Gotcha for Life

 My Littlest One,

Tonight, I sit with you in bed waiting patiently until you head to dream land, and you have no idea what tonight symbolizes. Two years ago this evening, we were nervously prepping for your arrive. I can remember the call from Ms. A, our social worker, as if it was yesterday. We really had no concept of how you were about to rock our worlds. 

This last year has been so strange. We did not get to celebrate your first anniversary as much as we would have liked last year. We had just had a lose in the family so we just enjoyed time at home together. Little did we know that we would be spending a ton of time together at home in just a few weeks. While I was in Boston, you guys went to Irish fest which you had so much fun playing with your buddy Ms. L. You really liked when I would face time home because you got a chance to see all the kids on our trip. Of course, we had no idea that the Friday after I got back things would completely shut down due to a global pandemic. 

Well, enter the Covid pandemic. This virus hit the world with force. In fact, we are almost a year later from the start, and we are still dealing with it. We thought it would be a week, maybe two, but it has been so much more. With day care, school, and Daddy's work shut down, we were home all together, and needless to say it was an interesting time. Bubba and you definitely got a lot of buddy time, and a silver lining of the whole thing was that you and I finally got to start bonding. You want Daddy more, but occasionally, you definitely want me over him. We spent a lot of time doing things like watching movies and playing games. Bubba and you spent a lot of time outside as well. 

With Covid, lots of things were very different. Our big Disney trip was cancelled and rescheduled, and then it was rescheduled yet again. Birthday days were different. Bubba had a parade while you had a day with your grandparents. We got to meet your Sissy, and you finally got meet your Big Bubba. We did get to do two fun trips. We headed to Dinosaur Valley where you guys had fun with playing in the water and enjoying seeing the dinosaur prints. You are a bit obsessed with dinosaurs; you were even one for this Halloween. Over Thanksgiving, you got to make your first out of state trip when we headed to Broken Bow, Oklahoma. You liked the trip there because you got to watch movies in the car. We had so much fun hiking as a family and hanging out somewhere else than at home. We still had fun this Christmas with a virtual visit with Santa, cookies, and getting a real tree. This year you were so into the whole process. You wanted a big, big truck as you put it. 

So much has changed, but some has stayed the same. You still love pink and yellow as your favorite colors. You definitely are still my little car dude as well. You have expanded your Disney love to more than the Fab Five. You are definitely a fan of Peter Pan just like your Bubba. You even said you wanted to meet him when we finally go to Disney. You love Spiderman and Baby Yoda as well. Your food loves are expanding some. You still are not a fan of chocolate, but you love some vanilla ice cream. You love graham crackers, cheese-its, and the muffins in a bag. Of course, you always want milk to drink. You love trips to Sonic to get ice cream and drinks. You love snuggles, but you are not a fan of hugs and kisses. You would rather lick everyone. Tickles are always fun because your laugh is so cute. You flip, jump, and race to every corner you can get to. The high point of your day is getting to check the mail and see the mailman. You love dance and jam in the kitchen, and "Wheels on the Bus" and "We Will Rock You" are you favorite songs. You miss getting to go to Target like normal. 

You are definitely our little Loki, too, because you will play all kinds of sneaky tricks on people. You are definitely Daddy's buddy on that. You finally found your voice, and you are a little chatterbox all the time. You have best buddies in school with S, L, and B. We finally got you to agree to potty train, and it is going fairly smoothly once you set your mind to it. You are also sleeping more on your own as well. You still come to snuggle us in bed, but you go to sleep so much easier than before. You really are the perfect fit to our little family. 

Love always and forever, 

Mommy

8 It Is

My darling Little Man the Elder,

It is that time again. Another year is coming to pass. While I am not glad to see you get older, I think am glad to close the door on year 7. 6 ended with such high hopes, but 7 was completely opposite. It was a rough year to the last day. 

I think I will flip-flop this letter. Last I ended on a bit of sad note, and I want to end on the silver linings we have. Last year started off sad with our beloved M going into hospice. I didn't get to spend any of your birthday with you at all because I was at the hospital getting all the arrangements made, and you were asleep when I got home that night. She passed away on one of your favorite holidays, July 4th, and this really hit you hard. With all the craziness of the funeral, getting her stuff packed away, and school starting, we never got a chance to stop and take things in as a family. My sensitive one-you have felt the void of her being gone more than anyone else. You are still processing it even today. We really had hoped this would be the worst to weather, but we soon found there was more. 

2nd grade was definitely not as smooth as 1st. You had been really hoping that you would get Ms. Y because you thought she was the coolest, but it was not to be. You ended up being with the perfect teacher for you, Mrs. B. You took a long time to trust her for some reason; it was probably because she was pushing you more and more. When you finally started trusting her, we started to see you bloom more. Too bad it was really starting as Covid-19 decided to come into the picture, but we will get to that in a bit. 

The fall brought some brightness. L became officially ours in September, and our family finally felt finished. Grandma E and Grandpa R were perfect additions to our family, and they helped fill some of those voids in our family. We got to go to San Antonio to spend time with family and watch one of your favorite cousins J get married. We stopped in Waco to see Baylor which fueled your love for it more. You loved getting to see the Catholic ceremony even if you had trouble getting through the whole thing. You also got to go on your first trip down the Riverwalk, and we visited the Alamo. You enjoyed getting talk to some of the actors about their weapons and what happened there. You also loved the statues. 

The year was really an emotional roller coaster. Around Christmas, more seemed to roll in. It really was a "when it rains, it pours" once 2020 came. In February, your other favorite person, great-aunt S or the Great One as we was known, passed away. We had finally gotten over one of the major grief humps when it happened, so you kind of spiraled again. She really was your buddy, and she got you on so many levels that others did not. After she passed, I realized more than ever that you were her kindred spirit. You was the more extrovert one like she was, and you have her gift for gab. We also lost our sweet kitty as well. You weren't exactly attached to her, but she had always been there as we had her before you were. You lost your new friends across the street this spring when they moved to Rockwall. You started to worry everyone you loved might leave you. 

Being a June baby, your birth years always cross over two years. You started 7 in 2019, and you end it in 2020 which has been a bit of chaotic mess of a year so far. Your generation will be defined of what is happening as you exit year 7, Covid-19. There have been minor pandemic type viruses before in your life-Swine Flu, H1N1, etc, but nothing is quite like this. Around the end of February/beginning of March, Covid-19 began shutting down the world. You went on Spring Break, and you never got to go back. This was really hard for the extrovert that you are. Distance Learning was definitely an issue, and we do not think you grew quite as much as you could have in a classroom environment. It was hard to keep up with things because we were still working while trying to homeschool you and keep L alive. As I write this, we are still the heart of all this. Life has become a new normal to us. Even celebrating your birthday was hard. We had a parade rather than a party. You have been craving so much the human interaction. We keep hoping things are coming to an end, but we have had to scrap all kinds of plans including our big Disney cruise twice. We don't even know at this point what will happen with your 3rd grade year. 

Even with so much up in the air and disappointment, we have silver linings. We have gotten you to grow so much. You are definitely showing more leanings to Daddy than me. You have less than a foot until we are the same height! You have become such a good big brother as well. It definitely is not all roses with you two together. Lots of screaming, yelling, and tears! However, you are also gentle, patient, and loving with him. No spit dropping like Daddy and Uncle R. While it is still hard, you are slowly developing in your reading ability. You still love to listen to books. Daddy swears if you ever start reading on your own that we will never see you again.  You developed your love of history more with adding an obsession with Ancient Egypt and King Tut. You also are showing more interest in drawing and art. Your test in musical theater is also growing, and you have added "Six" to your list of favorites like Hamilton and Descendants. We hope in year 8 that you will grow into someone who can cope better with the pressures. Resilience is really becoming a key thing to you. This is truly as time of transition, and I think you are ready for it. 

Year 8 will really become a year of transitions. You will have your last recital because you have decided to not dance next year. I am a little sad because I know you love it and have potential, but until your heart is there like other things, you won't progress the way you should. We are doing what we can to get you help to become more successful. You are entering the later half of elementary, and things are getting serious in school with state testing. You may try something new like karate or playing an instrument, but we will have to get schooling under control first. We hoping to finally do some more traveling. We had hoped to do the Disney Cruise before the end of the year, but Covid again had its say in it. We had to push things out again until next summer, and we will be on the ship for your birthday next year. Who knows what this year will hold, but like always I hope to be better at chronically than I have been this year! I leave things off here. While it is not the exact time, we have now entered the day as it is after midnight. I love you my crazy pants! I hope you rock this new year. 

Love, 

Mommy

New Traditions

Dear My Littlest One,
I feel like I have been a horrible mommy at keeping memories for you! I meant to do my first letter to you on the eve of your birthday like I do for your Bubba, but tonight seems more appropriate. Tomorrow, we will celebrate the first anniversary of your Gotcha Day. It is hard to believe that it has only been a year because from day one, you just fit so perfectly.

I remember driving home on this night a year ago. We had just finished Bubba's student lead conference, and he and I were in the car on the way home when our social worker, Ms. A, called. I was a bit surprised because it was after 7, and I knew it had to be a big deal. She asked me how we felt about an 18 month older boy and gave me some basic info about you. I told her I was on the way home, and I needed to talk to Daddy first. I got home, and we had a quick chat. We quickly made the decision that Ms. A could show our profile book (remind me to show it to you some day). We had been waiting for you for almost a year with our agency, so we were not expecting what would come next. When I called Ms. A back to say go ahead and show the book, she told us it was a good thing because your social worker had already picked us! After that, we crazily rushed around to get some items we needed like a car seat and finish prepping your room. We had just finished putting it together the Sunday beforehand. We could hardly believe what was happening.

At first, we were just going to meet with your case worker, and then the next thing we knew you were coming to us the very next day. Ms. A sent me a picture, and we feel in love with you even before you got here. When your social worker arrived, you were just waking up, but you came to me immediately and snugged in. We had been waiting for you for almost 7 years, and we could not believe that you were here. We had to spend lots of time signing papers and getting information from your social worker, and when everyone was gone, we finally got a chance to settle in. I went to go get Bubba, and he was so excited to meet you. We were finally a whole family. I also got to talk to Grandpa R on the way home from getting Bubba, and Grandma E and he were excited to know we were welcoming them as well.

Over the next couple of days, you began to settle in, but it was rough because you hated sleeping! It took a rough month or so before you seemed to finally feel comfortable. You bonded well with Daddy, and we quickly learned you loved outside, cars, and being crazy. We also found that you were a super picky eater! You would have nothing to do with anything that was the color brown, and you basically ate nothing when you first came. You pretty much just wanted milk and cheese. You adored and loved your Bubba from the moment you two meet as well. You constantly wanted to do what he was doing. It has taken you a bit longer to bond with me, but it seems like we are finally to the point that our connection is happening.

This year has been a whirlwind of changes. When you got here, you mostly pointed and grunted at things, and now you chatter away about everything especially when it is your "purple car" (hint-all cars are purple cars right now. Your tastes in food is larger, but you are definitely a Picky Nicky when it comes to food. You love all things with salt and tang. Onion bagels and nuts are some of your favorite foods. You are a strange kiddo who does not eat chocolate, cookies, cakes, and candy. The only sweet thing you seem to like is vanilla ice cream. You love to try things though, but you prefer to feed others.

We discovered early on that you loved music, and you are learning to sing your little songs. "Baby Shark" was your obsession at first, but you moved on to "We Will Rock You." Now you love to sing a few lines from "Let It Go" at the top of your lungs in our two story foyer. Bubba is not a fan in any way. You also love "Wheels on the Bus" and "Happy If  You Know It". Your little hooray when you are singing is too adorable.

While you love cars and jumping on your trampoline, your ultimate favorites are Mickey Mouse and Elsa from "Frozen" (or Elso as you call her). You started out liking Elmo at first, but then a flip switched when we started watching Mickey's Clubhouse. You adore Mickey Roadster and will watch it for house. "Frozen" and "Toy Story" were the first two movies we watched that you made it through. You also loved "Cars" and the live action "Lady and the Tramp" as well. However, "Frozen" captivated you from moment one. We started adding Mickey and Disney elements a little bit at a time. You also love animals. You get so excited when you see dogs out in the neighborhood. You are very much all boy, and I swear we will be in the ER several times with you. We can definitely see now what a true toddler is like.

While you were always ours from day one, we made you an official Barnhart in September. It was exciting because Grammy, Grandpa R, and Grandma E joined us on this day, and we are so glad we have created this new little family. We took you to your first Renaissance Faire in the spring, and you got to have a family/framily filled Mickey party which is funny because your Bubba's first birthday party was Mickey as well. You found fast kindred spirits with little Miss L and Miss A. You are really smack dab in the middle of them, and you love having built in friends. You got to meet lots of extended family in September when J and J got married in San Antonio, and we had our first road trip as a family. You got super excited for Christmas as well. Santa definitely spoiled Bubba and you so much. You also got to go to the aquarium, our pumpkin patch, and the zoo. You loved going on adventures. While it took you a moment, you were super excited about Trick-or-Treating once you figured it out. You also got to enjoy snow for the first time, and your first passport arrived a couple of weeks ago.

Most recently, you have started being excited about reading books, and your favorite seems to be Bubba's old puppy book. You love to make the doggie lift his leg to go pee. You also love to sleep in bed with us. When we switched you to a toddler bed, you started toddling in to be with us-you came before when you were in the crib as well. Daddy and I are thankful we got that king bed because sometimes it is all four of us plus our dog D. You love to eat all my food when you get a chance, and we love to see what you might actually eat. Your favorite is pizza for sure.

Where shall the next year go for you? We have so many new adventures planned. This summer we will take you to Disney for the first time. You are excited to meet Mickey and the gang as well as Elso, Olaf, and Anna.You will go on an airplane, and you will leave the country when we go on the cruise. You will get to see the beach and your first ocean/sea. We are excited to hear all the new words that you will learn as well. You finally started saying "love you too" in such an adorable way. You are so intrigued with learning new things and exploring, so we know we will be on our toes.

It is late little one, and I must pause here to head to bed. I assume when I get there that you will be snuggled on your tummy in the middle of the bed, but maybe this will be a night for your own bed. As cliche as it is, you are truly our missing piece, and we are finally whole with you. I can't wait to see you grow into who you will be, and I am so happy that our lives were forever changed this time last year.

Love you always and forever,
Mommy

And then there was 7

Dear Little Man the Elder,
I was supposed to write this almost a week ago on the eve of your 7th birthday, but things have been a little crazy. So here I am writing this a week after you turned 7. You will forgive me I am sure when you look back at what the last couple of weeks have been like for our family that you will understand the delay.

So how was six? For all the rough of 5, 6 was a much smoother year. We watched you mature in so many ways. Even if it is not your favorite, you are trying harder in school, and we are seeing your desire to help those around you begin to bloom. You seemed to have an easier time making and keeping friends this year as well. We also began to see lots of success of you catching up what you were missing from kinder.

We know that your increased success this year was due to two people, Mrs. R and Mrs. H. Without them, I am not sure what we would have done. Mrs. R was the most amazing first grade teacher for you to have. She was just the right mix of loving and structured you needed. She helped you overcome some hurtles, and she was a big advocate to helping us get your needs identified. Mrs. H worked with you to find out what worked for you, and she had the same combo of loving and structure you needed. She and Ms. P were so good at getting you to stay on track and show your true potential.

Six is the year we finally found out what was going on in your head. In November after extensive testing, we learned you were Autistic. You are considered to be in at a high function level, and it was hard to diagnosis because you are so highly verbal. Once we knew this, a lot of things clicked into place, and we started to see you progress more in school when we started working from a different perspective. We still have a long way to go with working on this, but we at least feel like we have a hold on things a bit more.

You continued on doing dance, but we switched from ninja class and swimming to cub scouts. You found your new passion with this. You were so proud to wear your uniform the first time, and it was exciting for you to do acts of service. You learned so much from this avenue. I think your favorite events would be a tie between your first camping trip and pinewood derby. You were so excited to get second out of the Tiger cars. You cannot wait until the new session starts to learn all about being a Wolf. You also got your first taste at theater this summer with a camp. You got to be a baby hyena in Lion King Kids. You did a great job considering you were out the first two days of camp with strep. It was an experience to say the least, and I am pretty sure this bug has bitten you since you have asked to do more already.

Daddy and I finally caved a bit on what we let you watch, and you got to finally see the MCU from start to finish just in time to see "Avengers: Endgame" come out. You are nuts for the Avengers now, and we even had an Avengers birthday party with a special guest appearance by your favorite, Captain America. You were so over the moon. Not that this has stopped your love for Ninjago; I think we have seen all the sessions at least 3 times between the time you turned 6 and 7. You also discovered Percy Jackson this fall, and we have been making our way through the first and second book series on the way to and from school. However, HP is still a major contender. Daddy and you have been steadily working through book 5 over the last couple of months.

The first big change this year was moving from the home you had known since birth. Since we were expanding our family, we needed more space. We ended up in a house that is almost 1000 sq. feet bigger than our first home! We live in a neighborhood where you have access to not only parks but also swimming pools which you love. There is a great family with four kiddos across that street that are enjoying to get to know. All you asked for was we get a house with stairs, and you got your wish. Added bonus is the stairs equalled the perfect HP closet for play once we get it all set up. Your new room is so big that you can fit your bedroom furniture and a couch in it! We also have a whole landing on the second floor that you use a playroom. Somehow with all that space, toys still manage to migrate downstairs though.

Year six was a year of travel for you. We went back to Disney in October for a short trip. We had so much fun at the Halloween Party as a family, and you were finally tall enough to ride one of my favorite rides Space Mountain. You loved it so much especially riding it in the dark. We originally were going to surprise you with this trip, but we told you about two weeks beforehand because we had to cancel the Disneyland trip you knew about. We originally thought you would want to go to Animal Kingdom since we spent so little time, but you were wanted the Magic Kingdom. This time you were more interested in the rides than characters, and we only meet Baymax. You were really brave and tried lots of new foods at the Food and Wine Fest. In November, we took a trip to California because we had a wedding to attend. You got to put your feet in the ocean for the first time, and you are definitely becoming a pro at planes. In December, we did a staycation for my birthday at a local hotel, and now you are in love with hotels. I think we have spoiled you a bit much on them because you are like we must stay in hotels now. We had hoped for a trip to the coast, but we may have to stick with another staycation.

In February, we had such a big change in our family when we welcomed Mr. L to the house which is why you are now dubbed Little Man the Elder. We had been a waiting family for 9 months, and we always expected a baby from the start. You ended up with a toddler brother, so some of the adjustment things came earlier than expected for you. You have done so well though. It is hard to go from being just the three to having a fourth who takes lots of time. You have weathered it as best could be hand, but there have definitely been some growing pains to say the least. I get this transition more than Daddy at times because I have been there. You and I have become very close over the last couples of months since Mr. L leans more toward Daddy. You have your moments, but you are such loving big brother. It warms my heart to see you get a chance to do this since you have wanted it so long.

I feel bad ending this on a more somber note, but I know I need to add this part so later you know how much you meant to her. My letter was so delayed because your beloved great-grandma M has been very sick. It all started in February with her heart stuff, but it has progressed to her kidneys. At the end of May, she spent a long stay in the hospital, but she was released with everything being okay. Unfortunately, she went right back in, and on your birthday, we had to arrange for her to enter hospice. It is a long slow process, and this is the first death you will remember and impact you. We had to have that talk, and you are handling in your own way. You were so brave to go visit to make sure she knew you loved her. I put this here not to spotlight your brave but also remind you how much she loved you. She talks about you constantly when I am there, and she has your pictures to look at. There is no time line when things will stop for her right now, but I know she is said to have missed special moments already for you. I know you will keep her alive in your heart always, and you will need support to help you get through this hard start to 7.

It is time to close this all out. I think I rambled a bit more than normal, and there seems a lot of icky here. However, I know you will overcome as you always have. While it has been rough to start, I am sure 7 will turn out to be as amazing as 6.

Love, Mommy

Finishing up 5

Dear Little Man,
I have not posted in a long time; life has been happening so there is so little time. I would rather be enjoying time with you than writing about it! I was a horrible mommy and completely forgot to do this last year, so you are probably going to get a bit of both year 4 and 5 in this one.

Year 4 had some ups and downs, but it was really more up than down. Switching you to the new day care was definitely a good decision. We watched you begin to love things you used to like coloring and painting again. Your teachers, Ms. A and Ms. S, were awesome because they supported you the whole way. We were really sad to leave them at the end of the summer for you to start kindergarten. You came such a long way with them. You also continued to love math and discovered of science as well.

Your best buddies since 6 month old  moved back to Texas. You were always wanting to be with R and L, and you added in Miss Z to your group. It was the perfect circle of friends. When you talk about your friends those are the three you talk about the most.

You went from being an all Disney Junior kid with a Jake obsession to being the biggest Rescuebots fan. Then it was Ninjago and Superheroes. You transitioned from reading regular storybooks to chapter books with Daddy at night. You started out with Captain Underpants,  and then we moved onto the Magic Treehouse series and Spiderwick Chronicles. You love to listen to books in the car which is the only reason you manage to stay awake on the way home. You absolutely loved the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. Your two current favorites series are the Series of Unfortunate Events and Harry Potter. You are definitely are Potter obsessed now. You managed to convince Daddy to go onto reading the fourth book. Harry is of course your favorite character.

You still struggled some, and we started finding out why you are having some problems. In the spring before your 5th birthday, we got to visit with Dr. R, and we discovered that you were suffering from emerging anxiety which was most likely triggered by what happened at your old day care. This year has been all about trying to figure out how to help you cope with it. When we transitioned to the new day care, we had had you do play therapy which helped quite a bit. We return to start seeing Dr. J again recently to see what we can discover.

The highlight of last summer was your first trip to Disneyworld. We spent two years planning it, and you helped all the way through. We stayed at the Beach Club Villas, and we got a chance to visit all the parks. You made bracelets for each of the princesses, and they were a big hit. On our second Epcot day, you walked around with lipstick kiss marks on both of your cheeks and forehead for your effort! You were Mr. Thrillseeker because you wanted to ride all the roller coasters you could. Your favorite ride was probably Seven Dwarves Mine Train, and you loved getting a chance to go on the Pirates and Pals Cruise. You also loved that every single person who saw your birthday button wished you a happy birthday. It was such a magical experience that your first request for your birthday was to go back!

In the fall, you started kindergarten at the same school I teach at. You were like finally because you had been dreaming of going for so many years. You loved being a part of the International and Fine Arts Festivals. You also loved that all of Mommy's current and former students (I teach 8th grade at a K-12 school) would say hello and talk to you. You were a bit a ladies man because you had 3 girlfriends at one time! Little Miss F was definitely your number one though. You also discovered a love for soccer as well. Kinder was a bit of a mix bag. We saw you struggle again like before, and things were like being on a rocky ocean. Your teacher was very sweet, but we wish you guys had connected a bit better. We were proud of you that you still managed to grow throughout the year, and we know you will continue to in your own way. We hope next year you will be with a teacher who can help you bloom more as well. You are excited to be going into the main primary building next year.

Another thing you continued with is dance. Daddy figured it was a fluke, and that after one year, you would be done. However, you proved him wrong. You took another summer class, and you just finished up your second year last week. You got a chance to be in the recital which was an interesting experience. You loved your dance teacher, Ms. E, and her assistance so much this year. Of course, getting to be front and center on stage was exciting for you, my little extrovert. You cannot wait to get through another year of dance because you get a trophy at the end of the year, and you are looking forward to starting to branch out some more into different styles like hip-hop.

What will year six bring for you? Well, you know Disneyland is coming in November, but you have no idea that Daddy and I are surprising you with another trip to Disneyworld in October to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We are going to check off a bucketlist item for you and I by going to the Halloween Party as well. You are also excited about what is to come in 1st grade; I know with some stronger supports you will be able to show your full potential to your teacher. All these things are big and exciting, but I think there is something above all these things you are looking forward to. You are hoping to finally be a big brother. You have wanted to be one since you were 18 months old, and you have patiently waited while your other friends got to become big brothers and sisters. Mommy and Daddy are hoping you do not have to wait too much longer now that we are adopting. Once we got approved with our home study, you have been bursting to tell everyone how we are growing our family. You ask all the time when the baby is going to come to stay with us. While you will be happy with either, you definitely lean toward wanting a baby sister more than anything else in the world so she can be your princess. We are crossing our fingers we get matched before your next birthday.

I will wrap things up here at this point. Your presents are already wrapped and ready for tomorrow; you will have to wait until 12:12 PM this year to get them though! I am going to run and give you one last 5 year old hug and kiss, and then it is off to sleep myself.

Love,
   Mommy

Disney Vacation 3-When to go and Where to stay

So, I last posted Disney info about 6 months ago, but it took some time to collect more information about planning since we were in a holding pattern waiting to hear back about DVC point rentals. I had a great talk with Shannon Albert from WDW Prep since I last wrote in July. She gave me some great info specific to our trip that helped, but I think I scheduled the appointment a little too early since I did not have our specific trip outlined more. If I use this service again, I would probably wait until I was at the 6 month mark instead-maybe right after I made dining reservations. Since I last wrote and had the conference call, we have finalized both our hotel reservation and dining, and we pretty much got everything we wanted for the trip so far. Once again, I am no Disney expert in form or fashion, and I am going off what our process is.
  
Budget
Before you go, you probably need to decide how much you are willing to spend. I would be lying if I said that Disney was not a bit on the expensive side for a basic trip. While we have done two trips to San Antonio, this is our first major family trip, and my son is as much of a Disney nut as I am due to some breeding and training on my part. I stayed off property when I went in high school with a school trip, but we stayed on property when we went for our honeymoon. We knew that a super tight budget trip was not for us, and paying off some major debt allowed us to have more room for saving for luxury as well. However, we also do not have unlimited funds, so I would say we have a higher moderate level budget for Disney, but we started saving in 2015 and found a couple of areas to save with. 

Location-onsite vs off-site
Once you have a budget, it's time for resort research. If you are strict about your budget, do not pick a resort beforehand because much like any other time you pick something before looking at cost, there is a high chance you will fall in love with a resort you may not be able to afford or not want to afford. If you are willing to be flexible with that part of your budget, then it will open up your search more. Next, I would think about what is important to you as a guest and make a checklist to compare the resorts. Disney has a system that can compare the hotels, but it is more general stuff. Having a personal list helps a lot. One of the major research points with picking a place to stay is onsite versus off-site. Onsite Disney is going to cost more hands down, but there is something about sticking in the Disney bubble. The rest really depends on your priorities. For example, not having to rent a car or drive is a big plus for us, and we get that with staying onsite. We also know and are willing to work it in as part of our budget/saving. However, when money or need to do other things than just Disney are priorities, you might be better off doing the off-site. I personally do not have experience with planning an off-site trip, but the sites I have mentioned before have tons of information about it.

Location-Picking a Disney Resort
If you decide to do the on-site thing, there is still more research ahead of you. Still working with your list of priorities, now you have to compare the different Disney Resorts themselves. There are three classification for resorts: Value, Moderate, and Deluxe. There are 5 Value, 4 Moderates, 8 Deluxe, a campground which is categorized as moderate, and 10 villas which are a time-share (2 are by themselves and 8 are attached to the Deluxe locations). There are two hotels, Swan and Dolphin, that are on property but run by non-Disney companies; they have all of the amenities of the other resorts minus Magical Express or the Dining Plan. Again, your budget and preference will come in handy. 
I will go through our process below with details of how we came to our decision. Want to stay on site but on a budget? The values are the way to go. We have not stayed at one, but I hear and see things all the time about people generally enjoying their stays at these resorts. I hear they are great for people who know they will spend essentially all their time at the parks and away from the room except for sleep time. If you planning on spending time at the resort, then the moderate may be a bit more your style. Once again, we have not done this, but I have heard excellent things specifically about Port Orleans Riverside. Both the Value and Moderate are huge resorts which is probably why there are fewer of those. Obviously, if you can or okay saving for a splurge, the Deluxe are the best way to go because they are normally within walking distance or a shorter trip to one or more of the parks. This is minus Animal Kingdom since it is not really near anywhere and two of the resorts classified villas which are closer to the area with the moderates. Disney pretty much has a hotel that fits anyone's needs.

Discounts and Saving Money
Growing up, I was definitely taught the value of a hard earned dollar, so I understand the sadness of parting with it. Thus, I am all about finding a good deal. Luckily, there are ways to save with Disney. Disney does do discount periodically, but you have to be more open to times of year. Since I am an educator, I am limited useless I want to miss work which is more effort than not missing it, so I am left looking down other avenues. For military, Disney does have a specific resort which is supposed to discounted, so that would be something to look into if you had access. The Swan and Dolphin also offer a military discount, but they also offer discounts to government workers, nurses, and teachers. This is why we picked the Swan for our honeymoon. It was definitely used to be a great discount, but we did not use it this time since we are going with the kiddo. The last way I know to save money is renting Disney Vacation Club or DVC points which is the way we went this time. We are getting to stay at a Deluxe for about what we would pay for a moderate. There are some things to take into context with it though. We had to pay upfront, and the amount is not refundable unless the owner of the points defaults in some way. That is if you go through a group like we did. Do-it-yourself was even more worrisome to us, but it is less expensive than a group. Another downside is we do have to do all of our own planning since we can't us a planner. Like all gambles, they can really pay off though.

Our Resort Picking Path
So, what was our process? We knew before budget that we would be splurging for at least a moderate or deluxe resort. We discussed two of the moderate hotels, Port Orleans Riverside and Caribbean Beach, but we wanted to be as close as we could. That lead us to the debate between Magic Kingdom vs Epcot/Hollywood Studios. We loved the Boardwalk area during our honeymoon, but since Little Man was coming this time, Magic Kingdom is probably somewhere we would spend a lot of time. We narrowed it down to our top three choices, Beach Club, Polynesian, and Contemporary. We watched lots of videos and spent time combing over the comparisons since each had their own pluses and minuses. We settled on the Beach Club for two reasons: atmosphere and the pool. Since Little Man even now still loves his pirates, it was a no brainer to stay at a location that had a pirate ship themed ship. Yep, we even showed him videos of all three resorts, and he was like pirate ship over the volcano pool and Peter Pan themed kids care location at the Poly or huge arcade at the Contemporary.

We debated biting the bullet to purchase DVC ourselves, but we went with renting points. Since Beach Club is so popular, I had to get onto a waiting list at the company we ultimately went with, David's DVC Rentals. Since David's only lets you do one search/waiting list, I also went through another company, DVC Rental Store, but I had them put me on searches for our back-up to make sure we had somewhere to stay. However, staying at the Beach Club was more important than anything, so I made a reservation with Disney for a standard room. DVC Rental Store actually found a reservation at The Contemporary first, but based on their false advertisement of full refund for cancellation(you actually have to pay a fee for this, and then you have a deduction on top of it. They do not bother to tell you this until after you have already put a deposit down) and extremely poor customer service, we did not feel comfortable going with them. Plus Beach Club was really were our heart was, so we stuck with David's. It took about two months to actually get a final reservation, but the customer service at David's so far is worth the wait. I will do a full review once the trip is finished.

So, with the resort taken care of completely by September, my next step was ADRs which we needed to start making at the beginning of December. And that would be my next time topic!

Disney Vacation 2- Research, Research, and Even More Research

So you have made the decision and commitment to do a Disney trip, what do you do next? Research would be the answer to that! Most trips you have to make need at least some basic level research before going. While Hubster is more about going with the flow, I am definitely a planner. My type A personality requires me to informed as much as I possible can, and I actually like travel research. The enjoyment and willingness to do this kind of level of research is definitely a benefit when doing Disney research. When you start with Disney research, you are probably going to be to be overwhelming, but have no fear. Below is the guide line that I have for what I have used and are currently using.

Where to start:
1. Disney : This is probably a duh place to start. The Disney World website will give you some basic ideas of what is available. I have found the resort page was best for getting some pricing information if the locations you are looking for are available. It also lets you see pictures of the room and lists some amenities. You can also sign-up for a My Disney Experience account which you will need to get. There is a chat bar available, but I have never found it very helpful because they do not really give you much as far as indepth answers. This because Disney isn't a fan of putting stuff in writing because writing means there is a chance they could be held to something they don't want to. You do have the availability to call old style which I found more beneficial. Once you have an account you can favorite things like resorts, restaurants, and rides. While the account did exist when we went on our honeymoon, a lot of the functionality like fastpass pluses and connecting everything was not available yet, so that is something that is new this time to us. I have read or heard several times that favoriting things will help with dining reservations and fastpasses. You can also sign-up for a planning DVD through this website as well.

2. Unofficial Guide: Walt Disney World: I vaguely remember someone referring to this book about Disney as the Bible for Disney trip planning, and I would have to say that they were pretty much right. This was my primary source the last time we went, and it is where I started this time. It is really thick for a reason because it is packed with lots of good info. This is where I found information about good discounts that saved use money on the trip. For example, I would have never known that two Disney Resorts offer a teacher/military discount that allowed us to stay on property or a great discount ticket location. They come out with a new one each year each August. I saw some changes between my 2009 edition vs my 2015 one, but I did not see much difference between 2015 vs 2016. So if you are starting to plan before the newest edition exist, then I do not see any reason you would need to purchase a second book unless some major changes have come to the park between the editions. They also run a website,Touring Plans, which has some updating to it. They have a membership level which I will talk about later. The only complaint I had was I wanted more info on restaurants than what they gave. Luckily, Zagat's had a guide that was recently published that I used in conjunction. Unfortunately, they have not updated that since we went, and there has been quite a few changes and additions since that so it is not a valid source anymore.

Got the Basics down and still seemed lost. What now?
You could probably plan most of your trip with the two sources above. We did 7 years ago, and it was a great trip. However, since we did have a few bumps here and there, I wanted more than what I was finding, and here are some of my go to guides.

1. WDW Prep is probably my favorite new source. I actually discovered this more as a podcast which I really got into earlier this year. I pretty much devoured all them within 2 1/2 months of listening. About halfway through the podcast, I figured out the creator, Shannon Albert, had so much more than just a podcast. She had a website with a wealth of knowledge along with using social media to give fast updates. I pretty much follow her on everything except snapchat and parascope because I don't subscribe to either. She recently started a membership program that you can sign-up for. It has three levels at varying cost. I picked the highest level because it gives you a chance to set-up a question and answer session about your trip. Mine is actually tomorrow, so I will update the post to include the information. The membership also has forums that are helpful for getting info asked of others in the planning or post-trip stage. Shannon has the best overall trip planning tips. She is very much in touch with the everyday person, and she gives tips that are logical and resourceful. She is definitely a go to if you are very budget conscious. Plus she is usually more on the upbeat side of Disney.

2. The Dis is another group I started out getting into through youtube. I happen to find their 7 in 7 series on WDW, and it was really helpful since they had walkthroughs of them to see what the hotel had to offer. From there, I started watching their weekly shows on youtube until I realized I could get them in podcast form as well. The shows on youtube are mostly talking, but they also include vidoes and pictures at times. This group is great for Disney news. They do get a bit negative at times, but overall, I have enjoyed listening to the show. If you follow their facebook account, then you can get daily reports about Orlando. They also do a series on Universal Studios if you are interested, and they also have forum for getting information on a variety of things.

3. WDW Radio- this is another podcast that I listen to. He is really descriptive, but I found that his food reviews are generally what I like best on his show.

4. I mentioned above that the people who do the Unofficial Guide also have a website called touring plans. They also have planning materials and a membership service. The membership service is good for looking at views so far. You can check out a map of different resort, and they have pictures for certain rooms. This is to help you when reserving your room or deciding if the different views are worth paying the extra money. They also have a crowd tracker and lines monitoring app. I did not get the membership last time, so I have not had a chance to check to see if these are worth the value. They have planning elements as well.

5. Pinterest and Youtube.com are both full of awesome Disney. I have mainly used Youtube for finding reviews on restaurants  because that is the part I am working on planning at the moment. I have two different boards currently going. My All things Disney board is information for planning. I have not gone through all the stuff there, so I am not sure how useful some of the materials are. My Disney Outfits is more about outfit ideas for while we are in. Disney Bounding has made for lots of cool ideas.

For some, this may bit overwhelming, or your time may be limited. The best two things for that are either take your time planning or go through a travel agent. We are a year out, and I have been planning for a year already because I only have pockets to plan during breaks. If you do not want to wait two years to go, then the travel agent is your way to go. The Dis has its own company called Dreams Unlimited, and Shannon Albert backs Keys to the World. I have not ever used a travel agent, so I have no idea which is better. The good ones with specific Disney knowledge will have an authorized logo from Disney. After researching, you will be able to start making the fun choices like resort and eating. My third post will be about picking resorts, and I will be posting around the mid to late July after I have my phone planning and making our resort reservation.