Race for the Cure

This past Saturday was our area's annual Race for the Cure event. This has been a longstanding tradition in the Davis household and Hannah did very well for her first time. We walked in honor of Chris's Mom who passed away last October after battling breast cancer for over nine years. We are thankful for those years we had together, but we all miss her very much. Hannah is lucky to have a guardian angel like her. I think the amount of people overwhelmed Hannah at first - you've got to wonder if she thought, "am I back in China?". But after a short while she got used to it and even dozed off a little bit. We are glad te rain held off until after the race.

After the race, we had an awesome breakfast at Mert's... good low country cookin'. While Hannah seemed to enjoy the eggs initially, they made for a very nasty surprise later in the day. Needless to say we had to change her in the middle of the Target parking lot and use her SECOND spare outfit for the day.

:)

Halloween Decorating

Warning: There is no Hannah in this post.
I just wanted to share the Halloween decorations I put up in the front hallway. I was just really excited about how they turned out. That's all.

:)

Hannah at the County Fair

Hannah got to go to her first fair recently and it was a big huge success. I took some pictures of her pre-fair because she looked so darn cute. And she was nice enough to keep the hat on longer than 3 seconds. We started our fair experience by being suckered in to one of those "Every Chance is a Winner". Hannah was very good at picking up a duck that yielded a prize (they all do, but what does she know?). Hannah won a rubber duck and a plush monkey.

Then we tried the merry-go-round. Hannah was extremely focused the first turn with me. She held onto the pole and looked straight ahead the whole time. By the second go around with Daddy, she was much more relaxed. Check out the high five with Cole - isn't that the cutest? We ended our day with some good ole' fashioned carnival food. Hotdogs and funnel cakes and french fries... oh yuck!

:)

Ladybug at the Labor Day Picnic

Here are some shots from the Labor Day picnic. Hannah is a little daredevil and she could not get enough of being tossed around by her uncles. They did a really good job of catching her, much to Hannah's mother's delight.
:)

The Return of the Cute (as if it ever left)

Just some examples of the acts of cute we are lucky enough to witness daily.

Okay, be honest, did I over do it?

Last month Hannah's daycare sent a homework request for the babies. Let me just say that Hannah is 14. MONTHS. OLD. What could she possibly create that is homework-worthy? The request was to create a poster demonstrating the five senses. Again, she is 14 months old. I'm lucky if I can get her to point to her mouth when I say "mouth".

So I say okay, if I am going to do this, I am going to DO THIS. I've got art supplies and I know how to use them. I am a designer by trade, so I will DESIGN the crap out of this. AND I am going use all 5 senses while doing it - how do you like that daycare? Meanwhile Hannah sits on my feet and plays with her toys. I tried to get her involved but I was afraid she would try to glue her hands together. I am not sure what the daycare expected, by this is what they got from me.

So you be the judge, did I over do? Will I be able to top it for the next homework assignment (because you know they will have more). I wish I had a picture of the other collages... Hannah's rocks the hizzy.

But honestly if I have to ask if I overdid it, then I probably did.

:)

A Happy Birthday indeed.

My friend Amy was "kind" enough to buy me a this crown for my birthday. After wearing it for a good portion of the day (if I say so myself) at work, I went home and immediately made Hannah wear it. She is such a good sport, especially when everyone is oooing and ahhing at her.

We then headed out for dinner. My advice is to have a better idea of where you would like to go out to eat (especially with two babies in tow and even more especially in Podunk, NC) before you leave the house. Just a little tip from your Aunt Kimmie. Anyway we ended up at a bar, yes a BAR called Coyote's. The name should tell you that the boys enjoyed it very much. However, all I could thinking of was that scene in "Sweet Home Alabama" when Reese Witherspoon sees an old high school friend in the local watering hole and says "You have a baby... in a BAR." Nicely done Davis.

:)

Let there be post.

I am sorry it has taken so long to post. I think about it everyday. Fortunately, I can upload pictures on my work computer so I'll be able to play catch up over the next few days.

Here are some pictures from our California trip. Chris surprised me with this trip since we have been under a lot of stress lately (and that was even before the flood happened). We went to CA to spend a long weekend with the clan Reynolds (the wonderful family we made friends with during our adoption trip - so much for cutting all ties ;). It was nice to see the girls back together again and see how they have thrived since April. We also got to meet the rest of the crew, Parker, Grant, Luke & Dakota the dog. We got to go to the beautiful Oakland Zoo - ever wonder how a giraffe takes a drink? The Reynolds were the most gracious hosts and a good time was had by all. Who knew Mike was such a cook! And their pool was the perfect way to relax. Hannah had a wonderful time - we just wish we were closer so we can get together more often.

During the trip Hannah got another tooth which made sleep challenging. We resorted to driving her up and down the block at 1:00am to get her to sleep. I'm sure being in a new place didn't help much either. Now we are up to four teeth!

:)

Happy Very Belated Birthday Audrey!

Here is my inadequate attempt to be clever. It definitely didn't turn out like I had in mind, but I guess in this case it is the thought that counts. I was trying to make it look like the girls were back together by using a blowup of Audrey at the Guangzhou Zoo in China. I couldn't get the angle quite right and Audrey is significantly smaller than I had planned. Anyway, Hannah seemed to have a good time.

Again, a very belated, yet Happy Birthday to Audrey.

:)

We apologize for the delay...

Please stand by. We recently experienced a flood in our home and are in the process of assessing the damage. To add insult to injury, our online and phone have been down so posting has been at a standstill. The laptop that I used to post pictures pretended to be a shiny metal sponge (p.s. it failed miserably) during the "catastrophic release of water" so I'm not sure when I can get the next batch of photos up. Sorry Audrey for the delay, we hope you had a great birthday!

In the meantime, I stumbled across this poem and thought it was a very sweet sentiment during a very challenging time for us:

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.
Two different lives shaped to make you one.
One became your guiding star; the other became your sun.
The first one gave your life, and the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love. The second was there to give it.
One gave you a nationality. The other gave you a name.
One gave you a talent. The other gave you aim.
One gave you emotions. The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile. The other dried your tears.
One sought for you a home that she could not provide.
The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.
And now you ask me, through your tears,
The age-old question unanswered through the years.
Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?
Neither, my darling. Neither. Just two different kinds of Love!

:)

Hannah's new playpen

Things have been slow in the Hannah cuteness department. Not that Hannah hasn't been cute, oh no, it is that she has been cute when I am no where near the camera. We have also been dealing with alot of poop lately, and that kind of puts a damper on everyone's mood (see below). Today Hannah insisted on playing in this plastic tub I had just emptied out. Well, not completely empty since I left a bunch of Easter eggs in there. One large plastic tub - $10.00... a dozen out-of-season Easter eggs - $5.00... watching your daughter invent her own game - priceless.

You can also see Hannah's latest trick... she can pull herself from a seated position and stand while leaning on something (coffee table, parent's leg or in this case plastic tub). Pretty neat huh?

The last two weeks have gone by really fast. Which is great because I think we were dreading me going back to work. We had our first official call from the daycare, although in complete Hannah-style, it was not for the usual fever... apparently, Hannah pooped in epic proportions and I needed to come get her to give her a bath because it had gotten in her hair. Now I am thinking there is a pile of poop in her hair from what they described over the phone, so I jump in the car and drive an hour to pick her up. I get there and there is ONE STRAND OF POOP in her hair. One. A wet paper towel across the head could have easily been the solution. Nice. At least all the caregivers were apologetic because they did not realize I worked so far away and I gave them a Jersey-look so they won't do it again. I've got no problem picking her up when she is sick or God forbid if there is a serious situation, but next time you can handle the single poop strand thank you very much. Since I had the rest of the day off I made an appointment with our pediatrician since the epic poop situation has been going on for almost a week. We just started whole milk and thought that was the problem, then we switched to soy and there was no difference. So needless to say, enough poop is enough poop. It turned out that Hannah had two ear infections and that was causing the diarrhea. Did you know that ear infections can cause diarrhea? Yeah me neither.

:)

One tough day... for both of us.

Thursday, July 6th was one tough day. After saying goodbye to her grandparents, Hannah was sent off to her first daycare experience. I had planned on leaving her there for a half day and then picking her up and going to the doctor for her one year physical. Hannah did fantastic at daycare - she cried when I first left the room, but after that she was fine. So I sniffled all the way home and waited for the time to pick her up. Needless to say she did better than her Mom.

The exam was not as smooth. Hannah started to cry as soon as the doctor put the stethoscope on her chest. You can see the suspicious look in her eye in the photo. She calms down quickly, so much so its as if it never happened. Then, of course, Hannah had to endure FIVE shots. At least the nurse that administered the shots was like a "shot ninja" and it was over before we knew it. Unfortunately, one of the shots can cause a fever up to two weeks after innoculation. Great. Well, Hannah has as much patience as her Mother and decided to get the fever right away. I dropped her off at daycare on Friday for a full day... it was not in the cards. The daycare called at 9:45am saying that Hannah had a fever of 101 and I needed to pick her up. Oh well.

Tomorrow is the big day. I go back to work and Hannah starts daycare. Wish us luck that everything goes smoothly and is emotional blubbering-free (that's for me of course).

:)