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

[Imagineer5]

So - here are some updates for what we've been up to lately! I'll call them semi-disney-related because it's all WDW Training for Aria.

Here is my mother's day weekend! We spent Saturday in the Newport area (RI) as we are members of the Newport Preservation Society and as such get into the mansions and topiary gardens for free. First stop was the Portsmouth Topiary gardens, where Aria got to try out her sunglasses for the first time, and we also used her little hat that my mom sent a couple weeks ago (finally a hat that fits her little head!!).

After that we headed to Newport to visit the mansions. Actually scratch that, we headed to a friends house so she could finally meet Aria, because apparently 30 minutes is too far for my ONLY office friend to drive to meet her... We just stayed about 5 minutes and then popped in the car. Aria had a nice little nap, and then we arrived at Chateau Sur Mer, the first of the two mansions we wanted to visit. 5 were open, but we went to 3 of them last December (?) timeframe and just had 2 more to visit. (Pictures taken from the Newport Preservation Society bc I forgot my camera).

This one had a guided tour only, and it was a LOT of standing around. We had to wait 15 minutes for it to start, and while waiting I was bouncing Aria on my knee and she was being SO DARN CUTE. Laughing, smiling, and just having a blast. A couple little kids came over and were watching her be adorable. But after that, she did not really like the tour so we made it through 3 rooms and then left. She was being fussy and this was NOT Disney - ppl were giving us pretty mean looks.

DH and I were bickering about leaving, and he wanted to just go home, but I made him continue on to the next mansion, Rosecliff.

This one was much better - I put Aria in the Beco. It was a self-guided tour with a headphone set, and within about 3 minutes Aria fell asleep and slept through the whole thing. This was a gorgeous mansion - can't believe these mansions were just summer homes!

Anyway after that we headed home for the day. I think we ate pizzas and watched a movie.

I forgot to mention that the weekend started Friday night with MIL/FIL stopping by for the evening. Which does not a happy Lauren make. Thankfully they left when I went upstairs to do Aria's bedtime routine. What made the evening for me was that every time MIL came near/picked up Aria she SCREAMED. I'm a horrible person, I know. I laughed. And still smile about it. Unfortunately MIL seems to think this equates to not seeing Aria enough and now wants to see her even more often...


Moving on...

Sunday (Mother's Day) had us waking around 7 after Aria slept for a full 12 hours straight. It was amazing! I fed Aria while DH started preparing breakfast. At one point I got up to bring Aria downstairs so I could shower and DH ran to the stairs and told me I had to stay in the room, since it was breakfast in bed! (This added to my impression we were having an awesome surprise for the day...). So I got in bed, watched a little TV and played online. DH made me some espresso, jalapeno popovers, and goat cheese/pesto/tomato omelettes. He got me cards from him, Aria, and the pets. As I mentioned before, Aria gave me an adorable flower pot with her hands coming out of it, made at daycare. and Andrew got me a Dogwood (actually NO, he wrapped a picture of a dogwood and I went and bought the darn thing) that was supposed to grow as Aria grows.

Don't mind the mess in the background. I am not a bed-maker and it drives DH nuts. But I was still in bed, so yes pillows and stuff are everywhere...

Later that day we swung by a nursery and picked up a small pink Dogwood tree, and planted it in the backyard.

After breakfast, DH was being a bit indecisive about what to do. We had thought about going up to Salem, MA for the day, but I wasn't pushing to go since I *thought* he had a surprise planned. Instead, somehow we ended up going and visiting some car dealers. Then I was in a funk all afternoon. Something fun we like to do a couple times a year is set up an air mattress in the living room and have a "sleepover" there. So he suggested we do that, and so we did but it was already like 7PM at this point. We watched a movie and fell asleep.

Monday was nice though, Aria and I were able to lounge around all day enjoying the air mattress and the dogs & cats loved having it around too.

That's it for Mother's Day weekend! Next up, more Disney-training for Aria!

 

[Elleshoodat]

Aww, I love the idea of having a tree that grows with Aria. How cool!

It sounds like you had a lovely Mother's Day, even if you didn't get the surprise you were hoping for. And yay for Disney practice! We totally did that, too.

 

[Imagineer5]

Aww, I love the idea of having a tree that grows with Aria. How cool!

It sounds like you had a lovely Mother's Day, even if you didn't get the surprise you were hoping for. And yay for Disney practice! We totally did that, too.

I did really love the tree idea. And the sign that DH made, so that was sweet.

 

[Imagineer5]

So continuing on (this is me practicing for my TR...can't you tell!! )

Aria had a good week at daycare. I got some cute pics of her throughout the week - here are a few:

She loves sucking on her thumb now...

And she really loves this little doll my mom bought her...

Then came Friday and I got another Aria & Mommy day! It was a gorgeous day out. First I had some updating to do through iTunes, so Aria came up to our attic/office and promptly fell asleep with Eeyore.

And then we went to a little local zoo (Capron Park Zoo) and it was pretty cute. I ended up just holding her the whole time. Since it was so close, I just nursed her at home, and then hopped in the car. She was happy throughout the whole adventure. She loved looking at the animals, and especially loved watching the other children. They have a splash pad area that I can envision us visiting next year and can't wait for her to be able to experience that with the other kids! I got one picture while we were out, that a nice young couple took!

And yes I was a bad mama and forgot sunglasses AND a hat. Ugh!

So Friday was a ton of fun! Continued in next post...

 

[Imagineer5]

Continued from previous post...

Saturday we headed to the New England Aquarium in Boston. Aria again slept until 7:30 or so so we waited until 9:30 to leave so she'd take her nap in the car, then I fed her in the car once we parked in Boston.

We loved the aquarium, but don't really love the $45 entrance price. LOL but it was worth it. We basically just held Aria the whole time, so she could see right up to the fish tanks. She was watching and taking everything in, and wasn't upset at all the whole time we were there. Here are some pictures! I once again forgot the camera so these were taken with my cell phone. I was really upset about forgetting the camera.

After visiting the aquarium, Aria promptly fell asleep while in DH's arms, so we gently strapped her in the car seat and she slept the whole way back. On the way home, though, we decided to stop at a restaurant to eat lunch. I've been shying away from eating out, but we do really need to practice. So I fed her in the car again when we arrived (she's been eating super fast while we are out BTW - like 5-8 minutes). She wouldn't eat any more, so we headed in. We kept switching who got to hold her because she would NOT sit in her car seat and we didn't come prepared with toys. Besides one very shrill scream she was great. Loved played with the metal bread basket...

Afterwards we headed home, I fed Aria again and then we headed out to the dog park. We got some great pictures (I hope) but they are on the camera so I'll have to add them later on. It was so nice out - 85 degrees and sunny. We put Aria's feet in the lake while Annie (our dog) was swimming. She didn't seem to mind too much, and enjoyed the whole park. She was in the Bjorn (DH was carrying her facing out).

Saturday night we watched some random movie and called it a night!

Sunday was pretty fun too - SIL came over in the morning and the dogs got to go to the park AGAIN for round 2. Annie was supremely happy! Poor Aria fell asleep in the Bjorn facing out, and since DH was always ahead of me I didn't see, and she had her little mouth planted on the Bjorn. I was mad at DH, and took her out and carried her the rest of the way. The Beco is MUCH more comfortable for her to sleep in!

We BBQ'd at home, SIL left, and then we went plant shopping and filled up the vegetable garden, some bushes in the yard, and planters around the deck.

Here is a picture of our deck planter box from last year:

Then Monday came with another Aria & Mommy day. We worked on her sitting:

And then got some cute pics with the dogs:

Aria reaches out to pet the animals now, which I love. She keeps coming away with clumps of their hair though...guess we have to work on being gentle.

 

[Leger13]

You're much nicer than me. IDK. Maybe I'll do something nice like that. He always makes breakfast so I'm thinking of doing that for him, and he's already requested to NOT have any plans that weekend.

haha! I'm just sentimental. The stuff I did is more for me than him. I think it sounds like you had a good Mother's Day besides going to car dealers. Yuck! DH fought with me all day on my first Mother's Day. It was awful. It's a good idea to do Disney training with Aria. Sounds like she's doing well When we went out to eat with Alex early on we just let him sit in his car seat carrier and he would always fall asleep. We don't go out a ton now but he still loves going out to eat and putting on a show for everyone. Love all the pictures! Oh and can I just say that I'm totally jealous of your tree? I've been begging DH to plant some in our back yard but he refuses. We have nothing but grass out there and I hate it. I want Alex to have some shade out there.

 

[kmedina]

Aria is such an adorable baby! You got some great shots. Glad she is doing well at Daycare. Sorry your work friend cannot drive 30 minutes to see her, but it was nice of you to take Aria to see her. I laughed too when I read that bit about your MIL. My kids love my MIL, but then again, so do I. It is good that you are taking Aria out a lot and getting practice for WDW. She is going to love it, and I have a feeling it will be a great trip. There are so many beautiful places near you. It looks like a really nice place to raise kids. I love my city, but it is not the best place for raising kids.

 

[khertz]

Such cute pics & what FUN practice for Disney outings! I really enjoyed those with DS last summer.

Your MIL story made me think of this past Easter. My in laws got to the house first and MIL was bending down with her arms out for Paxton to come, but he was being shy (He hardly ever sees her, so I'm not sure what he thinks about her). He finally started coming towards her when my mom came through the door behind MIL and DS made a beeline for her! It was soooooo awkward!! I don't know how she's going to react when she finds out about my parents coming to Disney in October with us.

As for Aria being gentle with the dogs...hopefully she figures it out sooner than Paxton, since he is just now getting it at 19 months!

 

[Imagineer5]

haha! I'm just sentimental. The stuff I did is more for me than him. I think it sounds like you had a good Mother's Day besides going to car dealers. Yuck! DH fought with me all day on my first Mother's Day. It was awful. It's a good idea to do Disney training with Aria. Sounds like she's doing well When we went out to eat with Alex early on we just let him sit in his car seat carrier and he would always fall asleep. We don't go out a ton now but he still loves going out to eat and putting on a show for everyone. Love all the pictures! Oh and can I just say that I'm totally jealous of your tree? I've been begging DH to plant some in our back yard but he refuses. We have nothing but grass out there and I hate it. I want Alex to have some shade out there.

Aw that's horrible. I'm sorry he did that. I got a pretty cute pic of DH & Aria that I will frame for Father's Day and he can bring it in to his office. I think that's good enough LOL. Aria will NOT stay in her car seat beyond the necessary time, we try leaving her in there but is not happy pretty quickly. Wants to be part of the action!

We don't have much in our yard either. It started out as just 1 big apple tree & a play set from the previous owners. We've since moved our fence back to get more of the back yard fenced (we have 1.25 acres, about 1/3 is fenced), which brought in another tree, and then added the chickens/coop and the veggie garden. Until that weekend, that was it, but the same day we planted the dogwood we also got some hydrangeas, blackberries, blueberries, and some other bushes for around the yard. We'd LOVE to put in a pool, but until then we just have a cheapo above ground pool, that we mainly put in for Annie (our lab...LOL).

Aria is such an adorable baby! You got some great shots. Glad she is doing well at Daycare. Sorry your work friend cannot drive 30 minutes to see her, but it was nice of you to take Aria to see her. I laughed too when I read that bit about your MIL. My kids love my MIL, but then again, so do I. It is good that you are taking Aria out a lot and getting practice for WDW. She is going to love it, and I have a feeling it will be a great trip. There are so many beautiful places near you. It looks like a really nice place to raise kids. I love my city, but it is not the best place for raising kids.

Aww thank you! Yeah IDK why my friend didn't make one iota of effort the 3 months I was home. Oh well. You're lucky you love your MIL. I can't say the same. In fact, DH is seeing her AGAIN this coming weekend, and I'm letting him bring Aria by himself because I just can't do it. I have a sewing class that I sneakily set up for the same day...

It's a decent place to raise kids. I grew up on the west coast (seattle mainly, before that Monterey) and I miss it. I hate new england. Maybe I'd like it more if MIL didn't live 45 minutes away.

Such cute pics & what FUN practice for Disney outings! I really enjoyed those with DS last summer.

Your MIL story made me think of this past Easter. My in laws got to the house first and MIL was bending down with her arms out for Paxton to come, but he was being shy (He hardly ever sees her, so I'm not sure what he thinks about her). He finally started coming towards her when my mom came through the door behind MIL and DS made a beeline for her! It was soooooo awkward!! I don't know how she's going to react when she finds out about my parents coming to Disney in October with us.

As for Aria being gentle with the dogs...hopefully she figures it out sooner than Paxton, since he is just now getting it at 19 months!

Thanks! Yeah we are enjoying getting out and doing things with her SO much now! It's so fun.

That is absolutely hilarious about your parents/IL's and Easter. I hope Aria doesn't do that to my parents in time, since we only see them 3-4 times per year, but have to see the IL's a lot more often. Hopefully not!

 

[Imagineer5]

Another family update!

We spend Memorial Day Weekend up in Vermont visiting my parents. It was our first "real" trip away, and it was absolutely wonderful!!

First of all, we found an Expedition EL to buy, went through all the paperwork last Wednesday night, only to find out the title wouldn't be at the dealership for a few days (they had JUST had the car traded in). So that sucked, we were stuck driving the Audi up there, which meant we had to pack smart!

Anyway so Friday DH took off and we packed up the car and headed up to VT. Normally it's a 4.5 hour drive and we made it in 4.75 hours even with 3 stops for diaper changes (LOL) and 1 nursing halfway through. She is down to about 8 minutes for nursing. This morning she ate 6.5 oz in 8 minutes, yesterday after the drive home she ate 10 oz in 12 minutes.

We arrived around 3pm and basically just relaxed for the day. My step-father is an artist, and this weekend was Vermont's "Open Studio" in which artists across the state open up their studios to people doing the drive to visit (and sell their items). Dennis turns wooden bowls. So Friday night he was doing some last minute things like pricing his bowls and such. We had homemade pizzas and just got caught up.

My mom got Aria a couple new outfits, so she had to try those on, too. (don't worry, I wouldn't leave Aria on the counter in the Bumbo without my hands nearby!)

Saturday arrived pretty darn early LOL. We never sleep with Aria in the same room, because our dogs are loud. In Vermont, our room has wood floors so every time Annie moves around, it's super loud. Oliver likes to growl at Annie whenever he hears her move...so yeah I was worried about Aria waking up. She didn't wake until about 6:30 though, but she had been grunting a bit between 12-2 so I was awake. Plus my parents don't have AC, and we're used to cooler rooms, so it was hot all night. I got about 3 hours of sleep.

Saturday morning my parents made some lemon pancakes (FYI my mom has celiac disease, and has recently decided to go vegan - so I have no idea what she can eat LOL). Then basically the day just consisted of hanging out! Taking pictures of Aria was priority. Andrew basically hung out with Dennis in the studio all day talking to the people who came by, while I hung out with my mom & Aria, visiting the studio, playing with the dogs, etc. Aria stuck to her schedule really well, ate well, and was absolutely fantastic. I don't think I heard her cry at all, but definitely got some good laughs out of her! So cute!

We did a little photoshoot in some of Dennis' bowls...

She got really tired of it after a while:

My mom:

With all the dogs - annie, oliver, charlie & lucy (bassets) and Otie, the wire-haired daschound:

LOL she rolled over and faceplanted in the grass...

Working on my non-existant photography skills...

Thinking of framing this for DH for father's day:

Continued in next post...

 

[Imagineer5]

Continued from previous post...

Out by the pond:

Annie absolutely loves Vermont:

Wish Aria was in focus - DH needs to take a photography class!! Grr!!

Some of these pics were from Sunday too. Anyway, so Saturday night we had a nice Thai meal (my mom really went all out planning meals for us which was super nice!! ) and watched Going the Distance - hilarious BTW!. Sunday we had a big breakfast with omelettes, hash browns, rhubarb bread, etc. More of the same with the Open Studio, but this day my mom watched Aria while Andrew and I went into Burlington for lunch! We ate at Leunig's Bistro right on Church Street, and the marathon was going on so it was really fun and busy. Did a little shopping (for Aria, of course ) and headed back to their house.

Monday we left around 6:30 after Aria woke, ate, and we packed the car. It was beautiful out and the pool temp was 77 so we thought Aria could experience the pool for the first time! She didn't love it (too chilly - I thought so too) but we had a nice day just relaxing and being home.

That's it for the weekend!! Thanks for reading along.

On a Disney note, looks like Southwest opens up their December fares next week, so I get to book that soon! And the following weekend I get to book 180-day ADR's.

I'm also trying to plan the Holland/Germany trip (decided to drop Belgium) for next April. It'll be 3-4 nights in Holland staying with family, and then heading to Germany for 5 nights or so. This IS somewhat Disney related - LOL - because we'll be visiting Neuschwanstein castle!

IDK any other German Disney things, but if you know of any please tell!

 

[jenny105]

German Disney things...hmmm. Isn't Snow White based in Germany? I know Snow White isn't technically Disney created but it's the most well known version.

I love the pictures of Aria with the hat & sunglasses and her staring at the dog. So cute!

Is that a yellow lab diving into the water? I had a black lab and he was so afraid of the water. I was always like 'What's wrong with you? You're a hunting dog!' LOL

 

[kmedina]

It looks like you had an excellent weekend. You two are better at taking pictures than you think, because I think you got some great shots. I love how beautiful it is there. Sewing class is a good thing. I cannot sew a thing. Yay to booking flights and your trip to Germany.

 

[Joyciemc]

Your weekend looked nice and relaxing!

Love the pics- especially the one with you and Aria and Oliver on the swing... so cute!!

 

[CandleontheWater]

It looks like you guys had a great weekend. The photos of Aria in the bowls are really cute! Your step-dad should use them for marketing! I also had to laugh at the picture with all the dogs, my DS would have been in heaven, he just loves dogs!

 

[Maestra99]

I love that you are "practicing" for Disney! I kind of do that too; every time I put DS in his stroller I think, "OK, let's use the stroller again so he gets used to it and likes it by the time our trip comes!"

Love the photos - your photography skills are great! I especially love the ones with the dogs. That's a really good idea to frame the one with your husband for Father's Day - he will love it! It captures a sweet, fun daddy/daughter moment.

 

[MrsTeddy]

Aria is beautiful! Your pictures turned out awesome!

 

[Imagineer5]

Woohoooo I just love all the comments!!

German Disney things...hmmm. Isn't Snow White based in Germany? I know Snow White isn't technically Disney created but it's the most well known version.

I love the pictures of Aria with the hat & sunglasses and her staring at the dog. So cute!

Is that a yellow lab diving into the water? I had a black lab and he was so afraid of the water. I was always like 'What's wrong with you? You're a hunting dog!' LOL

Hmm maybe - I wonder if there's anything Snow White related (to the original story) we could visit...

So far so good getting Aria to wear the hat & sunglasses! Which means hopefully she'll be fine with the earphones for blocking the noise! Haven't tested those out yet, they seem huge LOL.

Yeah that's our dog Annie! She LOVES the water. We put up a cheapo above ground pool in our backyard just for her. And plan our weekend park adventures to be sure they have swimming for her

It looks like you had an excellent weekend. You two are better at taking pictures than you think, because I think you got some great shots. I love how beautiful it is there. Sewing class is a good thing. I cannot sew a thing. Yay to booking flights and your trip to Germany.

We did! Thank you for the comment on the pictures. I would love to take a photography class, but really really want DH to LOL. I was working on using the low f-stop setting on my camera to get Aria in super focus and the background all blurry. DH took the camera after that and every one of his pictures was dark bc of the sun placement and he never noticed. I was mad!

I wasn't able to sew anything, but during my pregnancy DH got me a machine and I made a couple outfits by following instructions. Once I made 1, it was easier than I thought it would be, but there were some things I still didn't understand so I sort of made up how to do it. Hopefully this class will answer some of those questions.

Your weekend looked nice and relaxing!

Love the pics- especially the one with you and Aria and Oliver on the swing... so cute!!

Thanks!! Yeah Oliver has been so amazing with her. Aria loves both Oliver and Annie. Our cat's rough tounges kinda make Aria not like them as much LOL but she is happy to grab onto Jake's fluffy tail!

It looks like you guys had a great weekend. The photos of Aria in the bowls are really cute! Your step-dad should use them for marketing! I also had to laugh at the picture with all the dogs, my DS would have been in heaven, he just loves dogs!

Thanks - he has a website and said he wanted to put them up there. Except he sold one of those bowls first thing Saturday morning (we were kinda upset bc it was the perfect Aria picture bowl LOL). Don't know what those ppl would think if they saw Aria sitting in their bowl!

I love that you are "practicing" for Disney! I kind of do that too; every time I put DS in his stroller I think, "OK, let's use the stroller again so he gets used to it and likes it by the time our trip comes!"

Love the photos - your photography skills are great! I especially love the ones with the dogs. That's a really good idea to frame the one with your husband for Father's Day - he will love it! It captures a sweet, fun daddy/daughter moment.

Yeah we can't wait for Aria to be a little older so she can go in her stroller more comfortably - they say the stroller seat is good for 6m+. We've tried it once since it has a good recline, but I do think she'll be more comfortable when she is a little bigger.

Glad you like the pic of DH/Aria for father's day! Maybe on Saturday I'll look for a frame before I order a print of it. Before the sewing class a local consignment shop is having a "fill a bag" sale - love those!! fill a bag of clothes for $5. So looks like I have some shopping to do!

Aria is beautiful! Your pictures turned out awesome!

Aw thanks so much! I love getting the smile shots - she doesn't smile on demand LOL so those can be a bit tough to get right now.

 

[vikkii19]

Great pictures of Aria, looks like you had a wonderful mini trip. Wow 2 trips in 2 months....I'm totally jealous, but really happy for you. Glad to hear that daycare is going well.

Only about 4 months to go until October. Wow, I just had a mini panic attack since I just realized I have nothing planned yet.

 

[Imagineer5]

Great pictures of Aria, looks like you had a wonderful mini trip. Wow 2 trips in 2 months....I'm totally jealous, but really happy for you. Glad to hear that daycare is going well.

Only about 4 months to go until October. Wow, I just had a mini panic attack since I just realized I have nothing planned yet.

Thank you! I'm so excited about December mini-trip. It's difficult to plan but at least I don't feel like I have to fit everything in. I'm also glad daycare is going well! She is always so happy when I drop her off & DH or I pick her up! She eats well, they use our cloth diapers, and she seems to love the other children. Couldn't ask for more!

Yeah 4 months is nothing! Feels like yesterday I was hugely pregnant and worried about going over my due date, only to go into labor a week early - exactly 4 months ago!

Speaking of 4 months, Aria apparently heard about the 4-month sleep regression and decided to try it out last night. That wasn't so fun at 12:30AM.

Have fun planning!!