I can’t believe he’s 4!

It’s been a while since I last blogged.  The end of the school year is stressful and busy and blogging was put on the back burner.  Lots of things have happened since my last blog and I will catch up on those things later.
Tonight I write about Jack.  At this moment 4 years ago I was one hour away from seeing my baby boy for the first time. 

Jack was 9 lbs. 11 oz.  I held him for a minute.  Jack had blood sugar issues at first, probably due to my undiagnosed gestational diabetes. He had to have his blood sugar checked every hour for a week.  He was taken to a different hospital because the NICU wasn’t finished at the new hospital we were in. I didn’t hold him again until he was three days old. During the first day the nurses kept referring to him as “Big Boy.” “Big boy is doing fine!” “Big Boy is very alert.” I finally grabbed Mike by the collar and said, “Tell them to STOP calling him big boy!” We decided on the name Jack Myers Davis.  Mike loved the name Jack.  He has an artsy great uncle, named Jack.  His grandmother always talked fondly about her brother Jack.  I told him he could name the first child and I would name the next three.  Jack’s middle name, Myers is in honor of my grandmother.  Her maiden name was Myers and since she is one of my favorite people I wanted to have a piece of  her be part of Jack’s name.   We spent 15 hours a day in that NICU during his first week of life.  I have such empathy for people who spend months with their babies there.  Jack was the biggest baby in the NICU.  Josh once said “He could bench press the other babies in there.”  I remember bringing him home on June 17th.  There was a banner across our garage door that said “Welcome Home Jack!” When we came inside I sat on the couch and took him out of the car seat, held him and thought, “This is how it is supposed to be.”  Mike and I were so in love with him.  We would spend hours just staring at him.  Classic first time parent syndrome.  As Jack has grown we have continued to be impressed by him. 

 

 

Jack currently loves anything water related. He wants to be in the water all day long.  He is my snuggle bug.  He loves to snuggle and watch movies. He sneaks into our bed in the middle of the night… many nights.  He loves books.  Each night he tries to negotiate how many books we get to read.  He loves to be the first person to greet Lucy each morning.  He tries to explain things to her as we go about our routine each day.  He is learning to use his manners.  He is not perfect, by any means, but he makes me so happy. Lately at night after we read Jack says, “Tell me a story.” Sometimes I tell him about something that happened that day or recently.  Sometimes I tell him about how Daddy and I prayed every day for a baby and one day God put one in my belly and we named him Jack Myers Davis.  He loves that story.  The truth is the thing I wanted more than anything in life was to be a mother.  I will always be so thankful that Mike and I have been able to become parents.  I feel sentimental every time I put away clothes that the kids have outgrown.  I get emotional after major milestones have passed.  Tonight is no exception.  I couldn’t go to bed without putting my emotions in print.  I love my kids so much.  I am so proud of Jack.  I am so thankful for my time with him.  I treasure my summers because I get to spend so much time with the kids.  I feel like the kids bring me so much joy.  I am blessed.  I hope Jack grows to understand our love for him.  I hope he grows to love God and be filled with faith.  I hope he finds ways to express himself and to embrace life.  I hope he learns to be optimistic.  More than anything, my hope is for Jack to be happy, confident, and loved.
I couldn’t let Jack wake up to a plain breakfast table on his birthday!  Decorations are in place and I look forward to spending the day celebrating my little boy.

A lovely weekend in March…

There was this one weekend when I felt like I was a character in the book “If you Give a Mouse a Cookie”.  In this book one thing leads to another, which leads to another, etc. 

One Saturday in March we woke up to beautiful weather.  Since it was so nice out we thought we should take the kids to the park.  We went to one of our favorite parks in St. Augustine.  We rode the carousel, played on the slides and swings, and enjoyed our morning.

We were having such a nice day that we didn’t want it to end.  We decided to visit the Fort, since we were nearby and it was such a great day to be outdoors. 

On our way home we got a call from Aunt Linda and Uncle Paddy saying they were near our neighborhood.  So they came by and we spent the afternoon together.  I told them about our day and Aunt Linda invited us to come take a tour of her ship.  So, after church the next day…

Jack wanted to sleep in Aunt Linda’s bunk.

Captain Jack, Captain Lucy

Jack kept turning around to wave goodbye.  He didn’t want to leave.

If you take a kid to visit Aunt Linda’s ship, he will definitely fall asleep before you leave the parking lot.

Thank you, Aunt Linda!!!