Tag: Laine

Last Day in the Dirt

~ Heather Walter ~ Leave a comment

Sod was delivered this morning. Photos on that to follow in a post later. Maybe today. Maybe next week. LOL


This was yesterday. Playing bus:

Mom sitting on one of Isaac’s trucks:

Trucks on the pool:

I was excited about this, even though it seems like a small thing. Isaac carried 3 toys. He has one in the crook of his arm. That’s the first time I’ve seen him do that. I have done it a few zillion times, so it was neat to see him learn he could do it, too.

Laine stayed inside and snoozed. She’s not much for hot weather…


My view while sitting on the truck:

Bubbles!

Arves brought us a super-cool bubble maker gun from Malaysia. Isaac and Jackson love it.

Helping Daddy dig in the front yard.

Todd installing a sprinkler head:

The sprinkler head:

Mini Man & Li’l Miss

~ Heather Walter ~ Leave a comment

Most of this update is just going to be of the Kodak variety…  A few things to note, however. Isaac is beginning to put words together and speak in short sentences. Yesterday’s most common phrases were “concrete mixer” and “up and down.” I recognize that these aren’t examples of sentences, but they were the things I heard most yesterday. Isaac’s latest favorite game is “choo choo,” where he is the head of the train and I, sometimes carrying Laine, follow him around the train table over and over. He LOVES this game. He has learned to climb onto his changing table and wants to climb down. In short, he’s very busy. 🙂


Laine is an angel. She has been sleeping through the night since before her 2-month appointment. She is still a good little eater and has had no reflux or colic. I feel like we’ve won the lottery! She makes very sweet cooing noises at us and is becoming more and more alert. She is more interested in Isaac every day because he is always moving and doing something. It’s hard to get her to nurse when he’s in the room.

Dad reading to Isaac, Spot, and Monkey:

White noise app on the phone? Check. Comfy Daddy to snuggle on? Check.

Isaac doesn’t understand why someone would ever close a door to go to the bathroom…

Helping Mommy vacuum in the kitchen:



Action!



Outtakes from Laine’s 2-month photo:

In case you don’t get the idea from the above pictures, here’s a video from last week. I am SO glad Isaac loves his baby sister.



Mom’s shoes:

Peeking through the old back fence to where Dad is working:

Isaac has started arranging his chairs in the living room:

Kids together for July calendar photo:


2 Months for Laine

~ Heather Walter ~ 1 Comment

I can’t believe how quickly the last 2 months have passed!  I have been a little concerned because several people have started to comment on how “big” she is getting.  This bothers me because girls grow up with so many body image issues.  I don’t want Laine to internalize the idea that she is big.  I was talking to my friend Allison about it and she has a great word:  thriving.  Suffice it to say, Laine is definitely THRIVING!!! 🙂  She is off the top of the (CDC) growth charts!  At her appointment Friday, she weighed 14 pounds 10 ounces.  She is 23 inches long.


Laine is starting to smile a bit.  She is very alert and curious.  She is very sweet and has been a much easier baby than I could ever have imagined.  She sleeps for about a 5-hour stretch most nights, which is a wonderful change from our first parenting experience.


Isaac pesters his sister constantly.  LOL!  I didn’t have much “me” time before, but now I have to even take him into the bathroom with me if she is in a location he can reach. He wants to hug on her and snuggle with her and I’m afraid he could accidentally hurt or smother her if I leave them alone, even for just a few minutes.  I am glad to see that he is so smitten with her.  I knew he was sweet, but it sure is awesome to see how much he adores the baby.


Bubbles and Baking

~ Heather Walter ~ Leave a comment

Photo update:


Beatles shirt (reminds me of Isaac’s Uncle Dave and reminds Todd of his college roommate Jason):

Fun new bubble-making toy:

Daddy gets in on the bubbles:

So does Jackson:

ADORABLE hat from Todd’s cousin Doug:



Video! 



Making blueberry muffins:

Enjoying the fruits of our labor:

6 Weeks for Laine!

~ Heather Walter ~ Leave a comment

Yeah, yeah.  I’m behind.  I intended to post an update after Laine’s 1-month appointment almost 2 weeks ago… I am finally getting 8 seconds to sit at the computer.  🙂  Todd left last Monday and Mom’s been staying with us.  She left yesterday.  She’s been helping to take care of Laine and Isaac.  Thank goodness she was here! Todd will be back late tomorrow night and we’re all looking forward to it.  Isaac is *definitely* missing his daddy!


Laine’s 1-month appointment went well.  She gained FOUR POUNDS in one month!!!  She was 7 lbs. 14 oz. at birth and was 11 lbs. 14 oz. at the doctor visit.  She is growing and growing!  She is almost out of her 0-3 month sized clothes.  It’s hard for me to believe since Isaac was so much smaller.  She weighed more at one month than Isaac did at 2 months.  🙂  We’ve also discovered that Laine looked exactly like her daddy did when he was born.  When I get some free time (hardy-har-har), I’ll try to scan in a few of Todd’s baby pics for a comparison.  It’s uncanny! She’s a good eater and sometimes a good sleeper.  It doesn’t look like she’s going to have all of the reflux issues poor Isaac had, which is great news.  I went to see my midwife yesterday, who said I look like I melted.  Then she saw Laine and said, “Oh my gosh, it’s because she ate you!”  LOL


Isaac is getting used to having a little sister.  He dotes on her, which is very sweet.  I have to be careful, though.  I can’t leave him alone with her at all because he’s constantly touching her and he’s not yet mastered the “gentle” touch yet.  He’s been VERY sweet and it makes my heart melt to watch him with her.


OK. On to the part you’re actually interested in; the camera dump.


For some reason, it won’t let me rotate these…  Hopefully you’ll still enjoy the outtakes from the calendar photo:

Wearing Daddy’s hat:

Our Busy Boy!




I wanted to capture the look of terror on Todd’s face just seconds before this.  His first time to hold both of his kids at once.  🙂

Nana and Baby Laine:

Still can’t rotate…  Laine and her CPK.  I will use this doll for size comparisons month-to-month.  Isaac, apparently, will also be participating.  LOL

Todd’s been working on the laundry room.  Here he has been taping and floating the walls.  You can see where the old window used to be.

Showing off the now-textured walls.

Elke reading a book to Isaac and Milena:

Henry exploring:

Easy rider:

Alan and Cash exploring:

Alan, Cash, and Henry explore:

Henry pushing Isaac’s tricycle:

Music makes the boys dance!



Nana and her grandbabies:

Isaac’s 2nd Birthday

~ Heather Walter ~ Leave a comment
Basically, a camera dump from the birthday & party.  If I go into details about the festivities, I will never get the blog updated.  🙂  Judy also gave me her pictures, but I haven’t had a chance to look through the CD’s yet…  These are the ones from my camera.

Isaac’s first order of business at the party:  find a dump truck for playing

A quick rest for Mommy and Laine:

Snuggling girls:

My beautiful friend Allison holding Laine:



Isaac assessing the cupcakes (specifically, Henry’s):

Unwrapping cupcake good-ness:

Sampling the icing:


MMM…

The Baby Mamas!!!  Archer, Bethany, Isaac, Heather, Allison, Anderson, Cash, Stephanie, Henry, and Candy:

3 outta 4 ain’t bad!  Henry was busy with a balloon…

Me and the kiddos:

Easter Egg hunt at the party.  Isaac had fun finding the eggs and would happily put them into any basket available.  It was really sweet that they had so much fun hunting and are all still too young to be terribly selfish about the results.

Ride ’em, Cowboy:

Yup, he’s a native Texan.

Isaac got bubbles in one of his birthday gifts:



Jackson has just as much, if not more, fun than Isaac does with bubbles.

Isaac’s birthday was on Easter this year, so Laine celebrated in her own special outfit (My First Easter):



Easter Egg Hunt (at home):



Isaac’s Easter basket from Grandma and Grandpa:

Opening birthday presents:


Birthday cupcake:


Father & son relaxing in the yard:

Being silly:

Laine’s first Cabbage Patch Kid.  Thanks, Nana!

Isaac and his lawn mower, a gift from our friend Marielk.



In action…

…the REST of the story

~ Heather Walter ~ Leave a comment

Our amazing doula, Shelley, has also written up our birth story.  I LOVED reading it!  It makes me smile just to see this from another perspective.  It really was like arriving at a party when we got to the hospital. We were all in great spirits and there was a lot of very positive energy.  I also remembered a few details…  I had forgotten that we finally told Andrea (Dr. C) that Todd had been calling her “Doc Bubbles” for the whole pregnancy.  Shelley also said that the volume got higher and higher as we got closer to Laine’s arrival.  Because we were in Room 2, we were really close to the nurse’s station.  Shelley was commenting that they probably knew EXACTLY where we were throughout the labor as the tone and volume changed.  I had to laugh when she commented that “some mothers prefer soft voices.  You definitely weren’t responding to that.”  Ha ha ha!  Anyone who has ever met me would attest to that.  LOL


Another fun story happened about 2 weeks after Laine’s birth.  Shelley was meeting with another client.  This woman is due in mid-May and has some concerns that she will need to be induced.  Shelley told her that there were things she could do to encourage labor to start naturally.  The mom responded that she had been researching that.  Shelley asked what she had learned.  One of the things the mom mentioned was Reale’s pizza.  Shelley said she had another client (me) who had just told her about Reale’s and it was something I had tried.  The mom asked, “did she VBAC?”  Shelley confirmed that I had.  She then asked, “does she have blonde hair?”  Shelley said I did and asked how this woman knew this.  Here’s the great part:  she Googled Reale’s pizza and labor or induction or something and… MY BLOG POST CAME UP!  How freakin’ cool is that?!  I hope my story is able to help this other mom in some way.


I love this birth story.  All births leave us changed in some way.  This story healed the hurts that still remained from Isaac’s story and I can now say that I have 2 stories that warm my heart to tell.  I have wonderful children and I am incredibly blessed.


April!

~ Heather Walter ~ Leave a comment

In one week, I will have a 2-year-old and a 2-week-old.  WOW.


Not much time to chat, but here are some pics from the last week:


Elke and Milena came by for lunch on Friday.  They brought a gift for Laine and one for Isaac.  New (plastic) Black & Decker tools were a hit with Isaac, Grandpa, and Daddy!

Yesterday was beautiful, sunny, and warm, so Isaac broke in the pool a little: