orlando part II

going to mickey's very merry christmas party is probably one of my favorite traditions and that's counting the fact that the last three times we've gone i have been either, pregnant, with an 11 month old, and this time pregnant again with an almost 2 yr old. i guess this means i really like that place. come on.

^^ i could eat them. but i wont. but i could.^^

a couple things i've learned over the past couple years about venturing into theme park land both pregnant and with a toddler.

do:

• stick to the routine.  even though you're on "vaca time", your child has no clue what that means
• if every bit of the scheduled routine crumbles, don't kill your husband (no joke there. you'll want to)
• dish out a couple bucks of that "one" souvenir. which in our case was a $10 blinking balloon. it popped the very next day but was worth every penny while it lasted
• if you typically let your little one play with your phone, try limit that as much as possible two day before. {when A would get cranky and we'd hand her one of our phones to play with, it didn't work it's usual magic}
• soak it all in

don't:

• think you're the only person in the park spending special time and creating memories with your family. everyone else is there for the exact same reason. i tried my absolute best to be as positive and nice as possible to any and all people that didn't know how to conduct themselves with proper manners at the park.
• go hungry. theme park food is crazy expensive and typically crazy gross.
• stress out
• rent the park stroller, take your own. those things are like, 40 bucks!

most if this is common sense but it still took me three years to learn and it also gets different every time. another thing that really stuck out to me was me was just how much i love husband. the way he cared for A, making sure she was having a good time, being proactive about taking her on the rides she could go on, and literally checking on her every two minutes to make sure she wasn't cold. it made my heart melt!

see you next year, mickey's very merry christmas party! -with two kids in tow... jesus help me.