Florida

 

 

Last week we had our first family vacation to Florida.  My in-laws and my parents were vacationing down there and they hadn't seen their granddaughter in awhile so it seemed like the perfect time to go.  This was our first time flying with Mia and because she is under 2 we don't have to buy her a seat and she can sit on my lap.  The lady who checked us in at West Jet gave us a row of 3 so that we could spread out and Mia could sit during the flight.  I didn't realize how important that extra space was until we went through it.  I couldn't imagine now the whole flight with a wiggly toddler on my lap.  Thankfully on the flight home we were blessed again with an extra seat.

We started in Fort Lauderdale visiting my husbands parents and we had a great hotel right on the beach.  We stayed at a Residence Inn  by Marriott last summer in London, ON and I was really impressed with their rooms and the hotel chain so now I look for one wherever we go.  Every room has a kitchen which is pretty important with a little one.  The people there were amazing and we were blessed again by the front desk worker who upgraded our room when we returned to the hotel from a few days in Orlando.  That put us ocean front with a beautiful view and lots of space for Mia to run around.

We spent a few days in Orlando and took Mia to Disney.  She's pretty young for it but we really wanted to go and she really enjoyed it and we had lots of fun watching her have fun so it was worth it.  4 parks in 2 days with a 16 month old and pregnant, there should be an award for that!

All in all we had an amazing 2 weeks and beautiful weather.  It was so nice to ditch the boots and snowsuits and enjoy some flips flops and sunshine.



Mia enjoying the ocean view 



We enjoyed lunch on the ocean



We took a water taxi around Fort Lauderdale and Millionaire's row and this is Steven Speilberg's yacht, more like ship, worth $200 million and you can rent it for a nice $1 million per week not including paying the staff or fuel...it has a staff of 30!

 

We headed to Orlando for a few days and arrived at Disney!

 

We had to get Mia her Mickey ears

 

 

 

Thankfully Mia LOVED meeting all the characters, we thought it might freak her out but she couldn't get enough of them!

 





Lunch at the Prime Time Cafe in Hollywood Studios

The Drop Box

A movie that can change lives.

#2

Last week I finally got to announce that I'm expecting baby #2.  So many things have been different this time around I was so happy to go public with the news because it was getting hard to hide it anymore.  When I was pregnant with Mia I was never sick, I don't even think I ever felt nauseous, this time around was the opposite.  I was nauseous all the time, couldn't keep anything down and spent most of the time in the bathroom.  I didn't tell anyone I was pregnant with Mia until I was about 14 weeks pregnant when I was just starting to show a bit.  This time I feel like I started showing right away and I was running out of baggy clothes!  I have read that after your first pregnancy your body kicks into pregnancy mode faster and you can show a lot sooner, I proved that point well!

Everything is so new the first time around.  When I had my first ultra sound with Mia we were oohhing and ahhing over everything it was just so exciting.  This time it was like, ok everything looks good there's just one in there right? Great thanks and that was it.  Already I'm giving this baby the shaft just because I've been through this before.  I want to make sure this baby is just as exciting as being pregnant the first time.  I made Mia a scrap book about my pregnancy with her and wrote her letters, I have to make sure I do the same this time around or this baby is on it's way to therapy wondering why mommy loved Mia more.  Making the scrap book will be much cheaper!

Kids and Veggies

I know i'm not alone in this so I'm calling out for help!  Mia has entered quite the picky phase of eating.  When she first started on foods I pureed all kinds of different veggies for her to try and she liked everything for the most part.  Wasn't a fan of asparagus, but who is.  She did pretty good with veggies as I started to let her eat more chunkier foods but now she wants nothing to do with it.  She has been very sick lately so I know that doesn't help - it seems she only wants cereal and fruit at every meal.

Of course you worry that they are getting the nutrients they need, especially when they are sick.  I still give her formula for older kids twice a day so I know that kind of makes up the difference.  I have found now that i'm hiding the veggies.  I made a batch of puree with veggies and meat and made her a pancake with it in there and added mushed fruit to hide the veggie taste.  I thought there was no way she was going to eat this - she at the whole thing!  I hide the puree in her homemade mac and cheese as well and she hasn't caught me yet.

She loves puree sweet potato but when i just mash it for her she gags.  I have texture issues and I think she may have inherited that.  I guess I just have to roll with it, keep trying to hide it and at least I know she's getting what she needs even if it's in the form of a pancake.  Jerry Seinfeld's wife wrote a cookbook with recipes of fun foods with hidden veggies for her kids....time to go pick it up!  

If you have any tips I would love the help!

Trouble with the Curve

My husband and I watched the Clint Eastwood movie "Trouble With The Curve" recently.  Neither of us are baseball fans, although I do love a good baseball movie and we a like Clint Eastwood so we gave it a try.  I loved this movie!

Clint plays a grumpy old man which he does so well, Grand Torino is another of my favorites.  He is a baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves with a very strained and troubled relationship with his daughter played by Amy Adams.  His character is being pushed out of his job by the younger guys in the office who scout only by using stats and computer programs, never going to a game.  Clint follows the players and goes to actual baseball games to scout, the good old fashioned way.  Clint is also losing his sight making it harder to see the games but relies on his ability to hear the way they hit the ball, a skill the young guys back in the office don't have.

His daughter joins him on a scout trip after finding out he's having trouble with his sight to make sure he is ok, giving them a chance to repair their relationship and you see that she knows almost as much about baseball as her dad having grown up going out on scouts with him.

I loved the story between father and daughter and that you can't count and old guy out just because he's getting older.  He still had more talent and knowledge than any of the other scouts and he did it because he loved the game not to just get a pay check.

Justin Timberlake is in it as well.  He plays another scout who was a former player himself who was scouted by Eastwood's character.

I definitely recommend it!

Dear Rogers

I don't usually write a rant....but my frustration with Rogers yesterday was through the roof.  I completely dislike dealing with Rogers on the phone because you lose at least an hour.  So I made my call to Rogers to cancel a service.  Took about an hour and everything was done.  I then had to go to the Rogers store to return the hardware.  Thankfully there was no line-up however when they pulled up my file there was NO cancellation on file.  Whoever I spoke to on the phone didn't finish the job and put the work order through.  So I'm at the Rogers store you would think they can cancel it for me, well that would be just too easy.  So the guy at Rogers put me on the phone with the call centre.  Again I'm AT Rogers so you would think they would have a direct line to cancellations - no chance - I sat on hold at the Rogers store with Rogers on the phone for another 20 minutes.  I cancelled my service yet again and then was finally able to return the hardware.

I'm still baffled by the experience.  What is the point of paying rent on a store space for Rogers when you can even cancel or add any services there.  It's just a lot of hoops to jump through to get anything done.  But Rogers obviously doesn't care they own everything anyway.

what to see

My husband and I have not been to the movies together since our daughter was a couple months old and Nana came to babysit so we are due a night out.  Nana is coming tomorrow so we can have dinner AND see a movie.  I don't know what it's like to go to a restaurant without a toddler throwing food on the floor so this is a welcome change.  The decision now is what movie to see.

I loved Les Mis on stage but I don't think I can sit through the movie.  I tend to stay away from anything Quinten Tarantino makes so Django is kind of out, even though I really like Jamie Foxx.  The Hobbit - no thanks didn't even see Lord of the Rings, Texas Chainsaw 3D - I don't do chainsaw movies, I can't even watch the trailer on TV.  This is 40 looks funny just because we can relate as we reach that age and have a child now.  I don't really know what Jack Reacher is about so it might come down to Parental Guidance with Billy Crystal and Bette Middler.

The tough part is that there is nothing out right now either of us are dying to see, we are just taking advantage of a night out and use up some of our scene points, so hopefully we pick a good one!