The "What Could Have Been" Vacation

We were so lucky to have my dad take the whole family on a Disney Cruise in June. We had been looking forward to this cruise for a year. Bella all year was talking about this cruise and how excited she was. She even got a phone call from Mickey Mouse telling her how excited he was for her to come aboard. We flew out to Orlando one day before the cruise departed so that we could spend a little time at Disney World. We met my brother Sean and his family there. We had so much fun. Bella was so excited to see Cinderella's castle. Lola loved the music and all of the characters.


Saturday: Bella and Andrew in front of the castle.



Bella and I driving crazy! It rained hard for a good hour while we were there at the park, but luckily it let up and we were able to do some more rides before we headed back to the hotel.

The rest of the family met us there that night and we were ready for the cruise the next day.

Sunday: The Disney Cruise Ship was amazing. It was so big and so clean! We were all excited to get on and had our picture taken in front of this portal. We had some great food that night and played in the pool. We also went to a comedy show that evening.



Monday: That morning we were at castaway cay. It is an island owned by Disney. It was a little hot, but the ocean was the perfect temp. Bella hung out at the kids club they had on the island, while Rick went snorkeling, and Lola and I hung out on the beach with my sister.



Lola loved eating the sand and throwing it in your face. She is so kind!



That night Bella and Brynn got to meet Lilo and we also went to a show called the Villain's (not so great, but still entertaining).

We all went to bed that evening and were exhausted.

Tuesday: At about 3 am we woke up to Bella crawling into our bed and then proceeding to vomit everywhere!! I was thinking "this cannot be happening!!!!" She threw up a few more times and then stopped. I was praying that it was motion sickness or that she just had some heat exhaustion. We were at the Bahamas that day going to Atlantis and swimming with the dolphins. Bella had to get better! We first of all did not want to lose our money on this excursion, nor did we want Bella to miss out on the experience. Luckily, we have a lot of health care professionals in our family so we were hooked up with Zofran (anti-nausea med) and Bella was doing okay. We headed off to Atlantis.



It was such a pretty hotel, but massive. It took forever to get where we needed to go and Bella still was not feeling the best, but as soon as she got into the water with the dolphin everything was better.



Our dolphins name was Brewster. Bella wanted to take him home.





Lola and dad had fun watching us.

After our dolphin encounter, Bella said that she did not feel well. I hurried and took her back to the hotel. I was so lucky that my dad's wife Linda came with me. It was such a mess trying to get both girls back on a shuttle taxi and back to the ship. Bella could not walk and Lola of course was to little to walk. We had a few accidents with both girls on the way back and needless to say I felt sorry for the woman who sat next to me. I stunk from both vomit and poop from the girls.

Bella got really sick when we got back and could not keep anything down. This continued on through the night.

Wednesday: I did NOT want to take her down to the cruise physician, but after two days of nonstop vomiting and diarrhea I knew that she was dehydrated. We took her down to the very bottom of the ship and she met with a nice old English doctor. He kept on calling her "scrap". They got her some fluids and then quarantined her and Lola to the room. Even though Lola was not sick, she was in the same room as Bella and could have been exposed to whatever Bella had so Lola was not allowed to leave the room either. This really put a damper on the vacation. They told us that they were not allowed to leave the room for at least 24 hours after the last throw up incident. They marked our electronic cards to follow us. Well that sucked to say the least.

Thursday: Bella's vomiting never stopped and she grew sicker and weaker. She missed out on everything. Rick and I took turns staying with the girls and going out. I, of course, loved the food and shows and Rick liked going swimming and the night activities. At least we had different interests and so this worked out well for us. I felt so bad for Bella! She was so sad and all she wanted to do was to meet Mickey.

Thursday Night: This was the last night on the ship. This picture was of Lola and Rick out on our balcony. We were saved by this balcony. It kept Lola from feeling like she was trapped.

Unfortunately this was Bella most of the trip. I felt so bad for our housekeeper....Disgusting!! But they were so nice on the ship and sent Bella a present and popsicles.

Friday Morning (debarking day)- Papa Warren and Grandma Linda felt so bad for Bella that they bought her a Belle dress. She LOVES this dress and wears it everywhere (Costco, grocery shopping, etc.). We left the boat and headed back to Orlando. We were supposed to stay another two days at Walt Disney World. Unfortunately, Bella started throwing up again that night. We had enough and at this point were ready to get home. We booked a flight to leave the next morning (American Airlines would not transfer our tickets :( Not nice) and we gave up our tickets for the next two days at Disney World to come home on Saturday.

Saturday Morning: The flight went great and we made it back to Dallas safely with no puking incidents until we entered into our car and then Bella just started puking her guts out. We called the pediatrician and were told to go directly to the emergency room. Poor Bella.

We were so disappointment with how this trip turned out, but we would do it again in a heartbeat. We loved the Disney Cruise and we are planning to do it again. You could not ask for a better ship or staff. Thanks to our dad and Linda for taking us. I felt really bad that Bella did not get to enjoy everything. To this day she still cries about not getting to meet Mickey :(. Oh well hopefully we can do it again soon.

PS I am sure that there are multiple grammatical errors in this, but I am too lazy to go through this again. Sorry!

Lola turns 1!!!

Bella could not be out done by her little sister.

Our sweet little Lola turned one on May 2nd. I can't believe that it has already been a year since she became apart of our family. This is Lola at 1 year old:

Height: 31 inches 94% percentile

Weight: 20.6 pounds 35% percentile

Favorite Foods: Pretty much everything. She loves waffles, nuggets, mac and cheese, corn, beans, and fruit in a pouch.

Favorite Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Favorite Toy: Her stuffed animal kitty and toy kitchen.

Words: Titty (kitty), momma, dadda, ella (Bella), hello, and bye.

She can crawl and walk with assistance.

She has eight teeth.

She loves our cats, to climb up and downstairs, pretend talk on the phone, and dance.

She does not like her car seat, not being held, and doctors.

Bella's 4th Birthday

What a great birthday celebration we had for Bella. She had her friend birthday at her gymnastics center and it was a Nightmare Before Christmas birthday party. As weird as it is, Bella is in love with this movie and constantly sings the songs from the movie. When I asked her what birthday party she wanted, she was very firm on that she wanted to have a "Jack" birthday party. We were so lucky that Bella's coach, Coach Janet, volunteered to host Bella's birthday party. We had such a great time. We also had a family birthday party for her at Rain Forest Cafe.

Favorite Color: Pink and Blue

Favorite Foods: Strawberries, mini pancakes, Boost drinks, Cliff Bars, ham sandwiches, cantaloupes, and anything with chocolate.

Favorite Activities: Gymnastics, preschool, dance, and playing with her toys.

Favorite Movies: Nightmare Before Christmas, Tangled, Aladdin, and Bolt.

Favorite Shows: Dora, Bubble Guppies, and Backyardigans.

Favorite Trip: To Disneyland and especially visiting Jack Skellington's home at the Haunted Mansion.

Big Accomplishments: Started preschool, asked to be on Team Pawesomes for gymnastics, moved to Dallas, and she can spell her name.

Favorite Books: Splat the Cat series, Fancy Nancy, and Pinkalicious series.

Bella is such a sweet and loving little girl. She loves animals and loves to play with Jinxy. She loves to color and ride her bike. She is quick to make us laugh and is always there to give you a hug when you are sad. We are so grateful to have Bella and look forward to watching her grow up.

Lola

Oh Lola, L-O-L-A, Lola. This little girl is definitely full of spunk. She is always quick to flash you a smile when she knows that she is being naughty or about to do something naughty. She is, for the most part, a very happy baby. There is one BIG exception to her being happy and that is being placed in her car seat. To her, this is complete and utter torture. She will scream from the beginning of the car ride until the bitter end. Needless to say I don't think that we will be taking any long car trips anytime soon.

She is now a little over 11 months old. She is crawling like crazy and pulling herself up on things and walking around them. She has mastered the stairs and is now working on getting down them. She loves cats. If she is crying, I will just put her in front of the cats and she will always (without fail) stop crying. She is still on the Neocate, but we are transitioning her to the less expensive formula. She is an eater as well. She LOVES to eat and will eat just about anything. She looks a lot like Bella, but just a smaller version. She is getting some hair and it is a light brown and she has brown eyes just like her dad and Bella. None of our kids got my green eyes :( and since Rick and I agreed that we like one on one man coverage there won't be any. She has had more than a few ear infections and one more equals tubes. She can be so sweet and is definitely a "mommas girl". She can say momma, dadda, "titty" (kitty :)), and "Lella"(for Bella). She loves to play with Bella and right now her favorite toy is her kitchen. She is always quick to give you a high five and she loves to clap.

I must admit that I have been a slacker with taking pictures and I have made a commitment to myself to start taking more. We are so blessed to have Lola. She definitely has made our lives more fun but challenging at the same time. We sure do love her.

Gymnast in the Making

Her "pawsome" friends.

Ms. Bella has been doing so great at gym. She is so strong! She now is able to do a pull over on the bar, cartwheels, and is able to climb to almost the top of the rope. She truly is amazing. Her gymnastics team had a banquet and they all received an award. Bella received an award for being hardworking and precious. We love Bella!

Disneyland & Christmas

Welcome to Disneyland

1st day and raining.

Of course she had to get a picture in front of the castle.

Lola was such a trooper and G-ma Ellen was a great helper!

Lola in her baby stroller cave.

Staying nice and dry while the rest of us were drenched!

Braving the rides!

Andrew and Bella...they were crazy drivers!

Bella and Brynn...BFF's. Bella has really missed her since the trip.

This was the last day and it was worse than the first. We were so wet and cold!

This was another favorite ride of Bella's. Small World was also loved by Lola.

Grandma and the grandkids.

Lola loved Small World and was actually singing along to the music.

Bella and Ms. Monica (her preschool teacher). She has grown quite the attachment to her. She is so sweet with Bella and I am so glad that she is in her class.

Her preschool's class Christmas party.

Christmas morning and she is pumped.

Lola had so much fun with the wrapping paper and watching Bella's excitement.

The week before Christmas we were very fortunate to be taken to Disneyland by my mom. We of course went the week that Los Angeles had severe rainstorms. It rained every single day that we were there, but we had so much fun. We were all so excited, because Disneyland is the happiest place on earth :). Rick thought for sure that Bella would love all of the big rides and so for her first ride he took her on the Matterhorn. Not such a great idea. Bella got really frightened and was afraid to go on most of the rides after that. In fact, on the Buzz Lightyear ride she hid under the seat and wouldn't come out. She was afraid of the rides for most of that day. One ride she was definitely looking forward to was the Haunted Mansion (I know you are thinking she was afraid of the Matterhorn, but not afraid of the Haunted Mansion?? yes that is correct). She loves the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas and is in love with Jack Skelington. Disney changed the Haunted Mansion for the Christmas season to have the Jack theme. This by far was her favorite ride and we went on it numerous times. Afterwards we went to the New Orleans section and she picked out an "I love Jack" tee shirt. Lola survived the torrential rain very well while hiding out in her well plasticized stroller. Amazing what you can create with a little plastic and duct tape.

What a great Christmas season we had! Bella was finally at an age where she truly understood what happens during Christmas time and why we celebrate Christmas. Every time she heard someone say "giving is what Christmas is all about", she would reply "no it's not, it's about Jesus!". Although Bella was very good this season, coal almost made its' way to her stocking a couple of times. The night before Christmas we loaded up the car with blankets, hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls and drove around to look at all the lights in our area. To our surprise, when we returned there were presents that the elves had left behind on their pre-Santa recon mission. Who would've thought that the elves would pay us a special visit ;0. Both of the girls fell asleep during the drive so we had to wake Bella up to see what the elves had left. She woke up on Christmas day and ran full speed to the site of Santa's leftover cookies, she yelled in disbelief "Santa came!" It was also fun to watch Lola roll around and suck on wrapping paper. She had some new toys from Santa and a few toys that Bella got in years past. We were blessed to have great friends here to spend the holiday with. We enjoyed time with the Camps and the Kraus's. It's always nice to have good friends when you're far from home.