Part 3 - The Magic Kingdom

First big roller coaster ride!!!!

It was awesome!!!

Disney Vacation - Part Two

Your eyes are not deceiving you. 

 I really blogged again. 

Who knew all I had to do was open the

computer and start typing stuff.

Ahh, just like the good ole days.

 

Now, where were we?

I was telling you every detail of our trip.

 

We stayed at a fun resort that had

a lot of pools.  One of the first things

we did was go swimming.

We hadn't even had time to buy

any pool toys but that didn't stop

Brendan.

 He found a free one hanging on the wall near

the pool.  Yes, I know that it is not a toy.

I figured if someone was actually drowning

we could get it back from him.

(Sorry about the blurry pic. 

 It is hard to take a clear photo when

you are laughing hysterically.) 

 

 Little buddies.  That is my sister's son Carter,

aka "brother from another mother."

 



Disney Vacation - Part One

 

You are not seeing things.  This is actually a new blog post. 

 No need to adjust your computer monitor. 

 

We took a Disney vacation and I figure,

when you drop that kind of dough you are obligated

to blog about it, don't you think?

Yep, blog about it AND remind your kids everyday

how much fun they had . . . so they never forget the week

you spent their college fund at Walt Disney World.

Just kidding . . .

 

Since I have two hundred bazillion jagillion pictures, I figured I would

post nearly all of them and make you live every moment of our vacation with us.

The good news is two hundred bazillion jagillion pictures

won't all fit in one blog post, so you are guaranteed at least a couple more posts

before I fall off the face of the earth again.

Aren't you excited????

You better be!

 

Our first stop was the T-Rex Cafe in Downtown Disney.

 

That is a dinosaur in the mist back there.

Just didn't want you to miss it. 

 

 

Inside the restaurant, they have all kinds of animatronic
dinosaurs that are completely still until your kid
 gets next to them. Then they start to move
and growl and scare the crap out of

them.  It is awesome.



Working up the courage to reach out and touch it.

 



 

You know it . . . as soon as she got this close
 it came alive, started moving, and made
 her scream and jump 13 feet in the air. 

Magical memories.

 



By the way, Brendan - lover of all things dinosaur
and the reason we came here in the first place-

wouldn't get anywhere near the scary,
giant things.  Just imagine him sitting
here next to Megan.  Thanks for your
cooperation.

 



 

John ordered a brontosaurus burger and
ate the entire thing. I was shocked
and impressed and disgusted
all at the same time.

 

Brendan asked for a plate of "nothing" (seriously)

and that is exactly what he got. 
We aim to please around here.

After we ate dinner and let all the dinosaurs

scare the pants off us  provide an excellent
 learning opportunity, we went outside

to dig up some fake bones and pretend
we were archeologists.

It was actually pretty cool and the kids

had a blast.

Then John found a hidden Mickey in the jeep
 outsidethe restaurant.

 We are hidden Mickey nerds.
Don't hate.

Then we walked around and bought a bunch

of stuff in the shops that the kids

will lose or break by next week 

treasure forever.

That's my dad.  Did I mention my parents
 came on this trip with us?

They did. 
So did my sister and her family,
 but they didn't come

to Downtown Disney this night.
 Confused yet?  I hope not.
 



Then we went to the little arena and
waited for a show to start. 

They played some music and Brendan
"the ham" stood in

the front and started dancing.

 



A little girl shyly walked up and
started dancing with him.

 



Then they both realized it was awkward because she

was obviously much older and much taller.

 



Brendan aka "Daddy Mack" was a chick magnet
that night, attracting the older chicks with
his dance moves and swagger.

.

The little girl went and sat back down with her parents
and John bought a lemonade.  Brendan grabbed the lemonade
and ran right over and offered it to the little girl.  What an adorable
little gentleman!  So glad she didn't take it or I would have had to go grab
it back.  That lemonade cost $6!!  No joke.
It was pretty cute, and I was laughing so hard I was crying.



Then this happened.  That is a tattoo the entire length of

Megan's forearm.  It happened right after I told my dad

to please please please get her a SMALL tattoo if he insisted on

getting her one at all.  Like, just a little Minnie Mouse on

her hand or something.

 

I don't have a photo of myself looking at this tattoo

when Megan and my dad came back,

but if I did it would look something like this.

 

 



Dad, I'm glad you found this so funny.

That tattoo will live forever in
every. single. photo
I have of Megan at Disney World.
 

Muchas gracias, dad!

 



Then the kids rode a train  and we went home.

 

And I dreamt that night about taking a bottle of nail polish remover to that
tattoo . . . .
 

Happy 6th Birthday, Megan!

Megan's birth story . . . just for old time's sake.  Happy 6th Birthday, Megan!!!!

It was 2 days PAST my due date. I left my teaching job 2 weeks before because, quite frankly, I couldn't find clothes big enough to cover my entire belly (perhaps due to the 60-70 pounds of "baby fat" I was carrying around.)

 

Convinced I wouldn't be one of "those women" who look like they just fought (and lost) a war after giving birth, each day I would wake up, put on a full face of makeup, straighten my hair, put on an adorable matching sweatsuit and wait to go into labor. I imagined how put together I would look in the pictures taken after Megan's birth. I imagined people marveling that I was still wearing my lipstick. I would show the world that a woman could still look dignified after giving birth! I was going to be prepared!

It was Father's Day (June 18, 2006) and contractions woke me up at about 6 am. By afternoon, they went away and I carried on as usual and went to my mom's for a Father's Day celebration. We left when I got a terrible backache. I came home and got into the bathtub to ease the pain. I was in the tub for hours and hours and hours while John fell asleep. (not that I'm STILL HOLDING THAT AGAINST HIM or anything.) It was fine, seriously. I mean, why shouldn't he have gone to sleep while he wife was in agonizing, miserable pain?

I finally couldn't take one more second and told John to take me to the hospital. Remember my plan to have my hair done, cute sweatsuit on, blah blah blah? Ummmm yeah, forgot all about that. My makeup was smeared all over my face and my hair air dried into a nice, frizzy bird's nest of gorgeousness.  It was the wierdest thing . . . I didn't even think about how I looked as I was walking out of the house which is soooo unlike me.  (When it was time to come home from the hospital, John gave me what I wore to the hospital to wear home. I looked at him and screamed, "YOU LET ME WEAR THAT OUT OF THE HOUSE???????" Yeah, so much for my plan.)

I started begging for an epidural as soon as we got to the hospital, before we even arrived at Labor and Delivery. As a matter of fact, I think I may have begged a custodian for an epidural on the way up. While in triage, I had to go walk for an hour.  They wanted to make sure I was really in labor and not just faking it, apparently. (John was thinking, "I'm pretty sure she's really in labor. Did you see what she's wearing? She made me stop on the way to the hospital so she could go peeps on the side of the road.  This person in front of me is not behaving at all like my wife. She is in labor alright!"

After those witches nurses in triage determined I was truly in labor, they moved me to a room. I continued begging for pain medicine to which, I was told, I had to wait. After 973489237070923840298870 hours went by (which was actually probably 1) I finally got some Nubain which made me feel glorious. Then Megan's heart rate started having decelerations. At one point, about 10 people ran into my room and started yelling, "Roll over on all fours and put your backside in the air." Terrified, I did so immediately. Once her heart rate returned to normal and the panic was over, I realized my king sized, naked behind was sticking up in the air, facing towards the open door, and people were coming in and out. I asked, "Mom, will you please cover up my bum?" And I thought I was going to do this the dignified way.

Prior to going into labor, I was worried about the embarrassment and the nakedness. People told me you're so wrapped up in the moment you just don't care. Hmmmm, that wasn't my experience. Not my experience at all.  I cared.

Next, the anesthesiologist came in to give me an epidural FINALLY and said, "Wow. You look different. The last time I saw you, you were on all fours with your a$$ in the air." He seriously said that. He was a pretty funny guy, only I didn't think that was funny at all.

The doctor came in to break my water and realized it was already broken. What??? How does your water break and you just don't notice??? Then I remembered back to the unholy pain of the bathtub and realized it happened way back then. "No wonder your contractions were so strong so early on!" Wow, if I hadn't been on an IV drip, catheterized, internally baby monitorized, and paralyzed from the chest down I would have gotten out of bed and gone on a murderous rampage, starting with the triage nurses that made me walk around to make sure I was really in labor. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

By now, it was morning and I had missed an entire night of sleep. I was hungry but no one cared. John went to get some food (because I insisted he eat.) I was so annoyed when he listened to me and told him, "In saying go eat John I really meant you better not eat a single bite until I'm allowed to, dammit." I don't know why he was so confused.

 

By late afternoon, I was finally dilated to 10 centimeters and it was finally time to push.

So I pushed. And pushed. And pushed. And pushed. And pushed. I said words so terrible I'm not even sure I know how to spell them. I was pushing so long the nurses had a shift change.  I was thinking, "Geesh. Do I know you? No time for small talk or the 'getting to know you' awkwardness." My eyes were almost swollen shut, I had broken numerous blood vessels on my face, and I still didn't have a baby. The doctor came in and asked the nurses, "How long has she been at this? There is no excuse for this!" He told me that after 2 and a half hours of pushing, Megan just wasn't coming. They should have called the doctor in over an hour ago.  They shouldn't have let me continue trying for that long.  (Thanks, bitches.  Oops, sorry that just slipped out.)  She was stuck, so it was off for an emergency c-section.

And this is how this story ends . . .

 

The Best Moment of My Life!!! 

Happy 6th Birthday to my sweet girl!  We have a full day ahead of us.  Vacation Bible School, lunch at your favorite restaurant (Pizza Hut) with GG, Nana, Aunt Katie and your cousins, and a t-ball game.  Then we will celebrate with a Hello Kitty party on the 30th with all your friends at the YMCA! 

You are very loved :)

The 7th Anniversary That Wasn't

Let's just imagine for a second your 7th wedding anniversary is approaching.  How would you choose to celebrate that special milestone?  Babysitter?  Dinner by candlelight at your favorite restaurant?  Cards and flowers and gifts?  Perhaps even a little excursion out of town, just the two of you?

How about a trip to an indoor waterpark with your 5 year old and 2 year old?  Hmm, not exactly what you had in mind?  Now just imagine you (as in ME) booked a trip to an indoor waterpark to celebrate the end of the school year and perfect Kindergarten report card . . . NOT realizing it was your (as in our) 7th anniversary. 

That, my friends, is called a big OOPS.  A really big, totally fun, still had a good time, no nap, temper tantrum, laugh a minute, stop eating pretzels off the hotel room floor, no you can't have a $10 ice cream cone, don't poop in the swim diaper, didn't even sleep in the same bed on our anniversary, memory making, you better sit your behind down and eat because this buffet cost $22 bucks a person, bring me another martini, OOPS.

John and I laughed at what a difference 7 years makes.

After our wedding, we rented a private cabana right on the beach on the exotic island of Tortola for our honeymoon.  We swam with dolphins and woke up to the sound of the waves crashing into the shore.  All it took was 7 years and two kids later and we ended up at a waterpark in Sandusky, Ohio.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.