Disney World Info and Tips!

Disney World is a truly MAGICAL place!!!

I'm going to share some things I learned from this trip that might help someone else when they go to Disney World. And when I go back I might need to refresh my own memory! And I'm going to sprinkle in some photos from our trip!

Getting ready for bed her first night at Disney World!


This was the first time any of us (Brian, Emme or I) had ever been to Disney World. So I wasn't sure quite what to expect. It exceeded all the expectations I had. Disney World was so clean and neat. Not like the usual filthy stinky theme parks I've been to before. I usually don't enjoy going to theme parks except Sea World, it's pretty nice. Theme parks are always crowded, loud, rude, dirty, stinky etc. Well, at Disney World the cast members (employees) were all so nice and helpful. And it seemed like anytime I had a question there was always a cast member nearby to answer my questions and point us in the right direction. The time of year we went was not very busy thank goodness. I know other times it can get a little crazy but I don't plan on going at those times until we have to when Emme starts school. I saw lots of people cleaning up the grounds and keeping everything really nice. We were very impressed with the service at Disney World (minus a couple of snippy people we encountered).

Here we are heading out on our first morning there. We are on the way to Chef Mickey's for breakfast and then off to the Animal Kingdom!


Meeting Mickey Mouse for the first time! I'm pretty sure she kissed every character on the nose. :)


Meeting Pluto!


Giving Goofy five!



We flew to Orlando and took our own stroller. We were a little worried about taking our own stroller for two reasons. One - worried the airline might tear up our high end Orbit stroller. Two - worried someone might steal our high end stroller while it was parked outside a ride, restaurant or show. We considered renting a stroller at Disney but they have hard plastic seats and I didn't think Emme would find that very comfortable. Plus the part the child sits in was really low to the ground and our stroller is really tall. I prefer Emme being higher up. So we decided to go for it and take our own stroller and I'm glad we did. We gate checked our stroller and the baggage handlers did not break it. It made it to Disney just fine. We left our stroller outside rides, restaurants and shows probably 100 times and never had a problem. We even left stuff in the stroller. So if you are worried about taking your stroller don't be. I'm not saying nothing has ever happened to someone's stuff before but I won't worry about it in the future. By the way, if you have never been you need to know that you have to leave your stroller outside in "stroller parking lots" everytime you go in somewhere to eat, ride a ride or see a show. You can however push them through stores.

Minnie Mouse is showing Emme that their dresses match. Mommy did that on purpose! ;) Actually, I wan't to say that majority of the kids (little girls especially) were dressed up in some Disney-ish way. Either wearing outfits with Mickey/Minnie on them or Princess gowns etc. The Princess gown Emme wore for Cinderella's Royal Table came from the Disney Store in my local mall and it was $50. You can buy princess dresses at the parks for $60. I also saw some princess dresses at Toys R Us for around $25.


A rare moment when I actually got Emme to peel her eyes off the character long enough to look at the camera! lol


A kiss for Minnie!


Take a backpack with you when you go. I'm so glad we did! Back when I was pregnant with Emme Claire I bought a backpack diaper bag for Brian and he never had used it. He just always used the diaper bag that I used. Well we finally had a reason to use that backpack. Don't bring your purse into the parks, leave it in your hotel room. Just take your wallet out and put it in the backpack. Our backpack fit nicely over the handlebars of our stroller so when we were walking around we let it hang on there but when we would leave the stroller parked somewhere we took the backpack with us. One of us would carry Emme and other would wear the backpack and man the camera. In the backpack we had diapers, wipes, disposable bibs, boogie wipes, pacifiers, chapstick, hand sanitizer, park maps, my schedule of dinner reservations, room key and probably a few other things I'm forgetting about. Our stroller has a bag underneath that we had 3 ponchos in but we never had to use them. We kept a blanket and extra set of clothes for Emme in that bag as well.

Awe, giving Donald Duck some love! :)


Emme kissing Donald!


Emme kissing Pooh! Are you beginning to see a pattern here? haha!


Loveable old Eyeore!


She was so happy to see Tigger! (whom she calls Tig Tig)


On a jungle safari ride! She loved it!


Sweet little baby face! She is growing up too fast on me!


These last three pics are of Emme watching the parade in Animal Kingdom. She LOVED it!!! We did too, it was a great parade!






As promised, the person who helped me book/plan our Disney World vacation is Michelle Davis of Vacation PlanIt. She was so helpful and her service is free! Contact her when you start to plan your Disney trip! She is on Facebook, look up Vacation PlanIt.

I'll share more tips and info in my next post!
P.S. I miss Disney World so bad right now! I'm already ready to go back!!! :)

Emme Claire's 1st Disney World Vacation!!!

This vacation was so much fun for all of us! Disney World definitely makes you feel like a kid again! Emme Claire had the best time meeting all her favorite characters plus lots of new ones she had never seen before. I think we got her picture taken with nearly every Disney character there is! Haha! She was in AWE of them! She would just stare at them and wouldn't want to look at me for pics. She loved all the princesses. I think mainly because they were so pretty and dressed up so fancy! She didn't want to take her eyes off them! There were only a few characters that she wasn't so sure about but she never cried or anything. If she was afraid of them she would just make me or Brian hold her while she met them. I will share some of the pics from our vacation on here over several posts. We took about 1500 photos so I won't be able to show you all of them, only a small portion of my favorites. We were gone for 6 nights so we saw and did a lot. I'm also going to do a few posts with tips for parents with small children and just tips in general from my experience with Disney World. I've only been once but I learned a lot of dos and don'ts during our trip. Plus I'll give a few reviews of some restaurants we ate at and our resort too. But for now I'll share a few pics.
Before I begin with the pics I'd like to Thank Michelle Davis of Vacation PlanIt for helping me plan and book this amazing vacation! She gave me lots of great info and booked our hotel, park tickets, made reservations and much more. She does this for free and she can help anyone no matter where you live. You can find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/people/Vacation-PlanIt/100001590782306 and she has a website too. http://www.funjet.com/index.asp?pLCode=3182592734 Connect Michelle so she can help you get the best package and deal for your next vacation!

Emme Claire's first plane ride. She behaved so well and enjoyed her flight.


She got to eat snacks. Goldfish that I packed plus the pretzels the flight attendant gave her. She got her own Cran Apple juice too. And she got to watch a cartoon during the flight.


Emme's first character encounter was with Cinderella at Cinderella's Royal Table dinner. She loved Cinderella!!! Can you tell she was in AWE of her?!







Emme and Snow White


Emme and Ariel


Emme and Belle


Emme and her Daddy after dinner. Doesn't my little Rapunzel look pretty? :)


The Castle at night!

Two Reindeer and a Popsicle

As soon as I saw the adorable Rudolph and Clarice reindeer at Build A Bear a few months ago I knew Emme Claire had to have them. Maybe I wanted them a little too. ;) So in November I went in the store one day without her and got them both. Actually I think it was the weekend that Aunt Bridget came out and she stayed out of the store with Emme in the mall while I built the bears. :) They are extra cute because they say the cutest stuff to each other. So I brought them home and hid them from her. Then about a week before Christmas I decided to go ahead and give them to her because she had so many Christmas gifts that it wouldn't hurt if I gave her a couple of them early. Well, she just loves these 2 reindeer! Right now they are at the TX house and we are not. I took these photos around the 2nd week of January while we were still at the TX house. It's so cute how she totes them both around and they always have to be together!



Hee hee! Three little backsides! :)


The following pics were also taken around the 2nd week of January. I let Emme have a grape push up and boy did she enjoy it!!! She had it everywhere by the time she finished it!

Loving the new year!!!

January has been pretty busy so far. But then every month in our life is busy!!! After New Year's we spent a couple of weeks at our house in The Woodlands and we just got back from there yesterday. Even though it can be tiresome having to drive back and forth from Louisiana to Texas I'm really glad we are able to do that. It feels like being on vacation when we go to that house. Well, it feels like vacation for me and Emme Claire not so sure about Brian since he is the one working out there. But anyway, maybe I'll start calling it the vacation house. :)

Back to January. I've been planning a vacation for many months now to........ DISNEY WORLD!!! :-) So excited! None of us (me, Brian and Emme Claire) have ever been and we can't wait to get there! I can not wait to see the look on Emme Claire's face and her reactions when she sees all her favorite Disney characters. I know I'm going to cry with happiness when I see the joy it brings her! We leave about a week from now, I'm counting down the day! I have been making some cute Mickey & Minnie inspired clothes for Emme Claire to wear while in the parks. I also got her a pretty Rapunzel dress from the Disney Store to wear when we eat dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table. I also got Emme lots of Minnie Mouse and other Disney character pajamas to sleep in on vacation too! lol Her Aunt Bridget gave her 2 sets of Minnie PJs and then I bought the rest. I'll take a pic of her each night in her Disney P.J.'s. :)
I've had a lot of help from a local lady that helps people plan and book their Disney vacations and she has been a life saver! But even with her help it's a lot of work and lots to think about. I think we finally got all the clothes we need for the trip. Now I need to make a trip to Wal-Mart to stop up on some things like ponchos, blister block, snacks etc. We are staying at the Grand Floridian which I hear is supposed to be the nicest resort in Disney World! Yippee! We are doing five character meals, so I'm sure between that and being in the parks Emme Claire will get to meet all her favorite characters at least once or twice. We decided to fly to FL because we don't think Emme Claire could handle that far of a drive (about 14 hours one way). This will be Emme's first time to fly. The flight isn't very long so I think she will be fine. She will have her own seat so maybe it will help cut down on the wiggles once we get her strapped down in the seatbelt. I will be sure to post lots of pics of the trip when we get back.

A Mickey Mouse dress I made. She will wear this with a white long sleeve shirt and black leggings underneath.


Minnie Mouse shirt and matching ruffle pants. Since the shirt is short sleeve she will either wear a long sleeve shirt under it or a coat over it. I made the pants and I sent the blank shirt and a piece of the fabric to a local lady who does monogramming and appliques and she fixed the cute top up for me. My machine does not do embroidery.


Minnie Mouse dress, shown here on my little model (pic taken at the end of Aug '10). She will wear those black leggings with it and a long sleeve shirt underneath.


Here is a view of the dress not on the model. :)


Also in January I found and booked the venue for Emme Claire's 2nd Birthday Party! It will be in Ruston, LA on April 23rd (her actual birthday). So glad to have that part taken care of. I also decided on the theme. FANCY NANCY!!! It's such a perfect theme for my little posh tot! She loves everything girly, sparkly and shiny! So we will have a Fancy Emme celebration like no other!!! I've already bought tons of party favors for the guests, I can't wait to share those with you all. The girls and boys will be greeted with a makeover turning them into Fancy Girls and Dapper Boys! This will be the most pink and purple lavishly fou fou decorated party you have ever seen! I can't wait to put it all together! It will be a most 'exquisite soiree', as Nancy herself would say. :) Stay tuned for pics of this party later on. And the cake is sure to be fabulous!!!

I haven't even had time to think about an Easter dress for Emme Claire yet and Easter Sunday is the day after Emme's birthday. I need to get on that as soon as we get back from Disney.

Also been thinking about where to take Emme Claire on our 3rd annual family beach vacation. When she was a little over 2 months old we went to Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, AL. Then when she was almost 14 months old we went to the Isle of Palms and Charleston, SC. So this year I'd like to stick with tradition and go to another new beach location but we haven't decided which one. All I know is we need to go after Emme's birthday party is over and before the summer heat gets too bad. I'm thinking we'll have to go in May and maybe during my birthday week would be a great time for it! :) We usually do go on a little trip for my birthday every year so this will work out perfectly!

I hope every one is having a fantastic new year so far!

Christmas Card Photo Session

Back in the first part of November we had an appt with Kimberly McDaniels of J&K Photography - her website is www.jnkmcdanielphotography.com - she works in the West Monroe and Monroe area. We did two styles of photos. Dressy, classic, timeless elegance for the Christmas side of our holiday card. And a fun, punk, rocker style for the New Years side of the card. There were about 125 photos in all but of course I can't post them all on the blog, that would take forever. So I'll post my favorites. I bought the disc of pics from Kim, so that is why I'm able to post them on here. I think she did a fantastic job and I hope you enjoy these pics. Emme Claire was about 18 1/2 months old in these pics.

Emme Claire's Life

One of my main goals and most important job in life is to make sure that my daughter has the best life I can give her. That is Brian's main goal as well.

I want her to be HEALTHY! If you know me then you know I take that very seriously! haha! I am always worried about taking her to family gatherings or friends parties where there will be lots of people who might be sick and could potentially get EC sick. One the main reasons I like her being at home alone with me is that she isn't around a group of kids where illnesses are always being spread. And I'm happy to say that she has hardly been sick at all in her 20 months of life. She has been sick 3 or maybe 4 times at the most. I know that sometimes you just can't avoid it and I know that over the years she will get sick especially when she starts school but I'm going to do all that I can to prevent that, it's my job! When she was born we banked her cord blood so that just in case something ever did happen to her they might be able to heal her with her own stem cells. Hopefully she will never need them but they will be there in case she ever does. It gives Brian and myself a little peace of mind.

I also want her to be HAPPY. Everyday I try to make her happy (as I'm sure all parents do). I am a stay at home mom and would not trade that for anything in the world! I love seeing her change and learn new things every single day. Sure there are times when I need a break from her and that is when I go see a movie with a friend or go out to lunch with a friend. But for the most part I'm with Emme Claire 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. She has spent the night with my husbands parents only twice, once because I was sick and Brian was out of town and not there to help me with her and once because they asked if she could and we decided it would be okay. The only other time I've been away from her was when my best friend Bridget and I went to Canton, TX to shop for 2 nights and Brian stayed at home with her. So, for the last 20 plus months I've been away from her for a total of 4 nights. I like it that way. I don't want to miss a thing about her childhood. Yes I do buy her lots of toys, clothes and other accessories so maybe she is spoiled (or very well taken care of) but she definitely isn't rotten. She is the sweetest, most loving and precious little girl I know. :) Toys make her happy and I enjoy playing with her and all her toys. It's kind of like getting to be a kid again. Brian works very hard and he worked hard in life to get a good job that affords us the ability to give her the things we want to. Buying her lots of cute clothes and shoes makes me happy and it's one of the ways that I get to enjoy having a little girl. It's fun for me to dress her up in different adorable outfits and put bows in her hair. She loves jewelry and wears a bracelet all day everyday and I love that about her! She has also recently started wearing necklaces a lot and it's so cute. She lets me put them on her and she Oohs and Aahs over them and she doesn't mess with them all day long until bedtime and then she knows it's time to take her jewelry off. She is a girly girl which is exactly what I had always dreamed of having! And yes we do take her on lots of vacations. Sometimes it's strictly a vacation and sometimes it's a work related trip that Brian has to go on and we turn part of it into a vacation. I do realize that she won't remember any of the places she has been so far but that doesn't change the fact that she thoroughly enjoys it while she is there. We will continue to take her places and one day she will be old enough that she will start remembering and as for the rest she will see lots of pictures of all the trips she has been on. If one day she says to us that she wants to go back somewhere that we took her when she was a baby we will gladly take her. I'm not going to stop going on trips and sit at home just because my child isn't old enough to remember that we did it. Emme Claire has been a lot of places in her short life, probably more than most adults. Brian and I just enjoy traveling, seeing new places and trying new things. I want to instill that desire in my child so that she too will want to experience all that this country and this world have to offer. We are taking Emme to Disney World in a couple of weeks. It will be the first time any of us have been. I've always wanted to go but I was waiting until I had a child to take, now we have that child! Some people probably don't understand why we are taking her when she isn't even 2 years old yet. The answer to that is because she will LOVE it! The only channel we ever watch (with the exception of my recording Sesame Street for Elmo's World) is the Disney channel. She loves all the little shows on there like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, My Friends Tigger and Pooh and Handy Manny. She is going to squeal when she sees all her favorite characters walking around right before her eyes. I think that I'm going to enjoy seeing her reactions more than anything else! A couple of months ago when we took her to see The Grinch Musical in Houston's theater district I was tearing up constantly over how she was reacting to seeing the show. I would catch myself watching her watch the show instead of me watching the show. Making sure that Emme Claire is happy is just another important part of my job.

And I want Emme Claire to feel SPECIAL and LOVED! I tell her I love her everyday, all the time. I praise her for all the good things she learns and does. I give her tons of hugs and kisses. I play with her, color with her and read books to her. I learned to sew so that I could make her special one of a kind outfits. Everything I do is to better her life and hopefully in turn make her a better person for it. I'm trying to be the best parent I can be, I know I'm not perfect and it's impossible to be a perfect parent. I have and will make mistakes along the way but I strive to do the best I can by her. Brian and I waited a long time to have children (6 years in fact). We wanted to be ready and in the right place in life so that we could do the things we wanted to for our children. We didn't want to rush into having kids right after we got married. I'm a planner and I've always known I wanted children but I was waiting for the right time. I wanted the first few years of our marriage to be a time for Brian and I to enjoy having just each other because once you have kids there is no going back and it changes your life completely. Then we were waiting until we were back in our home state of Louisiana to have a baby so that we would be around family. That finally happened when we moved back from Texas a little over 2 year ago and so we took that leap of faith. We couldn't be happier with this little blessing that God gave us on April 23, 2009! Our decision to be patient and wait for the right time has made it possible for us to be in a good place in life and we are happy with where we are at. Our life is busy and sometimes chaotic (it's definitely not for everyone) but we are usually always together. Brian isn't missing big chunks of Emme Claire's life and that is something that is very important to us. We travel back and forth from Texas and Louisiana as a family because that is what we have to do. Eventually when she is school age we will have to choose a permanent place to stay in and we will make whatever sacrafices that need to be made in order to keep our little family together and to do the best we can for our little girl. I do know that we are blessed and I know that life can change in the blink of an eye. We are making the most of every moment we can. I'm trying to live my life to where I will have very few regrets in the end. Like they say at the beginning of Jon and Kate Plus 8 "It's a crazy life. But it's our life!" and I wouldn't have it any other way!

My Darling Little Emme Claire, one day when you are old enough to read this I hope you will know how loved you truly are. Mommy and Daddy think the world of you sweetheart!



This picture was taken by Kimberly McDaniels of J&K Photography from West Monroe, LA. I will be posting more pics from this session soon.