We can’t believe Davin is 2 already! We are having fun watching him try so many new words this last month; “Mine!” and “Self!” are his favorites lol but it is fun to watch him learn to do things himself even if it takes him a while. The last day of our Christmas AZ trip he switched to being a little bit of a mama’s boy, after being a HUGE daddy’s boy the previous year. I think he saw me packing up and got worried I was leaving him in AZ lol… sadly this means I get to change diapers when Ben is around (vs before Davin wanted Ben to do EVERYTHING!)… he now insists I do bibs for meals and bedtime songs but he still wants Dad to get him dressed in the am if he hasn’t left for work yet. While he often seems like a little dictator, he is very good at saying please and thank you which makes it very cute. He is still our little explorer, loves all things cars & trucks, is [usually] very loving with Lena, has gotten great at blowing kisses and saying bye bye to everyone, and loves to “help” mom make dinner.

For his birthday dinner we made mac & cheese (one of his current favorite foods) & steak (his favorite food last birthday, but wouldn’t allow on his plate this bday lol). We did a watermelon cake after dinner and he took cupcakes to preschool. Then the following day, we did a little party with some of his friends at Gymboree, with pizza & “choo choo” cake. He still talks about the choo choo cake a month later lol. And when we got home and he opened a couple presents, he insisted we use the paint right away (we haven’t done much paint at home cause it seemed messy lol but it wasn’t too bad). He has been having so much fun with all the fun stuff family & friends got him – ride-able car, play tools, musical instruments & shakers, puzzles, pall pit, & fun books! Plus we just had Christmas lol… Mom alternates between thinking we have way too much … to seeing other cool stuff and thinking we need something new lol.

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The morning of his birthday party, we got his first haircut! We love his curls, but it was getting in his eyes and a bit tangly in back but I made sure they left some side curls. The Cookie Cutter was so cute – truck & airplane chairs, tvs, and a slide & balloon for after… Davin was very excited to sit in the chairs before and after… but during he freaked out and cried and sat on my lap… at least he left happy and hopefully next time he will remember it is a fun place.

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January kept us busy – Ben finished up making 2 nightstands for the guest room… he had started them Sept/2018 but then life got real crazy and he hadn’t gotten back out to the workshop until recently but they turned out very nice. We hired some guys to take out 8 trees in our back yard and then Ben dug a trench for drainage pipe… hopefully with more sun and less water we will grow better grass this year!

Then Ben went on a long DC work trip Jan 6-14 – his part-time appointment at the Treasury was ending January 15 so he was trying to wrap up lots of data projects (sometimes we are bad procrastinators)… of course I also had lots of school stuff I needed to do too so it was a busy busy 2 weeks. But we did have an awesome day in the middle of his crazy DC work trip – Ben flew home for the weekend and worked 24/7 except ….when we went to Hamilton! It was amazing! We both cried more than I expected and even tho I was excited to finally go, it was even better than I expected!

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Below are some fun pics, luckily we’ve had a nice winter and have gotten to get outside a lot – I took Lena on a hike just her and me (she wondered why it took 2 yrs… much easier than taking the kid lol), a couple zoo trips, Percy Nature Center where Davin loves throwing rocks in the stream, and lots of park & bike time! Davin also loved doing a Home Depot workshop with dad (and getting his own apron to wear in Ben’s workshop) and liked going to the Frist Art Museum with mom.

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For our Valentine’s I made pancakes for breakfast & for dinner Ben made a delicious steak dinner and we tried chocolate Fondue at home for the first time which was fun. For our Valentine’s date (a week early) Ben & I had fun at Pins Mechanical – duck bowling, pinbowl machines, and giant Jenga. We also tried out some new places to eat – Chopt for dinner and dessert at Milk&Honey.

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Anything else in January/February?

I hosted a mini baby sprinkle for 2 neighborhood friends having baby #2, it was so sweet! I’m so glad we found such fun playgroup friends this last year!

We have been way healthier this year (vs last winter Davin had a constant cough/cold/ear infections) but he did get a 1-day throw-up bug the week of his birthday and then a fever for a couple days around Presidents’ Day (which ironically last time he threw up was the week of his 1st bday and last time he had a fever was last Presidents’ Day week lol)… It wasn’t too bad except with the fever he said his mouth really hurt – idk if he was also teething or got a canker sore or what, but it obviously hurt to chew (but not swallow) and he would want to chew cold teethers and wash clothes… I was glad when that passed. In January, we got a mini-potty to try out before bedtime – at first Davin was obsessed and then he refused to sit on it and now he’s moderately interested again lol.

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Everyone went to their first Presidential Campaign Rally! But sadly she dropped out before we could vote for her :(.

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And finally February 29-March 3 I did a girls weekend with my 2 SILs (Ben’s brothers’ wives) – they flew in and we rented a house in Nashville … only 15 minutes from our house but it had a hot tub and no kids ;-). We had lots of fun chilling and going out to eat!

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The first week of December Davin figured out his bike! Its a balance bike – they don’t have any pedals, you just sit and push. He got it in the summer but was standing and walking with it (and didn’t like the helmet rule lol).

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And in December, Davin finally started trying more than one new word per month! While in AZ he tried baby goat, animals, Chelsey, Paul, Coco & Boo (Boomer – Chelsey’s dogs), and finally put 2 words together “Mommy sit here! Dada sit here!” YAY!!! (putting 2 words together is a milestone goal for by the time they turn 2) … I know every kid develops at their own pace, but our nanny share girl (only a couple days older than Davin) learned the ABCs and talked in sentences months ago so it was a regular reminder that maybe he should be talking more lol. So we are glad he started trying lots of words even if it is often a guessing game to figure out what he’s saying. Here’s some random pics from December; he also finally figured out how to share with his nanny share friend pretty well :). (For a while it was “Mine!” to everything she touched the first half hour of the day :-/.)

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In December, we had fun doing a friend Christmas party – decorating cookies for the kids and funny adult white elephant game, seeing a big Christmas tree & Santa Claus with neighborhood friends, and of course Santa at Petsmart with Lena… Ben was too chicken to put Davin in Santa’s lap so no sad Davin this year lol.

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Tey & Davin flew to AZ 12/19 and Ben joined 12/21 and we all came home together 12/26. Before going to AZ, we had our own little Christmas morning in TN with Lena. Davin was very excited about the train table and was so cute rocking his dolls in their new crib. Lena loved her annual caterpillar and we had fun doing a silly string fight outside.

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In AZ, we had fun going to the park, the petting zoo, train park & carousel, seeing my mom & stepdad, sister & BIL, aunts & uncles, grandma, and hanging out with my cousins & their kids! And we even got to have brunch with some MD friends who now live in Mexico and were in AZ!

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And while in AZ, Ben & I got to hike Camelback Mountain – only 2.5 miles total but pretty steep. I wanted to exchange new rings for our 10 year anniversary but we didn’t get them in time for our anniversary back in May, so we decided to exchange them on Camelback which is where we first said I love you. We did a little sand ceremony that Ben found… cheesey but I liked it. Ben got a Celtic love knot ring and I got a ring with some teal blue stones.

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We had lots of fun but Davin was a pretty tired bug at the airport home (he never just sits) but he did pretty good and even pushed his own suitcase (which was nice so the stroller could push his car seat lol)!

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