January 17th Davin turned 1! I can’t believe it’s been a year since we became parents! Bit more work than I expected lol but I also love him lots more than I expected!  Davin is getting so close to walking (has taken a random step here or there when he’s excited to see someone) but until then is happy crawling. This last month he REALLY loves his daddy lol some days a bit too much – like Ben leaves Davin & I at the table for a sec and Davin freaks out :-/.

For his birthday, we figured he would want steak since meat has been his favorite food this last month! We went to Cheesecake Factory since I didn’t get much sleep the night before and didn’t feel like cooking lol (thanks for passing on the stomach bug daycare buddies :-/).  And then on Saturday we did a little cake smash with some friends (thanks for celebrating with us!). I can tell he likes sugar the few times he’s had something sweet but I don’t think he knew what to do with all the people watching him lol.

Also in January we had a nice visit from my dad and new stepmom and stepsister! Some pics from their visit and pic & video from last month with Davin’s neighborhood friend :).

Video Link: Davin&H_TunnelVideo_Jan1

December 17 Davin turned 11 months old! He was sleeping thru the night about half the time by 10 months but then our Thanksgiving trip ruined it :(. But after being home a couple weeks he is sleeping through the night all the time!!! Early Christmas present for mom! He got a little bit of separation anxiety after our Thanksgiving trip – maybe the trip caused it or maybe just this age. He had a hard time going to bed and being left at daycare and was extra clingy at home but got over it after a couple weeks. He is still loving to eat just about everything and crawling all over! He loves Christmas music and likes to wave his hands and clap to it.  He’ll sit and turn in circles on his bum while waving about, very cute lol.  He’s pretty cute all the time except for diaper changes and getting wiped down after meals – he acts like that that is child torture !lol (= not lol). We saw that Petsmart had a Santa – no line, no $, and no kid germs lol – So mom figured we should try it out… Hopefully next year he likes him a bit more ;). Here’s some pics from the last month:

Christmas!!! We had a fun visit from my Aunt & Uncle and their dog from December 22-27. We visited lots of Christmas lights at Opryland & Cheekwood and Lena got so much love and play time.  We got Davin a kitchen set since he seemed sad we locked all the real kitchen cupboards. We thought the little phone would be his favorite since he loves our phones and remotes, but he loves the silverware most and carries it everywhere – especially to Lena’s bed. He also loves all the cars and noise making book he got from my family and “beary cute” outfit from our old nanny! It was very cute watching him and Lena open presents! And it was good to have a few days to chill at home since it was a pretty stressful semester.

December 1 we took Family Photos (Thanks Stephanie!):

And December 16, I took a few more of Davin & Lena since it was pretty hard to get all 4 of us smiling:

Sorry if you didn’t get a card – I didn’t get cards printed until the week before Christmas and didn’t get all of them mailed out before Christmas fun distracted us!

September 17th – Davin turned 8 months old! This month he figured out how to feed himself cheerios and other small stuff like beans. He loves solids and really likes feeding himself! He is still crawling all over and pulling himself up to stand on stuff :-). Sadly we got a couple colds and an ear infection, probably from his Monday/Friday daycare :-/. Ben finally convinced me to do a little bit of CIO (Cry it out) to get him to go back to waking up 1x/night instead of 2… (he was doing just once a night for month 5 then went back to getting up 2xs at like 1 & 4 am). About 60-90 minutes of sadness the first night but then slept much better after that! We had to do it again after each of the 2 colds unfortunately but it is very nice getting up only once!

Oct 7 -10,              my cousin Afton visited; we had fun walking around Hermitage – President Andrew Jackson’s plantation, Bicentennial Park, Radnar Lake, and Broadway.

October 17th – Davin turned 9 months old! This month he learned how to clap and kind of does high fives and makes kissy sounds. He’s kind of figuring out drawers and cupboards which is scary lol. He also started really liking his monkey pacifier… I think us traumatizing him by trying to get his boogers out did it lol :-/.

Oct 19 – 24, my sister Chelsey visited! We had lots of fun walking Lena, going to Cheekwood, and taking lots of pics. Davin & Lena helped us win the owner/pet costume contest at Cheekwood lol. Chelsey also dyed my hair pink for the week… it didn’t end up as pink ask I hoped but you can kind of see it in the park pictures.

We also had fun dressing up on Halloween and walking around the neighborhood and my friends also gave Davin a Pikachu outfit which was cute :).

November 17th Davin turned 10 months old! This month Davin started sleeping through the night  (by himself woot! glad we didn’t have to do any more CIO!). He sleeps all 11 hours about half the time, and wakes up 1x to eat half the time. Very exciting for mom! Davin is still crawling everywhere and into everything! We should lock more drawers soon to avoid squished fingers & messes. He cruises along furniture once in a while if a remote or something catches his eye (remotes and phones are his favorite toys even the ones that don’t work lol). He got another cold this month (3rd one :-/), a little fussy but so far hasn’t ruined his sleep which is nice. And the little fussiness might also be due to teething — Davin got 2 teeth right when he turned 6 months and it looks like he got 6 more in November!  … And Davin rolled down our wooden stairs :(… very traumatizing for mom (who thought the gate was closed but will always double check now!). Luckily Davin only cried for a minute or two… and then went straight back for the stairs so I guess he forgot or wasn’t too traumatized. And this month our nanny share friend is finally getting used to our house, the first month or two she wasn’t sure about :).

November 17th – Davin & I flew to AZ! Ben joined on Nov 21 and we all flew home together Nov 24. It sadly got pretty cold in November here in TN (in the past it hasn’t gotten cold til the of December here in Nashville) so we enjoyed some warmer weather in AZ and enjoyed seeing lots of family there. We told my mom we were coming just 8 days ahead of time – on her 60th birthday! And while I was there we got to take my grandma out to lunch for her 81st birthday!  Didn’t take too many pics but we had fun with my mom & stepdad, sister & BIL, lots of cousins, aunt&uncles, and got to see my stepbrother who was visiting from Utah! The big Memmott Thanksgiving meal we didn’t take a pic this year but lots of people like last year – my grandma,  4 of her 8 kids, 16 of 33 grandkids, and 6 of 8 great grandkids!

Davin thought the flight was too exciting to sleep – for both flights he didn’t fall asleep until the last 10-20 minutes even tho he was exhausted and past his nap time when we took off.  We got a seat for his car seat which was nice and definitely nice to have Ben on the flight home!

On Thanksgiving morning my sister was awesome to babysit Davin, and Ben&I hiked FlatIron – a 7 mile hike in the Superstition Mountains where we got engaged – 10 years ago this January! It is very steep and lots of climbing up and down boulders – guess I need to work out a bit more cause I was quite sore this time! But it was lots of fun!

Also while I was there, my mom & Nanita were awesome to babysit Davin while I got me hair done!  Before & after pictures below:

Nice job if you read that whole thing! Hope everyone had a good fall & Thanksgiving!

On Aug 9, the second to last day of me teaching my undergrad class and our nanny’s last day 🙁 — Davin learned to crawl!!! We were very excited! But I was freaking out a little inside that night after our nanny left cause she was awesome and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with this mobile creature who was ready to destroy our house lol… But we’ve baby proofed a few rooms and he is pretty good at entertaining himself with chewing on shoes and covering himself in dog hair as he goes… I’m trying to tell myself its good for his immune system lol.

Once I finished grading, then Davin & I took our first flight and visited my family in AZ for a week and he turned 7 months while we were there. Luckily we got an extra seat and a nice seatmate on both the flight there and back! But he only took about a 1/2 hour nap instead of the needed 2 hour hap so he was pretty grumpy… we stood by the bathroom for about an hour to keep him from crying lol. And we bought a used double stroller for our nanny share so the airport going back was a bit more tricky.

In AZ we had a fun time swimming in my parents pool and hanging lots with my sister, mom, and extended family on my mom’s side! And Davin Francis got to meet his great grandma Frances! We were having too much fun and forgot to take many pics but got a few:

July 17th Davin turned 6 months old! His bottom two teeth came through and he started sitting up that week!  He didn’t really ever seem fussy from teething just chewing & drooling lots.

The sad part of that week was he got Hand Foot and Mouth. He got it from the other nanny share baby and then I got it :(. Luckily Ben & the nanny & other parents escaped… I was teaching an undergrad Macroeconomics class in July –  2 hours M-F and was kind of drowning in all the work of teaching and prepping a class for the first time … and then having to stand and teach for 2 hrs when I realized I had like 30+ blisters on the sole of each foot and only had high heel shoes…I was not happy that day … or week :(. Davin had a fever and sore throat for a couple days but luckily not really any blisters.  But he was not happy for a couple nights – since swallowing hurt and he didn’t want to nurse he was up screaming for about 1.5 hrs at a time like 3 times a night :-/ … I wasn’t sure what he was so upset about… “just a fever and sore throat kid”… and then I got it and remembered how achy fevers make you feel :(.

And 6 months + sitting up == time for solids!!!

We tried “Baby Led Weaning” ie just giving them adult food instead of spoon feeding them purees. The first while was mostly playing and not so much eating – sticks of cucumbers, tomatoes (always been a favorite), fruit – peaches, plum, melon, etc and cooked veggie sticks like sweet potatoes & zucchini. We occasionally cheat and spoon feed him food to avoid the mess or if we are out and about give him a puree pouch which he likes too.

Other pics from month 6: