Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

"Venez m'aider" which means "come help me" is the original french phrase from which the distress signal "MAYDAY!" is derived, according to Wikipedia. I feel like we might as well be saying that right now.

Melissa and I are both working our tails off lately. We're doing our best just to keep up with life, but it feels like life is winning and we are sitting under it's motionless masses. I know that God is in the midst, I know that he hears us, I know that in general... we are okay. There's no need to panic. We have so much to be thankful for and this too shall pass... I just feel like she and I both have to be "on" constantly. There's no room for pause - as individuals or together.

Tonight we had our friend, Kim, over for dinner and to watch a show together. It was a nice reprieve. I only wish that everything else was in order so that after that time passed it still felt truly restful.

We have a partially completely paint job in the kitchen. Dishes are everywhere. Laundry needs to be done. I've got 113 boxes coming in this week at work (33 of which are could be pants and each pant box hold roughly 25-30 pants... I'll let you do the math. No matter how you slice it it's exhausting labor). I'm also not holding my breath about attaining bonus this month either and it honestly hurts - it's hard to describe the feelings that arise from working SO hard towards something only to not achieve it. All I can say is it hurts.

In the meantime...

Our water softener broke (ever since then we've been having MUCH drier, irritated skin).
Our garage door broke.
The hot water heater is acting up....
The last time I mowed the yard (hopefully DONE for the season) the mower started sounding funny
The Christmas tree is only partially decorated which leaves a lot of clutter scattered about in the music room
A Grocery trip still needs to be made this week in addition to a long commute to in search of a Craigslist deal for Liam's Christmas present

Melissa and I need a date... desperately. A vacation would be even better...

The constant mess around here is a constant stress. How do other people do it all? Or is everyone else kind of faking their way through it as well. You know, "Fake it till you make it!"

What's on your plate? Feel free to vent a bit... it'd help us not feel so alone, and it might help you unload in the process.

So... "Venez m'aider!" Which may help you too.

God is near.

~G

YUM!

So, upon my recent late night grocery shopping excursion (it is after all the easiest time given our crazy schedules, having a little one, and an HEB that isn't close at all!) I decided I would surprise my beautiful bride with one of her favorite things... Cinnamon Rolls! This was part of today's Sunday Breakfast fare. Usually, if we do buy cinnamon rolls (which is rare) we get the mondo size ones that have an extra amount of icing and only 5 to a pack.

This time I was smart about it though. You see... just like my family growing up, Melissa and I like to divide and conquer. Which led me to purchase the (albeit smaller variety) package of 8 cinnamon rolls. Easier division and more specificity! So after this morning's breakfast I decided to stake my claim:

I call "Mine!"

Melissa - Devouring her portion :-)

Needless to say... we like our cinnamon rolls!!!

Four years today...

Melissa and I get the honor of celebrating four years of marriage today. Well... I say today, but in actuality our "celebrating" will be coming monetarily and momentarily later. We have a getaway planned in August as a summer vacation/anniversary celebration and we have tickets to see Cirque Du Soleil this October. So for today we will be celebrating simply :-).

Mel and I are really good at that too - working as a team that is (although we are good at living simply as well!) I'm proud of the dynamic team that we are. Sometimes we even see eye-to-eye before we talk about it. God has made us unique individuals. We each have our strengths and weaknesses. For the most part our individual strengths complement our individual weaknesses and when we are both lacking, then we do our best to encourage one another.

Our running comes to mind. Mel and I have each had the opportunity to cheer each other on. Literally. Cheering for her in San Francisco, and she gave me hope when I ran Houston.

So what does simply look like today? (Sorry dear reader for digressing a bit!) Well, this blog for one - and I know that my sweet bride has written one as well; however, we haven't read each other's blog's yet because we are utilizing future posting by blogger. (you see I'm actually writing this on the 27th... not the 28th. Cool, huh?) We're planning on letting someone else do the cooking tonight. Maybe it'll be mexican takeout, or pizza, or we may even just stop into a local deli for a family date with our little one. We'll see. No matter what I can't wait! We're also going to relax and watch a movie as well. This harkens back to our dating days... In my old apartment we'd always eat while sitting on the floor gathered around the coffee table. We still do that sometimes and it makes it special :-)

One of the things I have ALWAYS loved about Melissa is the way that she is creative, spontaneous, and fun. She has this unique way of naming things that just makes me laugh. When we were dating she named the basil plant I was growing "Billy." Billy the Basil. And now there's Gail the Garmin. From my single days apartment - my neighbor upstairs was G.U.S. (Guy UpStairs) and his pet D.U.S (Yep, Dog UpStairs).

So the other day, after buying a toothbrush holder for our new house I found this note:

On the back this was written:

She makes me SO happy! I smile every time I see this note. My jaw still drops whenever I see her. The love of my life, my beautiful Melissa...

At the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco

Aquarium!

Yesterday Melissa and I decided to take Liam to the Downtown Aquarium. It was SO much fun! Liam was smiling a lot and was constantly wanting to touch what was behind the glass. The only downside was having to wait in line to get tickets. (There were a TON of daycare or summer programs for kids there. So, in turn there were many groups to contend with). Below are some pictures of our outing:

Waiting to get inside. It's HOT!

Liam meets an Eel :-)

Child-like Wonder

Liam couldn't take his eyes off this catfish...

... Because it was HUGE!!!!

"Reach for the sky, fishies!"

"Hmmmm... what does a lion fish feel like?"

There weren't just aquatic creatures at the aquarium either. This snake weighed over 300 lbs!

No, No Liam... Stingrays don't need a Paci :-)

The finale of the aquarium was a white tiger exhibit.

Face-to-face with the beast! ROAR!

The official "tourist" shot.

Okay. So the funniest thing about Melissa wearing a white tiger mask? That she still smiled for the camera underneath it! =)

All in all we had a wonderful time. I can't wait to do more things with Liam... he is learning SO much right now. I love getting to share life with my little boy! And, on an aside Mel and I are definitely going to have to go back to visit the aquarium's restaurant some evening. The atmosphere was lovely and the food smelled great!

Goin' Stainless!

You can view Melissa's blog here for some pics of the old ones, but the long and the short of it is that we got some new appliances! I cannot begin to say how excited I am to be cooking on a gas range. Not only is it a gas range but the burner grates are cast iron too! I LOVE cast iron. I actually have a large reversible cast iron griddle that fits perfectally over the middle burner. (It's an oblong burner that is designed for such cookware:-)

Besides the cool new oven, we got a nice over-the-range microwave to match. What do I love best about this microwave? The fact that it's musical. Really. It is. Promise. The beeps and chimes on it are very pleasant to listen too. Don't believe me? Come on over and I'll use it to time how long it actually takes me to cook dinner. After that I'll use it to keep your said dinner warm for up to 99:99 while you're lifting your jaw off the ground from dropping due to all the sheer awesomeness.

The new appliances didn't look right against the previous owners cabinet hardware. I mean... I love Texas. I do. I'm a die-hard born 'n' bred native, but this hardware would be better served for our second house in the country. Maybe at our retirement B & B that we'll run someday. But right... we're certainly not retired and yep, last time I checked no country getaway house either. Darn. Guess the cabinet hardware did have to change. Below is its mugshot:

And here's the new look!

What do ya think???

"Man Bag"

No, I'm not referring to a "man-purse" (or "murse" if you will), "shoulder bag", or any other coined term for a man bag. What I AM referring to is the way that a diaper bag is packed for Liam and myself when I'm headed out with him.

Yesterday was my first day off with Liam at the new house. We had some errands to run so I packed things up for him and me in his diaper bag. Home Depot and Kroger were on the list. We needed stuff for the house in more ways then one! So what I included in the diaper bag was a little more than the usual diapers and wipes....

oh yeah - Speaker cable and makeup accesories. Why do makeup accesories qualify as "man bag" material? Because I'd be lost in the makeup aisle at Kroger trying to figure out what new replacements my wife needs in her collection which is why the loving wife that I have sent me with the "empties" so I'd know exactly what I was looking for :-) Like I said... Man Bag!

I've succesfully set up our home theater sound system with my father-in-law save for the fact for some reason we can't get sound from our DVD player. bummer. MAJOR bummer. Oh well, we'll get there eventually.

In the mean time, I did get new locks installed on all of our doors today. Little by little we're making this place our home.

G

Boxing Match

So, the only bad thing about getting down the basics set for moving in (you know.... clothes, food, and a place to sleep... oh yeah, and internet) is that it TOTALLY strips away the motivation and need to get everything else unpacked.

I'm a guy.

I could probably leave boxes sitting around for weeks as long as I have a working kitchen. (So, I'm not your everyday fella). That being said, we're trying to maintain momentum and keep unpacking things. A co-worker at work (is that redundant?) told me that it takes 2-3 months to get unpacked and settled. I scoffed at the notion. Or choked. No, no... we'll go with scoffed. Because in my head my response was rather flippant.

At any rate, after dealing with stock and inventory in retail (going on almost 2 years experience here...) I can blow through unpacking boxes at a rather quick rate.

What's the challenge then you say? Why the hold up you ask?

Life.

Pure and simple. Life, the every day exactitudes of existence; the eating, sleeping, clothes-washing, bill-paying responsibilities of the norm; is what keeps it all from happening at once.

What I do like about this new place is how we've had the ability to purge a LOT from our old house and there is a lot that we want for this new house in terms of organization and neatness.

It's nice to have a fresh start and a blank pallete :-)

G

Move-In Day!

Tomorrow will be when we officially move in to our new home! We had the movers move our stuff on April 22nd, but we haven't actually begun living there yet... this all changes in less than 24 hrs.

So... our family will be in transition... again. BUT, with this single transition comes a world of promise. No more commuting for an hour both ways to go to work, to check on the house, to move, etc. No more having to live out of boxes (well, eventually!) or suitcases, or closet space - it's been a VERY long time since we've been able to say that.

Melissa, Liam, and I have kinda developed our own sort of "routine" while living with her parents. As irregular as it could be it still had its "usuals," ya know? So, while we are anxious to get into our new house and excited about it too, there's a lot of emotion with "uprooting" again.

Melissa and I have probably taken for granted that there has always been another hand on deck while living with her parents. So although I can speak for Mel, I for one am a little nervous of flying more solo with childcare. But I'm also looking forward to how I'll be able to bond with my son more. For the most part I feel like I've been absent a lot over the past 6 months while having to tend to all this house stuff. Kinda makes my heart break a little, but I realize that its only been for a season and I am not in the least an absentee parent. I make the most of every chance I get with him.

The other day on my "lunch" break I came home and Mel and Liam were sitting outside at her parents place. I made a sandwich and ate out there while enjoying their company. I have to say this was probably one of my highlights for 2011 so far. Its hard to describe, but that instance was very special to me. Maybe because in that moment it was nice to just be a family and nothing else interposing on that. It was cool to see my son be in wonder of all the things around him. It was nice to sit back and laugh with Melissa. One of the biggest highlights of our new home is the extended covered patio. I look forward to many, many more times of just relaxing outside together... as a family in our new home :-)

G

Found one!

So, after the weeks... no months... of doing house stuff we currently are OUT of the option period on the sale of our home AND we've made an offer on a new home. The offer hasn't been signed yet by the sellers (thus making it an official contract) but we are basically 100% certain that they will.

May 7th? Well, hopefully that will be one everything is all said and done and we'll be able to feel a bit more settled. In the meantime we will be living in a whirlwind.

Tonight gave us a bit of much need "pause" however. We went to our old church for a concert of worship. We even took Liam with us for a late evening out. I'm so proud. He did great! The women at the church childcare were all bragging about what a good baby he was too. Mel and I had much needed night of worship. For me personally it gave me a lot of time for reflection. It gave me time to reconnect with God and Melissa that has been a bit lacking with the hectic life that we have been leading.

I'm grateful for our many blessings.

Although the next few weeks are going to be stressful... I don't mind it. "Busy" stress is a WHOLE lot different than "worry" stress :-)

"Family" Date Night!

Tonight Melissa and I had our first "Family Date Night." Read... taking Liam out with us to go shopping followed by eating out together. We figured this would not only allow us to get some things done, but it would provide us some "alone" time while hopefully allowing Pat and Larry to have a much deserved break from kid-watching as well.

On the shopping list? Baby stuff from Target. We had Liam's 4-month pediatric appointment on Thursday. It went great! It also means that we needed to buy some oatmeal "cereal" to start him on solid foods. Hopefully we can give it a go in the morning. Eeek! :-) (J/K not really too nervous about it. More excited than anything! Because the cook in me can't help but get a little bit excited to share REAL food with my son!)

Nothing else too exciting from Target - bottle stuff, and a storage container for clothes that Liam has already outgrown. He's growing up so fast!

So we knew towards the end of the shopping trip that we were approaching cranky Liam time (ballpark 6:15pm) where he starts to express hunger, but is at the same time tired. We also hadn't quite figured out dinner plans. Two words "UH OH!"

What we could normally handle at home seemed to be utter chaos in the midst of driving to the pre-planned restaurant of choice. So, I lied. We HAD dinner planned out we just now had the dilemma of whether or not to go ahead and drive home, or whether to pick up a frozen pizza from Kroger and then go home. We finally decided to just pull into McAllister's Deli and feed him in there. All of which was in the same parking lot... if only things had been spread farther apart decisions would have been MUCH easier for this Davis family! :-)

After the three of us were finally eating everything was right in the world... at least in our world. Mel and I got to have a pretty good date night out too! Because our little one fell right asleep after his dinner. Of course, that just meant he was gonna be up later before his "official" bedtime...

Asleep Liam. Mom and Dad ready for bed. And... once again all is right in our world :-)