not so superman

Last Friday we took the boys to town.  You see, when you live in the country outside of a small town it's considered "town" when you go to the nearest town that's larger than your little town (in our case "town" is an hour from us).  So, in this particular trip to town we went to the Doctor.  Thankfully, we did not have sick children.  Just well visits.  Grayson's 6 month well visit and vaccines and Peyton's 4 year well visit and vaccines. 

I wish I could say it went well. 

But it did not.

The boys are in great health!  That's not the part that didn't go so well.  The vaccine was our nemesis of the day...

I thought we had talked through the vaccines with Peyton to the point where he would do great.  Breathe through them and they would be less painful.  They would hurt for a second but then they would be done with.  Quick and easy!  Right?

oh so not the case.

After Grayson got his vaccines (which he didn't love but was easily pacified and comforted with his paci and Daddy's big arms) Davis and I gave Peyton the choice of who he wanted to stay with him to get his shots.  He chose his Momma.  Okay, there might have been a little bit of pride in the moment... He wants his mommy with him.  (I think to myself, we got this!  Mommy will talk him through it.  No problem.) Davis took the other 3 to the waiting room.

The nurse was getting all the vaccines ready.

I was running through the "lets stay calm... just breathe" speech with Peyton.

All the while his heart rate and breathing were increasing.

I slowly realized this very calm situation (or so I had envisioned) was becoming not so very calm and very quickly.

Lets see... How do I put this...?

he.  screamed.  bloody.  murder.

Seriously!  Like, we were trying to cut off his legs.  Or kill him.  From the time the nurse said, "Okay, Mom, you take his arms and I'll have his legs..." to the very end as she was putting band-aids on as quickly as her hands could, the kid screamed. 

It was awful, to say the least. AW-FUL!

The nurse was so gentle and patient and totally lied when it was all said and done... "You did a good job!"

"Really?!?"  Was running through my head.   

"He would have kicked you if you hadn't had his legs pinned... And you should be thanking me for holding his arms!  I mean, were you even in here??  ...good job, my foot!"  Of course, they were only thoughts.  

In finishing up paper work, Peyton sat and whimpered at the band-aids on his legs.  The nurse noticed and informed him, "Just think, you're finished getting shots for a long time. You don't have to get anymore vaccines until you're 11!"  I thanked her and we headed to the waiting room.  My ears were still ringing.  

Davis met me at the door with wide eyes and whispered, "Was that him??"  I simply nodded.  He mouthed back "Wow."  They could hear him down the hall and through a few walls all the way in the waiting room. Yeah... What did I say? Bloody Murder!

Tristan, the very concerned big brother, asked him how it was. After Peyton painted the most gruesome picture possible he ended with, "...but I'll never ever have to get another shot again!"  (Apparently to a 4 year old, 7 years is like an eternity.)  

We took him to get a "treat" afterwards.  It doesn't seem right, I know...  But we didn't say beforehand you'll only get a treat IF you do a good job getting your shots. We just said after it was all said and done, we would go get a treat.

His treat of choice?  This shirt:

Mmm hmm.  Don't you just love the irony?

Oh! The boys stats:

Grayson 6 Month

Height: 28 1/2 in

Weight: 20 lbs 1 oz

Head: 18 1/2

Superman 4 Year

Height: 3 ft 6 1/2 in

Weight: 40 lbs 13 oz

Peyton is FREE! {Blog Nesting Day 3}

 I thought it only fitting for Day 3 to post about my favorite 3 year old. Or if you ask him, he would say, "I'm free!" (free meaning three, of course.) Peyton turned three back in February. What a fun and challenging age three is... For his birthday he was intent on 2 things and 2 things only.

1. To get a bow and arrow set just like Tristan got when he turned 3.
2. He wanted a Toy Story Cake.

The first wasn't as easy to accomplish as one would think. I looked EVERYWHERE for that bow and couldn't find one. Much was the same story, if I remember right, trying to find Tristan's. My Mom ended up finding one and sending it in the mail. Yay! Deeda to the rescue! Oh what a glorious day that was! I SO wish I had my camera to take pictures and now I'm not sure why I didn't at the time??? But, you'll just have to take my word for it, his reaction was priceless. He loves (still to this day) his bow and arrows. :)

Now, for the second... We ended up having some family over to celebrate his birthday. Nothing too big but there was CAKE! And a Toy Story one at that!

 The oh-so-handsome-and-very-proud-birthday-boy

 Showing me his birthday spread

 The Cake!

Complete with some of our favorite characters

 Family

 He was so excited about his cake!

 He opened each present with such joy and excitement! I think (right now anyway) he is 

our easiest child to please.

 Daddy reading him his card

 He of course loved each of his presents but what I loved was he immediately thanked whoever had given him the present right then before he opened another one (without any prompting from either of his parents). It was so sweet. We have continued to pray that the thankful and tender heart that God has given him would be used mightily for God's Kingdom.

 Papaw showing P how to use his new tool set 

 My husband... I love him. Even in a strange hat...

 Can you see what this present is? It's a Buzz Lightyear wing pack! This was, undoubtedly, the highlight of the party! 

Just in case you were wondering... Ha!

 He could not wait to get it on and try it out! But since it had no batteries, he quickly changed his mind and moved on to... 

CAKE! :)

 Aunt JooJoo sharing some cake with Kohen

Again, proof I was there! :)

 To our sweet and adorable Peyton, you are such a blessing to us. God has given you a tender and loving heart. We pray as you continue to grow and learn that God would grow you into a mighty warrior in His Kingdom. And that He would use you to accomplish great things for His namesake. You are so good at being 3! Keep up the good work little man! 

the good, the bad and the cup

There are days and then there are those days.

Have you ever had one of those days? I'm sure you have. We all have.

I am putting off my very overdue update from all the goings on around Christmas to post tonight about my week this week. Because, it just so happens I've had one of those weeks. The kind of week that the not-so-good things outweigh the good things.

Thankfully the things that have made my week so rough aren't too bad. Not earth shattering. Just little things that add up. Things like... bad attitudes, no naps, a cake not baking correctly, ruining dinner, hit the snooze too many times, stumped my toe, ran out of milk, forgot to order checks, cutting teeth, my mouth being sore, B forgetting to pick T up from school. Things like that.

And then there is... the cup.

First of all, let me just say I have a pet peeve that has to do with cups. I don't like the boys having more than one cup during the course of one day. One cup, per person. If you decide you want something else to drink, we will wash out your cup and go from there. For the little people at least (I don't make B use a coffee cup all day whenever he wants something else besides coffee to drink). Strange as it may seem, it's just a thing of mine. One cup, per day.

Late Wednesday morning when I went to give the boys a refill of milk in their cups, I couldn't find Peyton's cup. After looking for it and not finding I asked him where it was and he says, "I don't know." I searched high and low, all the while Peyton is saying "Mommy, I want some more milk." (insert pet peeve here) I did NOT want to get another cup out when I knew somewhere in the house there was a perfectly good cup waiting to be found and used. But, I did have a two year old asking for milk, so I gave in. Against my better judgment I got out a different cup.

The rest of the day I am intent on finding this cup. I am a woman on mission. It is here, in the house, somewhere and I am going to find it. Not to mention it has milk in it... and I am the "dishwasher" so, I must find the cup before it starts doing that gross separating thing milk does when it goes bad. Yuck. Am I right?

Must find the cup.

Wednesday evening gets here... still no cup.

Thursday morning rolls around and I am packing for a weekend away visiting family. I am washing clothes, packing the suitcase, checking things off of my mental check list of things to do before we leave. All the while there is one thing in looming in the back of my mind. Where is that cup?!?

With the thought of being gone for the next few days I am really getting concerned about this cup sitting and souring. We are going to be gone for 3 days. And oh my word, I need to find it.

I searched under the beds.
in the closets.
in the laundry hampers.
under the tv cabinet.
under the couches.
in the couches.
behind all the curtains.
in the window seals.
in the toy box, twice.
in the bathtub.
in the van. (even though I know we didn't go anywhere that day)
in the cabinet where I keep the boys cups. (Could I have cleaned it and put it away and not realized it? No, thank goodness. I was relieved not to be that crazy.)
in my writing desk.
on dressers.
on shelves.
under the table.
in the chairs.
in backpacks.
in purses.
in the diaper bag.
on the bookshelf.
outside on the front porch.
under the sinks.
in the pantry.
in drawers.
under the recliner.
under blankets.
behind the toilet.

I kid you not, I looked everywhere in the house and I didn't find the cup.

Oh, did I mention this is one of the new cups that we got the boys for Christmas? The ones they opened in their stockings? Oh, yes, the cup is one of the new cups. Even more frustrating lovely.

The replacement cup I gave Peyton, was the 4th new cup I bought for Christmas. Since we have 3 children and I bought 4 cups, one cup has been safely tucked away in the cabinet. Never even been seen by the little people. They have been completely unaware of it's existence... until now. Peyton was overjoyed to have a new new cup. I tried explaining where it came from but it kept getting lost in translation. He was a bit confused, but excited nonetheless.

When Brandon got home Thursday after picking Tristan up from school, Peyton greeted them both showing them his new new cup.  When Brandon realizes it's the 4th cup he looks at me and says, "Still no cup, huh?" I followed his question with a huge sigh and shook my head in shame.

He then turns to the very excited Peyton and says, "Do you know why you have this cup?"

P, "No..."

B, "Because we can't find your other cup. Remember? The one mommy has been looking for?"

P disappears for a few seconds... and then returns holding the cup. 

B says, "Honey..." and starts laughing.

I am in complete shock, mouth dropped wide open. There it is. The cup. I am speechless.

B, "Peyton, where was it?"

P, "In the box."

Me, "What box?!?"

P, "This one..."

 
See, what I mean? It's definitely been one of those weeks.

Yes, you're reading that right! Peyton's Potty Train!

Brandon and Tristan are out this weekend, they went to the deer lease for some big boy getaway time. And I thought since the big boys would be out for a few days this would be the perfect chance for me to crack down on Peyton and his aversion to potty training. We could focus without the pressures of the big brother who already knew what he was doing. Peer pressure has not worked in this case. So, I came up with a plan...

This morning we went to the store and Pey picked out his very own "unnerwears"! He had 7 different characters to choose from. It took f o r e v e r for him to make up his mind. The child is so much like his mother, it pains me (and yes, I'm talking about myself). He ended up choosing Superheros, of course. Also, some stickers and jelly beans. All part of the plan, which was similar to what we did with Tristan when he was potty training only tweaked a bit for Peyton.

The whole time we were at the store we talked about how he was going to wear his new underwear but ONLY if he was going to go tee-tee and poo-poo in the potty. We talked it up, let me tell you. When we got home and he immediately wanted to wear Batman. I told him he couldn't just wear them, he had to go tee-tee and poo-poo in the potty. He said "Ok! I gonna go poo-poo in the potty and then I gonna wear my unnerwears!" I was thinking "Mmm Hmm... this will be fun..."

I am pleased to announce he jumped right up on the potty like he was an old pro! I was in a bit of shock, I hadn't even gotten his poster ready for stickers. Remember the plan? Yeah, he was ready to go and I was just sitting there with a goofy grin on my face! He asked me "Where are my stickers??" Again... I wasn't prepared! HA! I explained he did such great job while we got him some candy, I assured him that he would have stickers when he got up from naptime.

During naptime I made the poster, "Peyton's Potty Train". I got this great idea to do a train from my sweet friend Kendall (who eagerly awaits embarking on adventures in potty training one day with her little guy :). When the train is full of stickers (or covered with stickers) then we'll do something special! I haven't decided yet what it will be but Pey is so excited about his "Super surprise!", as he calls it.

When he got up from his nap we started at it again... This time with the full effect. Underwear, poster, stickers AND candy!

He loves his underwear! He loved the poster! He loved the stickers! He loves getting candy for going poop! HE DID GREAT!

Day 1:
13 trips to the potty
11 stickers on the poster board
2 #2's
4 jelly beans
only 3 accidents

= success!

P

P is our early bird. When he wakes up, he's awake. Whether that's 8 am or 6 am.

B and I like to be up in the mornings before the crazies wake up. Spend some time in the Word, drinking coffee and have some conversation before the business of the day starts. This doesn't happen everyday of course, but it's a good goal.

This morning we were joined (like most mornings) by our middle child first. He actually crawled into bed with us before our alarms even went off.

So, our morning routine was sprinkled with P and his adorable antics. As I watched him this morning I had to smile. He is growing up so fast. Too fast.

I don't want to forget the way he is this morning.

His fuzzy curly blonde hair.

His love for chocolate milk.

Him suggesting we get the milk out of the fridge "togebher" because it was "berry heaby". A fresh gallon.

His request to eat pudding for breakfast. A frequent request that always gets rejected. He never gives up though. He had yogart instead.

Him up on his tiptoes to reach the spoon out of the utensil drawer.

He used not 1, not 2 but 3 spoons to eat his yogart. I didn't notice until the third. He said the others were old.

His warmth as he climbed up next to me in my chair.

Him finding all the "P's" on the page while I read in Philipians. There were plenty. And if you ask him, he says, "P is for me!"

Playing with the blocks in a bowl and "eating" them with a large spoon from the kitchen. Block soup is one of our favorites.

His rough love to his Daddy as he left for work. Hugs around his knees while growling out, "I love you daddy!"

His sweet greeting to Tristan as he woke up (after 9!) "Dood morning, Tisten."

Sigh

These are such sweet and precious things I wish to remember always.

A litter box perhaps?

Everyone says the second child will always potty train before the first did. "He'll basically train himself as he watches big brother!" I've heard this a lot. Or, "He will want to be just like his big brother so he'll get tired of wearing diapers and not underwear." Wouldn't you know... our second would prove them ALL wrong. He is interested one day and the next day he's completely oblivious to the world of potty-ing anywhere else but in his diaper. I have been trying not to fret over the whole ordeal. Knowing, he will eventually get it. ...right?

I recently got his answer as to why he hasn't potty trained. I thought I should share...

After filling up a very stinky diaper, Peyton tells me he is stinky (he'll love me for this post some day). As I change him we have this conversation:

Me- "Shewie! You stink Peyton!"

P- (whimpers)

Me- "Peyton, you really need to start going poopoo in the big potty. This is stinky!"

P- "I can't." (whimpers)

Me- "Yes you can! You're a big boy! And if you go in the potty you can wear underwear and no more diapers."

P- (whimpers)

Me- "You're a big boy and big boys need to go poopoo and teetee in the potty. Then we won't have to deal with anymore of this stinky diaper stuff! Don't you want to go poopoo and teetee in the potty?"

P- "I can't." (whimpers again)

Me- "Why not?"

P- "Moommmmmyyy..... I'm a kitty cat!" (ends in a meow-whimper)




Ahhh. That makes perfect sense.

Here are some things we know about 2...

2 likes to climb the pantry shelves to see what is "up dare" on the top shelf.

2 loves to take bubble baths.

2 likes to eat crackers... any crackers... any time... anywhere.

2 says, "Kickle me!" to be tickled and then says, "Mease stop!" with a huge laugh.

2 loves it's brothers and will do just about anything they want it to.

2 likes wearing underwear over his diaper/pull up.

2 gives the sweetest hugs, for no apparent reason.

2 spends a lot of the day as a monster and then goes back to normal almost instantly reminding one of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

2 counts to ten in random order and throws in a couple of letters just to spice things up a bit.

2 knows most all of the colors.

2 also knows what most of the animals say.

2 does not know what volume control is.

2 is easily persuaded into naptime with the help of a few comfy friends known as "Daff, Puppy and Banket".

2 walks around the house some days wearing an empty backpack, just because.

2 likes to go teetee in the potty.

2 likes to wear the same pair of shoes with every outfit.

2 likes butter on bacon.

2 loves to be read to and quotes it's favorite books.

2 trips on air and could get a bruise from playing in a padded room.

2 is a snuggler.

2 is learning how to pray.

2 can tell you, "God made the stars."

2 looks just like it's Daddy and not much like it's Momma.

2 randomly tackles it's older brother sometimes. Don't worry... he deserves it.

2 kisses it's baby brother just about every chance it gets.

2's favorite color is red.

2 builds great towers with blocks... and then knocks them down.

2 wears nearly all size 3t clothes.

2 loves to sing the veggie tales theme song.

2 has unruly bed hair.

2 loves seeing "Choo Choo Trains" when we're out and about.

2 has big greenish grey eyes that just melt your heart.

2 has already been such a blessing!

I can only imagine the joy we will continue to receive and experience in Peyton's lifetime. He is a joy and a blessing that we praise God for everyday. What an adventure 2 will be!

A New Normal.

Well, I am finally blogging again. It is not only hard to find time to sit and blog... it has been hard to gather my thoughts long enough to get them out! Here are some recent pictures of all the boys.

The big boys just can't seem to get enough of our newest addition...

He still gets lot of hugs and kisses. Whether he likes it or not.

So what's been going on in the Davis home lately? Well, a lot of these are being changed and washed...

And no, that's not all thats been going on. Although I do feel that way some days.

We are adjusting to Kohen being a part of the family and our daily routine. It gets easier and more "normal" every day. A new normal I guess. The big boys go about their business most of the time. They check on Kohen on and off during their many adventures. Making sure he's still in his glider or bouncy seat. I assure them he's not going anywhere but they still like to check on him.

One of their favorite games...

They love to hide! And our suitcases have made excellent hiding spots as of late. Thanks to Daddy moving the suitcases into their closet instead of ours, this gets to be a happy game where spankings are not involved.

Kohen does this a lot... Isn't he just beautiful?! (Sigh.)

He also wakes up and hangs out too. In the last week he has started "talking" (as we call it) with his eyes and whole face. At times it seems he's going to burst out with words and then... he doesn't. Not yet anyway. He smiles and coos though and it is too sweet!


A couple of weeks ago we went to visit family and attend Brandon's sister's wedding. That weekend while we were gone, it snowed here in Beaumont! Seriously! This is the second year in a row! And even though we missed out on the Beaumont snow, we did get to see some flurries where we were.



The big boys had a blast in the "snow". You can barely see it in the pictures but it was actually snowing on us. Just the usual Texas "snow" that melts before it hits the ground. We had heard from the weather man that we could see 2-3 inches of snow that afternoon and so I told the boys that maybe after nap time there would be more snow to play in. Well, I should have kept my mouth shut on that one! The first thing T did when he woke up was go to the window to look for the snow. "Mommy, (big sigh) there's no snow." It was sad. But he got over it within a matter of seconds with Aunt JooJoo (B's littlest sis) there to distract him. I praise God for Aunts!

I didn't get many pictures at the wedding because my batteries died shortly after we got there and before the ceremony even started! But here are a few I did get...

3 of my handsome men! As you can see by the look on Pey's face, the wedding was right about nap time.

Man, I have a good looking husband!

Kohen spent almost the entire afternoon/evening tucked away in my sling. He made it out for a couple pictures and was held by very few people. After all, he was 3 weeks old that day! He liked his cozy spot...


Well. I am going to wrap this post up and head to bed! Maybe I will get around to blogging again sooner rather than later. Hmm... I guess we'll see.