Brainerd Living's Family Archives

March 21, 2008

Need A New Pediatrician

We need to find a new pediatrician.

Today we received a letter in the mail informing us that our pediatrician is retiring.

He was my pediatrician as a child and has been the only ped. we have used for our own children. He is the same ped. my sister and brother use for their children too.

I don't know how to choose a new one.

We would really appreciate recommendations from other parents.

Posted by Sara at 04:54 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

January 17, 2008

SNOW

You would think that after snow like this: (Minnesota Dec. 2007)

We wouldn't get very excited about this: (Chattanooga Jan. 2008)

But we were all crazy excited about our snow last night. Even though some of it is already melting I love looking out of the window at it this morning.

Posted by Sara at 09:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 30, 2007

What is a mother to do?

It looks like we have the first cold of the season. My kids are all snotty and not sleeping well at night.

With the recent news of the recall on children's cold medicines I'm not sure what to do for my kids.

I'm asking the same questions Dr. Vincent Iannelli is asking.

Now what will mothers do?

* simply stop giving their young children any cough and cold medicines, which is the goal of the FDA?
* give cough and cold medicines marketed for older kids and adults and simply try to guess at a dose, leading to more overdoses and side effects?
* be more likely to rush to their pediatrician and ask for an antibiotic every time their child gets a cold because they have no over-the-counter medicine to give their child?

You can no longer buy Infant cold medicine over the counter and the children's cold medicine has the following dosage:

So what am I supposed to do for my four 2-6 year olds? I know if I call my pediatrician he will tell me the same things the FDA says about cold medicine. Including:

Cough and cold medicines only treat the symptoms of the common cold such as runny nose, congestion, fever, aches, and irritability. They do not cure the common cold. Children get better with time.

He never really liked us using it anyways. My husband always asks me - When was the last time he had kids keeping him up all night because they can't breathe and sleep at the same time?

So...... What is a mother to do? Humidifiers, saline spray, etc... will only do so much. Can we survive a cold going through five kids without medication? How many sleepless nights are ahead while we wait for this "common" cold to "get better with time"?

Posted by Sara at 09:15 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 20, 2007

New Blog

We have started new family blog. It will be the blog where we post entries specifically about our family.

I was just too uncomfortable posting personal family entries on our main chattablogs site. This new blog is more private and requires a password to accesses it.

All family and friends are invited to view our other blog. If you are interested you can email me here and I will be glad to give you the password.

The new blog can be seen here. It doesn't have a name yet, but we have already posted several entries about things the kids are doing and funny stories about all the mischief they are getting into these days.

See you there!

Posted by Sara at 11:30 AM | TrackBack

Need Help Getting Rid Of Mice

Our three year old twins were getting shoes out of their closet when they started calling for me.

A&B: "MOMMY!! MOMMY! WE SAW SOMETHING!"

B: "We saw something, Mommy"

Mommy: "What do you mean?"

B: "It had a mean face."

M: "A mean face?"

B: "Yeah, we saw something, it had a mean face and was there and went there." (pointing first at their closet and then at their basket of toys)

M: "What did it look like?"

B: "It had a mean face, and (some other indistinguishable three year old words) and a tail."

M: "It had a tail?"

B: "And a mean face."

Soooo, I'm guessing there was a mouse in their closet. I hope it was a mouse and not a rat. Rats are not uncommon in this neighborhood.

The kids all went over to my sister's house and I'm home alone now with a mouse/rat in the house and freaking out.

I hate them. I was planning to straighten up our coat closet and linen closet today and I'm afraid to get in them. What if there are mice in them?!?!?

My biggest problem is I don't know how to get rid of them with kids in the house.

We have had them in the garage before and could put poison out in places the kids would never get into. But what do you do about them in the house when you have toddlers and an infant who will eat anything that looks like food? I don't think a trap would work very well either, Jacob would be sure to check it out and get snapped or stuck to it depending on which kind we tried.

HELP!!!!!

Posted by Sara at 10:10 AM | TrackBack

March 19, 2007

Learning a New Camera

I got my new camera and I'm trying to learn how to use it.

Although it is a point and shoot camera with auto settings I guess it still has a learning curve.

I tried to take a few shots of some of the kids at my parent's house yesterday and was disapointed in the way they turned out (I think my batteries may already be running out - it was acting strange).

The pictures may not be great, but the subject matter was cute enough to post anyways.

In order to see the pictures with this post you must view this entry on our new family blog. If you are interested in a username and password you can email me here. I have removed the pictures from this public blog

Posted by Sara at 10:49 AM | TrackBack

March 14, 2007

Warning Label Needed

I don't know if the label belongs on the can or on the boy:

WARNING:

Never leave your cooking spray and your four year old boy unattended in the same room unless you want everything to be covered in a nice layer of greasy slime.

Posted by Sara at 01:50 PM | TrackBack

March 11, 2007

Have we become a Nascar family?

My four year old son loves the movie 'Cars'. He has seen it a billion times. Ever since, we have started to watch Nascar after returing home from a day with the in-laws. We usually get home around 6 pm, have a bite to eat and sit down to watch the end of the race. Katie likes to read the count down... "25 laps to go, Daddy"

Even our three year old twins like to watch it.

It may have been the finish of the Daytona 500 that got us all hooked. The kids loved seeing a car come across the finish line upside down.

I think we are hooked. (although we only actually watch the last 20 minutes)

Posted by Greg at 11:44 PM | TrackBack

February 24, 2007

T-ball in Chattanooga?

I think my boy is ready for the big leagues. Does anyone know of a good t-ball league for 4-year olds? I have contacted East Brainerd but not sure if there were others.

Posted by Greg at 05:02 PM | TrackBack

February 18, 2007

Large Family Comments

Sara went to a funeral today with her family so I made the trek to church with four of the five kids. Jacob (15 months) went with Sara.

Since we don't have much food in the house at the moment, we decided to go out to lunch.

You get a lot of looks from people when you drag four kids that are six and under to a restaurant. (especially when I am by myself)

Most people are nice. They like to ask if they are all mine. I like it when I just have four with me so that I can tell them that one is at home... and he is 15 months old. They think we are pretty crazy.

Sometimes, I think we are as well, but wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. (ask me again when we have five teenagers)

Posted by Greg at 06:02 PM | TrackBack

Race Cars

This is one of my favorite activities to do with the kids. Nothing like setting up a hotwheels track and seeing them go.

Posted by Greg at 05:52 PM | TrackBack

January 31, 2007

Anticipation of No School

Is there anything in life like the anticipation getting out of school for snow?

There are a lot of kids praying for snow tonight.

Posted by Greg at 01:17 PM | TrackBack

January 26, 2007

100th day and Show and Tell

Today is the 100th day of school for our daughter Katie. The teachers use the 100th day as a celebration because they have been learning to count to 100. They had to bring 100 snack items (Kate brought fishy crackers) and 100 other items of their choosing.

We try to be creative and hope that our kids are too. Katie ended up bringing 100 little balls from the bean bag chair. They were easily accessible since Abigail cut a hole in it a few months ago.

Show and tell is always interesting. Again, we try to get them to bring something really cool but it doesn't always work. Sometimes it's a barbie or a baby but this week Andrew brought part of his hot wheel race track that has a starter and a jump.

My wife was smart enough to put a new rubber band in the starting mechinism that makes it shoot out. The cars really flew out. Everyone got to take a turn. I hear it was a big hit.

Posted by Greg at 01:29 PM | TrackBack

January 19, 2007

Sledding In The Snow

I wish we would get some snow. We didn't even get our snow fix when we were in MN for Christmas. We actually had to go and search for some. We found a hill at a park that had enough snow on it for everyone to go sledding. It was GREAT fun.

You can check out some more pictures on our Flickr site. If you would like to be added to our family and friends list - email me. We keep most of our pictures private, but love to share them with friends.

Posted by Sara at 11:53 PM | TrackBack

December 14, 2006

Family Photo Shoot

Daddy did a photo shoot this summer. He took some great pictures of the four oldest kids. I love the pictures.

I've been messing around on Flickr and now I'm trying to add pictures to our blog.

Greg takes so many pictures and we haven't figured out a way to share them yet. I know we are slow and should have tried flickr a long time ago, but finding time to mess around with something new is hard to find.

So, here is my first attempt.

I'm guessing that these will be the only picture you can view. I think it might take you to our flickr acount (really don't know what it will do). Once there I have selected the option to only allow family and friends to view our photos. So, if you would like to see the entire set and be included in our list of family and friends let me know and I'll figure out how to add you.

Posted by Sara at 06:51 AM | TrackBack

Family Photo Shoot

Daddy did a photo shoot this summer. He took some great pictures of the four oldest kids. I love the pictures.

I've been messing around on Flickr and now I'm trying to add pictures to our blog.

So, here is my first attempt.

Posted by Sara at 06:51 AM | TrackBack

November 30, 2006

Church concert

Katie and her cousin Hannah made their singing debut a couple of weeks ago.

Posted by Greg at 08:44 AM | TrackBack

November 29, 2006

Christmas Lights

We were tired of putting up lights so we had A do it this year.

Posted by Greg at 05:00 PM | TrackBack

Happy Birthday Jacob

Jacob turned one last week. He is taking steps but not walking. Doesn't seem to bother him much.

Posted by Greg at 04:53 PM | TrackBack

September 30, 2006

Loose Tooth?!

I know this is silly, but I can't really help it. My K has her first loose tooth and it made me cry a little.

I am not ready for those pretty little teeth to fall out, leaving a snaggly tooth smile on that sweet little pixie face I love.

Okay, okay so I'm also sad to see J's sweet little mouth filling up with teeth. I guess I just can't win.

I have such a hard time watching my kids grow up. How will I survive the next 25 years?

Posted by Sara at 01:07 PM | TrackBack

September 08, 2006

Catching Up: Part I

It has been a long while since I've had time to blog about the family. This will be the first in a series of posts catching you up on family happenings this summer.

K's Summer

K had a very busy summer. Here are just a few highlights:

Continue reading "Catching Up: Part I"

Posted by Sara at 10:58 AM | TrackBack

June 03, 2006

New beds

We moved J to a crib and A and R to toddler beds today. K and A moved to twin mattresses on the floor. (temporarily)

Posted by Greg at 09:50 PM | TrackBack

Jacob

Jacob is beginning to crawl.

Posted by Greg at 09:31 PM | TrackBack

June 02, 2006

The next Mia Hamm

K went to her first soccer camp this week at CCS. See any resemblance?

mia hamm.gif

Posted by Greg at 09:25 PM | TrackBack

Potty Training X 2

Posted by Greg at 12:31 PM | TrackBack

April 19, 2006

The Huffine Clan

I am spoiled by the fact that my entire family still lives in Chattanooga. Most of us go to the same church and we always spend Sunday afternoons together.

Here is the whole clan. We tried to get a picture of the entire gang after church on Easter Sunday. Seven Huffines have quickly grown to be nineteen, soon to be twenty.

Posted by Sara at 08:57 PM | TrackBack

January 31, 2006

"Ten-Four"

J reported to Dr. Jenkin's office for his two month check-up today. The doctor said that everything looked great.

J weighs 10#4oz and is 22 1/2 inches long. He was just above the 10th percentile in weight and just under the 25th percentile in height. Greg is a little bit worried about his future career in football, although he is holding out for the possibility of him playing kicker.

Continue reading ""Ten-Four""

Posted by Sara at 09:24 PM | TrackBack

January 28, 2006

TWO

A and R turned two years old this week.

In keeping with the theme "two" here are some of my favorite "twin" pictures from the last two years. Unfortunately I can't seem to find any digital pictures from when they were newborns. The first one is when they are about three months old. The last one was taken this week, on their second birthday.

I'm sorry there are so many, but I had a hard time limiting them to only eight.

Posted by Sara at 11:10 PM | TrackBack

January 10, 2006

Graduation

Well, J graduated to size one diapers today. We ran out of our newborn diapers and have several packages of size one diapers that were generously given to us as baby gifts (Greg's favorite gift to receive).

It makes me sad to think that my baby (probably my last) has outgrown the newborn diapers already. Time goes by too quickly.

(Now when we buy diapers we have to buy sizes, 1, 4, and 5 - That is a lot of diapers. I think we will be potty training the twins soon)

Posted by Sara at 04:58 PM | TrackBack

December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Chattanooga Davicks. We have two Christmas' down and two to go. Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Davick came early this year since they were in town for Jacob's birth.

Christmas two came on Saturday when we had our own little family Christmas. Nothing too spectacular, but the kids loved their presents. I posted a few pictures below. One of the fun things about having five kids is they all get to enjoy each other's presents. One of the hard things about having five kids is teaching them to share.

Continue reading "Merry Christmas!"

Posted by Greg at 11:10 PM | TrackBack

December 23, 2005

One Month

It seems impossible, but J is one month old today. He has been such a good baby so far. He is a GREAT sleeper. He eats about every three hours during the day and goes at least six hours at night. Almost from the beginning he has been "sleeping through the night".

The little guy is a very tollerant fellow. He has to be with four older siblings who want to touch him all the time. So far he still has both eyes (neither one has been poked out yet), and he still has ten fingers and ten toes (none of those have been pulled off yet).

He went to the Dr. for his one month check up and he weighed 8 lbs. He is about 21 inches long. I think that puts him at about the 10th percentile for weight and the 25th percentile for height. That is pretty normal for our kids.

Here are a few pictures we took yesterday:

Continue reading "One Month"

Posted by Sara at 08:49 AM | TrackBack

December 22, 2005

You Brush Your Teeth Ch Ch Ch Chuh, Ch Ch Ch Chuh...

For those of you who haven't had the chance to experience bed time at the Davick house here is a small glimpse of what you are missing. Although brushing teeth is only one part of getting ready for bed this should give you an idea of what it is like around here.

Continue reading "You Brush Your Teeth Ch Ch Ch Chuh, Ch Ch Ch Chuh..."

Posted by Sara at 09:42 PM | TrackBack

December 21, 2005

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Today is the first day of winter. I hope this winter will bring some snow to Chattanooga!

We usually get our snow "fix" in MN when we visit Greg's parents for Christmas. This year, because of the new baby, we are staying in Chattanooga. That means if we are going to see any snow this winter it will have to be here.

I plan to make some paper snow flakes with the big kids soon. Gramma and Grampa left behind some coffee filters. They are great for making snow flakes. It is much easier to fold a coffee filter for a snow flake than it is a piece of paper. The kids just have to fold it in half, then in half again, then in half again, etc...

You can create your own snow flake here.

Posted by Sara at 07:53 PM | TrackBack

November 25, 2005

Family Introductions

Baby Jacob has arrived. For months he has been listening to the chaos outside of Mommy's tummy, but now he is finally meeting his big brother and sisters face to face.

Every member of the family seems excited about his arrival and the concensus is that we will "keep him". I just hope he can survive all of the "love" that is in store for him.

Keep reading for pictures of the family introductions.

Continue reading "Family Introductions"

Posted by Sara at 06:38 PM | TrackBack

November 23, 2005

Introducing Jacob Charles Davick [Updated with Picture]

[I'm posting this for Sara and Greg who are both still at the hospital and will be for a while longer, I suppose. --Ben]

Jacob Charles Davick was born at 2:26 pm today, November 23, 2005. He weighed in at 7lbs. 4oz. and measured 19.5 inches long. Both mother and son are doing well, though Sara will have some recovery time since deliver was by cesarean section.

Posted by Sara at 03:43 PM | TrackBack

November 22, 2005

New Baby is Ready

Sara is scheduled to have a c-section Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m. This has been scheduled for awhile.

We don't know if it is a boy or a girl. Sara likes to be suprised. We have two girls names and one boys name picked out. Still can't agree on the girls name.

Please pray that everything goes well tomorrow. Wonder what the turkey and dressing will be like in the hospital?

Posted by Greg at 08:34 AM | TrackBack

October 26, 2005

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins with the kids this weekend. They really get excited about seeing them lit up at night.

You can try your hand at carving here.

(P.S. this was sent to me in one of those FW:FW:FW: emails, but I thought it was kinda fun.)

Posted by Sara at 10:17 AM | TrackBack

August 03, 2005

Should I shave our dog?

Are you supposed to shave a dog in the summer that has a pretty thick coat? We have a lab/mutt that has a pretty thick coat. She has problems with dry skin and seems so hot in the summer. I have heard some people shave their dogs in the summer and let them grow a fresh coat. I guess you just shave them up to their necks. It seems sensible and think I am up to the task (which won't be easy) but I want to make sure it won't have any negative effects for the furry pooch. Maybe I can get before and after pics.

Posted by Greg at 08:47 AM | TrackBack

July 09, 2005

Peaceful in the morning

I spent a good 30 minutes out on my front porch this morning watching our two littlest play in the yard. It was very peaceful. I am not an early riser but if I was I would spend more time on my front porch.

Posted by Greg at 07:20 PM | TrackBack

Gall Bladder is gone

My wife had her gall bladder out yesterday. Went in at 6 a.m. got home at 11:30. She has pretty much slepts since then. My mother-in-law was here until last night which was great. I have been on my own today. (with four kids) The two older were out for about five hours with their aunt and uncle. It is been a long day. Makes me appreciate my wife that does this everyday.

Posted by Greg at 07:07 PM | TrackBack

July 06, 2005

Here We Go

We are very new to the world of blogging but excited about being part of it. We still haven't decided what our title will be or the direction this blog will take but we decided to go ahead and jump in with both feet. What better way to learn right?

We may try to take part in discussions about local issues or we may just decide to use this blog to share news about our ever growing family.

We are proud parents of four beautiful children and expecting another in November. We are very interested in local issues but have never actively participated in trying to affect change in our city.

We do have a heart for the people of our city and have been active with outreach ministries through our Church.

We have been active readers of Chattablogs for a while now and look forward to joining this blogging community.

Posted by Sara at 09:47 PM | TrackBack

Family Living in the Heart of Brainerd