December Recap 3: Christmas Eve at Disney World

We flew to Orlando, FL on Dec. 23rd and went to the Caribbean Beach Resort at WDW that evening. The kids did fairly well traveling there, we had a fully charged dvd player, i-Pod and PSP to keep them occupied. Hey, screen time has it's uses in tight spots! For a change, our kids weren't the loudest on the plane. :)

I didn't take any photos of the resort, but did get some video at the pool on the last day there. The resort was big and comfortable, we had rooms overlooking the beach so the kids got to play in the sand several times. The weather was a lot cooler than it had been when we went to Florida the year before, so that was a bit of a bummer. Still, you can't beat walking around in long sleeve shirts, no bulky down coats, in December!

Christmas Eve Day is my niece's birthday, so we let her choose which park to go to that day. She picked Hollywood Studios. We all met for breakfast then rode the bus to the park together. Sean and Ella loved the bus ride almost as much as the Disney rides and sang Wheels on the Bus the whole way there. We rented a double stroller and headed to the Pixar Section to ride the Toy Story Mania attraction. Given the huge amount of love all the kids, especially Sean, has for Toy Story, we knew that this was a MUST DO event. What a wonderland!






The wait for the ride took around 45 minutes and proved to be very difficult for Ella (she kept wanting to climb all over the displays) and Sean (they had the theme music running rather loudly and Potato Head talked to people.) Once in the ride, they forgot all about it and had so much fun. It didn't take Sean long to figure out how to fire the Buzz Lightyear laser at the targets. He rode in a car with me, Aidan and Grandpa rode in a second car, and Doug, Grandma and Ella rode in the third. Doug earned the highest score, with me in a close second.

Our second stop was to meet Woody and Buzz. When we got in line, the doorman said is was about a 20 minute wait. The kids had fun posing with the photo props, but as we got near the front of the line Sean started wandering ahead to have a look. Grandma followed him up and kept trying to talk him back into our place, but Sean was just mesmerized by his heroes. He just stood there and stared in awe. The Disney photographer talked to Janice and told her that Sean should have a special pass so we didn't have to wait in long lines. She told a co-worker to bring us to the front of the line and let us go next. By the time we got up there, Sean was hand-and-hand with two of his favorite people.








From there we had some lunch, then Grandpa and I took the little two to the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Playset and Doug, Grandma and Aidan went to the Muppets 3D Show. By the time we met up again, Ella was getting very tired and Sean was asking to go home. We decided to take them to see The Cars display and then Grandpa was going to help me get the little two back to the hotel for some nap time/down time. Sean is a huge fan of the movie Cars and would of loved to see them up close. Unfortunately for him, they were automated displays that rev their engines and talked. It was so loud he refused to be on the same side of the street as them, let alone go up close.



Doug, Aidan and Grandma stayed until the park closed at 5:30 but were only able to get to two more attractions: The Rock & Roller Coaster, which scared the beejezus out of Aidan, and the Lights-Motors-Action Stunt Show, which was a huge hit in his eyes! They didn't take the camera with them, though.

We met up together for dinner that evening at the restaurant at the resort and then flopped exhausted into bed.

Mess Maker! Mess Maker!

Where are you?


Mess Maker! Mess Maker! What did you do?


Mess Maker! Mess Maker! I have two!


Mess Maker! Mess Maker! Olive you!

Unearthed!

Boy Howdy! What a surprise! Today the kids were out enjoying the gorgeous weather and playing in the backyard. Our next door neighbors were picking up branches in their yard and unearthed Woody No Boots! Sean was a bit stunned to see his old friend, but happy to have him back. I bet if they dig around a little more they might find New Woody that went AOL last summer.

A Rocking Shirt and a Rockin' Give-Away!

Talk about feeling the love! Today Sean got another awesome gift! Karen, from The Rocking Pony, sent a custom Woody shirt to him. Oh.my.goodness! The cuteness! The yeehaw-ness! The rocking-ness!

It was so sweet of Karen to cheer Sean up, that I want to spread the fun to someone new. So here's the deal, I will enter everyone's name into a drawing for a gift certificate to get your own Rocking Pony shirt! For each comment left on a 2009 Get It Down: 31 for 21 blog post at Sunflower Stories, I will enter your name in the drawing. On Nov. 1, I will announce the winner and get a gift certificate to The Rocking Pony sent your way.

I will count the comments left prior to today, but look forward to seeing more as the month unfolds. Thanks, readers!

*International shipping is okay, US shipping will be Priority mail.*

Yeehaw! A New Woody!

Doug is out of town on a business trip this week, so my mom came to help with the kiddos. She brought along a very special gift for Sean, after hearing about him crying extensively over his lost toy.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sweet Talker

A couple of weeks ago, we had a particularly interesting experience out to lunch with Sean and Ella. We needed to drop off Sean's glasses to be repaired, so I suggested we grab some Chinese for lunch while we waited on the optical shop.

I sat down with the kids while Doug got our order. Sean noticed a man sitting at the table near us, wearing a cowboy hat. Sean has his great love of Woody, so he has a bit of a soft spot for guys in cowboy hats. He started talking to me and pointing to the man, telling me "Mama! Mama! Yeehaw! Yeehaw! Hat!" He was signing hat and taking his hand to his forehead, then raising it up like a cowboy tossing his hat off.

The man saw Sean "waving" at him and smiled and waved back. This made Sean even more excited as he repeated, "Yeehaw! Yeehaw!" to the man. I smiled back to the man and said, "He really likes your cowboy hat. He had a lot of fun seeing the cowboys on horses at the fair last week, too."

The man came over to our table and said hi to Sean, kneeling down to his eye level. He asked me, "Is he deaf?" Since he saw us signing, I suppose. I said, "No, he can hear, we use sign to help communicate." He said, "I swear I'm not some weirdo and I don't have lice or anything. I was wondering if he'd like to try on my hat?"

I said sure, that'd be fine. He put his hat on Sean and Sean's face lite up like a Christmas tree. Sean looked back and forth between me and the man and signed/said, "Mama! Hat! Me? Yeehaw!"

By now, Doug approached the table and said hello. The man said, "He's just adorable! I buy these hats by the dozen and have given them to client's kids. Would it be alright if he kept it?" We said, "oh, you don't have to, he'll give it back."

He again knelt down to Sean and asked him directly, "Would you like to keep it? Would like to take that hat home?" Sean said, "Yes! Hat! Me!"


So Sean went home with a big cowboy hat and a happy face, while a cowboy went home with hat hair and a big happy face.

Scope is Done, Researching Celiac Disease

Sorry I didn't get this typed up faster, but here's update about the endoscopy Sean had done this past Thursday.

Sean handled the stay at the Same Day Surgery Center pretty well. Mostly I just had to work on distracting him all morning from eating or drinking, as the surgery wasn't until 11:15 and he hadn't eaten since 9 the night before. I heard "Momma! Eat! Drink Milkies!" at least a hundred times in the 4 hours he was awake before the surgery. This is what Sean looks like when you tell him, "Sorry, baby, no eat yet."

Doug took Aidan and Ella to his office to try to watch while he worked and I took Sean to the hospital by myself. I packed his backpack full of things to try to distract him with while we waited. I thought it might be useful to list them here and I'd love to hear what fun things you pack for your kids in these situations. I always find out that I should bring x and maybe not y next time.

1. pull ups and wipes
2. food, spoon and sippy cup for after surgery- important to keep this hidden in a separate bag within the backpack. Otherwise it's just plain mean torture!
3. his lovey blanket, given to use when he was an infant at the Denver Children's Hospital. We use it for naps and it's been to every hospital stay.
4. a few favorite books. This time: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and The Big Red Barn.
5. 2 Disney Cars toys (McQueen and Filmore.)
6. 3 Madagascar action figure toys.
7. Woody
8. Blank sheets of paper and 4 washable markers.

I also tucked my keys, wallet and cell phone in there. I grabbed about $3 in quarters in case I needed to get a vending machine snack/drink for myself. Sean's favorite item this time was the markers and paper. He just loves coloring and having me draw things for him.

Anyway, the nursing staff was very nice and Sean charmed them. He throws a huge fit about those hospital bracelets, so I put them on his ankle so he doesn't obsess over it. They said he didn't need to wear a gown (very strange! never heard of that!) so he just went back in his clothes & shoes with his blanket. They didn't have to do an IV, just gave him a bit of gas and then did the test.

His doctor came out to see me about 30 mins after they took him and gave me photos she took to tell me what she saw. She said his esophagus looked wonderful and healthy- no signs of food allergy irritation or reflux damage. His stomach also looked pretty good, but had a small red spot that she took a biopsy from. She said it did not look like an ulcer and wasn't too concerned about that. She did find a bit of paper that Sean swallowed (he loves to eat books and must of chewed a bit off while we were waiting!) She said they suctioned it out and moved past it.

Then she got to the short bowels aka small intestine. She said "His short bowels are not healthy. I don't like what I see there." She pointed to white areas and said that she took 6 biopsies from there. She didn't say she knew exactly what it is, but is leaning towards Celiac Disease. She said she should have the blood screening results back on Monday or Tuesday and will call me right away. The pathology results take 10 days, so we won't know anything for certain for awhile.

When the nurses let me back to get Sean he was crying and asking for me. As soon as I held him he said "Momma Milkies! Drink Milkies!" I picked him up and wrapped him in his blanket and they had us move to a semi-private waiting area with recliners. He was also very upset because one of his shoes had come off and he wanted it back on. :)

We had a nice snuggle and milkies, then he ate 2 packs of food and snuggled a bit more. After about 20 mins he was alert and ready to move around. He wanted to look out the window, play peek-a-boo with a nurse, and say hi to everyone that walked by. Meanwhile, the other kids coming out of surgery are crying and generally very upset. I was having a hard time keeping Sean "resting" so they let us check out in less than an hour.

He did fine on the drive home and had no ill effects from the test other than being extra tooty from the air they pumped in him.

So now we are waiting to see what happens next. Of course I have been reading up on Celiac disease like crazy. I particularly like this link. I found this part of that article interesting:

The length of time a person is breastfed, the age a person started eating gluten-containing foods, and the amount of gluten containing foods one eats are three factors thought to play a role in when and how celiac appears. Some studies have shown, for example, that the longer a person was breastfed, the later the symptoms of celiac disease appear and the more uncommon the symptoms.

We are having a busy weekend with family visiting to celebrate Eleanor's birthday, so that is helping take my mind off of the wait. I will try to post photos of her party soon!

Raising Co-Sleepers

I've been having trouble getting Ella and Sean down for naps at the same time for quite awhile now. Usually I just let Sean skip his nap and end up holding Ella while she naps in the afternoon and pray that Sean doesn't wake her within the first 20 minutes.

Yesterday, they were both really tired at the same time, so I decided to give the tandem nap a try. I took them upstairs and laid Ella in her crib with the Ocean aquarium toy on. That usually entertains her for a bit. Sean and I went in the other bedroom and I laid down with him to nurse him to sleep. He tucked his Woody doll and Elmo under the covers with him and gave them a kiss goodnight. He got super drowsy and was almost asleep when Ella decided she was done with the crib. I got up and brought her to the big bed, laying in between Sean and me. I patted Sean while nursing Ella and told him to go nite nite. Amazingly, he did and so did Ella.

I debated napping with them, but really needed to take care of some chores so I got up and went downstairs.

Less than 30 minutes later, I heard on the baby monitor that Ella woke up. I sprinted up the stairs to try to get her before she woke up Sean.

When I got there, I saw the sweetest thing. Sean had woken up and was patting Ella on her back, like we do to him, and saying "Nite nite baby. Nite Nite Ella."

I picked her up and laid with him to try to get him back to sleep while settling the baby. He just rolled over and drifted right back to sleep so I brought Ella downstairs with me.

Sean is four years old and has Down syndrome, yet just demonstrated one of the biggest benefits of co-sleeping: the ability to immediately tend to a baby's needs. That's my boy!

Sitting Sweet

I had such a nice weekend. Saturday, Ella and I went shopping with my mother-in-law, Janice. The three of us had a great day, hitting several stores, finding several great deals and a nice lunch together at PF Changs. Janice treated me to lots of new clothes as my Christmas gift. On Christmas, she gave me one of those recordable sound/music cards and she sang "Feliz Navidad! We're doing a shopping trip!" It was sooo funny, everyone had a good laugh about it and Sean played that thing over and over hundreds of times.

We stopped into a furniture store so she could show me the chairs they ordered for their new living room and I ended up talking her into buying some art for their apt! I love what we found there, some perfect pieces for their place.

I asked to pop into Gymboree after that and found several cute things for Ella Roo. Here she is in a new shirt from Gymboree that goes great with some new longies we got a couple weeks ago.


We got back just in time for me to whip up a dish to take to the Family Dinner Nite at our church. The kids had fun there and Doug and I enjoyed talking with friends.

Sunday, we went to church and then spent the rest of the day relaxing at home. I baked a pumpkin pie and made spaghetti for dinner. I even took a nap with Ella! Sean did some movie watching with his buddies, Woody One Boot and New Woody.


It is cold out today, I even saw a few flurries. That made it hard to get going this morning and it is making me want to bunker down again today.

Woody One Boot

Today we are at the Buddy Walk, so I'm setting up this post of Sean playing with his buddy to run today.

"Momma! Momma! CHEESE!"


"AHHGGGH! Oh no, where's Woody's foot?"


"Look down here, Woody."


"Oh, here it is!"


Hours and hours and hours of fun.

This is actually Woody the Second. The first Woody doll was given to Aidan when he was 2 1/2 and had his tonsils & adenoids removed. He loved that doll like crazy, took him everywhere and played with him every day. I gleefully remember taking Aidan to the post office one day and he told the post man in his sweet-little-boy-voice, "I have a big Woody!"

Eventually, Sean took over Woody I and played hard with him. Woody lost a hand. Woody took way too many swims in the potty. Woody got coated in mud. Paint was worn off of his face. He had teeth marks on limbs, his nose. Then one day Sean did a little diaper digging with Woody and mom had enough of that. Woody I was buried in the dumpster.

Nana gifted Sean with Woody II for his birthday and Sean's face lite up with joy. Mind you, his birthday was Sept 4, so we haven't had this new doll long. Already he has had his foot amputated and has had a mud bath or two. He's been dubbed "Woody One Boot."

He sure makes a little boy a great buddy.

Signing Sean

I've mentioned before that Sean loves to sign and has really picked up a lot of signs this past year. Well, yesterday I got to wondering about how many signs he uses on a frequent basis, so I started jotting them down. I was surprised to see that he is up to 50 signs now! For fun, I thought I'd list them here and put a * by the ones that he also speaks. I'm so proud of my little man! (Wouldn't you know it? I thought of a few more words and signs!)

more
eat *
yummy *
drink/cup
thirsty *
water
milk
spoon *
all done *
car
train * (says choo choo)
please *
thank you
help *
sorry
one more
hat *
shoes
music
bye *
hi *
ball *
go
play
stop
up *
down
stand
jump
bath
toothbrush
book
baby *
night night *
Daddy *
Mommy *
Grandpa/Papa *
tiger/lion (* roars)
elephant (* trumpets)
horse *
cat *
dog *
fish
rooster (*crows)
cow (*moo's)
snake (*hisses)
bird
Where is it?
I don't know

and last, but not least- definitely our favorite- I Love You

He also says, but does not sign: Aidan, Nana, and Audrey (one of our cats, he calls both of them the same name.) He says Woody and a jumbled "To infinity & Beyond!" in honor of Toy Story. He counts "1, 2, 3". I forgot these words: yuck, owie, peepee, yes and his all time favorite- NO! He has his own made up signs for The Wiggles, Wake Up, and The Backyardigans.

It's been so fun for all of us to participate in his growing vocabulary. Aidan gets so excited when Sean says something clearly, he says "Sean said it like a big boy, just like me!"

What a Week!

Warning: Photo Heavy & Wordy Blog Coming!

Ahhh, life in the Midwest, where the deer and the antelope roam. Where the weather can change in a blink of an eye. Where hospitality is abundant. Where Christmas is definitely in the air...

Last Friday, the boys and I woke up ambitious to decorate for Christmas. School was closed for a teacher work day, so we stayed home and set up our holiday displays. Aidan was extremely helpful with the decorations this year. Sean was not so interested, but we did talk him into hanging a few candy canes. By noon, our home was transformed into a house eagerly awaiting the holidays!







Grandma came over on Saturday afternoon to watch the boys while Doug and I did some Christmas shopping. It was so nice to tackle that task without the kiddos! Thanks, Grandma!

On Sunday, Aidan and I put together a Gingerbread House. He had been asking to make one for weeks, so he was super excited to finally make one. It was my first attempt and it was fun to do with Aidan. Sean was more interested in playing with Woody than helping us. Maybe next year he will want to help more. I actually talked Doug into taking a few pics of us, so once again you are graced with me in my Sunday bumming clothes.



Now for the interesting part of the week! On Monday, dire warnings of an ice storm hit the news. People anticipating the worst started calling in closings and cancellations for the next day. Usually I tend to think that people over-react and do not pay much attention to warnings. I have lived in KS so long I know that anything goes when it comes to weather predictions and the only thing you can be sure of is that you can't predict much. However, I minimally prepared for bad weather by catching up on laundry, dishes and made a big warm dinner for us (Corned beef and cabbage, yum!)

For once, they were right. We got hit bad. Our house lost power around 3 am Tuesday and it did not get restored until 6 pm Thursday. We woke up Tuesday morning thinking that it wouldn't be out for long. We called Doug's office & they had power so we all got dressed and went there to spend the day. Doug's parents live in a loft above the office, so they invited us to spend the night with them. We ended up staying there 2 nights and 3 days. The newspaper on Wednesday said that 11,000 people in our city were without power and it would take up to 10 days to get power restored to everyone. By Friday they got the number down to 5,600.



Schools were closed until Friday, so the boys and I spent our days hanging out in the office or loft with little give-everyone-a-break outings to do more shopping, check out the glittering diamond trees in the park, and a visit to the Historical Museum to see the Gingerbread House display and play in the children's room.





The boys really enjoyed spending so much time with their grandparents. Even though we only live a 12 blocks from each other, the boys do not get to spend much time with them due to their busy schedules. It was like an impromptu family vacation! Thank you so much for the wonderful hospitality, great meals and company.

We got settled back home on Friday, only to hear now a snow storm was due to hit that night and Saturday, expecting 7-10 inches of snow. *Sigh* We had planned on a visit from my parents this weekend. They were coming to spend the night with the boys while Doug and I attended an overnight office Christmas party.

Saturday morning we woke up to 6" of snow and light flurries. My parents and I decided it was best if they didn't travel to see us. We asked Doug's cousin to babysit during the dinner party that night. Luckily she was available and the boys had a good time with her, her husband and their son. We had a nice time at the dinner party, then picked up two sleeping angels to take back to the hotel with us for the night.

After we got home today, Aidan and Doug had fun making snowballs, snow angels, and sledding in the backyard. Sean is not so crazy about the snow. He is not in the least bit interested in touching it, so I couldn't convince to go outside with me to take some snow pics.

*Yawn* It's late Sunday night and we have a new week ahead of us. It's the last week of school before Christmas break and I hope they get to attend every day. I have a little more shopping to do, presents to wrap and maybe do some baking this week. The school party is on Friday, so I need to put together goody gifts for the teachers.

Here's to a mellow-er week ahead!

Who's ready for Halloween?

My boys are!

I had high hopes of winning on ebay a Captain Feathersword costume for Sean to wear this year. Unfortunately, I just couldn't bring myself to bid over $20 for a used costume. So Sean is going as Woody from Toy Story and he is equally happy about it. He has taken such a fondness to Woody lately, he will play with the Woody doll we have for over an hour. Yesterday he wouldn't let go of him at naptime, so Woody slept with us. Sean thought it was terribly funny to share "milkies" with Woody, even made lip smacking sounds as he held Woody up to my boob! Eventually, they both took a nap and I headed downstairs. An hour later, Sean apparently woke up, saw Woody & pulled his string a few times (we could hear him over the baby monitor) then he went back to sleep!

I tried talking Aidan into being Buzz Lightyear since we thought it would be so cute for them to co-ordinate. Instead he insisted on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume. Doug and Aidan went to a Halloween party at the United Methodist Church Sunday evening and had a blast. Aidan's costume fit perfectly, which is a first. Doug said they loaded up on candy and pigged out on it right away. Aidan quickly made the discovery that lots of candy on an empty tummy is not a good feeling.

Wednesday the preschool is doing Trunk-or-Treat and I volunteered to help hand out candy & run the games. I also have to put together a costume to wear. I was thinking about going as a farmer, but alas I somehow gave up my jean overalls from college. Might have to visit the Goodwill. Aidan said I should wear a cape and my sparkly eye mask and be SuperMom. He's my schmoopey boy!

Flog Me with a Wet Noodle

I missed a day. 26 days of posting and I flaked out yesterday. I am so disappointed in myself. I know it isn't a contest or anything, but I hate to accept a challenge and fail. Well, unless of course it's a weight loss challenge... I fail those with no guilt!

So here's what we did yesterday instead of blogging.

First, the Break It Fairy has completed her Break Three Things Then Move On Challenge at our house. First, the Break It Fairy broke our sliding glass door to the backyard. I was coming in the house, carrying Sean. When I pulled the door open, Aidan thought is would be clever to try to lock me out. Somehow the door managed to get jammed up off the track. Doug attempted to fix it with brute force (ala Minner Repair Style, lots of "Scum Sucking Son of a ....") and split the wood frame around the door. It's toast.

Second, the dishwasher from hell was running the dry cycle and started emitting hideous fumes, definitely killing brain cells. The motor is burned up, the dishes reeked so I had to re-wash them by hand and now Doug is the official dishwasher in the house. He does not want to replace it until the Hutchinson Reverse Osmosis Water Plant is completed in 2009. I have a hard time seeing him keeping up with dishes for the next year when he can't even keep up with the lawn mowing and that is only needed once a week.

Third, the boys ran downstairs to snuggle by the Heater Box yesterday and after 10 years of loyal lovin' the Heater Box has died! Seriously, a cause for drama and mourning in our house.

To top all this off, I was in a headlock from Aidan the Amazing and somehow lost the temple screw on my glasses. Doug taped that puppy back together (no, not with duct tape, Dad) and we decided a trip to Sears was in order.

Sears optical fixed my glasses, we were overwhelmed by the dishwasher choices in the appliance dept and underwhelmed by the Heater Love for sale. I popped into Hobby Lobby to get leather cord to repair Woody's hat for Sean's costume, then we went home. Sean and I had a lovely nap together, while Doug and Aidan amassed a fortune on Webkinz.

Around 6 we decided that it would be fun to load up in the car and drive an hour to eat at Chipotle. Nothing like a dinner date on the road with preschoolers! At least we finally got to watch all of The Reef (aka Shark Bait.)

Well, I hope to not miss any more days, only three left. Yep, I can do that.