Christmas Fun

Here is Hugh opening his Elmo chair from his Nanna and Grandad.

Here is Hugh helping Taylor to open his Alphabet wheel from Nanna and Grandad.

Hugh's 2nd birthday

Hugh had a wonderful 2nd birthday.

He came downstairs to see a room FULL of happy land toys, that Daddy had bought for him. After a very brief breakfast - due to the lull of toys - we headed off to St Louis Zoo with his godmother Vicky, who was over from the UK.

We celebrated his birthday with all of his little friends at Minor Park - a great local park. Here they all are having lots of fun.

Taylors Baptism

On the 27th July we had Taylor baptised at St John's in the Vale.

This is a very special church for us as we were married there 5 years ago and Hugh was also christened there. It is also where Bruce, Andy and Lauren were christened, Andy is buried there and Brian and Heather were married there too.

After a lovely service we all headed back to Fieldhead to celebrate in style.

We had wonderful weather for Taylor's big day. The sun came out and lots of family and friends were there to help us celebrate.

The tractor was a big hit with the kids and Dave spent all the afternoon pulling them around the garden. Of course Hugh enjoyed the sun in real style!!!

The Kids had a great time getting their best outfits sandy.

The cake was delicious and had the same teddy from Hugh's Baptism.

Many thanks to everyone who came, you really made it a special day for us all.

Taylor is on the move!!

Taylor has decided he wants to keep up with his brother and is now rolling over so that he can grab his toys.

Take a look at him in action.

Potty time

We have decided to start potty training Hugh. We bought him a lovely new potty and got him to decorate it.

This is supposed to help him want to use the potty but so far our greatest success has been having him wee on the floor next to it!! I am trying to get Bruce to demonstrate to him how to use it - don't worry I will keep the camera away.

Boys at the park.

Here are some shots of the boys at the park in their new safari outfits.

St Louis Jazz festival

Today we went to the St Louis Jazz festival held in Shaw Park, Clayton, St Louis. It was a glorious sunny day and we arrived early enough to get a picnic spot in the shade of some trees.

Hugh spent the entire day running around, clapping at the bands, blowing kisses at the girls and drinking the dregs from our beer bottles!! The last bit was unintentional and thankfully all the beer was gone before he grabbed it from us. Hugh clearly thought everyone was there to entertain him.

Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take in the camera but we have a shot of his airbrushed tattoo and festival ankle band, which every festival goer should have.

A Terrapin

Hugh was really surprised to find a baby Terrapin in the pond when he was feeding the fish.

Huge hailstones!!!

Check out the size of these hailstones!



These came down in a thunderstorm here last night, so its true that Americans have to supersize everything!!!

Niki at the botanical gardens

On Sunday we went to the Missouri botanical gardens to see the Niki pop art exhibition of 40 playful, larger-than-life mosaic sculptures in a rainbow of colors and materials.




They were amazing and you could climb quite a few of the sculptures.



The gardens were beautiful too, here are some blue-eyed marys.


Hugh thought it was fantastic fun to run through all the flowers!!!



Check out this web-site for more info on Niki

http://www.mobot.org/events/niki/niki_bio.asp

Earthquake.

On Friday morning we had a big earthquake here (5.2). I was up feeding Taylor when the whole house started to shake. I was really scared as the houses here are very poorly built, so when I said everything was shaking I really mean it.

Bruce very calmly walked in to the room and said "we are having and earthquake" and then went back to sleep before the shaking had even finished. I guess it comes from his San Francisco upbringing to not be fazed by a shaking house.

That was the reason why we saw all the snakes yesterday as they don't like to be buried in their hibernation holes. After I saw the western ribbon snake, Bruce found a garter snake next to our back porch. Then a neighbour found a copper head in the back garden - these are highly poisonous so the neighbour killed it. Was a real shame as it was so pretty and would only bite you if you cornered it.

Snake!!

Hugh, Taylor and I just saw our first snake here. Its called a Western Ribbon snake - its not venomous, we saw it when we were walking around our subdivision this afternoon.

Taylor is smiling!

Taylor is now smiling and it certainly makes up for all the sleepless nights.

Here he is in action with some lovely noises!!

Hugh's first tricycle.

Hugh has now got his first tricycle and here he is riding it for the first time.




It's amazing how quickly he learnt how to ride it, he came in the house, saw it and just got on and rode off around the house!!

Here he is the next day riding it around our neigbourhood.

Gymnastic fun time with Daddy

At Hugh's gymnastics class there is a huge pool full of sponge cubes which Hugh loves to jump into. Here is Bruce trying to rescue Hugh out of the pool only to find that the heavier you are the deeper you sink!!!!

Bath Time

The boys are getting used to sharing, which includes bath time. Here is Hugh washing his brother.




Here is Taylor showing off his sprinkling skills.

Pere Marquette

On Friday we took GiGi and Grandpa on a tour up the Mississippi river to Pere Marquette state park. After a brief stop in the National Great Rivers Museum, where we watched a great film on the path of Mississippi, we went and had lunch in the Finn Inn.

The Finn Inn is a cross between a fish restaurant and an aquarium. We all had a great time watching Hugh's reaction to the fish.




There was also a fantastic Aligator Snapping Turtle, here he is coming up for air.




After our lovely lunch we headed off for Pere Marquette state park and took a walk up to a nice view point overlooking Swan Lake.



Hugh loved wearing Grandpa's hat.



We then took a few ferry rides across the Illinois river and then the Missouri river and finally home.



The ferry rides were really impressive as we have had lots of rain recently and all the rivers were in flood.

Maycie's Birthday

Hugh had a great time at Maycie's 2nd birthday party. Here is Maycie blowing out the candles.



Hugh loved the cupcakes.



Maycie's older sister Katelyn loved introducing Hugh into the wonders of girly films.

Brothers

Here are a few shots of a proud Hugh with his not so happy brother. He is a little anxious in this shot but soon learns how to get him to stop crying - shame his aim is so bad.




Taylor finally stops crying long enough to get a decent shot.

The Whiteboard Story

Taylor has arrived!!!

Taylor Jack Nicholson Davis arrived on Monday the 25th February at 5:59p.m. weighing 7lb 13oz, length 20" at Anderson Hospital, Maryville, Illinois.




Rachael went into Anderson hospital on Sunday night to be induced. They started Rachael off at 7p.m. and within 2 hours the contractions were 1-2 mins apart, so they took her off the drugs and let nature take its own course. She managed to cope with the pain until 5a.m. on Monday morning when she decided to have the epidural as the progress was very slow, only 4cm dilated for 10 hours of work.



At 4p.m. Rachael had some extra pain relief and slept for the last hour and half of the labour. She woke at 5:30 with the urge to push and was told to hold on until the doctor arrived. Within 6 good pushes Taylor came into the world, another boy.


The hospital has a tradition of putting a footprint of every baby born on the wall in the maternity ward. With over a thousand babies born every year you can imagine that there are a lot of little feet all over the place.

After a 2 day stay at the hospital they both came home to a very excited older brother and grandparents. Hugh likes to help out with the baby, giving him books to read and putting his blankets on him. Hopefully they will grow up to be best buddies.