lauren's home

nose in a book

2012-01-27T17:00:00.000-05:00

oh, the stories i could tell about my love for reading. i was one of those children that always had a book with her. i would check out 20-30 books at time from the library, working through my favorite series one installment after another. on long car trips, i would spend hours reading away, pulling out the flashlight when it was too dark and laying down on the back seat to stretch out. i could even read while walking along behind my mom at the grocery store, keeping my eyes just above the top of the book so i could see her back and watch where i was going.

so it warms my heart and excites me to see my son showing a love for reading at an early age :)

i know that books may completely change as he grows up. less paper and printing, more of the nifty iPad books that he already enjoys :)

but i do hope that some stick around...

cause there's just nothing cuter

than a little nose in a book.

the clicker

2012-01-26T17:00:00.000-05:00

it's no secret that our house is seen as a technology-friendly place. we both have smart phones, a number of laptops, digital cameras, (surprisingly) some ancient iPods, and an iPad that is in constant use. it is primarily justin's, but if davis happens to see you with it....oh boy. get ready for several rounds of "peekaboo barn" and doodle pad.

what's been so amusing to us is to see how he picks up on other things. he recently has become the hoarder of remote controls....

(which is no easy task in our living room. there are at least four or five remote controls to chose from, with the TV, receiver, bluray player, and our "smart remote" that controls all of it.)

this does make it fun when a remote goes missing, because it certainly doesn't walk away on its own. but then he genuinely tries to make something happen...

and occasionally he's helped us find functions that we didn't even know existed on our TV. well done, davis. well done.

how does your household embrace technology?

(and sneaky preview--there will be a post next week about the newest member of our technology family!)

remember the goldfish post last week?

2012-01-25T17:00:00.000-05:00

yeah, we don't learn.

but he's still cute.

motivation for running

2012-01-24T17:00:00.000-05:00

i know it seems like there's a theme to my posts lately. it's either all about davis or adding in my new focus on running and doing the couch to 5k program. and as much as i wish i could write about work or maybe other hobbies or interests i'm spending time on lately--honestly, this is where my head is. it's davis/family/homelife and then there's running. 30 or so minutes a few times a week where i get to check out and focus on the music playing and relieve some stress and breathing (when else do you REALLY focus on your breathing?) and doing something that feels good for my body.

the music i listen to while running has had a big impact on my motivation. i created a channel on pandora that goes off of hillsong united, jesus culture, david crowder and other Christian artists with a good beat. and i was never so thankful to have that when the intervals picked up to 3 minutes of running this week. j.j. heller carried me through that first three minute section, and i needed that rhythmic strum of the guitar to keep my feet going.

but the thing that i love about pandora is that it lets me rediscover songs i haven't heard lately or find some new ones by similar artists. and jon foreman has popped up several times over the last couple of weeks. i couldn't help but identify with some of his lyrics--lines from one of his old switchfoot songs--"this is your life. are you who you want to be?" and that became my mantra for the rest of the run. no, i'm not who i want to be. i want to do something about it. i want to keep running and lose this weight and feel more like myself and be a healthy mom for davis and have something athletic that i do just for me. and i made it through that run, ready to take on the next challenge.

last night, a new song popped up and i had to check the phone to see what it was. another jon foreman one, this coming from his solo album. "your love is strong." and as he sings through the Lord's prayer and the sermon on the mount in such relevant, relate-able terms--i got the energy to keep going and push through the knee pain i've been feeling recently (going to get fitted for running shoes this week to help with that.)

"so why should i worry? why should i freak out? God knows what i need. you know what i need. your love is strong..."

i heart faces:by the book!

2012-01-23T21:04:00.001-05:00

so it's been a while since i've done an iheartfaces contest--but i had just taken a sweet series of photos from davis's bedtime routine and saw what this week's theme was. these fit the "by the book" theme perfectly and i couldn't pass up the opportunity to share my adorable boy and husband. our storytime is one of my favorite times of day, and i hope he learns to love books as much as we do.

join everyone else over at iheartfaces for other "by the book" entries this week!

video overload

2012-01-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

it's been a while since i linked to any of our videos on here. so here are some sweet ones of davis in his element...playing, squealing, loving on his family.

he loved this silly time in his tent the other morning--so adorable to watch him "roll" around the room in it!

this one is from our visit to my grandparents and the new car track he got. we all got a laugh as we watched him try to catch the cars as they went around him!

here's another one from our visit, playing with my grandfather and showing off some of his new tricks!

and finally, a very common scene around our house in the evening. davis and pepper manage to wind each other up and wear each other out...justin said last night it will be interesting to see what happens once he gets stronger than her. but until then, he still has the ability to flop over and get pulled around just for fun :)

a day off

2012-01-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

last week, i had the day off for MLK jr. day and sadly, justin did not. his office is small and only takes a few vacation days per year, and with all the big projects they have going on, he decided to work. so it was a mommy/davis day, which i love and try to soak it all up when those happen. we decided to spend the afternoon at our local sonic playground--there just in time for "happy hour." davis was thrilled to have some sand to play in--he loves the sandbox at his grandma's house, and we're contemplating getting a sandbox for our yard this spring since he seems to enjoy it so much!

he has also discovered the joy of tots, which he was happy to snack on as he walked around the playground and gave me big goofy grins.

still munching....

in between snack breaks, he (with my help) climbed up the small slide and rode down with me a couple of times. if we're there with both of us, one of us can stand at the top while the other catches him at the bottom. but when it's just me, we tackle the slides together :)

then it was time for a break to stare at the clouds...

and roll around in the sand! such a boy.

hoping to have many more sonic afternoon trips in the future :)

how his brain works

2012-01-20T17:00:00.000-05:00

davis has gotten to the point where he's not just playing with toys the way they're intended to be played with....

he's getting creative (and stubborn about doing it that way, but creative nonetheless.)

nevermind the fact that half of his "toys" are things like tupperware and hairbrushes and tubes of diaper cream and whatever else he can find that looks remotely interesting to carry around...

but he was quite proud of finding these new uses of his shopping cart. justin called this pose his "disc jokey turntable."

and then he found my rainboots, which were the perfect fit and complement to his outfit.

"i don't know...do you think they make my butt look big?"

"who cares? i can pull this look off. watch me strike my GQ pose."

love this little man so much.

dress up and clean up

2012-01-19T17:00:00.002-05:00

justin and i got a couple of hours to ourselves over the weekend, and we enjoyed a nice (non-kid) lunch out and ran some errands. we stopped by the local consignment store, "once upon a child," and picked up a few more good pieces that should carry davis through the rest of the winter into the spring. he's getting too big for some 12 month clothing but isn't in 18 month for everything (and can occasionally still wear a couple of pairs of 9 month pants--go figure.) so i got everything washed and had him all dressed up for church on sunday....

and he gave me the obligatory wide-mouthed grin!

(this one gives you a good idea of how many teeth he's got coming in--check out those molars! those bicuspids!)

after we got back from church and he had a nice nap, we got creative with playing inside and created a fort out of sheets and chairs and tv trays...

he had a blast!

we love getting to play with him and see him enjoy something new like this--so much fun for all of us!

one last picture i thought i'd throw in there--with all the teething, he's been iffy on his eating for us. so one night this weekend, he got an early bath and i decided to see if he'd eat while occupied in the tub. he often gets bored in his high chair and doesn't end up eating as much because he's ready to get down. but he was happy to finish his dinner the tub this night!

hope everyone's week is going well--ours has been super busy, but we are looking forward to a relaxing weekend. what are your plans for the weekend?

when you leave a toddler alone for too long....

2012-01-18T21:26:00.002-05:00

you may come back to find he has emptied a bag on goldfish on the floor.

and he'll be excited about it!

and continue to empty the bag.

and because he looks so cute and happy doing it, you'll let him do it for a little bit longer....until the dog catches on and tries to "clean up" for you.

and that's how our weekend went :)

fully enjoying life

2012-01-17T17:00:00.000-05:00

sorry the delay in posting. we have been living "in the moment" this weekend, which includes a lot of time with this adorable boy (who fully enjoyed his plate of spaghetti last friday night when we ate out) and not so much time planning and writing out blog posts.

but for the quiet weekend it was, we do have some cute photos to share, so i'll be back later this week with more!

in the meantime, some links that i enjoyed catching up on today...

this just spoke to me

i love the genuineness of this

remembering sweet tripp

back for round 3

2012-01-13T07:30:00.000-05:00

for the past three years around this time, we have geared up for an important celebration...

jonah's EB auction!

i know many of my readers come over from patrice's blog, but just in case you don't know jonah or his amazing parents, click on over there. patrice and i have been friends since college, and though we don't see each other nearly as often as i would like to now, i so admire her, her writing, her transparency about her daily walk in her faith, the challenges she faces caring for jonah, and her true desire to make a difference here.

i also had the blessing of being there for jonah's birth and photographing that day. and i will always feel linked to him and his birth story because of that. such an awesome experience and something i will never forget.

jonah is an amazing little guy and we have loved watching him grow up and become such an energetic, funny little boy with a huge personality. he has also allowed thousands of readers to become educated on EB (epidermolysis bullosa) and led us to support other EB children, like bella, tripp, hope, leah and zach. click on the list that patrice has compiled under "eb sweeties" to find the blogs of other kids who are living with EB and their courageous stories of what they've overcome.

jonah's eb auction raises funds for debra, an organization that was created to support eb research and provide supplies, services and care for patients with eb and their families. we have raised thousands of dollars over the past two years to donate to debra and this year will hopefully be just as successful.

you can help with that! if you are interested in donating an item for the auction, please e-mail katie (auction coordinator extraordinaire) at jonahsebauction(at)gmail.com and let her know what you would like to contribute. this can be anything from a gift card, stationary, jewelry, a gift basket, a service of some sort, or even donating money to help with shipping for delivering the items.

i will be donating a photo session and probably one or two sets of custom personalized letters like i have in the past. but the options are endless! you can also limit the service or package to a certain area if you want to, so there is little or no travel required. we do have people bidding from across the nation, and it is amazing to see the results after just four days of bidding!

so please find a way to support the auction and e-mail katie to let her know how you can help. no gift or donation is too small, and it all goes to such a wonderful organization that is a lifeline for these families.

and on february 24th...get those bids ready and raise some money for debra!

sticking to it

2012-01-12T07:30:00.000-05:00

i had great intentions of running this past weekend when we were at the beach. but it didn't happen. time with the boy and sleep won out.

so i tried to get back on track this week. motivated by the neon green shirt (with reflective piping) that i ordered from target. as justin said when i left the house, "i doubt anyone will hit you with a car. they can't miss you in that."

and with david crowder band and jesus culture pumping on pandora, i finished up my first week of couch to 5k. eight more weeks to go!

(pepper wanted to come but after running with her last week, i realized that juggling a leash along with everything else only works half the time. so she only gets to come half the time.)

driving downeast

2012-01-11T07:30:00.000-05:00

towards the end of the holiday season, we decided to set aside a weekend and go downeast to visit my grandparents (my dad's parents.) as we got closer to the weekend we had marked on the calendar, we were trying to coordinate the trip with my brother and his wife, who had to work the all-district band auditions on saturday before they could leave. i did my regular set of research on places we could stay, comparing prices and looking at our options while also taking into consideration davis's nap schedule and best times of day. and a few days before our trip, i posed a plan to justin--we would drive down on our own on friday at his bedtime, letting him sleep the whole trip. spend the night at one of our favorite ocean-front motels who were having fabulous off-season rates. wake up and get some beach time, then drive downeast during davis's morning nap (so he would sleep.) spend all day at my grandparents, then come back to the motel and spend the night. another beach morning and breakfast, then back home during morning nap. (this is such a clear insight into how we plan trips--coincide sleep with driving, and don't attempt anything important right before bedtime.)

and despite the feeling that we had thrown this together at the last minute, i felt confident about the trip. justin had been fighting a cold all week, though, and on friday, he had a fever that made me question whether or not we should take the trip in the first place. he was in an ill mood, i was afraid davis might catch it, and though he insisted that we keep our reservations and go on down, i was driving through vanceboro (about 45 minutes from our house) thinking, "if i turn around now, we can still sleep in our own beds tonight."

but we made it, justin got some heavy duty meds before we checked in to the hotel, and davis eventually went back to sleep without too much fussing (though he was NOT going to go down as long as we were up--one of the downsides of sharing a room with your kid.) and when we woke up in the morning, justin's fever had broken and we were treated to a beautiful sunrise...

and we were so glad we were there. davis and i went down to the empty beach, alone except for a few seagulls and the occasional walker.

it was sad to see the nearby sheraton pier torn up from this fall's hurricane irene. the hotel itself has been closed since then for renovations and repairs.

but the rest of the beach was perfect, ready for digging in the sand, watching sea gulls and checking out the big waves.

it hadn't been that long since we were at the beach--just since september, and davis was content to get back into the laid-back groove. with a forecast of mid-60 degree temperatures, we were enjoying our mild january morning and content to just sit back and relax.

ahhh...this is the life.

we eventually went inside and got ready for the day, heading out to find some coffee and stopping at one of the local parks. we actually ran into one of my former co-workers and her kids, who were visiting family in morehead city!

he loved digging and climbing on the big turtles :)

and everyone got a turn in the swings.

right next to the park was his own beachwear store--i took a picture of this sign before he was born, too :)

and as he started to wind down for the morning, we packed up the car and headed downeast. we have gotten into the habit of covering up his windows in the backseat, which helps immensely for getting him down for a nap.he was quickly out, and we picked up a pizza and drove around for a while, trying to extend his nap as long as possible. i loved this sign at one of our favorite stores, that had taken the month off after the holidays. they weren't closed, though--they are "shut!"

we made it to my grandparents' house and settled in, bringing with us davis's food, toys and books and a pack and play for napping later. we have to travel big with him :)

he made himself at home and got busy opening his Christmas present from them...

which was an awesome car and track set that kept him (and most of the adults) entertained for the rest of the afternoon.

he also enjoyed "playing" on the computer with grandaddy.

but soon we headed outside for some fresh air. and i loved the setting sunlight and overgrown garden so much that i had to grab my "big" camera for some shots.

he just smiles so naturally now for me! it's awesome to capture those moments.

my uncle says there's a picture of my dad or him close to this spot somewhere--would love to find it the next time we're there!

we also had a good time climbing in my grandaddy's boat and taking it for a pretend drive...

one day we'll have to take davis out on the water--he would love it so much.

eventually my brother and sister in law made it down, and we enjoyed a nice dinner of local shrimp and sides from the cafe up the road. we are so glad we got to visit with my grandparents and allow davis to experience a little bit of downeast life.

he took to it, as you can tell :)

we gave him a bath and let him toddle around his pajamas for a while--because there's nothing cuter than a 14 month old boy in footie pajamas. then we settled him into the carseat as we packed up once more and headed back to the motel for the night.

stopping only to get a couple of pictures of the lights and "core sound Christmas trees"--made out of crab pots--at davis corner. he was already asleep, or we would've gotten him out to take a picture :)

sunday morning was uneventful, with another relaxing beach visit where we watched barley, alan and rachel's dog, fully enjoy the sand and surf. we packed up and got a big breakfast at one of the local family-run restaurants. and then just like that, it was back to reality. laundry, grocery trips, getting ready for the week.

as we were driving downeast on saturday morning, davis asleep in the back and watching the scenery change from the little towns to stretches of water, marshland and sky, justin asked me, "after everything we went through last night, this makes it worth it now, doesn't it?" and it did--it's always going to take some extra effort to get down there, but it is so worth it once we're there. hoping to make it back again sometime this spring before the mosquitoes carry us off!

those in-between moments

2012-01-10T07:30:00.000-05:00

we've been going from one big event to another over the past couple of weeks, but i had a collection of photos that were taken in between those big days. so--enjoy some of the randoms :)

this was an outfit i picked out for him for church. i love the layered polo look, and it's helped us keep using some of the short-sleeved shirts through the winter.

yes, he knows what to do when you put a camera in front of him :)

cutie pie!

and after our trip to trader joe's last week, i was putting away the groceries and noticed that the recyclable friendly bags also had other purposes---like some fun gift tags you could cut out and use....

and some cute garland you could cut and paste together. yet another reason i love trader joe's.

davis is all about bathtime---even to the point where he has tried to get in his bathtub during the day to play with those toys. and honestly, i didn't see a reason why not to let him in there...so on days where we've been home most of the time, he will get in the tub to play for a while :)

he is such a water baby--love that he inherited that from us!

another photo from that day--we ended up taking a trip to the dollar tree and purchased a cheap broom. with a little bit of work, we turned it into a little mini broom for davis to play with! he's always trying to use our big one and can't quite get it to work.... problem solved!

new year's eve

2012-01-09T12:00:00.000-05:00

a couple of weeks ago, we were able to get together with my dad's side of the family to "do Christmas" and visit. we have loved getting to see them over the past few months--and they have been so helpful with hand-me-downs from their two boys!

we met at my brother and sister-in-law's house, and their new dog, barley, was a big hit with everyone. davis got up close and personal with barley in his kennel :)

we also did a few small presents for the kids--will immediately got rachel involved with this uno farm game we got for him and joseph.

we also took advantage of this warm winter we're having and let the boys run off the energy outside. davis sat back and watched for a while...

and then he decided to get in on the action!

we made a quick stop at trader joe's before we headed home--can i say how much i love trader joe's? i so wish we had one close by! i used several of the ingredients i got in dinners last week, and they were delicious and super easy to make. next time we're close by, i will have to have a cooler ready and really do some shopping!

and then it was time to settle in for new year's eve. we decided to play it quiet and enjoy the evening in. so we poured a couple of glasses of sparkling wine (that was picked up from trader joe's, of course)

and tried out all of the chocolates that justin's sister, heather, brought from asheville. the chocolate fetish is apparently one of the best chocolate shops in the area, and the truffles she chose for us were delicious! it was a perfect way to ring in 2012.

i didn't make it until midnight (not when davis reguarly gets up at 6:30 or 7 on the weekends) but we enjoyed a relaxing day with church, football :), and a fun afternoon at sonic so davis could play in the sand. i was trying to soak in every minute of our vacation before going back to work and our regular routine!

a night away

2012-01-06T07:30:00.000-05:00

davis turned 14 months old last week--and we spent our first night away from him that week as well.

i don't know how we got this far without both of us being away from him. he did spend a few nights with just me when justin went to west virginia for his pap's funeral. but other than that, with all of our sleep struggles and just really getting into a groove recently, i think we didn't want to put anyone else through that :) plus, we never had a need to be away from him--no conferences, no concerts, no true needs for overnight trips.

but we've started talking about our anniversary for this year and our desire to do a long weekend away, like we have in previous years to ocracoke, charleston and savannah. we haven't decided yet where we're going--but it's our 5th anniversary and we feel like it should be a big one. we knew that we would have to work up to a full weekend away, though, so a night during the Christmas break after davis had spent multiple days with us seemed to make the most sense--and my mom was up for it. so last tuesday, we put davis down for his nap and packed up the car, heading towards wilmington under rainy gray skies.

we stopped at a restaurant for lunch that was top rated for seafood on tripadvisor (we have used trip advisor to plan our last few getaways, and it has never steered us wrong with food or hotels.) fish bites was located in a little shopping center on the way to carolina beach, but was well worth the drive. we had awesome crab cakes, fresh shrimp and a lobster bisque that was sooooo good. we then headed back into town to check into our hotel. by this point, the rain had stopped and we were greeted with a beautiful rainbow from our room.

we chose to stay at a hotel right on the river within walking distance of the downtown area. this hotel boasted a tower suite, which i had also checked out on tripadvisor, and we decided the extra cost was worth the view. it was a two story loft design built off the top floor of the hotel, so we were a good 6 stories high with a 360 degree view from the "bedroom" level.

it also had a comfy sitting area downstairs, with a large bathroom off the living room (featuring a soaking tub, a separate tiled glass shower and---A TV!--i got super excited about that one--it's the little things for me!)

here's a photo we took as we set out to walk downtown, looking back at our hotel with our room up on top.

we started out at the cotton exchange, a group of shops and restaurants housed in one of the old warehouses downtown.

after doing some shopping, we walked along the waterfront where you could see the battleship north carolina across the river...

as well as the river cruise henrietta and the bridge in the distance.

had to do a quick self-portrait. i love the river walk, particularly because one of my favorite shows as a teen, "dawson's creek," was filmed here and all of the spots downtown remind me of the show!

as we were walking around, we scouted out places for dinner. we ended up deciding to visit yo sake early and take advantage of their half-price menu from 5 pm until 7 pm. they had a great selection with lots of sushi and appetizers only priced at $3 or $4 a dish. we didn't know how large a roll they would give us and we ended up having WAY too much sushi. so we ate what we could and moved on, glad that we only paid half price for them :)

we enjoyed a nice walk downtown, with many of the buildings still decorated for christmas...

we spotted this place earlier in the year when we stopped through in july, and they have tables where you can eat out on each of the little balconies. it was closed that night, so not an option...(and it would've been very chilly!)

the large Christmas tree right by the river--so festive!

and all of the white lights along this river front park--such a pretty spot.

we spied lots of little courtyards and terraces that we could have visited for an after-dinner drink or dessert...

but ended up at the little dipper for fondue. i was so excited! melted chocolate and peanut butter with fresh fruit and yummy marshmallows and pretzels?

be still my heart...

we cleaned this plate :) and enjoyed every bite of it!

it was a great way to end our evening out on the town. i wish i could say that i slept soundly through the night, not having to listen for the baby monitor, but honestly--the noises of an unfamiliar hotel room woke me up a couple of times. we did enjoy sleeping in a little bit (at least for us--we didn't get up until 8:30 or so!) and then we packed back up and got some brunch at the basics, a cafe right up at the cotton exchange that had this awesome creation:

the "southern benedict"--two eggs over easy, served over smoked ham on an open faced biscuit with sausage gravy on top. we got fresh fruit as our sides, just to keep it light :)

and then we headed back to fayetteville to see our boy, with the report from mom that he did great the previous day, had no problem going down and did "okay" overnight, with a couple of wakings. all things considered, not too bad. i wish i had my camera out and recording as we walked into the house, because he gave us the biggest grin and got so excited to see us! he squealed and hugged us and patted us on the back when we picked him up--one of his favorite ways to show affection. i shed a few tears, just so happy to see him and relieved that he did okay. it was a good first attempt at leaving him overnight and hopefully we'll both get better at doing it :)

it was also a great reminder of how much i love traveling with my husband. i so enjoy doing research beforehand, finding the best place for us to stay, choosing great restaurants, figuring out the touristy spots to visit. and it was wonderful to just spend time with him and be able to head out without packing a diaper bag or working around nap times. not saying that i won't enjoy traveling with davis, one day--but for right now, we definitely appreciate the ease of traveling as a couple.

and here's to many more trips in the future...

i'll be home for christmas...

2012-01-05T07:30:00.000-05:00

as promised, the photos from christmas eve and christmas day. i already shared a few from my post on christmas eve, but there ended up being several more from the dinner at justin's mom and stepdad's house.

we were excited to see all of our family--justin's sister came in from the western part of NC, and even though we live one street over from his stepbrother's family, we are all so busy that it's rare we all make it together!

love this one of my boys together, watching football.

davis enjoyed getting to know luna, heather's dog. she is incredibly gentle and pepper actually got along with her!

she was a sweet dog and very tolerant of davis's "petting."

but then justin came over to help him stay "gentle."

this boy is definitely an animal lover--even if he loves them "too" much.

then, after a nap and dinner, we got to open gifts! he was a big fan of this usbourne book from aunt heather.

he has finally gotten into ripping the wrapping paper!

and the boy got so many car sets this Christmas--each one was different, and he has loved playing with all of the ramps and elevators.

afterward, we headed back to our house and enjoyed a quiet Christmas eve watching movies on TV. i know we should enjoy these nights before he gets too excited to sleep!

we woke up the next morning and headed over to scott and melissa's--justin's stepbrother and sister-in-law--for their annual Christmas breakfast. they have a "pajamas only" rule, so we all showed up in our Christmas finest. these santa pj's are my favorite from this season!

he was mr. independent--once he got comfortable, he was wandering around the living room around one of the biggest Christmas trees we've ever seen.

they always get a huge tree the week before Christmas (at a discounted price at that point) and this was the largest one yet. probably about 15 feet tall, we figured.

the food was delicious and we loved visiting with all of our family and neighbors.

before long, it was time to head home, change and get packed. we've gotten good about driving during his nap time so he can sleep during the ride. but that means that often our "packing up" time is spent trying to keep a tired, cranky little boy occupied. so we let him entertain himself in whatever way keeps him busy and doesn't create too much damage. in this case, it was another morning with the tupperware.

we got packed up and drove to fayetteville, with davis sleeping about half the time. we got to my grandma's house and settled in for round 2 of presents and dinner!

he loved his wagon of blocks and had another great time tearing into wrapping paper.

of course, he was more interested in playing in boxes and plastic tubs--but he was happy!

we checked out some of the tree decorations...

and built towers with his new sets of blocks.

we loved seeing everyone again and visiting with our family. we know we're lucky to have so many of them close by and being able to see them pretty often.

and we're just so thankful that this guy will get to grow up knowing most of his immediate family.

the rest of the evening was spent hanging out with his cousins (he is drawn to any and all technology--iPads, computers, phones, anything)

getting snuggles from the dog--this is barley, alan and rachel's dog whom pepper is slowly warming up to--we're thinking she might be due for another round of basic obedience classes.

and breaking in his tunnel--he has loved this gift and it has been great for getting him to burn off energy inside.

so that's "the end" for now--

more on our solo trip to wilmington tomorrow!

you know you have a toddler when...

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

-your remote controls magically walk from room to room

-you get used to sharing your meals (and expertly cutting it up into bite-sized pieces)

-you become an expert at distinguishing the differences between "ball," "bottle" and "balloon" (or "bah," "buh buh" and "bah ooh")

-when you get ready to leave, there is one shoe at the front door and one at the back door

-you can sing more words to a yo gabba gabba song than anything on a top 40 station

-when (IF) you go out to eat, you go at 5 pm to the loudest restaurant possible. and you inevitably get seated in the section with all the other families with young kids, sharing knowing glances as you dodge sippy cups and step over forks in the aisle.

-you become an expert at finding quick diversions to make speedy diaper changes as easy as possible

-you have difficulty keeping the dog from eating "people food" and the kid from eating "dog food."

-you're adept at stepping over a baby gate while holding a child, carrying a plate and holding a set of utensils in your mouth

-you are rediscovering the joys of chef boyardee, kraft mac and cheese, and american cheese singles

what do you think? what have i missed, toddler mamas?

this year's ornament

2012-01-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

now that Christmas has come and gone, i can share the ornaments that we did for family members this year. last year, it was a variety of hand prints and foot prints on ceramic ornaments from the accidental artist. i had fun painting feet into Christmas trees, snowmen and tar heels and doing festive green and red hand prints.

this year, we went a much simpler route. a 10 lb bucket of white air dry clay from amazon and one quick afternoon of rolling out clay, using a drinking glass to cut out circles and then having davis cooperate long enough to press his hand into the clay 8 or 9 times (he actually loved it!) i cleaned them up as much as i could, smoothing out lines and deepening his hand print where i needed to, then used a straw to cut the holes. they dried in about 2 or 3 days and i used a paint pen to write his name and added the ribbon.

with a busy toddler around, it was a success! and i love comparing the size of his hand print from year to year. i see a tradition coming on... just need a new design for next year. hey lindsay, ready to share your ornaments yet? ;)

some motivation...

2012-01-02T19:58:00.001-05:00

i've been a regular blog reader for about four or five years now (and i guess a regular blogger for about the same length of time? something like that---just had to go check--2005! 7 years...wow.) and i have a long blog roll that i keep up with and feel like i know these people. part voyeuristic, part narcissistic (i mean, you have to have a little bit of narcissism to write a blog about your life meant for others to read and comment and enjoy) and a lot of just fun relationships that we get to keep on the interweb :)

and so there are some amazing women that i've gotten to keep up with and a couple that have given me the motivation to tackle my new fitness goals. and i figure if their stories can inspire me--they can inspire you as well.

so here they are---amanda from kevin & amanda and jennifer from jenny.erally speak.ing.

the big things i notice is that obviously--small calorie portions and regular exercise. on it...

looking back (and forward)

2011-12-31T22:03:00.000-05:00

so it may be cliche, but along with the rest of the blog world, i'm ready to lay out my resolutions for 2012. i know i've taken a week long break from blogging, and i promise there will be photos shared of our christmas morning and trips around visiting family. but obviously--we've been busy :) and i just haven't gotten around to doing that yet. so resolutions are happening first and i'll try to get the photos up in the next couple of days during nap times and after davis gets in bed.

there were several "end of year" wrap up stories on the news last night, and i couldn't help but notice the overwhelmingly pessimistic "good bye and good riddance" theme from these segments. it seems that to the general public, 2011 was this year that needs to be forgotten, moved on from and that (hopefully) 2012 will be a much more positive year for all.

in some ways, i agree. 2011 was a difficult year for our family--challenging, in both negative and positive ways. we had two major deaths in our family, other family members diagnosed with serious illnesses and/or hospitalizations, friends moving away, difficult financial periods and struggles with davis. we were tested on all fronts…and sometimes we weren't successful.

but other times, we were. professionally, i was able to move to a job with a more stable income and benefits--and i'm happy there, enjoying the challenges of working with a new population and becoming involved with campus life again. and as much as we may get frustrated with davis and his latest tooth he's cutting or his early wake-up calls, he has brought so much joy to our lives. without him, i know i wouldn't have handled my dad's death as well as i have. we witnessed so many of his "firsts" in 2011 that we will never experience again. we had wonderful vacations to the beach, visits with family and outings with friends. our day to day lives were happy, and our family has found our own little groove that works for us.

but there is always room for improvement and recognizing the opportunity for personal growth. and that's where i'm coming from as i look at my resolutions for the coming year. i know we are our own worst critics, but there are parts of my life that i gloss over because i know i'm not happy with it. where i remember other times in my life where i felt more confident about how i was doing at that point--and i know i'm not now. they've gotten pushed off to the "back burner," neglected while other areas that were more pressing were moved to the front.

and so here we go…

1) do the couch to 5k program and run in a 5k (most likely the pirate alumni road race in april--though there is one up near boone right around my great aunt and uncle's cabin in todd, nc, that is the first weekend in may that would be just awesome.) my plan is to run after davis goes to bed in our neighborhood, which has sidewalks and street lights. we'll see how that goes--it only requires 3 nights, which i can do. i can also alternative with an exercise dvd on the really cold/wet nights.

2) no more excuses with eating. cut out bad carbs, eat more fruits and vegetables, limit sugar intake. find a meal plan to works for me and stick to it.

3) hopefully the combination of these two will help me lose the last bit of baby weight, get back into my old wardrobe (or smaller) and feel more confident physically. i'm not used to (or happy) with the size i am right now and still haven't fully accepted that this is where i am. i will look at the size i'm in right now hanging on a store rack and think to myself "that's too big--that isn't what i wear, is it?" but it is--and it fits--for now. hopefully not for long!

4) find a small group or Bible study groups that works for our schedule and allows us to feel connected to the church and growing in our personal faith. what we're currently doing isn't working--davis just can't handle an evening event on a regular basis, and when i take him with me, i don't get anything out of it because i'm chasing him. i think we're to the point where we need to take turns watching him and each going to our own groups. i also got some information about an online study through proverbs 31 ministry reading through the book "made to crave" and want to do that in january and february.

5) finish our photo books for 2010 and (now) 2011. make better decisions about choosing photo jobs and spacing them out so i'm not overwhelmed with editing.

6) continue doing date nights with justin at least once a month. we just had our first night away from davis since he's been born (more about that trip soon!)

7) find ways to volunteer and give back to the community. i know that sounds vague, but i'm hoping it will get some direction as time goes on.

8) be better about sticking to our budget and work towards saving for our 5 year anniversary trip this year (still need to decide where we're going and starting planning…it's in april)

and the perfectionist side of me wants to find a 9 and 10 cause 10 is just such a nice round number, but i'd be stretching it and i feel like these 8 do a good job of showing where i am and what i want my focus to be for 2012. more on personal health, on relationships, on faith. so much has changed since i've become a mom, and i know that it's an excuse i could use--or i could say that because of davis, i need to take care of myself even more so because he's looking up to me and he wants a mom that's healthy and happy and can run around with him as he grows.

so what are your new year's resolutions? any suggestions or encouragement as i get started on mine?

have yourself a merry little christmas...

2011-12-24T22:49:00.000-05:00

may your holiday season have you in awe of the lights and decorations...

feeling the love of family and friends...

and experiencing the joy of celebrating our Savior's birth.

from our family--

to yours.

merry christmas!

festive feet

2011-12-23T09:30:00.000-05:00

in one of my random trips to walgreens, i was wandering through the cosmetics section and decided i needed some green nail polish for the holiday season. i love buying nail polish, especially a particular brand that they have at walgreens called "sinful colors" that are only $2 a bottle (think a slightly more upscale version of wet n' wild.) this is my go-to impulse buy and it has resulted in me having a small tote bag of nail polishes that i get to choose from when i update my nail color.

which now includes this one.

which then inspired me to set up a Christmas-y themed photo and break out my shaped-holiday bokeh lens covers to capture the new hue.

fa la la la la, la la la la!

(holiday bokeh tutorials at kevin and amanda and just recently at i heart faces, too!--my favorite one that i did a couple of years ago below...)

sick day

2011-12-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

i've been very stingy with my vacation/sick time at my new job. after our family beach trip in september, where i had to use a good chunk right away, i've been trying to hoard it up and had yet to use a whole sick day. but a couple of days ago, davis's regular sitter wasn't able to keep him and my schedule at work was light (and i knew it would drive me nuts to find someone else to watch him and then go to work and think about him at home) AND he needed to be watched anyways to make sure the stomach bug hadn't been passed to him and i didn't want anyone else's family possibly exposed to that...so i used a sick day.

and it was rainy so we couldn't play outside, so i got to see what mischief this little man can get into inside when left to explore.

like climbing into the bottom drawer of the oven with all of the cookie sheets and baking pans.

(this was after he spilled all of the cats' water bowls--and broke one of them--and before he climbed into a couple of cardboard boxes and got stuck)

yeah, we're going to have our hands full as he continues to get bigger, taller, stronger and more inquistive...but that sweet smile is worth it!

family photos!

2011-12-21T17:00:00.000-05:00

as i shared last week, we met up with one of my blogging friends, laura, for some family photos a couple of weeks ago. i asked her to meet us at one of the larger Christmas tree lots in town because i've always loved the idea of taking photos at a big lot like that. vintage lights hanging down, nice symmetrical rows of trees and a beautifully nostalgic setting for photos. i will say now that it would've been easier if davis was a couple of years older, but he still had fun and cooperated for a few shots. he was just VERY intrigued by the empty tree stands of water over to one side...

we've gotten a lot of compliments on this one (though justin's expression looks funny to me!)

i really liked this one, too!

ahh! i loved this one. i have wanted us to get a shot like this now that he's been walking for a while :)

and this one wasn't real usable since we had justin hiding in the tree, but his little grin was precious. such a sweet boy!

and here's the card we went with. it took me a while to choose the photos i wanted to use (and even the design i wanted to go with!) but i loved this one from snapfish.com and feels like it captures the whole year for us. our kid is too cute to settle on one or two photos :)

a very merry Christmas from our family to yours!

another check off the holiday list

2011-12-20T17:00:00.000-05:00

this past saturday, we set out for a fun adventure...

it was time for the annual visit to see santa claus! last year, we braved the mall and spent about a half hour waiting with a two month old who was quite ambivalent about santa. this year, with greater variables of emotional response possible (and disappointed that the mall santa last year was a 30 year old guy with a fake beard and stuffed pillow belly) i sought out a different santa experience. one of the local specialty toy stores advertised that they were having a santa come in and to "bring your own camera!" we payed $10 for a santa picture last year, so this was a welcome change for us. so off we went to meet santa, after davis took a nice long nap, had eaten a good lunch and was in a genuinely good mood.

he didn't really even pay attention to santa at first...

but was much more entertained by the light-up sparkle wand that the "elf" was using to have kids look at their parents' cameras. so we sat him on santa's lap and took away the wand, giving santa a cute little reindeer that we thought he might like....

ummm, no. (by the way, i LOVE santa's facial expression here. he's cutting his eyes over at the "elf" like, "really? another one of these squirmy toddlers?"

so we gave the wand back. SMILES! :)

from everyone except santa. okay, santa. i get it. you've been doing this for a couple of hours and it's getting close to the end of your shift. but c'mon, a little smile? that'd be nice...but we made due. obligatory santa picture taken with no waiting and no traumatic emotional scarring. we're good.

from there, we decided to explore the toy store. davis hasn't been here since he was old enough to truly enjoy it, and he was a huge fan!

he enjoyed the train table and all of the trains.

and justin jumped in on the fun.

we even found a cute conductor's hat that stayed on all of 2 seconds (but long enough for me to snap a picture.)

then he found some plastic planes and cars and the cutest street playmat i've ever seen. i could totally see him having one of these in a few months when he really gets into trucks and cars and roads.

with the purple airplane and matching blue car in hand, we headed back up to the front of the store to check out. and by that point, santa was done and had left this perfectly good chair empty and waiting for one more portrait attempt. so here we are--cutie pie in a sweater vest with Christmas-y themed background? check.

enjoying the ride

2011-12-19T17:00:00.000-05:00

our holiday preparations are in full swing right now. hot chocolate in hand-painted mugs featuring baby boy footprints...

and a delightfully tacky mantle with cheap lighted garland, stockings and all of our Christmas cards that we've received. i love this time of year so much if only for the Christmas cards that we get from friends and family (and often times featuring pictures that i've taken--always makes it even more special to see them in print!)

our card is in production...so thank you for being patient with us! i spent an hour creating it yesterday afternoon online, only to have it tell me none of the local places could print it. so instead we used a coupon code for free overnight shipping and are hoping to get them out by mid-week. (i'll share the digital version on here, too, once they go out.)

cards aren't the only thing i've been slacking on this year. last year, with the blessings of maternity leave time, i spent hours at the accidental artist handpainting ornaments and mugs for all of our Christmas gifts...

and that is definitely not happening this year. but we are trying another gift that i will share if it's successful!

pepper is getting into the holiday spirit, too. i know she hasn't been featured much on the blog lately, but she is hanging in there. we have had to put her on diet food after her last trip to the vet because they are concerned about her gaining weight. when i explained that we have a one year old at home that loves nothing more than to share his snack with her, the vet nodded and smiled knowingly and suggested diet food since she knew the other factors would likely not be changing anytime soon.

no, now that pepper isn't getting to clean our plates regularly, it seems like her scavenger dog instincts have clicked into high gear. she was found several times this weekend with her snout down in davis's snack cup, going after any cheerios or goldfish she could find. and we're regularly having to lock her out of the kitchen while he eats because he either leans way over the high chair to feed her or she paws at his legs from under the tray trying to get some food he dropped in his seat.

but other than that, we're just hanging in there. doing the holiday stuff while doing the every day stuff. finding the joy in little things, like helping gran fold the laundry...

or turning an empty hamper into a tunnel for playing!

he's getting a tunnel/tent combo for Christmas, and i have a feeling it will be one of his favorites.

we're making cookies, wrapping gifts, planning for the nice long break we get in a few days and looking forward to seeing family. what are you doing to *truly* enjoy the holidays this year?

playing around with tupperware

2011-12-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

last weekend i enjoyed dressing davis up a little bit. in my opinion, there's nothing cuter than a toddler boy in a button up shirt and sweater vest!

he looked like such the little man.

and as much as i wanted a cute series of photos in front of the tree or the fireplace with a decorated mantle...

we ended up in the kitchen. with the tupperware cabinet.

it was far more entertaining than any Christmas backdrop could have been...

way more fun...

and, not surprisingly....

got better smiles out of him!

such a silly silly little boy.

and so proud of this new game he could play with me.

he even broke out the colinder for a few turns...

still works, too!

i'm still amazed at his creativity and his ability to find fun in the most mundane of household items :)

we love a parade!

2011-12-15T17:00:00.000-05:00

last weekend, we decided to try and make it to our local town's Christmas parade. my brother's band was marching in another one that was about 10 minutes away, but it was at 10 am and smack dab in the middle of davis's morning nap (and it was still pretty chilly at that hour.) so we decided to wait instead for this afternoon parade. we found a parking spot and walked a couple of blocks over to the parade route. davis was all set for the event....

and we ran into my dear friend lisa and her son matthew! her husband and oldest son ethan were in the parade with his cub scout troop.

lisa has two boys and has been awesome at giving us hand-me-downs for clothes and toys. the hat davis was wearing kept sliding around on his head as he sat in the the stroller, and lisa offered us this hat that she had just tried on matthew (and was too small for him.) it was just perfect and soooo adorable!

before we knew it, the parade was headed our way. i love small town parades, and this was one a great example of them. small businesses, 4-h clubs and boy/girl scouts, tiny marching bands and ROTC groups, and lots of homemade floats :) davis was holding on tight to the candy they were throwing out....

we had shriner cars...

ATV/4-wheeler clubs (complete with a mounted deer on the grill wearing a red nose and santa hat)

and dressed up doggies along for the ride--we loved this santa daschund!

i thought the poinsettia garlands on this horse were beautiful.

but this was my favorite. a 4-h group came along with horses and carriages, including the full nativity walking behind them. they had a minature pony that a very pregnant mary rode side-saddle while joseph was leading the way. cutest thing in the whole parade :)

christmas parade with the family? check!

holiday fun

2011-12-14T17:00:00.000-05:00

we've been staying busy with various holiday events lately. i'll be using the posts this week to try and document some of them, if not just showing off davis's Christmas outfits. like this snowman onesie that i had to have from carter's....

and after taking these photos last year of davis in awe of the tree....

it was only fitting that we recreate this year's version (with a much more active little boy who couldn't wait to get his hands on the ornaments!)

a little different, wouldn't you say?

hard to believe that my dark-haired baby has grown into this blond-haired little boy.

i took an afternoon off last week to do some shopping and decided to bring davis with me. we ended up on campus with hopes of getting his picture taken with the school mascot--but alas, no luck. the store was so crowded and the mascot wasn't there while we were shopping, and we didn't have the patience to stick around until he got there. so we got our gifts (even bypassed the free gift wrap because the line was backed up) and stopped in to say hello to some of my co-workers, who were meeting davis for the first time.

before we headed home, we stopped at the convention center to see the festival of trees. one of my friends had posted about doing this with her son, and it seemed like a nice idea. but i'm not sure davis was able to truly appreciate it....

more photos tomorrow--from this past weekend's Christmas parade!

what's fair is fair

2011-12-13T20:51:00.003-05:00

a little peek into our evening routine.

after davis gets his bath (usually every other night) and some playtime out in the living room, we head into the bedroom to read stories, eat the last of his bottle and brush his teeth. and with nine teeth (and a tenth one coming in) it's important to get to each of them :) we quickly learned that it would only work to have two toothbrushes--one for us to use and one for him to hold--but we didn't anticipate it would turn out quite like this...

that's davis brushing justin's teeth.

what's fair is fair, i guess :)

seeing Christmas through new eyes

2011-12-09T07:30:00.000-05:00

the past few days have been spent getting our house (and our family) ready for Christmas. i have been super busy with finishing up photos for several friends who wanted to get their pictures done in time for Christmas cards. my dear friend amanda and her family invited the whole family along on their photo shoot so we could enjoy dinner together afterward. she also offered to snap a few photos of us along the way, and i think she did a great job :) many thanks to her husband chris and her two girls who helped bring that big grin to davis's face!

at home, we have finally put up our tree and have the wreath on the door--though little else has been done. i'm hoping the rest gets taken care of this weekend, after i've gotten caught up on editing.(we're also having a few more pictures done by my friend laura--or here, more recently--and i'm excited to finally pull together an idea i've had for a Christmas shoot for a couple of years now.)

we debated where to put the tree, and then depending on where we put it, do we block it off from davis or let him at it? in an attempt to make it as easy as possible for everyone involved, the tree is within his reach and the bottom quarter of it is "davis friendly." i rationalized with justin, "of all the trees that he will regularly encounter this Christmas season, shouldn't our family tree be one that he can actually touch and play with the ornaments on his level?"

and he is in awe...

curious about this new sparkly thing that has appeared in our living room.

and we didn't even bother with a tree skirt, opting for a much more snuggle-friendly fleece blanket around the base.

even more so than last year, i love looking at the whole Christmas season through his eyes and imagining what he's thinking...

i was excited to try something new this year after linking up to faith's christmas card carousel the last couple of years. she hosted an ornament exchange, along with several other bloggers, and i thought it sounded like a cool idea!

i was paired up with kristin, from the smith family journey, and i must say--she was a great partner! after getting the package of ornaments the other night, i felt like she did such an awesome job pulling together all of the ornaments and explaining why she chose them. (i didn't do quite as much detail :( but i hoped you liked them, kristin!)

this book ornament actually has pages where we can write our favorite memories of Christmas 2011 and keep it from year to year...

and this beautiful ornament has different virtues on the hearts (hope, love, joy, faith, etc.) with related scriptures on the back. so perfect to remember the true reason for Christmas!

the lantern represents her home state of minnesota and all the camping they enjoy doing there...

and then she included this adorable snowman family--two parents with a little snow baby--just like us!

if you would like to link up to the Christmas card carousel, faith will be hosting it next week. it's a great way to meet new bloggers and share your Christmas card with others.

new wheels...

2011-12-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

the saturday after thanksgiving, we got up and began getting the car packed to head home. overnight, we had done some research and had found a couple of used cars that we wanted to check out on the way home. one of them was located at toyota of apex, and it is owned by the same dealer that has sold us all of our toyotas in my family. on a whim, we called to see if they still had the RAV-4 (and they did) so we headed home by way of apex.

mind you, this was a different car shopping experience than the day before. rather than it just being myself and justin, we had a 1 year old and a dog in tow. not exactly your typical car shopping crew. luckily, this was a new dealership and they had a special area just for kids with toys, books, puzzles and a big tv dedicated to nick jr. justin and davis settled down in front of yo gabba gabba while our salesman pulled around the car we were interested in and accompanied me on the test drive. when we got back, justin and i talked and determined that yes, this was a good deal for this car, and yes, we wanted to go home with it tonight. and so began the "dealing" part of the car buying experience, which justin excels at, and davis and i played peekaboo around the huge columns outside to keep him entertained while genuinely charming the rest of the staff there.

four hours later, we had ourselves a car and a tired toddler. i think this picture says it all.

and here she is--a 2010 RAV4 with about 38,000 miles on her. four wheel drive, which will allow us to either go cruising on the beach or tackle snowy west virginia mountains (both of which are necessary/possible)

davis said he likes the new car, but he still thinks his step 1 blue convertible looks cooler.

and then came the fun part...cleaning out the camry. we're not quite sure what to do with it yet--likely, it will be sold through classifieds or something like that to someone who is willing to invest the time/money into her that we weren't able to. those who know me personally know that i was kinda rough on this car--after she reached a certain age and a certain number of scratches/dents, it all went down hill. that hadn't improved a whole lot since davis was born, and the day of the break-down was essentially the final insult. as i rushed around to the passenger side to stand by davis's seat while we waited for the sitter and the tow truck, i grabbed my tote bag and one of the handles snagged my full mug of coffee, pouring it out into the front passenger seat. which then sat there for over a week until we could actually get time to clean it out. (note the box of engine cover parts as well that they didn't put back on--those are a fun accessory.)

and this is all the stuff that was actually buried in the car. my pack rat tendencies carry over in to multiple areas of my life, obviously.

but in some ways, i'm okay with being a pack rat. because it allows the opportunity to explore some fun memories. like finding one of these...

it's a bouncy ball. my friends in high school (and college, too, i think) would smile to see one of these emerge from the depths of my car. i used to collect them--like, whenever we passed a 25 cent machine in the grocery store, i had to stop and get one. i eventually passed along my collection to the son of one of my coworkers a few years back, but at one time, i had probably close to a hundred of these hanging out in the side door pockets, console and cup holders.call it weird, call it a phase.. but of all the phases i had to go through as a teen, i think most parents would be glad it was bouncy ball collecting.

and then i found this--my mobile of shells that hung from my rear view mirror. for a while, the camry had a beach theme. it sorta started with putting a few shells that i picked up from the beach in one of the center pockets by the console. that collection grew with each trip to the beach and at one point included a ceramic frog that my friend maggie brought back from salamanca, spain, and some other little characters. the mobile was a nice touch, and every time i went around a curve, you could hear the shells clinking together.

but this one. i knew this one was there, even though i hadn't seen it in months...and maybe i didn't want to uncover it at first, just because of the memories. but i'm glad i did.

this was "commissioned" for me by dad. during one of his stays in the hospital several years ago, he had a nurse that was a young girl, just out of college, who liked to dress up her scrubs by making fun necklaces and bracelets from plastic beads and hemp in all sorts of bright colors and designs. i think scrubs are one of the few "professional" outfits where you can do that, or at least this nurse decided she could :)

dad noticed her necklaces and told her that he had a daughter that was just about her age who also used to make necklaces and bracelets from beads and hemp and that she probably would love something like that. so she asked him what kind of colors i liked, and he told her blue was my favorite color, and that i liked dolphins. she brought this to him a couple of days later, that he eventually gave to me when i came up to visit him in the hospital that weekend. it took up residence on my rear view mirror for quite some time, but got put into the middle console and buried under things during a cleaning spree one time. where it stayed until last weekend.

and now it lives a new life in the new (to us) car--watching over our little family as we start another chapter of our story in another vehicle. just like i imagine dad is :)

thanksgiving family time and welcoming christmas

2011-12-07T17:00:00.000-05:00

our thanksgiving holidy was a flurry of travel and lining up plans and making some big decisions. much to my dismay, my beloved 1999 camry bit the dust on the monday morning of thanksgiving week. the timing belt broke suddenly (something i had been putting off because of the cost) and though we had been squeaking along hoping we would get a couple more months out of her, the decision was then made for us. we were getting a new car and using money on a down payment rather than fixing up a 12 year old vehicle with 160,000 miles on it.

i am only so thankful that the belt broke when it did--i was headed out of our neighborhood to drop off davis, and was about to turn onto the main road outside of our subdivision. it broke just as i was making the turn, and a guy in the truck behind us jumped out--with a sling on his arm--and helped push us out of the road and back into the neighborhood. our own guardian angel. there's also a bit of comfort in having 10-15 neighbors stop and check to make sure you're okay as you wait on the tow truck, stranded at the big brick entrance to the neighborhood during monday morning rush hour.

so rather than buying a car in the evenings leading up to thanksgiving, we decided to wait until that weekend and try to make it with only one car for the three days of work. i am so blessed to have some wonderful co-workers and friends who live nearby and helped me with rides. our baby-sitter also offered me her car on wednesday while she stayed at our house watching davis. just goes to show that when the trials of life come, true friends step up!

so we finally made it to fayetteville wednesday night and got to celebrate with family on thursday. davis was all smiles, sporting his "gobble" outfit again (we were going to get full mileage out of that one.)

and again, the weather was warm with temps up in the mid-60s and 70s. so we kept him outside as much as possible, burning off energy as he ran around with the dogs.

yes, dogs. my brother and his wife got a boston terrier puppy back in july, and this was the first time pepper and barley got to meet. they did well, overall, but it was a bit overwhelming when you added in davis (and pepper's protective, territorial nature with him.)

we enjoyed catching up before thanksgiving lunch and browsing the black friday ads. does your family do that, too? our cousins are now in their mid-teens and love finding the best sales, so they were pouring over the ads all afternoon.

we headed inside after a while and got the dogs settled. here's barley lounging on the back porch. he was rewarded with a huge bone that kept him busy through all of dinner.

davis was able to eat beforehand, so he kept himself entertained with books and toys while we enjoyed our meal--my grandmother always does such a great job.

davis hadn't opened his birthday present yet from my aunts and cousins, so we helped him do that while we were there.

he LOVED his new shopping cart. he is all about pushing things right now, and the shopping cart was just the right size and weight for him to maneuver.

he did laps up and down the hallway...

and then aunt nancy helped him stock the cart with empty "groceries."

we also entertained him with games of "peekaboo" in a huge box that my grandmother brought in from a delivery earlier in the week. he was so in to that!

on friday, justin and i headed out mid-morning to visit dealerships and do some car shopping. we were able to test drive several of the cars we'd been interested in and narrowed it down to our favorites, but with no real potential ones to buy. so we met up with mom, grandma and davis in the afternoon and headed downtown for the annual "dickens christmas." first up was the tuba christmas concert at our church...

here's a shot of all the participants. alan has played in the past as well, but the school he teaches at now is actually very good at football and regularly makes it into the state play-offs, so he has had to leave to attend a play-off football game for the past couple of thanksgivings.

and here we are afterward as we enjoy the candlelight walk downtown. davis did incredibly well for this, and it was the perfect evening!

i love this shot--so many people get into character and find the best costumes to make the event as authentic as possible!

we found a huge christmas tree for davis to see---we can already tell that this will be an exciting holiday season with all of the lights and things for him to enjoy.

pure wonder.

and then it was time for the "official lighting" of the downtown area. everyone crowds around the market house and listens as queen victoria, bob cratchet and ebenezer scrooge show up for the festivities.

and this year they set off fireworks afterward! davis was enthralled (and didn't cry, either--they weren't terribly loud, so that helped.)

one last shot as the crowd was clearing out. we love the downtown area so much at this time of year, and this event was another great experience :)

savoring the moments

2011-12-06T21:48:00.001-05:00

i remember it clearly--a desire to snuggle with a sleeping baby. i think it may have been my maternal instincts coming out, but it seemed like such a sweet way to connect between parent and child. listening to the soft sighs, feeling them relax against you as they gave way to sleep, the ultimate comfort and being able to share that.

i was traveling to the beach a couple of years ago to do a family portrait session and staying with my friend lynn and her family when their son josh was just three months old. before i left the next morning, i popped my head into their room to say goodbye, and lynn and josh were curled up on the bed napping, his little body fitting just perfectly in the curve of hers. it was an intimate moment, and i almost felt like i had barged in on something unexpectedly. but i think it was more of the recognition of the moment and how a mother treasures little snapshots of life like that.

and so it was this weekend. i have purposefully tried to make the most out of our weekends, soaking up every minute with davis and making sure the short time doesn't pass us by with any regrets or missed opportunities. it's being deliberate about truly being "there" when we're together. and so he woke up in the middle of his morning nap, upset because the sound machine had turned off suddenly and the noise from the washer going in the laundry room woke him up. i bounced him back to sleep (we still bounce him on an exercise ball to help him fall asleep for naps--yes, i know, but it's still working so we're not motivated enough to change it just for our weekend naps with him) and rather than trying to put him back down so i could continue with cleaning or getting Christmas decorations out, i decided to curl up with him on the bed. just as we've done many times before, savoring the moment with him as he turned to find his comfortable position (on his stomach--just like his mama) until with a big sigh--he was out. and i thought to myself, "everything else can wait. this is where i need to be."

pre-thanksgiving park day

2011-12-05T21:00:00.000-05:00

before it was thanksgiving day, we had to break in our thanksgiving outfit....

turkey butt and all!

our winter weather continues to hold off

so we enjoy the warm fall afternoons at the park

and turkey themed outfits that will likely only fit this year.

gobble gobble, y'all.

we're still here...

2011-12-05T17:00:00.000-05:00

i had these photos prepared and loaded on the blog over a week ago...but alas, life got away from me. so here are some photos from last month with the promise of updating the blog over the coming week to get us caught up to speed. cause you don't want to miss the holidays with a one year old :)

it was love at first sight--a full container of mac and cheese. he could turn into a macaroni noodle. or a blueberry (yes, we're still on a blueberry kick. we've added clementine oranges to the mix, too.)

our first baby still loves to get her lap time in with justin. also note milo on the back of the couch here. i tried to get a picture of grace when she jumped up to sit on justin's legs, but she didn't stay for too long.

and finally, a couple of videos of our little man. the first one showcases one of his latest tricks. he will now "help" you feed him by dipping his spoon in the jar/container and bringing it to his mouth. and act like the proudest little boy ever.

and this last one is a long one, but it gives you a good look into our family birthday party a few weeks ago. so pull up a chair and pretend like you were in our living room, watching him poke at his cake. (he still never really got into it, but he loved having an audience!)

i'll try to be back later this week with a thanksgiving post, as well as some photos of our Christmas decorations :) thank you for being patient with me. it still amazes me that i continue to have people checking in when i know it's been a long time since i've posted. after i get through editing my most recent round of photo shoots, i'm hoping to be back on track for a while!

our boy at 12 months

2011-11-15T21:38:00.001-05:00

we've had a busy few weeks following davis's birthday! i've had a couple of photo shoots each weekend, and two weeks ago, we did a family trip to rocky mount to do our friends megan and joel's son isaac's photos. i loved the location so much that once we finished with isaac's session, we went back and took a few more photos with davis!

this bridge was amazing... definitely keeping this in mind when i have rocky mount/wilson families looking for a great location.

sweet boy...

it's also been exciting to see him being more independent. the other night, he climbed up on his four wheeler all by himself and was ready to go for a ride, even though it was parked under the kitchen table (and he'd hit his head on the way out.)

this past weekend, mom came to visit and we had a good time catching up on some errands and getting a night out. davis is very much in a clingy mood right now, so it was a bit of a struggle getting away.

we're trying to make slow progress with leaving him in the nursery at church.

we also had his 12 month appointment at the pediatrician's today, a couple of weeks late. he had to get 4 vaccines and a flu shot, as well as a finger prick.

needless to say, it was a bit traumatic for him (and me!) just as he recovered from one part of the visit, the next one was coming up. even as we were checking out (a good 5-10 minutes after getting his shots) he was still sniffling and doing the short little shuddering breaths from crying. he has a flair for the dramatic, this one.

here are his stats for this visit--21 lbs, 13 oz (30th percentile--moved up!), 29 3/4 inches (45th percentile--also moved up), and 19 inch head circumference (90th percentile--moved down!)

the doctor was happy with everything, so we were given the all clear to start the transition off of formula/bottles and adding in whole milk and more solid foods (including ones we hadn't done before for allergy reasons.)

i'm not looking forward to the whole idea of giving up his bedtime/naptime bottles...any suggestions from moms who have done this? we are so close to having him sleep through the night consistently (he's mainly waking around 4 am and then going back to sleep for the last few hours) and so i'm hesitant to do anything that's going to mess up his sleep again...

we did forgo his regular routine on sunday night and kept him out late for our church's thanksgiving dinner. still one of my most favorite events, getting to listen to everyone say what they're thankful and enjoy some delicious cooking.

and davis had a good time this year, too! king of the world :)

alright, time for bed. hoping to catch up on more photo editing this week and get ready for our short week next week before the holidays!

just hear those sleigh bells ring a ling...

2011-11-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

as you can imagine, i'm a huge fan of christmas cards. i love displaying them each year, choosing which photos we'll include in ours, and my pack-rat nature wants to keep them all from year to year.

one of my favorite places to browse every year is shutterfly! not only do they do an awesome job with prints, photos books, photo cards and other gifts, they offer tons of designs for christmas cards with lots of options to personalize them.

i'm a big fan of multi-photo cards (simply because i usually can't choose just one photo to share) and this one let you customize the background color. (color coordination is also a big factor for me--like i said, i take this seriously.)

ooh, also a great option! the monogrammed letter is a nice touch.

i also liked these cards--a way to combine the holiday letter (anyone get those?) and the holiday card all in one.

and this one offers a spot for every month...might be good for our first year with davis, too!

anyone looking for some santa hats or reindeer antlers? (or snowmen bellies?)

what if your best family photo of the year was from your beach vacation? no problem!

or if you feel obligated to include your favorite four-legged family member....they have that covered, too!

one thing i also love is doing is creating our personalized return address labels. we've gotten so many compliments on the batch we ordered two years ago from vistaprint, and they will run specials every now and then, too, so you get them for free and only pay for shipping.

and if you're a fellow blogger, make sure you link up with faith over at walk with me by faith for her christmas card carousel on december 14th. it's a great way to check out everyone else's cards and meet some new friends!

disclosure: i was provided with free cards from shutterfly for this review, but all opinions are honest and totally mine :)

it's all about sharing...

2011-11-10T17:00:00.000-05:00

our son, especially after his birthday, has a ton of toys, games and other things just for him. what does he want to play with? tupperware, measuring cups, spoons...and pepper's dog bed.

"is that really necessary, davis?" we ask, thinking of all the fur, dirt and other assumed dog-bed dwellers. but that's what he wants.

to bury his head in the pillow, wallowing in the bed of his favorite four-legged creature.

making a comfy little nest so he can peer out the door.

one more quick rearrangement...

ahh, yes. that's it. just perfect.

"davis, we got you your own pillow for the living room, away from the dog food and tempting water bowls and other things. we got you a bean bag! look at the cool soccer ball bean bag. don't you want to play with that?"

nope...he wants the dog bed. with the dog close by (and in mid chew.) i guess it'll be their first experience in learning how to share.

necessities

2011-11-07T20:45:00.001-05:00

it was a cold miserable walk to campus on friday. we woke up to the rain coming down, and i tried to dress accordingly. just the day before, i had shared a link to a pair of pirate rain boots they were advertising at the student store on campus, thinking about checking them out sometime next week. but friday--i had no boots. i couldn't find my flip flops, so i decided to wear a pair of flats and risk it. they soaked up the rain water within a minute or two of walking, and oddly enough, one of them started having soap suds foaming out of the sides. i arrived to the office drenched from the thighs down, clutching my umbrella and shaking my head at the weather. i did that walk 3 more times (i go off campus at lunch on fridays to get my allergy shot) and each time, i got more and more on edge. the inside of the umbrella started grabbing my hair. the wind would whip the umbrella around almost out of my hands. my shoes/feet stayed damp all day long, with no hope of drying out or warming up. all i wanted was to get home, put on comfy pajama pants and a sweatshirt and curl up with my boys. after the fourth walk--that's what i did.

oh yeah--and order these bad boys that came today. no more wet feet for me!

halloween

2011-11-04T21:34:00.000-04:00

so for halloween, we had another little puppy dog in our house. i ordered it off of the carter's website a while back, and it was just perfect for him!

our first outing with him was our church's trunk or treat on sunday night. this event was the first time we took him out last year, and it's amazing to think about how little was back then (at three days old.)

this year--he was able to enjoy it a little more fully :)

here he is with a friend, guyson--also dressed up as a dog--who is a couple of weeks older than davis. they were both reeeeally interested in the soccer ball and cones at this sports themed car.

and here he just made himself at home with molly and lily and their friends. seriously, he did this on his own. lily was very concerned about him putting his hand in the candy bucket, but allowed him to hang out for a little while.

me and the boy :)

we had a seat on the lawn and checked out the candy (and got a few more pictures)

already good at sharing :)

it has been great to see how much he enjoys socializing and spending time with our friends at events like these. makes me want to take him out more often!

on monday, we put him in a halloween shirt (he has several)--this one said "i love my mummy"--but he loved that new truck, too.

after eating dinner, we headed out to a few special houses, starting first at justin's mom and step-dad's house.

he loved the pumpkin!

then we stopped at jennifer and corey's house, where davis met another dog (dressed up as a shark.) he was in love.

we did one more stop....

over at our neighbors' house, tony and nelly. and again, another dog. there is a theme here...

for his first real halloween (and for an incredibly rainy, gross one) he did incredibly well. we were home and in bed by a typical hour, with our candy bowl sitting out the porch so pepper didn't bark at everyone coming by. it was cleaned out by the time i left to go volunteer on campus for the student union halloween events at around 8:15.

so...happy belated halloween from us!

birthday weekend, part 2

2011-11-03T20:57:00.000-04:00

after crashing saturday morning following the parade, we got home and let davis enjoy the rest of the afternoon with us. he is in love with all things balloon-related now (this makes a trip to harris teeter a treat, simply for the balloon to entertain him around the store.)

we also opened his presents and let him play with them. he loved his soft tool set and mega blox dump truck...

and these cars were so much fun. they made lots of cool noises and he really likes playing with them.

he also has gotten a couple of puzzles and has enjoyed playing with the pieces. not quite to the point where he can put them together yet, but we'll work towards it.

this was his big gift, though. a little power wheels from justin's dad and stepmom. he was all set to help putting it together with his tool set.

of course, the box ended up being more entertaining for him in the moment.

that night, my mom and grandma came in and baby-sat davis while justin and i got a night out. those are precious to us these days :) we got up sunday morning and davis opened his presents from his grandma and gigi. this dog was one of his favorites--he laughed and smiled as we showed him how to pull it around on its string.

then we got the house ready for all of our other family members coming in for davis's family birthday party. not the easiest task, but by lunchtime and after running out to get a few things, we were ready!

davis actually went down for a nap just as most people were getting there. we visited and ate lunch while he slept--and of course, because we just wanted him to get a quick nap, he slept longer than he normally does at home. we had to open the door and hope he'd wake up on his own from the noise of the party and his cousins playing. almost an hour and a half later, he woke up and was ready to go!

we sang happy birthday to him and let him at the cake. my grandma made it for him, and though it was delicious, he just wasn't that into it. i think he might not have gotten my sweet tooth and instead be more interested in salty things like justin....

he still had a good time, though :)

one last attempt at a photo with the party hat....

and then cake for the rest of us!

then it was present time again--he got some great gifts from our family, like a monkey pillow pet, a little basketball goal and a fun tractor.

then he headed outside to ride his four-wheeler with his cousins. big fan :)

before we knew it, it was time for family to head out and for us to move on to the next big event (our church trunk or treat.) it was a full weekend, but perfect for celebrating the very full first year of our little guy. happy birthday, davis!

birthday weekend, part 1

2011-10-29T21:13:00.003-04:00

we're halfway through our birthday weekend with davis, with a quiet night on friday (his actual birthday.)

he's sporting his "my first birthday" shirt here, and a hat i picked up at the party store. of course, i tried to do a few shots with the hat on, and in the process of trying to put it on him, he reached up, pulled on the rubber band and snapped it. and i felt like the worst mommy in the world.

(thankfully it disappeared overnight and he was in a better mood in just a few minutes.)
we got up this morning and all got ready for his party this morning. it's homecoming weekend, here, and being in a college town--we knew we could either plan and compete against the homecoming activities, or go with it and tag on. so we decided to tag on and do a breakfast party that led into the annual homecoming parade. i knew the owners of one of the new restaurants downtown that ended up being just a couple of blocks from the parade. they were more than willing to work with us, so we went ahead and planned our birthday breakfast.
the scullery is an awesome little place that specializes in coffee and homemade ice creams. but they also have tons of baked goods, the best grilled cheese ever, and lots of special sandwiches, soups and salads depending on what is in season.
here he is with his birthday muffin with a candle in it. had to go along with the theme :)
and tearing into it. he will get to try cake tomorrow with our family party, but it seemed to fit well and was a lot less messy.
after we ate and talked for a while, we moved on down to the road to where the parade was passing.

he settled in justin's lap and was happy to watch and stay warm--it got incredibly cold over night and was a chilly, damp morning.
but once the parade came...he was entralled.

i love the looks of pure awe on his face. he didn't get startled by the fire trucks or sirens, loved the bands, and did incredibly well considering this was well past his normal morning naptime.
his new thing is pointing and trying to communicate through a few words, grunts and signs that he's mastered. the parade was no exception, and he'd follow the interesting bands and floats around the corner as far as he could see them.

and by the end of it--well, he was hooked. i think he expects us to do this for his birthday every year.
thank you so much to all of our friends who came out to the party and then stayed on to watch this parade with us. it was exactly what we hoped for with davis's first birthday, and we feel so blessed to have such an awesome group of friends to celebrate with.

tomorrow...family party!

on your first birthday

2011-10-28T00:45:00.001-04:00

dear davis,

a year ago today, we welcomed you into the world. but if we're honest with ourselves, it was a year and nine months ago that we became parents. that first flash of "pregnant" in the little plastic window began our whole journey into parenthood.

we were elated, so excited to share this news with our family and to begin the overwhelming task of preparing for a baby. doctor's appointments, baby showers, nursery decorating and checking off lists of "to do's" a mile long. not to mention the physical changes :)

we were so ready to meet you, though. each ultrasound gave us a peek at the little guy that already had so much personality. you communicated with us through hiccups, kicks and rolls that seemed to literally stretch the boundaries of your current home.
as the weeks passed, spring became summer and summer became fall. and i hoped above all hopes that you would be born in october. we were given a due date of november 6th, but my calculations had you coming a little bit earlier. and then we were getting measurements of you being two weeks larger than expected, with an even larger head...and my wish for a fall baby became more practical and less tied to a love for all things pumpkin spice and autumn leaves and football.

so you took your time making your entrance into the world. i went to the doctor's office every day that week until you were born for various reasons. regular check-up, high blood pressure visit, a visit where i thought i was in labor, and then the visit where finally--i was in labor and sent across the road to the hospital.

i had decided to try and do things without an epidural, and the nurses i had were so supportive. i did end up with some iv pain meds in the end once they had to give me some pitocin. it was tough, davis, but so worth it when we finally heard your cry. after 38 1/2 weeks of pregnancy, 41 hours of labor (since 6 am the previous morning), five hours in the hospital and 45 minutes of pushing--you were here.and we were in love. you were perfect, with a perfectly round head, perfect button nose, perfect fingers and toes, and a personality that filled the room. your stubbornness and desire to let everyone know when things weren't quite right began in those first few hours. but we figured each other out after a little while and fell into our regular routine.

we had tons of family coming to visit those first couple of weeks and everyone wanted to see you. that's one of the benefits of being the first grandchild for most of our families :) you had more and more alert time, and we lived for those moments of seeing your bright eyes taking everything in. (we also loved snuggling you to sleep, too.)the holidays came and went--thanksgiving with our families...
and then christmas. you were wonderful through out it all. we remember sitting at church in the pew with you asleep in your carrier on christmas eve, all giggling softly as we listened to your light snores and sighs.
winter was ushered in with a couple of snow storms, and we all holed up in the house, watching the world turn white. you were adorable in your little snowsuit.
eventually, winter turned to spring, i returned to work and you began staying with your grandma during the day. we had good days and bad days, but we adjusted and found a schedule that worked for all of us. if anything, it made me appreciate my time with you in the mornings and after work even more.

you began wowing us with your tricks--rolling over, laughing, reaching for toys and smiling at everyone you met. we were so easily amused and marveled at each new milestone you reached, still not believing how much you had a grown in just a few short weeks.we got to travel more, visiting family and friends and letting you explore with us as we navigated the same old places with new challenges and a new perspective as parents. we continued a trial and error approach to figuring each other out, and i'll be honest, davis--we lost our tempers a few times. i would cry in frustration and try to figure out what we were missing. sleep deprivation will do that to a person, and you weren't easy to rationalize with at 2 am. but we'd end up tucked into bed all together, creating what i'm sure were poor sleeping habits that we later had to break, but just desperate to catch a few hours of sleep all the same.

we lost some amazing men in your life this year, davis. your pap, justin's grandfather, who was so proud of you and loved the pictures he saw. we'll have lots of stories to tell you about him one day, stories of coal mining and the war in europe and training camps and everything.

and then there was your papa, my dad, who thought you were the best thing ever. he loved you so much, davis, and it makes me sad to think about what you and him will miss over the upcoming years. but i'm so thankful for the memories we do have of you two together, and just know that we will make sure you know how to grill, can sing along to jimmy buffett and bruce springsteen, and can clap along to the carolina fight song at all appropriate ages.

(the grilling may come a bit later. and some of the buffett songs.)
we made a bittersweet first visit to downeast for his service, but you got to see the sound for the first time and we declared you a beach baby.
and we made sure to take you through "your town"--davis. we'll have to make this a regular occurance--i'm sure great-grandma and great-grandaddy wouldn't mind that.

you continued to show your big personality, always inquisitive, always excited to experience the next big thing.
everyone has commented on how happy you are, and that you have to be one of the most photographed babies ever. i will say, the camera seems to love you. or is it the person behind the camera? either way, it has been a joy capturing you through the camera lens and sharing the photos with your adoring fans.
but i am truthful with them when i say, "well, i don't stop to take pictures when he's crying."
(most of the time. we do have a few good pouts thrown into the mix.)
we like to talk about your future--who you're going to take after and what features we'll see as you continue to grow.
you have your daddy's temper but seem to get a good deal of your looks from my side. there are times where i swear you look just like your uncle alan.

we hope you'll inherit a love for music--you're already starting to dance when grandma plays a cd for you, and you have loved most of the live music you've heard so far. you also love to see how things work and pick up on the littlest details--kinda like your daddy.we hope you'll be kind and gentle and caring, but we know you have a mischevious streak in you, too. just recently, you started crawling or walking faster away from us when you know we're on to you...
you do love the water, and splashing and trying to drink it and more. we learned that during our many afternoons in the pool or our two trips to the beach this summer.
you were a big fan of sand, too. there's no telling how much you ingested during those weeks.
those memories we have with our family members are priceless, and i'm so glad it worked out so that we could travel with everyone this year.
crawling led to walking, and you were on your way well before we knew it. (a little ahead of the game, to be honest. we became experts at baby-proofing on the fly.)
to you, it just mean more land you could cover, more things you could get into, and more skills to practice practice practice until you got it right. you are DETERMINED, boy, and you don't let much of anything hold you back.
the last few months have been when we've really seen you come into your own. you talk to us, have learned to use a few signs, and definitely have your favorite people in your life.
but regardless if they're on your "favorite" list or your "i don't know you, stranger, so stand back" list--YOU ARE LOVED. so much. by so many people. and we just can't wait to watch you grow.

you have pushed your daddy and me to new places and new challenges. being parents is the toughest job we've ever had, and we know that each time we feel like we've mastered one thing--you change the game on us and we start all over again with a new level. and we love it.
the never-ending game of parenting. with the most adorable boy ever created. thank goodness you're cute, kid ;)
here's to the first year, davis. through the ups and downs, sleep struggles and feeding issues, sweet snuggly moments and deep belly laughs, you have always been the embodiment of pure joy and the desire to live life fully. we thank God every night for blessing us with such an amazing, adorable little guy.
you've come a long way, baby.
but we'll be with you every step of the way from here on out.

love,

mama and dada
xoxo

there once was a very busy mom...

2011-10-27T12:30:00.002-04:00

who became a very bad blogger.

no more, though.

there's a birthday to celebrate. a year of amazing life to share.

and so the blog goes on.

more later...

an update on all fronts

2011-07-21T21:38:00.004-04:00

in the past month since i posted, a lot has happened. here's what you've missed :)

1) we had a terribly laid-back fourth of july. for the first time in years, we didn't go see fireworks and instead i watched the firework specials on tv while justin went to see a movie with a friend.

this guy--

was actually kinda fussy. but cutting two teeth in the past few weeks will do that to ya.

2) i accepted a new job and will be starting august 1st. (these pictures have nothing to do with this information, but i figured it would be fun to scatter them through out anyway. enjoy!)
i will be counseling students at the local university and doing some networking/marketing/presentation work. both aspects of the job excite me, and it still doesn't feel quite real that it's happening. i was on campus the other day to drop off my contract and walked for a little bit, remembering what it was like to be there as a student and imagining what it will be like to be there as a staff member.
this has been tough to say goodbye to my coworkers and clients, some of which i've worked with for a couple of years. but i've mainly heard congratulations and genuine excitement for me and this opportunity.
(oink oink!)

3) davis has had several milestones, as he is secure with his crawling and is much more interested in walking, pulling up on things and cruising around the house.
he has also repeated "bye bye" a couple of times when prompted. he has times of the day where he's very talkative and will jabber on, especially in the morning or just after his nap.
justin's grandmother came down from west virginia a few weeks ago and got to spend the week with him. he is such a charmer! (with both of his grandmas and two of his great-grandmas here)

we are still going back and forth with sleeping, which we know is our fault. our recent vacation really threw us all off. and teething then throws a wrench and it feels like we start all over again every few weeks. but i dream of davis sleeping through the night and having complete uninterrupted sleep.

when he's twelve.
4) we've gotten several nights out recently, which is always enjoyable. we attended our first big wedding since davis has been born for my friend jennifer and her (now) husband corey.
it felt odd to be at a wedding and not be the photographer... but we enjoyed it, especially with a great reception and lots of dancing and food.
and they had one of the best exits ever--sparklers with a motorcycle, complete with veil flying out behind!
5) another big change that i want to keep up with here (mainly for encouragement and accountability) is my effort at eating healthier and losing the last big of baby weight. (again, photos are just for your enjoyment)
as i've gotten prepared for the new job, it's required a more professional wardrobe than my current position. so that's meant shopping and figuring out where i am, what i fit into, etc. and a good deal of motivation with making these changes is that i have a closet full of clothes that would be quite appropriate for this job... that i can't wear right now. so my hope is that by the fall, i will have lost enough weight to wear some of the dress pants and shirts. i'm doing weight watchers online and have been happy with it so far. any advice, encouragement, tips or recipes are greatly appreciated :)
6) and--oh yeah, we went to the beach for a week!

more on that later...

patience pays off

2011-07-21T21:30:00.002-04:00

if you're a loyal blog reader
you have learned
that if you wait long enough
i will write and post adorable pictures of my boy
they may be a month old
but who's counting?

(more to come)

coming home

2011-06-19T22:54:00.002-04:00

one of my favorite parts of the day is coming home to davis and justin. because of my client's schedules, i'm often the last one to get home. and to come in and see davis's reaction? well, it just makes my heart melt.

i asked justin to get the video camera ready so he could record his smile when he saw me for the first time... here's the result :)

water baby

2011-06-19T22:47:00.002-04:00

this weekend, we got a chance to go swimming at justin's stepbrother and sister-in-law's pool. davis has become a big fan of the water, which is good considering we have a beach vacation (with pool at the condo) coming up!
he was feeling more comfortable in his float this time, too...
and then we shared one of the big floats together (before i started to slip backwards in it and almost capsized us! no worries--baby was safe the whole time)
one last thing to add---a video of him in the water and showing off his awesome "kicking" skills. another benefit of our waterproof camera again :)

father's day

2011-06-19T21:42:00.003-04:00

about two months ago, i remember seeing one of the first commercials for father's day.

on the food network, of all places, advertising a set of knives from guy fieri. "perfect father's day gift!"

they would have been...and i think that was the first sign that this might be tougher than i expected.

since that point, i thought about how i wanted to celebrate father's day. it would be justin's first real father's day, too (he got a few gifts last year while we were at the beach, when i was about 5 months pregnant) but it would be our first father's day without my dad, and without his grandfather.

last weekend, as i stood in front of the card section trying to pick out cards for my grandfather and justin, i couldn't help but see all the "dad from daughter" cards that were out there. that "dad and daughter" bond is a special one, and though we didn't have the most traditional relationship as i grew up, i loved my dad dearly.

we had great conversations, and though we didn't talk all the time (we'd sometimes go a week or two without a phone call) when we did talk, it would be a long conversation. dad always knew the right questions to ask, and he was often pretty direct with me. it was something i appreciated as i'd grown into adulthood. he frequently let me know that he was proud of me, and he wasn't afraid to encourage me to do something new or push myself into a different direction. he loved to talk about his big "loves"--music, food, and carolina athletics. he would mention a new album he'd listened to, a show he caught on the food network, or the latest game he saw. he'd call me "babydoll," tell me he loved me, then say goodbye.

i wish i could've called him today, or had him over for dinner. but i know he enjoyed watching our father's day unfold, and i loved spending time with my husband and our son with our own father's day celebration.

we started it off at church, where justin had to work the slides/computer from the back for both services. he always takes davis for a song or two after we first get there at the 2nd service, since he left us fast asleep in the bed this morning :)

davis "helping" justin at the back...
whenever it's just me and davis, i sit at the back close to justin and our friends from youth group. it makes it easier for me to dart out when he's acting up, and there's usually a teenager or friend who asks to hold him! we've also taken to setting up camp at the very back beside the sound booth and spreading out a blanket and toys for him to play with. if all else fails, we hang out in the nursery. yes, i could start leaving him there, but i figure i only get so many hours during the weekend to spend with him. i want to make the most of all of them!

after eating lunch, i headed out to grocery shop for the week while justin continued to battle davis on taking a nap. we've gotten really good at nighttime sleep training, where he often cries for just a minute or two and then is out. lately (and i've been afraid to say anything, for fear of jinxing it) he's been sleeping til almost 3 or 4 before waking up for his first bottle. this is a huge improvement! so now we're working on getting him to fall asleep on his own for naps, which hasn't been quite as successful this weekend. the door woke him up when i got home from grocery shopping, and i felt bad about it--so i rocked him to sleep and let him nap in my arms for 45 minutes.

what? i'm always supportive of sleep training and it doesn't tear my heart to pieces and i don't just want to snuggle my growing almost 8 month old boy like a newborn sometimes...

so by that point justin was taking his much-deserved father's day nap (and not chastising me for rocking davis to sleep and letting him nap in my arms) and i decided to take davis outside for a quick dip in the baby pool which would double as his bathtime since he decided a couple of weeks ago that he would scream bloody murder when we tried to bathe him in his regular bathtub. we've since bathed him in our much larger garden tub (which we called the "indoor baby pool") but the outside baby pool seemed like just as good an idea. so i set up the pool, got on my swimsuit, brought out his towel and soap, and stripped him down to his barenaked behind :)

and it was kinda breezy and i noticed the wind was moving the trees and our deck umbrella around a lot but didn't think anything of it until i saw the wind lift the umbrella up (like mary poppins, justin said later) and bring it back down... apparently with enough force to break our tempered glass table top.

and i was barefoot.
so we sat in our baby pool and played until justin woke up from his nap (by the crash), came out and surveyed the damage, took apart the umbrella and brought me a pair of shoes.

and now we're in the market for a new deck table and umbrella?

justin got out the shop vac and cleaned it up while i took care of davis and eventually got him ready for bed. we prepped everything for dinner, then once davis was asleep, we got to cooking for justin's special father's day dinner. we had picked up all of our ingredients the day before at either the spring run market or the fresh market. justin manned the grill while i cooked inside, and since our regular deck furniture looked like this...
we ended up eating outside on tv trays. classy, right?
our feast that would've made my daddy proud--grilled shrimp in an herb/garlic marinade, steak from the fresh market, fresh green beans ala the pioneer woman, zucchini and squash on a grill pan, and oven-roasted new potatoes with rosemary and thyme.
justin and i relaxed on the back deck until the few lightning bugs that we have in our neighborhood were out (and the mosquitoes started biting.)

it may not have been the father's day i would've dreamed of a few months ago, but it was really, truly, uniquely "ours."

staying cool

2011-06-18T19:27:00.005-04:00

as the summer creeps into eastern nc, we've gotten good at staying cool on the weekends, whether it be our clothing choice when we're heading outside.... (love my little beach bum)
or staying inside at barnes and noble and checking out the train table. he was very interested in how that all worked...
(and let us note--my hair is in a ponytail! this hasn't happened in a long long time...yay for one more option when i need to just pull it back and go)
we've taken advantage of not traveling and having no major plans to pick up around the house and get organized. a little belated spring cleaning, if you will. since my allergy appointment (and now having a more mobile baby who doesn't always stay where you leave him) it's been important to keep things a little more tidy around the house. i am an awful housekeeper, but justin and i have short bursts of focus where we'll clean for a couple of hours and get it all taken care of.

and it's easy to be motivated when you have great helpers like this one :)
(eating puffs on our unmade bed while sheets were being washed)

pepper has become a puff scavenger. (it's actually pretty annoying, but davis doesn't seem to mind.)
miss pepper dog is holding her own here lately. she's enjoying going on walks with me in the evenings and is pretty protective of davis. i guess it's her maternal instinct coming out?
the other way we're staying cool is spending lots of time in the water! we had our youth group pool party last weekend, and though davis was hanging on by a thread, he still had a good time with everyone.

he made friends quickly with the other adults and kids there--davis and i haven't spent lots of time with the youth group this spring because of the overlap with his bedtime. everytime we have gone, we've usually had to leave early and he isn't a big fan of the loud music and microphones and everything. our worship room is great in the youth area, but definitely loud, and he just hasn't been able to handle it yet. i'm hopeful for him doing better next school year!
we got to hang out with his buddy josh and my friend lynn, who were showing the art of jumping into the pool.
and we had some more fun with our waterproof camera. that was one of our purchases before he was born, and when we were choosing between a couple of of different models, the waterproof feature seemed like it would come in handy. it has so far this summer!
sweet boy (hanging by a thread, remember? hence the pacifier in the pool)
we ended up on the grass by the lake nearby, watching the kids and adults race kayaks across the pond. i had my new hat that i had just gotten from target, and thought it would be funny to plop it on his head.

it dwarfed him, but he didn't seem to mind. he was busy eating grass...
after eating dinner and hanging out with the other little ones inside, we headed home. another great year with our youth group, and certainly a good time with friends :)

the art of puff eating

2011-06-17T10:53:00.003-04:00

it's breakfast time, and i put davis in his high chair while i make coffee, let the dog out, give the cats their treats, let the dog back in, give her a treat, etc...

and davis entertains himself with self-feeding and his delicious puffs. (we've also added some yogurt melts at this point, too. both popular with him!)

he goes in for the grab...

"oh hey! the camera! better smile for it..." (i really think he knows what to do with it now)
there's sometimes a little playing with his food... (oh, okay, i did this one. but i do find puffs in random places, like behind his shoulder and stuck under his chin)

but he's getting much more skilled about going straight to his mouth :)
"see? and check out my two bottom teeth!" (no signs of the top ones yet, but lots of drooling and gnawing on things)
"all gone!"

sometimes he misses on the first try...
but he's learned how to go back and pop in the stray puffs.
he is SO independent, and this is one of the ways he has enjoyed having some control.
(the other one is wanting to "walk" everywhere and getting frustrated when he can't. seriously, we're going to be crawling before the end of the month, and cruising soon after. this boy is determined.)
but for now, we just enjoy our quiet moments in the mornings...
and puffs.

getting caught up

2011-06-17T10:51:00.001-04:00

i know it's been a while, and we have a fairly quiet weekend, so i'll be using that time to do several smaller posts (instead of doing everything in one big post that covers two weeks of stuff--like i've been doing lately.)

so enjoy and keep your eyes out for new posts over the weekend!

living for the weekends

2011-06-06T21:15:00.003-04:00

we've stayed super busy on the weekends lately, with some traveling and visiting friends and family. when you have a baby as adorable (and loved) as davis, everyone wants to see him!

the sunday of memorial day weekend, we headed west to my brother's house in knightdale for swimming, eating and hanging out with family.
davis hadn't napped well and was actually pretty cranky. the only thing going for him was his red cup...
and he threw a fit whenever i tried to take it away for a second so we could get a picture without!
then we decided to check out the splash pad area, which cousin will was already enjoying!
it was pretty impressive for a neighborhood pool, and davis seemed to like watching all the other kids playing
we climbed up to the top and then slid down with him on my lap. he was all smiles!
after enjoying an early dinner with the family, we continued west to visit with my aunts and cousins overnight. he was charming and flirted with my teenage cousins, playing with toys and looking at their yearbooks :)
sweet thing!
we slept well and got up in the morning, swinging outside before it got too hot.
we got davis settled in the baby dolphin swing, and he had a blast swinging with daddy...

cheesing it up!
he was all tuckered out for another nap--i love watching him sleep...
so then we played some more, had lunch and got packed up...but not before pushing his nap back and keeping him up so he would hopefully sleep in the car the whole way home!
can you see those tired eyes?
and he was out...slept the whole way back home! (we use the towel to shade him from the sun but still keep good air flow to him on hot days)

in the past week, he's really started moving and attempting some crawling techniques...
he will put his head down and pull his legs up underneath him, then push his head forward on the carpet (which is why we put blankets down.)
it really won't be long at all before he's really crawling--but we're okay with this in the meantime :)
he does love sitting up and "walking" with help, and it seems like he'll go right to that as soon as he can gain his balance.
this weekend, we went down to fayetteville for a night to celebrate my brother's birthday with the family. this guy slept halfway there and then woke up in a great mood--such a relief!
we spent time over at my grandma's, and davis was in a bit of a mood toward the end of the night. poor thing has been way off with his sleep patterns, between traveling and getting his second tooth last week. we tried doing everything to entertain him as we finished up dinner and dessert, and he wasn't interested in any of the toys or TV shows we put in front of him. my grandma grabbed him and took him outside, and he immediately quieted down and listened to the birds and all the noises of the neighborhood. what a reminder to appreciate the simple things!

on sunday, after we left church, we stopped by the airborne and special operations museum where they had flags displayed for the memorial day celebrations. somewhere in the "field of glory" flags, my grandmother sponsored a flag for my grandfather. we weren't able to find the actual one, but it was still a great tribute to the military.

it was also one of the first times i got to see "iron mike" up close.
we made it back and started our week without too much trouble. we're back to sleep training again, which is frustrating to have to start from scratch whenever he teethes or gets sick. but we saw some progress just going from last night to tonight--from 40 minutes of crying to 15 minutes...so we'll keep at it this time. i have to leave the house for it, but i went for a walk tonight with pepper while justin did it and really enjoyed it. maybe that's how i'll get back on track for trying to lose the last bit of baby weight!
we've also unofficially started the process of weaning, which is sad to me--but also a little bit of a relief. we made it to six months, which was my goal in the beginning. he just hasn't seemed as interested in nursing, and i cut down on my pumping at work so that i don't have to pump at all now. but just in the past few days, he's really only nursed overnight or maybe once in the morning. so i think we're just going to slowly cut it out all together and begin the process of night weaning as well, so hopefully (hopefully!) we can eventually sleep through the night soon.

and that's it for now. we'll be home this weekend and are excited to get some peace and quiet as summer really starts for the kids around here. happy end of the school year to everyone!

seven months and counting...

2011-05-28T19:42:00.004-04:00

it is so hard to believe that our little guy is seven months old today. each month just seems to fly by, with big milestones, sweet little moments and all those great memories that we are trying to hold on to! it seems like every stage we get to is my new "favorite" one, with more personality and independence coming out.

i was able to get a few pictures of the tooth poking through, and it's showing even more now since i took these photos...
the little nub sticking up through the gum line

he's been in a better mood since it finally broke, but i feel like he's starting on another one this weekend....lots of chewing on his fingers and random cries like he's in pain.
we have continued with the sleep training, and we've discovered he likes to sleep on his stomach. it's almost guaranteed that if you put him down on his stomach, he'll be out in less than 5 minutes. in the middle of the night last night, he woke up around 3:45 and couldn't have been hungry--he'd eaten just a little over an hour earlier. after trying and trying to get him back down in the pack and play in our room (where he usually sleeps for the 2nd half of the night) justin took him back to his room and put him down in the crib on his stomach. he stirred for just a little bit and then slept until 7:15! it's been a relief to see some progress, and i just dream of the night that i'll be able to sleep all the way through the night again. i feel like the constant sleep deprivation has really started to get to me, and though the sleep training has really helped, he's still up at least 2 times (and often more) each night.

i had my big allergy test this past week. i didn't ask the nurse to take a picture of my back for the first part of the test, but they had 51 different allergens on my back, done with six different panels. didn't really hurt, just a quick pinch of pressure six times. i could feel welts swelling up and itching from several different areas, and after 15 minutes, they came back in and measured the welts for the ones that had reacted. i had 23 that didn't react on my back, and they had to do those on my arm with individual needles underneath the top layer of skin (like a tb test.)
this is my arm after the 23 had time to react and were measured. four days later, i STILL have welts from several of the allergens, four days later! (and the marker--sharpie that actually came off. i was surprised! i had made the mistake of wearing a tanktop that day and thought that i would have numbers on my upper arm for the rest of the day.)

the final verdict? i'm very allergic to grasses (which is why my allergies were worse this summer), dust, molds and...cats.a small reaction, but still allergic to them. no, grace and milo aren't getting kicked out (though milo does try our patience with his puking, whining and tendency to eat the dog's food now....)

we have had a great relaxing weekend so far. i'm excited that we all have monday off, and we'll get to visit with family and do some photo shoots.

davis is still doing big kisses with us--really adorable (and slobbery and wet....)
going for justin's nose...
and a HUGE wet one. i love this!
we also got his perfectly-sized mickey mouse in the mail this week. he immediately smiled and laughed in recognition of mickey, and it's become one of his favorite toys recently.
today, while justin was getting in some guy time with a movie and video games, davis and i hung out at home and then ran a couple of errands. i had a couple of coupons from babies r us that expired this weekend, so we headed out this afternoon and tried out his seat cover for the first time. he seemed to be a big fan!

we had to scope out the other mickey toys, too... (didn't get either one, but he still loved looking at them)
it was fun just to have him out while i was running errands, and he smiles at and charms everyone that he sees in the store :)
we got home just missing some rain showers, and we looked out to see a beautiful rainbow over the neighborhood--a great way to end our day.
and now that he's down (less than two or three minutes tonight, i think), we're catching up on episodes of friday night lights and i'll be doing some editing from my photo sessions at strawberries on 903 a couple of weeks ago. two more days to enjoy this weekend, and we plan on soaking up every minute of it....

just hanging out

2011-05-24T21:04:00.004-04:00

so the last couple of weekends have been nice and relaxing. we haven't had to travel much, which will make up for the next couple of weekends when we're on the road :)

we've gotten out davis' baby pool and will fill it up in the morning, letting the water get warm in the sun until the afternoon. honestly, it's more of an outdoor bath for him because the pool water is nice and comfortable and he's playing with most of the same toys that he does in the tub. the only thing that gets him really excited is the grass outside the pool, and the fact that pepper can run right up to him out there

and mommy or daddy can get in there with him, too!
we're nearing 7 months (this saturday) and i am so in love with this stage. he has so much personality that is coming through, and he's finally starting to try and communicate with us through gestures, or throwing royal fits when we take something away that he so desperately wants. he has favorite toys, this wild curiosity about everything around him, and the ability to observe details and figure out the world around him so quickly. the other day, he was being held up to a window with blinds on it, he knew that as soon as someone held the cord to the blinds, he could look up to the top of the window and watch the blinds be pulled up.
we were so happy to have family come and visit us this past weekend, coming in town for our church's baby dedication and parent commitment on sunday. friday afternoon, justin's sister heather came in town and we got together for dinner that night, complete with s'mores on the back patio.
mmm.... nothing i love better than a good s'more!

and our little man was loving being outside. he is definitely happiest there--can watch the birds and trees, all of the neighborhood animals and sounds--lots to keep him entertained.
saturday morning, we were able to relax and take it easy as davis practiced sitting up on his own with some of his big toys.
i did some minor repair work on wubba....and researched some new options for us, since wubba's pacifier is the 0-3 month soothie, and davis really needs a thicker pacifier because we have FINALLY got a tooth coming through! haven't gotten a picture of it yet, but it's his bottom left one that's just peeking out.

our best option so far has been a paci plushie, which gives us the option of changing out a pacifier as he gets bigger. one is one the way, so we'll see how it goes. honestly, he's so cute with that little dog that i hate the idea of trying to replace him...but obviously he's gone through a lot in the last 7 months :)

and while i had the camera out taking pictures, i had to share my pedicure that i got last week (thanks to alan and rachel for their gift certificate at christmas) and i loved the color so much that i had to get it. it's called "melon of troy" and i think it will be my go-to color for this summer.

after mom and grandma arrived, they had just hit up a yard sale and had lots of new toys to share with davis. he thought this duck puppet (that quacks three different songs when you move his mouth) was just the funniest thing ever
we were able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the house, and then justin and i got a date night out, where we had dinner and went for a walk at a park before getting a text from mom that davis was asleep. before that, we were questioning if we'd try to be back in time for his bedtime routine. since he was asleep already, we took advantage of it and stopped in a couple of stores and got frozen yogurt before heading back home. it was so nice to be able to relax and spend some time with justin without being rushed.

the next morning, we all got up and got ready for church. we met the rest of the family there and sat together during the service. right after the welcome, they called up each of the five families participating and showed pictures of the babies on the large screen overhead. i had fun picking out which pictures we would show!
davis was very interested in the big screen behind us and looking at the lights above. i was so glad he did well and was cooperative through the short segment, where we promised to raise him in a Christian home.
after church, we all headed back over to mike and debbie's for a cook-out. i didn't get any pictures, mainly because i was feeling awful and left early to go to urgent care. i woke up that morning with a very sore throat and what i thought was an ear infection. i'm also in the process of getting tested for allergies and had been off of my regular allergy medication for several days. all of the congestion and colds that i had earlier in the month had finally caused some sort of infection, so i was just waiting until i could go see a doctor and was getting really uncomfortable. the doctor confirmed that my tonsils were looking infected and didn't bother doing a strep test, just prescribing a round of antibiotics. (more information about the allergy testing tomorrow, when they do the skin test and see what i'm allergic to. i'm bringing my camera to document if i can :) )

so we finished out the weekend with one last round in the pool.... (he loves this colinder--makes it look like it's raining)
mmm... crab legs (just a squirty crab toy, but everything goes in the mouth.)

and a few laps around the house on this car that also doubles as a walker toy, for when he starts learning to walk (heaven help us)

he was a big fan of riding on the car!
and had to test it for teething qualities, too.

we're excited for the long weekend coming up and the opportunity to see more family. we have a pool/cook-out party planned in knightdale, and then will visit with my aunts and cousins later on. yay for fun family activities :)

random bits

2011-05-12T08:44:00.000-04:00

-we've been enjoying some lazy mornings around the house this week. just recently, i went from full-time at work to contract, which means i am in the office to see clients i have scheduled and otherwise make my own schedule. if i don't have clients (or paperwork to catch up on), i don't have to be in the office. we were uncertain about the transition working for us (and honestly, we're just coming up on the first paycheck from this new situation, so that will probably give us a better idea of how well this is actually going) but i have loved having those quiet morning hours with my boy and the animals and relaxed breakfasts and long walks in the stroller and hearing him giggle at disney junior in the background.

-speaking of which, we've reached a point where the disney junior shows are re-runs for us. not a big deal for him, obviously, but when i start to remember which mouskatool they use to get the coconuts out of the tree, it's just a little disconcerting. and when they start off using the mystery mouskatool for the first object--WHOA--hold on to your horses, we're in for a wild ride at the clubhouse today.

-his newest cute trick is grabbing your face and pulling it towards him for a full-on, open mouth, sloppy drool-filled kiss.
(and since i still stink at keeping his nails short, it often hurts! i'm working at filing them down when he cooperates)

-over the past week, we've worked on doing sleep training with him. this comes at a desperate time where his bedtime routine could easily take 45 minutes to an hour to get him in the crib and asleep, with several attempts at putting him down only to have him wake up and fuss. i had read several books leading up to this, including "the no cry sleep solution" and "healthy sleep habits, happy child." but the one that motivated me to get this going was "the sleep-easy solution." written by two clinical social workers who have their own sleep practice in LA and work with celebrities on solving their kids sleep issues, they have specific sections dedicated to the emotional side of parents and even a chapter to read while you're doing the sleep training about why your child has to cry some in frustration in order to learn this new skill. we started out with about 30 minutes of fussing the first couple of nights and have gotten it down to about 10 minutes last night. he's still waking up twice during the night to eat, and i'm thinking about working on weaning him from the night feeds over the weekend (they also give you a process to help do that in the sleep-easy solution.)

-i am about one size away from my pre-pregnancy clothes. so close, yet still a large portion of my closet that i can't get into. i've been trying to get just enough basics to get me through the summer, and i'm hoping once i stop nursing i will drop those last few pounds.

-and just because it's so adorable...my little man laughing at pepper and playing with one of his toys while he sits up on his own.

mother's day weekend

2011-05-10T20:58:00.003-04:00

it was my first "official" mother's day this past weekend, though i still considered myself a participant in last year's mother's day, too. i remember being about four months pregnant, just beginning to show and meeting mom and grandma at the outlets in smithfield for lunch. we hit up motherhood maternity for some clothes to get me through the summer, and i still felt the joy of being a "soon to be" mom.

my mom and grandma came down on saturday, after we spent the morning cleaning up the house and catching up on chores. we were invited over to justin's mom's in the afternoon for a cook-out, and his step-dad had built a frame for his baby swing. we got davis in it and he was hooked!
(my friend lindsey noted his huge feet here--yes, we think he's going to have big feet!)
i think he has a new favorite spot at his grandma's house :)
after lunch on the back patio, justin and i took him down on the lawn to do his six month pictures. instead of trying to set up our "studio," we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous day and perfect lighting. i was so happy with how these turned out!

we tried this one with justin's hat... too cute!

i am loving his big smile... and i still think i see reddish hair coming in!
he was chewing on his thumb that day, probably another sign of teething.
his pint-sized hat that we keep over at hi grandma's house. i think it made his eyes look blue, though we're not sure what color they're going right now.
i loved the white picket fence for a background--perfect for spring time photos.

we had to get some pictures of his new favorite trick--standing up!
he does a great job of smiling for the camera--thank goodness!
and then a couple of him sitting up on his own!
such a big boy!

we took it easy for the rest of the night, getting davis down and visiting with justin's friend kenny who stopped by. we all got up for church, and justin made me a delicious breakfast of blueberry pancakes and strong coffee :) i had to snap this picture from my spot in church, because it just made me happy to have everyone lined up beside me.
davis did a great job, not even having to be taken out of church. he went down for a nap while we waited for my brother alan and his wife rachel to get there. once davis woke back up, we all went out to lunch where he did great sitting in his high chair and eating some solids before our food came. we left from the restaurant and went to one of the local farms, strawberries on 903, to get some goodies and explore. what a great stop for us to make!
after choosing our baskets of strawberries (you can pick them in the fields yourself there, but we opted for the easier "already picked" kind) and other fresh produce, we walked around to visit all of the farm animals they had out.

they had goats...
he was still trying to figure out if they were friendly (like the dog) or not
and these guys were my favorite. they had little nubs of horns that were just coming in...
then we checked out the peacock, who crowed twice while we were there. who knew peacocks crowed?
i wish it had opened its tail while we were there, but it was still pretty cool to see a peacock next to all the turkeys and other birds in the pens.
there were a couple of cute bunnies...

and the pigs were his favorite. he laughed at them when we first got there and thought they were the funniest things ever.
but by the chickens, i guess he was kinda over it.
we finished our trip with a big cup of homemade ice cream, with banana, peach and blueberry flavors. so good!

it was the perfect mother's day, and i was so glad to spend it with my family, my husband, and of course--my beautiful son. i don't think i could have ever imagined how he would change my life, but it has been such a wonderful journey so far. no one can ever explain to you the love that a mother feels for her children, the sacrifices you're willing to make, and the overwhelming joy that they bring to you--until you're there. i said many times after my labor and delivery experience and that first time of holding davis, "you just don't understand it until you've been through it." other people had told me that, and i guess i figured it was true, but i still thought i could prepare for it and would have an idea... but i didn't. i know i've loved other people, and i know i loved my pets--i mean, pepper was our "baby" for the past two years--but it doesn't compare for the love i feel for davis.

a happy belated mother's day to all of the mother's out there--such an amazing club to be a part of this year :)

what davis has been up to lately

2011-05-06T21:48:00.003-04:00

we had davis' six month well visit this past week. sitting in the waiting room reminded me of our first couple of visits there when he was just a few days old. and now here we are, with this gummy, chubby, sweet little boy who is just growing up in every way imaginable!
his new stats--16 lbs 1 oz (25th percentile), 26 1/2 in long (50th percentile) and an 18 in head circumference (95th percentile.) the doctor wasn't too concerned about his drop in weight percentile, but will keep an eye on it. i like to think that he's just taking after his daddy :)

i thought it'd be fun to share some of his photos from the past month or so and show what he's been working on...

we're definitely working on the "supported sitting." he's mostly got that down, but will still lose his balance every now and then.
bath time is still one of his favorite things, though he only gets baths two nights a week right now because of his skin. we might bump that up to three nights during the summer with the combination of sunscreen, bug repellant and pools/sandboxes.
we're working on sitting in high chairs at restaurants, though he usually ends up in our arms or laps. we ended up having to pad this chair with jackets and burp cloths, and he also slid out of another high chair last weekend when we forgot to connect the straps (he wasn't hurt, just a little startled, and we won't make that mistake again!)
he loves his high chair at home, though, and is doing great with eating solids. we haven't found anything yet that he really dislikes. didn't seem crazy about peas or prunes, but still ate them. we're enjoying slowly branching out to the stage 2 combo foods with him :)
he's been a little traveler over the past few weeks--trips to fayetteville, down east, coats, knightdale. he is so much better in the car and we've only had a few meltdowns on long trips (both him and me--poor justin can tell you stories about listening to him scream in the back seat and listening to me try to calm him down unsuccessfully.) we also got a photo in front of his namesake town! apparently he was the 3rd davis that week to have his picture taken in front of the sign.
we've found that he will often love playing with the most ordinary things. cups, spoons and small boxes will hold his attention for the longest time.
he has a great temperament and usually only gets upset with a valid reason.
and he's doing much better with justin overall, though he still shows a preference for mommy when he's really tired ;)

they're cute together--like father, like son!
since the weather has warmed up, we really enjoy taking walks around the neighborhood in the evening. i do pretty well with the stroller and the dog, though pepper will often slow us down and likes to zig zag back and forth in front of us while we're walking. davis loves the walks and looking around at everything. he gets upset when we have to pull the shade down because of the sun in his eyes!
and finally, the most amusing thing to me--he's taken to mickey mouse. we'll have mickey mouse clubhouse on in the background in the morning, and i started to notice that during the intro, he will coo and smile at the TV when mickey comes on the screen. we tested it on the computer with one of the online episodes--same thing. and this morning, he was nursing as the show was coming on and stopped eating to turn and watch the tv after recognizing the voice. hey, of all the characters he got into, i think mickey mouse is one of the best options out there!

anniversary surprise

2011-05-03T20:23:00.003-04:00

a couple of weeks ago, justin and i celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. every year prior to this, we did a long weekend trip somewhere for the occasion. our first year, it was a ferry ride over to ocracoke. then our second year, it was down to charleston for a truly southern experience.
then last year, it was a long weekend to savannah where i was a couple of months pregnant but walked those 29 squares like it was nobody's business.

so this year, doing a weekend trip just wasn't an option. i'm just not ready yet to leave davis overnight yet, and with everything else that ended up happening with dad passing and us having to travel for his memorial service, i suppose it worked out.

we went to fayetteville for easter weekend as planned, and i had arranged ahead of time for my mom and grandma to watch davis so we could go out to lunch (so justin thought.) we had a nice, relaxing lunch at scrub oaks (which i highly recommend to anyone that direction) and during the meal, justin asked me if i was okay with not traveling this year. i said of course, since we weren't doing overnights away from davis yet and everything, and he figured that was the end of the conversation.

well, before we headed back to the house, i asked him if we could make one more stop. i punched the address in the GPS and had justin drive us to the unknown location, just a few minutes away from where we had eaten lunch. as he drove off the main road and toward our destination, i told him, "surprise! we're going ziplining!"
(fyi--dislike this picture of me, but it's the only one we had in front of the sign. ugh. anyway, here it is)

fayetteville is home to one of the top 10 ziplining courses in the US. we had seen billboards for it on i-95 for the past year or so, but hadn't really looked into it. once i knew we wouldn't be traveling but could possibly do something in fayetteville to celebrate, i did my research and figured it would be the perfect "adventure" for us.

so then we got geared up and joined the other six people on our tour for a 2 and 1/2 hour zipline experience where we stayed in the air (on platforms, ziplines, staircases or bridges) the entire time!

here i am at "ground school" as we learned all the basic skills.
and then we started climbing to the first platform and started our tour!
justin coming in on one of the ziplines--it was the coolest feeling flying through the air!

they also had several of the platforms connected by these suspension bridges--a little wobbly, but really cool (and we were hooked in the whole time. there was never a point where we were unhooked during the entire time in the air.)
here's a shot from one of the spiral staircases. there were three on the course, with a couple of them around trees.
and finally, the big focus of the tour--carver falls. this was a panoramic shot that i took with our little camera...from one side of the suspension bridge to the other.
a picture of us with the falls in the background--our tour guides were really good about taking photos and letting us know the best spots for pictures.
and the "fun" shot where they had us lean back off the platform until our cords pulled tight. i was not so thrilled about this one.. (notice my death grip on the cords, while justin just chills out over there)
it was a great experience and i'm so glad we did it--and i'm so happy i got to surprise justin with it! we plan on doing a "big" trip next year for our fifth anniversary, hopefully with a cruise or at least somewhere tropical :) i also have several spots that i'd love for us to visit for a weekend, including atlanta (specifically to see the georgia aquarium), baltimore and gatlinburg/pigeon forge.

and just because it wouldn't be a blog post without a picture of davis, here are a couple of the latest ones we took over the weekend...

holding his head up so well!
his "big" laugh--i love seeing his tongue stick out like that!
hope everyone has a great week!

a little bit of enlightenment

2011-05-01T22:07:00.004-04:00

i'm sitting here weighing my options--

blog? or go put up the laundry that is currently stacked in piles across our bed?

and honestly, as i look over at the little monthly updates on the right hand side that shows i've written four posts in the last two months and honestly, the laundry will still be there tomorrow. a moment of peace and quiet when i am kinda feeling like writing? might not be. i should take advantage of it while it's here.

so i feel like i should give some background information about my dad and his recent passing. i've gotten so good at telling this story in person that i can usually make it all the way through without my voice cracking. i have people who care about us and want to know about him, and though it wasn't often publicized, my dad was sick and had been sick for quite some time. it just a matter of how much he was letting it affect him at the time.

my dad was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a type of lymphoma cancer, for the first time when i was like 8 or 9, i think. all i really remember from this was visiting him in the hospital a few times while he had treatments and from then on, he had a long scar on his chest that we saw while we were playing at the pool or on the beach. he was in remission for about 11 years, and it came back while i was in college. i remember at the time he was working as a cook in a local restaurant where he lived, and he wasn't really aware that he was sick because he figured he was losing weight and feeling crappy from the heat in the kitchen. he was so happy cooking there, too, and i hate that this interrupted that time period for him.

so he continued chemo treatments at the hospital in fayetteville, losing his hair and getting his port put in and fighting it with all his might. after about a year of treatment, they thought it was gone.

and a scan showed that no, they were wrong. off to duke for treatment this time, where he would go from there on out for any major medical work. only the best for my dad (and a very nice hook-up from his brother and sister-in-law, who work at duke hospital.) he always commented that it was tough to go there as a carolina fan, but he knew it's where he needed to be.

around the same time, his second marriage fell apart and he moved out into his own apartment. there's nothing quite as ironic as moving your father out from his second marriage and seeing wedding gifts from his first marriage in the moving boxes (plus the added irony that the apartments he moved into? they were the same ones he and my mom lived in after they were first married.) needless to say, this was an odd stage for all of us. dad would introduce us to a few women he was "talking to" after that, one of which was thankfully joy. more on her later.

they finally got rid of the hodgkin's disease and decided to focus on his heart. the damage from the radiation from the first round of treatments, now almost 14 or 15 years ago, was creating some issues for him. they scheduled him for open heart surgery to fix it, and alan and i would take turns staying with him following the surgery during that summer. i was just graduating from my masters program, and still had the summer off until i started my new job the following school year.

the first surgery went okay with him spending many hours "open" on the table, but they were keeping an eye on his heart performance as something seemed a little off. i went up there to visit the day afterward, and i remember bringing him his favorite popsicles--the minute maid ones in the wax paper tubes. there were some complications that day, and i was in the hallway, making a phone call when my aunt mary anne ran up and turned me away from the gurney flying past. it was dad--they were taking him into emergency surgery again. they later told me that he "coded" on the table, but they were able to resuscitate him and fix the heart valve that wasn't working. they put him into a medically induced coma for a couple of weeks, hoping that the rest would allow his body to recover. i went home, crying in justin's arms, scared that i was going to lose my father that summer. it was 2005.

and he made it. he came back to that little apartment, letting me and alan run errands, pick up prescriptions, visit his favorite cashiers at food lion (they all knew him by name there) and help him recover that summer. he had survived, when in all likelihood, he shouldn't have.

and it seems like where his life should've ended, it really just began.

over the next six years, he walked me down the aisle in my wedding and stood by proudly during alan's wedding.

he continued his relationship with joy, a kindred spirit in her love of music, food, carolina and... well, life. knowing his health concerns and the fact that he was "one bad CT scan away from the hospital or nursing home," as he used to say, she loved him and wanted to marry him. and they did, in a small ceremony downeast where my grandparents could attend in the fall of 2008.

carl frazier, one of my mom and dad's friends from growing up in the united methodist youth program and our pastor at my home church all during my high school years, was able to officiate all three of our weddings. he also led the memorial service a few weeks ago. i am so thankful for his ability to be there for our family at our highest--and lowest--points, and to narrate those times so beautifully with the most personal touches.

and dad got to see davis. he was a proud grandfather and loved his new grandson so much--you could see it looking at the pictures of him holding davis after he was first born, and then a few months later as davis was able to look back at him, staring puzzled at his goatee--something he hadn't seen often on others ;)

but all during the last five years, there were regular hospital visits where dad would go in for "tune ups." he would begin retaining water weight, sometimes gaining 30 or more pounds as his belly started to grow. sometimes it was for a valid reason (just recently he began significantly reducing his salt intake) and other times it made no sense at all. there was one particular visit where the cause of his stay was potentially traced back to him eating too much citrus fruit and plums over the prior weeks. my uncle billy would call me with updates and more than once, he would relay a story about how the doctors were scratching their heads, trying to figure out what went wrong, why dad was suddenly getting better, and how they were going to treat it the next time.

these visits, unfortunately, became so commonplace to me that i stopped alerting friends when they occurred. that's why many of my friends weren't aware that my dad was in the hospital this last time, but i think we all assumed it would be just like the other times. he goes in, he gets fluids, drops the water weight, doctors scratch their heads, he gets better and is out again within a week or so.

this time was different, though. his kidney had begun to fail, and they attempted dialysis for the first time the day before he passed. it was unsuccessful and his body was failing to get rid of the fluids this time. (all of this information is in lay terms--i sure my uncle or aunt could provide more medically sound terminology, but that's not me.) i spoke to dad briefly on thursday night before they were going to do the dialysis, and then to my uncle on friday, who told me that because his body wasn't getting rid of the fluids, some of the medication was building up as well. because of that, dad was having some pretty wacky hallucinations and had entertained them during the dialysis with whipping cords across the room and other antics. (we had similar stories of dad's dreams during his medically induced coma, as well as coming out of sedation from surgery--he didn't handle those well.) i decided not to call that night, figuring it wouldn't be a productive conversation.

he passed away around 6 am the next morning, quickly, quietly...and finally without pain.

i am grateful that my dad is no longer burdened with his health problems, living from one hospital visit to another. i am grateful for the life that he lived in between hospital visits, not missing those milestone moments over the past six years, creating new memories, a new marriage, being a part of a new life. he didn't let that first brush with death hold him back.

i grieve our loss, though. so thankful that davis will have pictures with his grandfather, yet not get to grow up with him. i miss our phone calls and family lunches and seeing the things that made him happy but not being able to share them--a new recipe or review of a restaurant, a food network show, an update on the carolina basketball team, a classic rock song or even an old standby from one of his favorite musicians.

we had two wonderful memorial services for him--one downeast, where my grandparents could attend, where he grew up and was known and loved, and in the place that he loved. and then one yesterday, further inland, where his friends, family and coworkers from the past could remember him.

and so though the "official" services are over, my therapeutic side knowingly says that the grieving has just begun. it will continue to ache, tears will continue to well up, memories will continue to flood in. being a therapist and grieving doesn't necessarily make it easier, but it's a comfort to know the stages and process and just get used to actually experiencing them yourself, instead of leading someone else through it.

and i promise that this will not be a frequent topic for me to write about, but i figured i owed the situation one lengthy post. thanks for sticking with me--through this post and just in general. four posts in two months? hopefully that will be a thing of the past :) i think i need the community of blogging as much as i need the cathartic process of blogging.

six months... really?

2011-05-01T21:56:00.002-04:00

we shared this video earlier in the week when davis turned six months on the 28th. i love watching the videos from his first couple of weeks. i call that stage "little alien baby," because he's just all eyes and darting tongue and huge dramatic expressions. and then he becomes this smiling, cooing wide-eyed baby with a personality and a laugh and such a sweet sweet love for life.

enjoy :)

M.I.A.

2011-04-26T21:34:00.003-04:00

so yes, i've been missing in action lately. i'm honestly not sure how mommy bloggers (who also work full-time) do it. granted, i have the situation where my child doesn't nap for very long in the morning, and when i get home from work in the late afternoon or evening, it's usually bedtime and then begins the "second shift" of chores, errands or finishing up a few last notes for work. i have kept up with many of my favorite blogs, so please don't feel like i'm neglecting you. one of my favorite ways to unwind right now is to sit down and read stories from my dear internet friends.

and then there's the other reason i haven't blogged. i've sorta had writer's block on how to return to blogging and writing and expressing my thoughts when it's been easier to keep them all tucked up in my head and "intellectualized" like i do with my therapy clients.

because my dad died two and a half weeks ago.

and it still hurts and though i'm so grateful for my son and how he has pushed us onward--because his world keeps moving and drags us with it--i know it's also kept me from stopping to wallow and grieve and reshape my world without my father in it.

i hope to post more often in the coming weeks. now that the band-aid's been ripped off, it's time to do some writing and let some healing happen.

plus, we have a child that is clearly too adorable to keep to ourselves and must be shared with the world.
(getting his feet sandy at cedar island while we were downeast for the memorial service--his grandfather would have been so proud)

checking in

2011-03-15T20:30:00.003-04:00

we've had a good past few weeks. it's amazing to see how davis is growing and the little milestones we're seeing each day.

i did a series of mini sessions at the local daffodil field the past couple of weekends and am just finishing editing. love them! it felt good to get back to taking photos again, too. davis and justin do pretty well without me, and i've gotten to meet lots of new families in the area.

work is doing well--our agency is getting tons of referrals, and with one of our contract therapists leaving, i'm inheriting a good portion of her case load. it makes me feel good to stay busy and use my time well while i'm away from davis during the day.
we've got several big weekends coming up--planning our first trip downeast to see my grandparents (we'll stop in the town of davis, one of his namesakes, on the way down and take a picture, i'm sure) as well as easter, going to some of the local festivals, and davis's first birthday party for one of his friends!
he's been spending some good quality time with his daddy lately, though he still prefers me at night and putting him to bed. we're all pretty exhausted lately, but i just keep telling myself that it's a phase and it will soon pass....(yawn)
i'm trying to think of other interesting things in our household...well, we're putting pepper on a diet. her recent trip to the groomers where she shed her shaggy coat showed us that she's put on a few pound over the winter. i blame the cold weather, tired owners and cleaning too many plates from the table. it's tough love with her now--no sharing people food (or at least very little) and many more play sessions with us as the weather warms up.
i'm also working on shedding the baby weight--i'm back in to some of my previous clothes, but have had to buy a few things to transition into the summer. i'm hopeful to start doing regular exercise, too, as it gets warmer and we can go for walks at night. but i'm also a fan of conserving energy when i'm already exhausted. usually the conserving energy wins out!
and it's offical--we have the cutest baby ever.
but i'm a little biased ;)

potpourri of randomness

2011-03-08T20:01:00.003-05:00

*it's really bugging me that my blog is still in valentine's day mode and i haven't done march/st. patty's day theme yet. but this week has been all about priorities, and right now, that's just not one of them.

*davis has continued to regress with sleeping. like waking up every 2 hours regression, so it's almost like we're back to having a newborn. we tried something different last night, letting him sleep the first hour or two and when he woke up, keeping him up for an hour or so, then putting him back to bed later. (with last night's schedule, that was sleeping from 6 pm until 8 pm, wake from 8 pm to 9:15, then back down and--yay!--sleeping for four hours after that. progress!)

*for the past couple of months, pepper has been chewing up random breastpump supplies that i leave on top of my pump or in the bag. thankfully, many friends gave me their extra pump parts and stockpiles, or else i'd be very upset (and purchasing way too many replacement parts.) it's very odd and disturbing to find your dog chewing up a pump shield, and obviously i haven't learned my lesson by putting the bag up where she can't get to it.

*gas prices are starting to seriously concern me. i've been driving more frequently to help out at work with traveling to see clients in their home (like i used to do a couple of years ago.) i have a 16 gallon tank in my car, which means filling up with gas is over $50. and i'm having to do it on an almost weekly basis now. ugh... i'm scared to see what it will do this summer!

*i have about 1600 photos to upload from the daffodil field pictures that i took the past two weekends. and i haven't done it yet--but have great intentions to do so tomorrow night. and then will begin a massive editing streak. again, priorities. sleep became more important when we were getting so much less of it!

*i also have a nasty case of poison ivy from the daffodil field. this is the 2nd or 3rd time i've gotten poison ivy from there? you'd think i would've learned by now---but here i am, itching and dealing with several serious patches of pink welts. woo hoo!

*i also have several adorable photos of davis, in the daffodil field as well as other daily photos that show just how cute this baby is. but they're still on the memory cards and i know that uploading those will also mean uploading the daffodil photos. so it's just easier if i think, "no, they're on the cards right now, i'll get to them later." procrastinate much?

*he had his 4 month check up last friday, and the new stats are as follows: 14 lbs 4 oz, 24 and 3/4 inches long, and a 17 and 1/4 inch head. he did great, handled the shots well, and charmed the doctor with his smile during the whole visit.

*and i think that's about it...baby's awake. let's see how night 2 goes of some alert time...

four months old

2011-02-28T20:05:00.003-05:00

our little guy is four months old today! we don't have our dr's appointment until the end of the week, so we'll have to wait until then for updated stats. i'm guessing he's around 15 pounds, and i know he seems much longer. a lot of his sleepers are too short for him now, and i'm sorting out all of the 0-3 month clothes as he outgrows them. we're still pretty good in 3 month stuff (especially carters, which is a lot of what we have) and now are doing good in 3-6 month things. it's been fun going through and putting him in some of the hand-me-downs we have in larger sizes. he went to church on sunday sporting this cute little outfit...

there's actually a pair of matching shorts, but i didn't think it was quite time for that yet.
the hat was just perfect!
we are definitely in teething mode. one of the things that we've found helps him is a rubber spoon in the freezer. we can take it out and give it to him, and he just goes to town! (as shown in the video.)

apparently with four months comes more developmental changes, including a fun "four month sleep regression." i hadn't even heard of this until today, but after a couple of horrible nights of sleep during the past week, justin looked it up and sent me a couple of links. in a way, i guess it's reassuring to know that he's normal and perfectly on track (and that we're not alone!) and in another way--it's still completely exhausting. i'm very interested in seeing what the pediatrician says. some people have mentioned rice cereal, and i'm just hesitant to jump into that already.

we have started supplementing with formula with him during the day. i realized this was necessary after a couple of weeks where we were cutting it very close with what i could pump and what he was eating while at his grandma's. i was stressing myself out in the evening, trying to pump a couple of times before bed (and staying up later to do it) and then again during the day, when my schedule wasn't working for me to pump enough times. so we're mixing a couple of ounces of formula with the breastmilk and it makes the supply last much longer so that i can actually stock up now. and i've noticed that now that i'm not stressing about it, i seem to be doing better with how much i can pump anyways. i guess it's just a relief, and davis doesn't seem to notice the difference.

his skin is so much better (though the heat from today and yesterday may have made it flare back up just a little bit.) we've been doing baths every 2-3 nights instead of every night, and when we do bathe him, it's with lukewarm water, a milder soap and then lots and lots of cream afterward. we also have some very mild steroid cream for the bad spots, and those have cleared right up. we are watching the spots behind his knees again--he has learned that if he pulls his legs up in the air with his hands for support, he can scratch behind his knees. (that's actually been one of his tricks for keeping himself awake when he's trying to fight sleep.)

we did a big test this past weekend and let justin and davis stay together for 7 hours while i went to durham to see "in the heights" with one of my work friends. i think we were all nervous about this at first, because davis has been a total mama's boy lately and has screamed when justin has tried to help with him going to bed or in the middle of the night. i end up doing it all myself because i'd rather deal with it than listen to him cry. it's a completely irrational reaction, and he quiets down as soon as i hold him. so we'd already bought the tickets before he started this up in the last week or so, and i just told him to call someone if he started getting really frustrated or needed back up. i checked in all during the afternoon while i was gone (and it was an amazing musical, by the way, sooo good!) and they did awesome together :) went down for naps and played and ate and did just fine. we tested it again this evening and he fussed--so it just seems to be an evening/nighttime thing. at least i know i can leave him for the day, and we're hoping to get back on track for sleeping and going to bed soon. goodness, let's hope so. there's only so many nights of bad sleep that i can take while still working full time during the day!

the crazy thing is--after a bad night of sleep and very limited naps today, he was still in a great mood this evening before bath time. i love hearing his laugh!

new tricks

2011-02-24T20:38:00.003-05:00

davis has enjoyed "flying" with us--he's no dare devil, but he'll tolerate a little air time with daddy :)

getting ready...
get set...
go!
coming in for a kiss :)
sweet photo with daddy--i really love this one. so glad his eyes stayed clear and detailed...
now many people have asked how pepper has felt about davis. there's no doubt that she's gotten more cuddly with justin as i've stayed preoccupied with the baby, but she does like giving him kisses when she gets a chance. especially when we have him right at her level...
(he doesn't mind it too much either!)

and of course, a new video with his current favorite trick--trying to put his feet in his mouth!

a friendly reminder that jonah's eb auction has started tonight and i have two items in there for bidding--a photo package and a set of custom letters. please click on over and bid for eb :)