New Month....New Post

It's hard to believe it is May already! This is Ley's last week of school and I am a little sad. I have really grown to enjoy my time in the morning until lunch with just Maddie and me. He seems to be excited about "summer break". It is already getting quite warm here...I am dreading the sweltering days of summer. It is still nice in the evenings here though. And it FINALLY rained here Saturday and yesterday, so it was very nice out yesterday and we all played outside in the backyard. We put Maddie's baby/toddler swing up that had been in the attic (we had almost forgotten about it!) so she could try it out. Ley loved the idea of his "baby sister" swinging beside him. She was not so keen on the whole idea though. She did smile a few times, but I think it will take a bit for her to get comfortable in it.
























We will definitely have a little walker in the not so distant future. Maddie is becoming more and more brave when it comes to standing on her own two feet...she is such a quick little crawler and is into everything. She is also developing quite a little temper...when she wants to be held, she let's you know about it quickly! She is starting to look more and more chunky; I need to take her for a weight check--I hope she has moved up from the second percentile!!

Here is a little montage of recent Maddie pics as well as a video of her walking. Please ignore both of us being "underdressed"--I in my pajama pants, as most of my clothes are not too comfortable these days (time to go all out maternity, I suppose...) and Maddie in her slip :)

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My Pregnancy This Week: 16 weeks

How your baby's growing: At 4 1/2 inches long (head to bottom) and 3 1/2 ounces, your baby is about the size of an avocado. In the next three weeks, she'll go through a tremendous growth spurt, though, doubling her weight and adding inches to her length. Her lower limbs are much more developed now. Her head is more erect than it has been, and her eyes have moved toward the front of her head. Your baby's ears are close to their final position, too. Some of her more advanced body systems are working, including her circulatory system and urinary tract. Her heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, circulating her total blood volume through her body many times. (By the end of your pregnancy, this will increase to about 190 quarts.) The patterning of her scalp has begun, though her hair isn't recognizable yet. Although closed, her eyes are moving (slowly), and she's even started growing toenails. (http://www.babycenter.com)

I was 16 weeks on Sunday and I even let J take a picture of my expanding tummy. I have had lots of "I can't believe your showing!" comments this last week. Although, I am not sure why, afterall, this is my third child, you guys! At first, I kept trying to tell people that bump they were seeing wasn't really the baby--just what I have to show from my last pregnancy that I never got rid of (I mean I was only 6 months post-partum, friends!) or perhaps a big meal I had eaten a few hours earlier. I quickly realized, no one was listening to my "that's just lack of muscle and extra skin" remarks and am now embracing the fact that I am indeed showing something. I also left out the paragraph from BabyCenter that talked about how everybody must be asking about how wonderful I look and how the "glow of pregnancy" is real...am I hearing those comments?...yeah, not so much. And how I must be "enjoying myself more, too, now that my hormones have stabilized and nausea has eased up". Oh, the lucky ones...

I have had a few glimpses of life without nausea. A have had a few days where I would have moments or maybe even an hour of feeling pretty normal (hooray!), but then it is always followed by after lunch, afternoon, evening and night which are pretty much a downward spiral into yuckiness.

Except for feeling sicky, we had a great time visiting my parents in Richmond. Ley was able to see his first snow (something that he very well could have gone many more years without seeing here on the coast!) as it did appear the morning before Easter. When my Mom told him to look out the window (after it had snowed), she asked him what was different and his response was, "Where are the leaves?". It didn't last long, of course, but Leighton enjoyed playing in it with his Grandad. Easter was wonderful, although we missed having Daddy there. Leighton had what seemed to be a fever virus for about 3 of the days we were there, but it didn't slow him down too much! We also took a trip to the CMOR or Children's Museum of Richmond, the day before we left town. It was a big hit! Fun water tables, art rooms, apple picking, and crawling in a mouth (yes, a mouth--and this was Ley's favorite--it burped when you entered...lovely) Of course, both my parents and I forgot to bring our cameras, so all I have are not-so-high-quality camera phone pics. In fact, I think I took a total of 5 photographs on my camera the whole time we were visiting. The grandparents were taking so many that I just didn't put out the extra energy :)! SO, I have nothing to show for our trip yet, but hopefully will sometime soon. Thanks for having us up, ANne and Grandad and taking such good care of us, again. We wish you weren't so far away...

I do have pics of Ley's Easter party at school and a couple of other random shots.

I Made It...

Through the first trimester! But, no relief yet from the miserable nauseous feeling. I am so ready to feel good again. I can't wait for someone to ask me how I am doing and get to answer, "Better!". I can't wait for food to really taste good again and to actually be able to enjoy a beverage other than water. Food has become my enemy these days. I despise the pantry and refrigerator, and more than anything, the grocery store....trying to decide what to buy to eat when absolutely nothing sounds appetizing...ugh. My doc gave me scripts for the anti-nausea meds and I am actually thinking of trying the phenergan (I tried Zofran while pregnant with Maddie, but no help there). I return to the OB in three weeks (they wanted to see me a little earlier than a month due to a few dropped lbs, to make sure I am not continuing to lose; exact same scenario as my pregnancy with Madden), and hopefully we will schedule the big gender US for sometime in May. Can't wait to find out...Ley says he wants another baby sister, but I think he would be thrilled with a baby brother!

On a less sickly note, Leighton has his first school Easter party on Wednesday mornin g. I will try and snap some pics, but it may prove difficult since I will have Maddie with me. Maddie has her 9 month well check tomorrow morning. I hope everything goes smoothly. No shots this visit! Gotta love that...Madden has almost weaned completely and the process has proven to be less traumatic (for me) than I thought. She loves to take a bottle (completely opposite of her brother who never took a bottle and went straight to a sippy cup!) and absolutely loves to eat, period! My body is just no longer making enough milk to nourish her little body. But, I wanted to nurse her until 10 months (40 weeks), and I was able to meet my goal. I am finally getting the hang of formula now too. At first, I felt like a fish out of water...I hadn't prepared a bottle since my babysitting days! Now, we have the hang of it and as you can see in the photos below, Maddie likes to hold her own bottle and does a pretty ferocious job of 'gumming' her food (yep, not a single tooth yet!)!

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Madden also LOVES to laugh...but, don't joke with her about her food!

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Home again, Home again...

We are having some PC difficulties (once again) and that is why I haven't posted sooner. J left me the laptop this morning so I could write a little something. I hope you were all relatively surprised by my last slideshow....at least as surprised as we were!! We are becoming more excited as the days pass although it took quite a few weeks for the shock to wear off for yours truly. Jeremy has been very happy from the get-go (which was a good thing; we were able to balance eachother out!). Part of the problem for me and my lack of celebration is the all day 'morning' sickness that I have been experiencing since about 4 or 5 days after seeing the two pink lines....ugh. I am not tossing my cookies but feel extremely nauseous most of the day.

I have been sporting the lovely Sea Bands to help counteract the nastiness I feel all the time, but I don't think they work. Morning is actually my best time...afternoon and evening are the worst. I can't wait to drag my sick behind to bed each night. No more late nights for me until this passes! It has been hard for J though because our time together in the evening when he returns home from work is the worst for me. I pray for this pregnancy to be like my pregnancy with Ley--I felt better by about 15 weeks or so...with Maddie the sickness dragged on and on until 23 or 24 weeks. I am 13 weeks now so hopefully in the next couple of weeks it will be better.

We are so glad we were able to make the trip to LA. It was a difficult trip for all of us. Me--well, because I was sick. Ley--he's 4 years old and should not be confined to a booster seat for that length of time! And Jeremy--he had to drive the ENTIRE way because we were pulling the trailer with all his music gear (normally, I wouldn't mind driving some while pulling it, but since I was so sick...it just wasn't an option). But, sweet Madden was an angel. She has turned into quite the traveler; she did awesome on the way there and on the way home(in which she was in the vehicle for 12 hours in one day..pretty amazing!) We didn't get to see all the family and friends that we wanted to--mostly due to me feeling so bad and the fact that we only had the one vehicle. Hopefully, we will be back in that neck of the woods in the summer sometime. I am debating taking the kids back without Jeremy--depends on when this nausea subsides; definitely can't do it on my own in my current condition.

But, our next big trip will be to see my parents in Richmond. We are hoping to see them before they make their fun trip to Hawaii the end of April. Another reason I need to lose this yuck feeling...or they may just have to come see us :). I think Leighton would much rather go to see them though, so Granddad can take take him to the park down the street where they feed the ducks and have such a cool playground.

Well, this is all I have time for this AM, I have to pickup Ley from school in about 45 minutes and I need to see if I can post a few pics (the PC being down is making posting photos difficult as well). I really didn't take very many photos while we were there; can I really blame anything else on being sick?? Yes, if you felt as bad as I do (or have in a past pregnancy), you would use the excuse too!

I will leave you with a video of little Leighton; he's not doing anything too terribly funny (like running around in circles or getting his groove on, my top two fave videos), but it is the only video I have of either of my darlings that is recent.


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Surprise... I'm back, then gone again...

Okay, well, it's been awhile....I know this. I am not your normal blogger though. I reserve the right to drop from the blogosphere whenever needed. And, well, it couldn't be helped. Life is a little nuts right now at the Davis house, but I wanted to at least write something before we leave to 'vacation' in North LA for a week. I definitely won't be posting pics or any wonderful words of wisdom while I am there. Our time there will be busy to say the least, but hopefully enjoyable. I tend to not write much when I don't have photos to post with it and well, I haven't taken many pics of the kids lately (yes, I have been slacking in many ways; you would know this if you saw my house and my half-packed bags!). I do have this lovely little montage of older photos along with a few new ones...hope you enjoy and will hopefully have lots of fun and interesting news when we return from the distant land of the Twin Cities...

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No PB & J at Our House....

Yes, it seems I infected my child with salmonella last week. It is the only reason I can think of for the 'tummy troubles' Leighton was suffering from that I spoke of in the last post. He missed two days of school due to inexplicable diarrhea that lasted for a good 5-6 days. He had no other symptoms (i.e. fever or cramping), thankfully. But, it was about to drive me nuts trying to figure out where the problem stemmed. He wasn't drinking too much juice, or eating too much fruit, etc. When I finally realized we had a jar from the batch of comtaminated Great Value peanut butter. Both Peter Pan and Great Value Brands of peanut butter are part of a recall due to risk of contamination with Salmonella Tennessee. The affected jars of peanut butter have a product code located on the lid of the jar that begins with the number "2111." I felt awful because my poor child had PB&J sandwiches on two different occasions last week (due to my laziness on those particular days). I think I even had a touch of it as well, since I also tend to snack on PB and graham crackers, as well as sharing a fancy PB&J lunch with Ley. I think this recall only affects us because these jars of peanut butter were made at a plant here in GA...but, if your close by, it wouldn't hurt to check the top of YOUR jar...that is unless you are a choosy mom who chooses Jif--then you're in the clear...

Pajamas and Cookies for My Sweet Valentine...

Here are some pics of Ley opening his Valentine card and gift from my parents...they are not so good since in the majority of them he was stripping down in the middle of the kitchen floor, removing his current pajamas to be replaced by his new Valentine dinosaur pajamas (that he wore the rest of the day, actually). But, it seems these days that if you didn't see Ley only half-dressed, it just wouldn't be my sweet Leighton. His lovely and much-loved Anne also made him some delicious heart-shaped rice krispy treats that she personalized just for him and sent all the way from Richmond! He had a great V day although he had to miss school (and therefore, the big Valentine exchange/party at preschool) due to some tummy issues the past week (which are, thankfully, subsiding today!).

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Happy Valentine's...Early

I love this commercial--it brings tears to my eyes everytime I see it...I am such a cheeseball, I know...just thought I would share...

Where The Wild Things Are: Leighton's First Ballet

We had a fun evening yesterday. Columbia City Ballet presented Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, the acclaimed children's book which describes the imaginary adventures of a young boy named Max, who is angry after being sent to his room without supper and his encounters with mythical creatures. It was a 45 minute one-act ballet that was full of colorful costumes, giant puppets and animated scenery. Leighton ended up really enjoying the performance, although we were questioning ourselves when we arrived.

First of all, I see women all dressed in evening attire, some quite formal. I think to myself, "Self, not only are you wearing jeans and a fleece, but you are sporting the ultimate casual accessories: small children!" Once, we arrived in the theatre we were relieved to see an abundance of other children. Secondly, there were two original ballets to be performed before Max and the monsters were to take the stage. One was a comedy called "Men's Class" (that was a bit funny, but not so much to the kiddos) about a male ballet class, and the second was "A Tribute to Fred Astaire" which was in my opinion, just not so entertaining (sorry, if there any die-hard ballet fans in my audience). At this point, Leighton turned to his daddy and said, " I have had just about enough of the dancing!" Thankfully, after a short intermission, the wild and imaginative show began. I have a video clip (although it is not the best; I was holding a sleeping baby!) that really shows the giant puppets well...

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We really had a wonderful time and Maddie was so good through the entire evening, which was also a blessing (this was also, her first ballet, by the way!). She was awake until about the last 30 minutes, and she napped through the best part! Ley napped on the way home...

Photo Shoot Gone Awry...

I do love to photograph my kiddos, I must admit. I definitely lack any kind of training, though hard I may try. Yesterday, I thought I would take a few pics of Maddie and Ley together, but it did not quite work out as planned. Even though Madden's nose was running and Leighton had leftover lunchtime crumbs on his face, I thought I could get a cute shot. No such luck, but I will go ahead and post the outcome...afterall, I need something to post...

I will leave ya'll with a cute pic of Leighton in his alligator visor he made at school last week that he has literally worn until it is falling apart! He asked me today why it isn't fitting anymore...I told him that paper and yarn aren't meant to be lived in!

Shake Your Moneymaker!

Watch out, JT, Leighton is bringing 'funky' back...my son has mad skills, I tell you...We can't get Ley to tell us much about his daily routine at preschool, but we are wondering if he is nearly as entertaining for his teacher and classmates at the First Baptist Church, as he is at home! I wonder who he gets his dancing abilities from?

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A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words...

And, well, it needs to right now, because I have no time to post about the absolute screaming good time (yes, there was actual screaming involved...) we had at the show on Saturday night. Although I am pretty sure we were the oldest attendees in the audience (except for the parental chaperones of the oodles and oodles of 12 and 13 year old girls!), it didn't matter--we had a blast! Of course there is a story behind this photo, but I have no time to indulge you all...if you get a chance to see The Fray--you should...even Jeremy (who thinks their songs all sound alike) seemed to enjoy himself... a little (he took the above pic, too; what a great hubby!!)! Will try to post more later...took some video clips and such, but not sure they turned out as anything but buzzing....

Soon-to-be Chatterbox...

Maddie uttered her first sounds yesterday (well, besides 'thpppt'!) and it was 'mamamama'! Ley did say 'dada' first so I was kindof expecting the same, but what a pleasant surprise! It is so fun right now and I will enjoy every moment of her saying it before she realizes that mama=me, and then it becomes less cute and precious all the time. Gone are the peaceful days of speechlessness...

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How To Save a Life...

Live music, here I come! The Fray is coming to Savannah this weekend...woo-hoo! I can't remember the last time I saw a great musical act of the rock/pop genre. I really think the last concert of any kind that I was in attendance, was the Mercy Me show (and it was amazing!!) in Monroe many moons ago. I haven't even seen my hubby's band play in *forever*. It's quite sad for a girl who so loves so many kinds of music....

I had no idea that the guys from The Fray used to be part of the Christian genre...guess I am behind. You can read more about it here:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2006/thefray-0706.html

In honor of the occasion of me getting out of the house sans kiddos, I added a playlist (under my 'links' section) of some fun music...now, if it actually works, I am unsure, but I tried. Look at me, trying to get all technological and such on my blog...kind of scary. Maybe I should just stick to the making slide shows and posting video of my munchkins!

Hey Baby, What's Yo Sign?!

Well, I'm a sagittarius, but who really cares? This past weekend I started to try some baby sign language with Maddie. I never really did it with Leighton (by the time I thought about trying it, I thought he was too old, although he *probably* was not), and my friend, Mere, did it with Ella and it was so great that she could communicate things she needed at such a young age. So, now this Mer is going to try it with her sweet girl. We will see how it goes for us. I don't have any of the books, so I am just getting my information from the internet. We are doing the sign for 'more'(that is the sign the cute, random baby above is doing), but I think I should have started with 'milk', so we are going to start trying out the 'milk' sign when it is time to nurse. Will keep ya'll posted on any developments...


Leighton made it through his checkup. I was SO glad to have his daddy there with me! Jeremy was so great with Ley and just stepped right up to the plate as far as voicing the concerns we had with Leighton's health and development. I think I will just send Jeremy to the pediatrician with the kids from now on!

Ley has been having some issues with frequent urination off an on since Christmas time and we were so relieved to find out there is no real problem (specifically diabetes). Dr. Hobby called it 'benign polyuria' which is just a fancy term for non-pathological needing to pee all the time! Ley will be having a speech evaluation in the next month or so--he is having difficulty with his 'tr', 'ch', and 'sh' type consonant-consonant sounds (the words 'trees' and 'cheese' sound exactly the same). We are not sure if he truly needs an eval, but I feel like it is the right thing to do right now. We don't want to wait too long if he does need some work, you know? The shots were traumatic (and this is an understatement) and there was an excessive amount of high-pitched screaming, kicking, and crying, but thanks to Jeremy's help and as well as 2 nurses, he was inoculated with 4 shots! He was over it very quickly, and we all enjoyed a post-wellcheck-party at the local Chick-fil-a playland. Next year, he will only have one shot to look forward to, thank goodness!

I will leave ya'll with a pic of us from Maddie's first checkup after birth so you can see Dr. Hobby! He is so great with my kiddos! Thank you Jesus for wonderful doctors to take care of us!

Immunizations this AM---should be interesting...

Leighton has his 4 year old well-check this morning. He will also be getting his vaccinations. The big kiddo above makes this look pretty easy--wonder what his mom promised him?? After taking Ley for his flu shot this year (with Maddie in tow of course), I enlisted the help of Jeremy for this appointment. I could barely get him to sit still for one shot--it will most certainly be difficult to approach him with between 3-5 vax (although hopefully at least 2 of the immunizations may be together in one injection)! It has been such a long time since he had 'shots', you know? I hope I don't have to chase Leighton around the room like my mom had to do to my brother (sorry, Jeff; okay, maybe you didn't actually run, I can't remember I was just 2, but I remember you put up a pretty good fight!)! If only I could get those shots for him...

Madden is Mobile!

Wow, now I actually have to vacuum on a regular basis...ugh. We first noticed her crawling at the beginning of the month...she crawled 2 steps. Her biggest deterrent has been crawling out of her clothes. I will find her laying on her tummy on the floor, sucking her thumb, with both legs in the torso portion of her footed outfits! She went from rocking to crawling so quickly, it seems to me. Of course, I am comparing her to the big brother who didn't *truly* crawl until he was 10 months old! He did the 'army crawl' starting at about 7 months and then finally when we were visiting my parents overseas, Ley decided to use his hands and knees instead of his tummy to get around. Maddie seems to be doing everything a little earlier than her brother did at this point (well, everything except eating solids and putting herself to sleep at night--Leighton beat her to the punch on those two!): rolling over, sitting alone, pulling self into sitting position, and crawling; she has even started pulling herself onto her knees to get into her toy basket and play on the learning table and such. I can't believe today is her 7 month birthday...it just blows my mind. It seems like yesterday, I was turning flips and doing handstands in the pool at my pastor's house to try and flip a breech baby, and now she is crawling around on my living room floor!

A Prayer for my Preschooler...

Father--
Please be with Leighton today as he begins a new phase in his life...preschool! He is so excited, Lord. I know You will be with him every step today. Help him to be obedient, listen and learn, play and have fun, make new friends (and remember to ask their names!!), share, be kind, be respectful. I pray that he would remember his memory verse from last week and "Love his neighbors as himself" as he meets new boys and girls. I specifically ask for a special friend that will stand out to him in his class, especially because he is starting halfway through the year. Hold him in the palm of your hand, Father; keep him safe and healthy. Allow him to adjust to the schedule easily and not skip a beat. Be with his teachers, Ms. Melissa and Ms. Kathy, as they teach Ley and guide him in his social, emotional, and spiritual development; I am so thankful for the teachers and aides You have placed at his school and in his classroom--thank you that we live in a place where we are able to send our children to school--especially to a preschool that is not only a school but a ministry as well! Thank you, Jesus, for my precious gift, Leighton, whom I have had at home with me for the vast majority of his 4 years; thank you that he belongs to You first and foremost. I am so glad that you designed him exactly the way he is and already know the plans and future You have for him (and I claim that for him, Lord!)...thank you for the priviledge I have to love and train him up in Your ways. Today, and everyday, I give him back to You...Amen.

The Mom List: Four Mysteries of Motherhood

I couldn't resist posting this little blip from my monthly Parenting magazine...although I should be writing about all the stuff going on in our lives right now...hopefully there will be a second post today.



4 mysteries of motherhood:

1. Why your children need you urgently--the instant you step in the shower.

2. How two kids are easier to take care of than one.

3. Why fruit snacks are neither fruit nor snacks, but candy.

4. The way the days can drag on forever, but the years go by so fast.
--Charlotte Latvala

The fruit snack mystery really made me smile because they are such a hot commodity in our house...Ley loves them and would eat goodness knows how many of these "corn syrup-filled chews in a bag" a day if I would let him! I have to remind him over and over that they are not a snack, they are a treat!

Tiny hands, tiny feet, there's someone new I can't wait to meet!

My bestest and dearest friend, Meredith, gave birth to her second, precious baby girl. On January 12, 2007 at 10:19 AM, Madeline Meredith Price was welcomed into the world. She was 7 pounds, 5 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long. She is just beautiful, like we all knew she would be and in fact looks very similar to her big sister, Ella, when she was born. I can't wait to hold her, and I am definitely loving her from 800 miles away! March cannot come soon enough! I was so excited to see the photos that I just had to post some...Congratulations Meredith, Jeff, and Ella--welcome to life as a family of four!

Children are a gift from God; they are His reward..." ~Psalm 127:3