Princess Kate the Chatterbox

Our little two year old has been quite chatty lately and what she says is so adorable. Here are some of the adorable little things Kate has been saying.

The other day in the car she was babbling about a tower, a frog, and a castle and then declared, "Mommy, I Princess Kate! Find Kate Castle, Find Castle Kate!" Later that day she was lining up all of her princess figurines (fig-ines as she calls them), and cutely sat next to them in line because clearly she was the 7th princess. She still walks around the house saying, "I Princess Kate."

At her party the kids found it fun to run from one end of the house to the other. They would line up and take off. Kate would adorably yell, "Come on Kids, Follow Me." She would shout this every time they ran regardless of where she was in the pack, though mostly she was in the front. When her cousin Tommy lagged behind Kate quickly pulled him back to the crowd shouting, "Tommy, Where are you? There you are. Come On Tommy."

Since Brian works so close to home he makes it home for lunch and started taking Kate for a "run" when the weather permits so she can have some much needed energy release. Brian walks and Kate runs this little loop around our sub. One day she tripped and fell into a snow bank. Brian picked her up, brushed her off, and she cutely said, "Thanks Daddy, its slippery." She fell again shortly after and said, "Oh, no! Not again."

Whenever we are in the car and go down a hill that Kate notices she shouts,"Weee." When we return to flat land she says, "Oh no! All done Weee."

The other day she saw a picture of herself on the computer and said, "That's Kate. I so cute."

And perhaps my favorite, Kate ran to me to be picked up. When I did she said, "I so happy. I missed you Mommy." Such joy!

Another thing our two year old knows is how to work her portable DVD player. She knows how to put in the DVDs, change them, turn the player on, and what buttons to push to perform different operations. She is such a sponge soaking up everything, and she actually picks up a lot from the TV we let her see. She now sometimes chooses to count in Spanish, only up to five, thanks to Dora and Diego. As you can see from the picture above she is very serious about her player. I call this face her Brian face because he has the same expression when concentrating. We are having so much fun everyday with our little Kate! (Though, she is starting to not seem quite as little.) She is such a fun kid and truly good at heart.

Megan's 2nd Week

One of Megan's Precious Smiles

We've made it through week two and Megan is continuing to do great. Her jaundice levels are good, we didn't need the billy blanket, and are through with the many pediatrician appointments and blood tests. One of the remedies for jaundice is to get sunlight, but with a January baby in the Midwest that can be tough. Brian and I spent several hours these past two weeks "chasing the sun" extending ourselves in uncomfortable positions to try and get Megan some of the very little sun light we did have. I even positioned the van in the drive, blasted the heat in the car, and took Megan outside with me to get some of this rare sunlight. Thankfully, we are done with the jaundice!

Megan continues to be a very good baby. I know she is young, but we are cautiously optimistic about her disposition and sleeping. She is a very alert newborn, up for 7-8 hours a day, a good napper at other times, and a good night time sleeper. She eats twice a night and goes right back in her crib. We can even lay her down a little awake and she just nods off. That is very unlike her older sister. Megan is a good eater and was already up to 9lbs 7oz on Thursday. She is just about out of newborn clothes and really never fit in newborn hats. Megan has long fingers, feet, and toes. She seems very tall and we generally can't believe she was in my stomach two weeks ago.

Megan smiles quite a bit while sleeping and is incredibly cuddly. I love to feel her dark hair as she snuggles on my shoulder. At week two, I kind of look forward to getting out of bed to snuggle and feed her. But that is admittedly week two. Megan looks A LOT like Kate did, but I think a little more like me than Brian. Maybe it's the dark hair. She is really doing very well, and so are we with managing both of our precious angels. We hope you enjoy our pictures from the week below.

CLICK HERE for all of Megan's Week Two Pictures!

Happy 2nd Birthday Kate

Our first little angel is two! We had a low key day Saturday, relaxing and playing, and even had a little cake to celebrate. Kate was very wary of the candles and not so sure of her Mom and Dad's singing. Sunday we had Kate's favorite Lou's Pizza and Nana made a princess cake to celebrate with a few family members. Kate had a blast playing with Ashlinn and Tommy and really enjoyed her birthday celebration!

Capturing all that is Kate in a blog post is difficult. She brings such joy and zest to life. She is sweet, loving, cuddly, bright, active, friendly, and strong willed. She is totally two and her new favorite word is me. Kate is independent and very chatty. She speaks in adorable full sentences, counts to 20, knows her ABC's, recognizes colors, points out different letters and numbers, sleeps well at night, and gives awesome kisses and hugs. She was indifferent to her new little sister, Megan, at first, but is paying more attention to her every day. Today she told me, "Shh, Mommy Baby Crying." And tried to share her precious stacking boxes with Meg. Kate now loves giving Megan very gentle and sweet pats and kisses.

We have some pics from yesterday and I have some pictures of Kate that I haven't shared as of late and think this is the perfect opportunity. Sometimes I think the pictures capture what words cannot. Some are our almost Christmas pics, some of Kate playing, and some of Kate and Meg in their matching sleepers. Hopefully, Kate will find her sibling the best present we could have given her. I know Brian and I both feel that way about our own wonderful siblings.

Megan Lynne's First Week

Meg is almost one week old! We are home and doing well. Megan has had no more episodes of respiratory issues and the pediatrician assures us that there won't be any issues related to the episodes in the future. He said there are normal abnormalities as babies transition from in utero to out in the first 72 hours and that is what Megan was experiencing. She got great observation and one-on-one care while in the hospital and I was actually able to get a little rest. Now that we're home we're still doing well. Megan is having some jaundice issues now that we've brought her home, but we are working through it with little medical intervention and hope by Saturday to be in the clear.

Meg is a calm child, eats well, and sleeps fairly well for a newborn. She is generally very content and very smiley. We know they are not specifically at us, but she smiled seven times the first day she was home. Megan is an especially cuddly child and snuggles right in to the crook of your neck. Brian and I absolutely love having a new baby in the house again and are both so happy to have this precious beautiful little girl as our own. It's only been a few days and we have had lots of help from family, but we are thus far managing well with two. Kate and Meg conveniently nap at the same time each afternoon. Kate is really starting to notice Meg and is very gentle and sweet with her. Kate will pat Megan's head, give kisses, and always let's us know if she is crying. It is so sweet to hear Kate say Baby Megan, and even sweeter to see our two angels interact with each other. I've compiled some pictures from Meg's first week below. Included in the pictures is one of me after my water broke at lunch last Friday, and Brian and I enjoying our celebratory dinner at Lake Forest Hospital.

CLICK HERE for pictures from Megan Lynne's First Week!

Megan Update

All in the Davies family are doing well. Megan had a relapse in her respitory issue early Sunday morning, but for the last 24 hours has not had a repeat episode. Most importantly, she is alert, looks great, and is eating and pooping and peeing (you know you're a parent when . . .) The doctors and nurses feel it is just part of the transition from in utero to in the world.

Beth is recovering wonderfully, and is headed home today, and it looks like Megan will join us as well. Yeah!

For now, we wanted to share her hosptial newborn pictures. Just head to http://www.bellababyphotography.com/, click 'view photos', and enter this password- 20100109megandavies.

Thanks for continued love and prayers!

Meg's First Day

She's not yet 24 hours old, yet she already feels like a part of our family. Megan had some slight respiratory issues, but they resolved quickly and she is doing wonderful. Our new little addition looks A LOT like her older sister, just with a thicker and darker (almost black) head of hair. She seems a bit calmer than Kate, but perhaps she's just taking cues from her now more seasoned parents! Kate came for a visit tonight, and doesn't quite know what to make of all this, especially Mommy being gone. But we can already tell she is going to be a wonderful older sister and best friend. Thanks for all the comments and prayers, this is such a great time of life and it's wonderful to share it with such awesome people near and far.

It's a Girl!!!

Today, at 12:30 am, Megan Lynne Davies arrived! She is a beautiful, healthy 9 pounds 2 ounces and 21 inches long. Beth had a great delivery, I think she would say easier than last time. She is already planning matching outfits for the foresable future for her two girls. Hopefully we'll post some pictures tomorrow. Thanks for the love and prayers everyone!

The Labor Coach has arrived

Time for another guest blogger- Brian here.
So I got a text from Beth at 1:10 that "all was good". Next thing you know, it's 1:47, and I get a call- "time to come home, my water broke".
I then trucked east on I-94, making it from Madison, WI to Lake Forest Hospital in good time.
It's just shy of 5:30 central time here, and Beth is doing well. We'll post when we have news to share!

Here we go!!!

Guest Blogger Cheryl Libutti is bringing you the exciting news that Beth's water has broken!!

Baby Davies is on the way!

Brian left this morning for a conference in Madison, WI so he is right now winging his way home. He should be at the hospital in the next hour and a half.

Beth called me from the ride into the hospital and her dad is with her. She is feeling good, not uncomfortable, and sounded excited and happy for this adventure to start!

Check back soon for details!

PS- In an exciting coincidence, Brian's and my cousin Kristin gave birth to a baby girl today. It's a great day for our family!

Happy 2010

Quite the year and quite the holiday season has come to a close. We obviously had a great year with all our very exciting changes and we had a great holiday season as well. It started with Brian's birthday party and continued to Christmas Eve which started with a wonderful service at Lord of Glory and a dinner of Sirelli's beef and mostaccoli at our house which we enjoyed with the Bundalos, Brzezinskis, and Tomaszeks.

Christmas Day Gammy and Pop Pop arrived for a visit. They seemed to thread the inclement weather of the week on both the Albany and Chicago end and had no delays. We are so thankful for that and hope that makes them even more willing to come back soon. We tackled our basement and some little projects. I was able to rest quite a bit while they were here as they were a tremendous help. On the Sunday they were here we hosted our family group for Lou Malnati's Pizza and a Bunco party.

By Sunday Kate had the whole concept of presents down and anything with wrapping paper she considered fair game. She did great as usual and everyone got her so many wonderful thoughtful things. We had a great time at all our holiday functions.

CLICK HERE to view all our CHRISTMAS 2009 PICS!

New Year's Eve was both low key and interesting. We had Carson's ribs with Katie, and Ben, and my Mom and Dad. We did not have a New Year's Baby though we were close! I had been experiencing contractions on and off all week. During the day yesterday they got so bad when I was standing they knocked the wind out of me and I couldn't walk. They subsided when I rested, but I pretty much had to lay around as much as possible while still caring for Kate. Around dinner time they started at a pretty regular pattern and persisted even when resting. Anytime I stood they were severe. I talked to the Dr. and he told me to go in and get checked out. They put me on monitors and it turns out I was having moderate contractions every 3-5 minutes. They were certainly glad I came in. The only problem was the contractions didn't seem to be inducing labor. The doctor didn't quite know what to do with me. He said I was probably in early labor and if I was closer to my due date they would have me walk around and try to get things going. If I had been earlier in the pregnancy they would have given me medicine to stop the labor. We were in a gray area, but it would probably be best to try and keep the baby in utero a little longer. He was going to admit me overnight, give me an IV, and some medication to help me sleep and weigh things in the morning. I really felt I could rest better at home and didn't want to spend New Year's Eve or Day in the hospital. So I was sent home a little before midnight on bed rest. My contractions are still moderate when resting more severe when standing. It is now the waiting game for either the contractions to worsen, the contractions to subside, official labor to start, my water to break, or my Monday appointment. Until then we are a having a very restful New Year. I am enjoying the first few low key days I've had in a long while and saving up on sleep I know I'll need for taking care of this newborn. Things have been eventful as of late, but I know the year ahead will probably be even more so and look to what 2010 will bring.