Storm 2011... my nightmare

OK, so I've never really taken storms seriously, I've actually been know to laugh at how hysterical people get over the warnings of them. Not anymore! It only takes one they say and I would agree. Here's the story...
So we go to bed as we normally do on any Tuesday night. We knew there were warnings, but didn't get to concerned about anything happening. At about midnight we both sat straight up in the bed after waking up from a LOUD noise. Walker told me to go get Davis and he headed to the kitchen where we thought the noise was coming from. I grabbed Davis about the time I heard glass crashing in the house. I immediately screamed for Walker and he assured me he was OK, it was just the windows. I waited on him in the bathroom with Davis sleeping in my arms and he joined me to let me know we had no flashlights and he was pretty sure water was coming in the house. Neither of us knew what to do and we were both pretty frantic. We decided to put Davis and myself in the bed and attempt to stay calm. Walker tried to search the house and see what had transpired. With little light from his cell phone he knew we needed help and began calling friends, family and neighbors. Within minutes we got word there was no way people could get to us by car. Walker got really nervous and began looking outside to see what the strong winds had done. He could tell our cars were covered in trees and knew it would be impossible for us to drive anywhere. FYI Davis remained asleep through all this commotion! Finally people arrived at our house on foot and they were able to bring flashlights and find where the noise was coming from...the hot water heater had busted! After doing as much as we could do we packed up some clothes for the night and headed out to the Vego home. (ah thank goodness for friends!) By the time we got to their house (took us over 30 minutes when it usually takes us about 5 minutes) we all tried to just go to bed, especially since there was still no electricity and we were all exhausted! Davis decided to wake up during this leg of the adventure and we spent the next 2 hours convincing him he was OK and we were all together. We prayed, sang and talked to him until finally he gave in and went to sleep. He slept about 3 hours before waking up screaming. He was very frazzled and had no idea where we were and he wanted to make sure we were both with him. We calmed him down after about 20 minutes and so began the day AFTER!!!

That morning after some yummy breakfast the boys and I decided to head to the house to clean out the freezer/fridge and clean up whatever we could. We arrived...I CRIED and CRIED and CRIED. Never in a million years did could I have imagined what had happened. Not only was our neighbors house demolished, but the tree that was the culprit of tearing the house and cars to shreds was also VERY close to my baby's room. Talk about rocking your world. I was so thankful we made it out safe and were not hurt physically. ( I fear emotionally I will remember that night for far too long). I hugged my precious hubby and tried to get a grip on the task at hand and did what Liz does best..work fast so I wouldn't think about what could have happened.

So that's the story here's what I am dealing with. The first night I prayed to God and thanked him for saving our precious baby and ourselves and giving us friends to come even when it wasn't easy. The second night I prayed asking God to remove the fears and memories of the night before so I could sleep. I finally was able to nod off by listening to my baby breathe. I knew if I could hear him breathing we were all OK and we were gonna be just fine.

Lessons I have learned: Be Prepared, storms are not a joke. Friends become family when they think of You before themselves. (thanks to Peggy and Jim Belue, And Ross and Jenny Lynn!) Prayer can heal all wounds. Don't get in a hurry for anything to return to normalcy after a terrible storm.
Just a few pictures from our worst nightmare!

What would Davis say part 3

So Davis has began some of the funniest things lately and they are just too great not to share and I have to write them down since I print my blog post for his baby memories. Please enjoy! His newest phrases that are completely Davis owned are : "hold you me": this phrase is used when he wants to be held (obviously) but we also use it on him when we want to be held! Of course it is commonly used when talking to his trucks or other toys! "this is..." I love this one. If Davis is confused by something or doesn't know what something or someone is he will say "this is, this is, this is" until you tell him what the persons name is or what the object is that he does not know the name of. My best example is while getting ready for church the other night my zipper is was left undone and left a dimple in my shirt (trying to see if I like the combo before getting it all zipped together) and he came up to me and pointed at the dimple in my shirt and said this sweet little phrase. I am thinking he was attempting to help me with my dressing! "HMMMMM" (accompanied by his finger on his mouth) he uses this word all the time if we give him a choice about something. Davis what do you want to eat "hmmmmm butter and jelly" Davis has also started saying his own prayers before meals. He will thank God for the special people in his life (mainly friends and family that are on his mind at that certain time) and then he then he will start in on his favorite toys/blankies, etc. We have all heard the comment what if you only had the things that you thanked God the night before, how much would you have. Well D would have all his fav people and things! He is also VERY much into chewing gum. So much so that he has to have it when we are in the car. He loves all colors, flavors and even attempts to blow bubbles (hilarious!). He also loves for everyone to chew it with him. This is fine when he asks us to chew it, but he is just not sure why his buddies Peyton, Marley and Gracie can't chew it yet! Walker and I have also started "a phrase a day" with Davis. We use this to get him to say our favorite phrase basically whenever we want. (the silly things parents do!!) So far our favorite ones are "I'm happy," "Jesus loves me," "Good morning!" HE says them with such enthusiasm and excitement, kinda like what he is saying is the best thing a person could say! Gotta love our little boy! Sorry this post turned into a mini monthly update, but things are gonna start getting crazy at our house so I am posting when I can about what I can. WE move in about 10 days into our new house! YAY!

It's raining it's pouring....

Well what better to do on a rainy day, but go out and play in the puddles! Davis and I left the gym this am with our rain boots on (I carried my tennis shoes in so I wouldn't squeak the entire workout) and decided the puddles were too big and too exciting to not stomp in them. We headed home and continued the fun in our lake of a yard. Davis loved jumping like a rabbit and a frog in all the puddles. Davis was really cooperative with the camera until the end and he decided that he needed to take some pics. Bet you can't guess which ones he took. (the ones of us!) We were covered in leaves, mud, sand and water so we headed in after our splash fest for a nice hot bath. Davis got some pill looking things that turned into trucks for his birthday and we decided it was the perfect time to let our trucks grow! He had a blast screaming "grow trucks grow" and loved deciding what kind of trucks they all were. What a fabulous friday! Can't go out in rain without our truck!

All smiles about being out in the rain and making messes!

Who loves the rain? I do!

BATH TIME! Who said getting clean was no fun?

2 yr old dr. visit

Well it was the dreaded "Doctor Day" today and for the most part we made it! It's funny it's like kids know what is going on and where they are even if it's a new place. We drove in to the Dr.'s office and Davis said "new doctors home." We walked in with our truck and gum in our mouth showing off how big we were and to keep the tears away...didn't work. The receptionist ladies were so sweet and were talking to Davis about how cute he was and how big he was chewing gum and he broke down. He was NOT happy to be there and he wanted to make sure they knew it. They handed me the booklet of new paperwork and we headed to the fun waiting area with slides and toys. Davis chose mommy instead of all the FUN stuff so we filled out all 19 papers together!! When we went to turn our book in we recognized some friends we had just met this weekend...Maddox and his parents! Lucky for us Maddox was happy and showed D it was an OK place. They called us back together and wanted them naked and back out to be weighed and measured. Neither of them dug that and BOTH of them hated the weighing/measuring process. Davis weighed in at 31 lbs 4 oz and was 34 inches tall! That's my big strong boy! We hung out in the hall and played with Maddox until the sweet finger poking lady came in! Ugh! Not fun! She was great with Davis though and he ended up counting the droplets of blood for her. There were 5 if you don't believe me! He got a band aid and said "all done momma, home" Poor guy had no idea we were just getting started! About the time I told him we were close Dr. Blake walked in. YES, more tears more crying to go home. He explained it was all very normal and most kids do this until they are 3 or 4 (good thing you only go back once a year!!). He was fabulous and Davis really started to warm up to him. He let him listen to his breathing, look in his ears, eyes, mouth, etc all without crying and then started telling him random facts. You see before the visit Walker and I had really talked to Davis about talking to the doctor and showing him how smart he was. Davis took the opportunity and began spouting off information like his name, favorite color, favorite toy, how old he was, his favorite food, his favorite show until finally he ran out of favorites and said "doctor all done, bye bye!" Dr. Blake thought that was pretty fitting and allowed him to get dressed and prepare for home! We got a good report on the ears (PRAISE GOD!) and Dr. Blake said he is a very smart healthy little boy who knows what he wants! Not anything I wasn't already aware of but good to hear nonetheless. Davis was never so glad to get out of the doctors house and go "bye bye in daddy's car. " He never ceasing to amaze me and cracks me up with his two year old intuition. The rest of the morning we spent some much needed time at Kroger, Walgreens and Target doing some extreme couponing! YAY Mommy! On the way home we talked about all the places we had been and how good Davis had acted and he spoke and said "finger broke momma." I told him baby your finger is not broke it's just a band aid they used to stop the bleeding. He said "K daddy fix it." Loving the days when we can still fix everything for our little man, praying for the days when we can't FIX things anymore. Children sure do bring out the prayers in a momma and daddy.

Easter Egg Hunt

This weekend we had a special treat...we got to visit with the Butler's. Erin is about four weeks from her due date and it was time to have a shower for Jordan's arrival so we went to Huntington to see our buddies. Murray's family is so sweet and kid friendly and they had an Easter egg hunt for the boys before the shower. They all had a really great time and got way too much candy! Davis could not believe there was candy in all of the eggs! He had a blast and Erin and I enjoyed remembering back to last year when all he and Cole did was sit and smile amongst the eggs! Oh what a difference a year makes!

those are some happy boys...Can you say CANDY?

Notice how Davis has on a different shirt and shorts...he was the lucky one that fell in the pool! Boys will be boys, in this case Davis will be Davis!

Thanks Butler's for such a sweet shower for Erin and such wonderful fellowship! We had a great time and can't wait to come back and visit! Oh and I have to think Erin for sending me the pics, somehow my camera got left at home!!!

Take me out to the ballgame

Walker joined the church league coed softball team to relive some of his glory days as a baseball player and we got to see his first game friday night! Davis was so proud of his daddy and loved screaming for him. He would yell "go daddy!" whenever Walker was up to bat and I am confident that is why he hit so well! haha! Nothing like hearing your two year old yell for you! Between yelling for daddy, chasing Wyatt, playing sweetly with Marley, reading books with mimi and playing in the dirt with Pawpaw Davis had a FABULOUS time at the ball field. Next Friday night couldn't arrive soon enough...

DRUM ROLL PLEASE...Davis' first haircut!!!

After 24 months and 6 days Davis Walker Dow Wellington FINALLY got his first hair cut. It wasn't a huge necessity, but I was anxious to get a couple of pieces trimmed up and just decided to go ahead and do the first official haircut. He held SO still while Meagan cut his hair, it was really quite amazing. He went mute and just hunkered down until she was done. When she took the cape off he went right back to normal and started flashing his smile and telling the ladies hello. He was very proud of himself and I am pretty sure he thought he was a cutie! He's so modest! We will see how long it is before our next trim! haha!