Day Three and It's a Small World

Whew! I feel so much better! Thank you so much for letting me take a headache break! :-)

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Monday was supposed to be our long day. This time we were headed to Magic Kingdom, and I really wanted to do rope drop, plus we wanted to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours at the park. Even though the park technically closed at 10:00 pm, Disney Resort Guests (those staying on property at a Disney hotel) were able to stay in the park until 1:00 am. I'm not brave enough to try to keep these kids up until 1:00 am - especially considering how Will had been acting. But we thought that we'd ride a couple rides after the fireworks, which would give time for the crowds to thin out a little bit before we attempted to board a bus back to the hotel. However, given the fact that we had stayed up later than originally planned to watch the Fantasmic show the night before, Brian and I both thought it'd be wise to skip rope drop and instead get a little more sleep.

So after a leisurely breakfast, we started to get our stuff together for our daylong trip to the Magic Kingdom. But just before leaving, I spotted the stroller laying on the floor next to the door and started thinking. One of the main triggers for Will's meltdowns the previous two days had involved the stroller. Really, he wanted to be PUSHING the stroller - not riding in it. However, his pushing tends to give Brian and I both heart attacks as we do everything we can to help him steer AWAY from people - rather than letting him plow into the backs of their legs. It made me start to wonder what it would be like without the stroller. I quietly asked Brian what he thought and, after talking it through, we decided to take a chance and try the day without the stroller. Honestly, that was absolutely the best decision we had made. Other than the struggle to get a sleeping Will to the bus when we were ready to leave for the night, that stroller was never missed. Will never complained about walking all day and, honestly, I think it helped him to get rid of his excessive energy after waiting in lines for rides.

Right away, once we reached the park, we headed straight for the "mandatory" rides, according to my kids - Dumbo and the Mad Tea Party teacups. Luckily, even though the park was crowded, we never saw lines longer than 20 minutes for any ride we wanted to ride on (of course, none of those were the megarides, which still held 90 minute waits). The one benefit to taking a Disney trip in October!

After our two favorite rides, we spotted the Speedway. Now, we hadn't tried this ride in the past because we knew Will was too short. But this year, we knew he would be fine so we decided to give it a try. Both kids became first-time drivers! And let me tell you, those rides were the scariest car rides of our lives. After several corners turned where we were convinced our children would figure out how to actually jump the track, we decided we'd wait until the kids were the legal age limit before attempting to put them behind the wheel again!

From there we did the obligatory "It's a Small World" ride before deciding to head for lunch. Now, Brian and I have our favorite lunch spot in Magic Kingdom: Pecos Bill. They make an awesome hamburger and have a toppings bar filled with some wonderful stuff (can you say sauteed mushrooms? My favorite!). But both kids declared they wanted hot dogs and not hamburgers. Since this was Will's favorite time of day for a meltdown and I could almost see that look in his eye, we decided it wasn't worth the argument. So instead we headed to the best hot dog place in all of Disney - Casey's Corner.

I used to think that Casey's Corner only had outside tables to eat at. Brian was the only one who had ever been in there since he'd always brought our food outside to us where we'd grab a table. But this time, Brian said he'd found a table inside that would help us escape the sun. What we discovered is that Casey's Corner also has a topping bar for their hot dogs (with sauerkraut - my hot dog favorite!!) and also had a TV where you could watch old cartoons. What a perfect way for Will to just sit, eat, and veg for a little while.

From there, we headed to ride on Aladdin's Carpet (a 15-minute wait - YIPPEE!!), stopping only to take a picture with Lilo and Stitch. Of course, Stitch was being a little ornery and wouldn't give the marker back to Brian after signing the autograph books. Lilo eventually had to trick him before she could steal it from him. It was pretty funny watching my grown husband get embarrassed because he couldn't figure out how to get a pen away from a character!

At this point in time, I could tell that Will needed to head to a place where he could just run around and blow off some energy. So we headed for a nearby area of the park we'd never visited before but I thought I'd read had included a play area for kids: Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. I'm not sure if any of you have ever been here but...ummm...it's not a playground. It's a replica of the treehouse that the Swiss Family Robinsons lived in for the movie. Basically it's a huge amount of steps and twists and turns where you basically stay along this path and climb a tree to the top. Which was a lot of fun for me since I loved that movie as a kid. And Will enjoyed climbing all the steps. Ann Catherine enjoyed it as well for one reason: her daddy's reaction. Unfortunately, I forgot to consider that Brian has a fear of heights. A really BAD fear of heights. By the top of the tree, my poor hubby was trying hard not to hyperventilate. There was really no way to get off the tree without continuing on the path to the top and then back down. All of us had a good case of the giggles before we got to the bottom of that tree because of my poor hubby's reaction.

Since this attempt at a playground had successfully failed, Will was now DETERMINED to get to a playground. Ann Catherine, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with a playground - especially when she heard it was time for the parade. So, despite my love of Disney parades, I volunteered to take Will to an area I KNEW had a playground for younger children while Brian and Ann Catherine watched the parade. Will and I headed to Pooh's Playful Spot where he had the opportunity to run, play in a toddler version of a treehouse, slide on a slide, climb into hollowed out trees, and play with the water fountains shooting from the ground.

After the parade was finished, it was time to head out for our dinner reservations at the Grand Floridian Hotel. We wanted to take Ann Catherine to eat with Cinderella at the Castle but those reservations tend to go quickly. So Angela, my Travel Agent, suggested that we try 1900 Park Fare where you dine with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Cindy's stepmother, and her two stepsisters - Anastasia and Drusella. We had heard really good things about the interaction with the stepsisters so we thought we'd give it a try.

If you've never been there, the Grand Floridian Hotel is the EXCLUSIVE hotel on Disney property. There are restaurants there where children aren't even allowed to eat. Their restaurants have dress codes! There are crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, a small band that plays on the second floor for guests' entertainment, and exclusive elevators just for Hotel Guests (which we found out the hard way). Yeah, we TOTALLY felt out of our element. We also made it there about 45 minutes too early so we knew we had to kill some time somehow. Luckily, we found a small little table and chairs with a small little TV with cartoons playing for children to enjoy while their parents are checking in at the hotel. The kids had fun watching the TV while Brian and I explored to find the Hidden Mickey's in the floor. Actually, they had Hidden Mickey, hidden Tinkerbell, hidden Goofy, Donald, Minnie, and my absolute favorite. Can you tell who it is?

Once we made it inside to the restaurant, we found a wonderful dinner buffet where they even had a stir-fry beef I decided to try and promptly realized it tasted like bulgogi. I could have eaten my entire dinner off that beef!

We discovered that there is an enormous difference between character dining with the costumed characters and dining with the maskless characters. Even though Cinderella and friends had to remain in character, the really cool thing about being there is that they can actually TALK and interact with your children. They don't just sign your book, take a picture and move on to the next table. The coolest thing about it? I had a talkative son on my hands that night and I think both Cinderella and Prince Charming would have stayed there all night listening to him if we had allowed him to continue talking before helping them get a chance to go on to the next table. Will even stopped Prince Charming on our way out to show him that he was on the placemat Will had received. And Prince Charming knelt down and ooh'd and aah'd over that placemat like he had never seen it before.

The weirdest thing for me was my reaction to Cinderella. Now, I've been to Disney four times now and I've seen Cinderella numerous times. But I had never talked to her. And I'd never been in a place where she could stand and talk to my kids and take pictures with us. And what you need to realize is that, as a child, Cinderella was always my favorite princess. I loved the movie and always fantasized that I could someday wear her beautiful blue dress and would find my own Prince Charming and Castle someday. She was always my favorite Disney character. So when Brian suggested that I get my picture made with her (payback for the numerous times I've teased him and made him take his picture with Mickey), I suddenly was startled at my reaction to standing next to her and smiling for the camera. I actually started to tear up! I actually felt a little emotional at that moment. And I'm not an emotional person! It was the weirdest thing in the world! Made me rethink all of my teasing Brian for his tears over Mickey.

After dinner, we headed back to the park and had just enough time to find our place on the sidewalk in front of Casey's Corner - the best place in all of Magic Kingdom to watch the parade and fireworks. Even though Will was fidgety and we had to take two potty breaks while waiting, it was so worth it. The kids LOVED the parade. And Ann Catherine loved the fireworks. I think Will would have enjoyed it too if he had managed to stay awake for them! He fell asleep on Brian's shoulder after the parade was done and while we were waiting for the fireworks to start.

Given the mass exodus out the door, we knew we still needed to stick to our plan to ride a few rides while people left the park. So Brian held a sleeping Will while I rode the Tea Cups and Dumbo with Ann Catherine one more time. We barely had a wait at either place and it was wonderful riding those rides at night with everything lit up so beautifully.

Coming up tomorrow: Animal Kingdom. A shortened day, a shivering Will with blue lips and WAY too much money spent!

Day Two and One Red-Faced Momma!

There was only one must-ride ride at Hollywood Studios that our family really wanted to do: Toy Story Mania. We didn't get to do this ride last year because it was so new and the wait for it was over 2 hours long. With a 2 year old, that's just not doable. Even though it's still popular and has the longest wait times in the entire park, we knew we wanted to try it this year.

There are two wonderful things I learned from the disboards. One is to always do rope drop when the park opens. Basically if you want to ride Toy Story Mania twice, you have to be there at rope drop so you can be at the front of the line and then jump into the Fastpass line to get one so you can ride later in the day with a minimal wait. That was what I really wanted to do.

The other thing I learned was to use Youtube to find out which rides Ann Catherine would be comfortable riding on. If you go to that website and search for a particular ride, for the most part, you'll find a video of it. So we did that with several rides that were questionable as to whether or not Ann Catherine would be willing to get on it and actually be able to enjoy it and not spend the whole ride hyperventilating. We narrowed down several rides this way but once she saw the video for Toy Story Mania, she was hooked and desperate to ride it.

So the original plan was to get to rope drop, try the ride out and then get a Fastpass if we liked it. But given Will's exhaustion-induced temper tantrum from the day before, we thought it'd be a good idea to give up on Rope Drop so we could get a little bit more sleep and instead just get a Fastpass. We eventually made it to the park about 10:00 am and Brian took off running through the park with our tickets to get our Fastpasses. He managed to get four of them but, believe it or not, our return time wasn't until 5:05 that night!

For that day, we had lunch reservations at the Hollywood and Vine restaurant. Luckily, the reservations were early enough that, by the time Brian was done with getting our Fastpasses, it was basically time to go check in for our reservations. We got in fairly quickly and filled up on the buffet before our characters showed up: JoJo and her friend Goliath, and June and Leo from The Little Einsteins. Now, Ann Catherine LOVED JoJo when she was Will's age so that little girl was basically in tears when JoJo came around to her table. She gave her the biggest bear hug and thanked us over and over again for taking her there so she could see her. On the other hand, The Little Einsteins are Will's favorite (besides that big yellow sponge!!) so that child was in heaven getting to talk to June and Leo. Even better, they realized that they were on his shirt (we had gotten him a Little Einsteins shirt before the trip specifically for that lunch) and Leo even wrote "I love the shirt" in his autograph book.

Unfortunately, this was the best part of the trip. From here, we decided to go see the Indiana Jones movie. Both children declared it too scary and wanted to leave throughout the show (which we couldn't do since we were in the middle of a row). From there, the day just went downhill.

After leaving, we decided to try a few more shows. On our way to the Muppets 3D movie (AC decided she's no longer afraid of it and wanted to go see it), we passed by the Jedi training at the Star Wars ride. Sure enough, out walked Darth Vader. Will kept wanting to know why "Darth Mater" was there. Cute! I just wish he had STAYED that cute.

Right outside the Muppets show, as you exit the building, is the exhibit where Mater and Lighting McQueen from Cars is stationed. Will immediately wanted to go over there. One problem: he wanted to climb INTO Lighting McQueen. We tried to explain that wasn't possible and tried to get him to pose for the picture. Not happening. So Daddy went over there to hold him. Not helping.

Melt-down city.

He screamed as we walked away. He kicked and screamed as we tried to put him in the stroller. The stroller became a weapon (not ours - but his). And we decided it was time to leave. Oh yes, my face was bright red all the way to the front of the park. Actually, Brian's was too - not from mortification like mine but from exhaustion from trying to hold the screaming, hitting, bitting, squirming child with 18 arms and legs. Oh yes, it wasn't my imagination this time. Everyone really WAS staring at us!! Finally, at the front of the park, I convinced him to calm down by letting him push the stroller. My children have always been like that - they'd rather push that stroller than actually get in and ride it. That's fine if you know how to steer it away from other people. Yeah, my 3 year old doesn't care about other people and pushes it where he feels like it.

When we got back, Will mentioned being hungry. Now, I know he throws temper tantrums like that when he's tired but now I was starting to wonder if maybe those screaming fits could also be tied to hunger. He didn't eat much at lunch since he was so busy with the characters. So we stopped by the food court at our hotel and got individual pizzas for both kids. After swallowing his pizza practically whole and then spending an hour laying on the bed and watching TV, we decided to brave the park one last time. We REALLY wanted to use those Toy Story Mania Fastpasses and, by leaving then, we knew we'd make it there just in time to use them. So we gave that park one last shot.

Riding Toy Story Mania was wonderful. We had no wait and both kids LOVED it!! Will loved it so much that I had to help Brian peel him out of the seat because he didn't want to leave the car at the end! But outside, he was distracted once again by the toy shop right outside the ride. Yeah, Disney does this purposefully. Right away, Will decided he wanted the entire store. We settled on a large Buzz Lightyear.

By this time, we had time to stop by one attraction to see which characters were in there before we realized that it was just in time for the final show of the night: Fantasmic. Now, originally, Fantasmic was not scheduled to be shown on that night. Disney has made budget cuts and whittled that show down to just two nights a week. We hadn't planned on going even though we really wanted to see the show. We had heard such incredible things about it but didn't have a chance to see it last year because of the crowds and my hyperventilating daughter. This year, with our much braver child, we hoped to get in to finally see it and was disappointed to see that it wasn't scheduled. But at the last minute, we heard that Disney was updating their schedule and had added a few shows to the week. I checked the updated schedule on Disney's website and, sure enough, they had added TWO shows for that night.

Since Will was distracted and happy with his new toy, we thought we'd give it a try. Sure, AC was a little nervous (we had warned her about a gigantic dragon and the other evil characters in it), and Will started getting bored and begging to go home (HOME - not the hotel). But, by now, Brian and I were determined to see this show. And I'm so glad we stayed. The show was INCREDIBLE and even the kids liked it. Brian even cried at the end because a huge boat comes around the corner with a whole bunch of characters and, at the top, steering the boat is Mickey dressed as Steamboat Willie. Now, if you don't know, of all the characters Mickey has ever played, Steamboat Willie is Brian's favorite. So that man had tears streaming down his face as he watched Steamboat Willie drive past.

Of course, I thought he was being silly. Now I realize that I shouldn't have so been cynical...which you'll hear more about tomorrow as we're off to Magic Kingdom. There, we'll also have a lesson learned and one hyperventilating daddy!

We're Back! And We Made It Around the World in Only 1 Hour!

We finally made it home late last night from our Disney trip. It was definitely a wild roller coaster of a trip with lots of twists and turns with lots of happiness and smiles, tons of walking, lots of character hugging, one red-faced embarrassed mama, and lots of tears (some from Mom as well).

Before we left for the trip, I spent a hour or two a day pouring over a website I had found last summer called the disboards. Basically it's a message board where people go back and forth talking about Disney. Not too exciting for some people, but gave me hours of pure joy and lots of "bonus" information and tips on how to make the most of your trip. One of my favorite places on the boards, though, is the trip reporting section. I loved to hear stories from other peoples' trips and to drool over their pictures of their food. While I'm not brave enough to do a trip report on the boards itself, I thought I'd give my own trip report here on my blog just for the people I KNOW will care. So each day for the next four days, I'll report on a different day from our trip. That way I can share a little more about the craziness, along with lots more pictures than I normally would share!

So Saturday morning found us at a marvelous hotel in Macon, GA. We had gotten there at about 10:00 pm the previous night and, despite a whiny, crying son who insisted that we had to go all the way home so he could sleep in his own bed, had a wonderful and restful evening at this hotel followed by an equally nice breakfast the next morning. This will definitely become our normal go-to hotel on our trips to Florida from now on!

We finally arrived at the Pop Century Resort about 2:00 on Saturday afternoon. Disney offers several levels of their resort hotels and this one is considered a "Value" hotel. We kind of wanted a "Moderate" hotel (the next step up) because we had heard that these hotels are actually very motel-ish. However, after finding out that it'd cost another $300 to upgrade, we decided it just wasn't worth it. And we're all so glad we made that choice because we ended up LOVING our hotel. The room was small but no smaller than the hotels we normally stay in (we aren't "hotel snobs" and just try to stay somewhere clean and inexpensive), but the themeing of the hotel was so much fun filled with a gigantic four-story jukebox and gigantic bowling pins on our side of the hotel, and next to the bowling pin shaped pool.

We knew we didn't have much time to spare if we wanted to get to our first park of the day (not to mention our dinner reservations at the park) so we quickly threw our luggage in our room, loaded up the stroller and hopped on the next bus to Epcot.

We specifically chose Epcot because we knew we only had a half-day available and Epcot is our least favorite park. It's fine for adults and, although it has some great rides for the kids, the rides are, for the most part, not something my too-short son and too-nervous daughter will enjoy. So when we arrived, we headed straight for the one ride Ann Catherine was excited about - Living with the Land. At school, they've been studying plants and how they grow so we knew this ride would be perfect. Luckily, the line was only 10 minutes long and both kids LOVED it!

From there, we decided to hit the World Showcase. We really wanted to take the kids exploring around the world and, above all, wanted to enjoy the show in America. However, there was one little complication - something called the Food and Wine Festival. We knew it was going on but we weren't prepared for the crowds....or the alcohol-filled people stumbling around. OK - I know it's a Wine Festival, but you don't think of drunk people filling Disney either. While we didn't see anyone who was TOO drunk, the language flowed around us about as much as the wine did. And the crowds were so thick that we had a hard time staying together. There was no enjoying this World Showcase at all - especially when our little boy suddenly decided he was tired and hungry and had had enough. Right around China he decided to have a meltdown. And a major meltdown he had ALL THE WAY AROUND THE WORLD. We had a brief stop in America to see if we could find him a snack since our dinner reservations were still an hour away, but the temper tantrum got so out of hand that we had to pull off to the side and pray not too many people were watching. You know that awful parental feeling that every single person in the world is staring at you and wondering why you can't control your child. Yeah, we had that moment. And so we took off running around the rest of the world. We made it around the whole world in only an hour. I personally think that should be a record!

Luckily, back out in Future World, we realized that the crowds here were much smaller and there were a few places where Will could get out of the stroller and just run around and play. So we put aside the stroller and let the two kids run and play with the hands-on entertainment.

Luckily, that burned enough time before we had to head back to the Land pavilion where our dinner reservations were. We were able to get reservations at the Garden Grill where we ate some wonderful food and the kids were entertained by Mickey, Pluto and Chip and Dale (or "ChipandDale" for both chipmunks according to our son).

Fortunately, our dinner reservations were so late that, by the time we got out, it was pretty much time for Illuminations. Now here's the dilemma we had: we knew we didn't want to go back to the World Showcase but we missed the show last year and REALLY wanted the kids to see it. However, given Will's tiredness we decided it was best to try again next summer and head back to the resort. But as we were walking out, we realized that a mass exodus seemed to be going on. Apparently all the locals who had filled World Showcase so they could drink around the world decided that they were done for the night, which basically left an empty World Showcase. So we decided to brave it and headed over there. We found great spots and all of us absolutely loved the show. Well, almost all of us. One of us was sound asleep by this time in Daddy's arms.

Coming up tomorrow: Hollywood Studios and another meltdown along with a small lesson learned.

Almost There!

It's a strange feeling knowing that we'll be standing at Epcot this time tomorrow. Actually, I guess we'll still be driving but close enough. I guess what's strange about it, though, is the fact that it doesn't feel like it's time to go yet. I just don't have that same excitement that I had on our last trip. That's bothered me for the past couple days as I was packing because I had been so excited I could hardly breathe when we first booked this trip. But I think I've finally figured out what's caused me to lose that excitement along the way.

We first started talking about this trip back in late July. Actually, I was thinking about it but not daring to wish that it could be a reality. But just to convince myself that we couldn't afford it (and without Brian's knowledge of what I was doing), I filled out an online quote form for a travel agency that specializes in Disney vacations. And when the response came back with the quote, I just jokingly mentioned it to my sweet hubby while having a lunch date at the local KFC. I remember that date. It was rainy and I had a hard time not falling on the slippery floors. The restaurant was empty but the drive-thru was full. I guess no one wanted to brave getting out in the rain. But, despite the dreary day, I jokingly told Brian what I had done and the quote I received. And he jokingly said that we should go. And then we started giggling. Maybe it was the heavenly scent of the fried chicken or maybe it was because we often feel like college-age kids once again every time we go to a fast food place for a lunch-time date. Whatever it was, that Disney magical spell started to weave it's way around us as we sat there giggling like little kids and suddenly the planning became a little more real and a little bit more of a possibility. And, before we left that date, it finally became a definite go.

So I've been excited and have started planning and dreaming and setting aside our vacation stuff as the past couple of months went by. But somewhere along the way, my little boy got sick. And then he got well, and then...well, you know the story. It's not been a fun ride. And while I try to remain optimistic about the not-so-great test results we've received and the necessity of making an appointment for a clinic whose name sounds so scary to me, the reality is that there are moments where I'm a little afraid. I'm a little afraid of what we could be told. I'm a little afraid of the unknown causes of these strange fevers and sore throats. And while I convince myself as much as possible that it's all going to be fine, the fact is that I'm still a little afraid. So I think that's stolen some of my joy and excitement.

When the latest fever popped up worse than the others a couple weeks ago, I knew that there was a strong possibility that our trip would be postponed until next summer. And while I was still glad that we'd be able to go, the possibility that the event we've all been so excited about for the past couple months was going to be cancelled just broke my heart. For the past couple weeks, we've toyed with the idea of just going ahead and postponing it and we've gone back and forth on what's best to keep our son in good health. Finally, we decided to make a game-time decision. We were going to pack like we were going but keep in mind that we may not. The final decision wouldn't be made until the day we were going to leave. And so, with that in mind, I think I've let the excitement slip away from me. I didn't want to get my hopes up just to have them dashed at the last minute. So I've protected my heart a little and focused completely on keeping my son well.

But today was the day. Game Day. The day we leave. The day to do the online check-in with the resort. The day we had to make that ultimate decision.

As we gathered those last few belongings this morning, Brian looked at me and asked that looming question, "Did Will's fever pop up in the middle of the night?" "Nope," I said. But that still wasn't good enough. We know the trickiness of our son's fevers all too well. So this morning, as I was opening up Disney's website at my desk, I called Brian. I knew Will was up and eating his breakfast by now. So I called Brian with the final question. "Did Will wake up with a fever this morning?" "Nope," said Brian. "OK, then I'm doing the online check-in," I told him. "Go ahead," he said.

So we're officially going. The bags are finally packed, the online check-in is done. All we have to do now is muddle through our workday, pick up the kids, throw the bags in the car and go. But I'm still not excited yet. I guess I'm waiting on that phone call from my in-laws to tell me that the fever is suddenly back. I'm waiting on the doctor to call me and tell me that we shouldn't go. After so many weeks of waiting and watching, I guess you can't blame me.

But the one thing I know is this: as long as I don't get a call from my in-laws or the doctor, that joy and excitement will come back again. It may show up the minute we put on seat belts and start driving south. It may show up as we get up in the morning and leave the hotel to finish the trip to the World. It may show up when we get to the Resort. Or, it might just wait until the moment I see that giant silver ball tomorrow afternoon. All I know is at some point in time, I will be excited once again. Breathtakingly excited. I may still be watchful over my son and I may use more bottles of hand sanitizer than I've ever used in my life. But regardless, I will be excited yet again.

Feeling Better

Can you tell someone is feeling better?

No?

Well, what about this picture?

There's nothing better than watching two well kids play together. Well, actually it IS better when you know both of those well kids are happy with each other. Which means no fighting - just a happy playfulness together.

Life is bliss when two well kids are giggling and playing peacefully together.

Change of Plans

After a long conversation with a substitute doctor (since we can't get to our own pediatrician for a couple more weeks), we were basically told that Will has ANOTHER virus. Seriously, if I hear that word one more time, I think I'm going to scream. She did allow me to request more blood work to be done so they did a CBC (to check white blood cells, I believe) and an immunity panel (which eliminates "leukemial issues" according to the doctor). And I'm torn over the results. I WANT to hear that all these are negative because it means it truly is just ANOTHER virus. Then again, I'm sick of the word VIRUS and I'd like to have another word for his multiple illnesses, along with a few healthy doses of some form of medication to make it all go away and to allow my baby to come back.

We're waiting on the results and then we're going to do what we just keep being told to do - wait. We're going to wait for time to allow this illness to go away. And then we're going to try one more thing. We're going to buy some time. After a long conversation and identical thoughts put into mine and Brian's minds at the same time this afternoon, we've decided to temporarily take Will out of daycare. I wish I could be a stay at home mom right now but, financially, it's not an option. So we're going to do the next best thing. We're making arrangements for him to be kept out of daycare for three weeks. I'm not going to give details yet because, honestly, they're not finalized yet. But what we do know is that he will not be taken back to daycare until the week after we get back from Disney. I need time for him to heal from this virus and then we need time for his immune system to build up a little bit. That can only happen with time. And it can only happen away from other people. So we're going to confine him to either our home or to the home of our caretaker and not allow him to go outside other than for fresh air out in the our yards. No playgrounds, no Walmart, no grocery stores. No public areas. Well, one public area. Not much can be done about the Disney trip right now. It's paid in full and, honestly, we need this break for ALL of our sakes. So we're still going on our trip. But with that one exception (where we'll go with our bags loaded with antibacterial gel and wipes), we're not allowing him to be in public. Honestly, it may not work. But if nothing else, it's going to buy us some TIME.

A Sweet and Sour Weekend

We've had a weekend full of wedding plans, country ham, and one cool dog.

With my sister's wedding only a couple months away now, it was finally time to set up the first fitting for Rachel's wedding dress. Mom and Rachel both came into town Friday night and us girls set out early Saturday morning for few hours full of wedding dreams and plans. Rachel tried on her gown and spent the next hour being fitted by the alterations person at the bridal shop. I'd show pictures but, well, I'm afraid my little sister would disown me (or worse).

We then moved on to the mall to look for a flower girl/junior bridesmaid dress for Ann Catherine. We've been debating for a while on whether or not she should officially be the flower girl or the junior bridesmaid. It seems like she's too old to be a flower girl but too young to be a junior bridesmaid. But given a few...ummm...changes to Ann Catherine in the past couple months, we decided it was probably time to finally let go of the flower girl era and finally deem her old enough to be a junior bridesmaid. So we headed over to the mall to look at dresses that would be perfect for the occasion. We finally found the perfect, sweet little dress that, again, I'd show pictures if I wasn't so frightened of my little sister! Anyway, once our shopping excursions were complete, we headed to the Factory in Franklin to have lunch at one of my favorite little girly-cafes.

Once we returned home, we grabbed the boys and my in-laws, threw on our jackets and headed for our little town's annual fall celebration - the Country Ham Festival. Now, our little festival isn't much when you compare it to the large food festivals you see on TV. I've always dreamed of visiting a large BBQ festival or a Chili festival to watch the food making, tasting and judging. My little town's festival wouldn't qualify for TV-viewing-worthiness, but it's still become a fun little tradition for our family the first weekend of every October. There are craft booths, inflatables for the kids to play on, fire trucks, ambulances and police cars to climb in and explore, and PLENTY of food booths along with live music from local bands. It's not large and I have to admit that the four of us HATE country ham, but our family always has fun exploring the festival and watching the fireworks at the end of the night (while eating our caramel apples and funnel cakes, of course). This year, we proudly wanted to show off our little festival with my family in town and loaded up my van to head to the festival. For this event, though, I felt completely free to use my camera.

Unfortunately, this morning Will woke up with a 102 fever...again. He's complaining of his throat again and occasionally his stomach hurting. My heart hurts thinking that we're headed for our third round of illness in slightly over a month but given the fact that his fever doesn't seem to want to break, it looks like I can't deny it's here again. His illness is only complicated further because his doctor is in the middle of transitioning from the large practice she was in to her own private practice and isn't reachable for the next two weeks. So we're left working with his "back-up" doctor at the larger practice. Since I'm pretty sure I'll be off to get him tested for strep again tomorrow (his sixth strep test since Aug. 31) and I'm a little tired of having to explain the whole history of the past month, I decided to sit down and write everything that has happened throughout the past month. It broke my heart to know that there has been so many tests run and yet it looks like my little calendaring isn't going to end anytime soon. So please, please pray for our sweet little boy and for the doctor to finally be able to isolate whether or not this truly is a third round of viruses or if perhaps we're looking at a larger, more complicated illness. All I know is that I'm tired of hearing the word "virus" thrown at me with no further answers other than to simply "give it time to run its course." I'm ready for answers, medicines, and a resolution. Mainly, I want to see my baby happy and playful once again.