Can I Get Some Prozac?

Haha sometimes I have a little too much fun naming these posts.  This weekend Brad and I both had Good Friday off (thank you Bible Belt) so I decided I would use this 3 day weekend to potty train Tacy.  I read up on blogs, talked to my mom, etc to try and prepare myself.  Brad had gotten invited to go the beach with a couple different friends from school (by invited I mean our whole family was invited) and while that would have been fun, I knew I really needed to potty train.  So I put fun aside and put on my mommy jeans.  

We did kick off the weekend by going shopping for Tacy.  Every spring and fall we have to buy her new shoes and clothes because she has outgrown her shoes/clothes and it's a new season.  So we bought her some shorts and t-shirts.  I did look at some shoes, but I'm so cheap and seriously, she grows out of them so fast so I'm just going to get her some sandals at Walmart and hopefully find some good new church shoes for her and call it good because spending $10 or less on shoes is much better than $25.  After the shopping we went and watched Cinderella.  I figured this was good movie to take Tacy to see since she LOVES princesses.  I was a little worried about how she would handle a movie theatre and sitting still in one seat, but we got popcorn and she did pretty good.  It was disappointing that 11 was the earliest movie we could find. So the movie pushed her nap back, which led her to be a little tired.  She was so excited by Frozen Fever (we hadn't told her she would see Anna and Elsa).  Frozen Fever was really cute and funny.  I let Tacy wear her Elsa dress to the theatre too.  She got a little scared when Cinderella started, not because of the movie itself but because of the dark theatre from the dimming house lights.  But she sat on her seat for half the movie and then sat on my lap the rest of the time.  She says she loved the movie.  I thought it was really good.  As soon as the movie was over Tacy asked to go home and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with strawberries.  Ha ha my sweet girl is easy to please.  But she passed out in the car and was taken right to bed.  When you ask her about Cinderella she will tell you "Cinderella mom broke shoe!" or "Cinderella mom broke dress!"  Apparently the evil step mother really stuck with Tacy so we keep talking about the importance of being nice to people (courageous and kind is a little over her cute head right now). 

After her nap I took off Tacy's diaper and let her be in the kitchen naked from the waist down.  Tacy thought it was a little wierd but was okay with it after a while.  We played games (thank goodness for the games/toys my mom sent her for easter).  I kept trying to ask her if she needed to go potty, and we sat on the potty but she never went and then all of a sudden she had an accident.  She was so confused and kept trying to back away from the wetness.  It was pretty funny because she was oblivious to the fact that she was peeing and causing the wetness.  Oh well.  That was Friday.

Saturday Tacy and I camped out in the kitchen ALL day.  She wore underwear (I showed her her Frozen underwear in hopes that she would be motivated to stay dry to keep wearing Anna and Elsa).  Brad ran all our grocery errands alone while Tacy and I played in the kitchen, kept sitting on the potty, and I kept trying to get that girl to drink water.  Well she had 3.5 accidents which made for lots of cleaning up.  While it was a lot, she started getting better at recognizing that she was going and running in the direction of the potty.  We have a bathroom right next to the kitchen and I brought her little potty down into the kitchen as well.  But she did manage to make it to the potty twice.  It's amazing how happy I felt when she did.  I was so excited and proud of her.  She would also look at me and look so overjoyed.  She would say "Momma I did it!" We would then sing a little Dora, high five, and hug.  Then she got a treat and to put a sticker on her chart.  For her nap and bedtime she wore a diaper.  When she went to bed I was exhausted.  It had been a long day in the kitchen.  So I ran to Target to get more underwear and walked over to Cook Out to get a shake.  The fresh air felt so nice (sad that we had such good weather for the weekend and I was inside the whole time).

reading Daddy's PA journal, just some light bathroom reading

Sunday, Tacy got right into her underwear again.  While I was showering/getting ready, she told Daddy that she needed to go potty and went!  That made me so happy because she didn't forget everything we had done the day before!  We let her go in the living room.  She took her nap in her underwear.  Everything was going great except she kept insisting she didn't need to go or would only sit on the potty for a second then wiggle off saying she couldn't go.  So disappointing.  I kept catching her holding her bum and trying to get her to sit on the potty but she insisted she did not need to go and would fight me.  Needless to say she had 2 accidents.  Brad kept looking at me and asking if I wanted to put her in a diaper, and as much as I wanted to give in and do it, I said no.  That was my weekend.  I felt like we would take one step forward and then 2 back.  My mom told me that this is normal.  But goodness, it is hard on me.  I feel like I understand depression now, because I would be so happy and feel it was all worth it when she made it to the potty but would be so sad, down, and ready to give up when she wouldn't make it and would fight me.  

I am glad it was conference weekend so that while potty training I was able to listen to some wonderful talks about family.  I can't say I remember a lot of what I heard because Tacy takes up a lot of my attention, but I was grateful for the bit I did hear.  I am grateful for youtube and that even though we don't have BYU tv we can still watch General Conference live on Youtube or through lds.org.  

Tacy wanted to take a picture of General Conference

We did have funny times during the weekend.  Tacy did have a little easter egg hunt inside Sunday morning.  She was adorable and would put her hands on the side of her face to help her look better when we told her that we still saw eggs.  She got some candy from the dollar store, change (she loves money and put all the change in her piggy bank to "save for later") and some Ariel underwear.  The true meaning of Easter was a little hard for her to understand since she does not understand death.  We did watch Because He Lives video on Monday for FHE.  She loves Jesus but was sad when she saw Him getting hurt and hung on the cross.  My sweet and tender girl.  

I love when people say that diapers make it easier for the kids.  That might be true, but I think diapers are easier for parents.  It is so much easier to not have to worry about accidents, to be able to run errands without worrying about potties and what to do if she has an accident.  This morning I had to pack extra underwear and clothes for her to take to my friend's house.  I also put a towel in her car seat.  I told my parents that potty training is great birth control.  We will get through this....one way or another.  My mom told me to "be patient and wait".  Haha, not near as nice as "Have courage and be kind".

making jewelry!

Our Last Adventures in Orlando

We had planned to do a beach day while in Orlando, however it did not happen because other than Wednesday and Thursday when it was hot and humid, Friday and Saturday were both cloudy and cool.  So we improvised and spent Saturday going to the the outlets to buy Tacy new shoes.  

The nice part of Saturday was that we were able to relax and take naps.  So I read while Brad and Tacy slept.  Then when everyone was awake we went to play a round a mini golf at Disney's Summerland/Winterland Golf Course.  

Tacy loves castles now

After minigolf we headed over to Disney's Boardwalk.  It was crowded but we managed to have some fun with all the Lego sculputures and Princess statues.  

Then we ended the day eating at Logan's Roadhouse.  I thought it was a lot like Texas Roadhouse with the peanuts, but I did not think the food was that great.  Oh well, Tacy entertained herself with the window by singing into the window or pretending that her straw was a wand.  Tacy made sound effects every time she waved her wand.  Brad and I tried to get her to say spells but she preferred making sound effects.  Tacy and Brad also drew lots of pictures with her crayons (our waiter was slow so we waited a lot).

Overall we had a fun time in Orlando and I'm glad we were able to do so much and for relatively great prices.  

This was funny, she was trying to catch the golf balls as the twirling thing spit them out

Butterbeer or Bust!

So, I love Harry Potter!  The first book was gifted to my family Christmas 1998.  We had never heard of it but it sounded interesting.  My older sister read the whole thing that night.  I took three days to read it (I was only 11).  We loved it!!!  It was not until the third book came out that everyone else seemed to hear about Harry Potter and it became really popular.  Since I was 11 I have been dreaming about Hogwarts and how awesome a place/world it would be to visit.  Hence, why Brad tried to talk me into going during this trip.  However, Disney was definitely a great place for the whole family.  So I had given up on Harry Potter world. But when we were driving into Florida, Brad saw a sign about tickets for $39.  So he pulled over and I went in and found out that if we went and listened to this 90 minute timeshare presentation we could get tickets for both of us for $78 (less than a pull price ticket for one adult and Tacy was still free).  So we did this.  The presentation took 2.5 hours and I was pretty grumpy by the end of it.  But then we got to Universal Studios, Island of Adventure and I got so excited I practically ran all the way to the back where Hogsmead was in the park.  

It was a pretty cloudy day and only got into the 60s so the park was never super crowded (except the street is really narrow in Hogsmead to feel like the movies so it was pretty packed around lunch). Brad and I walked right up to Dragon Challenge and asked if they had a rider swap deal - they do, it's called Child Swap.  Both adults walk through their fast pass line (which you have to pay for at Universal) and tell the workers you are doing child swap.  Then once you are at the ride one parent waits in a room with the child while the other rides and then you swap.  It was fabulous!  We seriously walked right onto the rides and then when we switched the next parent just went out of the room and got put right onto the ride.  Dragon Challenge was a crazy fast loopy roller coaster, but it was fun.

After Dragon challenge we did the same thing at the Hogwarts ride. Brad had to keep reminding me that we were walking through Hogwarts Castle to get me to slow down and enjoy walking through the line and looking at everything, like the talking portraits, Dumbledor's office, the Fat lady and gryffindor tower.  It was awesome!  The ride was so fun, it reminded me of Soaring over California because it was 4 seats that move all around.  You do go around a track while watching a lot of stuff on a screen (but you feel like you really are flying through the video).  They had stuff from several movies, like the giant spider, dementors, quidditch, the whomping willow and dragons.  Oh it was fun!  Brad got a little sick from motion sickness but I loved it!  And Tacy had fun because the Child Swap room had the first Harry Potter playing so she was entertained. 

Since Brad wasn't feeling good, Tacy and I stood in line and rode Flight of

the Hippogriff without him.  This was the longest line we waited in (about 30 minutes).  Since Tacy was tall enough we had to stand in the regular line.  But it was okay because you walk around Hagrid's hut and Buckbeak.  Tacy really liked Buckbeak and kept asking where his mommy and daddy where (she is very concerned about everyone/thing having mommies and daddies).  Brad had my phone so I didn't get any pictures.  Tacy kept practicing her imitation of people shreiking in excitement while riding the ride.  But once again, once the ride started she just stayed close to me and did not make a peep.  But she was happy again afterwards and kept talking about "beak".

inside Three Broomsticks

After the rides we went into Hogsmead and ate lunch at Three Broomsticks.  There was a bit of a line, but it moved so fast.  They sure know how to move people in that place!  And my goodness it was so awesome inside!  I seriously felt like I was in the Harry Potter movies!  Brad made sure to order butterbeer to try.  The food was fine, nothing I'd go crazy over, but the experience was totally worth it!  I thought butterbeer tasted like a really sweet/sugary cream soda.  

After Three Broomsticks we walked into some of the shops like Honeydukes, The Owlery and Filch's Emporium.  We also visited the restrooms and got a kick out of Moaning Myrtle.  Then we headed over to the Jurassic Park area of Universal.  Tacy loves dinosaurs and they had a big junglegym, slide, play area.  So we all climbed around in there.  Tacy loved it all except for a part where you step on dinosaur footprints and when you do you hear the sound that dinosaur makes.  That scared Tacy so we had to hurry through.

After Jurassic Park we went to the Dr. Seuss world area.  It was so lame because Tacy was too short to ride the Dr. Seuss version of the Peoplemover (you sit in a cart and ride around a track that goes slow, and just goes around the whole Dr. Seuss area).  It made no sense to Brad and I when she was tall enough for Flight of the Hippogriff which had ups, downs, and turns.  Oh well.  We did a Cat and the Hat ride and then Tacy and Brad rode One Fish, Two Fish which is like Dumbo (Brad said he would do it because I was a little tired of all the spinning rides).  The funny thing was that for this ride while you are controlling the height of your fish, their are fish around the ride that spit water at you and Tacy liked getting wet (despite it being pretty chilly) so Brad and Tacy came out of the ride damp.  Tacy and I then did the Dr. Seuss carousel.  Then we decided we were done because Tacy and I were cold and Brad and I did not feel like riding The Hulk or Spiderman.  So we stopped in one of the shops along City Walk and I picked out a Harry Potter shirt and Tacy picked a little HP owl (I showed her a purple minion shirt but she decided she liked the owl better).  Brad wanted an HP shotglass, but JK Rowling apparently said no to shotglasses.  Oh well.  

Tacy once again feel asleep instantly once we were in the car.  But she woke up once we got to BJ's Brewery and Resturaunt (my favorite pizza!).  We ate yummy pizza and pzookies.  So yummy I did not take a picture because I was too happy eating it all fast.  That was the end of another good day in Orlando.

Magic, Princesses, and Tired Feet

Tacy's hair got crazy curly from the humidity

We had been telling Tacy for a few days that we were going to go see Princesses.  We asked Tacy who she really wanted to see and Tacy told us: Ariel, Cinderella, Belle, Rapunzel and Jasmine.  She would also add Minnie Mouse to that list too sometimes.  Also funny because she loves Frozen so while Ariel is her favorite princess, I would say that Elsa and Anna are close seconds (and yes they are two people but Tacy always says "ElsaAnna" like they are one).

On the Tram

Thank goodness for blogs and our friends to help give us ideas on how to have a good day at Disney with a toddler.  We set up Fast Passes the night before (after we put Tacy to sleep in our hotel).  We arranged to meet Ariel, for Brad and Tacy to drive on the Speedway, for us all to go on Jungle cruise, and then Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain for Brad and I.  Since Tacy is free she can't get any fast passes and just goes with a parent.  Brad and I could each get 3.  So we tried to pick things for all of us to do and things we could split up (like meeting a princesses, driving cars, and adult roller coasters).  We learned about Rider Swap, where an adult can get a fast pass for say Thunder Mountain, and then when going to the line with your family you tell the cast member that you want to do Rider Swap so they give you a ticket to give to the parent waiting with the child.  That way once I was done riding Thunder Mountain, Brad could then go in the Fast Pass line (without needing to use his own Fast pass) and get right on.  That's how we both got to ride Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain - by going alone and trading being with Tacy.

Tacy loved riding the Tram from the parking lot to the boats/monorail.  The line for the monorail was really long so we took the ferry across the lake/pond to Magic Kingdom.  Then we went in to the park.  We saw Micky and Minnie taking pictures but thought that we would go use our morning fast passes and come back.  Tacy saw Minnie Mouse and was sad not to get in the line to see her.  But we walked into Tomorrowland and saw that there were super short lines everywhere.  So we all rode on the Speedway (Tacy was with Brad and I was along).  My car had no guts, seriously, I had my foot down the whole time and going up some of those hills I was completely stopped until Brad would bump into me from behind (they were love pushes).  Poor Brad and Tacy were stuck behind my dead car.  But Tacy didn't care because she had fun "steering".

We all rode the People Movers, which basically takes you all around Tomorrowland and tells you about each ride/attraction.  Tacy got a little scared in the dark spots.  Then Brad went to ride Space Mountain while Tacy and I did Astro Blastor.  Tacy loved it!  She loved controlling the height of our space ship (after I showed her how).  Gosh that ride feels like it is spinning fast when it is ending and coming down.

On the Astro Blaster, this picture makes me laugh

We were sad that the Buzz ride was closed (apparently Buzz and Peter Pan are closed every Thursday for refurbishment :( ) So we left Tomorrowland, walked around Cinderella Castle (per Tacy's request) and went to go meet Ariel.  I worried that Tacy would be shy and that I would have to walk up to every princess with her, but she ran up to Ariel when it was her turn.  She started showing Ariel her dress (she was wearing her Minnie Mouse dress) and talking about Ariel's clothes and bubbles.  She was talking away and loved it!  It was adorable.

After Ariel we rode Ariel's ride.  Then we went and stood in line to meet Cinderella and Rapunzel.  Their line was only a 20 minutes wait (as opposed to Elsa and Anna's 120 minutes wait).  So we moved pretty quick, and were inside a nice air conditioned castle designed room most of the time.  Tacy talked a lot with Cinderella and Rapunzel too.  She and Rapunzel talked about shoes and Rapunzel told her how she did not use to wear shoes but now she does because she learned how important they are.  That made me laugh because Brad had been wondering if she would be wearing shoes or not.

After meeting those princesses, Brad managed to swap out his speedway fast pass (that we didn't use) to reserve a time to meet Elsa and Anna.  Then we walked over to Adventureland for Jungle Cruise.  As we were walking over, the Move It dance party was going on.  I was a little sad to be missing it, but Brad wanted to get over to the adventureland.  So we climbed through The Swiss Family Treehouse (Tacy loved the water and all the stairs) and then we got onto Jungle Cruise.  Tacy loved seeing all the animals and water of course.  I love Jungle cruise because the conductors are always so funny.  After Jungle Cruise we then went over and stood in line for Pirates of the Carribean.  It was maybe a 25 minute wait, so not bad again for not having a fast pass.  Tacy did get scared in the dark (thank you for the glow sticks Anita!  We used them to help distract Tacy from the scariness of dark places during rides), but I love that ride so much and she enjoyed watching the pirates I think.

On Jungle Cruise, Tacy was a little distracted by the animals and conductor

We took a lunch break and ate our peanut butter sandwhiches and granola bars.  Then we walked over to Frontierland and I rode Thunder Mountain (I love that ride so much) then traded with Brad so he rode it and then went straight over to Splash Mountain.  While Tacy and I waited for Brad, Tacy ran around the little play area by Splash Mountain.  It was aimed for kids younger than her, but she still had fun climbing and watching other kids.  She would run over to me every now and then to give me a hug, ask for water, or to take a goldfish break before going back to playing.  Then Brad was done so I rode Splash Mountain.  When I finished, Brad and Tacy were in line to meet Woody and Jessie.  Tacy loves Toy Story but by the time we got up to meet them she got scared and was crying throughout the pictures (I think it's because they are in full costume and don't talk like the princesses - big heads would be a little intimidating to me too if I didn't understand).  I think this was the longest line we waited in all day, not necessarily because it was long, but because it was slow.  You met Woody and Jessie at the same time and they spent like 5 minutes with each person taking pictures and hugging.  Oh well.

Unhappy Tacy

Silly faces on the train

After Woody and Jessie, we rode the train back to Fantasyland.  We still had time until we got to meet Elsa

and Anna so Tacy played in the water by the circus area (it was hot so it felt good).  Then we rode Brain Stormer and she was just tall enough for her first coaster.  She did not make a sound the whole time during the ride and just stayed close to me (it reminded me of when I went on my first coaster and was too scared to even scream) but then she was fine once we got off and said she had fun.  Then Tacy and I rode Dumbo (Brad is not good at circle rides).  Then we all walked over and waited in line for 5 minutes (yay for Fast passes) to see Elsa and Anna.  Elsa told Tacy that Olaf's favorite color is pink so he would love her dress and be her best friend.  Anna was fun and played hide and seek with the girl before Tacy because she was scared/shy.  Tacy of course walked right up to her and talked away about clothes again.

After the princesses, Tacy and I rode the merry-go-round and then we all went on It's a Small World.  Tacy enjoyed it.  By then we were all tired and it was getting late.  We walked back around the castle for Tacy and went into a store along Main Street where Tacy picked out a princess place mat.  Then we took the Ferry back to the Tram and rode the Tram to the car.  Tacy fell asleep within 2 mintues of being in the car.  We did stop at Checkers on the way back to the hotel to get burgers, fries, and shakes.  Tacy woke up at the hotel and ate some, took a bath, and then went right to sleep.  We walked over 16,000 steps that day and my feet were so tired!  But it was so fun, even though we missed all the parades, we were busy all day and did not have to wait very long for anything.  We all had fun and got lots of fun pictures!

Gator Fever

Brad had spring break last week and we had been talking for a while about short trips we could go.  We had been looking at hotel deals for Myrtle Beach, SC and Charleston, SC.  Then one day, Brad emailed me asking about Orlando because he was finding good hotel deals there and knew how much I wanted to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  He also researched to find out that it is only (yes I did say only) 8.5-9 hour drive to Orlando.

This alligator was nice and close

So we started looking into it, I talked to our friends in Gainesville to see if we could visit them, and I found an amazing hotel deal.  So we decided to do it.  But with Tacy I decided that Disney World would be more her speed then Universal.  So we bought tickets for Disney.  Luckily Tacy is still free at either park, so we might as well take her while she is free to go see her princesses.  

Yelling out to the alligators

So we left Wednesday, March 4th, and drove down from Raleigh to Florida (that added 3 more states for Tacy and 2 for Brad - I have printed off USA maps so we can color in the states Tacy has been too because I think it is fun).  Brad had taken Tacy to the dollar store to get little toys for her to help with the drive.  I'm so glad disney princesses are so popular so that they are at the dollar store.  Tacy and Brad picked out two princess books, a princess puzzle, a Dora coloring doll thing, and a princess notebook (to use in Disney for signatures).  Between the books, coloring Dora and watching disney movies on our portable DVD player, Tacy was pretty happy during the drive.  She did not sleep at all though.  

Watching a movie and fighting her tiredness

We stopped in Gainesville to meet up with our friends and went to the La Chua Trail to go see alligators.  Signs posted at the trail told us that there were also bison, wild horses, turtles, etc in this preserve and to be careful.  Tacy was excited.  It's so funny all the different animals she loves that are actually pretty scary.  Examples: alligators, dragons, tigers, and dinosaurs.  

It was a hot day and super muggy and all of us were wearing pants (it had been a little cold that morning in Raleigh).  Needless to say we were pretty warm after just walking the boardwalk.  But luckily, even though it was hot, there were still a lot of gators out and about to see.  Tacy loved seeing the alligators.  As soon as she saw the marsh water she asked if she could go swimming.  We then had to explain to her that we do not swim in water with alligators.  When she asked "why?" we then had to inform her the scary news about alligators - that they can hurt people.  Then she was a little more nervous about seeing alligators.  

But we still had fun running around the boardwalk and looking at all the lounging gators.  My smart friend Anita brought drinks and snacks for the kids so when Tacy asked me for her water (which I thoughtlessly left in our car), Anita gave me a capri-sun.  Tacy drank that thing so fast!  It was pretty hot (89 degrees actually).  We were going to walk farther along the trail, but a man walking back warned us about a bison a couple hundred yards up the trail who had attacked a person.  All us parents then decided it was time to turn around.  

So we then drove over to the Draney's and had fun talking and eating dinner at their house.  Tacy loved playing with their two kids and all of their toys.  She is shameless when around other peoples toys and will just grab them like they are hers.  Silly kid.  After dinner and discussing Disney tips, we left to finish the last 2 hour drive to Orlando.  Tacy fell asleep in the car for a bit then and woke up when we got to Orlando so we could get situated in the hotel.  The nice part about the hotel was that we had a kitchen and living area separate from the bedroom.