Hitching a Ride

It's been a whirlwind of a week since my last post. Please keep my sweet Daddy in your thoughts and prayers. He is having surgery on Thursday for an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Cristie and I are flying to Minnesota on Tuesday to be with him and Mom. I've uploaded a few pictures of the boys from the past week. I also included a short video of them riding in Drew's truck. Well, I guess I should call it the Davis boys' truck since it seems that David has quite a liking for it as well!

They love to take a bath together.

Having dessert while watching Dancing With the Stars. Drew and I have so much fun watching TV together, we like the same dancers on Dancing and the same singers on American Idol.

Swinging!

Two swords!!!

Hitching a ride with Drew. They were very sweet riding together.

David hitching a ride with Drew! He loved it and was checking every little thing out, trying to figure out how the truck works. Drew drove him all the way around the block but I didn't have the nerve to video it, I was too busy running along side making sure David didn't fall out.

Cousin Company!

We had a wonderful weekend filled with very special company! My cousins Jamie and Matt along with Jamie's boyfriend, Ty, arrived on Thursday for a visit. Drew and I picked up Matt after swimming lessons on Thursday evening and headed straight to Smithfield's for some yummy North Carolina BBQ, something Matt had been looking forward to. We ate, hung out with the boys, put the little guys to bed and then I went back to RDU to pick up Jamie and Ty! We had a fun evening chatting on the porch over a few beers. On Friday morning they joined me and David in cheering for Drew at Little Kickers. Drew was beside himself that we were all there so acted quite silly! He kept running over to the sideline to see us and then would hop around, I guess it was his way of showing off. He eventually calmed down and we were able to watch him play. After soccer, I took Jamie and Matt to the hospital to see our Uncle Mark. After a nice visit with him, we headed home to relax a little bit before dinner. We got a sitter on Friday evening and met our cousin Brian at a Raleigh restaurant where Danny bar tends. We had a fun time catching up with them! We went to the Watson's on Saturday afternoon for dinner and had a great time reminiscing. The kids played outside and beat the heat running through the sprinkler. On Sunday we ate at Smithfield's again (can't get enough of their 44oz sweet tea!) and visited Uncle Mark one more time before dropping Jamie and Ty at the airport. Matt stayed another night and we enjoyed his company! We ordered pizzas and just lounged on the couch. I took Matt to the airport on Monday afternoon and now it's back to just the four of us. I really enjoyed having my sweet cousins (and Ty!) here! Thanks for the many, many laughs!

Jamie and David late on Thursday night after she and Ty flew in. She wanted to see David so we peaked in on him around 10:30pm. He woke up and gave Jamie a huge smile so we couldn't resist getting him up to play! He hung out with us on the porch for a while and then went right back to bed. What a sweetie!

Dinner on Friday night at the restaurant where Danny works. We had a great time and Danny took good care of us!
Jamie, Brian and I at dinner.

Just the cousins!

Drew and Whitley cool off with some fun in the sprinkler.

We put candles in the banana pudding to celebrate Ty's birthday. Drew and Whitley help blow out the candles. Happy 29th Ty!!!

Poor David, he will be so mad at me one day for this picture! People always say David is pretty and some even say he should have been a girl. We decided to put a little pink bow in his hair to see how he would look but he's all boy! He's just a beautiful little boy :) Drew, who never misses a beat, immediately noticed the bow and saved his little brother. He gently took it out of David's hair and put it in Whitley's.

We couldn't get a good picture of David because he never stops flapping his arms!

Whitley had a "ball" playing outside on Saturday. Drew and her were playing with the balls and then the adults joined in. It was a gentler version of dodge ball and the kids loved every second of it!

The girls with happy David.

Before Jamie and Ty flew home.

Visiting Uncle Mark.

Matty helped entertain David while I was getting his lunch ready.
Both boys just couldn't get enough of Jamie, Matt and Ty!

Stop It!

Day Day calls moments like this " The Drew and Whitley Show." Whitley and Drew have the most fun together! Their spats are becoming more and more less frequent and the darling moments where they help each other, carry on sweet convsersations, hold hands and just have fun together are becoming the norm. It's a wonderful thing and they are so lucky to have each other!

Cousins!

9 Months Already!

Sweet baby David is 9 months old already! Boo hoo! I took him in for his check-up on Monday and he was very popular! The receptionist hollered, "Lord, Jesus!" when we walked in and I turned around to see what in the world was going on. Then she said, "Look at those dimples!" and I realized she was smitten with my sweetie. David is doing great, mastering all of the little things a 9 month old should. He's definitely on the move and is pretty fast - especially when he sees an electrical outlet or any other dangerous object. I am in for it! He says Mama and Dada as well as lots of other sounds. He pulls up to his knees easily and can get to standing as well with a little more effort. He was standing in his crib after a nap the other day so we had to lower the crib again. George just took it down a notch a few weeks ago and we all know what a pain in the rear it is to lower those cribs so we went ahead and put it on the lowest setting. David is loving food and hasn't tasted anything yet that he didn't want more of! He is happy as can be in his high chair with a snack-filled tray. With all of that eating, it's surprising that he's such a little pip-squeak! His growth curve looks good, he's just on the smaller side. He's not even 20 pounds yet, weighing in at 19lb 12oz. He's 27 1/2" long. We're not used to a baby in the 35th percentile since Drew has always been off the charts. David is just as perfect as can be though and continues to bring us so much joy! Here's a couple of pics of my 9 month old sweetie...

Bailey loves to kiss David and David doesn't seem to mind.

Coming for the camera!

A Mother's Day to Remember!

First off, happy Mother's Day to all of the Mom's out there! A special Mother's Day thank you to my Mom, who continues to be the best there is! Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful Mother-in-law, aunts, sister and friends! My Mother's Day has been wonderful! It's actually been more of a Mother's Week since Drew's school celebrated on Thursday with a very special tea. All of us Mom's sat in the classroom with the kids in line at the front. I knew from conversations with Drew that the music teacher was working with them on a Mother's Day song. Much to my satisfaction, there were three darling songs! After each song, Drew ran to me with open arms and gave me a huge hug and kiss. I was beyond proud of him but the best part of the day was that he was so proud of me! I hope I never forget the look on his face when I walked in. He stared at me the entire program with a huge grin. Afterward, he sat in my lap and stroked my arm, giving me several kisses. The kids had decorated trays earlier in the week and then served us lunch on them. They also gave us flowers. Another highlight was the "Mom questionnaire" that the teachers did with the kids. Drew's teacher read aloud a list of questions and answers and we had to guess which answers belonged to our child. It was hysterical!!! Drew's were pretty darn accurate! I have brown eyes and black hair. I am 3 years old (okay, not accurate at all but it was sweet). My favorite food is salad. Drew knows I love him because I hug him :) I was pretty proud of Drew considering one of the Mom's had pink eyes and pink hair. Another Mom's favorite food is "Uhhhh, I don't know."

We had a very busy weekend! We all went to a birthday party Friday evening for Zoe who turned five. Drew was quite busy in the bounce house and has had endless fun with the water shooter party favor. I worked a little bit on Saturday and then went to the hospital to visit my Uncle Mark and also to meet Avery, my friend Sharon's new baby girl. Today has been a fantastic day! I opened my eyes this morning to see George and the boys smiling 6 inches from my face! They had presents for me which Drew had to immediately tell me about. It was torture for him to shop with Daddy and not be able to tell me what was purchased! We played outside for a bit in the morning before going on a long bike ride and picnic. Then we all took an afternoon nap, some of us longer than hours (two hours for me!) before going back out to fly Drew's new kite. Then as one last treat on Mother's Day, we had ice cream sundaes for dinner!!! Thank you to George and the boys for such a special day! I love you!

Drew and his classmates get ready to sing the first song.
Drew serving me lunch at the Mother's Day tea.

Burning up at Drew's swim lesson.

Baby Avery Lynn!!! So precious!

Picnic

May I have my snacks back? Drew said he was helping David but I could tell Drew "helped" by eating them himself because the tub was empty when we got home. Drew does do a great job of entertaining David in the bike trailer though and when David got fussy close to home Drew was very sweet and patient.

Drew is getting good at riding his bike!

David hanging out in the minivan while George and Drew flew a kite.

Drew was having a ball with his new shark kite. George got major points for this because the wind we were seeking stopped the minute we got ready to fly the kite. Drew still wanted to do it of course so George ran up and down the street with Drew in tow. It looked pretty exhausting.

Here's a couple of videos of Drew singing at the Mother's Day tea!!!

Family Time

The pictures from this post are a week old. I got behind on posting the Florida trip and then couldn't catch up. A couple of days after we returned from Florida, CC and Day Day came for a visit! We had some nice family time and they enjoyed having fun with the grandkids. My Uncle Mark is ill so Daddy tried to spend as much time with him as possible. Uncle Mark came over one day, along with some other family, for a cookout. We had a yummy lunch and also celebrated Cristie's birthday a little early while we were all together. The visit with CC and Dady Day went by very quickly, like always, but it was a good time! Here's a few photos...

David loves to destroy the magazine bin.
He knows he's up to trouble!

He found a favorite.

CC and two of the grands enjoying a warm afternoon at Cristie's house. Drew was playing on the swingset.

Day Day and David had some play time while Drew and Whitley watched The Princess and the Frog.

Drew got a kick out of the big birthday hat for Cristie's birthday. We celebrated T's birthday at our place on Sunday before Mom and Dad went home.

Day Day with his cousin and brother.

Tom on guard outside of our guest room where Whitley was taking a nap. Drew and Whitley were so wound up after cake and ice cream. Trying to put them down for a nap was a disaster! Tom and I had to stay upstairs and keep them from coming out. They were screaming! I got such a kick out of Tom reading his magazine, like he knew was in it for the long haul!

The Whitley fam.

Final Florida Post: The Wedding

The original reason for our trip to Florida was to attend a wedding. After a fun-filled week in Orlando and Ft Myers Beach, we headed to North Reddington Beach outside of Tampa for the wedding festivities. We took the boys to the rehearsal dinner since it was a casual beach barbecue. David was busy people-watching while Drew collected shells on the beach. After dinner, Drew had a blast enjoying the beach activities that the hotel hosts on weekends. He got to dance, limbo and pose with the "princesses," otherwise known as hula dancers. We spent the day at the hotel pool on Saturday before the wedding. A friend that lives in Tampa, Johnny, and his girlfriend agreed to watch the boys Saturday night for the wedding and reception. That was very nice of them and great news for us! The boys had a blast with Johnny and Robin and we had a nice time at the wedding. George was a very handsome groomsman! After sleeping in on Sunday and then having a delicious brunch at the hotel, we got on the road for a long trip home. The 10 1/2 hour drive took us over 12 but overall it wasn't bad at all. The boys were perfect angels the entire trip and we rolled in a little before 1am. Home sweet home!

Drew doing the limbo!
Drew loved the hula girls!

David was a perfect guest at the rehearsal dinner!

Drew shows Mike the shells he collected.

The wind was crazy so we spent the day at the pool instead of the beach.

Quick pic before the wedding.

Bride and groom.