Alright, alright!!

Give a girl a break -- this mommy thing is time-consuming!  To reward your patience, I've posted a whole Easter album at left.  Go nuts, you baby junkies!

Futures So Bright . . .

In a strange turn of events, both Collier and Walt received Easter buckets this morning.  In anticipation of their trip to the beach this summer, Gram and Grandaddy filled them with beach-themed paraphranalia.  They both got some beach toys, sunscreen, swim trunks and, of course, sunglasses.

In an unrelated event, Evie and Puppy finally wore each other out yesterday at about 3PM.  Ironically, they were at Aunt Puppy's at the time.

DQ

A trip to Murray in March would not be complete without a trip (or four) to the Dairy Queen.  Although the puppies did not go, they were able to enjoy some take home ice cream.    That picture also represents the last time that they were both still for more than .7 milliseconds.  Check back later for some pictures of humans.  And possibly some pics of us administering puppy tranquilizers.

The Dutch Have Landed!

It's a very exciting day for Walt -- he has just met his first real, live Dutch people!   Harriet, Richard and Puppy arrived a few hours ago and we've already fed them some Central BBQ.  Evie and Puppy are having quite a time too -- it'll be amazing if the house is still standing in the morning.  Here's a shot of them before Puppy got her post-flight bath.  (Evie had her bath last night, but she thought she'd make Puppy feel better about having to get one.)

Guts and Nuts

OK.  It's my first post in a while, and I'm short on titles.  'Guts' because . . . well . . . isn't it obvious?  And 'Nuts' because I'm nuts for this little guy.  Isn't he the cutest, fattest baby ever?  I got to feed him tonight, and then we admired his gigantic belly.  Of course, anytime we get a pose that could be remotely embarrassing in a few years, we take a picture.  With the second photo, we will be able to remind him that he could do this with his feet.  I certainly can't do it, and Ginger can but won't let me take a picture of it. 

PS-Walt has sworn off naps.  He came to visit me at work today with the hope that the trip to the office would put him to sleep.  It didn't, but a few minutes listening to the attorneys in the office sure did.  He woke up on the way home.

Must-See TV

So many toys to play with, but what captures Walt's attention?  The TV behind him.  Scary. 

New Toy

Our friend (and financial planner) Chris Myers surprised us with some gifts for Walt the other day, one of which was a playmat with hanging toys, much like his Gymini, but with more colors.  We were very glad to receive it because Walt is such a fan, that it's nice to have one for both the living room and his room.  You'll notice that one particular hanging toy on the new gym quickly became Walt's favorite . . . you guessed it, the mirror.  I think we have a problem.

Last night, Walt had his first experience with non-grandparent babysitters.  Our dear friends Chris and Kate Lareau, along with Chris' sister and her friend, came over and watched Walt while Josh and I went to a party for Beth and Landon.  Everyone seemed to come away unscathed.  Hopefully Chris and Kate were not scared off from parenthood by Walt's evening fussy spell because they're expecting a little one in September!

Parenting Techniques

Okay, so I've pretty much read all of the parenting books ever published by now (I picked up the obsessive researching gene from my father), and I have yet to read the tip that says, "When you come in from running errands and your little angel is sleeping peacefully in his car sear, it is okay to just leave him sitting there by the front door, fully dressed for outdoors, most likely sitting in a dirty diaper, until he wakes up."  Is there a reason I've never read this?  Am I just a bad parent?  Because it kind of seems like a no-brainer to me.  We got home over an hour and a half ago, and I'm just now starting to hear the early signs of waking up.  I've gotten to pay bills, fold laundry, return emails, etc.  Walt is not usually a very good napper during the day, so I take what I can get, you know?

Happy Two-Month B'day!

Yup, little Walt is two months old today (check out his new b'day pic in the album at left)!  Unfortunately, he got to celebrate by going to the doctor to get his shots.  He was not a fan.  Nor were mommy and daddy.  We did find out, though, that our baby boy is pushing 13 pounds -- 75th percentile for weight! 

As a reward for being so good at the doctor, we went afterwards and got him some new toys for his Gymini.  He has really started having fun with the Gymini -- especially the toy that has a mirror on the bottom of it.  We're a little afraid that he's becoming vain because he stares at it and smiles for longer than we think is healthy.  (But he is cute, so it's hard to blame him.)

Walt and Mommy Hit the Road

Sorry the long break from posting, but Walt and I were off traveling this weekend.  (Josh was running the Germantown half marathon on Sunday, so he and Evie stayed home.)  We left on Friday morning and drove to Nana and Putty's house in Nashville.  Nana and Walt spent some quality time together while I went to the Frist Center to see the exhibit of American folk art . . . very nice.  We spent the night there and then got up on Saturday morning and drove up to Glasgow so Walt could meet his Crouch family, notably Great Granny Crouch!  Check out the new photo album at left (Trip to Glasgow) for pics from the weekend.  We left on Sunday after lunch and headed back to Nashville where we spent the night again with Nana and Putty.  After a brief shopping trip for Mommy while Nana and Putty babysat Walt, we drove back to Memphis this afternoon.  Walt is really a very good traveler -- he just sleeps! 

Baby Pictures!

Okay, to reward you for your patience, we're posting three pictures!

Walt waking up from his THREE hour nap.  (Guess he decided to get all his naps in at once today.)

Hanging out with Dad on the couch.

He's liking bathtime much better these days.  (Check out that tummy!!)

Sorry, No Baby Picture

While I know that the vast majority of the visitors to Walt's World log on solely for cute pictures of the kid and not for our musings, please bear with me for a moment.  I dare not risk waking him just to take a picture, but felt I needed to check in just so you don't think we went and sent poor Walt off to military school.  I know that I vowed the other day not to write another word about how well he was sleeping, but I said nothing about not writing about his lack of sleep.   Not so much at night, but over the past few days, Walt has decided that daytime naps are for babies (I keep trying to remind him that he, in fact, is a baby, but he will hear nothing of it).  It probably doesn't help that they are repaving our street with equipment that is approximately the size of our house, and makes so much noise that the windows sometimes rattle.  However, he has slept through that for the past (blessed) hour and a half, so I know that it can be done.  I can only assume that all those other times he's not sleeping it's just because he enjoys my company so much and cannot bear the thought of missing out on all the exciting things I must be doing.  You know . . . folding laundry, writing thank you notes, balancing my checkbook . . . fantasticly entertaining things like that.  The sleep book (which I read and reread searching for secret tips on making babies sleep that I must have missed the first fourteen times I read it) does indeed say that this is the age when babies start to really become aware of people outside of themselves and will fight sleep to make sure they don't miss anything.  Somehow, knowing that his behavior is fairly normal does not make it much easier to handle.  Mommy just wants a nap.

Thank you for listening.  I promise I will try to take a picture later tonight and post it so you can all get your fix, you baby addicts.  In the meantime, here's one of Evie, our formerly spoiled and currently depressed puppy.

Big Boy

Less than eight weeks ago, Walt looked like this . . .

And now look at our big boy!

It's hard to believe how much he's changed in such a short period of time.  I'm sure I'm the first parent in history to have that thought, right? 

Fun in the Sun

It's been quite beautiful in Memphis over the past few days, so Walt decided to spend a little time outdoors.  First, he helped Dad clean out the gutters and clean up the yard.  (He's supervising.)  Then . . .

. . . he took Mom and Dad to lunch at Blue Coast Burrito where he showed off his new pirate kicks (there are little pirate ships on the side of the shoes -- AARRGGHH!!!).

After church today, while Mom went to a shower for Beth in Jonesboro, he and Dad took Evie for a walk in the park and then came home and hung out in the hammock for a while.  A trip to Huey's for some cheeseburgers and acoustic blues music topped off the day.  All in all, a lovely weekend.

Look What I Can Do!

Walt's smiles are still rare, but he did seem to be pretty amused with his ability to make the toys hanging from his Gymini move.  Walt and I took a trip downtown to have lunch with Daddy at Calvary's Waffle Shop today.  Walt didn't partake of any fish pudding himself, but I'm sure he enjoyed mine (second-hand) later on.  While we were downtown, Josh wanted to take him over to 201 Poplar (the courthouse, for you non-Memphians) to show him off to some friends.  We met a number of dignitaries, all of whom admonished us to get him out of 201 as quickly as possible before Walt was influenced to turn to a life a crime (or become a lawyer).

While I'm on here, I'm going to go ahead and make a solemn vow to never, EVER again brag on my child's sleeping habits in print.  Walt followed up his admirable sleeping performance day before yesterday by taking naps no longer than 35 minutes all day yesterday and then screaming bloody murder for two hours before finally wearing himself out sometime after midnight last night.  All I can say is that I'm just glad he hasn't been doing that screaming thing since he was born because I'm not sure either of us are mentally equipped to deal with that.  As it was, we were researching military schools that accept 7-week olds about 11 o'clock last night!  (But today he's kind of cute again, so I guess we'll put that off a while.)

Chillin'

Caught Walt in this laid back pose a few days ago.  He's been quite the little sleeper lately.  Our friend Patty gave Walt a "SwaddleMe" blanket over the weekend, but we like to call it the "Magic Blanket" because he sleeps so much longer in it than out of it.  The first night we used it, he slept for eight hours straight!  It hasn't been quite so magical since, but we're still getting much longer stretches of sleep now.  A good six and a half hours last night, follwed by another four after a 4:30 feeding.  He's currently waking up from a three and a half hour nap (not even swaddled).  We are definitely liking this new trend!

Check out the new album of pictures (at left)  from Walt's Party on Sunday.  It was a rockin' good time!

The Littlest Fan

Walt had another big first today . . . his first Grizzlies game!!  Some friends generously shared their tickets for the 1:00 game against Golden State this afternoon, and Walt got to have his very first NBA experience.  He slept through most of the first quarter in the Baby Bjorn on Daddy's chest.  During the second half, however, he was alert and keeping a close eye on the group of school kids sitting behind us.  Fortunately, the Grizz pulled out a win thanks to a shot by the Warriors that fell short at the buzzer.  Walt was very relieved!

Stay tuned for pictures from Walt's "Welcome to the World" party on Sunday . . .