Day 4

I'm just gonna go ahead and give myself the Best Mom of the Evening Award. I took Davis to the Magic vs. Knicks game last night...all by myself! And, let me tell you, it wasn't an easy task. I navigated my way through an unfamiliar city, located safe parking, walked to the arena, waited in lines for sodas, snacks, and souvenirs, went to the bathroom, etc...all with a nonwalking, 3 and 1/2 year old! I'm pretty bad ass, thanks.



He was OBSESSED with Stuff the Magic Dragon. I would've given a thousand dollars just to let Davis give him a high five.



I've been spoiling this kid like I don't have custody of him. Like I stole him from his legal guardian or something. But we're having so much fun here!


After the game, Michelle came over to the House. We put Davis to bed and sat up chatting for hours. High school style.

It was 85 degrees outside yesterday! And the Olive Garden brought lunch to the House for everyone! I love this place!

Day 3

Therapy went well today. After it, parents and students came in for a short demonstration to display what goes on during all of their programs. Davis was asked to participate, so between that and his regular school hours, he was EXHAUSTED. He was screaming to go back to the Ronald McDonald House and basically dragging me out the door.

We donated our big bag of can tabs today! Thanks to Elle's Mom for helping us collect so many!

Day 2

Someone handmade this blanket and gave it to Davis last night.

This morning, Davis and I went to the Orlando Science Center. It was the coolest place EVER! The first section was filled with fun, hands-on science centers that displayed things like electricity, tornadoes, magnetic fields, etc.

Making music Then, we walked through the Sea Maze.

We had to stop by the transportation room. Next, was the dinosaur exhibit, but Davis was terrified the entire time we were in there.

They also had a really cool swamp and forest area.

This tree was planted in 1689 and cut down in 1979!

Davis' first day of class went really well. His private therapist seems really experienced and had a lot of positive things to say about Davis. He was really energetic the whole time and, for the 30 minutes that I sat in the waiting room, all I could hear was him talking and asking questions the whole time. When we pulled into the parking lot of the facility, he asked about Micah (a therapist from the summer). So, he remembered that, also!

We met up with an old friend that moved down here from Woodstock for dinner tonight. Thanks for such a fun time, Laura!!!

Back In Orlando

We made it to Orlando! Davis and I pulled out of Hunt Road at 6:00 this morning and followed my girlfriend, Michelle, and her cousin, Natalie, down there. The drive wasn’t too bad; just a few minor traffic jams here and there.

When we walked into the Ronald McDonald House, the first person I saw was a woman I met the last time we stayed here, 5 months ago! She was the lady who had her son at 23 weeks and had no idea she was pregnant. But she said that he’s doing well and can come home just as soon as they have a home for him to come home to. I know. I didn’t ask.

The front desk volunteer checked us in and told us we’d be staying in Room #6…same room as last time! Getting the car unloaded and everything unpacked was much more difficult without Justin around. Although, Davis was a big helper by pushing the luggage cart all the way from the house to the parking deck and back.

After getting situated and going to the grocery store, I asked Davis if he wanted to go to the playroom. He said, “Yeah. I wanna play with Thomas Table.” He totally remembers being here!

Bigger Is Better!

Justin, Davis, and I drove to Talking Rock on Saturday to get our Christmas tree from Lowry's Tree Farm. The Farm doesn't officially open until after Thanksgiving, but they were nice enough to let us come up early! They only charge $5 per foot and you get to cut down your own tree!

One of the best parts about Christmas is the fun family traditions!

I don't know what we were thinking when we picked out the biggest, widest tree. It's seriously, like, 7 feet wide and takes over our entire living room. But it only cost $40!!!

National Lampoon's Style...
And to go with the biggest Christmas tree on the planet, I finished the biggest Christmas stocking on the planet. It's over 2 feet long!

Tree climbing...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Holidays Are Here!

Since I'm taking Davis back to the Conductive Ed facility next Sunday for 2 weeks, I went ahead and put up my Christmas decorations yesterday. I totally feel like I'm getting jipped since I'll be gone for so long during the holidays! After all that, I got motivated to pick up Justin's stocking that I've been working on since SEPTEMBER! It's freaking gigantic. Justin keeps saying we're going to put Davis in it for our Christmas cards. Does acrylic shrink in the wash???

Today, Justin and I had lunch at Davis' school to celebrate Thanksgiving. His class made laminated place mats to display what each of them is thankful for. Davis' has Spiderman, Thomas the Train, Momma, and Dadda on it...in that order.

P.S. Cafeteria lunch hasn't changed a bit...

"Look, Momma! I'm a cowboy! I will need a rope. Pease."

Davis is sick again...cough, runny nose, no appetite, wheezing. We saw a new pediatrician and she prescribed him with a month's supply of steroids and asthma medication. She thought it might strengthen his lungs through the winter and hopefully keep him healthier. Because she gave us liquid forms of both, we had to get a $200 firetruck-shaped nebulizer.

It makes this loud washing machine sound when you turn it on. Cool, red firetruck or not, I knew there was no way in hell Davis was going to go for this. I turned it on and tried to put the mask over his head. Ummmm...wow. He leapt off the kitchen counter and darted for my bedroom. When I walked into my room, he was curled up in a ball, crying. I said, "Davis do you wanna do the firetruck medicine, now?" "No, no, no thank you." He thinks that if he uses his manners, then he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't wanna do. Like, 'Did you hear me? I said it nicely. So just go ahead and throw that stupid firetruck/washing machine out of the window. Thank you.'


And...Enter 5:30 this morning...

"MOMMA! MILK! I need milk. Milk. Pease. Pease, Momma. Milk. MILK! I need milk. Pease. MILK, MOMMA!" He chugged a 10 oz cup of milk like he'd been sleeping out in the desert for a week.

BOYS!!!

Davis has been such a handful lately...

I was flying him around the house last night on my shoulders and he projectile vomited everywhere. It landed on the walls, the fridge, me, and all over the floor. The night before that, as we were tucking him into bed, he did the same thing all over the bed and himself. I thought we were done with the puking?

Right before school the other day, he unscrewed the top of his cup, poured milk on the floor, and wollered in it until I walked into the room. "Momma, look at this mess!" was all he said.


At Aquatics on Tuesday, he sang "Papa Paparazzi" for the entire hour. Yes, I let me kid listen to Q100. So, what.

He found this doorway jumpy toy thing in my pile of donations and managed to get his head stuck in it... While I prepared ribs for dinner last night, Davis prepared a nice, big mess...And I don't know where those blue plates came from, but Justin refuses to let me get rid of them.

His 'What?' face...Found himself a new hiding place.

Our newest home purchase. $350 for armoire and TV on Craigslist! Deal of the century!

Diaperless

Davis pee-peed in the potty twice this morning!!! YAY! He was so proud of himself. As a reward, we threw him some mini parties, gave him two whole M & M's, and let him flush his 'business' into the big boy potty. What a treat!!!! He did, however, have a couple accidents in his Tow-Mater underwear in between the potty sitting. But...we're getting there!

Pee Pee in the Pot-tay!

Pee Pee in the Pot-tay!

Pee Pee in the Pot-tay!

Halloween

Hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween weekend! Cowboy Davis had so much fun trick-or-treating with his buds.

Justin (Dog, the Bounty Hunter) and I (the other half of a pillow fight) went to a costume party after we dropped Davis off at Pa’s house.

The Halloween spooks continued into last night for us Nunleys. At about 1 in the morning we woke to the sound of pounding on our front door. This is, mind you, the second time this has happened in the past few weeks. So here I am, already beat up from Saturday night’s lack of sleep, thinking I’m about to get murdered. I’m reaching all over the floor next to my bed trying to find my glasses (in hind sight, they probably wouldn’t have done much to aid in the situation. I’d probably prefer to be blind while my killer lunges at me.) and cell phone while Justin gets our gun ready. Then I’m like, “Why the hell didn’t our dog bark???” Thanks, Doc. Thanks a lot.

We waited and listened, but nothing else happened (just like the first time). I made Justin get Davis while he was creeping around the house. My 48 Hour Mystery watching a** just knew this mass murdered was about to bust into Davis’ window at any moment and snatch him.

Needless to say, I’m exhausted today. We laid in bed for about an hour trying to figure out who would do something like that. Finally, Justin passes back out. He’s on one side of me twitching and snoring while Davis is on my other side kicking his legs and grinding his teeth…yeah, I didn’t know he did that, either.

First thing this morning, I went to Home Depot and bought outdoor motion lights and alarms for all the windows and doors. Safe and sound now…

New Nunley

Davis skipped school yesterday since he has a cold, so I took him to the pet store to get a fish. He picked this one...

...and named her Dory (from Finding Nemo). Hopefully Dory stays alive for at least a couple days!

Make A Wish

A girlfriend of mine, who coincidentally had a 2 lb 9 oz boy at 30 weeks, gave me a very special gift a couple weeks ago...

It's called HEAL AND BELIEVE

The card attached says...

MAKE A WISH

for peaceful healing

and put on this necklace.

Believe in your natural abilities to heal.

When your necklace wears off, your wish should

be true.

Trust, Hope, and Be...

I don't believe in magic (but maybe a little superstition). I know that my wish for Davis won't miraculously come true once this charm leaves my arm. It is, however, a constant reminder of our ultimate goal for him (can't tell you 'cause then it won't come true, right?!?!) and the importance of providing support to those undergoing similar situations as yourself.

It was such a sweet gesture and I wear it proud!

"Boo!" "No Boo, Momma!"

I can't believe Halloween is almost here! This year has completely flown by! Davis is totally freaked out by masks, people in costumes, spooky sounds, etc. So it's hard to get super excited about the whole thing. I took him into a Halloween store before school yesterday and you would've thought we were in a morgue. He tensed up and got panicky whenever we walked past skulls or creepy masks. And I guess there was a motion sensor on something because when I rounded the corner this ghost started flashing its red eyes and making this Tales From the Crypt style laugh. Davis screamed, started shaking, and almost leapt out of my arms. Sensory overload, much?!?! I wanted to let him pick out his own costume, but he went for the $40 Thomas the Train one. It was this 3-dimensional foam thing and, when I pictured Justin trying to carry him from house to house in it, I kept on walking. We left the store without a costume.

Davis and I carved our pumpkin the other night...

He's already on an adult's reading level...

Sorry!

Thanks Pa for taking such good care of Davis over the weekend! :)

No Kids Allowed Weekend

Justin and I had a very eventful, fun-filled weekend. Friday night, we went to the Kings of Leon concert with some friends. They were so awesome live and, since we had floor seats, we were like 20 people from the stage.

Then, on Saturday we headed to Tallahassee for the FSU vs. Ga Tech game with Mom, Jay, Brother, Elle, and some of Ev's friends. We tailgated at Ryan's (Jay's son) friends' house...well...in the street in front of their house. It was tons of fun...beer pong, flip cup, trying to learn the moonwalk, making fun of Justin's hideous sunglasses, hanging out at Mellow during the flash flood...

Busted

I just caught Davis, red-handed.

He stole a pack of gum out of my purse and snuck it into his room. I walked in to find 6 empty wrappers balled up on the floor next to him. I asked, "Where did the gum go?" He replies with, "In my mouth." "Did you swallow them?" I ask. "Uh-huh." OMG.

The Fair and Stuff

Justin, Davis, and I went to the North Georgia Fair in Marietta on Friday night with Davis' friend from Wildwood, Max, and his parents, Lindsay and Bob. Davis and Max were such big, brave boys and rode all the rides that their 36" would allow!

Saturday morning, we headed to Canton for Davis' T-ball and an anniversary party at his therapy clinic.

Driving the firetruck!

What's In A Name?

The name Davis (the son of David) means 'The Beloved One'. And his middle name, Gregory means 'watchful, vigilant'.

Most of you know that 'Davis' was on the top of my list of possible names while I was pregnant. Since we had him so early, and his name was still undecided, everyone that visited us in the hospital got to vote on what the baby's name would be.


On the list:

-Walker, meaning 'Cloth washer'...wow...

-Jackson (son of Jack), meaning 'the Lord is gracious'

-Luke (there was no way I was gonna let this one slide, but my mom and Justin LOVED it), meaning 'Bringer of light'

-Greyson, meaning 'gray-haired man (what?), pleasant'

Swash Has Arrived!

Davis got his Swash, finally! He seems to be adjusting to it just fine!

The back of it.

Bye Bye to Wildwood

Justin and I had to make a tough decision this week. We decided to pull him from his preschool at Wildwood. A couple teachers and students came down with the Swine Flu, but the school didn't feel it was necessary to notify all of the parents. I only found out during a conversation another mother had with Davis' teacher. When I questioned her and the coordinator of the preschool (also informing them of the danger of someone like my son catching this illness), I was redirected to the Parent Handbook and given lame excuses. The Parent Handbook, by the way, says that parents will be notified of any contagious illness that they know about so that we can be watchful of our own child's symptoms. This occurred two weeks ago and nothing has been sent home about these instances. I know that Davis can get the Swine Flu anywhere, but I can't allow him to be placed in an environment that operates that way. I mean, FOLLOW THE DAMN PARENT HANDBOOK FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! And if a parent, who PAYS YOU PEOPLE, has a request as simple as typing a few sentences on a flyer YOU SHOULD APPEASE HER AND DO IT!

...ANNNNND...Scene...

Where's Your Friend, Davis?

Today was Teddy Bear Picnic Day at Davis' Preschool. Parents, the kids, and their favorite stuffed animal all ate lunch together on the playground. I, being the girl that only halfway follows directions didn't realize that I was suppposed to send Curious George to school with Davis all day. So...Davis was awarded Best Imaginary Friend! How pathetic is that?!? I'm so sorry, Davis! Will he hold that against me when he's, like, 10?