We Are Going to Disney World!

In just a few weeks, my little family will pack our bags and depart on a trip I have been so excited for  since the day Evelyn declared her love for all things Princess related-Disney World!    Boyfriend and I have talked about taking Evelyn to Disney World (DW) for a couple of years now.  We actually went to Disneyland June 2011 when Evelyn was just over a year old.  Of course she doesn't remember but we have the pictures to prove she was there and that she loved it.    In my head, five always seemed like a good age to bring them for the first time.  A five year old is old enough to understand what is going on, but everything is still *magical*.  Boyfriend and I have taken a couple of trips to DW before kids, all during the first week of June immediately following Memorial Day. This week was also successful for us in crowd levels (right before schools let out for the Summer) so our intention was to go around the same time period in 2015.   At the start of the year I looked at my work calendar and realized that there were already vacation requests for that same time period so I wouldn't be able to go.  I thought, "No big deal-we can go in September."  Boyfriend may have a conference in September in Orlando so he would just add onto that trip and we would meet him out there.  I thought to myself that would be great timing since the crowds would be low then since school had started.   I spent about a week pricing out our trip, figuring out how much we needed to save, what special events would be going on, etc. when all of a sudden something hit me.  Sure the crowds would be low because school was in session-but my own kid would be in school.  I had completely forgotten that Evelyn starts Kindergarten this August!   Back to the drawing board on what week to go, it seemed as though the only option was late April (I refuse to go during actual Summer-heat and crowds, no thank you!).  So finding ourselves just over three months out vs nine was a bit stressful but after a lot of work we are ready!   Through all of my planning, I have relied on various websites and blogs to help create a trip as magical as possible.  No longer are the days where you just buy a ticket and go to Disney.  I mean you can, but there are some serious advantages to spending time on the front end planning so that once you are there you can maximize your fun.  These websites and blogs have been so helpful I wanted to contribute our experiences and what I agreed/disagreed with.   My packing list has been written down, itinerary spreadsheets have been created, customized shirts have been ordered-this Phantastic family is ready to go!   

Breaking Down in Walmart Dressing Rooms

Earlier this week on my way to work, as I do most mornings, I stopped to get my morning caffeine.  Typically I will stop at McDonalds and get a $1 Diet Dr. Pepper but that morning I was especially tired as I am still very much in survival mode (nope the baby still isn't sleeping).  I popped into Starbucks and got an iced latte, extra shot of espresso and started my hour commute to work.   About five minutes away from work, my magic juice was starting to pep me up I noticed my cup was forming condensation.  As I was holding it, a couple drips fell off the cup into my lap which caused me quite the pause.  Now normally I don't think I have ever noticed this before but oddly enough I had actually felt the cool little beads of water as they dripped down my skin.     With absolute horror, I reached down between my legs and shockingly felt not only my inner thigh, but I could feel that the ENTIRE crotch of my pants was missing.  Now I have a better picture to illustrate this but to avoid my blog getting hits for crotchless pants pictures-here is just a sample:  

 

This picture honestly doesn't do the situation justice.  Let's just say there was nothing left from about two inches down both thighs, from below the zipper and all the way to the bottom of my butt.  At this point, I'm across the street from my entry to work but obviously that wasn't going to happen.

I'm mentally cursing my dog (as he was the only devilish one to get me into this situation) and start to panic because going home wasn't an option. As I mentioned, my commute isn't a short one-the roundtrip would take over two hours.  It was so early (I start work at 7:00 am) that I also knew my beloved Target wouldn't be open for another hour.  Luckily, there is a small Walmart that opened recently and I thought surely I could find something there that would do.

I don't frequent Walmart but know they have everything so when I walked in (with a sweater tied strategically around my waist) and saw that the clothing section was *tiny* I freaked out a bit.  I wear a very odd size of pants (big belly, no butt) so in general pants shopping is one of my least favorites, with a limited section I felt like I was screwed. 

Somehow I managed to enter some new Walmart prototype with only a few racks of women's clothing with over 60% of it being athletic wear.  My work is causal, but not that casual.  To add on complications-I had an obligation to attend to immediately following work so I had to look semi presentable.

I walked feverishly from front to back of the women's section seeing nothing that would work, with each trip hoping there would be more options magically appearing.  After three laps (that took all of 60 seconds) I settled on a pair of jeggings and a floor length skirt.

The next part of my story is where my mental decline really starts.  There was only one fitting room stall for each gender and both were locked.  I looked for someone to open it for me, awkwardly walking ensuring that my sweatshirt didn't lose coverage and make me a candidate for People of Walmart.  I finally found the Manager on duty but of course she didn't have a key to open the door for me.  She said she would page someone to come open it and left me standing there awkwardly next to the "sexy" underwear section.  The irony was not lost on me.

As I stood there and waited over 15 minutes for someone to come, I considered crawling under the doors but knew the moment I did that the key holder would appear just in time to see me and my crotchless pants in all their glory.  Finally someone who seemed as though they were just woken from a nap and very annoyed came and opened the door for me.

I ripped off the offending pants, trying on the floor length skirt first.  Unfortunately my 62 inches of stature left nearly a foot caressing the ground so that wouldn't work.  I side eyed the jeggings folded on the built in seat, and while I was desperate, I wanted to pretend I wasn't that desperate.  You see, these jeggings weren't just any jeggings-they were nude colored. The kind of pants that made People of Walmart famous:

 

To be fair, the reason I temporarily considered them was because they weren't actually leggings-there was quite a bit of texture and they were several shades darker than my skin (being pale working in my favor here!) but once I got them on, I just looked in the mirror and had a breakdown.

The pants themselves "fit" but they were offensively tight-as in I would feel more comfortable wearing my crotchless pants than these in public.  By this time, I was already nearly 45 minutes late to work and with no options I thought to myself, "I'm going to have to call into work because my dog ate my pants."  

I sat on that little half bench in my tighter than skin jeggings and shed a few tears over how I was going to have to waste an entire day of vacation over this stupid episode.  I chastized myself-how in the world did I not notice?!  And what is worse is I grabbed them from the clean laundry basket, had I already worn them and not noticed?

As I put back on my jeans, I missed the leg hole and went through the gaping space between the legs.  Laughing to myself and wondering why that couldn't have happened two hours ago on my first attempt to get ready for work and no plan on what to do next, I exited the dressing room and immediately across was the girls section displaying a large selection of jeans.

I grabbed the biggest size they had and walked back over to the dressing room, and with a cautious glimmer of hope, slid the pants on.  While they were still nearly a foot too long (which was fixed by rolling the cuff), they fit just fine and in fact I quite liked the fit.  Finally a moment of cheer in my morning I quickly put back on my original pants and purchased them changing in the bathroom.

One hour late to work, I walked in and apologized but luckily my tale of what I had already experienced that morning seemed to be excuse enough. I learned a few things that morning-just how tired I really am, that my dog is a jerk and that my husband doesn't check out my butt in the morning.

An Official Change...

The last few months, I've really struggled when I have attempted to write a post.  I know this is going to sound ridiculous but my use of nicknames for my family members has me totally tied up. I am not one who uses nicknames on the blog to protect their identity, but I started this blog out using nicknames because in real life--that is what I call them.  Jackson (husband) goes by Boyfriend 90% of the time unless I am really angry with him in which case if Evelyn (known as Baby on the blog) is around she will do a spot on impression of me saying, "Jack-SON!" Then Penny (Pillow as lovingly referred to while in utero by Evelyn) came along.  Honestly, using the nickname Pillow on my blog just feels really unnatural because I do not call her that in real life.  So I found myself wanting to refer to her as the baby but then I became confused because my first daughter's nickname is Baby.  So ultimately, as silly as my predicament was I just stopped writing for the most part. So from here on out, daughter #1 will officially be referred to her by her real name, Evelyn, and #2 is Penny.  I will probably still refer to Jackson as Boyfriend, but if I ever make the switch to Jackson-know it is probably because I'm not too pleased with him :) Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Accidents

There are things in life that happen that you didn't plan on happening, and yet they did.  Sometimes life has to decide for you because you are too busy to make the choice yourself.  There are times life just accidentally happens.  Getting pregnant with baby #2 was the best accident of my entire life.

I've mentioned a few times that I really struggled with adding another to our family.  The one constant that tugged at my heart was that I knew what it was like to have a sibling and I wanted my daughter to have one.  Now that the second is here, while I wouldn't have known any better, our lives wouldn't have been complete without her. Watching these two bond is something I had no clue would overwhelm my heart on a daily basis.  I know that we have harder days before us, when they are fighting and ripping each other's hair out, but these moments will last a lifetime. My girls, my adorable, sweet, caring girls are so lucky to have each other and I am the luckiest because I get to be their mother.

Absolute Terror

On a recent Sunday, I was trying to take a nap.  It wasn't quite successful, I could hear the baby calling for me and Boyfriend trying to keep the older one quiet.  Him saying loudly, "Whisper!  Mommy is trying to sleep!" isn't exactly conducive to napping.
At some point I hear him open the back door to let her play outside and I heard the sounds of the baby playing in her exersauser. Everything just felt calm and I started to feel that delicious heavy wave of sleepiness overcoming me.  Just as I started to drift off I heard a bone chilling, "DADDY!!!"
I moved faster than I ever had before, yelling to Boyfriend to rush to her.  Half a second later, I hear blood curdling screams coming from my daughter and she was screaming for Boyfriend.  I began to panic, wondering extremity was going to require being in a cast. I have never heard such fear and terror in her voice, I was shaking with worry.
Our living room (where Boyfriend is) has french doors to the backyard where we can see her playing so he yelled to me, as he was opening the door, that she was physically fine.  The entire episode lasted ten seconds, but it felt like an hour.  
Boyfriend ask her what was wrong and she screamed, "A BUG!"
At that point I physically went from feeling panic to relief to anger to laughing at the ludicrousness of it all.  I talked to her (at this point I had joined them in the backyard) and explained to her that while we want to save her from anything scary, bugs and up, she is to never scream like that again unless it is an absolute emergency.  She told me that it was an emergency, which I suppose that I am thankful to her that is the most horrifying thing she has experienced.  Seriously though, we will have to work on understanding the word, "emergency" a bit better.
I tried to lay back down and reclaim my nap time but my nerves were totally shot. We now have a new rule in the house-no outside play alone when Mommy is trying to nap.  

   

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

We have entered the stage where Baby is testing boundaries with the truth.  Or more, how much she can get away with not telling it.  She isn't maliciously lying, and it is always about silly things (like her sister is the one who turned the music on) but even still, it is not a habit I am looking to support.  

Sisters, the perfect scapegoat.
About a week ago, I told her the story about the little boy who cried wolf.  She has asked me to retell the story at least once a day and after each retelling of the little boys demise we discuss the moral of the story.  Tonight, after I told the story she said to me, "So I was thinking about the little boy Momma..."   "Maybe he wasn't lying.  Maybe the wolf ran away when he knew the people were coming to help him out.  Or maybe the wolf was in a cave somewhere and the boy was saying he saw it there.  I just think the little boy saw a wolf and wasn't lying!" I can't decide which I should appreciate more-her ability to think about a story and take it to a deeper level or her innate desire to see the good in everyone.  Or then again, with this child, she could be pulling the ultimate con on me thinking that if she convinces me the little boy wasn't lying, then maybe she too, doesn't lie.

Monster Cookies and Other Surprises at the Perot Museum

This past week, Boyfriend and I took a hooky day (work approved so we aren't all that dangerous) and attended a blogger event at the Dallas Perot Museum, kids in tow.  It wasn't our first time there, in fact we were members in the past but this experience completely changed my viewpoint of the museum and gave me an entirely new level of appreciation. When we arrived, we were escorted to a learning lab room where we were provided a museum catered lunch while we had the opportunity to listen to guest speakers, including CEO Colleen Walker.  To be honest, I was almost tempted to totally ignore her speech so I could stuff my face with this monster sized cookie, it was that good.

Luckily though, I did pay attention and was totally inspired.  Colleen began to dive a little deeper into the Perot's stats-I knew it was a big deal for Dallas, but had no idea just how big of a deal it is.  She impressed upon us the extreme success the museum has enjoyed in just its minimal two years of service for our community, including the numerous awards and recognition.

What touched me though was when she mentioned the Perot will be a part of my children's nostalgia.   I've never thought of it that way, but I do have memories of going to the old science museum in Fair Park on field trips.  I remember first learning about bell curves, hearing the chorus of sounds as each ball fell into it's random slot creating the perfect bell curve.

I love watching my daughters learn.  You can see their eyes light up, the proverbial light bulb clicking, when they have discovered something new.  At the Perot with both the standard and traveling exhibits, there will always be those new opportunities to watch that switch flip for them.

After listening to our guest speakers we were turned loose to explore the museum, including the current special exhibit MathAlive!  While the exhibit was definitely geared towards older kids and up, my daughter still had a blast taking part in all of the interactive parts--from rock climbing, snow boarding and playing with shadows.  The entire family even took part of a "fashion shoot" where it enabled us to have a 360 degree view of our photo.

We had let our membership lapse because I was pregnant and we weren't sure how often we would be able to utilize it.  Now that the youngest is here we are going to renew at the start of the new year-that is if someone doesn't want to get us a member ship (wink, wink) for Christmas.  As a bonus for attending the event, my readers have the opportunity to receive a 15% discount if they call 214-756-5751 and mention "Teh Wifey" blog.