Joyana Update and Disney Trip, part 1-the train

I have posted before about Joyana's bad teeth and how we found a new pediatric dentist that I liked and was going to work on her teeth. Then, right before we left I mentioned that Joy had fallen and broken her front teeth.

She fell over the weekend and I took her to the ER, basically because I wasn't sure what to do. All they did was wiggle the teeth and tell me that they should last until Monday and go straight to the Dentist (which I sort of already knew, Duh.), however, I was too chicken to wiggle those teeth at home, honestly, if they had finished breaking off in my fingers, I would have just flipped out, much better to have a professional (with an arsenal of pain-killing drugs at hand) to do test wiggle.

Monday: Went in to the dentist, he was upset, said that his whole plan on treating and conserving the teeth was now over, that three of the four top front teeth had to come out, and that we should consider taking all four out. We discussed our options and I asked him what HE would do (he's a father of four). He told me that the parent in him would cry, and the dentist in him would have them all out. He referred me out to an oral surgeon. I spent the rest of Monday calling the insurance company and oral surgeons. Finally found one that the insurance covered, that would take a patient under age 2, and that could see us the next day.

Tuesday: Had MOPS, arranged for Grandpa to take Jessi to Ballet, left Joey with Dean, and took Joy to the Oral Surgeon. I had thought they were actually going to DO it that day... nope. They were just doing an evaluation. After a bit of run-around, they decided they would take the teeth out on October 18th. Hmmm. 22 month old walking around with extremely broken teeth in her mouth. One of them on the verge of breaking off, leaving her with a choking hazard and raw exposed (and thus PAINFUL) tooth pulp in her mouth. Us leaving for vacation in two days.

Did ya'll hear my SCREAMS of frustration? Apparently my dentist did. I love those people. seriously. I called them from the parking lot of the OS and told them what happened and sort of wailed out a "what do I DOOOOO?" and they told me to come in the next day.

Wednesday: I am on standby for the dentist office and if they don't have a cancelation in the morning, they will work on her over their lunch break. I make arrangment with my neighbor that if I'm not back in time (jeff came home from work to watch the kids but had to be back for a meeting at a certain time) Jeff can take J&J over there. I take Joy in to the Dentist (explantion: he had sent me out to the oral surgeon so they could knock Joy all the way out, in the office they can only do local) and we start. They did laughing gas first and she responded ok, the novacaine shots didn't bother her at all. It was when the shots kicked in and her mouth and face went numb that she freaked out a little. The office was great, I laid on the chair with her while the dentist and two assistants did the deed. I won't go into the details, but it was rough. The drive home was rough, I was shaking when I got home. Jeff had to run out the door and get back to work so I was on my own.

Keep in mind that I had a sinus infection thingy going on and had planned to get into my doctor before leaving for Florida (that didn't happen!) and due to all this unplanned running from dentist to dentist I was WAYYYY behind on my packing.

We ended up getting packed up on Wednesday night and did actually leave on time on Thursday morning. Joy took a long nap after extractions on Wednesday, woke up that afternoon acting fine, and was fine from then on. It was a MAJOR blessing and healing... she was fine.

So now on to the fun stuff.

You already know I'm a bit weird, so here you go, more insight into my oddities. I use a lot of herbs and homeopathic remedies for medicine so on the way out of town we went to the "good" herb store (the one where the lady really knows her stuff, vs. the "close" herb store where they just read the label and go from there) and picked up some healing remedies for Joy and some sinus stuff for me. We went to the bank, and then headed up the road.

Amtrak Auto Train= quite possibly the best money we have ever spent on transportation. Amtrak has a train route that runs only from Lorton, VA (DC area) down to Sanford, FL (Orlando area). They load your vehicle onto the train and then take you and your car (van truck motorcycle) down to Florida (or back up to VA). I had done a lot of research for our trip and we decided to try this out for the trip down so that we could arrive fresh and ready to party. It was great. A few people teased us about going 2 hours the wrong direction, but wow, I'd rather drive 90 miles north to save 800 miles south!! When you have this many kids, that is a no-brainer!

We got a sleeper car for us and the littles, the two big kids (Dean and his friend Anthony) had to make do in coach. We got to Lorton after a very easy drive (less than two hours) checked in at the station, went to get some lunch, came back and turned our van over, then explored the station until boarding time. We boarded, got settled in, rambled over the train (lounge car, dining car, etc) and we were off. We had supper in the dining car, came back, the steward had turned down our bunks, we went to bed (you know how easy it is to fall asleep in a car--the train is even better), got up the next morning and had breakfast, the steward put our bunks away, and we were in Sanford--half hour ahead of schedule. We got off the train, went to explore the playground and heard our number being called to get our car.

That was it. No boredom, no stopping to go to the bathroom, no "are we there yet", no tiredness, no carseat bum-numbs, WAY less stress than flying. Awesome, wonderful, if you live within a few hours of the station (or if you would have to drive down the east coast to get to Florida) i highly recommend that you look into it.

here is Joy playing on the playground at the station (this is the day after her teeth coming out).

Joey playing at the station.Joey and Jessi playing "go-fish" in our sleeper.

Ok, next will be our fist day in Orlando and pictures of the townhouse.

Back from Disney

super fun trip, more details to follow(and many pictures), but now just saying we are back.

So Tara tagged me

and apparently that means I have to post 7 random facts about myself. Ha. pretty much everything about me is random.



1. I have a hideous head cold right now that is moving into my chest so I'm going to try to get into the Doctor and see what miraculous things he can do so that I'm not in misery when we go to Florida in 3 days. However, Joy broke her front tooth over the weekend (the jury is out on whether she hit it on her brother's head or on a baby doll head) so getting her to the dentist this morning is first priority.



2. I hate making phone calls. I don't know why, I just hate it. Businesses, acquaintances, it doesn't matter, I just don't enjoy talking on the phone. I call my mom of course, and if someone calls me I'll (usually) answer it, but to sit down with a list of calls to make is just torture to me.



3.I've traveled outside of the US, but only to Central America. I went to Belize the summer I was 14, then again when I was 15. I returned and was there for a year after college. I have also been on a mission trip to Guatemala and have traveled in El Salvador and Mexico. I have one souvenir from Honduras due to a flight layover where we got out and were allowed to roam the airport. So I've been to Honduras, just never outside.



4. I'm scared of heights but love to fly. I can swim but get weirded out when I snorkel--because I feel like I'm going to fall. If I close my eyes or put my head up so I can't see below water I'm fine, but when I see the bottom way down there, I get the same feeling that I do when I'm up high. Even my phobias are weird.



5. I still have my first car, a 1973 VW Bug named "Hoppy". Right now he's parked in my husband's grandparent's barn, awaiting a rebuild and restoration.



6. I graduated from high school early. I turned 18 second semester of my freshman year of college.



7. Some of the students I taught when I was teaching school are now out of college, married, and have kids. This makes me feel OLD. I know that I was barely 5 or 6 years older than they were when I was teaching, but still...



Ok that's my 7 things. I have to get this crew fed and off to the dentist. Fingers crossed that he can do something about this tooth right away.

Will the Government please hold my hand?

If my audience is fellow parents of small children, then I’m sure you have heard about and acted upon all the recent toy recalls that were prompted by findings of lead paint. I’m glad this has been brought to light so that we can choose to remove the toys from our homes. I’m sure that the manufacturers have had a wake-up call and will be revising their manufacturing and quality control methods (or face boycotts by thousands of angry American moms). This is all good; I don’t want my child to develop lead poisoning any more than you do. I’m even grateful that it has given me a good “excuse” to weed through our toys.
HOWEVER (you knew that was coming, didn’t you?), if I read or hear one more thing about “the government” letting this happen, or “the government” allowing these toys to be sold, or “the government” taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again... I will scream.
I don’t want “the government” to decide what toys I can buy and my children can play with. Someone else already gets to decide who and how and when my children get vaccinated, how I can deliver my babies, how I can educate them, and we are on a slippery slope regarding how I can discipline them.
At what point do we just birth them and turn them over to approved nurseries to be fed approved foods and sleep in approved cribs and play with approved toys and educated in approved methods?
How about we a) use some common sense, and b) let the power of free-market do its magic?
I keep reading of people going through their homes and tossing anything marked “made in China”, whether it is painted or not. If you choose to get rid of all Chinese made items, so be it, but be aware that cheap items made in other countries may have the same problems and also that not ALL products that happen to be made in China are poison. React thoughtfully, not out of a lemming-like fear.
If people demand cheapy, nasty toys for a few cents, then that is what we will be marketed and sold. If we demand high quality, worthwhile toys, well, the market will show that too.
I have an even better idea. Instead of pushing for government involvement in yet one more area of our lives, take a look around and see how you can simplify and support small US businesses by buying local, hand-made toys. No, I can’t mass produce a doll and sell it for $7, but I can sew a great quality, handmade doll that I guarantee will outlast your child’s doll playing years and sell it to you for under $25. No, your local woodworker can't mold out 100's of plastic blocks per shift, but he can provide cool toys like this or this. My friend Lisa doesn't produce complete play kitchens neatly wrapped in cellophane, but she does do amazingly cute play food sets .

So I suppose my rant is over, but seriously, think about it. What can we do to act instead of just react?

blech, a spider web

I have completely forgotten what wondrous bits of humor and whimsy I had intended to share this morning. I accidentally (well, obviously, it's not like you'd do this on purpose!!) walked into a spider web, complete with tiny spider, and now, no matter how much I brush myself off and smack myself about the head and face, I still keep thinking that I FEEL it on me.
You see, Joy and I got up after Jeff and Dean but well before Joey and Jessi, so we had the place to ourselves. I was waiting for someone to drop something off to me so we were sitting outside and got to enjoy the interesting show of the bulk trash pick up.
Seriously you guys, that is SO cool. The truck with that claw thingy, and he drives around and then parks and stabilizes the truck, then like a live video game, he works all the controls and picks up everything from old couches and mattresses, to tree branches.
But I digress, we noticed a little spider hanging from the tree, catching the breeze, floating around, and while we appreciated him from a distance, we were careful not to get too close and have him (or her, I really don't know) float onto us.
Well, we were careful for a minute. My friend drove up to deliver the stuff, the trash man was picking up a mattress and was about to move onto the next house (an old LaZboy) and we just weren't paying attention.
Yacks. A face full of spider web. I'm sure that we returned the favor of providing a show to the trash man with the gyrations and slapping that followed.
It has now been 30 minutes, I've pulled much of my hair out and am quite sure that there is nothing alive on me, but still... I FEEL it, you know?

Do it now...

don't delay, don't put it off for another day...

Any other Patch fans out there know this song?
I was tired of "what's gonna work? TEAMWORK! what's gonna work?..." So I taught the kids this Patch the Pirate song instead.
We were making good use of it this afternoon giving the living room (and by virtue of putting many things in their proper place, the rest of the house) a good cleaning.
Now, I don't normally appreciate or share "potty humor" but this is too funny. Joey was taking a potty break and Jessi kept going to the bathroom door and singing to him, "Do it NOW, don't DELAY.." and finally Joey had had enough. I hear, "Listen Jessi, I am a SLOW person, I do NOT like that song! STOP singing it to me!"

At this same time, Joy woke up from her nap and had to go potty as well. We only have one bathroom and while I do have a little potty chair for Joy to use in emergencies, I thought that Joey could indeed speed things up and get out. As he came out, I ran Joy in and put her on the potty, fussed with the skirt of her dress and made sure that her sash wasn't going to go in. She seemed rather distressed but since I only understand about 1/4 of her 1 year old gibberish, I missed the message. By the time I caught on to the reason, it was too late. Poor kid, I had put her on the potty but not taken down her panties.

The message here? I don't know... Some things need to be done NOW, and some things it pays to take an extra second and be thorough.

Disney Planning

So we are going to Disney. This trip is actually a long time coming, we had originally planned back in 2005 to go the spring of 2006...then found out I was expecting and that we'd have a 6-8 week old baby in the spring of '06. So, the Disney trip got delayed.

Earlier this year a friend told me about a vaction home rental agency that had super prices right in the Disney area, I looked it up and was completely wowed. 3 bedroom townhomes with pools and large on-resort playgrounds and waterparks for barely over $100 a night. Our family size is such that Disney resort policy won't allow us to stay in one room, we either get two separate rooms (with one of us in each "kid" room, even if the kid is 17 years old!) which even in Disney's "budget" resorts comes to nearly $200 a night, or pay $300 a night for a large suite type resort. So, even figuring in parking lot fees every day and not being able to buy the dining plan, staying out in town worked out best for us.

We are staying in this unit, called Pooh's Dreamscape , check out the pictures of the playground and waterpark... I almost want to leave a day free just to play on the resort property!

We plan to bring one of Dean's friends along so he can go do big kid things while we endure endless rounds of Flying Dumbo rides. Ok just kidding about "enduring" it, we are really excited about letting the kids experience Disney while they are still young enough to enjoy all the magic.

I have reservations for Breakfast with Pooh and Friends, lunch with Mickey, Chip & Dale, and I'm not sure who else, Breakfast with JoJo and Goliath, and Breakfast with Donald and friends. I am expecting that one big meal in the park per day will be plenty and we can suppliment with snacks and shared meals as needed. We will hit Magic Kingdom on day 1, then Epcot, MGM, and Animal Kingdom in that order, and leave the last day free to return to whichever park we need to- I'm assuming that will be Magic Kingdom again.

We would also like to see the Medieval Times dinner theater while we are down there, either the first night before we start hitting the parks, or after we are done with the parks and are heading for Tampa to stay with my cousin for a few days. The kids are excited about seeing "real" knights and princesses, although there is some concern about the possibility of dragons. I'll let you know how that all works out.

I have absolutely absorbed the entire 500 page website of Allearsnet.com (a great disney tip site!) and with my personalized maps from My Disney Vacation, I feel almost ready to hit the road.
Oh, speaking of hitting the road, we are going to add to our vacation and take the Amtrak AutoTrain down to Orlando. We board a little ways north from where we live, get on the train in the afternoon, eat supper, watch movies, have our sleeper car turned down, and go to bed. We wake up the next day, eat breakfast on the train, and get off in Orlando. Snips about 700 miles off of that pesky drive. We load the van on in Virginia and unload it in Orlando and have our own wheels. We will be driving home but it just seemed like a great idea to NOT arrive for 5 days at the Kingdom already tired from the trip. It's a bit pricey but by buying our tickets and leaving on certain days we were able to save a few hundred $ from the regular prices, not to mention that the kids are tickled to be riding a "REAL TRAIN", and I'm sure I will NOT be missing the "are we there yet" that we would have gotten had we driven!

So,
matching T shirts (for each day of the trip of course)- check,
itinerary - check,
character dining reservations- check,
train tickets- check,
townhome reservations- check,
new shoes (walking a bit each evening to break them in of course!) - check,
"training" trips to the local museum (we have a pass, so if they misbehave, we leave immediately...they don't need to know that at disney we can't do that)- check,
a trial run to Busch Gardens (they did pretty good!) - check.

Now, I just need to get an extra card or two for the camera, autograph books, figure out exact packing logistics, think of 94 other things, forget 37 of those things...
Jeff keeps telling me-- "uh baby, this isn't the last and only time we'll ever take them... just the first time" he's right, I know this... I just need to relax, actually, (oh how sad is this...) it's on my list.