California 2014

So here's the story of our family trip to California in November 2014. As I mentioned, Winter Storm Knife caused us to almost not make it on this trip, we ended up having to reschedule our flight for two days later than planned because we literally could not get to the airport from our house. Thankfully Southwest is really good about moving flights around when bad weather is involved, so we were scheduled to fly out Saturday morning at 8:30.
We get all settled on our plane, ready to go, calm as can be- and then the plane won't start. The pilot tells us the engines are too cold, so we're going to wait for maintenance to bring heaters to get them going. Almost half an hour goes by, Evie asks 17 times when we're going to leave, and then they tell us it's going to be another hour before maintenance can come and they're taking us off the plane. AND, we had a really short layover in Chicago so this means we're going to miss our connecting flight to LA. So, Southwest gives us vouchers (yay!) and rebooks our flights again- fly to Baltimore, 4 hour layover (boo!), then fly to Phoenix (double boo!), THEN fly to LA. Instead of arriving at 1:20 in the afternoon, we don't get in until like 9. Or something like that, we were so tired I don't even remember. Nothing like taking what was supposed to be 7 hours of travel and turning it into 17 HOURS.

In case anyone is wondering how we kept Evie relatively happy for an entire day of travel- she played games and watched movies on the Kindle, played with her magic clip dolls, was really into these foam puzzle and peg board things I got on Amazon, and colored in a Frozen magic ink coloring book. I brought other things too, but those are the things that held her interest the longest. She did SO great considering the horribly long day- halfway through the flight to Phoenix she was tired and cranky and done, so she cried for about five minutes while I rocked her, then fell asleep for two hours. After that she was back to her happy self for the rest of the trip. 

So, our plan was to do Disneyland Sunday- yay!!! We had a fun time, but I think it would have been a lot more fun if we hadn't just had the travel day from hell (oh yea, and the snow storm from hell the entire week before that). We were all tired, and it was hard on Evie especially because she hadn't gotten enough sleep. I had made her an appointment at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique to get her hair and makeup done like a princess, we talked about it for weeks and she seemed SO excited- and then they started and she wanted none of it. I felt horrible, she was nervous and uncomfortable and fighting back tears and it broke my heart. The girl got only partway through when we had to stop because Evie just couldn't do it. Oh well- such is life with kids right? ;) She is in love with the Cinderella backpack that came with the package I bought, and they gave us all of the makeup and hair stuff to take home. 

Then we did rides and ate delicious food and Evie slept for 2 and a half hours in the stroller that night- even through the crazy loud Fantasmic laser light show! She LOVED meeting the princesses so much, I think that was her favorite part. We also watched the Beauty and the Beast show twice, she loved that as well. She chose an Elsa Magic Clip doll to add to her collection and a Barbie-sized Anna doll as her souvenirs- so funny that she ended up with two Frozen things when she rarely watches the movie anymore! 

The rest of our trip we spent relaxing- and eating. ;) Grandma treats us well when it comes to meals and she cooked a ton while we were there. We went to the beach two days in a row, Eric and I went to the movies (Mockingjay, woohoo!), Eric and Rudy went to the LA Car Show... it was a fun visit. And thankfully the trip home was uneventful!!

Thank you to Beth and Rudy for letting us stay and being wonderful hosts, and for playing so much with Evie and making her the happiest girl ever with a day at Disney! She misses Wilson the dog already. ;)

26 Weeks

We made it to California!!! It was quite the adventure getting here, but I'll post about that when I put up our vacation pictures. As for Miss Maggie and I, we made the trip well. I don't think she knows the difference if we're flying in a plane or 3 hours off schedule. ;) I'm feeling pretty good- even after a day walking around Disneyland I wasn't too sore or swollen! I feel healthier during this pregnancy, even though I definitely feel tired a lot. I have another ultrasound when we get back so I'll post some pics next week! 

Winter Storm Knife 2014

Dear Maggie,

So baby girl, sorry I didn't get to taking a Week 25 picture this week. Daddy and I both got colds last weekend, and then- the biggest winter storm of our lives hit Western New York. I thought I'd document some of what we've experienced the last 4 days so that you can read all about it when you're older. :) 

The snow started Monday night, thank goodness Mommy and Evie made it to Target that day for some essentials before it got bad. When we woke up Tuesday morning, the snow was coming down hard and it didn't let up ALL DAY. We got about 2-3 feet that first day, but some areas (like Nana and Papa's house!) got even more, close to 4 or 5 feet in just 24 hours. The first day was a fun snow day- daddy stayed home, Evie and I baked a lot, and we had yummy chili for dinner. 

                                      

By the end of Tuesday it was clear that Wednesday would be a snow day too, mostly because there was so much snow so fast that they couldn't clear the roads fast enough for people to drive anywhere. Everything was closed, there were travel bans, so even though it was clear for part of Wednesday, everyone was stuck at home again. We were productive that second day- trying to clear the snow, doing laundry, cleaning up, and playing in the snow. Oh I forgot to mention! On top of the storm, we were booked on a flight to California Thursday evening to go visit your grandma. So I spent time packing our suitcases and hoping that the weather would get better not worse so we could still go on our trip.

                           

We went to bed Wednesday night with the driveway clear- and woke up Thursday morning with 2 feet in it. :( Thursday was the worst day for us in OP, it snowed ALL DAY, mostly white-out conditions, and Daddy couldn't keep the driveway clear no matter how much he plowed. Day 3 was hard for us- we were running low on food, we lost power for a couple hours, we got water in the basement, and we had to reschedule our flights to CA for Saturday morning. We knew there was no leaving Buffalo sooner than that.

                             

                                        

Thursday around dinnertime, the snow FINALLY moved south and we got a break. When it finally stopped snowing, Daddy and I were SO HAPPY!! :) The power came back around the same time, so it lifted our spirits and we were able to get going again. Daddy cleared the driveway again, and started working on the roof- it had 6 feet of snow on it!! 

It's Friday morning now, and the sun is shining brightly. So many people are still trapped in their homes by the massive amounts of snow surrounding them. There are still travel bans and states of emergency in our town and most local ones. It was the worst storm since the Blizzard of '77, many are saying this one was even worse. But we made it through, and now we'll make it out! Things are looking good for us to leave tomorrow morning to go visit Grandma (so my 26 week picture should be taken in sunny LA!), and although our basement might be flooded from melting snow when we get home, there's only so much we can control. So baby girl, that's what happened when mommy was 25 weeks pregnant with you. 

Love you, 

Mama

(P.S. to everyone: I just thought it would be cool to tell this story to Maggie when she's older, as this storm will be one for the history books for sure! And YES, we are calling her Maggie, we have finally chosen a name. :) Magnolia Ann Roy- Maggie for short)

Evie's Big Girl Room

Look who's got a big girl bed!!! Up until now, Evie has been sleeping in "the nursery", the second downstairs bedroom, in the crib with the side taken off. She did really well with that transition when we took the side off. But with a new baby on the way, we'd like to put little sister in that downstairs bedroom so mommy isn't climbing the stairs a million times in the middle of the night. So- Evie gets to move upstairs to her "big girl room" and graduate to a big girl bed!!

We let Evie pick out her own sheets for her new bed, and she chose the loudest, brightest Dora sheets she could find. ;) But she loves them, and that was the point! So last night was Evie's first night upstairs. She did alright- she was definitely super excited about being in there, and it took her a LONG time to settle down and finally fall asleep. Then she woke up around 5 and showed up in our room, and slept till 9 in our bed. So, it's a work in progress. I think once the novelty wears off she'll do better about falling asleep faster.

I'll post more pics of her whole room when we have everything set up the way we want, but for now, here's our happy big sister in her new bed, loving life. :)

24 Weeks

A few days late- sorry about that!! We've been very busy, starting to get more things ready around the house for baby sister. Evie moved upstairs to her big girl room this week (more on that later!) and I am SO excited to get started on the nursery. I probably won't make much progress until after we get home from vacation, but I'm ready to get cracking!

In super fun news, my nausea seems to have returned. Not full blown all day, but the mornings through lunchtime most days are not fun. I feel really nauseous and hungry at the same time, but no food sounds appealing. It's annoying, my stomach really hates this pregnancy!! Otherwise I'm feeling pretty good though, not too much going on. I feel like I am ALL belly this time around, rather than just getting bigger everywhere like I did with Evie. It's nice to not feel fat all over. ;) 

We haven't 100% settled on a name yet, but I can tell you that I think we'll be ready to soon!! 

23 Weeks

Had a great doctor's appointment this past week, baby girl looks great, sounds great, she's a champ. :) I'm feeling pretty good, sore when I do too much or am on my feet a lot, but otherwise good. I'm dying to start the nursery but we won't be doing that until December. And no word on a name yet, but we've narrowed down our choices and I'll keep you posted!

 Otherwise, who has time to think about being pregnant when your 3.5 year old is constantly making a mess or needing attention or locking you out of your own bedroom?? (That last one happened about 5 minutes after we took this picture) Evie is wonderful and amazing, and the best distraction ever. ;)

21 Weeks

Two weeks in a row Evie is in jammies- she is very into wearing "comfy clothes" right now. Whenever I try to put her in jeans, she says no and tells me she wants to wear comfy pants! Wonder where she learned the value of comfortable pants from. ;) Anyway- we're officially past the halfway point!! First trimester seemed to crawl, but now second trimester is flying by! It helps that I'm feeling like myself again (plus the growing belly). Food aversions and nausea are so mild I can ignore them most of the time, and I finally feel like I have some energy again most days. 

The weather is getting colder here, fall is finally setting in I think. It makes me want to cook soup and chili and bake cookies everyday. :) I'm ready to move Evie upstairs and decorate the nursery (nesting!!), but I think we're going to wait until December after we get home from vacation and Eric gets his bonus at work. 

We have planned a trip to go visit Eric's mom in Los Angeles the end of November- and we're going to spend one day in Disneyland!! Evie is SO excited, and honestly so am I. :) It will be so fun to do Disney as a parent, and see things through her eyes as we do all of the things she'll love. We probably won't do a big Disney trip until we're done having kids and they're older, but one day at Disneyland will be just enough. I will of course post a million photos after we get home!