fun pictures - and good wave practicing ... never too early to start training for the career of your future
That's right!
"She is a lot more opinionated these days" We deal with that every day especially with Olivia - we find ourselves saying "why were we so concerned with getting her to talk?"
I agree - she was slow to talk and now I wonder why we ever worried. She can scream, "no, no, no" or demand, "I want out!" with the best of them.
Aww love the outing - looks like a lot of fun - the boat ride sounds neat too, what a fun gift! The zoo is great, glad Izzy was able to nap in the stroller even if not for a full nap (couldn't believe how well they both napped in June!!).
It was all really fun! June kinda spoiled me - I went to the zoo thinking, "Ah, this stroller nap thing will be easy!"
If only I hadn't stopped to see the darn cow milking demo.
Oh, and she also had a stroller nap on Sunday, thanks to her opinionated-ness. We were at the in-laws' and I brought the Peapod for nap time. She crawled right in and seemed happy. Until I zipped it and she freaked out and did not stop. I eventually asked her if she'd rather sleep in her stroller and she said yes. So, I brought it inside and reclined it and she slept in there for 90 minutes or so. Silly girl.
I cannot believe how fast the time has gone! Though she keeps insisting that she is a "baby" lately.
Hi there! As I was catching up on DisneyParkLover's baby trip report I saw your TR link and followed you over here. I'm always wanting to read TRs involving babies now that I have one myself! I'm going to go back to the beginning of your report and get all caught up!
Glad to have you here! I love reading other baby TRs - if you haven't already, scan signatures of people here and you'll find more.
I peeked at your TR and will get over there to read and comment soon - we are hoping/planning a cruise on the Dream in May 2015!
Oh wow, I thought she was sleeping through the night sooner than that for some reason. But yep, that was a big thing. Getting no sleep for the first 10 months was not fun. Add some IBS and Ulcers to that, makes it even more fun :roll eyes:
Yeah, she took a long time to catch on to sleeping all night. But once she did, she did (in NYC, actually). She's a great sleeper now and I can't complain. Ugh, those other issues on top of it do not sound fun.
I AGREE!!!! Where's Phil?! "Phil? Phil?!" <----Groundhog Day. Sorry had to do it
Hope you didn't take offense to my grouping all husbands this way
I know there are some amazing husbands/men/dads that can do it all and the wives to nothing. One of the things he has admitted to a long time ago when we got married, was his mom did everything. Mexican moms are kind of like Italian moms. They treat their sons like royalty and do everything for them from making special plates at dinner if they didn't like the menu, to folding their socks a certain way (I had no idea there were multiple ways to fold socks!
) He wasn't used to doing 'things' around the house. But I will say that he has come a looong way from where he used to be. In fact, I just need to praise him right now. I know I said this on my TR, but when we returned from DLR, he was in this huge cleaning kick and he still is! And now he's saying things like, "Wow, can't believe we just cleaned 2 days ago and the house already looks/feels dirty again" and he'll start picking up stuff off the ground and vacuuming
So, if I read this right, I think you're saying that we just need to take a trip to DLR and Dug will turn into a cleaning machine?
But like you said, trying to figure out what works for us is something we're still figuring out 8 years later, but some major progress has just happened and it's amazing!
Can the shopkick app work together with the cartwheel app? I've been wanting to try it but wasn't sure. Also, does it only work when I walk into actual stores? Or can it work when i'm driving by a place. I know you have the Mall of America right near you, so you probably have lots of opportunities to use it. But like for me, the only places I really go into is Target (probably 2-3 times a week) and Foods Co.
You can use both Shopkick and Cartwheel, but you have to switch back and forth between the apps, which can be annoying. I often will do the Shopkick scans first, then do my actual shopping and Cartwheel changes.
Yes, you have to walk in to the stores to get kicks (though there are some that you can walk by the doors and it works - but unless you practically drive inside, I think you'd have to get out of your car). There are two ways to get kicks. One is to walk inside and immediately get whatever amount of kicks listed. The other is to walk around the store and scan various items for various amounts of kicks.
I actually seldom go to the MOA. Only if it's on the way somewhere (like the zoo) or if we're going there for something else, which we don't do too often. Otherwise, it's just not worth the payoff. I actually get the vast majority of my kicks from Target. I have a unique situation, though. I work in downtown Minneapolis, with its awesome skyway system that connects the buildings, so I literally walk through a Macy's on my way to work from the bus - I get kicks while walking through the not-yet-open store in the skyway system. Then I walk by a Target and can get the walk-in kicks by just walking very close to the entrance without going in. If there are scans available, I just run across the street to Target during my 15 minute break and crank them out. So, I can go nearly every day, if it's worthwhile. I usually only hit other places if they're worth a lot and/or I'll be near them.
For what it's worth, I think I've had the Shopkick app for about a year and a half and I'm just about to go over 100k kicks, which equals about $400 in Target Gift Cards. Dug has another 26k, so we've made about $500 between us so far. It's not a ton, but not bad for extra $$ that we put straight into Disney Gift Cards (purchased on the Target Gift Cards).
However, the app is certainly not perfect and it has annoyed me many, many times, so be aware of that. Also, the kick amounts tend to vary a lot - there was a really good period where I was getting about 1k/day easily for a few weeks, but now it's maybe 200-400/day most days (835 at MOA, though). Each kick equates to $.004, so 6250 is a $25 gift card, by the way. Anyway, let me know if you have questions.
So what are your plans with Izzy and the plane ride? I should probably familiarize myself with the laws, but I know (well, at least for DS when we go in January) that he will be 2 which means he'll need his own seat. Does that mean they are required to be in a car seat?
We're getting the Labor Day trip in just under the wire, since she won't quite be two yet. I'm still bringing the car seat, though, in case we can grab an empty seat again (no car in WDW, so won't actually need it there). To my knowledge, a car seat is not required (re: the flight where I fastened Izzy into the empty seat with the airplane seatbelt). My personal opinion is that I will use the carseat whenever possible because it makes flying with Izzy so much easier and it allows her to sleep, with any luck. Otherwise, she's just a crazy mess. The other thing I kind-of looked into is getting a CARES harness, which seems like a good alternative.
Side note, but I am totally getting a kick out of imagining our Hawaii flights - Izzy has her own seat in First Class with us! I can just see her sitting there, munching on snacks, waving to all the boarding Coach passengers from her carseat!
How fun that you got to have a non-DIS meet! I've seen lots of people I know outside the DIS at
Disneyland, but that's pretty much a given since tons of people around here visit Disneyland around the same time. But it would be REALLY cool to see people back at home at WDW.
It was. Of course, this one was planned, but back in Dec. 2010, we ran into friends of ours (the Donald/Daisy family reference) and we had no idea they were going to be there. It was so crazy, but really fun to hang out with friends. And, of course, earlier in this Dec. 2013 trip, we spent that evening with friends we knew would be there. Very fun!
Glad I can provide some entertainment value in trip reports beyond my own ... though now I just need to make sure I also provide some entertainment value in my own
I can't believe how much you've been on here, given the new baby and all.
I don't think anyone is going to be expecting major entertainment from you anytime soon - only cute baby pics!
Oh I didn't take offense - just did want to stand up for us a bit. I think none of us are as bad as we are in our worst moment nor as good as we are in our best.
Very true.
and I think it is all about figuring out what works best for you both and making it work. I like to cook so I don't mind doing that - not really a fan of folding laundry and Judi doesn't mind so she does most of that. And we have been married over 11 years now and still sometimes have arguments where I think she should do more or she thinks I should do more or whatever.
Oh, that explains it - we're only approaching 9 years.
And what if neither of us really likes doing any of the things?
Generally my attitude is as long as
something gets done I am happy
If like 3 days go by and the sink still has some of the same dishes in it I might get a little annoyed.
See, there's the difference. Dug would have no idea if dishes had been in the sink for 12 days. It took me a long time to realize he just genuinely does not notice these things. Makes it harder to motivate him to clean when he doesn't notice the mess in the first place.
And glad to hear about you husband trying to show some hange and willing to help out ... now we just need to improve his anniversary card buying skills
(by the way - the trick is to go the night before and keep the card and flowers in the garage and then bring them in in the morning)
Nice strategy!
Snow white with the long hair is creeping me out... she just looks odd... lol
I know, they are all a bit odd - I'm pretty sure Disney did not approve of the princesses taking "time off" to do this.
Izzy is too cute, playing with all the stuffs!
Gotta have ALL.THE.MINNIES!!!
Love the zoo! We have a membership to ours as well, I wish our bear enclosures were that up close! And I love the prairie dogs! I always think of Lion King 2 when I see them!!
Yeah, it was cool to be that close to the bears. Though we found that just down the window from us was the "bathroom" for the bears.
Izzy was just squealing with delight at the prairie dogs - so cute!
sounds like a really fun weekend! 
