Early B-Day Present

As you all know and have prepared for, my birthday is on Monday. I will be the big quarter of a century! As many of you know, as well, I like to toot my own horn on rare occasions and this is one of those moments. Maria and I have been wanting to get a couch for some time (more me than Maria). Our upstairs is so empty. We have two really nice couches but they are down stairs and upstairs we have an empty family room and a living room with an old nasty couch (I am sure it had its glory days with Beth and Ian but after Rodney it is worn and tattered). We have been looking for a great deal for a while but til recent had not found it.

Tuesday I decided to take another look on Craig's List (I had many times before and everyone seems to think their crap, cigarette burns, pet stains and all, is still worth what they paid for it. I started down the list of search results and found a couch, love seat, and ottoman just like John and Kelly's for $200! Maria and I went after she got off work and we liked them and brought them home. I told Maria that this can count as my birthday present.

Here are some pictures for you all to see them.

Funny note about the couches, there is a worn spot in the ottoman because the previous owner's mother-in-law decided to use the hose attachment to clean some dust of their apartment ceiling and put the vacuum up on the ottoman so she could reach the ceiling - the brush wore a spot in the ottoman. Gotta love mother-in-laws -- I do!

24th of July Celebration in SJ

This is the first time that Maria and I have gone to the Pioneer Day Celebration in St. Johns. We both have gone many times as kids and it was fun to go as a family this year with Davis. I saw a lot of friends and many from Maria's family went up. It was a good time. Davis had many "firsts" this weekend - some were exciting and some nearly got me killed. Here are some of the high (and low) lights of the weekend.

Davis and I went up on Thursday. Maria had to work on Friday and could not go up. I went up to help my dad set up the camp trailer at Lyman Lake for Maria, Davis and I to use. My dad took the trailer out several days earlier but I went up earlier than Maria any way.

Davis and I got to SJ in time to go to the Ice Cream Social. Davis had fun meeting many new people and playing in the grass. It was fun for me to catch up with old friends and neighbors.

Davis playing in the grass at the Ice Cream Social

I took Davis over to Maria's parents house and he was crawling around with something in his hand. He started to put it into his mouth and when I told him not to he quickly popped it in and started to run from me. I caught him and pulled a centipede from his mouth.

Davis was chewing on this!

The fact that they just pulled a body from the lake that had been there for more than seven years did not stop us from having a great time. Maria was not very happy with me and my decision to take Davis on the inner tube with me - but he had a blast! We swam, played in the mud, and had a great time.

Davis' first trip to Lyman Lake.

We had a great time and can't wait for next year's 24th of July Celebration.

9 Months

I have a friend that wrote a few thoughts about her twins on her blog and it inspired me to write down some of Davis' quirkiness at 9 months.

• Giggles in his sleep since he was a newborn.
• Superb coordination. He will push two objects with each hand while crawling across the room.
• Loves blue berries, bananas, and spaghetti.
• Spits and sprays food he does not like.
• Crawls away as fast as he can when he knows he is into something he
  shouldn't be into.
• 8 teeth that all came in at the same time.
• Has a front tooth gap just like his Daddy did when he was little.
• Strawberry blond hair.
• When he wakes up in a good mood he calls for his "Da-Da" from his crib.
• Discovered his voice very young and loves to hear himself screech
  highly and chatter.
• Gives Eskimo kisses and will push his face with great force on my
  cheek with kisses.
• Ticklish armpits and feet.
• Zerbits on my collar bone and arms.
• Eyes are big and blue.
• Raspy and throaty laugh.
• Likes to click his tongue
• He loves the broom. He comes crawling over like a gazelle whenever I get it out. He can even wedge himself between the fridge and the wall to get to the broom. Because of this Jake had to put up a small fence to keep him out.
• Cries, "mum" and cheerfully says, "da-da".
• Used to laugh hysterically when we would rub his chest with a cold wipe.

I love my sweet Davis Boy!

A day in the life of...

Here are some random pictures of Davis that I had on my cell phone. Enjoy.

Maybe not the best teething toy but Davis sure does like it and it would make Aunt Donna so proud!

Davis chill'n outside with me as I do some yard work.

For the life of me I could not get Davis to smile for this picture so I thought I would try my best to do a blank stare along with him.

All this fun just takes a toll on both of us sometimes.

A scene straight from The Jungle Book - just the bear necessities.

Davis looks SO fat in this picture. He loves to wrestle around on our bed. I came in the other day and found Maria pushing his face into a pillow. I asked what are you doing!?! She said he likes it and let him go and he was all giggles.

I know it is bad but sometimes the electronic babysitter is the only way to get anything done. I parked Davis in front of PBS in his 'recliner' while I showered and got ready to go. He does not seem to mind the poor parenting.

I swear we could drive cattle through our house with all the baby gates - I feel like we live in a stock yard. I am sure it wont be long before this little guy is climbing over them or plowing through them.

We can always assess the cleanliness of our house by the tops of Davis' feet.

I don't know how he manages to do it but Davis always falls asleep during sharing time at church. Those kids are so loud and rowdy and yet he is able to snooze -- He is a monster all through sacrament!

Davis likes to play with me (and the keyboard, router, mouse, cables, books, papers, pens, you name it) in the office. I always have to take a break from what I am doing and play with him.

Davis has learned that there are so many fun toys behind all the doors.

Davis has almost learned how to climb up onto our bed, he loves to try and falls a lot in the process but it has not caused him to give up.

Blessed are the Children

Davis likes to play with my keys and yesterday we discovered a hole in the consecrated oil vile and all the olive oil had been sucked out.

Raising the Roof Part II (What Maria Says)

One part that Jake failed to mention in the previous post is that the only CD that will play in the CD player is that of "Baby Face". I don't know which is worse...the fact that Jake just hooked up the stereo and it only plays one CD or that Jake owns a Baby Face CD. We have been laughing about it all day, but it is not so funny that Jake knows every song on that CD.

Raising the Roof

Four weeks ago while I was on break between classes Maria made the mistake of buying me a Home Depot giftcard to thank me for all that I do. She came home later that same day and found that Quentin and I had painted our kitchen black (charcoal actually). I also painted our front room (not pictured) gray and our dining room table black (not pictured either). To my surprise she liked it and so has most everyone who has come by. I think it is much better than the Easter egg walls we used to have.

Today I decided to hook up a stereo system in the kitchen so we could listen to music while cooking, cleaning, or eating. A co-worker back in the day gave me a dvd/cd/am/fm player and it fit perfectly above the fridge and the speakers were small enough to fit above the cabinets (see bottom pic w/ arrows).

I love Maria and her willingness to put up with all my crazy antics.

Just our Luck!

Maria and I have been keeping our eyes out for a new crib and it looks like we might be getting a new one sooner than we thought. Lara called me just a little while ago and said that Davis' crib has been recalled. As you can see in the picture it has some major defects and one baby in TX just died.

Unfortunately the company that makes the crib is out of business (I saw online they have had several recalls in the past - that probably put them under). One article says that retailers may or may not offer refunds or store credit because there is no company to go after for recourse. I think we are going to take our crib to Wal-Mart and see if they will allow us to buy a new one.

(For more info and to see if you have the same crib just google search "crib recall.")

Bye Bye Binky

Davis' pacifier has been MIA for about a week now and Jake and I thought it would be a good idea to wean the little guy off it. Getting him asleep has been no problem. However, between 4am-5am he wakes up and cries for the binky. This morning when he woke up bright and early at 4am there were a couple of thoughts that came into my head. Number one, why the heck did we decide to wean him off the pacifier? Number two, where is that dang pacifier? From what I understand we have had it easy compared to some. Secretly I think Jake might have gotten rid of the pacifier, but I doubt he will ever admit to it. It doesn't matter at this point as our little Davis is now pacifier free.

Pool Hopping!

This kind of pool hopping wont get the police called on you or worse put you on Terry Haws' hit list...

On Monday Davis, Aubrey, Baylee, Karen, Kelly, Lara and I decided to go swimming at a local public pool. Kelly has been telling me about this place for a while now and has wanted Davis and I to go with her and Baylee but it has never happened, until Monday - well we thought.

We all decided to meet at Mesquite Groves Aquatic Center at 12:30. I had to run into town to get my swim trunks from Karen's house so I met Lara, Karen and Aubrey there and we all headed to the pool together. When we arrived there was a long line out front. I saw Kelly's car and figured she was already inside. As we stood in line we noticed we were not moving. An employee came out and said that they were at capacity and that it would be 40 minutes before we could get in. It was too hot and there was not shade and we had a two year old and an 8 month old ready to swim NOW!

I texted Kelly letting her know that we could not get in and we headed to another pool up the road. The pool we went to was much smaller and had fewer people. It was fun to play with Davis and Aubrey in the pool. Davis at one point even laid on his back in the water and drifted asleep while his Aunt Lara held him afloat.

Later, Maria returned home and found Davis and I napping. We were both so tired from swimming, running around and the 114 degree weather! We had been asleep for about two hours and I told Maria we best wake up Davis or he would have a hard time sleeping during the night. We tried for a while to get the boy to wake up but he could not hold his head up or keep his eyes open. He was so funny and even began to laugh in his sleep as we laughed at him.

It was a fun day. I hope to have a repeat sometime and hopefully we can all get into the same pool.