Disney World Day 3 (morning)

Day3 Lesson Learned:  Make sure your child eats more than grapes and fruit at each meal.  He was up all night Wednesday night with a tummy ache which led to a looong day and night.

Hollywood Studios

Toy Story Mania:  This was the one ride we knew we might have to wait for.  Bear got an app on his phone that told you wait times for each ride and checked it for 2 weeks before our trip.  This was the ride that ALWAYS had a 30+minute wait.  So this morning we had no breakfast reserved so we were there at 9:00 when the gates opened and rushed to the ride. Bear ran to get a fast pass and we ran to get in line.  Luckily it was a 15 min wait plus when we were through we could use our fast pass and ride again. 

Not really into pictures this morning.

Loved the 3D glasses.  By the way, did you know these rims are the new style?!  Every Asian there had these kind of glasses on and some CRAZY outfit to go along with it..........

Throwing gangster signs ;)

He chose to ride this ride with me!  I was sooo excited!!

He liked the ride okay, but he was having a rough morning.  When we got off, Buzz and Woody were right across the streeet and he was more interested in them.

Mickey went to every park with us each day :)

"THE CLAW!!!"

He hurt Woody's feelings during this picture .  He was only interested in Buzz and saying "Not today, Zurg!!"

We really knew he wasn't feeling very well when we got to see his favorite characters ever and he needed me to come along with him :(

Still recouperating from his rough night :(

He loved all the different playgrounds at each park.  I think he liked the idea that he could run and be free after 3 days of holding hands and not letting him get more than 3 feet away from us.  This is at Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

Can you see the button he is wearing?  The resort gave him 2 buttons to wear while he was there.  One said "First Visit" and the other said "It's my Birthday."  The cast members were trained to look for these at all the parks and recognized you accordingly.  Kinson thought they were so much fun to wear them and he would not wear his birthday one early, he only wanted to wear it Saturday on his real birthday.

Next we traveled to Monster, Inc.  We love some Sully and Mike!!  Kinson looks so little next to these guys.

We had reservations for lunch at Hollywood and Vine with the Disney Playhouse crew.  It was such a cute place to eat and there was no one there when we were there so we had one section all to ourselves.  Good thing because Kinson decided at that would be a good time to act goofy.  Well his goofiness ended up with him rolling off the booth and banging his head on the table stand under the table.  Needless to say, screaming erupted and lasted 30 min.  All the characters would come by and felt terrible for us.  Well it got to where he was just plain ridiculous and again how much discipline can you do with 100 eyes watching.  So I figured the best punishment was embarrassment.  I paraded him by every table on our way to the restroom where there was a line of a few women and again pointed him out to all of them.  We then had a coming to Jesus moment in the bathroom where he was told not to come out until he was ready to have fun.  It took all of 30 seconds for the tears to dry up and he decided that chicken nuggets really weren't that bad!

Luckily, all the characters came back by our table because they could tell he was better.  Who would have guessed this was the same child?!  It really was a turning point in our vacation.  Something clicked and he decided that he really might like this place!!

Disney World Day 2 (Afternoon/Night)

After Kinson awoke from his nap, we did Mickey's Toontown and then went to Swiss Family Robinson.  We loved it!!  I watched that movie a 1000 times growing up and always dreamed of one day having a house like them.  Kinson liked it to because it was just climbing a big tree and running across bridges.

Don't worry, the snake is fake!!  But doesn't it look real?!  This is on the Jungle Cruise.  I highly recommend this ride too.  The "Captain" really does a great job entertaining you through the jungle.

I don't know what I had imagined Disney to be like, but in my head it was way more magical :)  It really didn't live up to my expectations as far as outward appearance, but at night it surpassed my expectations and was very "magical."  I could have walked around all the parks again just to see them at night!

Can you tell how excited he is about the parade?!!

This was for Cohen, she LOVES Tinkerbell!!

Nothing is complete with Kinson unless a train is involved......

Sweet Minnie :)

Alice in Wonderland........Kinson does not know about her so he insisted she was Cinderella!!

The real Cinderella ;)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE anything patriotric because of my work with the Veterans, so this would have made me all emotional if I didn't have a 4 year old acting like a FOOL beside me.  This was probably his worst moment during the trip.  He was exhausted and starving due to his pickiness.  He did not quite understand that after the parade he had to stay in the stroller due to being trampled on.  He was falling/throwing himself out, getting his legs stuck in th ewheels, and when we attempted walking he would go at a snail's pace just to prove a point.  And you can only do so much discipline when there are 1000 people around you :)  If the weather report would have been better for Jackson we would have rented a car and driven home that night!!

Disney World Day 2 (Morning)

Day 2 Lesson learned:  Plan naps accordingly, no matter if that means going back to the hotel

We started day2 at Chef Mickey.  It was a really cute breakfast.  We had purchased the dining plan with our vacation package and I know we are a little weird but we used all of our sit down meals on breakfast.  Kinson is a VERY particular eater.  Even at home, he really only eats breakfast foods, so we wanted to be sure that he got a good breakfast every morning.  

He loves all fruit and of course a donut hole or 2!!

He informed us when we got there, that Goofy was his favorite character.  He loved getting all of their autographs.

Not scared one bit, loved giving hugs!!

Another "Cick and Dale" sighting. They were at every park in theme appropriate attire.  This is in Tommorowland.

This is Stitch before we got on the ride.  We had been on a few rides that morning that didn't go over too well and we saw the Stich Great Escape ride and it had no wait.  We said we might as well try it.  BIG MISTAKE!!  75% of the ride is in complete darkness and you just here Stitch's voice as he "escapes."  Kinson went CRAZY screaming he needed to get off.  Normally I would suck it up and make him continue until the end but I was afraid he would have nightmares!!  Luckily I was able to crawl out from under the harness and grabbed him and we got out during the middle of it.  The workers didn't looked surprised so I am guessing we weren't t he first ones to do that.  He now hates Stitch!!

Waiting on Tomorrowland Speedway.

Taking the turns like a pro!!

Can't forget my Lightening McQueen glasses :)

There were a lot of shows going on on Main Street and we got to see a few of them.  This one was very cute!

We stood longer than we had to in any line to see these 2 but Kinson was not leaving without seeing them.

And this is what you look like after sitting down on the curb to wait for the 3:00 parade!  He fell asleep laying on the sidewalk.  I felt so bad for him.  But he slept a good 2 hours laid out in his stroller!!

Can you see what woke us up....we are now in new clothes after we had an accident sleeping :(

We rode the Toy Story ride at least 6 times!!  He loved it.  We were so glad there were no lines!!  My kid has no patience!!

Disney World Day1

It might take me a month to go through all 500 pictures and narrow it down to show everyone our 4 days of vacation!!  We decided this year to take Kinson to Disney (by himself) for his 4th Bday.  If you know my child, you know he has a STRONG personality and boy did he demonstrate it.  We have a few things we would change about the trip, but overall he ended up having a lot of fun and the "itch" is over and we are satisfied until Cohen will be big enough to go!!  We made some great memories............

Day1:

First thing we would change:  take a later flight and take your time getting there.

Our flight left a 6:00am, Wednesday morning.  It is easier said than done that you will leave your kid in his PJs and let him sleep.  That didn't happen.  He has only flown as an infant so he didn't remember and he was soooo excited about it.  That lasted until we started landing and he started screaming he had "bugs in his ears!!"  They were hurting him and he cried until he fell asleep.  That child slept the next 2 hours as we got off flights, got on the Magical express, and got to our room.  We should have let him sleep, but Mama and Papa were too excited and didn't want to waste a minute :)

As soon as we walked in we saw these 2 guys, a.k.a. "Chick and Dale" according to Kinson.  He loved meeting all the characters.  And it was no lines longer than a few minutes to see anybody.

We then decided to start the day with Nemo ride.  Again he loved the characters!!  I should have known that something was wrong after we got on the ride and when we got in the dark park he started screaming.  He is never scared!!

Waiting on Papa to come back with fast passes to Soarin'

The shark from Nemo!

We then went in a character spot where you stood in line a few minutes and got to meet everyone!!  This was by far his favorite part.  We had to go and meet everyone twice!!

Everyone at Disney has to have Mickey ears, right?!  He chose Lightening McQueen ears!!  This was right after we did Soarin' and Fast Track............he was pretty mad at us by this point!!  He did not like either ride on ebit and it only went down hill after that.  At this point we are beginning  to realize that he is tired, very tired.

Don't forget that I had been up since 3:00 that morning ;)

Loves, loves all the charcters :)

Beer around the worlds!!

We loved Epcot at night.  I am really glad we saw it then because it made it so much prettier and I could appreciate it.  Too bad it was late and we had an early breakfast scheduled because we could have stayed much longer!!

Just be friends

Kinson and my conversation this morning over breakfast:

K: "Mama, what day is it today?" (he asks us this every morning)

Me: "Today is Monday"

K: "Are we not going to school today?"

Me: "Not this Monday. We are staying home."

K: "Why?"

Me: " Today is Martin Luther King Day.  Do you know who that is?"

K: "Yes.  Dr. Luther King had a dream.  He had a dream we would all be friends."

I couldn't have been more proud of that little boy.  It amazes me what he learns and remember but it also reminds me of how moldable and plyable their young minds are.  I hope he retains this virtue of acceptance towards everyone.

So sad.....

I had asked you to pray for Cohen's sweet doctor, Dr. William Bastian, Saturday as I had found out he suffered a massive stroke on January 10.  I am so devastated to say that he passed away yesterday.  I am just heartbroken over this.  He was such a great advocate for our community in his fight against childhood obesity and his care for his patients.  My mom helped recruit him to Jackson a few years back never knowing that her granddaughter's care would be led by him.  When we first found out about Cohen's diagnosis we weren't given many options of local doctors who specialized in childhood hypothyroidism.  My mom just raved about him and after our first visit, we understood why.  He was upfront but caring, thorough and aggressive.  We waited hours to see him at times but after your visit with him we understood why.  He spent whatever amount of time it took to answer any questions and offer any new advice.  Cohen loved him and she always made him measure her and threw a fit if the nurses attempted to :)  We will be forever grateful for his care with Cohen and give him so much credit for the strives she has made due to his early diagnosis.  He will be truly missed by many of his patients and collegues.

New Year's Resolutions 2011

How can I dwindle down my list of resolutions?? I have soooo many things that I would like to work on this year

1.  We, as a family, would like to find a church that we truly like and can be a part of.  This has been a struggle for us because of me being Catholic.  I do not mind attending a church of a different denomination but when it comes to joining, I don't want to have to be baptized again.  We also want to feel like we are part of a church family and meet new people.  I am worried how the kids are going to do as we go to various churches.  If you have a church you love that is reasonably close to us, let me know, we would love to visit!

2.  Organize everything!  You think I am kidding, but I am not!  I have so many things stacked up in my room, car, kitchen, office, you name it I have a stack for it.  It is getting out of control!!  But most importantly, I have to get Cohen's medical info organized.  We have spent lots of money on dr visits and prescriptions and I can't keep up with what we have paid, deductibles, and tax info!  This is a priority so that hopefully soon we can finish refiling for Cohen's assistance program (which we were denied initially!!)

3.  Couponing-  I even went to a class on this back in October.  I learned so much, even bought the accordian file to organize them in.  Then I went even further and got Sunday papers for 4 weeks in a row and stored them in my file.  They are still there..never even pulled them out to look at them!!  I am determined this time.  I follow http://www.southernsavers.com/ to get my coupon match ups (you never have to cut them, just file them and pull them out when she matches them with a sale item).

4.  Cooking--  We don't eat out a lot but I have began slacking in the cooking department.  we were surviving off sandwiched and lean cuisines, ugh.  It was mainly because I was going to the grocery store everyday because I never had everything I needed (reference back to New Year Res2010-- always have a list-- um, yeah, that didnt happen!).  My mom got me a few 5 ingredient cookbooks that were also cooking light (even when I do cook, I make sure it is relatively healthy) for Christmas.  So far, it has gone well.  Now if I can just combine last years resolution to make a list and this year resolution to coupon, I will be hopefully be cooking cheaper too!

5.  I know everyone says exercise, but not really exercising as my resolution but just being a more active family when we are together.  It is so easy to put the kids in front of the TV to get a few minutes of quiet time or take them shopping to just get out of the house.  But I am talking more trips to the park, museums, playing on the swingsets, riding bikes, etc.  The kids always love it when we do it, momma and papa just gotta do it!!

6.  Education-  I love learning anything and everything (I mean really, who goes to a class on couponing!!)  We have to get CEUs to keep our liscense and everytime i get a brochure my first instinct is "I am going to this one!"  If it wasn't the cost and scheduling around work or missing family time on the weekend, I would go to everyone of them, even those that aren't for OT's.  So I am going to definitely look into pursuing/furthering my education online or limited classes to make myself more knowledgeable and up to date to make me a better clinician.

7.  Advocate-  This kind of goes along with education but more specifically-- Hearing Impaired and Language Disorders.  Before Cohen's diagnosis, I knew how to change batteries in my patient's big ole dinosaur aids and when they started whistling I would hit a few buttons and would pray the racket would stop.  Now I can change batteries, know how to dry one out when you accidently leave them on in the bathtub, clean out more ear wax than I thought humanly possible, anyway you get the idea.  But most importantly, these children deserve the best technology has to offer and the best education.  We are fortunate that Magnolia is relatively close to us and that we are in a position that we can afford it.  This is not the case for everybody.  I know people will get tired of me asking or forwarding emails requesting donations, sponsorships, or participation with events, but I feel very strongly about this.  I want only the best for Cohen and it breaks my heart that children just like her can't get the same care.

8.  Be more acknowledging and express my gratitude.  I have never been very good at giving compliments, it is probably because I am not real good at receiving them.  I want to apply this in all aspects, work, friendships, marriage, and family. I love, love, love to write a Thank you note but sometimes things that are small and somewhat expected, I let get by with no acknowledgement.  I want people to know how thankful I really am. 

See, I told you I would have a hard time narrowing it down and these aren't all of them.  A lot of them are more personal changes and smaller things but things I want to work on.  I know I need a lot of motivation to keep up with these but i am determined!!

Prayer request

Most of yall know the multitude of doctors that Cohen has seen over the last 2 years.  We have adored each and every one and are so thankful for their care.  Cohen's Pediatric Endocrinologist had a massive stroke last week and is at UMC right now.  I am not sure of his prognosis at this time.  Besides her pediatrician, the endocrinologidt is the "lead dr" in her care being that majority of her diagnosis are endocrine related.  Needless to say we are DEVASTATED!  He is from Peurto Rico and moved here a few years ago and has had a huge impact in our community with his outreach to childhood obesity.  As far as I know, he had no family here and loved his patients so much that he continued to stay here.  Please pray for him and his recovery during this time. 
With that being said, we have no idea when/if he might return to his practice.  There a very, very few board certified pediatric endocrinologist around this area.  There is 1 at UMC and the possibility of another one that we know of.  I hate to start over with someone new but we have no choice at this time.  We are also cosidering a dr at UAB.  If you have any feedback on the drs at UMC, please let me know.  It would be great if we could have her care centralized there but we are very apprehensive.  Also, we have no idea how long it will take us to get in to a new dr.  Initially, it was 3 months for us to get in and now that his whole practice will be trying to get in... we have no idea what to do.  We are at a loss at the moment, poor Dr Flowers...now I will be bugging him for everything until we get this figured out!!

Crazy hats, Christmas, and a rarity!

Yes, we did celebrate Christmas at the Smith household this year!  It was a very different year for us, since it was the first year without my Mamaw :(  Her house was always the gathering spot every Sunday and for every holiday.  So the tradition carried on at our house this year.  We survived, but boy were we worn out!!  I am not sure how she made sure every gift was bought, every meal was shopped for, planned, and cooked at the right time, and then enjoyed every moment that she had company.  More than a few times did I want to go in my bedroom and shut the door so I could think for a second!!

Christmas Eve my mom brought hats for everyone to wear and we fed the reindeer and attempted the Christmas Story.  Cohen loves hearing stories and was very content on listening but, um, well Kinson had Baby Jesus ramping off of the barn's roof top and had all the wise men playing with trains.  Maybe next year he will get it!

Papa Elf!

Princess Claus!

This is typical right now.  Bear is trying to get Cohen to put out her Reindeer food and she sat down and said "No!"  Her favorite word at the moment..........

Cohen got a dollhouse from Santa.  She loves the one in her therapy room and she knows if she participates well she gets to play with it at the end of each session.  So we got her, her very own to play at her herat's content.  She loves it!!

Kinson got Thomas the train stuff.  That's all he asked for from Santa.  If he opened a present and it wasn't a train, he would quickly tell you he didn't want it and he told Santa he wanted Thomas stuff!!  We have to work on appreciation and gratitude.......

Please dont look at the vast number of presents, these were for our whole family, not just the kids!

Both kids in a picture together.  Can you believe it!!

This was  after the Christmas day festivities, they layed down together with new blankets and pillow pet to watch "Polar Express."  We had to rest up to do it again the next day!!