Rule #51: Some trains of thought are hard to follow.

Before I jump into Evan’s birth story, I’d like to share with you a typical conversation with Evan’s pediatrician. Keep in mind, during this entire 8-10 minute monologue, I nodded, said uh huh, and otherwise just sat there while he did Evan’s exam on my lap.

Dr. Black: Is Evan walking?

Me: No, cruising around furniture, but not walking.

DB: How about talking, saying mama or dada?

Me: Nope.

DB: Well, some kids walk and some kids talk…..
But I guess yours isn’t really doing either is he? *chuckle
(Starts to move Evan, so I try to hand him over)

DB: Oh, sorry, I just wanted him to lay down, sometimes I forget when I’m talking that I haven’t told people what I want them to do. My wife tells me all the time I need to work on my communication. Sometimes it’s easier to just do it yourself then try to explain it. If you don’t know what I mean, give it 15 years and then you will.

M: *nod

DB: Like with the bed. I want to just take over bed making every day. My wife has blankets that are too small for the bed. So every morning she goes through quite the ordeal trying to make the bed. I want to tell her every morning to just buy bigger blankets!

And she has to make the hospital corners; you see her mother was a nurse, so she was taught to make hospital corners.

And we fight all the time about which way the pillowcase is supposed to face. She thinks the opening should go out and I tell her that it should go in. I ask her if she’s ever gone to a hotel…the nice seam is always out.

That sounds like we always go to swanky hotels…but you know, even if you do, you lay down in your $400 dollar a night room in Chicago where the mattress is decent and the sweets aren’t that bad, but all you can think about it how your mattress and sheets at home are better than this.

I spent a night in a hotel in Ephraim to visit my brother, and I’m pretty sure the sheets were made of burlap! They must have been 50-thread count. I had rough spots on my knees in the morning from moving in the bed!

M: wow, that sounds uncomfortable (Or any other statement of that sort)

DB: But even that hotel doesn’t compare with European hotels. Their standard is different from ours. Our son went on a mission to Paris so two years ago we went over to pick him up. He picked out all the hotels and told us how great they were. They were upgraded campers. *chuckle....I kid you not, they had a clip on the bathroom door to keep it closed. And you couldn’t get to the bathroom with the bed down, that’s how cramped they were.

M: That is cramped. I’ve heard that about the hotels in Europe.

DB: We mostly just slept there, that’s all we really needed anyway. I think it was originally used to house the Nazi’s years ago, but I could be wrong.

(This part gets a little hazy for me…I’m really not quite sure how we got here….)

DB: We went to a bunker outside of Normandy and I wanted to talk a picture, but then I noticed two French women sunbath topless on the concrete bunker. That’s when I knew I wasn’t in Utah anymore. *chuckle I decided not to take the picture after all……sigh.

*pause

DB: So, Evan is looking good.

And there you have it folks. That is a typical appointment with Dr. Black. After his monologue he asks if I have any questions, and he does answer them…so I don’t feel completely ignored. But, we went from questions about my son, to topless sunbathing in Normandy in minutes!

He then went over Evan’s stats with me, which are:

Height: 30 inches (50%)
Weight 19 lbs 12 oz (5%)
Head circumference: 45 cm (25%)
The nurse had written on the papers that Evan’s 19 lbs was in the 65%. Yeah, that’s right, he jumped from 10th to 65th while only gaining 3 lbs! I knew it wasn’t right, but I also knew I could just look it up at home. Which I did. (Hence the 5% which is more consistent for my son).

*********

One year ago I was pregnant. And while everyone around me was telling me how small I looked, I felt huge! I was ready to have my body back and I was more than ready to meet my son.

I had been dilated and effaced for a few weeks and I was a little disappointed that I was coming up to my due date and still no labor. I went in for a regular OB appointment on Friday and bless her heart she stripped my membranes.

Nothing really happened immediately, a few contractions here and there, but nothing to get excited about.

Our friend Steve was having a summer party complete with outdoor movie that night. We prepared to go and I started feeling a little uncomfortable. We ate some food, played some games and it just got worse and worse. I guess I didn't hide it very well. A fellow pregnant friend told her I was making her a little nervous for labor. I wasn't making any noise, just every now and then I'd stop breathing....squeeze Alex's leg, and then play my card. By 10:30 I had had it! I just wanted to go home and try to sleep it off. I remember saying to Alex "if this isn't real...." leaving the treat hanging. Because if it really wasn't labor, there wasn't a darn thing I could do about it!

We were in the process of buying a house. We still needed to sign some papers on an offer that our agent and left at her house. So we trekked up to the neighborhood of mansions where all real estate agents must live, signed the papers and went home.

I was fairly convinced this wasn't false labor anymore, but I was afraid of going to the hospital too early and having them send me home. So, we got ready for bed to try and get some sleep before the big event.

Alex slept. I, of course, did not. I moaned and squirmed for about an hour, then decided that I had waited long enough. We packed up and headed to the hospital.

We drove down to Murray, got set up in a room and was trilled to hear I was dilated enough to stay! A called was made to my mom around 1am, a now infamous event where my mother drove down to the hospital while under the effects of a sleeping pill and has no recollection of how she got there. Dave has since starting hiding her keys at night. I'm grateful that she was watched over that night.

She made it there safe and sound and I was given my epidural at 2:30. It was WONDERFUL! It went in without any problems and I plan to get one with every child! I was still able to move my legs, they felt tingly as if both my legs had fallen asleep, but I could still move them. (Without feeling the pain of my contractions!!)

With nothing to do but wait, the three of us slept. My mom made some crack about sleeping with my husband, now I understand why. (the sleeping pill) and we slept for four hours. It was fantastic.

Around didn't start pushing until after 8 am then next morning, and then pushed FOREVER!! I didn't realize it had been that long until Evan was born. "I did that for an hour and a half?!?!"

My beautiful baby boy was born at 9:52 am on July 26th. He came into this world just screaming, but mellowed out quickly to become a very pleasant boy.

We stayed an extra day in the hospital for Evan to sun bath under the bili-lights. I was very grateful that I was able to stay also although I had been discharged.

In some ways I have a hard time accepting that my baby is one year old. And in other ways it feels like he's been with us forever. He's a very sweet boy, who lets me love on him whenever I get the mind to. (which is often). He has a very laid back attitude, as evidenced by his late crawling. I live for his smiles and giggles and love his personality that keeps getting stronger and stronger every day.

Happy Birthday Son!

Rule #50: Cake is better eaten in the buff

Today was a HUGE milestone in the Davis household! Evan had his very first birthday! I can't believe that my baby is a year old. Nor can I believe that I will be hosting many many more parties in my lifetime.

Things went really well, there is just a lot involved; more than I think I realized. Thanks to all of our friends and family that pitched in with food and came to celebrate our son!

We had a BBQ in our backyard, we were a little late cooking the food, but it all turned out fine. Thanks to my sweet husband (and father-in-law) for cooking the meat!

I made the two cakes Saturday night, and had quite the time frosting the blue #1. Alex said that it looked liked "a lot of love had been put into it". Awww, thanks hon? Evan's personal smiley face cake was a bit easier to do.

Evan did pretty well eating his cake in his birthday suit. He didn't seem to LOVE it, but he certainly didn't hate it either.

I love this look, "What's going on....?"

Here's the damage.

He got a lot of WONDERFUL presents, thank you thank you to everyone! Two things I got pictures of are the baby swing from Grandpa and Grandma Davis, and his chair from Nana and Papa. He's still a little unsure about the swing, but in time he's gonna love it.

My Step-dad Dave makes a child sized chair for each grandchild's first birthday. Then my mom paints their name on it and on Evan's chair, some cute bee's. He REALLY liked his chair, it's just his size, and he can bang on it like a drum. I don't think he knows it's for sitting yet.

Later I will add a slide show showing the fun time had by all...don't worry, I couldn't leave out all your cute faces! It's just getting late, and I don't want to figure it out right now. And stay tuned for tomorrows post of Evan's birth story. (those of you who might care but can't remember it)

Rule #48: Some things are cuter from behind.

I can't believe how much Evan is growing up and learning. While he can't walk yet or even cruise around the furniture, he has learned to crawl up the stairs! It's the cutest thing to watch, and now when he sees stairs, he really REALLY wants to get down and explore. He's not good enough for me to just let him have at it, but as long as someone is behind him for the "just in case" moments, he's good to go. And he loves his new independance!

The phone is the back pocket is courtesy of Alex (super cute eh?)

Rule #47:Monkey language is hard to decipher

My mom and I took advantage of the rain free weather on Tuesday with a trip to the zoo. Evan seemed to at least see some of the larger animals this time. He seemed to really enjoy the bird show. (Even though some doves almost flew into his face!) Thanks mom, we had a great time spending the day with you!

This is my third or fourth time at the zoo this year- getting good use of our Christmas present- and each time something is a little different. Usually neither good or bad changes, just slightly different from the previous visit. One time the bears were quite playful, another time our favorite tiki monkeys mysteriously vanished (that was a little sad--cutest monkeys ever!) But most of the zoo is the same time after time. (again, not bad same...just consistent). That being said, I don't think I'll ever get a chance to see this again.

There was a black and white colobus monkey making the strangest noises I've ever heard. I'm not sure what he was trying to say, it sounded sad. My mom said it sounded like he was mourning. I tried to look it up later this week before I blogged about it. (I wanted to look smart) but I couldn't ever find any other sounds like this.

There was a pubescent boy hanging on the fence goading the monkey, repeating the calls and laughing. I'm not sure if he contributed the what the monkey was doing or not...but you can hear the boy once in the video. *I know the video isn't the best, I wasn't very steady...I got bumped a few times by fellow gawkers*

You could hear the sound from almost anywhere in the zoo. It went on for a long time. I hope the monkey wasn't really mourning. It bothers me that I'll never know what he was thinking. So if any of you out there are monkey experts please enlighten me. Or if you just want to take a stab at guessing, I'm game for that too.

Rule #46: "There is great enlightenment where there has been great wonder" -- Muso Kokushi

Early in May we went to the Red Butte Gardens with Alex's parents, brother, grandparents and Laurie (Doug's cousin). It was quite the family outing. We went that weekend because they were having a bonsai exhibit. Anyone who knows Alex well, knows of love of bonsais. The rest of us looked around in about 15-20 minutes and were satisfied. Alex was not. So we left him and ventured off to the rest of the gardens. He joined us 30 minutes later. (I think it's safe to say he liked the trip).

Here are a few of the MANY pictures that he took. These are some of my favorites.



Don't you just love the plants growing out of the rocks!?!? I think they are fantastic. This is Alex's new goal. He picked up some volcanic rock in Cedar City for just this purpose. We'll let you know how it goes.

The rest of the gardens were beautiful. I ended up walking barefooted for half of the trip due to broken flip flops. I loved those shoes, and have had them for 5-6 years. I was a little sad. I enjoy walking around barefoot, so I didn't mind initially. Although towards the end, the path was getting quite warm. My poor unconditioned feet just weren't used to the hot pavement. I didn't have my summer feet ready.

There is a children's garden with Massive Lizards laying on the grass. Evan was too interested in the dirt, it took several pictures just to get him to look up.

I love this face. I don't know what he was thinking, but I find it darling.

Finally we get a good shot.

It was a wonderful day spent with family, and although I broke my shoes AND got stung by a hornet (or bit...I didn't know hornets could bite) we had a fantastic time. Thanks Doug and Susan for the memories!

Rule # 45: Free publicity is good publicity.

Prismatic is done and ready! It’s available on Xbox 360 and Windows PC. Just go to our website at www.mythicore.com/prismatic to download the PC version.
It's a puzzle game (like Minesweeper or Bejeweled) that is G-rated and appropriate for all ages. It continues the story of Sleeping Beauty as Maleficent’s evil sister plots a cruel revenge on Aurora and her kingdom.

On both Windows and Xbox, there is a trial version that you can download for free. Don't feel pressured to buy it, especially if it's just not your cup of tea, if you'd like to do us a favor, publicity is more valuable than anything else. If you have a blog or website, just put a link to http://www.mythicore.com/prismatic/ on it, surrounded by words like 'casual puzzle game,' 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'best game ever!' … ;-) In other words, if you like it, tell everyone you know about it!

Thank you in advance, we hope you enjoy it!

Rule #44: Water can flow, and it can crawl, be water...

Evan has finally mastered the art of crawling, well, he's not exactly a black belt yet.

Thus our house has entered the world of child safety.

Jasmine is also feeling the effects, as she hates to have her paws touched, which Evan insists on doing when he crawls up to her... which he does all the time.

Rule #43: Less is More - Part 2

The last time I used that title I was referring to the about of lotion I had to put in Evan's hair. This time I'm just talking about the amount of hair in general.

As you all know (because I whine about it all the time) Evan has eczema, EVERYWHERE. On his face, chest, sides, back, legs...and yes on his scalp. While we've been able to mostly clear up his skin, his scalp has always evaded us. We would try to push his hair out of the way to put the lotion directly on his scalp, but it just wasn't working. So, now that we've taken his contest winning picture (I still haven't decided between 2 or 3) it was time for Evan's first hair cut.

And not just a trim to even it out, we buzzed it. We buzzed it good.

Here is a before picture, so you can see just how long his hair had gotten


Look how much hair we cut off!! I still can't believe all of the was on his head!


The picture is a little blurry, but I wanted to show you the scratches/gouges Evan would make from attacking his head. (so sad!)


And here's my cute baby now! That was as short as I could bear to go, but it serves it's purpose. His scalp is already starting to look so much better! He looks older to me now, which seems contradictory since his hair is shorter. I think it's because it's a uniform length now, the baby hair is all gone. He's still ridiculously cute isn't he?

Rule #42: A picture is worth a thousand miles

It has taken almost a month to get happy, non slobbery pictures of Evan for the contest. I had set aside a day to bathe him and take his pictures before I had to put lotion in his hair....and wouldn't you know it? That was the worst day of teething we had ever had! Evan was having none of it.

I got some great crying pictures,

TONS of slobbery pictures, but none with that special smile and twinkle in his eye.

But tonight, he was finally happy again! It didn't occur to me to change his shirt at first, truthfully I didn't think I'd get any good pictures, I was just taking pictures for the fun/practice. After a while I realized he was really enjoying having his picture taken, so I changed his outfit. No bath though, so his hair isn't perfect...but he's a baby, and it's just never going to be perfect. I'm pretty sure these are as good as I'm going to get.

I do realize that he has a scratch on his forehead, but I've put off shaving his head long enough. He won't stop attacking it, and now has ginormous scrapes on his scalp...I just can't treat the eczema with all of his beautiful hair. It makes me sad to say it, but his hair has got to be shorter! I feel bad postponing his comfort for the "perfect shot"....so here's what you have to choose from.

I plan on submitting his picture later this week, but I wanted to get every one's input on which pic has the best chance of getting us to New York!

Picture #1

Picture #2

Picture #3 Picture #4

Rule #41: Organization promotes sanity.

My Darling Husband has just made our home a little better by putting in a closet system in our bedroom. I love that he is so handy...even though he's never done any hand-man work before. I love that he has the confidence to try, and is humble enough to ask for advice from those in the know.

If I had been fully on top of things I would have taken a before picture of the closet in our bedroom. But, not surprisingly...I was not. So here is an in between photo.
Looking back it amazes me that the OCD in me didn't scream at the sight of my closet every morning. But somehow...I just looked past it. It was my dear love that just...couldn't...take it....anymore!!! And here is the final project! Doesn't it look so good? And now that I am ABLE to organize it and have the room to work with....I am very pleased to have my shirts color coordinated. (Minus my tank tops...those are in a category of their own...hence the two sections of red on top).
Thanks again Honey!! You truly are the best!

By the way...if you ever think that you have nothing to wear and have hardly any clothes at all....try taking them ALL out of the closet and placing them randomly around your house. Soon you will feel overwhelmed with your material blessings and find the need to dejunk and donate to the DI.

Rule #40: Consistency is Key

Evan is now 9 months old. It's hard for me to believe that my baby is this old! We just got back from the doctor, so here are Evan's new stats.

Height: 29 inches (75%)

Weight: 17 lbs 15oz (10%)

OFC: 44cm (15%)

As you can see we have a rather tall baby...whose been very consistent with his weight gain. Pretty much 10% from the get go. Here are some things that Evan has been doing lately.

~Still won't roll over (Our pediatrician isn't really concerned....says he's just skipping that phase)

~Sits up like there's no tomorrow....that's about all he wants to do these days

~Gets on hands and knees and rocks

~Scoots around backwards and rotates all around

~Babbling more with consonants (super cute)

~Switches toys from hand to hand

~Is getting a top teefer

~Holds his own bottle

~Smiles at everyone/everything

~Can't stand to hear his cousin Jordyn cry...anyone else is no big deal

He's such a blessing in our family and I can't imagine our life without him! Everyday keeps getting better and better. Sometimes I'm not sure how I got so lucky!

Rule #39: Love your neighbor.

So I went out to mow the lawn for the first time this year, it was getting pretty scraggly and out of control. This is an after the fact shot in case you're wondering and thinking that it doesn't look out of control to you. In retrospect I can't figure out why I didn't think to take a before shot, I mean, I was going to mow the lawn for the FIRST time of the season, thats freaking exciting and everybody cares.

So anyway, I was wandering around clearing debri's such as sticks and stray garbage that had blown in. And then as I get to the southwest corner of our yard (far right in the picture) I notice a cigarette butt. Ok thats odd, so I go to pick it up, and notice another, and another and another... I counted 75 in all afterwards, plus a match book.

They were perfectly distributed in a semi-circle right next to back porch of the 3rd section of the triplex across the fence, leaving no question as to their source.

So here's my question, since obviously I love this neighbor, and smokers especially hold a place in my heart, as about 95% of the wonderful people I shared the gospel with on my mission smoked. How do I turn the other cheek? Is that indeed the appropriate scripture reference? Pick them up for them and say nothing, politely ask them to stop? Take them a plate of cookies?

Rule #38: The bed is big enough for everyone

I came home from work last week and Evan woke up as I was getting ready for bed. I love when he wakes up for me. I love how excited he is to see me in the mornings. There are only a few things in this world that make me feel so special and so loved!

Usually I get him up, take him downstairs and play for a bit while we wait for Daddy to come join us. I was pretty tired that morning and I just needed to get ready for bed, but I didn't want to be away from Evan. So I brought him into bed with Alex and Jasmine.

The sight of my family, including our dog, people that I hold so dear to my heart was overwhelming. I had to take a picture. I had to document forever how wonderful my life is! Wake up Daddy......

Look how happy Evan is in the mornings. It's almost unnatural isn't it? :) It's such a contrast from his father. (not that Alex is angry in the mornings, but he's definately not perky.)