The Davis Family: May 2009

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Good Mama Duck, Bad Mama Duck

We had a nice, relaxing weekend. The fun part of the weekend was Saturday morning when I was outside shaking my rugs (I know - imagine that - I was cleaning) I saw a mama duck with about 11 ducklings huddled around her right next to the bushes under Emma's bedroom window. I must have scared the mama duck because she immediately led all of her little ducklings to the pond for their inaugural swim. I thought to myself that the ducklings had to be just born because they were all so small. Then I remembered once seeing a mama duck crawling into those bushes, so I looked, and sure enough, way into the bushes was a big nest with about 11 broken eggs. So, in fact, we had two nesting mama ducks in our bushes this year. The one was a bad, impatient mama who only waited for one baby to hatch and left its nest. The other was a good, caring mama duck who patiently waited for all of its babies to hatch and then led them to the water. The good mama duck must have learned some lessons from me!! Haha! We just love all of the free entertainment that our backyard provides! (We also saw 4 golfers this afternoon dressed just like Payne Stewart with the knickers and bright shirts with matching bright argyle socks and hat. They looked so cute - but I didn't have my camera nearby to capture the moment.)

For those of you wondering about Emma she is doing great. She still isn't walking but is getting closer and closer each week. She is walking with her little car walker (see the video below.) She is also doing this crazy crab walk in the grass on her feet and hands. She absolutely LOVES to be outside. Whenever we open the back door she is like a felon escaping from Alcatraz. She tries to crawl outside as fast as she can so that we don't leave her inside. It is hilarious. She also loves pineapple. While Jay and I were eating dinner tonight I put a bunch of tiny cut up pineapple on her tray to keep her occupied. They were cut tiny enough, but the problem was that she shoved ALL of them into her mouth at once. She started choking and I thought I was going to have to do the Heimlich maneuver on her. It scared me half to death. She finally spit it up - thank goodness we are all born with the gag reflex. I learned that I have to closely monitor how much she shoves into her mouth at once. She also had spaghetti o's for the first time today. She loved them, of course. So far the only thing she spits out is hot dog and carrots. Hope everyone has a great week.

My newest masterpiece from "Picnik"

Good mama duck with her babies on their inaugural swim

Emma walking

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Happy Memorial Day!!

We have had a great long weekend and it isn't even over yet!! It is so nice to be home relaxing for a few days with just the three of us.

Thursday was Jay's birthday - Happy 31st!! He had his first basketball game that night so we celebrated with gifts and a quick dinner before he left. He was sure to brag later that he won his game - by 40 some points. We had friends over Friday night and a big dinner that night for his birthday. Emma and I got him a lawnmower for bday and Fathers Day combined. I don't usually like to combine gifts but he really needed a new lawn mower. I think he really liked it - the old one wasn't even self propelled. I about had a heart attack any time I used it (which wasn't much because it was so hard to push.) We even played a little trivia clue game for Jay to guess what it was. Emma won the game (imagine that) and so Daddy has to take her to the beach at Aloha State Park this summer and take her for a wagon ride.

Saturday we relaxed and went for a walk. We went to a local fundraiser at Ford Park for Boys Haven - a local place for troubled boys. We had some crawfish and funnel cake (my favorite ..mmmm) and they had a small petting zoo for Emma. Yesterday we ran a bunch of errands and grilled out hot dogs. Today we spent some time outside with Emma at her water table and with her new ladybug sprinkler. She didn't know what to think of that. She kept crawling away from it and then back towards it. She loves getting wet and laughs and smiles - even when the water is cold. We have also managed to watch a couple movies and plan to watch Valkyrie later. We are going to grill out steaks for dinner with some Lemon-Berry margaritas - YUM!

On a sad note, we have been closely following mama duck that was nesting in our backyard. She gave birth to one baby duck on Jay's birthday. The baby was so cute and nestled in with mom on the nest all day Thursday. On Friday morning mama duck and baby duck were gone. I was sure they were just out grabbing a quick bite to eat. Not so!! Mama duck NEVER came back to her nest and left about 15 eggs unhatched! We were so sad to see such an impatient mama duck. I haven't seen her with baby since Friday. Hopefully the one baby is still ok.

Enjoy the pics and video of Emma with her walker! Happy Memorial Day and thanks to all the troops who are currently serving our country or have in the past so that my family can enjoy time together - free to do whatever we please!

Emma at her ladybug sprinkler

Emma at her water table

Her new favorite sippy cup

If looks could kill!

Daddy and Emma at the fundraiser

Mommy with Emma at the small petting zoo

Emma with her friend Jonathan

She's trying to smack him in the face!

The unhatched eggs!!

Mama and baby duck

Emma cruising - on her knees

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Emma Has Two Piggy's!

That's right! The big news of the week is that Emma has enough hair for two pigtails! You know what that means Dad - two bows!! She looks adorable in them - like a little girl.

We have had a relaxing weekend. Emma had to have blood drawn Sat morning for routing blood work at one year. Jay went with me and it took one phlebotomist and myself to hold her down while another one tried to draw blood from her teeny arm. Of course it didn't work on the first arm and we had to do it all over again on the other arm. It broke my heart to see her writhing to get away and screaming bloody murder. We were successful on the second try and Emma got two fun band aids as a souvenir.

Emma did get to play with her water table again this weekend. She loves that. She has started this new thing where she puts all the toys in it and then takes them out and does it over and over. She also does this with her toy basket - all toys go in and then all toys get dumped out. She also LOVES the ducks in the backyard. Every time she sees them she gets really excited and screams and screams. She says something like "Duh". See the video below.

Also, my sister in law (thanks Jenny) told me about a website: http://www.picnik.com/ which is a photo editing website absolutely free. Moms who love to take pics need to check the site out when they get time. You can do absolutely anything for free - turn pics black and white, add font, add stickers, change color, etc. You can then email it, save it, print it - all for FREE. I have posted a couple of my masterpieces (along with the photo at the top of the blog) for your pleasure. Have a great week!

My first masterpiece - she should be a baby model!!

My second masterpiece

My first attempt at one year picture

HI mommy!!

Look at her two piggy's!!

My two bandaids to cover my battle wounds

Crawling in the grass

Check out my cool new shades

Emma screaming at the ducks

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Happy First Birthday!!!

ONE YEAR AGO.......

TODAY........

Jay and I can't put into words how much joy and happiness that Emma has brought to us over the past year. It is so hard to believe that our little (9lb 3oz) baby girl is now standing, furniture walking, talking, drinking from a sippy cup, and even screaming to get more table food! She has grown and changed so much over the past 12 months and it has absolutely flown by. We are so extremely blessed to have such a beautiful, healthy daughter who brings such fulfillment to us. Cheers to the next year of her life and all of the excitement and happiness that it will bring!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Emma's Birthday Party

Wow! We have continued to be extremely busy. The weekend before this past I hosted playgroup with all of Emma's friends. We had a great time and even took the kids to the pond in the backyard to feed the ducks. Unfortunately I think we scared the ducks more than we fed them. Our friends Tony and Angela and Dave from Michigan also came to visit that weekend. They had stayed with friends in Houston a couple nights and then stayed with us for one night. The boys went to the casino in Louisiana and Angela and I stayed at home with Emma and relaxed. We also rented the movie "Rachel, Getting Married." It was the absolute worst movie that either of us had ever seen. Do NOT waste your time on this one!

This past Wednesday my parents flew into town to be here for Emma's big 1st birthday party. Whenever they are in town we also put them to work. Grandpa replaced an outdoor light and replaced a ballast in an indoor light so that it would work. He also cleaned out our garage for us. Grandma helped to plant some more flowers outdoors as well as a couple Hibiscus trees in the front yard. Of course they both helped to prepare the house and food for the big party as well. Maybe we really should move closer to home with all of this free labor!!!

We had a great turnout for Emma's birthday party. We had about 25 people for the ladybug themed party (because we call her our love bug.) It was very hot and humid outdoors - in the high 80's, but we spent most of the time there. Jay grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and we also had beans, macaroni salad, fruit salad, chips, and cheese dip. When it was time to dig into the cake Emma didn't quite know what to do with it. She hesitated for a long time and was very lady like. Although she managed to get filthy with frosting I am unsure if she really ate any.

After cake we opened gifts, with the help of Emma's new friend Grace. Among her wonderful assortment of gifts Emma received a wagon from Grandma and Grandpa Big John, a water table from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Becky, Darian and Kennedy, (that was the hit of the party since it was so warm outside), a scrapbook of her first year from Nana and Papa (along with toys), lots of other fun toys and clothes, books, money, a love bug sweatshirt from Uncle Seth and Aunt Jenny and Kole, and the list goes on. She also got a new swing that she loves and a baby pool from mommy and daddy. She also received a book from Aunt Jenny and Uncle Gary about a Mama and Papa duck raising little ducklings called "Make Way for Ducklings". The book is so appropriate because right now we have a mama duck sitting on its nest in the bush right next to our back porch. I think it was scared during the party because of all of the people so close to it and everyone coming in and out of the house. We can't wait to see how many babies it is going to have and when they are going to hatch. It is also appropriate because along with "mama" and "dada" and "baba" Emma can now point at the ducks in the backyard and say "duck". (It isn't quite that clear, but she points at them and says something that sounds like duck!)

Emma was very well behaved despite missing her afternoon nap. We did lay her down, but she kept talking and refused to fall asleep when there was fun to be had. She was in her glory with other kids here and played well with them. She was exhausted by 7pm and ready for a good nights sleep!

Emma has also had her first sippy cup and she loved it - because it was filled with apple juice. I haven't given her any juice yet and of course Grammy and Grampy comes into town and spoils her with juice. She is also eating a lot more table food. She loves mashed up bananas. She has also started an extremely annoying habit where she screams at the top of her lungs if anyone attempts to eat around her without sharing. If we are eating- she HAS to be eating. This is so embarrasing in restaurants when she shrieks if we don't feed her fast enough. She is also getting more efficient at standing and furniture walking. I think it could be anytime when she gets brave enough to take her first step.

We had a relaxing Mothers Day. We went out for coffee to Rao's in the morning with my parents. Jay then took them back to the airport and I stayed home with Emma. We relaxed and used her new swing and went for a wagon ride. I got a pedicure gift certificate and some money for my new camera from Jay and Emma. My mom got me a new pair of earrings. I am spoiled just like Emma!! Hope everyone else had a great mothers day!

Here are a ton of pics from the past couple weeks. It was so hard to keep them in order. It may make more sense to start from the bottom up. I do wish I would have had more pics from her party - especially with Emma and her friends. The day went by too fast and before I knew it everyone was gone! Enjoy! PS I am working on the captions that aren't right and the blurry video. It is clear on my computer - hopefully I can figure out the glitch!

Can you find Emma with all of her new toys?

Grammy and Grandpa Big John with Emma

Grampy blowing zerberts with Emma

Mommy and Daddy with Emma and her new swing

The duck nesting on its eggs under the bushes right next to our porch. We can't wait to see how many babies it is going to have. Maybe they will be born on Emma's birthday?