Amarillo by morning!

I love traditions! And one my favorites is the girls weekend tradition where some of my college roommates and I meet up to catch up. Since we graduated, Chrissa, Jen (Jutte) Stanhope, Jen (Leonhart) Silhan and I have made it a point to have a girls weekend every year or two. This allows us to catch up on the parts of life that we miss by living several hundred miles apart. Our meet ups don’t always promise an extravagant hotel stay or a day of bliss at the spa, but they always ensure a fabulous, non-stop gab fest that always leaves me feeling rejuvenated and beyond blessed to have such wonderful women in my life! Love you girls!

We're baaaack!

Yep, happy bath time is back!! Somehow his daddy got him to sit on his bum and he loved splashing around and playing with all his bath toys again! We’ve had wonderful, fun, WET baths  ever since. Thank you Lord! J

compass needed

A few days ago, a friend posted a picture of her 17 mos old laying on the floor, face down, with arms above her head. The caption read “My 17 month old is so talented, she can throw a fit like a 2 year old!”. I thought this post was funny, and chuckled to myself, as this is our life right now too. It seems like overnight, my cooperative toddler suddenly has an opinion.  And when he wants something, he lets you know. His two obsessions these days… baby einstein and toothbrushes! When he sees the remote in our room, he starts pointing at the tv and whining until you turn it on. If you don’t, he will have a meltdown. When you go into the bathroom, he follows you, and willl point at the cabinet and whine until you give him a toothbrush. If you don’t, he will have a meltdown. You get the picture. In the two short weeks that this has been happening, I already find myself in a panic sometimes. As the mother of a baby, sure, there are lots of things to worry over, like  “Is he getting enough milk?”, “Will his belly button ever fall off?”, “Is he getting enough tummy time?”, “Will he ever sleep through the night?”, but when the toddler stage suddenly has the word DISCIPLINE ringing in my ears, it feels like I have stepped into a whole other arena. I desperately want to do discipline “right”, but I know that this is a tall order. So for now, I am thankful for those mommies who have gone through the trenches before me, and share their wisdom and knowledge with honesty and love. And for the Christ loving authors who pen books for first time moms like me to read.

So, these days you may find my toddler watching baby einstein while chewing on a toothbrush… or you may not ! ; )

16 Months

Grayer here is what you are up to at 16 mos.

You love dogs! As soon as we walk in the door from being out somewhere, you want to be put down so you can go see Hogan. “Dog” is your very favorite word, and you call most animals dogs these days, but you are getting good at pointing to the correct animals in a book, so I know you are aware of the difference. You love to give Hogan hugs (and kisses), and try to ride him, but he usually stands up and you slide off within a minute or two of climbing on. This drives mommy nuts, because you always come out covered in dog hair, (yuck!), but the love affair is very sweet!

You are fully aware of things in the sky. You LOVE looking for birds in the backyard, and will point, babble and stare at them for ages. You also love squirrels, and think they are so funny scurrying up the trees. Your favorite thing in the sky are airplanes! You get so excited anytime you hear one (which is often at our house since we are so close to Love Field) and run towards them. It’s so cute :) When we go out at night, you always look up in the sky and try to find the moon. You call it “ball”, which is adorable :)

You rarely walk these days; you are always running off to your next adventure. Your Mimi just can’t get over how fast you are! One thing is for sure, you have the cutest little “penguin waddle”. Your whole body moves from side to side, whether walking or running, and everyone in our family thinks you look like an adorable little penguin. I will remember this walk forever!

At the beginning of December your daddy went on a trip to D.C with one of his good friends, and you and I spent a night with Mimi and Papa. While we were there, we tried to put you in the bath, because you have always loved bath time, and always enjoyed splashing in the water. For some reason, this new tub really scared you, and you have not wanted to sit down in the bath tub since. This has been a little sad for mommy, since bath time had always been our little place of solace at the end of the day, where we would listen to toddler tunes, read books, and chatter on about the day. You still get excited when we turn on the water, can’t wait to take your clothes off and show off your sweet little tush, and want to be lifted into the tub, but you don’t want to sit down in the water. You will stand by the side, holding on with one hand, and splash water around with the other. Because of this, you don’t want to stay in the tub for long, so bath time is usually pretty short. I’ve put you in your bumbo a few times in the tub, but you don’t quite weigh enough, and if we put too much water in, you start to float, which you don’t like. I know this is just one of those quirky stages that will soon pass, but I am looking forward to longer bath times in the future.

The park is one of your favorite places to go. We’ve tried out a few new ones lately, but your friend Hunter showed you a really fun one by SMU, and it’s by far your favorite. You can’t get enough of the slide, and want to go up and down over and over and over. You squeal with delight each and every time, so we find it hard to refuse you another turn, even when our arms are weak with exhaustion. You like climbing up and down the stairs as well, but surprisingly usually only want to stay in the swing for a minute or two. You love to watch the big kids play, and want to chase them around. Any time there is a dog at the park, you always want to go over and pet it. You can’t get enough of those four legged animals. You also love the zoo, and when I took you this week, we went in to see the goats as usual. You kept walking over to them, wildly waving your arms to say “hi”… so funny!

Your cousin Elle got a trampoline for Christmas and they put it up in their dining room. At first you were unsure about all the bouncing, and always wanted out if Elle jumped too high, but now you love to jump, and have become much more fearless. The two of you are quite a sight jumping, squealing and laughing together, and it always brings a smile to my face. You and cousin still get along well, except for the occasional battle of wills that is bound to happen with a 2.5 year old and a toddler.


All 4 of your one year old molars are finally through! It took several weeks, and pints of drool, but you finally worked them all in. Last week, while you were working on your 4th and final molar, you were touching your right ear, so we took you in to see the doctor, because we thought you had an ear infection. Turns out you didn’t (thankfully!), and it was all due to teething. I know we will all be glad when all your teeth are in. Your sweet, toothy smile melts our hearts on a daily basis. I don’t think I can ever get enough of your sweet giggle and grin :)

You love to dance! You know how to turn on and off the CD player in your room, so this has become a fun activity for you. You turn the music on, stand up and dance, then hit the pause button, say uh-oh, and then turn the music back on, and dancing ensues. Seeing you shake your little groove thang is adorable! You also got an electric guitar from Santa for Christmas, and love to walk around the house playing it and dancing.

We went to a new church last Sunday (The Village) and you did GREAT in the nursery! There were no tears at all when we dropped you off, and when we came to pick you up, you were playing sweetly with a little girl. The last several times we’d dropped you off at Fellowship, there were lots of tears, and most times it was apparent you had cried some during the service as well. This would always break my heart, and made it hard to drop you off, knowing that you were sad, so we are hopeful that we’ve found a good church to begin going to. I’ve been listening to Matt Chandler (Pastor at The Village) for months online, and have wanted to try out the church, but for one reason or another we never did. Your dad and I both enjoyed the service, but it was very different from Fellowship, so we will give it some time before we make a permanent switch I think. Knowing that you are happy, makes us happy though, that’s for sure!

Grayer, you are such a blessing in our lives. Watching you grow from a baby to a toddler has brought us so much joy, and we are so thankful that you were entrusted to us. Your sweet spirit and exuberance for life teach us daily, and we are so excited to be on this journey of parenthood. We love you sweet munchie-moo!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

What I love about Christmas:

cooler weather that slowly creeps in from the blazing Texas summer

bundling up with jackets, scarves and gloves

hot chocolate with marshmallows

winter candle scents

holiday cheer

red noses

real Christmas trees

getting décor down from the attic

giving gifts

falling leaves

twinkling lights

big red bows

jingling bells

pictures with Santa

the nativity

classic Christmas carols

wrapping gifts

festive Christmas parties

the sparkle in the eye of my baby

annual light looking

family Christmas cards

the smell of warm fires

holiday candies

Christmas books

frank sinatra holiday music

the magical feel in the air

the wishes sent up for a white Christmas

the nutcracker

holiday movies

trees engulfed in lights

ornament exchanges

thankful spirits

candle light Christmas eve services

and the list could go on…


As you think about all the things you love about Christmas, may you be reminded of the real reason we celebrate.

Thank you Lord for sending your Son.

Luke 2:4-21 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.


And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”


Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,


“Glory to God in the highest heaven,


and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”


When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”


So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.


On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Merry Christmas!

Giving Thanks

I’ve had an inkling for awhile that I would enjoy this Thanksgiving slightly more than last year. Although, last year was very special in its own way, since it was Grayer’s first Thanksgiving, it wasn’t quite the relaxing, fun, family-gathering that it normally is… and well, I guess this year wasn’t particularly “relaxing”, but it was a bit more fun.

Last November, we had an 8 week old who wasn’t anywhere near sleeping through the night, who was cranky in the evenings, was breastfeeding, pooped 6+ times a day, and just over-all very mommy needy… ALL the time. It was quite an exhausting time in our lives, as all new parents remember. And to make matters worse, I was definitely suffering from new-mommy-syndrome. I was petrified to let anyone else hold him, because I knew the moment I passed him over, he would scream bloody murder and then everyone would think we had a horrible baby. Which wasn’t at ALL the case.. but it definitely went through my mind (like a million times).

This year, our little bugga ate his first turkey and ALL the fixings! He loved every single thing we put in his mouth, and then some! I am so glad that he is not a picky eater and is willing to at least try most things. Thanksgiving with the Davis’ is by far my favorite meal of the year, and it was so fun to see Grayer enjoying the corn casserole, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, and turkey that we all love so much. I didn’t get any pictures of him eating his Thanksgiving meal, but just imagine those chubby cheeks chomping on food by the handful :)

This time of year always gets me a little nostalgic. It’s exciting, but also a little bittersweet to see how much Grayer has grown in the past year, and it’s eye opening just how different life is when you have a tiny baby vs. a toddler. Although I have thoroughly enjoyed ALL the stages that Grayer has gone through, I really, really love having a toddler. He is so much fun to play with, talk to and sing with, and it’s amazing how all of a sudden he comprehends things and is able to communicate what he wants through pointing, grunting and babbling. I can’t believe how quickly he is growing up, but his sweet temperament is still shining through, even as a 14 month old little boy. People have forever been telling me what a mess little boys are... and I know I have not even touched the tip of the iceberg yet, but it is already very evident that Grayer has a very sweet personality. He loves to roughhouse with his dad, rarely cries when he falls down or pumps his head and is the happiest when he’s got ANY kind of ball in each hand, but he also loves to cuddle with his momma and blankie, give big, slobbery, open mouth kisses, still lets me rock him any time I want (melts my heart!), and is the most obedient child I’ve ever known. He doesn’t get into things he’s not supposed, and when he is told not to do something, he doesn’t do it. We are so blessed to have such a sweet little boy, and although I know I will miss all the kisses and cuddling he gives me now, I am thoroughly looking forward to being the mother of a rambunctious, dirt covered, little stinker! :)

Grayer, here is what you are up to at 14 months:

You are on the verge of running! You have been walking for quite some time, and now when you get really excited, or see something across the room that you want, you take off! It is so cute to see the delight in your eyes when you get going really fast. My favorite running moments happen when I walk in the door from being out somewhere and you come running to me for a hug, absolutely precious!

You are doing lots of babbling, and have “da-da”, “uh-oh” and “dog” down flat, but we are still working on other words like “up” when you want up on the couch, “milk” when you want something to drink and “night-night” when it’s time for bed. You do a great job of communicating through pointing and grunting though, and we almost always know what you are trying to tell us. I think you will really be talking in the next couple of months, and until then, “uh,uh, uh, uh” will just have to do! :)

On December 4th you got your very first molar! You’ve been working on it for awhile, but it finally pushed through the surface. You now have 9 whole teeth! 4 on top and 5 on the bottom. You’ve always been a big droller (sorry, but it’s true!) but I think it has lessened since one of your molars has come in, so I am hoping that once the other one comes through that we will see a considerable improvement, ha!

You new favorite activity gives everyone in the room a heart attack! You LOVE to put your blankie over your entire head and run around the room blind-folded. Why? We really have NO idea. You put your blanket around you like a cape, pull it over your head so that you can’t see and take off running. You’ve had a few minor accidents, like running into coffee tables and dining room chairs, which have resulted in some bruises on the forehead, but luckily nothing major has happened…yet! You also love to be pushed around our tiny house in this car that we bought you for your birthday. It has a long handle so we don’t have to bend down, but you are content to ride around from room to room for as long as your daddy and I will push you. We usually get tired of the seeing the same scenery after 5 minutes, but I am convinced you would ride for hours if we would let you.
You still love to watch your Baby Einstein movies, and I have recently discovered you can watch them on youtube with my iphone. This has been a lifesaver on longer car rides recently, as riding in the car is not your favorite thing to do these days. Since we don’t have a fancy car that has TV’s in the headrests, I hold up my phone so you can see the screen until my hand goes numb :) You love it and are quiet the entire time. Praying my next car has TV’s in it though, ha!

You’ve been a great sleeper for a long time, but when we took the morning bottle away at 12 months, you started to wake up very early. This has since resulted in you coming into our bed some mornings, which your daddy just loves! I think it reminds him of when you were a little baby and would nap on his chest, and he is always more than happy to go get you at 5am and cuddle with you for a couple hours in our bed. The sight of you two sleeping always melts my heart :)

We love you sweet bugga, happy 14 months!

Napa

A couple weeks ago, Chrissa, our good friend Brynlea, and I took a weekend trip to California. We had an absolute blast! I haven’t had a chance to upload any pictures from our trip, but I will try to add a few in the next week or two.
It all started in May when Justin and I took our first trip away from Grayer and went to San Francisco and Napa. We fell in love with the city of SF and loved the small town feel of Napa. When the talk of taking a girls trip came up, we decided that the perfect place for us to have a mini-retreat would be in Napa. So we booked our flights, rental car and hotel room and were set to visit the first week in November.

We arrived in SF mid-morning on Friday, and decided that it was a MUST to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge on our way out of the city, since Brynlea had never been to San Francisco before. So off we went, and I must say that the view of the city from the bridge is as breathtaking as I remember it being. We stopped to snap a few pictures at Vista Point, and decided to stop for a seafood lunch in Sausalito before heading out to the wineries. Lunch was delicious and we had a wonderful view of the marina from the porch were we ate. When we checked the weather reports before leaving Dallas, it was supposed to be pretty cold in Napa and there was a 30%-50% chance of rain all three days were to be there. However, the weather was perfect! It was bright, sunny and warm and the three of us girls were excited to be in such a gorgeous place, enjoying the company of good friends :)

After lunch we decided to take a more scenic route out to St. Helena, and ended up on a gorgeous back road, but it was also a VERY steep, windy road, and I think we were all feeling a little car sick after the drive! We stopped at Robert Mondovi winery, which had beautiful grounds and then we headed to V. Sattui winery, where we enjoyed a picnic of wine and olives at one of their tables on the lawn. The views were beautiful, and we had a great time chit chatting over some vino.
On Saturday we visited a few more wineries, but our favorite by far was Michael Mondovi. The view from the back veranda was absolutely stunning! There were vines and grapes as far as the eye could see, and it was exactly how you picture Napa to be before you’ve seen it in person. Since it is early fall, all the leaves on the vines were starting to turn from green to yellow and red, and it was a gorgeous view! We decided to grab some sandwiches from a deli nearby and sat on the back patio for a good couple of hours, just enjoying ourselves and the spectacular views. It was truly hard to pull ourselves away! Once we left, the temperatures started to drop and it started to drizzle, so we decided to go to the Napa Towne Square and have dinner, which was delicious! We watched a little bit of the Alabama/LSU game at a nearby pub, because Bryn had been very clear that it was a MUST for her to see at least some of the game (sadly Bama wasn’t able to pull out a win :(
On Sunday, we got up early, had a quick breakfast at the hotel and decided to head back into San Francisco to do a little city exploring before we headed back home. We drove through the city and enjoyed all the sights and sounds, before going down the ever popular Lombard street. It was so steep and was lined with tourists taking pictures, that I wasn’t sure we were going to make it down alive, but thankfully we did! We had fish ‘n chips and clam chowder for lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf, which was the perfect ending to a great trip!

It was a short weekend trip, but we had an amazing time! I am so thankful to have a husband who understands and encourages me to take time for myself every now and again! I love you hubby :)