They'll laugh at you...

I took a shower with the kids today, trying to get ready to go up north. As we are getting dressed, this is in the conversation.

J: Mom, why do you were that?

M: What? My bra?

J: Yeah, why?

E: So people don't look at her mi-mi's.

J: Why don't you want people to look at your mi-mi's?

E: (matter of fact, of course) Because they will laugh at them.

*pout* What do you say to that?!

Afterwards, as I am making lunch, the kids come in with ice cream cones (pretend ones) and are "licking them" like crazy. I look over and say:

M: Don't eat too much ice cream or you won't eat lunch.

J: (looking at me like I am stupid) Mom, we are just 'attending. We are doing something called using our 'magination, it's not real ice cream, mom.

I tell you kids are so literal it's funny sometimes.

If all else fails, do it yourself (with some help!)

We bought jaxen a loft bed earlier this year. We didn't think to measure it before we brought it home. We have vaulted ceilings, so everything must fit, right? It was really high and he wouldn't sleep on it. Then we thought we would buy the frame for the bed to go under it (it could be a bunk bed too). We figured he could sleep on the bottom bunk until he was brave enough to hike up to the top. IKEA stopped making it. Now what?!

So, for the last few months we have been trying to sell it on Craigslist. I wanted to be able to get some money for it, and everyone was really trying to lower it. Mind you, this is a bed that has never been slept on.

Leave it to a friend to come up with a great idea (thanks Bridget), and even better to volunteer her husband (he, he, thanks Jason) to help! So last night we had the Hopkins over for dinner, the men taylored the bed, and had dessert. It was a great chance to hang out, chat, and fix a problem that has been driving me nuts pretty much from a few days after we bought it.

Overall I am pleased with how it all turned out, take a look!

Before (look at the dresser for size comparison)

After

We were going to take the race car bed out of the room, but decided to keep it so Ember can have "sleep over surprises" with Jaxen every once in a while. She slept in it last night and loved it!

Secret Santa Helpers

Every year we do Christmas Angels off the trees at the mall. This year, we decided to do something different within our church. I talked to the Relief Society President and we came up with a plan. Our family was going to be a Secret Santa Helpers. The people we were doing this for secretly were older, so me and the kids came up with a plan.

Every other day until Christmas we were going to drop something small off, ring the bell, and run. The kids loved to remind me that today was "Secret Grandma Day" and would pick out of the little gifts we bought to bring over. Some we bought and some where home made.

Shaun and I couldn't help but smile when we saw the two of them with these huge grins running as fast as they could back to the van after ringing the bell. Ember's little boots slapping the pavement. Jaxen's "aaahhh"and silly run after he appears from around the side of the house. RUN! Really, they probably could have walked faster than someone would have made it to the door, but it was fun and made it seem more"sneaky".

Christmas Eve was the last night of the SSH, and I went with Shaun (he had taken the kids the last few times) and noticed that one of the houses had up the Snowflakes (I made a poem to go with it) we had made for them in their window.

During this adventure, every once in a while I wondered if we were more of a bother with the token gifts then it was worth to them. Seeing the snowflakes in the window made me smile and realize that people can be touched by the small things and appreciate the thought.

We had so much fun as a family doing this and it made the season a little more meaningful and fun.

Christmas Year-in-Review Letter

Dearest Loved Ones,

2007 was supposed to be a lucky year, and I guess in many ways it was. I am glad I am not a betting woman or I would have put money on a totally different outcome for the year. A year in review:

Shaunton and I celebrated 7 years of wedded bliss, I am happy to say that there is no itch.

Somehow we managed to get pregnant while using protection…and fending off two little ones that liked to sleep in our bed. We decide we wanted to be surprised with this pregnancy and not find out what we are having. After all, we have a boy and a girl…it was going to be one or the other, right? I mean, what are the chances I was abducted and impregnated with alien spawn? The big surprise was that I had complications, serious complications. Two boring, normal pregnancies and two healthy babies had me unprepared for the bleeding that started at 12 weeks. Come July, about 22 weeks into the pregnancy, I decided to get a second opinion on the bleeding and ended up admitted to the hospital. Two blood transfusions, meds to stop contractions, steroid shots for lung development, and 5 weeks later there was no more they could do. The baby needed out, and now. We had our tiny miracle baby, Owen Edison Davis, on August 3, 2007 at 6:50pm (27 weeks gestation). He was a whopping 2 lbs. .3 oz. and was 13 inches long. Twelve long weeks of rollercoaster emotions, worry, hospital visits, one surgery, four blood transfusions, and a partridge in a pear tree…we were finally able to bring Owen home, tipping the scales at 5 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches long.

While in the hospital, I managed to miss Jaxen’s first day of school. Yes, he is a big boy now! Kindergarten! His teacher raves about his artistic ability (much more detailed than most kids his age) his agility (the only one in his class that can cross the monkey bars) and his smarts (we already knew he was a genius). He is doing extremely well and likes school. He makes us so proud. He has a crazy sense of humor and loves to entertain his classmates, sister and brother.

Ember is three years old and can’t wait for preschool, maybe after Christmas break. She loves to paint, play play-doh, sing (she is quite the song writer and sings her own material often), and take care of Owen (Yikes! This one has been an adventure!) When she isn’t in his face or kissing him all over, she is mothering her dollies, pretending to be pregnant with her doll up her shirt, or pumping “mi-mi’s” for her baby (like mom). She also loves to read (she has quite a few memorized and likes to read to me and Owen).

Shaun is still at Jacobs, this is year five. He has racked up quite a bit of daddy points while I was in the hospital. It took a lot for him to take care of two little ones, taxi them between friends’ houses to watch them while he worked, and still find time to entertain his bed ridded wife each night. He has also learned how to do laundry, I am sure he could still figure it out…if I let him. He played flag football this year. He was the best player on the team…and he was the center…so that tells you something. He still likes to work out to maintain that svelte figure. I still don’t know how he manages to get up 2-3 days a week at 4 am to do it! That, my friends, is determination!

I am a SAHM with 3 wonderful (and awful, and silly, and fun, and crazy) kids whom I love (most of the time). We are adjusting to being a family of five. We thank the Lord for taking a chance on us. Somehow the cards fell just the way they were supposed to. We have all we could ask for and more and give thanks to Heavenly Father daily for all our blessings. 2007 was a year with crazy odds, but ones we were able to beat. We love each of you who have been a part of it, both directly and indirectly. We think about you often. May 2008 be a calmer year (yah right!) and one that brings us all closer together.

Count your blessings; See what the Lord has done!


Best wishes and all our love,

The Davis Family

What is that sound?!

I meant to blog about this a week ago when it happened, but Shaun made me wait...you 'll see why.


I was lying down with Owen trying to get him to sleep when I hear this tapping sound. It was like someone hammering on something. I thought it was coming from next door. I was getting slightly annoyed, but it was the middle of the day, which I prefer to the middle of the night. The only problem was that it was very rhythmic. Tap tap tap *pause* tap tap tap. I got up to see if it was the kids banging around on the walls or something. Nope. Finally, I noticed I could really hear it in Ember's room. I open her blinds and a bird goes flying. Was that a woodpecker?! I mean, don't woodpeckers live in forests or something! And like trees?! LOL I went outside to look at the underside of the roof by Ember's room and didn't see anything. I got back in bed and kinda forgot about it.


The next day Shaun was home and we hear the same tapping sound. I told Shaun about my woodpecker theory. He got the camera and was going to try and take a picture of it. He went out by the orange tree (sans oranges, still a baby) and trying to turn the camera on. The click of the lens made the bird poke its head out from under the awning of the roof and look (quite sneakily I might add) all around. Shaun tried to zoom in and that is when the bird realized it had been had. It booked it to the next door neighbors roof. Shaun tried to take a picture then, but it flew off before he could. So, sorry no pictures (that is why he wanted me to wait to post the blog)!


Since then...no tapping, which is nice because I really don't want to share my house with a bird. Although, we do have real estate in a nice big tree in our front yard. He can go peck on that all he wants.

Sweet Relief

Last night I was up late wrapping presents. I wanted to get it done so I wasn't stressing last minute. I put Owen to bed around 9-9:30. When all was said and done I fell into bed around 11:30. I thought Owen would be waking up within the next hour or so. NOPE! He woke up at 3:30! I don't really know what constitutes "sleeping through the night", but a 5-6 hour stretch seemed pretty close. Granted, it was only one night (so far). Maybe it was Owen's Christmas present for me...which would have been really great if I went to bed the same time he did (hindsight!) :)

Christmas Shopping

I am finally done! Shopping is way to stressful! That is why I called a friend last night, last minute, and begged, I mean, asked her to go with me! It was actually really fun. (Granted I missed a few things on the list, LOL).

As I sat in bed last night I realized that poor Owen has only one gift. Yeap, just one...and it ain't even from us... it's from "Santa". I know he isn't old enough to open and enjoy presents, but come on...nothing under the tree? That is unheard of! So I trotted down to Target this morning and got him three outfits. One "from" each of the kids and a nice church outfit from mom and dad. All the kids have essentially 4 gifts. One from each sibling, one from mom and dad, and one from Santa. Jaxen and Ember will have stocking stuffers (I love the Dollar Tree!)...I am not even going to try and find stuff for Owen's stocking (at least I remember to get him one this year). He needed clothes, holiday or not, and I can't for the life of me think of anything to put in the stocking. He won't remember and, honestly, neither will we. LOL

This book needs a medic!

Our family loves to read and makes frequent trips to the library to stock up. Jaxen and Ember like to read to and from the library. On the way to the library today Jaxen pipes up from the backseat.

J: "Mom, the spider book is ripped!" (The Very Busy Spider for those that care to know the exact title)

M: "Did you rip it?"

J: "No, it was already like that."

M: "Oh, that's ok, they will fix it at the library."

J: "Like a nurse?"

M: "What?"

J: "Like a nurse, for books. The nurse takes it and fixes it with tape."

M: "Yes, like a nurse...for books."

I know that I have played "book nurse" too many times to count. I thought this was a cute little analogy that he came up with.

Christmas Questions

So, up until this point in our little lives (the kids that is) there have been no real questions about Santa or any other aspect of Christmas for that matter. But, something has been triggered in Jaxen's brain and the questions are coming outta the woodwork. Now, the answers took a minute to come up with (hadn't really thought about it before). So read up, and memorize so you know what to tell your kids when they ask.

Q. How does Santa know who to bring presents too? How does he know who is good and who is bad?

A. Heavenly Father and Santa go way back. They know each other really good. And because Heavenly Father knows if you are being good and telling the truth etc, he tells Santa who is on the naughty list and who is on the nice list. (And he is watching you all the time, so he really knows!)

Now, this has worked great in getting Jaxen to fess up to some fibs he has told lately. I just say, Heavenly Father knows if you are choosing the left and he is going to talk to Santa. Works like a charm. Too bad I couldn't use it all year! Well, I guess Heavenly Father and the Easter Bunny could go way back too....who else does he know?!

Q. How will Santa get into our house, we don't have a thing on our roof (chimney of course)!

A. Santa has a magic key that can open up any lock so he can bring presents to everyone, even those who don't have chimneys.

Q. He doesn't bring bad guys presents, huh mom?

A. Nope, the bad guys don't get presents. NOTE: This question is different than kids who are naughty, this is referring to bad guys like robbers, etc. Maybe they get coal, but I think they are soo bad they don't even get that!

My nephew had asked the same questions to my SIL...and her answers were the same! Great minds think alike and "validated" our answers to the kids.

You know you're tired when...

you let yourself succumb to your 3 year old and her pretend play so you can rest for 20 minutes. Going as far as to invite her to do what you never thought you would before....

Was it worth it? I don't really think I got 20 minutes in, but I did pass out for at least 2 minutes of it. I was digging barrettes outta the depths of my hair for the next 10 (just when you think you have them all...you feel a hard spot)!

Oh well, 20 minutes of cheap entertainment for her, and a bit of a rest for me. I'll take it!

Call off the search, I found him!

I haven't been able to find my son! Instead I have been living with a wolfy little boy. He needed a haircut...and bad. I was not about to fight with him to cut it. Let it grow, it wasn't in his eyes yet. Sorry, it is not on my list o' things to do. I actually have enough on my plate already. It had to be his decision, and it was (with a little bribery, and man are those little ones easy to please!).

Before (yes, that's Jaxen)

After (ah, there is the face I know and love)

Here's looking at you!

Choke hold anyone?!

We really don't watch wrestling! Ember loves to hug, but more often than not, it ends up being more like a choke hold (at least for poor Owen). LOL We are still working on being gentle...it's a work in progress.

Ironically, I find myself thinking about the fact that right now Jaxen and Ember cannot for the life of themselves leave Owen alone. They are forever in his face, kissing, hugging, making him wave, patting and rubbing his head, talking in the high pitched squeally voice, and Jaxen's favorite... pretending Owen "hit" him (takes Owens hand and touches his face with it), making a groaning sound, and throwing himself onto the bed or other nearby landing pad. Quite theatric it all is, too bad Owen could really care less (although he is to the point where he will make eye contact, no real facial expressions yet, but apparently the kids don't notice, they love to entertain him). But, it drives me nuts! Don't get me wrong, it is cute, it all is, for the first few minutes. I guess because it always seems to be when I am trying to change him, or his is BFing, or sleeping....you know THOSE times. Not to mention his hair reeks (all those slobbery wet kisses add up you know)! I go to snuggle him and get a big whif of stink! EEWWW.

Fast forward a year from now and they won't want him near them and I won't hear the end of it. "Mom, Owen is touching my stuff!" "Mom, we're trying to play and Owen is bothering us!". "Owen," said the grouchy brother and sister, "you aren't big enough!" And...it will drive me nuts!

*sigh* At least they love each other now.

Genius *eyes rolling* and it ain't even Monday

Ok, so this happened on Sunday, but it was still rather funny. *clearing throat* Shaun was writing out our tithing check and he couldn't get the pen to work. I told him to suck on the tip to get the ink to move up. He tells me to do it. (I should have felt the karma right there, right?) So I suck on it....and guess who had a grey mouth the rest of Sunday?! Yes, it came squirting out into my mouth. LOVELY. Add insult to injury?...Shaun decided to use a different pen...after all my hard work.

Shaun calls home from work today....to tell me something really funny he did that morning. He put on two different shoes! *giggle* Granted, they are the same style (he has a pair of black and a pair of brown), so they could be confused in the dark. And to be real honest I have done this before too. (It comes with being considerate of the sleeping spouse and getting ready in the dark). Good thing he comes home for lunch and could change.

Another little cute tid-bit. The kids and I were in the shower(I know, it is a reoccuring theme, right? Seriously, we do have interesting conversations in the shower.) Ember tells me that when she gets big and has big mi-mi's she is going to give Owen mi-mi's. Um, baby, Owen will be big when you get big...you can give your babies mi-mi's. But you have to do what first? Jaxen pipes in and says be pregnant! Ok, true, but not quite what I was looking for. What do you have to do before that? Jaxen thinks....and says (which was the answer I was going for) go to the Temple! Ah, there you have it. A lesson in the shower.

Play-doh, DOH!

So Ember has been addicted to play-doh. We play every day after we drop Jaxen off at school. I mean, it is a little messy, but no big deal. Today was like any other. I had just gotten the bright idea to add a little water to the play-doh that was a little hard. You know what I mean. Soft enough to play with but to hard too roll and stuff. So I set down Owen (he's sleeping) and start the task. Owen starts crying while I am in the middle of kneeding one of the doh's. So, I keep working at it, knowing that I will be done shortly. Ember tells me she doesn't have messy hands so she can go see Owen.

I call her and tell her to come here....to no availe. Meanwhile Owen is crying...the stopping....then crying...then stopping. I walk in (messy hands in all) to see Ember picking up Owen (she is on her knees kinda picking him up) scooting him toward the pillows. I totally freaked out! What?! I guess it is my fault for putting him in the center of my queen sized bed for a nap...from now on he is going right in the bassinett.

I asked her what she was thinking, and she said....Owen was crying so I was picking him up.

Eek!

Mom...this looks like you!

Was it a page out of a magazine? or a pretty woman on TV? Nope. Jaxen informed me on Sunday right after church (as he gets the "it-just-clicked" look on his face). That this looks like me...

Now, mind you it takes me a minute to register that he is comparing me to a fat cow. Then he goes on to say that it looks like me because...

Did you guess it looks like me because it has mi-mi's like I do? Yeap, that's it. *sigh* Well, I guess it is better to look like a fat cow because we both share utters versus him thinking I am fat, or as in the case of this cow, spotted, or some other random bovine attribute.

On to another child. Owen was blessed yesterday. All went well (he slept right through it). I was extremely paranoid because the coughs seemed to echo through the chapel. *eek* It didn't help that we had family there with us. They added their own noises to the group. I had one nephew (age 1) who like to give a little yelp when all was silent. I had another nephew (6) who was so excited to sing, but it was more a loud reading from the Hymns (cute, though) and a dramatic and very loud "Amen" after ever testimony. All the hugging over the pews, and you would think that we haven't seen each other in forever, and that it wasn't just Thanksgiving that we all got together.

On to the last child (but not by birth order). In our house we have somehow adopted the phrase, "someone took their silly pills". I think I can attribute this to Ryan Sauer and a Home Teaching visit. Anywho, Shaun has started using this as well as the kids. Rather cute. Last night, Ember wanted Jaxen toys and her dad wouldn't let her take it. She stormed into my bedroom (I'm feeding Owen) and proceeds to tell me that "Daddy....Daddy took his awful pills!". Huh? What happened I ask her. "Daddy wouldn't let me take Jaxen's swords (this are the silly plastic swords that come in the islandy (non-alcoholic drinks) at Denny's) He managed to scrounge up one from a few family members at the dinner table....for his superheroes to use (of course). So, I told her I was sorry he took his awful pills and maybe she should help him find his silly ones.

And that is the weekend update!