Maggie is Here!!!

Margaret Elizabeth Davis was born on Tuesday August 30th at 7:19 pm. She weighed 7lbs 7 ounces and was 20 inches in length. We are so blessed that she is healthy and strong and doing very well. She is an angel and is now sleeping 6 hours every night. She looks just like her brother did when he was a baby, except she doesn't have the big chubby cheeks and bulky body, but everything else looks just like him. She also has a gorgeous little dimple on her left cheek that shows up every time she smiles and I love it. Tucker has been amazing with her too. He is very protective of her and he has been so understanding when it comes to all of the time I spend taking care of his new sister. Luckily we have had lots of company who have been so helpful.

There have been a lot of things that have been different with this pregnancy and baby, but the most important difference was having JC here for everything. It is amazing to see him bond with his baby girl right from the start.

A few of his favorite things

I just wanted to catch up on some of the pictures I took in July and August and then I mention a few of his favorite things down at the bottom of this post. That is mostly for me to just keep record of so I won't ever forget these things in his life.

This was a 4th of July Ward Party.

Happy 4th of July! Tucker loved helping me make these patriotic strawberries and pancakes.

We Love our Country and the Marine Corps. Tucker is really good at the Pledge of Allegiance.

JC had the day off, so we went to a little park in Sacramento. It was fun but way too hot for this pregnant laday.

Tucker's cousins- Blake, Gavin and Gracie came to visit with my brother (Uncle Mikey).

Party in Tucker's room! The kids were watching a movie on the ipad.

Tucker loves to draw pictures for "Mag."

Where did he learn how to do this?? I'm so shocked!

One of Tucker's favorite activities with his daddy....Legos!

I'm so antsy for our little girl to arrive, I'm going crazy! I'm trying to fix everything, clean everything, and I'm buying way too much girlie stuff. When you get a 15% discount from Target, it's hard not too pick up a few girl things every time you go. Not good! Tucker knows she's coming soon too. Whenever we go to the store, and he sees something pink or purple, he holds it up to my tummy and tells Maggie to look at it. He'll say "Mom! This is for Maggie!!" Then he'll show her (or my stomach) and throw it in the cart. He wants to buy her everything!! He doesn't usually want to pick anything out for himself, just her. It's really cute.He loves to tickle my tummy, read to my tummy, sing to my tummy and kiss my tummy because he knows she's watching and listening to him. He adores her so much already. I'm afraid he thinks he'll have an automatic playmate when she gets here, but I'm trying to let him know she's going to be too tiny to play right now. I know he understands though because he knows for the first little while, she's just going to be watching him play. Besides Maggie, Tucker has many favorite things in his life...

1. Blankets. He has a million blankets. (His blue blanky that has been attached at his hip since he was born is now his "Baby Andrew." As soon as we found out we were having a baby, we were going to name our boy Andrew and our girl Maggie- so he turned his blue blanky into his baby brother "Andrew.")

2. Still loves Chocolate Milk and probably always will. His favorite thing to eat has always been toast, but this year it has been Blueberry Eggos. He could eat this all day. It's definitely his favorite thing to eat right now. He also loves Green Peppers. Not sure why but they are his favorite thing to snack on.

3. Robots. I used to make up silly stories about a Robot every night who would go on a new adventure each night and Tucker loved it. The first time I made this story up, I randomly named the Robot- "Robotdabotbot" and he laughed so hard! That was for a few months but I think he's over those stories now. I think those stories sparked his obsession with Space and Mars though and I will mention that later.

4. Books. We just read two or three books every night now and this is something he loves doing with me. It's our quiet time together (the only quiet time I get with him.) We also love to snuggle up on "Papa's" bed which is actually the guest bed and read books during the day sometimes. He loves The steam shovel book and all of the Dr. Seuss books but his favorite book is called "I STINK!" He knows this book by heart and it's hilarious. He loves to say the part "puppy poo" and then yell gross, yuck! He thinks it's so funny. We just got two new books that he loves as well. One is a Spiderman book and the other is the Dr. Seuss book about the planets.

5. Tom and Jerry. I had to stop letting him watch this for a while because he thought it was ok to act naughty like the cat and mouse. So for about a week we stopped letting him watch it while I explained that we don't act naughty like the cat and mouse. So now he can watch it and he's fine, but I also make sure it's not the only cartoon he's watching. There are definitely better ones out there that at least make it a little educational. I still can't get to a point where I'm ok with batman or any superhero shows. We have some of the books but I'm not ok with the cartoons yet. He's not even 4 yet! His favorite movie though is Peter Pan. He laughs so hard during most of the movie, and then when he's done, he likes to pull out his light saber and Mickey mouse light sword to play pirates with someone.

6. He is obsessed with Space and in particular, Mars, and I have a feeling that is because of the stories about the Robot. Our friend, Robotdabotbot, is from Mars- so now Tucker is obsessed with Mars. I've introduced him to more planets though with his new favorite puzzle. Along with outer space, he loves volcanos, tornados and things like that he can watch on youtube.

7. Puzzles and games. He is still obsessed with puzzles and has been since he was a baby. His new favorite is the space puzzle. He also enjoys playing our Book of Mormon bingo game for FHE on Mondays.

8. The ipad. This was supposed to be mine and it still is but he seems to spend more time on it than I do. I have to put a timer on so he isn't on it all of the time or else he would be.

9. Prayer. He loves to say his prayers and they are so cute. They are usually different but he always says "us, family, friends, bowling (not sure why but he has a bowling game on the ipad he likes), Jesus, Mars, McAlpins, Davis', beds, food, school, angels and the prophet." There is usually more he will mention but those are the ones he usually says and he doesn't like it when you try to tell him to include someone or something while he is praying. He'll get upset, but he doesn't mind doing it to me and JC while we are praying;-)

10. He really likes his primary teacher, Amanda. She is so cute with him and the other kids. She works at the Disney store and got him a "big brother" gift for when Maggie arrives. She is so sweet.

11. He has an activity book that he enjoys working on during the day. Sometimes we forget but he usually remembers and loves doing the worksheets they have in there. He loves learning so much- it's fun to watch him soak things up like a sponge. He can retain a lot more information than I can- that's for sure. Along with his workbook, I put tons of paper in a 3-ring binder for him and he can color in that book forever. He prefers markers though- so I usually have his arms to wipe down when he's done, and sometimes his face too.

12. Sports- in particular basketball and baseball. I'm not just saying this because he's a boy- he really really loves these sports and I'm sure as soon as Football season starts up, he's going to love football too. JC and Tucker love playing basketball together and my favorite sport to play with him is baseball. I can't do very much being so close to my due date with Maggie, so I just sit and pitch it to him while he bats, or I will sit and throw the ball to him while he dives after it just to throw it back to me. We have a lot of fun with baseball. I have him signed up for Soccer starting in October so we'll see if he enjoys that as much as he has in the past.

These are most of the things I can think of right now, but I'm sure there is more- like wrestling with his dad, playing legos with Dad, cooking with mom, etc. but those are the main ones in his life right now. I want to write all of this down so I include it in his 3-year book for Christmas. It's amazing to watch this guy grow and I don't want to forget anything.

Just for me

I have a little over two weeks before our baby girl arrives, so I wanted to get a quick post up before that day comes.

Over the past few weeks, we've had a couple of little accidents that I just wanted to write down and record for my memory. I am always thankful for the precious little life of my son but these moments give me a huge punch in the soul to help me realize how blessed I am. I don't ever want to take the fact that he is in my life for granted. I strive to be present or "in the moment" in his life by doing things that he enjoys everyday. I have always had a guilt of not being able to have a sibling for him as a playmate so he is used to me and JC (when he is home) being his buddy. I'm not going to lie though- he gets to have friends over to the house a lot more than most kids and I'm ok with that:-) Tucker hates doing anything by himself, he just loves being around people. We have a huge playroom upstairs for him that I thought he would love playing in, and he does...when JC or I or other kids are in there with him.

Anyway- a few weeks ago, one of my friends from college came into town and invited me over to her parents house for a play date with our kids along with one of her friends from around here and her kids as well. Tucker can swim fine with his life jacket on, but if he doesn't have that on, he doesn't know how to swim. They had been swimming for a while and eventually they got tired so three of the little ones decided to play in the yard chasing each other and running around. Well, I took his life jacket off so he could run without being so uncomfortable. (I shouldn't have done that.) He and the other two kids just played in the yard for the next hour, so I just thought they weren't going to get back in the pool. Well, I became a little too casual as I was talking to my friends. The next thing I know, my friend hears something, I turn around and Tucker is in the deep end of the pool on the little stair choking up water. I book it over to him and he just had this scared little look on his face that broke my heart into a million pieces. I did everything I could not to cry (and that is next to impossible for me) and held him for the next 15 min letting him know how much I loved him and how dangerous it was to get in the pool without a life jacket. Believe me though, I have given myself many talks about being too casual around a swimming pool. I know everything I should have done and everything I will and won't do around pools from now on. Many moms don't get a second chance so I am just grateful no harm came to my son.

The next accident actually happened when JC and I were on a date. We have the best babysitter in the entire world. She is adorable and amazing and the poor girl experienced something I never want to experience. We came home from our date and she said they "had a little incident." I was thinking he broke something or he wouldn't go to bed or something like that. So I told her to wait and tell me what happened when we got in the car. So we got in the car and she just started crying. I was trying to comfort her and she apologized for crying and told me that Tucker choked on his hotdog. She said she had got up to get him a drink and turned around and saw him choking. She began hitting him on the back and was about to stick her finger down his throat when the hotdog came up. He was pretty scared so she made him feel better and gave him some water. She didn't know if she should tell me or not but I told her how grateful I was that she told me and that I wasn't mad at all. I was just happy she was there for him and didn't leave him alone to eat or anything like that. She did everything right and I let her know that. I just felt bad she had to go through that but also grateful that nothing serious ended up happening.

I remember when I didn't have anyone to worry about but myself- it was so easy. Now I worry 24/7 for 2 other people in my life and soon to be 3. I would always worry about my husband when he was in the Marine Corps and thought it would get better with his new job but I never stop worrying about people I love. I especially worry for my little 3 year old who is so independent. I want to make every move for him but I can't. These experiences in his life are not only learning experiences for him but me as well. I also worry about my unborn daughter- am I squishing her, is Tucker crushing her, is she getting the right nutrition? When she is born, the worries will quadruple. These are just part of the joys of being a mom. Thinking of others and not always myself. Even though life was easier when I only had myself to worry about, it wasn't better. My life is full and amazing and so fulfilling. I feel so loved and blessed- unlike any feeling I ever felt when I was only taking care of myself.

I can't describe what it feels like when your son tells you he loves you "infinity and beyond." It's better than any "A" I got on any paper, any good reviews as a teacher, better than anything I've ever won or accomplished in my life. I'm just blessed beyond my belief and will always be so thankful for my family.

Monterey

A few weeks ago, Tucker and I had to get our blood drawn. His was a test for allergies, mine was for something that had to do with my pregnancy. I went first to show him that it would be ok, then it was his turn. He asked me if they were going to "poke" him and I said yes, but that he would be fine just like I was fine. He rarely cries when he gets his shots, but shots are different and he knew it. He saw that the needle stayed in my arm for a few minutes, so he freaked out and started screaming as loud as he could- "get me out of here, get me out of here!" over and over. He was bawling his eyes out. I've never seen him that scared in all three years of his life. I had to hold his legs between my legs and then wrap my arm around the arm that wasn't going to get poked and this was difficult. I saw how strong my son was in that moment and he was so much stronger than I thought. It took two people to ultimately put the needle in his arm. As soon as they did it, he started screaming "mommy mommy- owie, owie, owie!!" So the first thing I thought of was to sing "I am a child of God" in his ear and it calmed him down in less than a second. (I'm sure I sounded awful though because I was trying not to cry while singing to him). Then I sang "Teach me to walk in the Light," and he didn't say a word. He told everyone later when they asked what happened, he said "The doctor poked me- then my mommy sang to me." He is my angel!

I just wanted to write down another quick thing that he did. He came into my bathroom while I was showering and he said, "Mom, I just need to tell you something." Then I said OK- what do you want to tell me? Then he said, "Mom, thanks for playing cars with me." Then he left. I felt so appreciated:-) I play a lot of cars, read lots of books, play lots of games, kick a lot of soccer balls, color on tons of paper and no one told him to say thank you that day- he just said it. I love my son so much.

The weekend after we got our shots, we went to Monterey for a little family trip in June. We spent a couple of days just having fun!