The Obligatory Christmas Post

I know there are going to be about a million of these posts floating about the interweb in the coming days/weeks, and that probably at some point you will be tired of seeing or reading them.  But too bad...here is another one about OUR Christmas.

I don't really have too many words this year - shocking I know - because we were blessed beyond belief, and I don't know how to express all that gratitude in words.  Just know that it was an absolutely incredible Christmas and Holiday season, and that we saw many Christmas miracles in our life as well as others.

So...here are some pictures that show a little more of the holiday happenings.

Coming up the stairs on Christmas morning.  (Well, technically Christmas Eve morning.  Santa came early to us because we weren't sure when Marty had to go back to Washington.  By the time we did know, however, we had already told the kids Santa was coming early, so there was no going back on it.)

My mom always insisted on this same picture when we were growing up. Just carrying on the tradition.

Seeing the presents.

Molly's festive outfit later that day.

 

Grandpa Ridges trying to play in the princess castle.

Christmas Eve brunch (YUMMY!)

Addison got a toy foam axe...oh, the joy this child was experiencing "chopping" everyone.

Cousins tearing into the goods.

Addison in the WAY cute skirt and bow my mom made for all the granddaughters.

My 3 girls plus their cousin, Brooklyn, posing in their skirts from Grandma.  This was the best we could get with Addison in there.

And as for little Molly, well she was just completely exhausted by all the festivities.

So, that about wraps up our Christmas. (Like that pun there?  I'm pretty punny.)

It was a WONDERFUL holiday season, and definitely ended too soon.  

I'm just so grateful we got to spend it with all of our loved ones!

Christmas Letter 2011

Here is my attempt at a Christmas letter for this year.  Please remember that I am still on pain medicine, however, and cannot be held responsible for anything I write.

Dear Friends and Family - 

To say that 2011 has been a whirlwind of a year would be the understatement of the century.  We managed to survive the first few months of the year unscathed, but since then it's been quite the adventure.  

Marty - Is STILL in the Army...even though we thought that would be done back in July.  He has done his best to adapt to living alone without all of the girls and drama that we bring.  You may think him crazy, but he actually misses it!  Marty is excited to use his training from the Army to begin a new career (wonderful things are already in place) in the "civilian" world, just as soon as the Army decides to let him go.  He continues to be the most wonderful daddy EVER, and has 4 little girls who are completely head over heels for him.

Camille - Has stayed very busy this year growing a baby and single parenting the other three girls while living in her parent's basement.  It's a glamorous life we lead.  She currently has two church callings in the ward - RS Newsletter writer person (pretty sure that's the technical name) and Ward Choir Accompanist - both of which she actually enjoys.  She left her job doing transcription work in order to 1. Not go crazy, and 2. Prepare for the baby.  This has proven to be the best decision she's made since agreeing to marry Marty.  At least it felt that way at the time.  She is now working on adjusting to having 4 kids, but feels she really has no business being in charge of that many children.

Brielle (6) - Is in the 1st grade, and has officially had her first crush on a boy...who so happens to be the younger brother of a boy her mom dated back in the day.  Awkward.  We keep telling her how gross boys are, but she just says "too bad!".  We are in trouble with this one.  She absolutely LOVES school and will not miss it for anything less than Scarlet Fever.  Brielle loves singing and is THRILLED to be singing in a children's choir for a Christmas program.  She is the biggest help to her mom and has pulled a lot of weight around the house while daddy has been away.


Claire (4) - Has continued her love of Batman far longer than anyone ever thought possible.  She has added other loves as well, but Batman seems to remain front and center.  Claire is in preschool this year and is loving learning all sorts of new things and making new friends.  Claire tells everyone she is a daddy's girl, because "she shows her bum crack a lot".  Isn't that sweet?  She is still the life of the party and always has something ridiculous or funny to say.

Addison (2) - Is on the verge of being committed to the insane asylum...because she is CRAZY.  She never stops jumping and is known for her bullying ways.  We are so proud.  The way you know she has accepted you is if she randomly walks up and smacks you on the leg, then you know you are favored in her eyes.  She likes to yell "no" and "stop it" all the time, and is exactly everything you would expect from a 2 year old.  But on the flip side she is super lovey and gives hugs and kisses freely.


Molly (1 week) - Joined our family on December 15th and has successfully survived her first week of life.  Being the youngest of 4 girls is going to be interesting, but she has been the sweetest, most mild mannered baby, so I think she will be all right.  She has already taken more "love" from her older sister's than we thought a baby could handle, and has done so without hardly a squeak.  Her favorite pastimes are eating, sleeping and filling her diaper.  It's a rough life to be a baby, but she is doing a very good job.

As this year winds up, we are hoping that 2012 brings our daddy home for good, as well as some new opportunities and adventures.  Life will never be dull, but maybe a little less chaotic would be nice.

We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas season and an even more wonderful 2012!

The Davis Family

(Eventually I will get some pictures...but for now, this is all you get.)

Molly Maxine Davis

Welcome Molly Maxine Davis!

December 15th, 2011 - 1:00 p.m.

8 lbs. 10 oz.,  20 inches long

Our sweet little baby girl made her entrance via scheduled c-section Thursday afternoon.  

(Yes, we were originally scheduled for the 20th, but my doctor loves me and moved it up to the 15th.)

Molly is lucky enough to get her middle name from her Great Grandma Campbell.  As soon as we found out she was going to be a girl I instantly knew I wanted to use Maxine as the middle name.  We decided to wait to ask Grandma Campbell though until we had the baby, just in case for some reason we changed our minds.    So Grandma was my first phone call, and she was gracious enough to let us pass on her name to our sweet girl, now we just pray and hope that Molly will grow up to be as wonderful as her Great Grandma!

The c-section went well, it took a little longer than usual because my doctor - again - loves me and did remove a lot of previous scar tissue, apparently giving me a mini tummy-tuck.  Love him! 

Here's how things went yesterday.

Goodbye belly.

Hello awesome outfits to go in the OR.

Hello beautiful Molly!

Molly is an ANGEL, she rarely cries, eats like a champ and is alert and content.  We couldn't be more happy and grateful for her wonderful little spirit.  She is definitely proof that you can grow a big baby on a steady diet of ice cream!  A theory I wasn't purposely planning to prove, but now that I know how well it works I will tell everyone I know about it!

The other three girls are all very excited as well...well, at least Brielle and Claire are, I'm not sure Addison has any idea what is really going on, although she loves to see the baby and try to poke her face and eyes (I'm sure it's out of love...right?).

 This is what Addison wanted to do the whole time.  What baby?  Look at this big bed!

And there you have it!  

We are excited to have Molly in our family, she is already very loved!

Happy Birthday Addison!

 
It's hard to believe, but our little Addison is TWO today!

I guess if you were to judge on her attitude, it would be pretty obvious that she's two now. 

 But going simply on how fast time has flown by it doesn't seem possible.

I remember this day like it was just yesterday, and yet when I think about it, it also seems like FOREVER ago.  Funny how time does that, isn't it?

We celebrated her birthday with family on Sunday.  And I only took two pictures because, well, I suck. 

Okay, I lied...I took one picture.  My AWESOME sister-in-law, Sara, made these cupcakes for Addison, as well as used my camera to take the picture.

But I took this picture of Addison enjoying the cupcakes!

Marty joined us via Skype to watch Addison opening presents.  I am SO grateful for technology, she was hilarious and I'm so glad he got to at least see all of that.

There is so much I could write about Addison, she is spunky, hilarious, sweet, spazzy, sassy, crazy, adventurous (she jumped off the stage at a church last week...hello??) and we just completely adore her.

 

We are SO glad that Addison is in our family, she definitely keeps the party hopping.  

Happy Birthday Addison!

We Love You!

Diving into some details of Marty still being in Washington

I feel like people are getting SO sick of me talking about the whole "Marty still in Washington" drama, but at the same time I get so many questions that I thought maybe blogging about what the heck is up would help answer as many of those questions as I can.  Plus, there may be a day down the road where I won't actually remember all these crazy details...even though they seem to be seared into my mind at this point.

So, if you are one of those that are sick of hearing about this, feel free to skip over this post.  

If not...here we go.

And just as a warning, this is going to be long.

I moved here with the girls back at the end of July when we were told Marty "would have his orders within 10 days".  We thought it would be great, we'd finish some summer activities with cousins, Marty would come, we'd start school, he'd start a new job and we'd get settled in a new home/neighborhood within a couple months.

That's what we get for thinking right?

Basically fast-forward 4 months of being told Marty "needed some more paperwork" which would take a month to gather, things being left on someones desk who didn't remember they were supposed to do anything, and higher up's blocking and pulling his paperwork back for no reason at all, we think we may FINALLY have some answers.  

Unfortunately, they aren't the exact answers we wanted.

When Marty came home around Halloween for a visit, we had been told his paperwork REALLY was done, and ready to go and there was a chance his orders would have him home for good in time for Thanksgiving. 

SURPRISE...that scenario didn't happen.

Marty found out that somewhere along the lines someone messed up on part of his paperwork (really are we surprised?) but after a process of bugging people for answers, getting blown off and just sitting in someones office until they had no choice but to tell him what was going on, he was finally given a promise, with witnesses present, that on December 1st (the earliest they can now officially push this all through thanks to that mess up from someone else) the last signature will be placed and on it will go.

Unfortunately, because of the military's desire to work as little as possible in December, there will be a ton of half days, long weekends etc. and they estimate that even with that signature on December 1st, he will not get final orders until the first week of January.

Basically this means that he will now have to take leave to come home for our baby/Christmas, and will only be able to stay about 2 weeks.  That is when he will bring all our baby supplies and clothes (leaving us, at the MOST, 5 days to get it ready for the baby, unless she comes earlier than the scheduled c-section....then it's all up to Marty), and then shortly after the baby is born he will head back to Washington to finalize everything.

Can I just tell you that the waiting for him to get here and the idea of still having to single parent is not what has me the most panicked?  I've done that for 4 months now, what's a few more weeks?  

No, what has me panicked is that instead of being settled, we're bringing home a newborn to my parent's basement.  It's the fact that the travel pay we were counting on to help us with Christmas is no longer happening.  It's the fact that I have NO IDEA what baby supplies/clothes I still have that are functional and in good condition...which means I haven't washed/sorted/organized a single thing.  It's the fact that within about 9 days of having a baby (via c-section) Marty will have to leave us again.  

Seriously...I've already had 2 emotional meltdowns over all of this, and I feel that more will be coming.

BUT there is a silver lining to all of this craziness, stress and drama.  

Health Insurance.

Because things keep getting pushed back, we have remained under the military's health insurance, and will not have to worry about that changing before the baby is born.

So, even though sometimes that silver lining seems to be missing, if you look really close, it is still there.

Even if it is the tiniest sliver of a silver lining.

We'll just keep praying, hoping and waiting for things to unfold.

NEVER A DULL MOMENT!!

(But I sure could use one)

Side Effects

I think it would be safe to assume that everybody, at some time in their life, will suffer from side effects of some sort or another.

Every ailment, condition, disease, illness, older brother comes with side effects...usually quite unwanted.

So it got me thinking about the side effects of pregnancy.  You know, things like:

Nausea

Fatigue

Aversion to your previously favorite food

Cravings for things at midnight that you do NOT have in the house

Mood swings

Swollen feet

Weight gain

Aches and pains

Acne

And the list could probably go on and on.  But there's one side effect of pregnancy that is probably most important.

At the end you get a brand new baby, hot off Heaven's presses, to cuddle, love, snuggle and enjoy.

Which sure beats the side effects of food poisoning.

This Camel is Broken

It finally happened.

Today, the final straw was thrown upon my back and I am officially a broken camel.

Without reliving all the ridiculous details and angering facts, there was a situation where HORRIBLE communication coupled with a bit of taking advantage of my willingness to help turned into a very difficult/stressful morning for me, my kids and my parents, unbeknownst to the straw holder...although I really wanted to punch them and yell at them.  But I refrained.

I would say throughout all this nearly 4 months away from Marty, single parenting my 3 kids, bunking in my parent's basement, being 8 months pregnant, having 2 church callings, and my part time job at home that I have been able to (for the most part) maintain a pretty solid attitude.  I have not necessarily been nice and happy the whole time, but I have pushed forward every day doing what I have to without too much complaining (except to Marty).

And you know what?

I'm done.

So, if I'm mean, snappy, rude, cry or refuse to do anything anybody asks me, just understand that the load was pushed beyond capacity today and I have no desire to lighten it.  I'm going to go ahead and stay mad and broken for now.

And I'm going to eat a lot of chocolate while I'm at it.

First Snow of the Season!

Marty left bright and early yesterday morning to go back to Washington...let's just say that some people (Addison) have been horribly grumpy since then.

Thank goodness we woke up to SNOW today to give the kids a bit of a distraction though.  As soon as the kids saw outside, they were all beyond excited.  I guess living somewhere that gets little to no snow for the last couple winters makes it even more magical for them now.  Addison was barely 1 last year, so this was her first year really experiencing it.  She stood by the window saying "Wow!  Cool!" for a good 5 minutes before insisting she go out in it.  

And mostly for Marty's sake, here is a TON of pictures of the fun they had:

First up:  Make Grandpa drag us around on the sled

Then it was time to just play

Then sledding (Claire's face is the BEST in these)

 In the picture above you can barely see Addison's face behind Claire's terrified one...but it's pretty great as well.

Addison attempted to drag the kids around

 But soon realized it was better to get in and make Grandpa do it some more

Addison refused to get out of the sled, but found a new victim willing to drag her all over.  She also thought laying down and relaxing was the only way to properly be dragged in the sled.

And then they were all frozen and went inside for some hot chocolate.

(Plus, the adults were worn out.)

The kids probably think this is their only chance to play in the snow, since it's been that way for the last couple years, one snow storm or one visit to Utah and that's all the snow they get.  But luckily (or unfortunately) there will be PLENTY of days like this ahead.  Next time we just hope Marty is here, then he can be the muscle to drag Addison around.