Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'Till Morning..to DisneyWorld! Sep13-NEW10/3

[PrincessInOz]

Welcome back. Sorry to read that you've been sick. Hope you're all better now.

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hey TM,

So glad to see you back!

But I am really sorry that you were all sick... & it sounds like you were really whammied...

It IS really hard when babies are sick ... they are so little and they can't tell you what they're feeling... & then when you are so sick too... Try to be careful and not let yourself get run down... it's too easy to pick up stuff when your immune system is still trying to get back to normal...(especially with all the Thanksgiving through Christmas mania)

When you're ready and up to it... can't wait to hear about your goings on...

In the mean time... take good care of yourselves...

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Hi! I'll join in, it's nice to see another September 2013 PTR! Congratulations on your baby girl - she is beautiful. Contemporary is on my bucket list so I can't wait to read all about it!

 

[TMGosizk]

As promised, our Thanksgiving recap!

Thanksgiving this year was bittersweet! On one had, it was Laura's first and that was incredibly exciting. On the other hand, Buzzy wasn't here with us, which was a little sad. But, we ended up having a wonderful holiday nonetheless!!

First, the newest additions to our Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations!

We did get to talk with Buzzy for a bit early Thanksgiving morning, but she was off to her own Thanksgiving celebration in Germany. Her and the other Americans hosted a Thanksgiving party for themselves and many other international students, complete with a huge turkey and all the fixings! It's just good to hear that she was able to celebrate with her group of friends over there.

Most of our day was spent preparing the delicious meal! Normally, we make more food than we did this year, but I didn't realize it until I looked at my pictures from last year...we still had more than enough food for all of us and about a week of left overs!

Turkey, turkey, turkey, turkey, turkey!!

Mom and her masterpiece! Even though we host, she insists on cooking the turkey!

Ready to eat!! Yumm!

Mom, Dad, and Hubs wanting to eat and not take another picture!

Miss Laura awake from a veryyyy long nap finally!

Laura's first Thanksgiving meal all ready--She had Squash and Peaches! Complete with bib!

Our little bird devouring her Thanksgiving dinner!

Happy family

Sadie giving Laura some puppy kisses!

After Laura went to bed, it was time for some

And homemade

Even though I'm not such a great cook...or any type of cook for that matter...I do have a tendency to whip up some pretty decent baked goods.

It was a really great day!!

Also during the holiday week was my birthday (the 24th!)! Last year, my birthday fell on Thanksgiving (love it when that happens!) and was also the day John and I found out we were pregnant with Laura! John kept saying for a couple weeks that I was and I would not believe him--There was NO way!!! It was too early to test until my birthday, so I had to wait! Well, I took the first test--positive--but still didn't believe it, so took another one two days later! Also positive. I believed it. Now, the really interesting part of this all...my parents and Buzzy were at our apartment during the time I tested....it was SO hard keeping THAT secret, especially with my all-day morning sickness starting to hit! But, I was not about to say something to anyone so early! Then December 6th I had my test at the hospital and it was official! Laura was on her way!! I just love that we found out on my birthday! It has been the greatest gift I've ever received.

But, I digress...This year my birthday was very low key...which was just fine...no huge life-changing surprises this year, thanks!! John gets SO excited to give me my present every year that we barely make it to lunch time before I'm made to sit down and unwrap it! Haha!

I was able to at least talk the family into getting dressed before we opened presents!

A couple highlights!

For Disney next year!!

Then from the Hubs!
A Cinderella themed necklace...ahhh feeding my Disney obsession...

And this baby!

YES! New editing software for the thousands of pictures I take!

And finally, the two best parts of the morning:
The greatest birthday present ever...Miss Laura

And, Buzzy Skyping in from Germany!

That day we did a little shopping and then had dinner at Shogun Japanese Steakhouse! I definitely wanted sushi, but our regular sushi bar does not offer enough non-sushi items for my non-sushi-liking dad, so we did hibachi instead...and it was fabulous!!!

Poor Laura got a little frightened by the sound of the chef clanging the cooking utensils together!

I had the salmon hibachi dinner and it was amazing! My dad had the hibachi shrimp dinner, and my mom and John had the hibachi chicken dinner. John and I also split three sushi rolls, which were also delightful! My mom also tried sushi for the first time and loved it!! Well, actually, second time, but we can't count the first time. She had sushi on an airplane a few years back, because she ordered it by mistake...since then she has been afraid to try it again. But, we've got her hooked now and she's already requested we go for some while we're home for Christmas!

After we were all full from our dinner, we headed home, got Laura fed, bathed, and ready for bed! Then we spent a quiet evening playing some Apples to Apples and Rummy! It was another good birthday and I'm so glad I got to spend it with my little family and parents!

 

[KatMark]

Just back from hubby's surprise 60th bithday trip to Disney, and come to find an update from you. Love your Thanksgiving recap and your baby girl just gets more beautiful each picture. Oh...and Happy Belated Birthday.

 

[TMGosizk]

Welcome back. Sorry to read that you've been sick. Hope you're all better now.

Thank you!! I am all better now!

Hey TM,

So glad to see you back!

But I am really sorry that you were all sick... & it sounds like you were really whammied...

Thank you, it's so good to be back! And it really wasn't a fun few weeks, that's for sure! So, glad everyone is feeling better!!

It IS really hard when babies are sick ... they are so little and they can't tell you what they're feeling... & then when you are so sick too... Try to be careful and not let yourself get run down... it's too easy to pick up stuff when your immune system is still trying to get back to normal...(especially with all the Thanksgiving through Christmas mania)

Thank you...such wise words. It IS way too easy to get something again...I have to force myself to just sit down for five minutes some days and rest! Soooo hard for me!

When you're ready and up to it... can't wait to hear about your goings on...

In the mean time... take good care of yourselves...

Thank you! I was glad to read you're all feeling better over on your TR as well! This time of year is just brutal sometimes! I'll be heading over there, if not tonight, tomorrow to make some comments!!!

Hi! I'll join in, it's nice to see another September 2013 PTR! Congratulations on your baby girl - she is beautiful. Contemporary is on my bucket list so I can't wait to read all about it!

Welcome!! Thanks for joining in! Good to have a fellow September 2013 visitor reading!!

And thank you so much

Oh my...the Contemporary I can't wait to be back and report on it!!

 

[TMGosizk]

Just back from hubby's surprise 60th bithday trip to Disney, and come to find an update from you. Love your Thanksgiving recap and your baby girl just gets more beautiful each picture. Oh...and Happy Belated Birthday.

Yay! I can't wait to read all about your trip!

Thank you I swear she does get more beautiful everyday! It's one of those things where I am so going to miss these days when she is small, but I'm also excited to see what she's like when she's older...how she looks and what her personality is! Though we can take our time getting there!

And also thank you for the birthday wish

Hoping to get up a Disney update today! Hooray!

 

[TMGosizk]

So, as I was catching up on subscriptions and about to do my own update, I got the news of yesterday's horrific and unthinkable happenings in Connecticut....

After hearing the news, I just didn't feel like updating anything...I was sick to my stomach...being cheerful didn't feel right. All I did was hug Laura extra tight and feel extra thankful that I was blessed enough to be able to do that...

As a mother, albeit new one, and as a teacher that has taught a class full of smiling, happy, innocent Kindergarteners, I was having a particularly difficult time keeping composed most of the day. I cried sitting folding laundry while my own precious daughter napped in her crib. I can't imagine what those families are going through.....that scene.....those poor babies and school staff.....it is incomprehensible....

I can't imagine the evil that must possess someone to senselessly hurt children...take their entire life from them...I'm just heartbroken....

Praying for those innocent, sweet children and the school personnel that was taken from this Earth, their parents and families and also for comfort to be brought to that entire community. God gained many angels yesterday and though we will never understand why they were taken from this life in such a way, He has welcomed them with open arms.



As far as my Disney update, I may get it up tonight...Laura went to bed super early, so John and I are finding a bit of extra free time on our hands!! Crazy!

We had our little family Christmas here today, which was even more special than usual in light of everything....so, we've been in our Christmas jammies all day (a very rare occurrence!), opening presents, doing Christmasy things, and enjoying being together! We leave for PA on Monday so exchanged with each other today---Laura and I fly out early morning and then John is driving out with Sadie through the night Monday into Tuesday.

So, the update will depend on if he and I decide to pop in a movie I got him or not tonight! More to come though!!!

 

[KatMark]

So, as I was catching up on subscriptions and about to do my own update, I got the news of yesterday's horrific and unthinkable happenings in Connecticut....

After hearing the news, I just didn't feel like updating anything...I was sick to my stomach...being cheerful didn't feel right. All I did was hug Laura extra tight and feel extra thankful that I was blessed enough to be able to do that...

As a mother, albeit new one, and as a teacher that has taught a class full of smiling, happy, innocent Kindergarteners, I was having a particularly difficult time keeping composed most of the day. I cried sitting folding laundry while my own precious daughter napped in her crib. I can't imagine what those families are going through.....that scene.....those poor babies and school staff.....it is incomprehensible....

I can't imagine the evil that must possess someone to senselessly hurt children...take their entire life from them...I'm just heartbroken....

Praying for those innocent, sweet children and the school personnel that was taken from this Earth, their parents and families and also for comfort to be brought to that entire community. God gained many angels yesterday and though we will never understand why they were taken from this life in such a way, He has welcomed them with open arms.



As far as my Disney update, I may get it up tonight...Laura went to bed super early, so John and I are finding a bit of extra free time on our hands!! Crazy!

We had our little family Christmas here today, which was even more special than usual in light of everything....so, we've been in our Christmas jammies all day (a very rare occurrence!), opening presents, doing Christmasy things, and enjoying being together! We leave for PA on Monday so exchanged with each other today---Laura and I fly out early morning and then John is driving out with Sadie through the night Monday into Tuesday.

So, the update will depend on if he and I decide to pop in a movie I got him or not tonight! More to come though!!!

I had to stop watching the news...I just couldn't take it anymore. Such a senseless act against such innocent, young children. Although my kids are now 26 and 24, I can't imagine how I would feel if anything ever happened to them. I hugged my oldest a little tighter last night when he got home and texted my youngest and his fiance last night te tell them I loved them.

 

[PrincessInOz]

on this side of the Pacific, it is completely unfathomable and extremely sad.

 

[DMGeurts]

I know, I had to turn off the news too... Even after days, it's just so shocking and sad. Words cannot express my feelings of great sadness and grief for those babies, their families, the town...

D~

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

I enjoyed your earlier update about Thanksgiving and a Happy Belated Birthday... & I loved hearing about your Christmas...

In light of the Shootings...I just don't even know what to say... nothing I feel can adequately be put in words...

-The sadness I feel for those innocent children and their grieving parents...

-The frustration of not understanding why and how this happened...

& Do we ever realize how lucky most of us are in the course of our every day lives and what a privilege it is to have our children to take care of and love...?

 

[TMGosizk]

Laura and I made it into PA yesterday afternoon. After a suuuuuper early morning--I was up at 3:30 and Laura was up at 4:15 for our 7:10am flight out of STL--a few delays, a long layover, and a huge confusion...we somehow arrived 10 minutes earlier than scheduled??? No complaints here! Haha! It was a pretty good travel day despite the early wake up and such! Laura again did wonderful! I brought the stroller this time because, while the sling worked well for our short layovers in October, I couldn't imagine having to carry her in it for a three hour layover. She was able to nap much easier in Philly in the stroller!

All we need now is for John to join us....he was supposed to leave last night around 8pm. An hour before he's set to leave I got a text...for whatever reason he forgot to renew the registration on his truck and so his tags were expired!!!

.....And he just realized it....an hour before he's supposed to drive across the country...

On the positive side of things....It's good he realized this before leaving the state for 18 days...

On the not-so-positive side, it means he had to wait for the DMV to open this morning to get new ones before he could leave. They opened at 8am IL time, so 9am PA time.....John finally left IL at 2pm, so should arrive about 5am! Hooray!!

So, still waiting for the Hubs...and Laura's and my suitcases, since we didn't check any bags with him supposed to arrive this morning..

Until then, I'm also sans laptop/passport drive/Bamboo..which is completely fine...I only really need it to finish editing our Christmas pictures to get printed and that shouldn't take long...so, updating here on my phone, which isn't ideal, but it at least lets me get to responses while Laura naps, and not leave everyone hanging

And now onward!!

I had to stop watching the news...I just couldn't take it anymore. Such a senseless act against such innocent, young children. Although my kids are now 26 and 24, I can't imagine how I would feel if anything ever happened to them. I hugged my oldest a little tighter last night when he got home and texted my youngest and his fiance last night te tell them I loved them.

on this side of the Pacific, it is completely unfathomable and extremely sad.

I know, I had to turn off the news too... Even after days, it's just so shocking and sad. Words cannot express my feelings of great sadness and grief for those babies, their families, the town...

D~

I wholeheartedly agree with all of you...it got to the point where I also had to turn everything off. Laura and I spent the rest of the day listening to my Pandora Christmas station and I also put in Mickey's Christmas Carol DVD to have on in the background while we went about our afternoon. I still have a hard time grasping it all at this point...

I enjoyed your earlier update about Thanksgiving and a Happy Belated Birthday... & I loved hearing about your Christmas...

-Thank you very much Patricia!

In light of the Shootings...I just don't even know what to say... nothing I feel can adequately be put in words...

-The sadness I feel for those innocent children and their grieving parents...

-The frustration of not understanding why and how this happened...

& Do we ever realize how lucky most of us are in the course of our every day lives and what a privilege it is to have our children to take care of and love...?

I sincerely hope that after this terrible tragedy there are more people out there that do realize this...realize just how blessed they truly are...

~~~~~
[edited to updated info on John's trip]

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hope John has safely arrived now.

 

[DMGeurts]

I hope that John made it safely, and you all are enjoying the holiday season together.

And I totally agree, our children are our greatest blessing, and a huge reason I feel like I am a very happy person... Love my girls more than anyone in the world (some times more than DH - LOL).

D~

 

[DMGeurts]

I just wanted to stop by and wish you all a...

D~

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

I hope that you, Laura and John are having lovely holidays together...

 

[KatMark]

Happy New Year

 

[TMGosizk]

Howdy friends!

I was MIA for such a long time....I apologize! I left my readers hanging and that was not something I ever intended to do! I hadn't even logged into the DIS for months, though have been lurking again for the past couple weeks as I get back into the swing of things. So much has been happening...so much as been requiring my full attention, that until about a month ago, I didn't think this trip was going to happen.

I left you all right around Christmas...we had just arrived in PA for the holidays. We did have a very good Christmas--insanely crazy and busy, but wonderful!

However, Laura ended up getting really sick again (after being sick the past November)...the day after Christmas and she didn't fully recover until mid-March! It. Was. Terrible. In that stretch of time, she had some kind of upper respiratory infection that just wouldn't go away and two ear infections back to back. After multiple rounds of antibiotics and lots of lovin' she got better!

She and I remained in PA an extra month, because she was too sick to fly! We were supposed to leave beginning of January, but didn't until beginning of Feburary.

In May, Laura and I returned to PA, where she came down with another ear infection. While still recovering from that infection, she acquired a dreadful stomach bug. After two trips to the ER, more antibiotics, and some meds for nausea, she made a pretty quick recovery and we actually flew back to IL on time! We're now in the process of scheduling an appointment with an ENT to have Laura evaluated to see if she should have tubes inserted in her ears.

Then, after Laura finally got all better, we had to consider actually cancelling our trip. John and I encountered some unforeseen expenses--first a problem with John's truck and then a couple things with the house. It was one of those "when it rains it pours" deals. We were unsure if we should still make the trip--BUT after much consideration, much deliberation, much budget studying, and probably a little bit of pixie dust, we were able to make it work without any significant issue or overextension where our budget was concerned. As much of a dissapointment as it would have been to have to cancel, it would have been the smart thing to do had it been too much of a stretch financially. I'm certainly happy we were able to work it all out!

Once our finances were back in order, we almost cancelled anyway, but for a much different reason. And that would be the health of my grandmother (my mom's mom). Nunna was diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year...but she's shown progressively worse symptoms for years before that (she refused to see a doctor until last July, despite much prodding and pleading from all of us)...and I'm talking a LONG time she refused...years!

The past seven or so months have been rough, the rate of decline has increased and she's been requiring more and more care. Without going into too much detail, we weren't sure if we should go on the trip with things so up in the air for her health wise. There's way too much to even begin to explain how things have been since Christmas, so I'll just give the quick version. My parents and my aunt have been tag teaming to make meals for Nunna and Nunu (my grandfather) so they can be sure they both eat (Nunna wasn't letting Nunu eat--she was becoming violent actually), clean their house, get Nunna dressed and taken care of when they're there, etc. They've been doing this consistently since May, when things started getting really bad.

But, now Nunna's currently in the hospital due to major swelling in her legs--caused because she stopped taking her daily medications (ones she'd been taking previously to the Alzheimer's diagnosis). She needs more care than anyone in our family can give her now. So, she's being moved into a nursing home this coming week. The home is, thankfully, only about 5 or so minutes from her house and my parents house, so she'll be close to them at least.

It kills me to be here in Illinois while she and my family are going through this in PA. My Nunna and Nunu are two of the most amazing people I know...they helped raise my sister and I. They watched us every day while my parents had to work when we were growing up. I can't imagine not having my Nunna around and it's so hard seeing her and hearing about her like this; as a shell of the vibrant, fun-loving, insightful, brilliant woman I've known my whole life. We know that she'll be well taken care of at this nursing home, but it doesn't change how hard it is to accept that she needs to be there at all.

So, through all of this, after talking it over with the family, we decided a vacation is exactly what we need after everything. And, really, what better place is there to escape to and recharge from the stresses of everyday life, than Disney World?

All that being said, our trip IS definitely happening and we are only 37 Days away!

Overall, it's been a challenging year so far, but not without many good and happy times, too! There have been many blessings and things to be thankful for along the way! I'll give a little update into those happenings next and then will start in with our trip details! There are many, many more since the last time I was here!!

I apologize again for leaving everyone hanging, but now that things have settled down again here, I'll definitely finish this PTR before we leave NEXT MONTH!!!! I hope you'll stick with me as we continue!

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW! That's a lot of life's challenge this year. Seems to be the trend for 2013. Whilst it is of little comfort, I think this year has been incredibly challenging for a lot of people.

I hope that Laura and your Nunna are well.

Here's to the next 37 days.