Check the 'tude dude...

Our sweet baby boy has figured out how he can get his way and is actually manipulating the system. My child has found a loop hole. But, we are on to him - and trying to outsmart him. We figure that since he is only 8 months old, we have a small head start, but we are not overly confident that we will win (have you met my dogs???).

So, here is the deal...my child has learned and almost perfected the "fake cry". He uses it carefully and wisely. He seems to throw it at you when you least expect it and now that we are on to him, he is just plain pissed off. So, my sweet kiddo has some attitude these days that makes me want to carry him around upside down for a while so he can see what a rough life might really be like. I know it sounds bad, but I actually asked Jeff the other day if it was bad that my child was really annoying me. His temper tantrum type behavior sure seems early. We are going to have to put a stop to this pretty quickly if we are wanting to have any more babies running around this casa.

Other than that, he is still full of smiles, giggles and full blown curious-crawling adventures. Our dogs run from him and we run after him. Keeping us on our toes!

And we're off!

Watch out world, Andrew is crawling. He has been flirting with the idea of crawling now for a few weeks, but yesterday was the day that he finally figured it out and forward motion has been achieved. He is not a terror on the knees yet, but he has definitely got a cute little pace going. He was officially 7 months and 3 weeks old when he figured it out. I am very proud of him and am well aware of the newest "to do" item that has jumped to the top of our list - baby proof this house. Andrew is an absolute joy and a big ball of happiness and at the core of that big ball of happiness is an independent, curious and slightly stubborn kiddo. I'm hoping we can be one step ahead of him as he explores this world with his new wheels.

Looking back on 33

Today is my birthday and I am officially 34 years old. Not any type of major milestone to get very excited about other than a wonderful excuse to eat as much junk food as I want and not feel even a little bit bad about it. As far as today is going, I may just forget the birthday all together. I spilled very hot coffee all over my shorts/legs while driving home from the donut place (my annual birthday breakfast) where I was informed that they were out of regular donuts...really, does that happen? I had to eat my birthday breakfast at home because the previous AC problem that we thought we had fixed has come back with a mean vengeance. Last night I returned home from dinner and I walked in to a sauna. So for the second time in 3 weeks, everything (the word "everything" has a new meaning now that we have a child) was packed up and brought over to Laura's to spend the night. This latest fix is not nearly as nice on the pocket book as the first "fix" and even though we told the nice man it was my birthday, he still gave us a bill for over $500. UGG. Jeff reminded me that it could have been much worse, so I am thankful that it was not much more than that. However, I say this as I'm still sitting in a house with no AC - so an update may follow.

On to the good stuff ... As I move in to the next year of my life, I spent some time today looking back over the last year. Needless to say, 33 was an absolutely fantastic year for me. I got to meet my wonderful baby boy and spend some of the most amazing time with him. As a result of having him, my parents (and even my brother) are here more often and we spend some great time with them and Jeff's family too. Having Andrew was the best and most successful accomplishment of my life. Few things can compare to that type of life-changing event.

So, even though I welcome 34 in a sweaty, no-ac kind of way, I'm still happy with my life. I'm overwhelmed, super stressed and have very little time on my hands, but I have a very happy baby, a great family, outstanding friends, a wonderful career, I'm healthy and I have the smartest husband/super student in the whole world. Life is good and I welcome 34 and the fun things it has to offer.

The quality of this picture is pretty bad, but it's the most recent of my little man and me.

First Photo Session

I took Andrew to meet with a photographer back in May and the pics came in today. This photo session was part of a "themed session" that she does each month. This session was called Grease Monkey and it was in a big shop and he was surrounded with tools and fake grease (chocolate syrup) and big tires. It was a long drive to get there and he was still sleepy for almost the entire shoot. There are some cute pics that she got - they are below.

Church and McDonald's

Jeff and I brought Andrew to church-daycare for the first time this morning. In the past, we have brought him in to the service with us or sat in the cry-room of the church instead of dropping him off at the daycare that is provided. It's been one of those areas of letting go that I'm finally totally comfortable with. Not to mention, the last time I brought him in to the service with me, he got so mad and screamed as loud as I've ever heard a child scream. I quickly exited the service holding him in my arms as he let out another scream as though I was pinching him. At that point, I was in the hallway of the church and knew that since I could still hear the sermon, they could definitely still hear my child. So, I took off running in high heels holding this kid and darting as fast as I could for the exits. I finally got him outside when Jeff came running out too saying how people were staring and laughing - it was traumatic for the entire family . We did not go to church for a few months after that.

After our very successful day of church and church day-care, we decided that a trip to McDonald's was exactly what we needed. Originally we decided that a trip to Breadwinner's was what we needed but a big crowd and a sleepy baby brought us to our senses. So, we hit the closest McDonald's and decided today was the day we would try out the indoor play area of MickeyDees. Not that Andrew could play on the toys, but we knew he would enjoy watching the other kids playing and running around. So, Jeff and I put in our pretend earplugs and enjoyed breakfast surrounded by kids running and screaming all around us. Andrew really did get mesmerized by the whole thing - so it was worth it. We even got a few pictures of our big guy playing with a few things designed for the younger children...

Today was a great day for the Walker family. McDonald's, church and family time - Yay for Sundays!

Crawling and Teeth

Andrew has his first two teeth coming in. For a while he would not let us see them. Anytime we tried to pull his lip down, he would stick his tongue out and maneuvering around it was not going to happen without a struggle. Here is what they look like today.

They don't seem to bother him anymore and we have not seen any new ones sprouting yet so things are great around here. No bad moods, no fussy-ness other than being spoiled rotten by all the grandparents and readjusting to life with mommy and daddy not giving in to every little thing he demands. Who are we kidding, this kid has all of us wrapped around his finger. Hard not to be with the constant smiles and giggles. 

He is almost crawling now. He can get around just fine, except it's all backwards. He will move his way around the room in a backwards motion but I'm thinking that will turn in to full blown forward crawling within the next few weeks. It's going to be a completely different life at that point. One that I'm not trying to rush in to. Everyone seems to want him to crawl and I am perfectly content with my baby boy still being snuggled in my arms and staying just the way he is. It's all happening so fast - I miss each stage as it goes away and love each stage that he enters. I think that's just part of life. 

 

Bad Things In Threes And Money On Trees

Sunday night while we were sleeping, I started to dream about walking through a desert and thinking I may not make it through. I was so hot and was shedding clothes and looking everywhere for water. When I woke up, I realized that our Air Conditioner had stopped working. After picturing dollar signs flying out my window at the thought of having to repair my AC in the middle of June, I tried to imagine sleeping multiple nights in our home as we waited for the repairs to be complete. Our neighbors just recently had to replace their entire system and with the age of our home, it was likely that we were going to have to do the same. Needless to say, the rest of my night was not very peaceful.

It's funny to me how the saying "when it rains, it pours" and "bad things happen in threes" is so true. A few years ago our Hot Water heater burst and flooded our downstairs floors, the day after that a spring popped on our Garage door and required a full replacement and three days later some furniture delivery men broke spindles on our staircase and rammed a dresser through my wall. Now that set of three was worse than my current set of three. Out of the blue the other day, our refrigerator quit providing drinking water, our guest bathroom sink took over the job of the fridge and started giving water freely to the entire cabinet and ruining everything that was in it and on Sunday, the AC got fed up and quit.

My only response to things like this is to nervously laugh and pray that I don't have a breakdown in front of lots of people and be carted off to the loony bin. When I think that it is not possible for my shoulders to tense up any higher than my ears, these kinds of things happen and I end up walking around with a crick in my neck from the anxiety of not knowing the trick to growing money on trees. But, things have a way of just working out for us. I have numerous examples in our lives where our faith and blind hopefulness manages to get us to the other side of bad situations without much wear and tear.

I write this blog in a home that is cool and a pocket book that did not lose too much weight from fixing the problem, so that is one down. I bought a Brita water filter system to get us through the time with no Fridge water and the leaking sink will be fixed this weekend without the need for a plumber. Not too bad! Not all fixed, but completely acceptable work-arounds while the Walker family pinches pennies during Jeff's going back to school efforts.

Other than that, all is well here and we are doing great. No crawling yet, so things have not changed too much. Whew!