9 Month Davis

Also back in November, Davis turned 9 months.  I am going to have to figure something else out for pictures from here on out because this "session" lasted about 30 seconds did not go well.  Haha!  Someone is all OVER the place these days!  :)

Those are the best ones.  Most of the others were something like this...

LOL!  I could NOT keep him sitting still and on the couch!  He is just exploring all over the place lately!  Still mostly just crawling and pulling up on things, but in the last few days he has started cruising on furniture and letting go to stand for a few seconds on his own. He's also started crawling on his hands and feet with his little booty up in the air.  He will eat almost anything we put on his tray, but loves to throw a piece off onto the floor every bite or two.  He also loves to chuck his sippy cup onto the floor after taking a drink.  I was just telling my sister today that he is probably the snuggliest baby out of the four.  He still loves to be held and snuggled with.  I love it and soak it up as much as I can.

Back in November...

Continuing with the trend of posting pictures the month after they happen... here are some things that happened in November...

First, I lost my mind temporarily and decided to strip the paint off of this old chippy "shabby chic" dresser from Reid's room and repaint it with a clean, glossy finish.  I thought it would be an easy two-day project and instead it ended up dragging out for about three weeks.  And it was not easy.  Ugh.  But it's done now, thankfully.  On a brighter note I did use this orange-y paint stripper stuff that worked pretty well and wasn't stinky at all.  And it was kinda fun to see the paint bubble up and peel some of it off.  

But then I didn't realize that there was this veneer layer over the real wood part of the dresser that I could NOT get off, so I just had to patch it with wood filler as best as I could.

And then sanding, sanding, sanding.  Oh, why didn't I just give this dresser away and get one from Ikea?!?  Hindsight is 20/20!  And I totally know now why "shabby chic" was/is so popular... because no one wants to take four weeks to fix their chipped, peeling furniture!  Haha!

Aaaaaaanyway... I got to take a much-needed break from life in the middle of November and go visit my sister in Iowa for a few days!  Kid FREE!  We were supposed to go see John Mayer in concert in her town, but he cancelled at the last minute.  Didn't matter... we still had a wonderful time!  When we first planned this trip I was going to bring Davis with me, but as it got closer to my departure date my amazing, AMAZING husband suggested that I leave him here.  He said he could handle everyone by himself for a few days to give me a break.  Amazing, I tell you.  Davis still doesn't take a bottle very well and won't drink formula, but he does drink water from a sippy cup well and is eating everything in sight, so we figured he would be okay for a few days without milk.  And he was!

Becky and I had such a fun time... we spent the whole first day in Omaha shopping, shopping, shopping, and shopping.  Oh, it was so great.  Then the next few days we basically just sat on the couch and watched TV and talked.  That's all I wanted to do and it was wonderful.  We did venture out a few times to eat dinner and run by the mall and Target, though.  She and Ryan have such a cute, cozy, welcoming home and it was so fun to be a guest at her place this time!  I love you, Beck!!  Thank you so much for having me!

I just love these two!!

It was 12 degrees on the morning that I left and the day before that it snowed!

This was my lunch in Omaha (along with a yummy Chardonnay)... that's ham, bacon, and sweet potato fries wrapped in a tortilla.  Wow.  So good.

On the day it was snowing we stayed in and ordered Vietnamese food. Again, this pho was so good!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, everyone was doing great!  Phil texted me that Davis was a "pure joy" while I was gone.  :)

Camping out before bedtime to watch "Turbo"...

Milk?  Boobies?  What's that?  I don't remember!

A big thanks to my hubby for letting me have such a wonderful vacation!  I love you, Phil!!!

Then when I got home, it was this many days until we went to Grandy and Popeye's for Thanksgiving...

And both Mommy and Davis were super happy to get back to nursing and snuggling...

And Daddy was probably super happy to get back to work!  Haha!  It's always nice to get away, but even nicer to come home.  :)

Pictures from October... Where Did November Go?

Seriously... is it almost December already??  I realized the other day that I haven't blogged in almost a month, so I'm going to make up for it now by posting a ton of old pictures.  And by "old" I mean from about a month ago. 

First... WrestleMedium.  Phil started what he called "WrestleMania" with the boys a while ago (basically just jumping on each other and Phil on our bed), and it has become one of the boys' absolute favorite things.  Until someone bonks their head or some other body part, which happens every time.  But they still love it.  And they thought Phil was saying "medium" instead of "mania," so now it's known as WrestleMedium.  Lol.  

And lately it has involved chucking bean bags at each other, too.  I stay clear of all of this.  Haha!

We went on a walk from our new house one evening to the neighborhood that connects to ours where "the other half" lives to check out the dock there and got to see some amazing homes and lots of jumping fish.

This house is being built and we were laughing because just this garage portion is probably bigger than our whole new house.  Haha!

We went to the beach again on a day that the Gulf was as calm as could be.  So pretty... although I think the boys (well, Phil, J, and E) prefer some waves.

Reid and Davis chilling in the shade...

A rare moment caught on film... E usually doesn't pay much attention to D.

Reid learned how to pedal and now rides a big boy bike like his brothers.  He's so happy about that.

A few random shots...

 

We found an amazing gymnastics place that's right down the street from our new house.  It is seriously so great.  We went to an open gym play date one morning and the boys had a blast.  We've also started going to a homeschool group that the coach offers on Wednesday mornings.  That group is only for J and E but they love it and it's so good for them.

More brotherly love...

Shopping for antler decor at Hobby Lobby.... just kidding.  This was so bad that I had to take a picture of it to send to a friend.  Antlers are "in" for home decor right now, but a sign made out of fake antlers that says "REDNECK"... not so much.  Haha!

Reid fell asleep on our way to Destin one day and had crazy spiky hair when he woke up.  This is him telling me "DON'T take my picture, Mom!"  He has had quite the little attitude lately... really exerting his 2-year-old independence.  It is exhausting and frustrating.

Playing at our neighborhood park one evening (before the time change made it dark at 4:30... I really hate the fall time change).

Matching Halloween shirts at Target one day before Halloween...

Here's J and E in those same shirts... (I got them at Target long ago... they glow in the dark and have candy corn in the belly... so cute!).

And now... best buds hanging out in Davis's room.  How did they get so big?  

And I know some people may be wanting a house update... basically it's taking longer than we thought and costing more than we thought and we've found that we've made several mistakes that can't be fixed now.  I guess maybe that's standard for building, but I have perfectionistic tendencies and it's sometimes hard to just let things go.  I know we will love it once we're actually in there (I'm praying the "mistakes" kind of melt away once our stuff is moved in and I don't notice them and dwell on them all the time) and I am very thankful for the blessing of a new house.  Trying to stay focused on that.  We are just REALLY REALLY REALLY ready to be settled for real after a year and a half of temporary living.  Oh, and Phil and I are putting together a list of all of the things that have gone wrong or that we should have done differently in case we ever build again... this is cheap therapy for me as it makes me feel better about the mistakes for some reason.  :)