone who is on maternity leave, so I have a lot on my plate that is brand new to me and I'm facing a bit of a learning curve which should get better with time. When she comes back from maternity leave, I'll get to train her on some of my stuff so come September, my schedule should get back to normal. I'm also lucky that the next couple of months, we'll have a weekend in the middle of our very busy time so I'll be able to get work done over that weekend. I hate to work weekends but if I do that, I should be able to avoid the ridiculously late nights.

We are so blessed that my parents are paying our Disney package off! I hadn't anticipated Charlotte's surgery being quite as expensive as it's going to be, so this is definitely a big help.

Charlotte has been a super star at potty training. Very easy on me, which has been nice.

I knew I didn't have it in me to lay out my ticket dilemma clearly, I should have just waited. I need to call Disney for some clarity, so since I'm home today, maybe I can get that done.

I am off to get some work done. Actually, I think I am going to nap first. I am home with a borderline migraine today and I think some sleep will get me back to feeling 100% so then I can get some work done this afternoon.

 

[DMGeurts]

Just stopping buy very quickly to let you know that Charlotte and your family will be on our thoughts and prayers on Monday. (((Hugs)))

Sorry that I don't have the time to respond to everything else, but I did read and it looks like you have lots of fun plans!

D~ <---- might as well adopt me, since you are adopting everyone else. Lol.

 

[disneychic2]

Said prayers for Charlotte…and YOU! Hope all goes well (or has already gone well?) Anyway, just letting you know I'm thinking of you.

 

[DMGeurts]

Stopping by to tell you that you and Charlotte are in our thoughts and prayers today.

D

 

[Chicago Mo]

Stopping in to say i am thinking of you guys and Prayers are to you!!!

 

[lovedonaldduck]

Thank you all so much for the thoughts and prayers for Charlotte (and me!). She did great! We had a very long wait - we had to be at the hospital by 9:30 but we arrived a little early and then they didn't take her back until around noon. She was pretty bored with the wait, but did fine. She wasn't thrilled about being taken back to surgery, she cried, but the nurse decided to carry her back and she was ok with that (although still crying). The surgery was quick - less than 15 minutes of waiting and the doctor was in the waiting room telling us how she did. She cried when we came into her room after surgery and was so frustrated that I couldn't pick her up out of the crib yet. She snuggled with me as best she could from the crib and still had lots of tears. She was happy to finally get dressed and get out of there! She was also starving! We took her to the Chick-Fil-A at the hospital and she inhaled her chicken nuggets and french fries.

She had a pretty normal afternoon at home on Monday. She said it hurt when I put her ear drops in but after talking to the nurse, it could just be that the drops are cold. Plus, they did cut an incision into her ear drum so I'd imagine there is some pain. Right before bed Monday night, she ended up vomitting a couple of times, most likely from the anesthesia. And then she fell asleep in my lap on the couch. I put her in bed, but by 11:30 she'd already woke up screaming several times so I just decided to sleep with her for the night.

I had intended to keep her home yesterday and work from home but after all the running around she did Monday afternoon, I decided she was ok to go back to school (which is what her doctor's office recommended anyway). I took the girls to school but I decided to work from home so I could get caught up on laundry - between the vomitting and ear drainage a had a couple of loads that had to be done and I didn't want to just be starting when I got home from work at 6pm.

I am back at work in the office today and have tons to catch up on. I'll try to make the rounds to everyone's reports tomorrow but I wanted to be sure to let you all know all about Charlotte's big day. It's amazing how they can look and act so grown up while also looking so tiny and vulnerable all at once. We are so very blessed with happy, healthy girls. Monday made me very appreciative for all the blessings in my life! Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers!

 

[Iamthequeen]

I just subbed in to your report, Jennifer. I'm not even sure I knew you had one until everyone was posting about Charlotte's ears. I'm sorry I missed it, but I'm all caught up now.

Glad to hear all went well with Charlotte's surgery. I'm sure the tubes will help immensely.

Your plans so far sound great. We loved HDDR, but Charlie didn't want to do it again this year.

Can't wait to read your next update!

 

[DMGeurts]

I am relieved for you and Charlotte that everything went well. Glad to hear that things are back to normal so quickly. Hopefully she isn't in any more pain.

D~

 

[disneychic2]

Thanks for the great update about Charlotte's ordeal. Poor thing. Waiting that long is just criminal! The anxiety builds for the parents and it makes for such a long day without food! Glad it all turned out okay and that now she is back to her old self.

I was wondering if anything came of your husband's two interviews for other jobs?

Have a great day and don't work too hard! The weekend is close, so that will be nice. Is Charlotte allowed to swim this soon?

 

[lovedonaldduck]

Either Monday or Tuesday night, Charlotte looked at me and said "Mommy, I can hear so much better!" Makes me feel like it was all worth it. She is doing really well. She is allowed to swim already, no deep water swimming and no diving, but that won't be an issue for her since she still uses her puddle jumper for swimming. My parents are actually heading up to Ohio this weekend, so I'm not sure if we'll take the girls over to swim just the 4 of us or not. We are planning on taking the girls on to their first baseball game on Sunday - we have a minor league team in town and this is their last day time game for the year.

I don't have any updates related to Disney yet. With Charlotte's ears and my crazy work schedule, I haven't done anything Disney related in ages. My current plan is to stalk dining reservations for BOG, book HDDR (as soon as I decide which day we are doing it) and prep for my family planning meeting. My parents will be out of town the next two weekends, so I'll have two weeks to get ready to do some planning with the whole family once they get back in town. Step one is to lay out our park days and dining, which should be fairly easy.

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

[Chicago Mo]

PHEW great news about her ears!! sorry she got sick. that crap they put into your body is yucky... i AM so glad to hear (pun intended) everything is ok.

 

[lovedonaldduck]

I don't have much to report today, but one of the things that I love so much about D~'s reports are that she is dedicated to updating daily

We go back to the ENT on 8/15. They will recheck Charlotte's hearing then and also check the placement of the tubes.

I can't think of anything exciting to share about my day yesterday - work and home with not too much accomplished at eiher Today will be work - with the hopes of getting prepared for a meeting I'd like to schedule on Monday or Tuesday next week. I'd also like to take some time to organize my to-do list and my calendar for the rest of the month. I have a lot on my plate with the responsibilities I am taking over and I feel like I am not on top of things.

On the home front, Fridays are grocery shopping days so we will be headed there after work. I'm going to try to stock up on some fruit and veggies - I have been falling into some bad habits and letting my weight get away from me, so I'm going to try and get back on the right course a little bit. I hope I'll get to go home before we go to Publix so I can organize a shopping list and a menu for next week. Sometimes I just meet DH at the store so I may have to shop from memory.

Peyton and I need to spend time this weekend getting her clothes organized. I have GymBucks to spend at Gymoboree and I'd like to use them for her back to school shopping but I need to figure out what she has so I can figure out what we still need to get.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

[lovedonaldduck]

Two things - first, I just realized that I hadn't responded to Lois' questions about DH's job interviews. Nothing actually came of them He is very disappointed since he thought he was a good fit for the job and that the job would be a good fit for him. He's still actively looking for something that is an improvement over his current situation.

Second thing is an actual Disney planning dilemma. Hooray for being on topic for a change! The question is - do we want to see the castle lights? We've all seen them before, except for Charlotte and we won't make the lighting ceremony due to our dining reservation. I'm wondering if we should go when the crowds are lighter on a MVMCP day, and miss the lights or if we should go on another day so we'll have the opportunity to come back and see the castle all lit up? Thoughts?