Dressing Nettie

Dressing a baby is a ridiculous endeavor.  I am just super happy to shower every day.  How the heck do those awesome ladies not only dress all of their kids, but coordinate the outfit among all of there adorable children?  Luckily, I have Thayne Davis on my side.  He is for sure the stylish one in this family.  I dress the girl, and she usually ends up looking a little something like this:

Then Thayner comes along and suggests a few key outfit changes.  He's so cute about it.  He's really learned how to talk to girls these last three years of marriage.  He'll peek his head in and say, "Wow, you two look beautiful!...isn't Nettie cute? I love that shirt she's wearing...don't we have a headband that matches?  Also, I think this would look great with those pants over there.  Oh man, I think THIS shirt would just pull the whole thing together.  Eh, let's skip the rainbow tattoo today." and BAM:

Cutest girl in town.  Good thing I married such a stylish guy - he keeps his girls in line.

Baby Overload

I'll admit it.  I totally staged the above photo...but not as much as you might think! All I did was move Nettie's arm to look like she was hugging Thayne and I made Thayne pretend he was asleep (he's not a super-great actor).  But, let's all be honest, if this photo doesn't just melt your heart...you have no heart.

 Things around here have been wonderful.  Nettie is now the center of our universe and has introduced us to a new level of love, paranoia, and fear.  To love such a tiny thing with everything that you are has brought us more joy than we ever imagined. 

Nettie had terrible jaundice for the first six weeks of her life and we tried the tanning beds and this little blue-light pad you stick to her back.  For weeks, I'd take her to the hospital to have her blood taken (she did NOT like that) and her billirubin levels checked.  They were always high and weren't going down.  The first few weeks of motherhood are hard enough without having "something wrong" with your child.  This was an enormous source of emotion, stress, and tears for me until we figured out the solution and the jaundice went away.  Jaundice is not a huge deal at all - but to me is was.  I admire mothers who for weeks, months, and years on end deal with physical, mental, or emotional handicaps in their children.

Nettie is hilarious.  She was born with a wrinkle in her brow and has a naturally mad face (like her mama).  She makes the greatest faces and I've given you a pretty good selection in this blog post.  

I was going to write what a typical day for us is (you know, a hilarious paragraph basically saying: "feed her, diapers, don't accomplish anything, feed her, diapers, don't accomplish anything, see Thayne, feed her...), but those of you who don't have kids don't care and those of you with kids already know.  Moving on...

I love the sheer terror in Nettie's eyes as her adorable cousin Haven proudly holds her and for some reason love this picture of her crying...

Hands down my favorite picture of Nettie.  I am so sorry about the inappropriate gesture, but I laugh every time I see this picture.  She has incredible control over that one finger and is constantly giving me the bird.

The remainder of this post is, like the title says, a baby overload.  Scroll down, or don't....whatever, I'm off to go stare at Nettie :)

Being a Human Being...

Dear Mr. Middle-Aged Red SAAB Convertible Driver,

On our lovely drive up Parley's Canyon to the Mormon Mecca of Swiss Days this morning, my mother and I merged onto Highway 189 and saw you in the rearview mirror.  For some reason, I automatically didn't like you and I was about to find out why.  As our two lanes turned to one, we respectfully merged into the slow line of cars.  You, however, seemed to think you were special...like somehow the universal rules of driving (or just being a decent human being) didn't apply to you.  As you weaseled along the slowly diminishing lane, you were angered and shocked that not one of us really wanted to let you in and be that guy.  No one was outright mean, mind you, but you seemed to think that explosive anger was the correct answer to the pressure the car behind you put on you.  I really enjoyed how you purposefully swerved in front of the car and slammed on your brakes just to really stick it to the people behind you.  Merely inches from rear-ending you, the visibly shaken driver behind you honked and waved for you to merge into the line of normal human beings.  You thought it would appropriate to make a large gesture, swerve, and brake again....coming to a complete standstill straddling the lanes.  As the cars behind you started to pull around you, your response of more swerving, choice gestures, and shouting filled me with deep laughter and an even deeper shame for the human race.

Surely this must be some kind of joke.  Surely no man who has survived on this planted to adulthood...not only adulthood, but middle-agedhood should act like a big, giant, baby in the face of  a merging situation.  Did swerving and yelling all over make you feel like a powerful man who was in control of the situation?  Because I saw a five year old throwing a fit over some cereal in aisle 2 of Smith's Market Place yesterday that exhibited more maturity and class than you did on the road today.  Is it because you are technically anonymous to all of us around you that helps you to freak out without remorse?  

Dear mister SAAB driver, I am ashamed that you would treat another human being like that. I am mortified that you think it is okay to act like that... What I wouldn't give to show your wife a video of our little run in.  Would she be surprised? Was it your totally inappropriate responses to human situations that attracted her to you in the first place?  Did it really seal the deal after you proposed to her that you rudely sent back your steak three times because it wasn't to your liking and then failed to tip your waiter?  Did your daughters write essays in grade school about their hero- You, their father, and how you yell at customer service representatives on the phone who are genuinely just trying to help you.  Are you admired in your community for your manly use of your middle finger and how, without regard to the feelings of anyone else, you get what YOU want?  We all know you are special, Mr. SAAB driver, and we all know that you are a REALLY big deal (because you let us know); but let's join the human race and take it down a notch.  Or at least be embarrassed by your actions so I don't have to be embarrassed for you.

gratuitous pregnant/baby post

Oh goodness.  I could write for days and days about the last 10 months and especially about the last 10 days.  I could write about the earth-shattering love and absolute awe that this little baby has brought into our lives.  I could write a silly post about the absolute exhaustion and hilarious body stuff that happens during and after pregnancy.  I could write a very serious post about the admiration and appreciation I have for mothers the world over for sacrificing body, mind, and sanity to lovingly raise children.  Those posts will probably come soon, but for now, I'll just post pictures of my body so you can all feel good about your own, much-less-enormous bodies :)

Annette Elizabeth Davis

May 13, 2014

6:00 PM

7 Pounds 14 Ounces

19.5 Inches

 My heart!!

 MY HEART!!!!

Nettie has had some awesome jaundice so we've had a tanning bed at our house this week.  Anywho, I don't think I'm going overboard when I say I think she is the cutest baby ever to be born ever in all the history of the earth.

update

aaaaaaaaaand we're back.  I feel the need write and write and write and write about what has been going on this last half a year...but I think I need to tackle it slowly.  I have experienced more change, sorrow, gratitude, joy, and general sleepiness than at any other time in my life. 

In a nutshell:

January: After some routine surgery, my mom arrested because she couldn't metabolize the narcotics during her recovery.  Thankfully, my dad was with her when she stopped breathing and was able to administer CPR and call an ambulance.  Thayne and I showed up to visit her as this was happening.  We spent the night in the hospital with my dad as she was intibated and put into a coma to recover.  Possibilities ranged from full on vegetable to only slight damage.  When the MRI came in at day two, my dad and brother (everyone had come to Salt Lake by then) were distraught at the picture because the part of the brain controlling motor skills and short term memory was essentially dead.  After the coma, they woke her up and she was very loopy and her memory reset about ever 2 minutes, but, she knew who we were and loved us, and that was enough.  The first week in the ARC, she thought she was in Minnesota and found out that I was pregnant about 100 times.  She cried with joy every single time - it was really sweet.  We all took off work and spent hours in therapy with her, talking to her, feeding her, and encouraging her to improve.  Week 2, she reset about every 7 minutes and could grasp onto one concept if you repeated it about 60 times.  Living at the hospital was draining and exhausting and sad, but we began to re-appreciate this amazing woman who is key in all of our lives.  Week three, she reset about every 11 minutes and could hold onto things better, eat, walk around, and converse pretty normally.  Week 4 she came home.

Februaray: It was amazing to have her home.  The life she brought back into the sad house was refreshing.  Tax busy season started and I began to work longer hours and was unable to be around as much as I would've liked.  February was a month of very slow, frustrating progress for all of us as we eased into some new roles and as my mom began intense therapy.

March:  More of the same, slow, frustrating, patience-testing progress.  She was able to remember what happened in the morning and began to teach her aerobics class - she couldn't remember where she taught and would call me three or four times a day to confirm the location.  Her personality - 100% of it was there and she was so dang frustrated all month because she realized her injury had caused some deficiencies and she HATES to rely on other people or feel stupid.  She's such an independent lady and I am so proud of her constance and perseverance amidst this horrible trial.  I was in the depth of tax season by now, 7.5 months pregnant, and having a hard time.

April:  Taxes, taxes, taxes. I am so happy I had my buds at Grant Thornton that made the previous few months really wonderful.  They made those 12 hour days so wonderful - thanks buddies.  I don't really want to write about busy season, other than that I'm grateful that it's over and I'm happy to have worked at GT.  April was the best month for my mom.  She doesn't reset anymore - she just occasionally forgets a minor detail or tells the same story twice (sounds exactly like I am now).  I'll never quite be able to express the gratitude I feel towards God for being with us every step of the way.  For giving us glimpses of peace and understanding in our lowest moments.  For making sure my dad was by her side to save her life.  For whispering to me that this trial wouldn't last forever and for blessing our family with the chance to re-appreciate this wonderful woman.  I am grateful for the wonderful blessings we have experienced as a family: for the outpouring of love from family, friends, and neighbors, the closeness we feel as siblings, and for the sweet strength that my dad's service to my mom has given their marriage. 

Also, during April - my dad was called to the 5th Quorum of the Seventy which means he helps out 32 stakes in Salt Lake City and has a few other assignments in the valley.  He has taken on this calling with humility and an eagerness to do what God would have him do.  I am so proud of him and impressed at the loads he is able to take on with such grace and strength.  I love my dad.

Let me also state the obvious - Thayne was and is amazing, supportive, happy, and loving every single day and continues to me an amazing husband (and father)!!!!!  Which brings me to

May: NETTIE!  The love of our lives.  She was born 8 days ago and I can't believe the love I feel towards her.  I can't believe how hard motherhood already is and I want to thank all mothers for doing what they do.  You are all amazing.  Thayne finished the basement for his girls and life is good.  My mother has basically lived at our house and cleaned, done laundry, made us food, and let me sleep during the day.  She has taken amazing care of all of us and we love her for it. 

Welp, Nettie is waking up - so it's mom time...my favorite time.  I'll be back soon.