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.  

Baby #2: The First Few Weeks

So now that the news is out there in blog land and I can catch myself up on the pregnancy up until this far.  And now that I am close to 17 weeks I have a lot to cover so I apologize for these text heavy posts.  :)

John and I found out that we were expecting back on July 22nd.  I had a pretty good feeling I was pregnant because I had heartburn at night again and had to take tums before bed like three nights in a row.  Occassionally, when I am not pregnant I get heartburn but that is after I eat  a lots of yummy, bad for you food.  That was not the case this time and not three nights in a row.  So I had a good feeling.  And of course, this was something we were hoping for.  We had returned for Poland and was hoping for this to happen as soon as possible so we were over the moon with the positive test.

Because I had the heartburn, I had a feeling I was pregnant.  Well on the 23rd I had a massage scheduled with a sitter lined up to watch Elsie in the morning.  A few days before my appointment I made a mental note not to take a test until after my appointment because I know my massage therapist doesn't want to give massages during the first trimester.  Well that slipped my mind the night of the 22nd and I decided to take the test.  John was working late, Elsie was in bed and I just wanted to know.  After I took the test, saw it was positive it finally dawned on me that I had my appointment the next morning.  I quickly shot off an email to Missy begging for some form of massage and of course, she said to let my baby grown big and strong and she would see me in the second tri.  This same thing happened with my third pregnancy so I knew her stance on it but what are the odds.  The last two appointments made I had to cancel the night before because I found out I was pregnant-ha!  I shared the news with John when he got home that night.

The next day instead of my appointment, I did a little shopping since I had Tanner lined up to babysit and I didn't want to bail on her.  That evening we were supposed to go to Zoo Brew down in Des Moines for date night but instead hit up one our favorite restaurants in Ames instead since I wouldn't be able to partake in any of the beer at Zoo Brew.

On Thursday (7/24) I finally put a call into my doctor.  The last time around (my third pregnancy) they didn't have me come in for any testing (bloodwork) which helps determine if my pregnancy is progressing the way it should.  This was the testing done during my first pregnancy that led them to believe I had an ectopic pregnancy.  With Elsie the bloodwork showed things seems normal and with the third, well I believe if they had done the early bloodwork to monitor hormone levels they would have discovered earlier that it would end in a miscarriage.  I figured it would be the same this time around but when I called they wanted me in that day for my first blood test.  The first test was just used as a baseline and then I went in for a second test and like we hoped it has increased to the level it should be.  I REALLY wish I would have written the numbers down and maybe I will ask the next time.  When they called with the results from the second test they said they wanted to schedule an ultrasound.  So on August 7th at  6w1d I went in for our first ultrasound.  And much to our relief we saw the baby.  Having this be the fourth time we have had an early ultrasound done I know the feeling too well of discovering a problem at this appointment and so I did not go into it with excitement as most women probably do.   So not only did we see the baby where it should be but were able to see the little flicker of a heartbeat.  Which is crazy to me because this babe was only 2mm big!

Like Elsie, they told me that once a heartbeat was detected the risk of miscarriage decreases.  Although I was relieved to see everything so far was so good I knew until my next appointment at 10 weeks when they do another ultrasound I just wouldn't feel 100% reassured.  In fact, we waited a little bit to even tell Elsie.  Even though she had no idea she was going to be a big sister or her mom had a "baby in her belly" she was still telling people.  Little did she know she was right.  I think she was originally saying it because two of her friends from daycare were going to be big sisters and thier mom's had a baby in their belly.

In fact, the weekend we told my parents at (5w5d) Elsie had spent the weekend with them.  When we shared the news on Sunday my mom said she already  knew because Elsie had told them.  WHAT?  We had never even said anything of the sort to Elsie or talked about it around her.  I asked her why she said that and she ran off and got one of her Little Lutheran books that has a picture of an ultrasound and we had talked about what that was.  So anyways...long story short she was just talking randomly and didn't even know she was right or that she spilled the beans :).

The main symptom at this point was heartburn-otherwise I felt great.

Night Eyes 2014

On Friday October 17th, John, Elsie and I went to Night Eyes at the Blank Park Zoo.  We had plans to meet up with our friends, Nick, Hillary, Owen and Brady but they were going to be arriving a little later than us.  I had no idea what to expect.  What we discovered was that pretty much once you got in, you get on the "treat trail" that takes you around the zoo.  You just follow the crowd.  I wasn't really expecting that which meant we didn't meet up with the others until the very end.  Also, as we were getting out of the vehicle we looked a few cars down and there was Kara, her friend Jamie and the boys getting out of their van.  We started out together but split up towards the beginning.

My beautiful Princess-Belle.  The crown lasted as long as it took for this picture :)

Hans and Franz (and Jamie)

First Treat Station.  It took her a few stations to get the hang of this whole trick or treat business.

While I went to buy tickets for the train Elsie and John walked around and took all these pictures.  Haha

One of the most interesting things about going to the zoo at night was that the big cats were actually acvitve.  We are members of the zoo so we have gone numerous times and never once have the lions or tigers been up moving around-just lounging.  But this night the male was running around, it would squat down, then take off running towards the female.  The tiger was also up wandering around and walked right in front of us.  

 Of course we had to ride the carousel.  

Finally met up with Owen, Brady, Nick and Hillary.  

And these two had a blast running around.  The alligator chasing after the princess :)

We were litterally one of the last vehicles in the lot!  Although it wasn't quite what I expected we still had a fun time!