Jacob's 1st DL trip!

We caved and bought the Southern California Annual Passport (2nd level). I got mine with parking. The weather was a bit overcast but fortunately it did not rain. We were supposed to go to DL after Jacob's nap at around 3-ish and meet up with all sorts of friends (babies: joey, tyler, and other passport holders) but then Jacob's sleeping schedule has been soo off these past few days. I think the likely culprit is teething since he's drooling more, biting his fingers, and is having trouble getting to sleep - then we resorted to giving him baby tylenol at night (after 45 mins of straight crying). Jacob usually sleeps from 8pm-8am, then naps noon-2pm, but these past few days he hasn't been able to fall asleep until around 10:30 pm and this morning he woke up at 10am! So this totally threw off our original schedule of going at 3 since now we had this huge gap in the middle of the day. Even though Jacob had a routine going on for him, his schedule is still unpredictable especially with teething, growth spurts, etc etc.

So after we fed him and got things ready, we finally drove off to DL at around noon. We parked at a far parking lot (next time we need to find a closer one) and walked a great distance to get to the entrance. TIP TO SELF: next time im going to wear SNEAKERS for sure (today i stupidly wore sandals which gave me a blister). After standing in line to buy our annual passes we didn't get into the park until almost 1pm! ANOTHER TIP FOR FRIENDS: you can purchase these annual passes online - i knew we could do so online but it simply slipped my mind (excuse for absentmindedness: i'm pregnant:P )

We were pretty much at DL for less than 4 hours. We were able to stroll around through main street, hang out in fantasy land, then we headed to Frontierland where Chuperman agreed to go on Winnie the Pooh ride as a family. We were a bit paranoid that our Bugaboo would get stolen but thankfully nothing happened to Jacob's transportation. It was so much fun going on the ONLY ride of the day hahaa. This was Jacob's 1st amusement park ride ever and I think he liked it! He wasn't scared or anything, just gazing at everything with great curiosity haha.

After Winnie the Pooh ride, I wanted to grab a snack for myself and baby #2:P, plus it was Jacob's snack time as well. We spent a good hour at Cafe Orleans. Luckily we had a great table with a nice view of the Mark Twain steamboat,etc. We had the best parmesan fries that came with this spicy ranch sauce. I also got the french onion soup which wasn't bad although I like Vie de France better. With an annual passport you get 10% off most DL restaurants. Hey, every bit counts! :P

Then we strolled around some more and made our way up to Toon Town. However, when we got there Jacob was fast asleep in his stroller. So we decided to stroll back down to Tomorrowland to ride the monorail around the park. Couldn't find an elevator for the monorail. At this point our feet were getting tired and decided to stand in line at the Bank on Mainstreet to take our passport pictures before we left the theme park altogether.

One thing that really shocked me was that DL was still pretty crowded today! I naively thought that DL wouldn't be crowded given these economic times and cloudy weather. I really didn't think that many ppl would still be buying annual passports.

Another observation: I am probably generalizing but it looked like most visitors were from socal in which I want to guess that most of them have annual passes. I barely saw any tourists. We also saw A TON of babies (some like 3 mos old) in infant carriers, baby bjorns and strollers EVERYWHERE. One can rent a disney stroller for $12.

More tips: outside water bottles and snacks are allowed into the park. prob can get away with taking a sub-sandwich in hehe. DL charges $7 for turkey legs! I guess they're pretty big legs hehe. $3 for churros... no thx, i'll get my $1 churro at costco. there are plenty of diaper changing stations in DL -- men's is prob less crowded.

Jacob's 1st DL ride! Winnie the Pooh Ride



Fantasy Land



Overall, Jacob had a great time. He really enjoyed all the live music and live entertainment. He would clap and smile and giggle. Jacob had fun ppl watching, especially watching other kids play. On the car ride home, Jacob was "talking" and talking, and kicking his legs (equivalent to a puppy wagging its tail when happy). He especially liked it when I sang the Winnie the Pooh song to him. (warning: pls don't ask me to sing the winnie the pooh song. jacob is the only person on this planet that hopefully appreciated my attempt at singing hahaha)

Looking fwd to our next DL trip with hopefully joey! and tyler and pearson and mommy&daddy's friends.

ooooooooooh BOY

hahaa.. yes, it is true. We are having ANOTHER boy! :P I'm super excited since JAcob just loves watching other kids play and playing with them. He'll even chase other babies down in music class. Who knows if we'll be brash enough later on to try for a girl given Chuperman's crazy schedule and the chance of possibly moving coast-to-coast with multiple kids!

Actually, I already knew the sex when I had an in-house U/S done at 15wks (I am now 20 wks) so I really wasn't surprised today when I saw the lil bebe's crown jewels again, but this time more clearly. During the 15wk U/S the lil bebe was totally crossing its legs but we were able to catch a brief glimpse of the sex. Today, as soon as the U/S machine turned on - the first image was lil bebe totally spread eagle with everything showing haha like he was saying "look at me, i'm a boy!"

I get a cursory U/S from my OB every time I see him which was today. I'm having an official anatomy U/S done with a technician on Friday.

I didn't think I'd be so happy after the U/S. I think today, which is exactly half-way mark at 20 wks - is the first day during this pregnancy where I'm actually excited to be pregnant (during 1st pregnancy i was naively excited) Everyday since I found out that I got knocked up again has been filled with a mixed bag of emotions comprising of regret, self-pity, and feeling bitter haha. But now after today's U/S, I'm really excited to see how Jacob reacts to a new baby bro! I think he'd be too young to really know what's going on. I don't think he'd be jealous cuz by the time he meets his younger sibling, Jacob will still only be 18mos. We'll see tho as babies are still quite unpredictable! haha. We're going to take Jacob to see his lil bro at the U/S appt this Friday;)

DL annual passports?

... leaning towards a YES haha. I've had a surge of energy in recent weeks as I am now almost 5 months pregnant or into the coveted "honeymoon" phase of pregnancy. I feel pretty good for the first time since early November. Also, my outlook for the next year is much more optimistic. I've decided that I am going block out all of the stress until we actually know where we'll end up - then we'll be in major GO GO GO mode looking for housing, moving, preparing for 2nd baby, looking for a sitter! Getting stressed and overwhelmed now isn't going to change anything so I'm just going to focus on spending time with Jacob and Chuperman for now.

I feel happier these days as my nausea is pretty much history (except for really potent smelling meats and fish) and my energy level has picked back up to probably 75% which is better than <25% (my 1st trimester - or this time around 1st 15 or 16 weeks). I even worked out at 24hr fitness yesterday! Not a crazy work out cuz this time around I don't want to get injured again (muscle strain, not being able to walk for a few days).

So anyway, a proposed gift of Disneyland annual passports has been extended to us. I think it would be so great to take Jacob since he's relatively good whenever we go out. Yes, he's still a handful b/c he's only 1 but I think he'd enjoy the music, sights, and merriment that DL has to offer. On the otherhand, Chuperman is against taking a 1 yr old to Disneyland but frankly, I think I've exhausted all the less-expensive alternatives. In the past several weeks, we've taken Jacob to numerous beaches, Fashion Island, Spectrum, SCP, the Grove/Farmer's market in LA, and the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. We as adults get tired of going to the same places over and over. DL is so huge and we couldn't possible cover even 1/2 the park in 1 day.

The days left in living in utopic OC are numbered for us, especially since I'll be giving birth to #2 in hopefully end of June (the earlier the better) or early July. This will probably be the last time I'll be able to spend one-on-one quality time with Jacob before I have to go through the newborn stage again. I work only part-time and have various meetings and classes scattered throughout the week, but for the most part, I'd be able to take Jacob to DL even during the week to avoid crowds. Plus, in this economy, I've heard from other passport holders that DL is not crowded, even on a saturday.

Even though Jacob won't be able to go on any adult rides and I wouldn't be able to either since I'm with child again haha -- Jacob and I would still be able to go on Winnie the Pooh, Pirates of the Carib, Haunted House, It's a Small World, Tiki Room, Dumbo, the tram, the railroad, parades, Mark Twain, shows, meet disney characters etc... Plus I heard that DL is really family friendly (obviously right?).

So, are there any other (prospective) passport holders out there? Tips, pointers?

Not a momma's boy & the kid really likes to sleep

UNmomma's boy - Jacob took his first steps 10 days ago! He still prefers to crawl most of the time but is gradually taking a few steps on his own here and there. Even before he started taking his 1st steps, Jacob would literally crawl around me to get to Chuperdaddy. Another example is when Jacob wakes up in the AM he likes to stand on his 2 feet and hold himself up against the crib rail. If I stand directly in front of him and if Chuperman stands to the side - Jacob will avoid me and side-step to get closer to his daddy. This happens every time Chuperman and I stand in front of him - it never fails!

Also, since he's been kind of walking - we have Jacob practice his walking skills by having him walk to and from daddy and mommy. In the beginning, he would walk to and from mommy and daddy. Now when he walks from daddy to mommy, he'll take a few steps to me then U-turn to walk back to daddy!! This happened like 10x's tonight. Jacob only walked to me like once and walked to daddy like 30x's. UNBELIEVABLE.



Jacob will choose Chuperman HANDS DOWN over mommy! Unbelievable given that I housed him for 9 mos, delivered him, nursed and pumped for him for a whole year, nurture his mind, body, and soul on a daily basis.... simply unfair that Chuperman takes all the credit.

Chuperman thinks Jacob's funny reaction to me is b/c "you treat Jacob like a rag doll". Admittedly, there might be some truth to this theory b/c when I'm with Jacob I'm always wrestling with him, squeezing him tight, kissing him, tickling him haha... okie I smother him:P I've been called "Aunti Elmyra" before b/c elmyra's mantra is "I just wanna love you and hold you and squeeze you" haha. Whereas Chuperman is more gentle with him and gives the kid more space.

Chuperman's way of consoling me is "maybe the 2nd one will like you better"... THANKS for that gracious comment.



14hrs - Jacob slept another 14 hrs last night. It doesn't beat his personal record but close to it. I think like a month or 2 ago he slept for 14.5 hrs straight. On top of sleeping 14 hrs last night from 8pm-10am, he still napped from 2-4pm and went to bed on time at 8pm again! Maybe he'll wake up earlier tomorrow. Jacob usually wakes up at around 8am.

Feeling better alas!!
The past 10 or so days, I've been feeling better! Most of my nausea is gone - I still have weird food aversions (like i can't eat rice but i can eat rice noodles) and I can't really feed Jacob his foods especially egg yolk and ground meats *puke*, but overall, I'm less fatigued and I feel more like myself:) Since I got some of my energy back, we were able to take him to the beach at least 4x's. We strolled around CDM, Laguna Beach, Balboa Island - Peninsula Park, and Crystal Cove. It's been a lot of fun going out with him since he's more interactive and "talkative" (as in random babbling and singing) now hehe.

Here are some pix from Joey's amazing 1st Bday party!


Mommy and Jacob -- jacob dressed up in his finest threads that day to impress birthday girl:P


Adorable piggy Joey at her 1st bday party!



the blazer is off -- happily playing together!