Explaining to a four year old about moving

It is no secret around our house that we are moving in two months. My husband and I are constantly making lists of all the preparations we need to make and working on them. A couple of months ago, we explained to Miss H that we would be moving this summer. We told her that we would have a new house, a new school, and a new church. What we did not explain to her is that this new house is 1,000 miles away from this one.

She took to the idea pretty easily.

A few weeks ago at bedtime, she asked Mr. Rose a question. "Daddy, when we move to the new house, can we take this blanket with us?" My husband replied, "Of course, sweetie. And do you know what else? We're going to take ALL our stuff with us like your bed and the kitchen table." My four year old beamed at the thought and squealed, "Oh, thank you Daddy!"

When he relayed this story to me, I began to wonder how much she actually grasped about the reality of moving. We "moved" to my parents house for four months last year. Technically, we had a new house, a new school, and a new church. But eventually, we came home. This is probably the reason why she didn't know that we would be taking everything with us to our new house.

The past couple of weeks I have been considering how she is going to do leaving her friends. During the last "move," we wrote letters to her friends and we had a countdown calendar to when we would be seeing her friends again. She is older now and she has made some really close friendships this year. She keeps talking about going to her friend Miss A's house for Halloween and going to Disney World (which is currently right down the road) next Christmas. My quandry has been if I should tell her that she is leaving her friends for good, or just wait for her to make that realization after we have already gone.

Yesterday, on the drive to school Miss H was telling me something about how "after we go on our moving vacation, we can come back to our regular house." I thought, enough is enough, and came out with it.

"Sweetie, you know when we move to the new house with our new school and our new church? Well, we are not going to be coming back here to this house. We won't live here anymore."

The look of pure shock and then overwhelming sadness on her face broke my heart. Her little mouth turned down in that distraught frown and the big tears welled up in her eyes. Finally, the tears and the cries came.

"But, but, but then I will NEVER see my friends AGAIN!"

I reached my hand back to hold her little fingers. I told her that I know it will be sad to leave our friends, but that we could write letters to them and maybe even Skype with some of them. She calmed down more quickly than I thought she would. We dried her tears for the moment, but I am sure there are more to come.

Have you ever had to explain the concept of moving to a young child? How long does it take to really sink in to them? I guess time will only tell us.






PS - Today is my birthday! Did you see my Dress Like a Girl Challenge that I made for myself? Check out all my cute outfits for the week on my facebook page. If you want to play along, wear a dress or a skirt today and upload a picture of yourself to the page.

Happy Birthday Week to me!

Yes, it is that time of year again. The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, and my birthday is rapidly approaching. I love my birthday and I try to drag it out as long as possible. In the past, I have tried to celebrate for my whole birthday month. Now that Miss H also has a March birthday, I have had to cut it down to just my birthday week. (I don't mind sharing!)

I have been trying to figure out what to do differently this week to make it special for myself. One thing that has really been irritating me lately is how often I dress up. I have lots of cute dresses, skirts, and shoes in my closet that never get worn. My standard mom-iform is jeans (any variety of pants, capris, or shorts) and a t-shirt. Shoes usually come in the comfortable variety: running shoes or flip flops.

This week I am really going to challenge myself to dress like a girl if you will: dresses, skirts, and flirty shoes, oh my! I already have my first outfit picked out and I am so excited. If you want to keep up with fun, check out my Cultivating Rosebuds facebook page where I will be uploading a picture of my attire each day this week. If you want to play along, dress up in something pretty, take a picture of yourself, and upload it to my facebook page. (Wednesday, March 30, is my actual birthday, so playing along on that day would be a super birthday gift for me!)

Have a great week, y'all!

Hazards of Motherhood: Stroller vs Toe

Since becoming a mother I have experienced natural childbirth, plugged ducts and thrush. I have been pinched by little baby fingers that don't know any better and had my hair pulled. I have given myself bruises from carrying an infant car seat carrier and pinched my fingers in numerous harness straps.
But nothing, no nothing, compares to the pain that I felt this week.
The day started out as any ordinary day. The kids were watching cartoons occupying themselves while I organized the kitchen cabinets. After awhile I decided a trip to the library would be good for all of us.
Trips to the library require me to get my stroller out of the back of my small SUV. Lil' B would run all over that place while I tried to check out if I didn't. Fortunately for me, I have a super awesome Phil & Ted's Sport stroller. It is perfect for taking one or both kids depending on the setup.

Unfortunately for me, this stroller also weighs a ton. Well, maybe not a ton. It actually weighs 24 pounds, but I also had the second "jump" seat attached to it so all together it was more like 30 pounds.
In the parking lot of the library I was attempting to heave the mighty beast out of the back of my car when the whole thing unfolded and dropped right on my big toe.
I. Wanted. To. Cry. I yelled, "Owie! Owie! Ow! Ow!!" instead of the choice bad words that I was thinking in my head. I examined my poor toe to find that the nail had cracked and it was starting to bleed.
I managed to get the kids into the library where a kind librarian gave me two Band-Aids, but that poor guy was a throbbin'. I was actually limping it hurt so badly. My hypochondriac mind starting racing. Maybe it was broken? Was it really possible to break a toe with a stroller?
Later that afternoon I was able to have it checked by a doctor and even had x-rays taken of it. Luckily, nothing is broken, but that knowledge didn't make it feel any better. Maybe somebody at Phil & Teds will read this, feel sorry for me, and offer to send me a new (lighter) stroller. Just kidding (kind of.)
So let it be known, motherhood is hazardous to your health. And don't go dropping a stroller on your toe. It really really hurts.

Adventures of a NICU Mommy

Last week I wrote about how I never thought I could have a preterm birth. Here is what happened next.

One more push. You can do it, Erin. Just one more good one. Feel her head. It's right there. Just one more big push.

With that last push, Miss H came into the world and she was immediately surrounded with doctors and nurses. They examined her and found that while only 4lbs 13oz, she was in remarkably good shape.

Mr. Rose carried her over to me so that I could see her, but I was not allowed to hold her yet. The neonatologists whisked her out of my room to the NICU for further evaluation.

Once I was able to get out of bed, I walked with a nurse to the NICU. Mr. Rose was already there, not having left Miss H's side. I sat in a chair next to her little bed. There were monitors and wires attached to her. She looked so small. Just like a little peanut.

 

Over the course of the next day, we spoke to countless doctors and nurses. No one could tell us how long she would be there. She has to take all her feedings by mouth and be growing steadily, they said. Probably around three weeks.

I spent nearly every waking hour at her side for the next what seemed like forever. After I was discharged from the hospital, I was allowed to stay in an empty room on the Mother-Baby unit for a week, but I eventually checked out and went home to sleep. Mr. Rose went back to work so that he could take vacation when we brought her home.

I was pumping breast milk for her every three hours, which she was fed through a tube in her nose. Eventually, they started trying to give her the milk through a bottle the size of a pill container. Tiny.

Every day was Groundhog Day, the only difference was when Mr. Rose was with me on the weekend. Every three hours the routine was the same. Pump. Clean the pump parts. Store the milk. Head to her side. Prepare a bottle. Try to feed. Say hundreds of prayers for her to eat.

I became friends with the nurses. They worked 4 days on, 3 days off, so I got to know most of them. On my birthday, I brought them cupcakes that I had baked. One of the nurses who happened to be off that day, called up to the NICU to wish me a Happy Birthday. That was the day Miss H took her first full bottle and we did not have to put any milk through her tube - a huge victory!

The next day, she would take none. And I broke down leaving the hospital that day right in front of her doctor. He hugged me and told me, "She'll go home when she's ready. Just give it a few more days."

And that is how it goes in the NICU. The highs are really high, and the lows can be really low. I was fortunate that even though Miss H spent 25 long days in the NICU she was relatively healthy. She had some jaundice issues and trouble taking her first feedings, but she really did not have any serious medical problems.

Every time I left the hospital to get some food or take a break, I felt an excruciating pain in my heart. I would see families leaving several times a day with newborns in their little car seats and I was jealous. I would sit in my car and sob because my little one was not in my car with me.

To this day, I feel cheated. I did not get to have my baby in my hospital room with me. I did not get to take her home the day I went home. I had to be separated from her for what felt like eons even though it was only days. It breaks my heart still to think about her alone in the hospital when it was time for me to leave to go home to sleep.

Eventually, we did bring our sweet girl home. It was a rocky transition with a combination of nursing and bottle feeding, but that is a post for another day. In the end, Miss H grew to be a happy and healthy baby and little girl. I thank God every day for her and for the modern medicine that allowed her to be.

Linking up with Shell from Things I Can't Say for Pour Your Heart Out.

Why do we go on vacation again?

This weekend my parents flew down from South Carolina to spend the weekend with us in Orlando. It was a little bit like Groundhog Day because we stayed in the same hotel where we stayed a few weeks ago, and we were going to the same parks that we had visited as well.

For some reason, I felt this immense pressure to make sure that my parents had a good time. This was their first trip to Disney World in 16 years and their first trip with grandchildren.

I could not get my act together the entire weekend. I constantly felt like I was unorganized, chaotic, and out of flux. Not a good feeling for me.

On top of all this, Lil' B was more fussy this time in the parks and also was not sleeping as well as she did during our first trip. She screamed bloody murder every time we tried to lay her down in her portable crib. One or the other of us ended up rocking her to sleep each night and she ended up sleeping in our bed twice...a big no-no for me at this age.

The last day of our trip we decided to visit Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. My mom and I are huge Harry Potter nerds fans, so we wanted to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter section of the park. We let the kids play with the men in Seussland while Mom and I drank our Butterbeers and waited in line to ride our rides.

And I felt guilty the whole time. I felt like I had abandoned my husband and children just to do something that I wanted to do. We hurried back to the group as soon as we had finished, but I still felt bad.

We didn't spend long at Universal because there just isn't much for the little ones to do there, so we headed back to the hotel to pack up for home. As soon as we got back to the hotel, I discovered that my purse was missing. I panicked. I knew exactly where I had left it: in a restroom stall in Seussland.

My heart raced thinking about everything I had lost: my id's, credit and ATM cards, money. I wanted to cry just thinking about it. How could I have been so stupid?

We managed to call Lost and Found at Universal, and wonder of wonders, someone had found my purse and turned it in with everything still in it. I absolutely could not believe it. The rest of the afternoon was a blur, but it involved packing up our hotel room, going back to Universal to pick up my purse, and then listening to Miss H ask "are we there yet?" all the way home.

Now that we are home, unpacked, and settled, I still feel like I can't get back on track. I woke up tired and have been in a foul mood all day. Lil' B did sleep in her bed all night, but she has been out of sorts today too. I am actually starting to think that she may be sick.

And so I sit here at the computer, trying to decompress a little and I am contemplating why we bother going on vacation with small children. Will they even remember the fun that we had? Is all the lack of sleep worth it? Do they even appreciate what we do to try to show them a good time? Why do I beat myself up so badly? Why can't I cut myself a break and just relax and have fun?

These are the questions that are swirling around in my brain right now. I'm sorry if this has been a rambling random stream of consciousness post, but that's just where I am right now. I hope you all had a great weekend and are starting this week off on the right foot!

Rokenbok ROK Blocks Review and Giveaway

When Miss H was about 18 months old, I decided that she will probably grow up to be an engineer like her Daddy. Not only did she love to build towers with blocks at that age, but we could entertain her in restaurants by having her stack creamer cups. Now that she is four, she also has a huge imagination and loves to make up stories about whatever it is she is building.

Recently, I was given the opportunity to review Rokenbok ROK Blocks. When the set arrived, Miss H was so excited to take all the parts out of the box. As a follow-the-directions kind of person, I immediately headed for the instruction manual to figure out how to assemble the airplane from the Deluxe Preschool Building Set that I was provided.

There we were sitting side by side on the floor together. I was pouring over the instructions, and Miss H was "helping." After awhile, she figured out that it was boring just watching me put the airplane together, so she started playing with the blocks herself. Before I knew it, she said, "Look Mom! It's a "cuper-duper!!" (She makes up words, too.)

I was so focused on "making something" that I completely ignored the fact that my child A) loves blocks and B) has a huge imagination. She taught me a huge lesson about how important imaginitve play is for children of all ages, and that I should probably use mine more.

Once I came to my senses, she I and sat together and just created. We built towers, and castles, and so much more. We both love how the ROK Blocks can be built up and out, as opposed to other sets that can only go up.

I love that all the Rokenbok products come with a lifetime guarantee. In this day and age when toys are getting more and more expensive while being produced with less quality, a lifetime guarantee is something that I find extremely valuable.

In the end, we are all having a great time with the ROK Blocks. I did even manage to make that airplane!

Rokenbok has generously offered one Deluxe ROK Blocks Preschool Building Set to one of my readers, a $50 value!

RULES: Mandatory entry must be completed before any other entries will count. The giveaway will run from today through 9PM on 3/25/2011. The winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond. Please make sure that your email is part of your profile, or otherwise include it in your comment. If I can't email you, you won't win, sorry.

MANDATORY ENTRY: Visit the Rokenbok web site and leave a comment telling me which product your children would love.

EXTRA ENTRIES (please leave one comment per extra entry):

• Follow Rokenbok on Twitter.
• Like Rokenbok on Facebook.
• Follow Cultivating Rosebuds with GFC or subscribe via email and confirm (Sidebar)
• Follow me @mama_rosebud on Twitter.
• Like Cultivating Rosebuds on Facebook.
• Tweet (as much as once daily, leaving link to your tweet): Win a @RokenbokToys $49 ROK Blocks Deluxe Preschool Building Set from @mama_rosebud http://ow.ly/4gFnI

Good luck!

Disclosure: I received the Rokenbok ROK Blocks Deluxe Preschool Building Set for the purpose of this review. All opinions are mine.

PYHO: I never thought it would happen to me

When I first found out I was pregnant with Miss H, I poured over "What to Expect" type books about being pregnanct. I wanted to know every step of the way what was normal and healthy. Was I gaining the right amount of weight? What did those twinges mean?


Over the course of the next few months, I would have a routine pregnancy. I had all the normal pregnancy symptoms: mild to moderate morning sickness, cravings and food aversions, intense sense of smell. I lost a little weight at first and then started gaining as I was supposed to be.

At the time, I was driving 75 miles one way to work to a job that I loved. As my pregnancy progressed, I began to worry about the driving back and forth. My back was killing me from sitting so much (and from being pregnant!), so I managed to work a couple of days from home. Finally, I told my boss that I would be resigning at the end of my 28th week. I could not risk going into labor on the drive on my way home, or in the city I worked in which was over an hour away from where Mr. Rose worked.

After I stopped working, I filled my days with watching "A Baby Story" on TLC and what seemed like incessant cleaning. Mr. Rose would come home from work and find all the cabinets organized. I think he even said something along the lines of, "Are you nesting or something?" Who me? I'm only 32 weeks pregnant! This is not nesting. Nesting comes at the end.

Ahem.

A few days later, I headed to my 32-week prenatal appointment. There was an unusually long wait that day, and I remember being irritated that things were so behind. When I was finally called back, my blood pressure registered 135/100 (I actually have that number committed to memory.) My normal blood pressure is 100/70. The midwife who met with me for that appointment noticed my increased blood pressure and sudden weight gain of 15 lbs in four weeks and looked at me with concern. She told me to take it easy and to come back in two weeks instead of four.

Oh, how I wish I could relive that appointment! How I yearn to remember to tell her how badly my back was hurting! How much do I want to go back to that exam room and beg her to check my cervix for dilation.

Hindsight is 20/20 friends.

After that appointment, I went to the grocery store. I drove home, unpacked the groceries, and made a snack. I laid on the couch for awhile before I went to meet Mr. Rose at our childbirth preparation class.

And that is where my water broke. Right in the middle of practicing our relaxation techniques, I felt liquid running down my legs.

At 32 weeks and 4 days, I was admitted to labor and delivery with preterm rupture of membranes. I measured 2 cm dilated and was told that I was not having contractions. The doctors decided to monitor me overnight and then keep me in the hospital until my baby was born which they told me would be no longer than two weeks.

I lay on the examination table and tears ran down my cheeks. I was not prepared for this. At all. We didn’t have a car seat yet. We didn’t even have her name picked out.

We called our families. Everyone sounded concerned. We were concerned. Neither of us knew what was happening, why this was happening, or how this had happened. We were going to have a preemie.

The next morning after being told all night long that I was NOT having contractions, I demanded to be checked by a doctor. One peek under the sheet and that doctor said, “Yup, there’s the head.”

A few minutes later Miss H entered the world as a big 4lb-13oz 32-week preemie. She was wisked off to the NICU. My first day as a mother, and I had not just become a mommy. I had become a NICU Mommy. I never thought it could happen to me.

{In case you were wondering, the low back pain I had been experiencing for weeks before my water broke was actually preterm labor. The increased blood pressure and sudden weight gain all should have been red flags. In my opinion, I probably should have been on bed rest, but failed to mention all of my concerns to my health care provider. Next week, I will write more about my adventure as a NICU Mommy.}

 
Today I am linking up with Shell at Things I Can't Say for her Pour Your Heart Out meme. This is the one year anniversary of PYHO and she has some great gifts to give away for anyone who links up a PYHO post by tomorrow night. I personally love this meme because Shell is an amazing hostess and I always find some inspiring posts and fabulous new bloggers to follow from it. Head on over there and check it out!

I survived the CandyLand Birthday Party

They came. They partied. They conquered.

Ten small children all under the age of 5 descended upon La Casa de Rosebud on Saturday morning. It was the climax of a week spent cleaning, cooking, and decorating, along with Miss H constantly asking if we could start the cleaning, cooking, and decorating all week.

 

We rolled out the welcome mat.

Good eats! We served hot dogs and hamburgers along with colorful fruits and veggies and multicolored goldfish.

 

Pin the Gingerbread Man on the Gingerbread Tree game. (Psst! I made that tree!)

Miss H being serenaded by her cutie friends. (That sweetie on the very right belongs to my IRL friend Upcycle Mama.)

 

Here's a better shot of the whole cake. Today at the grocery store I discovered that Pepperidge Farm makes a Gingerman cookie. I searched high and low for some sort of gingerbread to put on this cake and kicked myself for not finding these sooner. Yes, my cake is sans gingerbread men. Also, I thought Nutter Butters might be better for the Grandma Nut section than the Circus Peanuts.

 

In case my friends' children did not have enough sugar at the party, I sent them home with goody bags filled with lollipops! In case you can't read it the sign says, "Having you here has been such a treat, Please do not leave without some sweets!"

In the end, the party was fabulous. Miss H was over the moon excited about her party and celebrating her birthday with her friends. We played a few games and had some fun outside in a borrowed bounce house. As far as I could tell, a great time was had by all. And I survived!!

Paying it Forward

Have you ever had a migrane headache?

If you've never had one, consider youself blessed. First, I start by seeing bright lights floating in my vision. I have about 20 minutes from that point before the pain starts, normally right above my eyes and down the sides of my face. When it hits, all I can do is lay down with my eyes closed not moving.

In my life I have only had a few, I'm not sure how many, but less than five. In the last month, I have had two. This last one happened earlier this week. Lil' B and I were heading to the library for storytime while Miss H was at school when I started seeing the lights. We immediately headed home where I closed all the blinds and still kept on my sunglasses. Lil' B was so good. She happily cuddled with me on the couch watching Mickey Mouse and Elmo. It would have been lovely if my brain hadn't felt like it was exploding.

Then, I started to panic. How in the world am I going to pick up Miss H from school? I can't even sit up, much less drive. I tried for an hour to get a hold of Mr. Rose at work to no avail. Finally, I did the thing that I hate doing most in the world. I asked a friend for help. I don't know why I hate to ask for help, but I do. I feel guilty, like I am putting the other person out. But at this point, I had no other choice.

So I called a close friend whose daughter attends the same school as Miss H. She happily agreed to pick her up from school and even brought her home to her house so the girls could play while I rested during Lil' B's naptime. The one hour nap that I took made me feel like a new person. My friend truly saved the day.

Later that evening while the girls and I were getting ready for dinner, another one of my friends called me very emotional. Her husband was ill and she needed to take him to the emergency room. I didn't hesitate for one second.

"Bring Gabbi to my house," I said.

"But she'll probably need to spend the night," she replied.

"It will be fine. Calm down so that you can drive, bring her here, and everything will be okay."

The evening with three little girls under the age of four was a little crazy, but we managed to get everyone fed and ready for bed. It was actually kind of fun to see how life with three kids could be (although ours won't be in close as age as these three are seeing as how Baby Bud #3 has not even been conceived yet.)

And as I sit here reflecting on the days events, I feel a sense of peace for being able to repay my friend who helped me by paying it forward and helping someone else. I feel good for being able to do something, to help another friend, and I realize that when someone offers to help me that I should not feel guilty about that. Everyone needs help now and then. Just make sure to pay it forward. It feels awesome.

My Lenten Sacrifice

Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the season of Lent, or the 40 days leading up to Easter. As a Catholic, I join many Christians across the world in this time of fasting, repentance, and prayer.

During Lent, my family and I will abstain from meat on Fridays and also try to give something else up. My parents are giving up meat completely. My sister is giving up sweets and the reality show "Real Housewives." I had a hard time coming up with what I am going to do for Lent, but this is what I have come up with so far.

Giving up Fast Food
As disgusting as it is, I am pretty much a sucker for fast food. The lazy girl inside of me finds it so easy to pull into that drive through and order food instead of heading home to make lunch or to prepare a snack ahead of time and bring it with me on errands. This is especially true when running around town with the girls. Miss H can spot a McDonald's or a Chick-Fil-A from a mile away, so this will be good for her too. I know I am not going to be able to go the whole season without buying her the occasional Happy Meal, but I hope to cut down on the frequency significantly. I am also going to try to keep track of the number of occasions that I want to stop by a Drive-through and put aside $2 for each time to donate to our church at the end of Lent.

Reading
I have several religious or spiritual books on my shelf that I have never opened or finished. My goal is going to be to only read these during Lent. If I find that I need a break, I may pick up a Christian fiction novel. I am going to devote 30 minutes in the evenings to read before going to bed and hope to get through at least three books.

Prayer
I have gotten woefully behind on my New Year's Resolution to spend more time reading scripture this year. As part of my Lenten preparations, I am going to try to read from my Catholic Women's Devotional Bible every morning. In fact, to make it easier for me to remember, I am bringing my Bible out of my bedroom and into the kitchen so that I can read it while drinking my coffee in the morning.

These are my goals for Lent this year. So, what do you do? Do you give anything up?

A portrait of my children

I am completely obsessed with having pictures taken of my kids. I wish I were a photographer and could take amazing pictures of them myself, but alas I am not. My point-and-shoot and I get some okay to average pictures. When I am looking for great photos, I turn to the professionals.

Friday afternoon I planned to get Miss H's 4 year old and Lil' B's 18 month portraits taken. Earlier in the week we picked out what they would both wear and had it approved by Mr. Rose. Well, when Friday afternoon rolled around that dress was too "ouchy" for Miss H and she didn't like the rope (ribbon) around it. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, we decided on another dress that was just as cute but not quite as matchy-matchy as what Lil' B was wearing. Fine.

Now for the little one. Lil' B got dressed with no problems, but when it came time to put on her shoes she had other ideas. No cutsie little sandals for me, no sir! She wants the sneakers, with no socks by the way, 'cause that's how she rolls.

I finally manage to get the shoe situation under control when it is time to tackle the hair. Why do I even bother? Lil' B insists she wants a hair bow. After I wrap the little elastic around her water spout about 50 times, she pulls it right out. Okay then, no hair bow. Miss H is happy with a simple barrette, but wants to wear a necklace however. A girl's gotta accessorize, right?

Once we are all dressed to the nines, we head to the portrait studio. We arrived a few minutes early which causes me to have to listen to Miss H ask me every thirty seconds, "Is it our turn, yet?" I manage to distract both girls with some toys they have out for a few minutes of peace before it is in fact our turn.

The whole studio session is a blur. All I can remember are two little girls running amuck, trying to climb up the background, throwing silk flowers all over the place, doing anything but listen to me or the photographer. Lil' B laid down when she was supposed to be standing. Miss H stood when she was supposed to be sitting. The poor photographer would try to pose their hands and feet, but in the two seconds it took her to click the photo the pose was gone. We were a ruckus. Twenty minutes later, I surrendered.

After the photos were taken, I handed out drinks and goldfish. Too bad for me, I had packed milk for Lil' B and a juice box for Miss H for which I then had to listen to B scream for juice. Thankfully, Miss H did share her juice and we were able to pick out a few photos to have prints made.

At the end of this two hour (from dressing to leaving the studio) ordeal, I was exhausted but pleased. We managed to document just one more stage of the cuteness, and some of the attitudes as well. Let me know what you think of the results.

Kids and Walt Disney World

The magic of going to Disney World for me as an adult is seeing it through the eyes of my children. I get more excited about seeing characters walking around than I ever did when I was there as a kid because I am excited for them. Seeing their faces light up when they realize that Mickey Mouse or Cinderella is right near by is worth every penny we spend to get there.

One thing you have to know about my kids is that they are talkers. Miss H quite literally never stops talking. Here are a few short quotes from the kids from our trip.

• I see Mickey, we're almost there B!
• It's okay B, I know you're excited.
• Is it starting yet? Is it starting yet? Is it starting yet?
• Maybe we could get a little snack? (Read: ice cream)
• It's so cool. You go from country to country to country, and at the end you go to Hawaii. (Miss H on It's A Small World)
• What's next guys?
• I'm not tired....I'm not tired....
• Mooouuuuuse! Duuuuuuuuuuck! Goooooofeeyyyyyy! (Lil' B)
• Heading into Epcot Miss H says, "Lil' B, we're going to see a big golf ball!"
• What was your favorite part of Disney World Miss H? EVERYTHING!!

Over the 32 hours (4 days X 8 hours each) we spent inside Walt Disney World, I also learned a few things about doing Disney with small children. This is by no means an all inclusive list, just some golden nuggets.

Be prepared.
Know what you want to do and when you should do it in order to minimize your waiting time. Make sure you bring everything into the park with you that you could possibly need like sunscreen, change of clothes, sunglasses, hats, diapers, wipes, snacks and drinks. You will pay $3.50 for a bag of chips and $2.50 for a large Diet Coke. Just sayin'.

Be gracious.
Yes, you will inevitably get hit by some lady with four kids pushing a stroller. Yes, you will probably almost get run over by a senior citizen in an electric scooter. You might possibly even get hit in the head by one of those fun characters that you are there to see because they haven't quite gotten used to their costume yet. You yourself will probably step on toes and bump into 100,000 people. Just take it in stride, be gracious, and move on.

Relax and embrace the crazy.
You may have a plan. You may have things you think your kids want to do. Once you get in the park, all those things may go out the window. It is OKAY. Just relax and embrace the crazy. Do what your kids want to do for the most part and throw in something that you think they'll like here and there.

Come to grips with the fact that you WILL spend money.
There are tons of websites out there telling you how to save money at Disney. Even if you use all their tips and tricks, including bringing everything you think you might need (see above), you will not get out of that park without having to buy something. There are ice cream treats and Mickey Ears for sale every 10 feet. Good luck with that.

So there you have it folks. Taking small children to Disney World is doable and so worth it. If you ever have the means and opportunity, I highly recommend it. You will not just make a memory; you will make a thousand memories!




This concludes my Disney subject posts. Thank you for bearing with me while I got it all down on paper. Now we return to our regularly scheduled programming. That is...until...we go back to Disney in two weeks with my parents. Aaaack! What was I thinking?!?!

Wordless Wednesday: Disney Edition

Day 1: Animal Kingdom

Breakfast with Mickey

 Day 2: Magic Kingdom

Happy girls first thing in the morning

Does it get any better than this?

Day 3: Magic Kingdom #2

She didn't want a Mickey ears hat. She didn't want a Minnie ears headband.
What did she want? Mickey Antennae. And they light up.

One of the only pics of Lil' B out of the stroller. Holding Pascal from Tangled, waiting to see Rapunzel.

Day 4: Epcot

Miss H and Lil' B with their Biggish Cousins

Fairy houses.

Oh the Princesses!

I'm not tired, I'm not tired....