T Minus 5 Days...

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, by Christmas you'll be naked...Isn't that how it goes?  At my house it is.  I find ornaments everywhere I look, and the once well-planned, semi-organized, pretty Christmas tree now looks like it has weathered a storm.  I guess, in a sense, it has.  Hurricane Davis.

I can't believe we are so close to Christmas!  I'm really excited to see Davis open his (and everyone else's) presents this year.  I think he will be so much fun to watch.  I have been wrapping gifts a little each day and hope to be able to feel relaxed and not stressed to get it all done over the next few days.  My mom and I made cookies and sausage balls to get us into the spirit, and we've all begun the process of pigging out over the holidays.

As I type this, Derek is installing a new hot water heater.  (Why do we call it that?  Sounds like something right out of the department of redundancy department to me...).  As I was saying, Derek is installing a new water heater as ours decided to stop working yesterday.  Davis was thrilled to skip his bath last night, but what he doesn't know is that mama's going to heat some water on the stove and dump it into the bathtub tonight.  Derek still needs a couple of parts from Lowe's, so the thing won't be officially installed until tomorrow morning.  It's so nice to have such a handy husband!  As Derek was about to take the new water heater out of the box, I noticed that it weighed about the same as me (the weight was printed on the box).  When I commented on this to Derek, his reply was, "Well it's too bad you can't stand out here and generate some hot water for the house."  I told him I'd be happy to try and figure that out, but that he would have to hire one awesome nanny and one crappy maid to replace me.  I think the water heater is cheaper.

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Busted!

Chowing down on some potato soup, his new favorite!

It's almost DECEMBER!

Upon receiving this email...

Rach,
No Blog update since 10/18/2011!  What's up?
Love you a bunch,
Dad


...I decided it was time to write an update!  Lots has happened since October 18.  Derek went away for a work trip for a WHOLE WEEK, so Davis and I ran away from home.  We went to Wilson for a few days and visited family.  We had a good time and got to spend lots of quality time with Grandaddy, Grandmama, Nana and Papa, and Uncle Morgan.  Grandaddy is still finding evidence of Davis' visit every day (i.e. toys and other household items in weird places)!


Davis is really into play dough and markers right now.  He is also attempting to count and to label colors.  At this point everything is "boo" (blue) to him, but we love the way he says "yellow".  It sounds like "oyo".  It's also really cute to watch him touch things with his finger and use his sing-songy voice (imitating me, I'm sure) "count" things.  He likes wooden puzzles and wants to complete several each morning when he wakes up.  He continues to be very interested in animals and now, after watching planes land and take off at the airport observation deck, he is also developing a love for airplanes and likes to say that they go "up, up, up".  As I type this, Derek and Davis are practicing their prepositions.  Derek is telling Davis to "go UNDER Sadie" as Sadie stands still and Davis is obliging happily.  Side note:  Every time I think of the word, "preposition" I'm reminded of a Designing Women episode where Mary Jo, a southern lady, asks a visitor, "Where are you from?"  The woman replies, "I'm from the North, where we don't end our sentences in prepositions."  Mary Jo's response:  "I'm sorry.  Where are you from, bitch?"  I digress...


We had a great Thanksgiving, celebrating at my mom's house the Saturday before Thanksgiving and then at Derek's folks' house on Thursday...which meant that we stuffed ourselves silly on TWO occasions rather than one.  I, I mean Santa, got some great deals at Toys R Us on Black Friday, and I'm already excited to see Davis open his presents on Christmas morning.


Here are a few pictures...

A recent masterpiece

Reading books with Aunt Barbara and Cousin Turner on Thanksgiving

Playing in the leaves in the back yard

Now that is F-U-N

Contemplating the next move...

Sending acorns down the slide

Fall

I love fall more and more every year.  And now it has taken on an even more special meaning because I have such a fun little boy to share it with (in addition to my fun big boy).  We're just recovering from a week of fall fun, thanks to Derek taking a whole week off from work!  We went to Myrtle Beach for a few nights, we visited the State Fair, and we went to Hill Ridge Farms, the Disney World of pumpkin patches.

Myrtle Beach was great, even though it rained for most of the trip.  My mom went with us, and we stayed in a great hotel on the beach.  We did lots of outlet shopping, eating, and other tourist-y things.  Davis got a kick out of feeding the catfish at Broadway at the Beach.  I personally think those things are creepy!

We met up with our friends Caroline and Garrett at the fair, and Caroline was a great tour guide, showing us all the best places to eat and play.  Davis loved the petting zoo and especially getting to touch a goat.  It was kind of odd and neat to see a zebra, llamas, goats, camels, and cows all in the same place.

Here are some pictures of our recent shenanigans...

Gorgeous sunrise at the beach

Davis is about to go down the slide at Hill Ridge, and he is telling Derek to count to three.  

Love this profile shot of my boy in the hay maze.  Maybe one day we will cut his hair?

Having fun in the "Hay Jump"

We met our friends Christy, Brian, and Cooper at Hill Ridge.  Davis and Cooper tried a little synchronized pumpkin lifting.  

Scouting out the perfect pumpkin...

Beach and Zoo Pictures

Here are some pictures from our Labor Day beach trip and our visit to the zoo last weekend...

Happy boy on the beach

Closely examining a shell

Davis teaching Uncle M how to read

"Mom, I wasn't even thinking about sticking my finger in the outlet...."

Dance party!

Checking out the gorillas with Dad and Nana

"Ooh ooh ah ah!"

With Lillian and Ken, our zoo visiting buddies

15 Month Stats

Davis had his 15 month well baby visit yesterday, and he is pretty much perfect--at least we think so.  He weighs 25 pounds (60th percentile), is 31 inches tall (70th percentile), and still has a big ol' noggin!  This was the first time he acted nervous at the doctor's office; I guess he's much more aware of his surroundings and "stranger danger" now.  But all in all, he did great and got a wonderful report (Praise the Lord!).

We went to the zoo for the second time last weekend and had so much fun.  Davis loved seeing the animals and it was clear that he recognized a lot of the them, which was really cool.  Poor thing just couldn't understand why he couldn't jump in and play with the animals.  One day we are going to have to have a serious talk about animal safety, as he thinks they are all friendly.  Fortunately he can't quite catch the squirrels at the park yet.

Here's a short video of my favorite goof ball drinking bath water....and thinking it's hilarious.

 

Cousins Beach Trip!

Davis and I are at the beach for the weekend with my cousin, Anna and her son, Sawyer.  Sawyer and Davis are the same age and will hopefully grow up to be great friends!  Here are a few pictures from the weekend so far...

Playing games on the iPad together

Action shot!

Sawyer at the park

He loved the slide!

Davis loved the shell-y sand at the beach.

Anna and Sawyer kicking the ball on the beach

Digging away

Washing off all of the sand!

I'm sure there will be lots more pictures to share.  We are having a ball and look forward to more beach time tomorrow!

Family Pictures

About a month ago, we went and had some professional photos taken.  I got a great deal on a photography package from Cat Wilborne, so we met her at the NC Museum of Art one Saturday and this is what we got!

Guns N' Roses

Okay, this post really has nothing to do with Guns N' Roses, except that I have been finding myself singing, "All you need is just a little patience" quite often lately.  Davis--my love, my angel, my sweet precious little boy--has jumped head first into toddlerhood...and off of any piece of furniture he can find.  Okay, that's a slight exaggeration.  He's more like rolling and tumbling off of the furniture.  He has also learned to vocalize his opinion quite well and quite loudly.  I absolutely love this stage he is in, as he is a lot of fun and is like a sponge, soaking up so much knowledge and information each and every day.  But, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't also a little challenging.  He is wanting to do every possible dangerous thing he can think of, and he doesn't like being told "no" or being steered away from what he wants to do.  He still isn't saying very many words clearly, but Derek and I usually know what he's trying to say and I think he speaks Chinese quite fluently.  His "talking" is sounding more and more like conversation and he uses lots of inflection.  He is loving to imitate things he sees Derek or me doing, like raking, wiping surfaces with a wash cloth, etc., and I'm thinking if I can teach him how to dust I'll be in business!  He's also gotten really good at going up and down the slide Nana and Grandpa gave him for his birthday.  I'll post a video of that soon.

Yesterday we went to visit my mom and spent the day at her house and running around Wilson.  We had a ball, and Davis was so pooped that he fell asleep in the car at 6:45pm....which meant that by 3:30 he was up and ready to play!...which means that it is now 6:30am and I've been up for three hours.  I think he is finally starting to get tired again now, so maybe I can catch a little nap with him.  On the bright side, I've dusted the den and made the dressing and boiled the eggs for the salad we're having for lunch today!  On the really bright side, he's been happy this whole time so I can't complain too much.  I looooove that sweet boy and wouldn't trade this time for anything in the world.

Davis grabbed one of Grandma's lights and made a run for it!

We visited the gardens at the Agriculture Center in Wilson.

Once again, making a run for it...

Pretty scenery at the gardens

More pretty scenery

Little moments...

Davis eating a big ol' piece of watermelon in the back yard on a hot summer morning.  To quote Brad Paisley, "I live for little moments like this."

That reminds me, I better go spray some Shout on his pajama shirt.

Yesterday, Davis took a break from splashing around in his pool to run around the yard naked.  I got some cute pictures...

Love that sweet face!

I've heard of people vacuuming in the nude, but not mowing the grass...

Playing with Sadie's nasty old rubber frisbee with a hole in the middle

It makes a great hat!

Or headband!

Or necklace!