The McIntyre Zoo

Two Months in Pictures

2012-12-14T17:37:00.000-06:00

So I haven't been great about keeping things updated. At least I've been taking the pictures! So here's a quick look at what we've been up to since October.

Sleeping and looking cute.

Practicing our big brother skills.

Growing.

Meeting older cousins.

Meeting more cousins!

Wearing big brother's Bug shirt. This is the one that gave Bug his nickname.

Counting chins.

Fighting green pigs.

Brother snuggles.

Having an "I don't want to go to school" day.

More snuggles.

Cheering for our team!

Taking family pictures.

Playing.

Being silly.

Ice cream dates with Momma.

First Halloweens.

Pumpkin decorating.

Fighting more green pigs.

Silliness.

We voted!

Woke up "crabby."

Made the same face as Daddy.

Grew some more.

Got toothpaste kisses from big brother.

Chilli'n

Practiced our smiles.

Had a Kindergarten Thanksgiving feast.

Fought the Swaddle Wars. Had to buy a baby straight jacket.

Dressed Mousey up as THE Mouse.

Discovered he hates hats.

Wore big brother's first Thanksgiving outfit.

Happy Thanksgiving from these turkeys!

Updated our stockings.

Made a Big Al gingerbread man.

Looked handsome.

Got dedicated at church.

Mousey is Here!!!

2012-10-15T16:03:00.002-05:00

I'm so proud of myself! My baby is six-days-old and I'm finally blogging about it. Especially since I've not been good about blogging lately. A big part of that is due to the sheer pain and exhaustion that filled the last trimester. I couldn't get comfortable or stay awake long enough to get a post up.

Several months ago we scheduled my c-section, but never really dreamed I'd make it that far. Low and behold we headed off to the hospital at 4:45 the morning of October 9th. Not because I was in labor, but because I had made it to 39.6 weeks and c-section day. My doctor had encouraged a c-section, due to Bug's shoulder dystocia when he was born. After the drama surrounding Bug's birth, it was a relatively easy decision to make.

Or at least six-years-ago. On the morning of surgery I was wondering what I had gotten myself into and was incredibly nervous. I kept looking at the clock in prep, telling myself in "x number hours/minutes" we'd have a baby. Finally it was go time and they wheeled me to the OR.

I have to say, it was so easy. We pulled into the OR at 7:34 and at 7:54 I heard the very lusty cries of my youngest son. Since I hadn't heard those at Bug's birth, it was all I really wanted this time around. I looked at Nathan and we both started bawling. Somewhere in this time frame, I heard my doctor say "Wow, he's big!" She had asked me earlier how big I thought he'd be and I said 9lbs 2oz. At my 32 weeks ultrasound the estimated he was 5lbs and at my 36 week they said 7. Both times the cautioned me that that late in the game it could be off up to a pound either way.

On our way to the hospital at 4:45AM.

Welcome to the world, ~~Mousey~~ Colin!

Momma finally meeting her miracle.

The nurses took him over to the warmer and asked Nathan if he wanted to cut the cord. I was really shocked when he said "why not!" and did it. He hadn't planned to with B, but then that opportunity was taken away. Nathan swore he was content not to do it this time, but I guess in the moment he decided it was worth it. They got C all swaddled up and then I got to see him again. (They had held him over the curtain as soon as he was born for me to see) I finally got to gaze on his face and tell him how much I loved him. I've been waiting so long to tell him that.

My chubby man.

Nathan got to carry him down to the nursery while they stitched me up. Just before they took me to recovery, my doctor had the nurse call down and see how big he was. The nursery said he was 7lbs 6 oz and the doctor and nurses kept exclaiming they were wrong, that their scale was wrong. At one point my doctor said "are they sure it was the McIntyre baby?" About that time the phone rang and I heard the nurse say "we thought so." The nursery called back to say he wasn't 7lbs 6oz, but 10lbs 6oz! No wonder my back hurt so badly!!! His official stats are 10lbs 6oz, 22 inches long.

Big brother meeting little brother.

My sister picked Bug up from school and brought him to the hospital. His face when he walked in the room was magical. Absolutely all that I could imagine or dream. Bug is completely enamored by his baby brother and loves to hold him. Before he left for school today he had to sneak into our room where C was sleeping and tell him good-bye.

So proud to finally be a big brother.

Sweet feet

Daddy and his youngest

My "birth experience" and hospital stay was night and day different than the first time around. C stayed in the nursery at night, except when they brought him to me to nurse. He loves to snuggle and especially loves to be held by his momma. He sometimes will throw a fit if anyone but me tries to comfort him. My momma-ego loves every bit of it. My favorite part was that we all got to go home at the same time! No one was left behind and we were never even close to landing in the NICU.

Big brother sneaking in a kiss.

Bright eyes

Squishy face

Can't believe I got a picture of that!

Friday, October 12 - Ready to go home!!!

First nap at home.

I know I'm partial, but he may be the easiest newborn. Ever. He sleeps in 4 and 5 hour stretches at night and goes down easily. We were only up once last night! The biggest problem is adjusting to being a mom of 2 and trying to meet both of their needs. While B is super independent, he still wants cuddles and attention and sometimes its tricky. I'm just glad he adores his baby brother and wants to help me with him.

Big Brothers Class

2012-07-30T15:10:00.000-05:00

After my 28 week (eek!) appointment on the 19th, Bug and I went over to the hospital for the Big Brothers and Sisters To Be class. On the way over he asked me why he needed to go, since he already knew everything about babies. When I asked him what he knew, he told me that babies "Poop and cry, poop and cry. Oh, and eat and sleep." Fair point, little dude, fair point.

There were four kids in the class, all about Bug's age. In true Bug form, he asked a million questions and had everyone cracking up. Seriously, I know I'm partial, but my kid is a riot. Our first stop was the lobby of the hospital, where the nurse teaching the class read them a story about becoming a sibling. After that we went up to the nursery where they got to see a fresh-from-the-mommy newborn baby girl. Bug asked a ton of questions about her and thought it was hysterical when they used vaseline to put a bow in her hair. He didn't even comment about her obvious cone-head.

Listening to the story.

After window-shopping at the nursery, we headed over to the post-partum rooms so the kids could see where mom would be staying. The rooms in the new hospital are much nicer than when Bug was born, so at least one of us was super excited to see them. I mean, seriously, how awesome are his-and-hers-TVs?

We went downstairs and watched a video about becoming and older sibling and the kids got to practice holding babies. He was so proud of himself and all the way home told me all the ways he's going to help me when Mousey gets here.

Practicing.

3rd Trimester Already?

2012-07-29T15:11:00.000-05:00

Whelp, we are now officially in the third trimester. In fact, we are less than 80 days to go. Wowzahs.

I spend most days absolutely exhausted. Between the pain on the right side of my lower back and trying to fall asleep during the random dance breaks, I don't sleep that well. Thank goodness for rest time, because I usually end up crashing in bed. (My current location.) Several weeks ago the nausea finally ended (except for the occasional reoccurrence), only to be replaced with heartburn. Fun times.

I had my 28 week appointment on the 19th and everything looks great. I'm measuring 29 weeks (he keeps sneaking further ahead) Bug got to go with me again to that appointment and he loved hearing Mousey's heartbeat. I met with one of my doctor's partners and she's taking a more active stance with the MTHFR; adding extra folic acid to my daily intake and wants me to have "sneak-peek" ultrasounds at every appointment from 32 weeks on. Her reasoning was that if something didn't look right they'd go ahead and take him. It was the first time since the first trimester that I felt "high risk." I know it's not a huge deal, but it just was another reminder that things are different now than with Bug.

Just after my appointment, I got a call from the lady in the office to schedule my c-section. We sort of have a date, but have to wait for my doctor to approve it. It was so weird to go from "we might have to take him early" and scheduling a c-section for 39 weeks. Added to that weird feeling was getting pre-registered at the hospital. All in all, I was reminded that we are indeed in the third trimester and Mousey's arrival is just around the corner.

Dinosaur Field Book

2012-07-28T14:58:00.000-05:00

Lately Bug's been obsessed with dinosaurs. Obsessed. A few weeks ago he sat down and used his art notebook to draw a Dinosaur Field Book. A few days later he decided he needed to label it. Some names we sounded out, some names he found and copied in his dinosaur books.

Diligently working.

Field Book.

Velociraptor

Brachiosaurus

Triceratops

The End.
Stegosaurus

Ultrasound Numero Dos

2012-07-26T14:27:00.000-05:00

In June I had to have a follow-up ultrasound, since someone was being stubborn the first time around. Everything looked fabulous and big brother got to go with me this time. He thought it was amazing to see his baby brother and was absolutely giddy. Here are a few of the snapshots:

Nursery Progress

2012-07-25T09:09:00.000-05:00

Here are a few snapshots of our nursery progress:

Demo-ing the desk. Someone had some fun with this project.

Big brother helping paint the walls from tan to grey.

Walls painted. Also a good "before" of the dresser. I found it at Goodwill on half-price Saturday for $25!

Dresser after some paint. I couldn't find handles to fit (and the hardware had been stripped off of it), so I ended up getting more knobs like the ones on the top drawers. This will also be the changing table.

Curtains, chair, and crib. The glider was a honey wood with tan cushions (leftover from B's nursery.) A coat of paint and a cushion makeover and we are ready to go.

Hockey Camp

2012-07-24T09:04:00.000-05:00

June ended up being quite the busy month, full of all sorts of adventures. Not only did we learn about butterflies, we learned about hockey. The Predators, Nashville's NHL hockey team, offered a free summer program called G.O.A.L. (Get Out and Learn.) Bug loves watching the Preds on TV and was super excited to learn how to play. Too bad the first step was learning how to skate....

Week One

Ready to get on the ice for the first time.

First time on the ice. (He's the one at the door.)

Getting help from a coach.

Group pep talk at the end of class. He spent most of class crawling on the ice or getting pulled by a coach.

Going for a stroll....

He's up! (lasted for about 4 seconds.)

And he's back down.

Week Two

Week Two could only be classified as a disaster. Some of the hockey "magic" was gone and all that was left was the frustration of not being able to skate. Bless his heart, he tried so hard but just kept falling. About halfway through he was sitting on the ice, crying. My momma heart broke as I watched that, knowing I couldn't really do anything. After a pep talk from Daddy, he did try a little harder. We realized that he'd never been on any type of skates before, so on the way home we picked up the early birthday present of roller blades.

* I added yellow tape to his helmet this week, which made finding him so much easier!

What would be normal for this week: crawling everywhere.

Defeated.

Help from a coach.

It's hard to score a goal on your knees.

Pep talk from Daddy.

Week Three

What a difference a week makes! We spent the week practicing skating and it made a huge difference. By the end of the time on the ice, he was shuffling everywhere. As badly as I hurt for him the week before, I was cheering loudly and dancing for him this week.

Blurry family photo op.

He's standing!!!

Still standing!

Proud great-grandpa. His Father's Day gift was watching Bug skate for the first time.

Actually skating. With a puck. Towards the goal!

Success!

Week Four

Ready to go!

Momma got to help him get on the ice this week.

Gnash!!!!

Giving Gnash a high five.

Getting Gnash's autograph!

Overall it was a great experience! I'm so glad that he's learned that if you keep working, you can learn a new skill. This may have been one of the biggest challenges he faced, but he also kept working and learned something new. I couldn't be more proud of my sweet boy.

Pinky, Michael, CiCi, Ned and Nathan

2012-07-23T12:28:00.002-05:00

Sometime this spring I ran across a Butterfly Garden on clearance at Walmart. Bug has been obsessed with the life cycle of a butterfly for months and thought it would be a fun summer project. I finally got on the ball and ordered our caterpillars and they arrived in June.

You can only imagine the excitement in our house when this box arrived.

I have to say, I was pretty impressed by our caterpillars. They were self-sufficient and easy. Just leave them out of direct sunlight and enjoy. Bug decided they needed names and proceeded to name them. Even thought they were identical to me, he knew exactly who was Pinky, Michael, CiCi, Ned, and Nathan. Around Father's Day they decided to attach themselves to the top of the cup and it was showtime. (For the first 12 or so hours of their upside down life they looked more like zombie caterpillars than chrysalides.)

Once the crew had officially gone into what Bug referred to as "chrysalis mode," we transferred them to the Butterfly Garden and awaited their emergence. Every day they got a little darker and just before they emerged, you could actually see the butterflies in there.

Waiting on butterflies is a pretty agonizing experience for a five year old male.

I could tell before I went to bed the next week that we were getting close. Nathan laughed at me because I was out at 11pm cutting some of our lantana to put in the garden, just in case. We were all a tad disappointed when we woke up the next morning to 5 intact chrysalides. We didn't have too long to wait, because during breakfast Bug and I looked over and we had two butterflies!

It took another day or so for all 5 to get out, but it was such a fun experience. We must have had stealth caterpillars, since we never saw any of them emerge. We kept them in the garden for observation for a few days, then released them onto the lantana plants outside. As much as Bug cried, when he saw how happily they were flying he knew that it was the thing to do. Two of them hung around for a day or two. While it was a hassle to keep them "fed" 3 times a day, it was such a fun experience. I'd say that I learned almost as much as Bug.

Mousey's A....

2012-05-29T14:03:00.000-05:00

BOY!!!

We went on May 23rd for my 20 week ultrasound. I fully expected that I would be terrified, but I wasn't. HE'd been moving so much that I knew he was still there. It was a great surprise that our tech from my 7 week ultrasound was the tech for this ultrasound. She normally works downstairs at the high risk practice, but was filling in for someone at my doctor's office. She was so sweet and did a great job alleviating my fears the first time around (found his heart first and went from there), that I knew she'd treat me well this time. She definitely didn't disappoint.

We got in and got situated and there he was. Immediately we saw his sweet face and I just grinned; not the ugly cry I expected. We got to see all arms and legs and various organs, even though he wasn't a fan of the whole process. And by not a fan, I mean he kept trying to punch and kick the ultrasound thingy. He also kept hiding his face, so the profile/face pictures she could get were limited. Heart was beating at a beautiful 139 bpm and we saw all four chambers. Several times during the ultrasound they had to roll me around like a beach ball to get better shots. They even sent me to the bathroom and to walk around. Stubborn thing did not want to play. Then we got the "money shot" that confirmed what Nathan swore about 5 minutes into the ultrasound he saw. Our little Mousey is a boy. Since he didn't fully cooperate with their checklist (2 things they couldn't see), I have a follow up ultrasound at my next appointment. My doctor wasn't worried a bit and said from what she saw everything looked great. She also said it was incredibly normal, and when I mentioned it to my sister she reminded me it took two ultrasounds with Maddles and three with the twins.

We didn't tell anyone what Mousey was until we told Bug first. We did some teasing on Facebook and I sent a couple texts/emails to say that things looked good, but Bug was the first to know. Here is the link to the video of Bug finding out: Bug Gets Big News.

After dinner we stopped by Toys R Us and picked out a stuffed animal for him. Bug also found a dragon that he wanted to buy, so we went back on Saturday and he used his own money to buy it for his baby brother. So incredibly sweet.

Yesterday afternoon my sweet husband kicked me out of the house to go have some "me time." It was the first time that I got to go to Target and look at the baby stuff and know what I was having. I ended up picking up a few things, just to have that normal part of pregnancy. It was a pretty amazing feeling.

Yup, I'm a Really Bad Blogger

2012-05-29T13:25:00.001-05:00

I know. I'm a terrible blogger. Or at least I have been lately. Not that I think of myself as a "blogger," but you get the point. As the owner of a blog, I've done a terrible job keeping it updated. There's so much going on, that somehow this is something that easily falls by the wayside. Instead of doing a million updates to get caught up, I'm just doing one. Mainly because it was much easier to load all the pictures at one time. But at least we'll sort of be caught up. Or until tomorrow....

March 28 - Spring Program and Trike Parade at Little School. Bug's very last one.

Dynamic Duo's Last Trike Parade

April 6 - Miss Maddles' 5th Birthday Party

Cake Faces

April 7 - Church Easter Egg Hunt
Uncle Mac and Sassafras G going for a stroll.

The McIntyres

What a waste of a Dove chocolate egg.

April 8 - Easter

13 1/2 weeks! Felt Mousey for the first time later that afternoon.

Getting ready to hunt eggs.

And they're off!

Guess who found the golden egg? And guess who was disappointed they didn't?

April 21 - Bug lost his first tooth while eating dinner! He was so excited to leave it for the Tooth Fairy.

April 23 - Photo shoot for graduation. His chosen career? Football coach at the University of Alabama.

April 25 - With my favorite muffin at Muffins with Mom.

May 5 - We went to the zoo... and found dinosaurs!

May 8 - The Dynamic Duo had a graduation party with their preschool friends.

And got to ride the bus at Kindergarten Sneak Peak.

May 9th - Bug with Ms. Angela, Ms. Jaime, and Ms. Trish on the last day of preschool.

Last time picking them up as preschoolers!

Bug's Graduation Portrait

May 11 - Preschool Graduation!

With my favorite graduate. Can't believe he's so big.

Look at that handsome face!

Dynamic Duo of Graduates

May 12 - Bug and Uncle Thad aka "The Graduators"

May 13 - Mother's Day with my sweet boy.

May 28 - 2nd lost tooth (the night before) and summer buzz cut.

And we're mostly caught up! We did find out last week what Mousey is, but that's a whole 'nother post!

The Journey

2012-04-26T17:16:00.001-05:00

It's National Infertility Awareness Week. Infertility and miscarriage have become something very close to my heart. I didn't realize how closely the two were tied until suddenly I knew all to well. For awhile I was in denial; that I fell under the umbrella of infertility. I didn't need medicines or interventions to get pregnant. Getting pregnant didn't seem to be the problem; it was the staying pregnant part that turned out to be a challenge. Then I did some more research and discovered that infertility isn't just the inability to get pregnant, it's also the inability to stay pregnant.

If I have learned anything over the last 20 months, it is that everyone's journey through infertility is different. Whether it's through multiple miscarriages or medical intervention, our hurts are all different. They are also the same. That overwhelming desire to hold your longed for little one in your arms. So here is my journey. It's not finished yet: still 24 or so more weeks to go. I will warn you, it's going to be long. You can't compound almost 2 years of journey and heartache into a few simple paragraphs. At times it may be more information than you really wanted to know. But it's my story and it's time to share all of it.

In the fall of 2009, Nathan and I started discussing when we would like another kiddo. Bug was 3 and we had always talked about a 4 year age gap. I can't remember the restaurant we were at, but I remember sitting at a booth when I said the words that would haunt me for many months. Years. I wanted to wait another year, because I was so close to testing for my first degree black belt and I wanted to do that first. I would have to wait at least a year before I could test for second degree and that seemed like a good time to take a break and have a baby. I wanted another August baby, so we set our sights on the fall of 2010.

Even though I later kicked myself over and over for putting something so trivial as a martial arts goal over my family, in hindsight is was probably a blessing. The summer of 2010 was a terrible summer, with Nathan's dad suddenly becoming ill. One of the worst days you can imagine in your family is one two family members have to be resuscitated and are in the CCU 2 doors down from each other. We spent weeks going back and forth to Alabama. If I had been pregnant, I would not have been able to do the things I needed to do that June. I would not have been able to focus on the hurt and confusion my son and husband were going through. If I had my August baby that summer, I would have been delivering around the time Nathan's grandfather was having surgery to repair the problems that landed him in the CCU. Or at least this is what I told myself over and over again a year later.

We survived the summer of 2010 and I got my black belt. We decided the time was right and I went off birth control in August. It seems so long ago when I type it out. I guess I really hadn't thought of truly how long it's been. We went on a cruise in early October and it was a much needed recovery period from the summer. I also knew the "timing" would be right and thought how fun it would be to bring a souvenir home. So much so that I let my normal monthly rise in progesterone convince me that I was having early pregnancy symptoms. I was convinced and took a test early. My mom was in town and I thought it would be so fun to tell her to her face. No dice. That first month I took it reasonably well. I mean, it was just one month. How long could it take?

Wash rinse repeat for several months. Soon I was reading books on the best way to get pregnant and was getting up every morning at 5 to take my temperature so I could chart it. Let's not forget the ovulation predictor kits. So romantic, I assure you. Finally in the middle of January I got that beautiful faint positive on a home pregnancy test. A week later I woke up bleeding. It was a Saturday, so I ended up calling the emergency line at my doctor's office. The on-call doctor told me to stay in bed all day and relax. If the bleeding got worse, go to the ER. An hour later I couldn't handle it anymore and my friend Megan took me to the ER. God bless her for dropping everything for me, because I absolutely refused to let Nathan take me. In the waiting room the cramping started and I knew then that I was really losing my baby. I had just gotten used to the idea and it was getting taken away. They did the blood draws and while I was waiting for them to take me for an ultrasound, I had to go to the bathroom. I didn't realize until I had already flushed that I had passed what was most likely the baby. You don't even want to know the horror that went through my head for weeks at the thought that I flushed my baby like a discarded goldfish. They did the ultrasound anyway, but warned me as early as I was that we would have a hard time seeing anything. The proof, however, was in my blood work. HCG levels are the make it or break it of early pregnancy indicators. My levels came back at a 2. It takes a 6 to get a positive on the most sensitive of pregnancy tests. I had gotten a positive on a digital, which reads at 25. My baby was now angel and I went home to figure out how to grieve my baby and the loss of my naiveté.

Followed up with my doctor that week. By that point my HCG levels were zero. My doctor advised us to wait a normal cycle to let me heal physically and emotionally. At the time it was so hard to wait one more month. I had waited what had seemed like an eternity (now that seems so foolish) and we were going to waste another month? I knew my doctor was right and set out to survive the month and look on to the next. In hindsight I wish it had all worked out that way, because my time to grieve was so incredibly short. That old adage of "it only takes one time" is also true. In our case, in only took one time to forget that we weren't supposed to be trying. I was still charting, to see if my body was getting back on track and when I ovulated 3 days later, I started panicking. By Valentine's Day I just knew that I was pregnant. I decided that I would go ahead and take a test, thinking it would be a fun day to tell Nathan if it was true. I have to admit, I had a blast taking Bug and the nieces and nephew to buy a pregnancy test. It was the one and only time that I've claimed all 4 as mine, just to see people's reactions. The twins were just shy of a year old and boy did I get some looks. It. Was. Awesome. As soon as I got everyone down for nap, I took the test and low and behold it was positive. I started panicking. The couldn't breathe, freak out panic. I called my sister, hysterical. She calmed me down and I then when and wrapped the test up for Nathan as a Valentine's gift. He was shocked and thrilled and his reaction calmed me down even more. And so began the worst 2 months of my life.

The next day I went in for the first of 3 blood draws. I had entered a new land: a monitored pregnancy. With Bug it was go to doctor's office, pee in a cup to confirm pregnancy, come back at 10 weeks. Now I had blood draws and lowish progesterone, so I got put on suppliments. I was actually excited about that, because it felt like something proactive I could do. At 7 weeks we went in for an ultrasound, to date the pregnancy. I kept telling them I knew when I ovulated and there was only one contender for the "when," so why did we have to date anything? That's when we got the first pieces of bad news and the cracks began to appear. Instead of dating at 7.1 weeks, I dated 8 days off at exactly 6 weeks. Yes, there can be a few days discrepancy, but not 8. The other concerning news was that the heart rate was low. The nurse practitioner scheduled me for another ultrasound in a week, for my "peace of mind." The news wasn't any better the 2nd time around. Baby had grown, but the heart rate hadn't done what it was supposed to. The statistics I found put us at 50% chance of losing the baby.

The next weeks were agony. Was I getting bigger? Were my symptoms going away? I put scripture up all around the house and tried to focus on them every day. But in the back of my mind it was there: Why is God taking my miracle away from me? At 10 weeks I had one small amount of pink spotting. I tried to convince myself it was okay and it wasn't red, the kind they tell you is "bad." (I will go on record to say no spotting is comforting, even if it's not "bad.") It was one show only by the next day I thought maybe it was just a fluke. We were at a birthday party the next night and I went to the restroom and there was more of the ominous spotting. I was crying before I even made it back to the table with our friends. Nathan saw me and knew. He tried to convince me to go to the ER but I didn't want the deja vu. It was all I could do to limit my crying to the occasional tear rolling down my cheek. I felt so guilty for ruining our friend's birthday gathering and so alone at the same time. I was still trying to hold it together when our taekwondo instructor came and sat down in front of me. The look of concern on his face about sent me over the edge into "ugly cry," but his words for sure did. He told me to go on to the ER. That I needed an answer one way or another. Nathan looked at me and said "he's right." So we went. And I repeated the same tests from January. Except this time it wasn't the blood work that gave us the news, it was the ultrasound. Our baby had died. We followed up with my doctor 3 days later. It was the appointment where we were supposed to hear the heartbeat. Instead we got another ultrasound and went over options with my doctor. I refused the D&C, my mind still caught on flushing my first baby. I wanted this baby to bury. So we went with a medicine that would force my body to recognize the miscarriage. It took 2 weeks and 2 rounds of medicine, but on April 15th, 2011 I was finally able to bury my baby. I wrapped it a piece of the pajamas from my trip to the ER in January. I felt like I got to bury both of my babies that way.

We weren't even back to square one. We were past square one. I had to go weekly for blood draws to watch my HCG levels. This was critical since I had chosen to let my body pass the baby. If my levels didn't go down, it could signal that my body hadn't done it's job. Thankfully my levels did go down, but it took 5 months. 5 months of weekly blood draws for someone who is terrified of needles. My doctor had offered that we could do some blood work to see if we could find an "easy answer." (those don't exist, by the way) I couldn't do the blood work until my levels were down. Finally in September they were down and in early October I was back in the lab. 27 vials of blood later, I hoped we would have some kind of answer.

A week later my doctor's nurse called me with the results and said everything was normal. I won't lie, I was a little dissappointed. I didn't want something wrong, I just wanted an answer. 27 vials and there was nothing? So with some fear and trepidation on my part, we were back in the saddle again. Then we got a call back from the doctor's office, saying one stray test result had come in and it was abnormal. They were sending me to a high risk specialist. I freaked, because at this point I was in the most agonizing part of trying to concieve: the dreaded two week wait. The wait that either ends in a positive pregnancy test or the, um, other thing. Another month of negative pregnancy tests, but this time there was a sigh of relief. And the reminder that maybe the miscarriages really were my fault. I'd spent so long trying to push that fear away, and here it was staring me in the face. Was this my punishment for wanting to test for my black belt? Now I was in a different kind of two week wait: waiting for the appointment with the specialist. This bearer of bad news that was going to tell me exactly how screwed up my body was.

I think that was the first time a doctor has taken me into his office. He started out with this speech that was pretty much a blur. I remember grabbing Nathan's hand like it was a life belt on the Titanic. I felt like I was going down with the ship and this man was about to tell me how all of the lifeboats were gone. Then he got to the nitty gritty that I wanted (or not) to hear. The what was wrong with me part. But even then he didn't have defined answers, because for some reason the companion test was missed. (There were supposed to be 28 vials? Ack.) It was determined I have a clotting issue, but what wasn't determined is how my body was handling it. This meant there was no definitive answer if this was the cause of our "problems," but we at least have a simple fix. A baby aspirin. I asked him if I could continue to be seen by regular doctor and he agreed, feeling that I was only a moderate risk and this was within her capabilities. I left his office with the weight of the world off my shoulders. I think I saw the sun shine for the first time since January.

The next few months were a blur. We ended up going to Disney World and were there for the anniversary of the first miscarriage. Each loss had a different effect on me; the first shook me to my core and took away that naiveté. The 2nd kicked me repeatedly while I was down. Their combination sent me into depression. It didn't help that I felt betrayed by God. It took me months to work through that. Then one day in January, just before our trip to Disney, I heard the words "I am here" while tearfully asking Him why he had turned his back on me. On our trip I found this amazing sense of joy and peace. I was surrounded by the two most important men in my life. I hadn't felt that way since October of 2010. I think it's fitting that this baby came to us after I got to that point. I can't say that the peace and enjoyment are the same in this pregnancy as with Bug; I've had some hard lessons to learn.

Infertility is silent. Most people don't share. I chose to be very open from the get go, because I knew that I would need the love and support of my friends and family. Many chose a route of silence. Don't ask couples ANY questions about their family plans. It's not your business. I also learned that some of the most well-intentioned comments are the most hurtful. Especially if it is someone struggling with pain and faith. During my lowest time, "It was God's will" put the speaker perilously close to a punch in the face. Things like "this sucks, I'm so sorry" or "I don't understand, but I'm praying for you" were incredibly comforting. The worst were the people who tried to ignore it and pretend it would go away. It felt like my babies weren't worthy of being remembered. If someone struggling with infertility takes the time to be open and honest, just listen. Don't offer pearls of wisdom about something you cannot understand. They just need a friend and a hug.

Infertility sucks. Whether you are like me and have several losses and require a medication to carry a baby to term or you can't even conceive that baby. The worst part of infertility is that you feel so alone. Not just because it is so taboo, but because no one's journey is the same as yours. Yes, I can relate to the heartache with my friend who's been trying for 18 months and has had 2 failed IUI's. But I can't understand. Or the cousin who had a successful IVF that ended in miscarriage, only to do IVF again because it was the only hope (I'm proud to say she's 2 weeks behind me and now we get to share this journey together.)

Look around. You know someone with an infertility story. I would say you know a lot of people with infertility stories. Now you know mine.

Bumpathump and Other Updates

2012-03-27T12:50:00.000-05:00

Baby Update:

Last week we got to hear the most beautiful, amazing sound in the world. Mousey's heartbeat. We had seen it at the ultrasound, but to hear it was amazing. It was the longest few seconds of my life while they hunted for it, but there it was. That glorious bumpathump. Then I dissolved into a very ugly cry. There were just so many emotions when I heard it. We had gotten so close last time, but didn't hear a heartbeat. It was this giant weight that was lifted off of me. Doctor estimated the heart rate was between 160 and 170 bmp, which means it has gone up since the ultrasound, just like it was supposed to. Depending on where you read, hearing a good strong heartbeat at this point takes our risk down to between 3-5%. We started out at around 20-25%, so that in itself is pretty comforting. Tomorrow I'll be 12 weeks and can stop my prometrium. Cannot wait for that, since I'm pretty sure it's what causes my daily nap attacks about an hour after I take it.

General update and a few snapshots of life the past few weeks:

March 2 - We were under a tornado warning, so we had the kids put their bike helmets on "just in case" we had to take cover. You can tell they seemed very concerned.

March 6 - You know it's time for Piper to get a hair cut when someone decided to "decorate" his fur.

March 21 - A sweet college friend sent this adorable burp cloth in a package addressed to Baby McIntyre. Absolutely made my heart sing to open up Mousey's first package!

March 24 - Planted Bug's cucumber plants. They planted the seeds at school during V week (vegetables). He's so excited that we are going to have a garden again this year. We got off lucky, since Maddles chose beets as her vegetables.

March 27- This morning I caught him reading the Junie B. Jones book we've been reading at night. All by himself! He told me he knows what happens, but he can't tell me.

Finally, we have some sad changes in our household this past week. Nathan and I made the hard decision to rehome Zino, our super-sized golden retriever. We just didn't have the time to give him the attention he deserved. We knew it was going to get worse with the baby coming. The kids were afraid to play in the backyard unless he was tied up, which was getting harder for me to feel safe about doing. We found a young married couple that could provide him with more than we could and he just fell in love with them. They picked him up Friday night and it's definitely been weird to not see him in the back yard. But it's also been nice to have our backyard back. Bug has been able to go out and play whenever he wants and now I can even take the twins out there. We are even able to have a garden again this summer, since our past attempts have been thwarted by a large dog sleeping on the vegetables (after I put a fence up.) Overall, it's been a good thing.

I know I promised video of Bug's reaction to the baby, but I keep forgetting to upload it to either blogger or youtube. It is on my computer, so that's half the battle. We also have his spring program tomorrow, so hopefully I'll actually blog about that in the next week or so. I promise!

Beautiful Flutters

2012-02-23T21:48:00.000-06:00

I know, I know. I haven't blogged in a month or so. There's just been so much going on. Things like morning sickness and exhaustion.

Did I mention that we brought home an extra souvenir from Disney World?

We got to see our first glimpse of Mousey today. Everything looked beautiful. That sweet heart was flickering at a beautiful 142bpm. I was 7 weeks yesterday and baby measured right at 6 weeks, 6 days. My doctor opened the door to my exam room with a cheshire cat grin on her face, then gave me a huge hug. She confirmed my due date as October 10th, 2012.

God has given me such a peace this time. I had a minor freak out yesterday when I hit 7 weeks, because our last angel stopped growing at the end of 7 weeks. I was a little afraid of the ultrasound today, since that's where we got troubling news last time. The heart flutter came up quickly and the sweet tech commented about what a strong heartbeat it was. And I was reminded once again how truly amazing God is.

We told Bug tonight and his reaction was epic. Hopefully I'll get the video uploaded in a day or two.

Disney World 2012: Day Four

2012-01-20T07:49:00.000-06:00

Sunday morning was a little on the early side. Okay, a lot on the early side. Like 5:30 am on the early side! We had to be at Chef Mickey's by 7:10, so our goal was to be packed and gone from our room by 6:30. We woke Bug up at 6 to get him dressed and groggily out the door in time. I was sad to leave our room, since I knew that it was the beginning of the end. We got to Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort in plenty of time. Yet again we had a chef come out and go over our allergies, which was kind of funny since it was a buffet. I sort of know not to eat the salmon. We had just sat down with our food and started eating when characters started showing up. Character breakfasts are absolutely the way to go. Not only did we not have to wait in line to see Mickey, but he came to us! Since we were able to use this meal as part of our dining plan, it was absolutely a great perk.

Bug and Mr. Mickey Mouse

Bug and Goofy

My boys love Donald! Bug chose a small stuffed Donald and Nathan chose a Donald hat instead of mouse ears.

Minnie! She's such a lady.

Random dance break!

Pluto hugs

Pluto had to get creative to sign the autograph book.

Pluto

After Chef Mickey's we decided to head over to the Magic Kingdom. We had planned on doing Epcot again, but Bug really wanted to ride Peter Pan one more time. I wanted to hit up Space Mountain again. Nathan kind of wanted to go back to Epcot, but agreed that Magic Kingdom was the way to end our trip. I got to fulfill another random dream by getting on the monorail that runs through the middle of the Contemporary hotel. The downside to this plan was that the stroller and backpack were in the car. We literally went with the bag on my back.

We get to the Magic Kingdom and I go to pull my "Key to the World" out of the pouch on my lanyard and realize that mine is not there! The "Key" is everything: room key, dining plan card, and spending money! I had left mine at the hotel when I "paid" for breakfast with our dining plan. I sent Bug and Nathan on in the park, with plans to ride the monorail back to the hotel to grab it. I did happen to ask the cast member working the turnstiles if there was somewhere you could go if you lost your Key and she directed me to the Will Call window. I was able to cancel my old Key and get a new one in less than 3 minutes. In the crazy I lost our Photopass (which is what the Disney Photographers scan whenever they take your picture), but wasn't too worried about it since I had written the number down before we left. I also put an address label on it, so we'll see if some nice person mails it back to me.

The park opened at 9 on Saturday, but since we were resort guests we were able to get in around 8:30. This allowed us to get a great family picture in front of Cinderella Castle on the way in. We were also the very first people waiting outside of Fantasyland and ended up being the very first people on Peter Pan. Bug thought that was so cool. Okay, so did Nathan and I!

Love this picture of us!

After Peter Pan, Bug and I walked on to Snow White while waiting for Nathan to go get Fastpasses for Space Mountain. We had been told that the park would be hopping on Sunday because of MLK day and it sure was. By 10am Peter Pan had a 60 minute wait, and by 11am it was up to 90! When Bug and I got of Snow White, Nathan still wasn't back so we turned around and rode it again! As we walked back to Tomorrowland, we walked on to Winnie-the-Pooh and the teacups. Then Bug and I rode the cars while waiting on our Space Mountain fastpasses. While Nathan rode it twice, using his pass and Bug's, Bug and I went back to Fantasyland to ride It's a Small World. On our way back he wanted to take a picture with the teacup shrubs and then we saw the White Rabbit! With 2 kids in line! So by the end of our trip he had met all of the characters he wanted to meet (he said no to several as well.)

My last ride on Space Mountain was more emotional than I had planned. Part of the reason I wanted to go back to Magic Kingdom on Sunday was because it was the one year anniversary of the first miscarriage. For some reason I really wanted to ride Space Mountain as sort of a memorial. I hadn't planned on it, but I spent the first half of the ride crying (who knows what the people who watch the cameras to make sure you don't get killed thought.) I decided about halfway through that I wasn't going to let my last time on Space Mountain be ruined by tears. I was going to be thankful for that moment and the time I did have with my angel and I was going to ride it (and enjoy it) for her. So I did. I was able to scream and laugh and just live in the moment.

Shrubberies outside of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

The elusive White Rabbit!

We at lunch again at Cosmic Rays, then headed over to Adventureland. We were going to ride the Jungle Cruise, but the line was ridiculously long and no one really wanted to wait 45 minutes for fake animals. We walked through the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House instead. I don't think I've ever done it before and it was pretty cool. Since I'd never done the Country Bear Jamboree, we decided to end with that. I don't know if was because we were all so tired, but none of us enjoyed it. It was kind of a sad way to end our trip.

Good thing we caught the tail end of a parade/show! Getting confetti thrown on us as we walked down Main Street was a great way to end an amazing trip!

Swiss Family Robinson Tree House

Random parade in front of the castle.

Bug fell asleep on the way to the airport and had about a 10 minute nap. This is the kiss of death and leads to a very cranky five-year-old. He hit the end of his rope while we were waiting for Nathan to pick us up after getting our luggage. In the middle of the baggage claim I'm pretty sure my kid had a demon-possessed fit. I guess exhaustion will do that to a five-year-old. About halfway home he crashed in the car and we just put him straight to bed at 7pm. Magically, he woke up Monday morning as his normal self!

My thoughts? It was the most amazing trip as a family. I think we all had a blast and have said we aren't going to wait another 15 years to go back. Disney World really is the Happiest Place on Earth and I loved every minute of it!

Disney World 2012: Day Three

2012-01-19T08:01:00.003-06:00

Saturday morning Bug was ready to go. Too bad Momma and Daddy weren't. We had another morning of dawdling and missed most of the Extra Magic Hour for Hollywood Studios. Oopsies. This could have been disastrous, we found out later.

Again we got in the park by the skin of our teeth, before the general public was let in. We booked it to Star Tours and grabbed fast passes. At the time, the line was pretty much walk-on so we went ahead and got in line. Bug was totally enamored by the line, since it was full of Star Wars things. When he saw R2D2 and C-3PO he absolutely giggled in delight.

Guess who spotted R2D2 on top of the ship?

Blurry C-3PO

Bug looooved the ride. I thought at first he would be freaked out, since that was his first experience on a simulator. He loved jumping to hyperdrive and didn't really stop talking from the moment the ride ended. He also was super exited about the shop at the end of the ride, since he'd been saving his Disney Dollars for it. In a 15 minute time span he spent all of them and every souvenir he brought home is a combo of Disney and Star Wars. He picked out a Mickey Mouse as Luke Skywalker toy, a t-shirt that has Mickey as a Jedi with Obi-Wan and Anakin, and he got to build his own lightsaber. You can only imagine the bouncing that occurred while he was doing that.

Looking over his options.

Building his very own green lightsaber.

After the ride, I happened to ask a cast member about the Jedi Training. I am so glad I did, because we found out that you have to sign up for it and they only allow a limited number of kiddos (around 150!) do it a day. We booked it over to the sign-ups and found out there were only a couple slots left for the last two shows. I'm so glad that we asked, because we had made the assumption they just pull kiddos from the audience. His time slot was for 6:20 and he had to be back by 5:50.

After riding Star Tours a second time (with a completely different "story"), we headed off to the Toy Story ride to get fast passes. On the way we ran into Stitch and this time finally got to meet him! Bug was so excited that Stitch didn't run away again. We grabbed our fastpasses for Toy Story and realized they weren't until 5:40, so we now had all day to kill. Since Hollywood Studios has so many character encounters, we decided to spend the morning letting Bug meet some of his favorites. Magic Kingdom was very princess, but Hollywood Studios is all about Pixar. This made my five-year-old very happy. I'd say it was probably his favorite place.

Silly Stitch playing with Bug's mouse ears.

Quick stop on our way to get fastpasses for Toy Story. Of course the sun was in Bug's eyes. Note our Disney World sweatshirt collection.

First up on the character front were Mike and Sully from Monster's Inc. Bug was so excited and gave them big hugs. He giggled when I accidentally conked Mike in the head. After meeting the monsters, we met (drumroll, please) Lightning McQueen and Mater!!!! Bug was so excited he just giggled and grinned. First Star Wars and then Cars. One could say it was a banner morning for Master Bug. Just over from the Cars crew were Phineas and Ferb, two "new" favorite characters from the Disney Channel. They were a lot of fun and interacted with each other and Bug. Once again we were almost to the front of the line when the "took a break," but thankfully they were only gone about 5 minutes and Bug didn't mind waiting, since he wanted to meet them so badly. We were both a little disappointed that Agent P/Perry the Platypus wasn't there.

Hugging Mike from Monster's Inc.

Hugging Sully.

Hanging with our two favorite monsters!

Oh. My. Goodness!!! Lightning and Mater!!!

Excited to meet Phineas and Ferb.

Let's go build a roller coaster!

Post P and F, we headed over to the Little Mermaid show, not sure what to expect from it. Once again a show really blew us away. It was half live action and half puppets that acted out the major songs from the movie. Under the Sea was phenomenal and done entirely with puppets. It was done under a black light, so you couldn't see the puppeteers on stage. Once it was over, we decided to see if we could get in to our lunch reservations early, so that Nathan could head on to his appointment at a cigar shop. I had made reservations at the 50's Prime Time Diner, not really knowing what to expect. It ended up being this amazing 50's themed diner (duh) that was set up like a kitchen with TVs playing old shows. The staff treated you like you were their kids (we were instructed to call our waitress "mom") and even airplane fed an elderly gentlemen who hadn't eaten his green beans! The food was great and we were really impressed that the chef came out to talk to me about my seafood allergy, since I had noted it when making the reservation. He went over the menu with me, asked what precautions I had to take, and confirmed that what I wanted to eat would be safe. We were super impressed by that level of care and attention to a food allergy.

Waiting at the diner.

Interior of the 50's Prime Time Diner.

After lunch Nathan headed on to his appointment and Bug and I wandered over to the Great Movie Ride. He didn't really want to do it, but I told him that he was pretty much going to deal with it so that I could. I reminded him that we were going to be watching some shows for him later and that we were going to do things as a family. Once the ride got underway he loved it and even had me take a picture of John Wayne for Pa, because Pa loves John Wayne westerns. This was one of those instances where doing your research pays off, because I knew that there was a scene from the movie Alien that would be too intense for him. I told him before we got on the ride that there would be a time I would tell him to plug his ears and put his face in my lap. As soon as I told him too, he promptly did it and we avoided traumatization.

Mary Poppin's carousel horse in line for the Great Movie Ride.

Excited he got to sit next to the driver of the tram.

Mary Poppins and Burt

John Wayne

Wicked Witch arriving in a cloud of smoke.

We got off the Great Movie Ride about 30 minutes before the Pixar parade. As I was fishing in my bag for our sunglasses, I discovered mine had broken beyond repair at some point while in line or on the ride. While I had a spare pair at our hotel room, that didn't do me a whole lot of good. Thankfully there was a cart not far from the ride that had sunglasses and hats, so I found the most obnoxious pair of Mickey-eared pair I could find. I figured if I was going to spend the same amount for plain black, might as well embrace the tourist experience! Bug and I also used some dining plan snack credits to get some mousecream to eat while waiting for the parade. The upside to a 50 degree day is that your mousecream doesn't really melt that fast.

Mousetastic sunglasses!

Sharing mousecream with my boy. I was so excited to share this experience with him!

Making sure we're nice and messy before the parade.

We found a great spot for the Pixar parade and settled in with our mousecream. Bug was super excited about it, since it was going to be all of his favorite characters from the Pixar movies. When the music started I thought he was going to bounce right out of the stroller.

Pre-parade smiles.

He saw the beginning of the parade!

Here it comes!

Mrs. Incredible (aka Elastigirl) and Frozone

Hugging his Star Wars Mickey.

Mr. Incredible

A Bug's Life

Ratatouille (which we still need to see)

Ratatouille

Boooooooooo!!!!

Sully from Monster's Inc.

Mike Wazowski

Up!

Monster's Inc.

Up!

Jessie and Bullseye from Toy Story 2 and 3.

Jessie

Bullseye

Woody

Aliens, Buzz Lightyear, and Lotso

Lotso

The parade ended with Toy Story and then we raced over to the Disney Junior show. Bug loves the shows on Disney Junior and loved singing along to the different songs in the show. We got to call for the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Toodles, sing along with Handy Manny and the tools, clap to help Rocket and the Little Einsteins fly, and help Jake and the Neverland Pirates earn gold doubloons. After the Disney Junior show, we saw the Beauty and the Beast show. It was just as good as the other shows we had seen and Bug loved watching the Beast turn back into a prince.

So excited!

Saying the magic words.

Calling for Toodles.

Meeting Jake from the Neverland Pirates

We still had some time after Beauty and the Beast, so we went and met some more characters. We met Frozone and Mr. Incredible and then Winnie-the-Pooh. Mickey Mouse was there, but he didn't want to met him yet, since he knew we would be having a Character Breakfast on Sunday morning. Frozone loved playing with the pen we had tied to the autograph book. Frozone hit his eye with it, which caused lots of laughter from everyone, including the people in line, the handlers, and the Disney photographer. It earned a facepalm from Mr. Incredible!

Giving Mr. Incredible a high-five.

Frozone wearing Bug's mouse ears.

Pen meet eye.

Facepalm from Mr. Incredible.

Superheros!

Winnie-the-Pooh

It was time for a quick dinner before heading over to Jedi Training! We took advantage of getting there a few minutes early to take some pictures, then headed over to meet the other trainees. They did some Star Wars trivia while waiting and my son skunked the other kids. I'm not sure if I should be proud that he knows more than a couple 12-year-olds or embarrassed. The Jedi Training was really cute/funny/awesome. The master Jedi who trained them was really funny and did a good job interacting with them. They had practice lightsabers and learned a combination. Then the Imperial March started playing and out came Darth Vader and a couple of stormtroopers! He tried to get them to come to the Dark Side, then challenged them to see what they had learned. Bug did a great job in his "battle" and didn't turn to the Dark Side. He even earned a certificate!

Photo op

Waiting for Jedi Training to begin.

Fighting Darth Vader!

It was an epic battle! Darth Vader even said the Force was strong in Bug!

Menacing exit

The trainees. Bug is the one in the red Mickey sweatshirt in middle right.

Official certificate

After Jedi Training, we rode Star Tours for the last time. I was shocked to see that it was totally different again! The last ride was my favorite and included a trip through the Death Star. Not only that, but Bug was the chosen "spy" and Yoda talked about him, which totally made his day/trip/year. We dawdled a little too long after the ride and had to run to the other side of the park to make it to the Toy Story ride. We got there at 7:01 and they had already closed the doors. I was really upset, but Bug didn't really care. Especially when we realized they were still letting people in to meet Buzz and Woody and the line was only about 5 minutes long. In the end, meeting them was much more fun for him than the ride.

Waiting in line for Buzz and Woody.

Hanging out on Andy's Bed.

Green Army Man outside of the Toy Story ride.

Attention!

It was an amazing day! It definitely had all of Bug's favorite things.

Up next: Day Four - Character Breakfast, a Huge Mistake, and a Special Treat.

Disney World 2012: Day Two

2012-01-18T07:19:00.002-06:00

Friday did not dawn sunny and warm. In fact, by the end of the day it was 15 degrees cooler than the forecast. It was cloudy and windy, so it might as well have been 30 degrees off. This is where I discovered tactical error number three: I had not packed enough layers. I'd only thrown in light jackets for Bug and I. We knew it was going to be a long, miserable day when we got on the tram from the parking lot to the monorail and we shivered the whole time. Since it was supposed to be in the upper 60's, poor Nathan had worn a t-shirt and shorts.

Our mission for Day Two was to hit Tomorrowland, finishing up the Magic Kingdom. We popped over to Space Mountain first to grab fastpasses, then headed on over to the People Mover. On our way we saw Stitch and Bug just had to meet him. We'd been in a line a couple minutes when we found out that Stitch was leaving and his handler told us he didn't know if he'd be coming back to the same spot or not. This was our second failed attempt at a character signature and Bug was starting to get frustrated. The first one (the White Rabbit) wasn't one he really cared about, but Stitch he did. We happened to look up and see Buzz Lightyear with very little line and we literally ran for him. We got there at the same time as a pair of princesses, whose father graciously let us go first. I guess he figured Buzz was higher up on our priority list than theirs. Thankfully Buzz didn't leave and Bug was finally able to get his first "signature" in his book.

Meeting Buzz Lightyear.

He was so excited to finally have a signature!

After Buzz we went on over to the People Mover. The People Mover brought out a couple revelations: since the update on Space Mountain, it is much darker than it used to be and Bug got scared as the People Mover went through it. The second revelation was that it was not warming up and Nathan could no longer feel his hands. While waiting for our Space Mountian fast passes to become active (so we could get some for the Buzz Lightyear ride), we went on a sweatshirt hunt. Thankfully we found him one that he actually liked and didn't have Disney World emblazoned on the chest. We still had some time to kill, so we went to the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor and were blown away. Possibly one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. I had expected it to be a movie of sorts, but it ended up being interactive. We laughed so hard we were crying. Or it could have been because we were finally warm. We grabbed our fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear and started coming up with our Space Mountain plan.

Bug had been convinced that he was going to ride Space Mountain, but since we decided he shouldn't that left us with a bonus fastpass. My very kind hubby, knowing my love of Space Mountain and roller coasters in general, said I could use it. So while I went and rode it twice, Bug and Daddy went and rode the speedway. Not only did Bug earn a "drivers license," we timed it perfectly to all get done at the same time. While Nathan took his turn, Bug helped me pick out a Space Mountain t-shirt. Nathan ended up loving Space Mountain (I mean really, who doesn't?) and said it was the best roller coaster he's ever been on.

We finished up Tomorrowland with Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, which oddly enough Bug didn't really like. He didn't like the spinning and said he was afraid he was going to fall off. He did like that we captured Zurg at the end.

A captured Zurg.

We had a great lunch at Cosmic Rays, then decided it was time to go. On or way out of Tomorrowland he asked if he could try to pull the sword out of the stone. No dice. Guess he won't be the King of England after all.

Rest time on Friday was much different than Thursday. There was no napping or resting, just a boy in imagination overload. Much bouncing and crashing. I kept trying to nap, but it was hard to with all the sound effects. So we headed on over to Epcot for our dinner reservations "in" Germany at the Biergarten.

When we got to Epcot it became very evident that Bug and I needed sweatshirts, too. Our jackets just weren't cutting it and we were miserable. So while Nathan tried to get fastpasses for Test Track (they were gone for the day), I found a very cool retro Epcot one for me and a Mickey Mouse one for Bug. (2 sizes too big) on our way to dinner. It made such a difference and we ended up wearing them for the rest of the trip.

The Biergarten was great and I was really proud of the new foods Bug tried. It was a German buffet and all of the servers were German. According to our waitress, they work there for a year to help improve their English before going back home. By the time we were done with dinner it was dark. The first ride we hit was in Mexico. It was a boat ride with the Three Cabelleros that showed different things about Mexico. We had just watched the movie before we left and Bug loved it. He did have a little bit of a meltdown afterwards, but thanks to some intervention from Daddy we were ready to go to the Nemo ride.

Mexico pavilion. The Three Cabelleros ride is inside.

Attitude adjustment.

After Nemo, we headed over to Spaceship Earth. Bug was really intimidated by it and thought that it would be a ride like Space Mountain. We kept telling him it was slow and that we would be in a giant golf ball. It took a little bit of coaxing, but he ended up loving it! We got off of it 30 minutes before the fireworks, so we ended up riding it again to keep warm.

Spaceship Earth

Ready to be brave.

We got done just in time to start walking over to the lake before the fireworks show began. We stopped to take our picture in front of Spaceship Earth, but the photographer accidentally turned the flash off. Even if you can't see us, I think Spaceship Earth looks amazing.

We were going to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours at Epcot, but we were so cold that we decided to head back to the hotel and come back on Sunday instead. It was another 10 o'clock night and we were all exhausted. Bug could hardly fall asleep that night, because he knew we were going to Hollywood Studios on Saturday. He would finally get to ride the Star Wars ride.

Up next: Day Three at Hollywood Studios included Darth Vader and some great character encounters.

Disney World 2012: Day One

2012-01-17T07:43:00.199-06:00

Thursday morning dawned much earlier than I wanted it to, but much later than it should have. I had planned on us leaving the hotel around 7:30 so we could get there when the park opened for resort residents at 8:00. Too bad we didn't wake up until 7:30. We were still able to get through the security and gates before the park opened to the general public, but just barely. We stopped and took the obligatory pictures of Cinderella's Castle as we walked down Main St.

Cinderella's Castle in the morning light.

The Supers are ready to go!

Of course Bug wanted to hit Fantasyland first, so that's where we headed. He really wanted to ride Peter Pan's Flight first, so that was our first stop. The line was reasonably short; maybe 20 minutes or so. If you are familiar with Peter Pan's Flight, that's practically unheard of and was the shortest I saw for the rest of the trip. It was a great first ride and it was eventually deemed our favorite in Fantasyland. Just across the way from Peter Pan is It's a Small World. We were able to walk right on it and Bug loved seeing all the different countries represented. He especially loved seeing the platypuses and wondering if they were secret agents like Perry on Phineas & Ferb.

Both of them ready for their first Disney World ride!

It's a Small World

I was determined this trip to actually make it into some of the pictures!

After It's a Small World, we used our bonus fastpasses for Mickey's Philharmagic. It was an amazing 3D "movie" with Donald sneaking into movies like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. Our whole family laughed our way through it and agreed it was the best 3D movie we'd ever seen. After taking off our "opera glasses," we headed over to Snow White's Scary Adventures. Snow White is a pretty scary ride and we weren't sure how Bug would handle it, but he loved it! Since they are closing it soon, he knew it was his last chance to ride it and was pretty determined. He wasn't scared at all and sang along with the scene with the dwarves. He especially liked that M was afraid of the ride and he was "braverer" than her. After Snow White our fastpasses for the Winnie-the-Pooh ride were active so off we went. I went into Winnie-the-Pooh with mixed feelings. It was "new" from the last time I was there, but it replaced the classic Toad's Wild Ride and I was still holding a little bit of a grudge. It turned out to be a pretty great ride with lots of unexpected twists and turns. Bug especially loved bouncing with Tigger. (shocking!) A quick stop at the Mad Hatter's teacups were Daddy made us dizzy and the carousel and we were done with Fantasyland by 11 o'clock!

My little cartographer killing time while in line for Snow White.

The back of Cinderella's Castle from Fantasyland.

After Fantasyland, we took a quick stroll through Liberty Square on to Frontierland to grab fastpasses for Splash Mountain. We then headed on to Pirates of the Caribbean in Adventureland. Bug surprised me when he didn't want to see the pirate tutorial just outside of the ride. He surprise me again when he didn't particularly enjoy the ride. I guess the subtlety of it is lost on a five-year-old male. By this point we were all tired and hungry and decided to experience first hand the Disney Dining Plan.

When we booked our trip we were given a free dining plan. A really nice one, in fact. Each day we could have a snack, a "counter service" meal (ie, fast food), and a sit down meal. We were also given coffee type mugs that had unlimited refills at the resort fountains. I was even able to book a character breakfast with our dining plan. What we didn't know was how much food came with the plan! I don't think we ever finished a meal. That first day it was pretty shocking to end up with a huge sandwich, fries, very large drink, and a dessert. We rarely finished our drinks and finally started pouring them into our mugs for easier transport and to keep them cool.

After lunch we rode Aladdin's Carpets, which wasn't really worth the 30 minute wait. M had loved it on her trip, but they had the spitting camels turned off which took the thrill factor down several notches. Bug was not impressed. Afterward, we walked over to the Enchanted Tiki Room to get off our feet a bit and rest. Bug loved the Tiki Room, especially the volcano in the center. All that was really left was the Jungle Cruise, but when he found out the animals weren't real he didn't want to do it. I can't say that I blame him.

Enchanted Tiki Room pre-show.

After Tiki, our Splash Mountain fastpasses were active, so we walked over to ride. We discovered that the ride was down and we'd have to wait until later to ride. We did learn the valuable lesson that as long as you come after the pass becomes active, you can really ignore the time on it. We used that to our advantage for the rest of the trip. We decided it was time to purchase mouse ears and pop into the barber shop to get Bug's haircut. Surprisingly (not), Bug picked out the pair of R2D2 mouse ears. It was all his "classic black" Momma could do not to discourage it, but I finally realized they were his ears and he could pick out whatever he wanted. So R2 it was!

The barber shop was really cool and he loved getting his hair cut there, instead of at home. For a few bucks more, he got a little bit of Disney magic in the form of blue hair and white Mickey ears. He decided last minute that he did indeed need the pixie dust, which I'm still finding at random in our belongings. After the barber shop it was time to go to the hotel and rest. He didn't even make it out of the Magic Kingdom parking lot before the nap attack hit.

Haircut!

He's his own Hidden Mickey!

On the monorail towards the parking lot. You can see how tired he is.

Crashed.

We got back to the park around 5:30 or so. I got the most amazing shot of Cinderella Castle as the was sun setting. With Splash Mountain up and running, we decided to give it a go. This was tactical error numero uno, since it was practically dark. Bug was already wary of the ride and this just pushed him over the edge and he ended up hating it. The picture they took was hysterical, it was Bug holding on to Nathan for dear life, with me in the seat behind them with my arms in the air, happily screaming. We then headed off to find a "parking spot" for the Electrical Parade, finding a great one in front of the restaurant where our dinner reservations were. Bug loved the parade, was in rare form during dinner, and then spent half of the Haunted Mansion with his face buried in my lap. That was tactical error numero dos: we rode the Haunted Mansion when it was dark outside and that creeped him out. We thought all of his post-parade glow sticks would help, but they didn't. Thankfully, just before the park closed for the night we found the antidote to the Haunted Mansion: riding It's a Small World again.

One of my absolute favorite pictures from the trip.

All glowed up.

Ready for the parade.

Electrical Parade

Goofy!

Alice! She had a mic on and was interacting with the crowds on the side.

Spinning turtle thing.

Blurry Cinderella.

Captain Hook and Peter Pan

Seven Dwarves

Seven Dwarves

Pinocchio

Elliott and Pete

Happy at the end of a great first day!

And this is what lack of sleep does to my child.

Color-changing Cinderella Castle

Main Street USA

Guess who didn't want their picture taken....

Overall it was an amazing first day. We didn't get to bed until 10 or so, but since Magic Kingdom didn't open until 9 the next day, it wasn't a huge deal. We had another night of 198mph to snore in less than 3 minutes. I couldn't sleep yet again, except this time I was excited for Space Mountain!

Up next: Day Two - Tomorrowland, Epcot, and a wardrobe malfunction.

Disney World 2012: The Plane

2012-01-16T19:26:00.006-06:00

As I start these posts, I just have to say that Disney World is the most amazing, magical place. I've gone at many different stages in my life: preschooler, elementary-schooler, middle-schooler, and teenager. Going as a momma and watching my son take it in is by far the best experience. Getting to share the magic of my childhood with him was simply put, amazing.

Wednesday, January 11th we picked Daddy up from work and headed off to the airport to begin a most magical four days. I had spent the last month scouring websites like allears.net and pouring over a guidebook a friend had loaned us. The Dollar Tree was my friend and at any given time I had three lists going on my phone and numerous post-its stuck to my travel folder. Once Wednesday night hit, all of that was over. We were locked and loaded and it was time to just have fun.

The first surprise of the trip was our plane. Having flown Southwest for many years, I remember seeing the very first Shamu plane on a trip back to Dallas after we had moved. It was brand spanking new and I remember it being a big deal. For the next few years I always hoped that I'd get to ride on one, then like all childhood wishes, it faded as I grew up. When we walked to our gate Wednesday night, low and behold there was Shamu! While my husband and son could care less, I was ridiculously excited. Once I got in the inside and sat down, I realized that there were even pictures of Shamu on the overhead bins.

Shamu plane!!!

Shamu interior

Bug did a great job with flying. He hadn't flown since he was 2 1/2, so he doesn't really remember much about it. Going to Florida got rid of any nerves that he had, not to mention the surprise of Angry Birds fruit snacks I had found to help with ear pressure.

Ready for take-off!

Florida here we come! This is also the first in a series of no make-up pictures. I was pretty minimalistic on this trip; didn't want to be the mom who spent more time in the bathroom than in line for Space Mountain.

Thankfully our flight landed 30 minutes early, which meant we arrived in Orlando around 10pm. I haven't been to the Orlando airport since my last trip to Disney World in 1997. Plenty of things have changed, but the tram between terminals hasn't. Too bad the size of my posterior isn't in that category.

On the tram with Daddy.

By the time we got our rental car and checked into the hotel, it was almost midnight. By the time I got us unpacked enough to hit the ground running on Thursday, it was almost 1am. Of course a very excited, bouncing Bug could not be expected to sleep during all of this. Thankfully, once I got done he was asleep within 3 minutes of the lights being turned out. It was pretty impressive to see him go from 198mph to snore that quickly. It took this momma much, much longer while I thought of all the things that I needed to do the next morning to make sure our first day was a success. I was also nervous. Did my planning and preparation have us ready to go? What was my first day of sharing Disney World with my son and husband going to hold?

Oh, yeah, did I mention that it was Nathan's first time a Disney World too?

Up next: Day One!

Dynamic Duo Christmas Extravaganza 2011

2011-12-20T15:59:00.002-06:00

Last Wednesday was Bug and Maddles' Christmas program at preschool. It was such a shock this year with M dancing and singing exuberantly and Bug didn't require a spot behind him in case he bounced off the riser. I guess that's what happens when you're in the big kid class. The line up this year was Wonderful Counselor, 12 Days of Christmas, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Watching 24 pre-K Fivers doing it was incredibly entertaining, to say the least. The Sis did the videoing this year, but I did switch over on my camera and get the last run through.

The DDD waiting not-so-patiently for the show to start.

Guess who saw us?

Aren't they precious?

Happiest Boy on Earth

2011-12-19T17:09:00.001-06:00

Guess where we're going?

We told Bug last Monday and his reaction was epic. And immediately put on YouTube by his daddy.

It's all he's talked about for the last week. If he's had great behavior during the day, he can earn a "Disney Dollar," which will be traded before our trip for spending money. Here's how I found him a couple nights ago:

I think it's safe to say this trip is going to be epic.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2011-11-24T07:49:00.020-06:00

Last week the Dynamic Duo had their preschool Pow-Wow and Thanksgiving Feast. Burning Mountain and Moccasins Marching (aka Bug and Maddles) did a fantastic job! It was it great to finally see them in the same class program together! I did have a hard time getting pictures where Maddles didn't have Bug's feathers up her nose....

His very intense warrior face.

G is a little bit of an Uncle Nathan's girl.

Pre-K Fivers

Bug's First Alabama Game

2011-11-22T13:27:00.001-06:00

Bug and Bryant-Denny

Saturday we trekked to Alabama football Mecca: Tuscaloosa. Bug has been dying to go see a Bama game for the last several years and was incredibly excited to finally see Carson play. We spent Friday night at a hotel in Birmingham, then met Aunt Natalie Saturday morning and headed off.

Picking out the raisins in the raisin bran. They're his favorite part.

Tuscaloosa is less than an hour away from Birmingham and it wasn't long before we saw tornado damage; whole sections of trees that were knocked over, ripped up, or had the tops blown off. Driving towards campus, there were whole sections of the city destroyed. Bug is mildly obsessed with the tornado, thanks to Carson. He kept taking pictures of the devastation with his camera.

Nothing left of Full Moon Barbecue.

Once we got on campus, we met up with our friends and proceeded to get some shots of the boys at Denny Chimes. Just after I got this picture snapped, the player busses passed on their way to the stadium. When we told the boys what the buses were, Bug jumped off the steps and started waving. Then he yelled out "Hi Carson! I'll see you on the field." J and T looked at him like he was nuts; with J asking who Carson was. The boys were completely unimpressed that Bug is "friends" with the long snapper. They were more interested in Trent Richardson.

Bug, J, and T at Denny Chimes.

We ate lunch in the Student Center, then hit up the book store. Then it was game time! As we walked towards the stadium, we got to walk behind the Million Dollar Band. We did a quick photo op in front of the stadium and "introduced" the boys to the statue or Coach Bear Bryant. We got into the stadium as the band was finishing up their pre-game show.

Bug yelling "Roll Tide Roll" with the Million Dollar Band.

The Million Dollar Band

I wish I had a picture of Bug's face the first time he saw Carson on the field. Or when they said Carson's name over the loud speaker. Both times he freaked out with excitement. It absolutely made it worth it. He was quite the trooper until around half time, and even laid down for a bit on the empty seats next to us. Until I brought back nachos and then he was good to go!

Go Carson! #51

Alabama on the goal line.

Touchdown Alabama! Run Trent Run!

Carson getting ready to snap the ball for the extra point.

Carson's the "point" of the formation.

Just after AJ McCarron handed the ball off to Trent Richarson (#3)

Alabama 45, Georgia Southern 21

After the game we met up with Carson and his parents. We got to his house first and his room mate was expecting us and let us in. When Carson walked in the door, Bug ran straight to him and attack hugged him and just started chatting away. It's so great when your kid finally gets to meet his hero and the hero exceeds expectations. It was the perfect end to a pretty perfect day that I'm sure Bug will always remember. I know I will!

Doesn't everyone's hero hold them upside down?

Carson and Bug

Bug's attempt at taking their picture together.

Carson signed Bug's ticket stub. I'm going to frame it with the pictures of the day and hang it in his room.

Gentry's Farm 2011

2011-11-08T08:13:00.029-06:00

Here's a quick snapshot of this year's trip to Gentry's Farm. This year the big kids were counting down and planning what they would do, long before we got there.

Miss G and I on the hayride.

The DD always love the hayride.

Miss G decided to go through the tunnel in the hay maze.

He's a boy, so of course he has to be covered in leaves and dirt.

Miss G's trip on the tire swing.

W's turn!

The DD running to the soybean maze.

Bug in the soybean maze.

It's a "Where's Waldo?" of small children.

Orange Belt, Round Two

2011-11-07T08:00:00.016-06:00

A couple Fridays ago Bug earned his second orange belt in taekwondo. This model comes with a black stripe on one side and a nifty head band. He was over the moon and we had to walk to Sonic afterwards to celebrate.

Look at that concentration!

Don't mess with this kid!

Mean faces with Mr. Monroe.

Bug adores Mr. Wink.

Bug, Mr. Monroe, Mr. Lee, Mr. Wink