Momcation 2013

Yes, I said a few weeks ago that I was calling in sick. Taking all my personal days. Taking vacation days. I did just that. Three of us decided to drive down to Panama City Beach and stay for a few days at a decent priced place. In the end, there were four of us and we flew. You can't pass up Southwest Airlines and their super cheap flights--not to mention skipping the drive with a 30 week pregnant chick ( with baby #4). We stayed at a condo on the beach, I won't go into details about it. It served its purpose for a place to sleep, eat, and go to the bathroom. It came with 2 chairs on the beach with an umbrella and had a closet fully stocked with beach chairs. There was also a good pool with a little bar and a small menu of lunch options.But there apparently were 'issues' with one of the walls after we had left. We didn't do it. There were also dirty pots and pans, blankets, and a few other small issues. Maybe I did go into details. But on with the trip!

 

We flew out Wednesday evening, got a rental car ( New Tahoe with like 20 miles on it), and headed on to the condo. We just stayed right in the area to eat, and had a horrible meal at Back Porch =( But we made it better by driving over to target {it didn't close until 11 PM} to stock up on ( too many) snacks and drinks and breakfast items for the next 3 days.

Oh yeah, I took my trusty pump along. I had the BEST time going up to the room every 4 hours to pump for my precious baby Ella ;) Once I realized there was a plug on the deck where no one could see from other balconies, it wasn't so bad to sit and look at this view: 

 

We had fun laying out, swimming in the ocean( a little), walking down to pier park for lunch, & driving down to 30A for dinner. We also somehow got onto a kick of things that annoy us on facebook (i.e.: food pictures, duck face, eyebrows raised up & an open mouth like all middle/high school girls do, selfies, #amillion #hastags #aftereverypicture #oninstragram, the #nofilter {who cares?!?!} ) and then we proceeded to do every one of them WAY TOO MUCH. I really felt like I needed to explain after the fact so people didn't think I was 'one of those'.



 

#vacation #yummy #bestfoodever #George's #30A #momcation #shrimp #selfie #beach #ocean #PCB

 

 

I even got some text messages making sure we were OK, because when you scrolled down my Facebook we had all posted the same thing, tagged each other, and liked each other's status. And it involved the word stalking. We were fine, laughing and having a wonderful time. Did I mention that between the 4 of us, we have 15 kids(& 1 on the way). Thanks mostly to the mom with 7 herself! I saw several groups of women at the beach. Large groups! There was even a group at our condo that had to make an ER visit, and one lady has to have surgery on her foot when she returned home. She was on crutches and a splint/cast. No fun!.We didn't get that crazy! They told us in the elevator that it just snapped in the sand. hhhmmm

It was a great time to get away. I wouldn't say I was ready to get back, but it was back to reality on Saturday night. We had church (and nursery duty) to get up for on Sunday, Luke had to get back to work on Sunday afternoon, and life keep on moving!



 

 

We're home!

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

--Walt Disney

We're home from vacation, and I don't even know where to start. We left early Saturday morning, June 2nd. Luke & I couldn't fall asleep until after 12:30 Friday, and had planned on pulling out of the driveway at 4:30 A.M. We ended up waking up at 4:30, and then forgot a few things we had to do. We ended up leaving closer to 5:30, I believe. We had rented a full size car, but all they had left was a premium. We rolled south in a Ford Crown Victoria! We stopped in Smyrna for breakfast at Chick-Fil-A & filled up the tank at Luke's old Home Depot. After driving all day ( and making several food stops, coffee stops, and bathroom breaks--some 20 minutes for Landon's perfect timing!), we arrived in Orlando at my grandparent's house. My Aunt and Uncle and cousins were in from Cape Coral for my Uncle's father's memorial service. We went to bed after some hanging out, dinner, and a trip down the street to Wal-Mart. We were exhausted! On Sunday morning we were awake, our kids woke us up before anyone else was up. The rest of the family and friends were sleeping in the bedrooms and living room in the main house.We got ready for church and realized we had like an hour an a half until it started at 11, so we went and filled a Panera craving before heading to church. It was my cousin's 10th birthday, so the rest of the family came over for lunch and cake.



The birthday girl with Landon and Benjamin.



After some great food and birthday cake, we headed off to Walt Disney World! After a short drive, and short naps by both kids, we arrived at All Star Movie resort!

We got all checked in, carried the kiddos and luggage into the room, and decided to swim for a little bit before eating dinner. Since we stayed at a Disney resort, we were able to get the extended hours at the parks. We also got hopper passes, so we could go to one park in the morning and return to another after naps. Both of those options I would FOR SURE do again! The extended hours was amazing!

We ended up arriving at Magic Kingdom around 9:00 & stopped right on Main Street for the parade. I believe this is my 3rd or 4th trip, and haven't seen it before. I could do without it, but we were right there at the right time, and it gave us an excuse to sit on the sidewalk and watch the kids smile.

The extended hours on Sunday night were at Magic Kingdom from 11-2 AM. This means that only guests at the resort can ride on the rides. And yes, they ask to see your room key ( your 'key to the world', as your meal plan options are on it also as well as the option to charge anything to your room) at each ride before you walk into line. After the parade, we headed all the way up Main Street towards the castle before The Magic, Memories, and You show started at 9:45. This was AMAZING!

I don't know how they do this. Ok, I'm sure it's just projected onto the castle, but it is amazing.They also have pictures that the park has taken all day showing during the show. So, you might see yourself on the castle--amazing! Then at 10:00 were the fireworks. After the fireworks we had a

much needed diaper change and bathroom break. We had about 3.5 hours to play in the park. On Sunday night I figured we would try to ride what might be the busiest during the daytime, but I had no clue we would be able to walk right up and right EVERYTHING that was open with no wait. Once again,AMAZING! We started in Tomorrowland and finally stood Landon up to a height thingy. I was disappointed that we wasn't up to the 40" I was hoping--even with his new shoes on ;) So we rode Buzz Lightyear & then got on the last ride of the Carousel of progress ( for old time's sake) . Landon got off the Carousel and told us it wasn't fun, and he didn't like that one ;) The park wasn't closed yet, so we skipped the space orbiter because there was a small line. We figured we would just hit up Fantasyland and then catch up on Frontier & Adventure Land in the morning. Landon got to ride the teacups ( 2 times) , Dumbo, Peter Pan, It's a Small World, Goofy's Barnstormer ( 3 times!), and then I think we headed back home to bed.

The new Dumbo is so pretty! I can't wait for the rest of the new rides!

When we finally got back to the hotel around 2:30, put the stroller back together after having to hold it closed on the bus, both kids were OUT!

We had nowhere to be on Monday morning. We had lunch scheduled at the Crystal Palace at 2:30, so we planned on waking up at no specific time and heading back to Magic Kingdom.

Here is a video from the week, and I'll write more about the rest of the week during the next few days.

Lucy & life & losing our lunch

15 months old!

Yes, sweet Lucy is 15 months old today, March 13th. She goes for her well visit tomorrow. We still miss our Dr. in Nashville A LOT! It's hard to replace someone who has been there with you from day 1 of your first child,through the scary ( he came in right after my seizure & checked on us both daily) through surgery(Landon's tumor), and through the joyous times of both kids. He knew us, and he seemed to truly care about us and our family.But we are making do ;) Everything seems to be moving along with Lucy. We will be asking about some tremors she still has, and seeing if she recommends a neurologist. We discussed it one time when she was also staring off, and the thought was that if it was seizures that she'd outgrow them. The OT suggessted we just ask again.   Even though she is 15 months old, she will be 13 months ( adjusted) on the 22nd. We will keep up the adjusted/corrected age thing until she hits all of her milestones or until she turns 2.Those first 10 1/2 weeks that she was out of my belly don't count ( I have to remind myself of this all the time). That was time for her to continue to develop and grow and get fat. We were just blessed to be able to experience it first hand ;) Have YOU ever seen a baby with 1 nipple, and see it develop outside of a womb? ;) 

I think she actually REALIZED that she was waving today, and why she was doing it. She waved at 2 ladies as we were leaving the Y tonight, and just kept waving, and kept staring at her hand. She was in awe of herself. Hopefully soon we will have more of these moments! We also need to her to be able to express ANYTHING to us. There still isn't any pointing to her cup or paci or toy when she wants it. We have more jibber jabber, but it's just jibber jabber.We KNOW when she wants to eat, but I'm not sure anyone else would know that eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee and throwing a fit means she wants food NOW. And this is just about 24/7. MISS PIGGY. We sometimes have a mama, and have dada A LOT, but they are still not to call one of us or even to point towards us as a recognition. She is mimicking some sounds, and there are some sounds we have never heard from her. She clicks her tongue all day if you do, but if I look at her for hours and say MAMA, she just moves her lips open and closed :/ She doesn't kiss, or even lick when you ask for a kiss. If you ask her to give you her baby or ball or paci, she doesn't understand. She most definitely doesn't understand 'No'--which is really frustrating =) Landon fully understood that by crawling age, I believe. I think she recognizes the voice change when we use a stern voice, and she smiles and continues =) I'm also not sure she even knows her name is Lucy at this point.

But she is AMAZING. And she looks like a hillbilly with her crazy croocked teeth up top! She has 4 up top, wth massive gaps and facing crazy ways. And she has the two center bottom teeth, and a molar that popped through this week. I need to start her braces fund now!

Elyssa & Landon did pass the stomach bug onto me. Thankfully I got my 8 miles run on Saturday ( so proud of doing it all by myself and finishing after dark!), then I showered and spend the next 36 hours in bed. I didn't get to go help Sunday night like I had planned, nor did we get everything done that we had planned. I've eaten about 2 real meals since then, and I still feel pretty gross. Landon still doesn't seem all the way back either. I just still feel like I need to lay still. Unfortunaltey, I got to bed after 2 am this morning, and had to get up around 6 to take Luke to the aiport. Then I had to go get my review at work, and attempted to work out since the kids were already in Y world. I was NOT able to run at all ( after taking yesterday off too), but got about 35 minutes of good cardio and some weights in. We came home & ate a little bit . FINALLY I was able to lay down for about an hour before one of the kids was up, and it was time to head back up to the Y for me to teach for 2 hours. Now I feel gross again from eating, but am so glad Tuesday is over! I'm hoping this sickness won't get me too far off track from my training for the half marathon. I've got 6.5 weeks left!

2 more full days, and then I am off to join Luke in Vegas! I am so ready to lay out Friday! It seems it will be hotter here Satuday & Sunday though. We're praying Lucy doesn't catch this bug, and neither does my sister. She watched Landon the 1st time we left him, and she caught it while we were gone. We had all just had it. I'm hoping Luke doesn't get it on his trip either! And I'm really hoping I don't get it again.......because Landon got sick again over the weekend with me! I've been up far too long, and have a little boy laying next to me who cried and cried and cried at bed time. hysterically. I finally gave in when he came in our room to use the bathroom. He is finally asleep and is about to be transferred to his bed so I can get some sleep. Good night!

Knee deep in the water somewhere. . .

Got the blue sky breeze blowin' wind thru my hair

Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair

Sunrise there's a fire in the sky

Never been so  happy

Never been so high

and I think I might have found my own piece of paradise

I took the kids back to Orlando ( 3rd trip since the 1st week in May) last week. I actually rode along with my parents and niece. We had a great time with family eating, going to the beach, playing with cousins, swimming in some pools,and just being away! My kids travel great, I think. We have to stop every few hours to feed Lucy, but it gives Landon a chance to get out and run around, milk an enormous fake cow,play checkers at cracker barrel, look at gators at a rest area, watch a kid have a seizure in the play place at chick fil a, get peach ice cream at an orchard-- you know the normal road trip things ;)

After 3 trips to Florida, an Atlanta trip to watch my cousin play basketball, and a few trips to Louisville or the farm, we are done for the summer. Well, except back to Louisville this weekend for a HS reunion.

Mind on a permanent vacation

The ocean is my only medication

Wishing my condition ain't never gonna go away

Labor day weekend =)

This weekend was spent away from Luke because he had to work. And yes, retail stores are open on Labor Day, so he worked Monday too. But, it's alright because tomorrow and Thursday when everyone is getting ready for work, he will be sleeping in, and we will enjoy family time for 2 days!

We headed to Louisville Friday afternoon, so we could head to the UL UK game Saturday with the family. No, Louisville didn't win. But it was actually a great game to watch, and there were a lot of improvements from the hole Krapthorpe left the program in. It will be a long season, and a while to rebuild, but it definitely looked better in the 2nd half!

I'm not quite sure how it's possible to sleep through half of a college football game! But this is how Landon spent his first college game--out of the womb. This game 2 years ago, Landon was in my belly at about 6 months!

After the game, we headed down to the farm. We swam at the swimming area at the lake Sunday after church, ate lunch, laid out, napped, and headed back to swim at some one's house off their docks in the evening. Sunday was great. Monday morning we ate breakfast, hung out in the front yard while Elyssa and Landon played in the sprinkler and splash pad. We headed back to the dock to swim for a few hours. Landon had a great time, but after a while started yelling and crying BYE BYE, so we headed back to eat lunch, pack, and head home.

Vacation

We left early Sunday morning to head to Panama City Beach. Landon and Elyssa rode with my parents, we figured they'd sleep for a few hours. But they were awake before 5 AM, and didn't fall asleep at all! Luke, Amanda, and I rode together in the Nitro. We wanted to get there in enough time to lay out and swim and enjoy the beach on Sunday, but we were all starved and went to Panera as soon as we got there. We did enjoy the pool and beach a little that day, but it was getting stormy. We stayed in a 3 bedroom 3 bath condo where we have stayed the last few times we have vacationed there. My parents had a large bedroom with a large window facing the ocean, and Luke and I had a smaller bedroom facing the street--but it had a large closet for Landon's pack n play! We ended up with a lock-out, so Amanda and Elyssa got the separate room with a balcony as well. Elyssa got her own pull out couch bed, so Amanda got her own King bed.
My favorite part of vacation has to be sleeping in a comfy, king bed. Everyone says how they can't wait to sleep in their own bed. BUT NOT ME! I never want to leave, and did shed some tears this time when pulling out.
The only negative about this trip was the june grass. It smelled like rotten corn, and was pretty gross when you got a big whiff. Evident ally it just came the few days before we got there, and as we were leaving it was getting pretty clear. It didn't stop us ( everyone but Luke) from going out and swimming in the beautiful Ocean. You only had to walk a few steps through it before it was crystal clear. I even found some spots where you could walk through none. Landon loved swimming in the ocean with his arm floaties.

This was Landon's 3rd time at this condo, and he really enjoyed the pool the most. He found a new favorite part of it: the shower!

We stayed until Friday morning, and Amanda flew out Thursday morning. We planned on checking out Friday morning, then spending a few hours at the pool. Of course, it was rainy and stormy Friday morning. About the time we needed to head out, it got sunny and beautiful.
We made one quick stop for lunch at Pineapple Willy's to enjoy the sunshine and beach for a few minutes, and get one more picture before we left.

Mini-Vaca

We had a wonderful long weekend trip to the beach! It was very relaxing, even with Landon. Luke let me get a lot of laying out time to get a break from my 'job' since we took it with us. And since he takes a 3 hour nap ( and it was longer from being SO worn out while we were there), Luke got to sneek in a nap each day too. On Sunday afternoon we both layed out, read, slept, and relaxed outside by the pool while Landon napped. We were on the 4th floor ( pool level), so we could lay right by our patio.I'll add a few pictures and 2 videos, but have a lot on facebook.

Daddy and his sweet little boy!

Landon and his Mommy on the beach.Sharing some superman icecream. He loved the water, and playing with his Daddy all day.