Ellie's First Trip to Disney

When Ellie was 6 weeks old she made her first visit to Disney. We have annual passes and were going to be in Orlando for another reason so we decided why not. I will say - when going to Disney in August with an infant a "whatever happens" attitude is what you have to have. We literally only did our fast pass and reserved activities and that was pretty much it. When it wasn't crazy hot it was rainy. But, we had a wonderful time!

Our first evening there started out a little later than expected - as we were literally buckling Ellie into her car seat I got a call my mom had a seizure. Caidyn and I went to the hospital to check on her and Brian and Ellie waited for us.

I have to share - Caidyn was so adorable in the car on the way there. She knew we were supposed to be leaving for Disney so when we didn't go we explained that Grandma was in the hospital and we had to make sure she was ok. I got out of the car as Brian was dropping me off and Caidyn was crying and adamant she was able to come make sure Grandma was ok, too!

After we made sure my mom was alright (the seizure was a complication of a sinus infection she was having - something common in people already prone to seizures) we were on the road. A few hours later than planned, but we were able to move our fast passes for that evening around to still make all our rides.

The highlight of that evening was Caidyn riding Star Tours! She was finally tall enough and her dad was so excited to take her! The ride lets out into the Star Wars store where Caidyn picked out her very first light saber!

She chose a custom purple light saber and of course Daddy had to get some pictures of her with it!

We also did rider swap for the first time that evening with the Toy Story Mania ride. It is actually "handheld infant" allowable, but as we were in line we saw some of the cars and it seemed a little more jerky than we wanted to hold Ellie on. It worked out great for Caidyn as she got to ride twice and it was nice for us that we could both enjoy the ride fully with Caidyn, not have one of us have to just hold Ellie while the other enjoyed the ride. It was definitely a rougher ride though - Caidyn's 3D glasses had gone sideways by the end of the ride!

I was wearing the perfect shirt for all of the drama that day. And of course, when I tried to get a cute photo of my girls and I they cranked out and made the photo even more perfect!

The shirt was a custom design from my favorite instagram shop - Gray Anchor Apparel! We also got our first family of four photo in a Disney park! They made it into a cute little video! Brian and Caidyn's shirts are from another favorite shop - especially for Disney gear - GlitterEverAfter! 

We ended up in our hotel room around 9:30 that evening and ordered take out Chinese for dinner. It had been a crazy day and we just wanted to relax. Plus, we had a big day the next day! Lunch reservations at Be Our Guest!

We got to the Magic Kingdom parking lot about an hour before our reservation, which should have been plenty of time. But of course Ellie needed to eat right as we arrived so we paused for that. The boat was closed for maintenance so we had to wait in a long line for the monorail, and, to top it off, it started pouring as we arrived to the park entrance. At Disney if you don't make your reservation they charge you $10 per person so we were running for it! Brian took Caidyn in the stroller through no bag security and Ellie was in the carrier and we waited to have our bag checked and then hopped from covered area to covered area making our way to the Beast's Castle! Lunch was actually really wonderful and Ellie hardly had a drop of water on her (the rest of us were soaked!). 

We tried the Grey Stuff, and it was delicious!

The rest of the day was relatively cool after that rain shower! We met Mickey, Cinderella, and Rapunzel, rode the carousel and the Winnie the Pooh ride, and saw the new castle show about friendship! 

The next day we went to Animal Kingdom. This was much easier to get to, but was MUCH warmer! Our first stop was the Baby Center - which was amazing. Air conditioned, right by a Starbucks, and had Frozen playing for Caidyn! I fed Ellie and we cooled off before our first fast pass - Finding Nemo! We also had a fast pass to meet Mickey and Minnie (Caidyn loves to meet characters! She actually plays pretend being characters and asks if you want to come meet her and then poses for pictures - its adorable!) and ride the safari. After Nemo we had an ice cream snack and hung out in the dinosaur area for a little bit so Caidyn could play! We then met Mickey our characters and had some lunch. The skies looked threatening after lunch and after being caught in the rain the previous day we decided to skip our safari fast pass (since it takes about 35 minutes + to do the whole thing) and went to the car. It turned out to be a great call since right after we got buckled and in the car the sky opened up! 

We had a super fun first visit to Disney with Ellie! We are going back next month for Caidyn's birthday with our cousins which will also be fun! Plus it is a weekend that is supposed to be one of the least crowded of the year - always a plus with toddlers and babies!

Photographer Caidyn

Caidyn has been loving taking photos with my phone lately. Her snaps are getting clearer and clearer and she is getting much better at focusing on her subjects and including them in the picture. Ellie is definitely her muse as there are always lots of photos of her. It is fun to see the background of certain events - our runs, the backdrop of our monthly photos, a diaper change on the grass at the UCF fountain, the view from the driver's seat of the car cart at the grocery store. She's such an artist and it is fun to see her photography skills develop (bad film pun intended!)

Mom's Day Out! - Dave Matthews 2016

My mom, sisters, and I went to see the Dave Matthews Band and had an amazing time!

My friend Robyn posted that her and her mom were going. I knew our moms would enjoy themselves together as they are both Dave fans and enjoy a good drink in the sunshine! My sisters and mom have all gone to see Dave before in various groupings. They actually tried to get me to bring Caidyn a couple years ago since there is a family section, but I passed not wanting to have to keep track of a roaming toddler at a big concert.

But this year I decided it was time. We looked into getting some lawn seats, everyone had off of work, and we made an evening out of it! We did the drive up and back so I only had to pump twice (both in the car, once while we were driving -- well sitting in traffic trying to leave... #momlife).

Anyways it was a great time. We got there early, set up some shade, chairs, and drinks, enjoyed a pub sub and chatted away. People a few cars down had some music playing and we just had a blast. We had lawn seats and brought our Tommy Bahama chairs which were perfect! Low enough we didn't bother anyone, but kept our butts off the ground in case it was wet. We danced, we sang, and enjoyed each others company!

One Month of Eleanor Rose!

Our growing girl is such a joy (when she isn't being gassy) and just the perfect fit for our little family.

We celebrated her 1 month birthday the same way we celebrated Caidyn's - with a family dinner at the Olive Garden.

Caidyn actually took the top picture of Ellie in her car seat. I have a whole post I'm planning of some of her photos - she is getting pretty good!

Eleanor grew a lot in her first month! I'm anxious to see some more smiles coming, her alertness to increase, and hopefully her gassy/fussyness during the day to decrease.

The New Normal

So we are beginning to settle into our routine as a family of four. Brian actually took his first out of town trip for work and we survived! Caidyn was at school on time every day, we were dressed and showered, and we even made it to a tennis lesson and dance class on time!

We've definitely had our ups and downs. On the plus side - Ellie has settled into a nighttime routine we enjoy. For the most part she falls asleep around 10pm every day, sleeps until about 2, then again until 5-6ish. I try and wake up for the day at that point and get ready. I've found that if I don't I never get ready for the remainder of the day. The down (ish - that term is relative, as it by far isn't the worst) is that Ellie wants to be held all day. I've found that if I think she has fallen asleep and I wait any less than 10 minutes with her sound asleep - not even a stir - and try to put her down she wakes up. She'll give me about 5 minutes - just long enough to think I've done it and start a task -only for her sad cry to start again. She's just too little for me to try to let her cry it out. Plus, I know I should enjoy this extra cuddle time and I am trying to do just that. They are only little once, right?

More fun photos from our first couple weeks settling into our routines! We visited a pop-up petting zoo at the library, finally getting back to running - this time with our double jogger! And celebrating fake holidays like National Ice Cream Day! 

Ellie's First Fourth of July!

Ellie's first holiday was perfectly relaxing. We spent the three day weekend at home as a family and enjoyed lots of pool time and matching of course. Caidyn had her first sparkler experience and we made lots of memories!

And then there were four

After a week and a half home with two I can safely say it is harder and easier than everyone said two would be. Last week we got home early Wednesday (we were home from the hospital by 11am!) and unpacked and relaxed. We both went to pick Caidyn up from school after some naps from everyone and I think we maybe had Chinese food brought to us for dinner. Thursday was another relaxing day at home - Caidyn went to school and we took turns holding Ellie, sleeping, and watching some Suits on AmazonPrime. We also started our summer of matching pajamas!

Friday was Ellie's first doctors appointment. I remember getting ready for Caidyn's first appointment and it taking us like 2 1/2 hours to leave the house. I think we were still 5 minutes late and looked a total frazzled mess. This time we dropped Caidyn off at school, went to a leisurely breakfast with our one tiny newborn where I was able to feed her while sitting at our table, and arrived a couple minutes early. She was almost back at birth weight (7lb) at her appointment so we were told "see ya in a month!" and headed out. Ellie wore the same dress Caidyn wore (a gift from Caidyn's godmother, Jeanne) to her first doctor appointment!

We actually went to Costco because we needed some groceries. It was two weeks before we ran errands with Caidyn, and we took Ellie to breakfast and Costco on her first trip out of the house. Such a second child. 

That weekend we welcomed lots of visitors and began to rejoin the world on Sunday going to our typical Sunday morning brunch with Brian's parents. 

The following week Caidyn's school was closed. They are always closed the last week of June so we had been preparing for this for a while. I went back to camp for two days with both girls. (Ellie and I actually worked camp the rest of the summer which I enjoyed a lot! Even though I was exhausted it was great to be able to keep my little girl with me and mother her while being able to exercise my brain and have adult conversation on a regular basis.) On Monday I actually ventured out with both girls by myself. We visited Whiz Kids for the first time and had fun with our cousins! It was just for a few hours in the morning while Daddy worked from home for a little bit. 

We also went to story time at the library that week and then to a fun park afterwards. It was shady, had shaded seating near the playground, and our friends joined us to keep Caidyn and I entertained. 

Later that week we also went to the children's museum with some friends of Caidyn's from school. I don't have any photos because it was the exact perfect playdate. The moms were able to sit in one area and chat and the kids were well enough behaved to always stay together (literally - they held hands if they moved from one area to another - it was the sweetest to watch!) and ask permission if they were moving to a new area. 

It has definitely been a challenge with some routines changing - bedtime is an entire other beast now -  but for the most part adding Ellie has been pretty seamless. She is a fairly content baby and is still really young and on the eat sleep eat sleep schedule. I know that things will become much more hectic as Ellie is awake more, needs more entertaining, and begins to move. But for now we are loving this time of calmness in Ellie and craziness in Caidyn <3