He's Got The Look

 Wally and his snake Cobra. He made it all by himself with paper and colored pencils. It took a good amount of time to make all those different scales. He asked me if I would mind taking a picture of him with Cobra. Will is running by with his Lightning McQueen below.

Every time we pull up in front of the Learning Center,  I have to pull a Mommy Moment on Wally and give him a list of what I expect fom him this session (pay attention, do your best work, follow instruction, watch for cars when you jump out,) and give him a pat down to make sure I eliminate all objects of distraction. This always results in  a small pile of treasures like sticks, wadded up pieces of paper,  a Bakugan, some change, rocks and business cards, (always rocks and business cards because Wally collects them.  They are special, doncha know?) being set aside until he is done.

Yesterday he had a pair of adult sized 3-d movie glasses perched on top of his head. I told him to hand em' over.  He said,
"Aww,  Maaaa-ooom! But they are part of my "Look."

Who am I to mess with a fashion statement?

And we have to keep a close eye on this boy because he picks things up that I would never in a million years guess that he could tune in to.

A few weeks before school ended Wally took a pre-test for his spelling words at school. He struggled with it, and didn't get any of the words right. This REALLY bothers Wally. He wants 100% on his spelling test, every time. He was talking about it with Del and told him,

"I got 0%...A.P.R."

I asked him where he heard about A.P.Rs? And he told me on a car commercial. I told Del that it apparently never too early to teach Wally that we are not fans of debt at our house. 0% A.P.R. or not!
Even if it makes no sense to Wally, he will repeat it. I got a call from his teacher that same day telling me that Wally had said #$%#, (a really bad word) at school that day.

I asked Wally, "Did you say a bad word at school today?"
Wally, "Is #$%# a bad word?"
Me, "Yes! So stop saying it!"

Oh, my goodness.
When I told Del the story, I used the word, and then felt like Ralphie's mom on "A Christmas Story," and contemplated putting a bar of soap in my mouth.

A Tale of Two Teeth

The short of it all is that one fell out, and one came in. I swear Will must have some kind of record when it comes to teeth. He officially lost his first tooth, in preschool! That seems crazy early to me.
However, we are talking about the boy who was born with a tooth.

Yup, that is right, after Will had spent a couple of weeks in the NICU, we brought him home to discover that hidden at the top of his gum, under his upper lip, was a tiny white tooth peeking through.   I was completely paranoid, and having visions of a three month old baby with a full set of chompers, ready to pound a New York strip!
His pediatrician assured me that it would desolve back into the gum. And sure enough, it did.  You never know! Del's brother  had a baby born with a tooth, and had to get it taken out so that the baby would not choke if it where to come out on its own.

So, Will might as well be an early bird when it comes to his teeth. Now I just have to hope that he doesn't age out of the new set so fast that we have a sixteen year old with dentures.

And our little Walker got his first sweet little bottom tooth this week. and he let us all know that it was trying to break through the gum! He was a grump! Now the one next to it is working its way through.  I love his pointy little tongue sticking out in the picture. He is really getting the hang of sitting up.

So there you have it. You know you are a mom when you are this enthralled with the life cycle of teeth. Just call me fascinated!

The First Camping Trip of 2010

We joined the Tyson family and some of their friends from Milwaukee for a camping trip at Mauthe Lake last weekend. We were blessed with nice weather, and kids that slept well at night. It was just during the waking hours that they kept us running to keep up.

I didn't get a ton of pictures. I was too busy chasing Wally around, telling Wally not to do something, putting Wally in time-out for doing it anyway, and supervising Wally to make sure he stayed in time-out once put there. That kid is going to take years off my life, I swear! Or keep me young, I haven't decided which way to look at it yet. 

Grab a sandwich and a baby! Holding a baby while doing anything was pretty much the theme of the trip for all of the families. As you can see, we all have young kids. 

The kids were thrilled by the strip of beach on the lake. If it had been any cooler, it would not have been nearly as fun. It was just right.

When You Are Six Months Old

Life can be full of stress. Walker celebrated the half year mark this past week. It has been an eventful six months for him, as I realize it is with all babies.

You are expected to enter this world, that in itself is traumatic, then they want you to eat, learn to use all your bodily functions that have not been processing any of this new food before. You have to roll, over sit up, sleep through the night... and just when you think you have that down, you have to cut teeth, and eat solids!

Walker has had his share of sidetracks with those things because he is battling reflux, and Torticollis. In addition to his poor neck needing therapy, we found out last week that he has an arm rotation issue. So we will add his arms to the list of things that need attention several times daily.

Therapy for the arms basically involves me lifting his arms straight above his head and saying "Toss em' up high!" As joyfully as possible over and over, to try to deter the crying for at least a couple of good reps. We then work on his neck, which he really hates.

We kept joking around that Walker's arms had been screwed on backward at the factory because he hyper-extends them behind his back.   Will had the same thing when he was little and we didn't think much of it. Oops! But he has grown out of it just fine, and I am sure Walker will also. He just needs extra help because those tight muscles aggravate his Torticollis.

 I finally went and bought a Bumbo, and now Walker doesn't want to sit in it for more than a minute because his thighs are so chunky that they get pinched when he sits. Obviously one size does not fit all in the Bumbo department.

He is a sweet little Mama's boy and I love it. Although his first word will technically be DaDa, because that is what he babbles all day long. It is Sooo cute!

We like him!

Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner

But we find him in the corner anyway. Walker has an unusual way of getting around the house. He arches his back, bends his knees, tilts his head as far back as he can, and pushes off with his feet. He manages to scoot himself until he can go no further. Like when his head is being smooshed up against the entertainment center, or into the corner of the room.

I found him in just such a predicament the other night when I put him on the floor and walked away for a minute. He not only managed to move quickly, but he also turned him self and navigated his way between the furniture and a pot. He was mad.
And please don't mind his Christmas pajamas. He is off season from his older brothers in clothing, so a lot of the time, I just put in him what I have handy. And in this case it would be Christmas trees.  Normally no one sees him in jammies most nights.

Oprah!

Every time I tell someone that I live in the Chicago area, the question is asked, "So have you been to Oprah?"

And until now, the answer was "No, I haven't even tried to get tickets."

Well, now I can check that one off my list! My friends Kelly and Amy recently went to a taping, and it motivated me to get online and try for some last minute seats. I saw that one of the upcoming guests was Dolly Parton. I like her!
So I sent in a quick blurb about how much I would love to hear more about her, and a week later I got an email telling me to bring a friend, and come to the taping!

We attended an 11:00 taping, and let me tell ya, that is an ALL day event. We drove, instead of taking the train, so that we could leave our phones and cameras in the car. You can't bring them into the studio, and you have to check them in if you do, and then wait in line to pick them up.

BUT both Kathy and I had no idea that you also can't have pens, pencils, or notebooks either, and we both had a planner in our bag, so we had to check things in anyway.   Then you get herded around like cattle, and wait, wait, wait.

Kathy has been such a good friend ever since I served as a counselor with her for three years while she was Primary President. (That is the Sunday program for children at our church.) I was so glad that she could come on such short notice!

We got to see cute, funny, TINY, little Dolly, and watch her perform "Nine To Five," "I Will Always Love You," and a song with surprise guest, Kenny Rogers. He is a cutie for being 71 years old! It was the last taping of her second to last season. So I guess when it comes to tickets, it is get em' now, or don't get em' at all.

I had been feeling pretty much awful all day, and after being stuck in traffic for two and a half hours with one more to go on the way home, Kathy took the wheel and got me to my house safely. Thanks again Kathy! Chicago traffic, in the evening, on a Friday...UUHHGGG!
So it was fun, I am glad I had the experience. But if you go... go with energy and patience. And maybe a good book to read when you have had enough people watching. Which was some of the best people watching I have ever had access to, by the way. Oprah has a good looking audience! It was cool to see her in person, and you can see our show on Friday, May 21st.

If the camera is ever on me, (which I am praying it never is,) and I am glassy eyed and spacing out, or if I look like a crazed, dorky fan, just realize that I didn't feel well, and people were encouraging us to be louder, stand, clap, and act enthused.

Or you can just say, "Hey, I know that nerd!"

So Funny!

 My cousin Jeff posted this on Facebook, and Del and I got a kick out of it. Technically we do still own the minivan. It is just being driven by Del's tech now. So there, all you van haters!

I Like It When...

This is what I see out my back window. This is Summer at our house on the weekends. Hopefully the weather gets the memo. I am sure excited all the weeks of being out in the yard are ahead of us! I need to get my flowers in the ground!! Weeding, planting, mowing, chit chat with neighbors, and something on the grill for dinner. A good Saturday in my book!

And just in case anyone was forgetting... my Walker is getting bigger! Almost six months. And he can be a terror disgued in a really cute, chubby cheeked package.

Georgia's Birthday Tea Party

We had a tea party for Georgia's birthday. A small group of what Will referred to as, "little ladies" came over to drink apple juice and have some sweets.  We had to move our "garden tea" idea indoors. We got the first rainy day in weeks, for our party.
We had a nice time. It was relaxed and low key with such a small number of children, Wally at school, and Walker napping. I was sad that Del had to miss it. But he was out bringin' home the bacon.

The three year old.

The tea table.

The cake. Melissa Patterson of Sugar Mamas Cakery did such a cute job. She used the tablecloth as her inspiration. We all loved it!

The food table. We also had the girls make a candy and cookie necklace.

The girls did so well with the glass tea set. It was sweet to watch them use it so carefully. I think it was a good experience in how to use delicate things. Really cute.

Some eye catching sweets, and flower shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Not cut to perfection. I was in a hurry, and had a crying baby during all my prep.

Mandy gave me instructions on how to make the truffles in the baggies. Mine were not nearly as smooth and beautiful as her's. They did taste good however. I may have to try again for the good looks.

The sweet little ladies.

Will doing a necklace making demonstration.

Cake time. We have discovered that Georgia does not like being the center of attention. Even on her birthday.

The gifts. It is always so cute how excited the kids get to give their gift, and watch as the birthday child opens it. They all want to be about an inch from the present opening. I think it is so sincere, how into it they are.

We did have some guys on the scene. They got booted to a "picnic" on the rug. No more chairs. They were good sports. Maybe it is a good thing Del wasn't home. That rug is not very big.

Georgie Girl

Yes, I cannot believe it is true, but our little gal is three years old! I wanted to post this picture, because this is Georgia's fall back look. She is good at wrinkling that brow!

And it ALL changed right away. The ruler of the roost, daddy's girl, mommy's helper, brother's boss, and big sister is another year older.
We can't imagine our house without our sassy. She is definitely an independent woman. Georgia has a strong tom-boy streak, and is not afraid to get dirty. I mean REALLY dirty. She doesn't mind that I put her in dresses, as long as I don't try to dictate how rough she can play in them, or that she wear ANY kind of hair accessory.

Georgia is a smart cookie. One of her favorite things to do is help Will with his pre-school work sheets. She likes to change up words to songs, (like singing the tune of Old McDonald Had A Farm, but with the words, "Old McDonald's Happy Meals, P-I-E-I -O!!!!) She loves to play pretend, and can usually talk Will into pretending with her.



It is not an uncommon occurrence to find Georgia painting her own toe nails. YIKES! Scrubbing the toilets and mirrors. EW!  Going outside to get the newspaper without telling anyone. And most recently, rinsing out a baby outfit that Walker had been wearing during a blowout,  in the bathroom sink.
Georgia loves her dad and watches out for her brothers. She is my right hand woman for any shopping trip. She loves to go to the store. Maybe she is girly through and through after all!

We love this girl! I can't imagine Del without his little girl, or my life without this red headed, firecracker! We wanted a girl so badly, and we were very blessed to get this one sent to us. Hopefully we can keep up with her! Love ya girly!!!

That is a nice, big smile. Trust me, she only did it for the candy.