The Davis Family Blog: January 2015

We are excited for a new year and BIG changes to come this year. But I haven't recapped the past three months so here goes…

We celebrated Ella Kate's 2nd (insert tears here) birthday, a Pumpkin Patch trip, and Halloween in October. She turned the big TWO on Friday, October 10, 2014. We celebrated the night before with family having dinner, cake, and presents at Mellow Mushroom in Statesboro. The next day, on her actual birthday, we woke up, opened gifts, had homemade birthday pancakes (courtesy of Hunter), and then headed to Atlanta to take EK to the Georgia Aquarium the next day. KK, "Gaddy"- this is what EK calls him now, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle "Bent" joined us, too. We stopped on the way up at the Locust Grove Outlets. I just cannot drive by without stopping so we did a little shopping there and ate dinner. We arrived at the hotel around 9:30 in Atlanta and got ready for bed. Ella Kate loved pushing the luggage carts at the hotel and was quite mad when we had to return them. So mad, that she pitched a good fit and ended up making herself throw up. She woke up in a much better mood the next morning and had the best time looking at the "ishes" at the Aquarium. We watched the Dolphin Tale show, crawled through the tunnel to see the penguins, and had LOTS of fun. When we left, EK enjoyed chasing the leaves outside the aquarium and hearing them crack under her feet. Then we headed back to the hotel so that EK and Mommy could take a nap before going shopping at the Mall of Georgia. There, we took her to Build-A-Bear for the first time and she picked out a bunny, which we named "Bunn-A" (that's what she called them for a while). We also rode the carousel at the mall and she loved this, too. We had a wonderful trip and it was so nice spending that money on something we all could enjoy and not having to plan a party. I think a birthday trip will be a tradition for a few more years.

At the end of October, we celebrated EK's 3rd Halloween. We always go to my Mom's on Halloween and let EK trick-or-treat there. She was not crazy about her costume at first and we may or may not have had to bribe her with a sucker to get her to wear it. Everyone laughed at me when I told them she was going to be a donut for Halloween. But, she loved eating and playing with toy donuts so I thought it would be cute for a costume. We only took her to a few houses to trick-or-treat and the rest of the time she spent taking candy from my Mom's Halloween bowl to put in her basket. The little stinker also snuck and hid a few pieces in her carseat and Hunter caught her eating some on the way to Mom's a few mornings the next week. He said he didn't even notice she was eating anything until he heard her say "Ummy Daddy". SHE IS ROTTEN as can be!

In November, we celebrated Thanksgiving and EK also got an ear infection the Sunday night/Monday before Thanksgiving. Sunday night was a rough night for all of us and reminded us of many a night when she was a newborn. We knew it was probably her ear bothering her, and when we asked her what hurt, she always held the same ear. I am glad she's at an age where she can show/tell us what's wrong. Needless to say, we headed to the doctor and she did have a severe ear infection. We left with a prescription for Amoxicillin and it cleared right up. This is only her second ear infection in her lifetime so we are very thankful for that.

December was such a BUSY & HECTIC month. It all seems like a blur to me and I don't know how it came and went so fast. There was alway something to do or somewhere to go each day that I don't really feel like I got to enjoy Christmas this year. There were many a late night getting things ready for school or getting gifts bought or having places to go. Next year, I hope to SLOW DOWN and really enjoy the season. With that being said- it was a fun month and we loved the excitement EK had for Christmas this year. Watching things through her eyes makes me one happy Mommy. She loved seeing "An Cause" (as she calls him) and would find Santa ornaments on our tree and pictures of him around the house daily. There is one ornament on our tree where it looks like Santa has his eyes closed. Every time she finds it she says "An Cause seepin". We were surprised at how well she did sitting in his lap this year. She also knew about Santa's reindeer and tells us "Reindeer live woods". She also somehow knows that people shoot deer. It is amazing what she picks up and has stored in that little brain of hers. She also saw the UPS man a lot in December and one day when he pulled up she said "See Kenny, Mama". When he left she said "Kenny presents. It rainin' Kenny truck." It was a very wet and rainy day. We love Mr. Kenny and I have a feeling EK does, too.

December also brought some exciting news to our family. Hunter and I will be gaining a sweet brother-in-law and EK will have a wonderful "Uncle Bent". The story of how it all happened really is a funny one to tell but it was in the making for about a year. We knew Brent was planning to propose in New York and it's somewhere I've always wanted to go so we decided we would go and surprise Sarah after she got engaged. Sarah of course had no idea we were going to be there, which made it even more fun for us to be able to surprise her. We are SO HAPPY & EXCITED for them and cannot wait for them to get married. We loved New York (minus the cold weather) and hope to go back sometime when it's warmer.

Christmas came and went in the blink of an eye. Ella Kate loved the Christmas tree, Charlie Brown's Christmas, and opening presents this year. She was the official "present helper" everywhere we went. We loved watching her excitement all day. Santa was very good to her although she told us many times that Santa was coming to her door to bring her candy. I really think she would have been content with just getting candy, too. She got all kinds of new toys and things to play with and was especially excited about her new iPad from KK & "Gaddy" and her new tricycle from "Gomma and Papa Geg". She has spent many hours playing her "ta-o head" (potato head) Santa brought her and beating pots and pans in her kitchen. We are so thankful for our family that love her and spoil her rotten.

I probably have a thousand stories to tell about Ella Kate and her growing vocabulary. It is amazing what she has picked up in just a few months. She is doing great putting sentences together and picking up new words all the time. She keeps us laughing because you never know what's going to come out of her mouth. What we find really funny is the fact that she never calls herself "me or I". She always refers to herself as "E Kate". She knows a few shapes, about 5 colors, and lots of her alphabet letters already. She can count to ten but skips a few numbers here and there. She is also a very "routine" child and knows what happens next around our house. We are surprised with all that she has learned and remembers. :) We are trying to potty train while I am out of school, but she is just not interested AT ALL. I thought she was ready, but I think we may need to wait a little longer. She is a puzzle machine- she loves them so much and can put them together faster than most adults. We downloaded a few puzzles on her iPad and she can complete them in no time. We try to limit her time on the iPad but when she does have it, this is one of her favorite things to do. One of her latest obsessions is trains. She makes her Daddy watch Youtube train videos before bed every night. She went through a rough patch going to sleep since we moved her rocking chair out of her room. We could always rock her a few minutes in her chair then lay her down awake and she rarely cried. Now, we have to watch train videos with her, rock her for a while, and she will cry almost every time we lay her down. But, her crying time is dwindling down. She is doing much better about going to sleep but we are hoping she gets back to the "norm" soon.

We are looking forward to what the new year has in store for our family. We are blessed and GOD is so good!

Here are some pictures of our last few months of 2014…

Thursday, October 9, 2014: Family Birthday Dinner at Mellow Mushroom in Statesboro

The icing made her silly!

Opening presents with HOT PINK lips!

Friday, October 10, 2014: Birthday Morning

Her 1st Tea Set

Boots like Mommy!

Homemade birthday pancakes with whip cream topping!

Watching the Dolphin Tale show at the Georgia Aquarium

Us with "KK & Gaddy"

And with Aunt Sarah & Uncle "Bent"

Riding on Daddy's shoulders...

About to leave the aquarium- EK had to do a little outside exploring before we left.

New trampoline from KK & Gaddy. She says "cump" when she sees it.

Cadillac tricycle from Aunt Sarah & Uncle Brent

Poppell Farms Pumpkin Patch Trip: Sunday, October 19, 2014

Pretty girl!

She loved these rocking chairs.

She rode all by herself. Such a big girl.

Picking out pumpkins.

Family pic!

Halloween treats for her friends at Daycare.

Love these little surprises from Daycare!

Halloween 2014. This sucker is the only way we got her to wear this costume.

Nana Linda came to watch EK trick-or-treat this year! We sure do love our Nana Linda!

Trick-or-treating!

Out and in the candy went...

Another little treat from Daycare. :)

Halloween goodies from Mommy & Daddy!

Reading her new book.

Family Pictures- Fall 2014- Folds & Ghiloni Photography

SO ROTTEN!

That's a whole lot of sweetness in one picture.

Before her Thanksgiving Feast at Daycare!

Eating with friends at Daycare.

Thanksgiving 2014. The only picture taken that day for some reason.

Over my Thanksgiving break, we put up Christmas decorations around the house. EK enjoyed decorating her tree and learning the names of all the ornaments on it!

On Thursday, December 11, 2014 we left for NYC to watch our Sarah get engaged. We were so glad to be a part of it! This is Bow Bridge in Central Park. We've been keeping this secret for almost a year.