Disney Trip-The Journey There

We left for our trip on June 11th at about 4:45 in the morning.  We loaded up the car with several bags and headed for the airport.  There is not a direct flight from Omaha to Orlando, so we had a layover in Houston.  We could not have asked for a better trip down there.  Our flights were all on time, and honestly, Lilly did a pretty good job flying for her first time.  I took the first leg, and Jovan took her on the second one.  Luckily we booked our flights so early that we got an amazing price on them, therefore allowing us to buy Lilly her own seat.  Oh what a difference that makes!

Lainey playing on Nana's Nook

 

Ready to go!

 

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Asleep--yay!

Pointing at all the airplanes

Wardrobe change before our 2nd flight

Best picture I could get of the two of them, ha!

Once we got to the Orlando airport, I headed straight to Enterprise, and to my surprise, there was NO ONE in line (that is just unheard of)!  I walked right up, got our van, and we were on our way to the condo! 

After some time, we got all checked into our condo and headed to our rooms to explore our digs for the week.  We stayed at the Westgate Villa Resort.  This place was HUGE!  I'm still on the fence with Disney property vs. off-site, but that's a post for another day!  The one thing I will say about staying off-site is you get to stay in large rooms with all of the amenities right there for you like a full kitchen and washer & dryer.  It was also nice because my parents got their own room, we got our own room, and the girls got their own room.  Perfect situation! :)

Once we got settled and unpacked, we did the normal first night things--dinner and grocery shopping!  We then got home and to bed in preparation for a big morning the next day!  When we got back to our rooms, we found that the Princesses (aka ME) had come to visit the room!  My friend Heather did this for her daughter years ago on one of their trips, and I copied it when we took Lainey 3 years ago.  I have so much fun coming up with the stuff, and Lainey gets such a kick out of being "visited" by the characters each night. 

All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better trip down there!

Christmas Card Shoot

My friend Sarah graciously took some pictures of our family in hopes of a decent one for the Christmas card.  I could not find outfits for pictures for the life of me, so we went with what we had around the house.  Timing was not stellar either--for some dumb reason we took them around 6:00, after dance, after a full day at school, and at dinner time...DUMB!  So really I cannot complain with the outcome since the odds were stacked pretty high against us.  All in all, we did get a few good ones!

And our personal favorite...

This about sums up how we were all feeling at the end!

Weekends

I forgot how much I take weekends for granted until I have a summer off and have to return to school.  My first weekend after the first week of school was an instant reminder to me of how much I need to just appreciate what little family time we have during the school year.  Life is CRAZY right now, so it was nice to just spend a couple hours hanging out together at the zoo not worrying about where we had to be, what we had to get done, etc.  This is our afternoon in pictures:

The petting zoo--it grosses me out!

Love my girls!

When did she turn 13?!?

Enjoying our awesome aquarium

Conquering the bridge in the jungle.  She and I had never been able to cross it before for fear of it.  It's this hanging bridge in the jungle of our zoo.  It's also wet due to the waterfall behind it.  Really cool, but really scary.  We did it though!

Just swining in the jungle

Getting ready to head home.  Lainey had done all the walking she could do!

Hooray for weekends and time together!

Fun Weekend

***WARNING!!! Lots of pictures!***

We had such a fun weekend!  It started with me going out with some of my friends Friday after school.  As much as I dislike my job sometimes, I sure do love the people I work with!  My parents also came here Friday night.  We celebrated Dad's birthday with some cake and ice cream.  Lainey is always SO excited to see them, and I love it!!!!

Saturday morning we all went to Lainey's last day of soccer.  This soccer experience has been much better than our one last year.  It was like a mile from our house, Lainey actually learned the basics of soccer, and she had a blast playing...what's not to love?!?





Some of Lainey's biggest fans!

Getting a pep talk from Crunkle

Look at their faces!  They are all just loving life!

Group shot

After soccer we went and had brunch for Mother's Day and I got a little shopping time in with my parents.  That night my parents watched the girls and we got to go on a double date with Jake and Megan.  We've never gotten to do that, and we, of course, had a blast.  Then Jovan,  Dad, and I went to the late night showing of the Avengers.  I loved it!  I'm a closet nerd when it comes to stuff like that.  I love X-Men and Iron Man, and this movie didn't disappoint! :)

Today we went to church and had lunch with my grandparents.  We then came home and spent the afternoon playing outside.  It was so much fun to just hang out.  We ended the evening with a cook out at my brother's.  Great end to a great weekend!

Me and my girls

Daddy's girls

Pretty sure we NEVER get pictures anymore, so I made sue my dad took a couple today!

Jovan always insists on this picture-so cheesy! :)

I told Jovan this morning that I wish we could freeze time right now.  I absolutely love this stage of our lives.  I have loved every other stage, but for some reason I think I could be in this place for a lifetime.  I've had a lot of time to sit and thank God today for the tremendous gift He has given me in being a mom.  So blessed!!!

Lillian Charlotte

**WARNING--It's a long one!**

We welcomed Lillian Charlotte into our family on December 3rd at 8:19 am weighing an even 8 lbs and measuring 20.5 inches long!  I figured I'd better document the events of the day pretty quickly before my memory starts fading, so here goes...

We woke up early Saturday morning because we had to be at the hospital by 6.  After a quick trip through the McDonald's drive thru to get Jovan some breakfast, we were on our way.  Here I am once we arrived at the hospital.

We headed up to labor and delivery to get prepped for surgery.  I'll spare all the details of what horrible veins I have and how every time I have to get an IV I end up with purple hands and arms a few days later.  Hoping my girls don't have the same issues I have!  Once we got all that working, Jovan and I just basically sat around and waited for our surgery team to get there.  Jovan had to get dressed for surgery as well. :)

At 8:00 we headed back to the operating room.  I had been freaking myself out for the past couple of weeks about the c-section.  With Lainey, I was SO ready for her to get out of me that I really didn't know or care what was going on by the time we had the c-section.  With a scheduled surgery I had been told by several people that it is so different because you are actually aware of what is going on...they were right!  I had a great experience!  We were just talking and laughing and having a good ol time as I lay there sliced open on the table, ha!  We were able to bring in the iPod, so we had our own tunes to groove.  Feel free to judge, but some of our tunes included Justin Bieber's "Baby", Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back", and Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You."  Everyone loved it!

Lilly was born at 8:19 a.m. and I couldn't tell you how long we were actually in there after.  Once we got back to our recovery room, I took a turn for the worse.  Once again...details spared, but I got sick several times.  I spent the rest of the day Saturday completely doped up and not really sure what was going on!  My family came to visit, and I know I talked to people on the phone, and I will apologize for anything I said that day because I honestly do not remember it!  :)

Lainey did come to meet her little sister, and I can vaguely remember the meeting.  At least we have some sweet pictures of them!

Lainey also got a backpack from her little sister filled with all sorts of goodies like coloring books and crayons, candy, nail polish, a tiara, books, and her most favorite gift-a disposable camera to document the day's events. 


The only visitors we had Saturday were my parents and my brother and sis-in-law.  God decided that Lilly needed snow for her birthday, and He gave us plenty of it complete with slippery, nasty roads!  It actually turned out better to not have anyone up there the first day because like I said, I was completely out of it!

Sunday was MUCH better, and I was up walking around and actually coherent.  We had more visitors on Sunday, and I was able to start taking those much needed laps around the post partum floor! I was also able to have Jimmy John's for the first time in 9 months.  My love of Jimmy John's is no secret, nor was the fact that this was the first thing I wanted once Lilly was born.  We even received a Jimmy John's gift card as a baby gift, ha! 

We decided to go home Monday because I was feeling pretty good.  My mom stayed for the entire week, and my dad was here for most of it.  We could not have done it without them!  I seriously have the most selfless parents, and I can only hope I can be for my girls what they have been and continue to be for me. 

It is now almost two weeks since Lilly was born, and we're learning the new norm for us.  We're happily exhausted and equally confused about this whole newborn thing again, but we are extremely happy and feeling blessed beyond what we deserve!