Loss of a good friend

Michael lost a good friend (Mike Weiser) this past week at the age of 27.  Crazy to think that my husband is also 27.  Our prayers go out to the Weiser family.   I wasn't going to post anything on here about this ( I try to keep the blog my one happy place) but when someone so young passes I think it's good for people to stop and think for a moment.  Tomorrow is not promised to any of us.  Mike died waiting for a liver transplant. Below his photo is a link to a news article and news video about his story.....

http://www.ktnv.com/global/story.asp?s=9908554

Please keep his family in your prayers.

Diana walking

Everyone has been asking if Diana is walking yet. Here is some video of her yesterday. She took her first steps at 11 months but has really been more interested in crawling (it's easier to keep up with Davis this way) Lately, when I ask Diana to walk she says "no,no mama" and puts her arms out for me to hold her. I love it! When Davis was this age he was pretty much running and wanted nothing to do with snuggling with Mom. Diana is , dancing a little, listening to Gospel music, and holding her "make-up" bag while walking. She won't walk without that bag....she's in love with the zipper on it.   Daddy was very proud that she caught her balance right at the end and squeezed out one more step.  Go Dia!!

Diana's at home photo shoot

We were playing around with the camera this morning and I decided to make a collage for Diana.  I have lots to learn still but I thought this was pretty cute.

Davis was dancing!!

We went to Marques' dad's wedding reception on Saturday and Davis was a dancing machine.  He was doing the splits, somersaults, and kept making both April & Maya dance with him.  He had no fear and as usual made sure he was the center of attention.  Diana on the other hand was much more reserved and stuck close to Daddy.  She did try to keep up with Davis but only if Daddy was holding her hand.  We took off her cute boots and put her Nikes on so she could get around better.   She kept making the funniest faces when people would try to say hi to her (you'll see in the photo).  The color is funny in some of the photos but it was so dark in there I had to take out all the shadows or you couldn't see Davis attempting the splits.  Davis you made Mommy & Daddy laugh so hard this night we almost cried.  Miss Diana we hope that you keep your cute little attitude when you are a teenager.  We can only hope that you are still as cautious then as you are now.  We love you two!!

LOVE THIS SHIRT!! I AM MY MOM'S JOB!!!

I saw this shirt over the weekend and thought wow that says it all.  

Chef Davis Sheppard

Davis has always been a "good eater".  Now that he is two all the eating habits have changed.  Somedays he'll eat everything in sight other days he'll barely touch a thing.  I asked Davis what he would like for lunch (poor judgement on my part letting him decide rather than giving him "options") and he said " I make lunch Mommy".  Ok Davis go ahead let's see what you come up with.  My little sweetheart made me a very decorative lunch of Q-tips arranged in a dipping cup.  Thank you so much Davis.  It was just so pretty we couldn't eat it!

Babysitting Alaina

Alaina, who is 8 months old, spent two days with us last week.  She is my sister-in-laws niece and we just love her!  Alaina and Diana love to sit and stare at one another and "put their heads together".  They were doing this all day trying to kiss eachother and "talking" to one another.  Davis loved Alaina too.  If she cried even a little bit he would say "it's ok honey".  We would love to watch you anytime Alaina.  You are such a good little girl!

Day at the Domes

We went to the Domes with Gwen, her friend Carolyn and her grandson Benjamin.  Benjamin is 3 so Davis enjoyed hanging out with him.  They loved the trains in Legoland and Benjamin helped Davis to follow directions.   Diana loved seeing all the flowers and the waterfall.  It was a fun day and helped us forget it was winter for awhile.  The funny part of the day was when Davis ran over to sit on one of the benches and slowly inched his way to the girl sitting on the other end.  He tried to be so discrete about it and when she finally turned and smiled at him he was so happy.  Diana was walking all over the place (as long as someone held her hand) and really loved the trains too.  Diana also loved all the elderly people who were there in wheelchairs.  She made her way over to 3 cute ladies and told each of them "hi".  By the end of the day Benjamin & Davis were buddies and holding one another's hands.  Thanks Gwen & Carolyn for a fun day.

Breaking news....

So, I have so much to blog about: Diana birthday's party, our trip to the Domes to see Legoland and the trains, Davis' new cooking creation, Davis trying to clip his own nails, me actually leaving the house with some college friends, Diana's photo shoot in Chicago, the kids going to Grammy & Bumpa's for the weekend, babysitting Alaina..... but all of this can wait because there is one thing leaving our house that we won't miss and a new addition to our home that we are very excited about.  Goodbye Similac; welcome potty and urinal!!! Woohoo!!!!!  And yes I'll be blogging about all that other stuff later and am working on making Diana's birthday video.  There's not enough time in the day.....

I'm one today!!!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY DIANA!

Diana turns 1 today!  She is such a good little sleeper but woke up today at 5:30, snuggled with me a for a few minutes, and went back to sleep.  I think she knew it was her birthday.  I am posting the video that we made to document Diana's first week of life and a photo of her the first time she got to take a good look at Mommy.  It's amazing how much she has changed.  We will be celebrating her birthday this Saturday.  We love you Diana!

New shoes - Thank you Craig!!

Craig sent us some great Nikes in the mail.  The kids were so excited to open the box and both of them were happy about their shoes.  Davis ran and got his Jordan outfit out of the closet (also given to him by Craig last summer) and said "Mommy I need ball".  Once I put Diana's shoes on she started stretching and clapping.  Thanks Craig!  We greatly appreciate you always thinking of us.  Michael and I have finally started running again so these will be put to good use.

Our little snow eater

We left some snow on the side deck for Davis so he can go out there and drive his cars through it of course he thinks thats great.  I have told him time and time again not to eat snow but you know why would a two year old listen to his Mom, that would be too easy right?  Here is Davis eating snow.  I told him it was dirty.  He said "so" and continued his taste test.  Sigh...will I miss him being two someday??

Our first antibiotic

Diana had a terrible cold last week and after a high fever, some ear tugging, not sleeping, and inconsolable crying I gave in and took her to the doctor. It was quite a production with Davis tagging along but we made it to the doctor and found out poor little Dia had an ear infection. Our pediatrician said "oh, no we are going to have to give the first antibiotic to the Sheppard family". Davis (knock on wood) has yet to take an antibiotic and Diana almost made it to her first birthday without one. I attribute this to good old fashioned "good luck" and actually letting the kids be exposed to germs...that has seemed to work for us. After seeing a friend of ours have a daughter get a heart transplant this past summer I don't take stuff like this for granted anymore. Anyway, Diana was posing with her amoxicillin when she got home and Davis was being very protective. He told the pediatrician " I love Dia, Dia medicine". He is a great big brother!  I know this all sounds so exciting, right? : -)

Pull ups in the bathroom

I heard some "grunting" noises coming from the kids' bathroom the other day and I thought "oh great Davis is going poopie...yeah!!! " He has been making more of an effort to tell me when he has to go (we still have a long way to go) so I was happy about the grunting. I went in to check it out and boy was I wrong about what was going on. He was on top of the diaper pail doing pull ups on the towel bar. He definitely learned to do this from his Dad not me. I haven't done a pull up in forever. Good job Davis, now let's work on potty grunting instead of exercise grunting.

Sara's 30th birthday party!

A friend of ours, Sara, had a surprise birthday party for her 30th. Her husband did a great job of making sure she didn't find out and we had such a fun time. The kids went to the party too and there were even two babysitters there to watch the little ones (now that's a good party!)) I made a video montage documenting Sara's life called "30 years in 9 minutes". Another year and a half and I will be 30 too...yikes!

Davis enjoyed playing the little keyboard for all the ladies (he was the only boy there) Diana was very confused as to why Madison had the same Elmo seat that she has. She kept going up to Elmo in a very confused state as if to say "hey, we didn't bring you over here, what are you doing here?". Madison is such a beautiful little girl. She and Diana were born at the same hospital only 3 days apart. You can tell by the photo of them that they decided that they were both going to be serious for the camera. No smiles from these two divas!

Thank you Sara and Kenyatta for including us in your celebration. We had a great time!!