Surprise!

I spread the word via social networking that my family is expecting another bundle of joy. I will officially be 13 weeks tomorrow, which will boost me into the second trimester. Woo hoo! Here's how we announced our new baby to be:

Pregnancy this time around has been kicking my butt. I'm extremely exhausted...ALL THE TIME! However, I am starting to get some energy back. Slowly but surely. I have also had my battle with nausea, which I had little to none of the first go around.

I'm looking forward to the next 6 months of growing with my new baby and possibly sharing some funny and not so funny stories of my roller coaster through pregnancy: part deux.

Welcome aboard! Or not...

Vacations are officially over until May. What a crazy couple of months! I'm happy it's February 1st.

My husband and I went on a 4 night Bahamas cruise last week on Norwegian Cruise Line. It was our first time sailing on NCL. I've heard really good things about it, so I had high hopes. While we both enjoyed our time away together, we did not enjoy our experience with the cruise line. Even the check-in process before we got on the ship was frustrating to us, so we were already in sour moods before taking our first steps onto the ship. After checking in, we were directed to the back entrance of the ship. I have to admit, one of my favorite parts about a cruise is walking into the grand atrium for the first time and being welcomed by the friendly crew. This did not happen...any of it. To regulate traffic, they were directing some people to enter through the atrium, and others to enter through the back of the ship where all the muster stations are. We didn't even get a single "welcome aboard". Very disappointing. Since it took almost an hour to check-in, we were starving, so we were trying to make our way to the top deck to get some lunch. There were absolutely NO crew members around to direct us where to go. Finally, we stumbled upon a set of elevators that took us to the top deck. The rest of the cruise was pretty much the same.

NCL's motto is "Freestyle Cruising", which to me means THEY don't care what you do. There are no assigned dining times, you just show up "whenever" and do "whatever" you want. I thought I would like this, but I really did not. We ate at the sit down restaurant twice...once for lunch and once for dinner. The service was horrible. At lunch, the beverage guy never came around...not once. Our waiter never made eye contact with us...not once. In fact, I asked him a question and it took him a couple seconds to realize that I was waiting for a response, to which his response was, "what?" The only nice meal we had was one we paid $20/pp for at the Brazilian restaurant where they bring meat to your table. Excellent!

Their private island was about 95% under construction. I'm sure it will be nice once it's completed, but right now it looks like a dump. Piles of sand everywhere with big machinery driving all over. Had to walk past a village of port-o-potties to get to the nature trail. No thanks. I think we spent a total of 15 minutes on the island before we caught a tender back to the ship.

We are not drinkers, so my husband got a soda package. Every time he went to ask for a soda, the bartenders seems put out by it. AND the pool bar and the bar back by the buffet closed before 8pm every night. Who closes a bar on a cruise ship before 8pm? NCl does...and this is why.

It seemed like everyone on the ship was above 50 years old. I think we were the only ones playing BINGO that were younger than about 65. I did win on the first night, so I'm good with that.

I'm happy we didn't bring our son with us. The kids section of the ship was still undergoing refurbishments, so I'm not sure what he would've been able to do. AND no swim diapers are allowed in any of the pools, not even the little kiddie splasher pool, which was the size of a bathtub. Also, there was no kids food on the buffet. I was expecting to see mac n cheese or chicken nuggets everyday, but there was nothing my son would have eaten.

I will say that the staterooms were rather large. We were in an inside stateroom and it was very spacious. I did enjoy not having to shimmy around all the furniture.

Overall, NCL was a big fail.

We are throwing around the idea of a cruise for our anniversary this year. It will either be a Disney cruise on the Magic or Royal Caribbean. Still figuring out pricing and schedules. Of course we would prefer a Disney cruise, especially since they decorate their ship for Christmas and have special Christmas activities during December. It might be nice to check out Royal Caribbean since they were voted #1 for kids and families. Decisions decision!

Re-couping from Christmas

I haven't had much time to sit down and do anything lately, but I will eventually write up a post about my ABSOLUTELY AMAZING Disney Mom's Panel experience. The 2011 class goes live on January 1st, so my mugshot and video will be on www.disneyworldmoms.com very soon. I'm a little excited for that, except I haven't seen my head shot yet. I'm not too worried about it though, it's the fun and experience of the Mom's Panel I'm after.

Lots going on in January...4 day Disney trip to help out with the Unofficial Guide Research Trip and also our 5 day Norwegian Cruise Line no-baby cruise! I'm really excited to just relax with my husband and explore a new cruise line. (I'm sure it won't compare to Disney Cruise Line, hehe)

How was your Christmas? Mine was fantastic. My mom gave me this creative cupcake book, so I'm excited to try out some of those ideas. Be on the lookout for some pictures coming up...if I can find the time. There's always time to bake and decorate, right? Just need to get the kitchen cleaned up of all the Christmas stuff and I'll be good to go

Tomorrow is the big day! Today has been completely insane. I didn't even start being productive until about 3pm. I'm mostly packed, clothes are set aside for the baby for when I'm gone, he's all packed up for when they meet up with me on Tuesday, and I'm exhausted!

See you guys in a week!

Disney, Playdates and Pesto!

I can't believe it's only 3 DAYS AWAY!! I'm so excited about it that I started typing that sentence again! I plan on starting to pack today to I can see if I'm missing anything and to make sure I have enough outfits. I am really enjoying not knowing the itinerary. I'm usually the one who plans everything and makes reservations everywhere, so the surprise is going to be nice. I have a feeling we're going to be doing/seeing a lot of things that I have never done/seen before, so I am really looking forward to that What I wouldn't give to actually plan this trip though! I can't wait to meet my new Disney family!

I have completed Christmas and anniversary shopping. Well, except for a couple gift cards and I'm waiting for a couple items to arrive in the mail. But for the most part it is complete. Our tree is up and there's a star on top, but I don't think we will be putting ornaments on it this year. Don't get me wrong, I love ornaments on the tree, but this holiday has been so super busy that I just don't feel like doing it. :) I do need to find the stocking holders and our stockings so I can fill them. I wonder if Santa will be filling my stocking this year.

Playdate is at my house today. The kids will be making photo frame ornaments. I'm using this playdate as an excuse to make the pesto dip. Yum! It's been awhile since I've had it and my cream cheese is going to expire in a couple weeks. (I swear, it is!) Yesterday the kids made handmade coasters as a gift to the grandparents for Christmas. I will snap a photo of them when they are completely done. They turned out gorgeous though!

Here's the pesto dip recipe in case you're wondering (super duper easy!):

1 8oz brick of cream cheese

1 jar of basil pesto (I like to drain it a little bit)

Mix them together, throw it in a baking dish (I use a square glass one) and bake it for about 25 minutes at 350. Serve with any cracker. I prefer wheat thins. Yum yum yum!

One more week to go!

One more week! I can't believe I am only one week away. I feel excited and nervous all at the same time! I bumped into someone today who knew what the Walt Disney World Mom's Panel is (which is refreshing) and she amped me up even more since she knew why I'm so excited. Hopefully this next week will go by fast, however there's still so much to do! I still need to hem my pants (must do), pick up a few more Christmas gifts, take N to playdates, make some meals for the hubby, and somewhat clean house. But most of all, I have to pack! I've been breaking in my Crocs all week in preparation of walking in them all morning, day and night. Woo hoo!

On a side note, I'm exhausted. Not sure why I've been so tired lately. N is just running me down. He's definitely an active boy! At least I can count on a nap every day, although I should be using this time to do dishes, laundry, napping...but instead I am catching up on last nights shows. I'll regret this in a couple hours.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas tree is up, holiday music is playing and a nice breeze just swept through the house. Ahhhhhhhhh. What a wonderful Saturday! I must admit that I'm a bit terrified to go back into the kitchen. I know all those store bags are calling my name to come wrap all the presents that are inside. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE wrapping presents, however I just want to sit here a little bit longer before I actually get into that mess.

How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was great. Had dinner at my parents house on Wednesday, and then we all went over to my in-law's house on Thanksgiving. Lots of food, lots of full bellies. My son had a sleepover that night at Nana's so my husband and I could go Black Friday shopping.

Yes, I'm one of "those people" who enjoy getting up in the middle of the night when all the neighbors are sleeping to go buy a bunch of stuff we don't really need, but feel like the deal is so good we can't pass it up. This year, there was no getting up in the middle of the night since the sales started at 10pm the night BEFORE Black Friday. We did start at that 10pm store (Toys R Us), however we didn't even park because the line waiting to get in was wrapped not only around the building, but around the entire shopping complex. We headed to Walmart, where the sales started at midnight. I camped out at Walmart from about 10pm and didn't leave until about 1am. I got everything I needed. Broke a nail when the riot broke out at the DVD's, but that's ok. The riot? Yes, well that's what everyone was calling it. I was grabbing DVD's when I heard a bunch of screaming next to me. There was a security guard there who said something like, "everybody play nice!" I didn't want to lose focus on my goal, so I kept moving around the big square pile of DVD's. It wasn't until later that I found out from the woman in line behind me at checkout that a man got really angry about someone grabbing the DVD that he wanted, so he picked up a stack of them and threw them at the crowd. I won't go into detail about exactly what I mean by "crowd", you just had to be there to believe me. We also went to Kmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, Toys R Us a couple more times, Target, Walmart again, Kohls and I believe that's all. We got everything we set out to get, and a little more. Now all of those gifts are in the kitchen...still waiting for me, still taunting me to come wrap them in red and green paper. I guess I should also mention that out of all those presents, I still have EVERYONE to shop for still. What in the heck did we buy? And also would like to thank my hubby for coming out with me. I know it's a pain in the butt, but we had fun.

There's that nice breeze again. *sigh

The countdown is now 13 days!!!! 13 days until I meet 14 other people who had a magical phone call that will change their lives and mine! I've been corresponding via Facebook and email with them, so I feel like I somewhat know them already. I received my contract last week, so everything is official now. Just waiting on something to tell me when and where I am supposed to be on December 10th. Now I just need to hem my pants, pack my suitcase, get my hair done, pack up the boys for our anniversary trip, make a couple meals for the husband to eat while I'm gone, break in my Crocs, finish the holiday shopping......and so and and so on. Can you tell I'm excited?

Do any of you have fun holiday plans this year?