Big Brother Week--Day 1

I love my job-I really do. It is stressful and emotional at times but also incredibly rewarding. However, there is always a point (usually several) in my day when my thoughts drift to a little boy in school across town. I wonder what he is doing, if he is having fun with his friends and if he is being taken care of--and I often wish I could just go pick him up and spend the day with him. The more I thought about this the more I thought it would be fun to actually do just that-take a few days off and spend some time just he and I. I looked at the calendar and realized that if I took the week of labor day off I would get an extra day with him without having to use up time I need for maternity leave. So I put the time off request in and Big Brother Week was born.

I started thinking about all the things I wished I could do with him during the week but could not because we were at work. I knew that this would be our last chance to spend a significant amount of time together before Carter joins us in November so I figured that we would call the week Big Brother Week. I made a list of things I wanted to do with him and started keeping track of ideas as I would get them. I eventually came up with this:

It started Sunday when we woke him up with the calendar, a banner and a fishing game from Carter:

Jason was a little sad that he was going to miss out on all the fun during the week. So he joined us for Sunday's festivities. We ventured over to the Houston Downtown Aquarium. Davis is fascinated by sharks. We allowed him to watch a little bit of shark week and he got hooked. He loves to talk about sharks being in the ocean so we thought he would get a big kick out of the shark train ride. 

 The train ride went okay--he was a little freaked out by the fact we were riding through a shark tunnel. He was a lot freaked out by the shark that jumps out at the end of the ride. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting it either and jumped a little bit. It was not until the end of the afternoon that he was ready to get back on the train. But by then it was really, really crowded so we talked him into doing a different ride. Of course he picked a shark to sit on for the carousel:

 He loved being able to touch the stingrays:

And picked a shark that he promptly named Buster out to take home with us:

We ate lunch inside the aquarium next to the tank. He was totally freaked out by the fact that two scuba divers were in the tank. I could not figure out with this was upsetting him so much until he explained that those were the scuba divers that took Nemo from his daddy. Ah! The mind of a three year old.  And the ride home:

So day one was a total success! 

Lately

We've had several lazy Sunday afternoons that end up with all three of us piled up on the couch:

Davis gets more and more personality every day. Here are some cute things I want to document so I won't forget:

He is really good about staying in his bed until his clock turns green (best money every spent). One day last week I heard him coming down the stairs. I think this might be my most favorite noise-it is seriously so cute. I can hear him coming because he comes down on his butt one step at a time. I told Jason to hurry up and stop him because I didn't want him falling down the stairs and I knew his clock was not green. It took Jason just a little too long to respond because the next thing I knew, Davis was opening our door. Davis did not say one word, just walked over to Jason, climbed up on top of him and laid his head on Jason's chest. Jason said "Davis, your clock isn't green" and Davis responded "Shhh! Daddy, I am trying to sleep!" It was so cute we let him stay.

Davis loves to come crawl in bed with us in the mornings. There are many mornings when we all three are running a little behind because nobody wanted to break up the party. Davis starts talking non-stop the moment he wakes up. He will lay in between us and go back and forth trying to get one of us to talk to him! Saturday and Sunday mornings are my absolute favorite because we all linger a little longer and end up hanging out and talking as a family. I am so curious to see how adding a fourth person to our family will play into this mix.

Davis and I were enjoying Luby's last night for dinner. At one point he looked over at me and said "this is delicious!" I love his vocabulary.

Tonight we were reading books together in bed. Davis took the book from my hand and pointing to the front cover said "this is the front cover" and then pointing to the back said "this is the back cover" and then pointed to the spine and said "this is the spine." SO SMART!

Every night when we are done reading he begs me to lay my head on his pillow and snuggle. No matter how tired I am, I can't help but stay put. I know my days of being able to curl up together are numbered. I have felt especially sentimental about this watching all the moms post on facebook about sending their babies off to school. I even saw a sweet lady crying in church Sunday because she had just dropped her son off at college.  It was a great reminder of the blessing of a toddler. I love my baby!

My golfers

Splash Day!

Every other Friday is splash day at Davis' school. A few weeks ago we got a little thrown off on our weeks (between vacation, slumber parties with Nana & Papa etc) that we forgot it was splash day. Jason walked into school with Davis and Davis took one look around and realized that he was the only kid in his class not in a swimsuit. He immediately looked up at Jason with tears in his eyes and said "Daddy, I don't have a swimsuit." Being the super dad that Jason is he sprang into action. A quick trip to the store and we had a happy boy ready for splash day on our hands:

This was also a reminder that he is growing up. I hated that he recognized that his friends were dressed different than him. I know this is the first of many self-realizations on his part but I just wish he could stay innocent forever. It doesn't help that I got a letter from school letting me know he will transition into the preschool class next week. Time slow down please!

Movie Time

Davis LOVES Despicable Me-like walks around and quotes the movie like an adult. Jason and Davis have probably watched the first moved 50 times. So we were so excited when Despicable Me 2 came to the theater. We headed over there in our minion shirts with our buddy, Garrett!

The theater was PACKED so the two boys shared a seat for most of the movie! As long as they had popcorn they were happy. 

Carter Elizabeth

I am beyond excited that Jason and I are expecting a little girl. I can't believe it! I am so excited to buy pink, pink and a little more pink!

Here I am at 23 weeks!

My sweet and talented sister-in-law made our gender reveal cake. I went to the doctor on a Friday and she was kind enough to put the gender in an envelope. Somehow, I contained myself and delivered the envelope to my sister-in-law to be (Lacey). Lacey then was trusted with the task of calling Lauren with the gender. It was really, really hard to wait for the cake to be done.

Saturday morning I woke up crying--gotta love pregnancy hormones. I told Jason I would feel blessed with either sex but that I had always envisioned life with a girl. Jason reminded me how awesome our little boy is and that two of Davis would not be a bad thing. So all day long I sweated it out. I went with my theater group to see a show downtown and honestly for the life of me right now I can't remember what it was because literally I was too nervous to pay attention.

I walked in the door from the show and we cut the cake. I started screaming/crying the second I saw this:

 It was very special because Davis helped Jason and I cut into the cake. However, when he started taking a little too long I might have "helped" him (i.e. grabbed the knife and started digging)! Davis was a little confused about why I was crying but I just explained to him how excited I was that he was going to have a sister.

We invited Jason's parents over for dinner the following day and face-timed in my parents. They were so excited to see Davis wearing this:

So far this pregnancy has been amazing. She has really started moving the last few days which I LOVE. Jason and I are feeling so blessed to be adding Carter Elizabeth to our family in November.

3rd Annual "Hunt" Trip

We took our third annual trip with our awesome friends. I call this the "Hunt" trip because that is where we went the first two years. This year we headed to Lake Dunlap and had a ball as evidenced by this on the car ride home:

 We spent the days playing in the backyard that over looked the lake. The boys loved the slip and slide, water guns and water balloon fights.

 We did some fishing

 And Davis caught his first fish! He was sitting in my lap and we were learning how to reel in the line. I suddenly realized that there was something on the line! He was so proud of it and immediately told me "I want to show my daddy!"

 Davis and Garrett had fun just being boys

 Davis took his first ride on a jet ski

 And swam and swam and swam!

 The boys (who are about to be outnumbered)!

 The original crew

 It is a job getting these kids to smile

 The moms working our best to get a picture of the entire group

The whole crew with the three newest additions!

It was a wonderful trip. I had fun at night laying in bed with Davis just asking him about his day. One night we had a really cute conversation. I asked Davis "Davis, can I snuggle with you" and he said "Sure mommy" and then promptly said "you are my friend" and I told him that I was his best friend :) 

It was also so fun to really watch him interact and play with the other boys. They carry on conversations with each other and actually play. 

We can't wait for next year....