Dinner at Goofy's Kitchen

We ate at Goofys Kitchen the first night at Disney. My MIL set it up perfectly so that we had the first reservations. Turns out even if you have reservations, the later you go, the longer you have to wait. It gets backed up badly...but we didn't have to wait at all!
The kids really enjoyed it, and my favorite part: the dessert buffet :)

Here's Mulan! Carter hasn't ever watched Mulan, but he knows her from a preview from one of the other movies he does watch....I can't remember which one though.



This is either Chip or Dale...I'm not sure



Carter is familiar with Aladdin though



Clay was more than happy to get out on the dance floor with Pluto. He was his favorite character, he just kept yelling DOG! DOG! DOG!



Goofy!


Minnie Mouse was very cute. She would make a 'kissing' noise and Clay thought it was very funny.

Disney with the Naddys

Corys parents came into town over Memorial Day weekend and really wanted to treat the kids to Disney. They've taken the other grandkids, but since we're the only ones that live so far away, we haven't ever been able to make those trips.

It was PACKED to say the least, and I think I did enough walking and standing to last me the rest of my pregnancy, but we had a great time! Carter insisted on sleeping in Nana and Pops' room while Clay insisted on sleeping....right next to me.
I'm not really sure how he's going to take this "new baby" idea in a month or so.


This is how the boys spent their time in line, usually snack in hand...and either climbing all over the rails, or too tired to stand.
This is the line for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride I think.



Carter's absolute favorite person on the planet...EVER.



Minnie Mouse at the Celebrate Parade



Just a side view of the parade as a hint at how crowded the park was.



The kids were allowed to get up and join in the parade, but Carter isn't much on 'performing', even with Nana's help.



The boys watching the 'Magic'!



Alice and the Mad Hatter



Carter climbing on the rocks outside our restaurant for the afternoon. I don't know if it's a boy thing, but they can't ever just walk on the ground....they have to be balancing or running or climbing on something.



Carter and Pop waiting for their car ride.



The boys and Buzz Lightyear. This is Carter's 2nd favorite person....ever.



The Naddys in front of the park



Bert and Mary Poppins. Last summer while we were spending time at the Naddy household, Carter went through a stage where he really liked watching Mary Poppins. He doesnt have much interest anymore, but hey, we were the first ones in line!




We did a character dinner with Goofy and some of his pals, but I figured I'd make that a separate post for next time. well, if we're being honest, I just was tired of uploading 100 pictures. More Disney adventures next time.....

Day at the Park

It's been pretty hot here lately. The weather here is so strange. I have been waiting for it to 'warm up' since February, and the temperature would just hover in the 60s, we'd get an occasional day in the 70s, a day or two in the 40s and then BAM! IT'S OVER 100 DEGREES. All of the sudden, just like that.
Also - it's still EXTREMELY WINDY here. and the wind...it's HOT. It's like living in a convection oven.

Before it got too excruciating, we had an afternoon picnic at the park on the only patch of grass in the Mojave desert.

Day Date

Cory and I were lucky enough to go on a 'Day Date' two weekends ago into L.A.
Our neighbors watched the kids all day Saturday and we watched their kids for them all day on Sunday.

We started off by driving down Mulholland Dr. to catch a glimpse of the 'scenic' LA and the mansions that sit atop the hills. I was able to see some of them, but unfortunately to road is SO WINDY that Cory had to keep his eye on the road every second or we would have burned up in a fiery car crash. Plus, anytime we're in LA, the locals take it upon themselves to honk at us rudely, just because we have Texas plates.

Here we are at one of the Scenic overlooks of the city.



HOLLYWOOD!



I took this picture quickly out of Cory's window. They were fumigating this GIANT mansion! How do they make tents that big!!!











We parked down close to Hollywood and Sunset Blvd, and had lunch at a GREAT Mexican place called El Compadre and then checked out Madame Tussauds. The wax statues look SO REAL! They look a little shiny in the pictures, but when you were in there, it was hard to know who was a statue and who wasn't!

Jackie Chan




Cory and the character from Halo



Ooooh, Leo. My first love!



And Johnny Depp..




Jim Carey




Life is like a box of Chocolates...



Hannibal (so creepy, I couldn't even get close to him. I was sure he was going to pop to life!)



Tell us how you really feel Cory











I am totally Gangster....




Brangelina




Jenn - they had here across the room facing (glaring at) Brangelina




Carrie Underwood




The prez, yo.

Name That Baby!

Cory and I cannot decide on a name. We're not arguing over it, or even having trouble finding names we like. The problem. We kind of like A LOT of names...No one hates any of them, so we can't eliminate any of them. It's hard to pick a name when you're kind of 'meh' on about 10 of them.

So in classic across the pond fashion, I have set up a name poll...Go ahead, it's on the right, and have at it.



***Name of the baby will not necessarily be chosen by popularity of this poll. If you remember correctly, Clay wasn't even an option on our baby name poll last year. :)

Random medical condtion-itis

It's my official diagnosis for Clay. Everyone has kind of given up, everything serious has been ruled out and there's really nothing more to do.

A lot of me feels really blessed and thankful that the serious diseases that had been considered are no longer an option (Cystic fibrosis, Spherocytosis, hemolytic anemia, celiac disease, etc..)

In another sense, I am beyond frustrated because I feel like we've wasted so much time, energy, and worry over the last 6 months. (not to mention gas money!) Also, if I have any mothers' intuition, I know what lies ahead for him: a very frustrating medical history and denial of premium life insurance as an adult.
I know, because I have the same disease: random medical condition-itis.

I'm a pretty healthy person, I just have 'bad luck' when it comes to random medical conditions. None of them are, in a word, serious, but they cause just enough worry when you discover them to make everyone freak out for a month. Just to fix it and realize every thing's okay.


Here's Clay's list of non-emergent but baffling medical problems:

Chronic diarrhea. The GI doc and surgeon and regular pediatrician all have no answers for this. But, because they've ruled out all the serious things and Clay isn't losing weight, there's nothing they can really do. He takes medicines twice a day for this that doesn't help at all. Let me tell you how I LOVE changing diarrhea diapers everyday as Clay gets older and stronger and it takes every ounce of strength for me to hold him down, that I BREAK A SWEAT every time I change his diaper.

Anemia: Everyone's just decided some kids are anemic...He'll take Iron, for a long time.

GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease): He takes and will continue to take two different medications twice a day until further notice...It was enough to scar his vocal cords and cause speech delays, but whaddaya going to do right?

Cholelithiasis (gall stones): Well, technically he doesn't have this problem anymore because he doesn't have a gallbladder. Turns out, his gallstones were NOT made of bilirubin like expected, but made out of carbonate apatite. Good news: means there's no hematological component because there's no rbcs that are breaking down or anything. Bad news: no one has a freaking clue what this or these kind of gall stones mean. I guess that's good news too. It's probably nothing at all serious and a weird total fluke...just like the rest of his stuff.

Post Operative Urinary tract infection: We had to make a flying trip back down to UCLA a few nights ago because we couldn't stave off a high fever. After a phone call to the surgeon he wanted us to come back to rule out any serious surgery complications. They did a complete workup and found out it was only a UTI. He had about 5 procedures done there in the ER and it was a long, awful night for both of us. We're currently taking medicine for this 3 times a day.

Thymus Enlargement: Clay's thymus in enlarged (more so than a normal 'large' pediatric thymus) and no one knows what that means either. I actually laughed when I got off the phone with the surgeon when he told me this. Because why wouldn't he have another random medical condition that doesn't mean anything?

Hopefully, as long as Clay can keep the rest of his organs, and we can stave off any freak accident ER trips, he'll be totally fine...but don't be surprised if we find out he end up getting the chicken pox 3 times or one of his legs ends up shorter than the other.

Oh God, who thought it was a good idea to GIVE THEM WHEELS!?

Carter and Clay finally got one of their Christmas presents this weekend. Uncle Rich sent out the gift cards (with enclosed picture of said gift) at Christmas, but Toys R Us had been out of stock until now.

First - Carter is a HORRIBLE driver, I mean, like worse than me.
Second - we had to put a helmet on Clay now when they ride together, because he is such a HORRIBLE driver.
Third - there is a little screw that allows us as parents to control the speed. Leave the screw in - goes slow(er) take the screw out - it goes 100mph. After our neighbor friend who's Carter's age (who has had MUCH more practice driving this thing around) was zooming past Carter, Cory decided the screw must come out....

Which was probably the worst idea I've ever heard....
But you can't let the neighbor kid zoom past you in his jeep! That would be....EMBARRASSING or something, right?

But, of course, they're boys, they LOVE it, and ask to ride it every night when Daddy comes home.