One and a Half

Little Bud is officially a year and a half.  18 full months have passed since we first welcomed him into the world.  18 months!  I almost can't believe it!!  We went today for his 18 month check up, and he didn't have the best time.  He's cutting ALL 4 eye teeth, and to say he's grumpy would be an understatement.  His poor little gums are so swollen, and those sharp edges poking through the skin look SO painful!  We had to wait forever to be seen by the doctor, and he did not enjoy the waiting!

He still isn't walking (he'll take 10 to 15 steps at a time, but still prefers to crawl to get from place to place), but the doctor didn't seem overly concerned, since he can actually walk (and climb!).  

Aside from the current teething crisis, he is such a happy boy!  He loves to play and be silly, and has recently discovered how fun it is to "wrestle" with Daddy (Big Sister calls this "rough housin'" and she's a fan too!).  If he's awake, you can bet he's got a car in his hand.  He also loves seeing trucks when we're out and about.  If you pass us in a truck, he's sure to give you an extra special wave and smile before he says the obligatory, "vroom vroom!" (He says it so deeply, his truck voice is much deeper than his regular voice).  

Here are the stats from his check up:

Weight: 19 lbs., 2 oz.

Length: 30 1/2 in.

Circumference: 47 1/2 cm.

He's wearing 18 month shirts and 12 month pants, and is still in a size 4 diaper.

He's rocking the 2nd percentile, but he is growing on his own chart, so no worries there.  He's hitting all of the major milestones, so while it seems to me that he is so different than Big Sister was at his age, he's doing just fine.

His sweet little smile melts my heart!

 

CC Fun

Big Sister is having such a great time at Classical Conversations each week.  And, she's learning so much!  She also loves spending time with her friends and has made a few new friends too 😊

Moon Crater experiment

Counting by 3s

Review games

friends from her class

Timeline Song!

Labor Day Beach Trip

A few weeks ago we decided to spend Labor Day weekend at the beach.  John was able to take Thursday and Friday off, so we headed south as soon as he came home from work on Wednesday night.  Papa Jack and Grammie joined us on Thursday night and spent the weekend playing with Big Sister and Little Bud, digging in the sand and splashing in the waves (that were full of seaweed, but that didn't seem to hold the littles back!).  Big Sister went an an epic crab hunt and enjoyed the rides at Pier Park one night too.  It was a fun weekend filled with memory making moments!

ready for fun in the sun!!

surfing

feeding the birds

crab hunt success!

Big Sister loves meeting new friends

Pier Park

Disney Planning

Before we booked our upcoming trip to Disney, I had no idea how much thought, planning and prep work were needed to have a successful trip to the happiest place on earth!  We booked our trip 4 1/2 months ahead of time, and still had to be flexible when we made reservations for character meals (and almost weren't able to get Big Sister an appointment at the infamous Bibbiti Bobbiti Boutique).  I've since learned that it's best to book everything a full 6 months ahead of time; even though I'm a planner by nature, that just seems crazy to me!

We went to Disney a few years ago with my entire family (my parents and all of the aunts, uncles, cousins and some close friends that I've always considered to be family), and it was kind of a challenging experience for our little family.  We went the week of Thanksgiving, because that's what worked best with everyone's school schedules, and the parks and transportation system were insanely crowded!  Also, Big Sister was only 2 1/2, so her ability to understand the waiting in line process was pretty non existent.  I was also 6 months pregnant with Little Bud (my poor ankles were so swollen all week!).  Overall, we were just along for the ride that week; I didn't plan ahead or do much research (except I did find out ahead of time that most of FantasyLand was closed for construction while we were there!), so we just went with the flow and because of that we missed out on a lot of things that Big Sister would have enjoyed (she of course didn't know she missed out on anything - she was happy as a lark to ride It's a Small World no leas than 27 times; she also loved Dumbo, the Magic Carpet Ride, the Jungle Safari in Animal Kingdom, the Winnie the Pooh Ride, and she was able to meet lots of characters!)  But, I decided this time that I would research, research, research to make the most of our trip.

Since we're going to be there for so many days (we have 10 days of park hopper passes), I haven't scheduled everything out (for the most part I want to be flexible and allow the kids to do what seems exciting to them at the moment), but I have familiarized myself with the rides in each of the parks (and I know which ones Big Sister meets the height requirement for), and have highlighted on my handy MyDisneyExperience app all of the rides I think Big Sister and Little Bud will be most interested in, so it will be easy to navigate what we want to do on a particular day based on how crowded the park is.  I've also noted which park opens early each day, so that we can take full advantage of the extra magic hour that Disney offers to guests who stay on property.  I know where the toddler playgrounds and play areas are inside each of the parks (climbing makes Little Bud a happy camper!).  And, every park has an infant care center that's air conditioned and has toddler sized toilets; hallelujah for not always having to take Big Sister to the scary public restrooms!

I've been accumulating fun Disney gifts for both kids.  I'm making a little welcome package from "Mickey and Minnie" for each of them to add to the magic and excitement of the whole experience (they're only little once!), and I have a little gift to leave on their bed each day (I'm hoping this will keep the souvenir shopping to a minimum).

A few months ago I started buying Disney themed shirts/outfits for the kids too.  Big Sister already has a Minnie dress that my parents bought her on our last trip (and it still fits!), so in addition to several new Mickey/Minnie t-shirts, Grammie is helping to make her a few Disney princess inspired outfits that won't be as hot and scratchy as her princess dress up clothes (and I put together a Doc McStuffins inspired outfit for her to wear to Hollywood Studios!). I also ordered a few princess hair bows and some Minnie Mouse ear bows on Etsy.  She of course hasn't seen any of her new clothes (even though she was with me when I bought most of them!), and I can't wait to see her happy little face when she gets dressed each day!!  Disney boy clothes aren't nearly as fun, but Little Bud does have several new shirts and some cute new pajamas :)

My last project is to make autograph books for Big Sister and a little photo album for Little Bud.  After reading a bit about the autograph books that they sell in the park, I decided it would be best to make some for the kids.  I'm sure Little Bud won't be worried about getting autographs, but I wanted him to have his own little photo album so that he doesn't feel left out ;)

Overall, planning a Disney trip is kind of overwhelming, but it's also fun!  I know the kids (especially Big Sister) will have a great time, and seeing their happy little faces will be a great reward for all of the hard work we've put into planning this trip!!

Classical Conversations

This past Tuesday, Big Sister went to her first day at Classical Conversations (it's a group that offers classes to home school children).  We aren't completely sure what we're going to do long term as far as school goes for Big Sister (home school or private school), but we felt like this was a good place for us to start.  She was able to attend a trial day at our local Classical Conversations group last spring, and I was super impressed with the curriculum that they use.  Several of Big Sister's friends also attend the same group that we go to (there are several groups in the Birmingham area and hundreds of groups across the nation), so she's been excited for weeks about going to "school".  She had a great first day, and is looking forward to going back this Tuesday.

As a part of the curriculum, every child does a "presentation" for their class each week.  At Big Sister's age it's more like show and tell (they are supposed to bring an item associated with the topic for that week), but I think it's a great way to get kids used to speaking in front of a group at a young age.  We started working on her presentation a few days before her first class, and I was amazed at how well she did!  She spoke very quietly (I'm sure she'll do better with that as she gets to know her class mates a bit better), but she remembered everything she had planned to say.

ready to go on her first day!

so proud of her princess backpack :)

with her sweet friend in science class

they are such sweet friends!!

Shhhh...It's a Surprise!!!!!!!

Back in the spring, John and I decided that this year on our family trip we would go to Disney World!  We officially booked our trip in early May, and have so far been able to keep the whole thing a secret from Big Sister.

We decided to do the trip as a surprise for 2 reasons:
To add to the magic of the whole experience (John's Uncle and Aunt surprised their girls with a trip to Disney a few years ago, and since then we've always liked the idea)
And if I'm being honest, to eliminate months of endless, "Is today the day we're going to Disney?" questions.

After some discussion and consideration (based on the kind of hectic family trip we took to Disney a few years ago), we decided to go for 2 whole weeks.  John is blessed to have a bit more vacation time than a normal job would allow, so we decided to take advantage of that and enjoy a more extended (and hopefully more relaxed) trip.

We're taking the "motor" (as Big Sister calls the motor home) and camping at the Fort Wilderness Campground.  We went back and forth about whether to stay in a hotel or bring the RV and in the end, the motor home won out because of cost (the campground is in the same area as the premium hotels at Disney - it's just a short boat ride away from the Magic Kingdom, but it's a small fraction of the price you would pay for staying at one of the premium hotels) and convenience (we'll have a kitchen, separate spaces for the kids to take naps and it'll be nice to not have to worry about the hotel "ick" factor that's present even if you're staying in a nice place - especially with germ unconscious littles).  The campground has all of the same great amenities as all of the other on property resorts (playgrounds, pools, water slides!) at Disney, so it's really a win/win for us.  We'll also be able to bring our bikes (along with the kids bike trailer) and fishing poles (the campground has bike trails and a lake).  Overall we think that staying at the campground will make our trip a little more laid back (if that's even possible at Disney?!).

We originally planned to stay for 2 weeks and only get passes for 7 days, but apparently the cost of the park passes drastically reduces after 7 days, so in the end we decided to go with 10 days of park hoppers, so that we'll have a lot of flexibility with our schedule (which is important with 2 littles!).

We decided to go to 4 character meals (we opted not to do the meal plan, because they sell the meal plan based on the number of nights you stay on the property, so it was super cost prohibitive for us - it would have more than doubled the total cost of the trip).  I had a difficult time narrowing it down to 4, but we felt like more than that might be overwhelming to Big Sister (and to Little Bud too).  We were also able to get an appointment for Big Sister at the Bibbiti Bobbiti Boutique (when we originally booked they didn't have any open slots), so she'll be able to visit with the Fairy Godmother before we go eat at Cinderella's Castle!

We are so looking forward to our trip, and can't WAIT to see the look of surprise on Big Sister's face when we pass under the Walt Disney World sign :)

 

Swimming Lesson Success!

Friday was our last official swimming lesson.  Big Sister is swimming so well!!  She can dive down to the bottom of the pool to rescue her dive rings, she can jump in and swim across the pool to the steps and she can lay on her back and float to rest when she needs a break from swimming.  I am so proud of her!  By the middle of last week she kind of hit a plateau since she was struggling to hold her breath, which made it difficult for her to swim more than a few strokes, but after Daddy worked with her on Wednesday afternoon, she made great strides during her last 2 lessons.  Little Bud did not of course learn to swim, but he isn't afraid of the water anymore and doesn't mind getting his face wet.  Overall the lessons were definitely a success!  Being able to visit with friends (who joined us for the lessons) every day for 2 weeks was a total bonus!

swim lesson kiddos and their teachers

floating

Little Bud

she rescued all of the rings!

fun times in the pool with Daddy!

Daddy is so much more fun than Mommy ;)