Happy End of March!

Wally post for the week!  Hmm, now what happened....  The early part of the week was beautiful - the sun was out during the day, it was raining at night and almost all snow had melted.... until Wednesday, when we got another 3 inches of snow and biting wind.  I hate March in Minnesota.  Then I love it.   Then I hate it.

Summer, here we come!

Wally has had some really fun play dates over the past few weekends.  Two Saturdays back we had Ryan and Julie over for dinner with thier two little girls Sophia (3 yrs) and Claire (9 mo) for a really fun dinner and play date.  Ryan and Brian use to work together at DR, and at Brown printing before that, so it's been great to stay in touch with them over the years.  Julie is an awesome mom (with tons of great insight), and is speaking both Spanish and Enlish with the girls.   This past Saturday Raia and Jeff and Veronica (5 mo) were over for dinner in thier travels home to MN from Santa Barbara.  Raia is my "BFF" from high school, and Jeff is my photography mentor.  He takes the most gorgeous photos (check out his blog: http://peas-in-a-blog.blogspot.com/  )  So then I look at his blog and get ideas for shots to take with Wally.  I totally stole his idea of getting the baby swing with all the little mobile trinkets in the foreground.  I love seeing the older kids and all the fun things we have to look forward to!  Even just a matter of 2 months, which Vera has on Wally, is such a huge difference.  For example,  I'm overjoyed at a smile on que, but grabbing and rolling and crawling...woa!

Wally and Veronica

Brian and I had our second "date night" on Friday evening.  We went to Orchestra Hall and saw Ravel's "La Valse" and pieces of the suite from his "Daphnis and Chloe" ballet.  This was part of thier series "Inside the Classics" where they talk about the music, what to listen for, and what made the composer's style unique.  I thought it was awesome, and reinforced my love for Ravel's music!  Wally spent some QT with Grandparent's John that evening.  On Saturday I had my longest stretch of time away from Wally - 7:30am to 2:30pm.  I subbed teaching music classes all morning for my good friend Emily.  Although I was a little nervous about the whole thing and stressing that I hadn't pumped enough, I had a great time, and I think so did Brian and Wally without me:)

Who loves chubby breastfed babies, raise your hands

I have to also mention a few new things Wally has been starting to do, just so I can read this in 10 years and smile.  First is the "excited boob laugh" when he sees the boobs and knows he's about to nurse.  It's hillarious, and something I'm debating getting a video of.   Now that his little GI system is getting more developed, he has a ton of gas.  He farts all the time, and what's worse is that it sounds just like Brian's farts.  And the poop.... or should I call them the great poop explosions.  He saves it up for 2-4 days, and then all at once we get unloaded on.  Brian has been losing in this game for about 2 weeks now.  Except today.  Today it was me.  I could feel a little oozing through his pants, and then as I was getting up from the couch he puked all over his front side.  It was like a perfect storm of body liquids, quite impressive.

I just thought I'd post some really sweet pics I've taken recently.  Brian and Wally cuddling on the couch after a long week.  And my first (of many) naked photos.  One day I'll get a better shot of the wrinkled butt up here on the blog.

Milestones:  First full laugh last Thursday, wearing 6-9 month size clothing, hair is getting lighter brown, eyes are turning lighter blue with a tinge of turquoise in the sun, bedtime at 8:00pm and sleeps until 2-3pm (sometimes even 4), variety of laughs and coos, starting to notice his mobile and toys.

Quick update

Hey All!  I just wanted to get a quick post in before I forget.  I totally missed last week, dang!  Now I have to think back to what's been happening over the past few weeks....

Look at those chubby legs! So cute!

Well, this week Wally has been lots of fun.  I like this stage - he's really starting to smile more regularly, he's generally happy and cooing, he's sleeping like a champ (last night we slept from 9pm-4am.  It was a little slice of heaven).  Let's stay here for a while.  I still have cute clothes that fit, although it's dwindling because he's now wearing 6-9month and that's about where my supply ends.  I think before summer hits I'll have to start buying a few more things for him since up to this point we've survived heartily on our beautiful new gifted apparel.   This morning Wally woke up and gave me a huge smile.  I like waking up.

Auntie Mariel gets lots of new faces!

Last weekend was really a daddy son weekend - Wally and Brian spent lots of quality time together.  They spent Saturday night out for dinner with Brian's parents and Mariel/Jeff while I celebrated Sandy Rock's 50th birthday with the girls at Embassy Suites.  They hung out Sunday morning while I was at church - Wally saved up a good 2 days worth of pooping and waited until he was lying on the couch before surprising Papa with the great Poop Explosion.  Gocha!

Wally and Grandma Mary snuggling

On Saturday morning my Dad and Mary came to visit Wally, which was very fun!  I don't think they recognized him, he's grown so much in just a few weeks!

We are definately in a good groove.  Wally is really turning into his own little person, complete with more body motion - kicking and punching the air, rubbing eyes when tired, turning head to see people and when hearing new sounds.  He will look for me when I put him down.  I am so excited that we have had two consecutive 45 degree days...spring is almost here!  I can't wait to take lots of walks this summer and play outside.  Kacy just said that she will help me plant a vegetable garden, so I can't fail this year like I have miserably the past 3 summers!  Wally will give me extra reason to grow fresh healthy veggies - he'll be on solid foods by then!

Milestones:  Lots!  Growing growing growing; smiling more; new coos and screams; doesn't want to be put down - just held always; betime is getting earlier (around 8-8:30pm); bottle feeding pretty well; pooping only once every 2-3 days instead of every diaper; scratching face before mom cut fingernails (woops), hitting the boobs while breastfeeding (nope, can't slow down the flow that way), less fussy in general

Black and White

Mariel had a wonderful suggestion - a series of Walter faces!  Here is my first attempt....

Back to Work

I'm stuck under a sleeping baby, so I thought it would be a great time to blog!  I really don't want to wake Wally up right now because this morning he got his immunization shots.  Brian and I went together so it was a family event.  One oral and three needle shots into his chubby little legs.  He's been either sleeping or screaming ever since.  So you can imagine which state I'm fighting to keep him in. Now he has three bandaids on those sausages, and I'm wondering how the hell I'm going to get those off...

First smile that I could catch a pic of - I stood there for 15 minutes with the lens pointed at him.  It was all worth it!

The verdict:  Wally's a healthy baby who is on track, horray!  He's still in the 97% for his size and he is right on track for his social development - smiling, watching us and looking for us, starting to coo.  He's got great reflexes, he's very strong, and his eye scan was great!  All good news.

Wally with Great-Grandpa Rock

Anyway, here is the weekly update:  It's been a really great week.  I was a little stressed going into it, but I really shouldn't have been.  I started back at work this week, although very part time.  Wally and I went  to church on Sunday (where he spent the morning in the nursery) and Wednesday (where the choir threw us this great little party before rehearsal.  It was really cute to see all these seasoned parents and grandparents just holding and loving Wally up!)  Our nanny came Mon, Tues, and Thurs as I started teaching my at-home piano students.  It is a slow start this week because quite a few of my students have had conflicts, so next week will probably be a more true start.  I was a little stressed about suddenly having all these things going on every day, but once we got going I really enjoyed being back to work.  I think I was just more stressed over the "what if's"....."what if I'm in the middle of the service and Wally freaks out...... what if I forget to bring a bottle......what if something happens and I'm not there to take care of him...."  

Ayyeeee...Owen is touching me!

Last Saturday Wally and I went to visit my nephew Colin, along with my grandparents Rock and my aunt Raenay, uncle Grant, and cousin Haeley.  It was really fun to get the boys together again.  Here is a great pic of my grandpa Rock holding Wally:


On Tuesday was our last "New Mama" class at Amma maternity.  We "graduated" and put Wally's footprint on the diploma, it was really cute!  I had such a great experience that I think we are going to take the next class too, "Beyond Newborns."  Probably start in May.  Plus, now we have some friends that are Wally's age!

The "New Mama" group - 6 weeks later

Tomorrow (Friday), Brian and I are going to have our first "Date Night" away from Wally.  We are going to drop him off at Brian's parents' house in Maple Grove and see a movie.  I'm excited to go out, but I already feel like I have been spending less and less time with Wally - mostly because I don't just sit around holding him all day like I did for all of January.  It's a little wierd feeling after being so intensly connected for two months.  You really do have to force yourself to get out the door.  It's almost like I've been wounded in combat and now I'm finding myself on the other side having to rebuild my life.  I can honestly say I never anticipated how much having a baby strips your whole being down to nothing.  It's really been the most emotionally intense experience I've ever had.  And I'm sure this is only the beginning...

Grunting into my comfortable place