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My first (at home) "bath" and more photos

The other night while Stephen rescued Nana from Savannah's relentless whining, crying and newfound love of the word "No!", Nana helped me give Gage his first sponge bath. It was a success! His umbilical cord stump is still attached (Savannah's took 6 WEEKS!!! to finally fall off), therefore, it's sponge baths until it finally comes off. I'm also VERY HAPPY to say that Vaseline and gauze are no longer part of the diaper changing process...woohoo! It really wasn't near as bad as I expected. Thank goodness for the medical pad "thingys" Susana gave us since Vaseline doesn't absorb water (a.k.a. urine), but repels it to every place other than the diaper! We keep one in his crib at all times and one on the diaper changing station since we were washing all 3 of our Ultimate Crib Sheets everyday.

I'm having fun with my 24/7 model on hand and gaining more and more experience photographing newborns. What fun! He's an excellent model...I just need to keep working on learning this digital SLR contraption! My mom is a terrific assistant! I'm also working on our Christmas card which in years past we have outsourced to Shutterfly, but this year, I'm doing them!!! I think we finally narrowed down the pictures we're using so I can finally share some of the other pictures I've taken so far. Unfortunately for the blog, we are using Savannah's Santa picture for the Christmas card so I cannot share it here. I am proud to say, however, that the picture I took of her and Santa was 1000 times better than the one the nice folks at Phipps took!

I've also been very busy with our family calendar. The Davis Family calendar is long-time tradition that my Aunt Brencie started several years ago. Last year, Stephen and I took over production of the calendar (Brencie struggles a bit with the technology so we figured it would be fun and would help Brencie out if we put the calendar together.) Brencie prints the calendars and she and her granddaughters bind them. I wanted to "cheat" this year and do them through Shutterflly or some other online program like it, but at $20 a calendar, it is much more cost effective to do them ourselves...I think it ends up being about $2 per calendar.

Finally...time for some photos...

Bath time! Gage peed on Nana when I (being unprepared) ran to get my camera after the bath. "What are you lookin' at?"


Just messin' around...and torturing poor Gage.


Daddy and Gage fell asleep snuggling.


My mom took this one...his feet are so tiny. Savannah was nicknamed "Sasquach" at birth given the insane length of her feet. Gage's feet are eensy in comparison.


Tiny toes.


Sweet boy so alert.

More pics of our little man (and big sis)

We came home on Saturday...one day earlier than expected, but not a moment too soon! Although we were staying in "The Rainman Suite" (that a Swingers reference for those of you who don't know), it's amazing how much better home makes you feel. Back to my room at Piedmont Hospital for just a second. About a year ago (maybe a little longer), Piedmont added The Waters Pavillion. After a c-section with Savannah and 4 nights in the hospital, I dreaded another 4 nights in "the joint"...and so did Stephen given that the daddy beds are a tiny little 1970's fold-out 1/2 chair in a small corner of the room. There's no room for visitors and barely any room for mom to get up and walk around. Then we heard about the Waters Pavilion...this is the Ritz-Carlton of hospital rooms. It's a 2-room suite where visitors enter through the "family room" giving mom and baby plenty of privacy. We had our own private chef who would bring us delicious food (yes, hospital food that is delicious!) ordered from an extensive menu, anytime we wanted it from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. I could keep going on and on, but you all really just care about the pictures. But if you're ever going in for surgery and want a swanky place to recover, I HIGHLY recommend the Waters Pavilion at Piedmont Hospital. I plan to return when I go in for my liposuction, tummy tuck and any other post-mom reconstructive surgery I deem necessary :-)

Gage Martin Barnett


Savannah meets Gage for the first time on Thursday, 12/4/2008. She can't stop giggling :-)



My friend, Alice, sent these cute hats to Savannah and Gage. I love them!



Aunt Brencie with Gage...we plan to have him in the pool this year!


Coming home...
Savannah got her very first baby doll...her name is "Baby Dolly". Savannah loves to swaddle her and feed her milk and juice.


Savannah in her "Big Sister" shirt and Gage in his coming home outfit.


Me and my babies.

Someday My Prince Will Come (he's here!)

I am so happy to tell the world that Gage Martin Barnett arrived Wednesday December 3, 2008 at 8:52 a.m. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces and is 19 inches long. He has been eating and sleeping very well and as I type this blog, he's sleeping soundly on a full belly.

Big sister, Savannah, came to meet Gage last night and I really wished we had a video camera to record her reaction. She first greeted me and attempted to climb up on my bed. When I pointed to the bassinet and asked if she knew who that was, she giggled and said, "Baby Gage" and then continued to giggle. She even held him (with some assistance). She is super proud to be a big sister. I'm just praying that her enthusiasm won't waiver.

Nana and Aunt Brencie took Savannah to the Marietta Square last night to listen to the Walker Middle School's choir (my little cousins were singing). She had a grand time playing on the train playground and then dinner at the Marietta Diner (yum!). She's just having a ball with her Nana!

I can't share any pictures on the blog, however, Stephen took several point and shoot pics and downloaded them to Shutterfly yesterday. Here's a link for those of you interested in seeing more of my little prince.

Shutterfly pics

Last night as a family of 3

My bag is packed...I think I overpacked for a 4-night stint in the hospital. I'm excited, happy, scared, nervous and sad all at the same time. I'm excited to no longer host this parasite that has been feeding off of me for 37 weeks. Happy to no longer miscalculate how incredibly large my mid-section is and quit bumping it into, well, everything. Scared because, well, it is surgery. Nervous to be a "new" mom all over again to a teeny tiny baby who is going to depend on me 120% for everything. Not to mention that this one is going to have a penis...ugh...which means circumcision...oh, God, what have I gotten myself into??? Can I say "penis" and "circumcision" on Blogger??? Finally, I'm sad...sad for Savannah. Don't get me wrong, I love that she is going to have a sibling. I don't know what I would do without my sister. I mean, who's going to be there for me when everyone else in my life has to go? So I know that having a brother is the best gift we can give her. I know she will love her new baby brother and she's going to be a terrific big sister. She's already, by her own thoughtfulness and sweetness, given up one of her beloved teddy bears to Gage. She recognized one night that he didn't have any teddy bears. So she went to her room, grabbed one of her own and tossed it over the rails into his crib. I mean, how precious is that???

So on this last night of being a family of 3 (as if this blog hasn't been all about Savannah), I thought I would post some of Savannah's first photos. She was a BIG baby girl and absolutely gorgeous! I'm not biased or anything.

9 1/2 pounds!






Click on this to see larger...3, 6, 9 and 12 months.



Oh, and I guess I'm going to have to come up with a new name for this blog.

Weekend Update

Dear, God. Please reassure me that my daughter has not dropped the weekend nap for good. Amen.

It's true...my good little sleeper did not nap this weekend (unless you count the 30 minute snooze in the car at 3:00 - after we tried for an hour and a half for a real nap at home - on the way to Barrett Parkway (Hell in and of itself) yesterday). I apologize for the super run-on sentence. Walton High educators (and Liz) are cringing right now.

While this weekend was a no go for a nap, Savannah did AWESOME with potty training. I'm ashamed to admit we haven't really actively potty trained. At day-care, they take her to the potty every hour and her daily report card pretty much tells us that she refuses to pee-pee or otherwise on the potty. However, on Friday, Miss Jill informed us that she went pee-pee on the potty every time and her pull-up stayed dry all day.

Let's back up to Wednesday night. Savannah opened her new dresser drawer only to discover Dora panties. I'm not certain she really understood what that meant, but hey, they were Dora, what else did she need to know? We decided to pull a pair on over her nighttime pull-up and then PJs over that. Little did we know until Thursday morning, that she had removed her PJ bottoms, the Dora panties and the pull-up and then pulled the Dora panties back on and her PJ bottoms on top. The cool thing...we only discovered this when Stephen took to her to the potty and alas there was no pull-up. She had stayed dry all night!!! Fast forward to Thursday night and we dressed her the same way and put her to bed. This night, however, I watched the video monitor (yes, I know, I need to cut the strings and be done with the video monitor at this point, but I'm Mom and I can do what I want so there!). And again, she pulled off everything and then attempted to redress herself on to fail miserably this time. So I went in to help. Since she successfully pee-peed on the potty before bedtime, I allowed her to sleep in only her Dora panties and PJs again...and again she stayed dry all night...woohoo!

So...seeing as Miss Jill told us on Friday that she was successful all day at the potty, we decided to give it a whirl this weekend. Savannah had only 1 accident at home on Saturday and the rest of the day told me every time she needed to go (and we were out and about all day Saturday). I did keep a pull-up on her as we ran errands, but she still told me she needed to go and went she did each time. The only time the pull-up came in handy was for #2 after her 30 minute car nap. So Saturday was a success! On to Sunday...again, she stayed dry all night, told me each time she needed to go and went successfully each time. My only drastic mistake...allowing her to nap in only the Dora panties. Let's just say those Dora panties did not survive and thank God for curbside trash pickup.

I won't take pictures of Savannah on the potty (you're welcome)...not only will I not take those pictures, I would never post them if I did. Although today, she discovered my 14-year old rooster slippers...thanks, Lee Cullum for these hideous things wherever you may be now. She insisted on wearing them...and even wore them on the potty. It was pretty hysterical to watch her walk in them...just think of a scuba diver walking in their fins. So here's a picture of Savannah in my rooster slippers...sans potty.

Gingerbread House

Today after Savannah's nap, we decorated a gingerbread house. I don't think I've ever actually decorated a gingerbread house before. I found a pre-baked, not to mention, pre-constructed, gingerbread house at Costco on Saturday. It comes with all the fixin's (although we added candy canes and Jelly Bellys)...so no baking gingerbread and I didn't lose my patience and throw the darn thing out the window trying to construct 4 walls and a roof with frosting...(that part would be the Davis in me).

I plan to make this an annual tradition with Savannah (and Gage). I was very surprised (although not really) that Savannah didn't want to eat the candy or lick the frosting. I offered her a gum drop, which she chewed on and then spit out. She ate most of a mini candy cane. But what really did shock me was that she didn't even attempt to put one Jelly Belly in her mouth...this is the same girl who fell in love with jelly beans this past Easter and I've been guilty of using them as bribes every now and again when she's not in the mood for mommy to comb her hair.

The bare naked house...


Mommy would "glue" and Savannah decorated...


The finished product:



Not too shabby :-)

Too early for Santa?

We took Savannah to see Santa on Saturday...yes, it's early...I mean, it's not even Thanksgiving yet! But we're on a very limited schedule with my due date being right after Thanksgiving. And seeing as last year resulted in a total meltdown (What can one expect from an 18 month old Mommy's girl with stranger anxiety...and who could blame her either???), we didn't want to risk that Stephen might have to take Savannah to visit Santa by himself.

I still think it's WAY TOO early to blog about Savannah's visit with Santa, however, we hardly ever see her without pony tails and she was just way too cute (and too grown up looking for my liking), not to post at least one picture of her in her Santa duds.

More on her interaction with Santa in a later post. But, until then, enjoy the pictures if you so choose :-)

2008 Halloween Parade

Ask and you shall receive.

As many of you know, Savannah asked to be a duck for Halloween and a duck she was. A super cute good sport duck at that! While most of her neighborhood girlfriends doted their Disney princess and other girly-type costumes, Savannah bucked the trend with her oversized yellow and white feathered one-piece duck costume. Despite her uber cuteness, some of her friends were a bit scared of this 3 foot tall duck.

Getting ready for the parade, we were a little nervous since Savannah kept saying, "no duck". However, let the girl wear her pink ballet slipper house shoes and she goes with the flow.

(click on the picture to see it bigger)


Nana and Savannah...


Finally...I get both Sophie and Savannah to look at the camera and where does Nana decide to look?

A picture to make you smile

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do. --

Mother Teresa

It's Sunday afternoon in the Fall, do you know where your daughter is?

Just about every Sunday all year long, I play tennis. During football season, Stephen has taken this as an opportunity to teach Savannah a thing or two...

Jammed-packed weekend

What a weekend...and Monday and Tuesday. I've had a really hard time getting the blogger to accept my photos the last 3 nights!

Saturday started off with a photography class field trip to Piedmont Park. Savannah came as a model with Daddy as chaperone. She faked us all out in the first 5 minutes of shooting...she was totally posing for the other photographers before we even got started. Unfortunately, once we pulled out reflectors, ladders and larger lenses, she decided modeling was not her gig.


After a few hours at the park and of course lunch at The Varsity, we headed home to prep the new mini-van for a dual-family road trip to Burt's Farm with our neighbors. Savannah and Sophie were both so excited to ride in the car together that it took a while before they both fell asleep and caught at least a few zzzz's before the festivities.

Savannah played peek-a-boo...


Savannah also rode the hayride...no great pictures here (too dark and bumpy).

The sea of pumpkins...


Savannah picked out a couple "Savannah-sized" pumpkins (last year's came from Uncle Wade's home grown pumpkins in Kentucky!)...


The girls played "bongos" on the pumpkins and then chased each other through the maze of gigantic pumpkins...


I really liked the corn...


Savannah zonked out soon after dinner and after a small case of delirium when we got home, she settled right in and slept until 7:15 Sunday morning!

However, there was no rest for the weary as we were scheduled to meet Crystal for our first session of family photographs. We had a great time and Savannah was definitely a sport (I think she was just so happy it wasn't Mommy chasing her with the camera and that I had time (and arms) to give all my attention to her!). Crystal has already teased us with a preview...please check out her blog to see a sneak preview (ccjamesphotography). Crystal is so talented and inspires me to get better at this photography "stuff"!

Finally, I had (at least I thought I had) a tennis match Sunday afternoon. I've got to get better at checking the answering machine at home! If I had, I would have found out at 11:00 am that I had been benched this week (despite mine and my partner's win last week)...and I would not have driven the 1/2 hour to Powder Springs. Oh well, the weather was nice and I got to enjoy being a spectator for once :-)

Stone Mountain Park

Today we journeyed to Stone Mountain Park. We started with a Sky Bucket ride to the top of the mountain. In all my 30+ years in Atlanta, I've ridden the sky bucket at Stone Mountain twice...the first time was about 3 years ago when Stephen was hosting an associate from one of our Indian offices. Second time was today. Anyone who knows me knows I FEAR the sky bucket...whether at Six Flags, Busch Gardens, doesn't matter. But riding to the top of the mountain is the most frightening experience for me. I was crouched low and closed my eyes, while my fearless 2-year old giggled and played with daddy the whole way up. I definitely prefer the 1.3 mile walk up!


Once we ascended, we walked around the top of the mountain for a little bit. Savannah was AMAZED at the plethora of rocks at the top. Who knew pebbles at the top of a huge piece of granite could be so amusing???



How big is this rock? "Soooooo big!"


Family photo!


After we safely made it back down to planet Earth, we headed for the train. Savannah has only been on the train at Zoo Atlanta (booorrrrrring!) and at the Jacksonville Zoo (maybe a step above Zoo Atlanta, but that's about it). She was very excited to ride a "real" train. Here are a few pictures, but it's very difficult to take pictures on a moving, rickety choo-choo (so rickety, in fact, they actually have a rule "No pregnant women". I sucked it in and boarded, but realized by the end why they have that rule!

"Mommy, no matter how many times you tell me to look at the horsies, I cannot see any horsies!!!"

Daddy and Savannah riding the train.

"Choo-choo!"

"It's loud."

Getting sleepy.


After the train ride, Savannah decided to take off her shirt. We still have no clue why. This was a first for us.


After our exciting morning, we topped off our Saturday with our friend and neighbor's 4th birthday party. Savannah had a great time playing with her friends, swinging and doing tumbles with Sophie.