Our Latest Arrival

He's here.  He's beautiful.  And other than a very stubborn bilirubin count, he's perfect.  Rex Davis FINALLY joined our family on November 27, 2010 at 12:56 a.m.  True, he was scheduled for the 29th...but by the 27th we really felt like we had waited long enough...at least I had!

Rex joined the world at 8 lbs. and 20.5 in. long.  He has a head of jet black hair just like his brother did, but he's a spitting image of his father.  I guess since I already have two kids that look like me, it was time for Rodney to have one that looked like him.  :-)

Rex is quite jaundice and sleeps a lot in his bili blanket...so we don't really feel like we've gotten to know him very well just yet.  We are looking forward to the day he feels better and can spend a little more time awake!  He has beautiful eyes and we all seem to just hover over him waiting for those precious things to open.

My recovery has gone smoothly, but I still wouldn't have made it through this first week without my mother.  She graciously spent a week at our house jumping at my every request.  With all the doctor visits we've had to take Rex to, this has been a saving grace!

The kids were SOOOO excited when we arrived home with Rex.  Heidi Sage still runs up to him, touches him with her pointer finger, runs in place, and squeals, "A bay-bee!  A bay-bee!"  You can often find her at his side showering him with kisses and delivering him a paci.  She asks to hold him often, but not for long...she's a busy girl.

Clinton loves to walks by and rub his little head.  He's the first to let me know if Rex is crying and gives him words of encouragement until I can get to him.  "It's okay Baby Rex.  It's okay."

Both of the kids are looking forward to teaching Rex everything they know (such as Heidi Sage below teaching Rex about body parts) and share their toys with him (Clinton has been wanting to share his cars).

We have been overwhelmed with the big kids' affections for Baby Rex.   It's so heartwarming to witness such pure adoration for another person.  Don't get me wrong, our kids are normal and have had the occasional "adjustment" meltdown or tantrum...but overall they are just excited to have a new member in the family.

Three kids under the age of four is sure to have it's challenges...but I wouldn't change a thing.

Mother to THREE,

One Looks Good On You, Girl!

Even after an entire year of not getting to sleep through the night, I can honestly say this year flew by. On Friday, March 26, 2010, Heidi Sage turned 1! It's hard to imagine that there was ever a time she wasn't with us. To say she brought an indescribable amount of joy to our lives would be an understatement.

At 1, Heidi Sage is reaching all kinds of milestones. She started walking a few weeks ago while we were in Vail, of course. She's almost running now. And we're working on mastering the outside terrain so she'll be ready to be the AWESOMEST flower girl ever at Aunt Zsazsie's wedding in a few weeks. Bebe sent word today that her green, sparkly, cutest-shoes-ever arrived in the mail and Heidi Sage is desperate to get such delectableness on her feet! (I kid you not, the girl loves sparkly shoes. She SCREAMS when you take them off of her feet! Crazy, girl.)

She says a few words. She calls both me and Rodney "Da da", she calls Clinton "nin non" with the same voice inflection I use when calling his name, and she can say Bebe and Nana. She's also been attempting dog and duck...I think...they sound identical, but I'm sure the intention is there.

And she has found her voice....and not her speaking voice that communicates brilliant thoughts and adorable one liners, but the voice that tears through the house and your ear drum when things aren't going exactly as one might have hoped. This girl has honestly come by a tried and true temper. And boy has she let Clinton have it a time or two! He just gives me this look like, "What the hell, Mom?" Sorry, son....but you'll need to get used to that.

While she can let her mind be known in a fierce way, she also has the sweetest disposition of any baby I have ever been around. She loves to cuddle. She loves to hug. And she loves to be tickled. She is also very social. She loves new people and is happy with just about anyone. She's a favorite at the church nursery. They make us feel so special every Sunday when we arrive.

She's also recently found her appetite and FINALLY hit the 20 lbs. mark! She'll eat anything you put in front her....especially macaroni and cheese. I've never seen a child put away mac-n-cheese as quickly as she does. It's one of the meals she has to eat in her birthday suit. She also likes veggie soup, lentils, pancakes, scrambled eggs, fettucine alfredo, and the free cookie at Publix. I was letting Clinton feed her the cookie in small bites until I realized he was eating more of her cookie than she was, so now they each hold their own cookie and Heidi Sage is handling it quite well.

With Rodney's back surgery we've been a bit swamped here, so throwing a big bash for the birthday wasn't exactly possible. So we had a small family party....and it was perfect. I wanted everything to be sweet and girly like the guest of honor. For dinner we had brunch. Bruncher, if you will. I made chicken salad rolls, bacon & spinach quiche, smoked salmon with cream cheese and capers, spinach dip with pita chips, strawberries with fruit dip, and shrimp. I also purchased the most beautiful Gigi's cupcakes, but they had an accident in the car so they were a bit damaged by the time I got them on the cake plate. But we all lived....even if I had to shed a tear or two and take five (or ten) deep breaths.

Heidi Sage loved opening her gifts. She got started ripping the paper as soon as she noticed a gift, so we just let her get after it. She got an awesome outdoor water sink/table, a Radio Flyer 3-in-1, and lots of dishes and food for her new kitchen. Unfortunately, her kitchen was not ready in time for the party. And it still isn't ready. But it will be....soon. I can't wait to post pictures of it!

Heidi Sage has been playing with all of her gifts and it's so fun to watch her face light up each time. She has such an amazing smile. Her eyes have such a sparkle. Unless, of course, she's doing that earth shattering shriek, then there's more of a fire in her eyes...but more often they sparkle. I really love it when they sparkle. The fire scares me a little.

Heidi Sage's birthday is special not just because it's the day we celebrate her coming into this world and enriching our lives with sugar and spice, but also because she shares her big day with someone very special....her Great Mama Peggy. My dad's mom, Peggy, was also born on March 26th. There's been a number of coincidences with dates on that side of the family. For example, the Christmas after Rodney and I married, Peggy gave everyone calendars with important family dates on them. We realized then, we had gotten married on what would have been my Great Papa Sid's 100th birthday (Peggy's dad). Then just 4 years later, Heidi Sage was born on her great grandmother's 75th birthday. I'm hoping next year two of my favorite girls can celebrate their birthdays together!

Heidi Sage--We had such a wonderful first year with you! You have found your place in this family and are, of course, a perfect fit. You fill mommy with joy, melt daddy's heart, and give Clinton the companion he'd been longing for. We are so looking forward to each and every day that God allows your presence to bless us. Your beautiful smile, endearing laugh, and overflowing heart have been nothing short of daily miracles in our house. We can't wait to make a lifetime of memories with you! Much love--Mommy, Daddy, and Clinton

Wishin' that dress came in my size,

Say, "Aaaaahhhhhhhh!"

Part of being the "Big 3" is having to do some very big boy things, and one of those things is going to the dentist for teeth cleanings. I know what you're thinking, "Oh no, I bet this was a nightmare." Believe me, the same types of thoughts swirled in my head for days before.

If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you may have noticed that my child is very strong-willed and hard headed (like his father!). If he is ever in a situation he doesn't want to be in, it takes about 12 lbs. of chocolate, promises of new choo-choos, and lots of "you'll love it, I promise", to get him to even remotely cooperate...maybe it's not quite that bad, but you catch my drift.

I was already prepared for a hellacious day....the kind where you're sweating bullets, while chasing down a child in a public building, only to hold them down as they scream, and you wonder if God is laughing at you and punishing you for something you've done.

But that's not how things went... And I'm going to give credit to 2 very key things... (1) the doctor's kit Clinton got for Christmas has dental tools in it and we play with them often! (2) the staff at Dr. Reynolds' office is unbelievable!

When Clinton was 2 1/2, the dentist told me to bring Clinton in with me and let him watch my teeth cleaning. I thought, "Sure I'll do it...but he won't remember it by the time he is three." I was wrong.

All the way to the appointment, Clinton talked about the water. He hooked his pointer, waved it around his mouth, and asked, "Water, mommy? Water?" "Uh-huh....sure." I had no clue what he was talking about, just agreeing to agree.

When we walked in Clinton wasn't shy at all. He just acted like this was a place we went to everyday. Ms. Kathy came and got us and took us back. Clinton went back and just climbed right up in his chair and started looking around. "Mommy! Look, mommy! Water!"

"Oh....he does remember being here!" He was pointing to the little spicket thing they use to squirt water in your mouth. He was so excited about it and couldn't wait until they squirted it in his mouth.

"Can I count your teeth, Clinton?" Ms. Kathy was awesome. She knew just how to get a three year old to respond. Since Clinton is into counting EVERYTHING these days, he was oh-so-happy to have her count his teeth.

"Okay, mom. We're just going to go as far as Clinton will let us, and once he's done, we're done. We just don't want to cause any trauma." "Sounds good to me."

But Clinton never got upset. He was excited about everything. He loved the "toothpaste", he loved the spinning toothbrush, he loved the water (of course) and he loved the vacuum. He got every single tooth cleaned, got a good report, and was very excited about his goody bag....which contained a toothbrush, toothpaste (one of his favorite foods), floss, and a bouncy ball.

I was SO proud of him for being so big!

We'll definitely be looking forward to our next visit!!

Smilin' pretty,

The Pros and Cons of Being Diaper Free

We are a couple of weeks into being potty trained. I'm so proud of our big man. He took to it so well and so quickly. It was nothing like the nightmare I had envisioned for us. Clinton continues to be very proud of himself and we are no longer having to give rewards for every successful trip to the potty.

As we continue our venture into big boy underwear, I am learning there are pros and cons to having a "big boy" in big boy pants. They are as follows...

Pros -

1. I'm only buying diapers for one!!! Woo-hoo!!

2. Clinton looks so cute in his big boy underwear...especially his boxer briefs.

3. I don't have to change dirty diapers...well, I don't have to change CLINTON's dirty diapers.

4. Clinton is so proud of himself!

Cons-

1. Clinton now points out other kids who are wearing diapers and very loudly lets me know that they wear diapers and he wears "nunnerwear". I just have to roll my eyes and laugh. It's like he's forgotten he was in diapers just a few short weeks ago.

2. Clinton seems to think he is now the owner of his very own fire hose. When he pees he doesn't like any help...and that's because he likes to swirl his wee-wee around while he pees spraying the toilet seat, the back of the toilet, the floor, the wall and sometimes the water in the toilet. Oy vey.

3. I have to remember to ask Clinton to pee-pee before we leave the house, before I drop him off for school, before we leave school, before he runs off to play with a friend, etc., etc. And anyone who knows me knows that my mind is always distracted and rarely remembers to do anything that doesn't come with a reminder!

4. Clinton likes to remove his pants completely when going to the bathroom. He often sneaks to the bathroom and then lets me know after the fact that he's gone. I'm then left searching the three bathrooms looking for his pants and underwear. Question heard most often in our house these days, "Clinton!! Where are your pants?"

Despite the cons, we are so glad we are on this side of potty training. That is one milestone I didn't think we would reach too easily....mainly because it requires so much on the part of the parents...but we made it and couldn't be happier!

Stocking up on Lysol (wipes and spray!),

Potty Trained.

It's done. It wasn't easy, it wasn't pretty...but it's done. Finito.

As I have so brilliantly done in the past, I made a big decision on a whim. Last Wednesday I woke up and couldn't bear the thought of changing one more of Clinton's diapers.

Clinton had recently been talking about how he was a big boy and Heidi Sage was a baby...so I started there.

"Clinton are you a baby?" "No, I a big boy." "Did you know diapers are for babies?" "No, baby." "That's right, you're a big boy. So, you get to wear underwear." "No, nunuaweaaaaaaaar."

That's how lovely our adventure started.

If I had been journaling during our ordeal, it might have looked something like this.


WEDNESDAY
10:00 am - Clinton gave me some resistance, but I was able to coerce him into his underwear with some distraction and a small bribe. Thank goodness for M&M's.

12:00 pm - I have mopped a couple of puddles off of the floors. A lot of time has been spent explaining that M&M's will be rewarded for a pee-pee in the potty. Getting ready to hang out in the bathroom until Clinton gets it in the potty so that he can receive his reward.

2:00 pm - Lots of time in the bathroom. Lots of screaming and crying. We have had a successful pee-pee with a big potty dance and an M&M reward. While we have enjoyed the taste of success, I kind of hate myself right now.

4:00 pm - We've experienced our first #2 accident and it was gross, but we all survived. I still hate myself.

6:00 pm - We've had several successful trips to the bathroom. Clinton has asked to go potty. Still hating myself, but not as much.

10:00 pm - Clinton's in bed...with underwear. I've prepped his bed for the possibility of a bed wetting, but hoping for the best.

THURSDAY
3:30 am - Clinton just woke up wanting to watch cartoons. WHAT?? So, I told him if he would pee-pee in the potty he could get in my bed and watch cartoons. He screamed and cried, but did it anyway. Wow...I'm not a fan of myself right now.

9:00 am - Clinton awoke with dry undies. Made a tearful, groggy trip to the bathroom to pee-pee and quickly perked up when given M&Ms. Starting to think I'm not so stupid.

12:00 pm - Clinton has gotten the hang of the pee-pee part...although he's upped the ante from M&M's to Oreos. I've exhaustingly obliged. Feeling really good about my on-a-whim decision.

3:00 pm - I just cleaned up poop that was smeared over a good part of the play room. I thought I might be sick, but I managed to push through. Clinton was freaked out and hiding under a table, but I think he understood what went wrong and what to do next time. Hoping I made the right decision.

10:00 pm - Clinton's in bed. Only one accident today, but it was a big one. Thinking I made the right decision.

FRIDAY
9:00 am - Clinton woke up dry and HAPPILY went pee-pee in the potty! Hooray! I will not clean up poo-poo today...Clinton will be spending lots of time on the potty until he poops in the potty. Period.

12:00 pm - Clinton had his first poo-poo in the potty!!!!!!! He was running around naked after a failed sitting. He made a bee line for the bathroom. When I got in there I could hear him peeing. He got up to reveal that he had also gone #2. "Wutz dat?" "That's your poo-poo! You poo-pood in the potty!!!" "Oh.....it's BIG!!! Mommy, my poo-poo big!" Clinton said bye to his poo-poo as he flushed it and after a good hand washing, we celebrated with a Little Debbie cupcake. I might be the smartest person ever...

10:00 pm - No more accidents. Patting myself on the back.

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
Over the weekend, the few accidents we had were just not getting to the potty in time...but he was always on the way. He had gotten the hang of it and thoroughly enjoyed all the positive attention of a job well done. He LOVES to poo-poo in the potty....and LOVES to enjoy his Little Debbie afterward. We weren't even home over the weekend. We were out and about all day Saturday and went to church on Sunday. Clinton was quite impressive.

MONDAY
Perfect day. I love myself. Bye-bye diapers for two...

Wondering how early I can potty train Heidi Sage,

9 Months and Counting...

Our little girl is still little...but doing big girl things. Two weeks ago I took Heidi Sage in for her 9 month appointment. She weighed in at 17 lbs. 1 oz., down in the 20th percentile....what a difference from her off the charts brother! Her height was in the 50th percentile, and her head was in the 75th.

Heidi Sage is doing so much now. She is crawling EVERYWHERE. She likes to be anywhere that Clinton is....and can get there quickly. She also really likes to be chased. If you start towards her she throws her arms up in the air, squeals and then turns to crawl away. It's so cute. She also turns and darts if she's trying to eat something off of the floor and she sees me look at her. She knows I'm going to dig it out of her mouth. And you've never seen a child who can clench their teeth and purse their lips as tightly as she can. There's no telling what she's been able to eat because I can't get her mouth open to dig it out. See "pursed lips" below...

Not only does Miss Priss love to play with her brother, she also loves to play with Gracie. She'll throw the ball and Gracie brings it back. Every time Gracie returns the ball Heidi Sage giggles and squeals with sheer delight. It's so fun to watch.

Heidi Sage is a big eater...aside from eating all kinds of things off of the floor, she loves all kinds of finger foods. She refuses to eat baby food anymore. The only thing I'm allowed to feed her is yogurt. Everything else she insists on feeding herself. She LOVES yogurt melts, biter biscuits, pasta, rice, steamed fruits and veggies, and any kind of bread. Tonight we also discovered that she likes Campbell's Double Noodle soup. Oh, and there's a possibility she got a hold of one of Clinton's chocolate chip cookies and also found it to be quite delectable.

As I stated before, Priss Pot loves her brother. We have a rule in our house...when there is silence and Clinton can't be seen, find him immediately. Now the rule is...when there is silence, and neither child can be seen, find them faster than immediately. Why the rush? Because Clinton can do lots of damage alone, but he can do more damage with an accomplice....or victim.

Take for example, a few weeks ago I was checking my email. A silence gradually fell over the house. Upon noticing the lack of noise, I turned to do a head count and located ZERO children.

"Clinton?" Whispering giggles, followed by the squeal of a baby. "Clinton, what are you doing?" "Nup-PING!" As I rounded the corner, I was greeted by this...

...an innocent little girl who had received a few loving scribbles from her brother. Sigh.

That was only the beginning. Who do you think came around the corner next? The loving brother...

A few other 9 month tidbits...HS is up to 5 teeth and more coming in, she's pulling up on everything, and she's getting weaned onto the bottle.

I'll keep you posted as our little girl continues to grow up...that first birthday will be here before we know it!!

Trying to keep up,

Girl Talk

Anyone who has seen me around town lately, can probably tell that I L-O-V-E having a little girl. Don't get me wrong, I L-O-V-E my boy, but getting him dressed is more about explaining why we can't wear clothes out of the hamper or why a green plaid shirt with blue Mater socks is out of the question. All the while, across the hall there sits a closet full of beautiful things that make me happy. Like orange and black Halloween tutus, funky striped tights, sparkly shoes and ginormous hair bows in every imaginable color and pattern.



Yes, having a girl is so. much. fun. One day it will be all attitude and eye rolling, but for now it is bliss. And I'm savoring the moment.

Clinton has always been a Daddy's boy. The only time he picked me over Daddy was when he was sick, which was a lot pre-surgery, but still it wasn't the same kind of I-want-to-spend-every-moment-with-you love that he showed for his Dad. There was a small part of my heart that ached for that.

Well, my heart aches no more. Heidi Sage is definitely a Mommy's girl. On my hip or in my face is her favorite place to be. She loves talking to me about whatever babies talk about and then she'll laugh with big sparkly eyes, throw her arms up with that jerky baby motion, and then bury her face in my shoulder....and my heart melts every single time.

When we're sitting down she likes to put her forehead up to mine and shake it back forth to give me Eskimo kisses...as well as some open mouth kisses all over my face. Nothing like baby slobber all over your face.

Heidi Sage is so content. People ask me all the time, "Is she always like this?" And I can honestly tell them, "Yes. She's just very happy." It makes it so tempting to go ahead and try for #3...but I'm no fool. After two good babies, I'm surely due for a bad one.

Heidi is growing....and it is effecting her sleep...and mine. She gets up around midnight and then again around 5ish to eat. At her 6 month appointment today I realized why. Her 4 month stats left her in the 25th percentile. Her 6 month stats left her in the 25th percentile for weight (15 lbs 1 oz.), but she had shot up to the 60th percentile for height (26.5 in)! She grew 2.5 inches over the last two months. Her head circumference also shot up to the 75th percentile, so she just might be following in her bother's footstep....skinny, tall and one big ole' noggin'!



I've included a couple of pics of Heidi Sage. One of her in a new dress with some sassy tights sportin' some flower power; and another wearing an outfit that was mine when I was little. As soon as I can find the cord to my other camera, I'll be downloading some pictures of some REALLY cute Halloween outfits made by a very loving grandmother (Bebe)!

With sugar and spice,

What He Does Know

I'm a comparative person by nature. I don't make impulsive decisions, I sit in the aisle at Target and compare price to quantity to versatility to brand name to blah blah blah. That's just who I am...I wish I could help myself, but I can't. So, I'm learning to accept this about myself.

I am finding this comparative nature to be a bit troublesome when it comes to my kids, though. I find myself comparing them to other kids their age. SUCH A MISTAKE! I was starting to worry about Clinton because he wasn't counting to 10 like Ethan Steece or talking clearly like Conley or playing pretend like Dalby. And while I was watching his every move to see if he was headed in the direction of these other kiddos, I found my child has his own skill set. And while it's not your typical show-off skills, it's still quite impressive.

Clinton can't count past three. And he often won't do that. Even if he counts to three, he often just says "Tree, tree, TREEEEE!" with the voice inflection mimicking that of "One, two, THREE!". I've gotten over this as I have discovered that even though he won't say the words, he actually understands the concept....but only as it relates to matchbox cars and monster trucks...and only up to three. "Clinton, can you bring me three monster trucks?" Three will appears. "Clinton, can you pick up those two cars?" Two get picked up.

And also as it relates to cars, trucks and heavy machinery, Clinton is well versed in his colors. He's not a big fan of talking about colors, unless we're talking about some type of motorized vehicle...but don't let him fool you, he knows his colors. Wed, Arnch, Geent, Bue, Ite, Back, Poople and Oh-oh.

And he doesn't appear to talk that clearly either, and in some cases he just doesn't, but a lot of the words he's trying to say are really hard words. Giant Excavator, Ambulance, Tractor, Skid Steer, Harvester, Bulldozer, Car Transporter. I kid you not, the kid knows every type of heavy machinery by it's name. And if you get it wrong, he will scream "No" at you until you say the right one. You can imagine how pleasant some of our conversations are in the car as we pass construction sites and I'm trying to drive and figure out exactly which piece of machinery he's talking about. When we went to meet his teacher last week, they had Clinton's favorite book...something about working trucks, I forget the name. I had to tell the teacher, "He can't count. He doesn't know his letters. But he can identify every piece of heavy equipment in this book. And he likes to do it over and over and over."

And I've been watching for some time as our sweet friend Dalby plays pretend so daintily. She likes to mimic the things she see's....cooking, getting the mail, taking care of babies. At first I thought, "Oh no, Clinton doesn't pretend play." And then I realized he does...he's just not copying me. He lines up his matchbox cars and runs over them with his monster trucks. He takes his dinosaur around the house and let's it "eat" Heidi's bows, his matchbox cars, Heidi's leg...whatever it's hungry for. He rams his ride-on dump truck into the walls and yells, "Trash-Trash" like in his book..."Smash! Crash!".



So, to sum up...he's not behind....he's just different. And I love every little different thing about him!

Trying to take a "First Day of School" picture and he refuses to look at me....typical Clinton.


And while it doesn't appear so in this picture, Clinton was really excited to go back to school! And so was MOMMY!


Loving 2 Blue Monster Trucks and 3 Red Race Cars,

Texas Summer '09 - 5 Month Photo Shoot

While we were in Texas, Heidi Sage turned 5 months old! It's hard to believe...for me, anyway. I'm always amazed at how much personality exudes from these itty bitty people.

She is such a content baby, UNLESS....unless you leave her alone in a room, put her in her crib before she's ready to sleep, or don't feed her quickly enough. Then she is fierce! And to be honest, it scares me a little.

She is VERY active. Her legs never stop moving. In her exersaucer, on my hip or on the floor, her legs are just always going. And she's not much of a cuddle bug anymore. She really likes to be on the floor where she practices her crawling with great determination. I love her determination, but her activity level is making me nervous. :-) I'm afraid my one wild child will soon be joined by another....and I will be outnumbered when Rodney's out of town. Could make for some interesting blog posts though.

She still very much LOVES her brother. A lot of times when her legs are moving a mile a minute she is staring at Clinton with a huge grin as he is running around or running is mouth. I imagine she has big dreams of being right on his tail at any given moment of any given day.

She is really enjoying her big girl food, too. This week I made her a banana puree, an apple puree and an apple-nectarine puree. She didn't love the bananas, but sailed right through the apples and nectarines. And she's such a neat eater she doesn't even have to wear a bib. I, on the other hand, could use a bib at most meals.

Below are a few pictures of our little darling. Mother and Chelsea snapped these for me while I played "car wace" with Clinton.









Loving toboggans in August!?!?,