O Holy Night...

I can only imagine what the first Christmas was like. A new mom trying to keep herself and her baby warm in a drafty barn with all kinds of animals around. Not really the ideal place where you would want to have your newborn, yet Mary was at peace. Quite a reality check for me when I start to feel bad because my little one woke up at 3:45am and decided it was time to get up. Who told a one year old it was Christmas?! And why so early! I don't do well without my sleep. :)

The night before, Christmas Eve - Joe, Reece and I exchanged our gifts at home and then ventured out and met my family for the Christmas Eve service at Traders Point with my brother Jamie and his wife Melissa and her parents. It was a great service and Reece loved having time to run out in the hallways. Joe and I took turns allowing him the freedom explore the massive church.

We were granted an early gift and ran into the Ober Family at church. Barbara was a high school friend and college roommate of mine. After service we came and stayed the night at my parents in Brownsburg. This is when we thought we would get a great night of sleep that Reece would be none the wiser about Christmas morning. Think again! We tried everything to get him back to sleep, but it didn't work. I ended up downstairs watching Praise Baby with him at 5am and it wasn't until 7am when I finally got him to go back to sleep. After a nap Reece was ready to tear into his gifts, that is after he was given donut holes by Papa.

Grandmama and Papa allowed him to open his gifts before the others arrived. He was so excited to see the car they bought for him. Now if only we can learn how to move in it. Joe was excited for his gift as well. He received a Keruig Coffee Maker, the perfect gift for a student staying up all hours of the night!

It wasn't long before the rest of the Baker family joined us and we settled in to read the Christmas Story. Grant and Reece were both listening at first, but as youngesters do - they started teasing each other and had the rest of the group in laughter as well. Even if it is hard for them to sit through the story of the birth of our Savior, I think it is a great tradition to remind us all of the true reason we are celebrating. It was precious to see the two of them 'trying' to follow along. Afterwards we went into the family to open our gifts and poor Reece no longer had any patience for this, all he wanted was to play some songs on the piano. He loves pianos! Our gift giving was followed by a great meal and then relaxing time before dessert and packing up for home.

Thank you mom and dad for a great time!

Merry Christmas to all...

Now this feels like Christmas! It's almost like we haven't had Christmas in a couple of years... Even though we were blessed with one of the greatest gifts ever - Reece - this time last year, the actual holiday season was a bit of a blur. Those of you with kids know what I'm talking about...the three-week blur of late nights, black tarry poop, and listening for a heartbeat that marks the first few weeks of your first child's life. That's where we were 12 months ago - so this year we're celebrating Christmas with even more thankfulness in our hearts. God is good.

We love our house during the Christmas season. It's so simple, but a few candles in the windows, a couple of stockings by the fire make it feel really warm and homey. Here's a good picture of Reece by the tree. We broke down and bought a fake one this year, figuring that Reece is probably better off not eating pine needles until he's at least 4 years old...

Below are a few pictures of us this afternoon having our own family Christmas. We never buy too much for each other, but of course Reece had to get a couple of little things in addition to the great stuff that Nana and Grandmama/Papa hooked him up with.

We spent the last couple of days in Sidney, Oh with my mom and the rest of the Davis clan. It was a wonderful celebration...to see Leah, Ellie and Jillian truly understand the reason for the season. To watch them act out the Christmas story and sing carols...really cool stuff. There was great food (as always) and lots of fun time together. It's especially exciting since there is a new little one on the way (Ben and Marlo are expecting in the next few weeks), and also because they are moving over to Anderson to start a new job - Ben will be the Director of Alumni...

It's Christmas Eve, and we're leaving in a couple of hours to head over to the Baker's house, and to go to a Christmas Eve service at Trader's Point Christian Church. We promise to blog before New Year's to catch you up on our Christmas in Brownsburg. God Bless. Merry Christmas.

One Year and Counting...

Please forgive us for the four week hiatus from blogging...no excuses...we appreciate your patronage to the site, and we know that your time is valuable. What's been going on here that has kept us busy, you ask? Well, let's start with Thanksgiving.

We enjoyed a great holiday with both families - Baker and Davis- in Brownsburg, IN and Sidney, OH. Great food, great family time, great travels and best of all good health during that time. Poor Reece was hit hard the week after Thanksgiving with a cold; he had the works - a fever, runny nose, no appetite (and that is a big one for him), and the worse cough. Like I said though, we are thankful that he got this the week after Thanksgiving and was able to enjoy the holiday to its fullest!

In Brownsburg we were able to spend time with the Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Henry (Landry) in addition to the whole Baker crew. Reece and Grant had a great time running around and playing together. This time Reece only got a welt under the eye from Grant, instead of a knot in the head like the time before :)

.

In Sidney, during a trip to the YMCA, a scene straight from America's Funniest Home Videos took place...be sure to ask us about it some time. Too complicated to blog about... The rest of the time in Sidney was full of time with cousins and eating lots of goodies. We always miss dad when we're all together like that, but are so thankful for the time we had with him.

.

From early November to the middle of this past week was the busiest month ever...mostly because of the fact that my semester was wrapping up. I am extremely lucky to have a wife that understands and supports all of the time I spend in the books and on the computer. It paid off with a successful semester, but not without a lot of sacrifice on her part. That's probably the main reason that we don't have a lot to blog about for the past few weeks.

.

This weekend was exciting because we celebrated Reece's first birthday! On Friday night we got the house straightened up and gave Reece his first-ever haircut in preparation for the big event. You can see from the pictures how much we chopped off. At first, we didn't realize how much hair he had, but once I started hacking it off, we learned just how long it really was.

Lisa did a lot of work getting a great party together. However, the Indiana weather had something else in mind. The "Blizzard of 07" was quickly upon us and we had to call off the small get together. We even sent Nana (my mom) on her way a few hours early because we wanted her to beat the bad weather on her way to Ohio. But at least she got a few hours with Smiley Reece.

Brooke and Dan, and Jenessa and Lydia came over to help us celebrate Reece's big day. He really enjoyed his cupcake and icing...of course it wasn't his first sweets (imagine that, a Davis eating lots of sweets) but he was still thrilled with it.

Speaking of eating...you should see this kid put town pancakes and eggs - it's amazing! His usual breakfast is about like a body-builder. Two eggs, several mini-pancakes, yogurt, banana...it makes me full just thinking about it. I don't think we'll ever be accused of starving the kid. Oh, and by the way, Reece is officially off of formula now. He loves his water and milk (he prefers water) - this boy can chug just as well as he can eat!

.

One other exciting piece of news is that Ben and Marlo are moving to town! He just got the job as the Director of Alumni at AU...and will start some time in late January, right after baby girl #2 shows up. Be praying for a smooth delivery and smooth transition back to Indiana for Ben, Marlo, Jillian, and BGD. Well, I guess that's about it. Sorry, again, for the lack of blogging. We'll keep on it better during the holiday season.

We are throwing in some extra pictures so hopefully you will forgive us for our absence!

The monkey cake below was made by Lisa, it tasted delicious! And then we have Reece doing his birthday strut. The rest are a mixture of pictures with his birthday gifts and then some with family over Thanksgiving.

Fun at Aunt Kendra's and Granny D's...

There have been a couple of big events since we last posted. Last weekend there was another surprise 30th birthday party. This one was for Lisa's sister Kendra - welcome to the club old lady! David did a great job shocking Kendra with a party, and it was really nice getting to meet some of their friends. Reece had a good time playing with the older boys (Cousin Grant and his friends) and probably picked up a few bad habits along the way. He also picked up a new-found love for playing with balloons...so now those are a staple around our house.
The week went by fast, and was as busy as most others. It's getting to be crunch-time for my classes, as I have 5 big papers/projects due within the next month.
The biggest recent news is that Lisa finally got a chance to get away for a couple of days, and was able to spend her first nights away from Reece. He traveled with me and Nana Davis to Louisville where I had to attend a conference on Thursday/Friday/Saturday of last week. We stayed at Grandma Davis' house in New Albany, IN, and it was great to have 4 generations of Davis' under one roof. Nana and Granny D had a great time with Reece, and he truly did entertain them. As everyone does while at Granny D's, Reece ate very well. He had mashed potatoes, pork, ice cream, and all kinds of other goodies...including Grandma's famous biscuits. Reece also had a great time chasing around Patches. That poor cat is so good with Reece. She doesn't even meow when he grabs her tail and pokes at her.
Meanwhile, Lisa was in Brown County with some of her closest friends from college - Amy, Suzy, Kristen, Andrea, and Becky. They shopped and gabbed and played games like ImagineIf. From what I heard, they're all good friends with George Bush as well (must be an inside joke there I'm not aware of, right Suzy?).
One other recent event was my Saturday night trip up to Angola and back to go to my buddy Tim Warner's wedding reception. It was a great time. Only problem was that I almost smoked a dear with my car on the way home. Close call. God is good.
To kick off this week, Reece spent this morning at Brooke and Dan's, and was finally in a good mode for them. We're glad his true colors finally showed through, and he had a good time with Sam and her parents.
The picture of the jackass is just for fun...Reece liked it at the zoo last weekend.

Trick or Treat...

For the first time in a long time we bought and carved pumpkins, the night before Halloween (nothing like waiting till the last minute). Reece was in bed, Sam was asleep in the guest room, and Brooke and Dan stayed up late with us as we all tried our hand sculpting our pumpkins. I must say that you can tell who the creative couple is (the two on the right are from the Brand household). Joe even took the seeds and cooked them for us as a late night snack. It was very tasty.

On Halloween we dressed Reece up in his monkey costume and sat out on the driveway ready to greet all the trick or treaters. It was such a beautiful night and everyone seemed to be in great spirits. Reece loved watching all of these dressed up people come up and grab for candy. He eventually started grabing for candy himself. Sorry buddy -- maybe next year. A little into the evening, the Brand family came and joined us and we had a party with our lighted pumpkins and dressed up babies. It was such great fun --- it is so nice to be able to take a dark holiday and brighten it up by laughing and being with friends.

Weekend germies...

Yep...you guessed it. Things get kinda busy once the little man started getting more mobile. Go ahead and say it...you told us so.a XEWSZQA - that was a message from Reece. He loves the computer! It's even harder to get to the blogging thing when we're running after him in every direction.
The last couple of weeks have relatively uneventful, with the most exciting things being a couple more trips to the immediate care center and the doctor's office. Reece seems to really enjoy getting sick on the weekends and making sure we can't do much other than hang out at home. Luckily this past weekend he waited until Saturday to develop his illness, so we got to go out with Brooke and Dan while Jess (a colleague from my office) took care of Reece and Sam. Two weekends ago Reece had a fever and had a horrible cough. Well, the cough is still with him, but this past weekend both Reece and Lisa had to hit the immediate care centers. Reece had a blocked tear duct and had the most amazing green 'yuck' discharging from his eyes. Lisa pulled a muscle in her neck and had severe pain every time she moved. I am sure it has nothing to do with lugging around a 27 pound kiddo -- yes that is right, Reece now weighs 27 pounds. 10 months and 27 pounds, just what is he going to weigh at 2 years.
The first few pictures you're looking at are from Lisa and Reece's trip to the zoo with Grandmama and Papa Baker a couple of weeks ago. Reece's favorite animals were the penguins - he loved watching them dive and swim.
Last week we attended an AU alumni event at Smith Farms in Pendleton. It was a great opportunity to be out in the fall weather with Reece and Sam - and to check out some cool farm animals. There was a mad cow...I swear he was about to charge us. Reece and Sam both liked Mollie and Pollie the sheep and lamb and the goat really liked both of them.
Reece has a special knack of getting in between things - chairs no longer slow him down, and he can get up the stairs in about 15 seconds flat- it's amazing. The last picture is from this Sunday watching the Bears vs. Lions. Unfortunately we weren't smiling too much (Bears lost...again), but it sure was fun watching the game together.
We'll send out some pictures later this week after Reece's first Halloween.