Ballet Girls

Bath Time Superheroes

Being the former swimmer that I am, I want both of my kids to be relatively comfortable with the water and all of the "stuff" that goes along with swimming. At the moment, we have a kickboard in the garage that is occasionally used as an on-land "surfboard" and we've had several pairs of goggles living in the bathtub for quite awhile. And every once in a while, Goggle Girl makes an appearance.

Goggle Girl and her muscles

(Side note: I have to participate with Lainey in this activity. We are both Goggle Girls! I know you're jealous. Walker is Goggle Boy. But he doesn't wear his goggles. He just pretends and tries to put them on his head but doesn't actually succeed in doing so.)

I kept telling her that as Goggle Girls, we "won't be defeated!" She couldn't say the word "defeated." So she kept saying we "won't be feeded!"

"We beat the power of yucky!"

(This idea came from a Backyardigans episode on TV.)

I love my Goggle Girl. I will be her sidekick anytime. :)

Walker's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Walker's first birthday this afternoon!

delicious cupcakes, made by my friend Jessica

'Tis the season for Girl Scout Cookies...

Ben created a slideshow of pictures from Walker's first year of life. We enjoyed watching it, and I even got a little emotional.

Walker and Lainey's second cousin, Thomas

Adorable.

A bit of sass? I think so.

the birthday boy, just up from his nap

"Can I play with this balloon? Please?"

Big Mommy mistakes of the afternoon:

1) giant mylar balloon, affixed to the back of Walker's chair, came precariously close to the flame on the candle

2) the placemat, upon which the cupcake and said candle were perched, was apparently placed too close to the birthday boy

an eager big sister

blowing out Walker's candle

taking a tentative bite...

Not a huge fan of his cupcake...notice how clean he is!

big Tom (Tuck) holding little Tom

Yay for beautiful weather...!

Great-Grandmother and Great-Grandfather, watching the kids

Collin was so sweet to play soccer with Lainey. She wanted him to kick the ball back and forth with her. :)

Cally

He's so excited to have the playhouse all to himself.

Ella and Lainey

sweet Kate with Walker

practicing walking

Lainey comforted a sad Ella who didn't want to leave the party.

The conversation went something like this:

Lainey: "Ella, it's time for you to go home. Your mommy said it's time to go. It be okay, Ella. You be a good listener. You listen to your mommy or you might get a pop.

Cally and your mommy go home with you."

Ella: "I don't want to go home."

Lainey: "It be okay, Ella."

These two crack me up. Ella did eventually go home with her mom and sister. :)

Televised City Council Meeting

We were able to catch a portion of the Plano City Council meeting this evening on TV. How lucky that we tuned in just in time to see Daddy! Lainey was so excited. :)

"That's my daddy!"

giving Daddy a hug...

Walker is ONE!

Happy Birthday, Walker!

Likes:

• playing "Where's Walker?" in Lainey's tent
• using his right hand - he's right-side dominant
• using his right foot and right side to lead when walking
• being held and cuddled after he awakens
• any opportunity to explore the dishwasher, pantry, refrigerator, staircase, or Reagan's food and water (which is located on a small landing on the stairs)
• rearranging chairs (by pushing them around)
• putting his favorite things together - he once put a ball, a used paper towel roll, a spoon, and a box of Crystal Light flavor packets into his red fire truck and pushed it around, happy as can be
• trying to stack items on top of each other or put them in new spots, like when he puts a jar of diced apples on top of the spices in the pantry or when he reaches across his tray to put pieces of his food or his drink on the table
• being outside...he would love to just be outside at all times
• certain books, particularly ones with textures that he can feel
• the book Peekaboo Farm by Susan Hood - it has a mirror on the last page and he gets SO excited to see himself
• blueberries, graham crackers, yogurt, apples, grapes, ground meat, edamame
• throwing clothes/toys/things through the balusters and watching them 1) tumble down the staircase or 2) fall directly on to the hardwood floors below him (all depending on the point from which he launches his throw)
• bonking any hard surface (or a person's head) with his toys
• dirt/rocks/sand
• anything that he can wrap his little hand around and carry with him: bubble wand, thermometer from the toy doctor's kit, a stick, a marker, a plastic golf club, a wand, a sock, a pair of jammie pants, a shirt, etc. He will hold whatever it is in his right hand and crawl around with it forever. Well, until Lainey yanks it out of his hands. :)
• the park (particularly the slides and the big plastic tunnels that he can crawl inside)
• swinging
• throwing food on the floor for Reagan to eat
• all animals - especially dogs
• birds (but they are just so darn hard to catch!)

Accomplishments:

• pointing
• throwing/tossing/rolling a ball (with as much aim and skill as a one-year-old can have)
• can point to Gus (the deer mount) when we ask him, "Where's Gus?"
• can point to fans when we ask him, "Where's the fan?"
• has taken four steps (that's his record)
• has a new birthmark on his left shin
• is getting better and better with eating and with using his sippy cup
• can shake his head back and forth, but I don't think he knows that it means "no" - he just kinda does it randomly
• can show us a number one when we ask him, "Are you one?"

Dislikes:

• Cheerios
• certain books, especially if he's tired of them or just not interested in the pictures...he'll close the book and reach over the side of the rocking chair and grunt and point to the book that he does want
• stickers...he has no idea what to do with them
• being awakened

Stats:

• Weight: 20 pounds, 6.2 ounces (10th-25th percentile)
• Height: 29-3/4 inches (25th-50th percentile)
• Head: 43 cm (95th percentile...the boy has some brains!)

This is the face that Walker makes when we ask him to say anything - I think he's trying to imitate the shapes of our mouths. :) He usually says "bababa" when making this face.

Sweet Walker, I can't believe you are a year old. I can remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. While lying in my hospital bed, waiting to meet you, I passed the time reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett (and then cried when I finished it), got absorbed in the Today Show's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics, and then had a few laughs while watching The Cosby Show. My nurse Caroline (who also happened to be my nurse when Lainey was born) kept coming in to check on me periodically. Your dad, hanging out in the chair by the window, was constantly making me laugh with his silly comments and questions. Finally, around 2:30 p.m., I was told that I was making progress!! Of course I had no idea because I had been given a beautiful epidural. You arrived at 3:45 p.m., a little quiet, and with a true knot in your umbilical cord. Blessedly, you were just fine. A perfect baby boy. However, you've had a bit of a bumpy year. I think you've had a total of 6 ear infections, 2 sets of ear tubes, 2 intussusceptions, a random spider bite, goopy eyes (because of blocked tear ducts, with one eye being worse than the other), several sinus infections, a few colds/sore throats/coughs, and 2 stomach bugs. Oh, and reflux. We've just recently started you on Zantac to treat "real" reflux, as opposed to the kind of reflux that babies get. This medicine has helped control your vomit-burps (a technical term that we invented in our house) and so for now, we'll keep giving it to you. :) I hope that your second year is one filled with less sickness, but I'm not holding my breath. You'll start "school" in September and I'm sure you'll bring home with you a bunch of germy surprises. Despite being sick for about 75% of your first year of life, you have proved to us that you are a resilient, cuddly, sweet, "live in the moment" type of guy. You are the sweetest thing and you have the brightest smile. You are our little angel, our Bubby, our sweet Walkie-doo. We love you. Even though you don't sleep through the night. We love you for the person you are and the person you will become. Happy first birthday, Walker!

not a fan of his Band-Aids (probably because he doesn't like stickers)

"Eeh. Eeh. Eeh." (Fuss. Fuss. Fuss.)

****

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.

~Elizabeth Stone

(I find this statement to be 100% true!)

Superman!

You can't quite see Walker's Superman t-shirt in this picture, but that's what he's wearing. He is one darling Superman. I think we'll keep him. :)

Golfing...

can really wear a baby out. We are so thankful for this gorgeous day!

Lainey's First Ballet Class

Lainey started ballet today! The class, called "Budding Ballerinas," actually started at the end of January but Lainey was sick for the first class and then the second class was canceled due to the ice/snow that we experienced last week. So today was our first class! The little ballerinas are so cute - sometimes focused, sometimes not, sometimes listening, sometimes not...but all of them are happy to be there and happy to dance for Miss Cori, their teacher.

dancing and twirling for Miss Cori

cute

For the most part, these two were stuck together like glue throughout the entire class.

Thanks to Ms. Kelley for helping Lainey so I could try to keep an eye on Walker (and take pictures, of course, haha).

on the move

Walker was obsessed with this little girl's crayons. We'd put him on the far side of the room and he would crawl like a madman towards the crayons. It was at this point that this little girl decided to relocate. Smart move on her part.

They are clinging to each other - so sweet!

watching Miss Cori do the "fairy walk"

the girls doing their own "fairy walk"

dancing with scarves

Apparently, Lainey's skirt was falling down. This is what she looked like after she pulled it up. Lainey would say that this is how "Yiyia does" Lainey's pants. Yiyia likes to pull Lainey's pants up really high and Lainey likes to yank them down so that the waistline hits just below her belly button. :) I think Yiyia would be laughing at the placement of Lainey's skirt in this picture!