Preston's 17 month update & Fall Fun

Happy 17 months Preston!

Somehow the last month flew by and this Chubbas is already 17.5 months if you want to be really accurate.  We have been super busy the past month enjoying lots of Fall Fun.  I will get to that at the end of the post so for now, here is some Preston's latest antics...

Every night he stands at the landing on his way to the bathtub and yells, "BYE!" to Eloise and Brad.  He will stand there and repeat it and yell louder until they acknowledge him.  Let's pause for the cuteness of that butt too. 

 While I'm getting his bath ready, he loves to climb up on his chair and "read" to himself.  

 In the morning, the only way that I can manage to get ready is let him watch PBS kids on what used to be Eloise's iTouch.  Yeah, yeah - screen time, yada, yada.  Mama has to take a shower!

 What better game to play than hide & seek in my own closet!

 You can't really tell but this in the midst of a classic toddler meltdown.  Preston is big fan of throwing himself on the ground.  Good times. 

This is a step up, literally, from his obsession with the toilet water.  Now, he loves to push the step stool over to the sink and turn the faucet on to wash his hands.  He has watched Eloise doing it 100 times so it was only a matter of time before he figured it out too. 

Preston thinks he is a 4 year old so it only makes sense that he would climb up in the "Tree house" in Eloise's PreK classroom so she could read to him. 

 

 Preston LOVES bath time and when Eloise joins him it is a real party for him.  If you are involved in this scene, I'd suggest a wet suit!

To say that Preston was a horrible napper at home or sleeper in general would be an understatement. We put the hammer down a few weeks ago with middle of night or early morning wake ups and fully embraced some serious cry it out moments or even hours.  He has made much improvements and has been napping in his crib on the weekends as opposed to being held for 2 hours.  

 Preston is such a cutie and it's a good thing because he is full energy and mischief!

Fall Fun So Far

We kicked off Fall with a trip to a local apple orchard just outside of DeKalb.  The kids had a blast picking apples, sampling them and throwing them in the grass.  Eloise wanted to pose the corn as a scarecrow.  

 

I surprised Eloise and decorated for Halloween/Fall one night after she went to bed.  She was so thrilled!  I used to love to decorate for the holidays but, ya know, kids and life get in the way of putting those things up. 

Eloise played soccer this Fall and loved it.  Kidding!  She actually hated it and told her coach that.  Oh well!  She made some friends and got to wear pink soccer socks & shoes. 

Here is a little video of one of her 1st games. 

Click HERE. 

 Now that she is in PreK, she had homework.

 We paid Great Grandma Fitz a visit a few weeks ago to bring her pictures and tell her all about the fun we have been having this Fall. 

We lots of fun stuff coming up in the next few weeks & can't wait for Halloween!

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16 months & full of trouble

Preston is 16 months & wired for trouble. We are in the tantrum & seeking independence stage and it can be rough. Preston basically thinks he's 4 like Eloise and wants to do everything she does - use utensils, drink out of cups & play like a big kid. Some days it feels like we are playing this crazy game of "Preventing  Preston from killing himself." For example, it's super fun to fall backwards off the couch, right? WRONG. Good thing I've got a great hair stylist because Mama is getting more gray hair everyday! 

One of my favorite times with Preston is bed time because he's cuddly and sweet. Even he has a bookshelf full of books, he loves these 2. He grabs then every night. It's so cute when he laughs at the funny parts too. 

Photo proof of Preston's antics

Disney Vacation 2016

Our Disney trip was so full of memories and I did my best to capture all of it. Believe it or not, I did not bring any of my cameras.  I just had my phone and we purchased the photo package from the cruise and one of the days at Magic Kingdom.  Trust me - it's worth it!  I had close to 500 photos from the trip so there is no way that I could put all the photos into 1 blog post so I made a slideshow! Click HERE to watch it and you can read below all of the highlights. Enjoy!

Saturday 8/27

We left Chicago bright & early in the midst of a huge rain storm.  I highly recommend doing curbside checkin when you've got kiddos.  It was super fast and allowed us to get rid of our bags so much faster.  We basically ran thru security as it was not that busy.  Once we were back at the gates, we passed the time with the moving walkway. It was a hit! Preston was fascinated by the takeoff & loved looking out the window.  After Preston settled down a bit, he slept for 1.5 hours of the 2+ hour flight. Eloise did great as well and loved watching her movies. 

The first part of our vacation included 2 days at Magic Kingdom and staying at the Art of Animation. Thanks to Brad and his charm, we got upgraded to family suite in the CARS area.   We had 2 bathrooms. 3 sleeping areas with 1 being a master suite.  Eloise slept in the Murphy bed or "secret bed" and loved it. 

After getting settled in our room, we had lunch and then headed to the Magic Kingdom.  We did the meal plan for food and it was great.  I would highly recommend it.   As we were entering the Magic Kingdom, I was so excited for Eloise to see Cinderella's castle.  She was in awe when she finally saw it.  We opted to do the Fast Passes for some rides.  The 1st ride we did was the Tea Cups.  Because of some earlier rain storms, some of the outdoor performances were cancelled but Disney still delivered with the Rainy Day parade.  Eloise was so excited when she saw Mickey & Minnie.  The rest of the evening was pretty great too because we go to meet Daisy Duck, Minnie Mouse & Ariel.  We wrapped our long day by watching the Electric Parade.  

Sunday 8/28

We returned to Magic Kingdom for round 2.  It was a hot day but we were armed with lots of water.  Eloise & Brad did the Dumbo ride to kick off the day.  Next up was the Barnstormer roller coaster where Eloise told me, "Mommy! Put your arms up!"  We did the obligatory train ride around the park and ended up over by Splash Mountain.  Eloise has turned into a little dare devil and insisted on riding it with Brad.  After a long day at Magic Kingdom, we opted for pizza back in our room for dinner followed by some nighttime swimming.  

 

Monday 8/29

We left the resort and headed out to Port Canaveral to board the Disney Dream.  As we checked in, 

Eloise got a birthday button to wear everyday.  To top it off, our stateroom was decorated with birthday decor. Eloise was most excited to sleep in her bunk bed that came out of the ceiling.  Preston was disappointed that he did not get to sleep up there but was happy just to climb up and down the ladder. 

Tuesday 8/30

Nassau, Bahamas 

We opted to skip the excursions this Port and just walked around seaside. Everyone enjoyed some fresh coconut water right out of coconuts. Back on the boat, we hit the pool areas. Eloise went down the water slide. She's fearless! Preston loved Nemo's Reef.  While Preston was napping, Eloise went to the Bippidi Boppidi Boutique. On our way, we ran into Minnie in the elevator. She escorted Eloise to the boutique. Jess was her fairy godmother. She picked out the Anna coronation dress.  After dinner, Eloise participated in the princess procession where she was introduced to all the passengers with Princess Belle. That night, she met Minnie, Mickey & Rapunzel.         

Wednesday 8/31

Happy Birthday Eloise!

We woke her up singing Happy Birthday and she asked, "where's the cake?" We spent the day at Castaway Cay. What beats swimming in the ocean & making sandcastles on your birthday? Preston loved the sand & sea. He loved kicking up the sand as he was walking into the water. 

At dinner, our waiter had a special birthday cake for Eloise.  One of the best parts of the Disney cruises is the Pirate night. We all dressed up. Preston looked so cute! Eloise got to meet pirate Daisy. Eloise enjoyed the pirate dance party until past 11pm. 

Thursday 9/1 

We did the Princess Gathering where we got to meet Cinderella, Belle, Rapunzel & Snow White. We also did the Frozen Gathering and got to meet Elsa & Anna.  We had an afternoon full of water sliding & swimming. Our final dinner was at Animator's Palate and it is my favorite restaurant.  Crush, the turtle from Nemo, sang Happy Birthday by only using the word "Dude." Eloise was so amazed by it she said, "Hey! It's me Eloise!" 

It was great trip!  Can't wait to do it again! 

Here are some more videos from the trip. Click HERE to watch.