The Davolts

Since Erin and I have been married we have never spent a Christmas at home, and had every intention of doing so this year.  However, once we found out we would be stuck in our small apartment with all our Christmas decorations in storage we soon decided to find somewhere to go.  After a harrowing trip across the snow covered Blue mountains to Boise in November, we soon decided to skip the mountain passes and just take the I-5 slog up to Maple Valley. Nathan loves to chase Jet around at Grandpa's house. After doing a final walk through on the new house we made the even shorter trip from Battle Ground to Maple Valley on Saturday December 22nd.  It was Erin's Dad's brithday so we had a wonderful dinner with Dave, Ellen and Thomas at Covington's finest dining establishment, Applebee's. After celebrating Dave's birthday we were now ready for the big event.  Our anticipation for Nathan's first Christmas where he could actually maybe kinda sorta understand

Rear facing road trip If you recall, Nathan's first birthday was this past June, at the start of our summer road trip season (have I ever mentioned how nice it is to have the whole family on vacation all summer?). As we began to travel north, east, south or west, inevitably someone would ask about Nathan's car seat still being rear facing. While law does allow for toddlers to be turned to forward facing at one year, the American Academy of Pediatrics disagrees. When I was almost seven months pregnant, the AAP announced their recommendation for tots to remain rear-facing until two years old. As explained in the full news release (see link below), young children seated face forward still risk neck injury in the event of a crash. In conversations with other moms online, I heard of horrifying accidents where young tots suffered serious injuries due to front facing seats. I considered adding a link for that, but I'll leave you to your own research. In addition, I learned t

Can you believe it? Can you believe that Little Man Nate is already 18 months? Nathan's Famous Hot Dog on Halloween. At 18 months, Nathan is 33.25 inches tall and nearly 29 pounds, but mostly, he is on the go. Nathan is curious about the world around him, spending lots of time opening doors or drawers, saying "uh-oh" when he finds something new. I know for certain I will have to buy a new set of measuring cups when we move again, as Nathan has adopted some into his toy collection, while others are just plain MIA. He loves pushing his cars, trucks and lawn mower around the house. He is quickly learning to match shapes with puzzles and point to his nose, ears and belly. He uses sign language to say "please" and "more" as well as ask for "help". We have just started practicing the sign for "thank you" and he seems to be grasping that one. Nathan will put his cup in the refrigerator or sink when he is "all done", and u

It has been quite awhile since our last post, and quite a lot has happened in that time. Early in the spring Erin and I started exploring the idea of selling out house.  We loved our current house, and when we moved in, we thought we would be here for along time, but things change.  A few of the reasons we decided to sell our house and move: 1.  Schools:  You can start by reading this blog posted about a year ago.  Things have only gotten worse with no signs of getting better.  Oregon schools, especially Portland Public are just not up to our standards. 2.  Affordability:  When we purchased our house, we did not factor in children, child care and everything that comes with it.  I was making over double what I make now, and if we wanted to have another child, and to actually go on a vacation every once in while, we needed a smaller house payment. 3.  Costs of living:  Erin and I both work in Washington.  The schools are better, there is no income tax, housing is less expensive,

There was a time when Nathan would eat anything I put in front of him, especially vegetables. I would happily steam and cut up any veggie that we had in the house and he would eat it, just as happily. Then, about a week before his first birthday, he changed his mind. At his one year appointment, the pediatrician said Nathan was exercising some power over his food choices and simply to continue offering vegetables at each meal. So, in the last two months, I have provided a small veggie serving at each lunch and dinner, with no luck.  I know the doctor said he will get his nutrients through milk and other foods, but I cannot help but worry about his overall nutritional health (I am his mother after all). Determined to find veggies Nathan would eat, I have recently found three options that seem to pass his test. Unfortunately, all three are short term solutions, when ultimately I want him to simply eat his veggies. The first were these Sweet Veggie muffins, made with shredded

Is there anything better than summer vacation? I mean, really, when you were a child, wasn't that the best time, full of the best memories? For so many reasons, I feel so blessed to have been called to a career in education, and summer vacation is like the cherry on top! Eight weeks of staying up late watching movies, wearing shorts and no make up, last minute road trips and tons of time with my growing boy. Seven years of marriage! No itching here! It's even more enjoyable now that Jeff is also enjoying his summer off. Sort of. Oh, you haven't heard about Jeff's endless teaching? While I look forward to spending my time with little to no formal schedule, Jeff has diligently taken on two rounds of summer school. The first was a continuation of his primary teaching job, helping seniors pick up just one or two more credits to graduate. The second is teaching incoming sixth graders in a program designed to aid the transition to middle school and hopefully reduce t

 Nathan is one year old! Okay, okay, today he is one year and one month old but the following is all about his FIRST birthday. I know it's totally cliche to say, but he is growing up SO fast! Leading up to the day of the party, I was suffering from "Pinterest Pressure". I love finding ideas on Pinterest, as many do, but the birthday party pictures I came across were magazine perfection. I am neither crafty enough nor have enough time in the busy end of year weeks to recreate the beautiful color coordinated buffet tables and decor I found. After a few brainstorming trips to the party supply store, the craft store, the thrift store, etc. I made a simple banner seen in the first picture above, which reads, "Happy Birthday", the felt triangle banner attached to his high chair and a blue cake. More crafty Auntie Ellen made Nathan's princely crown and helpful Auntie Jennifer played paparazzi for the day (she took all the pictures).  Nathan enjoyed the