The Davis Family Blog: May 2014

This blog is WAY overdue for an update. The end of the school year is just mass chaos and hectic that this blog has sat on the back burner. There is no way I can update everything that's happened since my last post in March so I'll just hit the high points.

Since my last post, we have celebrated Easter, my 31st birthday, Mother's Day, and the end of another school year. One of the best perks of teaching is having the summer off. I cherish the days I get to spend with Ella Kate because I know that she won't be this little forever. I am soaking it all up and loving every minute (even the tantrums we've been having lately). :)

We celebrated Easter on Saturday, April 19th at my grandma (Maw's) house with lunch and no egg hunt because of the bad weather. On Sunday, April 20th we celebrated Easter Sunday with a wonderful church service, followed by lunch at Memommy's and then EK's own Easter egg hunt at our house. The Easter bunny also came to see EK Sunday morning and boy was he nice to her!

The week after Easter was my Spring Break. We decided to take EK to the Jacksonville Zoo that Monday of my break. She loved looking at all the animals and even got to feed the giraffe. She got very excited when we were eating lunch and a squirrel came right up to her. She didn't know what to think about that! But, I think her favorite part was running on the walkways and hearing her shoes tap around!

On Thursday, April 24th she had her 18 month check-up. She was 31 and 1/4 inches long and weighed 21 pounds, 6 ounces. She was in the 25th percentile for height and weight. She is meeting all of her milestones and is as healthy as can be. For that, we are so thankful! After her check-up we dropped her off at Grandma's and headed to Kentucky to see Hunter's Pop and visit Keeneland (one of our favorite places). It had been almost one year since our sweet Nan passed away and we visited her grave while we were there, too. As much as we wanted to take EK on this trip, we didn't want her (or us) to suffer through that. She is getting at the stage where she dislikes being in the carseat and the drive was way too long for her. We're hoping to take her next year.

We had a great time celebrating my 2nd Mother's Day on Sunday, May 11th. Being a Mommy is such a blessing. I hope that I am half the mom to EK as my mom is to me.

School ended for students on Wednesday, May 21st and my last day of post-planning was on Friday, May 23rd. We have a few trips planned before school starts back and I am looking forward to the memories to be made.

There is no way I could write what EK has been up to these past two months- but here is a brief/pieced together version of it... :)

EK is becoming such a little copycat. She copies any and everything we do. She sees me picking up little pieces of trash on the floor and if she ever finds any, she brings it right to me. She doesn't like anything on her hands after she eats and holds them out for you to wipe them. She loves the ole Barney "Clean Up" song and will "wipe" things out the way when you sing it. She is a little OCD like her Mommy I do believe. She also copies my mom who must say "Oy" all the time because every time EK bends down or has to climb up a step, you'd think it was taking all of her energy.

Another copycat moment she had is when we were on the way to Kentucky. My sister, Julie, sent us the funniest video of EK walking like my mom, who had a hurt foot and had been limping on it. EK picked right up on it and copied her walk. She will still to this day walk like that if you say "Walk like Grandma." I hope she always has this fun sense of humor.

Ella Kate is starting to call people by name, too. She can say Mama, Papa Greg, Cade, KK, Grandma, and Brent. She doesn't say "Da-da" much anymore but does call him Ma-ma, a lot. My heart just melts when she says "Ma-ma". It's the sweetest sound. If you ask her where someone or something is she throws her hands up in the air like "I don't know" and will say "gone". Anytime you ask her where Cade is, she says "ball". She knows how much he loves playing baseball. We went to watch him at one of his games not too long ago and she went right up to the fence and yelled "Caaaaaaadeeeeee" to let him know she was there. She also found a little strip of pavement that she thought was made especially for her and ran up and down it yelling "GOOOOOOOOOO". In the middle of one of her marathons, she heard people cheering and clapping at one of the games going on at another field and she joined right along with them, clapping away. And when she realized nobody from that game was paying her any attention, she yelled "Heeeewwwooooooooo"!

She has started showing interest in her sorting toys and puzzles lately and likes to try and put the pieces in the right place. When she's had enough of that, she will dump out the toys and throw the puzzle pieces. That a girl! :)

One of EK's newest obsessions is hoarding. The other morning we found her surrounded by about six stuffed animals in her crib. And each time she wakes up, whether it be morning or after nap time, she names them one by one and three of them must accompany her to have her diaper changed. That includes two cats and one horse. Guess she's gotta have back-up?? If you ever take her shopping, it is a must that you surround her with everything you can find that will fit beside her. Then she's set! Another hoarding moment she had just this week- I had just put her down for a nap and kept hearing a funny sound through the monitor. When I looked, I saw she had a golf ball that she had hidden in her crib and was now throwing it around. When she woke up from this same nap, she was playing with a wind-up toy that she also had hidden and was making it go down her crib railing. Such a little clown!!

Ella Kate loves playing with her golf clubs and any kind of ball she can find. This makes her Daddy very happy. She also likes putting lids on and off of bottles. Does anyone know where you can buy empty medicine bottles, because that's what she's getting for her birthday. KIDDING! Kind of. She enjoys golf cart rides and we take one almost every day. While we're riding she points out many things (car, bus, boat, squirrel, woo woo (for dog), tree, cat, bird, truck, car, etc.). She is still obsessed with buses and now squirrels. Every time she sees a tree she says "quuuu" for squirrel. One day, when picking her up from Mom's she was so excited to show me that her Papa Greg trapped a squirrel in the backyard. When I walked in, the first thing she said was "Ma-ma quuuu". So cute!

Bathtime is still one of her favorite times and she will go running to the bathroom when you tell her it's time for her bath. She gets so excited! She has recently learned to "swim" in the bathtub. She will get down on her belly and stick her face in the water and kick her legs when you tell her to swim. And she never lets a bath go by without you washing her feet. She makes sure at some point to stick them up for you to wash. Amen, baby girl- no one likes stinky feet!!!

Although she loves her bath, she does not like Splash in the Boro! She wanted no part of it and would not leave my lap the whole time. I think she wanted the water to be warmer. HAHA! Hopefully she won't pitch too big of a fit next week at her first swim lesson. Stay tuned!

Even though she is a sweet girl most of the time, she has been known to throw a few tantrums when she doesn't get her way. And I mean, laying in the floor kicking or hands in the air and stomping. She gets that from her Daddy. :)

Whew- I think that's it for now. We are excited for SUMMERTIME and beginning Mommy & Me Gymnastics next week! :) Happy Summer to all of you!

Below are some photos from the past two months…