and then there were four

flock of seagulls

2011-12-20T10:03:00.000-08:00

merry christmas from the davis family!

and i know, we are all thinking it...

Source: 80s-fashion-fancy-dress.com via Alexandria on Pinterest

i didn't realize it until we got them printed out.

at least i love the 80's!

hope everyone has fun this holiday season!

oh yesterday...

2011-12-14T12:34:00.000-08:00

i fell off the wagon.
and then it turned around and ran over me a few times.

a little background:
when tj and i moved here and looked in the mirror, we were a little shocked as to what we saw. after pregnancy, bed rest, the stress of the boys in the nicu, and moving we had acquired a little more wight than we had realized. we knew we needed a change and not only with our weight but our relationship with food. so we changed everything in our diet and the weight started coming off and we have never felt better.

fast forward to yesterday:
i had a large final in anthropology last night, two bored screaming babies, a wreck of a house, a primary meeting, and i was exhausted. i felt the urge creep up inside and once it started i couldn't stop it. i went to the cupboard, found some old cake mix and whipped up some cake mix cookie batter and ate half of it.

Source: undressedskeleton.tumblr.com via Sarah on Pinterest

it wasn't that pretty.

i ended up being sick for the rest of the day, but my final? Nailed it!!

bring on my birthday and christmas! best week of the year.

for all you crafty ladies out there

2011-12-12T11:19:00.001-08:00

Source: handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com via Alex on Pinterest

i'm so good at blogging, i'm thinking about going professional

2011-12-05T16:01:00.000-08:00

after many of my readers told me they missed my entries, i thought i would finally grace you all with my internet presence. by many readers i mean my friend elise and by entries i mean the one every six months that i churn out and seriously, what would i blog about? my gourmet dinner i ordered from pizza hut? how about the cute onsies that i pay my friend brooklyn to make? i promise i would take photos of the delivery man and the money exchange between me and brooklyn so that it's easier for you to see how i do it.
if you couldn't tell, i'm kidding and i love looking at those kinds of blogs. i live vicariously through those women and i pretend that i'm going to sew myself a new dress tonight, but i never do. after the boys go to bed i sit on the couch with the teejer and watch whatever we have recorded on the dvr and i honestly feel completely fulfilled doing so. but you ladies who blog, keep it coming because it's women like me that are obsessed with you. i even commented on one of those blogs the other day and the chick wrote me back wanting to meet me at starbucks for a drink. i almost passed out, i was so excited. i never wrote her back though. i don't want my image of her to be shattered. she is perfect in my eyes.

anyway onto what you really want to see.

THE CUTEST BABIES EVER!!!

look at those little buddies. they are 7 months old now and so much fun!
on a more important note

we have four stockings now for christmas!
i looked over at the fireplace the other night and thought "whoa, we have a real family going on here." and no i didn't make those stockings, picked them up at good ol' pottery barn but i'll let visitors think that i did.
well, merry christmas and happy birthday to me this month. i'll sign off with more photos of my favorite little men.

Nobody likes to get yelled at.

2011-09-15T09:48:00.001-07:00

I kind of like it, when its coming from Winston. He doesn't cry. He yells at you. It actually sounds like he is trying to form words. Here is a little example. I brought them into our bed to cuddle with me this morning and when I left the room, sure enough Winston was yelling at me. He gets a little sheepish when he realizes I'm filming. Please notice William displaying his fine thumb sucking skills.

what's it like having twins?

2011-09-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

that's a great question. it's honestly awesome!


this is happiness my friends

     while i was pregnant, all i heard was how hard it was going to be and "bless your heart" and "better you than me". ya know, that kind of stuff. i guess i was expecting the worst, so when we brought them home, we were pleasantly surprised.
     let it be known, our little men are very good boys and that makes it much easier.
     the only thing that kind of bums me out is that i don't feel like i can give them enough one on one time. i start to feel a little guilty, but what can you do, ya know?

     i think my favorite thing about having twins are peoples' reactions to us. i feel like santa clause. we are a stroller full of happiness. everyone smiles at us and comments on how cute they are. and when i say everyone, i mean everyone right down to the gangsters with the tear drop tats on their face (i have to admit, i was a little scared). am i bragging? yeah. sorry. today was fun because a cop stopped us while we were walking into the grocery store and talked to me for a good ten minutes about the boys and when the conversation came to a close he said "you guys just made my day happy". i guess you could say that taking the boys around town is just my way of giving back. totally kidding. kind of.

come on, how can they not make you happy

anyway, it's fun being parents of twins. never a dull moment and always a baby available to cuddle and love on.

happy, noisy boys

2011-09-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

will

winn

these babies kill me. i love their fat little faces and their happy smiles. i never thought i could love anything or anyone this much. they are my little buddies. my noisy little buddies.

we're still here!

2011-08-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

hi everyone. it's alex again. if you're not friends with us in real life or on facebook, you're probably wondering what happened to us. did the boys ever leave the hospital? did we end up moving to seattle? here is the update.

william the day before he left the hospital


winston the day before he left the hospital

what seemed like forever finally ended june 28th. the boys finally left the nicu. what was so cool was that they left the exact same day! that never happens! the nurses were telling us the whole time that the boys will probably go home at different times and we were kinda dreading the whole having one boy at the hospital and one at home. we kept whispering in their ears to wait for each other and they are very obedient little men.


one of the best days ever!

the boys are both doing great! they are getting so big and really starting to interact with us. here is a photo of them that i took last week.

        we are so in love with them. so, now we live in seattle. we moved about five weeks after we were able to take the boys home. it's been kind of a whirlwind, but we love love love it here. we have a pretty killer guest bedroom and all visitors are welcome anytime!
       TJ started work at amazon.com and he likes it. we were spoiled having him around for four months between graduation and starting his job so it was kind of a bummer when he left for work.
       speaking of change:

             i cut my hair off and bleached it. whenever i held the boys, and especially when i would put them down in the crib, they would have this death grip on my hair and about the 593,748,990 time that it happened, i was done. i also think that i didn't realize, while i was on bed rest and during the whole stressful nicu experience, that my hair was now down to my waist. i looked like a polygamist's wife. so off it went! it's so nice.
            so that is the readers digest update on how things are going. i want to thank everyone again for all of the thoughts and prayers that were sent our way for the boys. they were felt and i know that they are part of the reason that our boys are doing so well.
            i will be updating more so that our family can see what we are up to and if you would like to see what we are doing, feel free to come back and visit!

The End is Near!!! (We Hope)

2011-06-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the lack of updates over the past few weeks. I made the huge but necessary mistake of putting a sprinkler system in my backyard, which pretty much ate up all my free time. It is now done and if any of you ever need help putting in your own sprinkler system please feel free to never call me. I don't want to ever have to do something like that again. :-).

So on to the boys. Let's start with William.

I honestly thought that today I would be writing a post about bringing William home. Last night the homecare team came and brought us a portable oxygen tank to take him home with and we were rushing to get his nursery put together. It had been 6.5 days since his last apnea episode and they only need to go 7 days without an episode before being discharged. However this morning we received a call from one of our great Primary Nurses Katie with the news that William had an "episode" last night. It was nothing serious, but unfortunately that starts his countdown at 7 days again. While we are sad he isn't coming home yet, we aren't too disappointed because Winston probably has at least a week left here and it would be even harder to have one baby at home and one in the hospital. Also we would much rather have him go through an episode at the hospital with his nurses than to freak us out at home. William's episode was caused by his reflux. He is having a much more difficult time with reflux than Winston, so they have started him on some prevacid, which has made a huge difference for him. Hopefully he will be home in 7 days!

They also did an ultrasound on William's kidneys this week to see if there are any anatomical concerns related to the Urinary Tract Infection that he had. The ultrasound is showing some reflux of urine into his kidneys. They will confirm this at Primary Children's after he is discharged, but if that is positive then William will probably need to have a surgical procedure in 6-9 months to have the issue corrected. There is a still a small chance that the test at Primary's will come back negative, but if not then I guess William will have to spend a few days in the hospital in Seattle. There are much worse things to deal with so we will take it.

On to Winston.

Winston is still a champ with his breathing. He hasn't had an apnea episode for weeks. We just need to get him eating like his brother and he will be able to come home. There are 4 stages of eating that premies have to pass before they can come home. Winston has been stuck at stage 2 for over a week. It will take him at least 3 days to go through the other stages once he figures it out. We are hoping that by some miracle they are able to be discharged on the same day.

Winston also has a slight heart murmur that comes and goes. Multiple doctors have looked at it and they all feel that it is something he will grow out of.

Both boys have now passed their eye and hearing tests. They are getting huge (at least to us). Winston is 5 lbs, 11 oz and William is at 5 lbs, 10 oz. They are now 6 weeks and 3 days old and almost 37 weeks gestational age.

We are so excited to have them home optimistically in a week :-).

Here are a couple of pictures. Both boys were held by their Grandparents for the first time this past week.

Winston

William

A Week of Firsts

2011-05-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

Today marks day 27 in the NICU. We are down to 40 days until the boy's due dates. While every day is starting feel a little bit like groundhog day to Alex and I, we love the little "firsts" that we get to experience with William and Winston and we have had a few great ones this week.

First Urinary Tract Infection

This might not seem like something to celebrate, but we were thrilled to find out this was why William was sick. Of all of the scary bacteria that he could have been infected with, we will happily deal with a UTI. He has responded well to his antibiotics and was acting more like himself within a couple of days. They are going to run a new urine culture today to make sure that the antibiotics he is on has wiped out the infection. We will have to do a couple of small procedures to make sure it wasn't an anatomical problem with his urethra that caused the infection (since UTIs in boys are much more rare), but he should be fine.

He is still on a higher level of oxygen than he was before getting sick and is struggling a little bit more to wean himself off of it. Unfortunately the oxygen being pushed in his nose tends to dry things out. He has been a little bit stuffy lately and so they have put him in a strange contraption that gives him more humidified oxygen to help him break up what ever is causing him the stuffiness. It is a clear case they lay over his head. So I guess for the next couple of days he will be the bubble boy :-).

First Cribs

As you probably noticed in the photo above, William is in a crib rather than in an incubator. Our great nurse Brooke surprised us one day this week by having them both setup in their first cribs before we arrived for our morning visit. They both passed the 4 pound mark, which is when the NICU likes to wean them off of the incubators. They still need to be bundled up in a couple of blankets and wear a hat to keep their temperatures up, but it makes such a difference in our visits to have such easy access to the little guys.

William

Winston

First Bath

Probably my favorite thing we have been able to do so far is to give Winston his first bath. William can't participate yet, because he has been sick and still has an IV in, but he should be able to get one tomorrow when his IV is out. Winston loved his bath. Essentially we swaddled him in a fleece blanket and then placed him on a bath pillow in a warm tub of water. We washed his body by pulling one limb out at a time from the swaddle blanket and washing him while doing some massages. The boys have a physical therapist who comes to help us with this. The massaging helps their joints with development.

First Bottle

Both William and Winston have been doing great with their breast feedings with Alex, so they were able to start taking a bottle once a day as well. I had the honor of giving them their first bottle. Never thought that would be such a thrill.

William

Winston

And Finally our First Family Photo!!

We had a great nurse one night this week, who was shocked to learn that we had not had the chance to hold the boys together yet. She made it her mission to make that happen which was no easy task. While they boys are in the same room, they are on complete opposite ends of the room and attached to multiple monitors, oxygen, etc. She was able to move equipment around for us so that we could have them meet up in he middle of the room. Probably my second favorite moment of this whole experience only after hearing their first little cries.

A Small Bump in the Road for William

2011-05-23T17:10:00.000-07:00

The boys had been having a great week and I think Alex and I just got comfortable with only hearing good news. So we were completely caught off guard yesterday when the nurse practitioner called and told us that William was sick. He had been bradying (sudden heart rate drops) more than normal and his labs came back with high blood platelets and a low white blood cell count and he was just acting like he wasn't feeling well by being really lethargic. They had sent some of his blood to be checked for bacterial infections, but they also needed our consent to do a spinal tap so they could rule out bacterial meningitis. Pretty scary. Every time I hear meningitis I can only think of when my sister Sydney got near-death sick with bacterial meningitis at 10 months old and lost her hearing. On top of that Alex had a minor sore throat that day so she had to stay away from the NICU.

I hurried down to the hospital and walked in the boy's room just as the nurses were prepping William for the spinal tap. I pray I never have to have one of those and it was pretty tough to watch your 3 week old premie have to have one. Luckily for my emotions William didn't cry out at all while they did the procedure, which I guess was more indication that he really isn't feeling very well. The results from the spinal tap were only going to take a few hours so I stuck around the hospital until they came back. As a big relief to all of us his spinal fluid was normal so they can rule out meningitis. We need to wait a few days for his bacterial cultures to come back, so in the mean time they have put him back on an IV and started a 3-day series of antibiotics. It's also possible that he has just got a viral infection in which case we will just have to wait it out. To help him breath while he is fighting the bug they have put him back on the high-flow oxygen.

It has been tough seeing him go through his increased brady episodes and desat spells. Both boys normally do this several times a day, however when healthy they quickly recover on their own and if it weren't for their monitor alarms we probably wouldn't notice. However since William is sick he just doesn't have the energy to bounce back from the episodes, so the the nurse or us need to help stimulate him to get him back and it is the first time I've visually seen him turn blue. Kind of a wake up call that as well as Winston and William have been doing they really are still sick and need to be in intensive care.

I'm sure that this will turn out to be just a small bump in their road to them coming home with us. Despite William being sick they both gained weight last night and Winston passed the 4 pound mark! William is only two ounces behind him. This morning William looked visibly better than last night and seemed to have more of his usual energy. Hopefully he will be doing even better tonight when I stop by to visit them. And hopefully Alex is feeling better soon so that she can get back to visiting them.

Today marks their 21st day in the NICU. Only 46 days until their due date! We can't wait for them to be healthy enough to come home.

William shortly after his spinal tap procedure. Even when he is sick he his pretty darn cute.

Two Weeks Old! - 52 Days until due date

2011-05-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

A quick update on Winston and William. They both are doing great which is mainly why we haven't updated lately. No news is usually good news as we are learning.

Winston has blown past his birth weight and currently is tipping the scales at a whopping 3 pounds, 11 ounces. He continues to do amazing off of his oxygen. He continues on full feeds and they are now adding extra calories to Alex's milk to help him beef up.

William past his birth weight yesterday, but fell back under it tonight. He currently is weighing 3 pounds 6 ounces. He is still on a little bit of oxygen and probably will be for a while. His lungs just weren't quite as developed as Winston's. He is also on full feeds with extra calories. He is great at letting us know as soon as he has a wet or messy diaper.

No major tests coming up although they do have their first appointment with the Optometrist tomorrow to see how the blood vessels in their eyes are developing with the oxygen they have been on.

We love coming to visit the boys and take care of them for a few hours each day. I guess one of the few positives of the whole NICU thing is that we get to ease into the whole parenthood thing. The boys have also been getting regular visits from their grandparents and their aunts and uncles. Here are some pics from the past few days:

Aunt Alex

Aunt Drew

Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma with Winston

Grandpa with Winston

A new great grandchild!

Aunt Sydney

William spooning

Winston just chilling with his pacifier

Lots of good news - 57 Days until due date

2011-05-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

It has been a lot of good news this week. We officially crossed the 1 week mark in the NICU which I think will always be a blur in our minds. Both of us said that yesterday felt like the first semi-normal day for us since they were born so that is good.

The boys have both been doing so well this week. We keep bracing ourselves for a down day, but so far we couldn't be happier. We are so glad that they didn't have any major setbacks in this first critical week. Both boys are off of their antibiotics and up to full feeds through their feeding tubes. That means that both of their IV's were able to be removed. This is great for them because it greatly reduces their chances of infection while in the hospital. All of their blood cultures have come back normal which means the antibiotics did their job. Whatever was keeping William's white blood cell count low seems to be gone.

Both of the boys have been consistently gaining weight every day now. It's not much but they are adding about 10 grams per day. Winston is only .5 ounces away from reaching his birth weight. William is stil about 3 ounces away. The next milestone with their weight is to get them to 1800 grams (about 4 pounds) which will allow them to be taken out of their isolets (incubators) so they can start attempting to maintain their own body temperature. With William at 1470 grams and Winston at 1520 grams and them currently only gaining 10-20 grams per day it is going to take some time to get to that point.

They are also both breathing really well. In fact today Winston got taken off of all oxygen support completely!! William is only a couple of days behind his older brother. It's amazing to see them go from being fully intubated to off oxygen in only 10 days. They may need some oxygen support when they start oral feedings as it is a big workout for them to learn how to eat, swallow, and breath all at once.

William's billyrubin levels have also dropped on their own without the lights, so hopefully he won't have to sit under the lights anymore.

We love our visits with the boys and I am already having dreams about taking them home. Last night I had a dream that the mailman delivered Winston to us wrapped in paper. He came to the door and had me sign for him. I was so excited to get him and the whole process seemed completely normal. I then was panicked because we haven't even bought a crib for them yet. I guess I better start working on that :-).

William all swaddled up

Winston free of his oxygen

Winston asleep on his tummy

A Huge Sigh of Relief!

2011-05-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

We spent most of yesterday extremely anxious to find out about the boy's head ultrasounds that would tell us how much bleeding in their brain had taken place with their premature birth. We waited all day for it to be read only to be told we probably wouldn't find out until the next day. We left the hospital to get some dinner and when we returned the new night nurse was giving us a brief update and ended by nonchalantly saying "oh and by the way their head ultrasounds came back completely normal." After asking exactly what that meant we found out it means that there was no bleeding or at least if there was bleeding that it didn't leave any damage to their developing brains!!! I can't tell you how grateful we are.

While the boys will be in the NICU for weeks to come while they grow, get off oxygen, and learn to eat knowing that their brains are and will continue to develop normally takes the world off our shoulders. Thank you to all of our family and friends who were praying and fasting for them while we found this out.

To celebrate, the boys got their first shampoo job to wash out the gel that was used on their heads for the ultrasound.

Winston getting his spa treatment

William with a clean head of hair

Their Grandpa and Grandma Dunn also came by to visit with them:

Grandma Dunn and Alex with Winston

Grandpa Dunn helping William hold his pacifier

William with a new set of designer shades and his pacifier. Hopefully he will be done with the lights today.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

We are coming up on our first week! Still can't believe that the boys are here. They both continue to do so well in different ways.

Winston has made probably the biggest strides the past few days. His breathing continues to strengthen and get better each day. In fact they have taken him entirely off of the high-flow breathing machine. That is the machine that pushes air into his lungs so that he doesn't have to work so hard. He still has a little bit of oxygen being pushed in but currently it is only at .5 Liters per minute instead of the 3.0 liters that he had been on and it is a world of difference from when he was intubated the first day and a half. Winston has also been doing great at gaining weight. He bottomed out at 3 pounds but has gained steadily ever since and probably will hit or surpass his birth weight when they weigh him tonight. I think that the biggest reason he is gaining weight better than his brother is that he sleeps almost constantly while William seems to be awake a lot.

Winston Spooning his Blanket

Holding Winston for the first time

William continue to be super active. It is so fun to be with him because he always has his eyes open and is moving around a lot. In the womb Winston seemed to take up all of the space and in our ultrasounds William was always crowded into a corner. This is why he has less muscle mass and also why Alex and I think that he is constantly stretching and moving around. He is just making up for 7 months of being cramped into a corner by his brother. William has had a little bit of trouble gaining weight. He has sat around 3 pounds for a couple of days. They do think he was fighting a small case of pneumonia, but they gave him a chest X-ray yesterday and the small amount of fluid in his lungs is gone. Hopefully that was what was taking his energy and we will start to see some weight gain. William is also being much more stubborn about weening off his oxygen support. He has been at 3.0 liters per minute of support for the past several days and every time they try lowering it a little bit he isn't happy. We're hoping that today he starts making some progress there.

William loves his pacifier. If only he had the strength to hold it in himself I think he would always have it in his mouth.

William has been suntanning the past few days to help him control his Jaundice. His billyrubin count has been a little too high so this helps him break it down until his Liver functions a little better.

The boys are now at a point where we can hold each of them once per day for up to 3 hours. It is our favorite time of day as you can imagine. Both of us are getting much better and more comfortable in helping to their cares every three hours (changing diapers, cleaning out their mouths, taking their temperature, scalp treatments witha toothbrush). As we get more comfortable they don't seem to be as small or fragile to us which I guess is good because eventually we will have to do these things on our own at home.

Finally I just wanted to let those of you reading this know that they boys are having one of their most important tests today. They will be taking an ultrasound of their heads to see the extent of bleeding in the brain when they were born. Bleeding in the brain can affect their brain development. It is at 32 weeks gestation when babies in the womb begin to form a protective tissue over the blood vessels in their head to protect the brain from bleeding. Because the boys were born prior to that they undoubtedly had some bleeding. This test will show us the extent of that bleeding. However their risk is more limited because they have not had any problems with high blood pressure and they didn't have any complications with their birth.

There are 4 grades of bleeding with 1 being the best to have and 4 being the worst. Our families are all praying today that they was very limited bleeding if any. I will update you on the results when we get them. Thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers they really are felt.

Day 3 - 63 Days Until Due Date

2011-05-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

I feel like once this is all done Alex and I will be neonatoligists with the tons of information that we are learning about premies and how you care for them. It's kind of fun talking to new nurses on shift changes because I feel like I am taking an oral test on what I learned with the last set of nurses.

First I just wanted to give an update on Alex. She has been amazing. Other than the first afternoon she hasn't used a wheel chair and has been making multiple walking trips to the NICU each day. Every nurse we run into can't believe that she just had a C-section. I'm sure the adrenaline of everything and the need to be with her babies is pushing her harder than she normally would have pushed herself. Her percocet and motrin are helping a lot too :-).

I think Alex and I are both starting to realize how overwhelming these next few months are going to be. Our brains try to trick us that because they have done so well these first few days that they are going to be coming home, but the reality is that it will be a long couple of months. We have such respect for our friends that have already gone through all of this. I guess like most things, you really don't understand stuff like this until you go through it.

The boys are continuing to make improvements. It is so great to see them not intubated. You really can see their faces and a little bit of their personalities. So far Winston is much more relaxed which is so funny because he was the one that moved constantly while in the womb. William who was crowded out by Winston is super feisty. He hates being bothered when they have to move or change him and loves tugging at all of his lines.

A little update on each boy:

Winston continues to do really well on room oxygen. That means that he is breathing the same amount of oxygen that we are. He wears a forced air oxygen line that blows the oxygen into his lungs to help make it easier for him to breath. Winston wins the pooping race and was the first of the two to have a bowl movement (when I say bowel movement I mean the tiniest speck of poop you have ever seen). On the down side Winston seems to forget to breath more often than his brother. We learned what Bradying is yesterday, which essential means that they stop breathing and their heartbeat drops below 60 for a moment. Usually all the nurse needs to do is reposition them and they quickly bounce back. As unnerving as this is for us to get used to I guess that it is really common for premies and is a big reason why they are in the NICU and each have a nurse by their side constantly. The best thing with Winston is that Alex got to hold him for the first time yesterday. It took him a while to get situated but once he was in place he was in heaven and help Alex's finger the entire time.

William is still doing great. Like his brother he is adapting really well to regular feedings of milk and formula through his feeding tube. No poop yet, but hopefully he won't be too far behind Winston. He has had much less Brady episodes than Winston all though he needs a lot of adjustments during the day with the amount of oxygen he requires. I have learned how to help the nurses with their cares they do on the babies every three hours and got to do two of them by myself yesterday with William. It is so great to be able to help take care of them. You take their temperature, clean out their mouth with a minty sponge, rub their scalp witha tooth brush, change their diaper, and reposition them. The best part of working with William late last night was that he was the first of the two to wake up for an extended period of time. Usually they just crack their eyes open for a second, but last night William opened his eyes the whole time I was working with him and just looked at me. I guess I am really going to love being a parent because it just melted my heart.

Both of the boys also got a visit from their grandparents yesterday. We love seeing them interact and I was grateful to be able to give each of them a blessing with our Dads.

Anyways I am done rambling for today. Here are some pictures for yesterday. Thank you everyone for your support, thoughts and prayers. They really are felt.

Winston without his breathing tube

William awake for the first time

William staring at me for the first time

Alex holding Winston

Grandma Davis touching Winston for the first time

A little video of William awake

Day 2 - 64 Days until due date

2011-05-05T07:23:00.000-07:00

Well the boys have made it through their first full day in the NICU! I put 64 days until due date, because that is what the nurses tell us is a good expectation to have of when they can come home (give or take 14 days). So far they are doing really well. Both Winston and William have been taken off of their ventilators and the nurses were able to start giving them some of Alex's colostrum which we hope will help to build up their immune systems.

Winston has been having issues keeping his blood pressure up, so they have been giving him lots of fluid and may put in a PICC line today to help him get that up. He also still has a central line in his umbilical cord so that they can more easily collect blood samples from him to check his blood gas levels.

William has been the rockstar early on. He came out with weaker cries, but has been all progress ever since. He is off his ventilator and his vitals have been great. He has also been responding well to his early little feedings they give him through his feeding tube. The best part is that because he is doing so well we got to hold him! They gave us 90 minutes with him late last night and Alex got to hold him for 1 hour and I got 30 minutes with him. He responded really well to it and we should get to hold him for at least an hour now every day as long as he stays stable. He is so light and so little

I also got to help change William's diaper and of course on my first diaper change had my first experience of him peeing all over. So not only did I get to help change his diaper but I got to change his sheets as well :-)

Hopefully Winston will only be a day or two behind William so that we can hold them together and get our first family picture with both the additions.

Here are a couple of pics of the experience:

Happy Birthday!!

2011-05-04T13:35:00.000-07:00

So who would have ever guessed that May 3rd would become such an important day in our lives?

At 11:21 and 11:23 am Winston and William decided that they couldn't wait any longer to join us. As I'm sure everyone's first birthing experiences are it was a surreal experience for us. On Monday, Alex had been having more regular Braxton Hicks contractions than normal and in the evening started to feel some cramping. We called the on-call doctor and he had us come in to see what was going on. Alex really wasn't much more dilated than she had been a week earlier, so he gave her some fluids, sent us home, and had told her to call him if anything changed or got worse and to have her regular doctor check her again at her appointment later in the week.

Well in the next few hours the cramping started getting worse so we headed into the hospital to find that she had jumped to a 4. They called the doctor to take a look and see if they should try and slow it down, but when he got there Alex was suddenly at a 7 and he prepped the OR for a quick C-section. I barely had time to call our Dads before they rushed us into the operating room.

We were both nervous as Alex was only at 30.5 weeks, however we were grateful that the doctors had identified her short cervix early on in the pregnancy so she could be on bedrest and receive a steroids treatment to help the boy's lungs earlier on. The operating room had what Alex called a "drive through window" which allowed the doctors to immediately pass the babies from the OR directly to the NICU.

I don't think I will ever forget the sweetest sound I have ever heard, when Winston was pulled and let out a consistent loud cry. William was two minutes behind and was also crying although with a little less energy. The doctor quickly flashed each baby in front of us before he passed them through the drive through window. Both of them looked bigger than we were expecting and I am still awed that they some how fit inside of Alex's belly minutes earlier.

About an hour following their birth I was able to go back and see them. They both were doing great considering their circumstances. As indicated by their crying, William struggled with his breathing a little bit more than Winston so they immediately put him on a ventilator and treated him with surfactant. They started Winston out on a CPAP to see if he could breath with less help. In the end Winston was working a little too hard so they put him on a ventilator as well.

Alex was able to be wheeled by them in her hospital bed a couple of hours later and we wheeled her down in a wheel chair later that night to spend some quality time. Grandparents and Aunts were able to come in late that night two by two to say hi to their new grandsons/nephews.

Both of them have had a great first day considering their dramatic entrance into the world. We have a long road ahead of us as their official due date was not until July 8th (which they tell us is a good target for them to come home although it could be a few weeks earlier). We are already so appreciative and grateful for the amazing NICU nurses who are holding our hands though this process. We are praying that they will get through these first few critical days without any major setbacks. We'll try and keep you posted through the blog on how things are going. Thanks for all of your support and prayers.

Winston Dunn Davis

Born 11:21am on 5/3/11

3 pounds, 6 ounces

16.5 inches long

William Todd Davis

Born 11:23am on 5/3/11

3 pounds, 7 ounces

16 inches long

Alex meeting William

Alex meeting Winston

5 weeks

2011-04-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

as of today, i have officially been on bed rest for 5 weeks. i am 30 weeks now, which is so awesome, and we are hoping to go for another 6 weeks... not on bed rest but that they won't show up until then. my doctor said that if my cervix keeps measuring the same by 32 weeks, he can lift how strict my bed rest is (please, please, please!)
in other news, tj has graduated!!!!

you might be thinking "hey... wait a minute..."

    no, i wasn't able to go to any of his graduation shindigs, which made me really sad, but right after his graduation we had a doctors appointment, so i had to leave my house anyway. i got dressed and both our families went to lunch at cheesecake factory to celebrate. it was nice to be out amongst the living. it was also strange to realize how much muscle i have lost in my legs, stomach and arms. this photo shows one of the very few times i was standing up and i was feeling so weak that i welcomed a nice chair or bench. after my doctors appointment i was so tuckered out that i took a 4 hour nap. i have become a 90 year old man over night, well over six weeks.
    more importantly, tj is done with school!!!! i am so proud of him because not only did he get his MBA but he was an incredible student and was very involved in the program. about three years ago we were having a discussion about whether or not he should get his MBA. we were looking at our different options and the many ways that one could receive the degree. we came to the conclusion that if he was going to do it, he was going go full out, full time, quit job and move anywhere that we needed to go. and he did it and it was an amazing experience for both of us. now we have seattle, amazon and the twins in our future. the future is looking bright and exciting.
      anyway, thank you for all of your prayers and service that you have sent our way. keep those prayers coming, because i know that they have been a huge reason that our little guys haven't shown up yet.

let's talk about bed rest, shall we?

2011-04-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

as i was trying to google photos of women on bed rest, all i could find were these beautiful, smiling chosen vessels in cute pajamas that match, their hair done, make-up on and holding books like pride and prejudice. well ok, that's what i'm going to give you. when you think of me on bed rest, just think of me like this:

because this is exactly what i look like right now.
so how did we get here you ask? i won't give you the long drawn out story but after one week on modified bed rest, a couple of days stay in the hospital to monitor me and slow down contractions, some steroid shots to strengthen my little men's lungs just in case they want to show up early, i am officially on bed rest with bathroom privileges (i guess, for some of us, we get the privilege to go to the bathroom when needed, and for that i am grateful).
the most important thing is that the boys are doing great, they are growing like they should and staying active. the whole problem is me and my incompetent cervix which shortens and funnels when i stand, so as long as i stay off of my feet, we should be ok.
normally when people hear about being on bed rest (me included before all these little shenanigans happened) they say "oh i would LOVE to quit my job and school and just lay around all day in my jammies and watch movies", and i don't blame them for feeling that way, but it is so much different than that. the emotions that are involved with bed rest range from tired, bored, guilt if you ever have to get out of bed, fear, feeling trapped and the loss of independence has to be one of the most frustrating things. the one thing that makes me lucky is that i've never had trouble being alone so i haven't been effected by the whole loneliness thing. not yet, at least.
this morning, as i was blog stalking and seeing what was going on in the facebook world (realized it was april fools day and vowing never to look at facebook on this day because it's just a bunch of unfunny april fools status') i also had to write my professors and let them know that i had to drop out of their classes, i went through a phase of frustration and a little bit of "poor me" crap. call this what you will, cheesy, stupid, dramatic but Adele's version of "make you feel my love" came on pandora. i always loved this song as a song for someone that you're in a relationship with, but when i heard it today i thought of it from a mothers perspective to her children and it was exactly what i needed to hear to give me a more of the eternal perspective i needed and how much i love these boys and that i would do anything for them. it made me realize how stupid i was being and made me love them even more. i know that i'm a mom now and that sacrifices have to be made and you know what? i'm feeling a lot better. thank you adele.
so there is your cheesy moment for the day. so no one feel sorry for us, all i ask is that you keep us in your prayers because even though we are so excited to see these chubby little guys, we don't want to see them for at least another eight weeks.

this is what 21 weeks with twins looks like

2011-02-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

so i caved. here's a photo. it's weird being a freakshow. i had a bride and her friend blatantly stare at my stomach as they talked to me. they wouldn't look into my eyes. it was so bad that elise, who works with me, even pointed it out.
we had our the big 20 week ultrasound last week and everything is looking great! they are super active and doing really well. here are the boy's profiles:

so fun!!

and the winner is...

2011-02-07T20:32:00.000-08:00

SEATTLE!!!

yep. that's where we will be living. so here's the timeline, the twins will come in june and then we will be in seattle in august, pretty quick but we are so excited. i was so excited that i had to watch this:

            i was really enjoying it and thinking about how cool it is going to be to live there and then i had a foreshadowing of what my future would bring. i kept hearing the phrase "sleepless in seattle" throughout the whole movie and then i would feel the boys kicking and that is when i knew. i was going to be moving to seattle and was going to get zero sleep. i turned off the movie and took a nap right then and there.
            how are the boys, you ask? oh, they're doing really great. they're moving around, getting chubby and in the meantime making it so that i can't move around and that i start getting chubby. that's ok though, i've been enjoying it. the ultrasounds are awesome! they like to kick each other and stand on their heads and it's so fun to see them move and watch their hearts beat. i can't wait to meet them.
            so, if you are feeling like taking a little vacation to the north west coast, you will have friends there with an extra room to stay with. seriously, we will want visitors so start making plans.

why my mission was better than yours

2011-01-28T14:37:00.000-08:00

ok... i don't really feel like my mission was better than anyone else's, but my mission was pretty awesome. if you don't know, i served in the nebraska, omaha mission where not only did i do the whole door to door tracting and teaching thing, but i was also able to serve at the winter quarters visitor center where i was able to become well acquainted with church history.
i was also able to become well acquainted with this man, bob smith. bob smith is the great grandson of Joseph Smith and if you're not familiar with who that man is he is the prophet who restored Jesus Christ's original church back to the earth. anyway if you have questions on that, give me a call and we can discuss. anyway, i love bob smith and i was able to get to know him very well and be there during his conversion. i love his story and he finally shared it. i want to share it with you now.

by the way, when you click on the link it will take you to page two. scroll to the bottom of the article and go back to page one.

Meridian Magazine - Missionary Moment - Emma: I was Too Tired to go West - Page 2

decisions, decisions

2011-01-12T13:44:00.000-08:00

this...

or this...

i think i already know what you're thinking, but it's not as easy as it seems.

tj and i are feeling really blessed, excited and a little overwhelmed. 2011 is kind of a big deal for us, not only are we going to welcome our twin boys, but soon after we will be moving to a new city. this week tj recieved an offer from amazon which would mean we would move to seattle. seattle!! what a cool city with tons of stuff to do. museums, restaurants, the ocean, and of course the high cost of living.
then there is the offer from walmart which would mean we would be moving to bentonville, where we lived this summer. small town, family oriented, down to earth people, beaver lake and one cheap flight away from places like florida and new orleans and of course the low cost of living.
so we are supposed to make a decision here pretty soon that will shape the course of our lives. (deep breath) but i'll be perfectly honest, i'll go anywhere. i think both places sound fun and i am open for whatever the future brings. i really think it will come down to whatever company tj wants to work for. anyway, i will for sure let you all know (all 2 of you) as soon as we make a decision. i love a new adventure!

well...

2011-01-05T18:15:00.000-08:00

that's right, two boys. we are so excited!! girls scare me. i'm sure you're thinking "but you grew up with all girls alex and so did tj". well girls are hormonal, drama, they cry a lot and i don't think that i can be sensitive to that, but if we have a girl after these two boys they can straighten her out.
anyway... there you go. so freaking excited!!

our little a and b

2010-12-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

              all of this is true except for the boy and girl part. we don't know quit yet, but anyway, yeah...we are totally having twins!! let me answer some questions that EVERYONE asks us (which is fine):

1. i'm 10 weeks along
2. yes, we were using fertility treatments. clomid to be exact.
3. yes, twins run in my family.
4. no, i haven't been sick at all, just really really ridiculously tired.
5. yes we do have some names that we love, but until we know what we are having we won't nail those down.
6. we have known for 6 weeks now.
7. yes, we are sooooo excited!

       anyway, that's all i can think of right now but please feel free to ask.

we found out about the twins in kind of a funky way. on my mom's birthday, november 19th, we thought i was having a miscarriage and rushed to the ER. we were really sad, as you can imagine, and as i was getting an ultra sound we thought that we would be making sure that the baby wasn't there. well, the tech looked at us and said "do twins run in your family" and we looked at her like "really, your going to be that insensitive and tell me that we lost twins". as i had tears in my eyes i said that i did and she said " because you're having twins and they are doing just fine". holy crap.
       as you can imagine we went from crushed to elated in about 2 seconds. it was crazy.

      so there you go. our lives are drastically changing forever and we wouldn't want it any other way.

   best reaction of the news? some of our really awesome friends who we talked to on the phone and his exact response was
                       "excuse my language but that's f***ing awesome"
       hilarious.

home

2010-08-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

that is where we are. we got back late wednesday night from our long drive home with a detour through pheonix to see my sister and through vegas where i had to hit up a trade show to do some buying for work. we came home to a welcome poster on our door (shout out to the wells. holla!) and a beautifully clean house (you're the best syd!). we are so happy to be home but we are already missing it out there in arkansas. here is our list of things we miss

1. southern hospitality
2. weekends off together
3. our weekly housekeeper
4. weekend trips
5. our arkansas friends
6. simplicity
7. seriously everyone is so nice there
8. sharing the gospel (cheesy i know, but it was fun sharing it in a relaxed question answer kind of way)
9. hammontree's grilled cheese (best restaurant ever)
10. not having to work (alex)
11. reading a ton
12. being together, just us and no one else. it reminded us of san diego when we were first married.
13. the ozarks
14. beaver lake
15. canoeing the buffalo river

we love utard, but we will always have a special place in our hearts for arkansas.

laura udall and rachel ridd

2010-08-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

yes i am talking to you two.
if you don't know who they are, these are two girls that i LOVE from high school and jr. high.
they think they are really cool because they are moving to sao paulo brazil.
yes, maybe you guys will experience an incredible culture
maybe you will eat fine brazilian cuisine
maybe you will lay on the their beautiful beaches
but don't think you're cool because of this:

because...

BOOM

WE GOT OUR OWN! right here in beautiful arkansas.
this is called Christ of the Ozarks. i want you to take a look at this beautiful craftsmanship.

and here is todd. we love todd.

he didn't know how he should pose for the picture so he chose this. i like it todd.

in the next picture, please notice that no one is touching

it was hotter than hell.
so my point is, laura and rach, you don't have to go far to be in a culturally rich and exotic area. just come to arkansas. love you guys.

oh yeah, by the way. we even have the golden gate bridge. click here to see that majesty of it all.

who's jealous now?

twilight zone

2010-08-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

we had quite the weekend.
it was the last weekend here in bentonville and it has been bittersweet. we are super excited to go home but we have made some really great friends here.
seeing that it was the last weekend, everyone wanted to go out to dickson street to celebrate. dickson street is the street in fayettville that has all of the clubs and bars and tj and i thought "let's go and dance and hang out with everyone, but we'll bring our own car because we are wieners when it comes to nights like these and we will probably be tired by 11:00". so we did.

here we are with todd and graham. we love todd and graham.
         this is the beginning of the night when we are optimistic, footloose and fancy free.

         and yes i dyed my hair dark again. this is a really bad photo and you actually can't tell but my hair is red. i've always wanted to be a fiery red head. (my sisters are going to have a melt down because you're not beautiful unless you're blond right? love you guys!)

here is a list of the rest of the night.
1. bored. the bar had no music and so tj and i were sitting around picking our nose while everyone started getting tipsy
2. new bar. this is a piano bar. watch a bar fight go down (my first one) and see a bouncer headlock a guy, take him outside and pretty much curb the guy and he throws his head into the curb. we get there too late and the piano players are finished. we are bugged and go get our cover charge back.
3. new club. awesome music. great dancing. todd is throwin back shots "for alex and tj". right todd, right.
4. you know you're wasted when you start trying to dance with your mormon co worker's mormon wife. it was hilarious. more than anything it was just funny to people watch and to be happy that we are so not in that scene. yeah sure, it was fun to dance and watch everyone but i have never been more happy that i don't drink.
5. tj and i leave. we go to village inn at 2:30 (i was pretty impressed with our old, married selves) and see this guy:

ronnie brewer.
tj was soooo excited but too scared to say anything to him. so we got in our car like two creepers, watched him pick up a couple of pies, get back in his escalade with his entourage and leave. tj was really bummed he didn't say anything, so as we were riding home i pretended to be ronnie and have a conversation with him. i think it worked out great!

so we are in bed by 3:00
we wake up by 10:00 and get ready to go to church where everything is familiar, peaceful and normal.
we get there around 11:15 and grab a seat. we look around. no one looks familiar. the bishopric is totally different.
we start going over with one another that we are sure that church had always started at 11:00, right? we were pretty sure that we were in the correct building. as we feel everyone's eyes burning a hole in the back of our heads ready to welcome us to the ward we ditch out. we walk around the building and i look inside the relief society room to see that i don't recognize anyone in there either.

tj and i get back in the car and just look at each other and laugh. what had just happened?
tj gets on our ward website and it looks like the time has changed to one. of course it had. why not. why should we assume that arkansas does ANYTHING normal. right when we think we are old pros at this whole arkansas thing. i guess everyone just assumed that we knew this info and we probably didn't hear the announcements.
so that is our last weekend here. kinda crazy and out of our norm. we start the long drive home friday and we are really excited. and of course, tj did a great job on his final presentation, but are you surprised?

i don't think we're in kansas (city) anymore

2010-07-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

for this weekend's little getaway we went to kansas city and since it sits right on the border of missouri and kansas we were in both states. now, if you know anything about tj and i you know that we LOVE museums. when we go to cities the first thing we do is look up what museums are there and what was significant in that cities history. our children are going to hate us.
first on the list was the lds independence visitor center. not my favorite but i do love the history around that area and there is a great lesson to be learned about following the prophet. then on to this

the community of christ temple, formally known as the reorganized church. i love theology and it is very interesting to learn about other religions, especially the ones that broke off of our church. everyone was super nice there.

this is inside the big spiral. pretty cool.
now off to the truman presidential library (oh how we love our presidential libraries)

this is us with the man of the hour.

another oval office photo

i have a goal to get a photo in every president's oval office. nerd alert!
we then went to liberty jail which was great. one of my favorite times in church history. after that we went downtown to have some dinner and walk around an amazing shopping district. the next day we went to the national world war one museum.

one of the most beautiful museums i have ever been too. tj and i were talking about how we were never super clear about the events that lead up to the war. i learned more in the 12 minute introductory video than any of my history classes combined but let's start at the beginning. i'm all about the experience of the museum. i want to feel like i'm experiencing the events with all of my senses. having said that here are the front doors.

each door weighs a good 50 pounds. they are so heavy. they get you ready for the weight of this war and how heavy the whole experience was. it feels like you are entering an underground bunker. when you walk in there is no color. it feels very cold and emotionless. there is a glass bridge that takes you into the gallery and things don't normally take my breath away but when i walked across, it was incredible.

this photo does not do it justice. it is a field of 9000 bright orange poppies and each poppy represents 1000 deaths. there was a 17 day bloody battle on a field called flanders field where hundreds of men died. after the battle the only thing that remained were thousands of poppies blowing in the wind. the color was such a contrast to the rest of the museum. anyway it was an incredible experience that i think everyone who visits kansas city should have.

the skyline
we then hit up the farmers market. one of the best i've ever been to.

we could honestly live in kansas city. it was awesome.

american history

2010-07-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

i'm really bad at this whole blogging thing. that being said, let's talk about what we did almost three weeks ago over the fourth. we went on an all american tour around little rock and memphis.

highlights:

we went to bill clinton's presidential library.

since hurricane alex was going strong we thought it would be appropriate to try out the hurricane machine at the library.

it was crazy in there

stopped by the re-creation of his oval office.

these pictures are good to have. other than this blog entry, i choose not to tell people that it isn't the real oval office.

it was actually a really cool building.

not really, he's in love with obama.

do you remember this from your history books?

maybe this will help.

this is central high in little rock. the first school that integrated black students into an all white school. it was the most beautiful school i have ever seen. tj and i were talking about how it's strange that this really wasn't that long ago. it happened in our parents generation. it was an eye opening experience.

then we went to memphis. an awesome city.

this is beale street. it's kinda like memphis' bourbon street. it was so awesome! they block the street off and it's just tons of jazz clubs and street performers. they had cops on horses there too. i hung out with them for a little bit.

now ladies and gentlemen, the king

welcome to graceland. i told tj that he had to do an elvis inspired pose for every photo taken there. it was awesome, not in an mtv cribs kinda way but in like a great aunt pearl kind of way. here are some highlights.

his tv room. it was my favorite.

the jungle room

the hall of his gold and platinum records. tj was running out of posing ideas.

elvis sang unchained melody in this room the day he died. how did they know that?

why the jumpsuits elvis, why?

i just thought this would be appropriate. halloween 2008.

and then we went to sun studio. elvis, johnny cash and tons of other great artists recorded there.

now here are the prize photos.

elvis and johnny cash used that microphone. i almost died.

we finished the trip here.

this is where martin luther king jr was shot. they have now turned it into the civil rights museum and it was incredible. one of the best museums i have ever been too.

sorry about all of the photos, but i think they are more fun than a long drawn out blog with none. it was so fun. i love the south!

monster truck rally and rodeo

2010-07-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

i forgot my camera at the rodeo, but the pictures could be interchangeable. we went to the monster truck rally about three weeks ago and here are some picture from the event.

taking in the awesomeness.

for all of you 80's lovin folk, yes, big foot was there. don't you remember big foot was the draw to all of the rally's back in the day? he did not upset.

look at this little guy. it was super loud there and obviously his dad knew this because he made sure to bring the gun range ear protection. they sell them as a twofer her in arkansas.

now for the fashion at the rally. here are our favorite.

drum roll please...

truly a national treasure.

this was my favorite car.

our prom photo in front of the undertaker. he was the winner of the night.

anyway, good times had by all.

happy independence day!

I have the same dream about TJ

2010-06-17T18:49:00.001-07:00

Shareholders Week

2010-06-08T07:49:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start this post by posing a question: Have you ever gone running in a sauna? A steam room? How about both?

WELL, WE HAVE!

Last weekend TJ and I ran the Walmart shareholders 5k here in Bentonville. When I saw that they were have a 5k I thought it would be fun for us to do so we got signed up. Now, the race started at 6:30 and with the heat and humidity here I thought that 6:30 in the morning would be perfect. Well, after TJ had signed us up he said to me "it's going to be hot as hell running at 6:30".

I said "it won't be that bad in the morning", and then I realized.

6:30 in the evening!

It was 87 degrees that day with 97% humidity. I hate this word but there is no other word to use... it was moist. The course had a steep decline for the first half and then you had to double back to a steep incline. Did I complain? Yes. Yes I did. I did the Salt Lake Half Marathon in April and I can tell you that the first seven miles were way easier than the 3 miles I ran here.

Let's back track a little. Walmart Shareholders week was awesome! There were amazing concerts like Tim Mcgraw, The Zac Brown Band, REO Speedwagon, Barenaked Ladies. The Shareholders Meeting (which I was not able to go to) was MC'd by Jamie Fox and the entertainers were Enrique Iglesias, Mariah Carey, Lee Dewyze, Mary J. Blige, Josh Groban and Cheryl Crow. Pretty unreal. Here are some pictures from one of the concerts.

This looks a ton smaller than it really was. We were in the lower bowl of the Razorbacks basketball arena, so I couldn't get a full picture of the upper bowls. That is China in front of us. England, Brazil, Chile and a bunch of other countries were represented and they all had matching T shirts with their own cheers for their country.

It was a really fun week.

Barcelona

2010-06-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

Here I am in Spain lovin life. How did I get here? Well as you know I am a buyer for my families business and one of our designers, Pronovias, is based out of Barcelona and that is where their design house is located. Once a year they have a huge launch party and invite all of their top stores throughout the world to come and preview their next years designs and to buy for the next year. That's how I got here.
The picture above was taken as I was walking into their fashion show (which might I add was the most beautiful runway I have seen to date). I love how the male model behind me is pulling a Zoolander. Right before the photo was taken he was getting mad at a lady taking pictures, but he made sure to turn on the charm when they were taken. Here are some photos from the Pronovias 2011 Fashion Show.

                                          This was the Finale. I wish I had taken pictures throughout
                                         the whole show, but I was a little distracted

                                        Here are picture of my parents and I on the "Red Carpet"

I took some picture of my parents where the fashion show was held. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I was so sad that TJ wasn't there with me.

Then came the real work. The next day we went to The Arts hotel where all of the dresses were on display and we had to buy. About four hours later and an interview given to Women's Wear Daily AKA WWD (this is the Bible in the fashion industry) we were finished and left with 26 beautiful new styles for 2011.

With only two days left it was time for sightseeing. Get ready for tons of pictures.

Segrada Familia. AMAZING

The Barcelona Cathedral

Hung out with some street performers

Flamenco Dancing

After this photo was taken, we were flashed by a man. Always a great experience to share with your parents
whether home or abroad.

On the last night we were there we found out it was St. Joans Day. A celebration to kick off summer. It was pretty awesome and the streets were PACKED with people doing the same thing as this video below (video coming soon). This was just a small party. There were even school marching bands all decked out in their gear having their own little parade down the street! A great way to end my Barcelona buying trip.

I'm sure this was a shock

2010-05-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

So, when you saw our blog at the top of your list were you shocked? It has been eight months since I blogged and I thought since we have had some big changes we should probably blog about it. First things first, TJ got an internship with Walmart's marketing team in Bentonville Arkansas for the summer and so we packed up our stuff and headed out to the Ozarks for three months. We had a long drive ahead of us and would be driving through states that we may not see again together so we decided to make a trip out of it.

We hit up the Crazy Horse Monument in South Dakota. It was really amazing and it will be incredible when it gets finished... if it ever gets finished. After going to see Crazy Horse we headed over to see Mount Rushmore.

It a lot smaller that we thought it would be but it was amazing! It was kinda surreal to be there. There was a wedding going on at the base of the mountain while we were there... interesting.

We stopped by the Badlands National Park. It was so weird because you are driving through these grassy rolling hills with cows everywhere and all of a sudden it looks like you are driving through Lake Powell if it was drained. We didn't get very good pictures but if you're ever in the area I would suggest stopping by.

TJ with a hot plastic saloon girl

TJ and me with a hot plastic grandma with a huge cigar

We then stopped by my Mission and the Visitor Center that I served in. It was a little strange going back there and not knowing anyone but it felt so good to be back.

Now here are the Lords. I taught and helped to get them baptized and it was the first time that TJ was able to meet them. They took us out to an awesome BBQ place down in Lincoln. I love them so much and it was awesome to be with them again. We also got to see two other converts of mine while we were there. I loved bringing TJ around and letting him see another part of who I am.

We then set off to Nauvoo

This is Sister Nelson. Her and her husband were one of the senior couples on my mission. They are now serving their second mission in Nauvoo.

We stopped by Carthage Jail.

And then we finally made it. Its actually really great here in Bentonville my only complaint is the humidity. It was 88 degrees here and with the humidity it feels like 250 degrees. It going to be really different and really fun and I will keep you updated on whats we are doing while we are here.

The most wonderful time of the year

2009-11-05T18:03:00.000-08:00

Does this young man look familiar?

Well if he doesn't maybe this will help

Or this

If you still don't know, you need to keep up on current events.

I love Halloween

Fly Like An Eagle

2009-10-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

     A couple weeks ago I did something that I have been wanting to do since the first time I did it when I was about five. I flew with my dad. Just me and him. Let me give you a little background. My dad is a Pilot, not by trade but he has had his Pilots license since he was a teenager. I remember going flying with him when I was around five years old and getting sick but that was my last memory. I grew up in a family that traveled a lot so I was never afraid of flying, that is until I got home from my Mission. It's not like I break out in a cold sweat or anything but I am just not comfortable and turbulence is a major deal breaker. I don't know if it was from just not being on a plane for a year and a half or maybe I'm just a little more aware of my surroundings but whatever it is, I like to stay on the ground.
   Well while I was on my Mission, my dad fulfilled one of his dreams by purchasing himself a plane. A Belanca Super Viking to be exact. It is only a four seater and it is named the Red Robyn after my mom. Well long story short I finally summond up enough courage to go flying with my dad. My sister Ashlee just had a little girl, Scarlett, and my dad and I decided to fly down to Pheonix to suprise them. I'm not going to lie I was pretty nervous, but once we were up in the air it all went away. It really was one of the coolest things that I had experienced, being my dad's co-pilot. Probably one of the funniest things was talking in the headphones and trying to perfect my "Captians Voice" (my dad was extremely impressed). Anyway I including some pictures that will never do the beauty of flying justice but I'll put them up anyway. As for my fear of flying? I feel so much better! It was very theraputic have my dad teach me everything and seeing how a plane flies.
              This is an experience I will always remember and be grateful for.

A List

2009-08-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

Of what has happened since I blogged last. We all know that I'm not very good at this kind of stuff so I thought that since so much has happened I would just make a list. Here it goes:

1. Went to Washington DC for a week for our first Anniversary (we have a thing for history)
2. Bought a house
3. Went to Las Vegas with the Davis Fam
4. Went to Arizona with the Dunn Fam ( we ended up staying in our hotel room for two days barfing our guts up. Long story but let just say that the Honeymoon is officially over!).
5. I showed up on a cover of a magazine (thanks to my wedding photographer...)
6. Went to TJ's 10 year High School Reunion.
7. TJ started school at BYU and will be leaving his job here in the next little while (gulp)
8. I finally sewed those throw pillows that I've been talking about since December
9. I started tennis lessons

Well I think that's all that has happened since last time. I'll try harder this time. Promise.

Rise and Shout!

2009-03-15T07:42:00.001-07:00

A picture of TJ and his U of U Rugby friends.

BYU HERE WE COME!!!!

We're actually really excited.

Life Now

2009-03-04T20:59:00.000-08:00

Ok it's Alex again and no I'm not going to post anything exciting like what old Dawson's Creek actors are doing now. I'm just going to post about our lives. So a few things have changed since last time I posted. I started working full time at The Perfect Dress and took on the role as Manager. Of course we are in our busy season so I'm kind of a workaholic these days and I'm not able to do my Esthetics anymore, except for waxing at home. No, I haven't been able to sign up for my sewing classes yet because I've been so busy so I just stare at my fabric with my covered sewing machine with longing eyes. TJ is still in the fun process of applying for different MBA programs and working so he's pretty busy too. He just got accepted into the Marriot School of Business down at BYU and so he's starting to swallow his pride a bit. If you know TJ you know that he is one of the biggest Ute fans so this will be quit the experience for him if he ends up going. I'll use this example... if I was ever mad at him, I would wear my BYU shirt just to send him over the edge. Oh how the tables have turned. This month, on the 20th, we have been married a year. A FREAKING YEAR!!! I know some of you are rolling your eyes thinking that one year is nothing, but it has gone by so fast! Anyway this is our life up to date. We'll let you know if anything changes.

This is going to be amazing!

2009-01-29T09:37:00.001-08:00

I hope that the the Salt Lake Tribune starts doing this soon.

Finally An Exciting Post!!!

2009-01-23T17:28:00.000-08:00

I am sure that I have lost most of my original readers, after such exciting posts discussing sewing machines, mixers, and day spas, but I have decided to write about something people actually care about . . . . Dawson's Creek!

My new favorite show this year has been Fringe. It is a little bit of X-Files meets Lost with a twist of Alias and a dab of D.C. (Dawson's Creek). That dab would just happen to be actor extraordinaire Joshua Jackson.
Let me run-down some of Joshua's impressive IMDB resume with you:

"Dawson's Creek" .... Pacey Witter (128 episodes, 1998-2003)
Lone Star State of Mind (2002) .... Earl Crest
The Skulls (2000) .... Lucas "Luke" McNamara
Muppets from Space (1999)
Cruel Intentions (1999) .... Blaine Tuttle
Urban Legend (1998) .... Damon Brooks
Scream 2 (1997) (as Josh Jackson) .... Film Class Guy #1
D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996) .... Charlie Conway
D2: The Mighty Ducks (1994) .... Charlie Conway
The Mighty Ducks (1992) .... Charlie Conway

I especially enjoyed his role as Film Class Guy #1 in Scream 2. Simply remarkable acting.

Side Note - One of my life highlights would be when I was told by the 16 year old girl working the sunglass hut at Fashion Valley Mall that I looked like Joshua Jackson. True Story.

Back to Joshua. I anxiously wait for each new episode of Fringe to show up on my DVR, so that I can relive my Dawson's Creek moments. You can imagine how giddy I was to learn that Grams aka Mary Beth Pell will be appearing in an upcoming episode of Fringe. For the full scoop on this anticipated event click here

While it isn't quite the Dawson's Creek Reunion show that I have been praying for, I will none the less enjoy every minute of it.

XOXO Gossip Girl

Look Out Martha Stewart

2008-12-28T10:33:00.000-08:00

Here comes Alex Davis! I got this for my birthday from my incredible in-laws and then to go with TJ gave me sewing lessons. I was so excited!! I still am! What got me into this whole new world of sewing? Well I got the whole idea because I was at this showroom in LA helping my mom design a new top for her store. So I sketch out the top and tell the people how I want it to look on and they couldn't really catch the dream. So they brought out on of their seamstresses and we went over it for a little while and the whole time in my mind I though "my job would be a whole lot easier if I new how to sew". I ask this seamstress to make a mock up for me and three weeks later it shows up a little different than expected. That is where the spark really set in. So now I have all of the things that I need and after spending a few hours at Ikea yesterday and buying some killer fabric for $1.99 a yard I am ready to start. My first project is throw pillows...

My New Spa

2008-12-16T15:50:00.000-08:00

So a bunch of people have been asking me where I've been working lately so I thought that maybe I could answer some of your questions. A couple of weeks ago I started working at a spa in Sugarhouse called The O2 Spa. For some of you that don't know what I do I'm a Master Aesthetician which means I do all of that fun stuff like Facials, Waxing, Manicures, Pedicures and pretty much everything in between. This spa has a really contemporary and laid back feeling to it and we use this new product line that called Livia that is based out of Salt Lake. It's organic and very effective. Livia is probably the best line that I have ever used. If any of you need any kind of skin care therapy or just feel like you need a break come and see me. When you call and make your appointment just ask for me to give you the treatment and I will give you the friendship discount!! Gift Certificates are always available for anyone that needs a great gift for someone but doesn't know what to get them.

Here is the link if you want to check out the Menu:
www.theo2spa.com

A Big Moment

2008-11-29T15:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday TJ and I went to get our first Christmas Tree and the decorations to go with it. Even thought it is a big moment to decorate your tree for the first time that is not the big moment that I'm talking about. There is a new addition to the Davis Family.TJ said that I have to cook now...

A Penny For Your Thoughts

2008-11-16T20:19:00.000-08:00

When was the last time you went Penny Tapping? High School? Junior High? For TJ and I it was this Friday. We were sitting on our couch that night watching our favorite channel (HDTV) when we heard a tapping on our window. TJ asked me if I knew what that was. I said no and being the big brave man that he is he went outside to see our friends and neighbors, Richard and Emily White, trying to restick the penny back on our window. Richard was holding a fishing pole so that he would have enough line and enough control to penny tap us from the comforts of their home (they live across the street). After a hearty laugh we invited them in and put our heads together to see who we should do it to. To make a long story short we ended up penny tapping two of our friends and I had forgotten how much fun it was. I guess it's even more fun to do it while your married because no one ever thinks it's you because we are supposed to be mature adults now. We sure showed them.

The King still lives

2008-11-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

If any of you know me you know that Halloween is my favorite holiday. I think about it all year long always trying to think of what I will be next year. I love being scared and I LOVE haunted houses. Well this year was a little different. Beginning of October we moved back to SLC and I guess we have been a little preoccupied. All of a sudden Halloween was upon us and we had a party to go to but no costumes. A trusty friend that works at my mom's store overheard me asking for costume ideas and came to our rescue. She had this fat Elvis costume. Now the first thought that came to my mind was "I'm going to look AWESOME in this" and then I realized that I have to do a couples costume (this is a first for me) and TJ was going to need to wear this. Now I've never been that girl that wants to try to look hot for Halloween, this is my opportunity to look funny. TJ and I tried to come up with something that would be funny and go with a fat Elvis. A ham sandwich? A fried pickle perhaps (one of Elvis' favorite treats)? But no, in such short time the only thing that we could think of was Priscilla his wife. I wasn't super happy but I let go of my pride and let TJ be the one with all of the glory. He almost won first place in the costume contest! So another Halloween has come and gone and we will be thinking of a better one for next year.
Let's hope that Spencer and Allison can step up to the plate next year.

New Place New Blog

2008-10-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

Since we aren't in San Diego anymore, we thought that it would be appropriate to change the title of our blog. Now for all of you dirts out there that thought that this would be some weird blog that TJ and I were doing to make our lives a little more exciting you thought wrong. Very wrong. This is the new place to find out what is happening in our crazy, eventful and exciting lives like how I went to bed this Saturday at 8:00. So, forget about the Life and Times, it's all about T and A (TJ and Alex).