Disneyland (the first of many....)

so we opted out of a big party for baby girl's second birthday and instead, decided to splurge on some Disney passes. luckily, we don't have to pay for baby girl until she's 3 so we're going to make the most of this last year of the kid freebie pass to disney.  i don't anticipate blogging about disneyland all that much (*ahem unless disney decides to pick me up as a blogger *ahem) so here is my UNPAID very honest and very random (as is most of my fodder) disney musings....

we went back and forth on which pass to get. do we go with the super reasonably priced SoCal passes that basically limit your visits to weekdays and absolutely zero days in the summer and holidays?

or do we go with the next level up that gets you in on weekends, some holidays, and most of the summer?

or do we really go balls to the wall and get the zero black out date passes?

I'm a middle of the road kind of gal. i also like the idea of visiting the park on weekends so that was an easy choice for us....next up....parking.

do we buy the parking passes or do we listen to all of our friends and park at downtown disney even though it says, "no theme park parking." (disclaimer: i love to follow the rules, especially when it comes to disneyland BUT we like the idea of walking through downtown disney for food options before/after going to the park so parking there actually makes the most sense for us anyway). ultimately we decided to bypass the parking passes. and so far we've visited disney twice with our passes. The first day was a holiday and parking was free at downtown disney. the next time we went, we stayed for 3.5 hours and thought we were going to have to pay the $6 for that extra .5 hour (you get the first three hours free when you park there) but then somehow didn't get charged as we left so both days we have visited we've scored free parking!

so here we are with our passes and two official disney visits (in two weeks). We have an entire 340 days left to visit disney as much as our little hearts desire (minus the limited black out dates).

we've already discovered a ton of unknowns just by downloading the disney app and can't wait to become disney regulars that know all the shortcuts and tips and tricks....stay tuned!

in the meantime, here's the roundup of ina's second birthday celebration at disneyland!

so this ride actually has a steering wheel that you can pull up or down to adjust the height of your little rocket ship. I, however, was too focused on hanging on to my tiny toddler with one hand and gripping on to the side of the rocket with the other. the tiny toddler, however, had her arms up the entire time, yelling "WEEEEEEE!!!!!"

snacking while waiting in line to see peter pan and tinker bell. 

totally passed out -- time for mommy and daddy to eat some lunch (perhaps enjoy a drink) and wait for the rest of the gang to arrive.....

first disney family pic! Ina loves NOT looking at the camera for pictures

the disney gang. that's my sister and some of our bestest friends ever. fernando was in our wedding and gladis is just one of my favorite people on the planet. 

checking out her friend, Mickey, in the parade.

the moment she saw him...

they are just the loveliest. 

i dont remember why but ferny and i thought this was just the most hilarious pic ever. 

chillin' on mickey's chair

he somehow knew she was 2!

mickey hugs are the best. 

please note the way she has her arm around his neck like they're total pals. heart. melted. 

she allowed us to mob them for the family pic.

stopped by goofy and pluto's house in toon town but they weren't home so we killed some time in his front yard....

first churro ever.

post-churro happy dance

no better way to end the day. 

ina and her buddies

not entirely sure why we decided to do a photoshoot while my husband was still in his pajamas but we did. we tried desperately to get a shot of ina with all the pups but obviously we failed miserably. we took these pictures a few weeks ago when she was much much smaller but i was recently sorting through the photos on my computer and started cracking up as i was going through them. 

before she was born we often wondered how the dogs would react towards her. we are one of those couples that treat their dogs as children so we assumed they would just adjust and automatically accept her as part of the pack. for the most part, they've done just that.

peanut is the gray-haired chihuahua and my baby. i've had him for 11 years. he seems to be extremely protective of her. he follows her wherever she is and when i nurse her he stands guard in front of us and makes sure nobody gets close. not even the hubby is allowed to approach us.

patango is the chunky little guy with stub legs. he's the sweetest of the bunch and the most independent. he doesn't really seem to even notice her, he kind of just goes about his day as usual before she was even here. 

cole is the long legged lanky guy. he's our pup and the rescue doggie so he came packaged with a handful of separation anxiety issues. he's the most curious of the bunch. he would lick her face every second of the day if we let him but instead we've compromised with hand licks and sometimes he sneaks in a kiss on the cheek. 

but the best part is when baby girl notices one of the dogs. she seems to like all of them because when she sees them walk by, she smiles. i have a feeling they're all going to be best buds. 

and here's one of baby girl being rescued from the madness by her mama. 

33.5 weeks {baby shower weekend}

we made a special trip out to the desert this past weekend to celebrate baby girl with hometown family and friends. mom and dad threw us the most adorable bash and they even surprised me with my childhood bassinet and baby blanket. i had no idea that they even still had this and the craziest thing is that i instantly recognized it. i doubt i remember it from being a baby so i must've seen it in pictures, unless i have the world's most vivid baby memory, which would be amazing.

next weekend my sister's throwing us a baby shower for local friends, which is going to be a bit overwhelming because i simply can't imagine feeling any more loved. baby girl is the luckiest little lady on the planet.

21.5 weeks

this weekend was jam packed with adventures. on saturday we went to a wedding. i always always always cry when i see the brides dancing with their dads because it reminds me of how very special it was for me to dance with my dad but this time i cried because i know one day the little lady growing strong in my belly will get to have that moment with the love of my life on her special day. it was really too much emotion for me to endure in my hormone-filled stage but i got through it :)

and today we ventured out to the beach to meet my sister and her boyfriend to hear about their giving trip that spanned el salvador, nicaragua and costa rica. they told us stories about the people they met along the way and the children they hugged each day. i'm so insanely proud of my baby sister for living a life of giving. 

my heart is so very full from this amazing weekend. 

life is beautiful

last night i was sorting through some pictures and i ran across our engagement photos. the only word that came to mind was "unfolding." it's amazing how our lives continue to unfold and peel back layers to surprise us and show us that this is the way it was always meant to be. for example, the layer that followed these engagement photos was the most beautiful day of my life surrounded by friends and family at a secluded villa in mexico. the layer to follow that was a perfect little cottage that we get to call our very own and now the next layer to reveal itself is this sweet little fluttering creature that's growing nice and strong inside my belly.

it's funny how people normally refer to their lives as "building" but i refer to mine as "discovering."

i simply can not wait to see what our future layers reveal. life is so very beautiful.

photography by what shanni saw 

we've been keeping a secret....

the mr. and i are overjoyed and insanely happy to 
announce that..... 










we're expecting a baby this year!

when i found out, i was sitting alone in our bathroom. the test came back positive and i just kind of sat there staring at it for a minute. i then shouted from the restroom that i was going to take a shower. i'm not even sure i did anything in the shower but just stand there for 15 minutes. it was undoubtedly surreal and really cool to know that, at that moment, i knew something that NOBODY else in the entire world knew. after my very selfish alone time with my news, I decided to get myself out of the shower and tell my husband who was laying down in our bedroom watching tv.

i told him that i had this awesome new app on my phone that i wanted to try out but he had to get up and come with me to the dining room to try it out. he reluctantly got himself out of bed and followed me. i then set my iphone to video, sat down next to him and the rest you can witness in this little video that i made to announce to our friends and family.

my nephew

this little bundle of light was born last weekend. he's not only my nephew but he's also our Godson! when we first found out we were going to be Godparents I thought, "how special is this, Sean's Godson is going to be a dragon baby just like Sean was."

Well, not only does my sweet little Godson share a Chinese lunar year with my husband but he happened to be born on his birthday! They were doomed to be best buds from the start.

my kitchen is for dancing

I saw this tea towel today on etsy and it made me laugh because it is so incredibly true. It's pretty safe to say that my entire house is for dancing but my kitchen is the heart and soul of our little cottage and so, as this is where the soul lives, this is obviously where one must dance.

and just to prove to you that my kitchen is clearly where the dance floor belongs at my house, here's a few shots of a little party we had last month where the strobe lights (also known as flashlights) came out and everyone let loose {in the kitchen}.