why does my child refuse to sleep in her bed?

each night we put ella kate in her soft, comfy bed, and yet somehow she always ends up somewhere else. tonight, she was completely covered up and peacefully asleep on the floor by her bedroom door. i guess she falls asleep while she sings or reads.. who knows!

bubba

do any of you have a 'wild card' child? meaning, it doesn't matter if you are doing everything right, they still are unhappy. even though they are well- rested, have a full belly, are at the playground with perfect weather, eating a lollipop and have everything else that they could possibly want at that moment... yet somehow they are still whining and in tears. well, that has been our josiah for about a year now. he is 21 months old caught in the middle of his 2 sisters, and well... sometimes life is just tough for him!! he was an absolute perfect baby. rarely cried, and smiled at everyone. but when he was almost a year old, he cut 4 teeth in a week, and was never the same! we have heard everything from it being that he is a boy, to his birth order, to his age.. you name it! but bill and i have not quit praying that our sweet compliant bubba would one day return. and well, i saw a glimpse of him tonight and i LOVED it:) tonight i was able to spend some special time with just josiah and miley while ella kate went to youth with bill. he was so precious! absolutely perfect! no whining! no crying! completely obedient and incredibly happy!! i could have eaten him up:) i was so sad when bed time came around, because i wasn't done cuddling him, kissing him and just enjoying his cute, happy little self:) i think our josiah may be turning over a new leaf... or at least i hope so!!

"monkey lunch"

i heard of a cute recipe called monkey munch, and wanted to make some with our little aspiring chef, ella kate:) she was dying to wear her apron again and help "cook sumpin". while i was away one night this week, bill took it upon himself to make the monkey munch with the kids. ella kate in the beginning was so confused. she kept calling it monkey lunch, and telling us that she couldn't eat it because she wasn't a monkey:)

bill snapped a few pics of her working so hard, and it is cute to see josiah in the background watching, with a car hanging out of his mouth.. sweet boy. he wanted to taste it so bad, that he couldn't wait any longer and decided that a little matchbox car would do:)

and i wanted to add 2 funny side notes to this:

i was making miley a bottle when ella kate came up to me and asked, "is that baby miley's monkey lunch?? (yes, she says miley now... no more baby mi-ey).

also, this afternoon i was laying ella kate down for a nap when i moved some stuffed animals off her bed. i heard a noise and lifted her pillow to see a ziploc bag full of monkey munch that she had hidden in her room for a little snack later. she is a bottomless pit, i tell ya.. and a sneaky one at that!

good morning sunshine

it's no secret that the davis kids have wild hair! my sweet sisters often come over to our house and take one look at ella kate and josiah and ask, 'is it crazy hair day at the davis house today?' sweet, huh? well, this morning i couldn't help but take some pics of our little sleeping beauty who woke up with what looked like a spiral mop on her head! love it:)

tell me this isn't cute?

is this not one of the cutest babies you have ever seen?? we could just eat our smiley miley up:)

sibling rivalry.. i mean, love:)

ella kate is the true big sister! she can be the biggest helper, encourager, lover and will share... but within a split second something can snap in her and she will have nothing to do with josiah!she has never acted this way towards miley, but i am sure it is coming:)

so, this week has been a challenge or sorts. ella kate normally would go to mother's day out a couple of mornings during the week, and now that it is over for summer, we are trying to find a new routine for us at home. josiah really enjoyed having some mornings by himself without having to take turns, share his toys or share his momma. and ella kate was used to playing with all of her friends and running wild!! and now we are all together. in this house. all day long. everyday. which is totally do-able and will be a lot of fun, when i can get in the groove. with a 2yr old, 1yr old and 7mo old... i have learned to make adjustments. ideally, i would have the house clean, the laundry done, the babies happy and supper ready for when bill comes home from work at 5. but, to be honest, it was hard this week to make sure all of the above were done! and well, yesterday, the laundry had to wait!

so here we are.. me, jos and ek were playing outside while miley was napping. they love to swim in the kiddie pool (naked). ella kate was in the pool jumping and splashing and well, josiah has taken a new liking to his little lawn mower and as soon as we got outside, he was making his way to it. ella kate is much faster than he is, and though she didn't really want the lawn mower, she wanted to get it before josiah could. and of course he screamed. the boy has the LOUDEST, EAR PIERCING, HIGH PITCH shrill that i have ever heard... and ella kate looked at him and smiled. she smiled. she covered her ears from the loudness, but had a little smile on her face, still. oh, that girl. then we had a bag of nilla wafers outside for them to munch on before lunch. ella kate had been eating some, then handed me the bag of cookies and said that she was done. so josiah toddles over to me and i handed him the bag. he smiled and walked off. within minutes, i heard his awful cry again. i looked and ella kate is holding the nilla wafers and josiah is sitting on the concrete in tears. i informed her that we were sharing and that it was josiah's turn to hold the bag of cookies. she agreed to give it back to him.... empty. she took every last little cookie in her fist and dropped the bag by josiah's feet, and walked away. leaving him, yet again, crying! this time i fussed at both of them! i was afraid the neighbors might have seen, but i had had enough! she put the cookies back in the bag and gently laid them by josiah who was now squatting on the driveway. i help him put the last cookie in the bag only to look down and see that his is peeing. and since he is naked.. and squatting... he ended up peeing all inside the bag of nilla wafers. which i then had to take away... and he cried. and cried. and then we all went inside for lunch.

enjoy the show!

it is no surprise that josiah LOVES baby einstein dvds. ella kate was the same way too, but it is sad to see her growing out of that phase:(

but there is a certain part of the dvd where the founder of the baby einstein company is talking in the background about there products and their website. to be honest, i could recite to you the whole spill... but i will save that for another day! before the founder lady ends her monologue, she says, "enjoy the show". josiah LOVES that part. before the movie ever starts, he finds his place on the couch and cuddles up saying, "joy-da-show". he says it as one word. too cute! so if we are anywhere in the house and he wants to watch a baby einstein, he runs to the entertainment center and points to the dvds saying, "joy-da-show." and as a matter of fact, that is what he calls all 'disc things'.. whether they are dvds or cds. just the other day we had a stack of music cds on our nightstand that bill had brought inside from the car. josiah grabbed all of them in his little hand and brought them to me and said, "joy-da-show!"

sweet bubba.. we love him!

oh, that girl!

i don't even know where to begin! ella kate is something else! she is just a handful at times... a hilarious handful, but a handful nonetheless. last night while she and miley were in the bathtub, miley got real excited and began to kick her feet and splash. ella kate gently grabbed her hands and said, " now, baby mi-ey we don't splash in the baftub! but, i do lub you... we just don't splash, ok?" and of course, miley just smiled:)
then tonight, all of the babies were in bed. bill was outside cutting the grass and i was blow drying my hair. i thought i heard something, so i turned the blow dryer off and listened. there was some rustling coming from the kitchen, so i headed downstairs to see what was up. on my way down i see that ella kate's bedroom door is open. what is the little rat getting into now?!? :) i stay on the stairs and just then, ella kate turns the corner heading back to her room with a box of krispy kreme donuts in her hands!! what in the world?!? she sees me looking and just stands there wondering if she is needing to make light of the situation and smile... or cry and run for dear life! she chose to sheepishly smile and say, " i was just needin' sumpin' momma." oh, little girl... you are going to give me gray hair by the time i am 26!!

the girl who could fly

tonight was a special night for ella kate. she got to stay up later than usual and she and i watched peter pan II on tv. just the two of us cuddled up with blankets on the couch. i wasn't really watching it like she was, but i think that it had something to do with wendy's daughter jane. apparently peter pan came back to wendy's window one night and found jane there instead of wendy. he took her to neverland and she couldn't come home until she was sprinkled with pixie dust from tinkerbell. she had to believe that she could fly and when she did, she flew back home. now.. don't mark my word on all that. i could be wrong on how the movie was, but that is what i got from it:)anywho.. when the movie ended, ella kate stood on top of the couch and said, "watch momma. i can fly." she spread her arms like wings and took a big leap off of the couch, head first. no lie. big surprise to her, she couldn't fly and ended up doing a belly flop on the floor. i am sure it knocked the wind out of her! i just sat there staring. completely dumbfounded that she just did that. first off, that she really thought that she COULD fly and second, that she jumped off the couch and landed completely on her belly. the child has no fear when it comes to things like this... NONE! but, when our pastor's daughter is dressed up in a space costume and dances around the stage at church, ella kate has a panic attack! weird, i tell ya! but here is the little fly girl:)

my baby is growing up!

ella kate had her 2yr old graduation this morning. i have mentioned earlier that she goes to mother's day out a couple days a week and she loves going to 'school'. her class was told to wear green, so we put together the cutest outfit that yaya (my sister lauren) had gotten her when she was just a baby. of course, ella kate thought that she looked like a princess. the skirt was long and flowy.. so she kept twirling and spinning watching it poof all around her. it was cute. so we get to school and all of the classes entered in together to the sanctuary, said the pledges and sang a few songs. after they were done with that, we all watched a slide show that was of all the kids throughout the year. it was really sweet. when that was over everyone headed off to the gym to play until lunch was ready. it was a fun morning. ella kate was so excited to have both bill and me there to see all of her friends. she kept running around all hyper and giddy. there were some inflatable jumpy things in the gym and both had long lines of kids waiting their turn to get on. ella kate (several times) kept inching her way to the front and when the volunteer who was working the inflatable wasn't looking, she would cut in front of all the kids and jump in to play.. shoes on and all! it was like she was the pastor's grand kid or something:) haha.. which she is, but that doesn't give her any special privileges! so, could someone please tell her that? because when she is at my dad's church, she thinks she owns the place:)

there is a rat in our house!

there happens to be a rat in our house. and apparently, it has curly dark hair, a cute chubby face and is wearing a princess nightgown! josiah and miley were already in bed, bill was at a meeting and i REALLY needed to wash my hair. i figured ella kate would be ok watching tv downstairs by herself while i hopped in the shower. WRONG. she apparently got the urge for a little snack and decided to help herself to some hot dog buns. yes, i said hot dog buns. after i got out of the shower, i ran downstairs to check on her and saw little pieces of plastic everywhere. all over the couch and all over the floor. i asked ella kate what it was and her reply was, "nuffin." hmmm.. nuffin sure makes a big mess! i take the pillows of the couch to clean up the itty bitty pieces of plastic and there i find the bag of hot dog buns. it looked like a rat had torn into the package and ate the tops of 6 hot dog buns! i grabbed the bag and looked at ella kate who sheepishly replies, "umm.. i was just needin' me some bread." then she smiles. the cute, crooked little smile that she has done since she was a baby. ohh.. this girl is something else. and by far, the cutest rat i've ever seen.

pretend play..

i knew the time was near that ella kate would start pretend playing. this afternoon i took all of the babies outside to play. i was holding miley, and ek and josiah each had a baby doll stroller. they were pushing their sippy cups up and down the driveway when ella kate looked at me and said, "momma, me and 'siah's gonna play. my's the momma and him's gonna be the daddy!"

she looked at josiah and told him what he was supposed to do. he acted like he cared... but ended up doing whatever he wanted to in the end. but, hey isn't that the real story of mommies and daddies?? :) mom with hand on hip barking orders on how things are supposed to happen, while dad gives a smile and a nod and continues on what he was doing in the first place.. as if he were never told?? :)

later when we checked the mail, there was a little thank you note from a friend's baby shower. i opened it up and read it. when ella kate saw the cute pink card she asked if it were hers.

"sure, you can have it." i said.

her eyes lit up as she opened the card. "this says..jesus says all big girls wear poo-yups (pull-ups)!! thanks mom!!"

she stuck the card in her stroller and hurried along her way.

so there you have it folks.. the big girl has spoken. and apparently, jesus has too! :)

little momma

i jokingly asked ella kate if she would change baby miley's poopy diaper, and she jumped up and shouted, "yes, ma'am. i can do it!"

she went to pick up miley and carry her to her room, but seeing as though ella kate is only 2... i am not quite comfortable letting her hold her on her own:) ya think??

so i brought miley into the room and laid her on the floor for her. (i knew i would need my camera, so i grabbed it along the way). ella kate 'assumed position' and had the diaper and wipes ready to use. she began to unsnap miley's onesie and when the wiggle worm started squirming ella kate grabbed her face and said, "hey! baby mi-ey, my's gonna change your biaper!"

miley kept squirming and trying to roll over. ella kate got frustrated and in a more loud and stern voice said, "listen to me! you's got to be still or my's gonna make a mess!!"

so cute. and surprisingly, ella kate did a really good job. i had to help her only a few times but she knew exactly what to do! i think i may have a little momma in training:)

such a good daddy:)

it has been raining a LOT lately.... and well, let's just say that bill is much better at handling the dreary weather than i am! i'm not a huge fan of the rain. hate to be in it, hate to drive in it, hate to get 3 little ones in and out of the car in it... the list goes on and on:) however, i love to listen to it while i sleep!! oh... how i love rainy nap times:)

anyway, so this past friday it was raining...... again. bill thought that it would be fun to take ella kate and josiah outside and let them play in it and splash and just get messy. i was glad that i was inside with miley. my clothes were dry, my hair wasn't all funky and wet, i wasn't muddy.. however they all loved it! when the rain stopped coming down, they pulled out the water hose and were spraying each other and running through it! they were laughing and screaming so loud.. it was so sweet! i love my family:)

muffins with mom:)

nonny, my AMAZING grandma, is one of the BEST gift-givers i know! she gave me the cutest mother-daughter apron set for christmas this past year. it is adorable. it has both adult and child sized aprons, oven mitts and little cloth trivets. ella kate loves to wear her apron, but she actually USED it for the first time this morning. chatty kathy, uh... i mean, ella kate and i decided to make blueberry muffins. she had a ball! i let her do everything that she could, which was pretty hard for me b/c i am not a fan of messes!! i would rather let her stir or do something simple so there is less for me to clean up in the end:) but, i gave in today and she really made the muffins all by herself! i took a lot of cute pics... but, why are there none of me in my matching apron, you ask? well, first off i am no where near as cute as she is in a little red apron, and also i have yet to take a shower! so to save me the embarrassment and you all a good scare, i kept myself hidden:) miley was napping and we tried to keep josiah distracted. although, he could smell those yummy muffins when they were ready.. and he came running!!