Santa Baby

Merry Christmas 2011!  The Walkers have had a very busy Christmas weekend.  On Christmas Eve we visited with my brother and his children at their house.  The boys (my nephews) were going to be spending Christmas day with their mother so we brought their gifts to them on Christmas Eve instead.  Here's a picture of my brother, David, and I with our children on Christmas Eve:

After Jude went to bed on Christmas Eve, "Santa" got to work putting together toys and setting presents out so they would be just right for Christmas morning.  Here's a picture of our presents displayed nicely for Jude and Channing:

On Christmas morning we were so excited to bring Jude downstairs to see what "Santa" had brought for him!  The following are pictures of Jude first thing Christmas morning enjoying his gifts:

Every Christmas morning we get together with my side of the family for a wonderful Christmas breakfast over at my parents' house followed by sitting around the tree and opening presents from one another.  Jude was a bit overwhelmed but had a blast opening his gifts.  Here are a few pictures of Jude and Channing celebrating Christmas over at Nana and Papa's house:

On Christmas afternoon we spent time playing with Jude and his new toys, which includes his and Channing's new swing set!  Jude loves to swing.

After Jude's nap we visited with Ian's Grandma Bostick (Jude's Great Grandma).  Grandma enjoyed watching Jude play and holding Channing during their visit.

To end the day, we celebrated Christmas evening with Ian's side of our family as well as my parents over at Uncle Kent's house.  It's always nice to have everyone together for great food and fellowship.  Here's a picture of Jude with both of his grandmothers:

And just because he's so cute, here's a picture of Jude wearing one of his adorable Christmas outfits:

The Walker family had a fabulous Christmas this year and we definitely have a lot to be thankful for.  I love getting to experience Christmas through the eyes of my children and look forward to this time of year in years to come.

Who's Who?

When Channing was born we were overwhelmed with how much she resembled her big brother Jude!  Below are two pictures.... one of these pictures is of Channing as a newborn and the other is of Jude as a newborn.  Can you tell the difference?

.....If you guessed that the first picture was of Jude and the second picture was of Channing than you were correct!  It's going to be fun to watch these two kids grow and to see how they resemble each other through the years.

18 Months Old

This post is just a little late, but better late than never!  Jude is 18 months old!!!  He turned 18 months old on November 18, 2011, just 2 days after his little sister was born!  At his 18 month doctor appointment, Jude weighed 24 lbs, 12 oz which put him in the 25th percentile for his age group and he was 32 in. tall, which put him in the 48th percentile for height.  Jude has 9 teeth and can eat most foods except for really hard foods such as peanuts.  Jude's vocabulary is rapidly increasing and he tries to repeat new words on an almost daily basis.  At 18 months old Jude regularly says the following words:  "Da-da", "Ma-ma", "baby", "car", "Papa", "Nana", and "cat".  I have tried to teach him to say "Mommy" but instead he regularly calls me "Mimi"; I think this is really cute!  At this point Jude still takes two naps a day but we are in the process of switching to a one nap a day schedule.  Jude's bedtime is at 7:00pm and he sleeps through the night until around 7:00am.  Our little guy continues to be very extroverted and thrives on interactions with others.  He loves his little sister but has to be reminded to "be gentle" and "be nice" to her, as he gets a little over excited during his interactions with her!  Jude loves to kiss the baby and does so with a wide open mouth right on her head.  Jude also loves to interact with our family cat, Tabby;  he loves to pet the cat and give the cat kisses.  I have to say that our cat tolerates Jude quite well!  Jude loves to play with his toy cars and trains and he enjoys watching the TV show, The Wiggles.  He also enjoys music and dancing.  Here's a picture taken of Jude on the day he turned 18 months old:

Happy 18 months to our toddler, Jude.  Mommy & Daddy love you dearly!

Ho Ho Ho!!!

Ian and I took Jude and Channing to see Santa Claus tonight!  Jude was just as extroverted as always and hopped right up on Santa's lap and little Miss Channing slept through the visit.  These are the types of memories I'll hold onto forever and always cherish. 

Channing's 1st Road Trip!

Before Channing was born I had made plans with my best friend, Julie, that we would make a trip to Mocksville, NC to visit her on the weekend following Thanksgiving.  Both my health and little Channing's health have been great following Channing's birth, so we followed through with our plans for a road trip!  Julie was my room mate in college and we did just about everything together so I always get excited when I get to visit with her now.  Here's a picture of me and Julie reunited again:

We spent the majority of our visit just spending time with Julie and her family at Julie's house that she bought earlier in the year.  For dinner we ate at a restaurant that we like there called Miller's Restaurant- it's kind of a "hole in the wall" country restaurant that has great food and great prices.  Here's a picture of Julie, Channing, and Ian at Miller's Restaurant:

Following dinner we made a trip to Tanglewood to see the light show that they do there.  Jude absolutely loved the light show, mainly because we let him ride outside of his car seat on Julie's lap for part of the time.  Here's a picture of the entryway to the park as well as one of Jude and Julie enoying the lights:

We returned home late that evening and put the kids right to bed.  It was so nice to see and visit with Julie and her family; I really do miss seeing them on a more regular basis.  Hopefully we can get together another time in the near future.

Channing Charlton Walker

We've been planning and patiently waiting for this moment for the past 39.5 weeks!  We had been instructed to arrive at the hospital at 5:15am on November 16, 2011 for my scheduled C-Section at 7:15am.  I spent the night before making sure that everything had been packed just the way we wanted it to be and that Jude was packed and ready for his 4 night stay with his Grandma Bonnie.  Once Jude had been dropped off at Grandma's house, Ian and I decided to have one last "date night" before we became a family of 4!  We had dinner at The Olive Garden and returned home to try to get some sleep before our early morning plans.  I tossed and turned all night and just wasn't able to get comfortable enough to get any sleep.  At 3:30am the alarm clock went off and we got up and got ready for our big day!  We arrived at the hospital on time and I was prepped and ready to meet our baby girl.  Here's a picture of me taken around 7:00am, just prior to my surgery:

Channing Charlton Walker arrived on November 16, 2011 at 7:38am!  At birth she weighed 7 lbs, 2 oz and was 19 inches long.

Ian, Channing, and I were reunited following my surgery in the recovery room where we were able to start "kangaroo care" and nursing.  I was amazed at how quickly little Channing took to nursing; she latched on the very first try!

A little later in the day, once we were settled into our hospital room, Channing got to meet her big brother, Jude, and her grandparents!  Jude, being only 18 months old, was interested in Channing, but only for a few minutes at a time.  Jude loves to say "baby" and he now understands what a "baby" is.  Here is our first picture as a family of four followed by some other pictures that were taken over the next couple of days in the hospital:

Everyone was looking forward to meeting Channing once she was born.  Here are a few pictures of our little princess and some of her family members:



Channing and Mommy with "Nana" and "Papa" Haseman



Channing with her Grandma Bonnie



Uncle David with Channing & Mommy

Once we were discharged from the hospital, we got Miss Channing all dressed up in her "going home" outfit and snapped a few pictures.  Here she is ready to go home:

When we left the hospital, we stopped to visit with and introduce Channing to her Great Grandma Bostick and then we stopped and picked up Jude from his Grandma Bonnie's house.  Upon returning home we found this outside of our house:

Welcome Miss Channing Charlton Walker!

We are so happy to have you in our family and we already love you dearly!

Fall Photo Shoot

Ian spent some time outside blowing leaves this morning and we thought it might be fun to take Jude outside and teach him a little about the fun of playing in piles of leaves!  We grabbed the camera and snapped a few shots of his fun:

We've had a nice weekend as a family; I sure do love this time of the year!

39 weeks!

I'm 39 weeks pregnant with Baby Walker #2!!  We'll be welcoming her into our family on Wednesday of this week.  My pregnancy has gone really well and while I'm thankful for that, I'm also ready to meet our baby girl.  Here's a picture of me today at 39 weeks pregnant:

Only 4 more days!!!

The Nursery

The theme of our nursery is the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  I ordered the baby bedding from the website Etsy.com back before I had Jude and we used it with him and will be using it again with Baby Walker #2.  The pictures that hang on the wall are actually puzzles that we bought at the Mast General Store when we were in Boone, N.C. last year.  I'm pretty happy with how our nursery turned out and we're certainly glad that we're able to use it with both our son and our daughter!  Here's how it looks:

Our daughter will be here in six days and we'll become a family of four!  We're very excited to meet her!