It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Football Season...

In just 2 days, UAB will host Florida Atlantic at Historic Legion Field! Go Blazers! I can't wait!

It has become a little tradition amongst the UAB coaches' wives to do something special for the players for the first game. This year, we were supposed to make brownies for our husbands' players, but for some reason, the linebackers aren't big chocolate fans. Weird, huh? So instead, they got these cute lil' cookies with their numbers on them. I have to admit, I'm not the most crafty/creative/artsy person ever, so the cookies didn't turn out as cute as I would have liked. Oh well, I doubt the boys noticed! :) Besides, I put on the outside of the bags "Love, Jake and Walker." Ha!

Go Blazers! And good luck to my other fellow coaches' wives!

Saturday Randomness

We've had an extremely busy week, so I was really excited to just hang around the house today just me and the boys with NOTHING to do! It was awesome! Unfortunately, Tyson was hard at work and our neighbors are all out of town for the weekend, so I had to get creative. So...I busted out the bounce house (aka "jump jump"). Some of our friends asked to borrow the "jump jump," and I really wanted to make sure it still worked since we haven't used it in about 7 months. Needless to say, it works! And it was soooo much fun! Why did we wait so long to pull it out?

Oh, and some big news of the weekend- Walker is sleeping through the night!! Finally!! He usually goes down around 7 pm, wakes around 9 pm to eat, and then eats again around 5 or 6 am, and sleeps until about 8 am! I don't know if it's the formula or the solid foods or a combination of both, but it is awesome! It's only been since November or so since I've slept for more than 5 straight hours, so the sleep is very much appreciated! :)

Anyways, 5 more days til kickoff! Go Blazers!

Walker's Ophthalmology Appointment

He might not can see very well, but at least his feet taste good!

Walker had his appointment this morning with the pediatric ophthalmologist here at UAB. First of all, let me just say how lucky we are to live in place where we have access to such fantastic medical care. Walker's doctor was amazing! God definitely put us at UAB for a reason!

On to the important stuff: Walker's unequal pupils. Fortunately, Walker suffers from physiological anisocoria, and it is completely benign! Praise the Lord! So basically, nothing is wrong; he is just gonna have 2 different size pupils in certain lighting. The ophthalmologist said Walker's pupil variation wasn't even that bad and she was surprised that I could even pick up on it.

Unfortunately, though, Walker's eye exam revealed that he is "already pretty nearsighted"...at 4 months!!! You see, she used cocaine eye drops to dilate his eyes to test for this specific syndrome associated with anisocoria (which he doesn't have), and while his eyes were dilated, she said she would just take a look. As soon as she said the first "ooh," my heart sank. It was pretty hard for me to recover after that, but I believe she said his right eye, which is the one that has a problem dilating, was a -2.25 and his left eye was a -0.025. Now, I've never had a problem with my vision in my life and have perfect eye sight, so I'm not sure how these numbers compare. All I know is that she said Walker will probably need glasses in the next year or so. :( We are going to go back in about 9 months to have his vision tested again, so we'll know more then. She reassured me not to worry (yeah right!) that his eyes might not really be that bad- it could have just been that they were trying to accommodate from the cocaine.

I would be lieing if I said I'm not at all worried about Walker having to wear glasses at such a young age...no mom wants her child to be picked on and y'all know how mean kids can be. Who knows, though, Walker with glasses might be even cuter than that kid from Jerry Maguire!

Walker's Rice Cereal vs. Jake

Gettin ready...

"Seriously, Mom?"
"You're really gonna let him do this?"
Jake explaining the spoon to Walker...
Nice head grab, Jake!

Cleaning off his mouth...

"SAVE ME!!!"

Jake says, "Open wide!"

"I LOVE IT!"

"My brother is a pretty funny guy!"

I gave Walker rice cereal for the first time today. I remember when Jake turned 4 months old, I was so excited to start rice cereal with him. This time, I wasn't as eager. First of all, all of our meal times are rushed: breakfast is rushed to get out the door to school, lunch is rushed for nap time, and supper is rushed for bedtime. I guess we just need to slow down and take our times at meal times, but I just cannot figure out how to squeeze it all in and feed Walker as well, which can be very time consuming. That sounds horrible of me, I know, but I also have another reason for not being so excited about solids- Jake just had such an issue with eczema and I can't help but think there may be a correlation with food and allergies for my boys. Who knows, though; I bit the bullet today and started it anyway. I'm gonna have to figure out a way to make it work because the boy HAS to eat! Since starting bottles, the boy has become a pig and cannot get full!

Walker did okay with the rice cereal. He didn't have quite the reaction that Jake did (a scowl look on his face), but he wasn't exactly loving it either. Oh well, he'll get used to it!

How sweet are the pics of Jake feeding Walker? To be completely honest, Jake has shown no interest in Walker over the last month; he completely ignores Walker and has nothing to do with him. It breaks my heart, but I've been praying he'll come around. (Walker, however, is still completely enamored with Jake). Anyways, Jake was sitting next to us eating a snack while I fed Walker; well, I put the spoon down to take some pics of Walker, and Jake asked if he could feed him. As skeptical as I was, I was just so excited Jake showed some interest in his brother and told him he could. And surprisingly, Jake did an amazing job feeding Walker...he even used the spoon to wipe Walker's mouth when he spit out some of the cereal. It was precious!

UAB Fan Day 2010

Walker and Jake with the Linebackers (aka "winebackers" according to Jake)

UAB women's volleyball team vs. UAB Football team

Look who came! RYAN!

The boys and I met Tyson today at Bartow Arena for UAB Fan Day, which included a Pancake Breakfast, autograph session with the players, a volleyball game with the football players versus the women's volleyball team (HILARIOUS!), a UAB Bounce house, and lots of running around chasing balloons by two little boys. Yes, the Maddens met us up at Bartow for their first UAB event; Jake and Ryan had a blast running around and burning some energy! So much fun!

Every year, Fan Day gets better and better. Jake is really comfortable around the players, and they just love Jake, too. This was Walker's first time meeting a bunch of them, and they were so sweet to him, too. Tyson has such a good crew of linebackers!

This was also Jake's first time in a long time to be around "Blaze," our mascot. Jake was so excited (from a distance) to see him coming, but as soon as Blaze approached us, Jake started FLIPPING out! I have never seen react this way, but it was awful! Jake wasn't very fond of the band, either. It's going to be a long football season to say the least! :) He was a big fan of the cheerleaders, though! Thank goodness for that! :)

Such a fun day! We are so proud of Tyson! I don't know if I've ever said this on here or not, but if there is a 2 year old that has ever wanted to be just like his Daddy, it is Jake Summers. Everything he says is "just like my Daddy" or "my Daddy [this]" and "my Daddy [that]." It is absolutely adorable. I know Tyson must be so proud.

Our first game is Thursday September 2 at home versus Florida Atlantic. 12 more days left! Go Blazers!

Mr. Picky, The Bieber, and The Fender Bender

In the last few days, I've come to realize that Walker is super picky about his bottles. They have to be the right temperature (slightly warmer than room temp), the right mixture (1/2 formula 1/2 breast milk), and in the same position (right arm tucked under your arm and slightly on his side) every time or he won't take it...for real. I used to think his bottle-phobia was more associated with the actual bottle itself, but it turns out he may just be very stubborn...I mean picky...about the whole situation surrounding the bottle. Luckily, though, we've discovered he isn't picky about who gives him the bottle, they just have to be educated on the in's and out's. I hope he isn't like this about eating! :) But I can't complain, he is already looking as if he has gained some weight AND he is up to taking 6 oz at a feeding! (The pediatrician said 4-5 oz per feeding is normal for this age). Crazy!

So this is kind of random but I just had to mention it...Jake got his hair cut a few weeks ago (I think) and the lady gave him the Bieber Cut! I asked her to keep it longer in the front but to trim up the sides and back really good, and that's all! Next thing I know, she is giving my 2 year old the trendy teeny bopper haircut (which we also affectionately call the "Hoover High" cut)! And the worst part is, if I don't dry it just like the Bieber kid does, it looks awful! What was she thinking? It is kinda cute, though! ;)

Poor Blaze

And lastly...the accident. The boys and I were heading home from my parents' yesterday, which is about a 3.5 hour drive, and we got into a wreck!!! It was by far one of the worst car trips I've had with the boys; I should have known something was going to happen...I just had that feeling!

Anyways, we were about 3 miles from home, and both boys had been screaming non-stop for about 45 minutes. My nerves were shot, as you can imagine, so I put my phone in my pocketbook, turned off the radio, and just tried to concentrate on getting home before pulling out every hair on my head. We came to the last stop-light of the trip and I pulled up behind this nice, pretty Lexus and came to a stop...so I thought. I turned around to see how the kids were doing, and next thing I know, I see the Lexus out of the corner out of my eye and realize we were about to hit it. I turn around, tried to slam on the brakes, but I ended up flooring it instead. Then BAM! I nailed the Lexus. I immediately turn to check on the boys and they were both still screaming, of course, but seemed to be fine. I got out, checked them out a little more thoroughly, and then began all of the paperwork. Long story short, everyone was fine (praise the Lord), my car was a little scratched and the license plate was dented, but the bumper of the Lexus looks pretty bad. We were very fortunate, though, that the Lexus belonged to a very friendly neighbor who couldn't have been more awesome to deal with. In fact, if I had to be in a wreck, the guy was the perfect person to be in one with! And the cop was super, too! He didn't even give me a ticket! I think it was either because he knew I was a nurse or because he saw how upset/panicked/apologetic I was. Who knows, but either way, we were extremely lucky!

And how extremely lucky are we to have such amazing friends, too? One of Tyson's former co-workers passed the accident and stopped to help even though it was BLAZING hot and his child was in the car. Thanks, Pat! And also, my amazing friends, Ashley and Ginger, packed up their kids and rushed up to the scene to help me out with the kids. Thanks girls! I don't know what I'd do without you!

Headed Home

Well, tomorrow we are headed back to the Ham. We've had a lot of fun hanging with the parentals and got a lot accomplished in these last 6 days, but it is time to go.

The biggest thing on the to-do list was to get Walker to take a bottle, and it worked! It was actually so much easier than I thought, thank goodness! He still isn't taking quite as much as he needs to, but that will take some time as he gets used to the bottle and formula. Yay! I am so relieved...now I can actually be away from my child for more than 2 hours AND I can go on the wives' trip in September AND Walker can go to Mother's Day Out in September AND Tyson can keep Walker while I work and not have to deal with a screaming baby for 12 hours AND most importantly, maybe now Walker can get a little chunkier! Woo hoo! I can't convey how big of a stresser this was for us.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting us invade your space, mess up your routine, eat all of your food, interrupt your business calls, "break stuff," clutter your house, take up so much bed space, run up your power and water bill, and just wear y'all out! We had so much fun! We love you!

**The picture above is taken in front of my dad's new "handicap rails" (as I call them) before Jake and my mom headed to church. Jake actually sat through about 1/2 of the service before getting kicked out! Such a big boy!

Carson's and Spenser's Birthday Party

The birthday boys- Spenser (3) and Carson (4)

Jake devoured the birthday cake!
They had an awesome inflatable slide!...

...but Jake preferred the baby slide.

Ryleigh Kate

My mom and Jace

My sis, Jace, and Courtney

My adorable nephew, Jace.

The birthday boy

Amy and Walker

My grandparents and Walker

All the cousins

(L to R Carson, Walker, Connor, RK, Jake, Chase, Jace, and Spenser)

Again...this time without the guitar.

Connor, Walker, and RK

Jake kept saying "I'm gonna be a rock and roll star!"

We travelled to the big city of McRae, Georgia this weekend for Carson and Spenser's birthday party. Carson turned 4 on August 8th and Spenser will turn 3 August 30th, so their smart Mama threw one big party for the two of them. And man was it big! There were so many kids there!

Not only did we have so much fun celebrating the Ellis boys' birthdays, but we also had fun seeing our family. My sister and her family, my grandparents, and my 3 first cousins and their families were all there. So much fun!

Happy birthday, Carson and Spenser! We love you!