Hunter at 9 months old with Tigger.

Hunter was not easy to take pictures of this month- most of his pictures looked like this.  How did people get good baby pictures before the days of digital cameras??

I thought it would be cute to take a picture of Hunter in a cowboy hat.  Hunter did not agree.

Where did the last 9 months go?

Love those little cheeks!

Trying to escape

Will he be a tip-toe walker like Hailey was?

Hailey 5 3/4 and Hunter 9 months

New stuff from this month:

Hunter went to Disney World

Hunter got his third tooth- it’s on the top.  He has been super whiny with his top teeth.  The other top tooth is almost through, so I hope his mood improves when it finally breaks through.

Hunter started crawling!  I’m glad he waited until after our Disney trip to start crawling.  I was hoping he would wait since I knew once he really became mobile he wouldn’t be very happy to be in a stroller all day long.  A few days after we came home he started to crawl.  He’s been a busy, busy boy ever since he started crawling.  He gets into everything!  I don’t remember Hailey ever getting into as much as he does.  Maybe it’s a boy thing.  He tries to pull all the plugs out.  He takes the heating vents apart.  He loves going in the bathroom.  And of course Dottie’s dish is his favorite thing in the kitchen.  But he hasn’t figured out how to open the cupboard doors yet, so I’m sure he’ll enjoy that once he figures that out.

Let’s not even talk about sleep.

Hunter is still breastfeeding.  He eats baby food and some table foods.  So far he’s not really a big fan of table foods, so we’re working on that.

Hunter is 20 pounds, 6 oz (50th percentile) and is 28 3/4 inches long (70th percentile).  He is still mostly wearing 6-9 month clothes, but the 9-12 month clothes are starting to fit.  He is now in size 4 diapers (about $20 for 72 diapers, Huggies brand).

Day 6 started much earlier than I expected it to start.  It started at 12:30am… I heard that sound that no mother likes to hear- and I especially didn’t want to hear it while we were on vacation in Disney World.  Hailey was on her bed throwing up.  This repeated again around 2 am and 4 am.  Finally that was the last time she got sick and she slept soundly.  I didn’t really go back to sleep after the initial time she got sick because I was waiting to see if she was going to get sick again so I could catch it and not have to change the bed again.  Housekeeping was very kind to bring us all sorts of things like new bedding, towels, etc in the middle of the night.

We had originally planned to go to Animal Kingdom on this day, and we knew that was not going to be happening.  Instead I spent the morning doing some laundry.  Hunter was not happy to be spending the day in our room so I took him out and we walked around the resort while Rich hung out in the room with Hailey.  She took a nice relaxing bath and laid on her bed to watch tv and sleep.

While I was walking around I took some pictures of our resort.  Port Orleans Riverside is such a beautiful resort!  Here are some of the pictures I took:

I finally saw the main pool which we had not been to yet.

A fun looking playground, but for some reason it was empty.  Maybe kids don’t want to play on there when they can be in the pool instead.

After I walked around for a while I went back to the room and everyone took a nice, long nap.  Except for me.  I was so tired from being up the night before but I couldn’t sleep because I was too worried.  What if Hailey didn’t feel better the next day?  What if Rich, Hunter and I all got the stomach bug, but all on different days so we would have to miss the rest of our days in the parks?  What if Rich and I were sick at the same time?  What if we were sick on the day we had to fly home?  So as you can see my mind was very busy thinking of all sorts of scenarios.

When Hailey woke up from her nap she was feeling a bit better.  She ate a little bit and kept it down.  She decided she wanted to go for a walk to look at the pool after I showed her the pictures I had taken of it.  She didn’t think she wanted to go in, just wanted to look.  So we went over to the pool and when she saw it she decided she did want to go in.  Our room was probably about a 10 minute walk from the main pool, so we really should have just brought our swimming stuff with us.  We went all the way back to our room and got changed to go swimming.

Hailey going down the water slide.

Hunter all ready to go in the pool.  He loved swimming!  He splashed and giggled and had so much fun.

Swimming seemed to really make Hailey feel better.  She had a great time, jumping in, playing, going on the water slide, etc.  So we just relaxed and stayed at the pool for a while.

We had a dinner reservation at Chef Mickey’s later that evening.  We weren’t sure what to do.  Hailey had eaten some and kept it down and seemed to be feeling better.  She had really wanted to go to Chef Mickey’s and had been really looking forward to it so we decided to go ahead and go.

We got there and I checked us in.  Hailey was doing okay, definitely not herself, but seemed to be feeling much better.

Hunter loved seeing everyone waving their napkins around.  He thought that was pretty funny!

First up Hailey saw Goofy

Hunter thought Goofy was great and kept laughing at him and trying to grab his whiskers.

Hailey and Hunter with Mickey.  There was just no way to get Hunter to look at the camera- he couldn’t take his eyes off of the characters.

Hunter sure did love Mickey’s nose!

Hailey and Hunter with Donald Duck.  Hailey told Donald that he was number 1, not Mickey Mouse.  Donald Duck was quite pleased to hear that   He gave Hailey a high-five.

Hailey and Hunter with Minnie Mouse.  Hailey asked Minnie how many dresses she owns… Minnie started counting on her fingers, but she lost count and didn’t know how many she had.

Hailey and Pluto… Hailey asked Pluto if she could scratch behind his ear- and when she did it Pluto stomped his back leg.  It was so funny!

Hailey didn’t eat much at dinner… Rich called her one chicken nugget that she ate the $19 chicken nugget.  But I was just glad she was feeling better and didn’t think we should push her to eat.

I just thought this dessert was cute, so I had to take a picture of it.

Hailey posing on our way out of Chef Mickey’s.

We walked back over to Magic Kingdom to catch the bus back to our resort and Hailey thought we should go to Magic Kingdom for a little while.  We thought it would be a better idea to get to bed early so she would be back to herself the next day, so we went back to our hotel.  We told her she could go swimming for a while instead.  When we got to our room I called the front desk to see if the slide was still open at the main pool- they told me it was open until 10pm.  It was just a little after 8, so we walked over to the main pool.  We found that the slide was actually closed since the life guards were already off duty   Rich and Hailey swam and played until 9:40.  Hunter was asleep in his stroller and I was falling asleep on the lawn chair since I hadn’t slept much in the last 24 hours.

Finally we went back to our room and were all asleep pretty quickly, hoping that we would all wake up feeling great the next day.

Day 5 was our sleep-in/relax day… so we slept in that morning.  It was so nice!  After taking it nice and slow, we headed over to the food court for breakfast.

Hailey with her breakfast… actually Hailey and I shared this meal and it was so yummy!  We had wanted to get a muffin to go with it, but there weren’t any muffins left.  I realize we went to breakfast after the mad-rush was over, but I was still a little sad that we couldn’t get our muffin.

After breakfast we took the nice boat ride over to Downtown Disney.

We saw Oak Manor, the building we were staying in, on our boat ride.

Hunter seemed to love being on the boat.

When we arrived at Downtown we saw this sign.  Rich loved it, so I took a picture of the quote.  I love reading all the quotes from Walt Disney that are posted all around.

First up we went to Once Upon A Toy.  All the details at all of the stores are just so amazing!

Hailey built a Pirate Potato Head.

We played around in there for quite a while, there was so much to see.  We had never spent much time in that store before.

Next we headed off to World of Disney.

Hailey stopped to pose with Mickey and Minnie in the pin shop on our way there.

I don’t remember what store this was in, another one that was on our way to World of Disney.  I just remember all of the breakable items and telling Hailey not to touch anything!  I wonder how often this castle is purchased for $37,500.

World of Disney… can’t go to Downtown Disney without going here!  We were in there for a really long time!!  Hunter took a nice long nap in his stroller and we just shopped and took our time and looked around.  It was nice and relaxing.  Hailey picked out several new toys to buy and we picked something out for Hunter. too

We haven’t been to Downtown Disney in a couple of years… we skipped it on our last trip.  So I had to take pictures of all the new Lego statues.  I don’t know how long they’ve been there since we haven’t been in a couple of years, but they were new to us:

Then it was time for a little snack… First we stopped in the Ghiradelli shop and got a delicious sample of chocolate.  Then we needed to have some ice cream.

Hailey and her ice cream at Ghiradelli.  So super yummy!!

After that we took the nice relaxing boat ride back to Riverside.

We relaxed in our room for a little while.  We had planned to go swimming, but ran out of time.  We had to be in Magic Kingdom at 4pm for an appointment for Hailey and there wasn’t time to go swimming before.  So, we just relaxed, which was nice.

All the fall decorations were out when we got to Magic Kingdom.  We had been there a couple of days before and there weren’t any fall decorations out.  I guess the fairies worked hard during the night getting it all set up.

Hailey at an appointment at the Harmony Barbershop.  We had set the appointment up about a week before because she decided she wanted her hair to be shorter.  She didn’t want me to tell anyone she was getting her hair cut so that it would be a surprise.

See how much she got cut off!  It has made it sooooo much easier to brush her hair!!

Lots of confetti in her hair!

We had a reservation for dinner at 6:40pm, so we had about 2 hours to get some rides done.  First we grabbed fastpasses for Splash Mountain, then we headed off to see how many rides we could get done before our fastpass time (6pm).

First up- Haunted Mansion (had no wait!).  Hunter looks thrilled

Next we rode It’s a Small World, which also had no wait.

Then we went on the People Mover… also had no wait!  I love that ride!!

Hailey and Tiana in line for Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger spin… which had a wait, but only 5 minutes.

Time to use our fastpasses for Splash Mountain!  Hailey and Rich went on while I entertained Hunter.

I thought we got quite a bit done in 2 hours.  We were a little bit late for dinner though, I always underestimate how long of a ride Splash Mountain is.  Even if there is no waiting because of the fastpasses, it still takes a while.

We ate dinner at Rich’s favorite place.  We ate at Liberty Tree Tavern for the first time last year and he loved it!  I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a must-do for us from now on.  Rich usually complains about everywhere we eat, and since he likes it here we’ll keep going back.

Waiting for our table.  The Cast Member who took our name told us that since we were a little late that we were going to have to wait 30-40 minutes.  We really only waited about 5 minutes, if even that long.

Rich enjoying his favorite dinner.  When we were done eating Hailey said she really liked it too.  And she ate a lot!  And asked for seconds.  Definitely a must-do!

After dinner we decided to head back to our resort.  It had been a nice relaxing day and we wanted to let Hailey get a little swimming in.  So far it was either too late or raining every time we had planned to go swimming.  So, we went back to get some pool time in.

When we got back I took a few pictures of our room while Hailey and Rich got ready to go swimming.

Fireworks on the headboards were so neat:

Magic Carpet

Hunter was tired so I got him to sleep and put him in his stroller and sat with him next to the pool while Rich and Hailey swam

Fun in the pool.

We went to one of the quiet pools- this was the one right by our room. We didn’t feel like walking all the way to the main pool- and we actually weren’t even sure where it was.

Fun, fun!

They swam for quite a while before we finally went back and got ready for bed.  After Hailey took her shower she was complaining that her stomach hurt.  That is not unusual for her, especially when she’s tired, so I didn’t think anything of it.  I just told her to lay down and go to bed and she’d be fine…

I got up nice and early on day 4, but had a little trouble getting going.  We went to bed plenty early on day 3, but for some reason it was hard to get going.  And no one else wanted to get going either.  We ended up leaving later than I had planned, to get to Hollywood Studios.  Since we like riding Toy Story Mania, it is very important to be at Hollywood Studios before the park opens.  (We like to grab a fastpass, ride while it’s a short line, then later ride using our fastpass and grab another fastpass.  This only works if you are there at park opening.)  Anywho- we got started a little late and then the bus didn’t cooperate either and we ended up getting to Hollywood Studios a little bit after 9am.  It took forever to get through the bag check and then once we finally got into the park and to Toy Story Mania it was 9:30am.  We got fastpasses for 1:35-2:35pm and the wait was already really long.  I didn’t write down how long it was, but it was too long for us to wait in the line.

It was time for the first show at Playhouse Disney, so we went to see that.

Hunter and Hailey both loved watching it!  We sat around the middle of the auditorium, which seemed to be a good spot to sit.  If you sit too close you can’t see what is going on up on the stage and if you sit too far back you just can’t see.

Next up we went to Voyage of the Little Mermaid.  Hailey loves that show!

While we were waiting for the show to start Hunter started getting fussy.  I knew he was tired, so I tried to get him to go to sleep.  He started to doze off, but it just wasn’t happening.  He kept fussing and then started crying, so I had to take him out.  We were in the middle of the row, of course.  So I had to try to climb over everyone in the dark.  If I stepped on your toes on my way out, I am so sorry!

Rich and Hailey stayed and enjoyed the show.

We stopped and watched one of the street shows for a few minutes on our way to our early lunch reservation.

We had a lunch reservation at Hollywood and Vine at 11am.  So we went and checked in and waited for our table.  There were so many people checking in that I was afraid we were going to be waiting a long time.  But we got seated after only a few minutes.  I don’t know what all those other people were doing, unless they were walk-ups hoping to get a table.

Hunter laughed at Jake from the Neverland Pirates.  He thought Jake was pretty funny.

Hailey giving Jake a hug.

Hailey and Handy Manny

Hailey in the parade

Oso playing peek-a-boo with Hunter.

Hailey and Oso

Hailey and June

June and Hunter

Once again I really liked my lunch at Hollywood and Vine.  I don’t understand why it gets bad reviews and why it’s always so easy to get a reservation there.  It was busier this year than last year though, maybe it’s all those people I’ve been recommending it to.

After lunch we walked over to Toy Story Mania because it was time to get another fastpass.  We wanted to see what time we could get one for, if there were any still left.  On our way there it started to pour… and I mean the rain was coming down sideways.  We ducked into One Man’s Dream, along with everyone else.  I snuck the stroller in because Hunter was asleep and there was no way I was taking him out in the rain.  The Cast Member inside did tell me I couldn’t be in there with the stroller, so I just stood by the entrance.  Then she told me I couldn’t stand there because it wasn’t safe in the storm and that I had to take the stroller all the way outside.  I’m not sure how it was safer for me to be outside than in, but that’s what she told me.  I just stood there though, I was not about to take Hunter out with the rain coming down like that, and she left me alone.  It started to let up some, so Rich ran over to Toy Story to get our fastpasses… he was still able to get them but they were for 9:30pm.  Since the rain was no longer coming down sideways we headed out to find a ride to go on.

Hailey wanted to go on the Great Movie Ride… so that is where we went.  It actually had a wait time, which has never happened to us before.  I’m sure it was because of the rain and people just ran in there.

Then it was time for us to use our Toy Story fastpasses.

Such a fun ride!!

Hailey all ready to ride

I’m glad we had fastpasses… there is no way I would have waited 100 minutes.  Although I’m pretty sure that number is inflated because the line did not look that long to me.

On our way to go to the Muppets 3D show we saw Mike W and Sully.  We got in line to meet them.

I thought this sign was funny

I love the rules!

While we were waiting, Sully had to leave, so we only got to meet Mike.  It seems like that always happens to us.

Mike liked Hailey’s hair.

Hunter didn’t know what to think of Mike.

Next we saw Muppet Vision.

Hunter was starting to get hungry and tired and we were all still full from our early lunch.  So I told Rich to take Hailey on the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground while I fed Hunter some lunch and tried to get him to take a little nap.  I remember going on that playground when I was little, and Hailey has never been on it, so I wanted her to try it out.

Hailey playing on the playground.
I started feeding Hunter his lunch and my phone rang- Rich was in the play area and could not find Hailey.  So I took off with Hunter and got in there so I could watch the exit while he searched for her.  He found her within a few minutes, but it was still scary.  She was crying because she was scared.  She did decide to stay and play for a bit longer while I finished giving Hunter his lunch.  He didn’t want to take a nap and it was so hot and humid and sticky out.  So, we decided to head for the animation building.  I thought Hailey could meet some characters while I held him so he could sleep in the AC.

Hailey and Meeko

Frozone dancing with Hailey

Frozone, Hailey and Mr. Incredible

We knew that the character palooza would be starting soon and Hunter was asleep, so we just hung out in there for a while.  Hailey played the various games and colored.  It was nice to just relax since we usually just go and go.  Around 4:45 Hunter had woke up and we started getting ready for the palooza to start.  Rich was walking around with Hunter and suddenly Captain Hook came right up to them.

He played for several minutes with Hunter… it was too cute!!  Who knew that Captain Hook likes babies!?!?

Hailey and Captain Hook.  After her picture Hailey said, “tic toc, tic toc” and Captain Hook shook his finger at her and shooed her away.  We were laughing and it was funny.  So, she said it again and he was still playing along.  Then the Cast Member with him said, “Okay, goodbye!  Next family please!”  It was so rude!  We had been with him for all of about a minute and it really bugged me that she acted the way she did.

Next up Hailey got to meet The Queen.  We have never met her before, so we were excited!  After she saw The Queen, Hailey didn’t want to see any of the other characters… she said she had met them all before, which she had, but not since last year.  I guess she is growing out of the character stage.  She went to play some more games on the computers.

Hunter didn’t know what to think of The Queen.  He just stared at her.  The Queen said, “I think he is mesmerized by my beauty.”  Rich said, “I believe so.”  When he said that, The Queen almost cracked a smile, but she caught herself just in time.

Hunter thought the Green Army Guy was pretty funny.

When that round of characters left (there were several others, but Hailey didn’t want to see them) and the next group came out Hailey screamed when she was Jafar.  She just loves him for some reason.

Hailey and Jafar

She didn’t want to see anyone else in the second round of characters so we left.  We thought that maybe we would just head back to our hotel for a relaxing evening and some swimming since we had done everything we wanted to do at Hollywood Studios.  Then Hailey decided she wanted to go on Tower of Terror… up until that point she said she was scared of it from last year and didn’t want to ride again.  I have actually never been on it, so she decided she would take me on it for my first time.  (I was pregnant last summer when she rode it for the first time, so I couldn’t ride.)

Tower of Terror

A little nervous to ride?  Maybe, but she says no.  It was a lot of fun to ride!  After I rode with her, Hailey and Rich went on.

It looked like it was getting ready to pour again, so we decided to head back to our resort.

Family picture on our way out.

We also gave away our fastpasses for Toy Story on our way out of the park.  The family we gave them to didn’t act like they knew what they were, so I hope they got used.

As we were getting in line for the bus it started to pour again, so we were thankful we were covered.  We ate dinner when we got back to our resort and did some relaxing.  It was still raining so we didn’t go swimming and decided to just go to bed.  We were in bed by 9:30.

Hailey’s favorites for the day: Ride- Tower of Terror, Character- Jafar

We were almost half way through our trip and I really liked how we were doing it.  In the past we have opened and closed parks and it was exhausting!  We decided to be more relaxed this year, taking breaks and not staying until park closing.  We hadn’t used our Park Hoppers at all (and should not have bought them) and it was really nice not having to switch parks.  It felt more like a vacation and less like we were on the go constantly.  So far, so good…