Trick or Treat!

Isn't Halloween a funny Holiday. I know all about the origins, but still it strikes me as funny that we dress up in costumes and go knock on doors and ask people that we would otherwise never talk to, for treats. Still its a lot of fun. Cambria said "This is the best night of my life!"

So, this year Cambria was the Island Princess. Kiera was too, but at the last minute she was really sad that she wasn't a horse. So I velcroed some yard to a hoodie and sewed some more yarn to the pants and voila, we had a homemade costume that made Kiera proud to walk door to door and say "trick or treat, I'm a horse." The day before we had gone to the elementary schools trunk or treat. Kiera did wear her Island Princess costume to this event and a lady said to her "ahh, what a cute fairy." Kiera glared at her and said, "I am not a fairy, I am the Island Princess." She said it kinda of snobby, like "da, don't you know."

Baby Kai was a cute little pumpkin. My mom sent the costume for him.

Breast Cancer

Did you know that 1 in 8 women have a lifetime chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer. If that is not a sobering fact, then I don't know what is. Unfortunately this number hits close to home for me because two of my aunts were diagnosed with breast cancer. My Aunt Susie battled the disease for many years before it claimed her life just a few short years ago. Since this is breast cancer awareness month I thought I would share some things that I just read with you:

Good news: there are ways to lower your odds of getting breast cancer!

1. Keep moving! All you need is three to four hours a week of exercise. The more vigorous the better.

2. Drink Less. Studies are now showing that even one glass of wine or beer a day can increase breast cancer risks by 10%. (way to go word of wisdom!)

3. Watch your weight. Weight gain is linked to breast cancer rates. If you can't loose weight then try not to gain anymore (especially after menopause)

4. Replace hormones carefully. Hormone replacement therapy that contains estrogen AND protesting increase breast cancer risk by 24%.

5. Test your genes. If you have a strong family history of Breast cancer, talk to your doctor about genetic counseling and testing.

6. Get a mammogram. Staring at age 40 (or younger if your history is strong.)

There are also a lot of companies that are supporting breast cancer research in one way or another. I have some of the items in the picture above. KitchenAid. New Balance, TIC TAC, Tomboy Tools, Jello, Cool whip, Yoplait, etc. The moral of the story is: go pink. Support a good cause and most of all take care of yourself.

Liar, Liar

My name is Amy Davis, and I am a liar. A very, very poor liar. Let me explain. Kinderdance is for ages 3-5. Cambria is 4 and Kiera is 2. How can I take Kiera with me to Cambria's dance class again this year and force her to wait on the sidelines while her sister has all the fun. Kiera looks like a three year old and due to her superior intelligence, often acts like a more mature child (okay, not always.) So Kai says, "why don't you just say she is three and sign her up." So I think, yeah, I can do that. Its not really a big deal. But when I went to register my two girls, I had not prepared myself for the DOB questions. I thought I could just say "two for Kinderdance please" and give them my money. So when they asked, Whats Kiera's birthday, I stumbled. You see I often have a hard time remembering Kiera's birthday without going through a long process in my head. Her due date was April 6Th, just like her big sisters. Would she be born on April 2nd, like her big sister? No She was born March 30th, 2005. So instead of saying March 30th, 2004, I said February 30th, 2003. Hi, I'm retarded, nice to meet you. The lady behind the desk said, "umm, sorry my computer is not accepting Feb. 30th." Oh, could it be because there is no Feb. 30th. So then I said, "Oh I mean Feb. 28th." But what I'm thinking is . . . Leap year, yeah that's it, I'm sure she won't see through that one. Idiot, (me). So then she says, "so then she's 4 right? You have twins?" Then I say "No, she's not four, what year did I say? Oh, I meant 2004. Sorry, I am so sleep deprived, I've got a three week old baby at home." (so now I am using my son as part of the lie too!) Anyway, together we make up a DOB for Kiera which is completely false and I am having hot flashes and blushing way up to my hairline.

I truly feel bad about lying. It wasn't even a good lie.

So, as penance, I will go back when a different employee than the woman who helped me is there and sign Kiera up for the mommy and me dance class for 2-3 years olds. When they ask if her b-day is Feb 28th, 2004, I will say, "no, its March 30th 2005. Thats weird that you have that date in there." And then I won't lie about my kids DOB or age again.

I tried to upload video, but it wouldn't work so enjoy the pictures!

Seasons that change

Last year we had snow. It was so exciting. It wasn't thick, or deep. And it didn't last very long, but it covered everything. It was a few glorious hours of fun and excitement. It makes me wonder . . . would I like to live where it snows? For most of my life the answer would have been "no." I would have said I like to visit the snow but I would never want to live in a place where it snows.

Now that I have lived in the hot, desert for three years, I am starting to reconsider.

It might be fun to live in a place where the leaves changed color in the fall, and Christmas was accompanied by snow, and spring brought a new growth of flowers.

But where would I choose to live? I want to be somewhat close to my parents. Close enough to make a weekend trip if we wanted. So where would that be? Big bear? Cedar City? Kai grew up in Northern Idaho. The summers are beautiful, but the winters supported my argument for only wanting to visit snow.

On the other hand, my desires to live near a beach are pretty strong too. Probably stronger. Maybe I need a summer home and a winter cabin.

Dreadfull things

I hate the fact that they won't do circumcisions in the hospital before you go home. Is it like that in every state? Instead I had to take my sweet little son to the doctor's office and hand him over to a nurse, after paying three hundred dollars to have done what doctor's are now calling a "completely cosmetic" procedure. "Like a tattoo." I am pretty sure that a circumcision is a little less of a "cosmetic procedure" than getting a tatto. And I am quite sure it is much more unpleasant. I also wish that I hadn't known what the procedure involved. I don't even want to think about it! Poor little boys. Baby Kai has been sleeping ever since his traumatic experience. When they handed him back to us, I know he was giving us the evil eye.
Now that I am thinking about tattoos, what do you think hurts more, getting a tattoo or getting it removed?

One Week Today

Baby Kai is one week old today. To me it really just seems like one really, really long day. I am still in love with him and I still think he is just as perfect as ever. I just wanted to share a few of the interesting comment that have come along with having a new brother.

From Cambria:

"Isn't he beautiful?!"

"Look, Dad, he's just like you!" (about the boy part)

I called him "bud" and Cambria said with an excited intake of air " Mom! that's the perfect name!"

"Milk is coming out! What do we do?!"

"Don't worry brother, I will always protect you."

From Kiera:

"Mom, He has a jelly bean" (about the boy part)

Next day she came to watch the diaper change and said "Mom, I can't see his jelly!"

"Hi baby brother, its me Kiera" In her highest pitched voice.

"Mom! put the baby down!" (she wanted computer help)

From both:

Kai was offering our bed time prayer and said "thank you for our new baby Malachi. Cambria whispered "Tarzan" so then Kiera said louder, "No, Derek!" So Kai said, Thank you for our new baby BROTHER. I think they think the name is still up for debate!

The good news is that we are surviving. Life is a little hectic, but we are hanging in there and we are happy.

Funny faces, Bad hair-cuts and Slimy-Wimy

With so many pictures being taken of their new brother, Cambria and Kiera were anxious to steal back some of the spot-light. These are their new favorite funny faces!

The picture of the back of Cambria's head is an attempt to show the haircut she gave herself. I must say that this photo doesn't really do the hack-job justice. Thank heavens for her curly hair. It hides so much. Her hair used to be down to the middle of her back and down to her bum when it was wet. Now it is shoulder length when dry and down to the middle of her back when wet. I try to keep it in a pony tail.

Lastly, I would like to thank my dear mother for encouraging a love of all animals. Ever since her visit the girls have been worm hunting. They even pick them up with their hands! Gross!

Cambria kept one as a pet and named it Slimy-Wimy. I had to insist that this be an outside pet. She tried to build it a house and when I asked her how it went she said, "Not good, I broke him. But, I think he will be alright." At least she is an optimist.

Birth Story

To tell you the truth, I have no complaints. Everything went so well. I had a doctors apt. at 8:50 am on Monday, September 10. So I went. I was hoping to be induced as previously discussed with my doctor, but my hopes were low after my previous "false alarm". Nevertheless, I packed a bag for good luck. Much to my delight, the doctor said it was time and sent me over to the hospital. My mom had come three days earlier "just in case" so she was able to stay with the girls. I called Kai and he met me at the hospital. They gave me penicillin and pitocin and Malachi was born 7 hours later.

When I gave birth to Kiera, I thought I was going to die. I actually blacked out and wasn't aware of much of anything but the pain. This delivery was much different. It hurt don't get me wrong. But it was so much easier than Kiera's birth. I only pushed for about 10 minutes. I do remember asking if "it was working", you know the pushing part. It seemed like his head was staying in the same spot causing a lot of pain. The nurse assured me it was indeed working. My doctor was debating out loud as to whether or not to do an episiotomy. He really didn't want to. But after what seems like hours of debate, Kai says I yelled, "just get him out!" You know you push so far and it feels like they could just grab the head and have the baby out in a little tug. I know that isn't the case, but that is what it feels like. So I did get an episiotomy and he came out on the next push. He is the first of my children I have ever been able to hold immediately after his birth. The nurse placed him on my belly while she cleaned him and even now my eyes fill with tears as I think about the miracle of birth and my newborn son.

Isn't it amazing how fast you can fall in love with your child. When I think how Heavenly Father has blessed me, blessed my family, I feel so incredibly indebted to Him. There really is no way to ever repay God for the miracles he sends into our lives. I guess, accept through obedience.

Malachi Ho'okele Davis

We think he is beautiful and we are so happy to have him in our family. I have lots of stories to tell but that will have to wait for another day.

He's Here!

Our little boy is here!
He arrived two weeks early on September 10, 2007 at 6:41 pm. The delivery went great but the recovery has been painful. I'll put some pictures up later but I wanted to get the news out there!
Stats:
Weight: 7lbs 7 oz
Length: 20 in
Chubby cheeks, double chin, black hair and a face all his own.

Welcome to: Malachi Ho'okele Davis "Baby Kai"
We just love him to pieces!

False Alarm:(

I have been having contraction since I was 20 weeks along. Not painless Braxton Hicks, but the kind that you have to take a few breaths to get through. So When I came home from Walmart on Labor Day, I was surprised that my contractions were coming in 5 minute intervals at 37 weeks. I went about my business but started to keep an eye on the clock. Two hours later after consistent but somewhat weak contractions, they began to be 3-4minutes. A friend advised me that I should probably go to the ER just to check. So I did, fully expecting to be sent home. I drove myself with the only supplies that I could think to bring at the time since my bag was not packed: a pair of socks. They admitted me and my doctor came to see what was happening. He said I was 80% effaced, 2 cm dilated and at zero station. The contractions, of course were not as regular as they had been at my house, but he said they might as well keep me and "get things going."
They strapped me to an IV of fluids and drew my blood, then sent me to the Labor and delivery room where they attached a collection of monitors, a blood pressure cuff, and got me started on my first round of penicillin (because of GBS). So you can imagine my surprise when I initially thought I was going to quickly be sent home. I called Kai and told him that they were going to keep me and asked him to bring a few things when he came. I then called my mother and told her that the baby would soon make his appearance, so she bought a plane ticket for 6AM the next morning.
A nurse named, Bev, came in and told me that after they got the second round of penicillin going through my system they would break my water and then start me on "pit" if that didn't work. I suddenly got scared for the delivery. I really am not fond of pain and Kiera's painfully traumatic delivery lingered in my mind. Plus the IV that was in my arm really hurt.
Kai showed up at the hospital and gave me a blessing and then we decided we better get serious about names. My contractions had pretty much stopped. They were very infrequent and very far a part. We had been at the hospital for about 4 hours when the nurse came in checked the monitors and told me that 37 weeks was still a little bit early to enhance a labor and since the contractions had stopped they were going to let me go home. I wish they would have said that when I firt arrived. Who wants to be stuck with a needle for NOTHING! You can imagine my disappointment. I felt bad that my mom had bought a plane ticket. I felt bad that Kai's mom had driven a half hour to our house to stay over night with the girls. I felt bad that I was going to have to be stuck with another IV needle SOON and have my blood redrawn, SOON.
I wish the stork really was the who "delivered" babies. Wouldn't that make life easy. No getting sick, no getting fat, plenty of energy to chase around your other kids. Now I am even more scared to go back to hospital and push this kid out. My mom said she had a dream that she agreed to go through labor for me. If only . . .

Hide the scissors

I can't bring mysef to take a picture for the blog or even to take Cambria's hair out of its small ponytail to even look at her hack job. Cambria has quiet time while Kiera and I take a nap. Kai happened to be home this particular day. When I woke up he said, "I have some really bad news . . ." His face was so grave, I thought, "oh, crap, did someone die?!" He then proceeded to tell me, that he had thought Cambria wanted scissors to cut up some paper. Wrong. She had really wanted scissors to cut the hair that was falling into her eyes and obstructing her view of her coloring book. She left most of the left side alone, but really choped the right side and back. She then tried to hide the evidence of the fallen ringlets in her jewlery box. I don't know at which point Kai found out what she was really doing, but Cambria tried to convince him that they should hide the curls that didn't fit into her jewlery box deep in the trash can. Kai told her that she couldn't hide her hair and that they needed to tell me. "Oh, Daddy, noooooo, please don't tell mommy." Like I wouldn't know when I saw that the hair by her right ear was a bout an inch long. My friend Jodi did a great job at fixing her hair cut and making the best of it, but now that her hair is soooo short and less weighed down by the length, the Afro is really making a good show of itself. So it will stay in a ponytail and clips for now. Scissors should be used with supervision.

K-I-E-R-A

My little two year old (29 mos) can spell her name! We were teaching Cambria how to spell Kiera's name and didn't realize that Kiera was paying attention. Her teacher in nursery told me after church that she had asked Kiera how to spell her name, not really expecting an answer, and low and behold, K-i-e-r-a! The next Sunday we took two extra boys to church with us and she said to them, "Hi boys, I'm K-i-e-r-a!" Our pediatrician has always told us that Kiera is a very smart little girl. We know Dr. Mehta loves her but this story is funny: yesterday Dr. Mehta told us that her parents were visiting from India and had been spending time with their granddaughter (who is also very smart). They kept telling Dr. Mehta stories about her and Dr. Mehta would tell them stories not about her own son, but about Kiera and Cambria. Isn't that funny. We built a ver strong relationship with our Dr. because we saw her about every two weeks. Cambria always had strep (hense the tonsilectomy) and Kiera always had an ear infection (hence the tubes in her ears). The office even joked about putting us on their Christmas list.

Oh, yeah, so Kiera may have an IQ of 160, but, this evening she was asking me if she could drink the pool water that had overflowed to the ground. I said no because it was dirty water and tried to hand her her sippy cup. She then said, in a rather, firm voice I might add, "but this water is for cows!" So I told her she was not a cow, but a Kiera, and before I had time to finish that sentence she said, "mooooooooooooo!" So you know that puts things in perspective.

Boy Stuff

I have some very creative friends that I just wanted to highlight. These are two gifts were the most original I'd seen. A cute little diaper cake with wash cloths and baby bath essentials, and a cute little wreath that says "it's a boy." Sometimes I still don't think that the news has really set in that it's a boy, not a girl coming. For some reason I am so so nervous. I know it doesn't make sense, but its still true. I have three and a half weeks left for the reality of the situation to fully grab hold of my brain. Don't get me wrong, I am excited, but for the last four years dresses, pastel colors and princess movies have ruled our house. This wreath is hanging in Kiera's old room that used to be a purple fairy princess room, so blue is a good start. Kiera now shares a room with her big sister Cambria (and still gets a little confused when I tell her to go to HER room-she often pauses between the two doors and you can tell she's trying to make a decision.) I am, however, very happy not to have to do another girls hair before church in the morning. I don't think we'd make it to church if I had three little afros to tame before a certain deadline.

I appreciate those of you who have wished me well on the last bit of my pregnancy. I will be more than happy to deliver this baby. I can't wait to see what he'll look like and what we will finally name him. Now Cambria is trying to convince us that Tarzan would be a really great name. Oh, I have a question - has anyone of you ever banked cord blood or researched it? I am thinking seriously about it and would like to hear from anyone who has had any experience or some kind of knowledge on the subject. Thanks!

Making Summer Last

Okay, so I know I haven't blogged for awhile. These last few weeks of pregnancy have me very tired. Kai started work again today, and all the students will go back to school on Monday and it makes me realize that this summer went much faster than I ever thought it would. I usually want summer to last much longer, but I knew that the close of this summer would bring me closer to the birth of our son. So these are just a few tribute pictures to our last days of summer. Up above is My youngest brother Ryan and of Course Kai showing off their muscles. Its nice for Kai to have some testosterone in the house every once in awhile.
This is the way my girls prefer their pancakes. They love to help mix the batter and then add red food coloring. Sometimes we make them blue though because Kai has a hard time eating pink pancakes.

We had another visit from the Miexia and Netty Ah Loy as they passed back through on their way home to Wyoming. The girls were very excited because Kai only likes to get the slide out on special occasions. They all had such a good time.
Kiera making a splash and Cambria, loving her ride!

So, even though it is still 108 degrees or more today, our summer is coming to a close. I hope all of you had great vacations and made many memories. Next summer we hope to do a lot of traveling to see more of everyone!

Birthdays, Bowling and Chinese Food

Okay, so, this first picture doesn't have anything to do with the title, but it did happen while we were eating Grammy and Papa's birthday cake. I still laugh when I think about Cambria's little voice saying, "look, I'm a walrus." Where do kids come up with these things!

My parents came to stay with us for two days before completing their trip to Utah to take Ryan to EFY. We were able to celebrate my Dad's birthday just one day late and my Mom's birthday a week and a half early. Although, they will be here again on their way back home to California so my mom has to wait until then to get her gift.

These are the best cakes ever! If you have never had an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, I suggest you do so immediately!

While they were here we got to go bowling at the Virgin River Casino. The girls had been once before and really wanted to take Grammy and Papa. Even with bowling bumpers Ryan still lost to everyone, including Cambria and Kiera. Good thing he plays water polo, because there is no future for him as a bowler.

This is how Kai spent most of his night, but he still beat Ryan:) Isn't he cute:)

My parents new favorite place to eat in Mesquite is a little hole in the wall called Canton Chinese Cuisine. We had been telling the girls that we were going to eat Chinese food, so as SO as we sat down Kiera yelled quite loudly, "I want China!" Ryan and Kai couldn't eat enough of these little Chinese donuts. I am not exaggerating when I say they had about 10 each.

We posed for a picture outside the restarant and instead of saying "cheese" Kiera kept saying "china, china, china, china, china." It was really funny. We sure had a great time with my family and can't wait until our next get-to-gether.

Shark Reef

I am so sad I didn't get more pictures! my pregnancy fatigue is interfereing with my normally excessive desire to document everything in photos. Shark Reef is a tiny aquarium at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas. Teachers get to go free during the summer so we took advatage of the opportunity. Cambria's favorite part (which has no photo documentation:() was the sting ray touch pool. She stayed for about a half an hour touch every sting ray that passed by. When we came home and went swimming in out own pool she alternated between pretending to be a sting ray and imitating the guide who sat at the head of the sting ray pool saying, "please only toch the sting ray's with one finger and a closed fist. Do not touch their eyes, nose or tail, thank you very much." She also might be the only one to ever have said "ohhhh, that sting ray is soooooooooooo cute!" Kiera was a little freaked out by the sting rays, but she really liked the white alligator. Oh, she also really liked the elavator.:)

Kiera with baby Tarzan waiting to go on the elevator.