Sam: 4 Months Old

This month Sam experienced lots of firsts.....Here is a run-down of what Sam is up to at 4-months:

6/23/12 Sam cuts his 1st tooth (3 months old)
6/28/12 Sam rolls over for the 1st time (for John)
7/3/12 Sam laughs out loud for the 1st time (at Allie of course)

Long Time, No Blog!

My blogging commitment has been down-right shameful the past several months! Sorry to have abandoned you.....I have been busy soaking up this crazy season of my life. I love every minute of this time in my life. Allie is getting into activities like Dance and Church Choir, Sam is just getting into everything, and John and I are tackling each day as a team determined to not be defeated by business. Don't get me wrong, there are moments when I just want to hide in my closet in an effort to steal a few minutes of quiet, but then I hear Allie and Sam laughing in the next room, and instantly, I am drawn back to reality. God sends me precious moments in my crazy days to remind me how blessed I truly am. So hang on to your hat.... You are about to be on Davis Daily Graces Overload!

Happy 4th of July

Please excuse the picture overload, but I couldn't help myself. For the 4th of July, we hung out at Mimi's playing in the Redneck Pool and grilling hot dogs and hamburgers. It is in John's nature to want to go and do especially on a holiday, but with 2 kiddos now, it seems like more work than fun to try and get them both somewhere and keep them both happy. I love that we stay home more and relax, but I realize those days are numbered because soon, my little one's will want to be going all the time too. So I am treasuring these moments of low-key living. Here are more pictures than you could ever want to see of our 4th of July!

Sweet Summertime: Redneck Style

This summer we broke down and decided that we would quit fighting our natural heritage and we bought a full-blown redneck pool. Now, I am not speaking ill of all above-ground, purchased at Wal-Mart pools, but even after the concrete blocks and plywood, our pool still had a deep-end and a shallow-end. That's the kind of Redneck Pool I am speaking of. And the sight of our bathing suit-clad figures just added to the ambiance. Thank the Lord my Mom's house backs up to woods and she only has one set of neighbors (who I might add have recently put their house on the market). Nevertheless, we had a blast in our pool. Allie really got used to swimming and went swimming just about every day until the 100+ temperatures drove us all in the house to stay. Sam even loved the water. When Allie was his age, I have a picture of her with a look of utter horror when I put her in the water for the first time, but Sam loved it and would kick his feet like he knew what he was doing. Who says Rednecks can't have fun?!

Sweet Summertime: Allie's Special Day

My sweet little girl, who has been the center of our world for the last 4 years of her life, has had to share our attention with her little brother for a bit too long now so we decided to get away and just spend some time with our Allie Cat! We had gone to an Engagement Party back at the beginning of the summer that was on Lake Hamilton and Allie begged me to take her riding on one of the boats that was docked at the Restaurant. So we decided to take her to Lake Ouachita for the day and rent a boat. I grew up on Lake Ouachita and it was so good for my soul to be able to share some of those memories with Allie.

We "Island-Hopped" the majority of the day. We nicknamed the first Island "Vertebrae Island" because when we pulled up, there was a spine of a large animal on the shore. Allie loved swimming around in the water and skipping rocks with her Daddy.

The next Island that we went to had a ton of little fish swimming around. Allie threw out a Cheese-It cracker and it was like bee's to a honey comb, the fish were fighting over the crackers. We at first thought is was funny until the crackers were all gone and they started swarming us looking for more. We didn't hang out on "Fishy Island" very long.

We drove around the lake for awhile after lunch and Allie took a quick nap. Then we decided to go out to the deep part of the lake and all jump in. The water was extra cool and Allie thought it was so neat that we were out in the middle. In fact, to this day, if you ask her what her favorite part was, she will tell you when we swam in the middle. The tricky part was when we decided to get back in the boat. John and I realized that the ladder was not sturdy, No, it was barely even attached to the boat. For a moment, we envisioned, having to hold on to the sides and instruct our 4-year-old how to drive the boat back for us! Luckily with a bit of team-work and a complete abandonment of any self respect and dignity, we managed to hoist ourselves back into the boat. Come to think of it, maybe that is why Allie enjoyed that part so much?!

I have so many fond memories of driving the boat with my Dad. This has to be my favorite picture of the day.

Sam: 3 Months Old

I realize that these are not the best pictures, but my Oh-So-Serious-Sam is more interested in trying to figure out what that thing is in his momma's face to smile. That coupled with the still-problematic blocked tear duct makes for a less-than-accurate portrayal of his cuteness. But, believe me, he is CUTE, CUTE, CUTE!

I don't have a whole lot of minute-by-minute details about Sam for this post, because as you can see, I am a bad Momma and I am just now doing this post 4 months later. I can give you a few Sam Stats:

Weight: 15 lbs 9.5 oz

Clothes: 6-9 Months

Still on Zantac and thickened feeds

Still getting up 1-2 times a night to eat

Loves the outdoors!

Tea Party

Allie's 3-Year-Old Preschool class held a Tea Party at the end of the year to demonstrate the table manners that they had been learning. There are so many talented and creative mom's in Allie's class that most of their parties could compete with just about any wedding reception I have ever been to. The Tea Party was not any different. From their butterfly-shaped sandwiches to their name cards, it was Southern-Living-worthy!

They all ate with their napkins and one hand in their laps. And when they drank their tea (sweet, of course), they did so with their pinkies up! Precious! And of course, Allie and Bella had to sit beside each other. I love that these girls are such good friends!

They all dressed up like little ladies and gentlemen. Allie insisted on wearing her hat (I love my girl and her larger-than-life personality). Here she and Bella were singing "I'm a Little Tea Pot."

All of Miss Susan's Little Ladies and Gentlemen. What a fun party!