Our Harry Potter Experience, Part 1

I know it has been FOREVER since I posted anything on this blog...seeing as the baby blog took over when the baby took over our lives :)  Luckily, Shawn and I had the chance to take a short vacation without the little one!  It only took us 18 months to get up the courage to leave her and do something for ourselves, but we did it!  Nora stayed behind with her Abuela and her Auntie Mimi splitting the responsibility of watching her.  They did great and Nora had a great time without us.  I don't think she even missed us :)  We missed her like crazy though!

So what did we do for our first vacation without Nora?

We went to Orlando and spent 3 days at Universal Studios in order to experience The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!  It was an amazing trip!  I am gonna do a few posts over the next few days with the details of our days there.

We left Monday and spent our first day at the park on Tuesday at Universal Studios, then Wednesday at Islands of Adventure.  Thursday we slept in but then hit up both parks throughout the day.  Thank goodness our package included the early admission to the Harry Potter portions of the park and an Express Pass (if you ever go, you NEED the Express Pass!)

The newest part of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is Diagon Alley in Universal Studios, as well as the addition of a real Hogwarts Express that you can ride between the 2 parks.

When you first approach, it looks like you are in London.

#12 Grimmauld Place

 

But just behind the secret door...the entrance to Diagon Alley!

 

First thing you have to do is ride the Escape from Gringotts ride.

Even with the early admission, we still waited in line almost an hour!

 

 

You are lead on the adventure through Gringotts by Bill Weasley!

Breakfast at The Leaky Cauldron, then off to explore Diagon Alley!

Diagon Alley felt so real!

Weasley Wizard Wheezes

  

Quality Quidditch Supplies

 

Flourish & Blotts

 

 Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream

The Magical Menagerie

Time for a Butterbeer!

Must swing by Olivanders to find a wand that chooses me...

Pottermore.com says my wand is Hazel...is this the wand that chooses me?

 

It only took me 3 days to find the one!

Now to ride the Hogwarts Express!

 Tomorrow I'll post all about Hogsmeade!

Logan Loves Letters

Logan is completely obsessed with the alphabet.

Completely obsessed.

I am not exaggerating.

Ask Mimi...she will tell you all about it.

Mom found a deal on these awesome letters tiles recently and got a set for Nora and a set for Logan/Amelia.  This is Logan's first time playing with the ones at our house.

He "says" the letters all the time.  About half actual sound right-ish.  A stranger would probably be able to tell what letter he means.  But he is making HUGE improvements!!  His favorite thing to do with these tiles now is to first arrange the letters in order (he makes a path that he can follow...it's a strange arrangement sometimes but it makes sense to him!), then he fits the letter inside the appropriate tile in order.  One at a time starting back at A after each new letter is placed and then jumping on the newest letter and saying it aloud.  It is hilarious!  We just love this little guy!!

Allergies :(

Ever since we've had Marcie she's suffered from allergies.  It used to be just a rash she would get occasionally on her tummy.  Some benedryl would usually do the trick and occasionally a cortisone shot from the vet would make it all better...for a few months.  Then it was back and worse than before.

Since we've moved into our house her allergies have been getting worse and worse.  It culminated recently in her scratching herself constantly and chewing on her feet.  The scratching resulted in a yeast infection on her head and a bunch of her hair falling out and a bacterial infection in some sores she created on her tummy.  So antifungal and antibiotics were on prescribed, along with baths every other day with a special shampoo.  Needless to say, Marcie was not a happy dog.  She hates baths and the medicine was not her favorite.  The antifungal she took fine in peanut butter, but the antibiotic was twice a day and she hated it!!  She wouldn't take it in anything more than once and sometimes she even spit it out or threw it up.  It was terrible!!

The scratching continued though, since we weren't actually treating the allergies.  The solution:

She really hated this, but it had to be done so her wounds could heal!  We still needed a solution to her allergies though.  I had discussed some options with her vet and one of those was a medication called Atopica.  My mom works with vet who was able to get it for me at cost (it is not cheap and it is weight based so my 60# dog needs a bit) so we got a few months worth to try to see if it would help.  It does seem to be helping, but she just really hates taking pills and I have to basically force it down her throat most days.  Not fun for me or her!

Next option was allergy testing and then allergy shots specially made for her specific allergies.  It was going to be expensive but the shots would be cheaper and less trouble than Atopica long term.  So we had the testing done.  The results:

Marcie is allergic to:

4 kinds of grasses (bluegrass/fescue/bermuda/vernal)

4 kinds of weeds (ragweed/pigweed/lamb's quarters/waterhemp)

4 kinds of trees (juniper/cedar/elm/walnut/mulberry)

5 kinds of fungi

feathers

dust mites

wool

and the kicker...her food allergies:

beef

chicken/turkey

peanuts

kelp

catfish/cod/herring/mackerel/white fish

Seriously...those are my dog's allergies.  I can't believe it!  I totally realize now why she's been so miserable! Our backyard was completely overrun with weeds and the cedar allergy alone is enough to make someone crazy in Austin!  Then throw in the food allergies!  Peanuts!  She love peanut butter and I know her food and treats just about all contain beef or chicken.  Poor baby!  So now I am on a quest to get her food allergens out of her diet and he indoor allergens away as much as possible.  The outdoor allergies are harder to tackle, but we're going to do our best to get rid of the weeds and then see if some benedryl is enough to help her.  If not then we'll start the allergy shots for the outdoor allergies.  I know this is a lot to do for the dog, but she's worth it!  I just want my happy Marcie back :)

Snail

Look what Marcie found on our porch this morning...

I don't think Marcie was as amazed as we were...she was just pissed we wouldn't let her eat it!  I have never seen a real snail and it was "walking" too!  Ah..the small things in life :)

BarkBox

Marcie's world has been totally changed with the addition of Nora to our family.  She has taken to it beautifully, but I still feel bad that I can't give her the attention that I did before.  It is too hard to take her to the park with Nora now, so Marcie is full of pent up energy and she's bored.

I saw an ad for something called a BarkBox and it sounded perfect for her!  Really it's like a bribe to make sure she still loves me...but she doesn't know that :)  Basically you get a box of stuff every month for your dog.  Marcie got her first box yesterday.  She loves it!!  

She will get at least 6 months of boxes (that is what I paid for up front).  This first box came with a pack of disposable grooming mitts, a pack of duck jerky, 2 packets of vitamins that your put in her water, a real cow shin bone full of yumminess, and a rope toy!  There was a large piece of duck jerky too, but I gave it to her when I opened the box last night.

What a good girl...waiting so patiently for me to let her investigate the box!

"Let me at it mom!!"

She likes it!  I think my bribe has worked :)

I love my MarcieMoo!

Logan

Logan.  Yes...we still remember that he is here.  The two beautiful baby girls have not caused us to forget about him.  He is making sure he stays front and center!  He comes running when he sees the camera and he is constantly checking on the babies.  So sweet.

My dad and step-mom were here last week and they spent a lot of time with Logan.  He did great with them and had a great time!  They took him to Wazoo's one day (the bouncy place for kids) and played with him a bunch.  We was constantly crawling up in their laps on the couch or just sitting beside them watching tv.  He is missing them already, I am sure!

He decided to show off his bongo skills too...

Meet Amelia!

Mimi's new sweet baby arrived yesterday!

Amelia Grace Richardson

She was born 3/13/13 at 12:20pm, weighing 8 pounds 14.7 ounces and 22 1/2 inches in length.  She has a ton of dark hair (similar to Logan's when he was born) but she did not get his beautiful eyelashes :(  She has taken well to breastfeeding and overall is doing great!

Shawn and I are so excited to be Auntie and Uncle again!  Shawn's looking forward to our next baby already so he can form his swimming relay team with the kiddos!  Mom and I took Logan to the hospital to meet her yesterday and he was a little confused.  Now there are 2 babies and he's not quite sure what that is all about!  He was pretty much uninterested in Amelia, but he did likes his presents from his mommy.  He did "hold" her once, but just for a second and he was over it. 

Mom is going to be staying with him while Mimi is in the hospital but he's spending most of the daytime here with me and Nora.  He still thinks Nora is awesome and I am sure he'll feel the same about Amelia very soon!  Logan is gonna love being a big brother!