Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Vacations, Oh My!

I went and turned a year older recently...last Sunday to be exact. It was nice. My mom cooked me brunch and invited over some family. Chris got a TV for the bedroom - which I love and fall asleep to often now. I'm sure I will love it even more on maternity leave.

The day of my actual birthday I got on a plane to Florida. We went to Disney World...again. Yes, we were just there in February! This trip was generously financed by my mother in law though, so I couldn't not go on an awesome free trip. And yes, I am 30 weeks pregnant and lugged myself and a 2.5 year old around Disney World. Oh, and, the day before we left said 2.5 year old was diagnosed with an ear infection! Nothing like an ear infection to make you want to bring your toddler on a plane ride. So here's how it went:

Sunday: Plane ride. Eliot was incredible. He couldn't wait to get on the plane, never cried or acted like his ears hurt, and basically played with toys or technology the entire time. We did buy a brand new Mater and Lightning McQueen car for him to play with that he got to open up on the plane. Strangely, we met the rest of Chris' family walking in the airport. Drove to the condo, had some dinner, and basically relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Monday: Went to Animal Kingdom. Eliot loved the rides - he went on this crazy big Triceratops ride. I had no idea he was getting so brave. We looked at some animals, tried to keep Eliot from breaking down, and saw the Lion King which was a big hit. Eliot was noticeably....crabby....and continued to be so for the rest of the trip. Most of this is from the fact that he was up before 6:30 every morning (5:30 here) and was going to bed late. The kid couldn't sleep.

Tuesday: Chill day. We went swimming. A LOT. Eliot loved the zero depth pool.

Wednesday: Sea World. I was getting quite tired by this point. Being this pregnant and this...exhausted...was making me tired. Eliot found a train ride and rode it a lot. He went on a few other rides and we went to see the Shamu show again. Chris and I left pretty early so I could relax back at the hotel.

Thursday: Another fairly chill day. We went swimming again, and picked up food for Thanksgiving. That evening Chris and his family went out to Disney Quest. I stayed home with Eliot and went to sleep at about 8pm.

Friday: More swimming! We bummed around in the morning, Chris' nephews and brother left around noon. Chris' mom watched Eliot in the evening so we could go out. We went to see Circque du Soleil's La Nouba! It was so, so very aweseome and amazing to be out just as two adults. We walked around Downtown Disney and had some dinner. A glass of wine would've topped the night off wonderfully, but I can wait.

Saturday: Magic Kingdom. I may have overdid it. Eliot and Chris went on Dumbo and drove race cars (Eliot's favorite - he still talks about it), we all went on It's a Small World and Winnie the Pooh. The adults watched a parade that Eliot slept through. That took all day. We were there from 9:30-5:30. Oh! I forgot to mention Eliot's favorite part - the Mickey train. He lost his mind over the damn train.

Sunday: Chris' mom leaves, we have to switch hotels. We swam from checkout time until lunch, and then headed over to the new hotel for Eliot's nap. The new hotel did not have a heated pool, but it did have free breakfast with Mickey waffles. Glad we didn't stay there the whole time, but I'm a sucker for free breakfast. We also discovered the rental car had a nail in its tire and spent an hour at a Walmart getting it repaired. Stupid rental cars.

Monday: Head to the ocean. Our flight didn't leave until 6:30 pm and checkout time was at 11am. So we headed out to Cocoa Beach. Eliot was all excited to go see the ocean until we got there. And then he was terrified. TERRIFIED. We held him while we put our feet in the ocean and I put him down (on dry sand) and he just started running and crying and nothing I could say or do got him to stop. I barely caught up with him. We had to sit at the back of the beach and even then he didn't like it. It is so big, and it's loud. He was scared it was going to get him. We ate at some overpriced ocean-side cafe and I felt like I'd been ripped off enough. $50 for lunch...sheesh. So we drove the hour back to Orlando, Eliot slept for about an hour and a half and we were at the airport by 2 pm. We were just seriously out of things to do. In Disney World. How sad is that?! We got home aroung 10 pm Monday night and Eliot slept like a champ last night and is napping again right now as I write this. I am so glad to be home and so glad we took Tuesday off. Being able to get laundry done and go get groceries is a necessity.

I missed home. That vacation was awesome, but also exhausting and draining because Eliot is really testing his limits lately.

I'm finally just posting this without pictures...I'll try and add more later. I think it's time for a new computer.

Vacation Update - We're Back

I know, I've been absent posting for a while. It's been crazy. Work has been crazy, life has been crazy, I've been working at getting my head back on straight, and one tiny little person takes up an inordinately large portion of my time. I know, Eliot turned 19 and 20 months old without a peep from me about it. I think I'm kind of done with monthly updates other than I would like to make it a goal to post at least once a month. He's bigger better and sassier than ever.

In fun-ner news we went on vacation! To Florida! Want to see pictures? Of course you do:

 There was an alligator in the pond by our hotel. Turtles attack alligators! Did you know that?

 See how brave we are? Standing over the alligator pond with our only son?

 We taught our brilliant son to play life-sized chess. He just wanted to move the horses.

 We saw dolphins at SeaWorld! He loved them - made dolphin noises for hours.

 We had to make friends with all the metal animal sculptures.

 And then he overdid it.

 We went to visit family and the ocean. It was unfortunately a cold, blustery day and we only stayed for about 2 minutes. It was also unfortunate that this is the only picture I got of me with the family I haven't seen in probably 11 years. They were so nice and hospitable and an absolutely adorable family - I'm glad I'm related!

 Eliot didn't really get the ocean.

 Can you feel the expansiveness of it though? It feels so cool - I love edges, ends, beginnings, the promise of new things ahead.

 Look at this brave little guy! I thought he wouldn't really be into rides or anything when we went to Busch Gardens.

 Despite what his face looks like here he is repeating "Whee" over and over again.

 Another surprise since he's usually so shy - he loved the characters! Went right up and high-fived them.

 What a way to travel. I'm jealous.

 Elephants are a favorite.

 We are on a train here. Notice his hands nicely folded. That is his having fun face. Just believe me, he had a total meltdown when we had to get off.

 Notice my hands - so he is paying attention.

 I would have to say his favorite part was chasing the almost tamed birds though.

 Mom's relaxing time - kindle and an iced tea on the condo porch after an outdoor morning run. Ah, heaven.

 Swimming outside in February - so cool. Other than the whole alligator, deadly snakes, and ridiculous summer heat Florida is sounding mighty tempting. And is this not the most hilarious little wet suit?

Then we came home. And he started doing this (all by himself). Oh my goodness, you are more your mother's child than you realize little boy. You play just like I did.

So that's it for now! There's other things I need to write down here, like we've decided what we're doing with our house and it involves hopefully moving this summer. Exciting stuff - but more on everything else later.



Nothing better to do

Look! What's this? No way!!! A picture from Italy? I finally chose one from the 1500+ pictures we took. This is Venice...we had a nice irish couple take our picture for us....it is actually one of the fakest looking backdrops...which is the amazing thing about Venice, it's what the backdrops are trying to be. It is what all the faux finishing yearns to accomplish. Right after this picture, we were splashed by a wave. We were snowed in this weekend. We don't have a fireplace....it's the only option we had.

Check it out. There's a real baby in there that must really be growing. That or I had too many christmas cookies. I know my vote. This is weeks 8-16. It's interesting to me that some of them look bigger the week before than the week after.

One thing I forgot to mention in my weekly update....the anger. I was so angry last week and I couldn't figure out why. I wanted to chop someones head off and Chris sure did try to keep getting in the way of my axe. So what did I do? I went to dr google. I googled "pregnancy and anger". Pretty funny, right? So I was reading, having mood swings is normal, no matter what they are, but there was a particular website that really hit home. I don't know many women who like gaining weight, and it's been coming on fast for me and it's not something I'm used to. This website said that many women may get frustrated at all the things they can't do anymore, that their bodies have been somewhat hijacked. I am definitely feeling that, working out is so different than it was before I got pregnant. I huff and puff, my hips hurt, my ligaments hurt, and I am just supposed to go easy. I haven't been able to run for a couple of weeks, I've done a lot more walking and just more basic activity and I'm used to SWEATING. I love to work out hard, it really helps me mentally and helps regulate my moods, which is something I need help with. I miss it, and it's something I can't wait to get back. So this website said to remember:

You are your baby's shelter, his home, and his life. Be proud of what you're accomplishing. It is amazing.

The anger disappeared, I have goosebumps just thinking about that past sentence. I am humbled, amazed, and overwhelmed that this little life is growing inside me. That I can house something so precious and give it life. It's beyond my comprehension. My body is working hard in a new way...I'll sacrifice what I need to for now.

My broken promise

So, no pictures from the party! I'm sorry - but I'll just leave you with it was so good there was no time to take pictures. Yup, that good. We had quite a few people show up and we had beautiful (but a little on the cool side) weather. I was so glad it didn't rain, but oddly enough we did run out of toilet paper. All my worst fears have been realized!

Otherwise Chris and I have been busy with work and planning for our vacation. Work has still been crazy, but should be a little better in the beginning of September. This is the first weekend I have been off in a while. For vacation planning, Chris bought a travel backpack and I'm looking into one. I was going to borrow one but I found one online for about $80 that got really good reviews. I should start thinking in euros soon!!! We also got a garmin that came preloaded with maps of the US and Europe. This way we can't get lost....because you see, my worry is that since we can't really understand the language, nobody could give us directions anyways. Even if I do know how to ask for them! We've been listening to "Italian for Dummies". I always find it strange that the For Dummies series are so popular. There must be a lot of people out there with low self esteem. I can't believe we're going in 6 weeks. It's going to be awesome.

As always, the only other thing we've been doing is dealing with our animals medical issues. Daly developed hot spots again this year. Hot spots are areas of irritated skin, Daly usually gets them on his face. They are itchy and on him develop into huge pussy scabs. Pleasant, right?! When Daly gets hot spots we don't have to bring him to the vet (anymore, apparently they consider us experts now), but we get to shave his face, apply an antibacterial rinse, and then try to prevent him from scratching. It always starts with us feeling really bad for putting the giant e-collar on him. This time, our sympathy resulted in us coming home to blood-splattered walls because Daly had been itching at his cheeks so badly. So now the e-collar has been a constant friend, and in the way of everyone. Daly takes up even more room with the thing on, and doesn't realize that he won't fit where he used to. It's endearing, if you find scratched walls and knocked over cups near to your heart. Poor dude.

Oh the drama

Travel Edition

Chris and I recently returned from Florida and Mickey and Disney and MAGIC, PEOPLE! Everything Disney apparently shrunk since I went there 16 years ago. Don't you hate that feeling. Oh, and it was hot. Like toss me in an oven hot. I spent most of our first day there running from shade spot to shade spot and sweating. And then we went to the water park, which was the only place I wasn't hot and I got a sunburn. Ouch.

Contrary to what that last paragraph sounded like, I really did have a good time. We were there with Chris' family and I got to hang out with them, which is a rarity, and hang out with my nephews. I would totally go back, but in the winter next time. We stayed at the nicest, most amazing hotel I have ever stayed at. The rooms were spacious and comfortable and the pool had a waterfall and nightly swim-in movies. I have to thank Chris' mom for taking us on this trip! Did you know Winnie the Pooh and Tigger were Disney? I had no idea. Disney has the monopoly on childrens everything.

Oh, and by the way, we're going to freaking Italy people! That's right, Italy. With the food and the wine and the amore. Yes, that Italy. We will be there in T-3 months and counting. I'm nervous about the plane ride because I have a wee bit of anxiety sometimes (ahem.), but I am so excited to see the colliseum and Caesar's (old) grave, and Florence and Venice and ride in a canal and eat a boatload of pizza. I can't wait.

We also just got back from the cabin over the 4th of July weekend. It is a sad fact that I haven't been to the cabin this year since we put in the dock back in May or June or whenever. If I would've blogged about it maybe I would remember. Let this be a lesson to me to keep this thing updated. I digress. It was great to hang out with my extended family and go tree hunting with my dad. We did find a tree, but many people and trees were almost injured in the process.

Maybe I stink?

We came back from the cabin and the dog and I promptly got sick. Me - some sort of cold/throat thing, which is awful because I haven't worked out for 2 weeks prior to this, and now that I finally feel up to working out, I'm not up to working out. I keep telling myself my body knows what's best, but I wish it would hurry up with itself. Daly - puking/pooping/refusing to eat. Which is typical of Daly when he's had too much fun....or when my grandma feeds him too many table scraps!