DISNEYLAND!!!!!

"It's a world of laughter a world of tears, it's a world of hope and a world of fears". . . the perfect description for a 3 year olds' first trip to Disneyland.

We had a long great day, here is the blow by blow with pictures included. First we woke Andi up at 6:30, which I know is normal for most little kids, but that's an hour before her normal wake-up time. She was very cooperative about rushing to get ready and out the door by 7, even when it was time to put a pull-up on. She does not like how they feel, but we decided it would be better to wear those then have her panic every time we had to run find a bathroom, and change her if we didn't make it in time. She was really good on the drive there and only asked a couple of times if we were there yet; which really made me laugh, because it's funny how even a 3 year old knows to ask the same annoying question over and over.
When we got there we snapped on the cute teddy bear harness that we borrowed for the trip and it lasted all of 2.3 second. Not that Andi was fighting wearing it, she just thought that it was sorta like when she helped Kelsie walk the dogs and they drug her all around the neighborhood. Andi though she was supposed to drag us around the parking structure and weave in and out of people. Dumb. So we took it off and she stayed with us all day just fine.


We of course headed straight for fantasy land where all the little kids rides are, and the first one we saw with no line was Snow White, which I thought would be prefect because she's been watching it a lot lately. It too was great for about 2.3 seconds and then most of the ride focuses on the wicked queen and it was dark and very loud and Andi was traumatized on the very first ride! But Dumbo and the teacups restored her smile and confidence in us as parents/protectors.
She loved peter pan, casey juniors railroad, and the jungle cruise, the Carousel, and Winnie the pooh.

Waiting in line for Dumbo

On Dumbo
Watching the Teacups

Sitting in the teacups

In line for the Jungle Cruise

On peter pans flight

We came to the conclusion as we entered the star tours line that her biggest issue of the day was dark and loud. We told her we were going to see C3PO and R2D2 and she was vey excited untill we got into the dark and noisy room, she saw them and was like okay, now we can go. And as we headed further in she started crying and yelling"No Dark Vader!" so obviously we headed right back out.

She was good with Small world, alice, and the toon town coaster. I was glad she like the toon town coaster and took that as a green light to try bigger rides, as long as they were outside rides and not noisy, She is tall enough for all of them, however big thunder railroad killed that idea quick and we headed back to fantasy land to try to find Tinkerbell and Nemo.
We "saw" tinkerbell. They have this whole place set up called pixie hollow and I was very excited to take Andi to this because she loves tinkerbell. Pixie hollow however is not on the map, and is not in a logical place in the park, and there are no signs for it. We finally found it after asking directions to find out that it was closed for the day. But we walked around the giant blades of grass to the tinkerbell shop and saw that she was indeed still in the hollow. So of course I turned into one of those pushy parents because Andi was really excited about seeing tink. So I took her in the exit and we saw her taking pictures with little girls. Don't worry I didn't get too crazy, I wouldn't let Andi cut in the line, we just stood back and waved and took a picture from where we were. Next time though, we are hitting pixie hollow first and getting a picture of them together!

Her face painting outside of the elusive hollow

She had one meltdown the second time we were in the dumbo line. By then it was almost 8 she had not had a nap, her legs were sore from walking around all day and she was just spent. Dumbo however dried her tears, we found her some tylenol, and she was happy again, so we decided to ride Nemo and then watch the fireworks show.

Asleep in the Nemo line with her tinkebell wand in a stroller we found that had been abandoned

Of course the minute the fireworks started she was covering her ears and hiding her head. So we just ended up leaving and beating the crowds out of the park. All in all it was a really fun day. I loved watching her get excited about seeing characters like pooh and tiger and singing along to the songs she knew on the rides. Hopefully the next time we go she'll be ready for the bigger rides;)

Almost there

Sammy got his cast changed on Wednesday. I was really surprised at the huge difference in his foot after only 2 weeks. Really I didn't think his foot looked all that bad before the surgery, but now it looks perfect. Only 2 more weeks in this cast and then we go down to LA again to get him special shoes. I swear he'd be crawling now if it weren't for the full leg cast. He holds himself up so high now and squirms around trying to get his legs underneath him, but obviously it doesn't work. He is now rolling over, at least front to back, and scooting around in circles when he's laying down.



Andi woke up sick this morning so I have to get her in to the Dr today. Her allergies have been acting up all week, at least that's what i've been thinking it was, but now she's coughing and sounds so hoarse, so i'm taking her in. I am crossing my fingers hat it's nothing she won't be over in a few days because we are taking her to Disneyland on tuesday. yay!!!!! I'm very excited to be going, and i'm not sure if it's just for me or because I know she is going to LOVE IT! We checked the height requirments for the rides, and she can ride everything but space mountain I think. the cut off is 40 inches and she's 41, so Thad wants to make her a shirt that says "i'm 41 inches" just so we won't get stopped all the time.


In other very good news Grandma came home Tuesday and is getting better little by little.

the teething monster

We had a check up with Sammy's foot Dr today. They took an x-ray and from it the Dr said the surgery was a success. He said already his heel has dropped and is pointing the direction it is supposed to. So yay for that! We go in again next week to get the cast changed, but in the meantime we started to decorate the cast he's got.

As you can tell from some of these pictures Sammy is in full teething mode the last two days. It's bad! I don't remember it being a big deal with Andi. It only seemed to bother her at night, and then once we gave her tylenol and some teething tablets she was fine. But he has been clingy, and more than fussy. He has these fits where he will straight out scream if I sit down. It usually lasts an hour before he calms down again. Hopefully the teeth come through soon.

This is a pretty normal example of Andi being "loving" to Sammy and smothering him.


And this is what happens when Andi tries to help Sammy play in his jumper. He's just a little dizzy.

Andi has been really in to walking her baby doll lately. Mostly I think because I have started walking a few times a week. Okay I just started this week and I've only been twice, but I'm going again tomorrow and I'm going to make it a habit. The kids have been pretty good on our walks and it has been so nice to just get out and get a little bit of exercise. I haven't done that since Sammy was born, but now that my wonderful friend Tarin let us borrow her double stroller, we've been getting out of doors more often.
We've had kind of a crazy few weeks. My Grandma has been in the hospital for almost 2 weeks now and so all of my dad's siblings came in to see her. It's been really nice to see everyone, just unfortunate that it's because Grandma is sick. She is out of ICU now and on a regular floor and hopefully will be coming home soon.

Pay it forward

Okay, I am giving in and playing the game. You know the rules, the first 3 people to comment get a homemade gift from me but you have to re-post this on your blog as well.

A surprisingly good day.

Yesterday came and went and I think the hardest part of the day was just having to get up at 3 am and drive to LA. Seriously, Sammy did so well. The Dr kept telling me that once he woke up he wouldn't really notice anything had happened, but I didn't believe him. I should have. We got to the Surgery center at 5:30 and they took us back about 5:45 and did Sammy's work up. Keep in mind he hadn't eaten since 8:00 the previous evening and he sat there and smiled at all the nurses and gave us a big smile when they took him back in to surgery. When he woke up he only cried until we gave him a bottle and the rest of the day it was like nothing happened. His new cast is plaster so it's much heavier than the other ones he's had, and he's having a harder time moving his leg because it is a full leg cast again. But on the bright side, this one we get to decorate and keep as a souvenir.


The rest of the day we hung around the house working on yet another project. Surprised? Didn't think so. We are working on Andi's bathroom now and thus far Thad has put in the new medicine cabinet and lights, put the new sink on and re-vamped the old vanity cabinet, and put new hardware on everything. Next is tiling the tub and floor. I helped by painting. Once the tile is done I'll put up some before and afters. Andi enjoyed having Thad home and managed to talk him into some interesting play time.

This is her "Argggg!" face

Thad got to be Captain Hook.

I'm still not sure who's idea this was.