Happy Birthday Davis!

Davis started his birthday with waffles topped with honey, peanut butter and bananas, and ended the day with chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I would say it was a good day!

I will write more about Davis at age one later... 

Here is James at age 1, wearing the same shirt, with the same drool marks and eating waffles too!

Some people tell me how much my boys look alike... I just don't see it. I think they look like brothers, but I think they have such a different look... both equally cute though :)

Haws got home in time from work to join us in singing happy birthday and watching Davis eat his first piece of cake. I think he liked it :)

And more pictures of the cakefest.

It doesn't get much better than a baby covered in chocolate cake. Doesn't he look delicious??

Funny James

I just wanted to write down a few things about James so that I don't forget them.

At night, we read 1-2 books before bed. Recently James wants me to sing the books. If I start reading them, he will realize it once we get through the first few pages and say "no mommy, sing the book to me!". 

He also wants me to sing him songs before bed. (stalling tactics) He says "sing me the temple song" and I sing I love to see the Temple. Then it's "sing the other Temple song", so I sing Families can be Together Forever". I try to cut him off after 2, but everyone once in a while he can get me to sing Sweet Baby James. This one can get me a little teary eyed because my baby James is growing up so fast. 

He has become quite bossy lately. Maybe I am rubbing off on him since I am constantly saying, put that away, time to go potty, don't push your brother, eat one more bite, etc. I do say please most of the time and make sure he says please before he gets anything he is asking for. 

He is learning to have manners and instead of saying NO flat out when we ask him to do something, he says "No thank you". 

Time to eat James: No thank you

Time to go potty: No thank you

Time for a bath: No thank you.

you get the idea.

No beware of TMI here. I have stopped nursing and well... things have changed in my body. I was telling Haws about how certain parts have shrunk (just in case he hadn't noticed). Later that evening I was getting in the shower with James (time saver) and he says "oh no mommy, you have BIG boobies! I want to see them!". Oh no... what is happening here??? I didn't know how to respond at the moment, so I just said "thank you James, but lets not say that anymore. Those are mommy's private parts." To which he replied. "Ok mom, but I like your big boobies". Ugh. They start so young!

James is really into giving things names. We will be looking at a book and their will be pictures of animals. He will point to one and say "what is his name?" and I will say it's a bear or whatever it is and he says "No, what's his NAME?" to which I make up some name. Bob the bear, GG the Giraffe  Daffy the Duck.

One more I can think of right now that makes me laugh is when we are doing something and he doesn't like what is coming next, he says "that is not what happens" or "that is not happening right now". Where does he get these things? I know there are more, but this is all I can think of right now.

Instagram

Some of my favorite pictures are the ones I post on Instagram. Here are a bunch from the last few months that I wanted to make sure I documented. 

James and I painted these. Everything he painted he wanted to turn into a truck. 

SO here we have an excavator, big rig and garbage truck.

James has crazy bed head. This was before he got it cut. 

Dana, Chase and I waiting for Jack Reacher to start.

Dana found this gem to turn in to the Ellen Show for her Hot Glam Girls segment.

The boys love books. I love when I find them reading together.

Matching Jammies

We have been taking a lot of trips to Disneyland.

 One day I took Caroline while Brooke watched Davis for me. These two had so much fun! They really love being together. We often meet up with Cinnamon, Max and Libby, which is one of my favorite things about having a pass... going with friends.

I love their expressions in this picture

Super Bowl party at John and Brooke's house.

 Davis loved Macy... and loved sharing his dinner with her.

 Playing dress up. Fireman and "Construction Worker".

For ValentinesDay, Haws knows I don't want him to get me flowers. They are over priced and die. So instead he got me this... A Flower Pot! Such a clever idea :)

My friends own the Longboards ice cream company. When I was driving, I spotted the food truck and decided it was time for James to have his first longboard ice cream. I was able to catch up with my friend while James proceeded to eat the entire ice cream! I was amazed... those things are huge! I was even more amazed that he didn't get a stomach ache from it.

Davis 11 months

Oh my sweet baby boy, who every day is becoming less of a baby :(

This kid is a mover. As you can see in the pictures below, it is getting harder to get a good picture with out him wanting to move. The only thing that held him in place was that water bottle.

This past month was a big one for Davis. 

At 10.5 months he finally broke a tooth! He got his bottom left tooth. It appears that he is now working on the one right next to it as well. Maybe he will be like James and get 4 teeth with in 2 months. I sure hope not! Davis is not as good of a teether as James was. He gets up in the middle of the night for almost a week before that tooth even comes through and he is more fussy during the day meaning he actually will cry.

I swear... this kid slept better as a newborn than he does now. Between colds and teething, I feel like it has been a while since he slept through the night for more than 2 nights in a row.

This month I stopped nursing completely. Man was it painful this time around. I thought since we have been weaning it wouldn't be that bad. Boy was I wrong. It has taken almost 2 weeks for the pain to go away. But we are good. Neither of us seem to mind that it is over. So that is nice.

He doesn't like the breast-milk I had stored due to the fact I had excess lipase which has caused the frozen milk to have a funny taste. I pretty much had to throw most of it out. That was such a bummer! All that time pumping and storing gone to waste. Oh well. No use crying over spilled milk right?

Davis has become a pro at pulling himself up. A whole

 new world has opened up to him and it is fun to see the things he likes doing. He loves pushing the buttons on our Mater push/ride toy. Loves his activity table. And loves the train table our neighbor gave us. It has a full train set and Davis loves trying to take apart the track. James on the other hand hates it (which I think Davis secretly enjoys getting a reaction from him).

Davis loves waving hello and goodbye, playing peek-a-boo with his hippo lovely and now when he claps, he actually makes noise. 

Davis loves people and other kids. He is quick to smile, unless he is overwhelmed or tired. In that case he just sucks his thumb and stares.

I can't believe in less than a month he will be a year old! 

We party with Jack Black

One of my good friends is married to a musician and one of his gigs is playing in Tenacious D with Jack Black. They always talk about how great Jack Black is. How he is down to earth, hard working and a family man... just like my friends husband.

Last weekend we went to her twin boys birthday party and to my surprise Jack Black was there with his family. I knew they were close, but didn't expect to see him at a kids party. I was sitting on a blanket, feeding the kiddos when Jack Black came up behind me and started to talk to a friend of mine. I did a double take and realized it was him. I tried to play it cool and not look at him. 

Then suddenly James walked off and I left Davis with a friend to go get him (Haws was at work so I was manning the 2 alone). He had snuck into the bounce house and I realized his shoes were on. I tried to get him to come out so I could take him off, but he wouldn't come out and was not close enough for me to grab him. 

Jack (we are on a first name basis now. JK)  came up with his two sons and his oldest (about 7 years old) went into the bounce house. We chatted about the crazy kids in the bounce house for 2 seconds and then someone came up to talk to him and he took his other son to ride the train. I went to check on Davis and then went back to get James. As I was walking back, Jack's wife was walking away from the bounce house holding their oldest son who was crying. I said something like "Oh no, bounce house accident?" and she said "I guess he got pounced on."  I replied "those things can be dangerous!" Right then the boy started sobbing "the little boy with his shoes on jumped on me! He is not suppose to be wearing his shoes!".  I immediately knew it was James. I didn't say anything, but hurried over to the bounce house, grabbed James' leg, pulled him out and took his shoes off. I pretty much hid from them the rest of the party.

Yes, my son beat up Jack Black's kid.

Christmas 2012

I am so behind on this post, better late than never!

I love the Christmas season! It is my favorite time of year. 

One of the things I look forward to the most at Christmas time is getting Christmas cards. I love the pictures and the updates and I love how they decorate my walls. 

This was our card this year. I got a deal on Groupon and was really happy with the way they turned out!

Christmas Eve we went to Grandmama and Pops Hexberg's home. Somehow none of us took a single picture! We had a lot of fun, ate good food and exchanged gifts. 

Christmas morning we spend with just our little family. It was fun this year because James was really into to it. Of course it was fun having Davis there too.

James putting all the nativity characters in to his new wooden truck the Gatlins gave to him. 

Davis and his front loaded from cousin Winnie.

German pancakes Christmas morning.

Lining up all the new trucks and cars.

The remote control Monster Truck that Santa brought James (or Haws :)

We then headed over to my parents house to meet with the whole Davis clan for lunch and opening presents. It was pretty crazy. With all the people and presents we had to move it outside. "Santa" was very generous to everyone this year.

 These two are the cutest little buddies.

 Finding the pickle hidden in the tree. I dove in and found 1 of the 2... yippee!

 New workout shoes :)

 "The present was this big!"

We ended off the night at my grandma's house. We ate, the kids destroyed her white carpet and furniture with her famous rainbow jello salad and then to top it off, my nephew Joshua got sick and threw up right in the middle of the family room where we were all gathered about to open gifts. Needless to say, we didn't open gifts and cleared out of there as soon as possible. Luckily my grandma was having her house and carpets cleaned later that week. Good planning on her part! The following week, family members dropped like flies with the stomach bug and flu. 

It was a wonderful Christmas even with all the sickness :)

no more naps?

For the last 6 months or so I have had what I call "The Golden Hour". That is the time when both of my boys are napping and I can get cleaning, cooking or work done or just simply some alone time. Sometimes that period of time is an hour, sometimes it can be 3! (3 is more of the rare occasion, but 2 hours is common). I knew that as my kids get older, I won't have this Golden Hour any more. I have thought about how much I will miss it, not that I don't love my kids, but we all need a little break sometimes. 

Anyway... for the last couple of weeks, James has skipped his nap every here and there. Last week it was almost every other day (ugh)! During this time, he will sit in his bed 30 min or so playing, but not napping and then getting out of bed. Then I have him stay in his room for quiet time. Reading books or playing alone with his toys. This can be anywhere from 30 min to an hour and 30 min. 

Well today, after not taking a nap yesterday, I thought he would for sure take a nap. But no. He wasn't acting tired, but I put him down anyway. He stayed up there 40 min or so and then when I went up to check if he was asleep he was sitting up in his bed wide awake. I asked him what he was doing and told him he should be sleeping. He looked at me and said "No more naps... no, no, no." In a sing-song voice. I realized that my days of having him take 2-3 hour naps a day might be coming to an end! It is so weird how he can go from being such a good, long napper to not wanting/needing them. I am not ready to give them up entirely... but I am coming to the realization that his napping days are soon coming to an end. Bummer. 

On a positive note... he hasn't been waking up at 530am every morning!