Caught One!

Walt has been smiling a lot for the past month and a half or so, but every single time I break out the camera, he becomes Stoic Baby.  But today he finally got caught.  Here is the result: a smiling, very round-headed baby.

He's also taken to having conversations with the ceiling fan in our room.  Today, we were able to capture his babble on Daddy's newest gadget, a digital audio player and recorder.  So, in a Walt's World first (and possibly last) we offer you, the Walt-o-phile, the opportunity to download your very own Walt .wav file.  If you don't know what a .wav file is, read the next paragraph.  If you do, enjoy.  (You may want to turn your volume up before you listen; it's pretty soft.)

Download walt_talk_1.WAV

Depending on the settings in various programs, it may be as simple as clicking on the link.  If that doesn't work, you may wish to right-click on the link and choose "Save target as."  Then select a desination for the file (it's usually best just to choose your Desktop).  Once it downloads (it shouldn't take very long; it's a small file), just go to the location to which you saved it, and double-click it.  Your default media player should take over from there.  If you have problems, please contact our technical support department.  Its hours, much like those of Dell, Gateway and any company from which I've ever bought a computer, are from 10:36AM to 11:29AM Tuesday, Friday and every fifth Sunday.  Also, you may experience heavy call volume during those hours.

(Yet Another) Road Trip

Well, Walt hit the road again this weekend . . . this time to Lexington for the races at Keeneland.  However, he didn't actually get to see any of them because it was approximately 42 degrees and raining . . . not exactly great weather for being outside when you're a baby (or a mommy, for that matter).  We took turns keeping the babies (Cousin Collier was there too) inside, and fortunately there were enough willing arms that everyone got to enjoy a few races!  But best of all, Walt got to see some of his favorite people, like Gram (in the picture above) and Grandaddy . . .

. . . he got to meet his great, great Aunt Jane . . .

and he also got to see Aunt Gigi and Nana (and Putty, of course!) in Nashville on the way to and from Lexington.  So the trip was a success despite the nasty weather!

Lizard Baby

So, lately Walt has been doing a great lizard impression -- he sticks his little tongue in and out, in and out, in and . . . well, you get the point.  Sometimes he makes noises while doing it, but most of the time he just looks like he's doing tongue exercises.  Very cute.

In case any of you were keeping up, this is the week I started back to work part-time and Walt started at Mother's Day Out.  Walt did great on his first day.  Mommy did okay.  But the ladies in Walt's room were wonderful and even offered to give me one of their cell phone numbers so I could call directly to the room to check on him if I wanted to.  I managed to restrain myself, but Josh did go by at lunch, so I got a report that way.  Anyway, Walt's fine and and I'm getting there.

Day in the Park

Walt has spent a lot of time in the great outdoors lately due to the fabulous weather we've been having.  This picture was taken during our trip to the park with Harriet, Richard and the dogs on Saturday before their flight.  Doesn't the breeze make you sleepy too?

Here's a close-up for those of you who need a fix . . .

Three Months Old!

Can you believe it . . . Walt hit the quarter year mark today!  Make sure to check out his new picture in the birthday album at left.  It's amazing how much he's changed in just three months . . . he pays so much attention to what's going on around him, he smiles a lot more (though he's still not the cut-up his cousin Collier is), he coos, and I think he even let out a little chuckle the other night!  On the sleeping front, he's doing a little better with the daytime naps and is still sleeping through the night as long as we've got him swaddled.  Which reminds me, I've got to go order the big boy SwaddleMe blanket (aka, the baby strait jacket) -- he's busting out of the small one! 

We are doing fine

Just in case mommie, daddy and the fans are wondering how Walt is doing in the care of the foreign babysitter. As you all can see,he is doing fine taking a nap(for 1 hour and a half now) and even the dogs settled down.
Well, it is time for the bottle.

Out On the Town

It started out as a rather dreary day here in Memphis, so Walt and I didn't get to join Josh, Harriet and Richard at the afternoon Redbirds (baseball) game.  But we did head downtown to meet them for dinner -- Walt's first visit to a Thai restaurant.  (His first visit to an Indian establishment was last week -- he's a big curry fan.)  Harriet and Richard arrived yesterday just in time to keep Walt for a couple of hours while Mommy and Daddy went to a meeting at church.  He was apparently a little fussy, but not bad enough to scare Harriet off -- she's babysitting while I'm at work tomorrow.  Wish her luck!

One Thang Ya' Gotta' Do . . .

Is Bar-B-Que!

With the Memphis in May World Championship Barbeque Cooking Contest just a month away, Walt got his first lesson in cooking  meat over an open flame this weekend.  (It's never too early.)  The turkey burgers were scrumptious if I do say so myself.  It was the perfect ending to an otherwise perfect weekend.  There's nothing better than grilling with your son.  Here's to many more perfect weekends.

We also watched Tiger take his fourth green jacket.  Here's to Walt being a mulit-billionaire golf prodigy.

Here Comes the Bride (and the Baby)

It was a busy wedding weekend for us, but all went well and Beth is now Mrs. Landon Mills (although I'll probably still call her Beth).  Walt made a trip to the church right before the wedding for some dinner and got to see the lovely bride.  Don't worry -- we held him facing away from her dress in case his dinner made a reappearance.

Mommy is starting back to work (part-time) tomorrow, so keep us all in your prayers.  So far, I'm okay about it, but we'll see if that lasts when I actually have to leave the house.  Fortunately, our dear friend Kate will be keeping him tomorrow since he didn't have a spot in Mother's Day Out until next week.  So I'll feel much better about leaving him for the first time with someone I know and trust. 

I'm Busy Here!

I hated to interrupt Walt in the middle of his tummy time, but he just looked so cute!  Thanks to Shannon for handing down Ellen's cool toys!

Side note, not related to Walt . . . just got home from Beth's bachelorette party and guess who I got my picture taken with in the Peabody lobby?  You'll never guess!  Okay, I'll tell you . . . Richard Simmons!!!!  He's in town for the Mid-South Women's Show and was flitting (and I do mean flitting) around the lobby and stopped by long enough to take a picture with us and ask about our bridesmaids' dresses.  He wanted to know what color they were and whether we would be carrying pink or peach flowers (peach, in case you too were wondering).  And, yes, he was wearing spandex . . . at 8:30 on a Thursday night in the middle of one of the nicest hotels in the South.  Hopefully Beth will email me the picture when she gets back from her honeymoon and I will definitely post it.  But just to tide you over . . .

Okay, SURELY that deserves a comment!

Lurkers!

Alright, all you lurkers, the gig's up!  Unless those six people who posted are responsible for all 140 hits today, some of you are not very good at following instructions.  Viewer of Walt's World, reveal thyself!  Come on, it's not hard . . . just hit the little "Comment" link below and fill in the blanks.  We want to know who all of Walt's fans are!

Don't make me start witholding pictures . . .

Down By the River

Daddy got away from the office for long enough yesterday afternoon to join Walt and me on a walk along the river.  It was a gorgeous day and we just couldn't let it go to waste!  (By the way, this is about the only time Walt slept during the day yesterday.  He's a great night sleeper, bad day sleeper.)

Okay, so I know that most of you don't feel the need to comment on how cute our baby is anymore, but we still love to hear from you and know who's reading.  So, this is an official roll call.  Just sign in and say hi!  (Come on, Walt wants you to!)

Weekend Update

Well, it was a lovely weekend here in Memphis.  We spent Friday night babysitting young Trenton Bills, who was an angel -- slept almost the whole time his parents were gone.  I'm sure having twins would be a breeze (ha ha).  Aunt Gigi got here that night too and spent some quality time with Walt while Josh and I went to a party on Saturday night.

Here's a picture of Walt, Evie and Daddy hanging out in bed on Saturday morning.

After church today we went to the park and had lunch and took a walk.  Evie's favorite part of going to the park is rolling over in front of other dogs . . . even the ones that are smaller than her.  (Frankly, it's embarassing.)  Then we went home and Walt took a nice, long nap (fresh air tuckered him out) while Daddy worked on the yard and Mommy talked to Gram and Grandaddy, after which we all went to Bosco's for dinner.   Oh, and the Grizzlies just destroyed the Lakers.  All in all, a lovely weekend.

But to What?

I'm not sure what the poor kid thinks he's inheriting (his onesie says "Heir"), but he sure looks happy about it!  Nothing too exciting so far today in Walt's World . . . just the normal routine of 30 minute catnaps every few hours.  But tonight we're expecting a visit from Aunt Gigi, as well as from Trenton Bills, who is a whole four days younger than Walt.  Trenton's mommy and daddy are going to a wedding tonight and we're babysitting, so we'll get to see what it would have been like to have twins!