Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday was a good day. We started the day with the Harris and Cook families, then we went home to take naps, and then we went to see the Hagan family at my parents' house. Throughout the day (between the toddler meltdowns), we were reminded over and over again how blessed we are. We love our families. We are thankful for the craziness that the holiday season brings because it means that our lives are full and busy. We are reminded of how good God is. We find happiness in the small things. We are so grateful for the experiences that we share with one another and our families and friends. We are truly blessed. We hope that you and your families had a good Thanksgiving, and we pray that this holiday season brings you joy and peace.

This is a picture of Lainey's Thanksgiving turkey. I got the idea from a friend (Kelley) and it turned out to be really cute, despite the fact that my turkey-making skills aren't honed. Anyway, you can read most of the things that Lainey is thankful for. She did need some prompting (after mentioning that the first thing she was thankful for was Barbies), but after she got going, she seemed to focus on the important stuff!

And here's Walker with his favorite toy - the hairbrush. Every day, we pull out the hairbrush and the detangle spray to fix Lainey's hair and every time, Walker just starts crying and crying. When this first started happening, we didn't notice the connection so we'd try holding him, feeding him, distracting him...and nothing worked. We finally figured out that he just wanted to play with the hairbrush and/or the spray bottle. :)

He loves to chew on the end of the hairbrush.

sweet Cally and Walker

Cally does such a great job with Walker. He loves her, and she loves him, and she is very attentive to his needs and aware of his surroundings.

Collin and Ella

Bud and Lainey playing with the Polly Pocket dolls

Baby's first Thanksgiving dinner! He just played with his food. This boy has no interest in swallowing anything that isn't a yogurt melt or a puff or baby food. But I'll keep offering bits of food to him in hopes that someday he'll swallow it!

the kids' table

the adults' table

We were excited to have Ben's second cousin Amy and her husband, Cliff, at our Thanksgiving celebration this year. They just moved to Dallas not too long ago (and only got married two weeks ago!).

Lainey's beautiful "cheese"smile

playing with her Olivia-themed tea set at Emmy's house

A funny note about Lainey's spoken language at this point: she is getting "stuck" trying to say the first word of her sentence, usually if she's excited. Sometimes, it will take her five or more seconds to get out the first word and she gets louder and louder as she tries to say it. However, she's learned that if she whispers, then she is able say the word. So sometimes she'll start off her sentence in a really loud voice and then end it in a whisper. It's a bit painful to listen to sometimes because you just wanna jump in and say the word for her, but after confirming with my friend Lisa (who is a speech pathologist), this is just a normal stage in speech development for some kids.

Lainey loves "doing ballet." She twirls her arms around and dances in circles while on her tippy toes.

more ballet

Lucy did a lot of snuggling with Grandfather

Walker liked playing with Noah's Ark.

And he loved seeing his Uncle Matt (so did we).

Monday Night Cuteness

It seems as though my children are always partially clothed by the end of each day. Either someone's shirt has gotten food on it or someone just decided to leave her pants off after going to the restroom or I just felt like taking the kids' clothes off when I was near the laundry basket because it would be one less thing for me to do later on. Tonight, while Bud and Yiyia were over, the kids were being cute and funny so I thought I'd snap a few pictures. Usually, Walker does wear a diaper (even if that's the only thing he has on) but tonight, after I changed his dirty diaper, I decided to let him go without pants until it was time for his bath. (Sorry - beware of the naked bottom pictures...)

cute tiny bottom

so excited to be standing and playing

having so much fun

Lainey loves her new best friend, Bella (a gift from Brooke and Kate). Bella sleeps with Lainey and rides in the car with us when we run errands.

Lainey also likes to ride Bella around the house.

And today (apparently) it was this baby's birthday. Lainey put a "birthday hat" on her and got her dressed for her special day.

Bud rocked two babies to sleep (although they look quite wide-eyed here...). One baby wanted to listen to her music so Lainey put headphones on her. Hopefully that helped her fall asleep.

Christmas Tree Lighting

This evening we went to the annual lighting of the giant Christmas tree at The Shops at Legacy in Plano. Well, to say the least, it was pretty challenging to get a picture of the kiddos sitting and smiling. :) There were so many distractions around them! It was a fun evening, despite the fact that Miss Lainey was not the happiest of children for the majority of the event. Oh well. Toddlers...

Gage, a sad Lainey, Ainsley, Keegan, and Landry

Walker was a trooper. He did such a good job in his stroller; I think he loved observing all the people and commotion around him. He was one happy, content baby the entire time!

Playdate with the Ladies

Walker doesn't have many baby friends. His "friends" are Lainey's friends, so I was grateful to give Walker the opportunity to play with some kids his own age today. I met two of my friends from college and their babies at NorthPark Mall for "Baby Bounce Basics." (I'd done this before with Lainey, so I was excited to do it again with Walker!). It was thirty minutes of singing, movement, stories, and instruments/noise makers. Walker seemed to love the bells the best. I think he sucked on one the entire time. He liked watching all of the other babies and of course the music was great fun, too!

Walker and I with Stacey and Samantha (11 mos.), and Becca and Ashleigh (9 mos.)

Walker, 9 months old

Every Mom needs a picture of her messy baby, right? Here he is, happy as a clam...no bib, yogurt on his hands, the remnants of peas, carrots, Puffs, and banana cookies all over his shirt and pants and chair... He got a mini-bath in the sink right then and there. :)

This smile melts my heart. So cute!

"Who, me? I didn't make this mess!"

Reagan is so funny. She is in a lot of our pictures as part of the "scenery." She has gotten very good at finding food that Walker (or Lainey, for that matter) has dropped and since he's in the phase of dropping everything on the floor, Reagan has learned to just sit back and wait for the crumbs (and/or chunks) of food to fall. She's silent and very fast - a deadly combination.

Clapping! Walker has learned to clap his hands! He started about 2 weeks ago and would clap most often with one hand open and the other in a fist (like in this picture). Anytime we start clapping or ask him to clap his hands, he'll start clapping. :)

However, lately, he has started opening up his fist and clapping with two open hands. Yay, Walker! (Lainey has been quite proud of him and his clapping success!)

As a 9 month old:

Doctor's Notes

• Weight: 18 pounds, 15 oz. (25th percentile)
• Height: 27 -1/2 inches (25th percentile)
• Head: 47 cm (95th percentile) Haha -- cute baby boy has a big head. :)

Likes

• swinging on the swings at the park
• doorstops
• balls
• getting tickled between his shoulder blades
• being social and getting out of our house
• exploring any available shelf or open cabinet
• Miss Heather in childcare at the gym (she's his favorite person there)
• getting stuck in tight spots (like under tables and chairs)
• grabbing for things on counters
• necklaces and earrings and watches and bracelets
• the iPad commercial (the one with the piano playing)
• remote controls
• cell phones
• being rocked to sleep
• having his back patted and "shushed" when he's cranky and all worked up
• mealtimes (just so he can play with the pieces of solid food on his tray and watch Lainey)
• most baby foods...his favorites are definitely sweet potatoes and anything with apples or bananas
• Gerber Puffs (His favorite flavor of Puff is sweet potato.)
• Gerber Yogurt Melts (any flavor works)
• popsicles (He's only had a few licks. But he loves them.)
• the camera
• being held
• his sister and her dollhouse (particularly the kitchen)
• his sister's binkies
• his dog, Reagan
• his mom and dad (we hope!)
• his big-boy car seat (except when we're strapping him in)
• empty soda bottles (he'll chase them around the hardwood floors)
• being outside (he'll sometimes cry if we let Reagan out and then shut the door afterwards)
• army crawling everywhere...and he's gotten so fast! He "crawls" on his elbows and knees. So funny!
• throwing anything and everything on the floor during mealtimes (spoons, sippy cup, food, etc...)
• the toy kitchen and the pretend food (especially the plastic carrots)
• biting our arms/legs (due to teething...but we're trying to tell him "no bite" when he does this so that he starts to understand...hopefully...!)

Dislikes

• getting his sleep sack zipped
• having a sensitive tummy
• swallowing real food (he likes to put it in his mouth, and then he spits it out)
• his ear plugs
• when he can't find us...if we leave the room for any reason he gets distressed and starts scooting around, trying to find us
• sitting in his high chair at restaurants for any extended amount of time -- same goes for the shopping cart
• not getting fed in the middle of the night when he awakens and wants a bottle :)
• bibs
• car seats

Accomplishments

• clapping his hands
• holding his bottle (when he's in the mood to do so, that is)
• sleeping "through the night" more often...but he still has some nights where he's up a time or two
• good at feeding himself small bits of table food (he just rarely swallows the pieces...but they usually make it into his mouth)
• pulling up on people (like if we're on the ground he'll use our bodies to pull himself upright)
• pulling up on other things (and sometimes succeeding)
• cruising (a little bit) along furniture

Walker's Baptism

Walker was baptized this morning! It could not have gone any better. Walker did a great job (he didn't cry once!) and his big sister did a pretty good job, too. At one point, just as a video was concluding about the previous week's steeple raising, Lainey pointed up to the picture on the sanctuary wall (where the video was shown) and said, "Look! Steeple!" Many people heard Lainey's little voice loud and clear in the all-too-quiet sanctuary, and thankfully, some people laughed out loud. :) Thank you to all of our family members who joined us today to celebrate this special moment in Walker's life. We missed Emmy (who was in Arkansas, with her mother and brother) and Uncle Matt (who lives in New York), but I tried to take a ton of pictures to capture the event so that hopefully Emmy and Uncle Matt will get an idea of what our morning was like!

Reagan

(She just doesn't get photographed enough these days!)

"Yay! I'm getting baptized today!"

posing with Sister (and Tasha and Uniqua)

Jazz hands!

(Walker is wearing the same outfit that Ben wore for his baptism.)

Uniqua joined us for the entire morning - the car ride, the church pew, the baptismal ceremony, the Sunday School classroom, lunch...

Lainey and Ella, discussing the importance of not smiling for the camera.

cute Collin

(Some say that Walker looks like Collin as a baby. I would agree - there are a lot of similarities!)

Kate, Brooke, Cally

Walker and Aunt Ally

(Walker's face and his double chin...totally cute.)

Aunt Tisha and Uncle Greg

Brooke and Big Yiyia

Uncle Chris with Lainey and Ella

Bud and Tuck

(Sorry, Yiyia - I missed getting you in a picture!)

Rev. Don Underwood

the ceremony (our clan is over to the far right)

Rev. Don holding Walker (and there are a couple of other babies getting baptized, too)

heading over towards the baptismal font

laying our hands on Walker as he is baptized

our family

Afterwards, we had everyone over to our house for lunch. We were joined by my cousin Anne and her husband Brian, my grandparents, and James (another great-grandfather). I didn't get any pictures of the luncheon. I was feeling a bit lazy and plus, I was hungry! Again, thanks to everyone who celebrated with us today. We missed you, Emmy!