April Vacation: Disney And Beach Fun

I can't seem to remember the last time I actually posted pictures to this blog! And so this is my hearty attempt to try to play catch up! Yes my kids are getting big (as am I with that baby growing)!

We spent a week in Florida for April vacation. Most of the week we spent at the family vacation home in West Palm, and the rest we spent in Disney. This was a brave move on my part, as it was exhausting as a preggo women working the parks. Although seeing my kids eyes light up made it so worth it! Rylan declares his favorite ride as Spaceship Earth, and was excited to have a meet and greet with Buzz. Addison nearly wet herself when seeing Minnie Mouse, Cinderella, and her all time beloved... Belle. It was amazing to see her enjoy it so much this time round since she was only 1 yr. old last time we were there. Addison is my brave one. Her favorite ride was Haunted Mansion and she went on it alone with her parents because her big brother refused to ride!

The rest of the vacation was perfection. We did a lot of beach time. Rylan is getting very brave in the water and needs swim lessons ASAP. Addison is still timid about the beach and prefers no waves. The best part about this vacation was watching them eat like horses, and sleep in! Rylan also has been transfixed on a name for the new baby and says if we don't end up calling him that, that he we still use the name! YIKES. Lucky for us it is on our short list (to be shared a later time). 

Here is some highlights from our trip:

Daisy Love

 Minnie asked Addison to do the same thing with her Skirt since they matched

 Not sure which one is more Goofy

 Rylan's fav

 We got the bonus of finding Mickey and Minnie together!

 Cinderella

 Addison's fav Belle

 Goofy take 2

 We saw our CT friends at Magic Kingdom!

 So excited to be in front of THE castle

 Off for a spin

 Pete is 100% more Goofy then Goofy

Beach lounging 

 Family phone at City Place

 Exploring on the beach

 21 Weeks and counting

 Enjoying the water

 Perks of a Disney Hotel

 Beach Babe

 I could not get this kid out of the water!

 My favorite church!

Fifty Shades Of Blushing

A few months ago I was watching some news program that featured a bunch of housewives down in Florida that had a book club revolving around the new trilogy Fifty Shades Of Grey. This group kept talking about how they could not put these books down, that the men in their lives benefited from them reading this, and that they physically felt more happy after reading it. They also mentioned it being quite naughty. I was intrigued. However, I couldn't imagine wanting a book more then the Hunger Games. They insisted this would be true if the viewer picked up the first book.

First I tried to get it at the local library and of course they didn't have it. I wondered if other people had heard about it. Would I be the only wacko Mom knee deep in a naughty book that would make me blush like a school girl? Apparently not. I bought the trilogy on Amazon which was back ordered because it is nearly impossible to get a copy of this book right now. After I Facebooked about it, of course the response from my fellow friends was insane. People had downloaded the entire book on their phone because they couldn't wait. This had to be a good book.

My copy came in the mail a day and a half ago. I refused to crack it open the first day. I was trying to keep it for my family vacation that is coming up this week. Of course I succumbed to my intrigue yesterday--and holy WOW. I can't look back. I so badly want to close the book and read it on the beach. I CAN'T! I Can't get enough! Suddenly my sleepy pregnant self that declared she needed an early to bed last night, was up until midnight and needed to use every ounce of self-control to put the damn book down. Then I woke up this morning at 5:30 am. Usually when I do this I roll over and go back to bed. Little can make me actually want to wake up for the day at that time... unless of course you are a wickedly naughty book. Suddenly I realized the kids are asleep and I could get a good hour of a good read in. And so I read.

The thing is I feel weird reading it with my kids around anyway. Not like they can pick up and read the words in it (thank GOD). It is the affect the book has on me. I feel like I am prying in on someones life when reading it. I get embarrassed, blush, and feel over heated at super hot moments. Even in the start of the book when there is no sex at all, I am blushing like a school girl with just the flirting that is happening. The writers writes this book with such intrigue, and secrecy, that you actually feel you shouldn't be reading it. You feel like you are looking into someones personal even when you are fully aware that it is fiction. Suddenly, your day can not go on without trying to make out the mystery of Christian Grey or where the next books will go with the story.

The book just has that WOW factor. I want to tell everyone to read it but then everyones house will be a mess, and the kids will be eating cookies for dinner. It overtakes your everything, and it is hard to separate yourself from it.

I fully intend to be sucked in more, as I wait for the next two books to arrive. Clearly I won't have anything to read on this vacation because I fully intend to finish the first book today!

If you haven't already you must dive in! It is a glorious ride.

Hands Down Scariest Day Of My Life

I told myself to breathe about a thousand times in a matter of five minutes. I couldn't help but think of the worse case scenario. I needed someone to lie to me and tell me it was just a drill. I needed to be naive, because the places I allowed my mind to wander today should not be a space a parent should go. I thank, by the grace of God, those images stayed in my mind, and not in reality.

Today was a beautiful sunny day that was supposed to be celebrated by Kindergartners having a Spring hat parade, and a Spring party. However, when I arrived at Rylan's school ready to help out, there was no celebrating, just high amounts of worry in the air. A man with a walkie-talkie stood at the end of the road to the school entrance when I arrived. He informed that I was unable to go in because they were on high alert lockdown and he advised me to leave the area immediately. I couldn't help but wonder if this guy knew what he was telling this crazed, pregnant parent. When you say HIGH ALERT LOCKDOWN, and get out of the area IMMEDIATELY you sort of go from 0-10 on the worry scale quick.

I didn't leave of course. I couldn't. For five minutes I sat in my car in panic thinking and worrying about the worst case scenario. I knew it wasn't a drill since I saw actual cops. I really wanted someone to tell it was so that I could dismiss the worry. In the height of me about to explode, I truly believe God knew I couldn't handle not knowing. An acquaintance in the area was driving by and saw me sitting in a parking lot looking frantic. She pulled in beside me. I rolled down the window and asked her if she knew what was going on. Thank God her response was YES, and that her husband is a local cop and was just called in. Nobody was in the school. (insert breath) All the schools on the campus were in lockdown. (our town is set up to have all of it's schools in a central location) A resident in the condos that are on the campus had cut his wrists and wandering the grounds. He then high tailed it to the woods behind the other elementary school. And from there I knew this: my kid was safe.

You might have guessed I would leave at that time knowing he was safe but yet I couldn't. I sat in the open area, doors locked, phone in hand, waiting for the lockdown to be over and the confirmation the guy was caught. I was more unsafe then my kid while waiting, but the mother bear in me couldn't leave.

After some time I needed to breathe a little and went for a drive. Thankfully when I returned it was over. I knew the parade and party would be rescheduled, but I had to go in and see my kids face anyway. Apparently the other room Mom was there during the entire thing and had brought all of the party goods in with her. So lucky for my kids class they had a party while locked in their classroom unaware that anything was going down.

When I picked Rylan up from school he looked at me we sweetly. I told him I loved him very much and he said "Mom I couldn't have picked a better Mom. You are the best Mom I ever had". I wanted to weep. This child who had no idea what immense fear I had felt hours earlier, knew exactly what I needed to hear. So today when he asked to go play on the schools playground with his friends I said YES. For so many reasons, but most of all just being thankful all the kids in this town were safe.

I am still a walking jitter bug today. I can't shake that feeling. The feeling of wishing I could keep my kids in the womb forever. The thought of living a day without them--even for five minutes-- is grueling.

I am just so thankful today worked its self out the way it did.

Desperate Times Bring Desperate Measures

Recently I have realized I exit the house with less and less things that require a parent to be ready for those "what if" moments. No longer having an infant around has gotten me used to flying around town minus a handy dandy diaper bag filled to the brim with goods. There has been more times then I can count that I have a messy kid out in public and I am cursing myself for not bringing wipes with me. Or when I have a horrible diaper to change and I forgot to refill the stock in the car for such moments.

Today my absolute favorite of all unprepared moments happened. I was in Target trying to soothe my nesting like a mother mind. There is so much to do in the house before August comes, that I am in a constant state of "must do" and making lists. So naturally I forgot to take anything a long for the ride for Addison. Ok... I did remember to bring a snack and that is only because on the way out of the house she said she was hungry.

Addison has been a bit under the weather lately. Which is stellar timing since we are off to a family vacation soon and family sickness never fails when ever we go. In the midst of the cereal aisle at Target she yells out "I GOT BOOGERS" and whining as s massive green rocket floated over her lips. Shit I think, I don't have wipes! I don't have tissues! I scramble in my bag and I use the only thing I can think of that will save the rocket from entering her mouth..... a maxi pad. I used a maxi pad to wipe my kids nose. Hey desperate times call for desperate measures, and for the record, it absorbs WAY better then a tissue.

This taught me a valuable lesson and that is I must have a "just in case" Ziploc no matter what age my kid is. Although I am hoping that by the time they are teenagers they can find a tissue on their own. Among other things teenagers use, because Mom IS NOT carrying those around. I also need to breathe a little. Baby nesting head is going to drive me insane if I let it.

In the meantime, if I see you out in public and you are tissue less--have no fear maxi pad it here. You may never go back to tissues!

May my daughter not have to relive this moment in therapy someday.