Tummy Time Heart-To-Heart

 

Walker is not a fan of tummy time. Trying to find something to distract him from his frustration is key. This little sheep given to us by the Tyson family was the one who got to hear about his dislike for tummy time this week. 

On top of Mom being so mean, and making him do this activity, he has been sick all week. He was tested for RSV because he was snorting like such a little piggy at the doctor's office that he was concerned for his breathing. Walker does not understand the need to breathe out of your mouth when stuffed up.

He weighed 16 lbs. at the appointment, and was only 24 inches long. He feels much bigger than that after lugging him around all day. He is quit the shorty, and the only fat he has, he keeps stored in his cheeks and his diaper. It gets all chubby and rolly polly down there.  

Walker is four months old this week. He is very popular at our house. I have a feeling that is not going to change any time soon, because as you can see in the picture, he is kinda cute!

Hard Work

Holding your head up while on your tummy is a lot of work when you are a baby with Torticollis.

But things are coming along for our little Walker. His therapy has been moved to every other week. I just have to make sure to be diligent at home. Look at him try to get that chin lifted! He is a sweet boy. He get SO excited when he hears the water start to run for his bath. He laughs and kicks his little legs. He loves the tub.  He is also excelling at bubble blowing. Weather he is happy or sad he likes to make mumbling noises, or say, "Ya, ya, ya." and crank out spit bubbles.

He is a baldy these days. I took this picture about two weeks ago, and all that hair on the top of his head is gone now. Boy that happened fast!

Bowling Good Time

We celebrated Wally's birthday on Saturday with a few of his little guy friends at a bowling ally.  I found a local lady that makes cute cakes to make a bowling cake for the big day. I was so happy with how it turned out! It was good too!

The kids had a great time bowling,  ( and yes, you CAN see our Party Hero's underpants, but he was nice! Oh well, I am sure mine are also showing more than I would care to know.)

They danced to the loud music.

And Will cried.

They met a giant bowling pin.

And Georgia cried.

They ate pizza.

They wrestled.

And Will cried.

We all had cake. My mouth is open because SOMEBODY had to sing Happy Birthday!

Wally opened presents.

And Will cried.

And in the end everyone was a champion, and received a bowling trophy!

These were a great find in the Walmart party section.

It was a good day!

Love, From Chicago!

We owe a great big THANK YOU! to the employees at Patient's Choice! Last year for Christmas they gave Del tickets to the Jazz vs. Bulls game here in Chicago. Del decided that he would take me, despite my pitiful lack of inside knowledge of the game.


 We decided to make a get away of it, and headed back to the Omni Hotel for the night. Our great friends from the ward,  the Ogle family, were kind enough to take Walker for us, and we were able to have a good gal from church watch the older kids. I must admit that I really missed, and worried about Walker, (aka: felt guilty for leaving) but it was nice to have a 24 hour break. We had some pretty great seats on the seventh row to make things even cooler. And I told Del I couldn't believe that I made eye contact with one of the Bull's players that was on the bench scanning the crowd! Joachim So and So. I am SURE it was eye contact with me, yeah right. He seems to be a loser by the way.

We walked past this shoe shine station and Del laughingly told me to hop up there and he would buy me a shoe shine. So I did!  The guys running the station, and the other customer, kept asking me, "First shine?  First shine?" Del thought it was pretty funny, and apparently so  did a few others, because the next thing I knew...

I had drawn this little crowd of dudes speaking anther language. They were pointing and laughing. And hung around the entire time I got my shine,  before finally one of them decided to go ahead and get his shoes buffed up too! I guess a ditz sitting at a shoe shine station is good for business.













We were in the hotel room talking when a commotion started outside. I got a picture of a human rights protest going down Michigan Avenue.  Free Tibet!

We had a great time, great food, (Bandera on Michigan Ave was Yummy!) and got some pretty decent weather. Gotta love Chicago!

But holding my babies in the burbs is pretty nice too.

Happy Birthday Wally!

Wally is seven years old today. He is still our little ball of energy and enthusiasm.  This morning Del went out to the bus stop really early before leaving for work and wrote "Happy Birthday Wally!" on the road with chalk. I laughed as I watched all the congratulations from all the kids as they arrived to wait for the bus. Wally received handshakes and claps on the back from the other little boys. It made his day, I could tell.  He was so excited to pass out cupcakes at school, and open presents. He opened his huge Nerf gun and  lots of good stuff from Grandma and Grandpas. He got a five dollar bill, and has been sure to tell everyone that Abraham Lincoln is on the front and the White House is on the back.

The only downfall to his day is that I got a call from the school telling me that while Wally was defending his snow castle at recess, he was scratched on the face by a little boy that we have seen quit a bit of trouble from this year. It is getting old. But Wally didn't let it damper his day, and he wears his battle scar proudly in this picture. We sure love you Wally boy!  You are the one who has to be our first parenting experiment, and we are grateful for your patience as we figure it out. You always make us smile!

Today...

I cleaned raw egg out of the carpet. And now I am moving on to the wet, mushed up teddy grahams in the carpet.  If this what the end of two looks like,  I don't want to do three! I would never have believed that anyone could give a toddler aged Wally a run for his money!

And Then I Met Georgia!

A Little Bit Of, Not Much Going On

I have not been up to much. I did give my house a good dose of some much needed scrubbing. These past few months have left some areas at the bottom of my priority list.  Cleaning out those forgotten areas makes one contemplate deep decisions like, 
"Just how many gross, once black, deodorant, hair product, and toothpaste covered elastic bands do I REALLY need?"
Or,
"At what point do I decide that I should just go ahead and repaint the crayon colored wall instead of using an entire box of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers?"

And when was the last time you pulled out YOUR fridge and cleaned behind it? Scary.

And please tell me I am not the only one who finally goes through "The Stack," (you know that pile of papers that seems to be the catch-all for junk mail, school papers, and new visiting teaching route updates.) And realized that you did not attend "Family Literacy Night" OR "Guys Night Out," because the flier somehow got swallowed up and forgotten.

Aaaa...well. My baby is still pretty cute, so here are some pictures of him. Little Mr. Cheeks, and no neck.

Jessie

Rock My World

                                                                                                      Walker and Will
Pretty crazy! Early, early this morning I was lying awake in bed, trying to find sleep again after being up with the baby. Suddenly a massive boom sound jolted me into consciousness, followed by lots of rumbling and shaking. I have never been in an earthquake that I was awake to feel, and this one surprised me. I guess moving away from the fault line in Utah didn't do anything to lessen my risk of experiencing an earthquake! The Chicago area has its own fault line.
I thought one of my kids had fallen out of bed at first. That is all my brain could relate to. But that was quickly replaced with lots of shaking around. The wall behind my bed groaned and made a popping noise. I sat up and said Del's name, but it woke him up, so we both jumped out of bed.

And to think that was just a 3.8 to 4.3 magnitude and nothing even fell off the wall. (Every new channel has a different magnitude, so who knows.)  I can't imagine the terror of being in Haiti.


On a completely different note.

Wally came home from school with a new library book about aliens. He was cooing and playing with
Walker, holding the book up for him to see.

All of this was said in high voiced baby talk.

" Look Walker, I have a book about aliens.  Don't be scared, aliens aren't real. It's non-fiction."

I laughed into my hand. So funny. And yeah, he did get the "fiction or non-fiction" definitions a little mixed up, but at least he is trying to show off his smarts.

King of The Hill

Wally has ignited a firestorm at the bus stop. We are now watching "King of the Bus Stop" every morning. Wally decided that it is very important to him to be first in line to get on the bus. And apparently one morning he was out there crowing a little too loudly about how he WAS first, because now we send him out the door and watch the races begin.

The kids who don't live as close to the bus stop as we do watch from their parents' cars...and as our garage door begins to open to release Wally from the gate, they all jump into action. Six kids running full speed in all their snow pants, coats, and hats, glory!

One little girl started showing up to stand in the 10 degree or less weather, at the stop about 10 minutes early. This sent Wally into a tizzy! Now he rushes me to help him get ready so that he can be out there FIFTEEN minutes early. I just can't give in. I am not nearly as motivated to claim "first in line" status at the cost of my son becoming frost bitten.

When Wally does get there before anyone else, we get a knock on the door from the losing party after school, complaining about how Wally can't always be first! And I thought a 1st grade little boy could be immature! This is from a 4th grade girl!

Our son has become a motivating factor in getting out of bed on time with the "Bus 26" crowd here in the Chicago suburbs!