Gracie is 2 months old

And her brother adores her more than ever. When I laid the blanket out on the floor to take Gracie's picture Jack declares that he wants to lay on it too. So I got some pictures of the both of them along with pictures of her. Of course his half-chewed halloween lollipop was in the pictures too. What can you do?

At her 2 month doctors visit the poor thing got 4 shots and some oral vaccine that I can't remember the name of. But she is perfect otherwise.

Her stats:
Weight : 11 lbs 9 oz (75th percentile)
Height : 22 3/4 inches (75th percentile)

She's my healthy girl!

No! She's mine!

Jack is already playing the role of protective older brother. As it gets closer and closer to the time when I need to take Grace to Miss Linda's daycare as well I make sure that she goes in with me to pick Jack up so that she gets used to the sites and smells.

As naturally curious as kids are everyone will come gather around Gracie when I bring her in. They don't try to touch her or bug her, they just want to see her... heck, when you're a little kid there aren't many other beings that are smaller than you, right?

Jack doesn't like it. He gets very possessive.

And I quote: "No Thompson!" (as he pushes Thompson away) or "No Benny, She's mine!"

Let's hope he continues to be this protective when she's in high school.

They say...

They say that every child is different. Yeah yeah yeah, yada yada yada. Well, that's what I thought anyway. I just KNEW that Grace would always been skinny like Jack, that it'd take her forever to grow out of clothes just like it did for Jack. I worried that she'd be a poor sleeper like Jack and I worried she'd be a poor eater like Jack.

Boy was I wrong.

Turns out every child really is different.

Jack was always in the 10th percentile for weight.
Gracie has been in the 90th percentile. She's already outgrowing her 3 month clothes and won't be two months old for about 2 weeks. Jack wore his until he was between 4 and 5 months old.

Jack was a HORRIBLE sleeper and didn't sleep through the night until after he was a year old.
Grace slept through the night this past weekend at 7 weeks old. And she's been waking only once a night since then.

Jack was a terrible eater and we couldn't get more than a couple ounces of food down him as an infant.
Grace is a champion eater and will actually over eat if I don't cut her off after a certain amount of time.

Jack was horribly colicky for so so (so so so so) long.
Grace was (what we think) colicky for about a week.

Jack was always such a serious kid. We'd just smiles out of him but he didn't give them out freely.
Grace will smile and coo every time she sees us and will even smile and coo at some of her toys.

I do hope, however that Grace takes after Jack in how fearless, energetic and smart Jack is. Well, maybe a little less energetic would be nice. I guess she does have it going for her to have him to learn after. And I know he'll teach her everything he knows. He loves his sister so much and just can't kiss and hug her enough. I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.

No kid wants underwear for Christmas

So we were talking up the whole "Santa" thing to Jack the other night. Explaining that he'll come to the house and leave his presents under the tree to which Jack exclaims "Go to the mall and see Santa and we have a tree and he brings presents and there's snow." But he says it so fast it may as well be one long word.

So we ask him what presents he'd like Santa to bring for him. We ask him if he wants some Thomas trains.
Jack : "Yes!"
We ask him if he wants some more cars.
Jack : "Yes!"
We ask him if he wants some clothes.
Jack : "No!" (But said in a very "Duh, why would I want that" tone of voice)

Turn your head and coiffe

First of all, if you are a Simpsons fan you'll understand the title of this post.

I decided today to wear my hair up. No big deal, I've done it plenty of times but just not very recently. I guess Jack thinks it's been a while since I've done it anyway.

So I go to pick Jack up from daycare and we get in the car and I'm asking him about his day and he just stops, looks at me and asks "Mommy, your hair is nice and pretty?" Awwwwwww! Way to melt a mother's heartstrings! So I ask him "Do you think Mommy's hair is nice and pretty?" and he declares "Yes!"

That's my boy. He keeps up with the flattery like that and he'll do well in life.

One month already!

I can't believe that Gracie is one month old already. Really. I feels like I just came home with her.

She's been such a great baby. Generally laid back, cries only when something is really wrong. Of course, that all increased a week or so ago when she turned colicky. But I think that we've found something to work for us. I'm now giving her Mylicon (removes gas bubbles) with each feeding and we're swaddling her during her "colic hours". It seems to be working, yesterday we got through the evening with NO colic crying and she slept for 5 HOURS!!!!! Let me repeat that in case you think you read it wrong... that was 5 HOURS!!! I can't tell you the thrilled feeling I had when she woke up at 2am to eat. I *almost* felt rested! And today she's actually napping normally again. No more wiggling awake in the middle of her naps with a bad gas bubble.

So we had her one month checkup at the doctor yesterday. She is 10 lbs 1 oz. I think that deserves being repeated too... that was 10 lbs 1 oz. She's only a month old. Jack didn't weigh that much until he was 3 months old! I'm so not used to having a child with fat rolls either. Her legs have fat rolls, her arms have fat rolls, she has an extra chin and even her fingers are chubby! Jack never had an ounce of fat on him. Actually, come to think of it, he still doesn't. Little bugger.

The doctor was also thrilled with her development. When she put her on her tummy to see what she'd do she was picking her head up (a little) and moving her arms and legs as if she wanted to move around. Dr. Tsoi just laughed at her and told her she'd have to wait a little for that. And she was also impressed when I told her that she's tried 3 times now to roll over. Granted, I doubt it's a consious (did I spell that right?) effort but she did it none the less.

Here's a few pics of my chubby little girl on her one month birthday.

Time for some visual stimulation

Gracie loves her time on her play mat... especially the two red objects and the little mirror. Little did she know she would get the added stimulation of her brother on her mat with her.

I had to warn him a couple times that he had to be more gentle but otherwise he thought it was just great to share the time with his sister.

Bath time!

Jack is such a great big brother. Ignore the fact that he's still too young to care about being quiet while she's sleeping and he's just great. No, really, he just loves her. We've taught him that she has to be awake for him to give her hugs and kisses otherwise he would give them to her constantly, whether it woke her up or not. He calls her "baby girl" and is always asking to hold her on the sofa. He even tries to put toys and rattles in her hand.

So, with all this in mind you can only imagine how excited he was when it was time to give Grace a bath! I quickly had to give him the task of "rinsing" her tummy with the cup. Otherwise I'm not sure what he would have tried to do. :-) He was so good at it. He even helped me rinse out the tub and run fresh water when she decided to poop during her bath. Yes poop. Not once, but twice. But we got her clean with a lot of help from Jack!

Not fair!

I tell you, it just isn't fair. How can a newborn already have a cold? At least Jack is learning to share, right?

But seriously, she's 3 weeks old today and she's been sick for 2/3 of her life. It just doesn't seem right. I finally broke down on Friday and took her to the doctor since the cold just wasn't clearing up and you'll never guess... she has an ear infection!!!

So here's my darling daughter, she's had a head cold for most of her life and now she has an ear infection. But what amazes me is that she's still so good!! She sleeps well (except for the congestion interfering), she's in good spirits most of the time and she only cries when something it truly wrong.

I can't wait to meet who my daughter really is once she isn't sick anymore.

Gracie is 2 weeks old

And just as cute as can be!

Best Big Brother Ever

A little history... We call Jack "Baby Boy" (always have) and so logic says that we call Gracie "Baby Girl."

We just got home from picking Jack up at daycare and he wanted to help get Gracie out of her carrier. So Eric got her unbuckled and Jack "helped" pick her up. Well Grace had been passed out cold in the car seat and when she got picked up she let out a little whimper. Jack says "hush hush, what's wrong Baby Girl?"

How cute is he?

Welcome to the world Grace!

Welcome Grace Sophia Redcay!

So sometime around midnight on Sunday night I started to get contractions. But they weren't anything fantastic so I pretty much slept through them. Around 2am I decided to start timing them and they were about 8 minutes apart. By 7am when we all got out of bed (leave it to Jack to sleep in on THIS day) they were 5 to 6 minutes apart. I got in the shower, then Eric howered and we were at the hospital by 9:30.

Apparently I didn't look like I was in labor so the nurses almost gave me a hard time about being there. The one nurse was downright snotty because I hadn't called my doctor for him to tell me to come in. Uh thanks but it's 9:30 and my contractions are 2 to 4 minutes apart, I'm pretty darn sure I'm about to have this baby. Dummy. Anyway, they hooked me up and sure enough, now they believe me. And I was at 3 cm. The one admitting nurse that I really liked popped her head in and asked me to rate the contractions on a scale of 1 to 10 and I told her 7. She just smiled and said that I was her pain hero. I guess that means I have a high threshold for pain? They admitted me by 10:30 and the contractions were no more than a minute apart. I walked
the hallways and my room for about an hour and just couldn't take it anymore and asked for the epidural. Eric and Leah agreed that I had put in my dues and if I wanted it that I earned it. Well, once again there wasn't enough time. The nurse couldn't find a vein to put the IV in and my blood work hadn't even been run when the doctor came in to check on me because she was on her way to do a c-section. I was in the middle of a contraction and she was going to leave without
checking how dialated I was (in her defense, I hadn't really been there that long I don't think she knew how close I was) but I managed to ask her to check me right in the middle of my contraction (all back labor again. ugh). She checked and I was at 9 cm and Graces head was
right there. So she told the nurse to stop trying for the IV because I was going to be ready to push before the conversation was over. The doctor left to get ready and to postpone her c-section, I managed (barely) through a few more contractions that made me want to jump out
of my skin. The doctor got back and she wanted me to try a practice push. Practice! Ha! That was the first push. She told me that when the next contraction came to "get angry and push" (LOL!) so I did. Out came Grace. Two pushes. (Yay me!) All 8 lbs 2 ounces of her. Yikes, I really had no idea she would be that big.

So not only was my little daughter too stubborn to listen to all of us and be born early in August (little stinker waited until Sept 1) but then when she came out she also wanted to wave HI to the world and brought her hand out next to her face. Little stinker, she must be my kid.

I'll save you all the details of what needed to be fixed up on me but all in all I actually feel really good. And so far so good with the breastfeeding!

Goodbye for now coworkers

Finally! It's the end of my last day at work. And it couldn't have happened any sooner. I walked into work this morning hoping for a nice, stress-free day to just glide through and leave early. That isn't quite what I got. I got a note on my desk from our CIO to have something done by the end of the day and I had a ton of email for emergencies that needed to be fixed.

Oy.

So I didn't get to go out to lunch, I didn't get to take it easy. But I did get it all done, amidst all the the inquiries as to why I was still at work. Everyone was trying to kick me out! But it's all done now, I couldn't have left with dumping it on someone else's lap, that just isn't right. So I was able to leave with a clear conscience!

Seriously, it shouldn't be this deep, I guess it was just weighing on me.

That and I'm all depressed because today is the last day at daycare for 3 of Jack's closest friends. They all start kindergarten next week. I just feel bad because Jack thrives on being around the older kids but now he's going to be the oldest one there (by a few months, but still). I just know he'll miss them and I feel bad.

This poor kid has had so much changed for him lately. New house, potty training, losing friends at school, and now there's a new baby coming. Oofa.

But I digress.

Here's a couple pictures of me (and Eric) at 38 weeks. Oh, and one of Jack making his new favorite face. Thanks for teaching him that Eric.

"I like to mow"

That's my boy! Always the little helper. Now that we have a lawn Jack is adjusting to the fact that mommy and daddy need to go out to do yard work. He wasn't quite sure what to think the very first time Eric started the lawn mower but it was all good. The next time he wanted to follow Eric around with his wagon in tow. That's when Mommy had a brilliant idea. Didn't he get a toy mower for Easter!?!

So down to the basement we go to find the box with the lawn mower in it. Thanks to my last surviving brain cell I actually remembered where it was! How's that for a miracle. I can't remember what I went into the kitchen to get but I can remember what plain brown box I packed his toy lawnmower in over a month ago.

What followed was the cutest thing I ever saw. He was THRILLED to be mowing with Daddy. He didn't care how hot it got, how dirty he got (well, he IS a boy) or anything. He was his father's shadow. When they took a break to drink some water Jack realized that Eric was wearing work gloves and declared "I need gloves!" Thank goodness I know my son well enough that I bought him a pair the same time I bought them for Eric and myself. He was so proud.

So now it's a weekly thing. On the weekends he just walks around saying "I like to mow" or "I mow with daddy"

Oh, and as a side note, please pay no attention to the patchy, weed-riddled lawn that the previous owner left us. We'll be working on that this fall.





(note the work gloves!)

Ever watch a "Remember When" moment happen?

You know, one of those things that always comes up when families are sitting around and go "Remember When...." Remember when Joey hit that baseball right into the coach? Remember when Tina tripped during the ballet recital and fell into the orchestra?

Well, we had our own personal Remember When story unfold upon us last night.

When Eric got home from work Jack and I went out to the garage to greet him. After the initial hug that Jack had to give Eric then he ran over to this bucket of sand left by the previous owner and pulled out some sort of wooden ball-type-thingy. He took it out to the driveway and was trying to make it bounce so Eric and I were explaining that it wouldn't bounce and he decided to start throwing it instead. No biggie.

Our neighbor Rich was outside too so he wandered over and we were all talking for a few minutes. Rich had even mentioned that he tells his wife what a happy kid Jack is and he's such a good boy.

Well, it was time to go in so we told Jack to go put the ball back in the bucket. He decides to give it one more throw towards the lawn. Well, it didn't go towards the lawn. It must have rolled out of his hand funny and flew towards the garage instead... where our cars were parked. It was kind of surreal actually, watching this all happen in slow motion.

BOOM!

And that's when the back window to my car disappears in an explosion of glass. And I do mean explosion. There was glass everywhere, including around Jack and I who were outside in bare feet. Seriously though, if glass manufacturers are going to make windows that shatter, can't they at least engineer them to just sort of tumble straight down instead of exploding in all directions? We get inside to get shoes without incident and the first thing that crosses my mind (besides turning the burner off under our dinner on the stove) was to check the weather to see if it was going to rain the next day. Of course it was. We've had rain-free days for weeks, the day I have no window on the back of my car there is 80% chance of rain all day.

So Rich comes back over (he had never made it inside before hearing my window break) and we all set to cleaning it up. Poor Jack just didn't quite understand the magnitude so he wanted to help with everything. We had to keep telling him not to pick anything up. Eric goes in to get a trash bag for the glass and Jack had to have his own bag. Eric goes in to get the vacuum to clean out the back of my car and Jack had to have his vacuum. He so desperately wanted to help. So he vacuumed the driveway while we did my car.

During the whole thing I just kept laughing.. you know, that sort of nutty laugh that you can't help let out when you're exacerbated. It was just one of those things. No one was hurt so you just had to laugh so that you don't have any sort of "opposite" reaction.

And amazingly, in our favor, Eric's parents were coming down to watch Jack today since Miss Linda is on vacation. So I was able to take Eric's car to work, Eric took his dad's car to work and his parents are at the house to meet the glass people who are making a trip to our house to do the work for us. Thank goodness for small favors. Otherwise I'm not sure what I would have done because I can't drive my car as it is in the rain and I can't take any more vacation days before my maternity leave starts after next week.

Jack is just lucky that he's only 2 1/2 and that it was truly an accident. Otherwise it's entirely possible that the world would be short one very cute little boy this morning.

Still waiting

I'll be 37 weeks tomorrow. Officially full term. I have very mixed feelings about this. First of all, I'm SO ready to not be pregnant anymore, but second, I don't know if I'm ready to juggle two kids yet. Especially since our 2 1/2 year old has entered the world of tantrums like never before. Of course he saves these all for when he's alone with his parents so anyone else that spends time with him will probably think I'm making it all up.

But anyway, back to Grace. Lots of back pain, lots of feet swelling, lots of being tired. But not enough time to do everything.

I think it would be nice if she'd at least hang on in there until after my last day at work (8/22) so that I can have a day or two to rest first. But I guess we'll see.

Badge of honor? Seriously?

As I enter week 35 of this pregnancy, and as Grace continues to drop lower and lower I have discovered something that I dreaded. Stretch marks. Blasted stretch marks.

I managed to get through all 39 weeks of pregnancy with Jack without a single stretch mark on my abdomen. How? Probably because I allowed myself to become the size of a small whale while pregnant with Jack. I guess growing all over prevents stretch marks on your belly because the weight is everywhere instead of all in front.

This time, however, I decided to be more healthy, more active and NOT gain as much weight. My reward? Back pain, belly pain, and stretch marks.

"They" say that getting stretch marks during pregnancy should be like wearing a badge of honor.

I say Bull. These suckers don't go away.

I don't care how superficial it sounds. I guess I'll throw out all my bikinis.

Grace's Room, step 1 complete

Who's idea was it to move just a couple months before having a baby?

Oh right.

Well, we've been so busy with the house that I am now completely unprepared for this kid. That being said it was time to set a date to paint her room. My mom and sister were so kind as to help. I suppose we could have done it on our own but I'm finding my independent spirit starting to wane in these last weeks.

A couple months ago I was browsing baby bedding online and found a set that I fell in love with. I happened to be on the phone with my sister and sent her the link. I NEVER would have purchased the set. Sorry, I don't like spending more on my kids crib bedding than on my own bedding. So my wonderful, generous, fabulous sister offered to buy it. She insisted, so who am I to refuse? Weeeee.

So there is the base for the room. Now to branch out from that. I took the little pillow with me to Lowe's to pick out the colors for the walls. I knew that I wanted a beige color for the walls with a wide pink stripe around the center to accent the pink in the bedding. In the 5 minutes that I was at Lowe's I managed to pick the perfect colors (if I do say so myself).

It's always a shock when you put that first roller of colored paint onto a white wall but wow am I pleased with the way it looks. I still need to do the stripe (duh, can't put tape on wet paint), and I still need a lot for the room, but the basics are done now. I have a crib, bedding, rocker (which DOESN'T match! *gasp*) and a couple outfits.

Oh, and as a side note, Leah also gets double bonus points for packing all of my painting supplies into a clear bin so that I could find them in the wall of boxes that is now consuming my basement.



Jack even got to help.



Apparently Phoebe approves of the bedding as well. Darn cats.

Do we have a mad pruner in our midst?

Eric's parents bought us a cute little hibiscus tree when we moved into the house. I put it out front between the front door and the garage. Well, it lost a few leaves from being transplanted and in a new kind of light, but no big deal. After a week or so it stopped loosing any leaves and it still looked half decent. Well, maybe another week passed and I caught a glimpse of it and it seemed more sparse than I remembered. I went to take a look and sure enough on the back of the tree there were branches missing! How strange. I thought first that it was animals but the cut was perfect, like it was cut. Eric suggested that maybe he hit it somehow with the weedwacker but then the branches would have been on the ground.

But I dismissed it as just being strange.

Then on Saturday I took a look at it again and MORE branches are missing! Cut off perfectly like with clippers or something. My poor little hibiscus tree looks so pathetic!

What an odd thing to happen.

33 weeks down, 7 to go

And frankly, I'm exhausted! The shame of it is that I haven't had any time to just wallow in this pregnancy like I did with Jack. Not with staging a house, selling a house, packing a house, moving, unpacking a house, watching a 2 year old and taking care of my family, all with a full time job. Wow, that sounds so much worse in writing!

But over the last few weeks, when I wasn't really paying attention, Grace has continued to grow into her tight quarters. And boy is she a squirmer! I really need to remember to video the little acrobatic performance she likes to put on for us in the evening when I finally sit down. I tell everyone what a mover she is but they are all absolutely amazed once they finally see it.

There! She must have felt me talking about her because she just ran her foot under my rib.

But the good news is that now that the house is unpacked, pictures are hung and we have 7 weeks to go I can finally concentrate on getting ready for Grace. Of course, that still doesn't include any rest. LOL. We need to bring all of Jack's baby stuff over from storage (pack-n-play, swing, highchair, clothes), paint Grace's room, buy her a dresser, I need to paint some wall hangings to match her bedding set, acquire some clothing essentials and feeding essentials and then maybe, just maybe I'll have a couple days to relax before she makes her arrival!

Exhausted yet from reading all that work? I am!

How young is too young?

So we've moved into our house. Jack loves the freedom he has with the addition square footage. And we love that we have "freedom" from Jack with the ability to keep an eye/ear on him.

So I'm getting dinner ready and Eric is on the computer in the office and Jack is driving his tractor in circles around the house. Suddenly it's quiet. Eric comes into the kitchen and starts laughing. Apparently we had just left TBS on tv and Sex and the City had come on but none of us were paying attention. Well, except for Jack.

There was my two year old, leaning on the coffee table, popping grapes in his mouth like they were bon-bons, totally absorbed in the episode of Sex and the City.

*Note - no one in this house had seen a single episode until today. But Jack's a fan now.

Farewell dear townhouse

Well it's finally here. It's the last week in our cute little townhouse. It served us well. We have a lot of memories in this house. It was our first house purchase to get us out of paying rent, this is where Jack was born, this is the only house our youngest kitty Danny has ever known. There have been a lot of long afternoons sitting in the living room watching Eric play his playstation or xbox (mostly before Jack). This was the first house that I helped to install a door (to the attic). It's also the first house that I've had to kick a door out (in my black high heel boots) because I got locked in. Any casting calls for a new Charlies Angel?

We've been here 6 1/2 years and we still managed not to get every room painted how we wanted it. But I tell you what. I had this house organized! I realized that more and more as I packed things to move. I'm going to have to find all new slick and nifty ways of organizing things in the new house now.

And now we're all packed. Kitchen is rendered useless with just some paper plates a can opener and a pizza pan left to be used. Potted plants have all been sent to mom's house and the clematis has been dug up and potted and sent to moms. I hope we didn't kill it.

Stress levels have been high but through it all I think Jack is doing absolutely fantastic. When we're packing he just runs around and amuses himself. He'll bounce from room to room to see what everyone is doing. Whenever he looks for something and it's been packed already we just tell him it's been put in a box to take to the new house. He seems to understand. At least my poor tired mind it telling me that he understands.

And now for the circus that will be our weekend. Friday morning Eric goes to work and Jack goes to daycare. Mom is coming to help me when the movers show up at dawn. At least I hope they show up at dawn. Then they take all our worldly possessions and store them over the weekend in a hot truck in a hot parking lot somewhere. Eric comes home half day at least and we have to pile all cleaning materials, my computer, the contents of my fridge and our luggage into our cars and drive down to stay with mom. Oh, how can I forget. My poor poor kitties will all be piled into my car for the 45 minute drive to my moms. Phoebe is lucky, she gets to sit on my lap but the other two have to be crammed into carriers for the trip. I fully expect to be covered in a brand new, fresh off the cat fur coat by the time I get to my moms.

I am going to do all I can to rest and relax on Saturday and Sunday because the circus resumes on Monday morning. Where we get up at the butt-crack of dawn to drive through rush hour back up to our house to a 9am settlement. Get through that as fast as possible and then race to the next settlement at 10:30. Lord help us. With any luck we'll get out of the second settlement, get to our new house and the movers will be waiting for us with my very toasty earthly possessions still in the truck from Friday.

Oh, and have I mentioned how difficult and exhausting it is to do all of this while 7 months pregnant?

Give me strength.

Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?

Jack : "Mommy, you're a boy."
Mommy: "No honey, Mommy is a girl."
Jack : "Mommy, you're a gweerl."
Mommy "Yes honey, Mommy is a girl. Can you say girl?"
Jack : "gweerl"
Mommy: "Close enough honey."
Jack : "Daddy is a boy."
Mommy : "That's right honey, Daddy is a boy and you are a boy too."
Jack : "No, I'm an alligator."
Mommy : "Ok honey."


Update 6/23/08 - I feel obligated to inform you that he is no longer an alligator. He's now a dinosaur.

Not so Hershey Park happy

I believe the ad goes something like "Hershey park happy, Hershey park glad." Well, let me tell you, we were not so Hershey Park happy and more like Hershey Park sad. It all started the night before. Jack either had a little flare-up from his virus or had some new bug starting and he and I were up most of the night. I'm pretty sure neither of us got much sleep after 1:00am. Strike 1. But when we got up at 7:00 he seemed ok. A little whiney but generally ok. Of course he didn't drink he milk or eat much breakfast. Strike 2. Oh, did I mention that the forecast was for 97 degrees? Strike 3. So we made the trip out, with a quick stop to pick up Aunt Leah. He didn't nap the whole way there. Strike 4. But he was still generally in good spirits and was looking forward to riding rides. Well we got there and he closed his finger in the door. Strike 5. He wasn't hurt but was upset enough that he needed to be carried by Daddy. Strike 6. Well we got to ride the Chocolate World ride and he was ok on that but once we were back outside and walking into the park he just wouldn't drink anything and it was so hot. Strike 7. After being there for about 30 minutes he started whining and saying something so we got down to hear what he said and he was asking to go back to Daddy's car and go home. Poor thing. We were hoping that if we could make it to the water rides that he would be ok but it didn't look like that was going to happen. Time to go home. No one was having any fun and we were all exhausted and we had only been there a total of an hour. We did ride the monorail and get a breeze but then we just picked up lunch and went home. Fortunately Jack did nap on the way home, or I should say as soon as we got into the car, so that was good. And by the time we got him home he seemed just fine.

So, mental note for all. If it's going to be 97 degrees, don't even bother taking a toddler to an amusement park. I, for one, feel like an idiot and an awful parent.

Oh, but as a side note, we were there just long enough for me to get a good flip-flop shaped tan on my feet...