More DL Photos

Hanging out at the pool

Cute little Addison

Matthew also liked sucking on the bears hand.

Happy little boy

My mom with Matthew in the Ergo (asleep), and Addison and Cameron in the stroller.

The caricature drawing we had done for my mom of all her grandchildren. 

7 Months Cute

Holy moly was it hard to take good pictures of Matthew this morning. He either would not look at me, wouldn't smile, or if he did smile it would last for about .5 seconds.

I did still get some cute pictures. It's easy when you have such a cute subject!

I took like 50 pictures of him on the chair. It was so hard to get him to smile.

Most were like this. 

Then he decided he was tired, so he laid down. 

This is the only one I got of him on his back. 

Cutie! I think the onesie is getting a tad small. 

He did not want to look at me. He just kept staring at the blanket.

So serious. 

Matthew is so cute, and so much fun. He has his moments, but who doesn't? I love his little personality. We're so lucky to have him in our little family.

Misc Photos

Andy got a haircut. 

Sucking on some cute toes. 

His new favorite way to play -- on his tummy. 

My little Dr Who. 

The Road Home

Matthew actually slept until almost 7 the next day.  Of course he adjusted to CA time, the day that we were leaving.  We got up and got ready to go.  We stopped and grabbed a quick breakfast, and got on the road.  Matty slept for almost 2 hours.  He probably would have slept a little longer, but one of his toys made a noise, which woke him up.

He did pretty well, and I was able to keep him fed and entertained without stopping until we were just outside of Prim, NV.  We decided to stop and go on the roller coaster at Buffalo Bills, and grab some lunch.  The coaster was a lot of fun, and we grabbed lunch from Panda Express, but ate it in the car because we didn't want Matthew to be around all that cigarette smoke more than necessary.  We got back in the car, and he still wasn't happy.  So we stopped at New York New York, and went on the coaster there.

There are drink holders in the bathrooms at NYNY.

I don't think I would want to drink anything that had been in the bathroom with me.  Just sayin'.

When we were headed back to the car, Matty fell asleep.  I was really happy that we had timed it so well, until he woke up about 45 minutes later.  But, he actually did really well.  We stopped a couple of times for diaper changes, and he took a nap at a time that he doesn't usually nap.  He must have been exhausted.  He fell asleep around 7:30 and slept until we got home.  We even stopped at the Wendy's drive thru for dinner, and he didn't wake up at all.

I don't know how Connor did it, but he drove the whole way home.  I'm so glad because I was so tired and I kept dozing off.  There's no way I could have driven.

Matthew actually slept until about 7:45 the next morning.  It felt really good to 'sleep in'.  (I love that that's sleeping in for me now.)

We were so glad to be home, but also so sad that our vacation was over.  We had so much fun.  It was crazy going with 14 people, but I had never been to Disneyland with my entire family.  We went to Disney World when I was 7.  And, even though Matthew won't remember it at all, it was a lot of fun going with him, too.  He's such a cute and fun little boy.  I love that his personality is really starting to come out.

Disneyland Day 3 - The last Day!

Day 3 started out much like day 2.  We started at CA Adventure, and Eric and Joe went and got us all fast passes for Radiator Racers.  Matthew was still a little fussy because he hadn't pooped yet (it's amazing how much of my life revolves around the pooping schedule of this little person).  However, he did okay and we were able to go on some rides.  (I can't remember when, but he did finally poop -- a lot.  And he was really happy for most of the day.)

We went on the little rides in Cars Land again.  Then we went on the Tower of Terror, which is really the only thing I needed to go on that day, as it's my favorite ride.  When it was our turn to go on Radiator Racers, Matthew was tired and fussy, so I stayed with my mom and Addison while everyone else went on the ride.  Matty fell asleep like right after they all left, so I got some trail mix and we snacked while they rode.

We did a few more rides, and then got corn dogs at the Corn Dog Castle.  I had never had a DL corn dog before.  It was really good.  How had I missed out on that for so long?

Connor and I headed over to DL, and stopped at the Mad Hatter to get Matthew's name embroidered on his Mickey ears.  Then we went to buy a Dole Whip Float.  Yum yum yum.  Afterwards, we met up with everyone else and went on some more rides.

We had a dinner reservation at 5 because my mom had to leave around 6 or 6:30.  We got there a little late because Indiana Jones had broken down while we were in line.  We waited about 5 or 10 minutes, and the ride started up again, but the line was so long that we were a little late to dinner.  It was fine, though.

We ate at this place behind Thunder Mountain.  I can't remember the name, but it's an all-you-can-eat BBQ type place.  It was really good.  And we ordered the peach and blueberry cobbler for dessert, which was huge and delicious.  Matthew was so cute at dinner.  He was having fun banging his hands on the table, and sucking on anything he could get into his mouth.  My mom left, and then we all went on some kiddy rides in Fantasyland.  Matthew took a too short nap.

Holy cow, were there a lot of people at Disneyland.  Thursday and Friday weren't too bad, but Saturday was insane.  We headed over to the Innoventions building.  I had never been in there before.  They have some fun stuff.  We saw what we would look like in 50 years.  Matthew's was the best.

Poor kid.  It's not looking too good for him.

Afterwards, Matthew was tired, and Connor and I were tired, too.  We decided to call it a night, and headed back to our hotel.

When we got back, I got Matthew to sleep, and Connor ran over to Joe's Italian Ice one more time and got us a large joelatti to share.  We didn't think we were hungry, but when we started to eat it, it was impossible to stop and we were wishing we each had our own.  I know I've said this before, but it's seriously so so good.  They put soft serve ice cream on the bottom, italian ice (they have different flavors every day). and then soft serve on the top.  It's amazing.

Disneyland Day 2 - California Adventure!

On Day 2 of our trip we spent the day at California Adventure.  Normally Connor and I like to switch back and forth between parks, but with 14 people it takes a long time to get places sometimes.  So, the whole day was spent at CA Adventure.

When we got in the park, Eric and Joe ran to the line for fast passes for the new cars ride.  Once the park opened, the rest of us headed to Cars Land.  I was really impressed with CL.  It looks just like the movie.  And you really feel like you're there.  Matthew was too small to go on any of the rides, so he stayed with my mom while Connor and I went on.  The rides were fun.  I loved how on the Mater ride, when they do the safety announcement in Spanish, Mater has the worst accent ever.  It's hilarious.

In line for the Luigi's Tires ride

It only took Eric and Joe about 15 minutes to get our fast passes for cars.  We had a few hours to spare, so we went on some other rides.  My favorite ride at California Adventure is The Tower of Terror.  That ride is just pure fun.  We also went on the Toy Story ride.  Matthew went on that with us.  I played one handed, and did relatively well!  

When we headed over to Radiator Racers, it was broken down.  Seriously.  So we got some lunch instead.

One of the new things at CA Adventure is the Ghiradelli Ice Cream shop.  Oh my yummy.  It was amazingly good.  That's a must have from here on out.

We finally went on Radiator Racers.  It was a fun ride, but I was kind of hoping it would go faster.  My car was in the losing lane, but it was fun because we all raced against each other.  (The car in the right lane always loses, in case you didn't know.)  But, it was still fun.  We even got a switch pass so we were able to go another time later that day.

Later we went on Grizzy Rapids.  That's a fun ride, but it broke down while we were waiting in line.  We only had to wait about 10 minutes, though, and it started up again.  We got off and Matthew was not very happy.  Later I figured out he was constipated.  Poor kid.  My mom was still nice enough to watch him, even though he was having a hard time.  

Random picture from California Screamin'

So, here's kind of a funny story.  We went on Soarin' Over California.  I was wearing flip flops because the day before I got a blister right underneath my big toe.  My feet were killing me, so I switched to flip flops a little while before going on Soarin'.  When we got on the ride, I thought about taking my flip flops off and putting them in that basket underneath my seat, or just leaving them on the floor, but I decided to leave them on.  (Can you see where this is going?)  Well, about 2/3 of the way through the ride, Connor accidentally kicks my flip flop off my foot, and it goes soarin' down.  I turned to Connor and said "You kicked off my shoe!"  

When the ride ended, we went up to one of the workers and told them what had happened.  My flip flop landed on the screen.  They had to figure out how to get the shoe off the screen, because they aren't allowed to walk on it.  One of the employees went down and grabbed a long pole that had what looked like a feather duster on the end of it and swept my flip flop off of the screen.  When he did, the people who were waiting for the ride to start applauded.  It was quite funny, and very memorable.  Connor asked if it happened often, and they said every few days or so.  

My flip flop.  On the screen.

After that we decided to split up.  My mom came with us, so we could go on Radiator Racers one more time with our switch pass.  She stayed with Matthew.  When we got off the ride we saw my mom waiting for us, with a screaming Matthew in the stroller.  Holy cow was that kid sad.  (Who likes being constipated?  It's my fault, really.  I gave him baby food with bananas in it.  Bananas make him constipated.)  So we decided to head back to the hotel.  I picked Matty up, and he immediately fell asleep on my shoulder.  Poor kid.  I was afraid to put him down because I knew we'd just have to pick him up again when we got on the bus, so I just carried him out of the park.

We got to the bus stop, and Crystal was there also, heading back with some of her little ones.  Matthew woke up on the way back, and was being really cute.  It was fun to ride back with Crystal and her kids.  They are so funny.  Cameron has so much personality.  He kept doing the Hulk for us, and every time he did, Matthew would jump a little.

When we got back to the hotel, Connor headed to Red Robin to get us some take out.  By the time he got back, Matthew was finally asleep again.  I ate, and was asleep by 9:30.  I woke up at 12:30 and Connor was sleeping at the foot of the bed.  I woke him up, and he got in bed.  Matthew slept really well, so it was definitely worth going early to the hotel.  We wanted him to be well rested so we could enjoy our last day at Disneyland the next day.

Disneyland Day 1

I feel like our first day at Disneyland was kind of a learning process. Going with a 6 month old was definitely a very new and different experience. I'm not a big fan of nursing in public (NIP), and Matthew likes to pull the cover off to show the world my boob. I pumped in the morning, so I had some milk, but Matthew doesn't always like bottles either. Picky kid!

Disneyland does have those child care centers (one in DL and another in CA Adventure) and those are really nice, but I couldn't always run there to nurse. So I NIPed more than I would have liked, and got some interesting looks from some people, but most people didn't even notice. And what am I supposed to do? Not feed my kid? That's obviously not a good option.

Anyway, back to the beginning of the day. We got up early (not really that early because Matthew was still on Utah time and up at 7 as usual). We met in the hotel lobby at 7:30 (CA time), and walked to Disneyland. We were using our magic morning day, but they didn't have a bus to take us that early. So we walked. It's probably a good thing we did that the first day, because my feet couldn't have handled the extra walking on any other day.  Matthew fell asleep on the way, but I woke him up when I put sunscreen on him.  Not my best decision ever.

We got to the park, got our tickets, and went inside!  Mickey was there and we all stopped to take a picture with him.  Connor, Matthew, and I waited in line.  When it was our turn we went up to Mickey.  He leaned down to Matthew, who promptly grabbed his face and started to suck on his nose.  It was so funny, and so cute.  The people who were waiting in line were laughing.  Matthew sucked on Mickey's nose for a couple of minutes, and then we took a photo with him.  Mickey was great.  I wonder how many other baby's have sucked on Mickey's nose?

Up close and personal with Mickey's nose.

Not our best picture.  I'm hoping someone else has a better one.

We walked back to Fantasyland and went on the Carousel with Matthew a couple of times.  But he was fussy, so Connor and I walked over to the child care place (which wasn't open yet), and sat down on a bench to feed Matty.  Then we checked my pump into First Aid so I didn't have to lug it around all day.  (I didn't even end up using it, so I just left it in the hotel the other 2 days.)

On the Carousel

Afterwards we went on the Pinocchio ride with Matty, and then we all walked over to the Disneyland Hotel to have a late breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen. Matthew fell asleep on the walk, but woke up soon after we got there.  The breakfast was fun.  We got to see lots of Disney characters, which was really fun for the kids.

All 14 of us!  Plus Goofy, of course!

After breakfast, we headed back to DL to go on some rides!  Matthew fell asleep again on the walk back.  He was so tired since he hadn't had a good nap yet that day.  This time I put him in the Ergo (I love my Ergo!), and he slept really well.  Thank goodness.

The rest of the day was spent on rides.  We got to go on pretty much everything we wanted to (sadly Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain were closed), and we even got a Dole Pineapple Whip Float!  Oh my goodness, those were even better than I remembered.  We went with Matthew on a few rides -- Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, the Buzz Lightyear ride.  He wasn't entirely sure of what to think, but he looked around and took everything in.  I wanted to take him on the teacups, but he was asleep when we went on it.

Waiting for Pirates.

Hopefully my mom was happy to be the go to babysitter.  At one point she put the ergo on, and Matthew fell asleep on her, while she pushed Addison and Cameron around in the stroller.  Fun times for Nana!

Around 7:30 we were all tired.  Connor and I headed to get our Dole Whips, and then we met Joe and Crystal for a quick dinner in Downtown Disney.  Then we headed back to the hotel.  We left before everyone else, but Matthew had a blowout along the way, and then we got to the bus stop at the same time as Joe and Crystal.  Then Eric and Kari made it just before the bus left (they ran over to CA Adventure to go on the Tower of Terror), so we all got back to the hotel at the same time.

Once we got back to the hotel room, Matthew fell asleep and Connor ran to Walgreens (right across the street!) to get Matthew's Rx for Zantac.

It was a really fun day!

On a side note, Connor is so funny about his Seinfeld shirts.  Every time he wears one, he gets multiple comments from random people about Seinfeld.  It's hilarious.

Road Trip!

On Tuesday the 16th (yes, yes, I'm way behind), we began our trek to Disneyland. I was really nervous about the drive, as Matthew isn't the biggest fan of his car seat. We left Tuesday after Connor got home from work. We loaded up the car, gave Matthew a bath and did everything as if we were getting him ready for bed, and jumped in the car. I think we left at about 6:30. About 30 minutes later, Matthew was asleep.

The drive went really well. Matthew woke up about 20 minutes outside Vegas, and thought it'd be fun to stay up for a little while. At least he was happy! He had fun looking at all the lights in Vegas.  We got to our hotel (Golden Nugget) and he fell asleep about 15 minutes after we got in our room.

Our hotel was nice, but we had requested a king bed and instead thy gave us 2 double beds. Those beds were so small! We got a good deal, so I can't really complain.  We slept separately, but I still had to sleep on one side of the bed because there was a big bump in the middle.

Anyway, Matthew was up at about 6:30 Vegas time. So we got ready, and went to the buffet for breakfast. Not a great buffet, but about what you'd expect. Let me just say, it was kind of strange walking through a casino with a baby. But Matthew was being so cute, and lots of people (mostly women) commented on how cute he is.

Sucking on some oranges

After breakfast we went back to our room, got our stuff together, and got to our car. We were on the road by 8:40, and Matthew fell asleep really quickly. I hoped this was a good sign, but unfortunately he was awake less than an hour later. I tried to keep him entertained as best I could, but he was not happy and wanted out of the car seat. I brought my pump in the car so I tried to pump and bottle feeding, but I wasn't getting enough, so we had to pull over to feed him a couple of times.

He started to freak out about 2 minutes after I took this photo.

Finally we were about 30 minutes out from our hotel, and Matty was done. We stopped again and he ate some, but really he just wanted out of his car seat. He pretty much cried the rest of the way. I tried everything I could think of to keep him entertained, and it sort of worked.

When we finally pulled in to the hotel parking lot it was about 1, and we were so happy to be out of the car. We checked in, got to our room, and I realized I left almost all of our bottles on the drying rack at home. So, we took a walk to Target (conveniently across the street from our hotel), to buy a bottle.

On our way out, Eric and Kari got to the hotel. They had surprised Robin and Liam with the trip, and they were really surprised to see us! It was fun to see the looks on their faces.

Connor and I hurried to Target, and then we grabbed lunch at Subway. Matthew fell asleep in the stroller, so we headed back to the hotel to eat and then we went swimming!

Matty had never been swimming before. The water was pretty nice, but it was so windy. He lasted about 15 minutes and then we got out and I wrapped him in a towel.

While we were swimming, Joe, Crystal and their kids got there. Robin and Liam were also very surprised to see them, which was fun. Then Robin asked if Nana was coming, too. Eric told her she couldn't make it (which wasn't true --she got in late that night), but Robin looked really disappointed.

Anyway, Connor watched Matthew while I went in the hot tub for a few minutes. Then Matthew was still too cold, so he and I went and changed, and then went back to the pool to hang out with everyone.

After everyone was done swimming, everyone else changed and we went to dinner at Red Robin. It was a lot of fun (although the service was really slow), but Matthew was so tired. I left early to get him to bed.

Connor came back, and then headed over to Joe's Italian Ice to get us some joelattis. I blogged about that place the last time Connor and I went to Disneyland. It was better than I remembered.  It's probably a good thing there isn't one in Utah, because I would go to it way too often.

Happy {belated} Easter!

We had a fun Easter this year. The Easter Bunny somehow brought 2x as much candy as s/he thought. Matty got a couple of toys, although he was happy with the bucket.

We had dinner with Eric, Kari, Robin, and Liam. We ate spinach and artichoke dip, and pizza, and watched Les Mis. I had actually never seen Les Mis all the way through (crazy, right?). It was good, although it was a little long and not easy to keep a 6 month old entertained during a 2 1/2 hour movie.