Happy 10 Months, Walker Man!

Oh. My. Word.

  HOW?!?!

How is this possible?  His life has flown right by me.  It honestly does NOT feel like he’s been with us this long. 

Oh my.  He’s a mama’s boy.  And his mama EATS IT UP!  All I have to do is look his direction and I get a huge smile.  I love it.  He really is the happiest baby on the planet.  So laid back, content, and chill.  I love it.

He loves: MAMA!, eating, his paci, splashing in the bathtub, getting in to everything, opening and slamming cabinet doors, his sisters making him laugh, anything electronic, daddy playing with him, rocking, “walker snacks” as Amelia calls them (Puffs)

He dislikes:  Diaper changes, changing clothes, not being able to crawl, rinsing hair in the bathtub, mama leaving, being hungry or tired.

He’s crawling EVERYWHERE and attempting to walk!  He can hold on and walk around things and he has taken a lot of unassisted steps recently!   I figure by his birthday he’ll be walking around with no problems!  He generally only cries if he’s really hungry or really tired.  But even when he’s really tired, he can push through and stay happy if someone will engage him.  He’s really independent when he’s playing.  He doesn’t care if anyone is with him or not – he’s busy!  He’s so much more “into things” than the girls were.  Boy thing?  He’s in my cabinets, in the dog food, in EVERYTHING.  He got a good bite of dog food yesterday before I could get it out of his hands.  He apparently thinks it’s delicious.  He isn’t really a fan of being outside, but I know that will come with age.  He hates sitting the grass and will usually start to fuss until someone picks him up.  He weighs a whopping 22lbs and is in a size 5 diaper.  Yep.  He and Amelia wear the SAME SIZE.  He’s been in 12 month clothing for over a month now…but they fit well.  Hopefully he won’t outgrow them too quickly considering we don’t have a single outfit in 18months.  Ha!

He is mashing food with his jaws, so he’s been eating some table food!  He gnawed on a french fry the other day and did well.  He’s also been drinking some milk from a sippy cup.  Crossing my fingers that by 12 months old we can get rid of that obnoxious bottle and the expensive stuff that goes inside of it! 

He LOVES music and starts bouncing and dancing instantly.  It’s adorable.  He’s waving and will sometimes say “bye bye” when he does it.  Today he clapped for the first time! 

He’s just like my other two in the fact that he doesn’t have many teeth yet.    He has his two bottom center teeth and that’s it!  I figure those top ones won’t be much longer in coming in. 

That’s about it for a 10 month update.  Have I mentioned yet that I cannot believe that he’s 10 months old?!  We love you, Walker Man! 

  

Life Happens!

So, it’s been a LONG time since I actually made a “for real” blog post.  But I have a good excuse…life happened.  I’ve been insanely busy.  Usually that would be a lie and it would need to read “insanely lazy” but that hasn’t been the case the last few months.  I never really thought having 3 kids would really make life that much busier, but I was wrong!  Especially 3 little kids!  So – here’s the update on all of us.

Caroline is such a big girl.  She is my all the time helper.  She starts 4K in August and I don’t know what I will do without her.  We spent many nights praying and talking trying to decide whether or not to do 4K…but we ultimately decided she would absolutely LOVE it.  This will make her the youngest in her class (which we originally said we wouldn’t do) but we figure she can always repeat it and never know the difference if she lags behind.  She does well with her glasses and at her check up a couple of months ago, she was told she had to wear a patch for 2hrs/day for the next 8 months.  We were a little bummed at first, but it could be MUCH worse.  After a month or so she really adapted to it – and sometimes even ASKS for it!  She wrote her own name and Amelia’s name the other night.  She did hers without any spelling assistance, but needed help spelling Amelia’s.  But after we helped her spell it, she wrote it!  I was so proud!  She’s doing so well.  She also starts gymnastics in a week and she is BEYOND excited.  She’ll be in a class with her friend, Addie Jane so she can’t wait!  She had her first sleepover a few weekends ago with Addie Jane and it was so fun!  We ate pizza, played outside, then popped popcorn in our pjs and watched Rapunzel.  Then they slept in the top bunk together.  So cute.  We got a puppy a couple of months ago, Minnie, a miniature dachshund and Caroline is totally in love.  That about sums up Caroline.

First sleepover!

Amelia changes mentally every day.  She knows things that I didn’t think she knew.  When we were working with Caroline on writing names, I started writing random letters on the board and Amelia was calling them out AND telling me what sound they each made.  She didn’t miss a single one!  I was truly impressed because I didn’t know she knew all of that!  She still has some social issues, but they do seem better than they were 6 months ago.  She’s a lot better around family and kids that she sees often.  She’ll occasionally talk to strangers and say “Hi!” to them which she certainly wouldn’t have done 6 months ago.  She really just seems painfully shy.  But I was told that many moons ago, I was shy too.  She’ll grow out of it eventually.  She is somewhat of a diva princess.  She wants things done for her.  She wants you to hand her the cup that’s 2 inches in front of her, you to drive her around in the power wheels gator, you to push her on the swing, etc. She is so funny!  I’ve never seen a child eat ketchup with a spoon until Amelia came along.  GROSS.  But she absolutely loves it.

 

Amelia was NOT happy about the sprinkler being underneath the trampoline.  Caroline, on the other hand, was thrilled. 

Walker is nearly 9 months old!!!!  How did that happen?  He’s pulling up and crawling EVERYWHERE.  He eats a massive amount of food.  He’s cutting his first two teeth on the bottom.  One is punching through and the other is trying.  He’s taking it fairly well and really doesn’t complain with it much.  He is literally the happiest baby you’ll ever meet.  Nothing upsets him.  He is so chill.  He smiles if you meet eyes with him.  He loves to bounce up and down to music, his wubanubs, sleeping, eating, and his MAMA.  He is SUCH  a mama’s boy…and I’m totally fine with that.  I love it, actually.    He still takes 2 naps a day and goes to bed around 7:30-8p and sleeps until about 6:30-7:30am usually.  That would seem like I get a lot of sleep, but I’m usually dumb and stay up until around 1am and then kick myself all day the next day.

 

Pulling up for the first time!

I am BUSY with sewing!  I took a dress order recently and I got SO many orders.  I’ve been working hard to get them all completed!  Between occasionally taking care of my house (ha!), my kids, my business, and sometimes sleeping, there’s not much time for anything else…like, blogging, for example.  But I’m trying to catch up because I do *love* to go back and read my old blog posts to remind myself of what my days were like back when…

My whole world sitting on that couch!!

Judd is busy planting!  We’ve had weird spurts of rain all Spring, and that has made planting stretch out a little longer than usual – but it’s going!  Just about every time it gets dry enough to plant, it rains again.  But they’ve gotten a lot done in the last week or so and that has made everyone breathe a big sigh of relief.  He’s been getting home after the kids go to bed (and he leaves long before they get up) so they are missing him a lot right now!  Just a few minutes ago, Caroline said, “Mommy…I miss Daddy,” and just kept on coloring.  I’m thinking they may need a trip to ride on a tractor with him. 

Don’t let him fool you.  He’s a softie at heart…

Everybody staring at one tiny phone screen…

I hope you all have a blessed week! 

Happy 7 1/2 Months, Walker Man!

The time has flown.  More so than usual. I got behind, but it’s better late than never.  You are SO big.  You are 20lbs even, in 9m clothing (some 12m fits!) and you are crawling EVERYWHERE!  Once you got the hang of it, you were gone!  Your favorite thing to do is go after the new puppy’s water and food bowls and spill everything.  Then you smile that sweet smile and I don’t even get aggravated. 

You’re eating baby food once a day – but it isn’t always your favorite.  Some days you’re excited to eat it, other days you just don’t want it!

You’ve had a cold and a clogged tear duct in the last few weeks.  Awful!  The tear duct got infected – but since we’ve started the antibiotics, it has improved significantly.  I’m so glad because you always look so pitiful when you’re sick.  You definitely have allergies just like the rest of the family.

Your oldest sister LOVES taking her picture with you.  She’ll walk up and throw her arm around you and say, “Mama, can you take my picture with Baby Walker?”  She loves you!

You sleep through the night most nights, unless you’re not feeling well.  You can find your paci all by yourself in the crib and you put yourself back to sleep!  You *LOVE* the mobile in your crib, but we had to take it down because you can sit up by yourself now and you were pulling it down! 

You can sit up by yourself so well.  It has made things much easier.  You can go from being on your back to sitting up all by yourself!  It amazes me that you can do all of this already.  You’ve tried to pull up – unsuccessfully (whew!) but you’re definitely attempting.

You love:  Jumperoo, pacis (mainly the Wubanubs!), eating, your own bed, snuggling, being rocked, a cold wipe during diaper changes , and baths…at least until the washing up part, your sisters, Minnie’s dog bowls, & playing with Mommy & Daddy!

You dislike:  Being hungry or tired, most flavors of baby food (ha!),  being handed to someone else when you’re sleepy, staying up late, being SICK, and most of all – taking ANY form of medication, be it drops in your eyes or a syrup in your mouth!  ESPECIALLY if you have to be held down to take it.  Your sisters would both eventually give up and just let it happen.  You will fight tooth and nail and do not give up!  Just like a man!  Ha!

I have to say – you are the most chill, laid-back baby – ever.  You will just go anywhere and do whatever and you’re fine with it.  The only time you’re unhappy is when you’re tired or really hungry.  And really, who can blame you there?  You’re related to me!  You’ll probably never outgrow that, son.    You are so easy, it’s almost laughable.  I love my sweet Amelia, but it’s funny how difficult she was as a baby and how easy you are. 

You are the cutest, chubbiest, sweetest little boy on the planet…and I’m not saying that because I biased.    You are such a blessing to me.  You’re teaching me the difference between these drama queen girls and boys like you!  I can already see subtle differences!  I thank God for you and your sisters every night.  You are 1/3 of my heart, sweet boy.  I love you more than you know!

Mama

Happy 3 Months, Walker Man!

Walker is officially 3 months old, today!  Look at me being all on time and stuff. 

He’s getting so big!  I still can’t believe the size difference between him and the girls.  Yesterday he was 14lbs 8oz. He’s in a size 3 diaper, and mainly 6 month clothing.  He can still wear some 3-6 month stuff. 

He’s sleeping a lot better at night!  Several weeks ago I got something called a Woombie Houdini.  It’s like a swaddling sack for babies that just zips up and keeps them really tight.  One night last week I decided to give it a shot.  Before, every time we put him down, his eyes popped open and he was wide awake.  It was so frustrating!  I would spend over an hour getting him to sleep and as soon as my arms came out from under him, he was wide awake and we’d have to start over.  Anyway, so in came the Woombie.  Wow.  Seriously – the first night we used it, he slept in his crib for almost 5 hours!  It makes him feel cuddled, like I’m still holding him.  It’s so great!  Ever since, he’s started out in his own crib every night.  It helps so much.  I feel like I’m starting to get my life back with a few kid-free hours at night. 

He eats every 2 1/2-3 hours during the day and usually wakes up once or twice to eat at night.  I’m totally good with that! 

He loooooves his mama.  He’s already turning into a mama’s boy. 

Loves:  Woombie, cuddling, being held, talking, eating, Caroline making him smile, his THUMB. 

Likes:  Baths (until the hair washing part), the paci (he just can’t decide), the playmat, diaper changes, the swing.

Hates:  THE CAR.  Oh my word.  The kid screams from the moment you buckle him in.  There is nothing he hates worse than the car.  We did put him in a convertible carseat instead of the infant carrier and he is happier in it.  But he still just isn’t a fan of car rides in general.  He also hates a bottle.  He’ll take one, but he doesn’t want it and he has to be really hungry to accept it.  He also HATES to be sleepy.  He becomes really, really cranky when he’s ready to go to sleep.

Here he is sucking his thumb.  He’s really getting in to it lately.  Part of me really dreads that being his comfort thing because I can already see how difficult it will be to break that habit.  But it’s SO CUTE that I can hardly bring myself to care! 

Here he is cuddling with 2 of his great grandmothers.  They love him! 

Bless his heart.  He acts a lot like Amelia, just not as bad.  Ha!  He’ll be sitting there perfectly fine and decide he’s mad and just start screaming.  The difference between him and Amelia is that he’s not too terribly difficult to calm down.  Amelia just….didn’t calm down.  We joke that he has two moods:  Happy and Really Ticked Off.   

Overall, he’s waking up a lot more.  He spends a lot more of his time awake and looking around at things than he was before.  He purposely swats at toys on his playmat and enjoys watching the swing mobile.  He can roll onto his side from his back but that’s about all he’s interested in doing.  He really isn’t a huge fan of tummy time – he’ll tolerate it for 3-4 minutes. 

I love his sweet smile.  He is such a precious little boy. 

He has the cutest, chubbiest, little cheeks.  I love them.  I just want to squish them!

I really think he favors Judd, but I’m terrible at guessing who a baby looks like.  Ha! 

Little man, we sure do love you!