Christmas Day

This was going to be the first Christmas Day that Evan would really be able to enjoy, so we were excited to make it a wonderful day for him.  The day started when he woke up at 7:45.  Can you believe it?  It will probably be one of our latest Christmas mornings for the next few years!  All of the adults had been anxiously awaiting Evan's awakening, so we immediately ran in to his room, got him dressed, and headed for the staircase.  The poor kid looked a little dazed as he headed downstairs with a parent holding each hand and two grandparents waiting at the bottom of the stairs with multiple types of cameras.

(Christmas morning, here we come!)

Once he made it downstairs, the first thing he saw was his new rocking pony.  He thought it was pretty exciting, until he touched the pony's ears.  Unfortunately, it made a pretty loud "neighing" noise when you touched the ears.  That was pretty scary that early in the morning.  He was a little scared of the pony for a while.  However, fortunately, he's recovered and is now always asking for help getting "up" on his pony to ride.  The rest of Christmas morning proceeded in a flurry of wrapping paper and bows.  As the morning went on, Evan woke up and began to get into the whole present opening thing.  In fact, he got a little too into it.  We had to take a little break after a while so Evan could relax and enjoy what he had already opened.  I think his favorite toy of the morning was a little blue bouncy ball that was in his stocking, go figure.

(He's ready!)

(Another one of his favorite stocking stuffers--chocolate)

 

(He shoots, he scores)

(Hey, this pony may not be so scary after all.)

(A dad and his boy)

(Some of my stocking goodies)

(Gramps showing off his new computer bag)

 

(Gram's as sweet as honey.)

 

(Ripple enjoys Gram's new blanket.)

The next portion of the morning was the delicious Christmas brunch.  It is a tradition in the Davis family to have the big meal of the day first consisting of the famous Davis family casseroles: sausage and potato and egg and bacon.  A Christmas Kringle usually accompanies the meal.  Needless to say, when we finished, all of the adults were stuffed.  I wish the same could be said for our little one who spent most of the meal under the table with the dogs.  The Christmas brunch was finished off with traditional Christmas crackers filled with toys and silly hats.  It's not Christmas on either side of the family without silly hat pictures!

(Christmas brunch)

(The delicious eats)

 

(Evan's Christmas brunch experience)

After brunch our little overstimulated Evan was in dire need of a nap.  So, he took a several hour break from the Christmas day fun.  After his nap, we headed over to visit Ian's grandmother to celebrate Christmas with her.  We all enjoyed the visit with Gudda.  She opened her presents, Evan took many pictures to add to the occasion.  He topped it all off with a little jumping on Gudda's bed with Gramps.  I hope she didn't mind.

(Gramps and Evan enjoy Gudda's bed.)

 

(The happy group)

A fabulous Christmas day was had by all!  We definitely missed the family that we couldn't be with, but we treasured time that we did get to spend with the family were able to see.   Evan learned about Christmas and began to explore it for the first time.  Gudda took joy in her family and was able to see us by her side this Christmas season.  It all made me realize how truly lucky we are, and helped me focus on the joys of each and every moment.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Old Traditions, New Traditions, and Just Plain Silliness

We arrived in Charlotte a few days before Christmas to enjoy spending some time with family before the big day.  It was great to have a few days to just relax and have fun!

There were several traditions in the Davis family that we just couldn't live without this holiday season.  The first is baking and cooking.  We definitely ate well before, during, and after Christmas.  The big project that was taken on before Christmas, however, was a Yule Log.  Both Ian and Jennifer thought of this baking project independently and were giddy with excitement.  They looked up recipes on the internet, pondered marzipan mushrooms and other permutations, and then, prepared to cook.  Evan, John, and I went on a Christmas Eve trip to Target and came home to a beautiful cake, and the happy chefs decorating it for a photograph.  It looked beautiful and tasted fantastic, so it was definitely a holiday baking success.

(A beautiful yule log complete with real holly berries and sugared cranberries for garnish)

The next Davis family tradition that we had to revive was the holiday game playing.  This is actually a tradition any time the Davis family gets together.  I had just received a new game for Christmas from my Grandma Dot, so we immediately pulled it out when we got down here.  It's called Carcassonne and it's the perfect game for the Davis family with lots of world conquering and strategy.  So far, we have played it three times and Jennifer is clearly in the lead with two wins.  Hopefully we'll be able to play one more time before we head home (and even the score a little bit).

(It's all smiles before the competition begins.)

(Intense game playing concentration)

Another holiday tradition which I'll admit I find a bit strange is the hiding and finding of the Christmas pickle on the Christmas tree. So, on Christmas Eve Evan did his Davis family duty and searched out the Christmas pickle for the first time.  He found it, and is ready for the search next year.

(Evan locates the Davis family pickle!)

I had a bring a few Bitler family traditions with me to this Davis family gathering.  So, no Christmas Eve would be complete without the reading of "The Night Before Christmas" to Evan.  He has been reading it every day about 20 times leading up to the big day, but we had to read it one more time when Christmas Eve arrived.  So, Gram and Gramps prepared Evan by showing him our stockings and chimney and Christmas tree.  Then, they headed up stairs and actually read the whole story in unison.  I was very impressed.  I completed the family tradition by heading downstairs after Evan was asleep and proceeding to read "The Dog's Night Before Christmas" to our three canine family members that were sleeping around the living room.

(Okay, okay, so it's not the actual reading of the night before Christmas, but it's a reading of another pretty important Christmas story.)

The days before Christmas brought much family togetherness and fun, and produced quite a bit of just plain silliness.  Here are a few pictures of some of the random fun that happened before the big day.  We were just so glad to spend the good times with family, and we enjoyed every minute!

(Indiana Evan)

(I was a little rusty, but I had fun playing.)

(Evan and Ian put their heads together to assemble one of the toys he opened a little early.)

(Mmmmm....yule log)

(Everyone shows off their fancy Christmas dog collars that Jennifer made, yes, even Evan.)

(A little friendly competition...we both thought we had the bigger belly.  I totally think I won, what do you think?)

Merry Christmas to Everyone!

We hope everyone is having a truly happy holiday!  It has certainly been a wonderful one for the Davis family.  Ian, Evan, Rip, and I are so thankful for all of our family and friends, near and far.  We are so happy to be able to share our holiday with all of you!

Christmas Gifts-Round 1

Since we would be spending Christmas with the Davis clan this year, we decided to open our Bitler and Heatherly presents a little early.  So, on Monday night we all sat down in front of the tree with lights sparkling, and sorted out the presents.  So, here's how the sorting went..."one for Ian, one for Katy, one for Evan, oh wait, I think all of the rest of the presents are for Evan."  Needless to say, he's a very lucky little boy.  It will be a shock for him when his little brother arrives!

So, we showed Evan his first present.  He's never really been able to figure out how to unwrap presents, so we were interested to see how he would do.  This is the first year he's actually torn into the packages and been able to rip off the paper. 

He absolutely loved everything!  We had to remove each toy from the box and play with them, and then it was hard to move on to the next present because Evan wanted to play with the one we had just opened.  He loved drawing on his new Magna Doodle.  He couldn't stop making the "choo-choo" noise as he played with his new block train.  He loved fitting all the pieces into his new puzzles, and the luggage screener was definitely a hit with his new Little People airport. 

(Evan the artist)

(Evan and his co-pilot)

(The puzzlers)

(Evan the train conductor)

One of the best moments of the night came when we gave him his new potty.  No, he is not particularly ready for potty training, but since he liked potties so much, we thought we'd get him one just to become familiar with.  So, we got out the potty and told him that he was supposed to go "pee-pee" in it.  He immediately turned around, sat down on the potty, stayed there for a few minutes, then looked at us and said "peeee".  Sure enough, he had peed in his diaper and was so proud of himself!  He hasn't been able to duplicate this feat when not wearing the diaper, but he does like to sit on his potty whenever he can, so I consider that a good sign!

(Evan and his new throne)

We can't forget to mention that Ian and I were nicely spoiled by the Bitler/Heatherly clan.  We LOVED all of our gifts and thank you so much for your generosity.  We truly wish we all lived close to each other so we could spend the holidays with all of our family at once! 

Eighteen Month Chatterbox

So, our big boy is a year and a half old! We went in for his 18 mo. check up yesterday, and a mom who was in the waiting area told her son that, soon, he would be as big as Evan. It's hard to imagine that my little boy is big enough for anyone to look up to, but time has definitely flown, and he is definitely growing up.

We have quite a chatterbox on our hands. He loves labeling things and knows more words than I can count. Some of his favorites right now are: "and-this" (where he points to something and asks for us to label it), "up", "mommeee" (when he needs help with something, not necessarily directed at me), "plane", "moon", "chock" (for chocolate) and "but" (referring to his belly button). Every once and a while Evan will say something, and Ian and I will look at each other and ask where on earth he learned that one. He also has managed to pick up most of his letters and numbers somewhere along the way. Last night, I was setting his mandarin oranges down on his tray and once three were sitting on the high chair, he looked at them and said "three". So, he's starting to even understand the concept behind the numbers. He amazes us!

In other matters, he loves doing front and back flips with a little help from mom and dad and running around the house. He's beginning to develop an interest in drawing and has started to ask for the crayons. At playgrounds, he's a bit more timid. He loves to wander around and climb up and down stairs. Occasionally he will go down a slide if on mom's lap or holding her hand. Swings are still quite scary. Evan is turning in to a stubborn, sweet, caring, high energy, smart, somewhat cautious, little man, and we are enjoying every minute!

At his eighteen month appointment Dr. Pickens said he was in excellent health. He has six teeth and is working on four more big molars. He's still small but growing, so the doctor wasn't worried. However, he does want to see Evan back in three months for a height and weight check. All other pieces and parts seem to be in working order. Although Evan screamed for the whole appointment anyway, he actually only had one shot, his H1N1 booster. He's done with his immunizations until the start of kindergarten, Hooray!

Here are his stats:

Weight: 22 lbs. 10 oz. (10th percentile)

Height: 30 inches (around 5th percentile)
**This one may not be too accurate due to the screaming and thrashing that occurred while we were trying to get a height measurement.

Head circumference: (98th percentile)

It's A...

...Boy!

Ian and I went to my 18 week ultrasound today. We were able to see all of the little baby parts and make sure that Baby Davis #2 was healthy and growing. When we first walked in, the ultrasound technician asked us if we wanted to know whether Baby Davis was a boy or girl. We said we did want to know. So, I guess *he* got into position because when we turned on the ultrasound machine he was mooning the camera and showing us quite clearly that he was a boy! Evan will be so happy to have a little brother.

(Our little boy mooning the camera! It's pretty clear that he's a boy, right?)

We also looked over all of his other parts. He had all of his fingers and all of his toes. He was kicking up a storm towards the end of the appointment. I guess he was tired of being poked and prodded. The doctor also said that he was just as big as he should be, measuring a day ahead of his anticipated due date.

(profile shot)

We can't wait for him to arrive and for our family to be complete! I fell in love when I saw this view of my newest addition!


Now we just have to work on names! Please post any ideas that you have in our comments section because we are completely clueless.

A New Generation of Home Decorators

When thinking of all of the Christmas activities that Evan could not miss this year, one of the ones at the top of Ian and I's list was decorating a gingerbread house with all of his friends.

Since Ian loves to bake and experiment, we thought it would be a lot of fun to make the gingerbread ourselves. This turned out to be quite a task. On the first night, Ian made the dough. For the next two nights Ian and I cut and baked the dough. The next night we iced the houses, and finally we used a hot sugar solution to assemble them. It was a lot of work, but we had a great time. The houses were certainly not exactly perfect, but we thought they would be perfect for a group of one-year olds to decorate.

(The houses are ready to be decorated...)

(...and Evan is ready to decorate!)

On Wednesday morning, the troops decended upon the house. We had seven toddlers and their moms over, and the houses were ready to go. They all brought many sugary goodies with which to beautify the houses including Twizzlers, gumdrops, M&M's, Swedish fish, and countless other goodies.

(The kids warm up before their decorating with a little dip in the ball pit.)

(All boys like electronics, I guess.)

When the decorating started, the kids were all intrigued by the process. They sat on their moms' lap and watched as they started to ice the house. Eventually, they all joined in to some extent. Some placed a few pieces of candy, others covered their houses with them. Some decided the best course of action was to eat any candy that was placed in front of them, some chose the icing. Some were meticulous, others messy. It was great to see all of their little personalities come out in their decorating style. For the most part, their attention only lasted about 10 minutes, but that was expected. The houses looked beautiful and the kids all had a fabulous time that morning.

(Evan and I add some Twizzler pieces to our roof.)

(Nathaniel dips his fingers in the icing as he places candy on the roof.)

(Quinn tries to add some Twizzlers to his personalized roof.)

(Kalina, the fearless girl in the group, concentrates on her work.)

(Edward enjoys the eating portion of the decorating process.)

(Abe adds a savory touch with his pretzel pieces.)

(Carson had fun decorating, but definitely enjoyed taste-testing all the candy!)

The houses turned out great! Everyone got to take their completed building home. While the gingerbread houses were edible, they weren't particulary delicious. Fortunately, we also made some gingerbread cookies, which everyone enjoyed slathering with icing and munching on. A little baggy went home with everyone so they could continue their decorating fun!

(Our beautiful little neighborhood)

Curls No More

Every mother loves her child's little baby curls, and Evan had great baby curls! He has that beautiful blond hair, which is actually darkening up a bit. The blond hair ended in a clump of blond curls at the base of his neck. Ian had been saying for weeks that these beautiful curls resembled a mullet and needed to be cut off. I, of course, was very hesitant to admit that my baby was growing up and needed a big boy haircut.

However, a couple of weeks ago, the curls ceased to be the only problem. The blond hair started to creep down into his eyes and over his ears. So, we decided it was time. Evan was going to go get his first haircut!! We made an appointment at the local kids haircut place, Peek-a-do, and headed on over last Saturday afternoon.

They have a lot of kids come in for their first haircut so they were prepared from the minute we walked in. They had several cars or airplanes for Evan to choose from to sit in. Of course, he chose an airplane. Then, they turned on the DVD player sitting in front of him, and for once, I thought it was okay for him to watch television! Finally, they gave him a toy train to play with, he was ready for his first haircut.

With Ian busily snapping photos left and right, the hairdresser went to work. She sprayed his hair with a water bottle and began snipping away those much beloved curls. Actually, it didn't take very many snips to clean up my little boys blond hair. He stayed in a pretty good humor through most of it. He was a little bothered when he actually noticed that she was cutting his hair, but he stayed still and did a great job!

When we were done, I wiped the tears from my eyes (Yes, I'm a dork!), they gave us a certificate and a lock of hair, and Evan got to go play with the train set. All in all, it was a successful occasion. My boy really looks like a big boy now!

(Before)


(During)


(After)