Animal Kingdom...in September!

Ok, I know.  I am MONTHS behind.  I am going to do my best to catch up as much as I can, so I can start posting more up-to-date stuff.  We'll see how this goes, I am soooo far behind.  But a lot of the last several months I just don't want to forget so I am going to try and get it all on my blog if possible.  I hope I can remember it all...with it being so long ago (and my pregnancy brain, haha) things are a little foggy.  Lots coming in the near future so I want to be able to post a little more currently...can't do that if I am so far behind!  Mostly I want to have the best pictures and brief summary of what has been going on in the last four or five months. 
So here we go.  In September, after Sophia turned 2, Michael and I planned a visit to Orlando.  We actually go to Disney every other year in November with my family but thought this off year would be a great age for Sophia and we had enough credit card points to book a condo and we were going to get to see his family too...his mom even had some old Disney tickets that had never been used, so we were going to try and use them for the park. 
On our first park day, we went to Animal Kingdom.  It was quite warm that day.  We got there right when it opened...a little before actually and had to wait. 

 Sort of waiting patiently, haha

 And the hat didn't last long...

 Our first ride was the safari ride...started off sitting on Daddy's lap

 And switched to Mommy's lap! 

 Next we went over to the Nemo show.  Soph LOVED it.  As long as they stayed away from her, haha.  We were in the first row of the second section so a couple of times some of the characters did run right by us...but overall she really liked the show.  It helped that we had just seen Nemo in the theater.  :-)

 Then we saw a parade.  Soph liked it...but I think I was expecting a little bit more.  It was fine...just not as done up as a Magic Kingdom parade. 

 She waved to every character that went by.  We were right at the start, so we saw them all right when they came out. 

 Major waving at Mickey! :-) 

 Then we rode a (sideways) train.  I am glad we did this....she was really interested in trains for whatever reason and we totally forgot to ride the train when we went to Magic Kingdom...so I was glad we had at least done this one, even if it wasn't super exciting. 

 At the end of the train ride...she really didn't want to stand by this tiger, even though it looks pretty friendly. 

 And then we rode the safari ride again.  Soph decided to be a big girl and sit by herself.  But she kept her hand on Daddy, just in case.  :-)

 Meeting Minnie for the first time!  The park was about to close and as we were walking out we decided to stop by the character area, just to check.  Baloo and King Louie and some of those guys were the first one we saw...and Sophia did NOT want anything to do with them.  But then we saw Mickey...and he was leaving.  :-(  We waved goodbye to him and were about to walk away...and then Minnie came out!!  It was perfect timing.  Hardly anyone else was there so we had her almost to ourselves.  And she was super excited to meet Minnie. 

 Big hug and kiss for her favorite!! 

 I love this picture so much.  She didn't want to let go of Minnie for a second. 

And our picture in front of the Tree of Life before we left the park. 

It was sooo hot that day.  We ate as many of the cold treats as we could find throughout the day.  At one point, Sophia fell asleep in her stroller.  Her and I parked it by the baby care center (which was awesome, by the way.  I could go on about this forever.  Not that I have ever minded in the past, but I will never be bothered taking a child in diapers to any Disney park...they do their baby care centers up right.  This one even had a room with tables and a Disney movie playing.  Some cute little girls were in there and didn't want to leave so they could keep watching the movie!!) and Michael bought me a coke slushy (which had a Mickey form on the top of it...so cool!) and we just sat in the shade while Michael and his brother rode some rides.  It was relaxing and I got in a lot of good people watching.  :-) 

We had a blast, despite the heat.  Animal Kingdom is a LOT of walking....that park is huge.  I mean, all the parks you have to walk a lot...but AK just feels like you get in a good workout.  Sophia really did love it though, seeing all the animals, plus the obvious Disney aspect.  It was a good warm up for a big trip to Magic Kingdom (coming up next!).  

And Some More Good News

Well, since today was my 12 week appointment and everything looked great, I am finally excited to announce that the Santoro family is expanding this year and Sophia is going to be a big sister!!!
My official due date is August 15...which is only 4 days before my birthday! But since I had a c-section with Sophia, I'm able to schedule another at about 39 weeks...which means I should not have to be in the hospital on or too near my birthday. :-)
This pregnancy has been COMPLETELY different from my first so far. I've been pretty sick, which never happened the first time around. I'm exhausted, but that's not surprising. Besides chasing around my sweet 2 year old 24/7 I also have 9 other 2 year olds I deal with three days a week at preschool. That was tiring before I was pregnant!!
We will definitely be finding out if this baby is a boy or girl when it's time for that. No patience in this family! Plus I think it will help Soph get somewhat adjusted to another little person coming into her life. She's pretty excited right now, wants to help me change and feed the baby and bring it to Disney World! (We are going there in November, so it's not totally random!) If you ask her, some days she says it's a little sister and some days it's a little brother. And she likes telling people she's going to be a BIG sister. :-)
I don't think I'll probably be able to blog every week about the pregnancy (and who really wants to read about how much I throw up each week anyway??) but I do want to make sure to document the milestones and things that I'd like to remember about it. I was already about 5 months pregnant with Sophia when I started my blog up so I did miss some things that time around. And obviously I've been so terrible lately about finding time to update this thing...but I do have a lot more reasons now to try and catch up. Just waiting on my surge of energy (and decrease in feeling sick)!!
Finally, here is a pic of baby #2 (I know it says 13wks and 3days but I'm only 12 wks). They said everything looks perfect and the heart rate was 157bpm (at my last appt it was 148bpm...I couldn't remember how Sophs was to compare). I was relieved that everything looked good.
We are very excited to meet this baby in August...2013 is definitely going to be a great year for the Santoro family!!

Good News to Start the New Year

I know I am soooo behind and have hardly posted at all in the last few months. No great excuse for that, but I can definitely say the drop off in my posts coincides with when I started teaching pre-school. It takes quite a bit more time planning for activities than I thought....and 8 two year olds three times a day (not to mention my own 2 year old 24/7) really wears me out!! I'm disappointed in myself that my goal of 100 posts this year isn't going to quite happen. This next year I plan to do MUCH better. I know I have to catch up from back when we went to Disney in September....so clearly I have a ton of posts to at least start out with in the coming months!!
So on the last day of 2012, I am posting to share some awesome news from the Santoro household......
Michael will be starting a new job mid-January!! I am very proud to announce him as the VP (yup, as in vice-president!!!!) of Asset Liability Management and Investments at Gwinnett Federal Credit Union (which as of Jan 1 will be called Peach State Credit Union).
Several months ago Michael was actually promoted at his current job at Associated Credit Union...to Supervisor of Audit. So he wasn't specifically looking for a new job, this opportunity just happened to come to him recently. While he definitely wasn't unhappy at ACU, several things made the new position just too good to pass up. For one, the VP title. I have no doubt that someday Michael could've easily been in upper management at ACU...but they already have a fairly young group of people currently taking those positions...so it could be quite a while before any opened up for Michael. Not a bad thing, but when faced with career advancement sooner....usually that can only lead to more positive things. Another thing is that he will really be working on things he enjoys...numbers and stats and all those other nerdy things I can't remotely understand!!! Again, not that he didn't enjoy Audit, but this will be what he went to grad school for and has a real passion for. And yet another plus (for our whole family, not just him) is that his commute will be a LOT less each day. Even if he works late, he will still end up home at a decent hour because the new office is that much closer. That will save us on gas money...and morning and evening stress from fighting ridiculous traffic. As with any change, there are things that aren't so great...for example, we will totally have to change insurance and it will cost us quite a bit more than what we are used to. But we found out that we can keep several of the same doctors we are attached to (like Sophia's pediatrician and neurologist) so we are ok with that. There are always things you have adjust to with a big change like this occurs and I know we will adjust just fine.
Michael and I are both very excited for this new opportunity. I am SO proud of how hard he works...it has definitely paid off thus far, he's a VP at age 30!! I can only imagine how he'll grow his career from here but I have no doubt that he'll work hard and show dedication to wherever this new career path leads him!

Interior Design by Sophia

So I left the playroom for a minute or so just to use the bathroom and came back to this. Apparently Sophia thought that corner was a little blah and decided to decorate with princess stickers! I guess I can be thankful she didn't use crayons....!!

The Many Faces of My Sweet Sophia

Oh my goodness, I sure do love this little girl.....

Flashback Friday: Thanksgiving 2005

With Thanksgiving coming soon and another anniversary in a couple of days, I thought I would flash back to this particular Thanksgiving....it was the last we spent with my Grandma.  The 6 year anniversary of when she died is coming up this Sunday, Nov 11.  Normally, I try to just get past the day and not think so much about it.  But....instead I have decided to devote a post to one of the best last days we were able to have with my grandparents.  I miss them both so much all the time...especially around big events (weddings, births of babies into the family) and holidays.
Oh, yeah, and I'm linking up to the Journey of Parenthood, Emily's blog, for this Flashback Friday!

Not too long after my sister got married in July 2005, we found out that my Gram was really sick and the doctors were guessing she had about 5 months.  NOT good news.  We decided, as a family, that we would make each holiday she had left the best possible, with all of us together.  And so, that Thanksgiving, the entire family traveled up to my grandparents' house in Anderson, SC.  At the time, the whole family consisted of me, my parents, my brother, my sister and her new husband, my aunt and uncle and my two cousins, Jeremy and Jason, and my aunt and uncle from CT.  At the time, the family seemed complete.  Now, I couldn't be more sad that Michael wasn't there (we weren't even dating yet)....or that my nephew and my daughter weren't born yet.  I enjoy looking at these pictures, even though they make me so sad that it was the very last Thanksgiving with my both of my grandparents around.

 My mom, Gram, my Aunt Robin.  Those three did the majority of the cooking. :-)

 My Gramp, my cousin Jeremy and my brother.  The musicians.  I never said it was a quiet family gathering, ha ha!

 Lots of football watching going on in the living room (my Uncle John, Dad, and cousin Jason)

 Could we possibly squeeze any more chairs at that table?  If I recall correctly, it was about 100 degrees in there too.  

 Gram with Dillon.  Clearly he was trying to get out of the hug and she wouldn't let him!!

 Jay and Uncle John

 Gram, my sister and my Uncle Chip.  I guess Sara was the only one ready for this pic!

 Dad and his girls :-) 

 Gram, Jason and me.  

 Sara, Dillon and Jeremy.  I don't know what in the world is in my brothers mouth?!  

 The cousins

 Gram and Gramp with their three kids.  My mom is the oldest, then my Aunt Robin and then my Uncle Chip.  I like that in my family, I am the oldest, then my sister and then my brother.  Cool how it's the same like that.  

 Gram and Gramp with the grandkids.  Clearly we are a serious bunch! ;-) 

After that, my Dad set up his camera on a tripod and got a picture of the entire clan.  I LOVE that picture.  I haven't found the perfect spot to hang it in our new house yet so for now it is on the dresser in our guest bedroom.  In our old house, it was on the wall in the hallway.  Sophia had started asking me about it and would point out the people she knew (yup, she knew me, even though I was many pounds lighter then and my hair was many shades lighter, haha).  Turns out she could name everyone except my Gram and Gramp.  Which makes me more sad than I can even put into words.  But if I have to show her a million pictures of them and point them out in this particular picture over and over I will so that even though she can't ever meet them, she will at least know who they are.  

 The newlyweds.  This was their very first Thanksgiving as a married couple.  I was glad they were there with the whole family that day.  Sure wish Michael had been able to be there too.  I know that my Gram would've loved him....1) everyone who meets him does and 2) she would've loved him just because I do.  I know she loved her very first grandson-in-law.  

 I think I must've made this cake, although I don't remember doing so.  Otherwise I can't imagine why I took a pic of it!!  I hope it tasted better than it looked!! ;-)  

 I couldn't get this pic to rotate for whatever reason, but I love it.  No clue why my Gramp is wearing gloves to cut up the turkey...but his face and Jay's amusement in the background make this pic a winner!!

 I look pretty large in this pic.  And my Gram's eyes aren't even open.  But I still love it, cause it is of us together (and yes, I was a good 4 or 5 inches taller than her, hence the major lean I've got going on!).  

 Gah, that kid can't just stay still and take a hug!!  But I got him and it still turned out to be a pretty cute pic!

 Sara and Gram.  I love this pic, even though Sara is smiling a little...um, strangely!!  It kinda looks like it might be hurting her face a bit....Ha!!

Oh, this pic.  Maybe it's more this memory.  After dessert, we were all in the living room and my Uncle Chip and cousin Jeremy started to play some songs on the guitars, with my brother playing along on the drum to keep a beat.  And we literally had a huge singalong for hours.  Boy, did my Gram love to sing.  And we covered every song you can think of (that we knew the words to and that they could figure out how to play, haha).  Particularly every Beatles song you can name.  As it stands, I can hardly ever hear Yesterday or Hey Jude (my personal fave Beatles tune) without crying or at the very least tearing up and feeling choked.  Because this exact moment is what I always think of.  I may or may not have cried during the Beatles Cirque de Soleil in Vegas, about 6 months after my Gram died, when those songs came on (I did).  I like remembering that memory, because it was so much fun, but it's hard at the same time.  Probably because it won't happen again.  

By the time the next Thanksgiving rolled around, we were all gathered again, about a week before, in CT for my Gram's funeral.  I think that each Thanksgiving I am reminded to be thankful for this particular Thanksgiving in 2005 because it was the last with my Gram.  And, besides from just a few key people that are in my life now missing from that day, it was perfect.  Gram loved holidays and she loved the family.  So even though sometimes I just want to get through Thanksgiving and get it over with, I think it would make her happier if I tried to focus on the happy part of it and the good memories.  Especially now that I have Michael and Sophia in my life to celebrate with me.  Ugh, I get SO frustrated that they never got to meet her.  And upset and angry.  But there isn't anything I can do about it and I'm sure that she can see them and I can always share with them my memories of her and my Gramp.  There are a lot of great ones!  Including this great Thanksgiving day.  I'm glad I put it in my blog....I won't forget that day for sure, but it's nice to have it here to look back on in the future.  :-) 

Big Day in Our House!

I know, I'm totally behind again. :-( One day I'll be caught up....maybe.
Anyway, today's brief post is about an exciting happening in our house today...Sophia has taken her first nap in her big girl bed! And as I type this, it has been 3 hours and 34 minutes...she is just starting to wake up and didn't fall out or get out once and she barely moved the whole nap time. Even now, as she wakes up, she's just laying there twirling her hair. :-)
A small bit of back story that I think led up to this. This weekend I went to a craft fair in Birmingham with my sister, her mom-in-law and sis-in-law, and my mom and aunt (plus another friend of my sisters sis-in-law...it was a big crowd!!). I found the cutest little hand painted double-step stool for a great price and thought it would be perfect for Soph so she would be able to actually get up into her big girl bed by herself (it's a queen sized bed and even though we have the frame at the lowest setting, it's still too tall for her to just climb in without our help). Well, she loves it. On two different occasions Michael and I have found her in her bed and once she was just relaxing, reading a book. :-)
Today, I was sorting laundry (five loads, yuck) and I went to check on her....she had been watching Nemo in the playroom and wasn't there anymore. When I called out to her, she said 'Mommy I'm in my big girl bed taking a nap!' It was a little bit early for a nap but she seemed pretty tired so I decided to see if she'd be fine actually taking a nap in her bed instead of her crib (I know she's been 2 for a couple months and should be moving out of the crib anyway...but with our big move to our new house I wanted to make sure we waited a few months before any big changes like sleeping or potty training...obviously she was ready before I was, haha).
I explained that the covers could NOT cover her face, only her body. She did ask if they could go on her head (oops, guess I worded that wrong, ha) but understood when I said no, they couldn't go on her head either. And I told her she had to stay IN the bed until after waking up from her nap.
I did have to do some rearranging of her monitor...looks like we will need a shelf or something to permanently put it on but for today it was fine. And she went right to sleep!! I did forget to put any pillows on the floor just in case, but she didn't ever get close to the edge so it worked out ok.
Nap time is a different story from bedtime...since at night it's a longer period of time and we're sleeping too...but I think if she wants to try it out tonight I'd be up for that (no school tomorrow due to election day).
I'm so proud of my big girl!! I guess that means next up is potty training....UGH!!!

*** Update!  Last night bedtime went great!  Soph went right to sleep and stayed in her bed all night long.  She did happen to turn upside down...but above the covers and nowhere near the edge.  At one point, she sort of woke up, realized she was upside down and and crawled back up on the pillow and pulled the covers up but didn't cover her face...and went right back to sleep!  She slept a bit better than Mommy, who kept waking up to look at the monitor to check on her, haha.  She's taking her nap in her big girl bed right now...seems like the crib is already forgotten!!***