Walt turns 3!

Warning! This is a heavy photo laden post. Be prepared to smile!

A certain little fellow at our house turned 3 yesterday. It was bittersweet! Three years ago Eric and I were visiting him in the NICU. Born at 36 weeks he was termed the wimpy, white male. Today at a robust 37 pounds you would never know he was early or that he spent time in the NICU. In some ways...he is still just a baby and in other ways he's proving to us that he's becoming a little boy! He is silly, fun, busy, dirty but likes to have his hands cleaned, caring, and all around awesome! I am a little biased though because he's mine. He will start 3 year old pre-school this fall. He's about 98% potty trained, so yay to having only one child in diapers. Walt is a loving big brother to Ella.

Walt started his morning off with his favorite strawberry iced donuts from Shipley's. Shipley's is a local donut shop and Eric has been taking Walt there for the past year to get donut holes. He usually gets to go there as a reward for something good he's done. After nap time, his friend Lena came over and they splashed around in the baby pool. It was a good way to keep cool on a hot July day. We had a nice steak dinner and then finished off the evening with Wall-E cupcakes and Walt and Lena watched the movie Wall-E!

 

 

 

 

Walt and his friend Lena!



I took these last 2 pictures today. Don't you just love his hair?

Happy 3rd Birthday Walt! Mommy and Daddy love you and we are so proud of you!

P.S. Happy 1st Birthday to our nephew/cousin Ryley! We love you too!

Oh say can you see.....

We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July up at the lakehouse in Guntersville. We spent 10 days basking in the sun, swimming in the lake, eating, jet skiing,fishing, caving at Catherdral Caverns, RV'ing with Aunt Pam and Uncle Ken, napping, and scrapbooking. It is always fun catching up with Jenn and Jon from San Francisco (Eric's sister and brother-in-law). Scot and Susanna didn't travel this year from New York due to the impending birth of their daughter...who by the way was born yesterday at 5:29 a.m. weighing 6 lbs and 15 oz. We are still waiting to hear what they have chosen for her name. Congrats Scot and Susanna and welcom baby girl...Ella has a lot she wants to share with you!

Needless to say, we are home and trying to catch up here at the house. Ella had her 6 month checkup and passed with flying colors. She weighs 17 lbs and 15 oz and is 26inches long. She has started to refuse taking a bottle so our pediatrician suggested trying a sippy cup. That should be interesting. She sort of likes her sweet potatoes and we will try homemade squash today. I think she is going to be picky/particular like me. Eric is taking the kids back to Huntsville this weekend while I work so maybe she will start to like the bottle again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Eric is working on the back porch. He is working on the back wall and then the ceiling can go in. We are also gearing up for Walt's 3rd birthday. I can't believe my little guy will turn 3 on the 19th. We are having Ella baptized on July 25th and it will be an all day celebration with Walt's train party in the afternoon. I've got to get busy making the invitations and mailing them out!

That's basically what this Meyer clan has been up to for the past 3 weeks....a lot of rest and relaxtion. Hope that everyone had a fun 4th and enjoys the rest of your summer!

Santa Rosa Beach

Let me blog backwards just a little bit. We spent a week back in June down at our favorite beach...Santa Rosa near Destin with Maeme, Giggy, Uncle Ben, Aunt Ashley, and cousins Emma Grace and Harris. We almost cancelled our trip due to the oil spill but we didn't and I'm so glad. I was so ready for a vacation...the last long distance trip I had taken was to New Orleans back in September. The beach and the ocean were beautiful and we only saw very small "tar balls". Walt loved the ocean and he searched everyday for whales. Eric did see a school of dolphins swimming one day. Walt made great strides in his swimming efforts using water wings. He was pretty much fearless. Ella enjoyed the pool. It was too hot to take her down to the beach but definitely next trip! Here's some of the high-lights from the trip:

6 months

 
 
 
 

Six months ago today our family was blessed with the most beautiful cherub....Ella Peyton. You have brought such complete joy into our lives and we cherish every moment with you. In a blink you have just blossomed, here's a breakdown:

- you are wearing 6-9 months clothing
- size 2 diapers
- you are approximately 18 lbs but we haven't had your official 6 month check up yet
-you still do not sleep thru the night
-you despise rice cereal and oatmeal, although you love to play with a spoon and watch us eat.
-you have thighs the size of my arms, and the cutest rolls!
-you can roll from back to tummy but haven't figured out how to roll the other way.
-you have just started babbling big "sentences" and blowing raspberries
-you twirl your feet round and round
-you love to take a bath, or swim in the pool.
-you went on your first vacation to Santa Rosa Beach, although you never saw the beach you loved being with the family.

We love you Ella Peyton!

Spit Happens!

So, we decided it was time to let Ella try eating some rice cereal. For a few weeks she has been very intent on watching us eat and if she is sitting in your lap she will try to grab whatever you have in your hand out of it and try to get it to her mouth. She constantly has her thumb or all of her fingers in her mouth. She loves to suck. I guess it's part of teething although thankfully she doesn't have any teeth yet. Here's the results of Ella and her rice cereal experience. It didn't go so well. The girl has a very sensitive gag reflex and as soon as the cereal hit her tongue she was spitting and spewing everywhere. I've read that it takes a baby up to 5 or 6 times to get used to a new food so we won't give up on it. But hey...bring on the sweet potatoes!

A-B-C'S

Walt loves to sing. He sings a lot. He even makes up his own words to the songs. A favorite right now is Brown Bear Brown bear. I couldn't catch him singing it yet but he did perform a nice rendition of the ABC song.....

From Walt video 2010

And here's a few pictures from this week!

Monday Conversations!

Ella has recently started talking a lot more. She has the sweetest voice. I just wanted to share this video.....

From Ella Video