And Christmas has begun!

We kicked off the Christmas season with our annual visit to Memphis to see Nick's aunts, uncles, and grandparents. We had our usual breakfast Saturday morning, complete with Nana's chocolate gravy and the singing of 'The 12 days of Christmas' one by one. Lacey and her cousin Tyler (3 months younger) got to join in for the first time this year and it was a hoot. Lacey was going for a Grammy with her rendition of '5 golden rings' and Tyler... Well we will just say he was absolutely adorable with his '3 French chickens' routine. Then it was time for gifts, which get opened in a split second and then we have to spend 30 minutes going around to see what everyone else got! Davis was upset at first because he thought we were wrapping the gifts (that was mommys fault, I tried to wrap Laceys toys with him around earlier in the week, major fiasco). But when he realized that the faster he tore paper, the faster he got to play with his toys, it was on. We are lucky he hasn't decided to have a go at the presents under the tree at our house!

Then Sunday it was so nice outside, we spent all morning swinging the kids (and ourselves) on grandaddy's big rope swing, pushing Davis around on te big tricycle(he is relentless!) and playing football.

I finished crocheting a blanket! It was going to be for Davis, but Lacey loved it so much I added ruffles and it's hers. Picture below!

Unfortunately we had to leave and come back to the Birmingham hustle and bustle. We are trying to finish up wrapping and building for the kids, so Nick is supposed to be disappearing for a few hours tomorrow so I can get things done! We are so blessed to be able to spend another Christmas with our whole family, especially my grandparents. I can't wait!

And last bit of awesome news, Nick's aunt Maxine, who has stage 4 ovarian cancer, got some awesome news today. Her blood work numbers (CA-125 levels) to check for cancer markers are down 82%!!!!!!!!! It is so evident how God is intervening and moving in their life. We are so blessed and thankful, I don't even have words. We pray that she continues to get better and goes back into remission forever!!

Some pictures to complete the post:

Christmas is coming!!

We are so excited for christmas! We picked out our tree last week (and still have yet to put ornaments on it). Davis looks at it every few minutes and says "pitty tree." He loves it!

We have been hard at work trying to get the house organized. It's a never ending battle, but slowly (as we purge more and more) we are catching up. It's hard, because I get so distracted when I see something that needs to be done, while I'm in the middle of something else. I'm working on my focus.

Lacey has been enjoying swim team more and more. We finally figured out that she cannot swim on days that she has school. She is just too tired and emotional, and it just leads to a waste of time and usually a meltdown. So she swims two or three days a week, and loves it. She especially loves when they get to wear flippers. She is improving by leaps and bounds, especially in the last couple of weeks. Her freestyle is great. She is learning to breathe to her side, and now will count and breathe every three strokes. She has dolphin kick down pat, and is pretty good at streamlining off of the wall (when her head doesnt get in the way). She is improving greatly in backstroke. She can do butterfly pretty well, and is now learning breaststroke. She has the kick down, but we haven't tried the stroke yet. I'm so glad she is enjoying it, she is such a joy to watch.

She loves school and reading, and can do addition. We are working on subtraction. She can write and recognize her whole alphabet, can spell most simple words (and some harder words), and can sound out words she is reading. She loves to play cars with Davis, she loves to cook, and she loves animals. She currently has a pet rat named Daisy. We actually had two, but Rose got sick and died a few days ago. Lacey has been pretty good about it, she is sad but she has been saying, "I know God loves having a pet rat." She is definitely pushing her boundaries more and more, and we have struggled with finding effective ways to discipline her. So far, taking things/priviledges away seems to be the best. She is struggling with still being little, yet wanting badly to be big. I keep telling her to slow down, but she doesn't listen! She is still very insightful and will randomly say what's on her mind. It's usually a deep thought. And most of the time, funny. She is such a clown and loves attention. She eats pretty much anything, but her current faves are spaghetti, beef stroganoff, rolls, and steak. She likes to play with trains, ponies, littlest pet shop animals, and her harmonica. She calls it a remonica.

Davis is enjoying being the baby/big boy of the family. He has realized that the louder he screams when sissy messes with him, the more attention he gets. We are trying to nip that in the bud, because he seems to like getting sissy in trouble. And sissy really enjoys pushing his buttons. She usually does exactly what she knows will annoy him the most. They have their sweet moments, but most of the time they are typical siblings. I hope that improves as time goes by, and the discipline can be more even. It's hard becase as smart as Lacey is, she doesn't really understand why she gets in trouble for things that Davis doesn't. Working on it!

Davis is talking up a storm. His favorite things are singing, screaming, and laughing. Some of his most common sayings:
-hold you
-love you
-thank you
-hush Marley
-please move (pees moosh)
-pretty tree
-go outside please
-wanna race
-wanna ride
-stop it
-oh man (o maain)
-nurse please (nus pees)
-help me

He says anything you ask him to, and has excellent pronunciation on most words. Where Lacey had more sentences at this age, Davis has better pronunciation and repeats everything you say. He loves to talk and tell you about what he's doing. He loves chocolate and candy (unlike Lacey). His favorite foods are spaghetti (pagetti) and corn. He doesn't have a lovey, but is obsessed with cars and dinosaurs. He can tell you what most animals say, and knows his body parts. He can take his shirt off, loves to be in just a diaper (like Lacey did). He loves to put his shoes on. He also loves to give hugs. He hates to be messed with or told what to do. He also dislikes putting his coat on and eating at the table. He'd rather wander around playing, stopping only to take a few bites. He loves to be outside with sissy, and especially likes chalk and riding toys. He loves baths/water and will splash in every puddle he sees, even if it's 32 degrees outside. He is still nursing, but we are slowly working on weaning. I never in a million years thought I'd be nursing a toddler!

The crib is gone!

No more crib for our big boy! Instead of putting the Christmas tree up, we took the crib down. During our drive to Memphis, we were rehashing Lacey's toddlerhood. During the chat we realized Lacey started sleeping through the night shortly after she got her big girl bed with a regular mattress. Davis sleeps ten times better on our bed than he does in his crib (which is already converted to a toddler bed). So, in hopes of getting more sleep in the near future, the big boy bed came out today. Excuse the mostly naked bed, my ambition outwon my need to buy a boy bedding set.

More later on the outcome. Which, I'm expecting, will be nothing. But one can hope!

In other non-news, we had a great trip to Memphis to visit nana and grandaddy for thanksgiving. It was a great trip, relaxing and nice to have family time. Nicks Aunt Maxine has been valiantly fighting her ovarian cancer (which has spread to liver, spleen, and lung) and it was nice to spend some time with her. Lacey is a little worse for the wear. I'm not sure what it is about being around other kids for long periods of time, even good kids, because she always ends up acting out for days afterwards. Back talk and sass seem to have had a permanent spot in our house for months now, but it definitely amps up after we visit with friends.

And our elf on a shelf friends were awaiting our arrival home. Lacey is thrilled, and I think it's going to be a fun tradition. Pictures of them to come!

I can't believe I have to wake for work tomorrow, I almost felt like we were on a permanent holiday! Working for a doctors office thatis closed on thanksgiving and the day after... It feels a bit like heaven. Only 4 more weeks till christmas! And after our black Friday shopping, we are DONE! Nick and I are working on Dave Ramsey's total money makeover, so after much discussion we decided that christmas this year is just for the kids. I'm a huge buyer and love to go overboard, and it's just not going to work this year. Last year we didn't even buy each other anything because we had so many to buy for. So, like I'm sure is true for many families, Christmas will be smaller this year. But much more Christ focused and family centered. I'm very excited about it!

Fall 2011

Pictures finally! From fishing at emmas birthday, to the Auburn Ole Miss game, to new pjs and the school Halloween festival. This fall has been a whirlwind, and a blast!

Davis 18 month stats: 21lb 7oz, 32 inches tall, 19 3/4 head circumference. Still nursing, speaking in phrases, and learning new stuff everyday!

Lacey 4.5: 39lbs, 41.5 inches tall. Super smart, learning to read, spells great and loves to sound out words. Still dramatic and sweet.

Preschool, dance, and everything in between!

A few more months have passed since I last updated, as well as the whole summer! We had a great summer this year. Lots of playtime at the park, in the backyard, and at home. It was busy as Nick's coaching amps up during the summer, but everything went fairly smoothly.

We went on our beach trip that we won on Rick and Bubba recently. We went to the Caribe and had a BLAST. They had awesome pools and water slides, which made up for the day we couldn't really hit the beach because of the jellyfish! Nick, me, and Lacey all got stung. Lacey was such a trooper, she never cried just kept saying 'Wow, that stings.' Davis loved the sand and the water. As is typical for him, he's pretty much happy doing anything as long as we are outside. My dad came with us to help out with the kids, and that was such a blessing. I think he had a great time, and we sure tired him out! Nick and I got to go to dinner one night alone, and by about 8:30 we were ready to get home and go to bed. We all went out to dinner the next night, which with Davis was for sure interesting!

Lacey started preschool last week. She is going to a new preschool, Mountain Brook Community Church, and so far seems to be loving it. We love our teacher and the director (who we already knew from the last preschool). She's really hoping to learn to read this year. She also starts dance tonight at Corky Bell, and I've never seen her so excited! I can't wait to watch her dance, she's already such a beautiful dancer it will be great to see her with some instruction.

Davis is the epitome of a boy. He rolls dolls on the floor like cars making the 'vroom vroom' sound. He roars like a dinosaur, and loves to scare you by hiding behind things and 'jumping' out roaring. He is SO sweet and is such a mama's boy. He is still nursing, and hopefully he will quit before kindergarten! :) He loves water, cars, dinosaurs, and animals. He loves dogs and most of the time is very gentle with them! He also loves babies, I'm pretty sure he isn't aware they are small humans. He likes to carry sissy's doll around in her carrier. He is beginning to talk a lot, and is very smart like Lacey. He loves to tell you when the toilet paper is 'all gone' (usually after he's unrolled it). He runs around the house calling Lacey's name, and occasionally calls her sissy. He of course has mama and dada down. He says puppy and Bent Bent (for Bentley), says all done/gone, thank you, chicken, i love you, nurse please, and many others. He pretty much tries to repeat everything you say. He is obsessed with singing. He hums and sings all day long! He can do the beginning of the ABC song, and also sings 'rain rain go away'. It's so sweet listening to him and Lacey sing.

I started a new job, working for a Dr.'s office and pretty much loving it. The hours are great, the staff is great, and the pay is great. Not much to complain about!

We are planning a surprise anniversary party for Nick's parents this weekend. It's their 30th and we have lots of family coming down to help celebrate. I'm very excited, me and my SIL are planning it. We are pretty much ready for it. I'm making the food, BBQ chicken and pork, this afternoon and then we'll be ready! I can't wait, I think my in laws will be very surprised and happy!

1 year old!

Wow I can't believe the last time I updated was when Davis was 3 months old. I am so bad at this. He is now turning one tomorrow! I can't believe how fast time is flying (I know, I always say that).

Davis has turned into the funniest, most opinionated little boy I've ever met. He is exactly like his sister in some areas and exactly the opposite in others. He is still nursing (and at this rate, will never quit) and is getting so big. He can stand along for minutes at a time, and take a step or two, but still doesn't walk. He definitely could if he wanted to. He loves to drum on things, and loves music. He sings and dances whenever you turn any on, or sing to him. He LOVES mama, daddy and sissy. Especially sissy. He laughs whenever she's in the room, and now I have to separate him from her when it's time for bed or he will stay up trying to get her to play with him for hours on end. He loves to be chased, and anytime you walk near him he thinks you are going to chase him and runs away. This makes for a ton of bathtub fun! He still doesn't sleep through the night and never has (just like his sister). Not too worried about it, because I know one day he will! I'm just enjoying my nighttime snuggles while I can.

He loves to swim, and can go under water and kick a couple feet to swim to you! He jumps off the stairs and kicks to us. He splashes like crazy anytime he gets near water. He puts everything in his mouth, but hasn't swallowed anything yet. He just likes to hold it in there. He has quite the temper, if you take anything away from him or tell him no. His little face just crumples. Now when he gets mad, he will lean forwards and try to bite whatever is in front of him. Luckily, he's not lightning fast yet and hasn't gotten any of us. Trying to curb that behavior! He says uh-oh, ball, baba, mama, dada, woof, and dog. He is a lot more physical than Lacey was at this age. He can throw and roll a ball to you. He also is super quick to figure out how things work. Once he finds a new toy, he starts pressing buttons and pulling things, and it only takes him once to figure out what it does and how to make it do it again!

Lacey is becoming quite the little lady. She is 4 now and thinks she's 16, but that's nothing new. She is very athletic, can do 10 real pushups, use a bat and hit the ball (better than mommy), run around with a soccer ball, and dance. She loves to 'work out' with me. She loves playing with Davis' toys, especially trucks and stuff. Just like her mom! She colors completely in the lines. She is learning to spell and can write all of her letters and numbers. She can sound out and spell most any small word, and write it too. She plays with her leapster (handheld video game) and knows more about how it works than I do! She is in preschool 2 days a week and loves it. I hope she's learning how to be a little less bossy! :)

Nick is still coaching and loving it. Summer swim team is about to start, so he is about to be super busy! Hopefully I'll get to see him more this summer, but I doubt it since last summer I was on maternity leave for part of it. He got invited to be the Southeastern Zone Coach so for a week in July I will be on my own! Luckily, we won a beach trip on a radio station so we get a free trip in August! I'm super excited, it will be Davis' first time at the beach! I think that's all that's new with us lately, hopefully I"ll be able to update more often!