T1D

This was written about 6 weeks after Henry was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I think I blocked out a lot of things that were hard and/or I just have been so stressed and busy it's hard to remember everything. But this is what I do remember, and this is what I wrote:


May 13, 2016

I never thought I’d be here. Holding my child down, a syringe in hand, trying to give him a shot in his bum. I never thought I’d be waking him up at two in the morning to check his blood, to determine whether or not I needed to make him drink a cup of juice. When I first held Henry in my arms, my perfect, thick lipped, blue-eyed baby, I never thought I would be treating him for Type 1 Diabetes at the age of three.

We noticed things weren’t right around his birthday. He’d finally gotten over a really nasty virus: coughing, congestion, runny nose, fevers, the whole nine yards. It had been almost two weeks of that mess and at his birthday party, I was still wiping his nose every two minutes. We kept Kleenex in business that month. When those symptoms went away, however, he still wasn’t getting better.  I started to notice him struggling to be my Henry.

He was tired all the time. Instead of the immediate: “Let’s play dinosaurs!” in the morning, it was “Mama, please hold me. Want to watch something?” Instead of running up and down the hill in the backyard, it was “Mama, I just want a rest.” He sat on the couch much of the day, curled up in his blankets, clutching his stuffed bus, begging to watch Cars again. Just something he could do to sit down.

He had anxiety attacks over silly things. Like walking down the stairs alone or going to bed. He had meltdowns over which sippy cup I gave him.

Eating became even more of a struggle. He’s been picky for almost a year, but things got to a new low. Suddenly he didn’t even want his staples. He said no to French Fries for heaven’s sake! In the morning, he didn’t want juice anymore: “just some water, please.” I watched him drink 24 ounces before 11 o’clock, and then several cups more before nap time.

Instead of making it through the night, Derek and I were changing wet sheets two, three, four times before he woke up with another set of wet pajamas at 8:30, even though we were getting him up several times to pee. He was using the bathroom almost constantly. Every ten minutes, he’d run in there and go. I mean really go—lots of pee, he would say. I pegged it on the amount of water he was drinking, and tried to just brush it off.

I took him to the doctor several times. Of course all I knew to identify as “symptoms” was the lethargy and other little signs of what I thought could be a virus (runny nose, etc). I set up a monthly check up to look at his diet, as he was losing weight so rapidly. I could only figure it was because he wasn’t eating well.

Days before his diagnosis, he started complaining that his neck hurt. He couldn’t turn his head to the right. I took him in, they said “give him ibuprofen every 6 hours. If it’s still bad tomorrow, bring him back in.” It was still bad, I took him in the next day, Derek with me. They asked for x-rays. We held him down, screaming, on the table as we took x-rays of his back and neck. It took both me and Derek to hold him still and 45 minutes to finally get what we needed.

He screamed and cried for almost two hours after we got home. Terrified and hurting. He fell asleep crying in Derek’s arms.

Henry’s neck got better, and I thought that was it. But he was still losing weight, quickly. Everyone noticed. Friends, family. They started asking me about him, “is he ok?” “Is he eating?” Nursery leaders and neighbors started mentioning how different he was. Something we, his family, had been noticing for weeks. But hearing other people say it…

And then last Thursday, I held him on my lap for almost four hours, rubbing his back as he puked over and over again. He cried, “I need to throw up!” and would lean over the bowl for several minutes before finally getting a bit of bile up. We’d then hurry over to the sink, rinse his mouth, and try to rest before the repeat.

I was done. Time to take him to the Dr. and DEMAND some answers. I knew something big was happening. I had spent dozens of sleepless nights crying because I just couldn’t figure out what was wrong, and I KNEW something was seriously wrong.

The Spirit was certainly with me. I could feel Him prompting me, tell me that all was not well. That this really was serious. After that evening of vomiting, His promptings got even stronger. “Take him to the Dr. no matter what,” He seemed to say. So the next morning, I called and asked for the soonest appointment I could get with Dr. Harrison. Luckily, they had a cancellation and I could get in at 11:20. I took Johnny to my sister’s house, thinking it would just be for the appointment. But I felt like I needed my mom with me. Another prompting.

So, the three of us went to the Dr. Right as we walked in, I watched Dr. Harrison rush out of the office to go deliver a baby. Great. I had really wanted to see her, not one of the nurse practitioners. They asked me if I wanted to wait. “No,” the spirit said. “Now.” I asked if Melanie, Henry’s favorite NP, was available. She made room.

I began listing absolutely everything that I felt was un-Henry-like. The bed wetting, the anxiety, the sleepiness, the drinking, the weight loss, everything I had been crying over for weeks. My throat started getting tight. Keep it together, Mama.

When Melanie came in after I talked to the nurse, she said: “this sounds to me like we need a blood test. And if it says what I think it’s going to say, then we’re going to send you right across the street to the hospital to have him tested for diabetes.”

After a poke, some tears on Henry’s part, the nurse turned and said: “309.”

Melanie smiled at me. “Ok. It looks like we’re heading across the street.”

I bawled. I did. Right there, holding Henry in my lap with his blanket wrapped around him. I buried my face in his hair and started sobbing. Melanie came over and put her arms around us, my Mom rubbed my arm. “Stop it Mama, it’s ok.” Henry said, pushing me away. “Stop crying Mama.” I took a deep breath. “Ok, baby, I’m ok.”

But I wasn’t, really. Everything I had imagined Henry doing seemed to be covered with a dark blanket. Of course he could still do those things: be a star student, play football, have tons of friends, go on Boy Scout camping trips, but all of them were shadowed by Diabetes now. My boy giving himself shots, perhaps being embarrassed by it, hiding it in the locker room. Having to explain to the other kids. Forgetting to take insulin and getting sick. Everything was now covered with Diabetes.

I took a deep breath and Melanie left the room to call the Pediatric Unit at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center: the same hospital where Henry was born. The nurse got me a drink of water, and Mom held my hand. I called Derek but Mom had to talk to him; I couldn’t speak without crying. He immediately left work and headed to the hospital to meet us.

When Melanie came back, Mom took Henry out in the hallway to walk around for a minute so I could get it together. I don’t remember what Melanie said to me, other than something about Henry living a normal life. She said we’d probably be in the hospital two or three days. Henry and Mom came back in.

“Henry,” I said, taking him in my arms and looking him the eyes. “We’re going to go on a new adventure. Would you like that?” I sucked in my breath. “You know how you haven’t been feeling good?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, we’re going to go over to the hospital, you and Mama and Nana, and we’re going to get you feeling better. Ok?”

“Ok, and blankie can come?”

“Of course, blankie can come. And Daddy is going to come home from work and be with us, too. Ok?”

“Ok, Mama. But don’t cry again.”

Derek arrived as I was checking Henry in. Henry reached for his Daddy, and I lost it again. I was so glad my mom was still with us, she gave me a huge hug. “What can I do to help you?”

“Please, please take care of Johnny,” I said. “That’s all I need, is to know that he’s ok.” She nodded. I gave her a list of things to bring for Henry, too.

We finally got Henry all checked in, and Mom left to go get John from Sam’s house. A lot of phone calls had happened in between this. She had called my Dad, her visiting teachers (who called mine), and she’d called Sam to let her know, too. Sam called my siblings. I just couldn’t even think about any of that stuff. But I’m glad she did. Derek called his parents at some point, too.

We went up to the Pediatric floor, the 4^th floor, and met Dr. Beverly, our admitting physician. They got Henry assigned to a room, 454. It had Captain America and Iron Man painted on the windows. Henry had no idea who they were, but I felt grateful to have some superheroes there; we would need them, I thought.

Henry was ok with his vitals being taken (except blood pressure, I asked them to hold off on that because I knew it would make him hysterical) and sitting on the bed. But he kept asking when we could go home. That didn’t stop for the next 48 hours. We had to wait a while until they were ready to take blood, and Henry wasn’t allowed to eat or drink. Poor thing, he was SO thirsty (something I learned was a sign of high blood sugar). We finally talked to Dr. Beverly who said he could have some water. Thank goodness.

I couldn't help but feel grateful and proud when Dr. Beverly, and the other physicians throughout our stay, told us how early we had caught this and that we had saved Henry's life. While the vomiting was a sign of ADK (Advanced Diabetic Ketoacidosis, severe rise in blood sugar), they said most children don't get brought in until they're already comatose. I can't imagine. While we'd had a hard day, I was so grateful things hadn't reached that level. 

The hardest part of our first day, and our whole stay really, was the IV. It was late afternoon before we finally got it done. We went into a little triage room, just next to his room. The nurses said it’s good to separate the scary things from the room where he’s sleeping. Makes sense. There were a few nurses, with all the stuff ready waiting for us and a lady who introduced herself as someone who would try to help distract Henry. She had bubbles games, etc. I thought “good luck with that” but hey, anything could help.

I held Henry on my lap, chest to chest. I held his right arm down, tight against our bodies, and the nurses took his left hand. And then he screamed. Screamed and cried and tried to get away for what seemed like forever, but, according to the clock, was only 7 minutes. The nurses put a needle in and drew blood. Several vials. Then they put another in for his IV. His poor little hand. They had to strap it down to a little foam thing so he wouldn’t clench his fist and push the needle out. They wrapped that all up and put a sock over the whole mess so he wouldn’t try and take it off.

I felt awful, holding him still while they hurt him. I know they gave him a little local anesthesia, but I also know it still hurt and that he was scared. Oh, so scared. And that was probably the worst part. That me holding him, couldn’t stop the scary. I couldn’t take him home and wrap him up in his blanket and make everything go away.

Once that was over, things got better. They got him on an IV to get him hydrated, and eventually they let him eat. We got him French Fries.

I don’t remember when he had his first bit of insulin, but I know it was that evening sometime. Maybe it was even with his meals. I don’t remember when we first started learning out to do it; that whole weekend was such a whirlwind of education, learning about diabetes, learning how to give shots, learning about blood sugar levels, learning how to count carbs, learning about free foods, learning about what to do if he was really low or really high. I don’t remember a whole lot of when things happened, but I know they did.

Derek and I wanted to start doing things ourselves right away. The next day, we were already giving him shots. We were checking his blood sugar ourselves. We were counting the carbs in what he ate and figuring out dosages. That felt good: to be empowered a little bit.

But most of those 48 hours were holding Henry. We tried to explain what was going on, at least a little bit. We watched Cars, Cars 2, and Mater’s Tales. A few times. We read lots of stories. I helped him to the bathroom with his drip thing in tow (that was annoying). I held him while he took naps. We cuddled up together on the same bed both nights, my arms around him as he cried, telling me he didn’t like sleepovers at the hospital.

There were good things, though. Lots of little hard things, but some great big awesome things. Within 24 hours of being on insulin, Henry already started to act like himself. He felt like doing something again. He wanted to go on walks throughout the 4^th floor. We got a wagon from the nurse, and he wanted to walk and walk. He LOVED riding in it! We put his blankets all around him, got him a diet Root Beer, and walked. He loved seeing the new babies in the nursery and looking at all the different paintings on the windows (especially the ones with Mickey and Minnie and the Minions). Saturday night, we walked for almost an hour and half. Even when Papa and Uncle Dallon came to visit, that’s all he wanted to do. It was such a relief—to see that this was working, that things were getting better.

We tried to make everything fun or at least exciting and special. When we received his kit with the blood glucose checker and stuff, we talked to him about how special it was. How he was a special kid. He loved putting the different colored covers on the “checker” as we called it. He cocked and fired the “poker” a million times. It was a small bright spot for him in what I’m sure was a lot of scary.

We had friends and family send balloons and toys. Nana brought him a set of Cars books and a Mickey with a ToonCar. Grandpa came to visit, so did Jared, Ariel, Sam, Dallon, Nana and Papa. All these things helped make the stay easier for him, which made it a lot easier for us.

playing with the covers

pancakes for breakfast both days. 

The next two pictures are from our first day at the hospital to our last. Just look at the difference in Henry as he sits in that wagon!

There’s not much more to tell about our hospital stay. On Sunday, when we were finally released, I felt such a relief. I was scared, definitely, to have all this in our hands. Could I monitor everything on my own? Could I do this? Six weeks later, I still feel a little scared some days. We’ve met with an endocrinologist, we’ve talked to the diabetic educator, and we’ve been told we’re some of the fastest learning/most capable parents they’ve encountered with a newly diagnosed kid. That feels great, but I still feel like things are out of control some times.

We’ve had nights where I’ve had to get up with Henry and hold him in the rocking chair while he ate a snack. I’ve had to force him awake to take a few sips of apple juice because his blood sugar has dropped so much. I’ve had to hold him down, practically sitting on him, to give him his shots. I hate it. I think I always will. I’ve had to remind him that if he has certain snacks, he’ll have to have some insulin. I’ve seen him weigh the options in his mind. Big choices for such a little boy. Just a 3-year-old.

It’s been hard. It’s been a roller coaster some times. Even sometimes, it’s been fairly easy. We’ve had so many people come out of the woodwork to help us. People offering to take the kids, people bringing us meals, people helping me. It’s been amazing.

But the most amazing? Oh, the MOST AMAZING. Is Henry. His bravery. His desire to get better. The way he holds his little finger out so I can check his blood. And the best part: he’s back.

Running around. Giggling. His curiosity is back. He wants to play. He wants to do. He wants to help. He wants to eat. All the things that were missing, they’re back. Oh, and he’s not wetting the bed either. He stands at his door in the morning, whisper yelling “Mommy! I want to play! Time to get up!”

On the hard days, I go to bed exhausted but unable to sleep from the worry. I try and tell myself that we’re doing fine, we’ve taken control, and we’re going to keep moving forward. But it’s still hard. 

There are many nights when I go to bed crying, wishing and hoping that I’ll wake up the next morning and it will be gone. That the needles, the pokes, the blood on Henry’s fingers, the bruises from the needles, the smell of insulin on my fingers will be gone.

On those nights, I turn over and squeeze Derek and think about our forever family. The covenants we have made. And, most importantly, the sacrifice of our Savior. The beautiful reality that one day, all those things will be gone. That Diabetes will be gone from my Henry. In the resurrection, his perfect, beautiful body will finally match his brave, beautiful spirit. And then I take a deep breath and say the prayer I’ve already said a million times: the prayer of thanks for sending the Holy Ghost to take us back to the doctor. The prayer of thanks for family who have supported and helped us. The prayer of thanks for insulin and doctors and modern medicine. The prayer of thanks for Henry. 

June

June's not over, I know. But I wish it was.

Not because June isn't lovely. There are great things that happen in June. The first day of summer, Johnny's birthday, Father's day, lovely flowers, water to play in, sun to soak up, those sort of things. But this June has been particularly hard around here. Derek has been away from home almost the entire month. In the last 22 days, he's been home 5 of those days, and for most of them only half that day. It's been hard on all of us, and we still have two more weeks of him travelling.

I don't know how military wives do it. I've learned that is something I could do, but I certainly hope I never have to.

It's been interesting, this single parent thing. I find myself losing patience a lot sooner than I normally would, and I hate that. I don't sleep as well without Derek next to me, and while Henry loves getting to come sleep in my bed while Daddy is gone, it's not just about having another body in bed with me, it's about having my husband there. So sleep deprivation means a not so calm, cool, and collected Mama. Sorry, boys.

It does mean a whole lot of snuggles from Henry, though. Which is great. Johnny has also been particularly snuggly. I've found I need that when my number one snuggler is working 12 hour days outside in the heat in rural Utah. I also love turning over and seeing the sweet, sleeping face of my Henry boy next to me. It almost makes up for it not being Derek. Almost.

I guess, though, I've learned how to manage a lot more things on my own. I have Nana and Papa upstairs (thank goodness. I'd die without all their help), but I have done a whole lot of this just me and the boys the last few weeks.

At the end of the day, the hardest part is Johnny looking at the door and saying "Dada?" or Henry asking me several times a day if Daddy is going to be home for dinner and bedtime. I tell him "Friday night," and then he asks me every morning if it's Friday yet. Those boys--they just love their daddy.

Derek spoke on Sunday, a FANTASTIC talk, which you should be sad you missed. He talked about fatherhood and what it means to him. He talked about the little moments that mean a lot. Of course he connected this all to scriptures and, finally, to how our Heavenly Father feels about us and the little moments we share with Him. It was wonderful. It's especially poignant to us right now, however, as we have so little Daddy time lately.

I'm so glad for all the Daddy time we do get, however. What would it be like to be without that Daddy in our home? Who would make the incredible wooden train railways?  Who would making a "swimming pool" for Henry out of blankets? Who would toss the boys so high in the air they were touching the sky? Who would keep the boys up through nap time playing so well they weren't even grumpy? (on a side note, why can't they play so un-grumpily for me? they always need their nap more when it's just me at home). Who would give them Priesthood blessings when they were scared or sick?

I guess all of those things could be fulfilled by someone else. But none of those people could do it so well as our Daddy.

So June, hurry up and be over. We can't wait to have Daddy home to play train, go down the slip-n-slide, read Thomas the Tank Engine books, play Play-Dough, and give hugs and kisses.

Hurry, June.

Johnny's Birthday Photoshoot

We went out to the Central Utah Gardens this evening to snap some photos of our birthday boy. We got some great ones, but man--it was hot! The gardens are gorgeous though, which made it a nice little adventure. :) Here are some of my favorites from tonight:

Those eyelashes!!

yeah...he has a smolder. 

Happy Birthday, John Man!

Henry and John Right Now

As usual, what I could think of off the top of my head. What the boys are doing lately, words/phrases that they use repeatedly, etc. 



Henry
* Cords. still Cords. All the time Cords. Currently, his white, green, and now orange, cords are his fans. He generally refers to them as such and will correct you while he's playing if you call them anything else.

* BBQ chips. He could eat them all day every day if we let him! That kid. His favorite meals are chicken nuggets and chips or PB&J and chips. I have to remind him to eat one chip then take a bite of something else before he can have another one.

* Brave. Oh man, the last two months, Henry has shown us how truly brave he is. Diabetes has become part of our lives, but not our whole lives. And he faces each day with bravery.

* Water slide. Henry loves the slip-n-slide! He wants me to set it up every day and goes down it fast, all by himself. It's a huge change from last year, when we had to coax him to go down it.

* reading in bed. Henry loves to read in bed. He takes his flashlights and stays up reading. In the morning, I usually find 7 or 8 books at the bottom of his bed, and Derek or I usually have to go in and turn off his flashlights in the middle of the night because he fell asleep reading.

* Funny phrases:
"I think so I am going to..."
"Holy moly!"
"I sure can" or "I sure can't"
"Why" (ALL DAY!"
Calling his Daddy Derek
Adding an "ie" to the end of every word. So chips=chippies. Caleb=Calebie etc.

* Singing. He still loves to sing and is always surprising us with the songs he knows. He sings all the words to several Primary songs, which is awesome.

* Green. It's still his favorite color, and he almost always chooses green things when he can. Except food.




John

* words lately:
Ki-ee (Kitty)
Hi!--always hi. He says it with such enthusiasm, too! It's the sweetest.
Da-ee--he says it similar to the way Henry did, and I LOVE it.
Mama
Baba (bottle)
Edie--most dogs are called Edie
done
gen (again)

* crawling everywhere, and starting to stand. Just today, he cruised down the mantle standing up for the first time! He's not super interested in walking yet, which is fine. But he's a quick crawler!

* food. this kid EATS and EATS. One day, actually, the only time I could think of that he wasn't eating something was when he was sleeping. He loves food, especially anything with beef in it.

* Outside. John loves to be outside. If the front door is open, he is crawling out it. He gets so excited when I open the door and I'm holding him, kicking his legs.

* John loves to do whatever Henry is doing. Which can be a challenge, but it's sweet.

* Cars. John loves to play cars! He makes the cutest little car noise while he runs them across the carpet, too.

* Water. Johnny loves to play in the water, but only if it's warm. He FREAKS if I put him in the swimming pool and it's even a little cool.

* Swinging. John loves swinging, especially when Henry is beside him.

* Throwing his head back. When he gets mad or feels like something is unjust, John flings his head back and yells at you. It's crazy.

Two. One.

My number 2 baby turns one tomorrow. It's bittersweet, as many happy things are. I love the stage he's in right now and I know I'll love each stage as it comes. But when I look back at the pictures of my tinny Little John, I do feel that little bit of Mommy ache that comes with each birthday.

He was just so tiny when he was born! I remember his long arms--longer than any baby's arms I've ever seen. And his little white patch on the crown of his head. I remember how easy he was to bring into the world and how easy it was for me to love him the second I saw that screaming little face.

I was worried, to be honest, that I wouldn't love him as much as my Henry. And it was hard, SO hard, those first few weeks. I struggled with being a Mama to two; how could I give Henry the attention I wanted to give him while still holding and cuddling my newborn, which I really wanted to do? I found myself struggling sometimes, almost wishing I hadn't jumped in to being a Mommy to more than one. Oh, but then I'd look down at my little baby, that sweet little Johnny, and all that frustration and fear washed away.

Gosh, I just love him.

He's been so different than Henry, and I love that. He's much more vocal, he tells us how it is. He grins and giggles just like his brother, but like John, not Henry, if that makes sense. He's much bolder. I know he's going to give me thousands of mini heart attacks as he pushes boundaries and tries everything. I love that about him.

I love how Johnny loves so many things. Like food. Oh man, that kid can pack it away! I remember shortly after he was born, Derek was home on a Saturday and said "It feels like all you do all day is feed John." Yup. And that hasn't changed. One year later, and I feel every minute all day is just before snack/meal time or he just finished a snack/meal. He's our little Chubs and we love him for it.

He loves animals. His first word was Edie, the name of Nana's dog. He still loves all animals that he sees and gets so excited to see our cat first thing every morning. He pets her so gently, "ki-ee" he says, rubbing her head.

John loves his brother. So much. He lights up when he sees Henry, something he's done since he was a newborn. He grins and says "hi!" when Henry wakes up from a nap, and crawls to him as fast as he can. He wants to play with Henry all the time. He wants to do everything Henry is doing (much to the annoyance of Henry, but oh well.)

John just loves. He loves people and things. And we love him back.

When John was two weeks old, we took him and Henry to see Inside Out, the brand new Pixar movie in theaters. Derek and I both wept in the opening scene as Riley's Mom and Dad said hello to her the first time. The baby in the movie was nothing but pure Joy for just a few moments, and we felt the same about our Little John. While PURE Joy only lasted a few minutes (as in the movie) all the other emotions that have shown up with Johnny have been an adventure and a blast.

Our Little John Man has been the best addition to our family. I can't believe he's been with us for a year now. A whole year of Johnny Wellington! And I can't wait to celebrate his life tomorrow, on his birthday. My little number one.

Disneyland Day 2

Our last day on our Disney adventure was back to Disneyland. We were so excited, because some friends of ours surprised Nana and Papa with tickets so they could come with us! Then Nana and Papa brought my Grandma (Gram, to Henry and John) and our family friend, Vonnie Baird who was travelling with Nana in California to help Gram.

Nana, Papa, Gram, and Sister Baird got to the gate really early, so we were some of the first people through the gate! That was fun. We chilled on Main Street again so we could catch Mickey before we got busy in the Park. Henry and Papa looked at the Toy Story Windows together, Nana and Johnny said a quick hi to Pluto on his way by, and we just enjoyed a few quiet minutes in the park.

And then....there was Mickey!! It was another sweet reaction by Johnny. He was SO excited to see Mickey again. He and Nana talked to him for quite a while, which was so sweet. We all had a chance to take a picture with him in our awesome t-shirts (which Derek and I stayed up very late one night cutting out and ironing) and then we headed to Fantasyland again.

Henry was so excited to take Nana on Dumbo, "a-cause elephants are Nana's favorite animal!" So we went there first. Nana and Henry snagged a green hatted Dumbo, and Sister Baird, John, and I took the purple one in front of them. It was so fun to hear Henry giggling behind us as he took Nana up and down in their Dumbo. He really does love that ride!

When we got off, we ran right into Captain Hook! The boys were not so sure about him. They kept looking at him, but refused to interact. It made me laugh. Sister Baird enjoyed a quick dance with him, however! That was great.

After our brief meet and greet with Captain Hook, we went on my favorite ride in Disneyland: "Storybook Land!" I love seeing all the little details in the houses and the tiny plants. It's just so charming. Henry and John both really liked it, too, which was fun. Henry kept talking about all the little houses and castles, but especially going inside Monstro! He loved that.

We hopped on that boat and headed for the next: Small World! We got to sit up front, which was great. Henry was gripping the bar when we first started; I think he was expected some big dips like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. He did like all the singing, though, and loved all the different dolls. But he did tell me afterwards that it was a "long long long long long ride, Mama." I agree, dude! And so did Johnny: he fell right to sleep on Nana's shoulder!

With a sleeping Johnny, we went over to get a time to go on Peter Pan. Gram was in a wheel chair, which meant for rides like Peter Pan we could go right up to the front. But they try to stagger the wheel chair entry, so they scanned our tickets to give us a time to come back. While Nana and Papa did that, Henry and Derek convinced me to go on the Teacups!! Ugh, I felt awful afterwards, but it was fun seeing how much Henry liked it. "I changed my favorite ride," he said. "it's Teacups." But if you ask him what his favorite ride was, he says: "Dumbo. Oh, but I changed it to Teacups." so I think it's a bit of a tie.

While we waited for our time with Peter Pan, we went on Snow White's Scary Adventures. I forgot how scary that ride really is! Luckily Henry wasn't too scared, but he didn't really like it. He was much happier to go get on Peter Pan and fly over London again!

We switched gears after that and headed to Adventure Land. Papa had gotten us fast passes to go on Indiana Jones, so Derek, Papa, Sister Baird, and I went on that. Nana, Gram and the boys chilled outside. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad we got to go on it, but I was very happy to get back to the boys and have fun with them. Henry was ready to go to  New Orleans Square to go on Pirates of the Caribbean.

He sat with Nana and Papa this time, which he really enjoyed and laughed and sang the "Yo-Ho" song the whole time. We did get stuck at the very end for almost 15 minutes, which was a bummer. Johnny wasn't super happy about being on that dark ride again, and kept trying to climb out of my arms in an attempt to get off the ride. He was very happy when the got the ride working again and we were able to get out!

We walked around the corner to the Haunted Mansion, a ride we didn't make it on on Monday. I'm glad we went on it, but I could tell Henry didn't like it much. He rode with Derek and I, and we spent the whole time trying to make it funny, but he didn't like it. He mentioned the room getting long after we got off it and how he didn't like how cold it was. "I needed my blank, Mama." Nana and Papa told us John didn't really love it either. Poor guy--when they turned off all the lights in the stretched room, every one screamed and it scared him to death. Papa said he almost leaped out of his arms! He was ready to get out of the Mansion right then and there, I think.

After New Orleans Square, we split up for a little bit. Derek and I took the boys to see the Disneyland train engines. The train is closed right now, as they are expanding the park, but they have the engines parked outside where you can go see them. We talked to some of the engineers and even got to blow a train whistle! John really liked that. Henry was hungry. But on our way to lunch, we decided to go to the Tiki Room. I wanted Dole Whip, anyway!

Of course I loved my ice cream (and so did Johnny, by the way) but the best part of the Tiki Room was John. He LOVED it. Seriously. LOVED it. He danced, sang, and clapped his hands through the entire thing. It was so fun to watch him. It was definitely his favorite "ride"! Usually people take their babies to the Tiki Room to have a nap--not Mr. John! It's dance time there!

We were all actually hungry after this, so we went to Golden Horseshoe for lunch. Guess what Henry had? Yep: French fries and a few chicken nuggets. The one thing he branched out on was having fruit punch instead of juice. Silly kid.


We had fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad after that. I was SO excited to go with Derek on this ride. Next to Storybook Land, it's my favorite, and the last two times we've been to Disneyland it's been closed. So I was thrilled to get to go on it with him. It was also nice to have just a few minutes of the toy of us. We left Henry with Nana and Papa by some cool drinking fountains that I knew he would want to take a million drinks out of.

When we met back up, we decided to go over to Tomorrowland and do a few things. But first, Henry really wanted to take me on the Mark Twain Boat, which he had gone on with his Daddy for a few minutes. Nana and Papa took John towards Tomorrowland (hoping he would fall asleep) and we went towards the riverboat. As we walked in, who did we see but Princess Tiana! I convinced Henry to go talk to her. He was really shy at first, but then I got him to tell her his favorite color. When she said it was her favorite too, he was a lot more keen to talk to her. He flirted and laughed and even gave her a kiss on the cheek! It was so silly and sweet.

It was fun chasing Henry all around the river boat. I think he could have spent the better part of the afternoon on the boat. We sat on some chairs and looked out at the Rivers of America. We danced to the music the band was playing and just laughed and talked. I wished that we had John and we could have spent more time there, but we wanted to meet up with everyone. Turns out, the line for Buzz Blasters was super long, so Nana and Papa kept sleeping Johnny and did some shopping while Derek and I took him on the Nemo Submarine Ride.

That was fun! Henry loved it. He loved looking out the port hole window and watching for the fish. He also really liked the bit where we were "swallowed by a whale." He was so excited: "we went inside TWO whales today, Mommy! TWO WHALES IN ONE DAY!" It was funny. Oh, and I got to eat a delicious "Darth by Chocolate" while we waited in line. So good! That was my favorite part.

When we caught up with Nana and Papa and went on Buzz Blasters. Henry had a lot of fun on that one again. I rode with Gram, which was fun. John really liked all the lights and so I was actually able to do some shooting! It was funny though, because Gram only scored 500 points! We all had a good laugh about that one.

Buzz Blasters then sent us back in to Fantasyland. We stopped by the Wishing Well and threw in some more change before walking behind the castle. Henry, Derek, and John tried to get King Arthur's Sword out of the stone, but didn't quite get it. Henry tried REALLY hard though! He wanted to get that sword out so badly. It was sweet. He asked to go on the Carousel again after that, which I definitely wasn't going to say no to! He, Derek, John, Nana, and I all went together. The wait in line was bit tough, as Henry was getting a bit tired of being stuck in lines. Once we finally got on the horses, he was fine, though. Every time we went by Papa and Gram he yelled "Hi Papa! Hi Grammie!" Whenever he yells, his voice goes so much deeper and it just makes me laugh and laugh.

We said good bye to our horses and then went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride! Henry loved "driving" his own car on that ride and laughed when I pretended he was crashing. Luckily he didn't get nervous in the scary bits, because he was so distracted by the steering wheel. That was a-ok with me!

We were all pretty hungry at this point, so we went to the Plaza Inn for dinner. It's another tradition for my family to have one meal there. You get quite a bit of food, so it was perfect for us to split. Of course Henry only wanted fries, however, so I ran as quick as I could to Frontier Land to get him some. Luckily, there was no line and I was there and back again in just a few minutes!

After dinner, I went to do a little shopping with Nana and Henry, while Derek, John, and the others staked out a good spot on Main Street for the Parade and Fireworks. Then I got the boys in pajamas and left them with Derek before going to take some pictures around Fantasyland with Nana and Papa. By the time I got back, John had collapsed in exhaustion in Sister Baird's arms (after screaming and throwing up, apparently) and Henry was bouncing around. Derek was obviously exhausted and we barely made it back in time to keep our spot. Good thing we hurried back!

The Paint the Night Parade was an absolutely blast again. John slept through the whole thing, but Henry was just so sweet and so excited. He waved to everyone, got excited when he saw Mack and Lightening again, but oh was he tired! The fireworks were cancelled due to wind (again) but we did get to see a cool lazer light show as a consolation prize. But really, it was actually good the fireworks were cancelled, because we were all super tired and ready to head back. We were driving back to San Diego that night, so we hurried back to the hotel where our car was parked, loaded up, and got on our way.

Thus ended our Disney Adventure. We had so much fun; it was probably one of the best times I've ever had at Disneyland. I loved seeing the magic and the wonder in my boys eyes. I loved seeing the characters as "real" again the way they did. Going on the rides with them made it feel like the first time, it was so fun. I can't wait to take them back again and go on the rides Henry was a bit too short for; it will be an all new Disneyland again!

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