Dave and His Boy Band

Dave was in California almost all of this past week. Davey was well-behaved and I slept better than the last time he was gone (for some reason I get really spooked being in this house alone; I think it's partly the responsibility I feel for Davey if something happened and partly that we live out on the edge of civilization here and it would be an easy getaway for burglars -- silly, I know, but it's hard to convince myself out of being scared) so I wasn't quite as exhausted as last time, but it was bad timing that after a week of doing it all myself that a bunch of Dave's buddies from MI were getting together for a guy's weekend of sorts.

Friday night was a Bond movie, a late dinner and a very late bedtime. Luckily Dave joined up after the movie so we were able to see him for a couple hours before he disappeared again. Saturday the guys wanted a "real" Texas experience (two came in from CA and MD) so they went gun shooting and horseback riding (which they came to regret). The day ended with some good Texas barbecue at our house (good because I didn't have to cook it and it was tasty).

Haley and Chris brought their Wii so the rest of the night was filled with rocking out playing Guitar Hero.

Concentrating so as not to get boo'd off the stage yet again!

The Boy Band: Adam, Nathan, JP, Dave and Chris

Is this the first album cover?

Luckily I wasn't the only girl that evening; since Chris and Adam live here in Houston, their wives came along. The guys mostly dominated the instruments, though, so we had some fun pampering ourselves...

Haylee, Rebecca and I getting ready for pedicures. 

My feet are always in need of some TLC!!

I'm glad Dave had fun with his buddies, but I must say we missed him!

Life: Narrated

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to live your life with narration? What would you/the narrator say? Well, Davey is attempting the experiment.

Last night Davey and I were lucky to be able to have dinner with my dad who was in town for a meeting (Dave is in CA). As Davey chatted and blabbed away, my dad commented on how Davey has always been doing that. We recalled a car trip to visit my brother, Colter, last year at this time when Ben (14 at the time) was driven by Davey's constant "Da, da, da, da, da, ..." to exclaim, "I'm going to lose my hearing!!" The 4 hour car trip from Detroit to Cincinnati was filled with nothing but the refrain (not even punctuated by a nap).

My interpretation of the crabbiness that enveloped the first 18 or so months of Davey's life is his incessant desire to express himself. The larger his vocabulary becomes, the happier his countenance becomes. Yesterday we were in the car for almost two hours (bad traffic and heavy rain) to meet for dinner and Davey was delightful all the way. He jabbered and we sang songs and laughed at being silly.

Sometimes, and not infrequently, I do get tired of the constant talking... "Davey wake up, Davey downstairs, Davey eat yogurt, ..." and so on. Each thing he does and sees is presented for my returned commentary. I have to acknowledge the things he says or they are repeated over and over. I have been known to, on occasion, turn the car radio up loud enough that I can't hear him.

But these days I'm mostly enjoying it. I feel blessed to have my life filled with such sweetness. Here are some of the things I don't want to forget:

• The way Davey runs around the house yelling, "Honey, slow down!!!" This started a few months ago when Davey heard me ask Dave to do just that in the car. 
• The sound of Davey's, "We park. We park. We fit. We fit." as we pull into the garage or a parking space between two other cars. As he says, "We fit." he strains his voice as if we have to try really hard to make sure it happens.
• The happiness he projects onto the objects in his life, always going around saying, "Thomas (the Train) happy. James happy. Witchy-poo (the large cackling witch doll we had out for Halloween) happy." And whenever he laughs, he says, "Davey funny."
• The inflection in his voice as he proclaims, "Davey so handsome!" each time we comb his hair.

I guess feeling this contented with my life means that it is definitely time to move on to the next challenge. And just in time: only two more months until he arrives!

Congratulations and Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Dave!! We celebrated with our friends Chris and Haylee by going to a cool Italian restaurant in "The Village" with Texas Sheet Cake for dessert. Mmmm... if any of you would like a good recipe for it, my mom's is amazing. That evening was also the night of celebration  and indulgence after 40 days of dieting in which Dave lost 18 pounds! Dave and Chris had a little competition going and Dave beat him out by a few pounds, so Chris has to listen to Dave's conservative radio pics for the next 40 days. Great job Dave!

Ghosts and Goblins

Actually, more like a couple ladybugs, some princesses and a train conductor...

Our Halloween fun began with a Halloween Party at the park with our 2 year old playgroup. It was a beautiful day and we had fun making faces for jack-o-lanterns and lollipop ghosts, eating cupcakes (certainly Davey's favorite part), and seeing all the cute little munchkins all dressed up!

It was a pretty easy decision to have Davey be a train conductor for Halloween with his love of trains. It amazes me how he can tell the difference between the cars and remembers dozens of their names.

Having fun with his buddies.

Davey and his pals. There is just one scary costume in the bunch. Can you find the mummy?

It was very much on purpose that I never mentioned the trick-or-treating part of Halloween to Davey until the day of. Once Dave explained it to him, his eyes lit up and he came to me to practice and was quite pleased with the result! You can imagine that he loved Halloween and had no problems catching on to running up to doors and yelling "trick-or-treat"!

All aboard!! Davey had fun learning how to blow his train whistle.

A very happy boy enjoying the fruit, or sucker, of his labor.

Amazingly, he didn't beg for candy while we were out and collected quite a bit of loot -- that Thomas pail was full! When he returned home, though, he knew exactly what he wanted to dive into!

Danger: This Video Will Hypnotize Your Child...

... and cause them to lose control of their bowels!!

I took this picture because I thought it was cute the way Davey has taken to lying or sitting on this pillow the way Daddy does while watching TV. Little did I realize why he was lying prostrate on the floor, unmoving for several minutes... he was hypnotized by the "Wheels on the Bus" video I had checked out from the library! Yes, hypnotized. I guess in a way I should be happy about it. I should pat my back for having good parental instincts if I want to look on the bright side. I felt a little guilty leaving the library with a DVD and no books, but we have plenty of books at home that we haven't yet exhausted and I wanted to find something that would keep his interest when I needed to get something else done (like today, mopping the floors). Davey easily gets bored with TV (usually I like that because I like to chalk it up to me doing something good and not getting him addicted, even though it probably doesn't mean a thing -- but I find you have to be your own cheering section when it comes to parenting) and, with the "Wheels on the Bus" book being his current favorite, I thought he'd like this video. So, I was right. I put it together this afternoon right after I took this picture that the reason he'd peed his pants for the 3rd (!!!) time today was that he was hypnotized by this video (and that I had let him watch it twice the whole way through...). He was watching it each time he peed. Guess I wasn't so genius. Either way, a certain DVD will be disappearing tonight.

Davey So Handsome!!

"Davey soooo handsome!!" was the refrain we heard all the way to church Sunday morning. I wish I could get him to say it on video because the inflection he uses is so darling. Bama Pau-son bought him his first little suit and he was so very excited to be wearing a tie like Daddy does.

Fun with Grandma

October 14th, we were so lucky to get to drive to the airport and pick up my mom. Yea! Davey was so excited to see "Bama Pau-son" but, I must add, was a bit disappointed when "Bapa Pau-son" wasn't with her. We did so many fun things while Bama  (yes, Ba- instead of Grand- is a Davey-ism, not a chosen nickname) was here, starting with a dinner out without Davey (it had been waaay too long since we'd gotten a babysittter) for my birthday. 

Davey has been having trouble napping these days and I think it may be connected to the amount of energy he has the chance to expend each morning. So one of my favorite places to take him is the local malls, which all have great indoor play areas (it's still been a bit warm to play outside). We stopped at several while my mom was here...

Davey with his 3 favorite playmates of the week.

The Houston Children's Museum was another fun spot we visited...

The best toy in the place was this wooden thing (I have no idea what to call it) that cars would race down, flipping over from track to track. Davey loved it!

Training Davey so that as soon as he's old enough he can contribute to the family budget :)

Ghoulish fun with Grandma. 

A local Christmas tree and pumpkin farm, Dewberry Farms, has a wonderful setup for children. We went with my ward's playgroup and had so much fun! There were so many things to do...

The waiting area (groups have to go in together) was filled with farm-related toys, bikes, swings, etc. He was so excited to get his hands on this digger!

The hayride out to the pumpkin patch was the highlight of the day. He still hasn't stopped talking about his hayride. The size of the pumpkins in the pumpkin patch, however, left something to be desired.

The highlight of Bama's day was helping my friend Amy with her two month old son.

The PVC pipe slide was fun for the kiddos, but not too pleasant on my bottom! My major mistake was going down it before going to the bathroom... talk about uncomfortable for a pregnant lady!

The farm had two huge inflatable jumpers (thankfully, with one dedicated to smaller children), though Davey still had a bit of trouble when other kids were jumping next to him...

Notice how the kid next to him waits nicely while Davey gets up only to knock him down again...

Tractor-pulled corn train.

It was amazing the amount of fun produced by this tunnel!

Plenty of hay to throw around!

Davey loved the honking geese, the baby  chicks that pecked his fingers and the water-pumping duck race.

See what fun we can have if you just come for a visit? Please wait until November, though, so it won't be such a hot day.

We also did plenty of spoiling shopping with Grandma who bought Davey another train (he is sooo excited to have James!), a tricycle and outfitted the toy room. Plus, one other item that really made Davey's day today. But a picture will come in another post :) She also worked with Davey on learning his colors, which he still struggles with but definitely made progress. Thanks for a great visit, Mom!!

Bigger (not Better) than Before

Ta-da. Here is a much sought-after picture of my growing belly. Why so many of my family and friends have been clamoring to see me getting fat, I'm not sure. Maybe seeing someone else gain weight makes you feel better about yourself? I'm just kidding, mostly, but I don't really know why everyone has this desire to see women when they're pregnant. But, you can count me into that pool, so I can't really talk here.

A few days ago, Dave was feeling sympathetic to my plight and commented that I must be feeling like skin shouldn't have to stretch this much. The sad part is that I don't even really feel anything stretching yet! Yikes, that's scary to say at 6 months... I'm certainly feeling bigger than I did last time, but I know that's due to not getting as much exercise or eating as well as I did with Davey. (Sorry, baby boy Adams.) Even though I know the weight gain is for a good reason, it's still not fun seeing the scale go up and up and up. Especially because this is now the second time that Dave has decided to diet right as my weight gain is really beginning to accelerate. Last time we ended up almost at the same weight. Yes, me at 5'3" weighing the same as my 5'11" husband... not fun.

I also have visions of giving birth to a huge baby, and it scares me. Davey was so small (6 lbs 8 oz) and I worry about having to deliver a large child because I'm not eating as well. It was already not so fun with small one that I can't imagine an 8 pound child. I guess time will tell. Hopefully I can get up some willpower to eat better over the next 3 months. It's not too late to change my ways, right?

A Serious Chat

On the mornings when Dave is able to sleep in, Davey and I get out of the house to keep it quiet. So we usually head to Panera for a bagel (they have a really yummy one right now by the way, the Pink Ribbon bagel with dried cherries and cranberries) and go see the fountains in the plaza. This morning was a little chilly, however, so we stayed inside to eat. Looking for a place to sit, Davey picked out a booth saying, "Talk Mommy." Once we were settled and ready to eat, he got this serious look on his face, looked straight at me and said, "Soooo Mommy." I guess he has observed people having serious conversations in booths and wanted to try it out.

A Birthday Party

Eventually I'll get around to posting some pics from Davey's birthday party, but for now here are some shots from one we attended for his friend Samantha today.

It's not the best video, but I love seeing videos of the little ones I love, so take a peek at Davey in action. Sorry you can't see his face well for the sunglasses, but he can't stand the sun in his eyes.

Davey had fun throwing pine cones into the lake and wanted to go take a drink like the ducks were.

This is Davey saying cheese.

This is him trying cheese again. Not too much better. I think I need to just start asking him to smile.

I have a couple pics of him in Davey Heaven, eating cake and ice cream, but I can't get them to post correctly...