amelie bouncing

Amelie loves to bounce! She usually just squeals and smiles, but the camera was throwing her off. She wasn't so sure what to think about it.

A Day Trip

Chris and I really wanted to get away this weekend. We first thought Santa Fe, NM. We have never been and always talk about going, but never do. Once again we were all talk. The six hour car drive with both babies did not sound fun to us and we didn't want to spend the money. Then we thought about heading to a further away mountain town for the night, but talked ourselves out of that too. Alas, it was a day trip to the Frisco area. No problem, right?!

Nothing is ever easy anymore. Of course it takes two hours to get out the door. There are kids to feed, bags to pack and a car to load. Minor chaos really! It's basically me nursing and telling Chris don't forget this, don't forget that. Finally, it's out the door. Everyone is loaded, maybe not happy, but in the car. After several minutes the children stop crying and it's peaceful most of the way. About 10 minutes to our destination Amelie starts crying and is hungry...now! Too bad, she has to wait till we get there so we endure the crying. We get out to feed her (which takes forever). Half way through I realize she has pooped and it's everywhere! So, we change her, in the car - of course, which is not that easy, but we managed. Now she is full again and we can start our hike.

It's a beautiful day! Both kids are strapped on. I would like to mention here that I carried the heavy one up the hill and then switched on the way down. Walt gets a little sick of the backpack after awhile. He did run a good portion. He tends to slow us down, not only with his short little legs, but he also needs to pick up sticks and rocks and play in the dirt.

Getting back into the car is always a challenge. Walt has been free and wants to remain carseat free and Amelie wants to be held, which means once again there are crying babies in the backseat. When both kids are crying you just want to get home. I've been giving Chris a hard time lately because he always has to go to the bathroom when we're out, leaving me with both kiddos. Today was no exception. Due to all the fiber one bars Chris has been eating, a stop in Georgetown was necessary. As both kids are crying Chris runs to the bathroom, I end up taking Amelie and the carseat out to calm her down in the parking lot, people looking at me with pity.

We took a lot of pictures today and they turned out great! Check out facebook, I'm sure they will be up soon. The pictures look like we had the perfect little hike and we did. It really was fun, but it's not as fun and easy as it all looks, which is just the way it is right now, hence the video of a crying Walt who didn't want to "ride," but wanted to run! I will say though, that several times today I thought I love my life and I love where I live. So, even with all our minor obstacles it's still worth a day away.

Life with two....

While I was pregnant I was asking everyone who had two children close in age, "How is life with two?" Not to any one's surprise there was an overwhelming response of, "busy." Well, now I know. Life with two is very busy! I have a little boy who is very busy and likes to climb and get into what he can, and I have a newborn who likes to eat all the time! As they may be normal things for them to do at this stage, it makes their mama very busy. Most of the time it's pretty manageable, but there have been some instances, where I have thought this is too crazy, what am I doing!

Amelie is very opinionated and when she wants to eat it's not a little whimper, it's a full out scream. I won't lie to you, this stresses me out a bit. I don't like when she is screaming and I want to "fix it" as soon as possible. I don't think Walt particularly cares for this either. His response is pointing at her and grunting, with a look on face that says, "Why aren't you making her stop." Little does he know that this requires me to stop tending to him. The other day I found myself nursing while making a grilled cheese sandwich and feeding Walt at the same time. This was not easy to do and I don't recommend this. This makes me plan out meal times a little more carefully. Another time I was feeding Amelie (yes, once again) and I heard crying upstairs from Walt who had stuck his little fingers in the fan. I rushed upstairs, set Amelie down, and was comforting Walt while Amelie was screaming next to us. I thought, well, this is life with two!

Those are the stressful times, but I'm loving being home with both right now. Walt is also a very sweet boy who likes to bring me books while I'm nursing. Right, now every animal is a "dog" and when I try to tell him, "No, Walt that's a cat" He looks at me like I don't know what I'm talking about. He also loves balls and carries and throws balls around all day. By far I hear the words "dog" and "ball" about fifty times in one day. I also love that Walt loves to hold my hand while walking. I just love his little hand in mine!

Amelie is not too bad either! I'm definitely not used to a typical newborn, but we are adjusting and getting to know each other. Amelie is doing things too, her gifts currently lie in the areas of eating and she is really good at stretching! Oh, and she is very cute and I enjoy dressing her up.

Well, you may be asking how I have time to write this. My children are currently sleeping, but I hear Amelie. My time is up, not time to proof read. I'm sure Walt will be waking up just as soon as I start feeding her, it's just how it works!

Finally!! Not quite by the time his little sister was born, but close enough!

Walt thinking about walking

My child is almost 15 months and is still thinking about walking. He is not so sure it is a good idea. I think he is just really attached to crawling and has gotten quite speedy at it, so why walk, I guess. This little video is from when he first started using the walker. He loves this thing. He won't use my hands to help him walk, but he will go anywhere with the walker or anything that he can push. I'm pretty sure he could walk on his own, but apparently that is too risky to him. However, it isn't too risky for him to crawl up on the kitchen chair and climb up on the table. Climbing is not a problem, walking is! Doesn't Walt understand his mama wants him to walk before she has two babies to carry? He has until June 15, we'll see what happens!

Walt can't get enough cake!

It turns out that Walt really loves cake. He had the cutest little cake all to himself and after the first bite he was in heaven. He just kept digging in and eating cake. I eventually took the cake away because I worried if he kept eating the cake he would get sick. When I took the cake away he kept eating the peices that were left on his tray. At one time I saw him licking frosting and cake off his tray. It just looked like he was the happiest little boy who thought, Life doesn't get any better than this. My little boy loves sugar, and who can blame him! I can't believe my baby is a little boy. It's amazing how fast they grow up and how they change in a year. I couldn't feel more blessed with such a healthy little guy!

Puppy love

Lately, Walt has been reminding me very much of a puppy. I'm not particularly a dog lover, nor do I think pets are like children, but Walt has had a lot of similarities.
One, is that he follows me around the house. He just crawls right over to whatever room I'm in. I turn around and there he is. It's quite cute and he seems rather pleased to have found me most of the time. Half the time he is whining (or whimpering) to have me pick him up, which I try very hard not to do because that child just does not need to be carried everywhere.
Another comparison is that he gets really excited about treats. A cracker is like a doggy bone. He sits up and kind of bounces on his knees. If he was a puppy I assume his little tail would just be going a mile a minute. He is also getting to the point if I'm eating something he needs a bite and will stand by my legs, begging, until I feed him. Walt also chews on everything. If he can put it in his mouth that is where you will find it. If he can't fit in his mouth he will bend over so that he at least he can suck on whatever it is. His slobber is everywhere! Surprisingly, it doesn't really gross me out. If he were a dog he would probably have to go.
The sweetest thing is that he still curls up on me and if he is really tired he will fall asleep on me. It melts my hearts. I try to hold him like that often and "pet" his back or his legs. I love it - he is the sweetest little puppy! I've always said that I didn't want a puppy because they eventually get big. I don't think I'm going to have this problem with Walt, I'll keep him even when he does get big and big he is getting!

A few more videos

Walts favorite noise to make



getting a bath at Grandmas house

Thanksgiving

I figured I should probably enter my "Thanksgiving" blog before Christmas rolls around, so here it is.

Over Thanksgiving this year Walt took his first long road trip. We thought it would be a good idea to travel during his sleep times, which was good for him, but not so good for us. I feel too old to miss a night of sleep! Overall, Walt did good, he was very happy when he was able to get out of the contrapment that made it oh so difficult for him to move around. He's got a lot to do and a lot to see, he does not have time to be "stuck."

Walt opened his first Christmas presents and it was very cute. He never gets overly excited about new things, but he did really enjoy tearing the paper! Another first for Walt is that he got a tooth! It must not have bothered him too much, because we kind of found it accidentally. Shortly, after he got his second and is sporting two teeth! I got bit last night and it did not feel good! Who would have thought that two little teeth had so much power?

Walt enjoyed being at Grandpa and Grandma Lighthisers and got to meet some of his extended family. He even got to meet his great grandma Hengeveld!

A few things that Walt did not like - Aunt Rachel and Uncle Ted's train that goes around the christmas tree. All the other kids seemed quite excited to watch the train. I sat Walt down with the other kids and the first time the train went around he started crying! He never did really warm up to the train. Maybe, next time! I actually think that is the only thing that he really did not like or that scared him.

Here are some Thanksgiving photos. Walt's first Thanksgiving and you get one guess what his mommy and daddy were thankful for this year?

The new moms of 2009!

Trying to get the boys to all look at the camera at the same time - not possible.

My little Turkey!



Yes, the cutest boy you have ever seen getting a bath in Grandma's sink.

Some pretty boring videos of Walt

This is for people who miss him.

Snow storm

An October snow storm has kept up us cooped up. Walt was getting a little stir crazy so we thought we would take him outside for a bit. He seemed to enjoy his short time out - there was no fussing so I can only assume. Anyone want to come clear our cars? A garage sounds like a really good idea about now.

Our poor bikes - this kills Chris to see them this way.



The Camry





Chris' car under some drifts.

Daddy not sharing....again

Walt likes to get his little hands on anything that he can and thinks his daddy is pretty funny.

Movember

Hi,

I have decided to join a global movement that is bringing much needed attention to cancers that affect men. I’m doing this by growing a Moustache this Movember, the month formerly known as November. My commitment is to grow a moustache all November and I am hoping that you will support my efforts by making a donation. The funds raised go to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LIVESTRONG).What many people don’t know is that 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime and testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men aged 18-35. Facts like these have convinced me I should get involved. I'll post pics on the blog.

To make a donation, you can either:

• Click this link http://us.movember.com/mospace/27391/ and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account , or

• Write a check payable to ‘Movember Foundation’, referencing my Registration Number 27391 and mailing it to: Movember Foundation, PO Box 2726, Venice, CA 90294-2726.All donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. The Prostate Cancer Foundation will use the money raised by Movember to fund research to find better treatments and a cure for prostate cancer. The Lance Armstrong Foundation will use the money raised by Movember to fund:

• The LIVESTRONG Young Adult Alliance program which has the goal of improving survival rates and quality of life for young adults with cancer between the ages of 15 and 40. • Research initiatives to further understand the biology of adolescent and young adult cancers.For more details on how the funds raised from previous campaigns have been used and the impact Movember is having please go to http://us.movemberfoundation.com/research-and-programs.

Thank you

sleep

Walt has decided that he can no longer can sleep through the night. I used to brag about what a great sleeper he was, because he used to sleep most of the night very consistently. I'm not really sure what happened, but it is no longer. I will let you all know that I value sleep.....a lot! I'm not very happy about this new thing that Walt is doing. Fortunately, I have a very helpful husband that doesn't mind that much getting up with him at night. Part of this is because he has a new show he is watching on DVD that I don't watch, so he gets to watch that while he feeds Walt, but he still has his moments. Last week we decided that we were just going to let him cry it out. We were going to be strong and just get it over with. Chris was the strong one and I lasted about 7 minutes. We've (I) decided that he was not ready yet, so we continue with the interrupted sleep.

Sometimes, I like to take Walt into bed with us, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Walt tends to be a bit of bed hog, which I don't really mind, but papa is not a fan. He got kicked in the face the other night and little Walt was sent back to his crib.

Our lack of sleep has reminded me of another one of Chris' crazy ideas. I think it was last summer when Chris decided that he no longer needed 8 hours of sleep. He was going to train himself to only need five hours of sleep a night. You know, for obvious reasons.....??? I don't really think he needed more time during the day to do things, I think he just thought it would be "neat," yeah neat! Anyway, that lasted about a week, I think. I don't know if Walt has us in training right now, but it's not working. We just want to sleep a full night again. This is what we want the little butt in the air, sound asleep!

New Videos

Here are some trial and error videos of Walt sitting up. Motherhood at its best-no one was injured in the making of these films.

Demands

I've been getting demands for more Walt on the blog (all from family). So, I thought I would add a few pictures. Every day Walt seems older and older and is forming into a little boy. Here are a few more pics to appease to the demands. Speaking of demands, ol Walt woke up at midnight and 4 in the morning last night wanting to eat, that never happens. Whats up with that?

Rice Cereal and cuteness

Walt had his six month check up on Friday and got an excellent report. First....big news! Walt is finally on the charts!! He weighs 14 pounds (3rd percentile), 25 inches tall (7th) and his head his 17 inches (24th). That's right, 24th percentile, our baby has a big head. I feel like this might hinder him from sitting up, it's got to weigh a lot. He is going to need a strong neck-that's for sure.

He also gets to start rice cereral. I've been wanting to start him all weekend, but realized we didn't have the little bitty spoons. Chris thought we could use our regular spoons, but I convinced him that would not work (he has a big head, but I'm pretty sure his mouth is normal size). So, we finally got the bitty spoons tonight and tried the cereral. Yuck! I thought I better try it before I gave it Walt, just to see what it is like. It was so gross. I remember reading in one of my baby books when giving your baby new foods you should not make faces at food you don't like and even if you don't like it pretend it is really good so your baby will be excited about it. It was our first food experience and I couldn't help it - I made a gross face, I've failed! I asked Chris to try it, but he wouldn't touch it. None the less, I still tried to talk it up to Walt and it just so happens he does not like it either. We got about three spoonfulls in. He did really well with the spoon. We'll keep trying, maybe he will learn to like it. We captured a few photos and you can tell how much he likes it.

I feel like all the sudden Walt has grown up a ton...probably because he is a whole half year.

Our handsome little boy - doesn't he look old?

Rolling with the homies

Labor Day

Summer is coming to an end. You can't really tell except the mornings are cooler and it starting to get darker earlier. I won't complain and will enjoy the warm weather as long as I can. I feel like it is the end of summer and we are finally doing summer activities. It has been a weird summer for us. We are usually busy and try to be outdoors as often as we can. However, Walt has slowed us a down a bit. There were fewer bike rides and no camping trips, but it is all worth it. We are looking forward to next summer and doing a lot of outdoor firsts with little Walt.

Back to the end of this summer. Walt went into our pool for the first time today. He didn't like Aunt Larissa and Uncle Brian's pool earlier this summer, but it went better today. I wouldn't say he enjoyed it as much as he tolerated it. There were no tears so it must have not been too bad. There was, however, a lot of sunscreen and Walt is not a fan of the rub down.

Chris finally biked a century on Saturday. He went 100 miles on the surly road bike. All I have to say is what a STUD! He was pretty tired on Saturday night, but hasn't complained about being too sore. Really, isn't he manly!

We also attended our first wedding of the summer on Saturday night. Walt went to Sara's house and we got to enjoy a night out! It was very fun. I love wedding dances--Chris not so much even though he does have mad skills without moving his feet.

Well, a new season is upon us. We'll see what fall has in store for us.

Walt walking already!!! (well, not really..........at all)

well, Walt isnt quite the walking prodigy all you suckers who read the title thought he was. But he is a very good stander with assistance. He is getting close to rolling over, he gets on his side and just gets a little stuck, especially when he lies inbetween mommy and daddy and rolls to daddy's side because daddy is a bit of a fatty. sheesh. bye now.