Medical Update on Samuel

I think we may be "officially" done with doctor visits for a little while -- praise God! :) Well, at least we don't have anymore scheduled until his two month well check!

We received the results of Samuel's echo -- which were all normal. His weight is back up to his birth weight and the jaundice is gone.

We saw a pediatric surgeon, Dr. Rosenshien, about Samuel's hypospadius. He only has a mild case, but it will require surgery down the road. We go back for a follow up appointment in November and will schedule the surgery and get additional details at that time.

Thanks to all for the many prayers over the last several weeks! We love you!

Popcorn for Samuel?

Everyone wants to know how big brother Kevin is dealing with Samuel's arrival, so I thought the latest Kevin saga was worth sharing...
Tonight, while I was about 4 feet away, but obviously not paying close attention to my oldest son, Kevin decided to "share" his popcorn with Samuel! Who knows how long the kernel of popcorn was stuck to the child's tongue before I saw it and FREAKED! Poor Kevin thought he was doing a good thing -- after all, why wouldn't Samuel like popcorn? :)
Needless to say, we had to have a discussion about how Samuel could only eat milk since he doesn't have teeth yet. Which I then realized that I had to quickly amend by saying he can only drink milk from mommy or his bottle -- the last thing I need is Kevin "sharing" his chocolate milk with Samuel! Oh the things you never thought you would have to worry about! :)

The First Ten Days

Samuel is now 10 days old and what a crazy 10 days it has been in the Davis household! Here are the highlights (and some pictures):

• Samuel lost nearly a pound during his first week of life which has meant many trips to the doctor's office. At this rate, he may actually beat his brother Kevin's record! :) He is back up to 7 lbs. 2 oz. and making the doctors very happy at moment. He also has jaundice, which has concerned us slightly this week since his eyes started to turn slightly yellow. Samuel had a heart murmur at birth, so we went for an echo cardiogram on Monday. Apparently, they send them all to Children's in Little Rock to be interpreted and then a report will be sent back to our pediatrician. We hope to hear something when we go back for his two week check up on Wednesday. Other than all that, he is doing really well.


• Kevin has enjoyed having a brother so far. He loves to talk to Samuel and gets this funny high pitched voice when he does. He lovingly calls him "Bubba" and thinks that he can only kiss him on the lips, so that is rather humorous at times. My mom was here for the week and they had a big time playing hide and seek, going to the park, watching the Bee Movie, etc. He actually cried when he realized that she was gone, which makes my heart break. I have tried to keep life as normal as possible for Kevin, but some things are just difficult no matter how you slice them... try explaining breast feeding to a 3 year old. He now says "Samuel eat you", so I can only guess what he says in his classes at church and school! :)


• Brian has taken everything in stride this time around. He loves to hold, burp and feed Samuel (although we are still struggling on the diaper duty!). He has taken on nearly all responsibility for Kevin as I physically cannot lift or wrestle him at this point, so that has been a huge blessing. Work is keeping him busy, as always. He did get to spend his birthday at a golf tournament with an ingredient supplier and some other guys from work, so I think the day turned out good for him!
  
• As for me, I have been feeling amazingly good this time around! It is crazy how much better the c-section was not having to go through labor first! :) I did have alot of help though since mom came to stay for 6 days. It was great to have her here and hard to see her leave. I love living in NW Arkansas, but it is SO hard to be far away from my family! Needless to say, I am still a little on the hormonal side and the lack of sleep is never a positive thing for me! :) All in all though, I spend my days gazing at Samuel and wondering how it is that I have been so blessed. I thank God for each of my boys (including Brian) and look forward to the many miracles He has planned for the days to come!

Samuel ready to go home from the hospital

Samuel hanging out in the boppy at home, four days old (Thomas watch courtesy of Kevin)

Kevin and Samuel on 3-25-08. I love the look on Samuel's face!

Kevin, Samuel & Brian having storytime before bed on 3-27-08

Birthday Cake for Daddy

Brian turned 32 on Tuesday and to celebrate, my mom thought she would help Kevin make cupcakes for him! I missed the actual cake baking process although I received some highlights from mom, including how Kevin poured the cake mix from the box to the bowl and then proceeded to lean over and stick his tongue into the cake mix! :)

I did get to witness the frosting and decorating, which was hilarious. The child couldn't keep the knife out of his mouth long enough to frost a single cupcake, so mom gave him the job of adding the M&M's. His OCD tendancies came out a bit as you will notice... only M&M's that are the same color could go on the cupcake.

All in all it was a great time and we made lots of memories! We are going to have to work hard to top it next year! :)

Taking time to say "cheese" while decorating the cupcakes

Adding the M&M's

The celebration and candles with Daddy!

Our New Addition...

Samuel Joe Davis is officially here! He was born Tuesday, March 18th at 9:12 am at Willow Creek Women's Hospital in Johnson, AR. He weighed in at 7 lbs. and 12 ounces and measured 21 inches long.


Samuel & Traci are both doing okay following the c-section. Things got a little crazy for a minute or two as the doctors had some problems getting Samuel out. And then it took him what seemed like a lifetime to cry! But all in all things went great and we are SO VERY thankful for our little miracle.

Kevin seems to love his little brother, but he is confused by the hospital and very concerned about his mommy. He is staying with Aunt Bo and Unc, so hopefully that will keep him distracted for now.

We will post more soon!! :)

Odds & Ends

Where does the time go? This clip of Kevin on his new bike is from several weeks ago, but somehow I haven't managed to post it until now! Hope you enjoy it and the following short update on us...

A couple weekends ago, my grandparents surprised us by stopping by. May not seem like a big deal to many of you, but they live 8 hours away! :) We were thrilled to get to spend some time with them. They were on their way to Atlanta, where grandma was going to stay while grandpa went to Jamacia for a week on a mission trip! Kevin warmed up to having them here fairly quickly and loved the attention. He got so excited that most of the time "G.G." came out "Luigi" (like on his Cars movie).

Then last weekend Brian's parents came to stay with us! It is always good to see them and the boys made sure I didn't "over do" it and made a run for some Thai food (and a salad for me!) I think that was just a good excuse to get some much wanted Thai food, but I was grateful nonetheless! On Saturday, the boys (Brad & Brain) and Pops went on a little excursion while Mom and I enjoyed some time with the little boys (Jacob, Kevin & Jonathan). They are great kids and the only problem was a few opportunities to learn sharing! Note: Belinda was in Thailand on a mission trip for 10 days. I am now unsure what I would EVER do if we lived far apart!

This week was a CRAZY one at our house! Both Brian and Kevin got sick, so I had my hands full! :) On top of all that, I had my tooth worked on again on Valentine's Day. We are hopeful that this is the last time for this crazy tooth! In between everything, we managed to go to the doctor and celebrate Valentine's day! The doctor appointment went well. I am measuring right where I should be and Samuel's heartbeat was good. My blood pressure is still doing great too! I do like Dr. Cole, so that is a huge blessing -- he is extremely nice, just older which still kinda weirds me out. I have still only gained 13 lbs, which is fairly amazing considering I had gained 30 at this time with Kevin! Somehow, we have managed to survive the week and I even got a bouquet of beuatiful roses from my husband. We are just hoping this next week is a little better!

Yesterday, our Sunday School class had a baby shower for Samuel. We didn't really need anything, but it was fun to get together and fellowship. Samuel did get some great gifts, but mommy's favorites were the handmade stuff and of course the shoes from Thailand! We have some very talented women in my class (I am not one of them!) and Samuel benefited greatly. One of them made his bedding, which is just adorbale! I can't wait to get the room settled so that I can post some pictures! :) I spent the rest of the day in what Brian terms as "nesting" which basically means doing things that need to be done but he wants no part in! :) I did get everything halfway "situated" and even started writing in Samuel's baby book.

Well, tomorrow starts another crazy week, so I best get to bed. Much love to all...

Our countdown to Samuel...

Only 44 days left... can you BELIEVE it?

We went back to the doctor last Monday (January 28th) and everything is well. I measured right where I should be and have only gained 13 pounds which made Dr. Gorman extremely happy! :)

We scheduled my c-section for Tuesday, March 18th at 8:45 AM. So, unless he decides to come early, we are on the countdown to the 18th. The doctor that will do my c-section is Dr. Cole. I haven't seen him at all this pregnancy and only saw him once with Kevin. The clinic we go to has several different doctors and usually you just rotate and see all of them at least once; then whoever is on call delivers your baby. From what I remember about Dr. Cole, he is an older doctor and I just didn't hit it off with him like I did some of the others the first time around.... so I haven't been back to see him. I will see him next time though (Feb. 12th), so please pray that I really like him this time and that I am at peace with him delivering Samuel! We all know it is really in God's hands anyway, but I want to be EXCITED instead of nervous! :)

Originally, the 18th still seemed like a LONG time away... but the more time I spend thinking about it, I realize that it is right around the corner! I have attached a couple pictures. I hate pictures of myself, but everyone (especially my family that I haven't seen since Thanksgiving) keeps asking, so here you go...

Me -- getting BIGGER by the day -- although I still have to pull my pants up every few minutes! What is up with that?

Kevin giving Samuel kisses... not sure he truly understands, but he likes to give him kisses, nose rubs, and ocassionally sing to him!