Leading up to our trip Hailey was so excited!  She started getting her clothes packed a couple of weeks before it was time to go.  We put each outfit into a ziploc bag and she labeled them with which day she would wear the outfit.  We went back through my posts about our previous trips and read everything we did.  She just couldn’t get enough of talking about our trip- she was soooo excited!  One evening as we were getting close to our trip Hailey said, “I am so excited I could burst!”  It was so fun to watch her be so excited about going.  I definitely liked it better with her knowing, rather than surprising her like we did last year.

The day before our trip we painted our toe nails red and then added a Mickey head.  These are Hailey’s cute little piggy toes.

Hunter and Hailey all ready to go.  They were ready to leave for the airport at 4:45am.

The (my) plan was to leave at 5am.  Of course Rich held us up (he always does) and we left at 5:28am.  I wanted to leave with plenty of time so I wouldn’t have to get stressed about making it to the airport on time.  We were flying out of an airport that was 3 1/2 hours away because we were able to get a good deal on the plane tickets.  In the end, by the time we paid for gas and parking (in addition to it being extra stressful) we didn’t save a whole lot.  I think it would be worth it to pay a bit more to fly out of an airport closer to home next time.  On the way to airport Rich kept questioning the directions to get there and made me nervous.  Then I started to think we were going to wrong way.  I looked it up on my phone’s GPS and we were heading the right way, but Rich did make me nervous for a few minutes.

On the way to the airport Hailey got car sick…  that always happens when she’s really tired and/or didn’t eat a good breakfast.  I pulled out the Sea Bands that the dr had recommended for the airplane and put those on her.  A little while later she got sick again.  I don’t think the Sea Bands work well for a child- they didn’t really stay in place for her.  We finally arrived at the airport at 9am.  Rich dropped us off with the suitcases and went and parked the car.  It seemed to take forever for him to get back.  Finally he got back and we checked our luggage.  Since we were flying Southwest we were able to check our 3 big suitcases without having to pay extra .

We found our gate and then had some McDonalds for breakfast/lunch.  Hailey said her food didn’t taste good to her and she wouldn’t eat much, I think her tummy was still off from the car ride.  I gave her some Dramamine for the airplane ride, since the dr said to do that if the Sea Bands didn’t work.  Soon after that Hailey saw some girls from her Sunday School class and we talked to their parents for a while.  It’s funny that we ran into them at an airport 3 1/2 hours away!  (They were headed to Disney World too.) It’s a Small World

Finally time to board!  Hunter (on his first airplane) with Hailey.

Thanks to the Dramamine, Hailey was able to look out the window.  She was so excited to see the ground below and loved looking.  She kept saying, “MOM, look!!”  After a while Hailey and Hunter were both ready for a nap.  We flew into Fort Myers Fl, for a quick stop and then went to Orlando from there.  We didn’t have to change planes, but the stop made Hunter very antsy.  He was all over the place for the rest of the flight.

We arrived in Orlando around 3:40pm and had to stop for our annual picture by the Disney store.

Hunter and Hailey with Mickey.

Then we were off to the Magical Express.  When we got the Magical Express I folded down Hunter’s stroller and went to lock it shut (it has a piece that hooks together to keep it shut) and the piece that was needed was gone.  Apparently Southwest broke it while putting it under the airplane.  Fantastic.  It’s a bulky stroller to begin with and Rich had already been complaining about having to get it on and off of the buses all week- and now it wasn’t going to be able to lock shut.  Grrrrr

Hailey on Magical Express on our way to Port Orleans Riverside.

We arrived at Riverside and checked in.  It took less than a minute- no waiting in line and everything was all ready to go for us.  While we were in the lobby Hailey said,
“This place looks very royal.”  Then we were off to check out our room.  We stayed in Oak Manor, in the back of the building facing the parking lot.  It was only about a 3-4 minute walk to the main building from our room, so I was happy even though the location wasn’t great.

When we checked in we got this special letter.

It was from Tiana, welcoming us to our Royal Guest Room.

Then I had to take some pictures of the room before we started unpacking and messed it all up:

Hunter hanging out on the bed.

Hailey waiting as patiently as she could for me to finish taking pictures so we could get going to a park.

A few more pictures:

Then we were off to the Riverside Mill Food Court for some dinner.

Hailey had some chocolate cake and then some chicken nuggets for her dinner.

I had the delicious 1/3 lb Bacon Double Cheeseburger.  Rich had the same thing and for some reason didn’t want me taking pictures of his food.  Can’t imagine why.

Then we were off to Magic Kingdom.

Let the Memories Begin!

Family picture in front of the castle.

We went and picked up fastpasses for Splash Mountain since it had a bit of a wait.  Rich was able to get 4 fastpasses because they gave us a ticket for Hunter as well.  So, that meant Hailey would get to ride twice- one time with each of us.

While we were waiting to use our Splash Mountain fastpasses we went on Pirates of the Caribbean.  Hailey did her best pirate face while we were waiting in line.

Hunter slept through his very first ride in Disney World.

It was time to use our Splash Mountain fastpasses, so Hailey and I rode together first.  I sure did miss going on Splash last year when I was pregnant.  I love that ride!

Then Hailey got to ride again with Rich.

We were exhausted from our long day so it was time to head back to our hotel and go to bed.  We decided to do one more ride on our way out.

We rode It’s a Small World- Hunter’s first ride being awake.  His eyes were huge the whole time.

We had hoped to get out of the park before the Electrical parade, but we got stuck watching it.  We couldn’t move forward or backwards, so we just stayed and watched it.  I was a little nervous that crowds were going to be high for our trip, because it seemed pretty busy.

We got back to Riverside around 10, much later than we had hoped.  Hailey picked out an autograph book and pen from the gift shop so she would be all ready to get some autographs on day 2.  Then we picked up our refillable mugs- it was pretty busy in the food court and they seemed to be short staffed.  They were out of a bunch of stuff- there were only black mugs left and we wanted 3 different colors.  Someone did bring out some boxes of mugs as others were looking for their mugs too.  There were only 2 registers open with very long lines.  Someone had spilled something all over the floor and it was just left there with no one to clean it up.  It seemed quite chaotic.  Soon enough we were all checked out and on our way to our room.  Our luggage had arrived while we were gone, so I did some unpacking.  Finally we were all in bed by midnight.  What a long day!

Hailey’s favorites of the day- Splash Mountain

Just some random pictures from this month:

The other day my parents stopped over to drop off their dog while going out of town for the weekend.  I was in the shower when they pulled in the driveway so Hailey came in and told me they were here.  Then she went to answer the door and told them, “Now is not a good time for you guys to come over.”

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Hailey spent the day with my mom and when she came home I asked her if she had fun.  She said, “Any day with Grandma is a fun day.”

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We’re getting ready to go on our annual trip to Disney World, so the other day I asked Hailey, “What are you most looking forward to about Disney World?”  She responded, “Going.”

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The other night Hailey was watching TV when something came on that I didn’t want her to watch. I told her we needed to change the channel to something more kid-appropriate. She said, “MOM, you are RUINING my life!!”

Hunter at 8 months old with Tigger

Some other pictures I took today:

I’m not sure what it is, maybe it’s the outfit, but I think Hunter looks much older than he did when I took pictures at 7 Months Old.

Hunter- 8 months old, Hailey- 5 3/4

New stuff this month:

Hunter’s 2nd tooth came in right at the beginning of this month.

We finally saw a dermatologist about his rash.  She was no help at all.  She was really young and can’t possibly have much experience, so I am really frustrated.  She basically told us to use a bunch of expensive moisturizers and lotions.  The way the appointment went- she met with us, looked Hunter over, then left with the nurse.  Then the nurse came back in with instructions to get the rash to clear up.  So I couldn’t even tell the dermatologist that the pediatrician had actually thought of moisturizers/lotions before referring us.  By the end of the appointment Hunter was screaming, so I figured we’d try out her ideas (they are different moisturizers and lotions than we have ever used).  But her ideas have not worked and I had to go back to the prescription creams the pediatrician gave us.  When Hunter goes to his follow up in September I am requesting to see someone else.  The one thing that has gotten better is his cradle cap.  It had gotten so thick and so bad that it was making his hair start to fall out.  So I started putting Olive Oil on his head about 20 minutes before his bath and just letting it sit.  Then I would scrub his head with a soft baby brush and that really worked.  After a week there was a huge improvement!

Hunter now says “ma ma,” “da da,” and “ba ba.”  His favorite one to say is “ma ma” and he says it all the time.  I don’t know if he means anything by it, but I like to pretend he does.  He has also started his clapping hands.  When we try to get him to it, he won’t do it.  But as soon as we stop paying attention he’ll start clapping.  He also loves to mimic Hailey.  If she bangs on something, he bangs on something.  If she screeches, he screeches, etc.  It is so cute!  I also think that Hunter does the sign for “milk.”  It looks like he does it, he could just be squeezing his hand open and shut, but I really think sometimes he is asking for milk.

Hunter is not crawling yet.  He gets on his hands and knees and could crawl if he would just do it.  But instead he gets really mad and just cries.  He does manage to get around by scooting on his bottom.  I am in no hurry for him to crawl though, because once that happens I know I won’t be able to take my eyes off of him for a second!  Hunter can also sit himself up now.  He has been able to sit for a while if we put him in the sitting position but he can now get himself sitting up.

Sleep has been pretty awful!  Just in the last week he won’t stay asleep at all when I put him down in his swing.  I get him to sleep but as soon as I try to lay him down for his nap he wakes right up.  Usually at night he stays asleep for a couple of hours in his bed before he starts waking up.  Someday he’ll sleep, at least that’s what I keep telling myself (Right now, I am typing while I am holding him so he’ll stay asleep.).  The only good thing in sleep related news is that Hunter is on a schedule- he naps around 10am and 2:30pm and is ready for bed around 7:30pm.

I have given up hope that Hunter will ever take a bottle.  I had a stash of frozen milk that I finally had to throw away.  He nurses about every 4-5 hours during the day and he eats baby food (fruit for breakfast, veggie for lunch, dinner for dinner.).  He seems to like his baby food, which makes it a little easier for my parents to watch him once in a while so Rich and I can go out.  I don’t have to rush home every other hour to nurse him since he’s eating baby food and going longer between feedings.

Hunter did not have an appointment this month, so I tried to do my own measuring at home.  I think he weighs about 20 lbs and I think he’s about 28.25 inches.  He is still in 6-9 month clothes, but some of his onesie shirts are getting a little hard to snap, so I’ve started getting out some of the 9-12 month clothes.  He is still in size 3 diapers during the day and size 4 diapers at night.