7 Weeks Old and Potty Training: Take 2

I can't believe it, but Walker is already 7 weeks old! He is starting to sleep better during the day, and he is getting better about having to be held constantly. He is still on the same nighttime sleep schedule as the last time I posted (9:30 pm, 3 am, and 6 am), but he actually had one night this week where he slept from 9:30 until 5 am! It was amazing...it was also a fluke, but I'm hoping it happens again really soon!

As you might can tell by the pictures, Walker's tear ducts are blocked again. This is the 2nd time this has happened in his right eye and the 1st for his left eye. I feel so bad for the little fellow; we go to the doctor this week for his 2 month checkup, so hopefully we'll find out more about it.

Walker is really cooing and smiling a lot these days; he is such a sweet baby! He is also batting at objects in front of him...including big brother at times. :)

We just love this little guy so much, but his biggest fan is definitely his big brother. If you ask Jake who he loves the most, he says "Baby Walker." So sweet...I just love my boys!

Speaking of Jake...

...we started potty training again this weekend! It's already going better than last time so I feel really good about it (knock on wood!). We are using a little different method this time...we started the day with a "Big boy party" that consisted of lots of balloons, cupcakes, and singing "Happy big boy party to you!" several times (this method we are using doesn't mention this, but what I thought it would be fun anyways). We then had him throw away all the diapers and then don the big boy underwear, which he actually asked for anyways when he woke up. We are also saying lots of "you need to tell mama when you have to go potty" instead of asking "do you need to go potty, Jake?;" we are also letting him tell us when he needs to go versus putting him on the potty every hour or so like I did last time. And lastly, we are also focusing more on a potty training chart for rewards instead of just giving "M and M's" when he goes. So there you have it! So far, so good! He's only had two accidents (one wet and one dirty), but otherwise, he has gone potty 23 times today! Yep, 23 times! Crazy huh? The method (as do most) calls for an increased fluid intake, so that's why he is going so much. We are so proud of our big boy! I just hope it works! Wish us luck!

Showing off his Thomas the Train underwear!

And now showing off his potty training chart!

2 Little Rednecks at the Pool

My little redneck

Jake and RyanSomeone asked if they were twins...it happens all the time!

The future cover of "GQ?"

Ashley is due in 1 week! Doesn't she look great?

Ashley and Ryan

I can't tell you how much trouble they got each other into this year at school!...I can totally see how! By the way, that is Ryan on the left and Jake on the right.

Sweet little Walker chillaxin!

Ashley and I and the boys met up at the park this morning, but it was so hot and the boys were so sweaty that we decided to make an impromptu visit to the pool. We unfortunately didn't come prepared for the pool, so all the boys had were their swim diapers. They looked like little rednecks...it was so funny. We definitely got some looks from the neighbors!

I was so proud of Jake...he is usually pretty timid around water, but he followed in Ryan's lead and got right in and had a blast!

Walker was a trooper and lasted for a good 3 hours outside! He is such a good baby!

Oh, and I survived my first 4 hours back to work last night! I worked with some of my favorite people, so it really wasn't that bad...for me. Tyson, on the other hand, didn't have it quite so easy. Let me back up, Tyson probably does a better job with the kids than I do; he is very patient and calm and just everything that I'm not. Anyways, he has never had to call me at work with problems, but last night, I had only been there about 10 minutes and I had already gotten my first call of distress. About an hour and a half later, I got my 2nd call....this time, Walker was screaming bloody murder in the background. I felt so bad for Tyson...Walker has become really attached to me and can be pretty difficult to console. It was a long 4 hours for Tyson, but we made it. I think we are all already dreading my next shift!

Our Family

I finally got the proofs back of Walker's newborn photo shoot from my photographer friend, Kelly, so I thought I would share this one of our precious little family. Jake is sporting a fake smile, but at least it's a smile! I just adore this picture!

I'll post some more pictures another time...I don't want to ruin the surprise of the birth announcement! :) It's amazing, though, how different Walker already looks from those pictures! He is getting cuter and cuter by the day!

In other news, IT'S OVER!...May recruiting that is! Hallelujah! We survived! For those of you who aren't familiar with recruiting, it's a college football coach's wife's worst nightmare...or mine at least. Tyson recruits for about 3 months a year and is gone pretty much all week long and some weekends for the whole month; we hardly ever get to see him during that time, so I refer to myself as a single mother during those times. As you can imagine, it's very hard on our family, and Tyson, too. Our recruiting coordinator and head coach were very good to Tyson this time, though, given our situation (a newborn and a toddler and a stressed out Mama), so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Plus, my parents were awesome and helped me out tremendously...I say it all the time, but I don't know what I'd do without my Mom. We always joke that when I married Tyson, my parents married in to the college football lifestyle, too! Thank goodness for amazing and supporting parents!

You know what else is over? My maternity leave! These last 6 weeks have flown by! *tear* I'm extremely nervous about returning, especially since Walker is almost exclusively nursing and since he is no where near sleeping through the night. Thank goodness I only work once a week; I have no idea how Tyson and I could handle much more. Actually, Tyson is an amazing father, so I'm sure he could have handled it, but I just feel so bad for him. He works really long hours during the week, and then to come home on the weekends and keep both boys all by himself for 12 hours of work and then about 5 hours of sleep AND get up in the middle of the night to feed the baby? He's got his work cut out for him, but I know he'll do just fine! We'll see how I handle it! :)

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I'm gonna go enjoy my time with my boys!

Happy 60th Birthday, Mom!

I hope I look this good at 60!

Walker joins in on the celebration, but no cake for him!

My mom celebrated her 60th birthday last Thursday, but since we couldn't be there, we had our own little celebration when she came to Birmingham this week. Of course, no birthday party is complete without a cake from Edgar's Bakery! Believe me, it was delicious! Happy Birthday, Mom! I don't know what the boys and I would do without you...you're the best! And I mean it! We love you "THIS MUCH!"

Jake's newest favorite thing to do at the zoo...eat popcorn!
So Mom and I enjoyed some popcorn, too!

Walker sported his Georgia hat to the Zoo...

So big brother had to put his Georgia hat on, too, once we got home!

We made another trip to the Zoo while Mom was here; this time, we got wristbands that gave us unlimited trips on the carousel and train...Jake was in Heaven! I told mom that I'll never be able to top that trip to the Zoo again!

Sweet Baby

Walker at 5 weeks

For comparison, Jake at 4 weeks

How cute are those chubby cheeks? I just want to squeeze them through the computer screen, and I look at them every day! Love them! Here are some more pictures of my cutie:

Precious little eyes!

**Please excuse the greasiness of his face...it's the medicine we've been using for his blocked tear duct.

5 Weeks Old

It's been a while since I posted updates on Walker, so here you go!

Walker is starting to sleep pretty well at night, which I'm totally excited about. He usually takes a bottle around 9 pm and goes to sleep shortly after that, and then he will usually wakes up around 3 am to eat. After that, he gets up around 7 am to eat and will go back to sleep until big brother wakes him up. :) He isn't a very good sleeper during the day, though, but again, I attribute some of that to big brother and "wake up baby Walker." Luckily, though, I can usually get him to nap when Jake naps so Mama can nap, too!

Walker is a really good eater...probably too good to be honest. He went to the doctor on Friday (more on that later) and weighed 11 lbs! That means he has gained 2 lbs in 2 weeks! He usually nurses every 2 hours during the day and then will take a 5 oz bottle before bedtime.

About going to the doctor...I had a feeling Walker would be a little trouble based on all the little problems I had when I was pregnant with him. It's nothing too big, though, but he has had lots of little issues since birth. For instance, his belly button would spontaneously bleed even after it had fallen off; this is actually pretty common, but nobody wants to see their newborn bleeding! Scary! And then last week, he woke up with his eye all matted over...turns out he has a blocked tear duct. For 7 days, he has been on an antibiotic ointment 3 times a day and has had to have his eye massaged 4 times a day. It looks better, but apparently this is something we will probably be dealing with until he is about a year old. Moving on to the next issue and the reason we took him to the doctor, his big toes have ingrown toenails and are on the verge of being infected. They look awful and seem to be painful to poor little Walker; the pediatrician said he had never seen a toenail become ingrown and infected in a newborn, so we are trying to do some warm soaks and antibiotic ointment to see if that helps.

What else? Walker's eyes still have me confused...they are starting to look less slate blue and are turning more of a deep blue. I can't remember when Jake's eyes officially turned brown, but they never look like this. I'm pretty sure they won't stay this color since the only immediate family member (that I know of) with blue eyes is my mom's mom. Either way, they are beautiful now and will be beautiful no matter what. Such a mystery though!

Walker is a pretty easy going baby...when he is being held. (Insert big sigh here!) The bouncy seat and swing will only pacify him for a few minutes before the screaming starts...as soon as you pick him up, he's fine. When I'm alone during the day with the boys, it's obviously very hard to do everything I need to be doing while holding a baby, so I usually have to put him in the Baby Bjorn. It works...for now. I've never seen such a spoiled little baby! :)

Oh, and how could I forget? Walker smiled at me this week for the first time! He's done it for Daddy a few times, too, since then! So cute! I will definitely try to get a picture of it this week.

Things with Jake are still going very well; he is starting to learn that if he wakes up baby Walker, then that means Walker has to be held and Mama can't exactly do as much for Jake. He has really been saying "be quiet" a lot! Ha! I'm so proud of him. He loves to give his little brother lots of hugs and kisses!

"G mama," who Jake has now started calling "grandmama," came for a visit this weekend. She watched the boys Friday night so that Tyson and I could go to the Tim McGraw concert and then she watched them again Saturday night so that we could go out to eat. We had so much fun this weekend! Thanks, Grandmama for helping!

And of course, I couldn't not post a picture of this cutie. He wouldn't exactly cooperate and give me a good picture, so this will have to do. How do you like all that sweat? He's a mess these days...I've never seen one individual sweat so much so easily before in my life. I'm afraid a buzz cut might be in his future!

Oh, and our sweet Jake woke up with a stomach bug this morning, so please pray baby Walker doesn't get it. Hope y'all had a great weekend!

Splash Pad

A rare shot- all 3 kids in one picture!

Kendall melting down after Jake took her toy! Ha!

Please forgive me for the lack of blogging...recruiting (aka single motherhood) has definitely taken a toll on me. This is Tyson's last week out, so hopefully the blogging will pick back up again soon.

The boys and I met up with my friend Mollie and her triplets one day this week at the splash pad in Gardendale; I had never been to this place before, but it was awesome! If you are in the Birmingham area, you should check it out...it's a fairly new place (meaning it's clean) and FREE! Mollie's triplets had the best time I've ever seen them have! They loved it! Jake, however, was a little slower to warm up to the place. We were there for a couple of hours, and Jake only started liking the place the last 30 minutes we were there. It was still a nice break, though! I hope we can go back again soon...maybe Jake will like it a little better next time! :)

Oh, and Happy 2nd Birthday to the triplets!...or as Jake would say, "Happy birthday cake, trips!" We had so much fun at their birthday party today, but I forgot my camera. Such is life these days!

Househusbands of Hoover

Here they are...the househusbands of Hoover!
And my favorite one, of course!

Ok...so, they aren't exactly "househusbands," but they sure did look like it on this particular day! You see, every afternoon around 5, Jake's friends, Brantley and Ryan, and their moms meet us in our backyard for playtime. Every now and then, the dads will join us, but to have all 3 dads there at the same time is a rarity these days since they all work so hard and have crazy hours. Well, on this particular day, all the moms were busy and before I knew it, the 3 dads were in the backyard "babysitting" the boys. It was too cute! I of course had to snap a picture (which they were thrilled about if you can't tell), but then I was quickly sent away because of "man time." Ha!

Walker enjoyed his "man time!"

And so did the big boys!

Happy Mother's Day!

Amy and Walker

Jace checking out cousin Walker

Granddad and his 3 grandsons!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Love, Jace, Walker, and Jake

Amy and the big boys

My sweet nephew, Jace!

Before we left Thomaston yesterday, my sister and her little boy, Jace, drove up and spent the day with us. Jake was so looking forward to seeing "cousin Jace," but my normally sweet child didn't like having to share the spotlight once Jace got there. Between Walker having a bad day (the cole slaw on Friday night was a bad idea) and Jake acting up, it made for a stressful visit. But I am so glad we finally got to see Jace and Amy...it had been way too long! Jace is such a sweetie...I sure wish I could see those pretty brown eyes more!

Happy Mother's Day everyone...especially to our wonderful mothers and my grandmother! We love you!