As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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I'll start by telling you we have a beautiful daughter who is now 5. I had 3 miscarriages before her and she is definitely our little miracle she has had some health issues though her 5 years which luckily she has outgrown thank god. Now that she is healthy and started kindergarten we are at the point of trying for another. However I'm almost 35 and would be just perfectly fine with her however I grew up an only child then had 1/2 brothers/sisters though my parents 2nd marriages but were all at least 12 years apart. I think god forbid something happened to us at least she would have someone to bond with. We're going to try till the end of the year then think we will hang up that hat if we have no luck. I just worry I won't have the same energy I did 5 years ago and we ae full time working parents. Don't get me wrong being a mommy is the best job ever but I think with the 5 year age difference it ma be easier then having 2 toddlers or 2 potty training at the same time. Am I crazy to have this baby fever now??
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My first was born at 30, my third 35. I do think there was a tremendous difference in my energy between the first and the third but I also think I had learned a lot and was more comfortable with mothering.
My first and third (5 years apart) are the closest of my kids. I don't know if it is because they like many of the same things, but the years didn't seem to make a big difference. My middle child is two years younger than my first, three years older than my youngest.
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I too had a few miscarriages including one at 18.5 wks gestations. I had my ds at 36 then I got pregnant at my last attempt when I was 40 (please don't gasp too loudly). She is perfectly fine, healthy, and actually smart beyond her yrs.
I like the 5 yr age difference. I really do. It is super nice. My ds can look after dd now. They get along as well as any brother and sister can with the normal arguing etc. I think being in your mid 30s is a great age. Do I lack energy...hmmm, I hike up mountains...does that tell you anything and I am heading towards 50 now. No, your energy is what you make of it. If you choose to be active, then you will have energy.
I think it is great what you are doing. My niece was just asking me the same thing the other day. They were thinking of waiting to have a child til their mid 30's too when their dd will be 5. Since her hubby is 2 yrs age difference with his brother and they can't even talk to each other, the age difference doesn' t matter to her.
Thank you so much for your responses it is definitely re assuring.... all of our friends have 2+ kids and I just can't bear to let go of her baby things yet. People say if you can't just give it away or sell with no regrets then your not ready to say no....more time will tell would sure be easy clothes wise if we had another girl though
I had my daughter in 2005 and son in 2010. I would not change the age difference for anything. They act like any other siblings. You will be fine. Just relax.
I don't think it's strange at all to have baby fever. For so many women, being a mother is the most natural thing in the world. There's no doubt in my mind that I was born to be my son's mother. If I had started sooner, I would have had several kids, I think.
Best of luck! Your story sounds similar to mine, but I was actually a bit older with my two.
I had a miscarriage, then my first son at age 36, another miscarriage, and second son at 42 (I later figured out that my grandmother was about 42 when I was born--her first grandchild), and my wonderful DH is 7 years older than I am--I was 30 when we married.
My sons are 13 and 18 now and best buddies. DH and I both look and feel quite a bit younger than our ages, are very active, and have no regrets whatsoever.
Your energy level may be lower at 35, but then again it may not; your body is different, but of course you'll know you're not 20 . DH and I were both active-duty Air Force when we met and through most of our marriage, so that may have made a difference, but we're pretty active now, camping and hiking with the Boy Scouts. In fact, he's running a half-marathon in a couple of weeks, and I was just sidelined from my speed walking by shin splints.
I say: go for it!
Ginger
PS: Oh, about handing down the clothes...it only works for babies if they were born during the same season of the year. My boys were born in March and January and weighed within a few ounces of each other, so the younger could wear the older son's clothing, but it doesn't always work. Not as much a problem when they get bigger, though.
If you are really serious about wanting another child - giving away all your baby items is a sure way to get pregnant! It happened to so many of our friends...
For us we planned eldest DS as we wanted to be young parents (I was 25yrs), our DD was a complete surprise (using oral birth control) and we decided to try for a third child when our DD was 5yrs old. There is a 6.5yr age gap between DD and youngest DS. I was 34yrs when he was born and getting up to feed in the middle of the night was the rudest shock to me. I worked full time and somehow got into a routine that worked for us. The youngest two are the closest emotionally of the three kids. DD regularly watches her brother or brings him home from school. She really surprises me sometimes with her protectiveness.
I know a lot of women who had five years between their children....in fact I know two that had three kids all five years apart. And I've seen plenty of 40ish women with their first children. All of your 'obstacles' have been handled by other families before you and they are all doing fine. I know if you are meant to have another, it will happen and you'll have the energy and love you desire for him/her. Just don't stess yourself out over anything. Keep mellow.
I was 16 when my first was born (yes, my parents were not happy, but we coped). I got married to DH when I was 22, had DD#2 at 26, and DD#3 at 31.
I had secondary infertility, multiple miscarriages (9), and family disapproval with the last 2 (DD#1 was injured and spent quite a bit of time in hospital when she was 6 and the family thought I was stretching myself too far with caring for her and being pregnant and then having young kids).
It all worked out. My kids are now 30, 20, and 15. And they're all close. Not that they don't argue, but they love each other and realize how lucky they are to have each other.
A huge bonus of having kids so far apart - you're better able to give them each your time. Yes, it was hard having a teen, a kindergartner, and an infant, but it worked for us!
My children are adopted, but they are 5.5 years apart. I thought it was a great age difference. They never saw themselves as rivals for anything. They get along well with the younger DS looking to DD for advice and DD happily giving it. Now that they're older, it's nice that they were never in the same school and we will never have two college tuitions to pay at the same time. I have one sister and as my Dad gets older and needs help, it's nice to have someone to share the responsibility with. I thought of that when I decided to go for number 2.
You're not too old for another baby. My son came home when I was 39 (he was 16 months). You find the energy.
Sending good thoughts that you are successful. Children are so worth it.