Cute, huh?

I made this diaper cake for a friend of mine to bring to a baby shower. Cute, huh?! I am so happy with how it turned out!

Food, Glorious Food!

Porter has recently discovered the joy of grown-up food. He LOVES to eat now, and sometimes I can't believe how much he ingests at one time!
Some things he's been picking up and eating in the last few days include:
Bananas
Peaches
Nectarines
Blueberries
Grapes
Pasta
Chicken
Peas
Green Beans
Quesadillas
Whole Wheat Waffles
Whole Wheat Bread (his favorite!)
Yogurt
Cheese
Turkey
and I'm sure there are more that I can't think of!

It has been really nice eating dinner as a family lately. He can and will eat almost everything that we eat! The most wonderful part of this stage is that he will still eat baby food as well (even the yucky kinds!). I know it won'tbe long until he realizes he doesn't have to eat everything that comes his way, so we are really enjoying this stage!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

I got bangs!

Baby Piranha

So, remember a couple of posts ago when I mentioned how Porter wasn't standing up in his crib yet? Remember I noted my relief, because I had a feeling he would begin chomping at his crib when he did figure out he could stand? Well, I do believe i jinxed myself, because I'm pretty sure that night he figured it out. I immediately started thinking about getting a protective cover for the front rails so he wouldn't destroy his beautiful crib. Well, apparently I took a little too long to think about that. I checked a couple of days after he had learned to stand up in there, and this is what I found. I literally almost had a heart attack right there on his bedroom floor. It is like this all the way across the front, and in a couple of spots on the sides. All I can think about is how when this crib is converted to a double bed, he will have to look at those teeth marks as he lays in his bed until he moves out of our house! A friend of mine reminded me that I will probably find them endearing in the years to come. It's a good point, but I sure wish I would have had the right equipment handy to protect the poor crib from the brutal abuse!

The solution: a giant, ugly, non-matching padded thingy that looks ridiculous. But it saved the poor, poor crib. My only concern now is that the sides are the same height in the front and have a few teeth marks in them now. What's a girl to do? Any brilliant ideas? Let me say, however, that I am SO glad we got this big giant thing before Porter got any top teeth. It gives me chills just thinking abot the damage that could have been.

Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

I totally forgot to go back and post the recipe from the chicken noodle soup that Suz and I made a little while back. Sorry! I just thought about it, so I figured I'd better do it now before I forget again! So, here you go!

Lion House Chicken Noodle Soup

2 teaspoons soup base or 2 bouillon cubes
3 cups canned chicken stock
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups chopped carrots
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 cans (10 1/2 oz. each) cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup evaporated milk or 1/2 cup whole milk
roux (2 parts flour to 1 part melted butter, mixed together)
2 cups cooked, diced chicken
2 1/2 oz. (about 4 cups) cooked noodles
salt and pepper to taste

Heat chicken soup base and stock together. Add carrots, celery and onion. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Add cream of chicken soup and milk. Thicken with roux as desired, then add chicken and noodles. Add salt and pepper. Makes about 2 1/2 qts, or ten one-cup servings.

Yummy!

Rotavirus

The last 8 days have been a nightmare. Last Thursday, Porter started having diarrhea. Friday it was twice as bad, and by Saturday he was fully-full-on infected with rotavirus. I will try my best to spare the gory details, but let's just say there was more than enough poop and puke around here. The absolute worst thing ever is seeing your little tiny baby in pain and discomfort, and there is nothing you can do about it. It has definitely been one of the most emotionally and physically exhausting experiences I have been through. Craig was so helpful and always came running whenever I needed him. He definitely learned to jump quick when I yelled, "Honey, I need help NOW!" Our washer has been on overtime, and I am nervous to see our electric bill since everything had to be washed in hot water! I think Porter either pooped out or puked on 90% of the outfits he has worn in the last week. Thank goodness for Baby OxyClean! Not one outfit was stained!

We kept in constant contact with our new pediatrician, whom we LOVE. Her name is Dr. Chally, and she is wonderful. She seemed genuinely concerned about our little man's health and would talk to me about every last detail of his condition, which makes a mom feel good. We went to see her twice last week...Monday for a sinus infection for which he was put on antibiotics, and then six days later because he was in the middle of this virus and throwing up so much. In those six days, Porter lost 1 lb. 3.5 ounces, and he now weighs less than he did at 7 months. Dr. Chally was really upset by this (as was I, of course) and she had a hard time deciding whether to send us immediately to the ER. She knows my type-A personality, so she trusted me to give him 1 teaspoon of pedialyte every 5 minutes, because anything more than that was making him throw up. We had to watch him carefully for the next couple of days and we were given strict instructions on how much he should pee, etc. If he didn't do exactly what his little body needed to do, we were to go to the hospital. Thanks to many answered prayers, he began to improve that night.

He still isn't normal, a few diarrheas every day, but has improved SO much. He also hasn't eaten any solid food in a week. He is uninterested completely, so that will be something we have to re-teach him I think. Another huge hurdle has been his sleeping. He was sleeping through the night for about 2 weeks before he got sick, and now he is awful when it is time to sleep, day or night. He fights it so much, even if we are holding him he cries, and he wakes up immediately when I lay him down. This new pattern is so uncharacteristic for him, so it has been frustrating trying to figure out what to do for him to get him to go to sleep. Also, he has figured out how to stand up in his crib, but hasn't mastered the art of getting down, so that has added stress to the situation.

My heart aches for my sweet boy, and I have never been so relieved to see him feeling better. I would say he is at 85%, and we are really looking forward to having him back at 100%.

Many thanks to all of our friends and family who kept Porter in their prayers in the last week!

9 months old

Our little man turned 9 months old today. It is all so hard to believe. Almost the whole amount of time he was in my belly has gone by since his birth. How does that happen so fast? It feels like I was just standing there with a positive pregnancy test, thrilled beyond belief at what was ahead. Having Porter in our life has been exponentially more rewarding than I ever, ever imagined.

Some things that he is up to lately that make us smile:
~Saying "dada." So cute, and Craig loves it of course. He whispers it a lot, which is extra adorable.
~His aforementioned love of the refrigerator, or any kitchen appliance for that matter. Beating on the oven door with a wooden spoon is a favorite activity as of late, as well as pulling up on the open dishwasher door and trying to reach the dishes inside.
~He pulls himself up to standing on just about everything, especially people. Lucky for Mommy he hasn't figured out that he can do that in his crib yet. I stress out when I think about little teeth marks along the front of his beautiful crib. I know. Let it go.
~He still loves the bath, and pulls himself up in there, too, like a naughty boy. We have discovered the joy of bubbles in the bath lately, and it has been so fun watching him try to figure those bubbles out!
~He turns pages in a book when we read to him.
~He blows raspberries when he doesn't want anymore to eat or drink. Not really a great habit to get into, but pretty cute nonetheless.

Porter has the sweetest personality. He is so easy going and so snuggly. He lights up a room when he smiles, and we continue to be SO blessed to have our little boy in our lives! Happy 3/4 Birthday, Porter Davis!

Daddy's Pride and Joy

Craig is so proud of this video...make sure your volume is up really high so you can hear! Hope you enjoy! :)

Sweet dreams for Mommy!

I have been a little nervous to post this, but it has been a full week so hopefully I won't jinx myself... Our noonie has been sleeping through the night! That's right, seven blissful full nights of sleep for Mommy. I was quite content with the one feeding we were down to and didn't really mind it that much, but zero feedings is way better than one! I seriously never thought the day would come, but lo and behold, last Wednesday morning I woke up to my alarm for the first time in almost 9 months.

SO. AWESOME.

Hello baby, goodbye Harriet

A bunch of my great friends from playgroup went out to dinner the other night to celebrate the impending arrival of a new little playgrouper (that sounds like a fish!) and to say goodbye to one of our dear friends. It was the first time that I can think of that I have been out at night for something fun since Porter was born! Ya know, something other than Publix or Walgreens. I had such a wonderful time with my girlfriends! Thanks, Kylee for watching Porter while he slept so Mommy could get out for a minute! I admit I didn't want to come home, so I forced Leslie to stay and chat with me in the parking lot until crazy hours in the night...such fun!

Pictured here from left to right: Me, Erin, Leslie and baby boy, Laura, Amy, Christy, Sue, Cathy, Harriet, and Karmen...some of my closest friends for which I am so grateful!

Harriet will be moving next weekend, and she and her sweet boys will be missed SO much! Harriet, I know you are a blog stalker, so I felt it was only appropriate to dedicate this post to you! (You're blushing, aren't you!?) I will miss you so much! You should start a blog so I can see pictures of your boys!


Thanks for a fun night, girls!