christmas

So Christmas was great, even if we were sick and it was just our little family. We still enjoyed ourselves and made the best of it by focusing on what we would like to make traditions in our home for future Christmases.
Landon got some Living Scripture books for Christmas and here he is pointing out Jesus.

Our little Katelyn with a bow on top--she was our Christmas gift this year.

Landon needed a little help unwrapping his presents but then he got the idea and tore into the rest of his gifts. We had taken a video but it was too large to download to blogger :( But just know that he had a blast. Thank you for all the lovely gifts.
We hope you all had a great Christmas and we wish you a Happy New Year's.

Oh Christmas tree

We were not going to get a tree because the kids are so young but we had quite a few people tell us we just HAD to have one to see our little boy's face light up when he saw the tree all decked out in lights and ornaments...so we caved.

(There is a video at the end of this post that shows his awed reaction.)

Oh, and by the way, after spending a half-hour putting all the decorations in the perfect spot, it only took about 2 minutes to put them all at the top of the tree once Landon decided to remove them in a not-so-gentle manner!

And here is one attempt at a family shot in front to the tree. It's amazing that when you have kids you can take tons of photos and still not have a perfect photo. Oh, well.

He was cranky coming down the hall, but then he turned the corner. I love that he just let me pop the binki out of his mouth.

A baby blessing

Our little Katelyn Jane had her baby blessing last Sunday. Her daddy did a wonderful job and we are very much looking forward to watching her grow up.

The beautiful dress you see was made by my wonderful mother-in-law. That was a blessing in and of itself because the last time I sewed was back in the 8th grade in Home Ec.

Katelyn's Grandma and Grandpa Davis and Aunt Lindsie made the trek out to spend this special occasion with us.

One Month ...Thanksgiving

She's One Month Old Already!!!

HER STATs:

Weight: 8 lbs 12 0z (5-10 percentile)

Length: 21.5 inches (25-50 percentile)

So I guess our Katelyn Jane is on the small side, but we are very pleased with the weight she has gained. She makes us smile every day. Ben just loves snuggling with his little girl. Her favorite spot is on daddy's tummy. We have been very lucky with her as far as sleep goes because she only gets up two times a night. Landon has done very well with the new addition to our family. The only problem we have is that he tries to give her "loves" a little too hard.

The above picture is of Katelyn on her first day of church. She was so cute in the little outfit her Aunt Lindsie bought her. Now we just need to get her a bow because people kept asking me how old my boy was (guess you can't see pink when she's wrapped in blanket!)

We love you Katelyn.



THANKSGIVING

It was just the four of us for Thanksgiving this year. Last year we went all out and we were disappointed that it only took us about 15 minutes to eat when it took so long to cook it all, so this year we took it easy. But Ben did try a new recipe he's been wanting to, it was a pork loin wrapped in bacon and I made a chocolate chip pumpkin pie.

AND THE BEST OF ALL....our little buddy eating his pumpkin pie (The whip cream was a hit,and we just love this new kind of cackle he does).

Grandparent visit

Grandma and Grandpa Anderson came out to visit their new grandchild and to see their little grandson they hadn't seen since he was 8 months old. We really enjoyed having them out here but unfortunately we came down with the stomach bug twice during the visit. Yuck, it's not much fun having a 19-month-old up-chucking in a small apartment. Because of the illnessess going around we didn't make it out to any of the fun sites here in the Nashville area.Here's grandma holding Katelyn who is about to get a kiss from her brother.
Got to love her little foot missing its sock. Thanks mom for staying so long to help out with things. Landon loved having someone here to pay attention to him.

Here's grandpa holding Katelyn, even with his broken arm (notice the scar). Landon also enjoyed playing with him for the few days grandpa was here before heading back home to work.


Here is the one outdoor activity we did before the stomach bug hit--we walked along the greenway by the river while Ben stayed at home with Katelyn and did homework.

Mom and Dad, thanks so much for coming out here and spending time with us and helping us transition to our larger family. Someday we'll have a guest bed where you don't have to share a room with a toddler!

Now we are looking forward to Grandma and Grandpa Davis' visit next week.

How she got her name

Several people have asked how we came up with our little girl's name. Well, we liked the name Katelyn and we wanted to spell it so that if she wanted to go by Kate, she could see that right in the name. But it is the middle name that has the most meaning. Below is a picture of Ben's great Aunt Jane. He is really close to her. Also Aunt Jane's birthday just happens to be Oct.30, and that is when Katelyn was born. I think it was meant to be.

The Baby Adjustment

Now that we've been home for a little while I can download some of the photos and tell you a little about how little Katelyn Jane came into our lives.

First off, thanks so much to those who watched Landon for us so we could go to the hospital. And a special thanks to my awesome sister-in-law for dropping everything in a moments notice to jump on a plane to watch her adorable little nephew.

Here's Aunt Lindsie holding Katelyn for the first time.

And now the birth story. We were induced one week early to hopefully skip the whole painful tearing thing that happend with Landon's birth. We got to the hospital at 7 a.m. and the pitocin was started by 8:30 a.m. which was also when the doctor broke my water. Man, contractions really pick up once that water is broken! By 10:30 a.m. I had my epidural and 1 p.m. the nurse came in and told me to do a practice push, which lasted no more than 3 seconds when she promptly told me to stop because the head was visible. We were going to wait for the doctor to arrive, which the nurse had hurridly had someone page, BUT Katelyn had other plans. On the very next contraction, without me pushing, she slowly inched her head out until the nurse said "Okay, guess she's coming." And just like that Katelyn Jane was here. SO basically I had the easiest delivery ever, and I am so very happy about that especially since I only needed one tiny stitch. I still can't believe how it all happened. And the funny thing was Katelyn's birth was the talk of the Labor and Delivery department because our nurse delivered the baby.

Anyway, here are a few more pictures of Katelyn at home with her big brother and daddy.

Landon loves to be near her, but we have to watch him very carefully because he doesn't really get the concept of being gentle yet.

Landon loves to point out the features of her face, in the case, her ears.

Introducing Katelyn Jane Davis

Our baby girl arrived yesterday, October 30th at 1:16 pm. She weighs 6 lbs 9 oz and is 20 1/4 in long. Both Katelyn and Kyra are doing great!

Here are a few pics to get you by until we can get the rest loaded on to the computer.

Red Crayon and Need parenting advice

What can an 18-month-old do with a red crayon and 10 seconds of unsupervised time? A masterpiece on the hallway wall... (You have to look close because the crayon didn't show up well in the photo, but it takes up about a three-foot stretch of our wall).

PARENTING ADVICE PLEASE:

With the birth of baby girl coming soon, I've decided it's time to start doing some research on how to best get a baby to start sleeping through the night in a timely manner. We didn't get a good nights sleep with Landon until he was 6 months old and with having a toddler already i really don't want to be sleep deprived that long again!

There are lots of theories out there such as "cry it out" and the "always go to your child when they cry method." My question for you parents is did you find a particular book or method that worked for you--and if so, please share. Thanks.

Pumpkin patch, nursery, and pregnant pic

We took Landon to Walden Farms, a pumpkin patch with lots of activities, for Family Home Evening. I really wanted to do something festive that he would enjoy, and he sure did love the pumpkins. He walked up and down the muddy patch holding his own pumpkin. He also loved watching all the farm animals. He did really well up until the end when he was getting tired because he had a short nap. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.

"This one is mine."

He didn't want to let his pumpkin go so we parted with the $2 and brought it home with us. (It took all of 10 minutes once we got home for him to break the stump off, but he still loves his orange "ball")

It's a bad picture, but I wanted to show the corn stalk he picked up and wouldn't let go. He's always picking up sticks.

Playing with all the farm equipment toys. He went after anything that had wheels--what a boy.

And our baby is so big now becuase he went to his first day of nursery this past Sunday. Ben has been amazing at taking care of a rambunctious toddler who can't stay in one place for many, many Sundays now so he was very excited for this day. As soon as we dropped Landon off he went right to the toys and never looked back. We have discovered as long as there are children, he is a happy boy.

He didn't want to leave the toys when church was over. Notice the yummy snacks in his hand and shirt pockets.


And here is the much more rested father after church holding his nursery boy and his little art project.

And I bit the bullet and finally took a pregnant photo of me at just past 36 weeks. Landon loves to always touch my belly, but he thinks he has to pull my shirt up to do it so it's always fun to make sure he doesn't do that in public! We are coming up on 38 weeks now and are excited for Baby Girl to come soon.

Happy Birthday!

Just wanted to give a shout-out to my honey on his 26th birthday. He's such a good husband and father. Landon, I, and soon-to-be- baby girl, are so blessed to have him in our lives. Thanks for all you do honey, and welcome to the 26 club.

Build -A-Bear

Grandma Davis sent Landon his very first Build-A-Bear. He loves it. It's perfect for his future room that will have an Atlanta-Braves theme.

Thanks, Grandma!

A lazy Sunday

Well, this was my attempt to actually get a picture with my son. I usually avoid it and make sure I'm behind the camera but when time goes on I'll want my kids to look back and see, "oh, yeah, Mom was there too." (I think it's obvious where Landon's pale complexion comes from).

Landon is cheesing it for the camera, but notice what's on the T.V. in the background--Phil Mickelson, his daddy's favorite golfer.

And here is father and son enjoying watching the Tour Championship (and yes, Phil won this one!)

And below is an attempt to show you all our boy's running style he's recently developed. We call it the "HI-HO" (think Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). He runs with his left arm in a 90 degree angle. We think its cute, but you'll have to look close because he's so gosh darn fast.

Hair Cut, and the fair

Our little guy has always had a lot of hair, and we loved it. Unfortunately you can only trim it for so long if you don't know what you are doing before it looks like a bowl. So we bit the bullet and got out the hair buzzers and held our breath.

BEFORE

AFTER

And this is how we did it--ice cream works!
And look at all those lovely locks:( Now we can only hope that Baby Girl has lots of hair too.

TENNESSEE STATE FAIR

We went to the state fair and were shocked that it was basically empty. We were one of maybe 50 small groups of people walking around. Granted it has rained for weeks now, but there is talk the state fair will no longer be around because of the poor showing.

Here is Ben sharing a funnel cake with Landon. It was a first for both of them.

And here is a picture of Landon staring down a rabbit. He had quite the serious face.