The Davis Family

L.O.V.E.

2012-02-15T17:29:00.001-08:00

One thing is definite. These boys may fight like puppies with each other or steal each other’s toys, but they have a whole lot of LOVE for Anna. She has captured all of our hearts and brought a sense of calm into our home amid her brothers’ chaos.

Okay, and these boys do love each other – they just show it in their boyish ways.

Christmas 2011 in photos.

2012-02-12T21:27:00.001-08:00

(Joshua did not want to have his picture taken at all. Hence, the grumpy face.)

More Anna.

2012-01-31T23:22:00.001-08:00

4 weeks old

5 weeks old

6 weeks old

7 weeks old

8 weeks old

2 months old

Anna:

is still a calm baby.
is very observant.
is a mommy’s girl.
likes to smile and coo.
is starting to laugh.
is very expressive.
is a quiet baby.

Anna’s super hero talents are…

She locates her mom in a room and then attempts to propel herself out of her dad’s arms to get to her mom.
She gets the hiccups daily.

Utah trip 2011

2012-01-31T22:42:00.001-08:00

In October, we went to Utah to attend a friend’s wedding. We decided to spend some time there with the Davis family.

The boys liked visiting Temple Square. Joshua found some horse chestnuts on the ground and he started acting like Gus from Cinderella trying to carry as many chestnuts as he could. And of course, he kept dropping them because he was picking up too many.

The Salt Lake Temple

Yeah, I really need to figure out how to take pictures of 3 boys.

While in Salt Lake, we stopped in at a Cars 2 event.

Our hotel was next to the Provo River Trail, so we spent some time there and I tried to get some good pictures of the boys. They may not be model perfect, but they definitely showcase their personalities. I love these boys!

Our little Anna

2012-01-16T23:01:00.001-08:00

Anna proved in her first minutes of life that she is a tough little girl. Due to some challenges (shoulder dystocia) in delivery, she was born with a broken clavicle and she was rushed off to the NICU to get her breathing under control. When they rushed Anna off, she was stable, but they wanted to watch her for awhile. After getting some oxygen, Anna pinked up and got to hang out in the NICU department for a couple of hours. When they brought her to me, she was happy and hungry.

At our postpartum visit, two days after delivery, Anna was sent back to the hospital for high bilirubin levels. She spent 2 days at the hospital while her bilirubin count dropped from 23.6 down to 14.4. She was a brave little girl. She had to be in the bed with her mask on for the first day. I couldn’t hold her or take her out to feed her. I think it was harder on me than her. Luckily, she didn’t cry about it at all. Then, after she was discharged, we had to visit our pediatrician about 5 more times to make sure that the bilirubin levels continued to drop.

So, in her first few days of life, she managed to be our first child with a broken bone AND our first child hospitalized. I think it is quite the accomplishment since she has three big brothers.

5 days old with a bandaid from where her IV was

Zachary adores his sister.

6 days old

First bath at home. She slept through most of it.

1 week old

12 days old

2 weeks old

3 weeks old

A few things about Anna:

she is a calm baby.
she is a mommy’s girl.
she has dimples! (You can kind of see them in the last picture.)
she is a night owl.
she doesn’t cry. She just “meows” when she wants some attention.
she tolerates her brothers’ noise very well.
she hates messy diapers.
she has lots of hair except for the receding hairline.
she loves to snuggle.
she is very expressive.

Joshua Anecdotes

2012-01-11T12:51:00.001-08:00

During FHE this week, we were discussing the song “I Lived in Heaven”. We talked about it and then I was asking questions to see how much the boys actually heard. I asked, “Where did we live before we came here to earth?” Joshua answered, “In Mexico. I want to go to Mexico again.” Yeah, he didn’t listen at all during FHE, but I guess I can be glad that he enjoyed our vacation enough to actually remember it several months later.

The garbage truck was coming down our street and I told Joshua so that he could go look out the window. He looked and said, “Oh, it is the blue garbage truck. I don’t like blue garbage trucks. I like white ones.” I asked him, “Why don’t you like blue garbage trucks? I thought blue was your favorite color.” He responded, “Blue is my favorite color, but blue garbage trucks are bad. White garbage trucks are good.” Joshua definitely has an opinion, but I think we need to work on his logic.

Last night, we started swim lessons again. Joshua’s first round of lessons was a miserable attempt. I spent 90% of the time trying to just get him in the water with his class. Not exactly fun when I was 7 months pregnant. But on the final lesson, Joshua finally got in and participated for almost the entire lesson. So, I put him in lessons again, and I think he hit a new tantrum level. He was downright hysterical! I am already dreading the first day of Kindergarten.

Zach in a Suit

2012-01-10T23:18:00.000-08:00

Zachary graduated from the vest set to a full suit.

I love seeing all three of my little guys in their suits every Sunday.

September 2011

2012-01-09T23:02:00.000-08:00

For memories sake and for anyone who may care, I thought I would recap the last few months of 2011 since I did not have the time or energy to do it sooner. So, over the next few days I will recap the end of 2011 in photos and captions.

Matthew started the first grade. At first, he took his homework pretty seriously. (Now, not so much without some prodding.)

We picked wild blackberries which turned into raspberry-blackberry freezer jam. (The raspberries came from our raspberry plant which went crazy this year.)

Zachary has become a little book worm. Matthew has to read daily for his homework and Zachary would sit down and read alongside him.

Joshua took his play-doh creations a little too seriously.

Zachary started nursery and somehow became a little boy. He also picked up a bit of Joshua’s head bruising talent. He’s got a hard head, but it still does not compare to Joshua’s.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2012-01-08T22:41:00.001-08:00

We hope you all had a merry Christmas and that the new year is treating you well.

(Sorry for the blurriness in the photos. I blame the lack of sunshine in Seattle and decent lighting in our rental house. I guess my dislike of camera flashes does not help though.)

Anna

2011-11-25T13:10:00.001-08:00

We welcomed Angela Marie into our family on Wednesday, November 23rd at 1:05 am. She weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces and was 20 inches. (We will be calling her Anna since she is the fourth generation of Angela Marie.) She is a calm and quiet little girl. She has a broken clavicle from delivery, but she handles it so well. (She beat her brothers to have the first broken bone in our family!)

Her brothers are thrilled to have a little sister. She will definitely be well cared for and possibly spoiled by them. Meanwhile, she is trying to get used to the noise of a house of boys.

Food thief

2011-10-30T22:25:00.001-07:00

Zachary is our little food thief lately. If someone is eating, they need to share with him. If the pantry is left unlocked or open, he must grab something and promptly beg for it. For instance, this is what happened awhile ago during breakfast. Please note that Zachary had already finished his own breakfast before these pictures.

Zachary: “eh!” (Translation: “I want some too.”)

Oh, dad got the camera out so cue cheesy grin, then back to the objective.

Take matters into his own hands when Joshua isn’t sharing fast enough. (I love Joshua’s eyes in this picture.)

Joshua concedes a bit.

Victory!

Joshua got a little worried, so he decided to take back his milk.

Zachary wasn’t done yet in case you were wondering. He kept asking for more as Joshua finished the milk.

I’m so glad that Joshua is really growing into his role of big brother. He really loves and takes care of Zachary. That is, when they are not fighting over a toy, but then again, that is usually caused by Zachary trying to steal Joshua’s toy. (In case you hadn’t figured it out, Zachary is 1 1/2, thinks he is 3, but acts like a 2 year old. Fun times ahead for us!)

First Grade!

2011-10-30T22:09:00.001-07:00

Matthew was thrilled to start the first grade because he got to go to school all day. He started the morning after we got back from Mexico. In fact, we had to tell him to go to sleep on the airplane so that he could get enough sleep for school.

Now that we are 2 months into school, he still loves it, but he really misses all of his free time. It is all part of growing up though – right?

Mexico

2011-10-05T23:05:00.001-07:00

This year we took a trip down to Puerto Vallarta for our family vacation. It was an eventful trip since we didn’t exactly think about the math. 3 kids who can’t swim and only 2 parents does not add up. (Luckily, my mom was there to help out for part of the trip.)

The actual traveling portion of the trip was stressful and, well, made us want to never put our kids on an airplane again. I have issues packing ahead of time for a trip (it has a lot to do with my laundry issues), so of course, I was up until 1 AM packing, then back up again at 3:30 AM to get to the airport for our early flight. By about 9 AM Zachary was starting to get fussy. At 10 AM, he was downright cranky and missing his bed terribly. Nothing would make him happy. Mike wrestled with him for a while before I took him. Then, probably from sheer exhaustion and a bit of relief from the change of parents, Zachary finally fell asleep. So, there I was holding my sleeping kid, pregnant, and then the guy in front of me reclines his chair back. Now, I felt a bit claustrophobic, but I could deal with it. That is, until an hour later when my back started aching and my arms started to fall asleep from holding Zachary for so long. I tried to ever so slowly move a little, but Zachary woke up anyway and his mood was only slightly better from when he fell asleep. Luckily, we were approaching our stop in San Francisco, so I paced the aisle for a bit and then sat down for the landing. He got to run around a bit in the airport before we reboarded and continued to Mexico. Oh yeah, for some reason the airlines’ computers decided to be mean and were refusing to accept Zachary’s passport so I spent 15 minutes trying to get Zachary and myself on the plane. The flight to Mexico was not exactly fun, but at least Zachary did not throw a meltdown tantrum. When we got to Mexico, we went to our hotel, grabbed some dinner, then decided to put our boys in their beds. Joshua and Matthew did not have a problem going to bed, but it was difficult for Zachary because the resort had run out of cribs and Zachary had to sleep in our bed. After an hour, Zachary finally fell asleep and I went to get ready for bed only to discover that the toilet was broken and would not flush. At this point, I think there was a collision of pregnancy hormones, exhaustion, and frustration which brought me to tears. After being comforted by my patient husband, I somehow fell asleep on a rock hard mattress. The next morning I was a little bit better, and Mike and I decided to make the best of the vacation – at least for a day or two when we could reevaluate the situation better. By the time our third day arrived, we were all getting some sleep and we were enjoying the pools. Since our room felt cramped with 3 active little boys, our game plan for the vacation was to spend the minimum amount of time necessary in our room which means that we were only in there for naps and bedtime.

The majority of our time was spent at the pools with an occasional trip to the beach. Unfortunately, the ocean wasn’t exactly great to swim in because there was a lot of debris floating in the water. (Supposedly, during the rainy season, debris gets washed down the rivers into the ocean making the ocean murky instead of a brilliant blue.) The boys loved swimming and going down all of the water slides. Zachary is quiet the little dare-devil. He did not even think twice about going down the slides even if there was deep water at the bottom. Surely, mom and dad would be there to catch him (which we were).

I know he looks terrified, but Zachary really did love the slides. Oftentimes, he required both parents – one to take him inside the pirate ship to go down the slide and the other to catch him at the bottom. Luckily, Joshua didn’t mind hanging around in the same areas.

Zachary also seemed to think that he could and should go underwater like his brothers. What he didn’t understand is that his brothers could stand up and have their heads above the water, but, well, he just isn’t tall enough to do that. Again, mom and dad saved the day. Here he is walking down the steps…

and then going underwater. Fearless…at least in the water.

Our single excursion was a pirate ship ride which visited another beach. The boys loved the pirates, but were a little concerned when some of them had to walk to plank as our boat was still moving to our destination. (In case you were curious, there was another boat to pick up the pirates.)

Matthew with our pirate, Pepe

The good news from the trip is that Matthew and Joshua started to understand how to swim a little more. Joshua was actually the first to start putting his head underwater and “swimming” (walking). Matthew felt a little outdone by his little brother so he started trying to swim and he was actually doing pretty well.

As you can imagine, we had several scary moments.

(1) We were playing at the beach and a really annoying vendor came to pester me to buy something. Mike was out in the water with Zachary and the other 2 boys were playing in the sand next to me. I manage to shoo the vendor away and look back to see Joshua running into the ocean with the intent to get to Mike. Luckily, I managed to get him before a wave knocked him over or he reached the sharp drop-off.

(2) Zachary insisted on jumping into the pool without making sure anyone was there to catch him. He must think he is a fish. We could not leave his side at all while at the pool.

(3) Joshua reached for a toy while he was kneeling beside the pool and ended up falling into the pool. Mike was with Zachary out of reach and my mom and I were drying off. She was between me and the pool and she jumped in after him.

I am sure there were other moments when my boys frightened me with their antics since all I seem to remember from the pool was a general feeling of stress and alertness.'

All in all, we had fun. We learned a few things and have set down some new rules for future vacations plans. Our boys have fond memories of Mexico and they now know a few Spanish phrases. The best thing was simply spending time together without any of our daily responsibilities (work, chores) getting in the way.

And if you made it through this monster post, thanks for sticking with me! Adios!

“Bubbas!”

2011-09-18T23:13:00.001-07:00

This little guy is now 19 months old. Since I forgot to post on his 18-month milestone, here are a few things about him right now.

He loves bubbles.
His words include: mama, “add” (dad), more, “osh-wa” (Joshua), no-no, “bubbas” (bubbles), “boa” (boat), “bah” (ball) and more that I am forgetting right now.
He loves his brothers. If they start wrestling, he will jump in and join them without a moment’s hesitation.
He is an adrenaline junkie. You may also call him a daredevil.
He is already asserting his independence by throwing a few tantrums in an attempt to get his way.
He has learned to be loud from his big brother, Joshua.
He has acquired a fear of strangers lately. It has made putting him in nursery at church very difficult.
His favorite toys are cars, trucks, and Duplos. He also likes his pull-along toys.
He is a great sleeper (as long as he has his bed).
He is a little policeman. If he sees his brothers doing something that they shouldn’t be doing, he will start yelling, “no,no!” at them. Of course, they don’t listen to their wise little brother, but that’s what happens when you are only one year old.

Pacific Science Center

2011-09-18T22:23:00.001-07:00

We made a trip out to the Pacific Science Center during the summer. The boys really enjoyed it. One of their favorite exhibits was a digger that they could control with buttons and levers.

I could not have asked for Zachary to behave better – especially after missing his nap. He just relaxed in the stroller and looked at everything.

Target practice with the giant water gun

I tried the impossible – getting a picture of all of the boys together.

Looking at the bees

We went into the butterfly house. Zachary was fascinated. There were plenty of butterflies and even a couple of koi to look at.

Inside a space shuttle

Summer’s Bounty

2011-09-09T23:01:00.001-07:00

Joshua sharing the raspberries by feeding them to Zachary.

It’s our third year with our raspberry plant and we have had quite the harvest this year. Joshua and Zachary have loved the fresh berries. For the first couple of weeks, Joshua and Zachary ate every single berry that we picked. Now, I think they are a bit worn out and they have moved on to all of the wild blackberries that we have been picking. Zachary didn’t even mind a couple of falls into the (thorny) blackberry brambles when he was trying to pick his own blackberries. Mike ended up handing him a cup full of blackberries – I think he ate 2 cupfuls before we came home!

Zachary after his first blackberry picking experience.

Camping at Mt. Rainier

2011-09-09T22:38:00.001-07:00

With 3 boys, I thought we needed to go camping a couple of times this summer. Some good friends told us about a great campsite at Mt. Rainier, so we booked a night there over the 4th of July weekend. The boys loved the time outside and it was nice to have some family time.

This was what the back of our site looked like. It was great listening to the rushing water at night. I think it actually helped our boys sleep through the night instead of repeating last year’s camping fiasco where I got maybe an hour of sleep.

Joshua went to work splitting tender for the fire. He was supervised, of course.

Zachary loved throwing rocks into the water.

Mt. Rainier

Brothers

2011-07-31T22:55:00.001-07:00

The boys are really great brothers. In the past few months, they have really started playing more together. I love listening to Matthew and Joshua play imaginatively together. Matthew and Joshua have been working hard to include Zachary when he wants to play too. (Now, just to be clear, they do still fight.) It is fun watching them interact. I think my current favorite though is watching them play ring-around-the-rosy together. For awhile, Zachary had to put his bowl or plate on his head during every meal. I cringed every time that he did it after he ate spaghetti or something else messy. He learned to become accustomed to getting his hair rinsed in the kitchen sink.

Watching TV together.

Drinking milk together.

Can you tell that he thinks he is a big kid?

Playing together. (I think they were reenacting the movie Cars.)

If you really look at the last picture, you can tell that Zachary is just watching what Matthew and Joshua are doing. (He really is an observant little guy.) Zachary really wants to be just like his brothers. The other day I cut Matthew’s hair and as soon as Matthew was done, Zachary came over, sat down, and communicated to me that I needed to cut his hair too. So, I cut his hair with the clippers and he sat still for 70% of the time.

I really hope they continue to be great brothers…

Easter 2011

2011-07-31T09:57:00.001-07:00

Joshua was terrified of the Easter bunny.

The boys loved Easter. We did the community egg hunt on Saturday and then focused on the Savior on Sunday. I love hearing my boys repeat the story of Christ’s resurrection.

It’s a…

2011-07-25T14:17:00.001-07:00

clipart from zazzle.com

For those who haven’t heard yet, we are expecting a little girl. She is healthy and so far my pregnancy has been as good as my pregnancies can get.

Her big brothers are looking forward to spoiling her when she gets here. Matthew has already announced that when she gets bigger that he will have a tea party with her. Oh, and he wants to make a pink snowflake to give to her when she is born. Joshua was in denial for a bit because he really wanted another brother, but after talking about what little girls like, he now seems excited for a sister.

Matthew at 6 years old

2011-07-17T21:32:00.001-07:00

Matthew is really growing up!

He has now finished Kindergarten and he is excited to go to school all day next year.
He continues to be our little police man by always reminding others (and me and Mike) of the rules and informing the adults when someone is breaking the rules.
He has mastered the basics of reading and loves being able to read everything around him.
He loves to be entertained and is constantly waiting for the next big adventure.
He is a good big brother.
He loves legos.
He has finally learned to eat some fruits and vegetables and it is no longer a fight to get him to try new foods.
He is a sweet kid. At his Kindergarten graduation, I had several moms tell me that they loved Matthew and that they thought he was the sweetest little boy.
He loves learning. The other day we saw a Venus Fly Trap at a store and he wanted to come home and learn about them because he thought it was pretty amazing that they eat bugs.
He now weighs a (not so) whopping 40 pounds. He’s come a long way from the 5 1/2 pounds that he started at though.
He is highly motivated. We recently started a new chore routine where he can earn points to “buy” a prize. The prize he picked will take him 3 months to earn, but he is working hard to earn it.
He loves the Gospel.

Joshua at 3 years

2011-07-12T23:01:00.001-07:00

What to say about this little boy?!? He has grown up so much over the past year!

A few things to describe Joshua at 3 years:

He is a spunky little guy.
He has now (as of last month) been potty trained twice. (The stomach flu really scarred both him and me.)
He is growing into his role as a big brother and there is a special bond between him and Zachary.
He is LOUD!! (Mike and I actually dream of a dial to turn down his volume –- like in the movie Robots.)
He has known the entire alphabet for months now and loves pointing out the letters in his name and in Matthew’s name. He can even tell me that Zachary’s name starts with Z!
He is 90% mischievous and 10% angelic.
He is constantly saying things that take us by surprise – sometimes because they are so funny and other times because we didn’t know he had some of the words in his vocabulary. For instance, he will say, “He roo-d (ruined) it!” or “3-2-1 IGNITION!”

Sometimes, what he says just shows how much he is thinking though. A couple of weeks ago, as we drove up to a friend’s house, he said, “Mom, if you need to throw up, you can use my bucket, but since I don’t have my bucket, you should throw up in the bushes.” (I’m sure my friend would have appreciated vomit in the bushes.) It just goes to show how much experience we have had with vomit in this house since November between the stomach flu and pregnancy.

A bit of life

2011-07-09T21:59:00.001-07:00

Just a bit of our life from this spring…

I finished a quilt and Joshua was so excited because it looked like the perfect blanket to use for roads and parking spots. He got to play with it for all of one week before we went to Texas and I gave it to my mom for an early mother’s day gift.

Matthew lost another tooth. In case you lost count, that is the fourth tooth that he is missing. At the time, he did not have any new teeth coming in, but now he has a new one coming in on the bottom.

We took a nice trip to Texas. It was great to see all of our family. As usual, the boys loved playing with all of Grandma’s toys even if they are 26 years old.

Grandma and Grandpa also have a great big yard to run and dig in. The boys loved getting away from the cold and rainy weather in Seattle to see the sunshine and warmth of Texas in the spring.

Both Joshua and Matthew got to celebrate their birthdays in Texas. For each birthday, we took them to Chic-fil-A where the manager spoiled them. It is now 3 months later and they still remember having their birthdays at Chic-fil-A.

They were also spoiled by each side of the family. My family took the boys to the Heard Museum. Zachary took a nice nap in the stroller while we walked around the trails. Matthew and Joshua’s favorite part was seeing all of the turtles. They liked watching the turtles dive into the water.

Then, the boys got to have their first cousin birthday party. They loved seeing all of their cousins and playing with them. It was a pretty simple party, but they loved it. Matthew and Joshua adore their cousins, especially Ryan and Ashley. Joshua still talks about how much he loved playing with “Ash-wee.” He even said in his prayers a few days ago, “Thank you for letting us go to Aunt Janette’s house again.” Yeah, Aunt Janette’s house is pretty cool compared to our house.

“Zic–Zac”

2011-06-15T10:54:00.001-07:00

This little man thinks that he is 2 instead of 1. He imitates his brothers all of the time. He has even learned to bring me a diaper when he wants a diaper change. (Maybe he will be my first kid who is easily potty-trained. I can hope, right?)

He is my little sweetheart too. One morning, I had to throw up and Matthew came and gave me a hug. Zachary was standing there watching and he reached over and patted me on the shoulder. Then, later in the day, when I was vomiting again, he came up on his own to pat me on the back.

Zachary is a little daddy’s boy. As soon as he hears the garage door open, he goes running to find Mike. Then, he is Mike’s little shadow until it is time for bed.

Possibly the most unbelievable thing is that Zachary is our best listener right now. We will tell the boys to clean up and Zachary is the first one to start working. We can tell him to go get his shoes or his jacket and he will successfully complete the task. I’m really hoping he can keep this trait.

M.I.A

2011-06-13T21:01:00.001-07:00

Yes, I have been M.I.A. for awhile now, but I promise it is for a good reason. I have been a little busy working on this little one:

And this little one is really working over my stomach. Luckily, I have a great husband who takes care of me and our little guys. I also have a great friend who took on my three boys in addition to her 5 kids. Seriously, she’s amazing and she made going to the ER just a bit better. (I went to the ER for dehydration.)

Anyways, we expect to meet our new little one on or around December 7th and we will find out in July if it is a boy or girl. In the meantime, I am lying low and taking it easy at least until the worst of the morning sickness passes.

Never a Dull Moment

2011-04-17T21:49:00.001-07:00

One thing is for sure. There is never a dull moment with 3 little boys. 2011 has been a busy year for our family. I think it has been busy simply because the boys are so incredibly busy and talkative.

Zachary has learned to knock on doors. (11 months old)

For awhile, we could count on Joshua to entertain Zachary in his crib when Zachary woke up, but that has now stopped. Not sure why…

We had 2 rounds of snowfall. It all melted by the end of the day, but the boys definitely enjoyed it.

Joshua painting an apple tree.

Matthew lost his first tooth.

Joshua’s train.

Matthew has started to learn to ride a two-wheel bike.

Zachary has developed quite the personality and he has also learned to be heard over his two big brothers.

Zachary loves the playground…especially the slide and the swings. My first kid to actually like the swings.

Zachary turned ONE! He loved the cake and his new cars.

Meet Petty. Joshua loves Petty. Sometimes I feel like Petty is another child when I have to buckle him into a car seat or find another chair for him.

Matthew lost his second tooth.

More snow pictures. Zachary threw a huge tantrum when I made him come inside because he was getting pretty cold.

Christmas 2010

2011-02-27T21:37:00.001-08:00

We spent a lot of time together for Christmas. We baked cookies and treats. We did a few Christmas crafts. We read some Christmas books. And we watched all of our Christmas movies multiple times. (Matthew and Joshua just could not get enough of them.) Sadly, I did not take my camera out much during the month of December. Here are a few moments that I did actually catch…

Joshua decided to feed Zachary some yogurt. It was messy and Zachary did not care for his help at all, but Joshua felt like he was being a great big brother.

My cute little Santas

Joshua has developed a love of helping in the kitchen. He loves to cut vegetables for me.

We have a tradition of opening a present on Christmas Eve before bed. It is always a book for the boys to read when they’re in their beds.

Zachary thought it was important to chew on the presents before opening them. Maybe it helped make the paper easier to rip?!?

The boys waiting to go downstairs. (Yes, it was dark outside, but in December it is dark until 8 or 9 AM here in Washington. I think we were up around 7 AM.)

Matthew opening the single present that he asked for…a Lego airplane. It was the last gift that he got to open, so he had been anxiously awaiting it. In fact, in the middle of opening other gifts from grandparents, he said, in a disappointed voice, “Where’s my Lego airplane?!?”

It was wonderful seeing how magical Christmas was for our boys. They loved everything about the entire day from staying in pajamas to opening gifts. (Well, I take that back, Matthew came down with the flu on Christmas night, so that was definitely not very magical.) I especially love how Matthew and Joshua loved sharing the story of Christ’s birth. They would each open scriptures and ask questions about Christ’s birth to each other, then they would sing Christmas songs…Christmas Bells or Jingle Bells.

Road Trip to Texas

2011-02-06T22:50:00.001-08:00

My time on the computer has become so rare that it has resulted in a bit of chaos in the order of my posts, so bear with me. I might be able to get some time on the computer when Zachary stops teething or when Joshua finally completes his potty training.

For Thanksgiving, we decided to take our annual trip to Texas to see our families. We were even fortunate enough to see all of Mike’s siblings (some of whom we have not seen in 2 years) and greet our newest nephew, Davis. After the stress of flying to Hawaii with our three boys and after considering the expenses of 4 plane tickets plus a car rental, we opted to take a road trip. A 4,200 mile, 70 hour road trip roundtrip. Looking back, I may have had a moment of insanity and frugality in this decision. However, we were blessed to have three little road warriors. Seriously, they were awesome! They trashed the minivan and may have watched way too much TV, but they did not complain at all. (Zachary was the only one who required much attention, but that is to be expected of a 9 month old.) In fact, once we arrived (at 2 AM), they were ready to play with Grandma and Grandpa.

We spent a week in Texas and we tried to pack in as much family time as we could. However, like usual, we left feeling like we didn’t spend enough time with everyone. And once again, I did not take many pictures with our families.

We went to see the giant Christmas tree at the new mall in Fairview/Allen. There was a light display set to music. Matthew loved the music and started showcasing his dance moves.

I spent a bit of time taking some pictures of the boys outside. Matthew and Joshua were cooperative, but Zachary had his own agenda…find as many acorns as possible and try to get them in his mouth.

While we were in Texas, we got to see Mike’s sister, Jen sealed to her husband, Chris at the Dallas temple.

We spent a week wearing our boys and ourselves out in Texas and then we had to get on the road to come back to Washington. Our trip back was a bit more adventurous due to lots of snow, a highway closure, and heavy snow in the mountain passes in Washington which required us to put chains on the van (a first for us). By the time we hit the mountain passes about an hour away from our home, the boys were done with the road trip and just wanted to be out. All in all, it was a great trip. We feel blessed to have such a wonderful family and we were happy to see everyone. Will we do it again? Probably. We will just have to see when I am feeling a little insane and frugal again.

Zachary at 11 months (in January)

2011-02-06T22:00:00.001-08:00

Zachary is growing up so fast! He has a great little personality. He is a sweet, sensitive, loving little boy. At 11 months, Zachary:

wants to be a big boy like his brothers.
loves to eat. His favorite foods are fruits and yogurt.
is starting to communicate. His only word is mama, but he will also wave bye-bye and night-night. He will flap his hands for “all done” and point to just about anything that he wants.
loved the Christmas tree and taking the ornaments off the tree, but wasn’t too excited about the gifts.
loves when Joshua comes into his room to play with him after he wakes up.
walks everywhere and is trying to figure out how to walk on stairs.
bursts into tears when Mike tells him no.
is still a mommy’s boy.

Rewinding a bit…to Halloween

2011-01-02T21:09:00.001-08:00

Mike reminded me that I needed to post some pictures of the boys in their costumes. So, here is Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and Smee.

They did a little bit of trick or treating at Microsoft and at the ward trunk or treat. I really wish I had had my video camera for the ward trunk or treat because Matthew started dancing to the Thriller song that a friend was playing from their car stereo. He had Mike and I wondering where he was picking up some of his dance moves. Everyone enjoyed watching his moves and Matthew was loving the attention.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T20:34:00.001-08:00

We hope everyone had a wonderful and safe holiday! We love you all!

My persistence paid off. It just took about 8 attempts, several months of trying, a little bribery, and me jumping around and yelling like an idiot. (My neighbors may think I am a bit crazy now.)

Now, if I had actually been on top of things this year, I would have sent you all a Christmas card, but it just didn’t happen this year. Consider it put on the list for 2011. That is, if I can get another good picture of all 3 boys together.

Is it already November?

2010-11-09T22:42:00.001-08:00

To start, I should probably clear up my statement about camping. It was a success simply because the boys had fun and we came home safe, dry, and uninjured. In the future, I think I will stay home with Joshua and Zachary and let Mike and Matthew go enjoy the outdoors.

Now, to sum up the last two months of our lives.

Mike and I both had our birthdays. Other than getting a little older, not much has changed. We stay busy.

Matthew loves Kindergarten. He is starting to read. Tonight, he read his binder of poems (7 total) to Joshua. He seems to be thinking all of the time about everything around him. Recently, after watching Sesame Street with Joshua, he explained gravity to me. He told me, “Gravity is what keeps you on the ground. You can’t see it.” Then, he jumped to show me that gravity pulled him back to the ground.

Joshua is almost fully potty trained. Today was a good day, but other days are like a nightmare for me. Joshua seems to have this internal timer that tells him to poop his pants 5 minutes before we have to go out to the bus stop to get Matthew. So, I have to set a cranky Zachary down to cry while I frantically try to clean Joshua up and get new underwear before the bus comes. Then, there are the times that he has decided to try to take care of his poopy underwear by himself. I’m glad that he wants to help, but this is one mess that I would rather clean up before it becomes a bigger mess…like poop on the carpet. It is all just part of being a mom though. He makes up for it by saying some really cute things lately. When looking at costumes, I asked Joshua what he wanted to be and he replied, “I not people, I Joshua!” Joshua has also started saying his prayers lately. It is really cute to listen to what he is thankful for. A few things that he is thankful for are: his grandpas, Christmas trees, chicken, rice, his friends, presents, playing with Nate (his friend), Jesus, Heavenly Father. He makes me smile almost every time that he prays. His list usually gets so long that he forgets that he is praying and we have to help him finish the prayer.

Zachary turned 9 months this past Tuesday. He seems to be growing up faster than his brothers. He took his first steps on my birthday last month. On Saturday, 3 days before he turned 9 months, he decided to start walking. He has managed 7 steps on his own so far. At nine months, Zachary:

loves to eat. So far he has not turned his nose up to anything that we have given him and he is always interested in grabbing anything that we are eating.
will jabber when he “reads” books.
says “ama” or “mum-mum” for mom, “duhduh” for dad, and then he has his own sound for hi.
will shout to get something that he wants.
is very observant. He is always watching his older brothers.
loves to chase the vacuum.
is still a mommy’s boy.
loves to sleep in his bed. He actually hates to fall asleep in his car seat or any where else.
likes to play peek-a-boo. Whoever sits behind us in church gets the privilege of playing this game with him because he will hide behind the back of the bench, then stand up.
loves climbing the stairs.
loves bath time.
waves goodbye. He was watching part of the movie Elf and he actually waved back to Buddy!
loves rough housing with dad and his brothers.
is shy around other people.
broke his first tooth.

Joshua loves shrimp!

We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. The boys loved it! Matthew and Joshua really liked picking out their pumpkins.

Another attempt at a picture of all of the boys…

We skipped carving the pumpkins this year and the boys drew on their pumpkins. (I knew that they would lose interest within 3 minutes.)

Zachary loves to be tossed in the air.

Zachary walking.

Our First Family Campout

2010-10-17T21:38:00.001-07:00

As if our first few days back from Hawaii were not crazy enough with a broken refrigerator, unpacking, and school starting, we decided to go buy all of the stuff that we needed to go on the ward camp out. I have been reluctant to go for awhile, but a lot of our friends have been taking their little ones, so I thought that I could give it a try. Matthew’s persistent begging may have had something to do with it as well. Now, the only time that I have been camping was with my girl scout troop back in 5th grade, so that would have been 16 years ago. We camped on tents that were up on platforms. On that campout, one of my good friends somehow broke a spider egg sac above her head and all of the spiders came down on top of her and it was freezing! I remember sleeping in all of my clothes plus my winter jacket inside my sleeping bag and I was still cold. I think we had a second night there and we all slept in the dining/meeting lodge which was heated. It was not the most enjoyable camping experience.

So with that being my only experience, I had no idea what to expect or even what all we needed to go on this campout. I did know that I was bringing lots of clothing to keep us warm. Other than the fact that we arrived shortly before sunset, everything went pretty well.

Joshua was terrified of the tent and I ended up holding him until he fell asleep. When Mike and I headed to bed around midnight, Zachary woke up – probably because he had to share the air mattress with us since we forgot his bed. Then, right after I got Zachary back asleep, Joshua fell off of his air mattress and woke up. The unfortunate thing about Joshua waking up during the night is that he does not go right back to sleep. He will almost always be awake for at least 3 hours before he will fall asleep again. So, it was 1 AM, and Joshua is awake and he wants to be LOUD which leads to him waking Zachary up again. I am terrified that he will wake up the rest of the family and everyone else at our campsite. Since he is not even close to falling asleep, I take both Joshua and Zachary and climb into the van. I put Joshua into his car seat and turn on a movie for him to watch while I work on getting Zachary back asleep. (Thank goodness for the entertainment system.) Zachary fell asleep quickly, but Joshua watched 1 3/4 movies before he finally fell asleep. It was 6 AM. I climbed in bed for an hour of sleep before the day started.

Overall, the campout was a success. We enjoyed hanging out with other families. The boys loved it…especially Matthew. Matthew has actually been asking to go camping with Grandma and Grandpa McCaffrey and Uncle Stephen in Texas. I laughed at that. I just wish that I had been prepared for the fact that I would not get to sleep. Oh, and I wish I had gotten a few more pictures. Maybe next time…

Zachary at 7 months

2010-10-16T23:06:00.001-07:00

Zachary has become more of a little boy than a baby. At seven months, he:

is pulling up to standing and then standing on his own.
walks around the house with his walker.
watches his brothers’ every move and will imitate some things.
loves playing in the bath tub.
loves cars and trucks.
still loves his mommy.
giggles at his brothers’ crazy antics.
is still an easy going little man.
loves playing on beds.
loves food. His favorite is apple sauce.
will say “ah-ma” which we think is his version of mama right now. And I think “a!” (short a) is how he says daddy.
enjoys blowing raspberries.
is ticklish.
is very busy and actually wants to be put down to roam and play most of the time.
is starting to ignore the baby toys and getting into the other toys.
is genuinely happy.
loves his brothers particularly when they play with him. He will even try to jump in on any wrestling.

I’m so glad that we have our little Zachary. He is such a great little guy.

KINDERGARTEN

2010-10-16T22:49:00.001-07:00

Matthew started Kindergarten this year. He was really excited about getting a new teacher and meeting new friends. No tears for our family, but that probably had a lot to do with the fact that he went to the school district for 2 years. He loves his teacher and he loves have a pseudo-pet since his teacher trains guide dogs and she gets to bring them to school. When he was first talking to me about the dogs, I was thinking that it was a book that they read. It wasn’t until I visited the school that I found out that there was a real dog in the classroom.

Poor Joshua. He really wanted to go to school with Matthew. He even went and got his backpack. It will be a long 3 years until he goes to Kindergarten.

Hawaii

2010-10-05T23:02:00.001-07:00

Mike took his paternity leave during the month of August and we went to Hawaii. We loved spending time with Mike’s family. It was also wonderful to just play with our boys all day long. The boys loved everything about Hawaii. There was the initial fear of the water, but we helped them get over that quickly which made the pool and beaches more enjoyable.

Zachary hated the sand at the start of our vacation, but by the end, he did not mind crawling on it…especially at baby beach.

It took us awhile to get Joshua out into deeper water so that he could ride the waves. He loved it once he went out. He ended up on Mike’s shoulders and they would ride the waves together.

My favorite story of the trip: Joshua came back onto the shore after riding the waves and he said, “Mommy, the shark got me!” I looked at Mike for an explanation, and he told me that a large wave went over Joshua’s head even with Mike jumping and Joshua being on Mike’s shoulders. Even after telling him that it was a wave, he still insisted that it was a shark.

Joshua loves all of his uncles, but he definitely loves Uncle Josh. Maybe it is because Uncle Josh just visited us for a week or maybe it is because they share the same name. He still remembers Uncle Josh. Joshua has asked to call Uncle Josh a few times and he will pretend to call him too.

Baby Beach. This is the perfect beach for little ones. Zachary loved getting in the water and crawling on the sand.

Mike found a dead crab and he had Matthew bring it over to me. If I hadn’t been holding Zachary while he slept, I probably would have screamed because Matthew put the crab directly in front of my face.

The Banyan Tree. This tree is huge and beautiful.

On our last day of our vacation, we stayed in Weilea. The hotel had a great kid pool and a huge slide. The boys loved the kid pool and Matthew loved the slide. (I love how he is becoming more adventurous.)

Joshua wasn’t interested in the slide, but I am okay with that since he is only 2.

Luckily, he was satisfied with shredding leaves while I held a sleeping Zachary.

The Weilea Beach is one of my favorites, so we spent a little bit of time there. Both boys wanted to jump the waves.

Matthew loved having Mike throw him.

This was Zachary’s bed on vacation. (It zips shut.)

Just looking at these pictures makes me miss Hawaii. I love how relaxing it is even with 3 little boys running around. I love the time together as a family without distractions. I love the escape from all of my chores. It was wonderful.

Yet all good things have to end and our vacation high ended as soon as we walked in the door and discovered that our refrigerator had died while we were gone. It took a couple of days to get that fixed, then my washer stopped working. Mike fixed that for me though. Oh, and amid all of this, I found out that Joshua had his second ear infection in a month and Matthew had an infection in the ear canal. I think only my boys could manage to have 4 ear infections within 3 weeks before the cold weather starts! (Zachary had his first ear infection while we were in Hawaii.)

Now that we are settled and everyone is healthy, I am glad that we are home. It is nice to get away, but there really is nothing better than being home.

More of Our Summer & Mission Impossible (Episode 3)

2010-09-28T23:49:00.001-07:00

We tried to pack in a lot of fun this summer. One evening while Mike was grilling, we set up the sprinkler and let the boys run around. They loved playing in “the sprinkles.” Once dinner was done, we ate outside on the deck which they also loved. Matthew remembered it and wanted to do it again tonight in spite of the dreary weather.

Joshua continued to fall asleep while playing. I just wish he would fall asleep earlier in the day instead at dinner time.

Mid July, at 5 months old, Zachary decided that he was going to sit up and get up on all fours. He started crawling at 5 1/2 months. I wasn’t ready for him to be moving. And to surprise me even further, he could crawl up the single step to get out of the play room a week after he started crawling. So, basically, he has been roaming the entire downstairs since he was 5 3/4 months old. Trouble. Oh, and I should probably mention that he climbed the stairs at 6 months old. He was an immediate pro at the stairs and we have never had to catch him so that he didn’t fall. Now, he gets giddy whenever he notices that the gate is not on the stairs. Oh course, that usually gives him away, but it is cute to hear his little giggles as he starts climbing the stairs.

Zachary at 5 1/2 months. Zachary is testing out his high chair. No food, but he liked playing with his toys and watching me cook.

Probably my least favorite part of the summer was dealing with the terrible twos. Joshua was a ball of rage for about five months. We never knew what would set him off, but when something set off the tantrum, it usually meant that there would be screaming for at least five minutes. Occasionally, he would nearly pass out because he would get so upset. In the picture below, Joshua had nearly passed out and I was trying to get him to smile and laugh while taking pictures of him. At one point this summer, Mike and I would cringe at certain tasks…like getting Joshua’s breakfast…because it was one of those times when he would ask for something and by the time that you got it ready, he would change his mind and then throw a tantrum. It was a daily occurrence. Luckily, the tantrums seem to be waning, but he is still being very mischievous.

I believe this tantrum was because I told him it was time to go potty.

Grammie and Grandpa Davis, Zachary would like to thank you for the musical guitar. Yeah, it was a gift for Joshua, but Zachary loved it! It was his favorite toy for awhile. He would crawl across the room to get it when he was first learning to crawl. It went something like crawl, crawl, lunge, crawl, crawl, lunge until he reached the guitar.

The best phrase to describe Zachary is long-suffering. He is the calmest little guy. He is happy playing with toys without any interaction and he doesn’t mind roaming the house. The only times he really cries are when someone other than mom or dad holds him, when he is tired, and when he really doesn’t want his brothers, usually Joshua, to bother him. Zachary will really tolerate a lot from his brothers (and dad) though. I can already tell that he loves them. He loves them so much that he will usually try to jump in and join them when they are wrestling. He is the perfect third child.

Zachary giving Matthew a kiss.

Zachary doesn’t give kisses to just anyone, so Matthew was lucky to get this kiss without even asking.

Two more words to describe this little guy: calm and observant.

Zachary wrestling with his blanket.

I love watching Zachary attack a blanket (or any other piece of fabric that he finds). He will pounce on it and then start growling as he rolls around. When he is done wrestling, he will drag the blanket around with him.

I always think of my boys as little puppies when I watch them wrestle and romp together, but that description makes me think of a cat, not a dog.

A trip to the playground.

Zachary’s first time on a slide. He liked it until Mike tried to have him slide down it.

I love this picture because (1) Zachary found some cloth to play with and (2) it reminds me of Mike.

Zachary climbing stairs at the playground.

Mission Impossible (Episode 3): No luck yet…at least they are all looking at the camera in the first one. I’m starting to think I should just frame these crazy ones because it just shows what life is like with these 3 boys.

I mentioned potty training earlier in the post, so I thought I’d note our journey with Joshua. Mike and I were insane enough to potty train Joshua while he was going through the worst of the terrible twos. We had a big boy party complete with a game, presents (underwear), and a cake. Both Matthew and Joshua loved it. We had the party on Sunday night. Joshua even got to stay up really late because we were waiting for him to use the potty. I think it took until about 11 PM (3 1/2 hours after we put the underwear on) for him to go even with us giving him lots to drink. (Who knew he had such a huge bladder?!?) The next day, I was cleaning up messes most of the day, but he made it to the potty occasionally with my prompting. Unfortunately, by the afternoon, I started feeling sick and around dinner time I realized that I had the flu. The flu ended up working its way through everyone (except Zachary) that week, so we abandoned potty training since it just was not worth cleaning up those additional messes when we were already cleaning up a lot of vomit. It was a miserable week which I never want to do again. Joshua threw a HUGE tantrum over being put back in a Pull-Up because it was a diaper. Luckily, he was excited when we put him back in underwear after we were all recovered. It took him about a week to get the hang of going potty. He still has accidents, but now it is simply because he does not want to leave what he is doing to go to the bathroom so he holds it.

A Little Side Note

2010-09-24T23:01:00.001-07:00

View Full Album

Mike thought that I should share this with everyone out there who blogs and actually reads my blog. Awhile ago, I got frustrated with blogging since it was such a pain to upload pictures, get them in the right order, and then get the spacing correct. It was a headache! I finally decided to find a solution and I found Window Live Writer. It makes blogging so much easier. I never have to worry about correcting the order of my pictures because you can select which order to upload them in and you can also upload more than 5 at a time. I also like how I can edit my pictures a little. It even lets me preview what a post will look like on the blog before I actually publish it! I still have not played with a few features, but I am definitely hooked. Blogging now takes a fraction of the time that it used to. (I know, I still don’t blog too much, but keep in mind that I have 3 very busy little boys.) Oh, and if you are interested, the set up is easy and it works for most of the common blog services (Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, etc.).

Oh, Zachary got a new toy. He likes it. He doesn’t exactly jump in it though. Lately, he will beg to be put in it. The pictures above are his first time in his jumper.

More of Our Summer

2010-09-24T22:30:00.001-07:00

Joshua forgot the bed time rules over the summer. We struggled with getting him to stay in his bed. Unfortunately, we eventually had to stand guard to make sure that he would stay in his bed and then we would sneak out when he was almost asleep. One night as I was heading upstairs to put Zachary in his bed, I was surprised by what I found at the top of the stairs. Joshua had crept out of his bed silently and fallen asleep on the landing.

We must have been wearing our kids out this summer because this was a common sight.

We went to the zoo with some Microsoft interns. The boys loved it. Matthew’s list of animals to see were the elephants, the penguins, and the zebras. He had a hard time waiting to see the animals on his list, but we did manage to see the elephants and penguins. The boys also had fun chasing a squirrel when we went to a nearby park to have lunch. At the end of the day after we saw all of the animals, we headed to playground inside the zoo, but Joshua fell asleep before we got there.

Joshua would like to thank his Uncle Josh for the super cool Batman mask. (I love how it looks too small for his head.)

I am still in shock that Matthew has turned into a big boy. He just looks so grown up!!

A sleeping baby…so peaceful.

Oh, have I mentioned that Zachary loves cloth? He will attack his blankets and wrestle with them. He will also hunt out any burp cloths laying around or pull his own socks off just so that he can play with some cloth. I love waking up and hearing him playing with his blankets. I should probably try to get a video of it…

My Job

2010-09-23T00:18:00.001-07:00

Some days my job as a mom can be extremely frustrating.

Today, right after I got Joshua and Zachary ready to pick Matthew up at the bus stop, Joshua pooped in his underwear. I had to leave to get Matthew since the bus will not drop him off unless a parent is there. This may not have been too frustrating except for the fact that I had asked Joshua if he needed to go potty just moments before. (I did get him cleaned up quickly and got to the bus stop on time.)

Then, I look at pictures of these little guys and all the work is worth it. Who wouldn’t want to be the mom of these boys?!?

Pictures from June 2010

Oh, and a funny little story… Tonight at bedtime, Joshua told me that his head hurt and that he needed to go to the doctor. He then proceeded to tell me that the doctor would look in his ears and fix them with a screwdriver. I’m not sure where he got that idea, but it made me laugh and it may have made up for some of the tantrums that he threw today.

The Park & Mission Impossible (Episode 2)

2010-09-19T22:05:00.001-07:00

For the first activity of the summer, we picked up a pizza and went to the park for a picnic. It was a fun little family adventure. Since it was a beautiful day, I took a few pictures and then made another attempt at getting a picture of all my little guys.

Matthew finished preschool

2010-09-19T17:31:00.001-07:00

In June, Matthew finished preschool. He spent 2 years with his teachers Tammy and Barb. He really loved his class and I feel that he grew a lot while he was there. His teachers were excellent at helping him with his speech and Tammy was even able to get Matthew to eat fruits and vegetables. It’s too bad that the eating did not transfer to the home, but we will keep trying. Thanks, Tammy and Barb, for teaching our little man!

A few days after getting out of school, I asked Matthew what he wanted to do during the summer. Here is his list:

“make stuff” (crafts)
“see fish” (aquarium & Ballard Lochs)
“go to the beach”
zoo
go fishing

We did everything except the Ballard Lochs and go fishing.

Then, I asked him what he wanted to learn about during the summer. His answers were:

treasure
numbers
crabs
choosing the right
Hawaii
fish
not being bad
exercises
food
writing
whales
zebras
not hitting
being happy

I think we talked about everything in this list. I love how truly random it is. It just shows how his mind works.

Uncle Stephen & Paddle Boats

2010-09-19T15:25:00.001-07:00

My brother, Stephen came to visit for a few days. He was kind enough to drive a vehicle up to us and then hang out with us. The boys loved having someone else to play with and I enjoyed seeing my brother. I really haven’t seem him much since I moved out of my parents house since we have both been in different states. Now he is in the Marine Corps, so I am sure that it will be even harder to see him.

Most of the time while he was here, we just spent time playing outside near our home or playing inside, but we did venture out to do paddle boats. (I stayed on the shore and took care of Zachary.) Matthew had been asking us for a boat ride for a month or two and this is what we came up with. Matthew loved it. Joshua wasn’t too thrilled about it. Luckily, no one went swimming in the lake.

Thanks for coming to visit, Stephen. Come again soon!

Back in June…

2010-09-19T15:11:00.001-07:00

Zachary was belly-surfing. Obviously, things have changed…

Mission Impossible (Episode 1)

2010-09-19T15:04:00.001-07:00

My mission was to take a frame-worthy picture of all of my boys in their church clothes. Here are the results:

Needless to say, I did not succeed. Joshua ran off after the first picture and even my 5-year-old would not look at the camera.

Picture Overload

2010-07-01T23:59:00.001-07:00

Who knew that 3 little boys could keep me so busy? It is a good thing that they are so cute. Anyways, here is a quick review of life in the Davis home with 3 little guys…well, at least the happy moments of our life.

Joshua adores Zachary and he frequently asks to hold him. Zachary has learned to enjoy it as long as Joshua doesn’t go too crazy.

Zachary has found a love for toys and his playmat. He started lunging for me when he was only a month old and when he was 2 1/2 months he started lunging to get his toys.

Zachary at 3 months old.

Matthew has become the baby entertainer. He will sing and dance whenever Zachary needs a little bit of entertainment

We have started doing a lot of artwork. I love seeing how Joshua watches Matthew to see how he does things.

Zachary has started hanging out in the walker. His feet don’t touch the ground, but he loves being able to sit and play with his toys.

To get Zachary to smile, I was playing peek-a-boo and Joshua decided to join in.

Yet another attempt at getting a picture of all three boys.

Zachary at 4 months old. At 4 months, he is pushing up onto his arms, rolling around, and spinning around in circles while on his tummy. He has even managed to scoot a bit if there is something behind his feet. He loves to watch his big brothers, but gets a little scared when they get too crazy. He is a mommy’s boy. He has a hard time going to other people even his daddy for extended periods of time. As I already mentioned, he loves his toys. He will actually growl and scream at them. He is still an easy going baby. He sleeps through the night and he is happy. What more could I ask for…well, I might ask him to wait a little longer to grow up. I can’t believe that he turns 5 months old tomorrow.

Matthew decided that he wanted to help with yard work. Mike actually had to help him push the mower, but it was cute to see how hard he was trying.

And this was Joshua’s reaction to the mower. He is hiding in the garage and trying to go into the house. Very odd. He was the baby that did not mind the vacuum, but now he has suddenly developed a fear of the vacuum and the lawn mower.

More to come…

Zachary’s Blessing

2010-06-12T23:26:00.001-07:00

We blessed Zachary in May. He cried a little through it, but it all turned out well. He cried because he hates being held in a cradle position. We were lucky to have Grammie and Grandpa Davis join us for the weekend.

Vancouver BC Temple Open House

2010-06-08T00:13:00.001-07:00

The boys loved our day trip to Canada to see the new temple. Matthew really took in the entire experience. We wish we could have spent longer inside the temple with our kids. A few weeks after our visit, Matthew found the pamphlet that we got with pictures of the rooms in the temple and he pointed to one and said that is where you get married in the temple.

Matthew turned 5!

2010-06-07T23:54:00.001-07:00

Matthew was so excited for his birthday. We had to count down the days until he got to open his presents and eat birthday cake. Matthew, the crazy boy, asked for batteries for my old camera and little people for his trains.

Matthew requested a train cake to take to school for his birthday. I found a silicone cupcake set that makes three different vehicles. Matthew really liked sharing it with his friends.

Anyways, at 5, Matthew:

is a great big brother.
is learning how to read.
still loves trains.
loves school and Primary.
loves church.
is doing better with his speech.
loves routines and has a hard time deviating from them.
is genuinely good.
is excited about going to Kindergarten next year.
still dislikes all fruits and vegetables.
loves playing outside.
still loves to read.
knows how to work the TV.
enjoys playing with his brothers.
loves to make Zachary laugh by dancing around the house.

Little Heartbreaker

2010-06-07T22:53:00.001-07:00

Zachary at 2 months old. He loves his tie. It is the perfect item to chew on during church.

Joshua turned 2!

2010-05-14T22:18:00.000-07:00

Our little Joshua turned 2. He has grown up so fast. In fact, sometimes he is more like a 3 year old than a 2 year old.

At 2, Joshua:
-is trying to do everything that his big brother is doing.
-is using complete sentences the majority of the time.
-is throwing his fair share of tantrums.
-is learning how to be a big brother.
-loves food especially hot dogs, strawberries, candy, and peanuts. (Not together though.)
-loves to color.
-loves playing outside.
-dislikes nursery, but loves church. (His favorite part of church is sacrament meeting. He is learning to enjoy nursery though.)
-loves to sing. (His current favorite is "the Jesus song" which is otherwise known as "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam")
-hates naps and bedtime.
-still loves to read.
-loves playing with cars.
-likes movies. His favorites are "monsters" (Monsters, Inc.), "nemo" (Finding Nemo), "beatballs" (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), "Buzz Whiteweer" (Toy Story), and Incredibles.
-plays like a puppy dog with Matthew by wrestling on the floor.
-is VERY LOUD.
-is still shy around other adults.
-is a happy kid.

Another funny story about Joshua:

We have a small statue of Jesus with 2 children which we keep in a glass paned cabinet which has a child lock. About a month ago, Joshua noticed the statue and told us, "I want Jesus!" Since it is breakable, we said no. This has led to multiple tantrums on separate occasions because all he wants to do is play with the Jesus statue. (Oh, and we never told him that the statue was of Jesus...he just knew.)

Joshua & his 2 year old mischief

2010-05-13T23:44:00.000-07:00

Joshua's latest mischief...

He woke me up at 4 am and then never went back to sleep. Then, when I fell asleep on the couch around 10 am, he went upstairs, got the full package of wet wipes out of my room, took the wipes to the boys' bathroom, and proceeded to empty the entire package into the toilet. Then, he covered the lid of the toilet with lots of liquid hand soap. Luckily, he did not flush the toilet.

Zachary's Reactions

2010-05-13T23:37:00.001-07:00

Joshua gets really excited to hold Zachary. This is Zachary's initial reaction to being put in Joshua's lap.

And within a matter of seconds, it turns to this. Joshua always tries to make him feel all better.

Easter

2010-05-13T22:34:00.000-07:00

Matthew and Joshua were really excited about Easter. We went to the city's Easter egg hunt. As our luck would have it, the weather turned really cold and rainy for Easter weekend (just like last year). We arrived early to make sure we could get a parking spot. The boys would have had to wait 10 minutes until the starting time, but a lame coordinator kept waiting for every last person to get to the field. The egg hunt started 10 minutes late and Joshua was completely miserable. It took some convincing to get him to go get some eggs. Luckily, Zachary slept through the entire egg hunt sheltered in the stroller.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-08T23:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to both of our moms and to all of the other moms that we know. We hope you have a great day!!

CTR

2010-05-07T12:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was getting tired of Matthew ignoring what I would ask him to do. I decided to give him a few seconds to respond and then I would ask him, "Do you want to Choose the Right or get in trouble?" Every time he would tell me, "I want to choose the right!" and then he would proceed to do what I asked him to do. Last night, Joshua picked up on this and came running up to me saying, "I want to choose the right!" Since bedtime has been difficult with Joshua lately, I tried reminding him to choose the right by staying his bed. I am guessing that he doesn't understand because he did not stay in bed, but he kept saying, "I want to choose the right!"

Zachary at 2 months

2010-05-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

Zachary turned 2 months old last month. He is now 3 months old... That's life here.

Zachary started smiling at 6 weeks old and he smiles constantly...well, except when his brothers come near him, then he gets a really nervous expression on his face. Right before he turned 2 months, I was drifting off to sleep and he started laughing in his sleep. It was so cute! I have to wonder what he was dreaming about though. About a week after that, he laughed while he was awake. Zachary continues to be a good natured kid. He doesn't mind being placed on the floor with his toy and left to play for awhile. Seriously, I could not ask for a better baby. Oh, and he is not the one who interferes with my sleep, that would be this little guy:

Don't get me wrong. I love this little guy, but he really needs to go back to sleeping. He is more fun to be around when he is happy.

Matthew's Writing

2010-05-05T14:08:00.001-07:00

This is the thank you that Matthew wrote to his teacher and friends that I mentioned over a month ago. It says, "Thank you Teacher Tammy and my friends." The drawing is of a rainbow.

Say Cheese!

2010-05-03T15:13:00.000-07:00

Matthew and Joshua decided to be little hams for the camera. This hardly ever happens, so I took advantage of it. Here are the results. (I had not done their hair yet that morning.)

Yesterday, Matthew was reading Charlotte's Web with Mike and Mike asked Matthew if he wanted to eat some slop. Of course, Matthew said no, but then Joshua ran into the kitchen and yelled, "I want to eat slop!!"

Matthew has been working on learning to read lately. He loves it! Joshua also wants to learn. He really wants to be like his big brother. He is a two year old going on five years. Stop rushing to grow up, boys!

Zachary's 1st Graduation

2010-04-26T22:09:00.001-07:00

Zachary graduated to the crib on his 2 month birthday. It was so hard for me to believe that he was already 2 months old. He seems to be growing up even faster than Matthew and Joshua. Perhaps it is due to the fact that I stay so busy with Matthew and Joshua.

One of his final nights in the bassinet.

Zachary's first night in the crib.

Busy April

2010-04-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

As always, we have stayed very busy this month. It is bound to happen when you have 2 April birthdays and it is the beginning of spring. Well, that and the fact that we have THREE boys who need lots of attention. (This time, I am going to do shorter posts.)

Joshua wanted to show Zachary how to build with Duplos. Surprisingly, Zachary was content being on the floor while his big brothers played around him. Normally, they are too wild for him and he starts fussing when they get too close.

Zachary really loves his bath now. He recently learned that he could kick his legs to splash the water. (Joshua kept telling Zachary, 'No splashing!') You can see some of the little guys rolls on his legs in this picture.

We started the month off with a very long doctor appointment. I think the appointment was 2 hours long! Zachary had his 2 month check up, Joshua had his 2 year check up, and Matthew had his 5 year check up. The good news is that they are all healthy. Matthew is no longer in the 3rd percentile for weight. He gained a whole 7 pounds this past year and is now in the 25th percentile, if I remember correctly. We are anticipating Matthew hitting 40 pounds this year so that we can finally take him out of a carseat. I had to laugh at their weights: Matthew 36.9 pounds, Joshua 27 pounds, and Zachary 14 pounds. At this rate, Zachary is going to the biggest of the bunch which is a good thing since he has two big brothers. The only other news from the appointment is that Matthew survived the Kindergarten immunization series...4 shots! It was quite the ordeal.

Monsters

2010-04-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

Joshua's new favorite movie is Monsters, Inc. He has watched it several times now, but tonight it made more sense to him. As we were putting him to bed, he checked under his bed and Matthew's bed and told us "No monsters." A little bit later, he made Mike check the closet for monsters, then he decided to get out of bed and check the other bedrooms for monsters and yell downstairs to us "No monsters." He could not get monsters out of his head and he wanted to search the entire house for monsters. I kept trying to convince him that there were no monsters in our house, that they were at their houses going to sleep.

Surviving

2010-03-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

Our three boys. (Zachary- 3 weeks old) My time on the computer has virtually disappeared lately. Joshua has decided that he is the computer tyrant. If he sees me on my computer, he comes over and tries to take it away, so to avoid a fight, I just don't get on my computer when he is awake. And when I don't have any kids, I am working on one of my projects --from decluttering to sewing to staining to organizing and spring cleaning.

Zachary is definitely loved by his big brothers.

A lot has changed around here. Matthew has taken the big brother role even further. He now seems to think that he is in charge of Joshua. His teachers even told me that he plays the big brother at school too. He will take on the biggest kid on the playground if that kid is doing something that he is not supposed to be doing. (Let's just hope he gains a sense of self-preservation sometime soon so that he stops taking on the biggest kids.) Matthew continues to be a big help around here, but he has started butting heads with Joshua a little more since Joshua wants to do everything Matthew does.

I registered Matthew for Kindergarten this month. (Scary thought.) Matthew is definitely ready for Kindergarten. Today, he drew a rainbow and then he wanted to write 'Thank you, Teacher Tammy and Barb and my friends.' I wrote it out for him and he copied it down onto his paper. He was a bit reluctant to copy without help, but he eventually tried. We are trying to work on his willingness to try new things and his ability to handle a change in a routine.

Zachary - 1 month old

Zachary turned one month old. He survived his first month with his brothers. He found his hands. Since he turned one month, he started smiling and he has even started following my movements around the room. He has continued to bear his brothers' overbearing affection. He even accepted the fact that his brothers woke him up from his nap by trying to launch him out of his bouncer. (I seriously can't turn my back...) Mostly, it is me and Zachary against the world. Zachary is usually next to me or in my arms because if I leave him, Matthew and Joshua start to give him a little too much love and attention.

He loves finding his hands.

Is it weird that when I look at Zachary I see a little bit of his brothers, but I also see a resemblance to pictures of me and my brother as babies?!?
He does cry.

Okay, the impossible task...take a picture with my three boys where they all have their eyes open, smiles on their faces, and you can actually see all three of them. It makes me laugh when I look at what I actually do get pictures of though.

This one isn't too bad. They all love each other (right now) so that is a good thing.

Right before Zachary was born, Joshua decided to hit the terrible twos. Keep in mind that he is turning 2 next week, so he was still one. This wasn't new to us though since Matthew also started the terrible twos before he was 2. I just wasn't ready for Joshua. Joshua is a solid little guy. He can definitely throw his weight around and he is louder than Matthew ever was. We are surviving the tantrums though and I am hoping that they will be ending soon.

The good news is that Joshua has started to show an interest in potty training. One morning he actually told Mike that he wanted to go potty. Mike took him and put him on the toilet, then Mike had to left the room for a minute. In the minute that Mike was out of the room, Joshua got off the toilet and proceeded to go #1 and #2 on the floor. Well, at least Joshua realized that he needed to go. It is just too bad that it didn't make it into the toilet. We keep putting him on the toilet when he wants, but we are not pushing him to potty train yet.

Joshua has also become a little talker. His vocabulary is massive and he learns new words everyday! He is even starting to ask what things are and what they do. He also loves to work on writing his name and pointing out letters. His favorite movie right now is "beatballs" (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs).

Zachary 5 weeks old

Zachary 6 weeks old

Matthew and Joshua fighting over Zachary

Grandma McCaffrey came to visit. Matthew and Joshua loved having Grandma to play with. They helped her fold some laundry.

They watched train videos on Grandma's computer.

Grandma and her three grandsons.

We loved having Grandma come to visit. Matthew and Joshua missed her the instant that she left. Matthew declared that in 10 days we were going to Texas to see Grandma. Sorry, not yet, little man.

A little Zachary smile. He has dimples in both cheeks. Love it. (6 weeks old.)

Joshua still loves cars.

In other news, Matthew and Joshua have become partners in crime. Sometimes Matthew will tell Joshua to do something that Matthew knows is off limits and then since Joshua is doing it, Matthew will join in. Then, he tells us that Joshua got into whatever it was that they weren't supposed to be into. There was a few days there that I was starting to wonder if they were going to make it through the week alive. They tend to wake up before us since Zachary keeps me up until midnight and then Mike is usually working until midnight or later lately. Anyways, they have learned that they can get into stuff if they don't wake us up when they get up. The first morning, they got into our cell phones. No damage, but I am still missing the stylus. The second morning, Joshua ate some oatmeal cookies that we left out and then they played with the cameras. Matthew even tried to hide the fact that he played with my SLR camera by putting it back in its place. I only discovered it when I went to take a picture and the lens was dirty and there were a bunch of pictures on it that I did not take. The final straw was on day three. I came downstairs and I wanted to scream. I found them sitting on one of the leather chairs and on the ottoman were 2 cartons of ice cream and a 2 pound bag of shredded cheese with the contents spilled on the floor. It was a giant mess! The refrigerator, freezer, and pantry are all locked now. When they get hungry, they have to get us. They still get into some stuff, but it has not been nearly as bad and I think they finally realized that they were getting in serious trouble.

Matthew has also started making some funny comments lately. The other morning I sent him upstairs to make sure that Mike was getting up. Mike informed me that when Matthew came up he told Mike that he wasn't leaving the room until Mike was out of bed. Then, today Matthew told me that when he turns 5 (in 2 weeks), he will be in charge. Yeah right!

More pictures

2010-03-06T13:08:00.000-08:00

Zachary's profile. Look at all of his hair! (Okay, it isn't as much as some babies, but it is a lot for my babies.) 11 days old.

My 3 little guys. I took about 20 pictures and these are the best ones since everyone is looking at the camera. It's too bad that Zachary's face is partially hidden. It will be impossible to get pictures of them together when Zachary can move. (Zachary is 16 days old.)

Joshua has grown up so much recently. He acts and looks more like a big boy, but he still has his moments of jealousy when he wants to be the baby again. Maybe it will get better when Matthew stops teasing him. Wait, that will probably never happen since Matthew is his father's son. Teasing is in the genes.
Matthew has developed a case of deafness lately. I miss when he would actually listen to me. It's just another sign that he is growing up. Did you know that he starts Kindergarten next year?!? Wow.

Poor Matthew will eventually be surpassed in size by both of his younger brothers. Matthew weighs in at around 33 pounds, Joshua is around 27 pounds, and Zachary is now 11 pounds 12 ounces.

My good little sleeper. Zachary will now occasionally sleep for a 5 hour stretch at night. There is an advantage to having a chunky baby who eats really well. (18 days old.)
Three weeks old.

Hungry little boy...

Pictures

2010-03-04T23:31:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures as promised. More to come...sometime.

Zachary did not like his first bath. It may have been due to the crowd in the bathroom. Matthew and Joshua wanted to watch and then Mike had to come in to control them and keep them from hopping into the bathtub.

He calmed down once he was wrapped up though.

Four days old.

Joshua adores his baby brother, Zachary.

One week old.

The partners in crime...being good and playing nice.

Zachary decided that he liked baths though. Nine days old.

My sweet baby boy...

Zachary's first checkup went well. At 9 days old, he was 9 pounds 9 ounces. (He was 9 lbs 1 oz at birth and left the hospital at 8 lbs 13 oz.) This boy can eat! Dr. George said it was probably the largest gain that he has ever seen. He is a healthy little guy. He tolerates his brothers as much as a little baby can. Life is good...just busy.

Crash Course

2010-02-23T12:49:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. It has been really crazy around here. Mike's mom stayed with us until Zachary was 6 days old. She was a great help. I don't think my house has been that clean since I started my pregnancy. (Thanks, Laurie, for all of the help.)

Anyways, she left on Monday, and then Mike left for Texas on Tuesday. Yes, I was alone with all three kids for 6 days. It was a crash course in handling all three at once without any backup. I would love to say that we were all happy and laughed a lot and everything went perfectly, but, like every parent probably knows, that is seldom the case with young kids especially when there have been a lot of changes in their lives. It probably didn't help that I was still going through the post-pregnancy hormones. We did have some fun, but we also had a good portion of tears and arguing. I may or may not have shed a few tears trying to put them all to bed by myself. (I am so glad to have Mike to help me...I would never want to do this alone!)

Anyways, my three little guys and I all survived our week without Mike. We even braved a trip to the pediatrician for Zachary's checkup and ear checks on Matthew and Joshua. (They had both had ear infections right before Zachary was born.) Mike survived his trip to Texas. Oh yeah, he went there to pick up the minivan that we bought. We could no longer fit everyone in the Jeep which was difficult since Mike's car is still not working. (We will find time someday...other things keeping popping up that we need to take care of.) We are no longer in much of a rush now though since Mike can take the Jeep and I have the minivan.

Well, Mike's dad and brother, Burke, joined him for the road trip and then they stayed for a short time. I am glad that Mike had the company and Matthew and Joshua loved having Uncle Burke and Grandpa here to play. Matthew and Joshua also love the new van. They got to go check it out right away and now they keep asking to go play in the new van. Their excitement definitely works to my advantage because they get excited to go anywhere in the van. We will see how long that lasts though.

My favorite things from the first days of Zachary coming home with us:

1. After telling Matthew to not squeeze Zachary, he declared, "Yeah, I don't do that, he will pop."

2. Joshua calls Zachary "Zachary baby."

3. We are having some name confusion. Mike constantly calls Zachary by Joshua's name. I am constantly switching all of the names. (I will claim that it is the exhaustion causing all of my confusion and the fact that the three boys are running circles around me.)

Now, we are settling into a "routine." Matthew and Joshua have become partners in crime lately. They started waking up around 6 AM. Joshua would normally come bug us in bed and then we would make them go back to bed. Joshua eventually learned not to bother us because then he could get away with stuff. (Sneaky little boy.) On the first day of mischief, Joshua ate some oatmeal cookies that were sitting on the counter. Joshua and Matthew played with the cell phones which resulted in my stylus being lost somewhere in the house. Then, Matthew decided to play with the cameras and even give one of the cameras to Joshua to play with. Luckily, the cameras were not broken. They were just dirtied with fingerprints. On the second day of mischief, the boys broke into the freezer. They pulled out the ice cream and some shredded cheese. They proceeded to eat it on the ottoman in the living room. When I came down, there was ice cream and cheese all over the ottoman and the floor. It took me 30 minutes to clean up the mess!! After this, I decided to put the baby gate in front of their door and we talked about staying in their room until the alarm goes off on their clock. Yeah, that worked for one day. Now, they literally bust out of their room in the morning. We are trying to figure out what to do next. I still use the baby gate for the single purpose of knowing when they leave their room since it makes so much noise.

Well, it took 10 days for me to write this post and now I am having issues with uploading pictures, so I will have to share the last month of pictures in a week or two when I finally get enough time.

Professional Photos

2010-02-09T20:25:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,
If you are interested in checking out the professional photos that were taken at the hospital when Zachary was 1 day old, check out this website and use the password 0202zacharydavis. They will only be up until 2/18/10.

-Angela

Zachary James

2010-02-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

Zachary James arrived on February 2nd at 2:44 PM. He weighed in at 9 lbs 1 oz and is 21.5 inches long. He is a calm baby and he is definitely loved by his big brothers.

I was scheduled to be induced on the 2nd, but if it were up to the hospital, I would not have been admitted. I had had trouble falling asleep that night because I was excited/nervous about everything. When I finally started drifting off around midnight, Joshua woke up and would not go back to sleep. I drove around town from 1 AM-2 AM with him hoping that he would fall asleep. (Mike had pulled multiple all nighters during the week, so he was too exhausted to handle Joshua and I wasn't sleeping anyways.) While driving, I started having a contraction every now and then, but nothing that was regular. When I got home, Joshua decided to wake up again and I sat in his room for an hour. During that hour, the contractions started getting stronger and by the time that I crawled in bed at 3:30 AM they were getting painful. I woke up several times from contractions and then at 5:15 AM, the hospital called to cancel my elective induction. I talked to the nurse and told her that I was going into labor and she told me to come on in. We were there by 6 AM and my contractions were about every 5-7 minutes. By about 7:30 AM, I was hooked up to everything including an epidural. After a few scares (my blood pressure dropping, Zachary not moving down, and Zachary's heart rate dropping), I started pushing at 1:45. I was forced to take a 10 minute break because I ran out of pain medicine, but I still managed to have him faster than my doctor anticipated. My doctor literally had to run into the room and get set up in 2 minutes for the delivery. Zachary swallowed a lot of fluid during his birth, so I had to wait to see him for a few minutes. As his weight suggests, he came out ready to eat. Other than having his days and nights switched, he is a very good baby. He even takes the affection of his big brothers without too much complaining.

To compare Zachary to Matthew and Joshua, go to this post.

Still Waiting...

2010-01-30T22:52:00.000-08:00

We are still awaiting the arrival of our third son. I am scheduled to be induced on Tuesday unless he decides to make an appearance before then. We are all anxious to meet him. I am excited to have an end in sight.

Learning to be a Big Boy

2010-01-17T22:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how quickly Joshua is growing up!
Two days after Christmas he decided to learn how to climb (and fall) out of his crib after his nap. When I tried to put him to bed that night, he was being impossible because he wanted to sleep in Matthew's bed. Well, we decided to give him a chance to show us that he was ready for a big boy bed by converting his crib to a toddler bed. He loved it! He was so excited about it that it took him forever to fall asleep. However, he was good and stayed in his bed all night long.

The second night was rough because he woke up and realized that he could get out of bed in the middle of the night, but after scolding him that night, he has not done it again. He really likes his newfound freedom. He loves being able to come get us up in the morning or even just getting out of bed to play with his toys. This morning he even just climbed into bed with us and said, "I want to snuggle."

A few things about Joshua:

*Joshua is also a little talker. His vocabulary is amazing. He loves talking with Matthew and he has even been known to give us a bit of sass. ("I don't want to." "Not now!")

*Joshua loves to read and play with his cars and trucks. He also loves to watch and imitate Matthew.

*He has also recently discovered music and his favorite song is "The Wise Man Built His House on a Rock" (if that is the title).

*Joshua really misses Matthew while Matthew is at school. Some days he will bring me his shoes multiple times and tell me, "Matthew, school bus."

*He is still really shy, but he will stay with anyone as long as Matthew is with him.

*One of Joshua's first 'words' was "Gon-gon." It means water. We have no idea where his pronunciation came from, but it has stuck. Even Matthew knows what "gon-gon" means! The other day Joshua was watching a show with Mike (maybe Up) and he pointed to the waterfall and said "gon-gon fall."

*He is really good at saying "pwease" and "tank you."

*He loves talking to his grandparents on the phone...even if he doesn't really talk to them yet. He loves hearing their voices.

A Matthew Conversation

2010-01-15T22:44:00.000-08:00

Isn't it interesting what kids will think about when you tell them something?

On Monday, I went to pick up Matthew at school after finding out that my doctor wanted me to take it easy. On the way home, I told Matthew that my doctor wanted me to rest a lot. He thought for just a moment and said, "Okay, Mom. You rest and I will take care of the house." (Seriously.)

Me: (laugh) What are you going to do to take care of the house?
Matthew: I'll clean up my toys. Then, I will wash the dishes, vacuum, and fix Daddy's car.
Me: You are going to fix Daddy's car?!?
Matthew: Yep.
Me: Okay, but how about you wait for Daddy to help you.
Matthew: Okay, Mom, but I will take care of the house for you.

He definitely had great intentions, but when we got home, he decided to play instead. Who would blame him though. He is only four. He did help by helping out Joshua though. And when I decided it was time to clean up some of the toys, he did most of the work without a single complaint. As for the other chores, well, we will let him get a little older before we expect him to do those things...especially fixing a car!

P.S. Yes, Mike's car has now been 'broken' for about a month simply because Mike has been so swamped that he hasn't had time to fix it. Basically, some bolt needs to be replaced for it to be safe to drive. In the meantime, we just have to hope that if we are not together that we can both get to the hospital in time for the baby's arrival.

Baby News

2010-01-11T21:28:00.000-08:00

The news...

1. No baby yet.

2. Matthew still thinks that we should name the little guy "Baby Boy." (That is not going to happen.)

3. I look and feel done. No, no pregnancy pictures. Just imagine me with a basketball tucked under my shirt. Not a soccer ball or pillow, definitely a basketball. I promise that is what it looks like. (I actually had an old man ask me if I had a basketball under my shirt.)

4. I started having contractions - mild ones - about 3 weeks ago. I am told this is normal especially after you've already had a few babies. They're not fun. On the stronger ones when I have to stop what I am doing, Matthew has concluded that the baby is hurting me. He has tried bossing the little guy around already by telling him to stop kicking me.

5. My doctor put me on limited activity now due to my annoying habit of getting high blood pressure at the end of my pregnancies. At this point it is not bed rest which is good since I have 2 little boys to take care of. So, as my doctor said, I am going to "sit around and rest" until my blood pressure settles down or this baby comes...probably the latter.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

Matthew has reached the age where Christmas is magical. He was so excited that he had a hard time falling asleep on Christmas Eve. But, lucky for Mike and I, that meant we were not woken up before the sun...which is saying something since the sun doesn't rise until 7:30ish.

We put the baby gate up at the top of the stairs to make sure that Matthew didn't sneak downstairs and start opening presents without the rest of the family.
The boys were really excited about what they could see...a train and presents under the tree.

As soon as they got down the stairs, Matthew and Joshua did not waste a moment before they starting figuring out the train set.

It was a good ten or fifteen minutes before they even thought about the wrapped gifts or their stockings. We spent most of the first half of the day opening a gift or two and then playing with the gifts for awhile before moving on. It was actually pretty relaxing. We only took a break for Mike to join his family in a conference call with his brother Josh who is serving a mission. We finished our day with a simple dinner.

Matthew and Joshua loved all of their new toys, books, and movies. (Mike and I loved our gifts too.) Here are a few pictures of them playing with their new toys.

I just want to go back to Christmas Day after looking at these pictures. It was truly a very relaxing day. It was wonderful because we spent it together. I loved seeing the joy on Matthew's and Joshua's faces. I loved hearing Matthew retell the story of Christ's birth. I even love the fact that Matthew keeps asking me if I am going Christmas shopping any time that I mention that I need to do some shopping because I know that he at least understands that Christmas is special. I also loved being able to think about how blessed we are.

So, looking back, I may not have finished all of the homemade gifts (sorry, Burke) or made all of the treats that I planned to give to teachers or friends (sorry, everyone), but this Christmas was perfect in every way.

Christmas Eve

2010-01-07T22:16:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve was spent together as a family. Matthew and Joshua spent a bit of time playing games on their (hand-me-down) laptop. (We definitely have enough computers lying around here...)

Before bedtime (and Santa's arrival), we set up our Nativity and had Matthew act out the story of Christ's birth with the figurines. He remembered a bit from last year, but he definitely picked up on more details this year.

I made several attempts to take the boys' picture by the Christmas tree. This was the best picture. They would not sit still or really look at the camera. I am starting to think that pictures of all of my kids together will be altogether impossible with 3 boys...maybe it will happen when they are older.

The boys got to open one gift each...a new book to read as they were trying to settle down to go to sleep for the night.
Then, "Santa" arrived along with lots of items from grandparents and other loved ones. Mike also set up the RC train that was handed down to us.

December Happenings

2009-12-29T13:05:00.000-08:00

Like just about everyone, we stayed busy through the month of December. We spent most of our spare time together as a family, but we also had to deal with some nasty colds throughout the month. Luckily, we were all well for Christmas. My mom even came to visit which was a special treat for Matthew and Joshua. They love having company. Joshua would even wake up and start calling for Grandma to come get him out of the crib.

Joshua enjoys our treks to the bus stop to get Matthew after school. He misses his big brother and is ready to have someone to play with. He always wants to take a toy with him. It is usually a car or train, but on this day, he wanted to bring his bear. The bear even had to have shoes on like him. Before walking out the door, he started being a ham and I naturally had to take some pictures since it is a rare occasion for him to pose for the camera.
I made cinnamon play dough for the boys to play with while I cooked dinner. It worked out well. They loved playing and I actually got to make dinner without both of them at my side fighting for the best position to watch and help with the cooking.

Here is Matthew with his snowman.

We made sugar cookies. Surprisingly, Matthew even loved eating the sugar cookies. This is definitely not like him since he tends to only like treats with chocolate in them.

After consuming some sugar cookies with lots of sugary toppings, the boys had an impromptu dance party to the Christmas music that we had playing. It was pretty cute watching Joshua try to mimic Matthew's dance moves.

Oh, can you tell what Matthew's favorite decoration was? (These were all decorated by Matthew since Joshua consumed the two cookies that he decorated.)

We even took a trip to a light display at the Bellevue Botanical Garden(along with everyone else in the area). It was pretty amazing what they did with the lights. The pictures do not do the lights justice. They literally took strands of lights and formed them into a variety of plants and a few animals...grape vines, sunflowers, corn stalks, flowers, butterflies, a bird, and even a monkey. We will definitely have to do this again next year, but we will have to try to go earlier in the Christmas season to miss some of the crowd.

We also had a great Christmas, but more on that will come soon...

Thanksgiving 2009...a little late

2009-12-28T14:32:00.000-08:00

Is it okay to post over a month after Thanksgiving...even when we have already celebrated Christmas? Sorry, the month of December literally flew by. I didn't finish a fraction of what I set out to do. I definitely planned like I was not pregnant and my execution of my plans reminded me just how pregnant I am.

We spent Thanksgiving in Washington with just our little family of four. We had a traditional feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and pies. We watched football for a total of 1.5 minutes...yeah, we are definitely not a sport-watching family. The meal was a lot of work, but well worth it with how excited Matthew got over it. He thought that Thanksgiving was wonderful. In fact, he said, 'I love Thanksgiving!' right before he went to bed. He is easily pleased.

We made this throughout the month of November...each feather is something we are thankful for. (Matthew came up with most of the items on the feathers.)

It was a simple day, but a wonderful reminder of how truly blessed we are. We are particularly grateful for two sweet boys and another little baby boy on the way. We missed spending Thanksgiving with our families, but we hope to see them again soon...after this little baby is born.

Daddy's Boy

2009-12-22T22:28:00.000-08:00

The other day I was sitting on the floor with Matthew and I told him that I couldn't move something because it was too heavy. He proceeded to tell me that he couldn't move the object either because he wasn't big and strong like Daddy. (Picture him flexing his arm muscles and using a deeper voice when he says strong.) I agreed with him and thought the conversation was over. A minute passed and he looked at me and said, "Mommy, Daddy can do anything he wants!" I could not help laughing hearing this from my four-year-old, but it does make me wonder what else he thinks about...like what he thinks of his mommy.

Appropriately Named

2009-12-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

For those who are unaware, Matthew's first name is actually Brett. Brett is also Mike's first name and Mike's dad's name. They are all Brett M. Davis.
Well, when I took this picture to add to the collection that I have of Matthew falling asleep at odd times or odd places, the thought crossed my mind that he was appropriately named. It seems that each Brett M. Davis can fall asleep when most people would be unable to sleep. Mike frequently falls asleep with our boys sitting (and wiggling) on him. Matthew has been known to fall asleep at the table, while Joshua is screaming his head off in the same room, and now in the middle of reading a book. And, well, I will just say Brett is not a stranger to falling asleep in a room full of his kids and grandkids.

Personally, I might be a bit jealous that these boys can fall asleep so easily and sleep so heavily amid so much chaos. Oh, and in case you were wondering, Joshua inherited his sleeping habits from me. In other words, he is a very light sleeper. Poor kid.

Handsome Little Man

2009-12-03T21:10:00.000-08:00

When did this little guy grow up? He is ready to be a big boy like his big brother. In the past two months, he has decided that he is too big for the high chair and the booster seat. He asks to sit on the potty, fully clothed, but it is definitely something. His vocabulary has grown unbelievably fast and he is even saying simple sentences (i.e. I want juice.) He is very good at pretend play and wrestling with his dad and big brother.

It literally feels like just the other day that he was born. Now we will be bringing home his little brother in just a few more weeks. Crazy.

Halloween in Texas (& more)

2009-11-25T16:57:00.000-08:00

We normally travel to Texas during Thanksgiving, but we had to travel earlier this year due to the pregnancy. We managed to enjoy a holiday with the family though.

We started by enjoying a preschool Halloween party at Janette's house. Joshua wanted to be a big boy like the other kids, so he joined the arts and crafts.

We also went to the park. The boys loved the time outside.

They also enjoyed a little outside time at my parent's house. Matthew was interested in the garden.

We went to trunk or treat with the Davis family. Matthew was Peter Pan and Joshua was supposed to be Michael (Wendy's little brother), but most people just thought that he was in his pajamas.

We hope you had a great Halloween too!

Three Little Monkeys and a Princess at the Zoo

2009-11-24T23:10:00.000-08:00

While in Texas we took a trip to the Dallas Zoo with Janette and her two kids. It was an enjoyable trip...perfect weather, zero crowds, and 3 monkeys who were excited to be there. I am glad that there were no crowds because our 3 boys, or rather monkeys, were running circles around us. (I am also glad that Mike was there to do all of the heavy lifting for us.)

Matthew looking at the flamingos

Matthew and Ryan

And allow me to introduce the princess Ashley. She enjoyed the trip by eating anything placed in front of her during our zoo trip. She was a trooper considering I am sure she was probably wanting to get out of the stroller and run around with the monkeys.

Joshua taunted the poor bird behind the glass for several minutes. He would run from one end of the closure to the other chasing the bird.
Oh, and the princess was very patient when one little monkey kept returning to eat more of her candy.

We also didn't hear a single complaint from the princess when two monkeys decided to fight over who would drive her chariot.

It was an exhausting trip to the zoo. My two little monkeys and the princess fell asleep on the train ride back to our car. I would have loved to have joined them for a nap.

Texas Part 1

2009-11-19T22:31:00.000-08:00

We took a trip to Texas at the end of October to see our families and take a bit of a break. Like always, we have about a 2 week recovery once we got home--1 week to get the kids back to their routines and the time zone and another week for me to get the house back in order. So now that I am (mostly) recovered from the trip, I can start putting pictures up here again.

We left Washington on the day that Matthew's preschool class was going to the pumpkin patch. Matthew was pretty sad about missing it, but he was excited when he heard that he could go to the pumpkin farm with his cousin Ryan's preschool class.
They got to feed the animals. Well, kinda, the goat stole the cup and most of the food fell onto the ground. It was really crazy because there were a few school groups there, but Joshua loved seeing a sheep. He even pet it! (Sadly, I don't have enough hands to handle 2 kids and a camera while I am pregnant, so I don't have a picture of Joshua petting the sheep.)

It was a surprisingly cold and windy day. Luckily, I had the boys' jackets with me. Unfortunately, I was completely unprepared for how muddy it was there. I would think that the farm here in the Seattle area would be muddier than the Texas farm, but I was definitely wrong. The Seattle farm puts straw down to keep the mud from being an issue, but the Texas farm did nothing. A poor cow was walking around in mud up to its knees! Lucky for me, I have two BOYS and they don't care if they get muddy. In fact, Joshua was pretty much covered in mud from the waist down by the time that we left the farm.

Joshua was intrigued with the pumpkins. He wanted to take one of the big ones, but we only got to take 2 little pumpkins with us.

Matthew with his cousins, Ryan and Ashley. (Joshua refused to be in the picture.)

Doing what boys do best...climbing! Both boys enjoyed going to the pumpkin farm. In fact, I am almost certain that Matthew said, "I loved going to the pumpkin farm with Ryan." And, if a trip to the pumpkin farm makes them happy, then I am happy too...even if they had to go barefoot for the rest of the day and I had to wash their shoes in the washing machine to get all of the mud off of them.

Then, on Saturday, we joined the Davis family on a motor home trip over to Fort Worth to see the air show. My boys were interested for all of 2 seconds before they started playing in the small grassy area in the parking lot. I don't think they liked all of the noise. Luckily, I was able to capture the 2 seconds that Joshua was interested in the planes in a picture.

Matthew is laughing about something here. I don't remember what. It must be the pregnancy hormones stealing my memory again.

Joshua in the grass. He would play outside constantly if I let him.
Joshua was fascinated by the "babies" in the stroller. They are only 6 and 7 months younger than him, but he seemed to think that he was much bigger. Maybe it is the fact that he towers over Ashley and he runs circles around Russel right now. I am sure that things will change by the time we see them again in a year or so.

Joshua is a Grandpa's boy. He would run around calling "Ram-pa, Ram-pa" until he found his Grandpa Davis.

Joshua only had a tiny nap, so he was ready to leave after just a short time.

Matthew worked on his monkey skills with his cousin, Ryan. Those two boys became little buddies while we were there. Joshua was trying to tag along with the big boys, too. Matthew teased Ryan endlessly in spite of all of our attempts to get him to stop. Poor Ryan. I think Joshua enjoyed the break from all of the teasing though.

We love these boys!

2009-10-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

We are still staying busy. Matthew has loved being back in school. He comes home exhausted everyday, but he always loves telling me about school. His teacher told me that he has become a little leader in the class and that he tries to take care of all of his classmates in a brotherly fashion.

Joshua cried when Matthew got on the school bus for the entire first week of school and he still gets upset on Wednesdays when I have to drop Matthew off at school. He thought it was the greatest thing when he got to "go" to school while Mike and I went to a PTA meeting. Joshua is becoming more and more of a little man everyday. He loves to try to do everything just like his big brother. I love watching his imagination explode lately.

Matthew asked me what a sign said the other day. I told him that it said, "The family that prays together, stays together." Without missing a beat, he said, "Mom, I want to be a family that stays together." What a great little boy!

Mike is enjoying his new job even though it has kept him really busy lately. Luckily, I have been staying busy around here. According to Mike, I am nesting. I don't think I will argue since I have been cleaning and organizing quite a bit lately. I will have to post some of my projects later once I take some pictures.