Cruise Part 3 (Saturday)

On the boat you have no real sense of time. Even if you have a cell phone it may or may not be the same time the boat has. I constantly felt the need to ask what time it was but I really enjoyed not having to worry about time all at the same time. The only time I knew for sure what time it was, was when we would dock. It isn't annoying if you get woke up from docking, it's just a new noise you normally don't hear in the mornings and extra vibrations. I woke up to us docking on Saturday and just lay in bed until I had to get up. I had my mom give me a wake up call but honestly I cannot remember what time we got up on Saturday. When we did get up we took Maddy to have some breakfast as usual and my mom told me our beach excursion had been cancelled due to rain. To say I wasn't at all disappointed would be false, but I wasn't as disappointed as I could have been because I had been tracking the weather in the Bahamas before we left and it clearly showed rain. Here are some pics of the Bahamas from the boat:

We knew we wanted to do something in the Bahamas but we had a little difficulty finding something that would be fun for us and be ok for Maddy at the same time. We decided on the Discover Atlantis excursion. We got an hour of guided tours in the Atlantis and then we were able to walk around on our own. We went by bus to the hotel because the lady at guest services said there isn't as much walking. I didn't realize I could bring Maddy's stroller so we ended up carrying her the entire time. Thank goodness my step dad can hold her because she is getting heavy. He was able to hold her most of the time and then me and my mom also had our turns holding her as well. Here is the Atlantis hotel from the bus:

yes, some of my pictures are crooked because I was in a hurry to just snap lol. Anyways, the tour guide was really good and she was humorous at times and very knowledgeable. I couldn't hear all of what she said, but it seemed very interesting and something I would like to do again once Maddy is older. They had amazing sculptures in the hotel. I will show you the rest of the hotel pics now.

We also got to see the aquarium which was really neat as well.

Considering the length of the tour and the fact that she was carried the entire time Maddy did exceptionally well. She had a few fussy moments which is to be expected but my step dad just took her out for a minute and she was fine. After the guided tour part was over we were going to grab some food before exploring on our own. My step dad was going to get it while me, my mom, and Maddy shopped around in the stores. I was so excited because I was wanting to get something for Maddy from the Bahamas. On our way to the shops a local man came up to us and held his arms at toward Maddy and said, "Come, you go with me" I really didn't know what to think about him because he seemed really nice and I am pretty sure he was a chef at a restaurant nearby but I also feared someone trying to take Maddy on this trip so I smiled and looked at Maddy and Maddy just looked at him like what are you doing lol. I was thankful both me and my mom were holding her hands that way she couldn't take off very easily. He kept telling her to go with him and then walked off. Once he walked off Maddy turned around and said, "Bye bye" He then turned around and said, "Bye bye baby...bye bye" It was a little unnerving. Soon after that my step dad came back and said it was going to be an hour and a half wait and it was already 3:30 and our dinner time was 6:00 so we decided to just go back to the boat to get ready. They had some really cute things in the market place but I knew how important it was for Maddy to get her nap in before dinner and I was tired too so I decided to just keep moving lol. Once we got to the ship it was starting to rain again and that was some cold rain. They had to xray our bags again and walk through metal detectors and then we were once again on board Carnival's Imagination. We took a short nap and were up once again to try dinner out. We got all fancied up and Maddy really looked beautiful in her dress. She is a little girl now and it is just unreal. Here are a few pics of us dressed up:

 Since she missed her actual birthday dinner, they waited until she was feeling better to sing happy birthday to her. I have to say that cake was the most amazing thing I had put in my mouth. It was chocolate with a light mousse and the combination just flowed. Maddy was a little unsure of the cake and singing but I think she liked it deep down. I want to show you the pic they took of us during dinner but want to add the photographer did not have his settings right as we are washed out.

Maddy did much better during this dinner and the staff was super sweet with her and very patient and very understanding. I really appreciated their kindness because most people want to get rid of kids and not deal with them. After dinner we headed back to the room to change into more comfortable clothes. Me, my mom, and Maddy went exploring on the ship again and got me and Maddy some soft serve chocolate ice cream. She had her first ice cream come but didn't like the cone. My mom enjoyed some fruit. Maddy was exhausted by this point and her attitude and temper showed it. She was carried back to her room kicking and screaming. We settled in for the night and off to sleep we went. I will try to finish talking about the cruise this weekend :)

Cruise Part 2

I was supposed to wake up Friday morning (9-23-11) around 5 a.m. so I could work on school and get my participation done for the day. My alarm never went off and I woke up at 6:30 a.m. instead. I panicked a little because we needed to be down in the lobby by 8:30 a.m. to catch our 9:00 shuttle to the ship. In the middle of me getting up looking for directions on how to connect to the hotel wi-fi Maddy woke up. Bless her heart she was so sleepy. I sang happy birthday to her and she just grinned from ear to ear. After school I started to get ready and quickly found out that even if Maddy can see me she does not like me to be in the shower. She cried the entire time. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have gotten her some bite bites and some juice so she could eat while I got ready. 6:30 a.m. was just a bit too early for me to think lol. After I got my hair dried Maddy was desperately wanting something to drink so we called Nana to get her to bring some back with her. Instead, Nana suggested she come get Maddy so I can finish getting ready and they would feed her and get her something to drink. Around 8:15 I am finally ready and am ready to get Maddy ready. By this time I am in rush mode so Nana helped me get Maddy ready and get us packed again. I almost left behind most of my clothes because I had them in the bathroom and didn't go back to check to make sure I had everything...thank goodness something told my mom to go look. In the lobby waiting for the shuttle Maddy is getting restless and wanting to go here there and everywhere. I received an email from Sprout that had a video on it...it was so cute. It was all the cast members of the good morning show singing their happy birthday song. If you're interested in the video I posted the link here. A little before 9 the shuttle was ready for us to get on and get going. Maddy sat with her Nana and Pops and definitely kept them busy as she was for sure getting tired. Here she is on the shuttle:

 This is when we were waiting for the shuttle

 Here she is watching her Happy Birthday video...phones come in real handy sometimes lol

 Sitting like a big girl in the shuttle

Can you tell she is sleepy?
We got to see some of Miami along the way to the port and I thought it looked very neat. I will post a few pics that I haven't posted in my pic post:

I thought once we got to the port it would be smooth sailing from there...boy was I wrong. If you have a toddler and you plan on going on a cruise...expect a lot of waiting. I was not prepared for that at all and I didn't have any toys for Maddy. We had a computer for her but we realized on the shuttle we left it at the hotel so we were down to nothing. It is hard to travel with a lot of toys too because you can only fit so much in a suitcase and there are weight limits and what nots. We waited from about 9:45 a.m. till noon total before we could board the ship. Once we got inside to wait Maddy was a wild indian at some points. If you stopped her from doing what she wanted she would scream and say NOOOO and fall out in the floor. She has also learned to say OW when you are trying to get her to do what you need her to do. I just let her say ow and continue doing what I need to do. I do make sure to say I'm not hurting you because people do tend to listen and I am sure from the outside looking in it doesn't look too pretty lol. She also tries to bite you if she gets mad enough and she will pull her out and just scream as loud as she can and then she will try to run off. Once you catch her she goes right back to the ground and rolls around and kicks and pushes and says no and all that good stuff. Let me reiterate again that I was just wore out! My step dad would take Maddy walking off an on and I think he would bring her back when she started her fits lol. At the very end of our wait I just made her go in her stroller, which brought on another good fit. There was no calming her down and people just stared. I was embarrassed and about ready to say we are going home. They started playing Will Smith's Miami song I think is the name and that got everybody pumped and I was relieved because we would be boarding soon. That relief ended shortly because they announced our rooms wouldn't be ready until 1:30 p.m. Not only do I have a child that is pitching fits right and left but I also have to lug all this stuff around for an hour and a half while I try to keep up with her???? Once we got on the ship they took our picture for our room keys and then we headed off to the Lido deck for some lunch. I was excited for Maddy because she could have all the food she wanted whenever she wanted. After lunch we walked around and explored a little and then went down to our room. I was impressed with the rooms and was ready to set sail. At 3:45 we had a safety talk to listen to and then we left promptly at 4:00 p.m. They were quick to get the party started and started getting people to dance to the Cha Cha song...I don't know the real name of it. After doing some dancing we headed back to our room for a little nap before dinner. Maddy was not ready to wake up from her nap but she didn't pitch any fits, little did I know her fits were waiting for dinner. Once we got to the table she sat down just fine while the waiter got her a high chair. She was wanting to run around the table and didn't understand why she couldn't. Once the high chair got to the table I attempted to put her in it but she was not having it. I lost my strength to keep trying so I just sat her in my lap which she absolutely hated. She started her kicking and screaming and crying and I just tried my best to contain her. She got so mad at me that she took my face and scratched/pinched me as hard as she possibly could and then that wasn't enough for her that she had to go and bite me. By that point tears started to form in my eyes because really it hurt me pretty badly. I was also just wore out and when I get wore out I cry at the drop of a hat. My step dad saw what happened and told me I didn't have to stay the whole time so I quickly gathered all my things as the waiter is watching what is going on and i pick Maddy up who is crying and I get up and walk out just boo hooing. The trip was not going well at all and it had just begun. My mom goes with me to make sure I don't need help with Maddy and I told her I would not go to dinner again that we would just skip dinner and eat in the room. I was dead serious about that. I would forego the captain's dinner and just stay locked in the room. I don't think my mom knew what to say and honestly I would have felt the same way. She just listened. My mom managed to get one picture of Maddy at dinner during the first night...here it is:

So she goes back to dinner and I turn out the lights, give Maddy some food, stick her on the bed, and I laid down myself and turned on the tv for Maddy and I went to bed. I was really hungry and I also could not stop crying. Maddy would look at me every now and then and she decided she wanted to sit on top of me while she watched tv so I let her. She ended up laying down on me and we both fell asleep until my mom called. She offered to walk the ship with me while my step dad kept Maddy. I turned her down originally because I didn't want to face anybody or anything at that moment but she talked me into it and I'm glad she did. We sat outside while she ate some fruit and I ate some cheese. It was so pretty seeing the wide open ocean. Afterwards we took some pics of the ship and then decided to call it a day. I told myself Saturday would be a better day and then me and Maddy went to our rooms and went night night.

Cruise Part 1

Not sure how far I will get as I am nauseous and the world is spinning. In case you all can't tell we went on a cruise to the Bahamas lol. I was so excited for this trip because it was my first cruise and a lot of firsts for Maddy, as well as her second birthday. I stayed up all night Wednesday night trying to cram in school and make sure we had everything packed. I ended up spending all my time on school and still did not get everything finished. I worked 4 a.m. till 8:00 a.m. and then finished getting everything together. I was supposed to check Maddy's suitcase again but never did. You will understand why that is important later. Finally right around noon we were all ready to jump in the truck and take off on a 2 hour drive to Atlanta, GA to catch our flight at 5:13 p.m. It was perfect timing because Maddy was ready for her nap and I was also ready for some much needed sleep. We had to stop at a couple of stores to get last minute items and get some food as well. We stopped at Sonic and chowed down on some good food. Maddy stayed asleep until right as we got into Atlanta. I love looking at Atlanta because it is so pretty at night with the lights on the building. Maddy was eating her lunch finally and she looked like she was choking. We had a minor panic attack because she has never been choked and I felt like I couldn't get to her fast enough. She was breathing but she just seemed funny. She spit out her fry...or so I thought and then stuff just kept coming out in waves. After it was in my hand I realized she was throwing up. I was so worried that she was coming down with a bug. I decided to see how she acted at the hotel before I made any decisions at all. So we make it to the airport and man can we pile on some luggage. Between the 3 of us we had 5 suitcases to check in and then I had my backpack which was as full as possible, Maddy's so called diaper bag, and then Maddy's backpack. My mom had her backpack and a duffel bag and then my stepdad had no carry on luggage. With only 2 adults, because I had to push Maddy in her stroller, it was a bit rough getting it all in. We did put the checked luggage on a rolling cart, but my back was about to break lol. Airport security was a bit intense. They are so serious and try to rush people through and that is super hard when you have a toddler on top of all this luggage you have to take care of. I agree with airport security, but I think they need to have a line solely for parents traveling with children and have friendlier TSA's who understand it may take the parent a little longer to get everything. Once we got through security I felt as if I had run a marathon and we were just getting started. The air apparently wasn't working or was turned off because it was so hot in there we were all sweating quite a bit. We walked quite a bit on the people movers to get to our gate to board flight 75 to Fort Lauderdale, FL :) Our plane was on time and I was a bit nervous over Maddy getting sick while on the plane as well as would she enjoy the ride or would it scare her. Here she is on the plane:

I felt bad because I only brought one blanket and unfortunately it was on her lap when she got sick. I decided to use my jacket as a blanket in case she needed some comfort. Maddy seemed to enjoy the plane ride. We said, "weeeee" all the way down the runway. We had lots of bumps and a few drops here and there from the clouds that were around. I'm not sure what happened because I never get sick on planes but I almost did not make it through that flight without getting sick. I tried to stay strong and smile and laugh with Maddy, but I felt like I was not going to make it. We landed and all was well with both mommy and Maddy. Here is our view from the window once we landed

Once we stepped outside of the airport in Florida, we were instantly hit with extremely high humidity. It was so hot and muggy and the air was so thick that it was just miserable. We waited for our shuttle to take us to the Comfort Inn and Suites. The driver drove a little crazy and I was beginning to wonder if he was trustworthy lol. We made it and stood in the lobby for quite some time with absolutely no air conditioning. Oh man it was not fun. Once we got checked into our rooms we headed over to Taco Bell for some much needed food. The three adults all got nachos bellgrande and Maddy got the bacon chicken flatbread. The worker was so enthralled with Maddy and how beautiful she was. She just kept saying over and over oh she is so pretty! Once it was my turn to order she was like she looks like a porcelain doll and is just beautiful! I was beaming of coarse but started laughing as well because ever since she was born people have always said she looks just like a doll. She told me she needed to model and then decided I should stick her on Toddlers & Tiaras and she said she would win for sure. I was polite and smiled and said thank you, but in my head I was saying umm....I don't think so lady lol. I strongly disagree with Toddlers & Tiaras. I want to teach Maddy what real beauty is and I want her to know she is beautiful without all the "fake" stuff. By the time we got back to the hotel I think it was around 11 p.m. and me and Maddy snuggled up for night night. I am going to stop here for now to give you all and myself a break lol. I will try to post tomorrow night to talk about our first day on the ship :)

Cruise Pics

I decided to break the cruise post up into at least two different parts. I have a lot of pictures but I also have a lot to say. I decided to start with the pictures because I always enjoy looking at everybody's pictures. I will explain a few of them as needed but will keep it minimal so this isn't so overwhelming. I also will have to come back and edit this to add the video and pictures my mom has.

 This is when we were on the shuttle going from our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale to the Port of Miami. If you can't tell by her eyes Maddy was getting very sleepy and we still had a long time to wait at the Port before boarding the boat lol.

 This building is part of Carnival and used to have their name on it. It is a performing arts building. They ran into some financial trouble and this lady named Adrienne Arscht donated $30 million to them to allow them to keep going. Miami certainly has some money in that town!

 I realize you all must think I never fix Maddy's hair. This is simply not true lol. Maddy is just so active and her hair is so fine that the slightest touch of her hair and it starts to fall down. Plus when she is really tired she will sit and play with her hair which also makes it come falling down. This was sometime before noon and we had been up since 6:30 that morning.

 I love the look on her face here. She is the type person that will purposely try not to smile or laugh...this is her I'm trying not to smile face, well, a little bit of her I'm trying not to smile face.

 Maddy is Pops' girl as I've said many times. I thought this was a neat picture of the two of them looking at the ship

Here Maddy is telling her Nana that she will be right back. She is too cute because when she says that, she expects you to stay where you are and she will run off to wherever she is wanting to go. I guess she learned that from me because I always tell her I will be right back when I need to go get something and I tell her to stay right there lol...oops

She was very fascinated with the elevators. She wanted to know where they went in this pic.

 She was also very fascinated by the shower lol

I think I am going to stop here for now. These aren't even a quarter of the pictures I took. These are pictures that wouldn't really have a place in my actual post about the cruise so I will save the rest for other posts.

The Time Has Come...

This is a pointless post for most of you, but it is something that brings me great pleasure. The time has finally come for us to begin our cruise vacation. I just got done with my last 11 hour work day. Monday I worked 10 hours, Tuesday I worked 11 hrs and 45 min, and today I worked 11 hrs and 15 minutes. I will only have to work 4 hours tomorrow and I plan on working 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. and then have the rest of the day free. I am keeping Maddy home from daycare tomorrow. She was in a very fowl mood today. She woke up pretty early so I am hoping that is all that is wrong. Everything I asked her to do today was a big NOOOO topped off with a huge fit. I am hoping tomorrow is a much better day for her especially with us traveling in the airport. Tonight...besides finish getting me and Maddy packed...I have to write one 150 word response plus 2 50 word responses, take a quiz, compare and discuss something for my education class, turn in my selections for my final project, write a 250 word paper, and last but not least...write a 700 word paper. I think I will need more than just tonight to get this all done. Well, I have never been done with work this early so I better use this time wisely and get started on all this mess. I am very excited about this vacation if you haven't noticed and whereas I do not want the time on the cruise to fly by, I will at least be looking forward to sharing the pics with everybody when we get back. I hope you all have a good rest of the week and a great weekend. Oh yeah...Friday is Maddy's 2nd birthday. Our room is going to be decorated when we board the ship in birthday decorations and during dinner they will bring her out a chocolate cake and sing to her...that will make me cry I know!!!
Also, I found out some very exciting news yesterday that just made me feel so overwhelmed. Not long ago I had a heart to heart with God over how I was feeling in life and with my job and school. Soon after that I felt as if I would no longer be working at my current job for much longer which terrified me as you all know. Out of the blue it seems, a job opportunity may have just fallen into my lap and it will be doing exactly what I want to do. I don't know if this is a for sure thing because right now I am not quitting my current job, but I will be talking to the hiring person when I return from vacation to see if I can make it work out. The weird thing is I just felt like my life was fixing to change in a big way and that is pretty huge to switch jobs like this is. I also felt like when I returned from the cruise I would have a new job and that feeling may just be for real. I have been watching the movie Facing the Giants a bunch lately because it is such an excellent movie! I am going to steal some lines from it and say, "I want you to know I serve an awesome God!" What is impossible for God? NOTHING!!! Even if this particular job doesn't work out, I know God is guiding my every step, I just have to listen and obey Him. I also know that I do not have to be fearful. The bible says 365 times do not be afraid. All I can do is my best and leave the rest up to Him, but whether things are good or they are bad I still have to praise Him. I have been trying to work on that...have been since last year. When things get real hard and I feel like giving up I simply say, "I will still love you Lord" and it is amazing what that does.

Our Life

I normally wait until Sunday night or Monday to recap mine and Maddy's weekend. I was so excited to share some pictures with you guys that I decided to go ahead and post. This weekend is solely about getting ready for our cruise. We leave Thursday hopefully around noon to make it down to Atlanta in time to catch our flight. If you all have any ideas of good toys to take on the plane please share! I originally knew exactly what I was taking for Maddy to play with, however, I was not taking into consideration the noise factor and how other passengers would handle it so I am now having to rethink what I take. I know I am packing a lot of books because Maddy LOVES to read. I am also bringing her baby and doggy and blanket along with lots of snacks lol. I bought the book, "I Love You Forever" because it seemed sweet, however, as I was reading it with Maddy for the first time I realized it turned kinda sad. I almost got teary eyed because it is about a mother's love all the way up until she dies. Note to self...read the whole book before attempting to read it to Maddy. One of the things I needed to get was a formal dress for the captain's dinner. After having Maddy I do not have the body I once had so none of my clothes fit me. I was originally just going to buy Maddy a white cardigan to put over a casual dress she has to dress it up a bit. I knew I wanted to go to Penny's for my dress and I found the perfect dress. I am so excited because I have been wanting to wear my heels and now I have a reason to get them back out. There is no way this mama can wear heels at this stage in Maddy's life because it is a lot of walking and running around and they just get so uncomfortable. Here is the dress I picked out for the captain's dinner for myself: It is really hard to get a good pic of it but I will post another pic once we get back.

It's a flowy dress and I just love it! After me and my mom found the dress we wanted we headed up to Maddy's department just to try to buy a cardigan...until...I saw this dress.....

I think what stood out to me are the hearts. I can't explain my fascination with hearts, but that is my thing. I see a heart and I just melt. I did not want to pay the price even though it was a really good price and on sale, but my mom helped me change my mind and I am so glad I went ahead and got it. I cannot wait to see what she looks like in  her first formal dress. I know I will end up getting emotional on this trip lol. Please say a prayer for me because right now I am running a 100 degree fever and I am so worried I just made Maddy sick because I let her drink my drink. I am hoping my temp is elevated because I am exhausted and I heard that everybody's temp rises at night. I really think a good night sleep will make me feel so much better. Maddy's dress is the main reason I wanted to go ahead and write tonight, but I will share her halloween and Thanksgiving shirts we bought a few weekends ago as well.

 I bought this blanket first of all because it is so cute. The colors didn't turn out right in this pic but it's the best I could do. It is pink and brown and oh so soft. On this particular shopping day the temp didn't get as warm as I expected and she was so cold so I bought this nice warm blanket for her to cuddle up with and get warm. I was so excited because like everything at Penny's it was on sale lol. Maddy loves this blanket and I think it is my new favorite of all the ones she has.

 There were two Halloween shirts and I let Maddy choose which one she wanted. She chose this one. I liked this one the best, but I just don't like the idea of her being a witch...even for Halloween so I choose to ignore the "and of coarse me" part lol. Maddy is far from a witch!

 I don't consider this very Thanksgiving-y but it was all they had. I have never remembered to look for Thanksgiving shirts in time for Thanksgiving so I bought this one while I had the chance. I am hoping to find something a little more Thanksgiving-y, but I still thought this was cute. I bought her a pair of pink pants to match.

 Shoes...Maddy loves shoes lol. I had no intentions of buying her shoes on this particular day but Maddy was adamant about getting her some shoes. I gave in once I saw these heart shoes. They are about a half size too big right now, but by the time the cold weather gets here she should be able to wear them with no problem.

I forgot about this pic. Maddy is the biggest helper around the house. She loves to be given jobs to do and on this night her Nana was cleaning the house so Maddy had to pitch in and help. I told her to keep those cleaning skills up because I hate to clean and don't do a good job of keeping everything tidied up :( Tomorrow apart from school I am getting Maddy and me as packed as I can because this week is going to be so busy trying to get all my school assignments done before we leave and trying to get all my work hours in by noon on Thursday. I hope you all are having a great weekend and are spending quality time with your family :)

Life Changes

For at least a couple of years I have had this feeling that I would be leaving my current job. The only way I would leave on my own is if I could get another job or start my daycare. This has scared me because Maddy depends on me to provide for her. I used to stay stressed out constantly from worrying about it, but I was able to let it go. My fear has come back and this time it seems even stronger than before. I don't know what is going on in my life, but I feel God is preparing me for some changes. I automatically assume my job but it could be anything really. Last week I had a horrible week. Every day was just constant bad thing after bad thing. The icing on the cake...apart from my car not starting...was when I read my daily calender page. The day was September 8 and here is what it said, "If the job you've been doing ends,or the provision you've known shuts off, or the fulfillment level of your work and activities ceases, or something major happens to change the status of your life, don't be alarmed. These could be signs of a change God is doing in your life. He may be getting you ready to enter into a new and exciting season. God's Word says that those who love Him and live His way will bear fruit into old age and always be fresh and flourishing." As I read that, my heart just sank. I do feel my time is coming to an end, I just don't know what's coming next. I am trying to just trust God to take care of me and Maddy but it's not always as easy as cake lol. I have had two very real and very vivid dreams that I am still trying to figure out what they mean. One I understand a little...it is about my old friend, but it was a sad dream...meaning I just felt sad in my dream and he was sad. The dream that really has me puzzled is a God dream. I can't remember specifics now but it was like I was having a revival. My heart was so on fire for God and I was shouting something and I felt as if the dream would have continued a little more I was going to start speaking in tongue. I woke up thinking man, I wanna be THAT close to God in real life! For now all I can do is my best and make sure I am following God. I know where one door closes another one opens, but it can still be a scary ride. I will end with a prayer that is on today's page. "Lord, when it's time for me to do something different, help me not to cling to the past or be afraid to move in to the future You have for me. My times are in Your hands, and I know that I am secure as long as I can walk through them all with You. Give me strength, courage, health, wisdom, revelation, and faith for the journey. I trust You to keep me on the right path and to continue giving me the light I need for the step I'm on.