Look At 2009....

It's over already? I swear, this year has flown by, but I think I say that every year. Does that mean I'm getting old? Wait, don't answer that! This year has truly been a blessing having our wonderful little Davis. He is my everything. I never knew love until we had him. My heart truly feels like it's melting when I hold him at times. It is the most amazing feeling I have ever experienced and I wouldn't trade it for the world! Then he smiles his goofy little smile and I think I may tear up. How did I become so emotional? IT couldn't still be the hormones, could it? Wait, don't answer that either.

April 28,2009 was when we had the exciting news that we were having a boy!! I started balling right then and there at the hospital. I really think people thought we just experienced a death in the family or something! We went immediately to buy his take home outfit....that he was just now able to fit into!

In May, we went to the American Heart Association-Great Gatsby event. It was sooo much fun. And yes, I showed my growing baby bump!

Also in May, we went on our Babymoon! Our last trip together before the bambino was born. Nothing too extravagant..since we did just get back from Italy, but we wanted to do something!

July-I thought maybe I would somewhat reach maximum weight. Otherwise, I thought I may burst! Thank goodness it was summer so I could just sit in the pool at all times!

August!! He's here!
Since then, things have flown by even faster. We were our normal, goofy selves and dressed up for Halloween this year. Can't help it!! The kid had three costumes so we had to do something! And no, I didn't buy them all. We had Thanksgiving here at our house again this year. It was so different, but in a good way, having Davis here. He was so good! Christmas has come and gone, and now here we are at the end of the year again! This was just little bits and pieces of mine, but the only thing that mattered was I had my son. I feel so, truly blessed.

Have a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

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Our First Family Christmas

This Christmas was absolutely wonderful! I can't even begin to explain how much I loved Davis being a part of it. Even though he slept through most of it, I loved him being around. He is so much fun to be around and every second I'm more fascinated by something he's learning or doing. Such a cutie!!

My stepsister Rebecca and her husband Stephen had everyone over Christmas Eve and made such a wonderful dinner for everyone. Of course I didn't have my camera with me that night, so of course I have no pictures. Blah. Christmas morning, we started at my dad's house and then spent the rest of the day at my mom's. I swear, Davis has more clothes now than Michael and I put together! And I'll have to say, some pretty cute clothes at that. I should have taken a picture of all the boxes that were just for him!!

Best Christmas present ever! He looooves tissue paper!

Christmas at my mom's. Cheers!

Merry Christmas! It actually snowed in Dallas!!

You think he likes his new bathtub? He didn't want to get out.

...And to all a goonight!

Stay My Sweet Baby...Just A Little While Longer

For some reason, I have been so sad lately at the thought of Davis getting older. He is now four months old. This past four months has flown by. Literally. Like at time warp speed and I feel like I'm just watching it fly by. (3 weeks) This past month, he has been doing so many new things. Like he takes a "big boy bath" now. I never new bath time could be so much fun. It crazy how all these new things are so fascinating and fill me up with so much joy. But yes, I know. As more time goes by, more and more great and wonderful new things there are going to be to experience and look forward to. I just love him as my little sweet baby and they just don't stay babies long enough! We had his four month shots today, (boo by the way,) but he did really well. He is now 26 inches long!!! Wow! He is starting to sit a little by himself, which actually shocked me. The doctor also said we can start introducing rice cereal/fruits/veggies to him. Already? Wow! Sadly enough, that's kind of exciting to me. See what I'm talking about?

On another note, my mom emailed me this poem a few days ago and I have to admit it brought me to tears. I actually had a moment in the car with Michael a few days ago when I read it to him and actually had to control myself from balling. Really because it's exactly how I've been feeling a here lately. Being a mom is THE BEST thing that has ever happened to me. I cherish ever moment of it. I love my little happy baby. Enjoy...and if you are like me, grab a Kleenex.

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton


(4 months)

Tis The Season

Just a few holiday pictures :) Have I mentioned I LOVE the holidays?? I am so excited to share our first Christmas together with Davis. Even though he won't have any idea what is going on, I'm looking forward to it.

Our house

Yes, that's right. I torture my family for photos! And by the way, there is no such thing as having "too many pictures of your baby." Just thought I'd throw that out there.

The tree was in the room with higher ceilings at first...

BUT we moved it to a room where we sit more. Notice the angel is bent over practically kissing her feet. Griswald tree. Haha

Last weekend on our "fun filled night" ice skating. Michael was attempting to skate even though he sprained his ankle!


HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

We Are The Griswald's

I have been looking forward to doing the Christmas parade and lights with my family for several weeks now! I absolutely LOVE Christmas. I swear, it just makes me so happy. And I love having my sweet little baby around this year to experience it with. So much fun. In Marshall, which is not far from here, they had a big holiday celebration with an ice skating rink outside, Santa, carriage rides, etc. This sounded perfect for us. My mom came in from Dallas to go with us and we were ready. I even bought Davis this great outfit that kept him super warm. He looked like a little bear all bundled up! We got to Marshall and the town was all lit up with great lights everywhere. We went to this great antique/coffee shop/bistro for dinner before checking out the lights. After dinner, we really wanted to do a carriage ride that took you through neighborhoods of these GINORMOUS houses with beautiful lights. BUT, the carriage rides were sold out. Sold out?? What? Okay, fine. So we decided to go on a guided tour bus, thinking this would be better anyway and we would stay warm. Negatory! The bus broke down which was why all of the carriage rides were sold out. Go figure. Michael has never been ice skating before, so we of course had to give it a try. I swear, it was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life! He looked like a toddler learning how to walk. Sad to say, he ate it and ate it hard. It was like slow motion in a movie. Legs kicking up in the air, arms flying everywhere, landing flat on his back. He laughed at the time, so I didn't think he hurt himself too bad. Wrong! He thinks he may have actually broken his ankle. Good Lord. What else!! We made our own tour and looked at lights on our own, which was very nice. By this point, we are on our way home. Marshall is a little over an hour from our house. Driving on the highway, we hear something and sure enough, we got a flat tire. All I could do at this point was laugh. We were on what seemed like the longest bridge in the world and had to make it to the other side to pull over. Serenity now!! Michael gets out, sprained ankle and all, and starts to change to tire. Nope. The rim has a lock on it and we don't have the key. You've got to be kidding me. Keeps getting better. We are on empty, so we decided we should turn the car off to save gas. Yeah, so the battery goes dead which of course causes the flashers to go out. We are now standing at this point on the side of the highway at midnight, waiting for anyone to come get us. Goodness! So the tow truck can only hold one person. I am speechless at this point. I seriously thought I was about to have a panic attack. Thank God for our good friend, Storm, that drove all the way out there to come get us. I don't know what we would do without Candice and Storm sometimes. Seriously! Somehow, Davis was perfect through the entire thing. He was so good and pretty much was passed out! We finally made it home around 1:30 am. What a night!! People say bad things happen in 3's...I think we are ahead of the game for next time. We can only look back and laugh now. We have to wait until Honda opens tomorrow to get a key made. It could have been a lot worse, so we were pretty lucky.

Here's my little Santa's helper! Every time he smiled, I missed it!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

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You Know You Are A Parent When.....

This past weekend, Michael and I went to a shrimp boil at our good friend's house. I looooooooove me some shrimp and was so excited about it. Preparing for the time we were going to be there was a different story. I felt like we were moving in taking Davis over there. This was the first time we have been at someones house during his bedtime, so we wanted to be ready...crossing fingers, that is! We showed up with our hands full with baby in tow. We brought his pack and play and set it up in the bedroom for him to sleep in. I had to bring my breast pump to get his bottles ready for night time feedings. *I've been feeding him a bottle for his 7 and 10pm feedings and this has been doing great. I know he is getting the amount he needs and sleeps great. We brought the monitor since we knew that we would be outside hanging out with friends. Then the usual diaper bag with extra clothes, etc. A few minutes after showing up, I had enough time to say hi to everyone and sneak into the back and feed Davis at 4pm. Save shrimp for me, people! Of course Davis decided to eat like he hasn't eaten all day, so I was in there for what seemed like forever. After about an hour or so of being there, I had to pump to get his 10pm bottle ready. I'm all set up in the room and then realized that I forgot one of the parts to the pump. Go figure! Only me, I swear. So you know things have changed when you leave a shrimp boil to go get a part to your pump. Good times. The night went great and surprisingly enough, Davis slept so good over there. I said that I think we should bring him over there every night to put him down for bed. Our friend was joking around saying, ahh...you guys are such parents, pointing at the baby monitor clipped onto Michael's jeans. It was pretty cute, I have to admit. Baby monitor with beer in hand. I was just so glad that we were able to hang out with friends and Davis was so good. I don't think he cried once except for when he had a wet diaper. Not too bad. Can't complain! And the food was especially good! I'm ready for some more!

It's That Time Again...

Time for a growth spurt that is. My poor baby just seems so unhappy and I hate there is nothing I can do about it. This child is just plain wearing me out. He was sleeping so good, but when he hits growth spurt time, it's out the window. Last night, he actually woke up six times. Yes, six times. He didn't even do that when he first came home from the hospital. A few times he woke up just screaming, others he needed to be changed. Bless his heart, but please shhhh. Mama needs sleep too, kiddo! Yesterday was wonderful. Even though he's dealing with this, he had a great nap and I was able to get so much needed stuff done. Today is a different story. I am literally a walking zombie. I feel bad because I don't even have the energy to talk much to him. He just will not nap today. I'm crossing my fingers that that means he will possibly sleep better tonight, but I don't want to get my hopes up. We were able to do some tummy time this morning, but not too much. He is still fighting that everyday. He used to love being on his tummy but has decided to change his mind. He will roll from his tummy to his back in anger it seems like and then smile with this look of, 'I'm done. Right?!'

Dinner time for Michael and I is still something I have yet to figure out. Davis is still on a every 3 to 3 1/2 hour feeding schedule. This puts his afternoon feeding at 4 and then again at 7. It's hard to figure out because this is pretty much his cry time for the day due to his lovely bout of colic. I feed him at 4 and attempt to get dinner started before Michael gets home. If we don't eat before I feed him at 7, that puts him and I eating at 8 or later. How to eat around his crying? When to eat? Eat during his crying is never relaxing but sometimes we have to do it anyway. Does anyone else deal with this? Yes, suggestions would be great. I've thought of making him a bottle for his 7pm feeding so it wouldn't take too long. Who knows! My excessive tiredness is causing me to ramble today I'm afraid. I do think that if Michael had a normal job with regular hours, things wouldn't be so stressful. Here lately, he has had to be out of town a lot. It totally stresses me out. I just don't do well sometimes having to deal with the screaming all day by myself. I have those moments thinking I will never have more children. But then Davis will start giggling or smiling and of course he melts my heart. Don't get me wrong, I love every minute of being a mom and wouldn't trade it for the world. I think I just still need to work on my patience! :)Maybe 'Mommy and Baby Yoga' will calm both of us down!

My Crafty Side

On Mama's Losin It, this week one of her prompts was "Show Us Something You Did Yourself." So, since I can't take full credit for Davis all myself, here is a little of my crafty side. Some of you have already seen these, but that's okay. For a while, I was making some jewelry and frames for people. My favorite, that I don't think I have a picture of, was a nautical themed frame for a friend of mine that matches her sons room.





ahref="www.jessibellasplace.etsy.com">JessibellasPlace for sold items and what I still have available.

My Baby Can Read...

Okay, not really. But if you've heard of "My Baby Can Read," then you know what I'm talking about. I've read and heard several different success stories, so Michael and I figured we would give it a try. I never have the tv on during the day, so for Davis to be allowed to watch any tv (I know, he's only 2 1/2 months!) is big..haha. He's really interested in it and I am really interested to see how it works. You start the videos and flash cards around 2 1/2 months and the kit ends at 5 years of age. I'm hoping this will give him a good head start for preschool/kindergarten. Maybe he can teach Michael and I Spanish :)

Since Davis was born, we have been doing Baby Wise and following the book. The whole saying,"I wish my baby was born with a manual," well, that's pretty much it. If you haven't heard of it, it's supposed to be the "gift of sleep." The basic concept of it is to get your baby to start sleeping through the night at an earlier age and allow more time together as a couple. Of course Davis still has his days and I do realize he is just a babies, but I also know that babies and children strive on schedules. He does such a great job with it. Not everyday is great, especially since he has colic, but it allows Michael and I to have dinner together most nights and watch a movie/have us time. Davis is also sleeping through the night now with the occasional diaper change anywhere from 3 to 5am. Not too bad. He doesn't have his first feeding of the day until around 7:30 when he wakes up. Ahhh...sleep. Oddly enough though, he's sleeping great and I'm not some nights. I don't get it! It's so frustrating, but I'm hoping it will pass.

I love watching his progression and see him notice and discover new things. He is still fighting tummy time a lot, but seems to like it in the morning more. He's rolling over which is so cute. He starts laughing when he rolls on his back. Which by the way, I heard him actually laughing for the first time about a week ago. It totally melted my heart.
His first laugh :)


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10 Reasons Why I Can't Sleep

I love checking out other people's blogs and on , her latest blog prompt I chose was 10 Reasons Why I Can't Sleep. I'm sure I could come up with about 20...but here are the ones off the top of my head

1)the most obvious...I have a newborn. While he is starting to sleep better at night, the child is like a baby Superman and breaks out of his swaddle every night! Yes, it even has Velcro and he still breaks out of it. When this happens, he screams.

2) My child pees every 10 minutes. When this happens, he screams. This is more waking up.

3) My mind just does not stop. I mean does not stop. I lay in bed no matter how tired I am and think of things I need to do, want to do, should have done, why won't the baby stop crying for goodness sake?!

4) My husband is a snoring banshee. When he is exhausted from work, my Lord, I might as well sleep in the other room! Puh-leease man!

5) My husband thinks my pillows are his even though he has two underneath his head. Please don't touch me or lay on me. I have a baby laying on me all day. Thank you.

6) Is that a dog barking? Is that my dog barking? My dog howls so loud when he hears sirens and it doesn't matter what time of day/night it is. He's a special one. He's the same kind of dog as Old Yeller, but we all know how that movie ended.

7) I forgot to turn the air purifier on. I need some kind of white noise. I hate it being too quiet but can't sleep with actual noise. Yes, I'm a nut case.

8) I hate that my husband falls asleep at the drop of a dime and I'm laying there forever. Then that just upsets me.

9) Did I just hear the baby move?

10)Bottom line...yup. I'm pretty much just an insomniac.

Wordless Wednesday

I couldn't love him more! Sometimes it seems like I love him so much, my heart my explode. Being a mother is the best feeling in the world for me. I'm so in love.







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Happy Halloweeeeen

I had such a great time this year for Halloween. Even though Davis isn't old enough to actually enjoy the whole trick or treating experience yet, I loved being able to share it with him. Of course we all had to dress up together and used Davis as an excuse to do so. (Even though we always dress up anyway!) Davis had several different costumes this year so it was difficult to chose which one he was going to wear. Such tough decisions.

This is a pumpkin costume my mom got for him. I love it! He wore this out several times in public and people just wanted to pinch his lil cheeks right off. Of course he's sleeping here.


I'm in a MOMS group and last week we had a Halloween party for the kids. I was able to go and dress Davis up in a different outfit. (I make him sound like he's my little doll or something)

The 'Tigger' tummy was so stuffed and made Davis' little belly look so big. It was so adorable!

Last night we went to a great block party with my friend Veronica. We fell in love with this neighborhood that if we didn't love our house so much, we would probably move there! They had a hay ride for the kids to go around and trick or treat. How much fun is that!? Everyone was hanging out in their garages, welcoming everyone to come hang out and grill and have some beers. The majority of the neighborhood was young couples starting out. What a great way to meet new people. We had so much fun last night :) I love my little family!
Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Blog Awards

Jessica at Baby Davis Michael. Her blog is beautiful and an absolute reflection of all that she holds precious, hence the name! :) Her writings are honest, poignant and entertaining too! Her posts always draw me in, which says something considering I don't have kids and still i can't stop reading! :)


THANK YOU ANGELA!!!

Let's Be Realistic, Shall We?

So I'm in the fight for my life...okay, the weight loss fight, that is. I'm trying my hardest to lose just five more pounds before Thanksgiving. Yeah, that's smart, I know. Thanksgiving is my goal though and I'm hoping to obtain it. We shall see. Because let's face it. Holidays you gain weight. It's just given. So maybe I can lose a little more before I put the obvious back on. (I'm sure knowing me, I will be eating as small of portions as I can...at first!) While I was pregnant, I put on a lovely 35 pounds. Gag me! Too bad I didn't have a 15 pound baby to say that's where the weight was. But hey, not bad though I guess. I've lost 28 pounds and I'm kinda just sitting still here. I have 5 more pounds to go until I'm at my prepregnancy weight. Honestly, even when I get there, I'll still feel like I have a long way to go. I have a permanent tire/doughnut it seems in my midsection. Also, since I am breastfeeding, I feel like I'm a mini clone of Dolly Parton and am trying to compete with her. I never thought I would miss my nonexistent boobs. Yeah, I said it. Seriously though, baby boobs aren't the same as non baby boobs. I don't need to elaborate. I'm sure you can figure it out! Plus, I'm in that still blah faze where I can't wear most of my old clothes because my boobs can't fit into ANYTHING, but I certainly can't wear maternity clothes. Very blah. If I could just strap these suckers down, trust me, I would! On a lighter note, I had to go shopping today and was finally successful. I know, such a thing to complain about :) So at least I got new clothes out of it. I've been trying to work out as much as I can to obtain my goal. I'm also starting to do weekly/bi-weekly measurements to see where I stand. Of course some parts of me fluctuate more than others!!

Change of subject...can you please click me and vote for my blog?!? The voting was reset so my blog is lost in blogasphere. You probably don't see the importance of this, but hey, it's my sometime hobby still when I'm not changing diapers!

My Skeleton...Wordless Wednesday

Very sleepy today!



Family walk in his skeleton outfit :)

Good News!

Davis is in the clear. All of his tests came back great and I couldn't be happier! He was so good while we were at the hospital that I was actually in shock. Every hour, he had to have his blood drawn, be weighed, check his diaper, blood pressure, etc. He barely cried at all. He wasn't able to eat for 12 hours and I don't know how he did it. I thought it was going to be a looooong 12 hours, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. Around 3am, he started to get a little fussy, but for as hungry as he was, it could have been a lot worse. At 6am, we finally got a good test back. His urine was still pretty diluted, but concentrated enough to where the doctors were able to tell he does not have diabetes and ruled out everything else. I just have a massive peeing machine on my hands. I would rather spend a fortune in diapers than the alternative. Davis' doctor said that this is something we will have to watch and check every so often, but over time should be something he outgrows. Not bad! :) Thank you everyone for all of your prayers and thoughts. It really means a lot to us!

My sleeeepy head



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Poor Baby :(

Ever since Davis was born, I've been joking around saying that he's like an old man with diabetes because he pees so much. And when I say so much, I'm talking at least 14times by 1pm. That's a little excessive. Of course Michael didn't think anything of it and just got used to the fact that his son is a human faucet. I on the other hand, being the paranoid first time mommy, had to call the doctor and find out what is going on! I was also wanting to check on his colic and we are now on drops for his reflux that is apparently giving Davis bad heartburn. It seems to be helping him a lot and he doesn't seem like he's in as much pain. He's also been sleeping really good at night! But, back to the peeing issue. Davis' doctor did say that this is a little out of the norm and that we did need to do some urine analysis. I took that back in and just figured that he was going to call me and say everything was in the clear. Nope! We had to take my lil guy back in yesterday so they could put in a catheter and do blood work on him. I couldn't stand to watch him being poked and prodded like that, so I had to wait in the waiting room. They are trying to rule out any hormonal imbalance with his kidneys. His urine is diluted and he isn't concentrating causing him to pee more frequently and not hold on to portions of it. Well, today, our doctor called us back again with the same results on his UA. On Thursday, we are having to check Davis in the hospital for more tests. I am trying to stay calm and not let my mind wander, but that is so much easier said than done. They are trying to completely rule out diabetes. It wouldn't be the sugar diabetes that would need insulin, but a form that his brain isn't communicating with his kidneys properly. If his tests come back bad again, he is going to have to do brain scans to check his brain activity and waves. I asked if this meant if Davis would have any problems mentally and thank goodness, he won't. But one of the reasons he could be peeing so much is he could possibly have a tumor that is pushing on his pituitary gland causing him to pee more often. I'm sure, or at least crossing my fingers, that isn't the case. I actually wish the doctor had left that part out, but too late. Davis will have extensive test almost hourly through the night and won't be able to eat very often to check the amount of urine. I'm sure most of this is a bunch of jumbled mess, but I feel a little nerve wrecked right now! All I want to do is hold my little baby and pray that everything will be okay. I'm praying that it's nothing and I just have a big peeing machine on my hands. Please keep Davis in your prayers. Thank you.

Quick Post....

Davis will be 7 weeks tomorrow. Where is the time going? I know...you're thinking it's only been 7 weeks. He's just getting so big already it's kind of sad. He's outgrowing his newborn clothes now and moving on to the bigger ones. Tear, tear. His colic his pretty much under control now. For the most part. Yesterday was a different story, but not everyday is great. Of course. The drops the doctor gave us are really working well and I am so glad that we have them! Davis is starting to talk to us more and more. I love it when he smiles and just wish that he would do it more often. He has a little dimple in one of his cheeks that is just toooo cute. I love it. He is absolutely in love with lights and mirrors. Yes, my baby loves to look at himself. During bath time, he just stares into my vanity mirror with the light turned on and sometimes smiles at himself. It is adorable. We also bought him a mirror for his crib/tummy time that he really seems to enjoy. Hey, whatever works! He also loves being in public. That baby will be stone cold passed out even with music blaring in the background. Nothing phases him. It's so weird. We went to a wine bar with friends and their baby this past weekend where they had acoustic playing. Nothing. He was OUT! But of course, being at home is different. It's quieter here and I swear he hates it. Sorry, kid!

We are still following Baby Wise and I feel like it's going pretty good. For anyone that has used this before, you know what I'm talking about. I love it. But when he gets off his schedule it really stresses me out and Davis doesn't do well with it either. He's doing much better during the night, but I still wish he would sleep for longer periods of time. He usually wakes up between 2-3 for diaper change and feeding. Davis is like a faucet! It's like he's an old man and pees every 5 minutes, no joke! But like clockwork, same thing every night. He sometimes wakes up at 6am, but I make him sleep another hour and feed him around 7. I'm happy though that he only wakes up one time during the night. I guess it could be worse like at the beginning. I was ready to take my head off!

But I love seeing him do new things. He's supporting his head really well now. He can pretty much sit in his Bumbo seat with no help. The smiles are my favorite

He's Getting So Big :(

All bundled up to go on a walk
Such a cutie :)
Um...Daddy, please stop!
My lil walking monkey!
Fun bath time

He's getting bigger and bigger every second. He's starting to outgrow his newborn clothes :(But, he's starting to coo and "talk" a lot more. I love it. He's so much fun and I'm enjoying him so much.

OH!! The doctor prescribed drops for his colic and they are a miracle! He is a totally different baby.