I'm back!

Well, here we are, it's summertime again, and once again I have failed miserably at being a good blogger :o(

So, what has been going on with us in the last year you ask? Well, lots!

• Olivia started and completed her first year of preschool. We decided on a program that was only 2 mornings a week just to get her used to being away from me and be with other kids.  I have to say, she loved every single minute of it! She not only grew height wise, but in her academics and maturity as well.  As of now our little smarty pants can identify all capital and lowercase letters, write them all, tell the sounds of about 90% of them and is also starting to sound out words when trying to write them! I am so proud of the little lady she is becoming!
• I think we have an up and coming soccer star on our hands! This past spring was Olivia's first season of "real" soccer (not in the indoor stuff at the YMCA). We picked a program on the other side of town, closer to our new house and from the very first practice she was in love! We were so lucky to get the best coach ever! Coach Scoot truly took the time to get to know each girl (of the 7 on the team 3 of them were new and the other 4 were returning from the fall season). His guidance helped build Olivia's skill level and confidence and by the end of the season we saw a true soccer player standing before our eyes! We can't wait for the fall season to start up in August!
• Toby has always dreamed of being a professional wrestler and this past year he finally got to begin to realize his dream!  A brand new training facility/school opened up in our area and Toby couldn't get himself signed up fast enough.  He started training last June and has done some amazing things in this short year.  It has taken some time away from family time (sometimes more than I would like), but I have realized lately just how rare it is from someone to have a lifelong dream to do something and then when given the chance be truly amazing at it. So I have changed my attitude and Olivia and I are going to make sure we travel with him to as many matches as possible, making sure that I show him my full support as he travels around the state impressing wrestling vets from all over and winning some hard fought matches as well as coming away with quite a few championship belts. I truly hope that one day all of his dreams come true and the world is watching the amazing man that I am lucky enough to call my husband! Go Ace Adams!!
• Summer is here in full swing! Lucky for us, our new house has a pool so Olivia and I will be spending lots of time there since she is such a little fish! She is now a full fledged swimmer and can float and is currently working on her backstroke.. 2024 Olympics?....

• Disney. Of course we have been doing our fair share of Disney! The biggest news from this year is that Olivia finally made the magical 40 inch mark! This of course meant that she could ride Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Test Track, Soarin', Star Tours, and Tower of Terror! And ride them she does! She loves every single one of those rides and begs to ride each multiple times each trip (even Tower of Terror that Daddy is scared of)! We are going on another big trip this year for her 5th birthday! We are lucky enough to be staying at the brand spanking new Art of Animation hotel and are super excited!  

Well, I think that pretty much catches you up on our lives from the past year! I cannot wait to see what the summer and fall hold for us! I'm really hoping to do a better job of keeping up here, but I'm not making promises this time!

Summertime!

Since yesterday was the first official day of summer (although here in Florida it has felt like summer for months now), I would actually hop on here and do a summertime post!

So, just how will we spending these blistering hot days of summer you might ask? Well, indoors, shuffling from activities and by the pool as much as possible of course! 

Let's start with summer activities.  Here is what our schedule looks like: Monday mornings from 10:00-10:30 are swimming lessons for our little fish.  I can't say enough just how much Olivia LOVES the water!  She started swimming lessons at the ripe old age of 6 months when we did the parent/child class at the YMCA.  We did that until Livy was almost 2, which is when she transitioned to a class with other kids and no mommy in the water with her.  To say she wasn't a fan is a HUGE understatement!  We decided to take a bit of a hiatus from lessons and picked them back up when she was almost 3.  When we went back it was a polar opposite reaction.  She LOVED it.  I think it helps that her swimming teacher Miss Charlotte is as fantastic as they come.  Our little fish has made quite a bit of progress over the last few months and is so close to being called a swimmer.  In addition to swimming lessons on Monday's, we try to spend lots of time at the pool and at the local splash park!

Wednesday evenings bring on the sport of the summer: Cheerleading! This is another activity that Olivia loves. Once again, it is through the YMCA (can you tell we spent lots of time there between activities and working out?).  This works out well for Livy since she loves to be loud and jump around.  Her first game to cheer for is on Friday and I cannot wait to see her!

Friday is a busy day.  It starts with an hour of ballet for our princess.  Livy started taking dance when she was barely 2 and has loved every second of it.  Her teacher is amazing and Livy talks about Miss Jennifer all week.  At least for the summer Friday nights will be spent at the Y cheerleading. 

So there you have it. Those are just a few things we will doing this summer.  In addition, we plan to spend lots of time outside riding bikes, blowing bubbles, and playing in the water. 

How are you guys spending your summer?

My little hula hoop master!

This year the Easter Bunny brought Olivia a hula hoop! She was so excited when she saw it. She picked it right up and started wiggling her little hips. She was so determined, and by that night she could do it! By the next Sunday she was a master!!

My 3 year old wants what?!

Anyone with young children knows that conversations with them can be interesting to say the least!  Olivia is no exception to this.  

First, I should give a bit of background info.  We have 2 nieces and a nephew who live in the same city as us, so we usually see them a few times a week.  The oldest of the three is our 12 year old niece Reesie.  She has loved Olivia since the day we brought her home from the hospital.  Reesie and Olivia have always had an amazing bond, despite the 9 year age difference.  Most weekends Reesie can be found at our house hanging out and playing with Olivia.  To say Reesie is Olivia's idol would be an understatement!

Olivia wants to do everything Reesie does. I mean everything!  Reesie plays soccer.  Olivia begged to play soccer, and now she does. (Reesie is even the coaches helper on Livy's team).  Reesie wears the crazy colored mismatched socks.  Olivia now wears the crazy socks.  Reesie has cute headbands.  Olivia is the proud owner of the same cute headbands.  So, you get the picture. If Reesie does it or has it, Olivia wants to do it or have it as well.

The other day Olivia and I were relaxing on the couch and Olivia proceeds to tell me that she want big boobies so she can wear a bra like Reesie! Apparently Olivia had been shopping with my sister-in-law and they happened to buy Reesie some bras, so that is when Olivia decided that she needed bigger boobies so she can be like Reesie!  Not so fast young lady! I still want my little girl for a while longer! No boobies yet!

I know, I know... (Hangs head in shame)...

Wow, no posts since September...TOTALLY PATHETIC!!! 

I know I sound like the boy who cried wolf, but I really mean it this time, I'm getting back into my blog!  I have new motivation: I am desperate to attend next year's Disney Social Media Mom's Celebration!  I have been following all of my Disney friends Tweeting about it for the past 2 days, and I am so jealous that we are not there! It is an amazing, family friendly conference that not only has amazing social media content, but it takes place at DISNEY WORLD!!!  I have been such a slacker with this blog and Twitter for the last few months, I am determined to fix that!

So, what have we been up to since September?

*I now have 3 year old little princess!!! I still can't believe Olivia is 3 already!  She is doing amazingly well! You would honestly never know she was a 32 week preemie! 

*We have taken 2 Disney trips and just renewed our AP's for another amazing year of fun!!  Our December trip was beyond amazing!  We thoroughly enjoyed every single second together, and we so sad to leave after that week!  Olivia was turned into a beautiful princess at the Bibiddi Bobiddi Boutique!

*Olivia had her first ballet recital in December! It was so stinking cute!!!!  She is still doing ballet and loving every second of it!  She has another recital next month, and one in June.

*In addition to ballet, Olivia is now in swimming classes and just started playing soccer.  Toby is coaching her soccer team, and I am the team mom.  It is an awesome family activity for us!

*In February we took another trip to Disney (a quick 5 days) and renewed our APs so we have another year of magical fun to look forward to!  On this trip we also tried a new hotel (Port Orleans Riverside-which we LOVED), and Olivia was painfully close to the magical 40 inch mark to ride the "big girl" rides as she calls them!  I think she will make it soon (hopefully before our trip next month)!

That pretty much gets you up to date here!  I will leave you with the promise to keep up with my poor old blog, and a few pictures of Olivia.

73 Days!

For any of you that know me, you will know exactly what 73 days is referring to....our next trip to Disney World of course!! Since we started our coutdown at 108 days, 73 seems like it's getting pretty close!  We have our countdown on Olivia's door and each night she pulls one of the Mickey heads off the door.

As most of you know, this trip is to celebrate our princesses 3rd birthday! This trip is a bit of a splurge trip for us, but we wanted to make an extra week for Olivia.  Here is a quick recap for those of your just joining this journey:

Who: Myself (Erin), my wonderful hubby (Toby) and our princess Olivia

What: Olivia's 3rd Birthday trip!

When: December 5-10

Where: Disney's Pop Century Resort

Why: To celebrate of course!!

We have some amazing thing planned for this trip that I am beyond excited about:

*We are doing the Deluxe Dining Plan for the first time this trip! Disney has some wonderful restaurants to splurge on and enjoy! Here are our selections:

          ~Yak & Yeti (Lunch)

          ~California Grill (dinner)

          ~Kona Cafe (Tonga Toast here we come)

          ~Crystal Palace (lunch)

          ~1900 Park Fare (dinner with Cinderella!)

          ~Hollywood & Vine (lunch)

          ~Garden Grill (dinner)

          ~Cape May Cafe (breakfast)

          ~LeCellier (lunch-I'm dying to try the cheddar cheese soup & pretzel bread!)

          ~Ohana (dinner)

          ~Ohana (breakfast)

          ~Teppan Edo (dinner)

          ~Chef Mickey's (we love this place!)

          ~Planet Hollywood (I can't stand it, but it is Toby's only request)

*We are also taking Olivia to the Bibbiddi Bobbiddi Boutique!!! She is super excited about this and I simply cannot wait to see her face after her transformation into Cinderella!!! 

*I am over the moon excited to be able to spend some time in the World during the holidays! I love Christmas and everything that goes with it! I made sure to schedule lots of meals in the resorts so we can experience all of their amazing holiday decor!

There you have it. A quick recap of what our upcoming trip has in store for us! I will be sure to add more details in as we get closer to our departure date, but if you want to read the nitty gritty, feel free to join in my PTR (pre trip report) over on the DIS! 

So, who else has a magical vacation in the works?

Got the Monday blues? We don't!

Well, once again, it's Monday. The most dreaded day of the week for most people. In our house Monday is actually a great day! With my husbands work schedule, his days off are Sunday and Monday. Sunday is beyond busy for us. I work in our church nursery from about 8:30-1:00. After church we head to my sister-in-laws in-laws (confusing I know) for brunch which is absolutely delicious! Once we have stuffed our bellies beyond full, we head home so Olivia can get in an afternoon nap, before she and I head back to the church nursery from about 5:30-8:30 for evening service. Whew, I'm exhausted just typing that!

So, on to Monday. They are the total opposite from Sunday! As I type, Olivia and Toby are in our bedroom watching the Lion King together and I am watching the noon news in the living room. Our plans for the day include a whole lot of nothing! No running around. No work to head to. No nothing! I might sneak in a load of laundry and I know I will have to clean up the kitchen, but other than that, we just enjoy our Monday's as it's our only day that we have to ourselves!

I think this post has been long enough! I'm off to make some lunch and then enjoy a movie with my hubby while Olivia naps!

In Mickey's Hands

I did it. I submitted my application to the Moms Panel yesterday afternoon and now there is nothing I can do but wait and hope I have advanced to the second round.

This year the questions were pretty much the polar opposite of those asked last year. To me, they were much more fact-based and it was more difficult to show creativity. Of course the 100 word limit was pretty tough for a talked like me! Here are the questions:

1.) A) When was your last vacation to Walt Disney World® with your family? B) Do you work in an industry that is in competition, would benefit from being associated with the Walt Disney World® Moms Panel or be in conflict with Disney’s family friendly brand? If yes, please explain. C) True or False - World Showcase is a collection of pavilions representing 14 countries that border the 5 miles surrounding World Showcase Lagoon.

2.)In 100 words or less, explain when and how you helped a non-family member plan their first trip toWalt Disney World® Resort.

3.)In 100 words or less, tell us about what resources you use to find and share interesting park facts and vacation planning tips with others.

I feel pretty confident in my answers, but who knows? There are literally thousands of hopefuls just as qualified as myself, who want this amazing opportunity just as much as I do. For right now, all we can do is wait and hope for lots of Pixie Dust!

Good luck to all of my fellow applicants, I wish there were enough spaces for all of us!

The yuck is here...

Ughh, I guess it must be September, the yuck has returned to our house. Yep the visitor we seem to have every September made it's unwelcome appearance early last week and has very much overstayed it's (un)welcome. What is the yuck I speak of? It is the sinus, upper respiratory, throat junk that feels as though it deserves a Florida vacation every September.

It all started last Tuesday. The day seemed to begin normal, but when Olivia woke up from her nap she had a fever, chesty cough and a charming snot covered face. Ughh. I went in action right away. Give Olivia Tylenol. Check Slather her in Vicks rub. Check. Clean/scrape crusty snot off Livy's poor face. Check. Tuck her in on the couch with a Disney movie of her choosing (Mulan). Check. Over the next few days we repeated this routine multiple times a day, all with hopes of have my princess c0ugh and snot free by Saturday since we had ticket to go see Disney on Ice. By Friday night my little lady was back to her old, happy, snot free self!! Yeah! Victory for mom! Yuck has been defeated!

Saturday morning. Victory for yuck, mom defeated. What you may be asking? Olivia was fine Friday night, what could have happened? No worries, Olivia was still happy and snot free. Apparently, yuck felt as though I was left out. Now to be clear, I was not feeling upset at all by being "left out" of the sickness all week. The complete opposite was true as a matter of fact! I was miserable!! I felt like an elephant was sitting on my face. My sinuses were horribly stuffy and I was totally unable to breath out of my nose.

We were supposed to leave at 5:00 to head for the show. That meant I had about 10 hours to make a miraculous recovery. Yeah right. I did my very best. I took cold medicine, slathered myself in Vicks, relaxed on the couch, and even managed to nap a bit. 5:00 rolled around and I was feeling a little bit better, not bad enough to miss the show. Maybe I was trying to prove a point to yuck that I couldn't keep me down.

We ended up going and having a great time even though I felt like my head was in a vice the whole time. I came right home, took some lovely meds and went off to dreamland.

Today is a new day and I am feeling marginally better, still no where near perfect, but better. I think when the yuck has really left us, I will be posting no trespassing signs and writing a strongly worded letter to whom it may concern about yuck and it's belief that it must return every September.

It's Mom's Panel time again!

To most people the beginning of September means the start of another school year, or the coming of fall. To myself, and thousands of other moms and dads, it means that it is almost time for the search for the new group of panelists for the Disney World Mom's Panel. That day this year is Monday September 13th.

What is the Mom's Panel you ask? It is an online forum on the Disney World website that allows guests to ask any question they have about the WDW resort. Not sure which deluxe resort to choose? Ask the Mom's Panel. Which character meal is the best for a Goofy lover? Ask the Mom's Panel. Not sure when you can catch a performance of Fantasmic! during your trip? Ask the Mom's Panel.

Who are these Mom's? Well, let me first say that the name "Mom's Panel" is a bit misleading. There are in fact Dad's on the panel! In addition to the Dad's, there are even grandmothers! Each and every one of them was selected based on their love and knowledge of all things Disney.

How are the lucky folks selected you ask? Each September for the past 3 years, Disney has held an online application process. The first phase is 3 essay questions that let the selection committee know who you are, why you love Disney and why you think you would be an essential member of the panel. If you are lucky enough to pass this phase, you get to answer another set of essay questions that are a bit more in depth and (from what I understand) focus more on your specialties and other characteristics of why you would be an awesome panelist. The third and final round is the ever so daunting phone interview! Yep, the people who you have been writing to actually exist! A week or two after the phone interviews (in October or November) the lucky new Mom's and Dad's are informed of their selection and they are in heaven (or at least I am assuming they are)!!

So there you go. Sounds easy right? NOT! This will be my second year applying and I have not yet made it past the first round. Last year when I answered, I took forever and really thought about it and probably totally over analyzed each little word. After talking to some current and past panel members, I think this year I am just going to write from the heart and really be myself, after all, that is what they are looking for.

I should also say that I have made some great online friends throughout this whole process! These are people who are now my friends on Facebook and Twitter as well as buddies on the DIS boards! I have also gotten to meet some of them in person recently at the Mickey Mom's Club Illuminations party held at Epcot a few weeks ago! *The Mickey Mom's Club-MMC is sort of like a consolation prize for not making the actual Mom's Panel. If you apply to the panel and don't make it, you are automatically part of the MMC. There is a special newsletter, and many different opportunities throughout the year.

I cannot say enough how much I would love to be a part of this amazing panel! I have loved all things Disney since my first visit when I was 4 years old and my grandparents took me. I started converting my husband to a Disney lover when we took our first trip together when I was 4 months pregnant with Olivia. Although he says he is not a fan, his eyes light up as soon as we get there and he is just as sad as me when we leave. Olivia has had no choice but to be a Disney lover, she was born into it! From her first visit at the age of 15 months to the most recent trip a couple of weeks ago she has loved every single second. I start planning our next trip to the World even before our current one has finished and get great joy from helping others plan theirs! Making this panel would be an incredible honor and I would be so proud to say that I am a member of the Walt Disney World Mom's Panel!

Hooray for Poop!

Yep, I said it. Hooray for poop! I'm sure any mom of a potty training toddler will totally understand my excitement over poop. I have my fingers crossed, I'm knocking on wood, I'm hoping and praying as I type this; but I think Olivia may FINALLY be totally potty trained!!!!



Let me go back in time for a little while...



I bought a very nondescript white potty seat when Olivia was about 18 months old, in May of 2009. She had been showing an interest in sitting on the potty, and I was trying to understand what was so great about not being able to poop or pee whenever and wherever you wanted. I didn't want to push the potty training issue right away and end up burning her out before she had ever pushed something out! She would voluntarily sit on and and pretty much just hang out for a few minutes at a time. At this time I was secretly hoping she would be a potty trained prodigy and overnight be done with diapers and doing all her business on the potty. Well, needless to say, those dreams quickly went out the door!



Over the next 6 months or so, I just let her go sit on the potty when she needed, made sure she saw that the other little girls at church used the potty, and that Mommy made good use of the lovely porcelain chair in the bathroom. Flash forward to November 2009. Olivia was now 2 years old and I thought it was time to get serious with the potty training. Well, Mommy failed with this one. With the crazy time of year and millions of places to go and things to do, it was just too hard to devote at least one whole week at home to focus solely on potty training.



February 2010. No more excuses. Potty training WAS going to happen in our house! I won't lie. The first week was rough. Olivia really didn't want to give up the pure joy of peeing at will. I was getting frustrated that she was being stubborn. Not a happy week. Zero peeing on the potty occurred. Poop. That's a topic I don't even want to discuss (but lucky [or unlucky] for you, I will...in a bit). I will not give up. I will not give up. I will not give up. Week 2. I am thinking that there was some sort of divine intervention going on while Olivia slept that Sunday night. She woke up Monday morning and I asked the ritual question of the past week, "Do you want to go potty?". To my shock and amazement, her response was YES! I could have rivaled any professional sprinter on that short trip to the bathroom. I fumbled to pull off Olivia's jammies and diaper, sat her on the potty.......and she went!!!! WOO HOO! She had used the toilet for something other than a reading chair! I was ecstatic. I hugged and kissed her, danced around the bathroom like a fool, fed her about 10 M&Ms at 7:30am and pretty much acted like a big dork. Olivia was loving the attention (or was it the candy?) and wanted to call anyone her little brain knew. You may not believe it (actually, I still don't know if I do), but that was it! She went potty all day (as long I reminded her about every 30 minutes) and had NO accidents!!!! I guess what they say is true: when a child is ready to be potty trained, they will be. I couldn't believe just how lucky we were.



Over the next few months things were breezing along. By May, Olivia was in panties full time (except for nap and night time) and we were having limited accidents. Outings in public. No problem. Day trip to Disney World, not even a little dribble. Notice anything missing? Come on....you can do it. Yep, poop.



Let's go back in time again. Olivia has never, and I mean NEVER had a normal poop in her life. When she was in the NICU, they found a problem with her intestines. She had an air bubble that caused some issues, including her not being able to eat for over a week, while they let her intestines rest. That problem cleared up and was in the past. Fast forward to November of 2008, right around Olivia's first birthday. We discovered she was lactose intolerant. She had become TERRIBLY constipated and miserable. We put her on lactose free milk and avoided dairy products like the plague. Have you ever tried to cut dairy totally out of a 1 year old's diet? No macaroni and cheese. No yogurt. No nothing. I should also mention that lactose free milk runs about $3.75 a half gallon around here. Our pediatrician wanted to cut all dairy out for 6 months and they slowly try and reintroduce it. Soon enough the 6 months was up and we began to slowly add dairy back in. I noticed right away that the constipation came back and Olivia was in tears every time she needed to poop. We cut the dairy back out. Happy Olivia returned! We tried again to add dairy back in a few months after Olivia turned 2-during potty training. She seemed to handle it OK for a little while, but then our arch enemy constipation returned. At this point our pediatrician recommended that we start Olivia on some fiber gummies and 1/2 tsp of MiraLax daily. This combination was our miracle cure! Olivia was eating dairy, although it was semi limited quantities, and pooping DAILY, albeit in a diaper that I put on at nap time each day. Olivia broke into tears at the mere mention of pooping on the potty. Ughh.



Last week I decided that I would give her no choice but to use the toilet. After a weekend at Disney (and no afternoon naps, which meant no pooping), we were forced to give her a laxative enema so she could go. I was mean, horrible, terrible mommy and held her little body on the potty until she pooped. The event was filled with screaming, and tears (from Olivia, not me). As soon as she went, I danced around the bathroom, hugged and kissed Olivia and pretty much told her that she could have whatever she wanted since she had gone on the potty. What did she want? She wanted to watch the Incredibles. Move on to Wednesday. We were at church where I work in the nursery on Sunday's and Wednesday nights and she started the dance I was all too familiar with: the stick the hiney up and out poop prance. I calmly put her on the potty and went back to feeding the baby. After about five minutes the tears started. I went to check on her, and to my surprise, she had pooped!!!! WOO HOO! Maybe we were there?



Saturday August 28, 2010. This day will go down in history. I knew Olivia had to poop. She was doing the "Poop Prance" again. I sat her on the potty at 9:10am. At 1:00pm she pooped!!! yep, nearly 4 hours on the potty! I couldn't believe just how stubborn she was being. My mom had come over and tried to talk her into pooping. Nope, Gumma, it's not going to happen. Nice try though. I knew we had made progress with the two previous poops, so I was willing to be mean mommy because I knew it was for her own good. After those 4 hours of teary, whiney torture, Olivia was SO proud of herself! She happily flushed the toilet and said "Bye, bye poopies!".



Sunday. The war had begun again. It was about 8:00 when I knew she had to go. To the potty we went......for an hour and a half. No poop was to happen this night. 9:30 is bedtime, so this round was won by poop. Monday. Rise and shine, not let's poop! I think by this time both Olivia and her poop knew that mean mommy would win the battle so they gave in. Today it only took about 30 minutes!!!! There were only a couple of tears shed! Once again, Olivia was beyond excited and bid her "poops" farewell. So, are we there yet (in potty terms of course)? I don't know, but something in my head says we are. After nap today when I suggested pooping she skipped to the bathroom, hopped up and within 2 minutes, and zero tears she had gone!



Sorry, for the incredibly L O N G post, but I had to share my excitement with someone!



Now the score in our house definitely has Olivia in the lead and I will do everything in my power to keep her there!

I know, I know....I'm the worst blogger EVER!

Why does it seem that every single post is me apologizing for not blogging? This time I have hit an all time low...it's been 4 months! So what is my excuse this time....Disney....I will admit it, I am OBSESSED with all things Disney! Even though our trip is still 4 months away,I have been obsessively planning every aspect since I booked the trip in March. Here are the basics for you:

*We are staying at the Pop Century resort from Sunday December 5-Friday December 10. We were planning on staying a day or two longer, but Olivia has a ballet recital on the 11th, and that is also when the big Christmas show starts at church.

*We are splurging for the trip and are doing the Deluxe Dining Plan! We have some amazing restaurants booked and most of them are new ones that we have been wanting to try!

*Olivia is going to be a Princess!!!! She has an appointment booked at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique!!! I think this is what I am most looking forward to! Olivia knows she is going here and EVERY SINGLE day she jumps up and down telling me she is SO EXCITED to be a princess like Cinderella!

So what else have we been up to? We took our first family trip to Sea World! Toby had never been to Sea World so that is what Olivia got him for Father's Day! It was a fantastic day, although it was pretty darn hot! As we were leaving, Olivia asked if we could go to Disney too and asked daddy "pretty please"! Of course, he caved and we went to Downtown Disney for dinner and some shopping! We had a great day and can't wait to go back to Sea World(but not until the temperature is down quite a bit)! Other than that,we have just been enjoying our summer!

Sorry for the short update. I'm trying to finish the laundry, clean the house and make dinner before Olivia wakes up from her nap! I promise I'll be back soon though!!

Wow...It's been 2 months!!!

Holy Cow! I cannot believe that it has been a little over 2 months since I have posted anything! That is just pathetic!! In my defense, part of my problem was that we didn't have a working computer in the house! Thankfully that issue has been fixed and I am the proud owner of an amazing eMachines computer with a huge screen that works like a charm, as well as my new baby, an iPod Touch that my awesome hubby gave me for Valentines Day! Now that I am totally back in the online universe I can get back in my blog that I have missed lately!

So, what has been going on with us?

• My best friend and her family have moved back here to Florida from Georgia! She has a daughter who is 2 years older than Olivia and, thankfully they get along very well, so we have been spending LOTS of time together lately!
• We took another trip to Disney a few weeks ago (yes ANOTHER one)! It was just a quick trip, we left on Saturday and came back home Monday night, but it was once again amazing! I love getting to go and see new things through Olivia's eyes. She is enjoying each trip more and more as well. Hands down, my favorite part of this trip was that Olivia is now FINALLY tall enough to ride Goofy's Barnstormer!!! Olivia loved it, but daddy was not a fan! Another first this trip was that we finally took her on the Teacups. This ride is by far my least favorite! I cannot do spinning rides anymore! Olivia wasn't too sure about this one either-she didn't cry, but she also did not want to ride it again!
• We booked Olivia's birthday trip!!!! I am SO excited about this one! We will be going for a full week for this trip! I decided to stay at Pop because Olivia really liked it for our mini trip last month and that way there is more money to spend on fun stuff...like the Boutique and breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table!!! I will post more details about this trip as it gets closer (we are not leaving until December 5th).
• Olivia has started ballet classes and swimming lessons without me in the water with her! She is in love with ballet (and looks pretty darn cute in her leotard and tutu if I do say so myself) and dances around the house constantly! Swimming on the other hand is not on the top of her list! We did the Mommy and Me swimming lessons for about a year, so I think she is mad that I am not in the water with her, so sometimes she gets pretty upset! We are making progress though, and I am hopeful she will be a full fledged fish soon!
• We had a wonderful Easter weekend. Saturday was the egg hunt at church. Sunday the Easter Bunny came for Olivia and left a ridiculous basket FULL and hid lots of eggs, I made brunch for everyone then we went to my mom's for dinner. Let's just say that by the end of the day I never wanted to eat again!
• I have also become a HUGE coupon fan!! It was starting to get a bit harder to get all the bills paid and still have enough of a cushion, so I threw myself into the coupon world. It has amazed me just how much I can save on items I would normally buy! We now have HUGE stockpiles of almost everything you can imagine, the cabinets are begging forgiveness, and we almost have to tape the freezer closed! On a recent trip, I spent $59.00 and saved $175.00!!! I have also brought our monthly grocery bill for the 3 of us down to about $150 (including diapers and personal items)! It does take a bit of time to clip the coupons (I buy multiple papers, and print tons from various online sites), and longer trips to the store, but it is SO worth it in the end!

I think that catches us up for now! I can't wait to keep the updates coming now that I am back in the world of technology!

Sometimes life gets in the way...In a good way!

Well, I have already broke my New Years resolution of updating my blog at least 3 times a week...What can I say, sometimes life gets in the way!

Things have been pretty good here! We took an amazing (but freezing) trip to Disney for Toby's birthday. This has honestly been one of my favorite trips! Olivia loved every minute of it as usual, but this time she really knew who all the characters were and was a total ham with them! I think in general the cold/rainy weather kept people away, which was totally fine with us! I am of course now starting to plan our "big" trip for the year for Olivia's birthday! This year she will be 3, so I am definitely planning on taking her to the Boutique for a princess makeover!

We have started potty training full time now! I am so excited and will be jumping for joy when we are finally done buying diapers!

One of my other new obsessions is saving money and couponing and rebating! It is SO addictive! My goal on each shopping trip is to save more money than I spend. I usually do this, unless it is a trip that I need to buy diapers or other necessary, but expensive items. We are saving so much money doing this, that it really does make it easier for me to continue to stay home with Olivia, which is important to all of us. It does take more time and planning to shop, but it honestly is worth it! My sister-in-law and I often shop together and make a bit of a game about it as well as calling each other multiple times a day to update good deals or coupons we find online.

Other than that, there really isn't too much going on around here, we are just enjoying our time together and watching Olivia grow up before our eyes!

Happy Birthday to my hubby...now let's go see Mickey!

Just wanted to get a quick post up before we leave this afternoon....for DISNEY!!! Today is my hubby's birthday (the big 24) and his request (though he will never admit it) was to go to Disney for a long weekend! I was of course more than happy to oblige! Our plan for this trip, is pretty much not to have one (totally opposite of my usual, super planned trips I know). All that we know is that we will be at MK Saturday night for Spectromagic and Wishes, and at DHS on Sunday night for Fantasmic. We are also going to try and so some new things and tour a few resorts so we can plan future trips. I am so excited for this trip, just some nice (cold-did I mention the highs are in the 30s and 40s?) family time!

I'm off to finish cleaning the house and packing!

From the mouth's of Babes....

Since we have another upcoming Disney trip (we leave on Friday actually!!!!), Olivia and I were sitting down discussing all of the characters we would see. We had gone through her favorites (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto and Chip). Since she is now more into the princess' we moved on to naming them. This is how the rest of the conversation went:

Me: "Cinderella"
Olivia: "Rella"

Me: "Belle"
Olivia: "Beww"

Me: "Aurora"
Olivia: "Rora"

Me: "Snow White"
Olivia: "Ho White"

Yep, she called a beautiful princess Ho White! After telling this story to a few friends, one of them said "well, she did live with 7 guys"!

Sometimes when Olivia is making me go crazy I just have to sit back and think of the things she does that make me crack up, and now this is definitely one of those things!

Happy New Year!

Well, I know I haven't been on in a while (I could blame it on a myriad of things, but let's just say that my blog got pushed to the back burner for a while).

One of my resolutions this year is to really keep up with this blog and update at least 3 times week (as long as my computer is working [I will be getting a new one next month!]).
A quick bit of updating:

• It's been so long since I updated that I now have a 2 year old!!! Olivia had a great birthday in a Minnie theme of course (complete with an AMAZING cake made by my mom).
• Our holiday season was quite nice. It was pretty low key. Olivia was in her first Christmas show this year! She sang in the pre-k choir to open the Living Christmas Tree show at church, as well as being in the first 3 scenes with her "stage parents". I was a bit nervous how she would act during it all, but she was great (and the cutest kid in the show in my opinion)!
• I have become addicted to couponing websites and saving as much money as I can! Toby is even impressed that most of our grocery store trips result in saving more than spending! It is my goal this year to save more than spend on at least 75% of shopping trips...we'll see how it goes!
• Toby's birthday is on Friday and he decided (much to my amazement and excitement) to go to Disney World for the weekend so that has been consuming much of my time this past week.

I think that sums up (quite quickly) the past few months! I am looking forward to this new year and everything it has to bring!

Weekend Recap

It was quite the busy weekend around here.

I should start by saying that last Tuesday (at about 11:00pm) our washer decided that that spin cycle was an optional thing. I went to removed the load of my DH's work clothes (which he so conveniently needed to be washed around 10pm) and..... they were swimming. *I should also mention that our washer decided to do the exact same thing, exactly 1 year ago.* Having no choice (and while saying quite a few "choice" words), I became a human water-extracting machine. After 30 minutes of wringing out 6 shirts, and 6 pairs of pants by hand, I now had to empty the pool of water from the washer....by hand of course. Did I forget to mention that I was now the proud owner of 3 blisters (how did the women in the olden times do it?)? By the time I finished the chore, it was after midnight and I was not a happy camper.

With that story told, fast forward to Saturday. Wake up extra early to go to church for 7:30 (yes 7:30AM!!) mass. Some of my grandmother's coworkers purchase the mass in my great grandmothers name ( she passed away about 7 months ago at the age of 100), so I felt obliged to attend. After mass I headed to dear old moms house to tackle the MOUNTAIN of laundry. I started at about 9:30 and 12 (yes 12) loads later I was finished and headed home around 6:00. I was exhausted and ready for bed by this time, but dinner had to be made, laundry had to be put away, and the house needed to be picked up a bit before I could hit the sack.

Sunday was just as busy. For some reason, Olivia decided to wake up at 4:15 (yes, 4:15AM) and play/talk to herself until 6:15! She finally went back to sleep but in no time it was the usual 7:15 wake up to get ready to work at church from 8:30-12:30. Right after work it was off to brunch at my sister in law's mother in law's (confusing I know...). We went right to work getting things ready for my nieces upcoming, Halloween themed birthday party. Organizing an ENTIRE ROOM of Halloween stuff-check. Decorating the backyard-check. Decorate the front yard-check. Find costumes for DH and myself-check. Finish Olivia's costume-check. After all that, it was back to work at church for evening service. So what did I do at church you ask? Decorate our room for fall of course! After work, I headed home, gave Olivia a bath, put her to bed, took a nice hot shower and curled up with a book!

Now I am sitting here for a nice, calm, laid back week (and a repaired washer). I am also hoping to hear one way or another about the Mom's Panel....the waiting is killing me!!! Hoping everyone has a great week!

Here's a sneak peek at Olivia's costume...100% custom made!:

Back to Disney!!!

As the title indicates....WE ARE GOING BACK TO DISNEY!!! It just for a quick day trip, but a trip is a trip! Our niece turns 11 tomorrow so we are surprising her for a day at the park of her choice.

The plan is to call her right after she gets up to say Happy Birthday, and then casually ask if she would like to go to Disney for the day! I love doing surprise trips, and cannot wait until Olivia is old enough for me to surprise! I am secretly hoping she will choose DHS because when I go with my hubby he will not ride the good rides: Tower of Terror, RnRC... and she has never been there before so I think she will have a blast! It really will be her choice though...not like any Disney park is bad-it is all a win win situation!

Now the crummy part: I have been waiting almost a month to hear about making it to the next round of the Mom's Panel...and everyone seems to think that tomorrow will be the day the emails will be sent out! I will definitely be going crazy without being able to check my email and the Disboards until we get home tomorrow night!!!!!! I will be crossing my fingers all day, hoping for good news...what would be a better way to top off a Disney day?!

I'm off to finish up some last minute bag packing and then hitting the sack and hoping for a few hours sleep!

Well, we got back from the most amazing Disney trip yet, late Tuesday night and I am still exhausted!!!! Olivia was AMAZINGLY well behaved and only had one very minor meltdown (if you can even call it that), and she was so into everything we did! I will post a full trip report in the next few days (as soon as I finish unpacking everything.....)!

In other news (yes I know it is hard to believe that there is news in my life that is not related to Disney), Olivia had a follow up appointment at the doctor on Wednesday to make sure her, ear infections, strep throat, sinus infection and bronchitis cleared up after the course of antibiotics. Well, the left ear is still "horribly infected" (to quote the doctor), so she put Olivia on a stronger antibiotic (which of course gives her horrible diarrhea) and says if it isn't cleared up at her two week follow up we will have to start talking about tubes. Ughh. After everything we went through with Olivia being a preemie, I don't know how I will handle a surgery... Then after the surgery talk, she asks what kind of pets we have at home. None. Well then she is allergic to something because her eyes have shiners, she is a bit wheezy, and her nose is a combination of runny and stuffy all at the same time. So now she is also on an allergy medicine. Ughh. On the positive side, the allergy meds seem to be working b/c she is not wheezy and her nose is much better. I am crossing my fingers, toes (and anything else I can cross) that the ear infection will clear up so we don't have to do surgery!

Here is a quick pic from Disney....TONS more to come!