Braydon's First Video

Okay so the video quality has a lot to be desired but I still think it is pretty cool that I can even get this on the internet. I will get better at the video for you all in the future. Please enjoy Braydon's first Video.

By the way we took him for another check up and we have found that he is now 10lb 10 oz and 22 inches. In case you did not keep track that is 4 lbs in 4 weeks. I don't think he has a problem eating. We just hope he catches up to his cheeks soon. All is well and we can not wait for Christmas to get here.

Thanksgiving and Other Firsts for Braydon

This is a much over due addition to the blog and I apologize. Courtney and I have been adjusting to the new sleep schedule and that has left less time to update the blog. And to be completely honest we are enjoying being parents so much that we have not made time for it either. We realize that it is not fair to all of you so here is a little recap. First of all it was a very Happy Thanksgiving in the Desert. It has been 4 years since Courtney and I have been home for Thanksgiving, which was one thing to be thankful for in itself. We have great family and friends here and the pictures below show most of the attendees. I apologize that you can not see everyone I had to take one of the pictures while jumping on the trampoline to get high enough. I am serious about that one.

Attendees were (and if you don't know them sorry, you should we are a fun group): Steve, Kathy, Jamie, Scott, Clint, Ashley, Sydney(Braydon's cousin that was born on the same day) Ashley's Parents and Brother, Stacia (Friend of Clint and Ashley) Uncle Rick, Julie, Brett, Grandma RuthAnn, Courtney, Braydon, Ian and Lily(our dog)

This was a four generation meal. What a great reason to be thankful.


So it was great being home for Thanksgiving. Braydon had a great time meeting new people. I did not get much time with him once we got there because everyone else kept taking him away from me. Courtney at least had to feed him so she got to hold him for about 30 mins all toll.

One of the people that did not want to put him down was Julie, as shown below. I am pretty sure we could drop Braydon off at her house and not come back for a week, Bahamas here we come!! This was the first time Braydon had met Rick and Julie

Here is the first round of Braydon Firsts:

Braydon has been held by his grandpa many times but he has not been held by grandpa with his cousin Sydney at the same time. Here is a proud first time Grandpa holding his two new grandchildren. I think he likes having them around.

This next first is a little Baby X rated first but because he is a baby we can do it. Here is Braydon's first bath. Scrub a dub he had a great time. It will be fun to show him these pictures in about 20 years when all of his friends are around. I think it is funny how we can bathe him in the sink. The was he is eating I don't think that will last long.

So Braydon thoroughly enjoyed the bath however I will let you be the judge as to whether or not he enjoyed his next first experience. Here is Braydon in one of the robes that his Grammy Tammy made. He actually liked it a lot and the good thing is that he has a lot of room to grow into them. He was swimming in it a little bit as you ca tell since he has only a head and one foot showing.

This is a picture of Dad holding Braydon for the first time after his first bath.

Today Braydon is 4 weeks old and that is the first time he has been that old. So I really liked this picture and thought I would add it just because.

We hope everyone else is doing well and don't forget to leave a message if you stopped by the blog. We like to know when people have visited. Have a great day!!!

Our Little Pumpkin

There is something a better about holidays now, and I think the picture below will illustrate what I am talking about.

We had the most productive Halloween in a long time. We were able to put up a few decorations and we had the most tricker treater's since I can remember. We were able to share the evening with our family as well. It is really nice to have the holidays with family again. Braydon was not that excited about it but he showed up in a costume anyway.

I am pretty sure that Lily had the best time. Every time the door bell rang she started barking and was always the first one to the door to greet all the cute kids.

Sleep is happening very sporadically these days and it is nice when it lasts more than 2 hours at a time. Braydon has been a great addition to the family and everyday we learn a little something new. We hope you all enjoyed your Halloween as well and please don't hesitate to leave a message. We really enjoy knowing who is vi sting our blog.

The Day Has Finally Come!!

Braydon Matthew Davis

Born Oct 26 2007 at 8:07pm

Weight 7lb 3 oz

Height 20 inches

Courtney and Braydon both are doing very well. We are all back home after, what seemed like forever, a two and half day stay at the hospital. We are adjusting to the new life at home so we will try to update as much as possible.



So we had planned to have Braydon at home with a Certified Nurse Midwife and her crew of helpers, however God kindly reminded us that it is His plan and not ours. Let us explain. Courtney's pregnancy went well throughout the nine months and gave us no signs that a home birth would not be possible. Courtney went into labor Thursday night and her water broke about 4pm Friday afternoon. All things pointed to a baby to be in our arms soon after. That was until Braydon positioned himself just awkward enough that he could not get his little head down the birth canal. The midwives decided that it would be safer for Courtney to be in a hospital situation, and we agreed. We got to the hospital and doctors still aloud Courtney to try to push Braydon down but after a second try with no success they and we decided that it would be better to have him delivered by C Section (don't know how to spell the other way). The doctors again were great and God made it clear by the smooth transition that we did the right thing. Just a short time after we arrived at the hospital we got to hear the first cry of our new baby boy. At that point we realized that everything we had done made it all worth it.

Mark Elliott aka G Pa, 1st time Grandpa (Courtney's Dad)

Tammy Elliott aka Grammy Tammy, 1st time Grandma (Courtney's Mom) holding Braydon.

Steve Davis 1st time Grandpa (Ian's Dad), Great Grandma Ruth Ann (Ian's Grandmother), Braydon and Ian.

Courtney was able to nurse Braydon within an hour of giving birth and he took it very well. He has been nursing well ever since. Doctors told us that most people stay in the hospital for 4 to 5 days and as most of you know Courtney, we kindly asked if we could go home on day 2. Because Braydon was doing so well and also because Courtney had such a healthy pregnancy the doctors had no reason for her to stay. Courtney was able to get her staples out before she left and Sunday at about 3 O'clock we stepped foot out of the hospital, and into the new life with Braydon.

The entire birth was not without lots of pain but all of it seemed to melt away as we got into the car to go home with our new baby boy. Here are a bunch of great pictures for you all to enjoy.

Courtney, Tammy(Courtney's Mom), Ian and Braydon leaving the hospital!

Courtney, Braydon and Ian heading home for the first time.

If you think that is the end of the story you all have another thing coming. Ian's brother Clint and his wife Ashley also were expecting their first child around the same day we were, and planned to have their baby girl at the same hospital we ended up at. NO this was not planned. We were in different states when it all started. As we arrived at the hospital we quickly got news from the entire staff that Clint and Ashley were also there in labor only a room or two away. What an amazing thing to have them so close. After we had Braydon and were in a recovery room we got news from new grandparents Kathy and Steve (Ian and Clints parents) that Ashley was in labor and soon will give birth to their new baby girl Sydney. How amazing is God to bring our entire family in one place to welcome not one but two brand new lives. Now Braydon and Sydney will be able to share their birthday for a life time and have a bond that most cousins don't have.

Braydon Davis (on left) and Sydney Davis (on right) Happy as two peas in a pod.

Great Grandma Davis aka Great Grandma Hot Fire, many times over Great Grandma!

Great Grandma Davis and Kathy Davis 1st time Grandma

Over all we have to thank God for getting us through this entire birth. Also we have to thank our entire family and friends who have helped us in so many ways that we can not even begin to tell you all how much you mean to us. Thank you so much and look for updates here as Braydon continues to grow. Enjoy!!

Still Waiting

This weekend we are glad to have Grandma Davis back for her winter stay in Tucson. We were over at Uncle Rick Davis' (Ian's Uncle) house for a barbecue and birthday celebration. Jamie and Scott (Ian's sister and Brother In Law) also have come to visit and will be staying for a month and a half. It is nice to have them around.

So we have not had any new babies in the family yet. Courtney is feeling well and having a lot of contractions throughout the day. She knows that it could be anytime so we have prepared everything that we can. Now it is like waiting for a time bomb to go off. So the days go by and we think that everyday will be "the day". One of these days it will happen and we are going to be happy to share our new baby pictures with you all. Please continue to pray for us we know how important those prayers are.

We will post as soon as we have news, if the next weekend does not come first. Have a great week.

Not Yet!!!

So we are patiently waiting for the contractions to get serious. We have gone through all the classes, prepared the best we can and now all we can do is wait for life to take its course. Courtney has decided that it is time to stop working so this week she will be at home relaxing the best she can in preparation.

We also have decided that Lily, our dog, is the one that needs the most preparation because she has been an only "child". She gets very concerned when ever she hears a baby crying on TV, and has to bark her head off. This will be very interesting when we have a child doing that in our house most everyday.

Needless to say we are happily waiting for the day when our house is filled with noise.

There was no major landscaping done this last weekend. Soon we will have motivation to finish what we started. For now it is not the highest priority.

Well that is about all for now. We will continue to keep everyone updated as the week progresses. Please continue to pray for us.

It is really going to happen, and maybe soon!!

Just a quick mid week update. Courtney is doing well and having very mild contractions, nothing that would keep her from working, but proving that the end is near. She also wanted another picture put on that shows her belly better. So we took another one and she was happy with this. Never know next time we may even have pictures of our baby. Could be any day now!!

Long Time No Blog!!

Sorry for it taking so long to get the next update here. We have been very busy putting final touches everywhere in the house and every time we think to update the blog it is 10 or 11 at night. Excuses Excuses I know. Anyway we have completed the baby room at this point. We put a couple shelves on the wall, hung up a few pictures and have added many books to our book shelf (thanks to our thoughtful family from afar). We are feeling like the baby will like its new room. A special thanks to Tammy (Courtney's Mom) for all the sanding and painting. The baby room would not have been such a success without her masterful touch with a paint brush.

We have a couple pictures of the room with Courtney in them. If you can't notice the baby has started to move down more so that means we are getting close. If all goes close to plan we will be proud new parents in a couple weeks, but at this point anything goes. It is an exciting time preparing for what is to come. Please keep us in your prayers as the time comes when another one of God's maricles makes his or her way into this world.




The book shelf behind Courtney is now filled with tons of great books we will get to read to our darling son or daughter. Most of the books are even at a level that Ian can read, so it should be fun for all of us.


And the blog would not be complete without an update on the landscape. We have moved more dirt, taken out more rock and planted more trees. We have put 4 new trees in since the last blog. The back yard is really starting to take shape. This first picture shows two Queen Palms. These are great for shade and a little privacy from the neighbors house. Both of the trees were about 15 to 20 feet tall. They really make a nice addition to the side yard, which is almost complete.

The other two trees we put in the planter bed that we built. The one in the corner is a Brazilian Pepper tree and the one to the left is a Evergreen Elm. Both are nice and will provide good shade in a couple years. You will also notice that the grass is doing quite well. We are very impressed with the out come so far and are eager to finish the rest.

We would like to thank all of our family and friends for your generosity and prayers. Without it we would have had a lot more work to do still.

Grass In Arizona, Are You Nuts??

Hallelujah!!!!!

The Grass is in!!!

A very special thanks to Steve (Ian's Dad), Mark (Courtney's Dad) and Clint (Ian's Brother).

These three and Ian were able to get the entire yard sodded within three hours. It was by far the fastest transformation of our yard thus far. The hours of preparation really paid off when we were able to see the yard take shape. It really is amazing how much of a difference the yard looks. Also knowing that our yard is not that big, for some reason when the sod was all in it made it look bigger. This was a great weekend from a weather stand point as well. We have started to feel the temperatures drop a little bit and it will be nice to "winter" again. Hopefully we have seen the last of the 100+ degree days.

So this is how it all starts. 93 rolls 10 sq ft each. The grass came from Phoenix and was delivered in the middle of the night. The grass is cut the same day that it is delivered so that it has the least amount of shock. The delivery times are from 9pm to 9am. Courtney is up periodically during the night and morning so she was able to check on the delivery. She thinks that it was some time between 2 and 3am when it finally arrived. The guys started laying sod around 7:00 am or so.

Once we got started it was more than half way done before we even thought to take another picture. So here is the yard about 3/4 of the way done. It looks like a lot of standing around but really they are all just thinking about the next piece they are going to put down.

Can everyone guess who is bending over showing his best side??

And this is when it is all done. As you can see the sprinklers that were put in the weekend before actually do the job. It is almost like we knew what we were doing.

And her I am doing what I do best... being a dork!!!



And when it was all over the four of us could not help but celebrate, a little??? And for those of you wondering, yes it was 5 o'clock somewhere.

We are feeling a lot more relaxed about the yard but don't worry we are not done yet. We still have plans to plant two more trees, build a outdoor fireplace and barbecue. Oh yeah and we have to finish the sweet wall that we built. We almost have the baby room complete as well so we will have to get a final update on that. Four or five weeks and we should have our new addition at home with us. Hope everyone else is well, and we can not wait to share our home with our friends and family.

Baby Room

Almost forgot to post the baby room pictures that you all have been waiting so patiently for. We are not quite done yet but we are really close. Most of the furniture in the room you should be able to figure out but, in the center of the picture is a book shelve that Courtney's mom had when she was a little girl. Courtney then had it in her room, and now thanks to Tammy (Courtney's Mom) who refinished it to match the rest of the furniture, our first son or daughter will also be able to call it there own. It is hard to tell but the walls are painted light green and yellow.

Here is a close up of the baby's crib with the Bee bedding.

And here is a picture of Courtney and Ashley (our sister in-law). Both are due within a week or so of each other. There is nothing better than cousins growing up together. More soon!!

Sprinklers Anyone??

First of all a very special thank you to Mark (Courtney's dad) and Steve (Ian's dad) for all of their hard labors in our yard. Without these two there is no way this yard would have taken shape as quickly as it has.

We are done mulching but we are not done finding rocks. It seems every time we stick our shovels into the ground we find about 10 more rocks. This weekend we accomplished a lot by laying all of the pipe for the sprinklers. All toll we pieced together about 260 feet of PVC, yes Scott it was Schedule 40, and installed 7 sprinkler heads. Ian ran all of the electrical and then had the pleasure of seeing it all work. With a little bit of adjustment from the sprinkler heads we had things spraying just where we wanted them to. This is a big step in the yard because it means that we are ready to order the sod. Next weekend we are shooting to install 900 square feet of sod to put most of the yard to rest.

Below are a couple of pictures of what we did this weekend. You can click on the pictures to see them larger. Hope everyone has a blessed and productive week. MORE soon.

This is the junction where it all happens. The main line is at the top of the picture and there are three lines running off of that. These three are what will control what sprinklers will go on and when.

Here is the longest straight run of pipe. Do you think it stops at the large wall at the end???

Nope here is a picture from the other side of the wall. We drilled holes through it. It was a little bit extra work but well worth it.

This just shows how we wrapped the pipe around the patio. It turned out really nice!!

This is a picture of the same starting point all covered up. The tan boxes on the ground are irrigation boxes that cover up the valves we installed. It allows access to them without having to dig everything back up.

Just another angle of the finished product.
As you can see work does not stop until the sun goes down. And even then it continues.

Last Weekend

Okay so I did not post anything as of last weekend and I am really sorry about that. We did have an eventful time in the yard but there was not a whole lot of visual changes. We rented that monster of a tiller again to or course get more rocks out of the ground but also to till in the 21 bags of mulch we bought to prep the dirt for sod. It was another very hot day to be working in the yard but we keep telling ourselves that it will be worth it in the end.

After a little yard work Courtney, our two brother, and I went the the University of Arizona football game. They were playing a team called NAU which is from Flagstaff Az. This team is not in our conference but since it is a state school we feel it is important to show our support of them and really beat them into the ground. Well the out come of the game was to be expected but the real entertainment came from sitting in the stands. My brother has a thing of getting tickets near the visitor section, mostly because it is the first part of the stadium to be shaded but also because it is fun to see and hear the yelling and screaming between fans. And there was no shortage of yelling, not from us or course. Anyway there were a couple NAU fans specifically that were getting pretty hot, enough that it got the attention of a couple of the police officers monitoring the game. Well the police officers made their way up to these fans and kindly asked them to leave. One of them did not like that idea, which I am sure had nothing to do with all the beer he drank before he got to the game, and decided to push the police officer away. The police officer obviously did not like that idea and pulled the tazer gun from his belt and tazered the fan. I have never seen someone drop to the ground as fast as he did. Needless to say that got quite a reaction from the crowd. It was like there was not a football game even going on. So he and a few other were gracefully taken out of the stadium with a warm applause from the crowd.

The U of A won the game and our section was quite relaxed for the duration. All in all it was a good game and we got another glimpse of Cops hard at work.

We have more excitement planned for this weekend so I will update with progress as well we will get baby room pictures uploaded. All have a great rest of the week.

Okay The Great Wall Of Davis continues...

Here is the footer. Does that look nice or what??

So once the footer is in we are able to start laying block. And no we have not done this before.

Steve (Ian's Dad) has the most experience working with a jack hammer so we put him to work on clearing out some useless concrete. Now we will get the grass to grow near the patio. Thanks dad, keep up the good work.

Kathy (Ian's Mom) and Mark (again Courtney's dad) are laying block. This is the first row and the best place to learn what we are doing. We had the most experienced people in life working on this row because we figured that they could figure it out best. And boy did they!! Check out the next picture and see the result!!!

This is the first row. Kathy and Mark did such a good job of making the first row level we were able to brew some tea. If you look close you will see the jug of tea brewing about the middle of the wall. This is turning out better than we could have expected and it is all because some many people are willing to help. Thank you everyone.

Once we got the first row set the second went up quicker and easier. It is not to say that it was with less effort though. We had good motivation to finish this weekend because we find that the baby will be here in less than 6 weeks, and the baby really wants a grass filled yard.

Here is the crew, Mark, Ian and Steve, taking a break from work. If you can believe it we are not taking a break because we are tired, we are taking a break because it is raining to hard to keep going. So we figured it was a good time to see if the beer is still cold. Yup it is!! The best part of the break was that the rain dropped the temperature about 20 degrees. The work was a little easier after that.

The rain cleared and another day came. That day is Labor day. What better a day to finish the Great Wall of Davis. Below you will see the finished product. This is what we have been working towards for the last month. See the finished product. This is the wall, the Great Wall.

And here is Mark and Ian enjoying the finished product. Hard work has paid off. Of course we are not going to leave it like this but was by far the hardest most time consuming part. Stay tuned for baby room pictures and more landscaping.

This is the project, we call it the Great Wall of Davis, let me explain:

Okay so here is what we have been working on for the last month. This image is a little blurry but I think you get the picture. Nothing but dirt. This is the way all of the yards start in Arizona.

Our first improvement to the back yard was to put 5 trees in. These trees are not huge now, but they will grow fast and we will get some good shade from them. Here are a couple of the trees.

The next step in the yard was to rent a monster tiller and try to get as many of the rocks out of the ground as possible. We rented this tiller for a day and made good head way. We thought we had most of the rocks out of the way, but we have been nothing but amazed at how they seemed to grow overnight. I don't think we will ever get the rocks cleared out, oh well.

Here Ian, Clint (Courtney's Brother), and Mark (Courtney's Dad) are taking a break in 100 degrees.

The next step was to dig the hole for the concrete footer. The footer will hold the short block wall we will install for a raised flower bed. As you can see half of the blocks are already to be put in place. And yes we did find more rocks when we dug this as well.

We should have the footer in by the next round of pictures. We will update soon.