bittersweet

The year 2013 has been a bittersweet one.  As Rob nears his second birthday, I have especially been reflecting on this year and all of the good and not-so-good it has brought to our family.  First for the good:

Jamie and I got to watch our Baby Rob turn into Little Rob and closing out the year in the sometimes 'advanced-for-his-age' Terrible Twos Rob.  He has been such a blessing to us and he makes us laugh everyday.  I always knew I would love being a mother but I was not prepared for how much joy, happiness and wonder it actually brings me. Rob has taught me a lot over the last two years.

He has taught me patience (I was never really good at that one).  As anyone with young children knows, they are hard-headed, snotty-nosed and just plain not willing to do a thing you say.  Rob's favorite words these days are "NO!" and "MINE!" just like every other two year old and at times I have to hide the giggles from sight when he acts as hard headed as his Momma.

He has taught me how to live in the moment.  I am working on not dwelling on the past and also not worrying myself to death about the future.  This one is hard for me.  However, Rob is a 'I've got things to do, people to see and places to be' little man and he continues to show me that life is FUN and to not take a single day for granted.

He has taught me how to see things through the eyes of child.  Watching him discover new things, smell new smells, taste new tastes NEVER fails to amaze me.  I love this one.  I could watch him and all his toddler quirkiness all day if I could and if that didn't make me a little obsessed.  Ok...I am a little.

He has taught me that I am a hoarder.  I do not throw ANY of his paintings/colorings/crafts from school away.  I am still wondering how I'm going to store all of those 'beautiful' pieces once there are one thousand of them?!

He has taught me how to forgive more easily.  Toddlers are notorious for their all-out, kicking and screaming and possibly throwing oneself into the ground tantrums.  They can be SO mad at you one second for doing something that has apparently turned their world upside down and then the next (or maybe 20 screaming minutes later) they will crawl right up into your lap and give you one of those unforgettable toddler hugs and tell you they love you.  We as adults should try to be as forgiving of others.  Sometimes that is easier said than done.  But he has taught me to remember to try harder.

I could go on and on but I won't.  So lastly, he has taught me that I have been blessed with a wonderful, loving partner in this wild ride called parenting.  Jamie is an amazing father to Rob and the way that Rob looks at him makes my heart swell. Rob has brought this little family closer together and shown us the awesomeness of unconditional love. I am so glad to have these two boys.  They are my world.

Now on to the not-so-good from the year 2013.

I found out I was pregnant  in January 2013.  We were overjoyed.  This is how I told Jamie we were pregnant; not by the picture but by Rob climbing into his arms for his morning milk with this shirt on:

Everything was going great and we made it to the end of the infamous first trimester without a problem.  Then, at our 12 week scan we found out that we had lost our little one just a few days prior.  We were devastated.  After the problems we had conceiving Rob and going through all of that fertility mess and then having a rather uncomplicated pregnancy with Rob, I just knew that everything was going perfectly and we would be a family of four in September/October 2013.  That was not in God's plan though.  We later found out that it was a little girl.  That was a hard pill to swallow.

We then had a rough patch of trying to put the pieces back together.  We have been told that men and women grieve differently and we were doing just that. We were sad for ourselves and sad for Rob.  But we had not given up hope.  We worked through that rough time and came out of it stronger.

In July, we find out we were pregnant AGAIN!  Cue the complete excitement again!  YAY!  We have another shot!!  How blessed we felt.  We had just bought a new house and were in the process of remodeling it, so this is how I told Jamie this time that we were pregnant.  I taped this to the door of what would will be the nursery at the new house:

We found out at 7 weeks that it was more than likely identical twins!?  Excuse me...what did you just say?! FOUR feet??!! However, one of the twins had stopped developing.  The other had a heartbeat but not as strong as she would have liked.  Here we go again.  We had another ultrasound a week later and things were looking up.  Dr. S was very positive but wanted me to be monitored again the next week still.  The next week's ultrasound showed us what we have come to dread in walking into that office...no heartbeat.  We lost another little girl at 9 weeks.

So 2013 has been a bittersweet one.  Since the last miscarriage we have been focusing on having some fun and making Rob the center of attention (not that he spends a second anywhere else)!  We just got back from a fun birthday trip to Vegas and will be enjoying our family of three for the rest of the year.  Maybe 2014 is the year Rob will get a little brother or sister.  Here's to hoping!!

Lately

Still horrible at keeping up with the blog but here are some things we have been up to lately. 



Rob's first haircut...cookies make everything doable



flying to Colorado






fun in the snow

what happens when Rob has to share Poppy



not a huge fan of the sledding







Rob LOVED the Easter Bunny...like wouldn't let any other kids have a turn.  It was cute.



love him

So...those are just a few of the things we have been up to since I last posted.  We are looking forward to a fun-filled summer making tons of memories. 

Still Slacking

Well, my last post started out with how bad of a blogger I had been.  And now here I am today starting out this post with how much of a blogging slacker I still am.  Life got busy for the Davis' around October it seems like.  We had an interesting few months with our little man....started out with strep, then he had an allergic reaction (or a possible allergic reaction) to his penicillin meds that scared the crap out of us, then bronchiolitis, then ear infections that just wouldn't respond to the non-penicillin meds and then finally ear tubes put in...phew!!  Other than that, we have just been enjoying life. Here are some of the happenings from the last several months.


Rob turns 11 months old and decides he has had enough with the monthly 'chair photos'



what ARE these little things?

 

ok..now i'm sold.....i am loving the pumpkin patch!



this one...this is the one I want Mom

 

"Dancing Bear" for Halloween (per his father's request of course)

 

We LOVED our pirate costume



Thanksgiving Feast at school



Rob's 1st Birthday party!



The train was SO much fun!



Happy Birthday To You!!!



Hmmmm



ok...maybe



yep...it's good



allergic reaction...and this was a good day...it got waaay worse



Cookie Bake



maybe next year Santa



ear tubes :(



cousins at Christmas



Christmas morning fun!



Merry Christmas



fun at the zoo

 













Life Lately

I've been a bad blogger....just can't seem to stay on top of it.  I'll try harder.  Life has been great lately.  Nothing big to report...just enjoying it.  I've found myself being very sentimental lately...I'm not sure if its because Rob's first birthday is coming up (Leslie if you read this...you nailed it when you said I would feel this way) or what?  Little things have me getting either all choked up or just elated and doing a happy dance.  I am stopping to smell the roses a little more....and just really trying to appreciate everything I have been blessed with.  Alright enough with all of that...here are some pictures of what's been going on in our lives lately.


Grandad wanted to give Rob some ice cream...he LOVED it...who doesn't?!

playing in the pack n' play in Galveston

he LOVED the sand (until he ate it) and waves...just like his momma



a boy and his wagon





10 months

We are into double digit months....happy 10 months to my little (ok not-so-little) man!  We love you more than words can describe....you bring laughter and happiness to our home like we never could have imagined. 



learning to take a photo and catch a toddler all in 2 seconds time (but hey...it looks as if he is sitting there all still and cooperative)




rockin' and rollin' and what-not



In Vino Veritas

I can now say that I am totally in love with all things Napa.  We had the most amazing time there!  We also enjoyed a short stay in San Francisco but to really see that city, we will have to go back for longer.  Now..back to Napa.  Mmmmm....we left the August hell heat of Texas and were welcomed with perfect temperatures of sunny 80 degree days and crisp, cool 60 degree evenings.  It did not take us long to figure out why so many people want to retire to California.  By the end of the first evening (and after a day of sipping unbelievable wines), Jamie and I had our retirement years planned out.  Here are some highlights from our trip.



a stop at Vista Point on our way from San Francisco to the valley

We woke up early on the first morning and hopped in our oh-so-cool convertible Mustang and headed up the 101 towards the Golden Gate Bridge.  San Francisco is such a beautiful place and we both want to go back and really see the city one day.  But...like I said...ON TO NAPA!  




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On our first day we stopped at Domaine Carneros on our way in and are real suckers because I mean WHO joins a wine club on their first stop?!  That's us (we had some great recommendations though for that place..thanks Hailey and Molly!)  Then we headed to Robert Mondavi for an educational tour that showed us how the winemaking process works from start to finish...way cool!  We then grabbed a quick lunch and enjoyed it in the awesome weather.  Next we stopped at both Peju and Sequoia Grove (again from recommendations from friends). We loved both of these places...very laid back and chill.  We checked into our amazing lodge and then headed to a yummy dinner at Mustard's.  Very successful first day!



Our fun DD Steve and our cool ride

The next day we got a DD to drive us around for the day in our rental.  His name was Steve and he was a jokester so he and James got along really well.  He started the day off taking us to Plumpjack/Cade which is a smaller, off-the-beaten-path winery which turned out to be one of our top two!  Yay Steve!  They served us a Cabernet that was by far the best tasting thing wine I have ever put in my mouth.  Thank goodness this was our first stop or I wouldn't have been able to turn down that purchase ($275...wow!)  Then we took a very cool tour at Del Dotto in St. Helena.  We really enjoyed this tour because you taste right out of the barrels and it is really neat to see how the same wine tastes so completely different out of the French/American/hybrid barrels.  I am a French barrel lover while Jamie preferred the American.  :)



The Del Dotto wine cave

After Del Dotto (which the locals call Del Blotto b/c you literally get like 12 tastings) we grabbed some sandwiches at the St Helena market and Steve drove us to another out of the way winery up in the hills named Burgess.  It was beautiful up there!  Back to the room for a rest then a yummy pizza dinner at Redd Wood.  Another fun-filled successful day!

The next morning (and our last..boohoo) we wanted to do something a little different so we rented some bikes and took off on their shortest (10 mile) loop.  We took off and made a few stops along the way at a couple tasting rooms (Napa Valley Wine Co. and Silver Oak).  We enjoyed both of them of course and then set off to return our bikes.  When we got back to Yountville, we returned the bikes and then had some lunch at Michael Chiarello's Napa Style eatery.  I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the celebrity chef since they told us he was working there that day but we never did.  After lunch we got back in the Mustang and hit up our last winery...St. Supery.  Finished the evening with a yummy dinner at Bistro Jeanty and then hit the hay for our 7am departure back to the city.



hehe

 Needless to say..we cannot wait to go back!  It was such a nice and relaxing vacation and lots of good memories were made!  If anyone is heading to Napa Valley...I would recommend any and all of the places we visited!