Santa Baby...

Just wanted to post Walker's 1st picture with Santa. We 'braved' the mall last Saturday. Luckily, we only waited in line about 45 minutes vs. the 2 hours folks at the end of the line had to wait. He was such a good boy (asleep) when in line and we had to wake him up for the picture. He was oblivious to what was going on ...(yawning while trying to take his picture)!

Those chubby cheeks are precious. What you can't see is his cute Christmas onesie that our friend Jennifer gave him (I'll post it later when he wears it again)...it is CLASSIC...and says, "All Mommy wants for Christmas is a SILENT NIGHT. Amen Santa! On that front...Walker has been doing better and sleeping 9:30pm-3:30am...and then we start our day at 5:15am in order to get to work on time. We are flying to Memphis tomorrow bright and early to see the fam for 10 glorious days. If I don't post til the new year....Merry Christmas and Happy New Year blog friends and family! : ) PS- Yes, don't worry--we'll be sure to take the elevator this time! :(

A tiny baby...

Our church Christmas musical was last Sunday morning...and since I am the music minister's assistant...well, Walker got to play the part of Baby Jesus....and of course, Forrest and I were Mary & Joseph. It was a great and humbling experience for me. As I stared at Walker for an entire song...I tried to put myself in Mary's/Joseph's/ and God's shoes and 'TRY' to understand their emotions of having a baby that would one day have to die for all of mankind's sin. I mean I hate it when Walker has gas pains...how painful to have your son disliked, mocked, spit on, and eventually 'crucified.' I encourage all of us during this Christmas season to remember that Jesus was a 'tiny baby' born helpless and in need of tender love and care. Do we today treat him as sweetly and tenderly and attentively as we do our own children? Or do we find ourselves too busy for him and put him off until later or even the next day?

On a lighter note: look how chunky Walker's leg looks (ha)! I mean he does way 15lbs at 10wks old! He did PERFECT during both services. The first service he was awake and just stared at the lights. During the 2nd service, he was crying pretty hard right until we walked out on the stage and then he just fell asleep instantly (goodness--what a show off!) :) The song during this part of the service was "A Cry in the Dark" so it was ok if he cried anyway...that's part of being a baby right?

Merry CHRISTmas!

The Facts of Life...

Well...this has been several weeks ago but we had a women's conference at our church with the main speaker being, Lisa Whelchel. I'm sure none of you know who that is off the top of your head...but maybe you do? Here...I'll help you out! She was BLAIR on the Facts of Life! I don't know about you...but I remember that show pretty well and loved it. We even have the first 2 seasons on DVD in our office that I hope to get to. (ha) She is a lovely woman, great speaker, an amazing mom! She is now a devoted Christian who speaks across the nation and writes books. This was perfect timing for me because 'most' of her focus is on being the best mom you can be. She's so cute and full of life...I regret I did not officially meet her nor get an autograph. I did order 'several' of her books on Amazon that will be seeing some of you soon as your Christmas present! :)

I encourage you to go to her website [http://www.lisawhelchel.com/index.htm] and explore the resources. I ordered the "Taking Care of the Me in Mommy" book and the "Mom-Ease" books and also 'the ADVENTture in Christmas' (a really neat book that shows you ways to help put Jesus back in Christmas as your children grow up and learn about Christmas). I believe her books are for any age mom for any stage of motherhood you may be in. I will later enjoy reading "Creative Correction" when Walker gets a little older. :) I have a goal to read them over the holidays when Walker is getting spoiled by his grandparents, aunts, and friends. There is a neat resource [Click on the Personal Mom Coach link on the homepage] on her website that has many categories to choose from and you can only do one at a time (she doesn't want you to bite off more than you can chew, nor get overwhelmed with another 'to do' to add to the list. But each category sends you an email for 21 days and then you can move onto another category. 21 days (as we learned at Kanakuk) is supposedly the magic # in developing habits. I ordered my books off of Amazon to be a little cheaper but if you buy a lot then not really b/c you'll have to pay shipping from each seller. :( Oh well! It'll be worth it I'm sure. Can you believe she has 3 kids now that are 15, 16, and 17...she definitely does not look or dress as such...she's too cute! I hope this can be a new resource for all of you moms out there just trying to be the best you can for your children and teaching them how to be a Godly young man/ woman one day.

2 months old...

Can you believe it? Walker is 2 months old! Well, 9 weeks really now...he is getting to be such a big boy...but still tiny enough to be our baby! :) Things that are happening with Walker: he is now in Size 2 diapers as of this weekend! He went to his VERY FIRST football game with dad on Saturday night (a HS playoff game at Floyd Casey Stadium). He went to church for the VERY FIRST time last weekend....and the church nursery for the VERY FIRST time on Saturday night while I was at choir rehearsal for our Christmas musical!
He got 'some' of his shots on Friday and will get the rest on this Friday. (Poor thing!) Doctor said he looked GREAT! He weighed 13lbs. 10oz. and was 23 1/2" long! What else ...what else...ohhh we have discovered he likes to watch TV. This might be a bad thing--but for right now it keeps him occupied and content for small periods of time and is cute he is noticing things more. Here he is (of course) watching the SEC Championship game. I mean what else would he be watching since he came into this world while the Florida vs. LSU (amazing game) was on. I guess the SEC will be in his blood....let's hope it's maroon blood! :) I still have LOTS of blogging to catch up on. I haven't even gotten to this weekend...it'll be on soon...keep checking back with us!

Sleepovers & Sitters...

Well, we are blessed that although none of our 'family' live near us, we have an amazing 'family' of friends in Waco that eagerly volunteer to keep Baby Walker when we need it. Here are Rae & Rebecca (former BU co-workers). They babysat on Friday night while I went to a women's conference at our church on Friday night...more on that later. Thanks girls! Walker really enjoyed his stay.

Walker has been on 2 sleepovers as of to date. You ask what a sleepover is? It's when "sweet Aunt Kim" volunteers to watch Walker, take care of, feed , and rock ...and lets Walker sleep in her room while mom and dad get more than 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep. It is heaven! Thanks Kim...we're ready for another one when you are! We'll be very sad when we move out soon and we won't have that option as accessible. :)