Toddler + the Croup = Disney? Yes, apparently we really are that nuts.

So here's installment number one of the Mellon Disney Chronicles. Let's go back, back into time. A week from today actually, the day before our big adventure was set to begin. The day started so well...noodle went off to school, and I set to packing everything we'd need for the trip. During my packing frenzy, a most wonderful surprise made its way to my front door. My friend Teresa, who henceforth will be known as the most wonderful person in the whole world, brought me a pepperoni roll from her hometown. Mmmm, I thoroughly enjoyed that tasty little treat while taking my break from suitcase stuffing. Mmmm my belly growls just thinking about it...

Things continued to run smoothly. I got most of the needed supplies stuffed into various containers, noodle came home from school, and we sat down to dinner. The little guy was starting to cough, but he still seemed content and happy. He headed up for a bath and bed with his papa, and I settled down to zone out in front of some must see tv. When all of the sudden, I hear Drew on the baby monitor saying, "Mellon, Chase just threw up". Ugh.

I arrived upstairs to find that "threw up" was much too gentle a phrase to describe the event I was witnessing. The child was violently ill with piles all over the room which included a bit running down the dresser drawers. Projectile. Lovely.

I held him as he continued his upchuckage, and then stripped him and put him in the bath. There he started wheezing and developed a rash. Uh-oh. Since we thought he might be allergic to the antibiotic that he was taking for his ear infections, we rushed off to the doctor for a diagnosis. Of course, there was no definitive answer to what caused the reaction, but the doc thought it was probably croup rather than an allergy. Croup is a fun vocal chord infection that causes wheezy like coughing all through the night, and can last for several nights. We were given Prednisone for the possible croup and a new antibiotic for the his ears just in case there was a reaction to the medicine. The doctor didn't seem to think the odds were in our favor for making it to our vacation destination the next day. Things were looking grim...

So, we resigned ourselves to being up all night with a coughing, hacking noodle. Or, I should say Drew resigned himself, as nothing short of an earthquake keeps me from getting my 8 hours of shut eye. But lo and behold, the kid slept through the night and was perfectly fine the next morning. Disney here we come!




The plane ride was quick and stress free. Of course, Chase didn't nap on the plane, but are we really surprised by that? We arrived at the Animal Kingdom Lodge around 4, and thought he might take a quick nap before dinner. Nope. Not going to happen. He was too interested in looking at the giraffes and zebras outside his window, and who can blame him really?





Since the lack of sleep had made the little guy cranky, we opted for room service and a little downtime in the room. We ate, sat on the balcony and watched the animals. Chase fell on the door track and got a nasty bruise, but since he has the pain threshold of a WWF wrestler, it barely registered a cry from him. Then we got him into his bed and patted ourselves on the backs for having a pretty relaxing/successful travel day. Until we heard the sounds of the little man regurgitating his dinner in the next room...

Our little traveler was sick again. What were we going to do? Was our trip ruined beyond repair? Dum... dum... dum!


Tune in next time for the second installment of Mellon's Disney Chronicles.