Disney World!

Derek had a 2-day work conference at Disney World to train him for him on being a chief resident next year at the end of April,so he added some leave onto the trip to make a family vacation out of it! Thankfully, my parents joined us as well..otherwise I don't think we would have been able to manage Disney World with a toddler & a 5 week old in tow! We drove down on Thursday, April 25th. It's definitely a long drive from Biloxi to Orlando {almost 600 miles}, but the drive down went really well! We stopped about every 2 hours to let Shelby stretch her legs/run around and for me to nurse Hadley. Hadley slept for the majority of the drive down, Shelby watched her DVD's, Derek did all the driving, and my arms got tired from constantly turning around to the backseat to swap out DVD's for Shelby or pop the pacifier back in Hadley's mouth. ;)  But all in all, it was a relatively easy first road trip for us as a family of 4!

We stayed at the Shades of Green, which is a military resort on Disney World property. We got a suite-style room b/c we were worried about Hadley waking up Shelby at night. The room set-up worked out great. We had 2 full bathrooms, a small kitchen, a master bedroom, and a large living room area with 2 sofa sleepers. Shelby slept on one of the sofa sleepers in the living room, Derek & I were in the master bedroom, and Hadley was in a pack n play in the bathroom off of the master bedroom. It was worth the extra money to have the extra space for comfortable sleeping arrangements for everyone! But as it turned out, our first night there Hadley slept like a champ and Shelby was the one who gave us trouble! It totally baffled us! Derek & I couldn't even remember the last time we were up with Shelby in the middle of the night, and then that night we were up several times. We never could figure out what exactly was wrong. She initially went right to sleep that night, but then kept waking up every hour or so crying inconsolably. It was heart-breaking. {And also a little frustrating..the newborn is finally sleeping, and then we are up every hour with our toddler..sheesh!} We think it was just a combination of being overtired {we got in very late that night}, allergies, and being in a new bed in a hotel. After about the 3rd or so time we were up with Shelby, Derek asked Shelby if she wanted him to sleep with her. She took both of her hands and put them on Derek's cheeks and said "Yes Daddy." It was the sweetest, most pitiful thing. But neither of us thought she would actually sleep with Derek in bed with her b/c we have never slept in the same bed as her since she was maybe 2 months old. But as it turned out, she slept like a charm once she had her Daddy to snuggle with. Here's a picture I snapped of them in the middle of the night when I was up feeding Hadley...

The two of them slept until a littler after 9am the next morning. Derek said he woke up to Shelby hovering over his face whispering "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" ;) Thankfully, aside from that first night, Shelby slept like a rock for the rest of the time we were there! And shockingly, Hadley did too! There were about 3 or 4 nights where Hadley slept for a 6-7 hour stretch, nursed, and then slept for another 3-4 hour stretch. It was ah-mazing! {Unfortunately, it was back to business as usual once we got home as Hadley resumed her normal newborn sleeping habits. But it was nice while it lasted!} We were so impressed with how well the girls did on our trip--there were several days with no naps & lots of late nights for Shelby, but it was so worth it! And thankfully, Hadley is still so little she just slept on the go. :)

Okay, that's enough rambling for now....on to the pictures! Here are some shots from our first 2 days at Disney World where we visited Magic Kingdom & Animal Kingdom.

First ride on the monorail

First ride on the monorail

This is one of my favorite memories from the trip...indulging in Mickey Mouse
ice cream treats with my Shelby-girl :)

Watching a parade on Main Street in Magic Kingdom.
Love the expressions on my mom & Shelby's faces!

Train ride around Magic Kingdom...Hadley is under the pink blanket in the front
of the picture ;)

Shelby enjoying a Mickey Mouse cake pop on the train ride :)

Another shot from the train ride...can you tell Shelby was hot & tired?!

Day 2 at Animal Kingdom.
Watching a Lion King show.

Lion King Show

Grammy & Hadley during the show :)

We went on a safari ride through Animal Kingdom and saw lots of
animals in the "wild." It was very cool!

Shelby looking at the animals on our safari ride.

They had a little petting zoo at Animal Kingdom that Shelby loved!

This was Shelby's attempt at nuzzling the goat :)

I love the expression on her face!

Pure happiness!

This was the best picture we could get of Grammy & Grampy with Shelby.

And this is why..Shelby was more interested in hugging Grampy ;)

Feeding the sheep!

This was a dinosaur ride similar to the Dumbo ride at Magic Kingdom.
This was Baby Hadley's first ride..she is under the blanket :)

Daddy & Shelby on the ride!

Grampy waiting for us at the bottom :)

In the middle of Animal Kingdom, they had this truck with a DJ-type of person
playing music. Shelby was the only one dancing, but she was having the time of her life
and the DJ was loving it!

Then they brought out some characters to liven up the dance party.
Here is Shelby waiting on them to come down.

This was her first "character experience" at Disney, and she loved it!
Even though she had no idea who those characters were! ;) She just
thought they were bunnies :)

She was SO happy to get a hug!

Dancing with Thumper :)

Here is Shelby passed out in her bed...Disney World wore this girl out!

I've got lots more pictures & stories to share, but I'm going to break it up over a few more posts! So stay tuned :)