Steven and Megan Do Disney

A view from The Beach Club

Well, we finally had a vacation, just the two of us. Our last vacation, just "us two", was May 2010, two months before I got pregnant with Sophie. Disney World is one of our favorite places, and we figured this was the last time we'd go without kids. Kinda hard to leave your 5 year old with her grandparents while you go see Mickey. I'm pretty sure that's child abuse. So, Steven and I spent five magical nights at the "Happiest Place of Earth". We had a great time. I truly had no idea how badly I needed a break from 24/7 mommyhood. My head hit the pillow Sunday night, and I didn't wake up until 9:00am. Nine hours of uninterrupted sleep. See, those of you without kids have no clue how dramatically your sleep will change once you have kids. Sure, you get past the newborn stage, the sleep training, and they're finally sleeping through the night. But from the moment you become a mom, you will always sleep with one ear open. When you wake up in the middle of the night, you'll check out the video monitor, just to make sure they're ok. You will have irrational moments of panic when you wait to see if they'll move, just to make sure they're still breathing. Toddlers are also NOISY sleepers, and since our room is so close to the nursery, each sound Sophie makes goes right to my ears. When she wakes up momentarily at 5:30 am, so do I. So- for five nights at Disney, I slept. Hard. It was great. I also didn't worry about nap time, wake times, is she eating, has she pooped, what time should I put her to bed...... I knew she was in very capable hands with my parents, so I just let it go. And it was great. We rode rides, ate long leisurely meals at our favorite Disney restaurants, swam in the pool, enjoyed cocktails poolside, I finished a book I bought in 2011 (silly me, who buys a book the year they have a baby), and we just enjoyed being "us two" for the first time in 16 months. Of course I missed her every second, but it wasn't overwhelming. We had fun figuring out which rides she'd like, and one of us was always exclaiming "Oooh, Sophie would like that!" By the end of the trip, I think we were both really missing her, because we began planning our next visit... WITH Sophie. We actually went into great debate over which hotel would be best for her, which park had the most for her to do, which parks to avoid, and where we could take her to eat. We may try and take her in the Fall next year.

Sophie had a fabulous time while we were gone, in case you were wondering. She stayed with Grammy & Granddad at Casa de Sparks. They catered to her every want and need. She went to the park, swimming, the Children's Museum, learned how to garden with Granddad, helped make grilled cheese, and played outside in my parents' great backyard. She and Hayley the Golden Retriever became best friends. My dad picked Steven and I up from IAH on Friday, and he described Sophie as "absolutely spectacular". Pretty amazing to be adored so much. Lucky, lucky, oh so very, very lucky!

My parents were both a little depressed when we left for Dallas the next morning.

Sophie and her new best friends, Mickey and Minnie.