Now is the Month of Maying

Now is the month of maying
When merry lads are playing
Fa la la la la la la la la, Fa la la la la la la

I still remember every one of Shakespeare's words that we sang to a peppy little tune in my high school choir.  The month of May usually proves to be the month that is most jammed packed with fun activities and tends to whiz by at warp speed.  2013 has already proven to be right up there with the best of them.  To start off the month right, we hosted a GIANT yard sale in our giant backyard.  Twelve families of our dear friends donated their unwanted things and we rallied to put on the best two day sale we could.  In the end, we made over $1500 to help our friends Alex and Janna Lion adopt a brother or sister for their sweet boy, Sam.  It was a lot of work and we were so tired when it was over but I am still riding the absolute high from the experience.  And when the Lion family brings that sweet new baby home with them, I will be blessed by the honor it was to be a part of their story.

A few days later, I set out for a four day trip to Nashville, TN to celebrate my brother, Tim, as he became the newest Dr. Davis when he graduated with his Doctor of Audiology degree from Vanderbilt University.  I made the trip solo and Dave stayed home with Jack.  You can imagine how much my heart ached for my little guy the whole time.  The airplane ride home was torturously long!  Dave, aka "super Daddy" did an outstanding job and Jack hardly knew I was gone.  I was really hoping that Dave would at least have a few struggles so I could get a "Wow, your job is hard and you are a great mom" pat on the back when I got home (after all, it was actually Mother's Day) but instead, Dave said, "Wow, your job is so easy and fun".  To be fair, I pre-planned and cooked all of their meals, planned morning and afternoon activities, and he didn't have to do all of that while also cleaning the house, shopping for groceries, etc., BUT, he is right.  My job is way too much fun!

Dr. and Mrs. Tim and Heather Davis

Mom and Dad made the trip out from WA to celebrate Tim's hard work

So proud of my little brother!!!

We recently took a family outing to the Greenspot Farm located right here in Redlands.  This place is a permanent petting zoo open to the public.  It was so fun to just let Jack run around and see all the animals.  No surprise here, he made a bee line for this old tractor and had so much fun "driving" it.  Seeing him up on that tractor made me get choked up as I think of my Grandpa and all of my memories of him sitting on his tractor, pulling all of the cousins on sleds up and down his long snowy driveway.  He would have loved to meet all of his great grandchildren and would have enjoyed these pictures so much.

Check out Jack's messy curly top

I had the same curls when I was a little one

I know his first haircut is just around the corner but for now I'm savoring this adorable mop

True story: this llama was in a pen with goats

Naturally, Jack thought that the goats were the kids and this llama was... the MAMA.

We would say, check out this llama

Jack would say, MAMA goat!

Jack saying, "Hey goats"

I mean, seriously, how good looking is my husband

Maybe it's because I'm currently feeling like a giant pregnant blob, but I also know I lucked out in marrying such a good lookin' dude!

This is a sweet season of adding second babies to many of our close families.  In fact, two of my friends are expecting babies with due dates one and two days before mine.  Our lives with little ones are about to get much, MUCH more hectic.  One of these gals, Chelsea, is leaving our small acre of the wood as her husband starts his pediatric residency in Portland, OR this summer.  Chelsea and I are in a small group of women who get together once a week at each other's homes to share a pancake breakfast.  She's actually the one that got our group started, based on the fact that all of our kids were born in a 4 month window in 2011.  What she didn't know was how close we would become or how much we would rely on each other as women and as moms.  She let us know that this last week would be her final pancake morning so in about 24 hours we threw together a surprise baby shower.  We have LOTS of little boys running around so the idea of celebrating the impending arrival of her sweet little girl gave us all something to be excited about.

Surprise

All of us together

Janna, Me, Chelsea, Aimee, Leslie (seated), Shirley, and Grace

After I got back from Nashville, Dave started a two week string of working the night shift in the ER.  He heads into work at 6:45 pm, works all night, comes home at 7:30 in the morning, says a quick hello, and then sleeps until 3 in the afternoon.  We get to spend a few hours with him and then he does it all over again.  I am just praising God that he chose a specialty that doesn't require a single night shift EVER, not even during residency.  

One of our favorite afternoon activities to do with Daddy is playing in the dirt

Is there anything better?

Sweet Times

Some moms just can't get enough of those early baby days when babies sleep most of the day, gurgle and coo, and have that oh-so-delicious new baby smell.  I, on the other hand, can't get enough of the 1 1/2 year old phase.  Oh my.  It is SO MUCH FUN!  Jack is such an awesome partner for each day.  With each new activity of the day, I get to see the world through his excited toddler eyes and learn with him (truly) how we can honor God by learning self-control.  It's amazing to watch him develop into a thinking and verbalizing being.  He asks specifically for what he wants throughout the day and always finds time later on to talk through what happened during his day.  He has such a strong will but may have met his match in having me as a Mama.  :)  It is so rewarding to see our discipline of him pay off in watching his humbled spirit and contrite heart when he is reprimanded.  

The day to day of life is so very much fun.  I look forward to every single day of the week and cherish this time when it is just the two of us at home during the day.  We are free as birds to jump on any activity that comes our way and I relish in the fact that his napping/eating/play/nighttime sleep schedules are so predictable!

 It's actually amazing how much paint this little man managed to get on his body

  

So innocent

Easter was wonderful this year.  Last year, Dave and I had the worst food poisoning one can imagine and missed our annual Easter Brunch.  This year, we kept things really small and got smart.  Instead of meeting our posse at the local park, we had everyone come to our house for our sunrise worship service.  Jack stayed asleep in his room and we still got to enjoy this sweet tradition.  The other fun addition this year was an Easter egg hunt in the backyard.  Although the littles didn't quite understand my complex color coded system, they did very much enjoy hunting for those eggs.  Instead of candy, they were filled with dried corn, dried peas, stickers, and playdo.

Right down from our house, they have completely closed the road and are doing a major pedestrian overpass construction project.  Read: lots and lots of construction equipment for Jack's viewing pleasure.  We make our way over to the "diggers"  at least once everyday to check out the action and without fail, Jack will ask multiple times a day if he can drive one.  Sadly, the answer is still, no.  :)  We have been so incredibly lucky to have Dave home most of the day everyday these last few months as he enjoys easy elective time to finish up his intern year.  Dave has earned the name "Super Daddy" and Jack has loved every minute together with him.

Speaking of "Super Daddy", Dave made this super simple "kid carwash" out of PVC pipe.  It was so much fun, he made a duplicate copy for each of Jack's little pals.  The first time Jack tried it out was hilarious.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, just watch his face.  I am happy to report, however, that now he is a pro and will run underneath it with no problem.

Whoh....bed head!

We spend many, MANY afternoons in our backyard enjoying water play.  Jack loves to carefully pour water from a measuring cup to a bowl or pouring water out of the pool.  He is definitely our water baby and always has been.

And then....one day....the Buick died.  It may have felt sudden, but really it was a slow and painful death.  Dave did some crazy loco fix-it jobs on this old beast including somehow hot wiring the air conditioning to a wire attached to a pair of pliers hanging out of the driver side door.  In order to get the AC to work, all you had to do was squeeze the pair of pliers....and keep squeezing.  Oh, don't let go, you'll loose all your cold air.  The driver side door handle broke completely off multiple times and he wired it back on using floral arranging wire.  Needless to say, the Buick had seen better days.  Just recently the battery died... and I mean DIED.  Since the car was literally worth less than the cost of a new battery and because we were poor enough to get a gigantic tax rebate, this seemed like the right time to let it go.

Before the Buick, Dave owned a few sports cars and desperately wanted to get back to his roots.  He managed to find a relatively low miles Mustang for less than we would pay for a Civic or something so we jumped on it.  And let me tell you, Dave is totally like a 16 year old boy with this thing.  He absolutely LOVES driving it, looks forward to his commute, and is thrilled to run an errand for me just so he can drive his car.  It's a win, win situation!

Jack approves

This picture makes me laugh

Mostly because of how very normal this scene is in our household

We wear our pants on our heads

And Dave can be seen sporting one of Jack's toddler hats...often

Did you hear the news?

Jack is so excited to be a big brother this September

Baby BOY #2 is on the way