Thursday, August 26, 2010
Park 1- Magic Kingdom
This is the first park we will be visiting during our trip. So, if you have any tips,tricks,fun facts,trivia ect about the Magic Kingdom shout it out! I'll update and edit as I find things as well. But for now its off to register Princess for "school" :)
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
24 links on the countdown chain...
I totally revised the "Beer Bottle" song to fit our countdown chain lol I even posted it as my FB status lol My hubby thinks that it'll get annoying pretty fast, oh well!
I came across a review for the new Harry Potter world in Islands of Adventure and lets just say that if I had my choice we would've left already! I'm ready to be care-free and act goofy :) I'm ready to see Disney through my daughters'....the innocence and magic of everything opening up their minds to dream. I want to get swept away by it all too!
Living day to day with Zach's death and now Tinks illness..life gets hard! It takes a toll on this momma's heart. So the sooner we can head to the magical place the better...for all of us! But since we do have to wait :( lets make it fun! Maybe feature a park a day? All the random facts one can find via swagbucks, tips and tricks to make the most out of your time. Sounds fun!, right?...right!
So tomorrow I will start it off with a chosen park and we'll just keep adding to it. Dont be afraid to add your own tips or tricks via comments so that in the end we have a wonderful mix of facts,trivia,tips and tricks. Who knows maybe you'll tell me about something to do or check out and I will while in the parks and use it in my reviews!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Its been awhile..
Life is one big ball of chaos lol But I plan to get back to blogging asap! So heres a short update on all of us
Tinkerbell started getting sick a few months ago...several options were thrown on the table and several tests were ordered. We are still waiting on the results (next week) but right now we have some nasty possibilities hanging over us...just praying, thats all we can do! On a more positive note, she started school today...she goes to a full-time preschool and LOVES it! She gets to ride the big bus to and from school...this program has been a blesing for her :)
Princess is growing up so fast. She is so different from Tink...its crazy! She starts going to "school" twice a week for 4 hours a day next week! I know shes going to love it :) I will be kidless twice a week! :O
As for me, after Tinks situation started getting more serious and the Drs office and hospital became a fequent stop for us I knew I needed to find a job that would be flexible and bring in good money. Impossible right? But its not...I did a lot of research and soul searching and decided to sign up with Mary Kay. Let me just say...BEST decision ever!!! Not only has it helped with medical bills and medications but the change thats taken place on me is breathtaking! I'm becoming more confident in myself, my skin looks and feels amazing and I'm teaching my girls some valuable life lessons!
Other than that we are in our countdown to Disney!!! I cant believe its almost time to go! Our condos are reserved, we have lunch reservations at T-Rex in Downtown Disney and our days planned out for the parks. We made a Disney Countdown Chain for Tinkerbell and each night she pulls 1 link off the chain, it helps her visualize the days left and she LOVES it!
I must say it helps me too! LOL I swear I'm like a kid all over again :)
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
24 days till my next 5K
I did my first ever 5K walk/run just a few weeks ago. I had a good time. When I first signed up I had no intention's of taking the girls with me, well of course that was the Saturday hubby had to work so I had to haul both girls and the double stroller with me. I finished in just over an hour...not bad with both of them and the heavy ass stroller lol Plus Tink hasn't been feeling good (a post for another time) and started getting sick at the very end.
So I've taken the plunge and decided to do another one...this time I will be kid-free! :) This 5K helps raise money for something near and dear to my heart, The Ronald McDonald House. My plan is to blog my progress from here on out and at the end I will post before and after pictures and :gulp: weight. So wish me luck and lots of motivation! lol
What: Firecracker 5K for RMH
When: July 3rd 2010
Distance: 3.2 miles
Goals: do it under an hour, lose 5 lbs, walk at least 4 times a week and get on Wii Fit everyday, cut back on food intake and up my water.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
My Mask
We all have a morning routine. I have had one for as long as I can remember. It was boring and habitual. Get up, go to bathroom, eat breakfast and get ready for the day. Day in and day out, 365 days a year. It gets to the point you just don't realize your doing it over and over sometimes...
My morning routine was severely altered Dec 2007....it'll never be the same again. Every day its new. I don't know what will happen until it happens. Most days its almost like my old routine: wake up, acknowledge that my son is dead, go to the bathroom, eat breakfast, get ready for the day and look at myself in the mirror and paint on my "happy,normal" mask. Yes folks, the person you see before you is NOT me. Pull that mask away and its not pretty. In fact it's so horrid that society has forced me to wear this mask. The raw,unbeauty of my life is too much for most people. Makes them uncomfortable or uneasy. But what about me?
Some morning's my grief hits me so hard my breath is taken away, other morning's its so bad all I want to do is sleep. The morning's that I wake up startled and look around thinking maybe it was all a horrible nightmare are pure hell. I lay there a sobbing mess as I replay the night prior and the day of his death. I can still feel what may very well be his last kick of life...I can still see that beautiful profile, laying there just so still and peaceful. Why is it that my pain means nothing to people? Why is it that talking about my son makes people uncomfortable? I can be around one of the most important person's in my life and the minute I talk about him the air turns cold and tense. All I want is to talk...I don't want to feel like I'm some freak of nature. I want comforting words. I want this indescribable pain to go away....I just want my son back! I'm drowning in my grief and because this is so taboo in our society no one wants to reach in and help. Do you fear I may pull you under?
How can I make him real to everyone? How do you explain to someone that you have everything you want and are so incomplete at the same time? Do you know how heavy this mask is? Sometimes it slips and you get to see a little sliver of that unbeauty....but don't worry someone quickly comes and fixes that mask and just as you might start wanting to question what you see it's gone.
I guess no one got the memo that its ok to still be grieving my unborn son almost 2 1/2 years later...that it was perfectly acceptable to still feel that pain and longing....cause it wasn't long after his death that I was forced to wear this mask, only to slip it off in the darkest of night. Where no one would be around to see all the frightening things that lay behind it.
So next time you see me, remember that smile is painted on. All the unbeauty is tucked underneath a very heavy mask, safe so that no one becomes uncomfortable or uneasy around me.
I have a son. His name is Zachary-Bryan Francis. He was real. He could have cured cancer, saved life's, became the president or he could have grown up and had a family of his own. But on December 5th 2007 ALL of that was taken away. Just because he didn't take a breath outside of my womb or grace this earth with his perfect body doesn't make him any less real.
It might be hard to swallow but choke it down....I have to every.single.day.
My morning routine was severely altered Dec 2007....it'll never be the same again. Every day its new. I don't know what will happen until it happens. Most days its almost like my old routine: wake up, acknowledge that my son is dead, go to the bathroom, eat breakfast, get ready for the day and look at myself in the mirror and paint on my "happy,normal" mask. Yes folks, the person you see before you is NOT me. Pull that mask away and its not pretty. In fact it's so horrid that society has forced me to wear this mask. The raw,unbeauty of my life is too much for most people. Makes them uncomfortable or uneasy. But what about me?
Some morning's my grief hits me so hard my breath is taken away, other morning's its so bad all I want to do is sleep. The morning's that I wake up startled and look around thinking maybe it was all a horrible nightmare are pure hell. I lay there a sobbing mess as I replay the night prior and the day of his death. I can still feel what may very well be his last kick of life...I can still see that beautiful profile, laying there just so still and peaceful. Why is it that my pain means nothing to people? Why is it that talking about my son makes people uncomfortable? I can be around one of the most important person's in my life and the minute I talk about him the air turns cold and tense. All I want is to talk...I don't want to feel like I'm some freak of nature. I want comforting words. I want this indescribable pain to go away....I just want my son back! I'm drowning in my grief and because this is so taboo in our society no one wants to reach in and help. Do you fear I may pull you under?
How can I make him real to everyone? How do you explain to someone that you have everything you want and are so incomplete at the same time? Do you know how heavy this mask is? Sometimes it slips and you get to see a little sliver of that unbeauty....but don't worry someone quickly comes and fixes that mask and just as you might start wanting to question what you see it's gone.
I guess no one got the memo that its ok to still be grieving my unborn son almost 2 1/2 years later...that it was perfectly acceptable to still feel that pain and longing....cause it wasn't long after his death that I was forced to wear this mask, only to slip it off in the darkest of night. Where no one would be around to see all the frightening things that lay behind it.
So next time you see me, remember that smile is painted on. All the unbeauty is tucked underneath a very heavy mask, safe so that no one becomes uncomfortable or uneasy around me.
I have a son. His name is Zachary-Bryan Francis. He was real. He could have cured cancer, saved life's, became the president or he could have grown up and had a family of his own. But on December 5th 2007 ALL of that was taken away. Just because he didn't take a breath outside of my womb or grace this earth with his perfect body doesn't make him any less real.
It might be hard to swallow but choke it down....I have to every.single.day.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
"Getting to know you...getting to know all about you"
Do you have that song stuck in your head now? lol Yea...me too!
I figured for those who might come here and read this blog who aren't family or friends might like to know a little about me....so here it goes
I was born in December 1985 to a single mom. I don't know my father, he knows nothing of me and I like to refer to him as 'sperm donor'. I struggle with wanting to look for him and being completely happy how it is. Its an on-going battle that's best left to its own post...later.
My mom was still young (20/21) and loved the party life so I grew up with my grandparent's. It wasn't until I was 6 or 7 that she finally was at a point in her life to really raise me and I moved in with her. Don't get the wrong idea though, she was around all the time, she just knew she wasn't ready to raise me the right way. I thank her for this everyday.
When I was a year old I got really sick, really fast. By the time I was taken in and they did a spinal tap I didn't move. Never a good sign. I had contracted spinal meningitis. After a few scary days and another couple weeks in the hospital I was healthy enough to go home. Childhood was pretty normal for me. Nothing big or exciting to report.
I met my husband when I was 17 in an online chatroom...yea I know, I know...big scary internet freaks, but I got lucky :) He was stationed at Camp Lejeune and had just recently returned from his deployment in Japan. We hit it off and talked for hours on the phone. Lets just say that those cell phone bills weren't pretty! lol During my spring break from school I traveled up to NC to finally meet him, face to face. At the end of the week he asked me to marry him and obviously I said Yes! A month later he came to FL and we were married :) I still had a few weeks left in school so I stayed while he went back and set up everything for me to move up there, during this time I found out I was expecting. Two days after graduation we loaded up the rental truck and headed east :) After getting settled in and what not my mommy packed her bags and left me to my new life, in a new town. It was not an easy day for her :(
We spent our 1st year of marriage struggling with infertility and multiple miscarriages. It was not an easy first year but we worked through it and here we are today, getting ready to celebrate 6 years. I'd like to say that our infertility and loss stories ended with the birth of our first daughter but that wouldn't be life...
My name is Hope, I'm a lover,giver,taker,sinner,listener,friend,secret keeper,daughter,sister,
wife, but most of all I am a mother. Though you may not see all my angels know that they are there.
I figured for those who might come here and read this blog who aren't family or friends might like to know a little about me....so here it goes
I was born in December 1985 to a single mom. I don't know my father, he knows nothing of me and I like to refer to him as 'sperm donor'. I struggle with wanting to look for him and being completely happy how it is. Its an on-going battle that's best left to its own post...later.
My mom was still young (20/21) and loved the party life so I grew up with my grandparent's. It wasn't until I was 6 or 7 that she finally was at a point in her life to really raise me and I moved in with her. Don't get the wrong idea though, she was around all the time, she just knew she wasn't ready to raise me the right way. I thank her for this everyday.
When I was a year old I got really sick, really fast. By the time I was taken in and they did a spinal tap I didn't move. Never a good sign. I had contracted spinal meningitis. After a few scary days and another couple weeks in the hospital I was healthy enough to go home. Childhood was pretty normal for me. Nothing big or exciting to report.
I met my husband when I was 17 in an online chatroom...yea I know, I know...big scary internet freaks, but I got lucky :) He was stationed at Camp Lejeune and had just recently returned from his deployment in Japan. We hit it off and talked for hours on the phone. Lets just say that those cell phone bills weren't pretty! lol During my spring break from school I traveled up to NC to finally meet him, face to face. At the end of the week he asked me to marry him and obviously I said Yes! A month later he came to FL and we were married :) I still had a few weeks left in school so I stayed while he went back and set up everything for me to move up there, during this time I found out I was expecting. Two days after graduation we loaded up the rental truck and headed east :) After getting settled in and what not my mommy packed her bags and left me to my new life, in a new town. It was not an easy day for her :(
We spent our 1st year of marriage struggling with infertility and multiple miscarriages. It was not an easy first year but we worked through it and here we are today, getting ready to celebrate 6 years. I'd like to say that our infertility and loss stories ended with the birth of our first daughter but that wouldn't be life...
My name is Hope, I'm a lover,giver,taker,sinner,listener,friend,secret keeper,daughter,sister,
wife, but most of all I am a mother. Though you may not see all my angels know that they are there.
Starting Fresh
After suffering from at least 1 ear infection a month since Sept. princess is seeing a ENT tomorrow and hopefully having tubes put in shortly after. These past few months have been very hectic and stressful. Here's a little run down and maybe you'll understand why I took a mini break
October of last year our ped. talked to us about pediatric adhd for tink. I had done very minimal looking into as everywhere I looked said that they had to be school-aged to be diagnosed. I figured it was something that would have to wait. Thankfully our ped. specializes in pediatric adhd and was a light at the end of our dark tunnel with tink's behavior. We gathered all of the information from him, took it home and read it and decided to just track her behavior at home and pray. At the end of January I took her back in and said I wanted to continue on with the adhd evaluation, we talked and asked questions and left the office with several forms for everyone to fill out, including her teacher's at pre-school. Two weeks later we got the official diagnosis and started her on some meds at very low doses. Here we are about a month later and OMG! My child can actually sit and read or play with her toys. She can focus at pre-school and we have heard her talk more and more. Now...she is 3, almost 4, so life is still tough with her but at least I'm just dealing with normal toddler stuff instead of normal toddler stuff AND uncontrolled impulses. It was a hard decision and one that did not come without negative thoughts from other people. But in the end it was the best decision for her and those who think I'm drugging my child just for my sake obviously weren't around pre-diagnosis. Now all while that was going on we also were in the midst of being evaluated for speech and language programs through the school board. Thankfully we are at the end of our journey and go next week for her final evaluation that will place her in the programs she needs. Just as we were pushing things off our plate and saying 'Thanks, we're stuffed' life scooped up another helping and said 'Here ya go!' Palms meet head and scream! Now it seems as if tink will be having a MRI within the next month or so for a possible closed NTD. Now its something that has to be done...it just stinks that she has to be sedated. She is not a fan of having things on her face and does NOT do well with stranger's :/
I know that this too shall pass....just like any other tough season in my life and I'm thankful that I have my 2 little girls to keep me on my toes. It feels to good to "write" it out. Some days just seems like a blur and I wake up the next day and think 'did that really happen?'
On happier notes the weather is starting to warm up and that means Spring is right around the corner! In fact I've been told that today shorts,a tank top and flip flops are passable :) Oh how I can't wait to be out of this house and do things. But for now its back to spring cleaning....we've got a birthday party and in-laws coming for a visit next month!
October of last year our ped. talked to us about pediatric adhd for tink. I had done very minimal looking into as everywhere I looked said that they had to be school-aged to be diagnosed. I figured it was something that would have to wait. Thankfully our ped. specializes in pediatric adhd and was a light at the end of our dark tunnel with tink's behavior. We gathered all of the information from him, took it home and read it and decided to just track her behavior at home and pray. At the end of January I took her back in and said I wanted to continue on with the adhd evaluation, we talked and asked questions and left the office with several forms for everyone to fill out, including her teacher's at pre-school. Two weeks later we got the official diagnosis and started her on some meds at very low doses. Here we are about a month later and OMG! My child can actually sit and read or play with her toys. She can focus at pre-school and we have heard her talk more and more. Now...she is 3, almost 4, so life is still tough with her but at least I'm just dealing with normal toddler stuff instead of normal toddler stuff AND uncontrolled impulses. It was a hard decision and one that did not come without negative thoughts from other people. But in the end it was the best decision for her and those who think I'm drugging my child just for my sake obviously weren't around pre-diagnosis. Now all while that was going on we also were in the midst of being evaluated for speech and language programs through the school board. Thankfully we are at the end of our journey and go next week for her final evaluation that will place her in the programs she needs. Just as we were pushing things off our plate and saying 'Thanks, we're stuffed' life scooped up another helping and said 'Here ya go!' Palms meet head and scream! Now it seems as if tink will be having a MRI within the next month or so for a possible closed NTD. Now its something that has to be done...it just stinks that she has to be sedated. She is not a fan of having things on her face and does NOT do well with stranger's :/
I know that this too shall pass....just like any other tough season in my life and I'm thankful that I have my 2 little girls to keep me on my toes. It feels to good to "write" it out. Some days just seems like a blur and I wake up the next day and think 'did that really happen?'
On happier notes the weather is starting to warm up and that means Spring is right around the corner! In fact I've been told that today shorts,a tank top and flip flops are passable :) Oh how I can't wait to be out of this house and do things. But for now its back to spring cleaning....we've got a birthday party and in-laws coming for a visit next month!
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