A Great Summer So Far

We've had a wonderful summer so far...and it's not even over! :o) It didn't take long for Hayden and I to figure out our summer routine, and after I saw how much he loved the pool, the pool is in our routine almost every day. He is an absolute water bug. I started off with a ring float, but he didn't like it and spent most of his time trying to climb out of it. I bought him some floaties thinking that he wouldn't be ready for them, but he took to them after about 30 minutes. He isn't walking on land, but he can walk all around in the water like a pro. The YMCA in Clinton has a large kiddie area in the pool that is about 2 feet deep and just perfect for him to walk around by himself and play. He is blowing bubbles in the water now and can recover by himself when he accidentally goes under (and doesn't cry either). He is just now beginning to relax enough to float for a little while in the deep end. It really is amazing to watch him in the water. Here's a short video of him walking over to one of his pool friends, Courtney...she's there more than we are! :o)



I never would have believed he wouldn't be walking by now since he crawled and started pulling up so early, but he doesn't seem ready yet. He has just now started letting go of the furniture some, and there are times when we can stand him up in the middle of the floor and he will stand there by himself. He's also beginning to walk while holding on to our hands some, too. But, he definitely has a mind of his own and knows when he wants to do certain things, so I'm just going to let him figure it all out. He can get around well enough and fast enough by crawling. :o) He's also begun climbing things...climbing into drawers, climbing into cabinets, and trying to climb furniture.

Recently, I made a trip to Jellystone water park in Pelahatchie, MS with Hayden, my mom (Gran), Tracie, Lindsey, and Kristopher. We had a great time. Having a Ward's (I do love their breakfast so) was about as big as I thought the Hatchie would ever get, but they have their very own little water park. It was perfect. It has an area with shallow water (shallow enough for Hayden to crawl around in) with a couple of slides and water fountains. It also has a pool, but the kids were never too eager to get in the pool since the area with the slides was so much fun. It was really cute...no sightings of Yogi and BooBoo...but maybe next time. :o)

Hayden has a new friend, and his name is Eeyore. When Lindsey turned one year old, I gave her an Eeyore ride-on with the understanding that it would be kept so that my children could use it one day. Tracie passed it on to me recently, and I pulled it out this week. I didn't think Hayden would be ready for it, but he loves it. He rides it around the house. He's not too directionally smart yet, so he runs into a lot of walls and furniture, but he just looks at one of us to turn him around and keeps on going. We're getting him another little ride-on for his birthday since he loves this one so much.



This weekend, Chris and I are headed to New Orleans for an early 5-year anniversary celebration. I'm excited to get away and have some time for the two of us. And, in a little over a week now, Hayden turns 1 year old....and we are having a little family party for him that next weekend. So, I'll be posting pictures along the way.

Here are some pictures. There are some from a recent swimming trip...Dad got to come with us recently, so I could take some pictures. There are some from around the house, and there are some from Jellystone.

A Blogger Award

My sweet cousin, Ginny, from The Patterson 5 has given my blog a "Kreativ Blogger" award for my creative parenting. I have loved blogging since the day I started, and one of the blessings God has granted me through blogging is a wonderful way to keep up with such a sweet cousin who lives so far away and who I rarely get to see. The other blessing God has granted me is a way to communicate to the world what a blessing being a parent is and let you guys into just a little bit of our lives. I actually think all parents are creative...you can't raise a child if you don't have a little creativity or have a sense of humor. Thanks for my award, Ginny. I love you.

My instructions are now to nominate 7 other bloggers for this award, and they are to nominate 7 others. (Be sure to leave a comment on their blog about the award.) Those nominated must then write a list of 7 things their blog readers might not know about them.

So, here I go with my 7 things you might not know about me...which is hard to do since I already have done a post with 25 things you don't know about me...I'll try to come up with new ones:

1. When I sleep in long pants at night, I tuck my pants into my socks so that I don't have any air unevenly touching my legs and so my pants don't ride up my legs in the night. Be glad you've never seen a picture of this...it's a very lovely look.
2. I have never dyed or colored my hair, and the only makeup I wear is mascara, lipstick, and gloss. I like quick and easy.
3. I am a creature of habit about a lot of things, and my habits change over time. My current habit: Before every meal, I have a Lorna Doone shortbread cookie topped with peanut butter and two peanut M&Ms. It's really good...you should try it.
4. I sneeze when I take Benadryl or after I choke on something. I said this next statement in my 25 things post, but my brother says I should donate my body to science. Maybe he's right.
5. Chris and I love to eat out. We always joke that we are going to buy an RV when we get older and travel around the country eating good food. We want to find the best bbq and ice cream in the nation. We've often wondered how you get the job of being a food critic. You get to go out to eat for free....sounds like a job I could have.
6. I used a push mower by myself for the first time two weeks ago. Even though I grew up in the country, we always used riding mowers. I felt like I really accomplished something by cutting the grass while Chris was at work.
7. When I was younger, I used to think teachers never went to the bathroom. Even though my mom was a teacher and I knew she went to the bathroom, I never saw any of my lower elementary teachers go into the bathroom. This always baffled me. My mom laughed at this when I told her this years later.

Here are the blogs I'm going to award:

1. O Love that Will Not Let Me Go - Even though I don't personally know this couple, their blog has been such an inspiration to me over the past year. The Roberts family had a little girl (Magdalena) who was born around the time Hayden was born with a chromosomal abnormality. She was able to bless the world so much in the short time she was on the earth and made a huge impact in my life and in the lives of others. Their blog tells their story in such a creative way that can't help but draw you closer to your family and closer to God.
2. The Neyland's - Creative describes this blog perfectly. Just check out the creative buckets for her daughter's birthday party and her room decor ideas. She created a website for Chris and I when Hayden was born as a creative way to let family and friends know about his birth, see some pictures of the family, and post some notes to us.
3. Picky-Palate - This is one of my favorite recipe blogs. She makes such creative and wonderful things. I love the Cookies and Cream Rice Krispies, Cookies and Cream Cheese Brownies with a Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache, Nutter Butter White Chocolate Chip Cookies, Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies, and so many more. If I were going to have a cooking blog (and I've thought about it before), this is what I'd want mine to be like...and she takes wonderful pictures.
4. The Patrick Family - I know I may be a little biased and that she hasn't blogged in about a month now (hint, hint...hehehe), but I have to award this blog for its funny stories created by all the crazy things her creative little children do. They may be my neice and nephew, but they do some funny stuff.
5. As We Go - I love all the creative stories about scorpions and reading her Friday Fritters. She calls herself a "work in progress" on her profile, but I think she handles life with three little girls very well. She is a creative parent if I've ever seen one. :o)
6. Life on the Chicken Farm - Being a country girl myself, I just had to award this blog for her creative parenting...well, on a chicken farm. Her cute little girl is a girl after my own heart. She loves to look cute but then can be digging around in the dirt with her dog, Otis. I love it.
7. The Macs - I stumbled across this blog after hearing their story at a bible study. This family had a little girl named Cora...one day, her mommy was posting about ear infections, and the next day, there were posts about cancer. Cora is with Jesus now, but I love their story and how they have clung to God for strength. Cora's mom is very creative and has opened a store on Etsy called Cora's. She makes the most creative and cute clothes. There are things for little girls and little boys.

Well, there you go. My first blogger award. I hope to be posting some pictures soon of Hayden's swimming abilities. I am amazed at how well he does in the water. Until next time....

Into Everything

Wow...I have let my blogging go lately, haven't I? I've been trying to get adjusted to being home everyday with Hayden (no more Mother's Day Out this summer) and trying to get us into a good summer routine....not to mention trying to keep up with him. Hehehe... I think we're figuring out our routine now. In his best babble 10 month old talk, Hayden clearly told me recently that he wanted to go to the pool regularly to make up for putting me on bedrest all last summer. I, being such a sacrificial mother, am willing to leave my fun housework duties at home and oblige, so we've gone everyday for the past couple of days. I really want him to get used to the water, since I love swimming so much. He does great and especially loves to smile at all the pretty little girls at the pool...he seems to have a preference for the blonde ones. I'm going to have my hands full. Actually, I already have my hands full. Hehehe....

We've definitely reached the "getting into everything" stage. Even though he's been crawling for about 3 months now, he's now become a pro at it and is almost as fast as me. He sees a door open that he's not supposed to go into, and those little legs book it to try to get in before I get there. He's been pulling up for about 2 months now, but now, he can pull up on a flat surface like a door or cabinet...so he's discovered the kitchen cabinets. The locks we bought for the kitchen cabinets didn't work, so I put some picture hanging wire around all of them the other day. It is a temporary fix but is making my life easier not to have to chase him everywhere he goes.

The improved mobility also means I have a little shadow now. He follows me throughout the house, and pulls up on my legs. If I'm sitting on the floor, he pulls up on me, and hugs me. If I'm sitting on the furniture, he's pulling up and trying to get to me. Everyone told me when I found out I was having a boy that, "Little boys love their mommies." That is definitely true. He loves his daddy, too, and Chris is a wonderful dad.

He's getting to be a pretty good eater. Like most kids, there are times when he just doesn't want to eat...and I don't press the matter, because he'll eat if he's hungry. Then, there are other times when I have to limit his food so he doesn't fill himself up so much that he spits up. When he first started eating finger foods, he was super picky, and I was resigned to the fact that he would only eat bread and puffs. But, he's gotten to where he likes more things. He won't eat bananas. That is a definite fact....I think it's a texture thing. He loves sandwiches, gerber cereal bars, puffs, turkey sandwich meat, chicken nuggets, waffles, and he's just now gotten to where he'll eat that fruit that comes in the snack packages.

Some new things he can do: says "Gu" for Gus and "Du" for duck, gets the ball when I ask him, gets his duck when I ask him, plays peek-a-boo (this is especially cute), tries to clap, turns the lights on and off, turns the faucets on and off, does this funny thing with his lips that we taught him (I'll video it), and says "Mama" and "Dada" on request (this is in the last day, but I still don't think he really connects us with our names yet). He's pulling up and sitting back down real smoothly and cruising well along furniture. I don't know when the walking will happen, but I think he'll run before he walks. :o) Oh, and he has 7 teeth now.

Here are some recent pictures. As you can see, that hair is getting so thick and is almost ready for his second haircut (it's traveling over the ears). He definitely has his daddy's hair. :o) I'll try to get some swimming pictures soon. Oh, and the picture of him swinging was at Gran's house. He laughed and laughed and totally loved it. My brother and sister-in-law are living out there right now in between selling their house in Clinton and building a new house in Brandon, and their swing set went with them out there.

Dedication and Mother's Day

My first official Mother's Day was absolutely wonderful! Chris and I considered last year as my first Mother's Day since I was pregnant and was technically a mother, but this year was more special since Hayden was able to be with us...not to mention the fact that last year's Mother's Day was the first time I went into preterm labor and ended up having to be put on bedrest...apparently, Hayden wanted to say Happy Mother's Day last year, too. :o)

In addition to being Mother's Day, we had baby dedication at church. We had not had baby dedication since last Mother's Day, so there were 16 children who were dedicated Sunday morning. The front of the church was definitely full. So many people came up to us talking about how special that service must have been for us. To be perfectly honest, it was special, but I had that personal moment of Hayden's dedication to the Lord a long time ago.

I've shared with all of you that I have had a previous tendency to be extremely controlling and fearful and uptight about certain things. I've been through some things in my life that caused me to be that way, but that didn't give me an excuse to try to have control over my life. A year of working through some things and giving certain things over to the Lord has brought me a long way with my sin of control and self-reliance.

All of that happened before Hayden was born, but when he was born, the first several weeks were tough for me. I was determined that breastfeeding would work for us, because I knew of all the benefits that breastfeeding gives to a baby. Ultimately, I thought something I could control would help control his life and make it easier for him and for me. After several weeks of crying and trying to make it work, it just wasn't working. I realized that I had tried to grasp control of him and his life and knew that I had to give it up and let the Lord take over. I remember sitting there trying to feed him and crying while realizing that it was just not working. At that moment, I dedicated Hayden to the Lord. Ultimately, Hayden belongs to the Lord and is only a gift to Chris and me. Nothing I can do can control his life and make it perfect. Sin entered this world and made it an unperfect world, and Hayden will go through some illnesses and tough times and will be affected by other people's sins just as all of us are. My job is to be his mother and to raise him to rely on Christ rather than himself.

So, baby dedication on Sunday was an outward symbol of something I had done shortly after he was born. I was so glad I was able to do it publicly, but the most special moment definitely occured that night I cried while trying to feed him and gave him over to the Lord. I've been so blessed to see how Hayden has been taken care of through these first 9 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days of his life, and it hasn't been because of anything I've done. I'm so glad he and I went through those experiences those first 6 weeks of his life. I needed that to happen. I feel so lucky God hasn't given up on the mess that I am and that He continuously tries to mold me into someone who relies on Him. I am still a mess, but God hasn't let go of me and never will. I feel so lucky and so blessed.

On another note, Hayden has had his first real illnesses this month. Nine months of not having any real illness with no fever was bound to end at some point. He got a double ear infection 12 days ago, finished his medicine on Sunday for that, and went to the doctor today with viral tonsillitis. He's feeling pretty yucky, but it will work it's way out of his system.

Here's a picture of us from Sunday. I was just glad Hayden didn't leap out of Chris' arms and crawl up the aisle. :o)

Happy Birthday, Gus!

Today marks Gus' 3rd birthday! Chris and I had been married for nearly a year, and we decided to get a dog. After all, you know what they say about keeping a plant alive, a dog alive, and a child alive. Well, we kind of broke the rules, because we killed the plants we had. But, we thought we might have some luck with a dog. A basset hound seemed like a good candidate for us, because we lived in an apartment at the time.

We bought Gus from a family in Grenada, MS. His parents were Fred and Lola. We were able to meet Lola, but Fred had been run over shortly after Lola got pregnant. We were, however, able to see the pictures of Fred and Lola's wedding. I mean, you have to explain the puppies to the children in a biblical manner...with a doggie marriage, of course...complete with a veil for Lola and a bow tie for Fred. We knew right away that Gus was the puppy we wanted out of the litter. He seemed to have the most personality, and the children had deemed him the favorite puppy. The family had named him Big Bubba, but we decided to change that to Gus. We won't go in to the reason for the name Big Bubba. :o)


Well, as you can see, we had more luck with the dog than we did with the plants. Gus threw us right into getting to see what parenthood is all about with all of his medical issues (complete with allergy shots), and he definitely showed us the importance of puppy-proofing your home. I won't even begin to tell you all the things this dog has eaten. I believe the entire container of onion flakes took the trophy. Or was it the pound of chocolate? Or the bottle of mint extract? I could name so many things. We definitely called animal poison control several times.

Gus enjoyed two years of indoor life before we moved into our new house, but the shedding and claws were not welcome inside our new home. Shortly after we moved in, Hayden entered the world, and poor Gus was not only banished outside but he was no longer the only child. The inhumanity of it all!

Along the same lines, Hayden has said his first word. I wanted to wait awhile before I deemed it his first word, because I wanted to make sure the association was there. He had been saying dada for forever and then added things like mama and baba and nana. He says those things, but the word association isn't there. In other words, he doesn't understand that Chris is dada or Missy is mama. Well, his first word is "Gu" or sometimes "Guk." That's right...I said it all along that his first word would be the dog's name. Hehehe.... Hayden's so cute standing there at the back door saying "Gu" over and over.

Happy Birthday, Gus or Gu or Guk. We love you, buddy!

Easter and A First Haircut

This school year has flown by, and thankfully, my traveling to schools is finished. Don't get me wrong...I love working with my teachers and I do only travel once or twice a week, but I enjoy a nice, long summer break from traveling. I'm looking forward to summer, spending time with Hayden, maybe taking a trip with Chris, getting a tan and going to the pool (the tan didn't happen last summer when I was pregnant and on bedrest), organizing (one of my favorite things to do), and maybe even doing some decorating of my house. I mean, we have lived here nearly a year, so I figure a few pictures on the wall and around the house might be a good addition. Hehehe... :o)

Life here changes nearly every week, mainly because of Hayden and his new tricks. He seems to change almost overnight and learn new things faster than I can get used to the old, new things. He's starting to feed himself finger foods, but as hard as it is to believe (being nearly 25 pounds at 9 months of age...the size of the average 18 month old), he seems pretty picky. He definitely knows what he likes and what he wants. I can't really get him to eat anything mushy (like sweet potatoes or bananas). If he does eat those things, they usually go in the mouth and right out of the mouth, or they just end up mashed up between his fingers. He's figuring it out, though and figuring out the textures he likes. I don't think it would be a terrible thing if he lost a pound or two or maintained his current weight for a while...he's a heavy load for this girl to carry around.

He's really mastered the skill of pulling up now and is pulling up on everything (including me). The latest thing he has discovered is that he can pull up on our furniture finally (it was too tall for a while) and the toilet (good thing I clean) and the whirlpool tub (can't wait til he figures out what those knobs do). He has even done some real crawling (instead of his usual tummy-on-the-floor brand of crawling) in the past three days. He's figured out how to find me in the house and how to follow me around the house, so I have a constant shadow. Sometimes, I'll leave the room, come back, and find him wandering around the house trying to find me.

Hayden's first Easter was good but uneventful. He's too young to really do much of anything, but he did have a good time playing with the grass in his basket (pictures included below). I'll be glad when he can understand Easter and what it means and enjoy our wonderful Easter services at church...we had some really good ones this year.

We did get his first professional pictures taken (pretty late, I know) by a photographer in Clinton, Heather Bryant. She's quick, which is the best thing you can be when you are taking pictures of an infant. Hayden's first pictures were some Easter pictures with a real, live Easter bunny. Bingo was the pet of a friend of our photographer, and I promise you that they had tranquilized that poor bunny. Heather would just plop Bingo down next to Hayden, and he'd just sit there and was content to chew on a piece of grass or leaf. There was never any hopping or biting. Heather had a real carrot as a "prop." Hayden took hold of that carrot and put it right in his mouth and even took it and beat Bingo upside the head with it. It was super funny. Let me tell you...those pictures turned out super cute. He also took some regular 9-month pictures the next Friday, and we took some pictures as a family, too. I'm excited to finally be getting some pictures of Hayden and of our family.

The latest new thing was a new haircut yesterday! Hayden had a pretty good head full of hair when he was born, and it's been over his ears for a couple of months. I've held off for a while, but lately, I've really had to do some work with it to make it go behind his ears and prevent him from looking like a girl. I love those curls he's getting, but I can't handle the prospect of my son being called a girl with hair over his ears. My mom and I went yesterday to get our hair cut, and after we were both finished, I asked the lady who cuts my hair (Beverly) about Hayden's hair. Well, I asked her and showed her how it goes over his ears, and she started cutting. It was so quick and happened so fast, and Hayden did super good. He never cried or anything. He was a normal kid and squirmed a good bit, but a blueberry sucker (a rare treat, but everyone deserves a treat during their first haircut) that Beverly had helped out with the squirming and left him with a very blue mouth. My mom took some pictures and gathered locks of hair while I held Hayden, but we didn't get a picture that showed his blue mouth. I can't imagine what his mouth would have looked like if I had let him have the sucker afer his haircut...there was blue everywhere. He looks so cute now, and as much of a little man as he was before, he really looks like a little man now. I remember going with Tracie to Lindsey's first haircut when she was two, and I couldn't believe my 9 month old was getting his first haircut. Lindsey was actually old enough to say she wanted to go shopping for shoes after her haircut. :o)

I'm including some pictures of Easter, Hayden and his cousins, the first haircut, and post haircut. You'll notice Hayden's cousins hiding from Hayden in some of the pictures. They are so funny to watch when they're around each other.

Sitting, Standing, Scooting, Pulling Up, Laughing, Breathing Treatments, Teething, and A First Wedding

As you can see from the title of my post, there's a lot going on in the Davidson household. Hayden has quickly moved from army crawling to sitting up on his own to standing using support and even pulling up to a standing position. He's quite the little daredevil. There isn't a whole lot of pulling up going on (we don't have a coffee table or low enough furniture), but he was doing it so well on his crib that we had to move his crib mattress all the way down to the bottom to prevent him from doing any middle of the night tricks. He loves pulling up on his knees using the fireplace and finds every drawer that will open, opens it, and pulls himself up to check out what is inside. He really loves standing up now and would do it all day long if he had someone behind him to make sure he didn't fall. He is especially fond of standing at the door and looking out at Gus. Oh, and he just got his third tooth in and has another coming in soon.

He's gotten quite good at his army crawl, and although he still doesn't pull his tummy off the floor, he is doing more of an alternating movement with his arms and legs that is more similar to real crawling. So often, he gets up on his knees and hands and rocks back and forth like he is ready to do a real crawl. He might make a few little crawling movements and then falls on his stomach and does his best bird flying impression. Whether he every really crawls or not, he can definitely get around very quickly and easily and is quite a handful. I call him our little garbage finder, because he is always finding new and exciting treasures on his journey and putting them in his mouth. Roomba is getting more of a workout than usual because of that.

Last week, I had to take Hayden to the doctor. Praise God that he's never been sick, sick or run a fever. Just a few colds and sinus infections along the way. About seven or eight weeks ago, I took him to the doctor for a little sinus infection, and he never really got over it. Last week, he had a lot of junk rattling around in his upper chest and was coughing through the night and even doing a little wheezing here and there, and I thought it would be best to get it checked out. Dr. Myers heard all of the junk rattling around and thought it would be best to start him on Singulair and breathing treatments to knock it out of his little bronchiole tubes. She thinks it's from allergies, and poor Hayden is doomed to have allergies in this family. Asthma runs in my family (my brother and niece), so we knew all about the nebulizer and breathing treatments. Hayden isn't too sure he likes his breathing treatments very much...mainly because he has to sit still. Most of the time, I end up having to put a mini wrestling move hold on him to get him to take it, and he really lets me know how unhappy he is with that. I'm hoping all of this will help break that junk out of him and help the allergies or whatever it is that is causing it.

This past weekend, we were so excited to go to my cousin's wedding in my little home town of Pelahatchie. I was so excited for Lee and Greg, and it was especially wonderful to see so many family members I had not seen in forever. Many of them had never met Hayden personally, and he was in proper form and really hammed it up. On Friday night, we went to a family dessert in honor of the couple, and Hayden was the life of the party. I think he was excited about being up past his bed time, or maybe the Singulair and breathing treatments had made him a little crazy. He was really funny and had a great time. I was also able to return to the church Chris and I were married in and that I grew up in. I had only been back to the church once since we were married, and it was really great to see so many people that I had not seen in years. It was so wonderful to see so many people I love so much and celebrate such a beautiful union.

Here are some pictures I've been meaning to post for a while. The ones in our back yard are from a really pretty day several weeks ago, and the standing up ones were probably two weeks ago or so. I'm also including a really cute video of him laughing. He has the funniest laugh. Here, he is laughing at his cousins, Lindsey and Kristopher. He really loves when they come over, and I love the cheap entertainment. :o)