Spear and I left Ben and Liz’s house and headed to Target! I gave him his bottle in the Starbucks there (SO jealous of these super fancy Target’s with Starbucks in them) and then did shopping to load up on stuff we’d need for the coming week at our next place to stay!
First Target shopping trip!
We then headed to check in at the condo where we’d be staying. We stayed at Carbie Cove back on our trip in October for Britt’s bday and LOVED it and thought it’d be a good option for ICPC. I called and talked to them about our situation and they agreed to get me a first floor room AND to allow me to add on additional nights if needed. I had no clue how long to book the stay for as we could just be there a few days or longer than a week. I literally had no clue and no control over it.
I got there and fed Spear in the lobby while Zach and the older three were on there way to meeting us! We all met up at the perfect time to unload and get settled in!
YAY for being TOGETHER!
So many kids…means so many helpers 😉
Here they all are helping wake him up!
Videos of the kids feeding Spear:
Anytime we travel as a family we get a picture of the kids with Zach on the hotel bed!
This is life with four haha
I was straight up EXHAUSTED from the crazy busy week and the traveling and just doing it ALL all by myself. So thankful to Zach for giving me that solid night of SLEEP!
More morning feedings!
My heart is so full!
Smiling for brother!
Spear and I had just gone to Target the day prior but we went back again as a family to do our annual Christmas shopping trip. Plus I had a coupon for 20% off our entire purchase so I wanted to put it to good use 😉
Whew how I had been missing this!!!
Kye takes his shopping so seriously and is so thoughtful in his gift giving
Kye read through all the kids books to find just the right one for Spear. He said “I want to give him a book that says I love him” So. Sweet.
Annual Christmas gift shopping trip was a success!
This fancy Target even had a little holiday event booth set up!
With free chocolate milk and treats!
Zach did some facetiming with his family and Spear, sweet cousins so eager to meet him!
So content to have our whole little family together!
I wanted to wait for his first bath for the kids to be able to help and they were ALL about it!
I’m glad I bought this sponge thing as it’s perfect for travel 🙂
He liked it!!!
Bright eyed after his first bath!
I’m glad I got this photo as you can really tell how his left eye was a good bit swollen!
I was so pumped for Spear to wear Kye’s sleeper…this is my favorite one that Kye had as a baby!
Baby Kye wearing it!
Kye is SO proud!!!
Oh it makes me sad to see that comparison of itty bitty baby Kye and now he’s SO GROWN!!!
Tessie didn’t want to be left out 😉
Tess was obsessed with checking the monitor 🙂
Dinner while Spear napped!
And cookies from Liz for dessert 😉
Another “good” view of that “bad” eye. You can see the redness too in it.
Sunday Snuggles!!!
Tess is SO possessive of him which is so super cute she always says “MY baby brother”
Umbilical cord fell off on Sunday 12/10!
When the dr in Jax told me we needed to focus on holding Spear a lot I felt SO BAD that Mrs. Charlotte wasn’t able to be there to snuggle him because I knew she’d LOVE to hold him like c-razy! I called her and told her that it was def no pressure but that she was more than welcome to come down at any point in our stay to hold that baby!
She ended up coming down Sunday and stayed through Monday evening. Which ended up working out as Zach and the kids and I had plans where it made it a lot easier to not bring Spear along. So G-Mama got that solo quality time! She held him for a straight three hours and LOVED it! So good for their bonding too!!!
I had a lot of funny responses about this. I still think it’s super weird to keep it? I def tossed it!
Zach and I have been casually talking about purchasing a second home near Disney for 6 years or so. We even went to look at some condos about 5 years ago but decided to wait. We’ve continued to discuss it and after his MS diagnosis got more serious about it. It’d be a great source of income if down the road he were unable to work as often/as much/ as intensely. Since we were down in Orlando for ICPC we decided it’d be a good time to go check out some houses just to see!
We stopped by Target, again, to grab some coffee before meeting up with the real estate agent! Third Target trip in 3 days for me 😉
Not. Impressed.
Ready to take notes on the 6 properties we saw!
G-Mama enjoyed her special Spear time while we were gone and then got to enjoy a Star Wars night with the biggest two with us!
I purposefully saved some ideas of things to do during ICPC. Seeing Coco was one thing I had us wait on b/c I knew it’d be easy to go see wherever we were staying and easy to take Spear along with us. I also had us all wait to buy our Christmas gifts for each other knowing it’d be an easy anywhere outing. AND I saved meeting Santa. I knew we’d probably spend some of ICPC down near Disney and Disney Springs has THE BEST Santa 😉 It was the perfect activity for Monday morning before everyone headed out!
Disney Springs decor!
Hot Cocoa to warm us up while we walked around while Zach fed Spear
Mrs. Charlotte looks so adorable 🙂
Disney Springs had a “Stitch Hunt” game where you got maps of the shopping area and had to find Stitch at different locations then could turn in the completed map for a prize. Whew. It was an exhausting adventure for sure BUT was a great, free, time killer when Spear was eating 😉
Found another one!
I just LOVE Disney at Christmas!!!
Sweet boy enjoyed some Daddy bonding time!
My little Santa Baby! The best gift!!!
You can get a vest very similar to mine here 😉
Outfit from Elaine! I LOVE it!!!
Another Stitch!
My main mission for the morning was Santa. He didn’t arrive until a certain time so we kinda hung around the wait area to be able to have our names on the list first thing! Sure enough we had NO WAIT! Whoop whoop!
Hidden Mickey on our way in!
Santa was simply incredible. He took time with each child and made them each feel so special. I LOVE these photos and totally plan to make Disney Santa our yearly tradition 🙂
Tess has nottttt been a fan in the past and didn’t even meet him last year so I was proud of how excited she was!
I can’t even handle the cuteness!
So. Sweet.
All we wanted for Christmas was Spear!!! SO thankful!
Total 4th kid status…getting swaddled on a trash can 😉
The area to meet Santa was lined with awesome Christmas trees with all different themes! It was SO fun just walking through them all and pointing out our favorites!
Lilo and Stitch
Tangled
Pinocchio
Beauty and the Beast (G-Mama’s fav!)
The Little Mermaid (My fav!)
Filling out their Stitch books
Minnie and Mickey tree!
(Spear was asleep in stroller)
We thought it’d be fun to just grab lunch somewhere at Disney Springs…whoa hello expensive. We ate at Frontera Cocina and it was crazy pricey. But thankfully SUPER yummy! At least if you are gonna drop some dough it’s nice when it’s delicious too!!!
Zach and Mrs Charlotte hung out a bit once the kids and I were done eating. They fed Spear and the rest of us went on the hunt for the remaining Stitches. Literally we walked every INCH of Disney Springs (which is HUGE) by the end of it!!!
The kids loved getting to run ahead of me 😉
Last. One. Finally.
We turned them in at World of Disney and got our prizes…which were just large buttons haha but the kids were PUMPED about it. Especially Kye who doesn’t get as excited about things anymore so it was well worth all the walking to me to see his excitement! And it was GREAT quality time with my big kids who I’d been missing so, so much!
A little more G-Mama lovin before everyone hit the road!
Sleeping siblings 🙂
Classic.
We got back to the condo and they all packed up to head out. Whew. It was TOUGH on my heart to see them go. I knew the days ahead would feel super long and lonely without them. Being together as a whole family was such a wonderful gift. Zach and I really, really missed each other and struggled with being apart for so long. He hated missing out on all the Spear time and I hated missing out on all of us being together as a family unit. It was NOT EASY. BUT I’m also thankful for the quality bonding time I had with JUST Spear and I. It’s important with any newborn, but especially with adoption for us to have that quality time together. With FOUR kids it’s hard to just sit and snuggle a baby so I tried to remind myself that it was GOOD and important for me to just soak him in during those days solo!
We had SUCH a wonderful weekend together and made so many great memories. I loved just seeing all four of my babies at the same time and letting it soak in that we’re finally complete and whole!
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