Wine Girl Mommy’s World

Author Archives: CS

• Staying sane when staying home

  Posted at 11:54 am by CS, on April 6, 2020

  When you are stuck at home with your family for 24/7 it’s very easy to start to get a little stir crazy.

  In a normal setting, yes, you do spend a good bit of time with your family, but depending on your situation, you may also get breaks from one another. Things get a little different when you are all “required” to stay at home. This can especially be a lot when your children are home with you at all times of the day, when normally they go to a daycare/preschool/school and so they spend their days there.

  Recently there has been a daily schedule floating around the internet for what to do with your child when they are at home all day long. While that is all great, and I’m sure it’s a wonderful schedule, those of us who have kids know how hard it is to really get them to follow a schedule. So a friend of mine adjusted the schedule to make it fit “most parents” and told me I could share it on my blog. If you want to see the original schedule, you can probably google for it, or I’m sure it’s still floating around Facebook somewhere.

  

  I don’t know about you, but it makes me feel so much better about myself knowing how many parents out there are hanging on for dear life while their kids are home. It’s so nice knowing that there are others out there that you can relate to in this crazy time. It’s also nice knowing that my child isn’t the only crazy-banshee type out there either.

  With that being said, here’s some other ways to stay sane during all of this. (Remember, I’m not a professional in any capacity, these are just my fun loving opinions)

  1. Don’t be so hard on yourself. We are all human, which means we all make mistakes, or let the child watch a little too much TV, or eat that Cheetos off the floor, or forget to shower/brush our hair/brush our teeth/get dressed. Right now it’s all about survival, so some things may need to fall by the wayside in order to get through the day, and that’s OK. Once this all passes then the schedule can get back to normal, but until then, cut yourself a break. We all know we could use it.
  2. Take breaks. Even if they are a few minutes long. Make sure you are not running 24/7 trying to do everything. We have to be able to balance it all and have an understanding we may not be able to do it all. Taking breaks is a good way to slow down and make sure that at the end of this we aren’t so run down we get sick.
  3. Go outside. No, I don’t mean try to go to the store, or do something with friends. I mean go out in your front yard, or back yard and just soak up some sun. Play with bubbles, or in your pool, or with a water table. Chase your kids around, have a picnic. Something that just gets you out of the house so you aren’t going stir crazy.
  4. Facetime/skype/zoom. I get it, it’s hard to distance yourself from friends and family, but it must be done to help flatten the curve. With that being said, set up some time to Facetime/skype/zoom with them. Have a dinner party, or a happy hour, or just a chat. Having that connection with people can still happen while still social distancing.
  5. Booze. Things are going to get crazy. Things are going to get bad. Your husband and kids are probably going to drive you mad. Booze can most definitely help you with that.

  Now while this list may not be extensive, it is important to remember, this is a serious time, one that not a lot of people have had any previous experience with, so we are all doing our best to get through it day by day. And that’s OK. But we have to remember, that we need to take care of ourselves too.

  Posted in Mom-ing | 0 Comments

• Favorite Reads 03/2020

  Posted at 11:30 am by CS, on March 30, 2020

  I think we can all agree March was pretty crazy. Things have closed, we all need to practice social distancing, hand washing is all the rage, and toilet paper is hard to come by. Because of having to spend more time at home, we have had a lot more opportunities to read together these have been the books that topped our favorites list for March.

  Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae-

  

  This book has been a favorite of ours for quite some time, but due to us having a lot more book choices, we hadn’t really been reaching for this one until as of late again. I really like the message behind this book. It’s teaching kids or adults, really whoever is reading the book, that you should keep trying and not get discouraged if someone says you can’t do something. And like most other books I find myself loving, the story rhymes as you read through it and in my opinion that helps Cameron focus on the book and be more attentive to what I’m reading.

  If Animals Said I Love You by Ann Paul-

  

  This book is another heartwarming story. I love reading about the different ways that animals would say I love you, and it’s also a great way to point out the different animals as well as teach Cameron more animal noises. I also like this story because I still try to make story time at bed time calming and letting Cameron know we love her and are here for her especially during this uncertain time.

  I Love You to the Moon and Back by Amelia Hepworth–

  

  Another heartwarming story that sheds light on all the reasons the adult bear loves the baby bear. I like reading this to Cameron and showing her all the new ways we can love one another. Of course this one rhymes too and you all know I’m a sucker for a good rhyme in a book. It’s a little shorter of a book than I expected, but to read to a toddler, I think it’s a perfect length.

  We read so many books throughout the month, but these three really did stand out. As we continue to read more due to being quarantined at home I’m sure we are going to start having a lot more favorites as the time goes on.

  Posted in Mom-ing | 0 Comments | Tagged books, favorites, march

• Staying motivated working at home

  Posted at 11:43 am by CS, on March 23, 2020

  Blogging is not my full-time job. It would be great if something like this was, but I’m just not there yet. Being a mom isn’t my full-time job either. Now it is a full-time job, but after Cameron was born, we discussed that it just wasn’t feasible for me to stay at home, so back to work I went. Now, I am lucky because I have a remote position with the job I do have, so I get to work from home. It has it’s perks, such as being able to walk out of my room to my office, not really having to dress up, and at the end of the day turning off your computer and being home. But some other times it’s hard to stay motivated not being in an actual office setting. Here are a few things I do to stay motivated.

  Getting Dressed: This one isn’t as hard as it used to be. Back in CA I basically wore my pajamas or some sort of comfy/yoga/workout attire everyday. Now, because I get up and take Cameron to school each more, I need to put actual clothes on because I don’t want to embarrass her or me. But I found, that once you’re dressed you feel like the day has started and it’s easier to stay on track.

  Give yourself deadlines: Even if you don’t have to finish something for someone at work, still give yourself deadlines. If someone didn’t see something by Friday, I would try to finish it by Thursday or before so that I wasn’t just sitting around and taking my time. Now obviously I won’t rush through anything, but it helps keep me busy trying to meet my self deadlines.

  Turn off distractions: Now it’s easy for us to think, that since we work from home, we can have noise in the background. And while most of the time that could be true, I also noticed it deterred from getting anything done. So, if I just HAVE to have noise, I make sure it’s not going to distract me or take me away from my work.

  Pay attention to schedules: Make sure you know what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and any roadblocks that you may hit. Just knowing what’s out there in front of you is a good way to stay motivated.

  Know that you are allowed breaks: For me personally, I always feel like I shouldn’t be allowed to get breaks, or lunch, because I have the luxury of working from home so if I want to eat a snack, I can just grab one. But know, that if you work yourself to the bone, and don’t take breaks, you are going to run out of steam and not get as much done because you are run-down. You are working, just like your co-workers, the stuff is getting done. It’s OK to take a 15 min break, or a 30 minute lunch. I’m pretty sure it’s also the law. Heck, I utilize my lunch break to sometimes get chores done around the house, two birds, one stone.

  As I think of other things, this post may receive some updates and re-blogging. But for now, these are the things I do to stay motivated working from home.

  Posted in If I had known | 0 Comments | Tagged motivation, work, work from home, working from home

• Mom’s Sick

  Posted at 11:34 am by CS, on March 16, 2020

  If most of you are like me, when you get sick, you shake it off and keep moving. We’re mom’s that’s what we do. But what do you do if you get hit so hard that you physically can’t keep moving?

  That’s happened to me twice in the last few months. I got so sick that I literally was no use to anyone. The most recent one is happening now as I’m writing this post. So what did I do?

  Took a break: I let my body rest, and boy did it rest. I found myself sleeping for almost two days straight, even having to take off work. And you know what that’s OK. We need to take care of our bodies if we expect to take care of our families.

  Let others help: While I tried to hold it together, and tried to continue working on the house chores, and taking care of Cameron. When my husband “yelled” at me to go rest, I listened to him and let him take over doing everything around the house.

  Take off work: Yep, I said it. If you are so sick that you can barely move, don’t feel bad about taking a sick day. I try to save all my sick days up so I can use them when I have to take off with Cameron, but sometimes that’s just not the case.

  Don’t feel guilty: We are human, we are bound to get sick. Now it may not happen as often, or as severe, but we need to make sure that when it does and we need to take a break, that we don’t let ourselves feel bad about it. Feeling guilty isn’t going to magically make us feel better so it’s better just to not and move on.

  Drink lots of liquids: This goes without saying for if you are a little sick, or severely sick. Keep yourself hydrated.

  See a doctor if needed: I’m super stubborn when it comes to doctor’s. You can just ask my husband. But I’m starting to learn there is a time to go see a doctor when you’re sick. This most recent sickness has me with a clogged up ear that I can not shake, so I realized, if I’m going to get better, and hear again I need to go see a doctor and get medication to help me.

  Don’t worry about the stuff you can’t control: If you are lucky to have help, then let them help. Don’t try to backseat parent, or backseat the household chores. Let them help you and just know that things are getting done. It may not be the way you would like, and that’s OK. We can’t control everything.

  Now everyone may not be able to do this, some may not have the help, or the ability to take off work. But as I continue to learn, we must take care of ourselves or else we won’t be able to take care of others.

  Posted in If I had known, Mom-ing | 0 Comments | Tagged break, guilt, mom, sick

• Speech next steps

  Posted at 12:01 pm by CS, on March 9, 2020

  In my first post about Cameron’s speech, I talked about how we took her to the doctor and while they didn’t seem that concerned they maybe mentioned taking Cameron to a speech therapist.

  In the last few months, with moving, and new schools, and such that hadn’t happened quite yet. But now I’m here with a little update.

  When we got to FL and settled in our new home, one of the first things I wanted to do was take Cameron to see her new doctor and express my concerns on her lack of speech and see what her new and permanent pediatrician thought our next steps would be. While the new doctor, once again wasn’t very concerned, since all kids talk at different stages, she did give us a referral to be seen by the Early Steps Intervention program that the state of Florida does for kids birth to 36 months. The way Early Steps works, is that your child will be evaluated to see if they are eligible for the program. And if they are, they will get you in touch with the different types of therapists that your child needs, or any other type of help your child needs to work on the concerns you have. So they came and did her evaluation, and I was told that if she scored below a certain number in one area, or below a certain number in two different areas she would qualify. Well, she scored low enough in one category (Speech) to make her eligible for the program. So our family coordinator got us in touch with an Occupational Therapist, and a Speech Therapist. I’m sure you are wondering why OT? Because I was thinking the same thing, but they explained to me, that since she is in the program, they want to get her all of the resources they can before she turns 3, which is when she will age out of the program. So her OT will work on fine motor skills, and anything else they think she could benefit from, and of course her speech therapist will work on sounds, and signs, and words. Early Steps also allows you to choose if you want them to cover the cost, or have it billed to your primary insurance. And as most of us know, insurance doesn’t cover a lot of these types of things, so we allowed Early Steps to cover the costs, and that has sort of helped alleviate some of the stress.

  So her evaluation with Early Steps happened on a Wednesday afternoon, and our family coordinator and two others came to our house for it. They said we could have done the evaluation at the office, her school, or at home, wherever I felt Cameron would feel most comfortable. That is why I chose at home, I figured with so much else going on, this was sort of her “safe zone”. They came in, and while one asked me questions about things that Cameron does or does not do yet, or what she can or cant’ say, the other played with Cameron. Not just normal play, but sort of more testing play, trying to see if Cameron could do something, or recognize something, more educational than just play time. Then the two switched, and the other asked me questions, while the first one played with Cameron. After they were done, they took my answers, and what Cameron did during the play and calculated her scores. Which is how it was determined she scored low enough in speech to become eligible for the program.

  After that, the family coordinator set to work on finding us therapists. The first to contact me was the office for the Occupational Therapy. That was sort of a shock since I thought Cameron only was going to get speech, but that’s when I learned they were just given her all the resources they could. So we set up her OT evaluation so they could come and see at what level she was at, and what specifics they will work on with her. They came out, and worked with her, and talked to me, and determined that Cameron could benefit from once a week sessions, just on her focusing during playtime, and associating things with one another. After that, we tried to find a time that would work for us and the therapist, and finally settled on one. At the time of this post, Cameron has not had her first official session, so I can’t talk much about how that went. But this will be a topic I keep an update on, so check back to see how it goes.

  Next up was her speech. Because this was what she got into the program for, this was the one I was most anticipating. The therapist came to our house, (I’m having all sessions done here), and she played with Cameron, and talked to me to learn sort of where Cameron was at. We determined what Cameron would nee to work on, and because it wasn’t a straight evaluation, we were able to set up the sessions right away. Cameron has officially had her first speech session. The therapist came in, and followed Cameron’s lead. She got out some flash cards to work on different sounds, then tried to show/teach Cameron the signs for more, and all done. Cameron did learn more by the end of the session, and she has continued to do it with us since then. They went through some of Cameron’s flash cards and Cameron would show her the little bit of words/sounds that she associated with the cards. Then they just sort of played, and talked through things, and about things. The therapist said, it’s exactly how she expected the first session to go, so that made me feel good. I’m super interested to see how they progress. And we have 8 months to work with her, so that makes me feel good too.

  I will be doing a follow up on both of these, maybe in a month, or two. Not sure how often I want to post updates about this, but I’m so excited to see her progress.

  Posted in Mom-ing | 0 Comments | Tagged early steps, evaluation, occupational therapy, speech, speech therapy

• Favorites 02/2020

  Posted at 11:32 am by CS, on March 2, 2020

  February was a month that was full of crazy weather, sick family, and a couple favorites. It seemed that we blinked and February was over.

  Here are the few things that I found to be favorites this month.

  Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate- I know this is a favorite with a lot of my friends so I decided to treat myself for my birthday and buy it for myself. I can see why it is a favorite. I started noticing a different in my skin after a few days of use. It’s simple to use, and you don’t need a lot of it with each application so it should last a good while.

  

  Balmex Diaper cream- Now it’s not something I use on myself, but I use it for Cameron’s bottom, and ever since we started using it, we have noticed how much her butt rash improves when she does get a diaper rash. Before, with other creams, it was always taking days for her butt to get better, but with Balmex, we are noticing it after just one change.

  Girl Scout Cookies- Can’t have a favorites list this time of year with including girl scout cookies. The favorites in this house are Tagalongs, Samoas, and S’mores. It’s hard to keep them in the house since we want to eat them all in one sitting, so we have to be careful. Thin Mints are in the top 5 as well, and they are becoming Cameron’s favorite.

  It was a slow month of favorites, but they are very good favorites to have. Did you use anything this month that you just love?

  Posted in Mom-ing | 0 Comments | Tagged favorite things, favorites

• Favorite Reads-02/2020

  Posted at 11:25 am by CS, on February 27, 2020

  Over here we have really gotten into reading as part of our daily routine. Most of the time it’s books at the end of the day as part of our bedtime routine, but because we are trying to work on Cameron’s word count and speech, we have been incorporating reading as often as we can when she’s at home.

  Here are the books that we have been favoring this past month. A theme I was trying to represent for her books at bedtime was “goodnight, and bedtime is nice” because I wanted her to understand when we were reading these books it was time to settle down and settle in, that nighttime was not scary, and bedtime is fun. All our favorites this month sort of rotate around that theme. Now that we’ve been reading at bedtime for a while now, I feel comfortable rotating in and out books so we get a bigger variety. When I first started reading to her at bedtime, it was more to establish a routine so that she understood that when we read, it meant it was time for bed, so I was trying to give her those same constant stories to she would put two and two together. Now I think she does understand that regardless of what books we read, once she gets into bed and mommy or daddy read her those stories, whichever ones we choose, that after that it’s lights out and bedtime.

  Most of the books I read to her, were either gifts, or bought at a second hand store, but I’m sure you can find most on Amazon or at Target.

  The Goodnight Train by June Sobel– This is a cute book about a train that takes passengers on a journey as they get ready for bed. You get the train ready by cleaning it up, then the passengers board, and it travels off to dreamland, then you get dropped back off at home and get ready for bed. I like the book because it has some great pictures, it’s the right length for a toddler, and it rhymes. All great points in my book.

  

  Goodnight, I Love You by Caroline Jayne Church-  Another cute and short book to hold your toddler’s attention. This book describes your bedtime routine, and to wash up, brush teeth, get ready for bed, and all tucked it. This book also rhymes so it’s fun to be able to put emphasis on different words and make the story exciting.

  

  I Love you Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak- This book has easily become one of our favorites. It talk about all the things you love about the person, and when I read it I try to act out different words, and go through motions, so that Cameron is also learning body parts and such. Because we have read it every night for some time, she now has parts of it memorized, so she does the action before I even get to the part in the book. Great story too.

  

  I’ll See you in the Morning by Mike Jolley- I wanted a book that sort of described that although it’s bedtime and you need to go to sleep, that we would still be here in the morning. This book did that perfectly. It sets the tone to not be afraid of the dark, and reassures that we are here if you need us, and we will see you in the morning. With all the negative in the world, I just wanted something that would help ease any of those scared feelings. I don’t know if Cameron will be scared of the dark, or of monsters in her closet as she gets older, but I like how this book tries to explain that all is going to be alright.

  

  I’m excited to see what books become our favorite in the month of March. I have found that we like books of the medium length, and I personally enjoy reading books that rhyme but still tell a story. Although we may change it up and do one or two longer stories rather than four or more medium to short stories. It all depends on how she reacts as we begin the books.

  Posted in Mom-ing | 0 Comments | Tagged bedtime, books, goodnight, goodnight train, I love you, reading, routine

• Valentines Day

  Posted at 11:25 am by CS, on February 24, 2020

  I am farther behind than I wanted to be on my holiday posts, but that’s what happens when the house gets sick over and over. No time to do any sort of writing, or cleaning, or being responsible because as a mom you end up taking care of everyone, and then getting sick yourself and taking care of yourself. But I digress, this post is not about that. This post is how we spent Valentine’s Day 2020.

  Valentine’s Day is not a big deal in this house, it never has been, I don’t know if it ever will be. I’ve never really been one to celebrate the day, probably because I never really had anyone to celebrate it with when I was younger. Then I made the mistake of telling my husband that I thought it was a stupid Hallmark holiday. And he took me at my word, and we have never celebrated the day, even though now I’m sort of coming around to it. That’s what I get for opening up my big mouth at the start of our relationship. Ha-ha

  Once Cameron was born, I did start to see Valentine’s day in a little different way, especially because my husband showers her with love, so that she knows how she should be treated by all men. Of course, her daddy will always be her first love, and her first Valentine. So we have started a tradition where my husband buys her some flowers, and then some sort of chocolate or fruit. The first year it was some sort of wildflower and chocolate covered strawberries, and then this year it was tulips and a candy covered apple. (Side note, he didn’t do it for her first Valentine’s day for two reasons, we were out of town, and she was 4 months old)

  

  This year Cameron was also at a new school, as I’ve mentioned in many previous posts. They through a Valentine’s Day party and also exchanged cards with the class. This was a first for me to have to go and buy Valentine’s Day cards for a class, and the options seemed endless. Luckily, I was able to pick whatever cards I thought would be best for Cameron’s class, since she didn’t have much of an opinion. I got “cute animals” with funny pun-like sayings and I thought they were perfect. They made little “mailboxes” in class earlier in the week so that they had a place to put all the cards from their classmates. It was nice because we didn’t have to address the cards, we just brought them into class. So we sort of got a little bit of a reprieve because I know those long evenings of having to address everything to the class are coming slowly  but surely as she gets older.

  As I stated above, they were having a Valentine’s Day party in class at school during the afternoon of Valentine’s Day. They had a sign up sheet on the door during the week where parents could sign up to bring in things for the party. I signed up for string cheese, plates, and “other” where I had this brilliant idea to send in this sort of trail mix, but a little different since it had to be egg free and nut free. I figured, I could make it out of pretzels, chocolate chips, craisins, and banana chips. Easy peasy right? WRONG! I had the biggest mom fail and found myself scrounging through my pantry for things to use at 8:15pm the night before the party.

  

  Here is why it was a mom fail. Like I said, the stuff needed to be nut free, and egg free due to classroom allergies. I figured that pretzels, chocolate chips, dried banana chips, and craisins were all good to go in terms being nut and egg free. I began to open the bags and containers, and was throwing everything into one big bowl so I could just scoop a cup full into each of the treat bags I had gotten for my trail mix. What I should have done first, was double check all of the containers, because the dried banana chips MAY have been packaged on a contaminated surface. Had I read that first, I could have just left out the chips and gone with pretzels, craisins, and chocolate chips. But no, I had to dump everything into a bowl therefore possibly contaminating all the other ingredients, because knowing my luck, that would have been the package of banana chips that did come in contact with eggs or nuts, and I did not want to be THAT mom. So now, I had no banana chips, no pretzels, very little chocolate chips, and some craisins. That is not enough to make a trail mix of sorts, but I didn’t want to not send anything since I felt I would be letting the class down since I did sign up to bring an “other” item. So here I am, going through my pantry for anything that doesn’t have nuts or eggs in the ingredients, that I could throw into a treat bag and call it trail mix. I came up with animal crackers and goldfish. So craisins, goldfish, and animal crackers because my great idea trail mix. I don’t know if the kids ate them, I know the teachers sent them home with the kids, so I wouldn’t be shocked if the parents didn’t throw them away. Next year though, I will stick to what’s on the list, or pay better attention to the ingredients.

  Other than that, it was a fairly boring day. My husband was coming back into town from a work trip, I had to work, and was starting to feel a little under the weather. But I’m glad Cameron was able to pass out cards to her class, and enjoy a class party. I am really loving that the school makes all these holidays special for the kids.

  Posted in Mom-ing | 0 Comments | Tagged candy, treats, Valentine's Day

• Toddler Activities- Gymnastics

  Posted at 11:25 am by CS, on February 20, 2020

  This may or may not be a new series that I will try where I talk about different toddler activities and what sort we are trying and how we are liking them. It depends on if Cameron will want to try more activities, what I can get her to try, and how often the activities come about.

  This first one, is all about gymnastics. Our little gymnast has love to run and jump and climb on things since she first became mobile. If it’s not able to move or fall over, she is going to try and climb it. We decided we would sign her up for gymnastics to help her burn off some of that energy, but of course for the longest time I could not find a class that worked with her age and timing. All classes for her age group in our area were always in the middle of the week during the day, something that I was not able to do since I work. We decided that we would just have to wait until she was a bit older and could then take classes on weekends. Then, we ended up moving and luckily our new city does host classes for her age group and have plenty of class times so that they work with everyone’s schedules.

  We were able to find a preschool/toddler class that met Wednesday evenings for her to go and run out all that excessive energy while at the same time work on some gymnastic fundamentals and beginning skills. This is a parent participation class, so mom and dad get to work off some energy too while helping Cameron out.

  We’ve had one class so far, and initial reactions, Cameron is going to have the best time. We have three coaches that watch over the 8 toddlers and their parents.

  Class is only a half hour, which I think is perfect, because by the end of those 30 minutes everyone is ready to call it a day. I’m not sure who was more worn out from the first class, Cameron from running around and trying all the stations, or me from having to chase Cameron around all the stations.

  Class is structured, in the way that the coaches come in and take attendance just to ensure everyone that signed up for class is there. Then they lead the kids is stretches, which goes exactly the way you would think it would with a class of two and three year old’s. After that the coach went around to all the stations to show the kids what they entailed and how to properly use them. Once that was done they let the kids and parents off to choose whichever station they wanted to work on. The rest of the class was just each kid running from station to station, parents following and calling after them not to cut in line, or wait their turn, or to move on from the station and let someone else have a turn. Cameron found a few stations that she enjoyed the most, two bars, and a set of rings, and of course the trampoline. She did well enough listening to get out of others way, or wait her turn. Towards the end she did get a little fussy and wanted to leave the class shortly before it was over, but I think it was more because she saw toys out in the waiting area and wanted to go play with them.

  All in all, I think she had a great first class, and I know we are looking forward to going back and continuing to learn and play and have fun with the other kids and coaches. Hoping to start up Dance, Swim, Music, and any other activity we can find for her age group. Just to get her out of the house, around other kids, and in activities that hopefully she will learn to love and enjoy. If at any point she decides she doesn’t like it, we won’t push her to continue.

  

  Posted in Mom-ing | 0 Comments | Tagged activities, gymnastics, toddler

• Disney Birthday

  Posted at 11:40 am by CS, on February 17, 2020

  I think it is pretty clear now from previous posts that I’m a lover of Disney. So is there any better place to spend a birthday than at Disney World? For a Disney lover, that answer is pretty much always no. For the second year in a row I decided that is where I wanted to spend my birthday. It’s also nice, because my birthday falls in a pretty down time at Disney so it’s always a lot less crowded than some other times we visit during the year. I’m totally ok with that, little crowds, pretty mild weather, and good company, what better way to spend a birthday.

  We were at Disney for 3 days this time around, and while we didn’t go to the park all 3 days, we did go on to Disney property every day we were in Orlando. For this trip we decided to stay off property because it worked better for our group, and for our budget. We stayed at the Sheraton Vistana Resort Villas, Lake Buena Vista/Orlando. It is sort of Marriott’s version of a timeshare hotel. Now while we don’t buy into the timeshare, we can still stay there with money or points since my husband is a Marriott frequent stayer and is at Titanium level. This resort is very large and perfect for large groups. It has multiple pools, lots of things to do and eat, and they have a few different room options that can work for how large your party is. We stayed in a 2-bedroom villa which was plenty of room for our family for this trip. And one of the other great things about this resort is that it is only 15 minutes from the Disney parks. That helps during those mornings when you want to get there for rope drop but don’t want to wake up that early, since you aren’t staying on property and have to drive yourself to the parks.

  Check out the resort website Here

  On our first day in town, we wanted to do more relaxing things. We had thought about going to Hollywood Studios, but Cameron sort of rules most of our Disney days depending on her nap schedule, and how she’s feeling. We began our day going to the Premium Outlets on Vineland Avenue because I wanted to check out the Disney character warehouse and see what sort of  merchandise I could find. While this trip to the outlets were pretty good, I was also trying to save up my money so I didn’t buy as much as I wanted. I ended up getting Cameron a Minnie hoodie, some crayons, and then a holiday stitch which is supposed to be like a Disney version of Elf on the Shelf. Still a pretty good haul even if it’s not much. After the outlets we headed to Disney Springs because we had lunch reservations at my favorite Disney Springs restaurant, Homecomin’. Before lunch though I had to grab my celebratory birthday button, because it’s not really a Disney birthday, if you aren’t obnoxious and want to wear a button to let everyone know it’s your birthday. Lunch didn’t disappoint. I had the thigh high chicken biscuits and some grits, as well as a margarita, because it was my birthday trip and why not. After lunch, we walked around, and shopped around Disney springs. I also, had to pick up my Sephora insider birthday gift, and treat myself to some skincare products I had been wanting. Once we were finished at Disney Springs, we stopped by Publix to get some needs for the rest of the weekend, then checked into the resort where we decided to stay in so we saved up our energy for the rest of the weekend.

  Friday was my actual birthday. I decided I wanted to spend the day at Magic Kingdom, because while it was my birthday, I also wanted Cameron to have fun. We began our day taking some basic castle and purple wall photos, wanted to get them in before Cameron decided she wasn’t in the mood for photos. Once photos were finished, we headed off to do some rides. I was trying not to rush around this trip, just take our time and enjoy ourselves. We rode the tea cups, it’s a small world, and pirates, peoplemover, and Monster’s Inc laugh floor as well as met Rapunzel and Tiana all before lunch. We wanted to ride the carousel but someone decided she wasn’t about it this trip. Then it was time for lunch, and we had scored reservations at Be Our Guest, which was a first for everyone. I will say, while it was good, I probably will not return. The food, was pretty decent, but I’ve had better food at Disney, and it was super loud the entire time. I think the pull of the restaurant, is that you are dining in the Beast’s castle which is pretty awesome. I am glad we tried it though. After lunch, I decided I was done with Magic Kingdom, for some reason it felt busier than normal and I was over the “crowds”, so we chose to head over to Hollywood Studios. We were able to snag a fastpass on Tower of Terror, and this way we could walk around Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story land. When we arrived, the weather started taking a turn, and it’s Florida so that’s pretty normal, can be sunny all day and then all of a sudden, it’s supposed to rain. We then decided to just walk around for a hot moment, and head back to the resort, because we weren’t prepared for rain. It was actually pretty nice to leave early and beat the crowds, and this also meant we could have an actual birthday dinner. We went to Hurricane’s Grill and Wings, and once again the food was ok, nothing super great, but at least it wasn’t super expensive. We ended the night back at the resort with a cookie cake and some wine. Pretty amazing birthday if I do say so.

  

  Saturday was all about Epcot. This time of year the Festival of the Arts is going on at the park, and while it’s not my favorite festival, it’s still a pretty good festival. We rode Nemo, Imagination, met Joy from Inside Out and road Soarin. But the main attraction was walking around world showcase and trying different foods and drinks from the festival booths. I think my favorite was the slush drink from the France Pavilion. I didn’t try a lot of food this festival because there wasn’t a whole lot that sounded appealing to me. I did get Cameron some Brie in a bread bowl, some beef wellington, and we shared a seared scallop. She seemed to enjoy all three of them. Early in the afternoon, my brother and SIL met up with us since of course we are a Disney family. We walked a bit more around the world, just chatting, and hanging out, then went to the Japan pavilion for our dinner reservation. Sadly, while the food was ok, it was another not super amazing meal. This is one thing about Disney I think they can improve on, their meal selections and quality of food. After dinner we decided to leave the park for the day since we had been walking 8-10 miles the last few days.

  

  Sunday we all got up and left for home, with another trip to Disney in the books. I really enjoy spending my birthday with family at my happy place. It makes getting older not so bad.

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