A highly anticipated trip to Disney

First off, the girls are pretty lucky to have a [great] uncle who works out at the rat factory and is able to share some tickets on occasion. The girls have been waiting quite sometime to use their tickets, but we had to wait for a weekend that would coordinate with everyone's schedule, so we planned months in advance over which day we would be going. And, it had literally been an everyday conversation about wanting to go to Disney World. They have even been arguing for weeks over which ride we would go on first. They had their whole day mapped out weeks before it was even time to go. Finally, the day came.

We went out to magic Kingdom, for the first time I ever remember, at the park's opening. We were right inside the gates and had a perfect view to watch the park opening show with Mickey and some other Disney favorites riding in on the big steam train. I always knew that they did that as we could hear it from inside the park when I worked there, but never actually witnessed it. Fun. From there is was straight to the New Fantasyland to check out the new Ariel ride. We walked straight on with zero wait. Addisyn started getting a bit nervous walking through the queue since it was walking through a cave. Poor kid was even shaking. Once we got on the ride she was fine though. The ride itself was super cute and just told the story of The Little Mermaid, but the effects and such have definitely been ramped up compared to older ride concepts like the now closed Snow White's Scary Adventure. After getting off the ride we went straight to the grotto where the girls were abel to meet Ariel in mermaid form. It was literally a dream come true for them both. So mesmerized. Addisyn has met Ariel in her human princess dress, but never as a mermaid.

After that, we checked out the new Storytime with Belle attraction. It was pretty neat getting to walk through Belle's childhood house, and then into the Beast's castle where the children were given opportunity to act out a story with Belle. The girls were too shy at the point to volunteer to take a role, but lucky Doug was selected to be one of the knights. You know how thrilled he was, but he was surprisingly a good sport and played along. It was really neat how they had it all set up and really allowed for the kids to interact with Belle. At the end of the story, all the kids got to go up and have their picture taken individually with Belle and got a signed bookmark from her.

Alyse was able to go on the Barnstormer (aka the Goody Rollercoaster) for the first time. I for sure thought that she was going to cry because the look on her face was priceless once it started moving fast. But she didn't! When it stopped I looked over at her and couldn't tell what exactly her reaction was going to be, but then a big smile popped on her face. Success! She even went a second time, so we know she liked it! Little daredevil Addisyn screamed the whole way like a rollercoaster pro!


We also had reservations at the Harmony Barber Shop to have both of the girls' hair cut...Alyse's very first haircut ever. Addisyn went first and just got a trim. This was only her second haricut, her first was the year before on our Disney trip at the same place. She also had the lady pull her hair up and add some pixie dust. Alyse was next and little miss serious just sat there playing with the Minnie Mouse light up toy the whole time. She looked like a big mean bully, and the ladies in there were having a good laugh over how serious the kid is. But, she did well, wasn't nervous or anything. I think the lady actually questioned over whether or not it was truly Alyse's first haircut because her hair is naturally layered. Oh well. Anyways, Alyse got a trim and also some bangs. Then, she also pulled her hair up and sprinkled some pixie dust. It was so strange seeing Alyse with bangs and also with her hair pulled up. It instantly added age to her look and we also thought she looked like a completely different kid. Cute nonetheless.

 

Addi getting ready for her trim!

Cinderella taught them how to pose like a princess ;)

For the rest of the day we just did the general Disney stuff. Met some characters and went on some rides. The girls both loved every minute of it. I started getting a bit worried because Ella spent the day at home with my mom (the first time being away from me for more than a couple hours) and was trying to take her very first bottle. Granted, it was my milk, but the bottle just was not cutting it for her. Mom said she wasn't fussy, it's just that she wouldn't eat. I sent two different types of bottles with her some Tommee Tippe and then a Similac bottle that was given to me as a free sample. Wasn't having either of them so my mom sent Dad to Target and bought a third kind (Nuk) and she finally accepted it.

Rapunzel!

No Disney trip is complete without the People Mover!

Addisyn and I tried pretty much all afternoon to get on both Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain but the stupid things kept breaking. I was so excited to go on Thunder and to introduce Addi to it, I don't even know the last time I was on it! We had fast passes for both, and both broke down. They told us Thunder would be down for hours, and they weren't sure on Splash. We were in line for Splash when it broke, so we just got out. We also had fast passes for Winnie the Pooh, but wouldn't you know that was broken too when we went to go use them. By then, we just gave up and heading out around 6:30. That was one long day at Disney, but it was fun! Nice to spend time with just the older girls too.

Alyse and Doug!

Makes me fear driving lessons with this kid!

4 months!

Little Miss Ella is 4 months old. Woah. She is really such a sweet baby. Full of smiles and mostly relaxed. You can tell she's smiling even from the back of her head. Her eyes can just light up the room. She now is holding her head nice and stable during tummy time, and actually enjoys laying and looking around at all the things across the room. That is unless she's in a don't-put-me-down-because-i-want-to-be-held type mood (which is more often than not). But, when you do catch her at the right time, it's fun to play with her as well as watch her play if I'm lucky enough to take a few steps back.

She had her 4 month checkup at the doctor today, the day after her 4 month birthday. She weighs in at 14lbs 3oz (60%), is 24.75 inches long (75%), and a head circumference of 16inches (50%). Apparently, her ginormous head has completely evened out to perfection, not too big and not too small. At her 2 month checkup is was huge! She's definitely growing into her own skin just as she should.

Really, nothing hugely important was discussed at her checkup, and I didn't have any questions or concerns to bring up. She's to keep on her diet of mommy milk and since she's growing just as she should no need to start with any sort of solid foods. The start of solid foods is such a bittersweet moment for me, so I'm just as happy holding her off on it. It's hard and weird to explain why it is so bittersweet to me, but mostly it's just the signal of her continuous growth and that feeling as she doesn't solely depend on me anymore. Weird, I know. When we do cross the bridge to introducing solids, I am planning on actually making our own food this time around. I never did it with the older two, as I was working, and I didn't want to take away the time that I had with them just to make food. So I'm excited for this new adventure. It's number three, time to try new things :)

Here's some comparisons of Ella to her big sisters at their 4 month checkups:

Addisyn: 12lbs 11oz, 24.75 inches long
Alyse: 15lbs 140z, 26.35 inches long
Ella: 14lbs 3oz, 24.75 inches long

This clearly shows how each child is so different. All three of them only had breastmilk their entire first 6 month of life (well for Ella her first four, and is on the road to six lol), and how varying their weights are/were. I think Ella is moreso our "average" baby. Addi was the itty-bitty, and Alyse the chunker monker!

Last Sunday, Addisyn had Preschool Sunday at the church where she goes to preschool. They sang during the church service and then they had a BBQ and activities afterwards. Both the girls had so much fun playing with the other kids on the playground and in the bounce house. Addisyn, of course, was so very excited to be on the stage getting to sing. She is such a ham. Her teacher had been telling me the last few weeks that she definitely gets into the songs and has some pretty sweet moves. She really did show them off, haha!

Finally, we also had a visitor in the telephone pole along the alley in our backyard. The neighbors were the ones who spotted it first. I've never seen a bald eagle flying around downtown Winter Garden before! Pretty neat!