The Many Adventures of...A Family With a New Baby! Jan - Dec 2016! New 11/7!

Imagineer5

DIS Veteran
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
Welcome to our 2016 adventures!!

I just finished writing about our 2015 family trips (which included an 18 day visit to France - you can check that out in my signature if you'd like!) and now I am anxious to work on my next series of adventures. My DH won't be in many (he's a-hem, a weensy bit anti-Disney) but he does appear in the very first vacation!

1) Jan 29 - Feb 10 we visited the world staying at the Poly, BLT and BCV with our then brand spanking new 8 week old DD Maya! (see aforementioned TR for how I got the name Maya ;) - it involves a Disney Cruise!). She had also been recently diagnosed with a milk and soy allergy, so this made things very interesting for me :scared:

2) April 29 - May 3 Mommy / daughter trip with just my 4 year old Aria! We did EMM (early morning magic) among other adventures, and had an AMAZING time!! Stayed at Shades of Green for the very first time, too!

3) I'm going to sneak in a 4-day Disneyland TR from August 19-22 - this was thanks to a work trip, and my mom came along with Aria & Maya!

4) My upcoming December 8-13 trip with fellow DIS'er and TR writer @Dugette! I am traveling solo this time with Aria & Maya (wish me luck on those flights!!) but meeting up with Dugette, her 4 yo DD Izzy and her DH Dug.

Still following along?! :love1: Thank goodness!

So who are we?

I am the Disney planner Lauren! I have had an excuse to hold an annual pass since my DD Aria was born almost 5 years ago (Jan 2012) and now she has followed in my footsteps. Along with Disney, I love travel just about anywhere! Esp Europe. But, we're on a hiatus from big, expensive trips for a while (don't worry, I'm still planning 2+ Disney trips a year). This is because I have another little one along for the ride - due April 2017!

Me and my girls -

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Oh, my day job is a mechanical engineer, which allows me to pay for my travel needs! In addition to travel, my hobbies include eating out, and drinking wine (when I'm not pregnant, of course! LOL). Oh and I may have a wee bit of an obsession with my girl's clothes!

My DH, Andrew

As I mentioned earlier, he's not that into Disney. He enjoys it, but only a small taste here and there. He loves Splash Mountain and Expedition Everest and really loves dining at Cape May Café! He is also a mechanical engineer - we met in college many years ago.

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My Disney-loving sidekick is Aria! She was born January 2012, and I attempted to count her trips to Disney parks and I believe we're at 18? But I don't even know for sure. She's been to DL twice, DLP once, and WDW the rest. She loves the princesses, generally you'll get either Cinderella, Ariel, or Tiana as her favorite that day, but sometimes she'll throw Jasmine in the mix. She loves 7DMT, Splash, Barnstormer, the Dumbo play area, and character meals! She also REALLY loves her little sister!

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Last but not least is little Maya!

We're about to embark on her 3rd Disney adventure, but her very first was at only 8 weeks old! Here she is now:

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She is 11 months old, with her first birthday coming right around the corner! She absolutely LOVED It's a small world in August, so that is her party theme! She's walking and she is having a blast with Aria. She's also allergic to dairy, egg, peanut, dogs and cats. And yes, we have two dogs and two cats whom she adores. It's been an interesting 11 months but we have it mostly under control - and most recently she passed baked-in dairy AND baked-in egg trials at her allergist's office!

Actually technically she wasn't last, there is another little girl growing in my belly, due 4/27/17. She's baby girl #3 for us, and was, well, a complete and utter surprise but we're excited of course! He is our announcement pic.

Aria is preparing Maya for what is to come!

Coming April 2017 - Baby GIRL #3


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So please join me on our newest adventures, it has been quite the ride! I hope you'll follow along.

 
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Yay! Joining in!! :-)

I still think that announcement for baby #3 is one of my favorites!!!
 


Of course I'm here! Can't wait to hear about tiny Maya in the parks! (and the rest of you, as well)

4) My upcoming December 8-13 trip with fellow DIS'er and TR writer @Dugette! I am traveling solo this time with Aria & Maya (wish me luck on those flights!!) but meeting up with Dugette, her 4 yo DD Izzy and her DH Dug.
Woo hoo! Can't wait for this either!

but we have it mostly under control - and most recently she passed baked-in dairy AND baked-in egg trials at her allergist's office!
Oh, yay, I'm so glad she passed the dairy one too! Way to go, Maya!
 
Yayy! I love your trip reports. Congratulations on the new bundle of joy. I can't wait to hear about all your Disney adventures. :)
 


Following along! Your two girls are so cute and that announcement for #3 is too precious!!
 
Congratulations on your pregnancy. You have a beautiful family. Can't wait to read more about your trip.
 
Yay! Joining in!! :-)

I still think that announcement for baby #3 is one of my favorites!!!

Aw thank you so much!! I love seeing your girls on Facebook, hope you're all doing well!!

Thanks for the heads up!! Of course I'm here!

Thank you so much for coming over!

Can't wait to follow along! ~Cindi

Thank you!!

Of course I'm here! Can't wait to hear about tiny Maya in the parks! (and the rest of you, as well)


Woo hoo! Can't wait for this either!


Oh, yay, I'm so glad she passed the dairy one too! Way to go, Maya!

Hahaha it was an interesting first trip...not entirely sure WHY I'm planning to do the same for next June while on maternity leave...

Actually verdict is out on the baked dairy trial - Wednesday (day after trial) she was red, puffy, runny nose, Thursday after no baked dairy she was normal. Not sure if it was a super fast cold or what? We are going to test it out Saturday morning with a muffin (same she had for the trial) and see what's up.

Following as always!

Thank you!!

Yayy! I love your trip reports. Congratulations on the new bundle of joy. I can't wait to hear about all your Disney adventures. :)

Aw thank you!!

Following along! Your two girls are so cute and that announcement for #3 is too precious!!

Thanks so much!! I love having my sweet girls!

I absoultely love reading your trip reports. So glad there's another.

Aw wow, so sweet! Thanks so much

Yay! Can't wait to read all about your adventures with baby Maya in tow.


Hahaha they were quite intense while we figured out her issues :) thanks for reading along!


Thank you!!

:wave: Hi! Yay!! Looking forward to reading another year's experiences!!:yay:

Thanks so much for coming over!

Thanks for the Bat Signal - here to enjoy all the festivities!

Hahaha it was a good idea!! Thanks for letting me steal it lol!

Joining! Love the announcement, congratulations :goodvibes

Aw thank you!! Love your screen name, is your name Ariane?

Congratulations on your pregnancy. You have a beautiful family. Can't wait to read more about your trip.

Aw thanks so much!
 
Day 1 - Travel Day!! Today we embarked on Maya's very first flight. As usual we had the very first flight out of Providence around 6:30 AM. That meant leaving the house by 4. We're pretty used to that (and quick mornings in general thanks to work) so we were up around 3:30, quickly got dressed, car was already packed, got Aria up and dressed, got Maya straight into the car seat (kept her in PJs) and we were on our way. Our pet sitter, who moved to Florida, was actually flying in today and picking up our car, so we only had to pay for a few hours of airport parking!

We quickly checked the way too many bags (one car seat for Aria, two suitcases one of which had a bunch of wrapped presents in it as Aria's 4th birthday was the very next day!) and headed through security. No TSA pre-check for Andrew but it wasn't too bad. I still hadn't nursed Maya (she usually eats about 6AM, so I wanted to see if I could nurse her on take-off for her ears). She fell asleep while we waited for Dunkin's to open up though so I didn't worry too much over it.

So at this point, I was about 2 weeks in to being completely dairy & soy free. We hadn't seen a positive change yet - Maya was super fussy, wouldn't nap well on her own, had major tummy issues, etc. So the jury was still out on what exactly it was. Her pediatrician actually just thought it was normal baby stuff, but I did my own research and self-diagnosed her to being MSPI (milk and soy protein intolerant) but it was so early that the proteins were still in my system. I was not happy not really having a diagnosis and going to Disney having to skip all the good food. You'll see that come up.

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Anyway, DD apparently doesn't carry any non-dairy milk, or food. I ordered a smoothie not thinking about it (newbie here to allergies!) and after eating half of it, realized there was yogurt inside.


We found some seats at our gate and I sat down with a sleeping Maya (using my travel nursing pillow as a pillow for her) while Aria blew off some steam and Andrew worked on packing the stroller into the stroller bag. We were gate-checking the stroller and her car seat.


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I needed to use the bathroom (and Aria was told to go - she is a camel and would go all day w/o a potty break if you let her!) so I transferred Maya to the seat and she stayed asleep. She looks so angelic here (ha!).

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Soon it was time to board - we waited between A & B for family boarding and then headed to the back of the plane. I usually sit closer to the front with Aria, but we had no idea how Maya would be so we wanted to be in the back (plus I wanted some privacy for nursing).

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The flight attendant was super sweet and offered to take a photo of us. Maya stayed asleep through the boarding process!

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Soon after she awoke hungry and I fed her, then she was actually really content the whole flight (she likes being held!).
Aria enjoyed watching on the ipad and was a champ, eating some snacks and milk and just did great!

Before we knew it, we were landing! I nursed Maya again (mainly for her ears - she had already had an ear infection at only 5 weeks old, and I didn't want her to get another from the flight!). Then we were on the fakeorail!

Andrew didn't feel the need to run to the front, so we didn't get that quintessential spot lol, but Aria wanted out of the stroller anyway and enjoyed holding on.


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(sorry for the pic quality, it was my old iphone as my Canon was stowed away, but don't worry, many more photos to come!)

Continued in the next post!
 
How great that Maya traveled so nicely! Sorry that food was so challenging/ that must have been so hard!
 
We managed to grab the luggage and go straight to the car (our first ever Minivan) - I took a quick minute to add the car to my SunPass account (love using this on trips, so we don't have to deal with tolls!) and then after a short drive and quick Target stop for waters and snacks, we were arriving at this beautiful sight!


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We were headed to the Poly in a studio for just one night - we had planned to stay at BLT in the 1 - bedroom for 6 nights, but the first was unavailable so we figured we would check out the Poly for the first time! Even though it was super early, like 10:30, our room was ready and we were able to go right in!!

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There is enough sleeping area for 5, and we felt like the room was a really nice size.

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Our plan for the day was to simply enjoy the Poly - we had no plans to visit a park since we were staying here only 1 night. We managed to do a lot - pool time, Trader Sam's, Ohana dinner, and even hula dancing!! But first, we took a little time to unpack what we'd need for that day and next, including a birthday present Aria got to open up in the morning :) (I was saving the rest for her birthday evening).

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Andrew moved the car around closer to our building, then brought the bags in while I hung out with the girls.

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Maya was being sweet

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Then got the girls changed out of their travel clothes! I actually had one thing I did want to do - exchange Aria's annual pass voucher for the AP, so we wouldn't have to do that in the morning.

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We needed a mid-morning pick me up, so we got a yummy Dole Whip and enjoyed that before heading up to the monorail to exchange the AP voucher!

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It was a little chilly outside so we brought the treats inside :) (Maya was in the stroller, I promise we didn't leave her in the room lol!)

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Then we headed upstairs to the monorail.

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Aria was super excited to see the castle but didn't quite understand why we didn't just enter! But soon, mission accomplished, we headed back to the Poly to enjoy the resort to the fullest - stay tuned!
 
Glad things worked out with travel - you all are so good at getting up early. Most days at our house don't start much before 7am

I know Starbucks has gotten better with having soy milk and now almond milk I believe - guess DD isn't there yet

I know how you love your fake-orail pictures - wondering how you feel about them being replaced

Poly seems like a great place to just enjoy for a day - though I can imagine it was hard to go to MK to exchange the voucher for the AP but not go in ... at least you all got a monorail ride out of it!

Love the fold-down bed they have at the Poly :thumbsup2
 
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