18 Months Old

Just a week after Oliver turned 1 month old, Walter turned 18 months old! He is such a big boy now! No longer my little baby :( Right around his 18 month birthday, he really started mimicking words, which he had never really done before.  He is such a silly boy, always doing the most random things to make us laugh.  He can also be a little stinker- he thinks it's hilarious when someone gets hurt and when we tell him to stop doing something.  There are some days that he pushes me over the edge and I am ready to give him away, but I love him to death- he's my bestest bud.  At 18 months Walter is:

• Wearing size 18 month pants and 24 month shirts, size 4 diapers
• He is a very picky eater, his favorites are chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, corn dogs, rice a roni, and pizza
• Words he is starting to say: sun, straw, mama, dada, flower, please, yes.. I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of them right now
• He can throw quite the tantrum, I think they're funny :)
• He loves cars and trucks and will say vroom vroom when he sees them
• He loves playing with tools (hammer, screwdriver) 
• He loves to go on walks
• He loves reading books, especially his animal books
• He loves his brother Oliver, and loves to help me change him and get him dressed
• He loves to pretend to cook with all of our pots and pans
• He loves the music in church, he stands up and pretends to lead it
• He knows who Jesus is and will point him out in any picture that he sees of him
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

1 Month Old

This is now more than 2 weeks over due, but Oliver is now a month old! Holy cow, I survived an entire month with 2 kids! I didn't think I could do it, and most days I still don't think I can make it another day, but here I am, 6 weeks in and I'm still going.. just barely :)
Oliver has proven to be kind of a hard baby. He is a very high stress little guy, always whining and never sleeping.  But even with how sleep deprived I am with him, I still love him to pieces.
So at 1 month old, Oliver is:

• Wearing size 3 month clothes, size 2 diapers
• Eating every 2 hours or so
• Waking up about 3 times a night, some nights are better, some are worse
• He really doesn't have a schedule during the day, his naps are all over the place and they're never really consistent 
• He loves to sleep in his swing and falls asleep in the car pretty well too
• He has very strong legs and neck
• He loves watching Walter, and Walter loves watching him and giving him kisses :)
• He hasn't really smiled yet, I did get one smile out of him on Thanksgiving Day, but other than that- nothing
• His little birthmark on his forehead is getting bigger and darker all the time- I love it, but it will probably have to be removed eventually..

Like I said, he is a hard baby and drains me of my energy very quickly, but I love having him around, and I love watching his and Walter's relationship slowly develop :) He's a good addition to our family

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween this year!
We didn't do anything too special or spectacular, but it was fun to try and get Walter excited about dressing up and trick or treating.  As you can tell, we were not successful in getting him excited about dressing up...

I felt bad torturing him into the lion costume, but he is just so dang cute :)

Luckily Heather had gotten him and Oliver Halloween shirts, so he was at least able to "dress up" as a pumpkin :) and Oliver was a skeleton

 Kisses!

We went over to my parents to carve pumpkins and then we took Walter trick or treating around their circle.  He really had no interest in it, until he got a sucker from one of the houses, but then he only cared about the sucker and nothing else :) oh well, it was still fun.

Walter next to the jack o lantern he helped me carve

 All of our awesome pumpkin creations

Hospital Stay and Coming Home

My stay at the hospital this time around was actually quite nice. When Walter was born, I wasn't particularly impressed with any of the nurses that I had, and I was more than ready to go home after being there 2 nights.  This time around I was pretty torn about when I would go home.  Most people who have a c-section end up staying 3 nights at the hospital, so I was told that I would be spending 3 nights as well.  I was extremely impressed with all of my and Oliver's nurses this time around.  They were all so sweet and took such good care of us and made sure that they were there to answer any questions and help with whatever it was I may have needed help with.  They were seriously awesome.  We had a few visitors come, including my parents, Jesse's mom and sister and nephew, Heather, my visiting teacher, and, of course, Walter :)  Walter didn't seem to care about Oliver in the hospital, he just loved pushing the little cart with his bassinet in it around.  It wasn't until we brought Oliver home that Walter became fascinated with him.  So apart from the terribly uncomfortable hospital bed, my stay was quite nice and I was seriously contemplating just staying the 3 nights like I was told I would be doing.  But there was a huge part of me that needed to be at home with Walter.  Walter did such a good job for being away from his mom for so long, but I could tell that it was hard on him.  I felt like me being home with him was much more important that me taking it easy for another night, so I made sure that my doctor knew I wanted to go home a day early.  He was more than happy to let me do that, even though that meant he would have to take my staples out a day early.  That's what I love about my doctor, he is always willing to do whatever makes me happy and most comfortable, even if it's against the norm.  So we were discharged from the hospital on Thursday morning, and it was the greatest feeling ever to be able to walk into our apartment with little Oliver and see Walter!  My mom and Heather were here with him waiting for us.  Jesse got me some very pretty yellow and orange roses that were on the table when we came in as well.
I was super nervous to be home, especially come night time, since I would be without the help of the nurses.  The first few nights are definitely the hardest! I had several breakdowns and times when I thought that there was no way I'd be able to do this.  Luckily, those feelings only lasted a couple of nights, although, I'm sure they'll come back later :) My mom and Heather and Jesse were all amazing at helping me out! And my mom still is! She still comes over every morning and watches Walter and Oliver while I shower, and she does my dishes :) Jesse had to go back to work the Monday after, and that's when Heather left too.  It was a terrible day, to say the least.  Walter absolutely loves Heather, and she was such a life saver with him during that first week! She definitely needs to move back up here and be his permanent buddy :)
Walter has been completely fascinated with Oliver since we came home.  He is such a cute little helper.  Anytime Oliver makes a noise or starts to cry, Walter is right there to check on him and make sure he's okay.  Whenever I change or feed Oliver, Walter is right there supervising and making sure it's done right :) I was really worried that Walter wouldn't adjust very well to the change in attention given to him, but he has done so good! He has his moments where he gets upset if I can't help him do something because I am busy with Oliver, but for the most part he is awesome!

Going home from the hospital