familytravel

Preparing for Your Trip To Disney World

Preparing For Your Trip To Disney World

Its no secret that I am a planner at heart. I love checklists and achieve boatloads of internal satisfaction in crossing items off a to-do list! I’ve described myself as “almost type-A” (which my former counselor got a kick out of). Planning for vacation is no different! Especially now that it will come 4 weeks after a pretty major surgery so I’m trying to get prepared early.

In my prepping for our trip, I wanted to share some things I learned about preparing for your trip to Disney World! Here are some cool things that I have found so far in packing for children:

 

1 – The Disney World Vacation Ultimate Packing List

Seriously this list has it all – including things to remember to put in your day bag for visiting the parks! Hopefully this will help me remember the little things that I always find myself forgetting like extra batteries.

 

2 – What to Pack in Your Disney Diaper Bag

Another great packing list specifically for your little one! I love that this list was created by a mom and not only does she provide a list of items, she also gives her recommendations on what works and what doesn’t. The Growing Up Disney blog is a great resource when traveling a family trip to see The Mouse.

 

3- Travel Kids Card

Abby is 2 so obviously she doesn’t have a photo ID. While the airline will not require a photo ID to get on the plane, it is not a bad idea to have one on hand for traveling. Heaven forbid, she get separated from us, but at least this will allow some peace of mind. Creating a travel ID only takes a matter of minutes, ships quickly, and is fairly inexpensive. We ordered ours from Kids Travel Card. I ended up purchased 2 spares so that Hubs and I can each keep one in our wallets just in case.

 

4- Sippy Cup Straps

If you follow me on twitter, you’ve recently heard my rants about sippy cups going missing in our house. Seriously I have had to buy at least 6 new sippies in the last 3 weeks. I was concerned with how we could keep up with Abby’s cups while touring Disney. I’ve seen several variety of sippy cup straps/leashes  and some of them are quite pricey. I decided to check out one of my fav sites, Etsy, and I discovered the shop HarmonyStyle who has the cutest sippy cup leashes in Disney prints at $5 each! Score!

 

5- Hit up Dollar Tree & Dollar General

I have seen so, so many cute Disney related items at Dollar Tree and Dollar General (and similar stores). You can save some money by packing some small souvenirs or items to keep them occupied on the plane (or in the car). They have Disney related snack bags and sippy cups. All of these things you can get for a fraction of the price! We traveled to Disney the last time at Christmas so I picked up a Disney Princess stocking at the Dollar Tree and every morning she had a small Disney treat waiting on her in her stocking that I picked up while preparing for the trip at Dollar General or the Dollar Tree. She was super excited and she didn’t care where it came from! Cool points for mom!

 

Any great sites or products that you would recommend in planning for family vacation? Do you have tips to share regarding traveling with a toddler, either to Disney or in general? Would love to hear them!

 

chronic stylejust for fun

What I Wore Wednesday #2

Its time for another edition of What I Wore Wednesday & I’m linking up with Lauren at The Pleated Poppy!

pleated poppy
So here is my first shot at showing you my outfits from the week! I didn’t get every day but enough for you to get the picture! I learned quickly that it is best to take the picture early in the day for two reasons: 1) I often look ragged by 5pm and 2) I will learn that my choice is not exactly figure flattering before wearing it all day! I’ve tried to be very conscious to accessorize! Here we go!

Outfit #1:

This is the outfit that taught me the above lesson (I look pretty run down & my hair is flat as a pancake)! I thought I looked really cute but I don’t think the top does much for my figure.

Shirt: Old Navy

Tank: Target

Trouser Jeans: Old Navy

Necklace: Maurices

Outfit #2:

I felt much better in this outfit! Its simple but I still felt put together!

Shirt & Tank: Old Navy

Jeans: Maurices

Sandals: Lulu’s

Necklace: Brumby’s on Etsy

Outfit #3:

I was feeling pretty bad but still wanted to get out of the house for a bit! We did a Wal-Mart run to pick out Abby’s first tricycle!

Shirt & Tank: Old Navy

Shorts: Old Navy

Necklace: Wal-mart

Shoes: Lulu’s

Lessons for the week: Accessories can totally make an outfit & when my hair is this short, I need my flat iron!

chronic illness

MRI Results & News

So I had my appointment this morning to go over MRI findings. Unfortunately there were no definitive answers so we didn’t get the big flashing lights we were hoping for (you know it would be so much easier if it all happened that way – like a big flashing arrow that pointed to exactly where the problem was). Good news is that there were no masses or tumors. Bad news is that there was some abnormality on the left side (which is my problem area) but it was hard to tell just what it was. There was nothing with the MRI by itself that screamed “Let’s do surgery” but once paired with my history, pain levels and my  hormonal response to the Clomid, we feel its the best decision to make. My doctor thinks that given all of the evidence the positive benefits of having surgery outweigh the risks.

 

So it looks like I’m having surgery #5 as early as next Friday (which is the date we are shooting for). It gives me time to recover and still be somewhat useful from home once the students return to campus. Since we are planning on this being a laparatomy (open-incision) surgery, I’m looking at a 6 week recovery which will put week 6 on our vacation week to Disney which of course had me worried. Since we’re flying instead of driving and staying on site, my doctor doesn’t think I’ll have any issues. I will need naps but as long as I don’t do anything crazy, I should still be able to have a good time.

 

I was thinking that I would have more time to prepare (both mentally & physically) and while I’m nervous, I’m hopeful that maybe this will allow me to regain part of my life back!

 

I am trying to line up some guest posts during the first week of my recovery & while I know it’s short notice, please let me know if you are interested! Posts don’t have to be specifically chronic illness related but can include topics like parenting (summer fun/adoption/toddlers/mom humor), faith, or even home life (easy recipes/organization tips/etc). If you are interested, please shoot me an email at anewkindofnormal AT gmail DOT com.

 

UPDATE: Surgery is officially scheduled for Friday August 12th!