Thank you all.

[seriousthistime]

Beth, I've had friends who were diagnosed with devastating, potentially terminal illnesses. (But then I'm older than you so it comes with the territory.)

Here's what I would do.  I would tell you to say, "I don't know what to say," and then ask: "what can I do?"  Don't ask, can I bring you dinner? can I do this? can I do that? can I do the other thing? because those things may be covered.  Sometimes people in her situation want nothing more than to go out to lunch, have a few drinks, laugh a lot, get a mani/pedi, and go shopping or to a movie (not necessarily in that order). 

I had a close friend who was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago.  I asked her what I could do.  We figured she'd want help after a chemo treatment.  But it turned out she wanted me to visit before a chemo treatment.  I flew out (we live about 1,000 miles away from each other) about 5 days before a scheduled chemo treatment. [The night I arrived, her husband said to me that he was glad I was there.  Obviously he knew the power of girl friendships.]  We shopped, went to movies, had lunches out, and did lots of fun things.  I was open to things I wouldn't necessarily choose to do.  I stayed through the next chemo treatment, for which the awful effects apparently didn't hit until 48 hours.  She didn't want help for the after-effects of chemo.  She wanted the diversion beforehand.

So, ask what your friend wants.  And encourage her to tell you what will help her out most, no matter how silly or unhelpful it may seem to you. Maybe mani/pedis are out of your comfort zone, but if they are within hers, do it.

[taz157]

Beth - I'm sorry about your friend.  


If you you are on FB, feel free to PM and I'll send you my name. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

I called her on Sunday.  Got voice mail.  Let a message asking if she was home or still stuck in the hospital and how chemo went.  I have a horrible feeling that she's putting me back into voicemail quarantine again and isn't going to call me back.  That the only reason she picked up the last time was because she felt she owed it me to tell me over the phone and not via voicemail or PM.  I may be wrong.  She was scheduled for chemo at the end of the week and I did call shortly before the start of the Packers game.  So she may have felt too awful or had company or something.

Serious, thanks.  I did ask "what can I do" on the original call.  She didn't have anything - her parents are handling her house and pets and she was stuck in the hospital.  She's not much of a reader and our taste in books and movies used to be very different.  And I'm still dealing with a cold and we agreed it's better than I not come see her in the hospital right now.  And to be blunt, I dropped out her life with little to no warning.  I don't know that she WANTS me to help her out.  In any form. 

I think my "plan" if we can call it that, is to just keep calling her.  Asking/leaving voice mail expressing best wishes and offers of help, including fetching and carrying or outings if she's up to them. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Got the kids new mattresses this week.  Still not keeping them in their beds all night but at least it's more comfortable when I'm switching between their beds as I did last night.

Last night was a parenting fail.  Keira couldn't find one of her toys after I'd moved stuff around in her room to get the mattress in and the room tidy-ish.  Which had me leaving her room grumbling about "next time you can keep the shitty mattress" yeah, I'm so clearly the adult here.  Then I went and cried.  Cabe hollering for me because he'd pooped.  Scott's sick.  and I'm just exhausted physically and emotionally right now.  Keira comes in by me.  Says something about about how "no one in this house should have stuff be unfair" and I'm torn between crying again or laughing hysterically because the entire fucking household is tilted toward "let's be unfair to Beth in cleaning, cooking, laundry, child care and sleep"  I managed to suppress that because the person I need to let that loose on it's her, it's Scott. 

I'm just so tired of all of this.  And if I go home early today, DH is there home sick again.  I told him he should call the doctor but I don't know if he will or not. 

[chen35]

::Hugs:: I'm sorry Beth. 

Is there anyway you can get some help? Maybe someone to help clean or take the kids for a bit this weekend so you can get some time off? 

[Wisconsin Beth]

The kids did let us sleep in last weekend - I think 9am on Sat. morning and 8am or so on Sunday morning.  This was after they'd crawled in with me at some point in the night and in the 6-7am range, they'd asked if they could go play in their rooms. 

They actually played pretty well together on the weekend.  No idea why but it was a blessing.  DH was still miserable and my period came.  Fun times. 

*-*-*-*-

We're going to a water park this weekend. I'd been thinking about taking the kids to a nearby one for an afternoon. Didn't happen due to everyone being sick so DH and I were talking about it and I suggested we do an overnight at the nearby one. DH brought up a different place and I basically said if we're going to go more than x miles/minutes from home, I want to go back to Blue Harbor. Then I heard a partial ad on the radio for them.  Which got us poking around for deals there. For about $60 more than our "regular" room costs, we're getting a 2 bedroom villa. So we invited the grandparents to come too. My parents can come on Friday night. FIL and MIL don't want to go. The kids were super excited when they (ok, Keira realized first and then told Cabe) that we were going to a water park for the weekend.  It's $410 for the weekend and that includes the water park passes.  And we've got a full kitchen, so we'll be bringing along breakfast stuff and snacky foods.  We'll be eating dinners out though.  I didn't get datenight last weekend and damn it, I'm going to find a way to drink margaritas one night this weekend. 

Just wait until the kids find out about Disney. I think we're actually going to go in April. We got a 35% off at selected resorts, one of which is in the Animal Kingdom (Cabe will adore it) and it overlaps enough with the kids Easter break that we think we're going to do it. Gulp. Also, my younger sister and her family (3 teenagers) will be in and around Orlando during this time frame. They're planning a day at Universal Studios so we think we can manage some time together - like a meal and/or hanging out by our pool. We'll see how it plays out. This is more than likely going to completely wipe out our vacation fund but it is why I started it in the first place - so that we couldn't use money as an excuse for NOT doing more expensive trips with the kids.

I suspect that at some point this year, DH is going to want to do some kind of trip like the water park stay with us bringing his parents along for the entire trip.  I suspect the drive is why they don't want to go.  Mixed feelings on my part for this, mainly because I find his parents exasperating to be around for long periods of time.  But our parents are getting older. My Dad is going to be 78 this year and he's slowing down. Mom takes good care of him but she's 74. FIL is 74 and not in good shape. He had hip replacement surgery for the 2nd hip last fall and he's still having walking issues. DH thought the hot tub at the hotel might be comforting for him. MIL is 73 and has lots of aches but doesn't want to see the doctor for most of them.  We both want to do things with our parents while we (and the kids) can.  They all love the kids.  And the kids love them.  So I'll suggest that DH figure something out to do with his parents later in the year.  But I think I'm going to wait to find out how badly Disney wipes out the vacation fund before I bring it up to him. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Ok, I booked Disney yesterday.  We opted for travel insurance though Disney, which may help with the flights, if we do need to cancel.  Kids will miss 2 days of school as we're kinda extending Easter/spring break. 

One of my coworkers suggested that now that I have a price, see if the undercover consumers (or something along those lines) can meet or beat the price.  I may be turning in my YM card but I am not doing that for this trip.  Future trips, yeah, I'll take a look at them. 

Mom and Dad are apparently staying over Sat. night too.  Mom has to be at Church for Mass at 9/930am on Sunday morning, which is why I had assumed they'd only stay 1 night.  ON the plus side, they may very well pick up the tab for dinner on Sat. night now.    Probably going to be pizza as DH is aware of 2 pizza places there where he can eat. 

Tonight, I'm going to try to visit C.  Mom's picking up the kids for a playdate and DH has a yoga class after work (at work, for employees only) so I've got a big chunk of time.  I was going to use it to deal with laundry, packing and dealing with the paper mess in the living room but I think seeing C is a better use of my time.  I miss her so much and feel so bad that I've sucked as a friend.  It's just so damn hard the last few years. 

Anyway, on to other depressing updates - L was in ER last night for hours, for an unknown cause.  Her daughter, DN#6 was moved to another place (kicked out of 2 since Christmas) yesterday.  I'm guessing stress, etc. just hit L hard.  I'll give her a call later on, see what's up. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

My visit with C went really well.  I spent around 2 hours there.  I need to find out how she'd prefer to communicate with me though.  I've called since then and went straight to v-mail. 

The water park was good, mostly.  The villa would have been better if the weather was better though.  Fortunately, we were only about 1 block from the water park.  We drove it on Friday night because we didn't realize the distance but after that, we just walked over there.  Saturday's dinner was disappointing on several fronts.  Sunday I had the joy of loading up the van in the snow.  Like trudging though drifts over 1 foot high, carrying coolers/suitcases in sneakers because I didn't pack my boots.  Once I got the first load out, there was no reason for all of us to have soggy feet so I just kept on making trips and DH brought more stuff near the door for me to grab so I wouldn't track snow everywhere.   

We told the kids about Disney once we were home.  Started a youtube video on the Magic Kingdom.  They didn't get it.  So we told them.  I think they were more vocal about learning we were flying than Disney actually. 

The travel agent 'gifted' us with a free planner for Disney.  She walked me though the first couple of steps (which resort which days and a start on the dining plan) for free.  I'm paying to have her deal with the daily planning and Fast Passes/reservation (FP/R) shit.  I don't wanna do it.  So I've spent some time dealing with that the last couple of days.  Everything is submitted to them.  They will draw up a plan and enter the stuff we need FP/R for into the computer system for the 60 day out thing (4/8 is our 60 day.)

She's also sent me a few pdfs explaining some things which is also really helpful.  This weekend I'll order the Magic Band things - I want the kids to pick out colors and whatever other personalization they can/want to do. 

Part of me is excited about Disney, part of me is nervous about Disney and part of me is going "why am I dropping this much money to go there?!"  It kinda helps that my older brother, who rarely admits to regrets, is admitting that he wishes he'd done Disney when his kids were younger.  He and his wife when as a couple when their first born was really young and her Mom kept DNephew#1.  Then didn't go back until that kid was 16 and their other 2 were 12 and 14, roughly.  So knowing that helps.  It also helps that I've been socking money away since K was about 5 months old for Disney.  Yeah, we raided the account a couple of times but I set it up with the knowledge that I did NOT want to have to say "we can't afford Disney" to the kids.  We may only go once (I doubt it but...) but I didn't want to have the discussions with DH about the cost being prohibitive either. 

Next up for the vacation fund is Europe.  Which was my secret plan when I started the account (Disney, Europe, flying into Canada to fish and camp are the 3 main plans) but I only shared Disney with DH.  Now that the kids are both in German Immersion School, he's totally on board with Europe, assuming we visit Germany.  The bell choir I used to play in at Church is talking about going to Italy in Summer 2016 and DH and I tentatively thinking about that, assuming I can find the time to get back into the bell choir.  They can use me, that's not an issue. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

58 days to WDW. 

I booked all of my known vacation times for the rest of the year.  My big boss is out of town and my immediate supervisor did a blanket approval of everything and loaded them onto the group calendar.  Which I currently cannot access or even view.  Sigh. 

I also looked ahead to the "problem" weekends when assorted deadlines are tight.  Need to get those on my calendar.  With the exception of end of year stuff, none of it conflicts with the selected vacation times.    I'll probably come in for a few hours during the week of 12/28-12/30 to deal with that but it's not a huge issue.  And Payroll's needs won't be determined until much closer to then anyway. 

Now, I must finish up tasks while the big boss is gone.  Then I can surprise her when she comes back. 

[anciana]

Hi Beth,

It's been a while again I just read through most of your posts that I've missed since I was around last. Congrats on booking the Disney vacation! It sounds like it should be a great one for the whole family.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Anciana!  I was wondering how you were doing recently. I hope everything is well for you. 

[anciana]

Hey Beth, doing OK for the most part, thank you! Life has a funny way of putting things in perspective   I hope to be around more again and looking forward to chatting with you

[Wisconsin Beth]

ARe you ok?  Anything you want to share/talk about? 

[anciana]

Hey Beth, thank you for asking, I am doing well, probably better then I have in a while. Nothing much to share for right now, I am mostly looking forward to picking up where I left of and move on

[Wisconsin Beth]

:-) 


I did 1.5 hours of prep work for batch meal stuff for a WildTree party thing tonight.  I don't think I'll be doing that again.  Too much of a PITA for me.  Yeah, it'll be nice to have 10 meals in the freezer but I prefer the Dinner by Design set up - they do all the prep work and I just go in and follow the recipe! 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Woohoo.  DH sent me his retirement account totals.  Combined, we have just over $460K and another 20-30 years of working.  My pension (currently rock solid and fully funded) should kick out about $30K a year, if things hold steady.  Makes me feel slightly better about dropping so much on WDW. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Parent teacher conferences are tonight.  MIL is watching the kids while we go.  Should be gone about an hour. 

Mom and Dad are home from Florida.  They stay with a cousin of Mom's every year, around this time.  The cousin is delighted to have them so it works out.  Last year Mom's older sister went with them too.  And I've already hit up Mom for babysitting on Friday night so DH and I can go to the see the new Museum exhibit.   

[Wisconsin Beth]

Parent teacher conferences went well - kids will move on to their respective grades. 

But it's been a helluva week.  And it's only Wed, although this sort of started on last Friday, which would mean I've only got 2 more days and it will get better, right? 

Last Friday, I kept DD out of school to go to a waterpark overnight with her best friend and her parents.  M had a couple of things to take care of prior to picking DD up, so with one thing and another, it's after 10am before they're gone.  I start work at 0630 and didn't want to go in for 1/2 a day on a Friday.  So I called in and changed my vac to the full day.  Couple hours later, I get a call.  My immediate supervisor was checking in, she hadn't gotten the message PLUS she wanted to let me know that my office mate stormed in and announced she was resigning.  I offer to come in, thankfully she said no.  I tell her I'll be in Monday then. 

DS got to be an only kid for about 36 hours, which I think he enjoyed. 

Sat. night was horrible.  I overate at dinner - tacos.  Started getting stabbing shooting pains in my belly, along with vomiting.  This goes on for about 4-5 hours.  Around 3am, the pain subsides from excruciating to painful and I doze off for about 3 hours. 

Sun. I stuck to tea and soup until dinner.  I ate lightly and around 7pm started getting stabby pains again.  Mom came to watch kids and DH takes me to Urgent Care.  Urgent Care does some tests and things.  I have an elevated white blood count and they want me to go to the ER.  Joy.  Off we go.  I call Mom to give her a heads up.  ER pokes me, prods me, sticks an IV in me (I'm probably dehydrated at this point anyway) and eventually CTs me. 

Results: gallstones, fluid by my ovaries (plus at least one existing cyst), a slightly thickened adrenal gland wall, a fatty liver and no signs of my appendix.  I'm told to see my PCP in 1-2 days, a surgeon within 3 days and 3 prescriptions to help deal with the nausea, the pain/cramps and the overgrowth of flora in my vag. 

2am, I get home.  I get about 4 hours of sleep.  Call work and say I'm running late.  Go to work on Monday.  Find out that coworker is truly gone and apparently it's because Admin won't let her work part time.  Start scrambling with immediate supervisor to cover the job.  Fax prescriptions into pharmacy, who agreed to start filling with the faxes as long as I bring the originals in.  When I show up, they aren't able to fill the one for cramps but can have it in on Tuesday.  I say fine, I've got an appt. on Tuesday anyway.  Get a phone call from school principal that starts "C isn't hurt and he's not in trouble.  It's about the school bus."  me "C doesn't take the school bus."  SP "He wasn't on the bus this morning?"  "He never takes the bus.  My MIL drops him and his sister off for breakfast in the morning" SP "So he only takes it in the afternoon." me "No, I pick them up.  He never takes the bus"  "OH!  Well I'm calling because someone shot a BB gun at the bus this morning and I want to reassure parents of kids on the bus and not start gossip." 

Tuesday: Get to work at usual time.  Leave for appt.  My doctor couldn't see me so I'm seeing her PA.  She goes over everything, wants another blood test and a pee sample.  Tells me to see L to set up surgeon.  I ask for refill on the prescription for nausea as it was only 10 pills and I'm supposed to take them every 6 hours.  L is busy so I start with blood and pee samples.  In midst of pee sample, L calls.  I answered because I didn't recognize the number and after yesterday's call with the school, well, I'm answering.  REalize it's her and tell her that I'm in the middle of the pee sample and I'll be with her shortly.  L has surgeon's office call me to set up appt.  They call while I'm waiting for the pharmacy.  Set up appt. for Friday.  DH calls, I start to give him update and pharmacy calls my name.  I tell him I've got to go get my prescriptions.  Pharmacist says "actually, I don't have any for you"  The delivery went AWOL so they don't have the cramping one yet.  And they can't refill the nausea one because it's too soon.  On 3-18, she can refill for 8 pills.  On 4-8, she can refill for 18 pills.  How the fuck am I supposed to take this every 6 hours when they won't give me a reasonable supply of the damn pills?  Pharmacist offers to try to override.  Mentally I'm saying fuck it.  This is insane and I'll just find something over the counter.  Go home and veg on couch until Mom brings kids home. 

Wed. period is here.  So I've got period cramps in addition to everything else.  Joy.  So now I really wish I had the damn cramping meds. 

Oh and I can't drink because the antibiotic I'm on reacts really badly with it.  Boo hiss. 

Did I mention we leave for WDW 3 weeks from tomorrow?  I am NOT telling kids that WDW has be be moved.  Nope.  I told DH that HE could tell him but I'm not moving this vacation.  HE could.  He doesn't want to do it either. 

I'm afraid to eat most foods right now.  I'm supposed to be on a bland, low/non fat diet with no fast foods, fried foods, gravies or cream sauces.  So it's been an extremely cautious eating experience right now too.  But I just want to scream and cry and yell at the world. 

[snapdragon]

*Hugs Beth* 

Hopefully it will all get better before WDW.

[taz157]

Mar 18, 2015 10:09:44 GMT -5 snapdragon said:

*Hugs Beth* 

Hopefully it will all get better before WDW.

Yeah that! ((((Hugs))))

[seriousthistime]

Yeah, scream and cry and yell at the world.  It does sound like an awful few days, Beth.

I've been through the gall bladder experience.  So was XH.  Him first.  When we got to the ER, there was an ultrasound done and the ER doc walked in and said, "Good news.  It's your gall bladder.  We're going to set you up for follow-up with a surgeon."  I asked, "That's GOOD news?"  The ER doc said, "Yes, it actually is. His symptoms were classic for pancreatic cancer."  [His symptoms were VERY different than yours, and actually were different from mine.]

So there's that. 

When I had my first gall bladder attack I thought it was a heart attack.  I was so very happy to have it removed.  While waiting for the surgery date I had a few meals with more fat than I deserved, causing other gall bladder attacks.  (You'll learn quickly what not to eat.)  Had the surgery done Thursday, stopped the pain meds Sunday, and was up and around, not moving quickly or strenuously but doing most things, by Monday.  And then, back to eating normally.    

As far as the prescriptions go, you can have the pharmacy call around to any others in the area (they don't have to stay within the same chain, like other Walgreens or whatever) and find a pharmacy that CAN fill the prescription right away.  And then you can either take the printout to the other pharmacy or the first pharmacy can call it in to the other pharmacy.  NEVER wait around for a pharmaceutical delivery to arrive and waste time in pain, or not getting better, or umpteen return trips.  After my last ER visit my pharmacy couldn't fill all the prescriptions and they asked me where I'd like them to call. Sometimes they offer to call, and sometimes I have to ask them to, but I will not wait on a delivery.  

If you're on an antibiotic, consider taking a probiotic or eat fat free yogurt with active cultures before the flora in your gut get completely out of whack.

Don't give up on WDW yet.  And feel better soon.  

[Wisconsin Beth]

I never even thought about a heart attack - this was all lower abdomen pain.  I did wonder about appendicitis. 

It really sounds like an ovarian cyst ruptured in addition to the gall bladder on Sat. night.  I've heard that cysts can be excruciatingly painful.  

DH is coming with me to see the surgeon tomorrow.  My Mom offered to come too.  Appt. is at 11:15. 

I'm still afraid to eat right now. 

[Jaguar]

<<< BIG HUGS >>>

[Wisconsin Beth]

[Deleted]

I just saw this ... hugs Beth!

[Wisconsin Beth]

I'm trying to decide if I'm depressed or just down in the dumps because of this week.  I think I'm just in the dumps but I dunno.  I suspect I'm in one of those places where it's really hard to evaluate yourself even close to accurately.  And I'm very close to crying right now. 

Thanks guys, really.  This helps.

I saw the surgeon.  He's pretty convinced my gall bladder needs to come out AND he gets the Disney trip issues.  So he's marked our departure date as important in my file.    I'm waiting for a call to schedule an EGD - the upper digestive tract scope thing.  He'd like that done on Tues. but we'll see.  Lisa is supposed to call me about that.  And he gave me a prescription for generic Previcid because there's an awful lot going on in my abdomen right now so the goal is to get me to Tuesday, when my period should be gone, I should be done with both anti-biotics (bladder and some vaginal thing but not a yeast infection) and we can figure out just what's going on.  And to stay on the low fat diet. 

On the up side, he said I can do light exercising. 

The recovery period after surgery for someone with a desk job is about 2 weeks.  Right now, I"m so damn happy to hear that because it will be 2 weeks of not feeling like I'm banging my head against the wall. 

[Deleted]

I'm sorry Beth. I'm glad they are working with your dates. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

The weekend was ok.  Had a few minutes of pains and/or nausea but not going beyond 10-15 minutes or so.  Still waiting to hear from Lisa.  I called Friday afternoon and left voice mail. 

Dh says that I feel slightly skinnier.  He very carefully avoided losing weight as a topic until I brought it up and tried to be supportive.  Bless him for the attempt.  He came home with a pot of tulips and a bouquet on Friday. 

Mom can't get the kids this week so I'm back on my standard hours, I think.  I'm off Thursday for a kid function. 

[anciana]

Oh my goodness, Beth! So sorry to hear. When it rains, it pours, huh Hope you hear back from the doctor soon and they have some good news scheduling. Hang in there!

[Wisconsin Beth]

Ok, so here's part 1 of the Disney trip. This is going to be long and probably rant-y in spots. And you'll need to mentally add your own smileys.

April 5th, discover washing machine is making horrible sounds. End up carting soaking wet laundry to Mom's, then ALL the dirty laundry.
April 7th, discover my flip phone won't turn on or charge.
April 8th, take kids to day care; take more laundry to Mom's, go to Target to exchange a couple of t-shirts so I don't have to wear black all the time in Florida; go to AT&T store to discover DH needs to be present as I'm not listed as owner/holder on phones. Head for home. Realize that I have to take new shirts to Mom's. Go there. Go home, turn Criminal Minds on and start packing for me and the kids. Start cleaning too. Grab DH and head back to AT&T, send 1.5 hours there. Go to bank. Get cash. Get kids. Go home, finish packing and cleaning. Go to bed around midnight. Wake up in middle of night to storms.
April 9th, Get up at 0530, shower, shave legs, clean out fridge, discover I missed the 2 minute window of no rain to get trash and recycling out. Get kids up, fed and dressed. 0700 Mom and Dad arrive to take us to airport. Dad takes the long way there. Thunder and lightening make us wonder if plane will depart as scheduled. HUGE amounts of water in streets. Get to airport and get luggage checked. Go sit in waiting room. Plane leaves a few minutes late and flight is on the bumpy side. Get to Orlando around 230. Get to Magical Bus Place on opposite side of airport or so it seemed. Get to WDW around 430. Original plans from Help Around the Mouse have us on bus to Animal Kingdom at 300. Guy at checkin desk babbles something about upgraded room. We stare at him confused and he babbles something about the view being the upgrade. carryons in room and head for bus to Animal Kingdom (AK) get off bus and start melting as we'd gone from 40s and storms to 85-90 and sticky. We stopped for a picture with Pocahontas near the Tree of Life. Don't have autograph books with us. Arrive at Tusker House around 530 and ask if reservations can be moved up. They say no but check us in, give us a pager and we go to bar for a drink. Get Kiddie Cocktails for the kids. DD says it doesn't taste like the ones from home and neighter kid wants to drink them. At this point the pager goes off and we head into blessed, beautiful air conditioning. And characters! I take one kid to buffet and leave DH to wait for chef to walk him though the buffet pointing out what he needs to avoid. Get DD back. DH says chef came by and will come back. DS say he wants everything on DD's plate and is beyond cranky about food. I go fix him a plate. Come back. Chef was back again. I sit down and stay. DH goes off with chef. Comes back what seems like an eternity later on and I finally go get my own food. We finish up and head for Asia. Manage to get all 4 of us on the Expedition Everest ride (Fast Pass) and afterwards have a DH with equilibrium issues and a son with fear of dark and rides that go backwards. Comfort DS. Poke around in Donoland on our way out of AK. Get bus back to Animal Kingdom Lodge. Call for Garden Grocery stuff to be brought up to room. Unpack. Start swearing at all resorts that install useless "w" shaped dual hooks in bathroom of room expected to sleep 4. 'cause you know, only 2 of the 4 people want to hang stuff up in the bathroom... Swear I'm going to buy a pack of Command Hooks and keep in bathroom bag. Hear odd sounds but aren't sure if they're the animals in the savannah outside the balcony, the pipes, the neighbors or what. Let kids snack on goldfish and cheese strips. Go to bed.

April 10 - Magic Kingdom day! DH and I get up around 600. I got about 2 hours of sleep. First night in a strange place always sucks for me and every time someone rolls over, I wake up. Get kids up around 630. Suggested departure time from Help Around the Mouse (HATM) is 0700 to arrive at Magic Kingdom before 8. Around 700, we're probably 5-10 minutes from leaving. DS pukes off of ladder for bunkbeds, straight down. I clean up as best I can. Contact Housekeeping and explain. Leave room for Magic Kingdom bus. End up skipping HATM suggestions for Tomorrowland so we can make FP times for Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountains. Walk down Main Street. Keira wants her picture with Cinderella's Castle as backdrop. Then doesn't. Then cries. Picture taken with all of us unhappy. I'm starting to meltdown and cast member Ride Carousel. Ride Flying Carpets both of which the kids loved, loved LOVED. Look around. Cabe wants nothing to do with Thunder Mountain. Keira and I ride twice. Splash Mountain is closed. Keira cries. I try to explain. She still cries. We find small playground under railroad overpass. Scott sits watching kids while I figure out maps, timing and if anyone has any idea what's going on with Splash Mountain. No one does. Decide to take Railroad to get back to lunch at Main Street (Plaza) Cabe doesn't trust any ride not to be dark, moving backwards and just plain scary so I spend time reassuring him inbetween dealing with Keira's tears over no Splash Mountain. Decide this is NOT the Happiest Place on Earth, not by a fucking long shot. Have lunch. Kids are not thrilled with lunch options but eat enough that I'm ok with it. Excited about ice cream. Keira gets strawberry, Caleb gets vanilla and both decide my milk shake is the best thing ever. Go wash hands and fight our way into Tomorrowland for Space Mountain. It's closed. Look at DH and say Fuck this. We try to use DH's phone to get into our Fast Passes. Space Mountain has completely disappeared. We're going back to the room. See part of parade from distance. Get back near Cinderella's Castle. See Mary Poppins and head for her. Get picture of her back going up stairs. Get stopped on way out and ask about Space Mountain FP. GEt sent to Guest Relations. Go in wrong building. Get CSR from Germany once in proper building. Haul Keira up to top of counter and ask her where he's from. She's looking confused, then spots the tag and chirps out "Germany!!" Poor guy in confused but forges on once I put her down. I explain. He says that's not right - FP shouldn't have disappeared. STarts trying to log me into his ipad thingy. Fails. Tries again. Fail 2 more times. Gives up and does it all from his computer. Says we have FPs for Splash and Space Mountains for remainder of day in park. I tell him we're done, we're going back to the pool and not coming back tonight. He gives us all day FPs for both rides for 4/13, our next day in Magic Kingdom and final day at WDW. We head back to Lodge. I take kids to pool, tell DH he owes me a big one and he's to meet us AT the pool at 345. He naps while I get a much deserved drink by the pool. Debate getting another one but don't. Poke around pool area, some on my own, some with kids. Text DH where I am, then move to shadier spot and text him again. He finds me. Keira wants to show him the stuff by the pool. Eventually go back to room. Take kids to Simba's Clubhouse for evening. Go back to room and have a nice bath. Hear odd sounds again. Still not sure where it's coming from. I go out into hallway and flag down 2 cast members who are walking past. Get an "oh, some of the pipes do that. I'll put in a request for maintenance." Head out for dinner in Boma's without kids. Get back to room. See booklet on table so clearly SOMEONE has been in the room. Send DH to get kids. Lady asks him about pipes/sounds, says she put a slip in for maintenance. They come back, we all go to bed.