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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Oh What A Week!

Oh what a week! It has been such a fun week with Walker! I feel like his little eyes have just been opened to the world around him! To me, he has been very alert for a long time, but this week has just been another huge turning point! Here are a few things Walker has "discovered" this week:

~ He has finally rolled from his back to his tummy. Now he can roll both ways....AND LOVES IT! I mean he rolled on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday he was just rolling in a line down the floor. Other times he just rolls back and forth from his back to his tummy for the fun of it! It is really funny because he just laughs and smiles as he is rolling!

~ Walker has also discovered the joy of the water. He has never minded baths before but this past week he has started splashing his feet and playing in the water! I wonder if he is going to love the water as much as his mommy did?

~ Walker has recently become intrigued with Gatsy. He will look at her, and lunge towards her. She has been SO, SO good with him! He will pat her...and sometimes grab her hair and she just licks and licks and licks! They are so cute together!

~ Walker has found his THUMB!! OH NO! The boy has always loved his chewing on his hands way more than sucking on a paci, but once I saw him sucking on his thumb, you better believe I started sticking that paci in his mouth!

~ Baby boy has started to eat so well! He has tried oatmeal, rice, bananas, chicken, peas, sweet potatoes and squash. His favorite meal: breakfast...oatmeal and banana!

~ The boy LOVES attention. Sunday night at our share group he was EXHAUSTED. He had not napped ALL day and he had NOT slept well the night before. What did he do for 2 hours during share group (which by the way started at his normal bedtime)? He smiled and laughed the whole time! As soon as we got in the car he PASSED OUT and slept from 8:00 to 3:00AM. The boy loves to be around people.

~ Walker has also learned how to tripod! Yep! He can sit up (while supporting himself with his arm) for several seconds! Such a big boy! Oh, and for the record, baby boy can now wear size 9 month clothes!

As far as Richard and I go...we are doing well! Just trying to keep up! Richard is teaching a class at the University this semester with 65 students! He is also gearing up to travel. A. Lot. At least once a month he will be jetting off all over the country. I started my 2 grad classes last week. Between baby boy, school, work and teaching at the gym I have had some very busy days!

Some pictures from our week...


Daddy and Baby

Baby Walker LOVING playing with Aunt Emily!

Lunch date with Daddy.


Baby rolled to his tummy to look at his book!

YUM dinner time!


Baby loving bath time with daddy!




Monday, January 17, 2011

Sleeping Semi-Success!

Well, we have had some semi-success with Walker's sleeping! He now is able to sleep unswaddled AND is able to fall asleep on his own! YAY! Our next project is getting him to stay asleep at night!


Walker has also been introduced to Peas, Squash, Rice and Oatmeal. Oatmeal and peas are his favorites! Tomorrow we try chicken!


Some pictures from last week:



Walker and his sweet cousin Claire

Look how BIG Walker looks in Claire's lap!



Walker has been making this new noise....it sounds like he is "squawking"....kind of like a pterodactyl...so FUNNY! I am going to try and get it on video..it is SO hysterical!


Baby and his favorite lion!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

New Year, New Routine

Well, the first week of the New Year has certainly been eventful! Between an ant infestation (seriously THOUSANDS of ants in our kitchen on the night of January 1st), Richard and I fighting off a NASTY cold and trying to get our 4month old into new sleeping habits, 2011 has started out very hectic!

Over Christmas break, Richard and I came to realize that we had gotten Walker into some pretty bad sleeping habits that needed to be fixed ASAP! So over the past week we have been working hard to get baby boy into a new routine!

Bad Habit 1:



During Christmas break we realized that Walker needed to learn to self soothe and be able to fall asleep by himself. Why did baby boy need to learn this? Well, he had become so accustomed to us walking/rocking him to sleep that he COULD NOT fall asleep without it...which would be fine other than the fact that it got to the point of taking OVER an HOUR to put him down each time. Yep. Over an hour for 4 naps and at bed time. Not only was it taking over an hour to put him down, but he was unable to soothe himself back to sleep when he woke up during naps/night. It was turning into craziness! Richard and I were exhausted and Walker was tired! We really felt like he would be able to get more sound sleep if he was could teach himself to self soothe.

Well, starting Sunday we let him "cry it out" for 5 minutes, would go and soothe him, then wait 10 minutes, soothe him again, wait 15 minutes...etc. He did great! The first nap was rough but after that he caught on very quickly! He only made it to 10 minutes once and by day 2 he was going down without a problem!



Bad Habit 2:


Walker is/was absolutely ADDICTED to being swaddled. After his 4 month check up, the pediatrician said that he was just going to have to get use to not being swaddled. He does NOT need to sleep that way anymore. Well, let's just say this is a work in progress. Friday, he was up for about 7 hours straight during the day. He could not fall asleep. We broke down and swaddled him Friday night. Saturday, he screamed for...oh...a good 2.5 hours and ended up taking two 30 minute naps...and one of those was in his car seat! Poor baby. By last night he was so tuckered out he could barely smile!! POOR GUY! After he finally fell asleep last night he did very well. He woke up at least once an hour but was able to get himself back to sleep pretty quickly. Today, he actually took a hour and a half long nap and it only took him 10 minutes to go down! YAY! Progress! :)

Walker also had his 4 month check last week. It went great! He did so well with his shots and has gotten SO big!



Weight: 15lbs 10oz (Just below 75%)

Length: 25.5inches. (75%)



I talked to the pediatrician about his eating. He has been eating like a champ. Every 2-3 hours during the day and has gone back to eating every 3 hours at night. So the pediatrician told us that we could start him on rice cereal! YAY! He also said once he gets use to this, give to him 2x/day then we can start baby food! Not only did he give the green light for baby food...BUT...he recommended starting with meats! I was completely shocked when he said this. Being a dietitian, I had never heard this recommendation before. We were taught vegetables and fruit first, then meats at 9 months. But, I guess, according to recent research, no adverse side affects have been seen from starting meats early and actually is good for the baby since meats are high in iron. So I guess in a couple of weeks he will be on some meat! Crazy!



Some fun things:



~Walker has amazing head control and is super strong.

~ Baby boy still can't roll over from back to tummy, I think this is partly because he does not really like to be on his back anymore. He would rather be up where he can see what is going on.

~ He has been getting tickled very easily and it is SO funny! His laugh is so goofy and it cracks me up!

~ He DOES not care for rice cereal...but will hopefully grow into it.

~ His favorite books are "We're going on a bear hunt" and "God made you noes to toes"

~He really, really likes his exersaucer and jumperoo.

~Baby boy gets a kick out of attention. He will smile and ham it up for just about anyone who talks to him...I wonder what side he gets that from :)

~Walker would rather chew his hands than suck on a paci.


Baby boy in his new toy...his Jumperoo



Intrigued by his new toy.




Baby boy all tuckered out from not napping all day...watching Baby Mozart


Yes...he likes to watch things upside down



HAHA...not a fan of the rice cereal..and this was probably the happiest face he made the whole meal! :)


Saturday, January 1, 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


Our December was fun and family filled! Two years ago, Richard and I spent Christmas Day in Belize on our honeymoon. Last year, on Christmas day, we announced to both of our families that we were expecting a child...and this year we were able to celebrate Christmas with a happy, healthy boy! We had such a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with Walker! Here is a quick recap of the last month of 2010.

At the beginning of December we had a 3 month check up:

He was 14 lbs 1 oz and 24.5 inches long. He was just below the 75% for both length and weight for age. Now, almost a month later, it seems as if he has GROWN so much! We have our 4 month appointment next week! I can't wait to see how much he has grown!

Here are a few things he has been doing this month:

~ Baby boy has found his feet! He LOVES grabbing them and playing with them!
~ His personality is starting to come out and I absolutely LOVE it!! He is either extremely happy, smiling and squealing or VERY mad! He has the sweetest laugh and the biggest smile!
~ It really looks like baby boy is wanting to crawl...when he is on his tummy his legs get all the way under his hips and just move and move...if only he could figure out his upper body!
~ He is not the best sleeper, I think it is because he is growing so much and ALWAYS hungry! He eats every 2-3 hours during the day and every 2.5-4 hours at night. He is a BIG boy!

Baby boy and his feet:

Claire and MA loving on their cousin


Richard reading "Twas the night before Christmas" to the kiddos



Milk and cookies for Santa




Mom and Dad's Christmas tree:





Walker must have been a good boy....gifts from Santa



Walker in his CUTE Christmas PJ's


Walker under the beautiful (and HUGE) Christmas tree....


Happy Boy



LB, Uncle Chuck and Walker



The kids playing outside in Montgomery


Carter all bundled up!



LB and Claire racing!

Walker loves his cousin Carter!



Look how BIG baby boy is!

Such a happy boy!




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