Fall Fun and The Fair

Fall. I love this season. The leaves turning, not too hot or too cold, warm soup time, and finally an excuse to wear a coat (even though I wear coats year round...in the house...which drives my husband crazy, by the way). :o)

And.........it's college football time. Chris and I finally had an opportunity to make it to Starkville for a game last weekend. We left Hayden at home with my mom, because we didn't think a 14-month old would do too well in football stands. The weather was supposed to be really yucky, but it held off and didn't rain...but, it was super cold when we got there. We tailgated for a while with some friends and then went to the game. State played Houston, which I didn't realize had been ranked #12 in the AP poll. State played hard but couldn't quite pull it off, but I absolutely loved being in Starkville, regardless. Starkville is like a home away from home for me and always will be, I guess. After the game, I was able to meet up with my old roomies at our favorite spot, Abners. It was great to catch up with and see them and had definitely been way too long. I meant to take more pictures than I did, but oh well.


Here come the Dawgs! Oh, and you can see a small portion of the new Jumbotron!


Chris and I....(the misty air didn't help my hair out...oh well!) :o)

The other great thing about fall is the fair. Deep fried greasy food, sugar galore, and the smell of barnyard animals...what more could any person want? Because of the monsoon weather we've been having this week, we had to wait until today (our only dry day this week) to go. Hayden and I met Chris during his lunch break. We ate a healthy lunch, I'm sure and topped it off with some funnel cake. Hayden had a few bites of our funnel cake and loved it, and then, the wind blew and blew powdered sugar from the plate all over him. There's a picture, but you can't see all the powdered sugar. It was pretty funny. :o)

We went to the petting zoo and ran into my brother and Tracie and the kids. Hayden and Kristopher had a great time yelling and laughing at each other and entertaining everyone at the petting zoo. Hayden was fearless when it came to being around the animals and absolutely loved every minute of it. Kris and Tracie bought some carrots to feed the animals. Hayden took a carrot, stuck it up to the goat's mouth, and then, tried taking a bite himself. So, Hayden might end up with a rare form of goat flu or something. :o) We all smell like barnyard after our little adventure, but it was fun.

Summer is over, Work has started, and Daycare

Well, I've totally been slacking on updating my blog for the last several weeks...surprise, surprise, huh? :o) I can hardly believe summer is over. It feels like Hayden and I had just figured out a good summer routine that worked for both of us when the end quickly was upon us. I really enjoyed the time at home with him all summer, and it was really the first summer I've had since I quit teaching three years ago when I didn't work at all...so it was a welcome break. As much as I enjoyed the time with him and a break for me, I looked forward to the beginning of school and a little work for me.

This year, I have gone from traveling one day a week to traveling two days a week. I'm doing something a little different this year. With the education consulting contracts I usually get, I am working with middle or high school teachers in Mississippi who teach math or science. This year, I am working with elementary through high school teachers in Lake Providence, Louisiana (only 85 miles from me) to help them implement technology into the classroom to positively impact instruction. Sounds thrilling, huh? Hehehe.... I think it will be a nice change of pace.

Because of the number of days of traveling this contract requires, myself and another consultant are splitting the days and working together since we have to work with all of the teachers. That other consultant who is working in the district with me is my Mom (aka...Gran), so it has been really neat to get to work with her, too. It is the first technology contract the company has ever sold to a school district, so my mom and I are paving the way and figuring things out as we go...but, if you talk to someone in Lake Providence, pretend like she and I are the most knowledgeable people you know about the subject of technology in the classroom, okay? Hehehe....

Last year, Hayden went to Mother's Day Out two days a week to allow me time to travel. My mom and/or Tracie would help me out by taking Hayden and picking him up on days I traveled. Well, since Tracie has moved to Brandon and my mom is travelling with me, I had to come up with an alternative to Mother's Day Out. So, Hayden started daycare. At first, I was real wary about it and not sure if I was ready to "move my cheese" that much, but it has really been wonderful for both him and me.

He's going to Funtime in Clinton and loves his teachers, Ms. Kim and Ms. Hannah....as well as all of his little friends. He's in the giraffe room, and most of the kids in there are several months older than him...but he has done super well adjusting to the class. He gets to go outside to recess several times a day, takes naps on a cot, and goes to lunch and snacktime and sits in a big boy chair and eats at the big boy table. The classroom has an online video camera that parents can login to occasionally check on their child. I don't login while I am working in schools, but it is a funny sight to see those teachers putting all those kids down on their cots. So far, Hayden has had about six accident reports (falling down and scraping knees, bruises on his face from falling into a table, etc) while he has been there. He also had two bite reports in one day. The bite reports mean another kid bit him, so the poor kid got bitten twice in one day. This will also toughen him up some. Hehehe..... Now that he is well-adjusted to the routine at daycare, he'll probably go three times a week and stay at home with me the other two days. I have to pay for a full week regardless of how much he comes, so it is nice to have the option to take him if I need to shop, etc. But, I do love getting to stay home with him some.

Speaking of Hayden, he is going everywhere and into everything now that he is walking. He literally went from taking two steps in one week to walking clear across the house the next week, and since he has been walking for six weeks now, he is really looking much more natural now and is really fast. He even tries to imitate us swinging our arms sometimes, which is really cute but completely unnatural right now. :o) Hayden walking everywhere rather than being held is nice, but it still seems just like yesterday that he was born.

He seems to learn something new each day, and even though he doesn't say many real words, he loves talking and telling us all about things and his day. We can't understand a thing he is saying, but I'm sure it is something real important. He is definitely a kid who wants to know what things do, so he often brings things to us to try to figure out what to do with them. He's insistent on you showing him how it works, and until you do, he just gets mad at it. You'll see a funny picture below of this. He's learning quick and knows to put shoes on my feet, but he can't quite figure out how to get them on there so he just puts them on top. Oh, and he's even feeding himself with a spoon if we put applesauce on a spoon for him. He hasn't mastered the scooping yet, but he's doing well. Oh, and he feeds himself a lot with his left hand. Chris and I won't know what to do with a leftie, but we'll have to wait and see.

Here are a couple of pictures. I've been slacking on taking pictures lately, too.

Once a climber always a climber. We usually catch him before he gets up there, but sometimes, he sneaks past us. :o)

He brought me a diaper and just insisted that I show him how it works. He walked around with the diaper over his clothes for a while, and then, he was bored with it and wanted to know how something else worked. He's so funny!

Swine Flu in the Davidson Household

Yep, that's right...that old pig-kissing, bacon-loving virus made a visit to our house recently. It started early last Thursday and hit me all of a sudden, much like regular flu does. I had no energy, was running fever, had a horrible headache, and felt so achey. Chris had a fantasy football event that night and didn't get home until around 9 o'clock that night, and by the time it was time to get Hayden ready for bed, I seriously didn't think I could do it. By Friday, I knew I had to go to the doctor. Hayden went to daycare early Friday morning, and I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for 2 o'clock. By lunch-time after several other symptoms appeared, I had a sneaking suspicion that I had the dreaded swine flu.

When the doctor's office checked my temperature and heard my symptoms, they immediately stuck their flu-checking stick in my nose. The results - Negative. I was doing a little happy dance inside. My doctor came in, looked me over, and told me I had the flu - the swine flu. I was confused since the flu test had come back negative, but he said the regular flu test wasn't really catching many swine flu cases (only about 40%). Because I had the symtpoms of the regular flu plus the stomach virus symptoms that swine flu can add, he felt positive that I had come in contact with the swine flu. He told me they could check and send the test off, but by the time the test came back, I would be finished with the virus. He sent me off with a prescription for Tamiflu and a preventative dose of Tamiflu for Chris and told me I would be banished to my house until I was fever free 24-hours. Apparently, my doctor has been seeing cases on and off all summer. Because the regular flu dies off after the cold season ends, they are treating all flu cases right now as swine flu. And, for me, at least, swine flu was different and had a few extra symptoms that you don't get with the regular flu.

I called Chris, who was very concerned and shocked. Our biggest concern was, of course, for Hayden. I had been contagious since Wednesday (one day before symptoms started), and Hayden was with me Wednesday after daycare and all day Thursday. He had been doing typical Hayden things like sticking his fingers in my mouth and feeding me food from his plate. I called his pediatrician, who told me they would not provide preventative Tamiflu for him but only would give him Tamiflu if he actually got the virus. They told me to keep him away from me. I was upset about having to stay away from him, and it definitely threw me for a loop that they wouldn't go ahead and give him Tamiflu. I knew God was in control. Chris would pick Hayden up from daycare and meet my mom, who would stay in a hotel with him to protect my brother's family from getting the virus.

It is so unfortunate how the media has depicted swine flu, because you usually only hear about the extreme doom and gloom cases. Don't dare google about a toddler getting swine flu...it will make you worried sick. Now granted, swine flu made me feel really bad, but I have definitely been much sicker with the regular flu, especially before the wonderful days of Tamiflu. That doesn't mean we should throw caution to the wind and start attending swine flu parties. Have y'all heard about this by the way? Crazy, pure insanity. Look it up if you haven't heard about swine flu parties. Anyway, there are people who get a mildish to regular case of swine flu who might pass it on to someone else that might get really, really, really sick. Elderly, children under 5, and people with pre-existing conditions like asthma are at the biggest risk from getting extremely sick, and there is no vaccine yet to provide us with any immunity. So, that is why they advise so much caution.

Luckily, Chris and Hayden stayed pretty much in the clear. On Saturday, Chris had some of the initial headache and no energy symptoms that I had, but he never got the fever or the other symptoms of the swine flu. The Tamiflu prevented him from getting it, and luckily, Hayden has been just fine. After the hotel stay Friday night, he and my mom went to her house Saturday and have been there since.

Besides being sick and feeling real yucky, the quarantine has been one of the hardest things about this. There are really only so many things you can do when you are banished to your house, but it has been nice to catch up on my sleep and sleep late. If the fever stays away until 4 o'clock today, the quarantine will be over. I still don't feel 100%, but I know that seeing my little boy will make me feel so much better that I won't care about the few symptoms that I still might have. Chris stayed at home from work today to prevent taking some of my swine flu germs up there, and if all goes well today, Chris plans on picking Hayden up from daycare late this afternoon and bringing him home finally! :o)

According to my doctor, he expects the number of swine flu cases to increase drastically since school is starting. Apparently, Mississippi State University is getting hit hard by it right now. So, wash your hands and be safe. And, if you get sick, stay away from people just in case! Oh, and don't go around kissing any pigs or eating too many ribs...you can just send the ribs along to me! :o)

Look at Hayden go!

I never knew that a parent could be so happy about walking! Being mobile at such a young age and being an early crawler led me to believe that Hayden would walk early, too. Nine months rolled around and people started asking if he was walking. Now granted, he was a nine month old who was the size of a 15 month old...so he probably looked like he ought to be walking. But, of course, parent worry set in, and I began to think he needed to start walking. I would stand him up, and PLOP! He would fall right down and go back to his business and was as happy as he could be that he was crawling. I guess I was worried that Hayden might go to college and not walk there or something. Hehehe...

Isn't it funny how we can't control things but we try so desperately to so many times? It doesn't always just have to do with our children, but I must admit that I often see parents trying to control their children's lives. They encourage their child to be the best soccer player or the most popular person in school or keep up with so and so when the child is perfectly content to be in the band or hang out with math nerds or to challenge themselves to be the best they can be rather than keeping up with someone else. Or, some crazy parent might even challenge their child to walk rather than be content to let them develop at their own pace. Hehehe...

Now granted, I have made some huge strides with my control issues, but just when I think I've licked them, my flesh kicks in and those ugly control issues rear their ugly head again. Isn't it funny how when we "let things go," they take care of themselves?

Now, look at him go! Sorry for the obnoxious number of videos, but I am really excited for him! (And me...26 pounds is a lot to carry around.) Hehehe...





I had to remove a toy that was in the way on this one!

Beach Trip 2009

Chris, Hayden, and I are back from a wonderful week long trip to Orange Beach, AL. We went with a big group of people from our church and had a great time. Hayden was able to enjoy the beach much more than his last trip at a mere 6 weeks old, and I was so glad that he loved the beach and the water. I knew he'd either love or hate the sand, and he handled it like a champ. He loved playing and crawling in the sand, and of course, he ate a good bit, too. His hair is white now after being in the sun for a week...he looks like a little surfer boy.

There were lots of birthday celebrations while we were down there. On Monday night, we had a cookout and cupcakes to celebrate Kellan, Chloe, and Hayden's birthdays. Hayden had no idea he was going to get to have another party, and he was even more excited that it involved cupcakes. We celebrated Gran's 60th birthday on Friday with some pies from Sweetie Pie's. I definitely recommend Sweetie Pie's to anyone who visits the area...they are so yummy!

Poor Hayden woke up from his nap on Monday with a fever, so we had to take him to the doctor down there. It was the most interesting/weird doctor's visit I have ever experienced. Anyway, he had the beginning of an ear infection which turned into a full blown ear infection a few days later. That's right...tubes for only 3 days and already an ear infection. Hehehe... Thankfully, we were able to get some medicine and then some ear drops to help him out. Nearly every family that went had a child who was sick or injured down there...it was a very interesting trip. The urgent care doctors got their money out of us Mississippi folks, for sure.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip full of fun fellowship, relaxation, good food, and time away from the hustle and bustle of life. I miss the beach already, but it's always nice to be home, sweet home.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the week.

Here he is playing in the waves. He wasn't always this excited about it, but he got so tickled at the waves that first day.

He's used to the swimming pool in Clinton where he can walk around in the shallow end, but the pool at the beach wasn't that shallow. I had been working with him in the deep end at Clinton, and he did great floating around and swimming by himself.

We took some time Friday evening to take some family pictures. Gran was a great and patient photographer.

Birthday, Toddlerhood, and Tubes

Hayden had a wonderful birthday party last weekend. We decided to have it at Gran's house and enjoy a sunny day in the country with some grilling out, presents, cake, and of course, a swim in the pond. We kept his birthday small after learning some valuable lessons from Hayden's cousins, so it was Chris, Hayden, me, Gran, MaMaw, Tracie, Lindsey, Kristopher, Kris, Kelli, and Brianna.

True to the Twinkie incident, he thoroughly enjoyed his cake, and after some short observation, he dug right in. The cakes were made by DreamCakes MS in Flowood, MS...I thoroughly recommend them for making cute, cute cakes that taste yummy! Hayden thanks all of his guests for attending and said he had such a fun birthday and loves his gifts!

Well, we had an exciting event yesterday...July 30th will forever live in infamy as the day Hayden left infancy and entered toddlerhood. That's right. He took his first steps yesterday. Just a few steps from one object to another object, but he did it about 7 or 8 times last night. Who knows how long it will take him to begin walking, but we are on our way within the next couple of months, I guess. So exciting! I will no longer have to carry around a 26-pounder. :o) I'll try to catch it on video sometime soon and add it to the blog.

Hayden got so many wonderful presents for his birthday - a lion hand-made by Gran, some blocks, clothes, an ice cream bowl, bath toys, a dolphin, books, his first plate, a ride-on Radio Flyer turtle, and a Pottery barn chair. And today, he got another birthday gift - ear tubes! Hopefully, his tubes will help those nasty little ears stay clear. Hayden was such a big boy and never cried when they took him back and didn't cry at all in recovery. We were in and out in no time. He looked so cute in his hospital gown that I had to snap a quick picture.





On Sunday, we leave for the beach. Hayden has made one trip before when he was 6-weeks old, but he will be able to enjoy it much more this year. I am so excited about going to the beach and just relaxing.

Here he is during the observation stage.



As you will see in the pictures, he warmed up to the cake after a very short while.

Hayden's First Birthday

At 2:14 pm a year ago today, Hayden Kristofer Davidson came into our lives and has blessed us so much throughout the year. Chris and I have been privileged by the gift that he is in our lives and have enjoyed so much watching him grow up throughout the year.

I've had work training part of this week, but I did leave a little early this afternoon so I could spend some time with the birthday boy. Chris was able to help me out by working from home today, so I was so glad they got to spend some time together. A terrible diaper rash has made him extremely unhappy for the past couple of days, but we managed to have a little celebration anyway.

After eating some dinner, we gave Hayden a Twinkie. Since we are having his birthday party this weekend and didn't want to steal the show and give him any cake today, I decided to buy something that would be cakelike so he could at least have a little treat on his birthday. And, what is more cakelike or wonderful than a Twinkie.

If the Twinkie was any indication of how much he will enjoy his birthday cake on Saturday, we should be in for a good show. After a few moments of observing, he went right into the process of getting rid of the Twinkie. The whole process didn't take more than a couple of minutes, because he accomplished the goal by sticking most of it in his mouth at one time. Pretty funny stuff.

I'm including a slideshow of some pics from the year to show how much he has grown. It is amazing to look at old pictures now.

The funniest part is getting to see him engulf the Twinkie. Here are some pictures of that.

And, here he is in action.