Our bags are packed, we're ready to go...

We are super excited that we are leaving for our first vacation as a family of three tomorrow!  We are headed to Dallas tomorrow afternoon for an early flight on Thursday to Gulf Shores, AL with my sister's family.  We will be there until Tuesday and are so excited to have such a long getaway.

Many pictures to come.  Hopefully maybe some videos of a walker! 
(I'm not getting my hopes up, but would think it's cool if he decided to let go and walk on the beach)

Caught in the Act

Taking after his Mama and Paw Paw, Davis is turning out to be quite the chip monster.

He's only had Chee-tos, but pretty basically, if it isn't crunchy like a chip or a cracker, it's pretty hard to get him to try it. So, in my attempt to get "healthy" food in him, I got some Veggie chips that he loves. I turned my back, and he just dived straight into the bag.

It's no wonder our neighbor thought we had gotten a new dog.

Only to realize that it was just Davis going back and forth by the door with a toy in his mouth.

Davis stares at the rain...after all, we haven't seen much of it lately!!

Yes, there are electrical covers! And yes, he got a "NO touch".

Finally! Davis is actually walking with our hands.

As our pediatrician described it at his 12 month appointment, Davis is a fast-crawling-land-lover. Dr. Barret laughed at my first time mother's paranoia at him not walking yet when he saw him get around the office and said, "That boy can walk. He just doesn't want to yet."

Until just a couple of days ago, he would shriek if you tried to help him walk by holding his hands. So, while he practically runs behind push toys and cruises along furniture, we consider it a victory at his latest feat. Maybe he'll actually decide that walking is better than crawling :)

Parent Commitment Sunday

Sunday was a special day for our family. During our church's worship service, we made a public commitment to raise Davis in a Christian household.

We consider it a huge responsibility and awesome blessing to be able to guide Davis through his spiritual life. Our daily prayer is that he learns of the grace that is found through Jesus Christ at an early age and that he walks daily for God's glory.

We love you little man!

Our family before the service

Dad-urday

All three of us countdown to the arrival of "Dad-urday" with excitement. On Friday afternoons, when we are playing with Davis after bathtime, we ask him, "Do you know what tomorrow is? It's Dad-urday!!"

"Dad-urdays" mean Daddy is around all day and we all consider them priceless. Davis lights up when he realizes that Daddy is going to be sticking around. So, "Dad-urdays" also mean that Daddy gets a second shadow. But, needless to say, Daddy does not mind in the least :)

Davis stops Daddy's work to give him a hug

Break-time

Daddy's shadow

Ice Cream

Davis had his first ice cream experience this evening. Thinking we would make it really "special", we decided to actually take him to an ice cream store.

While he ate a few small bites, ice cream was no handful of cheetos in his book. Truth is that he enjoyed flirting with 8 year old girls and playing with the plant in the corner a great deal more.

Davis watches his ice cream being made

The far more entertaining plant

The Best View

A view, albeit not a very clear one,

of Davis on the video monitor, sleeping away

I resisted the video monitor at first, thinking that I did not need such a high tech gadget and a sound-only monitor would be just fine. But when we moved to Tyler and a two story house, we decided to exchange our sound-only monitor (we never even put it up in our old house...you could hear everything in that house without any special aids :) ) and upgrade to the video version.

Is it "Big Brother-ish"? Kind of, but I LOVE seeing what the little guy is up to. Otherwise, how we would have known that Davis pulls himself up to the side of the crib and literally does a free fall bounce down to the mattress, only to laugh and do it all over again? Or, how else could we see that inquisitive little face reaching so hard to grab the monitor off the wall, and often time succeed? I have seen him fall asleep sitting up, wrestle his bumper pads, and watch him peacefully put himself to sleep by rubbing his blanket on his face. But the sweetest moments are those rare times that he is actually sleep on his back and you can see his sweet little face as he dreams.

Last night, my "invisible" bird's eye view of my little man made me think about how it must be for the Lord to be watching over all of us. I can just envision God with billions of little monitors. Of course, He has the sound turned up as He listens to all of our thoughts and prayers. He sees us when we are up to our antics and thinks to Himself, "What has gotten into this child?" and debates whether He will intercede on our behalf or let us work it out ourselves.

But, I can also picture Him clicking that little button to get a glimpse of how we are when we are quiet and not calling out to Him. I can picture Him looking down on us as we sleep, and saying that famous parental phrase, "Isn't he just so sweet?" And in that moment, that us as humans think to ourselves that we would do anything for our children, He smiles and knows that He has.

I am so thankful the Lord is who He says He is and loves us so dearly. And I am so thankful for moments, like a view on a monitor, that reminds me of such.