grand CAYMAN island

Our annual Davis family trip took us to the Grand Cayman this year. The Austin crew and the Boulder crew (minus Jeb who was overseeing their house remodel) met the Houston crew in Houston to all fly down together. We had man on man coverage (five kids, five adults) which makes everything easier. We were greeted at the airport by a momma and her baby chickens which was a lifesaver because we had a rental van to pickup, five car seats to install, and lots of bags to load into a van that had no cargo space. We were off like a herd of turtles...

For the rest of the week, we just sat in our beach chairs eating seafood and drinking pina coladas... Oh wait. Nope. Although we did whip up daiquiris and pina coladas most nights as a pre-dinner cocktail. We stayed at a cute, little house right on the beach and we cooked most of our meals there, eating dinner on the screened porch. Just off the porch was the pool where we took advantage of the afternoon shade most days. The mornings were spent exploring the island by foot and by snorkle. We all enjoyed a nearby beach called Rum Point that had very shallow calm water and good shade. We spent one day in the more commercial area of the island touring a turtle farm that has a water park area.

 

It was definitely the most successful family trip to date and we are all trying to figure out if we should go back and perfect it a bit more or keep searching for something better. This was our last year to enjoy complete scheduling freedom. From now on we will have to work around school schedules as Blue heads off to Kindergarten this fall!

just ONE week

Just one week, and so much chub chub chub. 

He spent the first five weeks in my arms. It sounds like I'm exaggerating but that is really what it felt like. He'd be nice and asleep and I would lay him down and within five minutes he would wake right back up. At five weeks Graham finally broke through and we got him to sleep in the swing. But along with his strong sucking reflex came a gagging reflex and the pacifier was not doing its job. It wasn't until three months that he took it successfully. And within a week he went from waking up at 10pm, 2am, 4am, 6am, etc. to sleeping from 10ish to 6ish pretty reliably. 

At four months now, it's hard to remember a time when he wasn't cooing and smiling. He loves to stand facing you and will tell you long stories full of drooly grins. His personality reminds me a lot of Blue as a baby. But unlike Blue, he loves tummy time and really dislikes laying flat on his back. He'll reach for the diversions on his exersaucer and play along for a bit but the real secret to keeping him happy is company. And he has an older brother who is always happy to oblige. Blue can come on a bit strong but Rogue genuinely seems to enjoy the attention. It's been a real help to me and I'm happy it works for both of them. 

ROGUE edward davis

Name: Rogue Edward Davis
Gender: Male
Date of birth: 2.19.2016
Time: 9:31pm
Weight: 10lbs 15oz 
Length: 22.5"

Yep, you read that weight right. He was basically 11lbs. And long too. 

My due date was 2.10.2016 and they knew he was going to be big. I only gained 25 lbs during the pregnancy but my belly was very large! So the doctors were watching me closely for signs that they needed to induce me. Due to my prior c-section they are not allowed to use Pitocin (the common drug used to get labor going) which only left them with breaking my water. My experience with Blue did not equate that scenario with success so I was happier to wait. But during my last monitoring session before the weekend hit they got a little nervous and wanted to go ahead and get the baby out. So off to the hospital we rushed. They broke my water around 2pm and then we just waited. My contractions started picking up around 5ish and I was fully dilated by 7ish and waiting for the urge to push. And just like with Blue it never came. I pushed for an hour or so but wasn't making any progress. The last thing I wanted was to spend all night in labor only to end up with a c-section in the early morning hours. And my contractions were making me a bit frantic which was very unusual for me. Usually I'm able to breathe and focus and am very calm, but not this time. I think it could have been that my body was just done. Standing through the contractions has always been my preference but I'd had a busy, uncomfortable pregnancy and my hip was going numb laboring on my feet. So I called it and the doctor thought the c-section was a good idea. She said I could also try an epidural but I'd seen my body at work at this before and felt like I knew where it was headed. 

And then, all of a sudden, there was a rush on c-section rooms - a mom whose baby had surprised everyone by being breech and an emergency early labor situation. My original team got shuttled off to the emergency case and we got the second room. At 9:31pm Graham announced it was a boy and the doctor said, "he's a kindergardener!" and then everyone tried to guess his weight and he surpassed all guesses coming in at almost 11lbs! I was shaking so badly from the spinal that I wasn't able to hold him until an hour or so later in recovery. He had his brothers' barrel chest and relatively skinny legs. 

Rogue came into the world with a very strong sucking instinct and quickly found his fingers if he wasn't nursing. And he was definitely the most alert of the bunch. He sort of skipped the sleepy newborn phase and would only really sleep in someone's arms. The hospital did their best to disturb us as often as possible but this time we knew the drill and were out of there on day two. 

The rest of the crew was happy he was finally here. Blue said he knew it would be a boy and Wiley was in love but kept forgetting his name the first couple days. Brother likes babies and was happy to have one around as long as it didn't interfere with his lap time quota. And for the most part it hasn't. Love my babies!  

blue turned FIVE!

Blue turned five! We had a lego party in the movie room of the apartment complex. Blue has really matured in his fifth year. He has a great mind and can understand and apply pretty complicated concepts. He is full of ideas and has a very positive attitude. The only thing he loves more than Legos is video games, both of which he seems to intuitively understand. As always, he has a very strong sense of style - this fall, the main features were leggings and long-sleeves and everything had to be symmetrical. And when I say symmetrical I don't mean "pretty close". If the stripes ended on a different color at the end of the sleeves or if the shirt had marbled buttons or the presence of an extra pocket - all reasons why Blue refused to wear something. We just went with it as best we could and seem to have passed through the fire. His relationships are important to him but so are his ideas and he has spent the year navigating new social complexities. He is a black hole of attention and will probably never feel like he has had enough but our family would be so different without his happy laugh and enthusiastic approach to life. 

* Pictures taken before the symmetrical craze hit!!!

west THIRTIETH street

We remodeled the house! We moved out of the house and into an apartment in April 2015. We finally actually started work in July 2015 (thanks City of Austin...) and moved back into the house in January 2016. We will probably forever and always have some continuing project going on... but we love the house. 

We coordinated the work on the house ourselves and it was a positive experience. Brother and I spent every morning at the house solving problems and doing his favorite things - cleaning up and measuring. That boy is a worker! The older two enjoyed watching our "broken" old house transform in shorter doses! We moved back in with one month to spare before the baby arrived... And just in time to focus our attention on the neglected yard.