best buds

One of the many things we will miss about living here is our friends as well as the little buddies Lily has made in her short (almost) year and a half of life. The friend we tend to do the most with and is definitely Lily's best friend is also named Lily, and it's been so much fun to watch these two grow this past year. Her mom was an acquaintence of mine growing up and someone I happened to get in touch with through facebook when we moved back, and she has since grown into one of my closest friends.

The Lily's have been playing together since they were just a few months old and are only a few months apart. We are often asked if they are twins, even though my Lily is a little bigger than the other Lily, even though she's younger. We've done lots of play dates at each other's houses, lots of pool time this summer, story time at the library, tailgating, dinner dates, birthday parties, time at the park, met for walks, nursery together at the gym and MOPS, and so much more.

It's been fun to watch their little personalities develop as they learned who each other actually was :) and to watch their excitement now when we tell them they are going to play with Lily! They have very different personalities but really do play well together and always seem to have fun.

One of the perks of working part time while living here, and now staying home full time, has been the flexibility to do these type of things. I often think about how different our year may have been if I were working full time. I definitely wouldn't have had the time to develop relationships and new friendships like my friendship with Danielle. She is just one of those people that is so kind and selfless the instant you get to know her. I can't tell you how many times she's offered to watch Lily, and now Preston, for me to run an errand or go to an appointment, or whatever it may be. She's the kind of friend that brings gifts and a meal when you have a baby and just calls or texts to chat. She's someone I have found myself being so honest with and often times after I say something thinking, "did I really just say that/tell her that even though we've only really been friends for a year?" (haha)! 

Those kinds of people and friends are rare and I know I will miss her immensely once we move. Luckily she also works part time, limited hours, so we've already agreed to day trips for them to Ankeny and us back here for the girls to play and for us to catch up. They will have a busy year ahead of them and it makes me sad to think about the things I will miss during our time in Ankeny but I know that our friendship, and the friendship we've started amongst our girls, will be a long lasting one! 

just this summer playing at the park

swinging together

check out the john deere tractors downtown waterloo

chugging their juice 

playing at the rec center indoor park last fall

water table fun

and the only one i could find with danielle! this was at lily garvin's 1st birthday party!

the last baby shower

A few weekends ago my sister, sister in law, and I threw my younger sister a baby shower. This is the final baby shower for the Davis clan (we only throw showers for the first baby) and we had a blast doing it!

My sister is due with their first baby girl December 1st and it was so much fun planning and throwing a shower for her. I love party planning and hosting these types of things! We found a fun theme through various blogs and pinterest and went all out with it. The theme for the party was "ready to pop". So everything had to do with polka dots, balloons, and things that are round and/or pop.

We hung balloons from the ceiling in the food area and on the mantle, my sister made an adorable banner that hung near the food area, and then we used tissue balls as decor throughout as well. We served popcorn chicken, princess popcorn, fruit pops (kabobs), cake pops, snap crackle and pop rice krispie treats, soda pop, and candy that pops - blow pops, bubble gum, and ring pops. We played a few games - balloon belly, which consisted of people have to do various "simple" tasks with a balloon stuffed under their shirt, to resemble pregnancy, of course. And balloon baby, which was people having to blow up a balloon big enough to fit and wear a newborn sized diaper, and then those that were able to complete that task moved onto round 2, which was drawing a baby face on the balloon and Jacinda picked her favorite few faces as the game's winners. We also had calendars for people to guess when baby will come and a baby wishing tree with cards for people to fill out with statements like, I wish for you..... I hope that you will ....... I hope that you will always remember......

Overall it was such a fun day celebrating another new life that will soon enter the world and into our family. That will make 7 grandchildren for my parents and 5 precious nieces and nephews for me. We are so blessed by each little person in our family and I can't imagine our lives without any of them. 

I get so excited when I think about all the joys my sister will soon experience. There are so many things that you simply cannot explain to someone about parenthood until they've experienced it themselves. And I feel so incredibly blessed to know that we will be living close to them and be able to experience life hands on with their new family of 3 as we are moving 2 miles from them next week! I know that this baby and our move is part of God's plan for their and our lives and I am excited to see how we can bless them in these next few years as they embark on parenthood for the first time.  We know this baby girl will forever change your heart and lives.

And unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the day but you can check some out on my sister's blog as she posted a bunch of there....
http://babygardzelewski.blogspot.com/

camping, pumpkins & an apple orchard

A few weekends ago we took the kiddos on their first, and last, camping adventure of the summer/fall. Even 3 week old Preston man tagged along amidst the COLD weather!

My parents had planned a trip to Backbone State Park and invited us along so we thought we'd give it a go. Luckily Backbone is only about 30 minutes from Jimmy's parents house so we figured if it got too cold and/or the kiddos weren't doing well we could head there. However, they both did great!

We arrived at the park in the afternoon, took a little hike, drove around the park to look at the different areas and different leaves, and checked out a cave! We decided to head into the closest town for dinner opposed to cooking over the fire and then headed back to camp for a camp fire. 

We all piled in the camper after the kiddos fell asleep around the fire and had a surprisingly good sleep. Granted we were in a king size bed and my little family of 4, including a VERY warm blooded hubby, was all snuggled in so that may have provided some extra warmth. I woke up quite often to check kiddos and make sure they were still bundled and warm, which they were. Little man woke up just a few times to eat and I will admit when I had to unwrap myself from the blankets and get the bare boobs out for eating that was a bit cold, even with the heaters in the camper! :)

The next morning we ventured another hour or so north to a few apple orchards in Gays Mills, WI. My parents had been there before and we tagged along this time. The drive was beautiful - it's amazing how many different colors you can see in the trees. My favorites are the bright bright orange ones. We stopped at a little pumpkin place along the way where Lily highly enjoyed running around all the pumpkins and picking out her very own - she's been carrying the thing around the house ever since! And then we made our way to a few apple orchards. We sampled some yummy apples, enjoy some apple cider and apple cider doughnuts - yum! and bought some things to bring home too. 

We had a fun fun weekend enjoying the outdoors and spending some time with my parents. It's special unplanned times with just my parents that I know I will miss when we aren't living in the same town but I have to remember it's just a short drive and there's no reason we still can't just hop in the car and go whenever it works - right?!

playing in the leaves on our hike

the cave we explored

lily & daddy

little man all bundled up

the beautiful colors

lily finding her pumpkin

carrying it around

one month

Preston was 1 month old on Friday - where has the time gone?! It is seriously unreal to me to think that it's been a month already since we were in the hospital meeting our sweet sweet boy.

Preston is such a good baby. He is so content, when he's well feed :), and sleeps like a dream. Since his first week home he has only been waking up about twice a night to eat. I feed him before we go to bed, usually around 10pm - he's up around 2 or 3am, then again around 5am, and then up for good between 7 and 730am. 

He is definitely growing! At his 2 week appointment he weighed in at 9lbs 1oz - up from his birth weight of 7lbs 12 oz - so he's doing great! He's already grown out of most of his newborn clothing and is now in 0-3M. Not exactly sure what he weighs today, but we will get that at his check up next month. He has changed so much too since that first night. Within the last week I think he's really started to fill out - getting those chubby cheeks and arms! His legs are still very long and skinny but hopefully those will fatten up too!

He is very curious, he studies faces for a long time if you are holding him, really looks around outside if we are close to a window, and already enjoys his tummy time and laying on the play mat. We've only had a few "mishaps" with Lily and her lack of carefulness - which have resulted in my phone falling on his head as well as a few toys. The small pumpkin she picked out last weekend may have been dropped a little too close for comfort a time or two as well :) So is the life of the second child, right?!

A few new things or firsts for this month include:

*first camping trip

*meeting many new faces - aunts, uncles, extended family, and friends

*first day alone shopping with mommy - sorry buddy :)

*first family walk
*pulling his own hair and crying

It's taken us a few weeks to get the hang of things with a newborn and 17 month old but this week has finally felt a little more normal and somewhat routine. We are still a little off "normal" as Jimmy is driving to Ankeny 3 days a week which makes for a long day at home alone, and unpredictable Tuesday and Thursday's, but we are getting the hang of it.

One of the biggest challenges has been breast feeding this time around. I had forgotten how much newborns eat! For a few weeks I literally felt like all I was doing was nursing while trying my best to keep Lily entertained and avoid a major meltdown, jealous fit, whining, etc. Lily has been so so good with him - she doesn't go long without checking where he is, giving him a kiss, or stealing his paci :) I have tried to be very cautious of finding something for her to do while I nurse Preston but it was becoming more and more difficult, other than the old TV - which unfortunately she's probably watched way too much of lately! However, this week has seemed to be a bit better and he already seems to be getting a little more routine with his feedings and needing it ALL the time!

Being a second child I definitely have the same instant and endless love for our little man. He is so so precious and I have really enjoyed the few quiet moments with just him as we've gotten to know him this past month. I feel like he fits so well with our little family and I already am finding it hard to remember our life without him. 

Overall it's been a good month. One of new adventures, discovering and learning about our new precious baby, moments of frustration for me as I try to navigate through stay at home parenthood of 2 babies and establishing a new routine for us all, but so so much love and hearts full of absolute joy. We know we are incredibly blessed to be the parents of yet another precious life and we are loving him to pieces!

And here's his one month candids........