Where did the time go? 18 Months Later...

Day 1

 Andrew hit his 18 month mark on May 25th. It's amazing to me that it has only been a year and a half since we met this amazing baby boy. At the same time, I can say that it feels like time is flying by and just yesterday he was this tiny little baby. I remember his first smile, his first bath, his first time with solid foods like they were all just yesterday. I remember when I realized that I have an extremely happy baby that could spend his entire life laughing and never get tired of it. I also remember when I realized that my very happy baby was going to be extremely independent with a strong personality. We are so blessed to have the child that we do. He is a very good baby. He is lovable, playful, intelligent and has, by far, the cutest round belly that he sticks out when he walks.

6 Months Old

I've never loved anything the way that I love Andrew. It's so pure and unconditional. He is the light of my life. I can honestly say that the decisions I make for my life today revolve around whether I'd be proud for Andrew to know I made that decision and be proud if he made the same decision as an adult. That type of accountability is good to have and it keeps the message to him strong and consistent.
 

1 Year

As I watch him grow and evolve in to the boy and then man that he will be, I am so filled with excitement for the future. That being said, I want to freeze time to stop him from getting so big so fast. He is ready to take on the world and ready to do it on his terms. I am going to have to remain strong and consistent in my lessons and teachings to him because he is a sponge just taking it all in and waiting for his chance to experience it.

18 Months Old - Still Laughing!

I thank God every day for this boy. He changed my life at the core and I can't be more grateful for that. He is my love, my inspiration and the key to this family. He keeps us strong, keeps us working towards a better life and he keeps us focused on what matters most. We are a family.  A family that keeps laughing, keeps learning and keeps wanting to enjoy even the smallest and most sincere moments together. That is the priority.

Mommy and Daddy are very proud to be your parents and we can't wait to see what each new day brings with you in our lives.We love you Andrew Grayson Walker!

Our Anniversary

Jeff and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on May 11th. We had great plans for how we were going to spend our day together. It was going to be a wonderful day where we slowed down a bit and actually celebrated us. I was very much looking forward to our day and then our evening at Steve Fields for a good steak and wine. Andrew, on the other hand, had absolutely no intention of letting this day of love and fun occur. He was sent home on Tuesday from daycare due to being sick and managed to hold on to the funk through Wednesday, the big 5 year anniversary day. Our day of fun was actually spent taking care of him and trying to make him feel better. He slept a lot which tied us to the house, but we made the best of it. We napped, watched tv, relaxed and were still able to spend the day together. So, actually, it was perfect!

By the evening, Andrew was feeling better and Jennifer came over to babysit so that Jeff and I could go to enjoy our big dinner. We started our evening at RA Sushi for an "appetizer/lunch" sushi roll and a happy hour beer. We left there and went over to Steve Fields for our 7:30 reservation. We enjoyed a wonderful bottle of Italian wine, crab cakes, fish, a pork chop and dessert. We had the SAME waiter and table as we did the year before when we went to celebrate our 4 year anniversary. We thought that was pretty ironic.

At the end of our meal, our waitress informed us that our friends David and Sandi had called prior to us getting there and asked them to wish us a Happy Anniversary. They paid for our appetizers and dessert. It was so unexpected and we were so grateful to them for thinking of us on our special day. We are truly blessed to have such great friends in our lives!

All in all, it was the perfect day. Even though it did not go as originally planned, it was still great!

Jeff and I don't get to spend as much time alone together as we used to - whether it is his school demands, my work demands or the Drewster's demands, we are constantly on the go. Often, I get these great reminders of how much we have been through together, how much we love and support each other and how blessed we are as a couple. We have a connection that many couples don't get to experience and I look forward to where our lives are going. No matter what, we are going together.

I love you Jeff! Happy Anniversary!!

The Confetti King

Easter Sunday was fantastic and Andrew had so much fun playing with Granny, Pappy And Uncle Matt that he may not have even noticed the Easter Bunny's surprises without some set-up from us. While they went on a walk, Jeff and I set up his hunt for eggs and his basket from the Easter Bunny at the front door so that he could not miss it on his way back inside.

Granny and Andrew walking to the park.

Andrew attacking and taking down Uncle Matt

Back from the park to find that the Easter Bunny has left a surprise!

Realizing he is surrounded by eggs and has a lot to do.

Not wanting much to do with Mommy right now - he was way too busy.

Once we got back inside, Andrew wanted to open all the eggs and get all the candy out of them. He does not really eat the candy, but seems to enjoy throwing it around. It was then that I realized I made a huge mistake with some of the eggs. You see, Aunt Jennifer had brought Andrew an amazing personalized Easter Basket and Backpack full of goodies the day before. Part of those goodies included Confetti Eggs (the kind we used to make in elementary school that was an egg shell full of confetti with a piece of paper taped over the top). Well, in an effort to make the yard full of eggs, the 'Easter Bunny' used those eggs too and so they ended up in the "open-to-empty" pile. Here is what ended up happening...

This was early in the process - it is already in his hair.

He is having a great time.

It has started to spread all around him.

The emptying of the confetti - in action.

I'm still sweeping up confetti and found it in his hair hours later. But, I can say that he had a wonderful Easter weekend and has a new found love for Egg Hunts and Confetti.

Crawfish Boil

A few weeks ago we were invited to a crawfish boil and it made me remember how much I love crawfish boils and how much I've missed having them. So, I decided to do some research and figure out if it was feasible to have a small Crawfish Boil on Saturday while my family was in town. Kroger has been running a special for Live Louisiana Crawfish. They were only $1.45 a pound - that's amazing prices for Texas and pretty darn good prices for Louisiana too. So, I jumped on the deal and reserved our crawfish immediately.

My parents and brother arrived on Friday and we spent a low-key evening at home catching up and relaxing. Saturday morning, Jeff and Matt went on a bike ride while Mom, Dad, Andrew and I went to Kroger to pick up the live Crawfish for our boil later that afternoon.

By about 1pm, we had a house full of family and close friends enjoying Boiled Crawfish, Lemonade, ping-pong and pool time. 

Dad and Matt Handling The Boiling

Round 1 - YUM!

Full Table Of Head Suckers and Tail Pinchers

After everyone ate, the ping pong and pool time began. Andrew got in to the pool with Aunt Jennifer and spent hours playing on the first step of the pool. He had a blast and fell asleep within an hour of getting out.

Andrew played on the first step for 2 hours - throwing the ball over and over.

Matt and his new puppy, Sheperd, had a great time too!

All in all, it was an awesome day. We ended the night playing poker for pretend money and we were in bed by 11pm. A great time with a great group of people. We are so blessed to have such amazing friends and family willing to spend part of their Easter weekend with us.

Eggs And Our Nut

We decided this year that we were going to try an Easter Egg Hunt with Andrew. He had a trial-run of the hunt concept at daycare and we were anxious to see how it was going to go. My parents came in to town on Friday around noon and waited "not-so-patiently" for us to leave for Andrew's daycare Easter Party at 3pm.

We arrived and within minutes were being escorted outside to the Egg Hunt location. Now, to clarify, these are babies - hiding an egg from them will get you nowhere. So, it's really more of an Easter Egg Dump than Hunt.

Easter Eggs "hidden" at Andrew's School 

We get outside and introduce the concept of picking up eggs and putting them in the bag and that was all it took. Andrew was off and on a mission. He was running around the other kids as he raced to grab eggs and put them in his bag. He had an almost full bag of eggs while the other kids just had a few. Then he realized the eggs actually had something in them. At that point, he dumped all of his eggs out and started emptying each egg one by one. He was getting some help from a few of the other kids as well. Here are a few pics of his first time at an Easter Egg Dump.

Mom introducing the concept of putting the egg in to the bag.

He has got it now - most of the eggs that are behind him end up in his bag.

More Mature Or More Boring?

Here is the deal - I pride myself on organized chaos. I realize it may be a strange thing to find joy and contentment from, but I do and I don't apologize for it....most days.

I'm a fan of planned discipline and writing a "to do" list is the only way I can make it through my day. I'm one of those people that goes back to my 'to do' list to write down and cross off something that I accomplished that was not previously listed. I'm anal about my lists. I walk around with a notebook practically attached to me. I save all notebooks which means I have to-do lists from 10 years ago still accessible. Not that I spend time going through them...but you never know when you may need some older information. 

This is so true.

That being said - I tend to fight structure. The thought of doing the same thing day in and day out would make me lose my mind. Eating the same thing for breakfast each and every day of life would drive me nuts by day 4. I need to feel like my life has some spice and spontaneity in it - even if it is as small as choosing my meal.

But - lately, things have been getting away from me. Don't get me wrong, I am the energizer bunny and am constantly on the go. I don't really watch tv, I don't like talking on the phone and the joy others find in 'surfing the internet' is extremely baffling to me. I have a bit of trouble with the notion of 'doing nothing' and can honestly say I've not felt 'bored' since I was in college.

Often I look around and wonder how other people get it all done. Is it a facade? I know that I want other people to think I've got it all together. I assume they have fooled me as well. Those that know me well enough to have peeled back the onion know that my 'togetherness' is more of a house of cards than anything well executed. I'm not sure how you are supposed to find the time to effectively run a business, be a mom, be a wife, be a daughter, cook meals, do laundry, clean the house, pay bills, plan for the future, play tennis, play volleyball, exercise, visit friends, go to church, drink wine, write this blog and actually get some sleep.

For those of you who read the list above and immediately say I should give up the tennis, volleyball, wine, friends or blogging - you need to get to know me a bit better. That won't happen. I am a firm, firm, firm believer in life-balance and the importance of activity, sports, creativity and a nice glass of wine. 

So, after a few conversations with friends and some surveying others on how to get it all done, I'm afraid I've had to abandon some of my "organized chaos" for "organized structure" - kill me. I've recently abandoned some of my spontaneity in life's little decisions in the hopes that it will free up enough time to allow for larger areas of spontaneity (weekend trips, last minute get-togethers, extended trips to the park, etc...).

A few of the 'new things' I have incorporated:
1. All Laundry now gets done on Sunday vs. throughout the week with piles of clean clothes to be folded. 
2. Weekly Meal Planning occurs every Thursday night for the week starting on Sunday.
3. Grocery Day is now Friday mornings. Good sales and zero crowds.
4. Dinner is now served promptly at 6pm to impress the importance of Family Dinner on Andrew.


Welcome to the more grown-up version of me. I've been dragged kicking and screaming in to this part of life and I've been told that 'once you get used to it, things get much easier to manage'. So, this is me getting used to it...I think I'm going to need a glass of wine.

Your Chariot Awaits...

Andrew's daycare facility is extremely close to our house so on nice days we will walk to pick him up. Normally, it is just Jeff and I who take the walk down to the daycare, but today we decided to take Cooper with us. Since Oscar is so old, we usually leave him home when we go on walks. He has arthritis and several joint issues and the walks are not something he is very interested in anymore. BUT - today was different. When Jeff got Cooper's leash, Oscar (who is deaf and mostly blind) got extremely excited to join us on our walk today. We hemmed and hawed about it for a minute and then decided...what the heck, let's bring him.

Our average walk is pretty quick and we are there to pick Andrew up within a few minutes. Today was a bit different. Since Oscar had not been out on a walk in a while, he was strolling along at his own pace and had to stop 3 different times to empty his bladder and do his "business". This was all before we even made it to the end of the street. By the end of the street, he was pooped. We knew he was not going to be able to make it all the way - so my genius husband fixed the problem!

Notice in the stroller.

Andrew was a-ok with letting Oscar ride in his place.

Oscar loved it!