Goodbye 2014-You Treated Us Well

Wow!  2014 was a wonderful year for us! So many exciting things happened over the past year and all in all it was a wonderful year!  Here are a few of the highlights!

The new year started with the hustle and bustle of us selling our home and moving into a different home a few blocks down the road.  We have been in the new home for 10 months now and have definitely started to put our stamp on things.  We have taken down a good chunk of the wallpaper, remodeled the main floor bath, painted the kitchen cabinets, walls, and installed a new countertop and sink until we can save the funds for a full remodel, and are preparing to get started on nursery.

In June, John and I traveled to Poland with my family to help my brother and Magda celebrate their wedding.  It was a trip I will never forget!  We had a wonderful time sightseeing around Krakow Poland and had a blast experiencing a traditional Polish Wedding!  The best part of it all though is that my brother married a wonderful person and I now get to call her my sister :)

In July we also got wonderful news that our little family would be growing just like we had hoped.  I am now 27 weeks pregnant and we will welcome our little bundle of joy in April 2015.  Elsie is really excited for a baby sister and is really starting to talk about the baby all the time.  Only like 3 more months!!

The summer we were very busy between our trip to Poland, visiting family and friends, and trying to get out with the camper to do some camping.  We made it to Margquette, IA over Memorial Day, Rathbun Lake, and Lake Red Rock over Labor Day.

Fall John was busier than ever but he did a wonderful job of setting aside Sundays as family days and we tried to make the most of them all.  I did a lot of planning for our Disney trip over the fall as well.
November into December proved to be very busy.  Elsie turned three in December and had her first birthday party with friends on a weeknight and then a birthday party with family over the weekend.  She chose to have a "Frozen" themed party-shocker.

Shortly after her birthday party we packed our bags and off to Disney we went.  We had such an amazing time and definitely worth all the time and effort we spent planning and preparing for it.  WE got home just in time to start Christmas celebrations in MN and in Iowa and now here we are, wrapping up the year.

 

We have SO many fun things to look forward to in 2015.  Of course the most exciting is the arrival of our little baby in April.  We will also be welcoming a new niece or nephew in June as Tony and Magda are expecting.  I also have three friends who are expecting this year:  Marc and Amber-2/2, Josh and Liz-5/9, and Jason and AShley 5/12.

We have two weddings on the book for this summer-Katie and Brad and Chris and Laura-both in June.

We have a trip to Puerto Rico planned for John and I for work coming up shortly.

There are talks that Tony and Magda might be planning a visit to the states this year.

I have two concerts planned for the upcoming year-Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean in July and Taylor Swift in September.

We have more plans in the works to make updates/changes to our house.

There is so much for us to be thankful for this year and in the upcoming year.  We are truly blessed with a happy, healthy family, a roof over our head, and food in our belly.  We pray that you all have a Happy New Year and too have much to look forward to in the year ahead.

Cheers to 2015!!

Feeling Pregnant-25 Weeks

Well I can't believe it!  I am 25 weeks (almost 26 week) along already and in the last couple of weeks of my second trimester.  This pregnancy is flying by and so far has been pretty uneventful.  I have't really done any updates on the blog so I thought I would do a quick rundown of how things have been going.

Overall, I have felt wonderful.  I never really had that "exhausted feeling", nausea has been practically non-existant, and I have felt good enough to get a run in here and there.  Really my one and only complaint has been heartburn.  It has been around since the very beginning and tums would do the trick. About 1-2 months ago that stopped working so I started taking Zantac once a day, then that stopped helping so we upped it to twice a day, well about a week ago that stopped helping too.  I have a call into the doctor and we will see what she says.  When I was pregnant with Elsie I had to go a prescription and that made the world of difference.  I would like to avoid starting that so soon but it is getting a bit unbearable.

Oh-also if you haven't heard we are having another little girl!!  We are so excited and I can't wait to start going through some of Elsie's things from when she was little and get it all ready for this new babe!  After the holidays we are going to get started on the baby's room.

My doctor's appointments have been going pretty good.  We had two ultrasounds-one at 18.5 weeks and one at 22.5 weeks.  The ultrasound at 22.5 weeks was to try to get a better view of the vessels leading to the heart.  In our first one, our little babe just wasn't cooperating very well and wouldn't get into a good position so we had to try again.  The second time it still wasn't cooperating but finally, she got a good shot of it and said everything looks normal.

My blood pressure has been good so far and baby's heartbeat has been anywhere from 138 into the low 150's.  As of my last appointment 3 weeks ago I was up 7 lbs total for the pregnancy.

Like I mentioned before, for the most part I didn't even feel pregnant and if I didn't have a growing belly I wouldn't even think so but starting last week things definitely have changed.  I feel like my belly is getting so big, I am getting more tired and out of breath at times, and I can tell that bending over just isn't as easy as it used to be.  I am feeling pregnant-which I guess should be expected this far along right?  Oh another symptom that I have been experiencing is congestion in my nose in the morning.  It clears up within minutes of waking up but I definitely wake up stuffy.

Like with Elsie, I felt this baby move later in the pregnancy.  It was probably close to 20 weeks before I thought-that is definitely the baby and it was close to 24 weeks where I felt movement pretty consistently.  The other day I actually thought

Me at 25 Weeks.  I feel like my belly just got HUGE!  

Elsie is really excited about getting a baby sister and she talks about the baby all the time.  At Disney she found this cute little baby Minnie Mouse plush that was swaddled in blanket and just insisted we get it for our baby.  I hope this love continues ;).

Walt Disney World 2014-Day 1

Finally, after months and months of planning and anticipation the day to depart to Walt Disney World had finally arrived.  Elsie was so excited and I was just as equally excited (maybe a little more ;). I don't even know where to begin with going back thinking about our trip.  I had started a planning post weeks before we left so I will probably post that for most things I did prior to the trip.

No more links in our countdown chain-Time to Go!!

Airport Arrival

Waiting to board

Checking out the plane

Our flight didn't depart Des Moines until 10:48 AM which was perfect.  It allowed us to have a "normal" morning before making our way to the airport.  I am not sure if Elsie knew what to expect but she handled everything like a pro.  Dale and Bev dropped us off and we had just over an hour to wait before our plane departed.  John took Elsie through security and I chose to get patted down so I didn't have to go through the body scanner and expose my little baby inside me to the radiation, although they say the levels of radiation are safe, why take the risk when there is a completely safe alternative.  Des Moines is such a small airport there was no wait at all.

A few things for my memory:

1.  We packed to checked bags, one rolling carryon, and we each had a personal bag to stow under the seats.  I also made us all carry our jackets on the flight so it didn't take up room/weight in the luggage.

2.  Allegiant charges for everything and their checked bags limit is 40 lbs.  Our suitcases weighed 35 lbs each.  When packing I tried out rolling our clothes and we had SO much room.  I could have fit everything into one suitcase if there was not weight limit.  In our carry-on rolling suitcase I had a set of clothes for each of us (Elsie had two changes, plus one in her backpack-you can never be prepared with a toddler) and all of our extra shoes.  Also for Elsie's clothes I put each days outfit in a ziploc bag and labeled it and I do not regret this extra bit of effort one bit.  It made getting ready in the mornings a breeze!  I could just grab the bag for her and she would get herself ready.

3.  We brought along our carseat for Elsie to ride in on the plane.  It worked out perfect!  John attached it to our carry-on to transport it through the airport.  He boarded the plane before Elsie and I did and we waited until near the end.  He said the flight attendant was crabby about it however it is the law that they have to let us use it if it is aircraft approved.  Also, it is not recommended that you check your carseat even if it is gate checked due to the risk of damage from them not carefully handling it.  Elsie rode so good in it, it was just like riding in the car to MN except the flight was shorter than our drive.

4.  Our pediatrician recommended that we have Elsie drink something from a straw during takeoff and landing to help with her ears.  He said it is the swallowing motion that helps clear the ears.

5.  We packed lots of activities to keep her busy on the flight and while waiting but she mainly just watched movies on the flight.


We flew into Sandford International Airport just outside of Orlando.  Our flight was on time and Elsie did pretty good-she had one little melt down while we were waiting to get off.  She wanted to get off right away vs waiting our turn to get off.  We collected our luggage and made the long trek to the car rental area.  We had reserved a small car (Corolla size) but ended up getting a van which was kind of nice.  Then we took off to The Villages where I have to Aunts and Uncles that live.  It was about an hour and half drive.  We arrived around 5:00 PM and enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Cathy, Stub, Vicki and Jim and realxed during the evening.  My Aunt Cathy had prepared a yummy dinner and some yummy dessert.  Everything was delicious.  We chatted the evening away and finally hit they hay sometime between 10 and 11PM.  The next morning we ate breakfast.  Elsie was loved having animals pancakes and by the end of the morning was calling Aunt Cathy "Grandma Cathy" and saying " I just love Grandma Cathy!" :)  A huge thank you to them for letting us stay with them and for their hospitality.

The End of the Baby Era

We talked about how we were going to get rid of Elsie's pacifier for months now.  In fact, back in September I bought her two gifts for her for the day she chose to give up her paci and be a big girl.  It never happened.  I was told to just take it away, have the paci fairy come get it, send it away to a "new baby", etc but we just never could do it.  Like most stages in Elsie's life things just kind of happened.  We never really forced much on her, she just kind of moved on to the next step at her own pace.  I guess the best example of this that I can think of was potty training.  It just kind of happened.  We never fought with her about it and we never rewarded her.  She just showed interest and we hopped on board (there of course were some challenges along the way for sure but it was more like a change in routine).  So I was kind of hoping that giving up the paci would happen the same way-she would just decide she didn't want it-ha!  such wishful thinking.  I just dreaded upsetting her and taking away something that gave her so much comfort.

But it did just kind of happen on its own. It was a wednesday night (10/29).  About 30 minutes after putting Elsie to bed I heard the worst cry and screaming that I ever have.  I sprinted up the stairs, into her room to her crying "I broke my paci".  I'm not going to lie...I panicked!  haha Elsie and I had a really rough day and really needed a peaceful night and was not prepared to deal with her no longer having a paci.  I got her calmed down, she had a little drink, we read a couple of stories and sang a couple songs and she ended up falling back to sleep.  I am so happy that this was her doing, not ours :).  She really seemed to accept that she was the one to break it which means she can't have one anymore.

She actually bit her paci and tore it.  This actually scares me-how easily could she have bit it off completely and choked!  

We had a few struggles over the next few nights/mornings.  She did okay going to bed.  She would ask for it but then once we reminded her she broke it she would accept it and lay down.  The most challenging part was in the mornings.  She would wake up early (6:00 AM) and struggle to fall back to sleep without the comfort of her paci.  The first morning we made sure the "paci fairy" still came and took away the broken paci and she received her Seashell Palace Pet.

The first morning-so excited for her palace pet-she sleeps with this now every night for the past two weeks.  

I also want to add this happened just a few days before daylight savings which totally messed things up.  She wanted to get up at 5AM vs 6AM.  Oh well...we made it work.  

Now that her paci was gone we decided it was time to get rid of the crib.  Up until this point Elsie had no desire to leave the comfort and safety of her crib.  She has yet to even try climbing out.  When asked if she wanted a big girl bed the answer was always no.  Which was okay because until she gave up the paci I didn't want to deal with that when she could climb out of bed on her own will.  Once she had no paci we made a huge deal of how this meant she was a big girl now and she ended up being so excited about getting a bed.  That Saturday Elsie and I were at target and she picked out some bedding.  She was really excited about it.  A couple of months ago we bought a daybed frame off of a Facebook swap page but we yet to get a mattress so on Sunday we set out to buy one.  That night she was snuggled into her big girl bed.  Oh another thing I want to note is that up until we put the sheets and blankets on her bed she wanted nothing to do with climbing under the sheets/blankets.  In our bed she always wanted to lay on top with just her small fleece baby blanket on top.  John and I were actually curious to see how this would play out when we made up her bed with sheets and blankets.  We were shocked when she climbed right under the covers with no hesitation.  

So how are things going two weeks later-WONDERFUL!  She has yet to get out of her bed for any reason without us coming to get her.  The first five nights sleeping in her bed were the best five nights of uninterrupted sleep we have gotten since she was born!  We had a few rough nights last weekend but that was because she was sick and she is back to sleeping from 8:00PM - 6:00PM.  She doesn't even really wake up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night anymore.  I even was able to crawl into her bed last night and just lay with her for awhile and she didn't even wake up.  And now that we picked out bedding we can start transforming her room into her "Big Girl Room".  We hadn't really done anything in her room since we moved in because we were waiting for this to happen.  

Another side note, we got rid of the glider in her room.  Now that we can snuggle together on her bed and read we dont' need it in her room anymore and moved it to our room to use when the new baby comes.  By getting rid of the glider it made room for this: 

Her own little 3ft Christmas tree.  This sits in one of the dormers.  Once Christmas is over and things are settled down John plans to create a little reading nook here with a built in bench.  I can't wait!

So yes, it is a bit bittersweet.  This really truly is the end of all things that are baby related with Elsie.  But I suppose that is just part of it all.  It is exciting to me to see her grow, mature, and move on to new things and to see her excitement in doing so.  She is so proud of how she is a big girl now and this brings me so much joy.  

And we had one more surprise for her as a reward for sleeping so well in her big bed for a week straight-Pumpkin Cinderella's pet puppy :). She also sleeps with this now and just treasures her.  

Planning Our Disney Vacation-Part One

Since April/May sometime I have been planning a vacation to Disney World in Florida!  When we first decided we wanted to go I had NO IDEA how much info is out there are the planning tools that are accessible.  It is a but unreal-but for a planner like me I was in heaven ;).

I have a couple of posts regarding our planning process of this trip.  The first one covers our resort and dining selections.  I have one coming up that covers our daily plan (which park we are going to each day) and why as well as our fastpass+ reservations for those parks.  I will also include a list of sites that were super helpful to me during the planning process in the second post.

When we planned the trip we were hoping I would be pregnant and hoped to expecting a baby sometime in the spring and we wanted to go before that happened.  Our timing will be perfect!  We also booked when Disney was offering free dining and we are going before Elsie turns 3-which is the age they start charging for admission and for buffets.  I did cost compare staying off site in a condo with a kitchen vs staying on site with the meal plan and it ended up being cheaper to stay in a moderate resort and eating Disney meals.  Also, the weather isn't super hot the time of year we are going so I don't think we will be spending much time at the pools or a beach.

Oh another thing we took into consideration when booking when to go was the crowd calendar.  There are so many crowd calendars that predict the crowd levels in each of the parks.  We are going during a relatively slow time during the holiday season which started at Disney on Nov. 5th and goes into the first week of January.  I am super excited to be going when Disney is all decked out in Christmas!  And if you know me-you know I really don't like crowds so I know we could never go over Christmas break.

RESORT: 
For our resort I chose Caribbean Beach Resort.  It was between Coronado Springs and Carribean Beach and after researching felt that Caribbean Beach themeing would appeal most to Elsie.  Also the room has a table and two chairs vs at Coronado Springs it is a desk and a chair.  We are planning to do some breakfast meals in the room so I thought the table would come in handy-its the little details :)

DINING:
After reserving the dates for our trip I had to come up with a plan for which parks we will visit each day so I could make our dining reservations.  Included in the Disney Dining Plan is one counter service meal (food court like places), one snack, and one table service meal.  Because we have the dining plan the most bang for our buck is to make reservations at Character meals-many of which are buffets which means Elsie eats free.  At restaurants where you order off a menu the child can eat off your plate for free or you can order them a meal.  Well Elsie is a good eater so I tried to book places that had buffets.

This is what our meals look like :

Day One:  Arrival, We plan to go visit some family that lives in the area.

Day Two:  Check into hotel and spend a half day at Hollywood Studios. We have lunch reservations at Hollywood and Vine which is a character meal that includes Doc McStuffins, Jake, and Sophia the First.

Day Three:  Magic Kingdom-Breakfast at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and Friends.  Our reservation is the coveted 8:00 AM time which means we will be able to enter the park over an hour earlier than everyone else :).  Dinner is at Chef Mickey's which is dinner with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, and Goofy.

Day Four:  Epcot Center-Breakfast and Lunch at a counter service restaurant and Dinner at Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall which features Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, and Mary Poppins.  This is a very special day so we had to plan a very special meal ;).

Day Five:  Free Day-we have no plans for this day!

Day Six:  Animal Kingdom-Tusker House Breakfast-Mickey, minnie, Donald, and Goofy-Another 8:00AM reservation.

Day Seven:  Breakfast and Lunch whereever and dinner at Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Fare.  This dinner features Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine (the Step-Mother) Anastasia and Driezella (the step-sisters).

Day Eight:  Early Departure.

So with Elsie's age I am super excited about scoring reservations at the times we wanted for these character meals.  She is super into all of these characters and in the past weeks has become obsessed with Pooh which when scheduling these meals were the characters she was least familiar with.

Something else to note is that when staying on site you can book your reservations for dining 180 days out from the start of your trip plus the duration of the trip so I could go on the minute our reservation window opened and book all of our reservations at one time.  If you stay off site you only can book 180 days out from the day your are trying to book so if your trip was 10 days each day for 10 days you have to book your reservation.  With character meals, those fill up fast but I had no problem booking because I was up bright and early  (5AM) to book our meals.  Here we are 30+ days out and there are no reservations for the times that we selected so it pays to be on top of things.  Now not every restaurant is like this but the character meals are.

So there is our plans for dining.

Family Pictures 2014

This past Sunday we had our family pictures taken.  After trying for a few years we finally go in with a local photographer.  Every time before she was booked by the time I got around to calling.  We were so pleased with our session and even happier once we saw the pictures.  And let me say I am super impressed with her turn around time!  Less than 24 hours!  I can't wait for her to do Elsie's 3 year photos and our baby's newborn photos in the spring :).  

Even though I was "on the ball" in scheduling our session that was not the case when it came to our outfits.  Our session was at 5:00 and by 3:00 I still didn't know what I was wearing (mainly trying to decide between scarves) and John was still shirtless :).  I think by 4:00 I finally had our outfits figured out but I did end up taking a different scarf for me and a shirt for John-ha!  I am happy with our choices though.  

Elsie did really good throughout the session too.  I have to add that as we were walking to meet up with the photographer Elsie found a big, yellow Maple leaf and did not let go of it for the entire session.  Ha Ha this is so her right now with her obsession with leaves,  So here are just a few of my favorites ;).

The photographer said we had to get a few maternity pics which at first I was a little hesitant about but a, so happy we did :)  

Y Camp Fall Excursion

This past Sunday, Elsie, John and I went on a YCamp Alumni event.  It was a train ride on the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad which goes right through camp.  When living out at camp I saw this train go through ALL THE TIME!  I never rode it though.  So for this event the train would stop at camp and drop us off.  Then take a hayride out to a campfire where we would enjoy songs and s'mores.  I wasn't going to sign us up at first because it started at one which is nap time and was worried how Elsie would react since she is such a nap girl but I threw caution to the wind-ha and said risked it hoping there was enough action to keep her happy.  I also laid her down at 11:00 AM for a little nap before we left.  This particular afternoon was just wonderful.  The weather was perfect!  In fact, I was warm in a sweatshirt and Elsie shed her sweater the minute we got on the train.  

All Aboard! 

Elsie was pretty excited about the idea of riding on a train and she kept saying "we're up high Mommy!" but she got over it quickly and ended up laying down on the seat with her blanket.  Thank goodness we only were on for half of the train ride-not sure how it would have turned out if we were on for the full trip because this girl got restless. 

Views from atop the Bass Point Creek High Bride-154 FT High

Getting dropped off at camp.  

Our old house-Crawford Cabin where we lived from Jan 2009-June 2010 when we had to move out because of the flooding of the Des Moines River.  Now it is built up so there is no more worries about flooding.  

Train going back through camp.

We took a tractor ride out to The Preserve-a part of camp that was just in the beginning stages of development when I worked there.  I remember doing research about the fish to use to stock this pond for kids to fish-little did I know my own little girl would be trying to catch those fish :)

After a little fishing and exploring it was time for the fire and sing a long.  

The guy on the left is Alex-the new summer camp director.  On the right is Mike-one of my most favorite people.  He is the naturalist on staff and is so talented and knowlegeable.  He even humored Elsie by teaching her owl sounds.  

Adult vs kid marshmallow fight.  Elsie had fun throwing them at Mommy and Daddy.  

The bison on the prairie.  Well not really-they are steel cute outs.  John was trying to make a "bison sound" pretending it was coming from them.  Elsie exclaimed "Daddy that is not the buffaloes, that noise is from a cow!"  

More exploring.  It was really fun to head back out to camp since it has been since Elsie was just 6 months old since I have been out there and so much has changed.  It was also fun to see Elsie have so much fun there and I hope to participate in many more programs over the years to come-only two more years until she is old enough for Mother/Child and Father/Child campouts.  

The sign to camp say "The Closest Place to Heaven on Earth" and this Sunday was a great reminder of that.