Blog Slump

I've been in a bit of a blog slump. I just can't seem to find the motivation or desire to blog the past little while. I want to because the whole reason I blog is for myself. :) I want to have a record of all the things that go in during these precious years...I have a horrible memory. But lately, I'm just not feeling it...

Anyway, I'm going to attempt to stay on top of things at least monthly at this point. We'll see. Hopefully I'll be out of my slump soon and can maintain my weekly updates.

Here are a few pics of what we've been up to the past 2 weeks. This past weekend was Nonni's birthday. The girls in the family (plus Walker) had a slumber party at mom's house. Neal, Tara, and Steee (my brother Stephen) have been having a facebook competition as to who is Walker's favorite. Uncle Jer decided to put an end to that discussion once and for all. (Walker has LOTS of favorites...)















Tonight, I'll admit...he was eating, Cliff was cooking our dinner and I was checking email after a difficult evening at church. I had the nursery and Walker was just a challenge. Anything and everything he COULD get into, he did. More about that in a minute...here he is at dinner when he wasn't being tended to 100%. We turned back around and his bowl of ranch had made it on top of his head like a hat. What do you do? Take a picture of course!














He's been eating like a big boy the past week or so. We'd noticed he was really just not that into sitting in his highchair. He'd get down and climb into my lap or a vacant chair while we were eating, so we decided to try him at the big boy table in his booster...most nights he gets to actually eat at the table. In the above pic, as you can see, the table was a disaster so he had his tray...but this is a pic of the first night he got to eat like a big boy. I sat in amazement and almost cried as he made it through our entire dinner (we both finished before he was ready to get down) and he ate his dinner with his fork. I know this is no big deal...but it is. It's a milestone. He's growing up. (or maybe I was just glad to be sitting and enjoying a meal???)















Two weekends ago, we spent Saturday & Sunday night at Grammie and Papa's. Well, this just made Walker's life. :) We were without heat but thankfully it's all fixed now. Michael Doss rocks. :) Aunt Red and I took Walker to Chick-fil-a that Saturday and he had a blast playing on the Toddler Play Land. So fun! We love Aunt Red. We do lots of fun things with her!!















The night before Chick-fil-a, we had a play date with Jenny, Ava, Audrey & Ashley. Of course, one year olds don't look at the camera at the same time...but here they are playing away. Ava has a cool playhouse that Walker just loved! They had the best time together...they are going to be the best of friends. I'm not jumping the gun or anything but Ava Roberts has a nice ring to it, huh? :) (He hasn't quite grasped the "ladies first" concept...)

After the kiddos went to bed (and mom came to get Walker for bed at her house), Jen, Ash and I had an incredible night. It was so good to be in the same room with the two of them (college roomies!) at the same time. There's just so much that's missed when you live far away and primarily communicate over email. I love those girls...they are such a part of me in a way that can't be replaced.

Ok...so back to what happened at church tonight. Walker was just very challenging. Discipline is hard! Today was an exceptionally hard day. He tested me to the extreme tonight at church...one of the things he did (and there were many) was that he kept trying to climb the side of the changing table. He'd already gotten a "hard" spanking from Daddy this morning before church for standing in the chairs in the kitchen over and over and over and over...but back to tonight. After about 4 times, I finally wrapped my arms around him from behind and said quietly in his ear "Walker, if you climb this again, Mommy is going to have to pop your leg...and I really don't want to do that in front of your friends..." Well, he wiggled out of my arms and reached down and popped me on the leg. I failed miserably in my reaction. I was just so shocked I didn't know what to do...so all I did was tell him that we don't pop mommy...and I know that wasn't good enough. But, now there is no doubt in my mind that he knows exactly what I am talking about. I hate to say it, but I am sure spankings will be frequenting our house a little more in the near future...

I can't just blog and gripe, slump or not... I have to report some of the cute things too. (because they DO far outweigh the challenges...)

He has started giving "piggy kisses" and it melts my heart. I just randomly gave him piggy kisses one day and now he likes to give them to me. His pig "noise" is that he scrunches his nose and breathes quickly in and out...every now and then a snort will come out. So, that's what piggy kisses are, except we put our faces together. I love the sweet smell of his breath when he gives them...
He's also started asking for "burrds" at bedtime. He typically goes to sleep to rain from his white noise machine every night but there's a rainforest setting and apparently the sound of birds is very calming to him. It's cute. :)

He has been doing this a while but has picked up the pace a little lately...he likes to lock himself in the laundry room. When we "find" him, he starts dying laughing and beating on the washing machine. He's also still very much a big help in there. He's gotten really good at pushing in the clothes that I lay on the dryer door. Today, he threw his football in the washer...glad I found it!

He's picked up a few new words this past week too...too bad I can't just add to my blog word wall the way I would in my classroom. :)
Tonight at dinner, he refused to eat his food. He begged for chicken nuggets. What do you do? I have GOT to find a way to get him to eat something other than chicken nuggets. Right now, these are the foods he asks for: cereal, chicken nuggets, pizza, cheese, banana, watermelon, cracker, peanut butter, broccoli and yellow rice. That's it. That's about all his diet consists of right now. Oh, and he'll eat grits...he's lots less picky at breakfast. He'll eat eggs or egg sandwiches too...and of course bacon. :)

I just realized I've ended the last few paragraphs with a smiley. How annoying. :)

And...since the cleaning fairy doesn't appear to be making a stop here tonight, I have to go...duties call.