WDW through an 8-month-old’s eyes &10m &13m &16m...New 10/30!

[cbcrockett]

Joining in and what a beautiful little girl! Baby girls are the best! My DD will be 5.5 months this week. Aria will be there before you know it! And good job with BF! It's an EXTRA full time job! We tried very hard, and DD had a latch problem that we couldn't work through. We pumped for 6-7 weeks though. You're doing great! She's a beautiful healthy girl!

 

[smile4stamps]

Congrats on your little one!! I knew having been off the DIS for over a month I had missed her birth!! I'm sorry you went through so much at the start of your labor but only 1.5mins of pushing for a first time mom is AMAZING!!

I hope you are able to get some rest and recover... and just treasure your little one! They grow up fast!

 

[Imagineer5]

When I saw that you had posted on my PTR my first thought was 'I wonder if Aria arrived?'

So glad she is here and healthy and beautiful!!!

Thanks for thinking of me and Aria! Yeah I went a little MIA for almost a week- it was hard to get online from anywhere but my phone and I just hate typing from that thing!

Joining in and what a beautiful little girl! Baby girls are the best! My DD will be 5.5 months this week. Aria will be there before you know it! And good job with BF! It's an EXTRA full time job! We tried very hard, and DD had a latch problem that we couldn't work through. We pumped for 6-7 weeks though. You're doing great! She's a beautiful healthy girl!

5.5 months! I can't imagine Aria at that age, maybe she'll finally let me get some sleep by then! Seriously BFing is not easy, but at the same time pumping/bottles is more time consuming. We're working on the bottles though. Thank you! Q: Why'd you stop pumping after 6-7 weeks? I worry that if we get to exclusively pumping (not that I plan to...) I worry my milk will dry up without her stimulation.

Congrats on your little one!! I knew having been off the DIS for over a month I had missed her birth!! I'm sorry you went through so much at the start of your labor but only 1.5mins of pushing for a first time mom is AMAZING!!

I hope you are able to get some rest and recover... and just treasure your little one! They grow up fast!

Thanks for coming by! Why were you off the DIS for so long? Yeah the pushing was crazy fast - I felt like I just hit the sweet spot and could just visualize where I needed to push to get her out!

Working on the rest now, recovering well though, feel SO MUCH BETTER than I did a week ago! No more donut needed to sit LOL.

 

[smile4stamps]

Thanks for coming by! Why were you off the DIS for so long? Yeah the pushing was crazy fast - I felt like I just hit the sweet spot and could just visualize where I needed to push to get her out!

Working on the rest now, recovering well though, feel SO MUCH BETTER than I did a week ago! No more donut needed to sit LOL.

I was off because we were packing to move, selling our house, buying a house in CO, goodbye parties for my hubby and in the middle of all that I went to WI for 10 days to be with my mom for her Breast cancer Surgery.

My husband is now unpacking our house in CO while I stay in CA to work... Its hard being apart but in the end will be worth it! and I have plenty of time to DIS now! Lol I will be going there next week to spend 9 days there.. so looking forward to that!!

 

[Imagineer5]

Hi everyone!

Things are going well at home. My mom is coming back to visit tomorrow-friday/saturday (not sure how I feel about that really...it's nice having her here but I don't feel comfortable BF'ing in front of her and don't want to be stuck in my room every time I have to feed Aria!). Getting less sleep, when she "cluster feeds" at night she sleeps SO well, but the last couple of days she has been eating more normally (granted still every 1-1.5 hours (!!!)) so I've only been getting about 2 2-hour stretches at night. Ugh! Last night she was wide awake most of the night.

Anyway...so we did a little photo shoot at a place nearby. I was pretty happy with the results, so thought I'd share some of the pictures here! Hope you guys don't mind all these pics of Aria!

 

[Imagineer5]

I was off because we were packing to move, selling our house, buying a house in CO, goodbye parties for my hubby and in the middle of all that I went to WI for 10 days to be with my mom for her Breast cancer Surgery.

My husband is now unpacking our house in CO while I stay in CA to work... Its hard being apart but in the end will be worth it! and I have plenty of time to DIS now! Lol I will be going there next week to spend 9 days there.. so looking forward to that!!

Ah wow I haven't been keeping up to date with your PTR. I hope your mom is doing well, glad you were able to get out there for a few days to spend the time with her. How's she holding up? How are you? That has to be so difficult to be so far from your DH. Glad you're getting out there for 9 days next week, bet you can't wait for that!

 

[cbcrockett]

5.5 months! I can't imagine Aria at that age, maybe she'll finally let me get some sleep by then! Seriously BFing is not easy, but at the same time pumping/bottles is more time consuming. We're working on the bottles though. Thank you! Q: Why'd you stop pumping after 6-7 weeks? I worry that if we get to exclusively pumping (not that I plan to...) I worry my milk will dry up without her stimulation. .

She will definitely let you get some sleep by then! I bet she'll hit a routine here soon. For us, letting her find a routine and then us helping her stick to it really worked wonders!

Pumping/bottles was definitely time consuming, which is ultimately probably why I'd say I stopped. When we were trying to EBF, and she had the latch problem, it was extremely painful for me. We'll leave it at blood, sweat and tears.... I had to supplement with formula before I could really get going with pumping, because I didn't have an electric pump. (I'm a SAHM with Hannah, and hoped not to need to pump but every once in a while, so only had a manual). Anyways, I felt like I could never catch up, so I kept having to supplement, and I would spend 30 minutes getting ready to pump/pumping/cleaning up the pump, then 20 minutes feeding, then it was almost time to do it over again. And while I was pumping, I couldnt get to DD, which was difficult when I was the only one there. I think it would have been easier to pump if I had gone back to work!

But, she got fed, I didn't keel over from pain (hah!) and as her wonderful pediatrician always reminds me (when we have those "I feel crappy about not BF'ing longer days") " they don't separate the BF and FF kids into different classes in kindergarten!"

Also... LOVE the pictures! Her hair is so precious!

 

[jenny105]

Beautiful pictures! I love the one of the hands and her little feet forming a heart. So cute!

 

[Joyciemc]

Love the photo shoot! Amazing shots, she is so cute!

 

[Leger13]

I absolutely love the pictures!! Sorry sleep is a thing of the past but this too shall pass Alex started STTN at 8 weeks but he was formula fed and FF'd babies STTN earlier than BF'd babies. But you'll start getting longer stretches out of her soon. I think the worst sleep we got was when we hit the 4 week growth spurt. Yikes!! Anyways, enjoy every minute of it! Like everyone says, it goes by WAY too fast!

 

[khertz]

Love love LOVE the photoshoot pics!!! Please do not apologize for posting beautiful pictures of your gorgeous little girl!

 

[Imagineer5]

She will definitely let you get some sleep by then! I bet she'll hit a routine here soon. For us, letting her find a routine and then us helping her stick to it really worked wonders!

Pumping/bottles was definitely time consuming, which is ultimately probably why I'd say I stopped. When we were trying to EBF, and she had the latch problem, it was extremely painful for me. We'll leave it at blood, sweat and tears.... I had to supplement with formula before I could really get going with pumping, because I didn't have an electric pump. (I'm a SAHM with Hannah, and hoped not to need to pump but every once in a while, so only had a manual). Anyways, I felt like I could never catch up, so I kept having to supplement, and I would spend 30 minutes getting ready to pump/pumping/cleaning up the pump, then 20 minutes feeding, then it was almost time to do it over again. And while I was pumping, I couldnt get to DD, which was difficult when I was the only one there. I think it would have been easier to pump if I had gone back to work!

But, she got fed, I didn't keel over from pain (hah!) and as her wonderful pediatrician always reminds me (when we have those "I feel crappy about not BF'ing longer days") " they don't separate the BF and FF kids into different classes in kindergarten!"

Also... LOVE the pictures! Her hair is so precious!

Pumping while here by myself would be horrible. When i was pumping and dh was home feeding her, he actually went out and bought a couple more sets of pump supplies so we would only have to wash them every few feedings. It definitely helped but it was also nice that he could feed her while I pumped. Part of why i was so upset was the thought of having to do both feeding and pumping myself, either during the night since he would need more sleep, or during the day while he was at work.

Beautiful pictures! I love the one of the hands and her little feet forming a heart. So cute!

Thank you! Dh got a three picture frame and put a family picture in the middle and the two feet ones (heart/feet and the feet one with rings) for valentines day! Very sweet!

Love the photo shoot! Amazing shots, she is so cute!

Thanks!

I absolutely love the pictures!! Sorry sleep is a thing of the past but this too shall pass Alex started STTN at 8 weeks but he was formula fed and FF'd babies STTN earlier than BF'd babies. But you'll start getting longer stretches out of her soon. I think the worst sleep we got was when we hit the 4 week growth spurt. Yikes!! Anyways, enjoy every minute of it! Like everyone says, it goes by WAY too fast!

Hhaha thanks for reminding me it could be worse! Lol. I just wish she had a particular schedule I could plan by. Like every 2.5 hours on the dot or whatever. I just feed her when she is hungry, though we do make an effort to get her to stay awake from about 3-8pm so she'll sleep well at night.

Love love LOVE the photoshoot pics!!! Please do not apologize for posting beautiful pictures of your gorgeous little girl!

Aw thank you! It's so nice having people to share the pictures with.



Bfing is still going well, but i have noticed however that my left side isn't producing much compared to my right. And still not getting much sleep unless i make a concerted effort to feed her constantly after about 3pm. I did some more Shopping though lol. Bought a rock n play sleeper on Wednesday and had an awesome nights sleep that night, but it didn't happen again last night so not sure if it was really the sleeper, or the 15 times I fed her on Wednesday (!!!) lol. Also bought a nap nanny and used that this morning from about 6-8am and it was decent. She likes to be elevated when she sleeps. But she still sleeps best while lying on me.

Dh being back at work has taken a toll on the middle of the night stuff too. He doesn't hear her when she wakes up so then i have to wake him up to change her, and by the time he does I could have already done it. Oh well, I guess I should just be happy he's trying to help.

Oh and for anyone wondering, cloth diapering is going ok. We are still working on not leaking from the prefolds through the diaper covers. I can't wait til she can fit in my all in ones that I stocked up on. Found a local cloth diaper store and bought some new supplies yesterday.

And...my mom and i took aria to the museum of science in Boston yesterday! I got to bf in public (interesting trying to be discreet lol) and change her diaper. Very exciting. Haha. She was really good though. We watched a live animal presentation and she was awake and quiet through the whole thing. I was pooped though after all the walking and happy to get home. I look forward to my mom leaving, I feel like I can't relax with her here.

 

[Imagineer5]

Woot! Plans are even more concrete now! We have FLIGHTS!

Southwest fares opened today. We had enough points to cover about 3 tickets but we just purchased two, planning on having Aria in our laps. Might as well take advantage of free flights for her while we can.

So, our arriving flight gets in at 4:35!! Which means I need to find a fun dinner for that evening around BLT! Maybe Chef Mickeys? Not sure if the character interaction the first night after her flight might just be TOO much? Maybe just stick with The Wave or something. Ideas?

Also I sort of put it out there that we should just get annual passes this visit, since we will have the other free southwest flight to use. Dh didn't shoot the idea down. My plan was to buy 9 or 10 day park hoppers at Shades of Green, and not sure if I want to buy APs right away or wait to see how the trip is going? Anyone know how the upgrade would work? Though, I could buy a TiW card if we got the APs. Gotta go do the math for that!

Anyway our return flight leaves at 10:10 am. Which doesn't give us any park time, but at least isn't too early. Now I can start searching for cheap rental cars! Woohoo!

Side note - may not be a Texas trip in April or May. My Grandmom wants to come here, despite her poor health. She says she doesn't want to subject Aria to the germs on the plane (sweet of her) and also that she wants her husband to come out for a visit to see our house and my parents' house in Vermont. Still keeping it open though bc she hasn't picked a weekend to visit yet and I really don't think she should be flying but she is pretty stubborn. I was kinda looking forward to the mini trip though! Oh well.

 

[smile4stamps]

Congrats on booking the flights! I just went to check out what mine would be.... I think I will wait till I have our room locked down though before booking....


The hard part for me is with my husband now in CO I need to have a flight that has a layover there so we can fly the rest of the way together... the other option is to fly in a day earlier and then continue on... need to research what is the cheapest option!

 

[jenny105]

Congrats on booking the flights!

I've heard not-so-great things about Chef Mickey's for dinner. If you want to venture out of the hotel but still stay around the MK area, have you thought about Ohana? Or WCC? Both are lots of fun!

 

[reelmom]

Since your Grandmother is coming to see you, use the money you were going to spend on your mini trip to buy AP's. At least that is the way my brain works.

 

[Elleshoodat]

Yay for booking flights!

I'm with you on trying everything to get your LO to sleep. We've tried different swaddles, different sleepers, white noise, you name it. I think it's too late for my DS (I don't know that he will EVER sleep through the night), but there's still hope for you and Aria!

 

[Imagineer5]

Congrats on booking the flights! I just went to check out what mine would be.... I think I will wait till I have our room locked down though before booking....


The hard part for me is with my husband now in CO I need to have a flight that has a layover there so we can fly the rest of the way together... the other option is to fly in a day earlier and then continue on... need to research what is the cheapest option!

Yeah if we didn't have the room booked I would wait on flights. Have you looked into flights for you CO layover?

Congrats on booking the flights!

I've heard not-so-great things about Chef Mickey's for dinner. If you want to venture out of the hotel but still stay around the MK area, have you thought about Ohana? Or WCC? Both are lots of fun!

That's true, I have heard that about CM dinner too. WL could be fun since we could boat there. Maybe move ohana to this night? But no, I'd hate to miss it if something happens with our flights. Hmm. Maybe kona...we only have bf planned for there.

Since your Grandmother is coming to see you, use the money you were going to spend on your mini trip to buy AP's. At least that is the way my brain works.

Lol I like how you think!

Yay for booking flights!

I'm with you on trying everything to get your LO to sleep. We've tried different swaddles, different sleepers, white noise, you name it. I think it's too late for my DS (I don't know that he will EVER sleep through the night), but there's still hope for you and Aria!

Haha we are changing things nightly to see what works. We are getting an average of two 3-hour sleep periods though.

So two things. I priced out all our meals - yikes they add up! I estimated about $1800 for them. So if we switch from the tickets to annual passes and buy the TiW card we are looking at about a total of a $100 increase (also takes into account free parking at the parks)! It wouldn't include tix to water parks or dq though. I told dh about this and he said if I could plan a long weekend trip next spring for under $600 we could do it. Not sure about that ridiculous amount lol BUT at least he is considering it. And with our one other free Southwest flight, and using points for rental car, we might be able to swing it for not much more than that. Idk if I could though.

Second I've been looking into rental cars. If we do what we always do and get it from the airport, we are looking at $500 or more for the whole trip. OR we could use the rest of our southwest points (ie no more free flight then) and rent from Fox rental (??). OR we could use ME from the airport to BLT, and on the 3rd day, when we move offsite, we could go to the Dolphin and rent a car from Alamo for $265 for 7 days. That's the cheapest price I've found. We have capital one points to use, so the actual price isn't an issue but I don't know about having to pick up the car mid trip. Thoughts?

 

[jenny105]

You can use SW points for car rentals? How does that work? I didn't see anything on their website about that. Do you know how many points it would be for your rental? I was thinking about renting a car too.

 

[Imagineer5]

You can use SW points for car rentals? How does that work? I didn't see anything on their website about that. Do you know how many points it would be for your rental? I was thinking about renting a car too.

I got something in the mail about it. At www.southwest.com/morerewards they let you use your points for hotels, rental cars, etc. For the 10 day rental they wanted about 18000 points which is pretty decent considering rental companies wanted like $500. But 1) don't want to use free flight and 2) don't know about using Fox.