Mommy wants to sleeeep

Mady knows no volume control. I've been around painfully loud other kids, but when they are not around.. I swear Mady is the loudest thing I have ever heard. Although, she has the most precious voice and I can't get enough of it.


Im laying in bed this morning.
AK hit the alarm at 5:50a :SNOOZE:  6:00a I moaned "nuh..huh... not yet" :SNOOZE: .. 6:10a :SNOOZE: he told me to roll over and we curled up until the wretched thing started playing another obnoxious country song too early in the morning. Finally he gets up and lets the dog out, turns the shower on and comes back to the bedroom. Kisses me on the forehead and says, "5min. That's all you get. Im jumping in the shower now, you join me in 5min!". Those five minutes of the bed to myself, knowing I have to get up very soon. I savor every second of the perfect balance of warm vs. cool bedding, fluffy blankets and all the pillows. It's Just Heaven.

90 seconds into my last five minutes....

I hear tiny feet running down the stairs and fly around the living room, all the while screeching:

MOMMY! DADDY! I NEEEEED TO GO POTTTTTTTY!

She bolts thru the bathroom door and yells for daddy to help her QUICK to get her jammies off so she can potty.

Mady: What are you doing in there? Are you in the shower daddy? Are you washing your hair? Where is mommy? Daddy, where is my mommy?
AK: She's in bed. Pleaseee be quiet sweety, mommy is still sleeping.
Mady: Oh you want me to be quiet because mommy is sleeping? Ok.
......she talks consistently the rest of the time about any and everything that comes to her mind. You don't even have to respond, she just keeps talking!

another solid 3-4min goes on and for some reason she doesn't pee / can't / most likely, already did before she made it to the potty. She comes into my bedroom.

Mady: Mommy. I couldn't go pee-pee on the potty, I tried but I couldn't go.
Me: That's great sweety.
I can't even open my eyes. please, pleaseee, i love you child. no talking. 30seconds. silence.
Mady: Are you still sleeping mommy? I stayed in my bed all night, are you proud of me?
Me: Of course I am hunny, thank you. Mommy is tired, shhhhh
Mady: Will you turn cartoons on for me in the living room please? Im going to go to my chair and get my blanket, and will you get out of bed and turn the cartoons on please?
Me: Yesssssss.
I surrounder. I know I have exhausted my 5min time allowance already, but I should be able to dispute that because I never got the perfect sleep that I counted on!
Mady: You're my best friend mommy, my best friend in the whole wide world.

And she runs off to the living room. Messy hair. long sleeve shirt on with no bottoms or underwear at all. The sweetest voice you will ever hear, even when you want to hear nothing with your eyes closed at 6am on a 35 degree Tuesday morning. I will miss these exhausting chaotic start to our days, I know I will.

Belle is rockin' and rollin' along

Oh sweet Annabelle. It's incredible how you can have two children that are complete opposite of one another. They are both amazing, hilarious and so much fun in their own way.. they keep my head spinning and heart begging for more. Love, Love these kids!

Annabelle is starting to talk a lot more.. by talk, I mean learn small new words, sometimes they are words, sometimes were only working with mumbles and finger points to tell us what she wants. But it's communication and that's the best thing in the world - that's the best transition from baby to toddler. When they can start telling you what they want... you know, almost as great as wiping their own butt.

Annabelle can say: Mama. Dada. Sissy. If you ask her what the birdie says, she will say: Teet-Teet!. Juice. Shoes. Socks (though is sounds like shoes.. which sounds like chuzzs). She knows exactly what to do with shoes and socks. She can't be indoors longer than 30seconds without unzipping her jacket and taking it off. If she hears the bath water running, she takes off to the bathroom and starts stripping... and since were on the subject of bathtime, she refuses to sit in the tub, and she loves the water poured over her head. Daddy is much more brave about this than I am, he does bathtime.

Annabelle is not my sleeper by any means. We're trying hard to get rid of the bottle. And it's really not that she wants it as much as it's SO easy for us to just give her a bottle and she goes right out. I never thought we would be those parents, but here we are. Now that I am writing this. I think I will go home and package them all away. Something about boxing up bottles though, breaks my heart. We need to do it.. I will do it tonight. She sleeps most the night, but like clockwork always wakes up earlier than she is ready to get up, and cries. She's just not that sound sleeper like Madelynne was. We truly got spoiled on that front.

Annabelle has a fiesty fun temper though. She will snatch a toy away from someone and run away as fast as her chunky legs will carry her, and then has a fit when you take it back from her. Anything you are doing, she wants the same. ESPECIALLY if it's a cell phone. She LOVES herself a phone. She holds it right on her shoulder by her ear with the cutest "Hew-wo?" So damn cute. Her voice is the best. Her smile is worth a million bucks. She's such a happy baby and loves to just be... happy. Occassionally I will look over and she is clasping and unclasping her hands from fists to open palms onto her tummy... tickling herself and then laughing at herself. The kid is hilarious.

She has the kindest heart. Kathryn visited us this weekend with Kaleb and Kaden. As Kaden was crying sitting in his carseat, Annabelle went over to him and squatted down to give him a binky. She then stood up and started rocking the carseat. I know people ooo and ahh over those things when their kids do them, but I couldn't help but admire her sweetness to a baby. I've never seen Annabelle around a baby before, SHE is always the baby, so it was nice to see how sweet and gentle she can become without any direction. Mady was always as kind as can be, but never interested in babies the way Annabelle was.

The best thing you can do for Annabelle, is sit in the floor. Just sit down indian style and watch how much she admires that attention. She will go get a book / toy / block / car and then walk right up to you, turn around and back her little tush right up until she sits in your lap. she doesn't want to play jungle gym, she just wants to be next to you, sitting with you. While she's running around playing, I guarantee in a 10min time span, she will walk up to give you a full arms-around-the-neck hug for a good 5-10seconds like 3-4 times. It's the sweetest. I have to wrestle Mady and steal a hug from her. Though she has her moments too.

Annabelle in general is doing a lot better too. We have her foods mostly figured out. We don't do a lot of direct soy foods, but we no longer avoid soy ingredients in small doses.We cannot have any red meat, so as a family, we've eliminated it. No more cows milk in the house either, we now all drink Rice Milk. She eats lots of fresh fruits and veggies.. lots of beans.. lunch meats and rice. Somehow though, it's working well for her. She's maintained her 26lb weight for weeks and hasn't lost since we transitioned off formula. All in all I would say the kiddo is doing great. She's happy, healthy, smiles constantly, loves to laugh and has the best laugh, she eats us out of house and home and completes our family better than we could have imagined. She's incredible and I am SO proud of the little girl.

I broke my kid.

Ever since Santa brought Mady her big girl bed for Christmas, she has had a hard time staying in her bed. Once every couple days she will come into our room for one reason or another.. the same thing happened Tuesday, January 22^nd. Monday was a holiday, MLK Day and we were all returning back to school / work Tuesday. When she came into our room for the second time during the night, AK immediately sat up and said, “Madelynne get back upstairs and into your bed right now!” She walked away crying so I got up and met Mady shuffling herself upstairs with tears pouring off her chin. I picked her up like a baby in my arms and carried her to her room.

Me: “Madelynne, would you like mommy to lay down with you in your bed for a little while?”

Mady: “Yes, just for a little while please.”

Standing right beside her bed, not a foot higher from her mattress, I tossed her onto her comforter to her right side for her to lay down. She yelled out, “Momma! You hurt my shoulder!” She landed on her right shoulder by accident, but I didn’t pay it much mind. I just told her to be quiet that she would wake her sister. She rolled over to her right side like I told her to do and whimpered for a bit until she fell asleep. When she rolled onto her back a while later, she again yelled out, “Ouch! My shoulder Mommy! You hurt it!” We repeated the process of “Mady. You need to be quiet and stop whining, it’s 230a and you need to sleep!” Finally after another 30min I decided that maybe, just maybe, I in fact hurt her shoulder. I felt both shoulders and then tried to lift her right arm, she couldn’t lift it higher than shoulder height. That’s when it donned on me… Crap. I’ve probably dislocated the poor kid’s shoulder! L I bribed Mady to go back to sleep by bringing her a cup of juice and promising that if it still hurt in the morning we would go to the doctor. It worked and she went right to sleep. I headed back downstairs to a snoring AK. When I crawled into bed, I told him “I think I may have broken our kid. She said her shoulder hurts so you will need to take a look at it in the morning”. Who knows if he heard me or not.

I got up early in the morning and left for work around 6am. AK texted me about 645a and said, “What happened last night. You broke our kid!” We talked it over for a couple minutes and it was apparent that she wasn’t going to school. AK took Annabelle to Kelly’s while I called the pediatrician and they referred me to Ortho-On-Call. Since the Ortho place didn’t open until 9am, I had AK bring Madelynne to me at work until I left to take her. He dropped her off around 815a and we left at 830a to head to see the doctor. Her arm was really bothering her and she wouldn’t move it more than a few inches from her side. I felt absolutely terrible L

We arrived at Ortho-On-Call. It’s like a Patient First specially for Orthopedics. I loved it. Walk-in only and only a standard $35 co-pay. We filled out the 6 sheets of paperwork and then I took Mady potty while we waited. In the restroom, I went to pick her up to set her on the potty .. under her arms just like I had always done, and she screamed. That quickly I forgot she was in pain! DOH! Fail again mom. We wiped her tears and I apologized for forgetting. Scurried back into the waiting room and about the time we sat back down, Mady was being called back.

A nice lady doctor came in to see us. She asked where it hurt and Madelynne wouldn’t say anything. She was terrified they were going to hurt her worse. I too, was terrified they were going to hurt her. The nurse asked to herself, “is there any swelling?” and just as I was to respond, “no.”, she said, “Oh yes, there is some swelling going on..” Then all I could think of was, “Ashley. You knew last night you dislocated her shoulder. Now it’s swelling and it’s going to make putting it back in, that much worse. Way to go. This was NOT the time to procrastinate!” She left the room and then another doctor came in. I had the chance between doctors to explain to Mady that they won’t hurt her, and if she wanted them to make it feel better, she needed to answer their questions and talk.. When the next doctor arrived, Mady was much more co operable. He asked her to lift her arms to her side. She wouldn’t lift much more than a few inches. Then he felt her shoulder for a few seconds and seemed puzzled. Finally he grabbed her around her ribs and went to lift up and Mady cried. That seemed to set off a light bulb for him and he told me, “Mom, were going to do some Xrays to see whats going on. Ok?”

Xray’s. How exciting! Pictures on the inside of our body , and we don’t even have to smile!

Just a few moments later, the nice lady came to us to take us back for the Xray. I suited up in a lead drape and we strapped the same around Mady’s tiny little waist. Two pictures and she didn’t move a muscle. So proud. When we walked out to leave, I could see her Xray developing and tried to find something that looked abnormal around both shoulders.. I couldn’t see anything and thought to myself, “Hmm. Maybe she’s just really bruised somehow. It would be my luck to bring her all the way here for nothing. I hope we at least find some answers today!”

The male doctor walked back in and said: “Well mom. You didn’t dislocate her shoulder.”
Me: “Whew, that makes me feel better. Now we get to go to school!” – talking to Mady.
Doctor: “No, you broke it.”
Me: “HER SHOULDER! I broke my kid’s shoulder!”
Doctor: “No, you broke her collar bone.”Me: “Oh my God, Im the worst Mom in the world!!!!”

He must have seen the color wash from my entire face because he quickly began to explain how common a break of this nature is. Surgery won’t be necessary unless things don’t begin to straighten out on their own. My fears were that she could have punctured a lunch, but fortunately the break was in an Apex direction and facing up, away from her lungs. Although a disadvantage to that is the bone is completely susceptible to being touched/hit/bothered which is very painful. They put her little arm in a tiny sling and gave us a copy of her Xray and appt card to follow up with Advanced Orthopedics next Monday for another Xray.

I snapped a picture of the Xray and sent it to the friends/family that were already aware she was hurt and they all sent their well wishes. Meanwhile I asked Mady what she wanted for lunch, she said Wendy’s. You got it girl! I ordered her a cheeseburger and chicken nuggets and French fries and a frosty! She can have anything her little heart desires today! After lunch, we both took a nap after our eventful morning and she slept well. I have been giving her Motrin around the clock and I hope it continues to keep the pain at bay.

Three things that make a broken collar bone a nightmare:

·         Coughing. Her wicked cold-that-will-never-go-away, cough is really bothering her pretty bad. I hope it goes away soon for her sake.

·         Getting dressed. She cannot get her arm into a shirt sleeve and then pull the shirt over her head or feed her other arm into it. Of course it would a high of 25 degrees outside this week with snow. She doesn’t have any button up, flannel shirts or anything so we’ve resorted to either:

o   PJ Shirts

o   Cardigan with a big tank top underneath

·         Carseat belts. I still have Mady in the 5pt Safety Harness in the carseat, and the shoulder strap sits directly on top of her broken bone at her neck. I don’t really know an easy way to fix this, and I can’t sacrifice her safety by not using it so we just try to avoid car trips and bumps in the road the best we can.

With all that said. Our soonest priority is to bedazzle Mady’s sling and make it as shiny and awesome as we can. I see a Michael’s trip in our very near future

UPDATE!

January 28th.

We had our follow-up appt this morning with the Pediatric Othropedic Surgeon at St. Francis Hospital. Let me start by saying again for the millionth time, I HATE that hospital. It's a pain in the you-know-what to park. Walk. Find anything. The money is clearly in the hospital, but seriously.. everything about the way it functions and operates is crap. Temper-Tantrum Over. My apologies.

We arrived for our appt. Mady was sporting her new awesomely decorated by, yours truly, sling with rhinestones bedazzling all over it. We filled out only one form since they had our records from Ortho-On-Call, made new friends in the waiting room and then immediately called back. The rooms were spacious and nurses were all very polite. When the doctor came in.. he plopped down and basically just hung out with Mady for a couple minutes. He was so non-chalant, I had a hard time taking the appointment seriously. Mady LOVED playing with him. He felt around her shoulder for quite some time until I guess he felt what he wanted and she finally said, "Ouch! That hurts!" He was nice and apologized and said he found the boo-boo spot. He then talked to her a little more, laughed at her jokes and grabbed her hand and began walking out the door to find stickers. I was like "Umm... can we chat, doc? I mean. I need to know whats up." They came back a couple minutes later with a pile of stickers and each had a lollipop in their mouth, and brought me one too. How kind. lol Mady and the doctor made a game of rubbing the lollipop on their toungue as fast as possible to change their toungue colors. Adorable.

Finally, Dr. Reece and I talked.

The only difference from last week to this week is that the swelling is mostly gone. He reported that there is slight bruising, but I can't see anything.. that must be something he can feel, i don't know. The bone no longer has that swelling and fluid around the two broken , so they are laying onto one another which is becoming more and more painful. I was given two options:

• Surgery. They could take care of it this week, go in, reset the bones, put a wire in and remove it later. The bones would be where they need and we can begin the final recovery process from this whole fun event.
• Figure-Eight Immobilizer / Wait another two weeks. The immobilizer essentially wraps around both shoulders and fastens tightly near her shoulder blades on her back. It pulls her shoulders back and her chest up, which seperates the bones in her collar bone so they don't lie on one another and then can lay down correctly in the next couple weeks. This will allow up to buy another two weeks and see what her bones do and avoid surgery.

I went with Option #2. I told the doctor that all I want is for her not to be in any further pain and for the process to be over as soon as possible. However, I also want to avoid surgery if we can. (I confess, I really don't want any more doctor bills. We're thisclose to paying off Annabelle and I can't bare the thought of taking on a surgery with my crap insurance). I also really don't want to have to put Mady thru a surgery either, and if I can keep her comfortable for another two weeks and it works the way we want and avoid surgery, than it's a win. But it's going to require some fingers crossed and I hope we don't venture another two weeks of this, and then end up needing surgery anyway. That would really stink.

So here's to hoping everything works out the way we pray it does! I hope Mady gets more comfortable in the immobilizer, one thing is for sure. The kid will have fantastic posture for the rest of her life! haha.

The leaves are changing

Drafted in October.. but i never published, doh! me!

I swear, I feel like Fall has happened in the last 7 days. Today however, I sit here and my phone tells me the temperature outside is 84 degrees. That doesn't seem much like fall to me, despite the beautiful leaves on the ground.

Things have been moving so fast lately.. I know I probably say that in every post but it really feels like the seasons are flying by and my babies are growing so fast!

Mady has been having a tough time lately needing and wanting extra attention. We haven't been giving her much one on one time lately and I know I need to make that happen, it's just been tough. I like to spend sufficient individual time with the girls every once in a while. Mady really likes the break from the house and being a big sister, especially now that Annabelle is fully into stealing-others-toys-mode. Along with Mady wanting extra attention, she has been having more accidents both at home and at school, I was at my wits end with this child and decided to stoop to my lowest and use bribary as an option. I sat Madelynne down and showed her some different things online, such as cheerleading, gymnastics, swimming, soccer, t-ball etc. She was immediately mesmerized with Gymnastics and BEGGED that we go. I let her watch a couple more YouTube videos and within the hour she was jumping off my couch and attempting to break a bone of some sort. She's practicing the splits every night and begging me to flip her over. I made her a promise that if she doesn't have ANY accidents for 2 weeks we will go to Gymnastics. Seriously, since we had that conversation, she hasn't even come close to having an accident! I took her yesterday to Full Force Gymnastics and signed her up, she turned in her own registration form and can't be more excited to start November 3rd :)

She's saying the funniest things lately, like "Mom, that is just hill-ar-ium, what you said!" (Hilarious). She tells me all the time, "I just need to take some time and relax mom, give me a second to just relax!" She's an amazing big sister to Annabelle but has little patience when Belle takes her toy.. granted she's taking things right out of Mady's hands which isn't nice but still, Mady is trying to learn patience herself right now. She is so excited and happy to show Annabelle new things and she absolutely freaks out if Annabelle is crying or upset. Gosh, if she crawls too close to the steps Mady absolutely LOOSES her MIND for someone to save her NOWWWW!!! It's sweet to see how much she cares about her and it's funny at the same time to see how soon the sister bickering begins.


AK went to Nags Head for Stu's Bachelor Party last weekend, so Andi and I took the opportunity to have our first sleepover with Mady. Andi bought Mady a sleeping bag, eye mask and we painted finger nails, baked cupcakes and watching Ariel too many times. The next morning I was busy making quiche in the kitchen and Andi was standing with Belle and talking with Mady when she yells, "Dude, your kid just walked!" I said, "No Andi, stop lying, Annabelle can't walk" and never left the kitchen. Then she did it again! I decided I better stop what I was doing and get a camera :)

I grabbed my phone and started recording.... Annabelle took her first steps!! I couldn't belive it and she was so proud of herself! I never thought this day would come. She just hasn't wanted to walk, she's never picked her feet up to even try and now she wants to walk everywhere (most the time). I sent the video to AK and he was so proud of her. I was so upset that he was out of town and missed it, but it was OK. Andi and I got to see it :) AK came home the next day and I hadn't been practicing with Annabelle too much, he held her and  told her to go and she walked to me and took SIX steps!! I can't begin to describe the pride on his face, it was so sweet.

Annabelle's favorite phrase, "HAAAA!" or "ahh-HA!", it's almost like she is saying "Boo-ya! or In your face!" hahaha. She will take a toy from Mady, crawl away super fast, turn around and look at her and yell as loud as she can, "HAA!" and laugh and crawl away. She's hilarious. On our way home everyday we practice sounds and copying each other.

Me: Mmmmmm
Belle: Mmmmmm
Me: ah-ah-ah
Belle: ah-ah
Me: Ooooo
Belle: Ooooo
Me: Roooaarrr
Belle: ROOOAAARR
Me: Mama
Belle: Dadadadadadadada
she hates me.

Annabelle is doing awesome otherwise though. I did take her to the GI Specialist a couple weeks ago and during our transition from formula to soy milk, she lost 3lb in 2weeks. She's been diagnosed Failure To Thrive and put back on the formula, ideally EleCare Jr. (which will cost us another small fortune). While we are getting the formula in place, we have an appt. with a pediatric allergist next Monday and I am looking forward to that meeting. Hopefully we will learn new things that she is/is not allergic to so we can begin more foods. After the allergist, we will meet with the pediatric dietician to develop a balanced diet within her allergy restraints and hopefully if we can find a diet that meets her calorie intake needs, we will be able to come back off the formula. Fingers crossed! She does awesome otherwise.. just not when we take her off the high calorie formula. Annabelle will just always be my high maintenance, expensive but worth every penny baby <3

In the meantime, we're just trucking along. Watching Mady sing us new songs everyday, learn to count and practice trying to write her name with lots of help. Annabelle learning to walk and she cracks up laughing at herself with every step, demand and yell at us for food and being ignored until she gives the sign language sign for 'more'. Zoey is a usual pain in the butt but settling down :) AK is studying to take the P.E. Exam this Friday and I am struggling to keep my head above water at work. All in all I would say we're living right. lol

First Family Vacation

We survived our First Family Vacation! After months of planning, wishing and fingers crossed that things would fall into place, they did. Of course not without about 923460 emails, daily phone conversations (and by daily, I mean 3 4 5 x a day), Skype dates and virtual high fives. I began packing 3 weeks before we even left and found that apparently that’s the way it needed to be done. We stayed busy the last week before leaving but the night before and day of, we were never stressed. Beside throwing the last minute things together, we were making awesome timing all morning! And that’s saying a LOT coming from the person that religiously runs 30m late for everything. 

Saturday morning Mady woke up and like always, she asked:

Mady: “Mommy, can we go to Disney World?”

FINALLY I was able to say: “Well… let’s see. Are you sure you’re ready to go on vacation?”

Mady: “YES!”

Me: “Well alright then, LET’S GOOOO!!!”

She was SO happy!! We packed her Minnie Mouse backpack from Aunti Dandi with her favorite toys, a gigi, sippy cup and cheerio’s. Grabbed our sunglasses, sneakers tied tight and we were ready to hit the road!

Kristy texted me: Hey friend, I was going to make some delicious chicken, roasted potatoes etc for dinner. Do you think you and your family would like to join us?

Me: You know, I think that would be great! We don’t really have any dinner plans anyway so sure, we’ll stop by ;) We’ll be leaving soon! Hehe

AK and I strategically planned our flight to fall into naptime, so the plan was to make Annabelle a bottle as soon as we got on the plane and she would eat and sleep during the flight. Excellent plan, right? Except we hit turbulence for the entire first half the flight and the attendants weren’t able to come around and take orders or bring us water to make her bottle! Which meant Annabelle yelled at us until we were able to secure her some water.. which as to plan, knocked her right out. 


Mady played games, enjoying looking out the window and actually made a little friend that was sitting behind us, she was also going to Disney World! 

When we landed and people started to stand and get their things, the lady in front of us turned around and said, “Alright Annabelle Grace – you have a good vacation now!” lol, oops, I guess my scolding and calling her name wasn’t too quiet!

Uncle Matt met us on the other end of earth that’s called Orlando Airport, we collected our bags, AK and Matt hugged each other a little too long and we headed out. Mady was happy to sit in Charlotte’s carseat. Annabelle was ready to eat again. AK was just happy to be with his boyfriend and I….. I was on the search for a Palm Tree! The moment I saw one, I literally screeched!! YAY!

We decided to hit up Margaritaville for lunch. It was super cool, the music blaring, the atmosphere, the SUNSHINE STATE, and most of all.. the Margarita, Ooooo the margarita J Amazing. Amazingly over priced too, but it was delicious. Mady had mac n cheese and AK went for the Cheeseburger in Paradise, Annabelle learned immediately how to chillax in Margaritaville.

Finally that evening we arrived in an area of Jacksonville called Orange Park (although Im not supposed to repeat that). But in the center of this town is a gorgeous community that I admire, they have gorgeous paths around the neighborhood, playgrounds everywhere, a water park, pool, amenities galore! Kristy and Matt even have a palm tree in their back yard, seriously! I couldn’t take it. All our friends welcomed us with open arms and warm tight hugs. Just like that, a thousand miles away we felt like we were home. With our friends and people that love us dearly and equally as much as we love them, that is where home felt. They welcomed us in their home just as if it were ours and we embraced it with our family just like it was home. Everything was perfect. Kristy kicks ass and made every accommodation she could think of to fit our family, I couldn’t be more grateful at how easy she made our trip. We sat down for dinner, said grace and the little girls ate at their own table, Annabelle ate with us and we all sat back, shared stories, laughed and talked with one another until it was time to bathe the small people and get them in bed. Madelynne slept in Charlotte’s room with her BIG girl bed and Annabelle slept in baby Adele’s room with the crib lowered to the bottom just like home <3 Afterwards, while Kristy got Charlotte to sleep, AK and I joined Matt on the back patio, under the stars and beside a palm tree as he played the guitar and we talked for hours about random fears, thoughts, opinions and anything else under the moon to discuss with our friends. Just like old times we picked up right where we left off.. hanging out with them at their house and then going to bed all under the same roof.

The next day, the world started to slow down exactly how it should while on vacation. We all enjoyed our coffee together, Kristy enjoying her new awesome RVA mug, courtesy of the Bishop’s ;) and we let the girls play. My girls loved to have full access to all new toys and Charlotte loved sharing her things with her friends and showing them the ropes. Mady and CharChar made a game of hide and seek with the worst hiding spots ever. Charlotte would hide under the open table between the chairs and Mady would hide face down on top of the bed. Those girls have a couple things to learn!

Eventually we packed our new family of 7 into the minivan and made our way to Mass on a beautiful Sunday morning. It was perfect timing. I used the time sitting in those pews to reflect my life, think about what the service was telling us and praying. Praying so hard for Kristy and Matt and baby Addy. Each time I would look at them, my eyes flooded with tears from the pain I knew they were carrying in their hearts, the worst thing I could do was to let them see my pain for them too, so I decided to walk to the back of the church with the girls and listen from there. I prayed to myself for the strength of their family and the health of Adele. When we left I felt wonderful, as I always do when I leave church, but that day I felt like I was heard and my prayers went a little further than a typical Thursday sitting in my grey cubicle. AK and I were so happy and grateful we were able to spend this precious time with our friends and most importantly able to join them in mass to be with them before their doctors appt on Tuesday. Afterwards we made our way to St. Augustine and WOW what an awesome little town that was! The shops were adorable, the Architecture was breathtaking and the FOOD was outstanding!! My goodness.

After we had lunch, we mingled into a couple small shops. One of which was called Filthy Rich. Before I left our house in Richmond, I put lotion on and took off my rings, but then realized on the way to the airport I didn’t have my wedding bands and we couldn’t go home to get them. I HATE that feeling, here I was on vacation with these married people and I have two illegitimate children with me because I’m not married! The store Filthy Rich makes fake versions of celebrity rings and sells them, AK proposed to me with Ashlee Simpson’s engagement ring, and I said YES!

The smell in the air was heavenly, It was ice-cream and I would cut someone to find a cone!! I sniffed out the best spot and we all stopped for ice-cream, it was everything I wanted and apparently everything Charlotte wanted too bc she fell in LOVE with my caramel peanut butter cone! J

The boats, the water, the scenic view and our friends made the entire day perfect. St. Augustine was wonderful, it was quite busy that day but not overwhelming in the least, again.. did I mention Perfect <3

On our way back to the car, Mady found a Mady Palm Tree, just her size!

Home. Bathtime. Storytime. Bedtime.

The next morning again was slow. It was perfect. The kids played around with toys and had a mellow breakfast. Charlotte enjoyed a sip of coffee on the couch with her feet propped up as Annabelle took her first nap of the day. After everyone pulled themselves together we mosedy(good word, huh?)  to the mall. Holy Goodness of Retail Heaven!!!!! This Mall was BEAUTIFUL! We valet'd our van and began our walk between stores. I picked up Mady some adorable new undies from Gap, and Kristy and I did our usual of indulging too heavily at Gymboree. We stumbled (by stumbled, I mean made an abrupt sharp right turn) into Tiffany's. Something about the blue is just so eye-catching. I was wearing my new Filthy-Rich ring when one of the associates walked up to me and grabbed my hand and said with full sincerity, "Oh my gosh! Mam, you ring is STUNNING!" I pulled my hand back and quickly said thank you and smiled. I wanted to go on and on about how beautiful my new ring was but I knew if I said another word I would burst out laughing so instead I turned to AK and instructed, "It's time to leave. Now!" My $50 ring is getting Tiffany's compliments, score. haha

Another staple in the mall was their Pottery Barn Kids which was about 3x the size of our Short Pump PBK. I could have played in that store for 10 hours. The girls played with toys and Mady picked out a jewelry box. When we left we grabbed flavored lemonade, hot pretzel and relaxed outside by the fish pond and under a palm tree until we all agreed to move our vacation spot one more time :) Shopping day was a total success!

Tuesday morning came too soon. Tuesday was the dreaded, much anticipated day to learn more on Baby Addie's condition. I knew Kristy and Matt were worried sick but having been in their shoes, I knew there were no words to help alleviate their pain. I spent hours and hours praying for good news for them. The morning was quiet. No one spoke much and we silently gathered and dressed the girls for the day. Our plan was to visit the doctor and make it a beach trip. Somehow though, packing buckets and shovels was way less exciting when anticipating the worst news. The drive to Jacksonville, as every drive, felt like an eternity. When Matt and Kristy got out the car I gave her a tight hug and said another prayer. We took all the girls down the street and let them run and play around the fountains and near the water. We were right on the 'river'(?) and watched boats move in and out. Eventually we packed the stroller up and took a little walk along the boardwalk to do a little sightseeing.

What we learned while walking around:

·         Everything is vacant and boring at 11a on a Tuesday.

·         You can go from a beautiful, upscale area to street thug in Jacksonville in only a block radius.

It was a little nerve-wracking so we picked up our pace for our walk a little faster, AK carried Mady and we pushed the stroller back to the van, loaded babies back up and as we started driving to the hospital, Matt called AK "We're ready ..... and the baby looks great :) " AKs smile on his face while talking on the phone told me the entire story and my eyes flooded with tears. We couldn't pull back up to the hospital fast enough!!!!!!!! As soon as we saw them, AK and I both jumped out the car and gave the tightest heartwarming hugs. The biggest relief in the world was lifted. Nothing else had to happen in our trip and everything that's important would have been in place.

The rest of the day was wonderful, everyone's goober, ear to ear smile was hilarious to catch all day. The beach was all ours, the white sand wasn't hot and the water.... well, the ocean was apparently full of shark and dolphin a little too close for my taste. Red flags were flying and I wasn't going anywhere near that water! haha.

Once we got everything situated on the beach, I was eager to introduce my girls to the ocean. They have never been to a beach before and I couldn't wait to see their reaction. Me, Mady, Charlotte and Kristy. We all stood there with our feet in wet stand, holding hands and waiting for the waves to roll up over our toes.. we waited ... and waited .... finally agreed we needed to move a little closer. When we did a wave came and about 2in from Mady's foot, her jaw dropped and she turned around and TOOK OFF RUNNING, she yelled the entire way, "Get away from that water mommy!!! Get away, it's dirtyyy!!!" She spent the next hour or so playing in the sand and building castle's, before we left she finally got the courage to go near the water again and we played a fun game of jumping over the wave when it came up. Annabelle slept thru the first half of our beach trip, but woke up in enough time to experience it for herself too :)

The beach was wonderful

Charlotte found a bird, and started following it. With her little hiney stuck out and arms stretched wide she tried calling it, "Tweet, tweet!" "Tweet, tweet bird!" it was entirely too adorable to handle watching her chase him all over the sand.

That night the girls fell asleep all too easily. Who knew an early start to the day and an afternoon spent running in the sun would be exhausting? It worked like a charm though because we had lots of packing to get done. Packing .... for........ DISNEY WORLD!! Yay! The time had finally come to head to Disney World tomorrow! Kristy and I made an assembly line of essentials along the dining table. We started planning which household essentials we would need and then collaborated for coordinating outfits in which parks. I needed a nice top for breakfast with Cinderella and she wanted a new black top that could be worn with an Addy-bump. We both exchanged the perfect items and made a pack that we will exchange them back when they visit in December. I spent a great deal of time re-organizing our entire luggage. Washing clothes so I wouldn't have to go home with dirty laundry. And rotating the things we would be using for Disney World, to the top so they're readily accessible.

The next morning the kids were entirely too excited for Ni-ney-worldddd!! Kristy and I spent too much time making sure everything was ready to go and pack the car, I stripped the bed and left a lovely hidden note below the blanket and finally. we. were. on. our. way! Mady walked to the car and had a bit of a shadow, it was a butterfly following her and saying goodbye! The drive to Orlando was quite underestimated but we finally did make it there. We drove straight to Downtown Disney where the fun began at the T-Rex Cafe!

The girls were way less than thrilled. The moment the 'Meteor Shower' began (happens every 20m), the terrified looks on all their faces told me, "Too soon Ashley, big mistake, too soon." Charlotte kept waving to the dinosaurs "Bye-Bye! BYE-BYE!" to make them go away. Mady sat practically on top of somebody and Annabelle looked horrified and confused all the same. By the end of the dinner, everything was fine and the kids knew what to expect every time the dinosaurs started to roar.

The Disney Store in.. Downtown Disney: Magical to say the least :) Greeting us at the door were fairy godmothers to sprinkle 'Pixie Dust' in the girls hair. Mady to this day still asks if there is pixie dust in her hair.. of course I tell her yes. The store was endless of things. We had so much fun walking around, but I will admit also frustrating. For some reason the store sent my anxiety level thru the roof as I was scared I was going to lose one of the kids! There were just too many people, turns and corners for my comfort. We picked up a few gifts and I purchased a pair of sequins Minnie Mouse ears and we left.

Florida weather didn't disappoint however, it began to rain. Between heavy rain falls, we would bounce from one store to another and kept moving. It was a lot of fun. I finally found a Christmas Store so I could secure my Family's First Christmas Ornament from Disney World and have it personalized.

Driving home that evening was dark, I don't remember exactly what time we finally arrived at our Villa but it was late and all the kids (well, minus Char-char of course) were asleep. After quickly scooping the place out, I designated where my girls would sleep and setup their beds quickly. It took no time to have them situated and back asleep.. we unloaded all the things from the van and without a second thought put on our bathing suits, grabbed a beer.. or three and took a dip in the pool. It was so nice to be able to reflect like adults and talk in the midst of our trip. When you're traveling with kids, and when at Disney World "FOR the kids", it can be a little overlooked to remember were adults and friends too and also deserve a good time. Fortunately, Matt and Kristy parent so similar to AK and me that it was never a second thought to remember each other just as importantly. Everything about the trip was a blessing, many times I asked AK to pinch me to make sure it's all still real :) I didn't want to wake up!

Thursday morning was our first real day in Disney World; we were going to Animal Kingdom! Dressed in all our safari outfits we hit the mini-bus and made our way to the magical arch that said "DISNEY WORLD"!  I swear I screamed every time I saw it, how exciting!!

AK and I had already decided that we would not be purchasing our tickets to the park ahead of time, what if something happened? What if the weather interfered with our park days? I wasn't chancing the loss of that money, so we waited to purchase tickets at the gate. The time had come, the Visa was out and we were ready to swipe for that $700 purchase. Gulp.

Me: (walking up with my family). We need two days, both with park hopper options.

Lady at the Ticket Counter: Alright, that will be $523

Me: (looking puzzled) No, that doesn't seem right, who all are you considering?

Lady: You and your husband, two adult tickets, two days and park hoppers on both. Right?

Me: Oh yes, that's right, but you missed my daughter. The oldest one, she also needs a ticket.

Lady: Hm.. how old is she?

Me: Three, how old does she need to be to buy a ticket? (suddenly I am playing dumb)

Lady: Well... three, but..... when was her birthday?

Me: (impulse response) Last month!

Lady: Let me see for a second.. (she goes back to her computer). Hunny if you really want to pay for her it's going to cost $238 for the child alone, are you sure you want to pay that?

Me: Absolutely not, you can't twist my arm and I won't beg!

Needless to say, we didn't pay for either of the girls. Obviously that will never happen again and it also goes without saying, we still spent a solid grand just on the Disney portion of vacation alone so I am confident they got their money out of us still. However, for my pockets, I appreciated more than ever that we were able to luck out of $238, my family actually see's all the dollars we spend.

Animal Kingdom was very interesting. The African music was probably my favorite part, I loved hearing the drums beating and people dancing in the streets, it really felt like a little piece of Africa.

We took a safari tour and got to see, up close and personal, and lot of animals. They were up and moving around and it was very cool to see, the girls loved it. Matt introduced me to fried cashews (I think that's what they were) and oh my god, they were so soft and hot they melted in your mouth! I practically wanted to rip the bag out of his hand, but composed myself and remember to sustain some class! We rode some rides, one in particular that went in circles and made me want to puke, however Mady didn't want to stop riding (the kid FINALLY found a ride and she wasn't giving it up! I think she had Bush Gardens expectations with lots of rides, and Disney doesn't really offer that). When we were leaving I made her get off the ride to go and she pouted, Matt asked "Mady do you want to go again" and of course she sighed and said yes. So he picked her up and took her AGAIN! The kid was so happy I think she pooped rainbows and sunshine! That really made her day. Matt and Mady had a great time running and playing dangerous road rage games with the stroller, Kristy and I strolled behind with the other two babies who were snoozing and enjoyed the crisp sunshine and our families enjoying one another. I remember distinctly walking from a specific area of Animal Kingdom and towards lunch and thinking, "We are truly blessed. We have some of the most amazing friends right here beside us that genuinely love our kids as much as we love theirs. There is no better feeling than that. What do you do with that feeling? If I had a million bucks and I gave it all to them, would they understand? Can I scream it to the top of my lungs that "I love you guys!", then would they hear us? Its hard to explain to someone how much you truly love and care for them without sounding like a pathetic freak. But we do. We love our friends more than we probably love a chunk of our own family's. The reality hit me while pushing Charlotte and Annabelle and watching Mady belly laugh with the biggest smile, the second reality hit that we would be leaving in a couple days.. and then suddenly I was quiet. I felt like time was slipping away too quickly and I wanted it to STOP.

Tusker House

All I remember when walking up to give our name for the reservation, was how hot it was! I looked like a sweaty hot mess, Mady needed her hair fixed, Annabelle was sweaty and asleep. I just knew air conditioning was coming and I couldn't wait.. o yea, and for FOOD! We walked around the side to take our seat to be called and Donald Duck was standing outside. I thought Mady would explode with excitement!! She ran up to him and they kept giving each other high-five's, Annabelle wasn't as interested but Donald Duck played peek-a-boo with her and she cracked a smile. Mady had a lot of fun playing. We took pictures as a group together and then escorted inside to our seats. I absolutely loved Kristy's suggestion of doing the character meals. We spent our days enjoying the park and each other, not hunting down another Disney character to stand in line and take a picture. What's better than eating and they come to YOU?! ... well, with a $130 pricetag of course. But hey, it's Disney! It was worth every penny, hands down. Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Daisy all came to our table. The first couple times we saw them, Mady was a little nervous and Charlotte was quite shy. We managed to get another group picture and it's definitely one of my favorites. One thing that is certain, none of the kids like Goofy. He was tall, scary and personally.. he really was terrifying. lol They warmed up to all the characters, including Charlotte willing to give hugs and high-fives!! But no one was alright with Goofy. Poor Annabelle wasn't interested in any of them, despite how many times they came around her table. She wasn't having it!

As we were leaving, we could see the storm clouds brewing and the sprinkle of rain starting. We all wanted a picture in front of the tree of life and stopped for a split second to capture it and then began our speed walk to the parking lot. We failed. The bottom dropped and just as Florida weather promises, it poured. And poured. And poured. By the time we got everyone in the car I think we all sat silently and then laughed. We were DRENCHED. It was fun though and nothing no one could be mad at, I am just glad it happened at the end of the day and we were finished. On our way back to the house we made an extremely necessary stop at Wal-Mart for beer. AK made the run and we kept the van moving.

At home we got all the kiddos down for a nap, well beside rockstar char-char, she's too awesome for a nap. Me, AK and Matt all made our way back out to the pool for a bit while the house was quiet and enjoyed some time together. Kristy and Charlotte joined us a little later and Charlotte wanted to take a dip in the water too. She played around for a little with her daddy until the thunder started and we all got out. How hateful to pull a baby out the pool as soon as she gets in, right? She begged to go back and finally Aunty-Ashley gave in. "I will take you back into the pool to play baby, come on!" We got back in just for a couple safe minutes until we were all satisfied and then packed up before the storm gave it to us again.

That evening I pulled out the specifically labeled bag for Magic Kingdom. Mady's pink Snow White in sequence embroidered shirt and Puma sneakers, Belle's pink layered dress with adorable shoes. I couldn't WAIT to set foot in Magic Kingdom. We chose to take the Ferry to the park, and after we boarded and were heading across the water, Cinderella's Castle finally came into view. This was the moment I couldn't wait for, to show Mady the CASTLE! She was so excited!! We were all cheering for 'Disney World' and almost wanted to sprint when the ferry docked. The sun was setting and the night was absolutely perfect. We needed to have dinner and half way thru, Matt and AK asked if they could be excused to go ride the Haunted Mansion together. Kristy and I agreed to let the boys go play and we sat with our girls and finished dinner. Cleaned up, packed strollers and kept it moving. Next mission: Find the perfect spot to watch the parade! The girls were all amazingly behaved. Charlotte was in love with her new Peter Pan and happy to sit in a stroller and wait patiently, Belle was hungry again (of course!) and Mady played alongside of me, looking at things the entire time. It was past the girls bedtime but we were having so much fun, no one would notice.

The parade was... ok. Matt said it best, they play the same music the entire time and I think the parade and equipment itself hasn't been updated since we were all kids. The lights though were exciting to see and all the girls enjoyed it.

Afterwards, we moved not far from where we were standing, to take a seat in front of the castle and wait for the fireworks show. We all sat down .. including a creepy guy that was insistent on sitting RIGHT ON Kristy. It was disturbing and regardless where she moved or positioned herself, he was right there. Gross. Finally, we saw the light to Tinker Belle!! She took her flight out the window and the music began. It was beautiful. I loved every bit of the fireworks show. The fireworks themselves were so beautiful but the sound was not intimidating at all. It was mild and Annabelle was actually able to enjoy it after she got used to the first couple booms.. until she fell back asleep. Mady sat in my lap and watched the whole thing and applauded when it was over. The show was worth every second of staying up past bedtime and pushing the kids thru the night. I loved it.

Friday morning! Breakfast with Cinderella!

The sun hasn’t come up yet. the house is quiet but the house is moving fast. We have a big big date with Cinderella for breakfast and no time to spare! Fortunately for the family of 7 we’re vacationing with, two of the head chief’s are the Ashley-Kristy Team and 100% of everything we need for the day is already strategically laid out and ready to go. We just need ourselves and the small people loaded into the van to make it happen. ….. the Ashley-Kristy Team’s only weakness = making it somewhere on TIME. That’s where Matt comes in to crack that whip ;)

Princesses cannot travel in a princess gown and 5pt safety harness, so the ball gowns had to be loaded into the back of the carriage while the girls travel nakey. We loaded up, everyone half asleep, full of anticipation and zero caffeine and began our drive. We all wore smiles as we turned the bend and Matt called out, “Hey you guys, look!” .. it was the sign: DISNEY WORLD!!!!!! We screamed again!!

An 8:15am breakfast date secures you front row parking in Disney World. We began to unload the van and pack the stroller as I watched a parking attendant, older gentlemen walking around but kept turning back to take a look at us. I grabbed Madelynne’s dress and pulled it over her head, she pursed her lips together and smiled with sparkling eyes. One finger up, I said, “Wait!” The beautiful new crown placed perfectly on top of her head and I gasped, “My gosh, you are just beautiful princess Mady!” She twirled and twirled in the middle of that Florida parking lot at 7:45a.m. just beaming. I turned my focus towards Annabelle and AK when I caught eye of the gentlemen approaching Mady. He knelt down on one knee and clasped his hands over his face in complete awe. Mady, as eloquently as she could, walked to him with her hands like a duck on each side of her.

Gentlemen: “Oh my gosh, I just can’t believe it. I’ve been working here and in all my years, I have always wanted to meet a princess. And here you are, this morning in front of me. A real princess and I just can’t believe it!”

Mady: “But my name is Mady!”

Gentlemen: “Princess Mady, the pleasure is all mine.”

He leaned over and kissed her hand and she spun in a circle for him before waving goodbye. The rest of the walk towards the castle, Mady kept reminding me. “Mommy, that nice man thought I was a real princess!”… “I know it sweetie, that’s because you ARE a real princess. Let’s go have breakfast with the rest of them..”

We rode the tram towards the park (what is this, our 5^th means of transportation since arriving in Florida?!). Charlotte was calm as anything chilling in her stroller. She doesn’t do mornings and was just taking it in.. Annabelle was hyper but on the prowl to finding food. Mady was so antsy she could hardly sit still the entire way. She kept peeking out every window to catch a sight of the castle!

Finally we were approaching the ticket gate for Magic Kingdom. Both girls were in the stroller. Slide my ticket, place my finger to be scanned and begin walking. The gentlemen stops me, “How old is she?” pointing to Mady. I immediately reply, “She’s two. We’re here for her birthday. Have a nice day!” and kept walking. Shew! Haha

As we walked thru the first tall arches and before turning the corner to see Main Street, Disney staff began walking out of their little stores to greet us! They would step outside and curl one arm below their stomach and reach the other in the direction we were walking, “Good Morning your highness, your Kingdom awaits you..” We ALL felt like pure royalty! It was amazing to see everyone participating. And even more amazing that we were the only ones there!! Best decision, hands down was making our breakfast reservation before the park opened. As we were taking it all in, a man stepped into the middle of the street in front of us and asked to take our picture. We agreed and it turned out great. When else can you have a picture taken in front of the castle in the middle of Disney World, and be the only ones in the picture because the park was practically empty?! Absolutely incredible!

We quickly moved our way down towards the castle where we waited in line to check in. I snapped a quick picture with my phone to send to mom, grammy, andi etc and it turned out to be one of my favorites of Mady that morning. Once our reservation was confirmed, we walked into the castle and stood in line to meet Cinderella. I just knew Mady had butterflies in her stomach! It was so sweet watching her wave to Cinderella as we stood in line. Matt, Kristy and Charlotte took their picture and finally it was our time. Mady slowly walked up to the princess and showed her the beautiful dress she was wearing. She was so shy and it absolutely broke my heart, but she did so well! She pushed thru the pain of being uncomfortable and managed a half smile for the camera. It wasn’t a beautiful smile, it was definitely fake, but she did it and I couldn’t have been more proud of her! It’s the little milestones and accomplishments that make my heart beat a little harder.

Next it was time to climb the red spiral staircase to be seated in the main dining room of the castle. Madelynne sat in a tall rich chair, with arm rests and was immediately served OJ, a Wishing Star and a Magic Wand. Belle got the same and made it her mission to use the wand as a sword and knock everything in sight off the table. J One by one the princesses began to visit our table. We spoke to everyone and then like mommy does best, I would make her stand up to take her picture with every princess so we could remember the morning perfectly. It was magical. The food wasn’t magical and incredibly over-priced, but the experience was worth the $35/plate and the sparkle in both my little girls eyes made me wish the morning would never end!

When breakfast was finished, we left the castle slowly and I found my way to a bathroom with a large stall so Mady and I could move into dress change x 2 of the day J It was time to put on the little dresses that Grammy and I worked so hard to sew for weeks beforehand. They fit PERFECTLY! Annabelle’s was quite short, so we turned it into a top and little pants ;) Mady and Charlotte’s couldn’t have been more perfect. They were adorable and the outfit was completed with Andi’s touch of sparkly silver Tom’s. Big bow’s in our hair, we hit the carousel and picked out the perfect horse to take a ride.

Winnie the Pooh ride was adorable and Charlotte showed us the ropes how to do it. Mady absolutely loved it and I wish we had gone back before we left. We took a little jungle cruise and did some sightseeing. The heat was really starting to get to everyone. I was worried about Kristy doing so much walking in the sun and both girls were sleepy so we decided to seek air conditioning… It’s a Small Life. We found ourselves a little boat and took a stroll thru the countries. Charlotte zoned out, Mady cuddled up close next to me and I held Annabelle as softly as I could until I felt her take that deep breath in and exhale, she was asleep and so comfy. She needed the rest and she loved the cuddles. We all needed a little down time in some AC.

A lunch, then a trip thru a gift shop that resulted in Mady having a tantrum because she wanted me to buy her a Disney Princess SUITCASE, which led me to break her heart, pop her butt and made her put the bracelet that she wanted back because she couldn’t learn to be grateful for the trip she was on and happy for the one thing I was willing to buy! We walked outside and took a seat on the sidewalk near the entrance waiting for the parade to begin. Finally Mady calmed down, gave me a hug and the apology I deserved. We all sat on the curb and waved to princesses and Disney characters for the parade and enjoyed the fun music.

It was the perfect ending to an afternoon in Magic Kingdom. It was a lot of walking. Overwhelming in some areas and underwhelming in others. We had managed an entire day from sun up in the park, and we were all eager and looking forward to the cars air conditioning and some naps before our evening. This time there wasn’t a mad dash for the car in the rain, it was simply a short ferry ride back to the parking lot and happy little princesses yelling “Hello!” under the tunnel to hear their echo J …. And daddy’s too, because we all like a cool sounding echo.

That evening started becoming bittersweet. I pulled our very last baggie of clothes out the suitcase for our last night in Florida :’( It was heartbreaking. Our dinner plans were to visit Epcot. 1) The food is incredible. 2) The fireworks show is incredible. Kristy and I did some light cleaning and started a load of laundry before the night in Epcot. I really didn’t want to have to come home to piles of dirty laundry so we attempted to wash everything before leaving. We repacked diaper bags. Got everyone dressed and also managed to find coats because the weather again was promising us Florida afternoon rain.. only this time it wasn’t a brief shower. We drove in the rain. Arrived at the park in the rain. Parked in the rain and then sat in the van, pondering the rain. Eventually we knew our reservation wasn’t going to wait for us and we needed to make a break for it. I asked Matt and Kristy, “Alright friends. You live in Florida, you frequent Disney World. Where is the stash of ponchos?” …… What the hell do you mean you don’t have a box o’ hundred ponchos in your van at all times?! WHAT THE HELL????!! We quickly assembled strollers, pulled out blankets to act AS ponchos and began our dash for the park. Why? As if the park would grant us shelter from the rain? Whatever. It’s September. It’s rain. It’s vacation. BRING IT ON! We made our way to Germany and checked-in for our reservation. We were quickly seated during the Chicken Dance playing loudly in the background and kids dancing the night away. Matt promptly ordered an array of beer samples and AK and I, the genius we are, decided to just try every one of Matt’s beers before ordering our own. We narrowed down our choices and both ordered a stein of beer. HOLY MOSES! I don’t drink that much fluid in a WEEK, let alone of beer at a sitting! I tried my best, I really did, but I only managed to conquer 1/3 of my glass. Matt had to drive, Kristy was pregnant so the responsibility fell onto AK to finish his AND mine before leaving. It’s a good thing we were eating pretzels and mac n cheese for dinner!

Before we were ready, it was time to head outside for the fireworks show. Annabelle wasn’t extremely thrilled with the fireworks at Magic Kingdom the night before and they were as quiet as fireworks come. The moment the fireworks began in Epcot, she jumped. They were loud. VERY loud and in her defense, it was almost uncomfortable for me. With every burst she jumped and clenched onto my body even harder. Finally after only a few seconds she began to cry, hard, and wanted so badly to get away. I hurried as fast as I could to escape the sound and made my way into a gift shop along the walk and found a back corner that shielded a good amount of the sound. She could still feel the fireworks and sense the boom so I began to sing to her quietly. Her song. “Baby Annabelle of mine. Everything about you is perfectly fine. I love what you are, and I love what you do. Baby Annabelle, I love you.” I held her as tightly as I could and repeated my whispered song in her ear for what felt like a solid 30min. A fireworks show btw, is NOT a lot of fun when you can only hear it, cringe when it booms and can’t see anything. I prayed it would end soon and finally I heard the grand finale. It was so loud. Once the pops and crackling stopped I walked out of the store only for it to fire up again! My god! That wasn’t even the grand finale!! We darted BACK into the store where it sounded like our Richmond family could hear and feel the pounding of fireworks exploding! It must have been a helluva show to watch. It had to of been from the sounds of it!

I finally, cautiously, emerged from my German antiques / Christmas shoppe and found our friends. The rain was gone. Mady was happy, AK was drunk and the night was young… late, but young enough because I didn’t want it to end. We walked slowly. Talking and laughing with one another towards the entrance.. well, Matt and I walked together talking about life. Kristy kept up with AK and Charlotte right behind us as AK made it his mission to photobomb EVERY ONE’s PICTURE! It was hilarious. I can’t imagine how many people got home to find my husbands face in all their pictures.  Mady spotted all the light up swords and asked if she could have one. It was the last night and her daddy was slightly tipsy, he gladly picked out and bought the biggest light saber she could find. It’s pretty cool too, it lights all different lights, strobes etc. We laughed and chased each other for a while beneath the big globe and finally made our way back to the van. I don’t really remember the drive home but I remember I hated it.

Saturday morning was heartbreaking. We all walked around like silent strangers for a while. AK and I came downstairs with Mady to watch TV and Matt said he would go grab breakfast for everyone. He made a Dunkin Donuts run and gathered coffee and enough sugar to make us at least fake a smile. The girls played and ate their breakfast. Annabelle liked to knock the coasters off the coffee table. Mady and Charlotte played with their new toys and tick-tock-croc. Matt, AK, Kristy and I sat in the living room.. sweat pants, yoga pants. T-shirts and unbrushed hair. We talked about how much we will miss one another. We recapped our vacation together. We talked about Aidyn and I broke down in tears about how much I miss and love him. We smiled thru happy tears. We poured over the blessing that Adele Josephine would be to all our lives and how grateful AK and I were to be here for them during this week. Eventually the time came to pack our suitcases once again, but this time to go home. Somehow to my surprise, I managed to make everything fit comfortably. Mady got to repack her Minnie Mouse backpack. The diaper bag needed freshening. Girls slipped on comfy clothes and I threw on a tshirt and jeans. The van was loaded and we headed out. While on the road we had an “Oh crap!” moment and remembered we needed to pickup our personalized ornament from Downtown Disney! A casual morning got a little rushed and we detoured towards Disney once again. Another loud squeal for “DI-NEY WORLDDDD!!”. We made AK get out, run and go get the ornament. We kept the vehicle moving to avoid Annabelle exercising her right to scream her lungs out during the car ride. He took far too long, we lost him but finally spotted the VCU t-shirt among the zillion vacationers. Picked up the package and we were MCO bound.

Tight tight hugs at the airport. Kristy’s eyes filled with tears in record time, and caused me to cry. It’s not that were just emotionally sappy people (well, she’s pregnant so we can give her the benefit of the doubt). They are just really good friends. AK and I are learning as we go, that although ‘family’ has always been there, friends are just the same as family to us. Our friends love us unconditionally. Support us and give us respectful advice and guidance when we want it. They don’t judge us as a couple, parents, friends or people. They know we equally love them unconditionally without judgments. Some friendships just come naturally. Some friendships require a good bit of work. All relationships are important and ours with the Lloyd’s is one we hold dear to our hearts. We love their kids as much as our own. We want their happiness as much as we want ours. When we’re all together we pick right back up just like we always have, relaxed with our feet on the couch and a coffee mug in hand, and when we’re apart we skype and laugh and joke as if we’re not 600 miles away. That’s a true friendship. That’s love. This was our first family vacation and we couldn’t have chosen a better part of our family to spend it with.