#mcdanfamloveswdw: Days 5 & 6

Posted on June 8, 2015June 8, 2015 by mommyinthemidwest

ICYMI:

Click HERE to see the photos we shared on Instagram from our trip.

Sunday, May 10th 2015. Mother’s Day! On Mother’s Day this year, we decided to take a break from the parks. It was a much needed day of rest and relaxation after hitting the parks 4 days back to back. We spent the morning and early afternoon checking out the resort arcade, swimming, and doing laundry.

We had some lunch at the resort and then walked over to the other side of the resort to check out a different pool.

Around dinner time we headed over to Downtown Disney – the boys had been waiting for this day! We promised we’d buy them a souvenir and they didn’t let us forget about it. The first place on their list to visit was…you guessed it – the Lego Store. We went there first so they could stop obsessing about it. We let them look around but didn’t let them buy anything until we checked out all the other stores. They still went back to their beloved Legos (lame since we can buy them at home) but they were amazingly well behaved and so patient as Ryan and I meandered through all the stores quite leisurely. Ryan and I treated ourselves to some souvies as well. We all enjoyed our dinner at Earl of Sandwich and then finished off our evening by going back to the Lego Store with two very excited guys.

When I saw this Mr. Potato Head, I instantly remembered the picture of the boys and I standing in the same spot less than 2 years earlier so we did our best to recreate it on the fly. Gah, they’ve grown so much! And whoa, I didn’t realize how much darker and longer my hair has gotten.

Happy with their purchases (Dexter’s is 3x bigger than Theo’s because it was his birthday present from us).

Day 6:

Monday, May 11th. Originally I thought we’d take 2 days off back to back on Sunday and Monday. As I woke up and started looking at the weather forecast and crowd predictions, I suggested we go ahead and visit Hollywood Studios that day. 30 minutes later, we were out the door and ready to enjoy another action-packed day.

The boys were decked out in their Big Hero 6 t-shirts, eagerly anticipating a character greeting with Hiro and Baymax.

These 2 little kids rode the Hollywood Tower of Terror! They were scared, but they liked it a bit. They ended up riding it twice but then decided that was enough …like, forever. ha! They will ride it next time. They may not know it yet, but they will ride it again.

Why did I tear up during the Frozen Sing-a-long? I have no idea. Totally unexpected. I was just overwhelmed with this feeling of gratitude. I was thankful to be there, in that moment, with my family. Hollywood Studios always makes me feel so sentimental, since that’s where I worked when I did the Disney College Program in 1999.

Hollywood Studios was no different in that the boys’ favorite spot was the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. They loved the larger than life plants and bugs. It was super humid this day and we found that the playground had some water features that we all took advantage of for cooling down.

Theo and Dexter probably liked Star Tours more than any other ride. We rode it several times and enjoyed the different versions.

They were so happy to meet & greet the green army men from Toy Story. Theo kept saying “he tickled me!” Ha.

The boys were surprisingly interested in One Man’s Dream, which is a tribute to the work of Walt Disney. This recreation of Walt’s office is underwhelming. I think they thought that this is where Walt Disney actually worked – we let them think that. They were kind of in awe and it was too cute to ruin.

We finally found Baymax and Hiro – along with everyone else at Hollywood Studios. Actually, the line didn’t look that long. We ended up waiting 80 minutes to meet them. The longest line by about 40 minutes that we waited in during our entire trip. About halfway through, this is what both kids looked like. Oh, and Ryan too. They were so tired.

It finally happened…this moment right here. It’s one that the boys are still talking about. One of their favorite memories from the trip.

And then as we left the greeting, this happened. One of my favorite memories from the trip. One of those moments when, as a parent, your heart feels like it could explode with happiness. They spontaneously held hands and ran just ahead of us, excitedly talking to each other. We couldn’t hear what they were saying, but we looked at each other and back at them and I knew Ryan felt it too. The 80 minute wait was worth it. Hell, the plane tickets were worth it.

Ice cream treats for everyone!

More pressed pennies.

Hollywood Studios, I love you.

We enjoyed Fantasmic. I didn’t try to take any pictures – just enjoyed it. Afterwards, both buddies fell asleep in their strollers (don’t ever listen if someone tells you 4 and 5 year olds don’t need strollers at Disney World) so Ryan and I took advantage of the time to take turns riding the Rock N Roller Coaster and stroll through some shops. Kinda like a date for an hour or two – you know, except for having to ride the roller coaster with a complete stranger. The boys were out like a light and positioned almost exactly the same in their strollers. We heard saw so many “aw, they’re so cute” comments and looks. And we were like, yeah. We think so too.

Up next, another day of rest and the last couple days at the parks.

xo,

~C~

last day of pre-school 2015

Posted on May 24, 2015May 24, 2015 by mommyinthemidwest

We got home from vacation with one week of school left. I was excited for the boys to finish out the year with their friends and teachers. Then Sunday morning Theo woke up with a fever and laid around all day. Monday he laid around even more and ate and drank almost nothing. He felt a little better but still stayed home Tuesday because he had no energy. By Wednesday he was ready to go back to school. Thursday morning Dexter begged to stay home but didn’t have a fever and I really couldn’t afford to miss work since I was planning to leave work early Friday due to their half day. I felt terrible dropping him off but hoped he could make it through the day. He made it – they both did – until 415pm when I got a call that they were both falling asleep on the playground and had fevers over 101. Well crap.

Ryan was already on his way to get them so I decided to work until 8 or 9 or until I ran out of work to do since it was clear I wouldn’t make it to work at all on Friday. At 10pm I hit 40 hours for the week so I packed it up and went home, exhausted.

I said all that to say that I was beyond sad for them because they wouldn’t get to participate in the last day of school festivities and especially for Theo because he wouldn’t get to tell his friends or teachers goodbye. Theo woke up in the middle of the night Thursday crying in pain. This was odd – my boy has never had an ear infection in his life. I gave him some pain reducer and put him back to bed. By morning he said his ear felt a little better but I made an afternoon appointment for the pediatrician (who confirmed he has not 1 but 2 ears infected). Dexter’s fever never came back and Theo seemed to feel pretty well too so we decided to swing by school to check the lost & found and say goodbye – for mommy, this meant getting those much anticipated last day of school photos.

Taking last day of school pics makes me reminisce back to their first day(s) so I put together some collages (because how else would I cope with the fact that my firstborn is 10 weeks from KINDERGARTEN, y’all?). Bittersweet. Theo is so ready and excited and confident about going into Kindergarten. On vacation he mumbled to Dexter under his breath “I have soooo much homework to do when we get home,” like a teenager in reference to the Kindergarten readiness packet we received at registration (he’s right though, it is a lot). He loves it. I will have him do 2 pages and he’ll ask to do 4. Or 6. Hopefully his enthusiasm doesn’t fizzle out too soon.

Shut up, Candice. Just get to the pictures. Yep, I talk to myself. On my blog.

Can you even believe how much he’s grown? He’s learned even more than that. Kids, man. theocollage We will all miss his wonderful teachers, Miss Holly and Miss Darci.

Brothers. They make my heart all poofy.

I am proud of Dexter – the transition to pre-school hasn’t been so easy on him. He doesn’t have as much confidence as Theo does. But with his teachers’ guidance, he came a long way. The first part of the school year, he spent a lot of time watching other students, hesitant to pull jobs from the shelf. By the spring, he was doing multi-step jobs with little help. He went from being completely potty-trained the summer before pre-school to a major regression both day and night. It’s taken the whole school year, but he’s back to having no daytime accidents, hurrah! He loves his teachers, writes his name, talks about his friends nonstop, and doesn’t need 500 “one more hug and kiss”es when we leave. I can’t believe how much he’s changed.

He is looking forward to spending another year in the Maple Room with Miss Pavitra and Miss Jama.I know one day too soon I will be looking at their High School graduation photos and wonder where time has gone. For now, I am trying to enjoy the moment and revel in awe at how much they are learning.

xo,

~C~

Dear Dexter (2015)

Posted on May 13, 2015May 6, 2015 by mommyinthemidwest

3yrsold Dear Dexter,

There’s this smartphone app called TimeHop…who knows if it will be around when you’re older. Every day it shows me a glimpse back at that day of each previous year that I shared something with social media. In the days and weeks leading up to today, I’ve so enjoyed looking back at blog posts from when I was pregnant with you 4 years ago. Life was filled with SO much uncertainty. Would we be able to handle life with 2 babies, just 14 months apart? We didn’t know anything about you. We didn’t know if you were a boy or a girl. You could have been Edyth June instead of Dexter Jay. Actually, you could have just as easily been Crosby Jay and almost were. We debated between Crosby and Dexter from the moment you were born until you were a good 4 or 5 hours old. It’s so weird to think about you being anything but a boy and anyone but our little Dexter Jay.

We didn’t know you’d have blonde hair and sparkly blue eyes or a contagious, constant, happy energy. We didn’t know you would have the laid back personality of someone who’s happy to be along for the ride, regardless of where we’re going. We didn’t know your laughter would make bad days better. We didn’t know you would find such joy in making other people happy. We just knew we already loved you and that love has only continued to grow and grow and grow.

We love seeing you look up to your big brother (except for those times when he’s not being a very good example – ha!). We love that you two are close. Buddies. We love that you love being around him. We love your big huge squeezy hugs and your sweet little tender kisses. We love that you made our family feel completely … complete. We love being together, the four of us, wherever the road takes us.

Before I had kids, I used to say that if I had 2 boys, I’d have 3 kids. I couldn’t imagine life without a daughter. Now that I have 2 boys, I can’t imagine life any other way. I can’t imagine a life without a house full of Legos and Batman toys or closets without holy jeans and dirty tennis shoes. I don’t want to imagine life that way – I know these things will disappear gradually.

You like to color. Every day you are gaining more control. You have surprised us with learning to write most of your name seemingly overnight! School has been a transition for you, but a good one. Your teachers have watched you grow. It’s hard to believe that a year from now we will be signing you up for Kindergarten. Poof! Just like that, the baby years are over. You still like Batman (a lot) but it doesn’t seem to be the obsession that it was 6 months or a year ago. You like heroes and the bad guys. You love water. Bath. Swimming. You are scared of loud noises like the car wash, ShopVac, big trucks, hand dryers, and automatically flushing toilets. You will scream and cover your ears every time.

Lately we’ve been dealing with a dumb little medical issue. You are so scratchy! You have a common childhood rash on the back of your legs called Molluscum and you scratch, scratch, scratch it. And it gets infected, infected, infected. 2 weeks ago it got so bad that you ended up admitted to the hospital with IV antibiotics. Dexter! Honey! Stop scratching. Easier said than done, I know, and it wasn’t your fault. We are still working with the doctors to figure out how to keep this from happening over and over. But really, stop scratching.

We are all spending your 4^th birthday together. Not only do we get to be together, we get to be together at our favorite place ever! Walt Disney World! There’s nowhere we’d rather be and no one we would rather spend the day with. I hope we can find the Star Wars cupcake you’ve been begging for while we are there.

Dexy, I have a feeling this is going to be a great year for you. For our family. You and your brother have grown and changed so much. I like to just sit and watch and listen to you two plan. You have big conversations and big imaginations. There’s no 2 boys I’d rather mother. When I think about you, I think about how blessed I am. Even when it seems like everything is going wrong, I’ve got you to hug at the end of the day. Please don’t stop hugging back!

So much love – Happy 4^th Birthday, Dex!

xo,

Mommy

mommy in the midwest

milestones

#mcdanfamloveswdw: Days 5 & 6

last day of pre-school 2015

Dear Dexter (2015)