It's A WONDERful 2015 - Feb Cruise, May WDW grand tour, and France/DLP! NEW 10/25 Nice & End!

[Vernie822]

Hey Lauren, I have followed along on your TR's and I really enjoy reading them! Loved all of the pictures from France. Welcome baby Maya!! She is just adorable and it looks like Aria is loving it!!

 

[schmass]

Congratulations! Baby Maya is beautiful. Aria looks so happy with her little sister!

 

[Stasieki]

Congratulations! Maya is beautiful.

 

[jdfmommy]

Congratulations on Baby Maya! What a beauty!!

 

[JulieODC]

Congratulations again on baby Maya!! She is adorable, and Aria looks like a great big sister! I love watching out girls interact together -- and now they are starting to play together, and it's just the best! Hope things are still going smoothly and you are adjusting well as a family of 4!

 

[Imagineer5]

sorry that you weren't feeling well - glad you were able to at least walk around and see a few things in Key West though. The Hemingway House looks nice and good that they have all the cats to keep the kids entertained

Those lighthouse stairs would be about the last thing I would want to do if not feeling well. Bummer about the wait at Blue Heaven. Funny I was thinking "well, maybe you could get a slice of pie to go" - and low and behold Andrew like a champ came back with a slice!

The beach looks nice - too bad about the other kids at the park though

The kayak and island look really fun. Nice they have the multi-person kayaks - to share the work but also in case one adult needs to tend to the little one. The scenery on/around the island looks really nice too

seems like a nice Hampton Inn with a nice pool, and cool that it was near a beach. Oh, gosh, that 5' deep stream would scare me with the kids getting too close. Dinner looks nice - really think this is a great view:


The Coral Castle thing looks pretty neat! As long as you go in knowing that it is a tourist trap some of them can be not too bad.

The airboat ride looks lots of fun. We did one near New Orleans that we enjoyed quite a bit but haven't done one in Florida yet - glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for writing up this entire TR - it was a lot of fun to follow-along and chime in from here to here with lots of valuable and entertaining comments, I am sure

Sometimes funny how that works that when you stop trying to get get pregnant - is when you get pregnant!

************

Congratulations again on baby Maya - she's really beautiful and so alert! Glad to hear that Aria is being a good big sister - very important job!

View attachment 137239

That button thing you made was so cute! Lol thank you

Congratulations!!! Welcome to the world bouncing baby Maya!!!!

So cute! Thanks!!

Called it!

Okay, whew, I've been waiting several days to do that. (Ever since I saw your FB announcement, went to bed, then bolted upright going, "Wait a minute!! I know that name!")

So glad everything is going well. She is really a gorgeous baby and very alert. And that's great that Aria's taken so well to being a big sister. I can't say I'm surprised, though - she's such a sweet kid!

Congratulations on your new Disney fan!

Yep! You def spurred the idea. I thought Andrew was against the name but it ended up becoming his front runner.

Maya is just as beautiful as her big sister. Congratulations!

So sweet thank you!

Congratulations. Maya is absolutely beautiful. Aria looks like such a great big sister.

Thanks!! She really has been amazing

Congratulations! She is adorable!

Thank you!

Congrats on baby Maya! She is beautiful and it looks like Aria is beaming to be a big sister.

Thank you! Almost 3 weeks later and she is still loving being a sister, phew!

Hey Lauren, I have followed along on your TR's and I really enjoy reading them! Loved all of the pictures from France. Welcome baby Maya!! She is just adorable and it looks like Aria is loving it!!

Aw thanks for commenting & reading!!

Congratulations! Baby Maya is beautiful. Aria looks so happy with her little sister!

Thank you!! It's been so fun

Congratulations! Maya is beautiful.

Thank you!

Congratulations on Baby Maya! What a beauty!!

Aw thanks!

Congratulations again on baby Maya!! She is adorable, and Aria looks like a great big sister! I love watching out girls interact together -- and now they are starting to play together, and it's just the best! Hope things are still going smoothly and you are adjusting well as a family of 4!

It's been so amazing seeing Aria take on her big sister role. Zero jealousy so far and she couldn't be sweeter to Maya

 

[Imagineer5]

Hope you all had a great thanksgiving and are having a great December. Sorry to the trs I was following - hope to get caught up soon as well as start on the May tr!

Just haven't had time as Maya wakes from her nap just as Aria is going down of course! Things are going well though (eagerly awaiting a full nights sleep in a few weeks? Months??) we'll see!

A few pics from the last week or so



Aria asked Santa to bring Maya some stuffed animals

 

[Dugette]

Okay, back to comment on the things I bypassed due to the baby Maya news!

Oh boo I thought I read a comment of yours somewhere mentioning meeting up again in May (on your TR maybe) so it sounded more concrete, but I'll keep my fingers crossed that it will work out.

I don't know, maybe it was about last May? The only possible WDW plans on our radar right now is the December 2016 cruise. But we're still not certain about that. Aulani in January and Disneyland in February (we finally are booked!) is kind of killing our 2016 travel budget.

Plus the Belgian waffle recipe I use requires it to rise for an hour and that's a PITA in the morning!

Ugh, I wouldn't do that either. I am lazy and use the Krusteaz Belgian waffle mix.

While this really was a glorified tourist trap it was also really neat! We really enjoyed the visit. Plus the weather brightened as we were there and it was sunny by the time we left!

Looks like a fun diversion! Glad the weather cleared up too.

Yes that was about 20' away, no fence between us.

Yikes!

The driver enjoyed some crazy tricks on the airboat, going over grass that looked to be in maybe 2" of water, and spinning us around. It was pretty crazy but really fun!

Looks like a lot of fun! Glad you got to do that. We did something similar in Wisconsin Dells years ago, but it was a lake and there were definitely no gators!

Aria cracks me up!

We plan to use it for her 4th birthday party which is going to be an (indoor) pool party at our YMCA with a Mickey theme (per Aria's request, except that she keeps trying to change that to Doc McStuffins or Elsa or Sofia or whatever else birthday ideas she sees).

Sounds like a fun party! Izzy would love that if we didn't live across the country. (By the way, Izzy saw my computer when I was looking at FB the other day and saw Aria's picture come up. She was happy to see her and wanted to study all the pictures and was like, "She got a baby sister!!!")

I have our may trip pics loaded so hopefully I will be able to work on that at home, we'll see how that goes! I'm excited to revisit it though, it was 11 nights total and a total blast with a number of new things for us!

Can't wait to hear about it!

Hope you all had a great thanksgiving and are having a great December. Sorry to the trs I was following - hope to get caught up soon as well as start on the May tr!

Same to you - happy Christmas season! Don't worry about my TRs, I am so slow and distracted with other things. Finally got on here tonight to catch up on the ones I'm following. At this rate, you may well finish your May trip report before I do.

Just haven't had time as Maya wakes from her nap just as Aria is going down of course! Things are going well though (eagerly awaiting a full nights sleep in a few weeks? Months??) we'll see!

I'm sure Aria will get Maya trained in on the schedule soon. Good luck! And I'm so glad that Aria has been so happy to be a sister and that Maya has been a great baby. Cute Santa pics too!

 

[cindianne320]

Congratulations! Maya is beautiful and I'm so glad you went with that name! (I know I've kind of fallen off the boards- going back to work after a 5 month leave and having 3 kids left me no time. Thank goodness for Winter Break!)

 

[alabalacoo]

Just found your trip report, looking forward to your May trip and Paris, too. Congrats, baby Maya is adorable.

 

[Imagineer5]

Well I am BACK! Back at work AND on the DIS lol. I returned to work yesterday and my work computer kicked me off for not logging in within 60 days so I am waiting until tomorrow for them to reactivate me. That means I spent yesterday and today doing required trainings online then play catch up on the DIS.

A little life update, then I'll need to figure out what to work on next!

So Maya is 13 weeks old! Time has flown but at the same time maternity leave did have some verrrryyy long spots. From about 4 weeks old to about 11 weeks old we dealt with food allergies and reflux- she also had an ear infection. Turns out she is allergic to dairy and soy proteins (MSPI). That caused days turning into weeks of non stop screaming. Once I cut out dairy and soy completely it got better but it takes some time for those things to leave my system, as well as time to leave her system. Then at the start of our Disney trip I thought it would be a good idea to see if it was truly an allergy or the reflux (which was also under control now with some new meds). Well that backfired lol. Anyway we currently have a semi fussy but overall fairly happy 13 week old. Warm and fuzzy feeling right? Eh she still is a bum in the evenings but we do get smiles and laughs too. Aria still loves her and has not been jealous at all, she has truly been amazing!

Her first day of daycare was picture perfect, and resulted in a 7PM bedtime and a FULL sleeping through the night - thank goodness! She's never fallen asleep that early and usually always wakes in the first hour multiple times needing to be patted/rocked back to sleep but she must have been super tired as she never made a peep.

Here are some photos

From one of our Disney days:





Boston boat show a couple days after returning


My last week at home before returning to work:


Maya's 3 month photo (one of them, I have 5 poses for each month lol)



Disney for 12 days was a lot of fun. Aria had an absolute blast and it was SO SO much fun taking her on so many new rides since she was over 40" this trip. Her new favorite is Splash mountain. She tried out every 40 incher and I told her she needed to try each once and if she didn't want to ride again that was fine. She was so brave! Maya loved the rides (even in the middle of a crying fit she'd be quiet and watch the whole ride, then start up again when it ended). She napped in my wrap during a number of meals (thank goodness). We did have just one really, really terrible meal due to her screaming uncontrollably (but out of like 24 ADR's that is not too bad I guess, and yes of course we took her outside and took turns eating dinner).

I was overall pretty disappointed in the dairy and soy free options. When those were eliminated and she was still a crying mess we almost went to buy Neocate super sensitive formula multiple times. She won't nap unless in your arms or wrap, so the car seat was pretty much useless and it made it tough on my back.

We did still overall have a really great trip though and I can't wait to write all about it. I have definitely decided to cut my April/May trip to 4 nights and only take Aria. There is NO WAY I am taking both girls by myself until at least Maya is over 1, not nursing any more and can walk on her own (and hopefully will learn to be a great stroller napper). Plus I'm excited for some Aria/mommy time. I'll definitely have some upcoming Maya/mommy trips especially once Aria starts school so I want to enjoy this time now while I can!

Anyway missing my little girls and looking forward to going back through photos to see all the truly wonderful family moments we had!

 

[JulieODC]

Thanks for sharing your update! Allergies are tough -- I give you credit for keeping up with the BF, that isn't easy, especially with allergies to contend with.

Your trip sounds great -- can't wait to hear more details! We leave for our trip on Sunday -- we'll have a 4.5 yr old and a 11 month old (who is now walking -- I tried planning this for pre-walking, thinking she'd be happy in the stroller/carrier -- so fingers crossed that she isn't wanting to be out and walking on her own all the time!). We don't have many ADRs, so hopefully all will go well in that area.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Welcome back! Sorry to hear about the allergy issues - though glad you have it identified and under control now

That will be nice to get another Aria only trip in - definitely sounds like at least potential for really tough with the 2 by yourself.

Also glad to hear that Aria is still excited to be a big sister. It still gives me a warm feeling when I see my older ones being good big sister/brothers

 

[mousehappync]

I'm glad you're back-- I love your reports! I really feel for you with baby Maya. We went through something similar-- it's just HARD. Period. Hope daycare continues to wear her out and you can get some rest!

 

[khertz]

Welcome back!! Oooh, so sorry to hear about the allergies & reflux issues. Hopefully baby girl can get in a rhythm soon enough.

 

[cindianne320]

Welcome back! As a fellow mama of a fussy baby, I'm happy to hear that your trip went well despite the challenges. Mine is almost a year old, and I'm still somewhat dreading how he'll do... The other 2 seemed so easy compared to him.

Can't wait to hear more about this trip and your most recent one!

 

[Dugette]

Glad you are back (on here, not necessarily at work...) Cute pictures of the girls!

Sounds really rough dealing with all the issues that Maya has had. Good for you going dairy and soy free - I think that sounds really hard! Glad that she enjoyed the rides (yep, future Disney fan there! ) and that she was mostly good for meals. That is a LOT of ADRs.

When you mention not taking the girls alone until she's 1 - those same types of reasons are why Izzy's first trip was at 14 months. I just didn't want to deal with the infant challenges on a trip. I think 14 months worked out pretty well for us. I think it makes sense to take a trip with just Aria in May. I would guess you'd have a stash of milk built up by then for Maya (and could be away for 4 days) and Aria will probably love the 1-on-1 time.

So glad that you were able to be there for Aria's first ride on so many "big girl rides." Sounds like she enjoyed them. I am really looking forward to that with Izzy. She'd be tall enough for the Mine Train now, but since Disneyland doesn't have that, she was too short for any of the bigger rides (she's 38" without shoes and even tall shoes wouldn't get her to a solid 40"). Whenever we do get back, I hope she is still the little thrill ride fan that she seems to be now (she loved the little Gadget's Go Coaster and she loves the log flume ride at the Mall of America - mini-Splash ).

I'm happy to hear that Aria is such a great big sister. Doesn't surprise me, but I'm glad that's the case.

Can't wait to hear about your other trips. May, of course, but also France - Dug and I had a long talk about a hypothetical trip to France the other day (Izzy is obsessed with the Eiffel Tower, thinks Paris is the only large city in the world, and Dug's parents (former French teachers) keep talking about wanting to go back and take Izzy with). And, you know, Disneyland Paris and stuff.

 

[Imagineer5]

First I just wanted to thank you all for the quick comments and welcome backs! Makes me feel really good

Thanks for sharing your update! Allergies are tough -- I give you credit for keeping up with the BF, that isn't easy, especially with allergies to contend with.

Your trip sounds great -- can't wait to hear more details! We leave for our trip on Sunday -- we'll have a 4.5 yr old and a 11 month old (who is now walking -- I tried planning this for pre-walking, thinking she'd be happy in the stroller/carrier -- so fingers crossed that she isn't wanting to be out and walking on her own all the time!). We don't have many ADRs, so hopefully all will go well in that area.

There were a few times I wanted to throw in the towel and buy formula but I worried that would not solve the issue immediately and I just wanted immediate relief lol. It isn't THAT bad at home, but being on vacation unable to enjoy my favorite foods really did stink.

EEK have an amazing trip!! We took Aria at 8 months and 10 months (10 she was walking, 8 she was trying to walk lol) and of course after that as well. 10 months was fine, she loved the stroller despite wanting to walk. Our biggest hurdle at that age was she was suddenly afraid of the characters. Like screaming bloody murder if she saw one nearby. I hope yours will not be like that lol! Otherwise it wasn't bad. She was still nursing but not as frequently, and eating table foods really helped at restaurants.

Welcome back! Sorry to hear about the allergy issues - though glad you have it identified and under control now

That will be nice to get another Aria only trip in - definitely sounds like at least potential for really tough with the 2 by yourself.

Also glad to hear that Aria is still excited to be a big sister. It still gives me a warm feeling when I see my older ones being good big sister/brothers

Thank you!! Between not being able to go on any of the bigger rides, to all the nursing sessions I'll need to do, diaper changes, nap times when there won't be someone else there to take Aria to go have fun, I just think it is better. Even logistics for diaper changes during meals when I'll have to leave everything behind, bring aria, etc... Plus I'd love some one on one time with Aria as that is really sparse now.

I'm glad you're back-- I love your reports! I really feel for you with baby Maya. We went through something similar-- it's just HARD. Period. Hope daycare continues to wear her out and you can get some rest!

Thank you so much! It really is hard. I keep waiting for the fun to start (it had by now with Aria). We love her so much (especially during her happy smiling time) but it is very draining.

Welcome back!! Oooh, so sorry to hear about the allergies & reflux issues. Hopefully baby girl can get in a rhythm soon enough.

Thank you!! Let's hope so

Welcome back! As a fellow mama of a fussy baby, I'm happy to hear that your trip went well despite the challenges. Mine is almost a year old, and I'm still somewhat dreading how he'll do... The other 2 seemed so easy compared to him.

Can't wait to hear more about this trip and your most recent one!

Thank you! It was a fun trip, and would have been even more fun with her older and able to enjoy even more so I'm sure you'll do fine. All the stimulation in the parks REALLY helped her attitude, and the rides were so great to see how even at 10 weeks old she loved seeing all the sights and hearing the music and such.

Glad you are back (on here, not necessarily at work...) Cute pictures of the girls!

Sounds really rough dealing with all the issues that Maya has had. Good for you going dairy and soy free - I think that sounds really hard! Glad that she enjoyed the rides (yep, future Disney fan there! ) and that she was mostly good for meals. That is a LOT of ADRs.

When you mention not taking the girls alone until she's 1 - those same types of reasons are why Izzy's first trip was at 14 months. I just didn't want to deal with the infant challenges on a trip. I think 14 months worked out pretty well for us. I think it makes sense to take a trip with just Aria in May. I would guess you'd have a stash of milk built up by then for Maya (and could be away for 4 days) and Aria will probably love the 1-on-1 time.

So glad that you were able to be there for Aria's first ride on so many "big girl rides." Sounds like she enjoyed them. I am really looking forward to that with Izzy. She'd be tall enough for the Mine Train now, but since Disneyland doesn't have that, she was too short for any of the bigger rides (she's 38" without shoes and even tall shoes wouldn't get her to a solid 40"). Whenever we do get back, I hope she is still the little thrill ride fan that she seems to be now (she loved the little Gadget's Go Coaster and she loves the log flume ride at the Mall of America - mini-Splash ).

I'm happy to hear that Aria is such a great big sister. Doesn't surprise me, but I'm glad that's the case.

Can't wait to hear about your other trips. May, of course, but also France - Dug and I had a long talk about a hypothetical trip to France the other day (Izzy is obsessed with the Eiffel Tower, thinks Paris is the only large city in the world, and Dug's parents (former French teachers) keep talking about wanting to go back and take Izzy with). And, you know, Disneyland Paris and stuff.

It was tough taking Aria at 8 months just for all the nursing/diaper changes etc, although she was an easy baby so it was still fun, But dealing with a fussy baby who nurses way more than an 8 month old did, with an older sister who wants to ride the big rides, and me handling both by myself, that just doesn't sound fun. Heck I didn't bring Aria by myself until she was 18 months old, and that was fun but hard! It was the first time I had really had to handle her all by myself for a full week and it was exhausting.

That is so cute about Izzy on the rides, I bet she will LOVE the mine train!!

Speaking of France - Andrew came down last night after putting Aria to bed and he said I have ruined Aria. Apparently he asked her what she wanted to do this weekend and she said "Go to Disney world!" and he said no, we are not going there this weekend, what else would you like to do "How about fly to France?" LOL! So he said we are not doing that either, and she said "Well, why don't we go to Italy". He was of course talking about you know, playing a game in the basement or whatever lol.

you guys should definitely go to france. I cant wait to relive that trip! Maybe I'll just do a mini tr for May and then get ride to France lol (although May was super fun of course).

 

[Imagineer5]

So since it's on my mind I am going to delve quickly into the plans for our upcoming trip (just 2 months away!!) and then I'm going to start in on an abbreviated May TR (as in, I'll still talk about the awesome time we had but won't go into every bathroom break detail lol).

I just shortened the trip by 1 day in a very non-DIS fashion. That was after I finally made the executive decision that Maya will be staying home. I'll need to pump milk for her and 5 days is max refrigeration time, thus I didn't want to be gone longer than that and have to deal with frozen milk and transporting it (I'll still have to transport refrigerated but I think I can figure that out - I did that on our most recent trip as well). Also that's about the excess milk I have right now - about 150 ounces or 5 days worth. Unfortunately all the milk I pumped from the first 2 months (about 200 oz or so) we can't use because it's not dairy/soy free, but I'm keeping it in hopes she outgrows the allergies!

Anyway so we will be there April 29-May 3rd and staying at SHADES OF GREEN for the first time! I've always heard great things so I'm excited to check it out at least once. We both have annual passes and I have a rental car reserved.

4/29:
Our flight leaves ridiculously early on the 29th (5:30AM) so we'll be up earlier than ever! That day I actually plan to start at EPCOT (this was originally my 2nd day of the trip) and we have dinner at Akershus! I plan to ride Test Track, Nemo, Donald's Boat Ride and Spaceship Earth, plus Soarin if it opens early (doubtful). We didn't do Akershus in February with allergies, so interested to see how it goes.

4/30:
Today we have an 8AM Crystal Palace ressie. Allergies made this (and just about every other breakfast) pretty boring but doable and still fun for the characters and getting into the park early. Side note: be our guest is totally out since the only option is plain scrambled eggs- very expensive breakfast to pay for that!

We will have the day at the Magic Kingdom, leaving whenever we are ready to get ready for dinner at the California Grill. O.M.G. I can't wait to return - BEST allergy meal I had all trip!! We tried to get a 2nd ressie for this the rest of our Feb trip but it was fully booked. Yes, this one is totally for me lol!

5/1: Chef Mickey's for breakfast, free morning - possibly go to Blizzard Beach or just Animal Kingdom and have more time there - I plan to go to Animal Kingdom this afternoon/evening to hopefully see the new Rivers of Light show that may be open. We have ressies at Y&Y (although Sanaa would be amazing and I haven't ruled it out). Recently I read that Tusker House will have reserved seating reservations for the show, so if that is the case we will switch to Tuskers.

5/2: MK rope drop. Lunch at CS (I wrote down that Pinocchio's has dairy free pizzas so I might do that). We have BoG dinner ressies but not 100% sure I want to keep it...we'll see.

5/3: Our flight leaves around 2:40 so we do have the morning at Disney. I have Kona booked for breakfast - this was hands down the best allergy friendly breakfast I had. I was able to eat the Tonga Toast with potatoes with sriracha!! AHH so SO SO good. Then the plan is to head to EPCOT assuming the new frozen ride may be open May 1st, but from what I read most recently that may not happen...so possibly back to MK this morning.

So it's a pretty open plan. I'll need to figure out pumping into the schedule (sorry for the TMI) but otherwise it will be fun to be able to do all the rides we can and enjoy the characters and stuff.

This is a SURPRISE trip - first time I've actually done that. Aria has no idea! I haven't really given too much thought into how to surprise her, My plan is to have everything packed and in the car ready to go though so that morning when I wake her up at 2:30AM I can tell her.

Also pretty up in the air right now with not really knowing about the Frozen ride, soarin, or Rivers of Light. I think we can skip DHS this trip (really the only draw is H&V and TSMM, so maybe we could do a morning there but not really necessary IMO).



Ok sorry for being so wordy! I'll go work on the May trip report now!

 

[schmass]

Welcome back! Maya is adorable, and looks a lot like Aria! I'm sorry that you're dealing with an elimination diet and I hope that Maya grows out of her allergies. You might remember Rory has several food allergies, and just 2 days ago we had to take Lola to the ER for an allergic reaction to something she ate. So we are scared to feed her anything now!

I'm glad you had a nice, long trip to WDW and can't wait to hear about it. I think you are definitely making a good decision by going with just Aria in May. I can't even imagine how difficult it would be traveling alone with both of them. I am sad that we'll just miss each other (we get there on May 5th), but seeing your Boston Boat show picture made me think that maybe we can do a local meetup some time. I forgot how close we are.

That is fun that Aria is now 40 inches and can ride some of the thrill rides! Rory is just 35 inches so he's looking forward to the Barnstormer. How exciting that this is a surprise trip!

Question about the Tonga Toast - is it normally dairy-free, or did they have to modify it for you?