Baby Musician

Grant and my "fun" Christmas gift to William was this little piano. His teachers at school told me he was OBSESSED with the piano in his classroom and recommended that it would be a great Christmas gift. So, we went with their suggestion, and I'm glad we did because he really loves playing banging on the keys ;)

Merry Christmas from Mommy and Daddy, William!

Christmas at Our House

We've really enjoyed decking the halls of our new home this year. Having a baby makes Christmas so much more fun, even though William doesn't have a clue what's going on! He's not too intrigued by the lights on the tree, the stockings hanging on the mantle, or all of the lights and Santas floating around the neighborhood, but we still put all of our decorations to use. I used an antique setting on the mac to edit these pictures...I thought it made the pictures look more Christmasy.

 Davis Family Christmas Tree 

 My favorite ornament. Grant bought me this at the beginning of December. I thought that was pretty sweet :)

Part of mine and Grant's Christmas present to each other this year was the wreath above the mantle (lame, I know!). We went to an awesome flower shop in Cahaba Heights and picked out the wreath and ribbon and had someone put it together. It's fake so we will use it for many years to come. 

My mom made our stockings...what a labor of love! Truth be told, Grant and I got ours last year for Christmas, and she was pressed for time so she had someone else make William's. I LOVE them and I know we will love pulling them out each year!

 Looking out our front door. Not sure why I never took a picture of the front of the house. 

 I love these Santa Clause's. I got them when we went on a family trip to Williamsburg, VA when I was 9 or 10 years old. 

 William has pink eye in these pictures so that's why his left eye looks a little foggy. He finally started showing interest in the tree over the past week. 

 This picture is a little blurry but that's how most pictures are with William nowadays because he is on the MOVE! He's obsessed with this bell ornament that Kori gave us at one of our wedding showers. 

 Just singing jingle bells and shaking his bell :)

 My favorite part of Christmas this year was getting to enjoy it with our precious neighborhood. The first Saturday in December the whole neighborhood put mini Christmas trees in their front yard. We spent the whole day outside talking with the neighbors and playing with all the children. At one point I had 5 little girls sitting around William and me in a circle. One of the girls whispered in my ear that William was her boyfriend. Too cute! There are lots of girls on our street but there is one other little boy that is 15 months old, so maybe he and William will be buddies one day. 

 It's so fun to drive down our street at night and see all of the trees lit up. 

 Me and my baby boy! 

 William's Christmas present from Mommy and Daddy was his "William" chair. 

 Shaking the bell! 

 Trying to figure out how to pull the tree over!

And he's off...Merry Christmas from our family to yours! I feel like it's only appropriate to close by recognizing that our hearts are heavy for the families of the victims in Newtown, CT. I find some peace knowing that the victims will have the most beautiful, magical Christmas in heaven. Prayers for all of the families and thanking God for everyday with William. 

2012 Christmas Card

This is the picture we used for our family's Christmas card this year. We had a photo shoot in Dothan over Thanksgiving, and Grant was super patient and took all of these pictures. It was a little bright outside and William kept lunging forward in the rocking chair so I had grass stains on my jeans from "catching" him from many almost face plants :)

Here are some of my other favorite pictures from the photo shoot...

I have a serious obsession with the dimples on William's hands. I realize all babies have them, but I could eat them up!

He will chew on absolutely anything. 

Serious baby.

Sweet baby boy!

 I only included the picture above because the strawberry ornament was made by my dad's grandmother, Granny Shaw. She was a VERY big part of my dad's life and I've heard many, many Granny Shaw stories.

Meeting Santa

William met jolly ol' Saint Nick this past Saturday at Brookwood Mall. We tried to time our visit just right by taking him immediately after a nap and a bottle, but he was a little out of it. The good news is that we only waited in line for 5 minutes. I was secretly hoping for a meltdown with a frown and tears, but he remained stoic. He never cracked a smile either. I guess we have many more years for meltdowns! The purple chair is heinous so next year we may be visiting another Santa :)

Dothan Ornament Swap

This past weekend, I went to one of the most lovely, beautiful brunches I have ever attended. Virginia, one of my BFF's from high school, hosted an ornament swap at her sophisticated, charming home for all the Dothan gals in Birmingham. No kidding, her house belongs in a magazine!!! I found myself in awe as I looked around at her unique and creative decor, and the food was to-die-for as well. I've told Virginia many times that if the whole doctor thing doesn't work out for her, she could make the big bucks being a florist and now I'm adding decorator to the mix.

Anyway, it was such a fun morning and it's always tons of fun to reminisce about old times and discuss the latest D-Town gossip, and boy did we! There's always some big breaking news at these get togethers!

7 Months Old

Our little angel turned 7 months old last Sunday. I'm a little late posting because we have been extremely busy around here at the Davis house, but these pictures were taken on his 7 month "birthday" in Dothan! As you can tell from the photos below, he is FULL of personality. He's still quite social and loves being around people. However, he has started to get a little clingy to me, which isn't all that bad ;) There's something very comforting as a mother feeling "wanted" by your child.

The biggest milestone over the past month is army crawling. He can get from point A to point B by inch worming across the flooor. It is hilarious to watch! He also mastered getting to the sitting position on his own. At 6 months, he wasn't even close to being able to do this, so he picked it up pretty quickly.  Along with his army crawl, he is slowly starting to put one hand in front of the other and it looks like he will be actually crawling in no time.

He can also pull himself up! This started over Thanksgiving, and Sunday night he woke up in the middle of the night (happens about twice/week) and when Grant went to check on him he was STANDING in his crib. This was a pretty big shocker! Now he is standing every time we go in his room to get him. Grant puts him to bed at night 99% of the time. Sometimes he can get pretty restless before bed and he finally likes to be rocked, so we are putting the glider to good use. He usually takes two or three 1-1.5 hour naps a day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I spend those precious hours doing laundry, dishes and straightening up. I work harder on Tuesdays and Thursdays than I do M/W/F at the hospital. Being a mommy is hard work, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Another big change this month that I am a little sad about is I stopped nursing (pumping). At the same time, I feel like I am finally FREE again and not bound to the house and constantly thinking "Has it been 3 hours? I need to pump." I'm pretty proud for making it 6.5 months because it was definitely a commitment. William continued to get milk until about a week ago because I had a lot frozen in the freezer. Thankfully, he hasn't been phased by the switch to formula. 

William usually drinks 7 ounces in each bottle at 6:30, 9:30, 12:30, 3:30, and 6:30. He eats a fruit after his second bottle of the day and we force a vegetable after his 4th bottle of the day. Finally, he likes baby food - Wahooo! His favorites are apples, bananas, and he'll tolerate peaches. He also likes the apples/sweet potato combo but he's isn't a fan of green beans, peas, or squash. He gags and spits it out the minute the spoon touches his tongue. We'll just keep on trying. 

School is still going well for us. I love his new teachers in the Infant 2 classroom and William has adjusted well. It's much more fun to watch him online while I am at work because he's actually doing stuff and not just sleeping, being rocked, or sitting in a bouncer anymore. It's pretty funny to watch him interacting with other babies. His teachers even told me William and another little boy oftentimes "play" together.

A major praise for this month is William hasn't been sick in about 6 weeks. He's only had to take 1 antibiotic since he was born, which I think is pretty good for being in daycare and exposed to so much. Now that I say this, I'm sure he'll catch something. He does constantly have a runny nose and a cough but I think this is par for the course with daycare, and it doesn't bother William so it's okay :)

He's very active and can be quite rambunctious at times, especially during diaper changes and when we are dressing him. He does NOT like getting dressed. He is ALL boy. I never really knew what that phrase meant but I'm pretty sure that saying is appropriate for William.

He is also showing a lot of interest in his toys now but he really loves boxes, cords, and cell phones even more. Why do children always like the things they aren't supposed to play with?! While he's playing/focused he will oftentimes say "mmmm, mmmm, mmmm." Maybe he will say "mama" first ;) He's still wearing size 4 diapers and mostly 18-24 month clothes. Big boy! We moved him up to a size 4 nipple on his bottles today and he seemed to tolerate that okay. That's all I can think of for now! William, your daddy and I are so proud of you! We love you little boy!

More Thanksgiving

The day after Thanksgiving I dove right into Christmas clothes for William. 

 William's new fascination is boxes. He was surrounded by toys in the above picture and went straight for the box. 

 These two are really funny together. They ignore each other most of the time, but occasionally Abigail will go after one of William's toys and things get interesting :)

 Again, mesmerized by the box. 

 Friday night we had dinner at my parent's house and my mom cooked a delicious meal. The whole weekend pretty much revolved around food which was just fine with me! 

 William and Jan Jan singing in the kitchen. He's also obsessed with cell phones! 

 Look at that tummy! Those Christmas PJ's no longer fit :(

 We had brunch on Sunday morning before we hit the road to head back to Birmingham. William enjoyed sitting in a highchair while we ate. 

 My Dad also entertained him with a spoon when he got antsy in the highchair. 

 When he got a little too squirmy for Daddy Steve, he was passed off to Juju before we hit the road to head back to Birmingham. 

 

It was such a fabulous long weekend! William slept most of the way back to Birmingham. He woke up around Alabaster but Aunt Birdie entertained him until we made it home. All in all, William did pretty good being out of his normal environment, minus the sleep issues. We will be headed to Texas for Christmas and we can't wait! It'll be William's first time in an airplane so it will be an adventure for sure! Next up...7 month post and Christmas card pictures!