Sunday, December 28, 2008

Rule #25: Always remember to say (or sign) thank you

Every year on Christmas Eve the Davis extended family gathers and grandma's house. It's quite the gathering, with dinner and the great-grandkids get jammers. It's very fun. One of the best traditions is piling all of the great-grandkids on the couch for a picture. It was Evan's first year...and he was a really good sport about it. Christopher was holding him and did a really good job. We are only missing one child, who was born a week ago, so she is excused with good reason.

Alex's grandparents gave Evan a portable booster for him to bring when he comes for Sunday dinner. Even though Evan doesn't understand it now...we had him "say" or sign Thank You when he got presents. You gotta start the good manners at an early age right?


Grandma Susan and Grandpa Doug gave our family some signing time DVD's. I'm very excited about this. Both of my sisters have taught their children sign language as infants with great results. They are able to communicate with their kids before they can really talk! It's wonderful! So, thank you again.
Grandpa Guy and Grandma Emma gave us a highchair for Evan, it's fabulous. He actually successfully ate his first entire bowl of rice cereal in it just yesterday! *confetti*

And Papa and Nana gave our family a membership to the zoo for an entire year! I'm also very excited about this. I have fond memories of the zoo with my family (specifically my father) when I was little and I'd like to pass this on to my children. We can take guests, so if anyone is up for an outing to the zoo give us a call!

I just want to thank all of our friends and family for all that you do for us. Not just what you have given to my family, but thank you for who you are and for the relationships that we have with all of you. I'm so blessed to be able to surround my family with good people, who are good examples for me and my son. Thank you for your love and support.

Rule #24: You can never celebrate Christmas too much

Forgive me on this post, it's going to be mostly pictures...and way too many of them! But that's how it goes during Christmas....and someone once told me I need to have MORE pictures...so this post is for them.

We celebrated Christmas twice at my dad's this year. The reason being so my sister Annie and her family could celebrate with us. (ironically, I didn't get any pictures of her this visit, but she was here I promise!)
This is Morgan, Brightynn and Emma

Grandma Emma had crafts for the kids. They could decorate trees or gingerbread men. The kids had a really good time. I even decorated a tree...I got pretty into it. I guess I'm still a kid at heart right? Beckham and KaraiaMe and my nieces....well, some of them. McKinney was sick, and Brooklyn was...elsewhere. (I'm not entirely sure why she wasn't in the picture). Oh and that's Mark jumping in the background...silly Mark, you're no girl :)Me and the boys, except for Evan who was napping. Brenner, Tennyson and Beckham The girls got hats from Grandma...so cute! Tennyson wanted to be so cute too! Evan opening his snowman present. He loves this thing, he could watch it forever...it changes colors!

Beckham sitting on Alex's lap. I love to see how Beckham loves Alex. He always wants Alex to play car or any other "boy game" with him. It's really cute. And we were informed by his mother on Christmas that he must be Alex's child for how much Beckham likes video games. :) So that will be one more thing that they can do together.

Annie got Morgan cooking supplies and this cute apron. Morgan was so excited.

And this is my Papa. He's a master chef therefore he spends a fair amount of time in the kitchen. I know that I sure appreciate all his efforts!

Rule #23: Don't underestimate the DI

The DI can be a wonderful place, but you have to put in the time there. You really have to sift through a lot of ugly things in order to find the treasures. While shopping with my mom, I found a treasure. Isn't it adorable? I wasn't going to get Evan any ultra-Christmasy outfit because frankly, we just don't have the money, and it's unnecessary. But when I found this suit, and it was his size exactly...I just couldn't pass it up. Here's the best part...it was only $4! I've seen outfits like that at regular stores for over $20...so I was thrilled.
And trust me, when you do find a treasure it makes all of the sifting worthwhile.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Rule #22: Smile

About a month ago my step dad Dave took our family pictures. We had forgotten how dark it gets so early in the evening these days...so it wasn't optimal lighting. There is a bank near our house...so we took them there. Despite the outside lighting, I think they turned out nice. Thanks again Dave!


Jasmine, Alex, Evan, Me

Friday, December 19, 2008

Rule #21: Watch the road, not the lights

On Wednesday this week my family and I met up with one of my very best friends and her husband and son. We were randomly put together in a dorm apartment in college our first year. I don't know how I would have gotten through that year without her! The next year we moved into a house together and have remained friends since. Her son was born just a few months after Evan. I'm excited to force friendship upon them, since Eth and I intend to be friends for quite some time. :)


Anyway, we met them in Salt Lake to see the lights on temple square. Man it was chilly! Evan bundled up, I was okay...but I was a little worried about Evan's face. I knew the rest of him was warm...but they need to make little baby ski masks to cover their faces for such outings.

As nice as it was to see my old friend, the lights just aren't the same anymore. It could be because I'm older, and nothing is as magical when you are older...but I don't think that's it. I'm pretty sure it's because they have stopped decorating the big trees. Ethnie had heard a rumor that they stopped decorating the big trees because people on the streets got distracted and weren't watching the road. Whether that's true or not...I think it's silly, and very disappointing. The lights were pretty, but...it felt lacking this year. And even though there aren't as many ooh's and ahh's I still intend to make it a tradition for my family. My children have never seen the big trees all dressed in lights, so for them...all of it will be wonderful.

Despite the minor disappointment, I had a wonderful time with my friend. We went to their new apartment in Salt Lake and had hot chocolate. Here are a few pictures from our night.

This is Will, he pretty much slept through the whole thing...but you can't really ask for much more from a three month old baby...he's cute isn't he?


Here's Evan and I next to a semi big tree. Once Evan got close to the lights he cared to look at them. Other than that he wasn't that interested.


Here's the whole group..Eth and Will, Hunter, Evan, Alex, and Me

Photo Tag

I was tagged a while ago by my friend Ethnie. But every time I thought about it, I was on the laptop, and it doesn't have any pictures stored there. So, here I am finally completing my task. I was supposed to go to the 4th folder in my pictures and post the 4th picture. Conveniently, it's one of my favorites!

This is Evan at 6 days old. I was lucky enough to capture a smile. A feat I was not able to accomplish again for many many months! (the camera was just to interesting to my son.)

I tag Mom, Emilie, Annie, Brianna and Jill

Friday, December 12, 2008

Rule #20: All you need are books and cousins



Evan had his first Christmas party last Saturday at my Mom's house. (Nana to the kids). My sister is in town from Colorado so we had the party a little earlier than usual. It was great to spend time with all the family and Evan got his very first Christmas presents! He got two books! He was a big fan of them both.


This is Brenner, Annie's youngest. He's 8 months older than Evan and looks like a giant next to him.
And I just love this picture. This is Tennyson...he's a little ham! He is Emilie's youngest (for now...that won't be true come march). I'm so happy for Evan that he has so much family, and so many cousins around his age...and most of them are little boys!

Rule #19: Don't forget to laugh



Isn't that the best sound you've heard all day?!





He just LOVES his Daddy!!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Rule #18: Rice cereal isn't for everyone.

So last night we tried to give Evan rice cereal for the first time. We had thought about waiting a little bit longer, but I was impatient and he has been staring at my every bite for a week now. I really thought he was going to like it.

It was the funniest thing I've ever seen!

At first he stared at the spoon, so focused on what was going on. After he first bite he pulled such a face! "What in the world....wait a minute...this isn't milk! and what's with this texture!?!" I swear that's exactly what his face was saying. So I tried a few more bites, and after a while he would cough and gag...almost as soon as the spoon touched his mouth, so I know he wasn't ACTUALLY gagging, he was just reacting to the experience...and he is not a fan.
So we'll wait a little while and try it again. For the full entertainment, here is a little video.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Sleeping Update

I just wanted to let everyone out there know that my son has not *quite* figured out that I'm a pushover. He's been sleeping just fine since I've been home. Maybe crying for 4-10 minutes, just wanting his binks back and then he's good to go. That I can handle!

I also was informed tonight that he had a bit of a time going to sleep WITHOUT me! Ha, it's not me at all. Alex was trying to tell me that he never makes a peep when I'm at work, but tonight Evan proved him wrong. I'm glad that me being home doesn't elicit bad habits from my son. He's still a good sleeper, we just had one crazy night. And really, one bad night in over four months is remarkable when you think about it.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Rule #17: Mom's a pushover

Last night was one of the worst sleeping nights Evan has ever had. Since his birth I've marveled at how well he sleeps at night. I've even gotten yelled at by a resident who was jealous that my four month old sleeps through the night (and has for several months) and his one year old just started to. I know that I have been lucky. That said...last night was awful.

We were going through our regular routine, Evan ate, then we rocked and cuddled for a minute or two, and I put him to bed.

Tears, screaming...I gave him his binks back (whish usually does the trick)....more tears, more crying. I walked away, trying to help him learn to calm himself and sleep. Afterall, he's never had a problem before. he cried for a solid 40 mintues! I was practically in tears myself! I couldn't stand to hear him so sad and upset. So I went in and snuggled him, he got droopy eyes and I laid him down.

tears and more tears! I tried to listen to Alex, "all his needs are met, he just wants to be held...and we don't want to teach him that we will hold him all night long..." I know that this makes sense...I do. But I just wanted to hold my son! In my head I was thinking, I can hold him tonight until he falls alseep, a real deep sleep so that he won't wake up when I move him....it will only be for tonight. But I know that I wouldn't be just one night. So, we get him out of bed and bring him unto the living room. We were decorating our Christmas tree. He was no longer tried having cried for an hour. So he laughed as I danced to Christmas music and placed onarments on the tree. He loves our tree and is fasinated by the lights. It's so cute.

After being up for another hour, we fed him again...you know, to top him off so he wouldn't wake up in the night, plus it had been three hours since he last ate. And we tried again to put him to sleep. He cried for another 20 minutes. I have no idea what was going on. He didn't fall asleep until 12:15 AM!!! He normally goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:30!!

I've decided that he knows that I am a pushover. And when I am home there's a good chance if he cries longer than 10 minutes, I'm there, in his nursery "helping" him go back to sleep. You might think I'm being silly, but listen to this. I'm at work tonight. Guess who fell right asleep without any fuss?

Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled he had a typical night and didn't give his father any difficulty. But if it happens again the next night I'm home, then I'll know that it's me...and he just knows I'm a pushover. I guess I'll have to work on that for the future.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Rule #16: Chicks dig the 5th percentile

My little boy is four months old now! I can hardly believe it! It seems to have gone by so quickly. And with him being four months old, I have now been back to work for over a month. That too is difficult to believe. It felt like I had only been gone for two weeks on maternity leave, that's how comfortable and familiar it was to go back to work. And now I can't believe it's already been another month! I just don't know where time goes...it amazes me. I thought I was going to be pregnant forever, and then *poof* my son is four months old! Enough of my lamenting, here are his stats.

Height: 25 1/4 inches (50%)
Weight: 13 lbs 3 oz (25%)
OFC: 40 cm (5%)

He also got his immunizations today, he cried a little bit but then recovered like the champ that he is! We're also debating if we are going to start rice cereal now. Our pediatrician said that we can start at any time now. Alex wants to wait a little longer, and I can hardly wait for this milestone! Evan has started waking up in the middle of the night a few nights a week, and I think starting rice cereal at his nighttime feeding would help. I wasn't sure if he was even interested or not, but the last few days he REALLY cares about what I'm eating. Even if there are toys in front of him, all he watches is my fork and my mouth. (It's pretty darn cute).


He's started really talking to Alex and I. I love his little voice. I could listen to it all day! When he's starting to talk, it looks like he's going to cry. He pulls his mouth down into a little pout...and then waits a minute, and then starts voicing his thoughts. People think he's upset or sad about something....he's not. He's just working those mouth muscles for sure!

In some ways he's growing up too fast and in others I can't wait for him to become more independent, and even cuter than he is now. Motherhood is a crazy roller coaster I've decided. It wonderful, but you can't help but have your emotions fluctuate so much between wanting them to stay a baby forever and being so proud of what they've accomplished....and wanting them to accomplish even more!