Today we continue Emma’s ERGObaby journey as she travels abroad with a 2 year old and 6 month old baby. Enjoy!
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Both David and I were very excited (probably more so me) to be taking the boys to Disneyland. We went to Disney as part of our honeymoon and a dream of mine has always been to one day take our family there. When an opportunity presented itself for us to travel over to the US, it was an opportunity for us to try and fulfil a dream of taking the boys to Disney.
The boys had been dream children on the 17 hour flight. Mitchell was content in his bassinet to sleep and Lachlan was very impressed that the seats had a television in the back all for his viewing pleasure. About an hour out of LA, Lachlan became ill on the plane. David changed him into a new set of clothing only to have to repeat that process in 5 minutes time. Unfortunately this was the beginning of what was going to be a very difficult two weeks.
We arrived at LAX without further incident and were able to navigate our way through the airport and to the car hire terminal without any problems. I again used the ERGObaby with Mitchell in the front carry position, our ERGO really is worth its weight in gold.
Due to Lachlan not being 100% well, we stayed close to the hotel for the first 24 hours. The following night we went to Downtown Disney for a walk around and to show the boys what to expect over the following few days. Downtown Disney is a food and shopping precinct just at the end of Disneyland and California Adventure Park. It is a fantastic place to shop and eat. Downtown is also the connecting path between one of the main Disney Hotels and the two theme parks and is always decorated beautifully. With it being the week following Christmas, the trees and shops were decorated with beautiful Christmas garlands and lights. Lachlan was immediately transported somewhere magical.
Downtown Disney
What we weren’t planning on was the cold weather. We had been to LA before but it was not this cold. The ERGO was fantastic for keeping Mitchell snugly and warm. I carried him with a blanket wrapped around his legs and knew that my body heat was keeping him warm whilst we were walking around.
We thought by Thursday Lachlan was probably well enough to brave Disney. It was only a 2 minute shuttle ride away from our hotel and he was wanting to leave the hotel room and play. We didn’t end up getting down to Disney until about 11am. We walked in and straight away Lachlan saw Mickey Mouse, which he thought was wonderful.
Meeting Mickey Mouse
Disney was incredibly busy. It had reached capacity on both Monday and Tuesday following Christmas and speaking with the Disney Staff, they told us that they had never encountered crowds like they had this particular week. Ques to rides were in excess of 2 hours and there were even Marshalls directing pedestrian traffic, it was insane. I was so glad that we weren’t fighting with a pram. I was able to keep Mitchell close and warm to me and Lachlan was happy to walk or be picked up if he wanted to see something.
California Adventure Park – Hello Goofy
The Famous Teacup Ride
We lined up and took Lachlan on the Carousel and tea cups. Unfortunately he didn’t want to go the Dumbo ride *sob* After the Tea Cups we started heading down to Toon Town where you can meet some of the Disney Characters and tour Mickey’s house etc. Toon town is geared to the younger guests and it is bright, colourful and wonderful. As we were making our way down, David realised that Lachlan’s hands had started to swell and were quite red. We rolled his sleeves up and red welts were appearing all over his hands in front of our eyes. It looked as though he had started to have an allergic reaction to something. So we turned around and started making our way to the First Aid room. Upon presenting at the first aid room, they told us we needed to give Lachlan some Benadryl, wash his hands and start icing them. We did this and the red lumps started to go away. After about 30 minutes his hands were swollen but had not lumps on them as we were packing up to go, the red lumps started appearing further up his arms. We were given a list of urgent care facilities and it was suggested that we take Lachlan to be looked at by a Dr.
Mitchell and his Mickey ears
We ended up at St Joseph’s hospital that night and the Dr’s that reviewed Lachlan believed the skin irritation was possibly part of the virus that he had. We didn’t get home until after 11pm and I wore Mitchell all day in the ERGObaby, both he and I were very comfortable and warm 
The following day we stayed home in the Hotel again to give Lachlan some more time to rest and that we would head down to Sea World at San Diego if he was ok on Saturday.
Friday was incident and spot free at the Hotel so Saturday we drove down to San Diego with the intentions of going to both Sea World and the San Diego Zoo, San Diego was about an hour and a half drive away. We arrived at Sea World just in time for the Dolphin Show, which was great. We had to walk high up into the stadium for a seat but this was easily done using the ERGObaby and David helping Lachlan. Unfortunately, directly following the show, Lachlan started breaking out in welts and started puffing up again. After speaking to the medic in the First Aid room, they suggested that we take him down to the local children’s hospital. We just couldn’t believe it, we hadn’t even been at Sea World 2 hours. So off we went again, to a new hospital this time! We arrived home late again after visiting San Diego and still were none the wiser as to what was happening with Lachlan.
Sunday was our last day in LA. We decided that we wanted to give Disney one more go. Lachlan seemed fine in himself, he wasn’t itchy and his appetite had picked up again so off we went. Mitchell again in the ERGObaby and Lachlan walking, we waited for the shuttle bus to pick us up at the front of the Marriott. As we were waiting, it started to drizzle. We jumped off the shuttle at Disney and headed over to California Adventure Park. I really wanted the boys to see the Magical World of Colour show which was on at night but you had to reserve seats and get tickets. We took some photos with Mickey and Goofy out the front and headed in to reserve a seat. The rain got heavier and heavier as we wound our way through the park. Desperate not to let the rain ruin our last day in LA we picked up some umbrellas and poncho’s to try and keep dry. I was able to wear a Poncho over Mitchell in the ERGO and we hired a stroller and wrapped this and Lachlan in a Poncho to keep him dry too.
Unfortunately the rain got heavier and heavier and reached the point where we were unable walk, the water was too deep on the pavement. Beaten and wet, we made the decision at 6.30pm to give up. It was too cold and wet to be out with two young children. Our time in LA wasn’t quite what we expected. The ERGObaby again was a god send. I was able to navigate easily through busy crowds, hospitals and was even able to take Mitchell on the Tea Cup ride with him securely attached to me.
Last Day – Outside our Hotel
We left LA hoping that New Orleans was going to bring us some better luck.
