Diggers

Davis has a new favorite thing....DIGGERS! He's totally obsessed, requests to go look for them everyday and uses his self made sign for them regularly. I was at Kohls the other day and found two digger shirts on the clearance rack...SCORE! He adores them and yesterday wore the one in the picture and proceeded to point to the digger on his shirt and make the sign for them all day...as if showing me "Did you see this cool digger on my shirt?!" Plus, Kelly came home with the little digger toy to compliment his new shirt and I've never seen him so happy. He's adorable.

Showing off his digger shirt while playing with his new favorite digger toy. He was in heaven!

Hanging out with the giant bear at the Children's Museum

Playing with the recycled race car we made at the children's museum

I saw this on our walk the other day...one of the last leaves on the tree and a perfect red heart. Love it.

Has anyone seen Davis's hands?

Throwing the ball for Ella. He's got a pretty good arm!

Learning New Things

Every day is exciting with Davis in our lives. He's becoming such an entertainer lately, and is constantly amazing/surprising us with new developments. He's so close to speaking recognizable words, and just yesterday started putting his face under water in the tub and then laughing when he comes up. That was a bit scary to see him do at first, but he's getting really good at holding his breath and we're always supervising. He also decided to show us that he is very capable of crawling onto the coffee table and then back off...over and over. The good news is that he's fairly safe about it and hasn't fallen yet. Geez...I feel like i need a few extra eyes and hands to see/grab him during these stunts. He's still obsessed with trucks and diggers (construction machines), and we go out daily to find them on our walks and then stop and watch for a while. Little boys sure are fun. I can't wait to see what he'll do tomorrow!

Cuddles with Ella

Pumpkins

Last weekend we took our annual trip to Rock Creek Farms to pick out our pumpkins. Last year was Davis's first time there, and he was still on O2 and hadn't had his heart surgery yet. I couldn't help but think back to last year and how far he's come in such a short time as we walked through the fields. He's really like a totally different, more grown up kid this year. :) Despite the crops being a bit limited due to drought, we were able to find some good pumpkins and then head over to the play area to pet animals, eat caramel apples, and enjoy the day. We had a great time and Davis wore himself out. Before we even got back onto the road, he was asleep in his carseat, adorably holding onto his new tiny pumpkin. Life is good.

Checking out the pigs with dad

Kelly and Lily

Caramel Apples!!!

Checking out the machines with uncle Zach

Family Photo

Crashed out with his little pumpkin

Carving his first pumpkin at Zach & Katie's house later that night

The finished pumpkin (with a few alterations to the mouth/removal of a few teeth, thanks to the squirrels)

Chitter Chat

Although we're not wrapped up in anything particularly wild or stressful lately, life with a toddler tends to stay busy. Davis is continuing to grow and develop with the speed of Felix Baumgartner in his latest jump from space. It's hard to even keep up with Davis these days, and requires plenty of coffee, snacks, comfortable shoes for chasing him, and lots of distraction techniques to keep him from potential breakdowns. As you know, Davis took his first unassisted steps at Zach & Katie's rehearsal on June 13th. In the last 4 months, he's perfected this skill and is now running, stomping, chasing, doing small sets of stairs and looking very stable in general. He's almost 26 pounds now, and feels very solid. Coming from the mom who carries him one handed on my left hip most of the time...trust me...i know all about solid.  He's a pretty happy guy in general and keeps us laughing with his antics. He makes the funniest scrunched up face when he smells a flower or anything for that matter. Some of you may have had the pleasure of seeing his "strong man" impression, which always brings heavy laughter. He seems to like the attention and it fuels these funny antics. In just the last few days, he's started to chatter a lot. I love trying to imagine what he thinks he's saying, but we'll never really know. He sure does sound like he's got a purpose though, and just talks and talks away. Ella is still one of his very favorite things and he loves laying on her beds (sometimes with her), feeding her his snacks, giving her treats, holding her leash as we walk and saying her name. "Ella" is currently the only word he continually says well. For a while I was concerned that he's not saying more, but our pediatrician assured me that he's developing just fine and has excellent communication skills. They count signs as words, so he's ahead of schedule according to them. And, his sign vocabulary continues to grow. He currently knows about 20 signs and can do them well enough for us to understand. Some of his favorites are "dirty, milk, all done, helicopter, cracker, cheese and poop." :) It's so nice for us to have a way to understand some of what he wants or feels. We still have the occasional tantrums of course, but most of the time I'm able to talk to him about what he wants or why he's upset. When talking doesn't work, I just use a few distraction tactics and he usually moves on.  Another bit of exciting news is that my parents (Nana/Papa) just got a beautiful Goldendoodle puppy named Lily. She arrived from TN on Monday and we're all excited to meet her tomorrow. She's tiny, fuzzy, and i can't wait to cuddle her up. I have a feeling Davis and she will become fast friends and I can already imagine the adorable pictures of the two of them palling around together. :) There are so many fun memories ahead of us, yet to be made.

Apple picking with uncle Zach

Driving the tractor

More apple picking fun with uncle Jason

Papa and Davis in their new matching Broncos jerseys. Thanks Jason & Emily!

Happy Sweeper

The new Kotas puppy, Lily

Fun dinner visit with Aunt Marion

Church duds

Davis does the beach

In early Sept we took a trip out to MD and NC to see Kelly's family and join them on their annual Corolla beach trip. A year ago, we made this same journey with a 6 month old on oxygen and the difference all around was noticeable to say the least. Davis was walking, signing, playing, getting to know family and loving the beach. We had so much fun playing in sand and water together. And he warmed right up to grandma/grandpa, cousins Sydney and Josh and aunt Holly and uncle Scott. Here are some of the highlight pictures.

Meeting Owen Lyon...such a sweet little guy

Mowing the lawn with grandpa in MD

Truck book on the beach....little boy bliss

Cousins playing in the sand

Feeding the turtles

Davis LOVED the little rug

Naps on the beach for the two boys

Chasing birds with aunt Holly

Chasing birds with Cathy

Sydney

 

Flying home

Congenital Heart Walk

Saturday was our second annual Congenital Heart Walk, near Children's Hospital. We had great cool weather and a huge turnout. After two laps around the course, Davis woke up from his nap and we had some time to visit with friends and celebrate the event. It's always inspiring to see so many families pulling together to support each other and the great cause.

The Mallory-Sanderson family and our "Walkin for Davis" team post walk

Team Walkin for Davis :)

Checking out the pond with uncle Jason