Exciting News! and "How to take your toddler to Disneyworld"

First, for the exciting news--we are having another baby! That's right, baby Hirst #2 will be making its debut sometime around Christmas (well, my due date is actually Christmas Day, but we are hoping that the baby comes after). We are very excited! Well, sometimes I feel a little nervous about having 2 kids, but I am mostly excited. I have been kinda sick, but not nearly as bad as when I was pregnant with Jacob. I also have been wearing the sea band bracelets, which are helping a lot. So I can function ok, but I just feel kinda crappy all the time. Hopefully it will get better soon. We get to find out the gender at the beginning of August!

And now, for our trip to Florida:

We were planning on just doing a beach trip, but we couldn't resist taking Jacob to Disney world since it was so close! We weren't really sure how he was going to like it or if there would be much for him to do, but there was tons for him to do!!

We took advantage of all the great areas for little kids the park has to offer. They have this great little baby center, with a giant changing room, and a room with a bunch of tables and high chairs. It's great to have an air-conditioned place to let them eat lunch or take a nap, or

just take a break. They also have books and Disney movies playing, as well as a fully stocked kitchen with anything you could need.

When we first got there, he was just interested in playing with this fountain and going up steps. We were like "great, we shell out all this money for admission, and all he wants to do is climb steps!" But the more he saw, the more excited he got.

There are so many rides at the Magic Kingdom that toddlers can go on. We went on as many as we had time for, like this Aladdin carpets. The fast passes are amazing with kids! We would grab a fast pass, and then go do something else, like eat lunch or wait in a short line for a ride. We wouldn't wait in any line that was longer than 30 minutes (they have a sign that says how long the wait is) so it was no trouble at all with Jacob. And most rides have interesting things to look at while in line.

There are also places in the shade all over to sit and take a break. Jacob was loving all this daddy time.

The jungle cruise is also great, especially for the corny jokes:)

This was probably Jacob's favorite ride--The Buzz lightyear astro-blaster ride. We went on this twice. You sit in a little pod with a gun, and you shoot all these targets. Jacob loved it because of all the colors, and he loved watching the numbers change on our little score box.

This picture just cracks me up!

This was the most delicious brownie sundae for me, because I got to eat it while Jacob was napping. Ever since having Jacob, I rarely get to sit and enjoy a meal, because he also wants to sit on my lap and have bites.

Our fan was so handy to have blowing on him while napping, and just walking through the park. It was so hot and humid this day, so we also kept getting his head wet.

Jacob's other favorite ride was the Winnie the Pooh ride. It had a fun little house right outside the line, and he had tons of fun there.

And the actual ride was so fun for him! You can see how big his eyes are in this picture.

He also loved "it's a small world". After each of the rides were over, he would say "gin! gin!" (again)

So, our trip to Disney world was a success! We had fun, Jacob had fun, and he was still smiling at the end of the day:) Of course, we couldn't resist getting him a souvenir--he picked out this cowboy Mickey stuffed toy.

The next day, we drove to St. Pete Beach on the west side of Florida. We stayed at a fun hotel that was right on the beach. The first night there it was raining a little, so we just spent time in the covered pool. Jacob really liked swimming in the pool.

The next morning we were planning on heading to the beach to spend the day there. But when we got there, the sky looked like this:

We lasted about 20 minutes, and then packed up and went back to our room.

So, now we had to think of something else to do, since it started pouring. We decided to go eat lunch at Chuck E. Cheese, and hoped Jacob would like it enough to kill some time. And lucky for us, he looooved it! They have this great toddler area, with tons of little games for someone Jacob's size. He loved this little phone especially.

Jacob is quite the charmer. He makes friends wherever we go:)

There were also plenty of fun "big boy games" (as Kevin liked to call them) for us to play.

When we got back to our hotel, the sun came out! So we spent the rest of the day at the beach. Jacob wasn't a big fan of the beach. It took him some time to warm up to the idea of sitting in the sand, and he spent a lot of time playing in his little tent. He liked the ocean for about 10 minutes, and then had enough. Eventually he started playing in the sand with his toys.

Overall, it was a great vacation:)

Here is a pic of Jacob making more friends at the airport. He thought these guys were hilarious! (and they thought he was hilarious).