Hi, I'm Robyn. I'm 25, married to Keith for 5 years. We have two sons; Owen is almost 2 and Ari is brand new! Welcome to my page.

owen's birth story

12/08 Owen - Doctor

12/18 Haircut

12/22 Ari - 4 Months!

12/25 Christmas

01/04 Owen - Ear Doctor

01/07 Gatlinburg Trip

01/10 Ari - 4 Month Shots

Saturday, December 25

The page is moving! Click here for our new webpage. I'll keep this one active just for archival purposes, but all new updates will be at the new page. Be sure to update your bookmarks!

Monday, December 20

New photos up over here. It's the new photo program from Angelfire, so it's kind of a test. I found out it's $5/month to remove all the pop-up ads, so I'm still debating it. In the meanwhile, enjoy new pictures of my beautiful babies.

Monday, December 20

Our sitter called early yesterday morning to tell us that her father passed away. He's had cancer for a while, but they expected him to make it a little longer. So she is out of state for several days. Keith was scheduled to work today, but was off the rest of the week. He went ahead and stayed with the boys today, so his Christmas vacation has started early. I'm sad for our sitter. She was choked up throughout our phone call. It's hard when real life intrudes, especially during the holidays.

Other than that piece of bad news, we had a fun weekend. I got a haircut on Saturday, which I always love. Sunday Keith was off all day, so we finished up some last minute gifts at Target, which wasn't nearly as packed as I feared. Then we ate dinner at the Olive Garden, which was so good. Owen was perfectly behaved, and Ari was happy and talked throughout the entire meal. The only problem was how loud he was talking. He was yelling and squealing with happiness, and it was ear-splitting. But what can you do about a happy baby? I hope people around us like the sounds of a laughing baby, because boy was he. It was so cold last night, around 7 degrees, but we made it home into warmer conditions by around 8PM. I finished up Christmas cards last night, which I normally don't send out, but I did a few this year since we're mailing some new pictures of the boys. We watched the Titans game that we recorded earlier in the day (will not speak of it). We drank coffee and ate some chocolate cake. And then the weekend was over and I was asleep. How can the weekends go by so fast?

On a funnier note, Owen started calling me 'babe' this weekend. "You get me a clean sheet of paper, babe?" or "Babe, you get me something to drink?" It took me by surprise the first time, but it's hilarious. At Olive Garden he pointed out a statue of a lion and told me that the lion was sad. I asked him why, and he said, "Him forgot to kiss his mom." I thought this might lead to a kiss and/or hug for his own mother, but no such luck.

I'm trying out a photo program on Angelfire to more easily display our pictures. So far I like it, except that every time you click on a new picture, a different pop-up ad comes up. I hate those pop-ups. Not sure if I can get around that. If so, then I'm down with the new photo program. And just in time, because I have loads of pictures to put up. Mostly of Ari with his new roly-poly self and his big enormous happy smile.

Speaking of roly-poly, now that Ari rolls, we're up several more times a night. He rolls over as soon as he wakes up, and once he's on his back (yes, he's a stomach sleeper), he wakes up and can't get back to sleep. He talks and plays and laughs and whatever else until someone gets up to roll him over. And sometimes, even when he's back on his stomach, he doesn't go back to sleep. This is not good. I remember this with Owen, and he eventually figured out that he could, indeed, sleep on his back as well as his stomach. Hopefully Ari is closing in on this milestone.

I am so looking forward to Christmas. I can't wait to see Owen's face when he sees all his presents under the tree. I'm anticipating that he will immediately say something adorable, and Ari will smile, and we'll all be in a Christmas-induced state of giddy. Christmas with children is so much better than regular Christmas!

Thursday, December 16

Every day a new assortment of packages arrives on our doorstep. Every night after the boys go to bed, I spend an hour or two wrapping said packages. What a haul these two are going to have this Christmas! I centered a lot of Owen's gifts around a Pop-Onz play table from Fisher Price, but it was unavailable online. I looked at local department stores, and finally found one left at K-Mart. Just one! I grabbed it, even though it was $8 more than normal, I assume from high demand. So I'm resting easier now. And just another 15 or so more presents to wrap!

Before bed last night, while reading stories, Owen requested the "1-2-3 Book" which is basically a picture book with a number and animals on each page. For instance, number 1 has one elephant, number 2 has two panda bears, and so on. This book has been great at helping Owen learn his animals. He's learned some of the easier ones ("Monkey! Snake! Lion!") and a few more exotic ones ("Flamingo! Camel! Penguin!"). The one he struggles with, though, is toucan. Page 9 has nine toucans, and he inevitably tries "bird" because he can't remember toucan. Last night he thought about it for a minute and said, "Trashcan!" I thought that was pretty funny. I told him, "Close! It's TOU-can." He got animated and excited and said, "Yeah! Whole bunch of cans!" No honey, not TWO cans. But I didn't correct him that time, because it was adorable and hilarious. Just like when he tells me that birds eat LERMS. It's just too cute to correct.

At work this year, instead of our usual Secret Santa, we decided to adopt a child instead. And as a family, we adopted a nursing home patient. He is a blind man who loves gospel music and wears a 3X tall. We got him a discman with three gospel CDs and some sweats and t-shirts. I hope it makes his holidays a little happier. I enjoyed buying for others this year, instead of getting myself and Keith a lot of gifts. I hope to make it a tradition with the boys, letting them choose gifts for a little boy off the angel tree. They get so much already, it will be nice to teach them to give.

Ari woke up around 645AM this morning, and Owen was up at 710AM. So I got to see both of their smiling faces before I left for work. That sure makes my day brighter. Ari was a ray of sunshine, smiling and chortling and cooing at everyone. Owen gave me a big hug and I held him in my arms for a few minutes. Makes all the difference in the world to see them before I leave for 10 hours. I love my two little guys.

Monday, December 13

Tired today. My six hours of sleep last night were punctuated by frequent wakings from both of my sons. Owen ventured into our bedroom around 330AM and said, "Hello!" This is new, him getting out of his bed. He's always known how, but hasn't since the first time we put him into the big boy bed. Now, all of a sudden, he gets up on a whim. I heard his little feet pitter-pattering to our room last night, with a rather lengthy stop in the living room. I found out later he was playing with some wooden beads that he left in there before bedtime. After his rather cheerful greeting, I herded him back towards his room, at which point he immediately started crying and saying, "I sleep on the ground! I sleep on the couch! With you! Pleeeeeeeease!" and it was so pitiful and sad that I almost gave in. But I was strong, and got him back into his bed. After a dose of his medicine and a drink of water, he was tucked in and quiet, and I went back to bed (this after prying warm sweaty wooden beads from his clenched fist. "I sleep with beads!" No way.). At 415AM I woke up to a little set of eyes peering into a crack in our bedroom door. "Owen Davis!" I said in my stern mother voice. And he immediately started crying. This time he was put back into bed with a firm reprimand to not get up anymore, and there he stayed until morning. I don't like this trend at all. I don't like the idea of my 2-year old wandering our house at night. I think I may put his baby gate up in the doorway of his bedroom, just to keep him contained. He has no physical need that I can detect, that would necessitate him getting out of bed. I believe it may link back indirectly to not having his binky around to soothe him back to sleep. Why does my newborn sleep better than my 2-year old?

Laura was here from Thursday until yesterday, and we stayed relatively busy. We braved the mall on Saturday (WHY? OH WHY?) and ate at lots of good restaurants. The boys were relatively well-behaved, and we had a nice visit. The only sad thing was that I left Keith in charge of cleaning the house for the visit, and it was the opposite of clean. But I think he honestly tried, so I'm not going to say anything.

I am so ready for Christmas. All of our shopping is done. I did 99% of it online, and with free shipping, how can you lose? We went yesterday and finished up the boys' stockings, and got a few small things for Ari (including a Vols bottle that Owen picked out), so we're officially done! I'm wrapping gifts and stashing them away; we're not putting anything out until Christmas Eve. Too much temptation for a little guy, especially one who wanders around at night all by himself. We made Christmas ornaments with Sculpey on Saturday night, baked and painted and glittered them up. We are feeling festive!

Wednesday, December 08

A big thank you to Dallas and Detroit, whose wins this past weekend put me 11 points up over Keith in our Free Pick 'Em NFL challenge. Poor husband, getting mauled by his wife, and regarding football no less.

I'm taking Owen to the doctor this afternoon. He is getting sicker, I believe, and has what sounds like bronchitis down in his chest. He is coughing and congested and he rattles when he breathes. He slept with us last night, so I could monitor his breathing, and it was pitiful. He feels awful. L agreed to keep him today until his doctor's appointment at 3PM, so that was great. I hope the girls' parents don't freak out. I probably would if they sent the girls there sick. Oh, wait a minute, they always do! I hope he can get some medicine and be back at 100% by Christmas.

Speaking of the festive holiday, yesterday Owen brought home a sleigh full of presents and a stuffed Santa Clause that he made at L's house. She is pretty creative, I tell you. He did such a good job on it. It is now our table centerpiece for the holidays. When I arrived yesterday at L's to pick him up, he was playing Garage Sale. He had all these old bottles and cups stacked around, and was pretending to hold a garage sale. Is it possible to die of cuteness? Because I almost did.

I spent about two hours online yesterday afternoon getting the boys' wishlists done for Christmas. I am so excited to see Owen's face when he gets to open all his presents. He already talks about his Christmas sock (his stocking), about how his is red and Ari's is green, and there will be toys in there! I also bought him a little Advent calendar at Cracker Barrel, and he opens a little window every day to a tiny little chocolate treat. Thinking back, I wish I had bought one with something besides chocolate, but it's a tiny little piece, and he loves opening it every day to see what's behind the window (surprise Owen, it's always chocolate).

Yesterday at Wal-Mart I had Owen in the cart and Ari in the Snugli, and a lady said to me, "Hon, did someone forget to tell you that you already had a baby? Ha ha ha ha..." It's so weird how strangers feel complete freedom to make comments about my children being so close together in age. Must be the friendly South. "You being punished for something?" Or, to Owen, "Oh, you have to give up the spotlight already?" Or, my personal favorite (pointing at Ari), "I bet that one was an accident!" What? I will so go all Mommy on you in a minute.

Keith is off tomorrow and Friday for finals. We owe Owen a trip to McDonald's to play on their toys, since he successfully finished up Week 2 without a binky. If only potty training were this easy.

Monday, December 06

The brakes on my car are acting funny. Keith replaced them not long ago, but something still isn't right. I told him this weekend that they were grinding and sounding weird. He told me he'd check it out on Tuesday, and that I can drive it until them. But in the meanwhile, "try not to brake too much." Um, not braking could be a problem. But I drove all the way to work today making a conscious effort to brake minimally. My poor old car.

We had a tiring weekend. Owen fell ill Friday afternoon, with a 103 fever and other weird, unexplainable symptoms. The sitter called me at work, frantic because Owen was acting strange. He was walking funny, shaking, crying, and his belly was hard. I called Keith, who was home for a few minutes between work and school. He called her, and she said he was all of a sudden doing fine, playing and acting himself again. Keith went on to work, and as soon as he got there, she called back and told us he had the 103 fever. So he turned around and picked him up and took him to the doctor, where of course she found nothing. I don't know what happened to him, but he burned up with fever all night Friday night. He tossed and turned in our bed for a while, and around 5AM he started crying and saying, "My own bed! My own bed!" So Keith carried him into his own room, where he slept a few hours. I think we all got about 5 hours of broken sleep that night, except Ari, who only got up once to eat, and enjoyed a 12-hour night.

Saturday night was my work Christmas party. It was a casino-themed party at my boss's house, and she hired in bartenders and waiters and professional dealers. We played craps, roulette, and blackjack for chips, which were redeemable for tickets, which went into a raffle for lots of good prizes. We didn't win anything, but it was really fun. Keith won lots of chips; I didn't know he was such a good gambler. The boys stayed with our sitter, and after Owen's terrible night on Friday, by the time we got them to her house on Saturday night at 6PM, they were both asleep already. I think Owen is feeling quite a bit better, but he's still a little congested and so cranky. Hopefully the cranky is coming from not feeling quite 100%, and will depart once he feels better.

Keith had to work yesterday, so after the Titans game Owen and I made sugar cookies and decorated them with icing and sprinkles. We made Christmas tree shapes and gingerbread men shapes, which he calls "guy cookies." It was also bath night for both boys, and after Owen's bath, I told him to go into my bathroom so we could brush his teeth. He said, "For shizzle Mom! We brush my teeth!" I said, "Did you just say 'for shizzle?'" "Yes! For shizzle!" I don't know where he picks this stuff up, but that was hilarious. My little nizzle.

Keith's now found Ari rolled over in his crib twice. I haven't seen him do it yet, but he's obviously rolling. And yesterday we had our first little sibling spat. Ari pulled Owen's hair. Of course, it was accidental; Ari hardly has any control over his hands, but somehow he got a handful of Owen's hair. Owen howled and cried, which I attribute more to the insult than to the injury. I told him that Ari was sorry, that he didn't mean to. Owen forgave him, or so I thought until he gave Ari a good whack in the head later on in the day. The first of many brotherly arguments.

Tuesday, December 03

Segments of thoughts, since I can't get a complete thought down before it leaves me. These are good things that happened to me recently.