1. Bring extra milk. One of our biggest mistake is not bringing extra milk. Waiting for almost an hour in line for the bus with a tired, cranky 1 year old who is begging for his milk was the worst experience ever! Don’t let it happen to you.
2. Having internet connection on your phone (or games) will save your sanity. Thank god for 3G and YouTube on my phone! When the kids are getting antsy from waiting in line, we played their favorite videos on my phone! Just make sure they’re fully charged everyday!
3. The kiddie pool in the resort is better than Epcot. I think the kids were a little bit too young to enjoy and appreciate the attractions at Epcot. I think the only thing they enjoyed the most is the Finding Nemo attraction and meeting the characters. They were actually more excited in going back to the resort to swim, which we did and they had a blast.
4. Leave really early and go home really late. We left our house at 4:30am in the morning while the kids are sleeping. They woke up at the airport but went back to sleep as soon as the plane took off! Sweet! We left Orlando around 7:30 pm, which is their bedtime back in Chicago time. So they slept again when we took off. Suhweet!
5. Posing for photos is almost impossible. Our son is the type of person who cannot sit or stand still. It was always a struggle to have him pose or even get close to the characters.
6. Your itinerary or touring plans does not work when you have toddlers. I spent months planning out the perfect itinerary and touring plan for each park! Did I use it??? Nope! The weather and my 2 kids had other plans….
7. Skip buying expensive bottled water! Just ask for ice in a cup and put it in your refillable mug or sippy cup. When the weather is hot,the ice melts right away and voila, you have cold ice water…for free!!
8. No matter how frustrated or stressed out you are, it all goes away when you see your kids laugh and smile!

Overall, we had an amazing, fun and magical trip! Just being there makes you feel like a kid all over again. And when you share that feeling and that moment with your kids, that makes it even more special. Every minute was a blast and an adventure! We can’t wait to go back!

So first things first. I’ve doing a lot of research online about planning your first Disney trip with 2 toddlers. I’ve been reading blogs, forums and going to a LOT of unofficial disney sites.  All these information can be so overwhelming, so I decided to just stick with the best 3-4 websites to help me out with my planning.

Here are pickymommy’s top website picks for planning your disney vacation.

Mousesavers.com

Mousesavers.com is an awesome site if you are looking for freebies, coupon or discount codes, tips and tricks on how to get awesome deals in everything disney! They tell you how you can save on vacation packages in Disney World in Florida, Disneyland, Disney Cruise, Adventures by Disney and more! They can also get you deals in rental cars, airfare, hotels (if you’re not staying at a Disney resort) and merchandise!

Allears.net

Awesome site when you want to get detailed information about accomodations, planning, theme parks, dining and more. I use this site mostly to plan out our dining.  We are on the quick service dining plan and both of my kids have food allergies, so it is very important for us to know which restaurant we can go to and what can my kids eat in that restaurant.

Allears.net has a comprehensive list of all the restaurant menus in every resort and theme park. They have all the information that you need to know about special dietary needs, character dining, dining plans and discounts!!

Touringplans.com

So now you are ready to hit the theme parks! Touringplans.com has all the information about wait times, crowd levels and touring plans for Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Disney Hollywood Studios. They also offer an app that you can access on your mobile phone! However, you need to become a member to enjoy these benefits and to become a subscriber you need to pay.

It’s $10.95 a year to become a premium subscriber. Not bad! But here’s a tip! If you already own “The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World” book you get a good discount. I paid $5.48 with the discount. But be ready to answer some questions about the book.

Right now I am in that point in my life where I just want to focus on staying at home, be with my kids and just enjoy beautiful sunny days on week days. Is it wrong for me to NOT care about my career right now? (temporarily, of course)

My coworkers probably thinks that I have no ambition, no drive. They want me to take initiative on certain projects and just take the lead. I would’ve done that in a blink of an eye a couple of years ago….but as of right now…I JUST DONT WANT TO!!

Yes, I admit, I am just a factory worker. But you know, I’m ok with that. Not managing other people and missing all those long, BS meetings made my job less stressfull. Just give me what I need to do and I’ll do it! Maybe in a few months or years I’ll feel entirely different. But if you ask me to take leadership and initiative at work, or manage projects and try to move up the ladder, I would say ”No, thanks for now”.

1. Big Poppa or Juicy – Notorious B.I.G
2. You’re All I Need – Method Man and Mary J Blige
3. It Takes Two – Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock
4. Real Love – Mary J Blige
5. It Was A Good Day – Ice Cube
6. Push It – Salt n’ Pepa
7. Paul Revere – Beastie Boys
8. I Need Love – LL Cool J
9. I Get Around – Tupac
10. Nothing But a G’ Thang or Gin and Juice – Dr Dre and Snoop

• helping me shed 15lbs in 2 months
• teaching me how to chassé
• awakening the inner dancer in me that’s been hibernating since I was a teenager
• letting me do the “butterfly” again
• Not so boring workout
• Awesome playlist to workout to….except when you play country
• For de-stressing me out on stressful days!
• Getting me out of the house and the kids for 1 hr.

But most of all, thank you for NOT requiring us to wear 80′s leotards and leg warmers.

As far as eating, yeah….well I did eat in portions. A portion of that chocolate, a portion of some pringles chip, a portion of some gummy bears and a whole lotta portion of chocolate chip ice cream. I totally BOMBED the diet plan.

Alright, no worries. I just have to start day 1 all over again. This time I’m serious!!

Goal: To lose 5 – 10 lbs (or more) and to lose 1 dress size (or more) by the end of this challenge before Valentines Day, Feb. 14.

Exercise Plan:

• Workout 6x a week with 1 day for rest
• Run on treadmill for 20 minutes 3x a day

Diet:  To eat in portions and also

• Limit coffee intake – sorry but I can’t give up my Dunkin Donuts iced coffee every morning.
• No fast food
• Drink plenty of water.
• Avoid junk food, candies and chocolate

Oh god, I’m dreading to post my weight.
Current Weight: 130 lbs

So that’s the plan, I’m going to stick to it….so wish me luck.

Last year I had my 2nd child, my son Brandon. Having 2 kids was a whole new journey for me and my husband. It was exciting but soooo tiring! That is why I couldn’t keep up with this blog. Hopefully this coming new year will be different. Hopefully, my kids will let me keep this blog. A lot of things has happened, so I gotta lot of stuff to blog about.

But for now, I just want to welcome myself back!! Woo hoo!

I am soooo hungry but I don’t know what I’m hungry for.

I’m craving for something to munch on but I don’t exactly know what.

I want to drink something that’s really icy and cold but I’m not sure what kind. Maybe I’ll just sleep on it.

My #1 choice for the best eczema relief is AQUAPHOR BABY HEALING OINTMENT combined with AVEENO BABY Soothing Relief Moisture Cream.

Just to give everyone a brief overview my 19 month old daughter suffers from eczema. Her eczema is not as severe as before but it still occasionally flares up. She’ll get red with rashes and she’ll just itch all over. The itchiness was her #1 problem. She would scratch her arms, her legs, chest, tummy, forehead, ears and neck. This mostly happens at night. I don’t know why, but it does. Sometimes she’ll wake up with scratch marks all over.

We’ve been using Aquaphor since she was a month old and it works wonders on her skin! It works fast, it relieves her itch, moisturizes her skin and it takes away the redness.

To tell you the truth, I didn’t like Aquaphor at first because it was so greasy. Her skin would feel so slippery and she would just shine from the grease. But I guess the grease works because her eczema would diminish fast after applying Aquaphor on her body and especially her face.

Even though this product is thick and greasy ….. it works GREAT AWESOME on her skin!! Her skin got smoother and there was less redness every time we use it. I love it!

If you don’t like the grease, then I would try Aveeno Baby Soothing Relief Moisture Cream. It’s non-greasy, and it does the same thing as Aquaphor, it soothes and relieves dry itchy skin.

Using both Aquaphor and Aveeno

I actually like to use both, Aquaphor and Aveeno. I use Aveeno during the day when we have to go out or when she goes to daycare and Aquaphor at night after her bath. Sometimes I just use Aquaphor on her face when it gets really red and irritated and Aveeno on her body. I found that Aveeno does not take the redness out, at least not for her. But either way they both work very well on her skin.

I’ve also tried other brands such as Gentle Naturals Eczema Body Wash, California Baby and Vanicream but I also go back to using Aquaphor and Aveeno.

Pickymommy recommends Aquaphor and Aveeno to other parents out there who are looking for eczema relief.