"Newest" Moms Hangout... take 2!

[hulagirl87]

Hi everyone Haven't posted in a while. DH still looking for a job but has 2 possibilities so waiting to hear back. Hopefully after the first of the year. One of my very good friends actually works at one of the jobs and heard that he will be getting a second interview so that's good news

Carys started crawling yesterday! I know she's a little late in that area but it's exciting still!!! And we had the camera right there so DH recorded it. So fun.

Getting excited for Christmas though I think I'm a little more excited for the toys because I'm getting a little bored playing with the same toys day after day

I can't believe that I will have to start thinking about planning her first birthday soon! might be Yo Gabba Gabba... not sure yet.

Well, she's not napping, I can hear her fussing in her crib. Best go see what she's up to in there.

LaurenLC - Love the pictures of Brynn!!! she is so cute!!!

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

I can't believe Christmas is just 4 days away At least I am almost ready. I still need to wrap a few gift for Natalie that's it. Hope everyone is having a great week.

Oh, we tried to see Santa on Monday. It was a no go! She didn't want anything to do with him. Oh well, there is always next year.

 

[justhat]

hulagirl - Scarlett took ages to crawl too. My first 2 were crawling all over the place around 6 months, so I kept waiting. And waiting. She kinda got around somehow, scooting or pulling herself or something, but not crawling. And finally, at 9.5 months, Scarlett crawled. Now she's fast and trying to walk, so she moved quickly in the past 6 weeks, but still way behind where my others were at this age.

 

[LaurenLC]

Hi everyone Haven't posted in a while. DH still looking for a job but has 2 possibilities so waiting to hear back. Hopefully after the first of the year. One of my very good friends actually works at one of the jobs and heard that he will be getting a second interview so that's good news

Carys started crawling yesterday! I know she's a little late in that area but it's exciting still!!! And we had the camera right there so DH recorded it. So fun.

Getting excited for Christmas though I think I'm a little more excited for the toys because I'm getting a little bored playing with the same toys day after day

I can't believe that I will have to start thinking about planning her first birthday soon! might be Yo Gabba Gabba... not sure yet.

Well, she's not napping, I can hear her fussing in her crib. Best go see what she's up to in there.

LaurenLC - Love the pictures of Brynn!!! she is so cute!!!

Glad to hear that things are looking promising for your husband on the job front! And I am feeling the same way about Christmas and toys. I think I bought some of her things because I thought I would have fun playing with them! Congratulations on the crawling too!

 

[caitty13]

Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm up am waiting for everyone else, it's so hard not at just wake them all up at 5:30am. Lilliana got Dancce Stay Mickey last night, it's so cute, she follows his moves and throws her hands in the air jsut like him.

 

[RooRach0906]

Merry Christmas everyone!!! We had a wonderful White Christmas for Annabelle's first christmas, I could not have asked for anything better!

Hope everyone had wonderful days as well!

 

[DannysMom]

Just to follow up from my freaked out post 10 days ago, AF showed up (but not before stalling for a bit & freaking me out enough to go & buy some pg tests) so I'm not pg -- TG. Think my poor DH would have had a nervous breakdown had I truly been pg. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Can't wait to hear how Sarah's trip went.

 

[hulagirl87]

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! I took Carys to church on Christmas Eve since it is a tradition I have with my mom and grandma. I was a little nervous but she did really well!!! Not a peep out of her. She sat on my lap and looked around. I brought a book with me and she looked through that and played with one of her stuffed animals. She was so cute.

Christmas day was fun! She didn't really understand what was going on, but loved her toys. She didn't take her morning nap which led to a little fussiness but she had fun nonetheless. DH got frustrated trying to take all the toys out of the boxes and trying to get all those plastic ties unravelled. I told him this is the first year of many so he better get used to it. He gave me a beautiful diamond heart necklace from him and Carys. I love it plus a bunch of books that I wanted. I asked him now if he could give me some time to read them

It's really cold here! Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm!

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

Hi everybody. We had a great Christmas here. Natalie loves he baby doll. She named her "Baby Honey". She really likes that her eyes open and close. She also really liked her "Potsy" cooker. Does anyone have this? It is a pot that talks. Super cute!

 

[december]

We had a great Christmas here too. At 19 mos, Katie was so aware of everything! She loved opening her presents (and other people's too). She got a dollhouse (not much interest), a tricycle (is playing with it more every day), a baby Aurora that giggles and plays music (loves it!), play food and pots and pans for her kitchen (spends hours every day with her kitchen), a Leapter 2 (she is too young, but she loves playing with it while her big brother and sister play with their dslites), and some Pooh books (which she loves!).

I wish I had gotten her some play diapers. She is big into role playing now and puts her diapers on her babies.

She would check out the Santa Norad tracker every hour or so on Christmas Even ,and scream "Santa" when she saw his picture. Those of you who have little bitty ones this year can look forward to a much more interactive Christmas next year!

 

[justhat]

December - Having done the play diaper thing with my oldest, I found that the store brand packs of diapers were cheaper per diaper than the toys! Madison got a Baby Alive doll when she was 2.5yo and the diapers for that doll were more than Henry's size 3s!

Hulagirl - We also went to mass on Christmas Eve and were surprised by Scarlett's silence too. We actually go every Sunday because Madison is in 1st communion prep and she has to go (they ask them in CCD every week!), but we typically sit in the cry room so Scarlett can move around. Also, Henry usually goes to his CCD class during church, so we're down a kid too. But both older kids were in the nativity pageant during the children's mass (which was at 6pm, Scarlett's bedtime, lovely), and I was a volunteer to sit with the kids in the pageant. So Joey and my mom sat with Scarlett and she was better behaved than the 4yos I was sitting with!

Christmas here was nice too, though the exciting thing happening here is that my husband was able to take this Friday off so we're driving to DL Thursday-Sunday! He just got the day off on Monday and we were able to book a room at the DL hotel (and they also had rooms available at PP) and book meals at places we wanted (though our all time favorite restaurant was booked, but that's okay) just days out. That has NEVER happened to me at WDW, particularly over a holiday. I am sure the place will be totally mobbed, but the kids are so excited that hopefully it won't matter.

Next up after that, we're flying back to NJ (where my family is) for Scarlett's baptism in January. A week before she turns 1yo, so clearly we're a little slow on it! I also still need to solidify a godfather....

 

[harleyquinn]

Lauren--Those pictures are AWESOME!

Valerie--Yay! Bet you were never happier to greet AF!

We had an awesome trip. I put a bunch of pics up on FB, but I should share a few here:

And I hope to start my trip report today.

 

[december]

Sarah, looks like she loves the characters. Katie was even more scared of them at 17mos than she was at 13 mos.

December - Having done the play diaper thing with my oldest, I found that the store brand packs of diapers were cheaper per diaper than the toys! Madison got a Baby Alive doll when she was 2.5yo and the diapers for that doll were more than Henry's size 3s!

Hulagirl - We also went to mass on Christmas Eve and were surprised by Scarlett's silence too. We actually go every Sunday because Madison is in 1st communion prep and she has to go (they ask them in CCD every week!), but we typically sit in the cry room so Scarlett can move around. Also, Henry usually goes to his CCD class during church, so we're down a kid too. But both older kids were in the nativity pageant during the children's mass (which was at 6pm, Scarlett's bedtime, lovely), and I was a volunteer to sit with the kids in the pageant. So Joey and my mom sat with Scarlett and she was better behaved than the 4yos I was sitting with!

Christmas here was nice too, though the exciting thing happening here is that my husband was able to take this Friday off so we're driving to DL Thursday-Sunday! He just got the day off on Monday and we were able to book a room at the DL hotel (and they also had rooms available at PP) and book meals at places we wanted (though our all time favorite restaurant was booked, but that's okay) just days out. That has NEVER happened to me at WDW, particularly over a holiday. I am sure the place will be totally mobbed, but the kids are so excited that hopefully it won't matter.

Next up after that, we're flying back to NJ (where my family is) for Scarlett's baptism in January. A week before she turns 1yo, so clearly we're a little slow on it! I also still need to solidify a godfather....

I just bought a 42 pack of Walmart brand newborn diapers for the same price as a 6 pack of the baby alive!!!!!! DL sounds like fun!

 

[december]

Sarah (or anyone else who has rented pts)-how does that work? Was it a hard process? I'm thinking about a 10 day trip next July, and I'm just about sold on a condo at Windsor Hills. Ds13 and dd11 really don't want to share a bed, and with Katie we really need some space. So the 2 bedroom condos look really good. The ones I'm looking at are rented by the week, and 2 full wks will be $1600 (2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen, dining). But I know I'll have to pay to park at Disney, not get EMH, etc.

Dd11 LOVES Epcot, so if we do dvc we would want to be in an Epcot area resort. I'm probably getting park hoppers through the YES program.

Trying to weigh all my options here!

 

[justhat]

We rented points to stay at Vero Beach once and it was a fairly easy process. I searched the DVC boards and found someone who had points to rent that had to be used by a certain date, PM'd the guy, he called and checked availabilty, told me what they had, how many points, (we had already agreed on a price per point), then I agreed to a certain type of room, he booked it and sent me a conf. email from DVC member services, I paypal'd him, and we were set. I got his name through a friend from the boards who had rented from him in the past, so I did have a little more faith than just blindly searching for someone and paying, but it all worked out.


And yes, isn't that crazy with the play diapers!!!

 

[harleyquinn]

Sarah (or anyone else who has rented pts)-how does that work? Was it a hard process? I'm thinking about a 10 day trip next July, and I'm just about sold on a condo at Windsor Hills. Ds13 and dd11 really don't want to share a bed, and with Katie we really need some space. So the 2 bedroom condos look really good. The ones I'm looking at are rented by the week, and 2 full wks will be $1600 (2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen, dining). But I know I'll have to pay to park at Disney, not get EMH, etc.

Dd11 LOVES Epcot, so if we do dvc we would want to be in an Epcot area resort. I'm probably getting park hoppers through the YES program.

Trying to weigh all my options here!

There's a very detailed explaination of my process in the PTR for the december trip.

So I did my research. I knew scoring the lowest point reservations would take a lot of luck and good timing. I was prepared for a bunch of different scenarios. I knew I wanted either an AKV value studio, BWV studio or OKW studio since they were the lowest point options. What I didn't realize is that they are VERY few AKV and BWV studios at the lowest point levels. I also didn't realize how hard it would be to find someone willing to rent points for $10 per. $11 was much more likely.

Here are the totals I was looking at:

Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas Studio-Value Accomodations 50
Disney's Old Key West Resort Studio 53
Disney's BoardWalk Villas Studio-Standard View 57
Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas Studio-Standard View 61
Disney's BoardWalk Villas Studio-Preferred View 72


I knew I had to find someone who's home resort was one of the above. The home resort allows 11 months ahead for room booking. After that you can begin booking 7 months at other resorts. So I knew I had to find something before the 7 month window opened.

My week isn't all that popular with DVC owners, they much prefer the earlier weeks of December, but points rentals are pretty common and things were booking quickly.

I finally found someone willing and able to rent their AKV points to me at $11 per point, but all of the value studios were gone. So I had gone from expecting to pay $500 ($10 per point for 50 points) for the trip to actually paying $671. Not bad, but naive me thought I could do better. After all I should still be able to find someone at BWV for 57 points and after much deliberation I realized that BWV was by far my top choice due to it's location.

So I focused in on BWV owners. An OKW was only slightly cheaper and not ideal. After a few weeks between the Dis, another site they won't let me type, and TGM, I finally found someone willing to let their points go for $11 per. He quickly got back to me that the only availablity for studios was preferred view. So I went from $500 to $792 just like that. So I had a choice to make. Go for it (it was only about a week before the 7 month window opened) or try to quickly find OKW points and hope they had availability. I rationalized that $158 per night was less than we paid for POR in August and this was BWV!

I decided to pull the trigger. My awesome DVC renter sent me a screen shot of my confimation page! My name next to the Boardwalk Villas!! It was a dream come true (if not a bit more expensive).

So when renting you can't expect to get in at the lowest levels, but if you want to, you have to be ready 11 months in advance and you need a lot of luck.

Hopefully that's helpful!

I think the trip in July would be much cheaper at Windsor Hills. Points are more expensive in July than they were for that week of December and a one bedroom is a lot more expensive than a studio.

My TR is started if you want to read along!

 

[december]

There's a very detailed explaination of my process in the PTR for the december trip.


I think the trip in July would be much cheaper at Windsor Hills. Points are more expensive in July than they were for that week of December and a one bedroom is a lot more expensive than a studio.

My TR is started if you want to read along!

I'm reading through a pile of quotes from Windsor Hills now. You just can't beat the prices I'm getting-the best is a 3 bed/3 bath townhouse with a pool for $900 for 9 nights! I wasn't ready to book yet, but will probably snatch that one up this week

 

[harleyquinn]

Sarah (or anyone else who has rented pts)-how does that work? Was it a hard process? I'm thinking about a 10 day trip next July, and I'm just about sold on a condo at Windsor Hills. Ds13 and dd11 really don't want to share a bed, and with Katie we really need some space. So the 2 bedroom condos look really good. The ones I'm looking at are rented by the week, and 2 full wks will be $1600 (2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen, dining). But I know I'll have to pay to park at Disney, not get EMH, etc.

Dd11 LOVES Epcot, so if we do dvc we would want to be in an Epcot area resort. I'm probably getting park hoppers through the YES program.

Trying to weigh all my options here!

I'm reading through a pile of quotes from Windsor Hills now. You just can't beat the prices I'm getting-the best is a 3 bed/3 bath townhouse with a pool for $900 for 9 nights! I wasn't ready to book yet, but will probably snatch that one up this week

Wow! You won't even get close to that with DVC.

 

[december]

Wow! You won't even get close to that with DVC.

And it comes with baby gates, high chair, PS2, all kinds of things for the kids!

 

[caitty13]

I stayed at Windsor Hills last February in a 3 bedroom 3 bath townhouse with our own pool. It was by far the most relaxing trip and we saw both Disney and Universal. We used Storytime for the rental company and still paid under $1000 for the week.