Will in the Bath

Will has started putting his face in the water while he's in the bath. It's pretty funny.

Where have the naps gone?

We are going through a bit of a crisis with the naps. Will has refused to take a nap the last two days. We've tried rocking, singing, letting him cry it out and driving in the car and nothing works. Len took him outside around 5 last night and he was pulling him in his wagon. He said he was laughing one minute and then he turned around to look at him and he had fallen asleep sitting up in the wagon! Len thought this was really funny. We layed him down in our bed since for some reason, he acts like his bed has thorns growing through the mattress. He sleeps fine in there at night but he hates his bed during the day. After about an hour I started worrying that he wouldn't go to bed if we didn't wake him up so I tried to wake him up and he just couldn't do it. Here is a picture of him falling asleep on my leg.



After about thirty minutes my leg couldn't take it anymore and we got him to wake up and he was happy!


Will and Sam
For those of you that don't know, I took a year of maternity leave from Brookmeade. When I decided to go back to work, I wanted to work part time and in Nashville, you can share a teaching position. I work Thursday, Friday and every other Wednesday. It has worked out so well. I'm teaching 2nd grade at a new school and it is much closer to our house than Brookmeade was. I miss my friends at Brookmeade, but I've already been away for a year so it hasn't been as hard to leave. I love my jobshare partner. We have so much in common, get along great and work well together. She is super organized and it's helping me!!! She has a little boy who is 3 months younger than Will. We had a fall festival at our school on Saturday and the boys played together. Will was running around and getting into everything, including the janitor's mop bucket so I decided that was all I could handle and we left early.


Just a few fun pictures. Will loves to tackle and chase Len.

We were watching Finding Neverland and for some reason, Will was fascinated with it. He sat down (which he never does these days) and just stared at the TV.

Will's New Rocking Chair

We bought Will his first chair today. I painted it black this afternoon but Will got to give it a trial run first. He loves rocking back and forth and of course, wants to stand in it.

He has become attached to his lovie that his Aunt Heather gave him. He likes to play peek-a-boo with it. We are always seeing different features in Will and sometimes we think he looks like me and sometimes Len. He looks just like Len in this one, especially the smile.

He looks just like my baby pictures in this picture.



I'm adding a couple of pictures of Brooke and Ryan's new baby girl Lauryn. She is precious!

Our Week

We have had a busy week! We are so excited about the birth of Lauryn Brooke. My best friend Brooke had the most precious baby girl on Tuesday night. She weighed 8lbs 8 oz and was 21 inches long! For those of you who know Brooke, she is the tiniest thing and everyone was so suprised that she had such a big baby. We are so happy for Brooke and Ryan. She is already a wonderful mother and we can't wait for baby Lauryn to get big enough to play with Will.
I worked Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I'm enjoying my job and getting used to being back in the real world. I was worried all summer about leaving Will and how I would handle it but it has worked out so well. The Lord has really blessed us and I'm happy to be able to work. Will has done a great job with the babysitter. (Miss Theresa) She has been such an answer to our prayers and I'm so thankful that I don't have to worry about him when I'm at work. We had a milestone on Thursday when he didn't cry when I dropped him off! YEA! That makes us feel good. It has been a little bit of an adjustment though because he takes a short nap while he's at Miss Theresas and now he refuses to take an afternoon nap so that has made for one cranky baby in the afternoon. Hopefully we will figure something out. Everyday is a new challenge with our little Toddler. Will was a great baby. I couldn't have asked for a more laid back, happy baby, but since he has turned one, he has started throwing these huge fits and screaming at the top of his lungs. Len and I just don't know what to do. I've talked to several people about it and they say that it's normal for a toddler to do this. He wants to communicate so bad, but he just gets frustrated when he can't tell us what he wants so he just screams these high pitch screams. Whew, it must be rough for him, but sometimes it's harder on his daddy who gets a little frustrated with the screams.

We had our good friends Matthew, Heather and baby Brooks over for dinner Friday night. Heather is one of my best friends from college and even though we both live in Nashville, it's hard to get together. There's just something about being in the company of an old friend. We had a great time together. Here is a picture of Heather, Brooks, me and Will. Brooks is 5 1/2 months old. I know Brooks and Will are going to be great friends one day.

We sat Will and Brooks on the couch to take pictures and of course Brooks just smiled and smiled but it is really hard to get a 14 month old to sit still and take a picture. He tried to hold Brooks' hand and then he put his hand in his mouth and we thought it was really cute until he bit Brooks. He left teeth marks. This is the before picture.

This is after the bite. Brooks shed a few tears over this and I felt pretty bad!

Our friends Craig and Candie Bowen invited us over to watch the Alabama game on Saturday night. They have a little boy named Brodie who is two and half months older than Will and Chad and Laura Beth High came over with their 17 month old little boy Lawton. The boys had a good time together. Here are a few pictures of them eating in their booster seats and then later when they had their pajamas on. Will did NOT want to have his picture taken as you can see!


Have a wonderful week!

First Trip to the Zoo

We took Will to the Nashville Zoo today. He loved it. It was hard for him to see some of the big animals like the elephant, tigers and giraffes but he helped Len feed a bird and he got to go to the petting zoo and pet a goat. He wanted to play with the mulch more than the animals. He really liked the turtles and even tried to say the word turtle but it sounded more like tababab.

Papa's Visit

My dad came for a visit on Labor Day weekend. My mom was in Tuscumbia for Papa's 80th birthday and dad wanted to see Will so he came up for a few days. We really enjoyed his visit. Dad treated us to O'Charley's on Sunday and we watched tons of football. Will showed off all of his tricks. He is making dog and cow sounds and loves to say the word car but he calls them car cars because that's what Len and I have always called them. He loves any kind of car or train, especially his Thomas the Train that my friend Brooke gave him for his birthday. Dad brought Will a fun toy and a new soccer t-shirt. He really loves Will!

As you can see, Will doesn't like to cooperate for pictures these days.

Recent pictures of Will

We had a Sunday School Football Season Launch party at the Parker's home. We all wore our Titan's gear. Will had a great time playing with all of his friends. He loves any kind of ball or toy that he can push.

Len is building a patio in the backyard and Will loves to help. He puts rocks in the wheelbarrow. He would stay outside all day if we let him and he loves being with his daddy. He cries whenever he goes outside and doesn't take him.

Will loves to be pushed on his little riding toy. He gets the biggest smile on his face when we go really fast.

Walker Family Reunion

We celebrated Nene and Papa's 60th wedding anniversary at the end of July. They have 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Edward couldn't be there and we missed him but we had a great time getting to see everyone and loved watching all the kids. We had a catered dinner on Friday night where we presented Nene and Papa with a quilt and a huge scrapbook of their life together. On Saturday, we had a picnic in the park with barbeque and watermelon, played soccer, and rode the carousel.
All of the Walker great grandchildren at church. What a good looking bunch of kids! There were 4 babies born in 2005.

Will was resting on Mama Sue after a hard game of soccer.

Will's first carousel ride.

The grandchildren and greatgrandchildren with Nene and Papa.

Will's First Birthday

We celebrated Will's first birthday with friends and family at Crockett Park. Will loved the cake but was a little shy when we sang happy birthday. We can't believe his first year went by so fast! He started walking around 10 1/2 months and now he is running and getting into everything. He weighed 24lbs 5 oz at his first birthday and was 30.5 inches long. He only gained 8 oz from 9 months so his weight is finally slowing down. Mommy's back is thanking him for this.
Copeland, Ann Welch, Will and Ford (Christine's sister's children)

Lots of eager kids ready for cake! How cute is this?

Will 9-12 months

Will and Ann Welch on Mother's Day

My sister Allison and I with our babies.

Cousins

Aunt Allison took lots of good pictures of Will at the park in Tuscumbia, AL. This is where Christine's grandparents live.

Mother's Day in Tuscumbia

Having fun with mommy!

We've gotten the sleeping through the night thing down (finally)! Naps are a different story. Will loves to take a nap with Len when he gets home from work.

Will loved the pool!

Will 6-9 Months

Celebrating Will's half birthday! He did not like the cupcake.

Will with his great grandmother Tommie. She is 96 years old. This is Len's grandmother.

A favorite picture of mine.

This is a picture of Will in the backyard at Mama Sue and Papa's house. We like to feed the ducks.

We went to Gastonia for Christmas. All of the cousins are in their pajamas and their moms and dads are ready for them to go to bed! ha ha

Will and his cousin Davis. They are 5 months apart.

We went to David's parents during the holidays and rode in Mr. Hilyer's horse and buggy.

Will is 9 months old in this picture. He is sitting on our front steps. My mom smocked this outfit and my nephew Copeland wore it so it is special that Will got to wear it too. Will weighed 23lbs 12 oz. at his 9 month well visit. He is a healthy, happy baby and started to crawl the day he turned 9 months. He says da da and mama.

Will's first snow. Doesn't he look cute in his snow outfit and hat? He is 6 months in this picture. He weighed 21 lbs 13 oz. at his well visit. We are wondering when his weight gain is going to slow down! ha ha

This is the day Will turned 8 months old. He wasn't crawling yet.

Will loves to go on walks. He is 7 1/2 months old in this picture.