July 16 Randoms

[clementine]

What’s up M/A 18?

[clementine]

It’s prime day! I will be stalking deals and buying things I don’t need all day. Hopefully the excitement will be enough to keep me awake after a weekend of late nights and increased MOTN wake ups. Yawn.

[ArielMermaid]

AC still broken so we are heading over to my parents again today. Toddler is still sick and I can already feel the cold in my throat. We leave for vacation Sunday.

[calendula]

Today was L's first day of daycare! Drop off went great. DS was with me (I dropped him off at camp afterwards) and he was so cute with the teachers. He told them all about his sister. "She likes bottles either 4 or 6 ounces. She kicks her feet when she is happy. Her favorite song is twinkle twinkle." He is the best big brother.

All in all it was a good morning. Went to the gym in the morning, dropped both kids off at daycare and camp, and was only 6 minutes late to work. Lol.

[leatherpants]

Jul 16, 2018 7:58:08 GMT -6 ArielMermaid said:

AC still broken so we are heading over to my parents again today. Toddler is still sick and I can already feel the cold in my throat. We leave for vacation Sunday.

W. T. F.
Germs need to leave you guys alone. They’ve had more than their fair share of your time.
Feel better Mermaid Family

[leatherpants]

Jul 16, 2018 8:20:41 GMT -6 calendula said:

Today was L's first day of daycare! Drop off went great. DS was with me (I dropped him off at camp afterwards) and he was so cute with the teachers. He told them all about his sister. "She likes bottles either 4 or 6 ounces. She kicks her feet when she is happy. Her favorite song is twinkle twinkle." He is the best big brother.

All in all it was a good morning. Went to the gym in the morning, dropped both kids off at daycare and camp, and was only 6 minutes late to work. Lol.

This is the most adorable.

[leatherpants]

Also good morning! SO got up with the kids this morning so I’m leisurely laying in bed playing on my phone.

This should end in about a half hour, I predict.

[polson]

ArielMermaid i hope the colds pass quickly and all of you are better by vacation time!

usual monday here, but dd1 slept past 530 for the first time in days. she was actually well rested and made for a nice morning. dropped her off at daycare and got dd2 in the crib for a nap! laundry and dinner prep are done. h and i booked a disney world trip for january so now i am just trying to research the crap out of it. i have no idea what i’m doing - any advice would be appreciated! eta - we’re taking dd1 for her birthday who will be just about 3

[stardust84]

L pushed his second wake up of the night back by an hour to 4 am. I thought I would be able to get him back down but that did not happen. He did sleep in my bed with me from 6 to 7 though after laying there awake for over an hour.

[snowmoon]

Last night was E's first night in the crib. She woke at 11 just as I qas falling asleep and I was struggling all night. Up again at 2 and I failed and brought her to bed with me.

[snowmoon]

SO is off today and so were my parents so we all spent the morning at the beach. DS has gained so much confidence in the water and I love it. The baby seems to love it already too.

[cp3]

The baby gave me a 7 hour stretch Friday night and then a 6 hour one Saturday. She did a 4 stretch last night so hopefully we are turning a corner and our two hour wakeups will be gone.

I'm working a few hours each day this week for my old boss's business partner while he takes his staff on a retreat. I'm taking the baby with me so I'm hoping it's not too bad. I'm making decent money for only a few hours so it should be worth it.

[woodenshoes]

I was almost an hour late dropping DS1 to daycare today. He still made it in time to make bread and butter with his class. After dropping him off DS2 and I went to the store. The last 2 days I have been organizing and finding stuff I want to donate. I have other stuff I think I want to try to sell before donating. Other than that I have done like 6 loads of Lundy (I am washing most of the blankets in our house) and am just trying not to melt in the heat.

[Rama]

Jul 16, 2018 9:16:14 GMT -6 polson said:

 h and i booked a disney world trip for january so now i am just trying to research the crap out of it. i have no idea what i’m doing - any advice would be appreciated! eta - we’re taking dd1 for her birthday who will be just about 3

Take loooooots of breaks, especially with a little.  You don't need to do everything in a day (especially if you're there multiple days).

There are parades every few hours, find a spot and take a rest there.  Entertainment without having to put more strain on your feet!

Bring sunscreen (duh)

WDW has an app that you can use to set your Fast Passes ahead of time.  DO THAT.

There was a fun augmented reality game (ARG) that we played when we went a few years ago.  It was a lot of fun trying to figure out the clues and stuff.  I think it's the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom attraction to get started.

Speaking of attractions, the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor is fun and I love taking people to it.  Should be entertaining enough for a 3 y/o, too.

[polson]

Rama thank you! this is helpful.

[Leaf 🌱]

polson we’re pretty experienced with taking LOs to WDW. Some other things:
- Make good use of the baby care rooms. They are clean, air conditioned, and stocked with a lot of stuff and have literally anything you could need for purchase.
- Pick three things to do each day and don’t expect to accomplish anything else. Try to stay focused on the fact that this is a trip for them and they have no idea if they don’t get to do something. I’m VERY strategic about WDW when I go for myself - I want to do as much as efficiently as possible. When we go for the kids I throw that entire philosophy out the window and just enjoy it.
- Get a bubble wand and an autograph book won a clickable pen. The bubble wands are like $20-25 and you can get refills from cast members for $2-3. Best souvenir ever and a great (quiet) way to entertain kids while you wait for parades or in lines. The autograph book was a great ice breaker for DD with the characters. She LOVED going up to them.
- Get the memory maker photo pass. I think it’s $169 or $99 discounted for certain groups (military, FL residents, etc). It’s worth every penny. EVERY PENNY. We have so many fantastic family pictures, I enjoyed every minute of character meet and greets without fumbling with a camera, the quality of the photos is amazing, and all the group members could use it. I bought it and linked all our friends and family’s accounts to it and we ended up with hundreds of really amazing photos. DO IT.
- IME the meal plans are not worth it. The food isn’t really that outrageously priced and we brought so many snacks into the parks.
- We had all food, drinks, diapers, etc delivered by instant art to our resort. It made packing so so much easier.
- Order cheap ponchos and stick them in the stroller. Disney ponchos are $$$ and FL rain storms are no joke, even in the winter.
- buy a cheap lot of Disney puns off of eBay and bring them to trade
- Bring a baby carrier for lines so your arms don’t fall off. It’s also helps to contain the LOs while in tight spaces.
- Put a tile or other tracker in your stroller in case it gets moved or (pretty unlikely) stolen. Also attach a balloon so they’re easy to spot but know that balloons and straws aren’t allowed in Animal Kingdom.
- Bring a stroller with a recline. Even the bigger kids end up PTFO at some point.
- we bring two strollers instead of a double. That way if we need to split up for any reason it’s NBD.

PHEW. I love Disney and can’t wait to go next year!!

[Leaf 🌱]

AND I forgot that if you book a character breakfast super early, you get to enter the park before it opens which is very very cool.

[polson]

Leaf 🌱 thanks! we are for sure planning on a breakfast to get in early. i am also someone who likes to be as efficient as possible and do as much as i can on vacations, but am definitely keeping in mind that this is all about her experience. i don’t want to plan too much. thanks for your insight on the memory maker package i wasn’t planning on it but i think it would be worth it as we are generally horrible about taking pictures. i really appreciate your thoughts!

[whatsit]

I think I have 5 different orders coming from prime day. Oops

I was a bit hesitant getting G a tablet but figured with our upcoming trip and potty training it might be worth the $40. Or a headache or two when I don’t let him play it.

Thanks for the Disney tips! polson we’re going in October right before G turns 3 too. Yeay for littles getting in free!

[auri]

Jul 16, 2018 9:16:14 GMT -6 polson said:

ArielMermaid i hope the colds pass quickly and all of you are better by vacation time!

usual monday here, but dd1 slept past 530 for the first time in days. she was actually well rested and made for a nice morning. dropped her off at daycare and got dd2 in the crib for a nap! laundry and dinner prep are done. h and i booked a disney world trip for january so now i am just trying to research the crap out of it. i have no idea what i’m doing - any advice would be appreciated! eta - we’re taking dd1 for her birthday who will be just about 3

I hope you enjoy Disney! We took DD last January...she was 4. Definitely set fast passes as soon as you are allowed to. DH said it was a life saver since DD loved the two roller coasters she could ride. The lines for them were really long without the passes. I spent the extra money to get the park hopper passes. It was worth it to me, since we could go to Epcot and Animal Kingdom in the morning and Magic Kingdom in the afternoon. DD liked MK best, so she was asking to go back by about lunch time. When we went it would be a little chilly in the morning, but warmed up later in the day so dress in layers. Sorry for the novel, last year was my first time going and I can’t wait to go back.

[auri]

If anyone is using formula, Similac is on sale for Prime Day. I scored 3 big canisters for 35% off. Ended up costing $75 instead of $116.

[auri]

Today was DD’s birthday...she turned 5. We’re really enjoying our time visiting family, but I’m ready to go back and sleep in my own bed. Visiting really makes me homesick and wanting to move back here, but then I think about all the great things I love about where we live. Plus the bonus of not seeing DHs family, since I don’t really like them. I do feel bad for DD though. Today she asked mil if she’d come over to my parents for cake. My mom and mil don’t like each other...so mil told her no she had to work. It was pretty awkward.

[katietopaz]

Hiii I’m checking in late today. I went to Universal Studios today with DH and my SIL, sans kids. I can’t decide if it was a terrible idea or a good one. We left two toddlers and a baby with my MIL and FIL for twelve. hours.

Aaaand my baby did not take a bottle for twelve. hours.

My MIL is a saint. She tried absolutely every bottle, nipple, temp, position, etc. and finally found out that he’d “eat” the milk from a spoon. So that’s what she did and without a single S.O.S. call to me, because she wanted me to enjoy my first trip to Harry Potter World.

[whatsit]

katietopaz
Wow! Your MIL is amazing. I’m glad you got to get out and have a day of it!

[woodenshoes]

polson we just did Disney in May. I think pretty much everything was covered by everyone else. I definitely recommend the photo pass thing. My mom got it for our family and we got some great family photos.

You can bring snacks into the park. That is nice and saved us some money and wait time.

Book your fast passes as soon as you can. A lot of the rides there are baby friendly so they can go on a lot too. Also they have tons of shows which is a nice break from rides. It was pouring one day when we were at Animal Kingdom so we went and watched Festival of the Lion King (highly recommd) to get a break from the rain and walking.

We always do park hopper passes. We always stay at The Boardwalk so we often would take break at the resort and go eat or walk around Epcot in the evenings.

[polson]

katietopaz yay for a kid free outing! your mil sounds amazing

[calendula]

katietopaz, what a sweet woman your MIL is. Wow. And FTR I think it was a great idea, not a terrible one. You have to have that time every once in awhile. Hope you had a blast!

[cornpop]

So the past few days Noelle has woken me up by babbling. Like she wakes up and Em used to start crying when she wanted me, but Elle just starts babbling away and eventually her squawking wakes me up. Then I go in her room and she gives me the biggest, goofiest grin. It's seriously the sweetest thing.

But, she's getting too cognizant of things to easily fall asleep on us at night. We have been letting her sleep on us for an hour or so after Em goes to bed but before I do, but now she's getting fussy that time so I think we're outgrowing it. I'm not ready for that!!

[calendula]

Jul 17, 2018 6:38:45 GMT -6 cornpop said:

So the past few days Noelle has woken me up by babbling. Like she wakes up and Em used to start crying when she wanted me, but Elle just starts babbling away and eventually her squawking wakes me up. Then I go in her room and she gives me the biggest, goofiest grin. It's seriously the sweetest thing.

But, she's getting too cognizant of things to easily fall asleep on us at night. We have been letting her sleep on us for an hour or so after Em goes to bed but before I do, but now she's getting fussy that time so I think we're outgrowing it. I'm not ready for that!!

At some point in the last few weeks, because of the heat, DH has been putting L to bed in her bassinet in our room where its air conditioned instead of her sleeping on us. I wasn't ready for it either! I miss the sleepy baby snuggles!

[yianna]

I’m just here to say:

I hate the effing pump: