Monday, April 30, 2012

Terrible Twos

Nate is so advanced!  He's a genius!  He's only 21 months and already entering the "terrible twos." *  Lucky, lucky us.

We thought the bad mood was from the HFM.  But Nate got better while his mood did not.  He'll go from smiling and happy to complete and total meltdown in a split second.  And, much to my delight, he seems to save some of his loudest protests for the middle of our dog walks.  Pretty sure my neighbors will be calling CPS any day now.

Most often the tantrums go something like this:

Nate: Cheese
Maura: hands Nate cheese
Nate: No cheese!  No cheese!  (tears and screaming commence)
Maura: Do you want something else?
Nate: No!  Cheese.  Cheese.
Maura: Cheese or no cheese?
Nate: No cheese!
Maura: Okay buddy, you don't have to have cheese.
Nate: screams for another few minutes, then picks up the cheese and happily eats it.

Of course, then he breaks out in his trademark Nate smile and I thank God for my precious son and for making him so adorable and sweet.

This weekend I spent a couple of days in Philly where my cousin Kelly told me she hated to break it to me, but 3 was worse than 2.  So apparently I have that to look forward to.

While we were in Phladelphia and New Jersey this weekend, Aaron was busy driving across the country.  He  left Friday night for Albuquerque to help his friend Khyber move back to Philly.  They left Albuquerque on Saturday morning, passed through Texas and made it all the way to Tulsa.  After a night in what looked like a rather shady sleeping establishment, they got up Sunday and drove to Indiana.  This morning they're about 11 hours from Philadelphia and on their way.  We're hoping to have Aaron back tomorrow!


*Clarification because my mom, my sister Meghan and my friend Kate all took issue with me referring to Nate as "terrible."  I am not calling my child terrible or bad (I know Mom, I know. Your voice will always be in my head.)  The "terrible twos" refers to the stage of two-years-old that is, indeed, terrible.  Not the child who is wonderful.  Most of the time.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Bathroom - Follow Up

Last weekend Amy pointed out that we never shared an "after" photo of the bathroom.

Here you have the almost final version.  Since this picture was taken last month, we added a toilet seat, curtain rod and shower curtain.  But I'm too lazy to take and upload a final, final picture.
Worth noting, when my parents visited, my Mom said, "The floors look much nicer in person." So I suppose I should instruct everyone to look at this picture and imagine nicer floors :)

Day 13 (DSC_0088)


For the start to finish:



Nate's New Cousin

In exciting family news, last night we became Uncle Aaron and Aunt Maura.  Weighing in at 6 pounds, 11 ounces we are thrilled to welcome our niece, Coogan Amelia Beer.

We showed Nate pictures this morning and to each one he said, "Nate."  And then of a picture of his grandmother holding the baby, "Nate and Bubbie."  Sorry buddy, not all babies are you.


After about 20 takes and eventually bribing him with more teeth brushing (not kidding, he loves brushing), we got him to send his love to his California family.

Happy Birthday Milly from Maura Davis on Vimeo.

Aunt Dara - We're sure he does wish you a speedy recovery but wishes for the baby and Brendan were all we could get.  And even if he doesn't, we certainly do.  Love to the Beers!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

End of April Already?

Back from Boston and we had a great trip, visiting our friends Mary-Ellen and Tim and their daughter Meredith and an afternoon with Conor and Amy!

Nate and Meredith got along famously.  I don't think I've ever seen Nate defer to another kid like he did to Meredith.  If Meredith wanted something he had, he didn't hesitate to give it to her - cups, Elmo, toys, you name it.  There were tears from both kids when we left, it was both heartbreaking and adorable.
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The one thing Nate did not enjoy sharing?  A bathtub.
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The trip also included a visit to Elmo at Sesame Street Live, a big hit although the show was probably about 30 minutes too long for someone Nate's age.

Unfortunately, by the time we got to see Conor and Amy, Nate was running a fever and not feeling well.  He just wasn't himself.  We figured it out the next day when we realized he had Hand Foot Mouth.  Poor little guy was out of sorts for a couple of days but he's back in good spirits and his rash is nearly gone.  Meredith didn't get so lucky.  Remember all that sharing Nate did?  Apparently it included sharing his nastiest germs because Meredith also came down with HFM but her case seems to be a hundred times worse than Nate's.  Not sure we're getting invited back to visit the Healy family anytime soon.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Travel, Travel, Travel

Earlier today I tried to make dinner plans with someone and I realized we have no free weekends until mid-June.  I joked that it seems like we're trying to get as many flights in as we can before Nate turns two and we have to buy him a seat.  At least that's how it feels.

This might be a fun year to track how many miles the Davis family travels.  I'm working on the exact parameters.  But I think to constitute family travel, it has to be all three of us and we have to leave the DMV. (District, Maryland, Virginia)  We're talking the entire family, with or without Guinness, packing up and heading out.
Rough calculations have us at 2,406 miles so far in 2012.  We're heading to Boston this weekend, California in May and to Erie in June.  More miles to come!


insisting on helping by carrying the car seat (DSC00178)

Monday, April 9, 2012

More Year-to-Year

Apparently I am only minimally creative or spontaneous when it comes to picture taking.  As we're hitting seconds milestones - like Nate's second Easter - I'm finding so many pictures that are the same year to year.

On the Pratt's front porch after Easter dinner.  Aaron doesn't look too different but the little guy...
Easter dinner at the Pratt's House (DSC_5062)
2011
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2012

 And in Target perusing the dollar bin.  (at least they're taken in different Targets)
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2011
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2012
Finally, getting ready for the Pratt family egg hunt.  Shailey is so sweet with Nate.  This year he followed her around repeating, "Mano?" over and over to hold her hand.  I didn't remember last year well enough to recall she was the one who stepped up to take care of Baby Nate during the egg hunt too.

Nate, Shay and Emme (DSC_5074)
2011
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2012

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Spring Holidays

While they usually fall close together, this year Passover and Easter fell in the same weekend.  Needless to say, the past three days have been extremely busy around here.

Friday we went to Philadelphia to celebrate the first night Seder with Aaron's family.  We drove back here late Friday night and my parents were here, anxiously awaiting our arrival.  Mom and I stayed up until after midnight stuffing Easter eggs for Saturday's big hunt.

Saturday we were joined by the Schochs, the Rings and KB for afternoon cocktails and egg hunting.  The boys had a blast running around the backyard.  Last year Nate was clueless but this year it didn't take long for him to figure it out.  Especially the part where you can shake the eggs to figure out which ones have money in them.  Nate managed to clean up in that category, ending up with almost $10 in change.

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Will was probably the smartest kid in the hunt.  He hates grass so instead of participating, he sat in the middle of the lawn and let the older two bring him eggs.  That kid is a genius.

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Will: You all work for me!

As soon as we cleaned up from the egg hunt, I started preparing Seder for the second night of Passover.  We were blessed with a table full of family and friends to share the holiday with and I was glad my Dad was able to experience his first Seder.

The fun didn't end there.  Once the matzah was put away (no kidding though, we forgot to look for the afikomen and I just discovered it a few minutes ago) we started preparing for Easter Sunday.  Another late night as we got things ready for the Easter Bunny's visit and starting making preparations for Easter dinner.

This morning Nate woke up at the crack of dawn.  We're lucky he's not quite old enough to get the concept of the Easter Bunny's visit so Aaron and I were able to sleep in a little while my parents played with Nate.  We held off on hunting for the Easter Bunny's treats until after mass.  When we got back from church, Nate discovered all the goodies including a Mater PowerWheels!  This particular Easter Bunny gift came from the same Easter Bunnies who raised me and arranged for my annual baskets.  Let's just say these bunnies seem to have grown more generous in their gift giving since the days of my youth!  (Also, I need to watch the movie Cars because I had no idea who Mater was.)

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Thank you Gymboree for your bank-breaking adorableness.
Finally, we spent dinner with my cousins Richard and Cyndy.  It was, as always, a wonderful family evening.  It was the first holiday without Cyndy's Mom and I think we all felt her absence.  But the fact that Cyndy looks fantastic despite being in the middle of chemo was an uplifting sight.  And Nate loves his big kid cousins, he spent the entire time chasing around after any one of them.

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Nate got a delayed start on account of his foot being stuck in his bucket.


For more pictures of our Easter fun - http://www.flickr.com//photos/ajdavis/sets/72157629772613961/show/

More Easter fun in store tomorrow as Aaron and Nate are heading to the White House for the Easter Egg Roll.  Pictures to come!