Ellie's Starts Preschool...

Despite my blubbering and hovering over Brig starting kindergarten, I like preschool.  We do co-op style with 3 or 4 other moms and take turns teaching. Its low-key, tailored to what we want, with people we know and love and lots of fun for the kids.

Ellie started her first year with 3 other girls...yes...4 girls, it is bound to be fun! Kali, Millie, Rosie and Ellie. We were pretty excited.

She looked so grown up and beautiful on her first day, I was amazed that it had come so fast. But I was so excited for her and knew she would love it.

And then. Then...two weeks into preschool I was driving her to the house and she told me that she wanted to walk in by herself. I was cool with that. It wasn't far or dangerous in any way! But then she got out of the car, walked her cute little self to the door, rang the doorbell and went in the house. Without me. She didn't even need my help! And I kind of started the blubbering all over again. How is SHE big enough to do that already?!?! I remember when she was born I would think of what she would look like when she was 3 or 4 and what she would be like. It was incredibly surreal for me to realize in that moment as she walked in the door to her preschool that the moment I thought about had arrived. She is more wonderful than I could have ever imagined as I held that beautiful newborn in my arms 4 years ago!

So, here is to these amazing people who are growing up before my eyes and I can't do a thing to stop it...

Brig Starts Kindergarten...

Just like that.

He goes to school.

And he is so excited and I am so excited for him...but man, my heart sure hurts. I am going to miss this guy so much! But he is going to do so great.

Today is his full, real day but on Monday he had his orientation where he went and met his teacher and became a little more acquainted with this whole school thing. And the parents got to attend also. While he was there, the teacher read a book about a raccoon who goes to school for the first time, at night. She asked why he would be going at night and Brig raised his hand to answer. She called on him and he said, "Because raccoons are awake at night and sleep during the day. Actually they are nocturnal." She was clearly impressed. And we were pretty proud!

But today! Today I am trying to hold my heart together because I dropped him off with hundreds of other kids and they are going to take him for 6 1/2 hours!!!! That is a long time.

 

 

 I know he is going to do great but I am a little sad about the ending of an era. However! I will now focus on the positive!

He was up bright and early getting his stuff ready for today. He told me he is excited for four things...recess, friends, lunch and reading. He has been looking forward to eating turkey sandwiches for lunch at school for quite a while now! He has some really good kids in his class and I hope they will become best friends- even lifelong friends!

 

 

 

Afterwards I was comforted to find a little support group of some of my friends who are also dropping their kids off for the first time. I was grateful that I wasn't the only one in tears! It was pretty hilarious to see us.

I may or may not have drove back at his recess with binoculars to see if I could see him. And I only left because one of the staff members came and asked what I was doing and checking out if I was some shady character spying on the kids. Nope...just a pathetic first time mom who is rather resentful of the school for taking her son for so long!!!

I can't wait to hear all about it at 3:30 today!!!

I sure love this roller coaster called motherhood!

 

The Water Was Blue...

This handsome kid lost his first tooth...officially. It is actually the third tooth that has come out of his mouth- but the other two weren't exactly lost...they were extracted. He pulled it out all by himself in the bathroom one morning after gently wiggling it for about 2 weeks. He was so excited! The tooth fairy would be coming and he knew the drill! Our tooth fairy has you put your tooth in a cup of water and then leaves your money in it the next morning...the exciting part...she magically dyes the water to let you know how you are doing with your brushing. Last time after having his 2 molars pulled- the water was red. He was so excited that the water was blue this time! And he is $1 closer to getting his hunting dogs. (more on that another time I am sure...he is one determined saver!)

 

First Soccer Season...

This spring, Brig played soccer for the first time.  It was pretty fun! And our team was jam-packed with all the cool kids!!! Uncle Ammon was our coach and several different people requested to be on the same team so we got the best team ever!

 

 

While they may not have been the most skilled team or the team that won the most games, (They didn't officially keep track...but I think we may have won one game!) our team was certainly the team that had the best time. The sidelines were just as fun or more fun than the playing field...for the team and the parents!

 

 

Brig loved it and tried so hard! I was so proud of his optimism, excitement and willingness to try.

 

 

Go Golden Eagles!!

 

Jase is 1...

Our Jaser-Roo turned 1! I can't believe that it has already been a year since this blessing of a boy came into our life! He is such a fun kid...

We kicked off his birthday with our traditional birthday pancakes. Other than that it was pretty mellow- which fits this mild-mannered boy perfectly!

 

He loved his brownie cake and ate a ton of it...like almost half a pan of brownies by himself...although he was sweet enough to share with everyone else!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few Jase tidbits:

He can say hi, hot and all done.

He isn't walking...although he did take his first steps just a few days after his birthday.  He's just not really interested because he crawls so fast...he looks like a little bear.

He is such a tease...he likes to make people laugh and knows when he is being silly.

He adores his brother and sister...he particularly loves wrestling with Brig.

He DOES NOT however, like when they are hugging me or sitting on my lap. That's kind of a no-no to him and he will come right over and do his best to remove them.

He will all of a sudden feel super lovey and just plant a huge kiss on your mouth. Open mouthed.  Then he is in the mood and will pass kisses out to the whole family. It's the BEST!

He loves balls. He has right from the start. 

He is not a super great sleeper...like he consistently would wake up 2-3 times a night and I would nurse him back to sleep...although the night of his birthday I did make him cry it out and he is doing so much better! There is hope!!

He makes the silliest scrunchy faces.

He has slightly strawberry blonde hair.

 

There are many reasons why we love this boy but the one that I will finish with today is because he is so sweet. He will let other people hold him and has a special sweet spirit that he brings to our home. We sure love him!

 

 

 

 

Happy 1st Birthday Jase!

Snip, Snip...

Jase got his first haircut.  It is hard to tell a huge difference...besides the fact that his eyes look super puffy in the first picture (he just woke up) but I am never one to let my kids hair get very long before I have to get my hands on it!

It is hard to tell in the top picture but Jase had very strawberry toned hair.  It looks pretty blonde now that it is cut but for a while I thought we were going to have a red head!

 

 

 

Jase 1st haircut 10/24/14

Mini-Super Senior...

Brig graduated from preschool today...but will be back for one more round next year. 

Since his birthday is in the summer, we decided to wait and send him to school when he is 6. I am thinking I want to keep our lives un-dictated by schedules school books for one more year. Plus- he and his sister will be closer in school and he's not really chomping at the bit to leave me yet. I'm ok with that. 

So here's to 3 years of preschool! 

The Two-Wheelin' Kid...

Brig learned how to ride his bike on 2 wheels! And we can't slow him down now! He LOVES riding his bike up and down our little lane...

 

 

To motivate Brig when he was learning, Cory told him they could have a drink of soda to celebrate if he reached his goal...they were all pretty happy about that little success!

 

 

As Brig was learning, we would try to push him and encourage him to go a certain distance or make it to a certain landmark...but it wasn't until he chose what his goal was that he really had success.  He had to decide on his own but once his goal was set and his mind was made up- with a grunt of determination...he was off!

I love that about this boy...if he sets a goal- he is quite determined and super motivated by it!

(Therefore, we have tons of charts and jars and little motivators around our house...more on that some other time!)

 

Meet Jase Henry...

We are so happy to have this little guy join our family!

7lbs 10 oz

 

 I will try to write his birth story in its entirety here...so anyone is welcome to skip all the details:)

We were scheduled for an induction because unlike my other pregnancies...I was not super progressed and Christmas was drawing closer.  We wanted to try to avoid having his birthday on Christmas or as close to it as possible. 

This pregnancy had me feeling a little more anxious.  I just couldn't get comfortable with going to our small town hospital where we have had our other two babies, so we decided to leave our doctor (whom we really loved) and try a doctor in Boise and the big hospital. So Tuesday morning we went to Boise and left our other two kids with Cory's parents.  We got things started at around 8:00 am.  We loved our nurse! She was so great. She told us how our doctor had a reputation of being "efficient" and he really likes to get things rolling.  So he started me on Pitocin at a 6 (most doctors start at a 1 or a 2).  By 10:30 I had an epidural and things were looking pretty good- we were most likely going to have our little baby at around 12:00.  Then the nurse started to feel around and move the heart rate monitor and then she just slipped the oxygen mask on me.  She said his heart rate was dropping but she didn't seem worried so we stayed pretty calm too.  Then all of a sudden she hurried and called the doctor with a little bit of urgency.  He was literally in the room in less than 7 minutes--he walked in, looked at the monitors, slipped into his gloves and jacket as he sat down, checked me and said "Oh good, you are a 10.  Push."

Ok.

Three contractions and less than 3 minutes later...our handsome little baby boy was born. 

 

The doctor told me I could lift him onto my chest after his head crowned and apparently the cord had been wrapped around his neck (which was the reason for his heart rate dropping). Our doctor was so "efficient" and composed that we didn't feel like this was a stressful situation at all.  I think that had our nurse not been on top of her game things could have potentially progressed to something a little more serious.  We felt quite reassured that had been the reason we needed to go to Boise this time.

I'm so grateful for the Holy Ghost's influence in our lives.

 

Jase was quite healthy looking when he was born.  He looked so tiny to us but he was our biggest baby yet...weighing in at 7lbs and 10 oz.  He had such a furrowed little brow.  It didn't really 'un-furrow' until a day or two later either. 

One of the biggest miracles of a new baby is how much a mom can love that baby right away.  I always kind of wonder if I will have to share the love that is in my heart but each time I realize that the capacity to love just grows and intensifies with each new member of our family.  I loved Jase right away...even if we didn't know what we were going to name him.

Ellie and Brig were not the biggest fans of the hospital and only stayed for a few minutes. Other than the big brother and big sister, our visitors were my parents and Aunt Monica and Aunt Sydney, and Cory's parents, a random second or third cousin that happened to be at the hospital and our good friend Scott, who helped give Jase a blessing.

 

 

Jase had low blood sugar when he was born and had to have his blood tested so many times (he had blood drawn probably about 9 times!) His little heels still have marks from the needles.  Thankfully, after a blessing and trying to get lots of milk in this sweet boy, we were cleared to go home the next morning. 

 

 

We had the ok to go home, but we still didn't have a name.  That is kind of important! We had several names that we were considering but finally decided on Jase Henry.  I wanted a name that seemed relaxed and laid back- and as sweet as this new baby!

 

 

We are all so grateful to have baby Jase a member of our family and he is loved to pieces! Especially by his big brother and sister!!!

 

Just Me and My Dad...

Cory and Brig attended their first father and son's campout. 

To say that Brig was excited would be a complete understatement!

He could hardly contain himself.

 

 

He was a little more timid once they were up there and when they called to tell Ellie and I goodnight that evening he got a little homesick.  But he says that he had a great time!

Flying High...

I mentioned earlier that while Janis was here the boys went on an airplane ride. Here are a few more pictures of that fun experience...

 

 

 

 

 

Janis was able to fly the entire time (except for the landing) and they even flew over our house.  He must have done a pretty good job because when they landed this is how I found this handsome guy...

He fell asleep the last five minutes but he loved it and added it to his list of jobs that he wants to do when he grows up:)

 

The Tooth Fairy's Visit...

Yes, we have had our first visit from the Tooth Fairy.  However, we first had several visits to the dentist, where we learned that Brig had some pretty bad cavities (that much was obvious, even to those who haven't been through dental school!) and that they needed some immediate attention.

So, the dentist did a temporary filling since Brig was so young when we first took him in (about 2 1/2) and we all thought he wouldn't do very well going through the whole full-fledge cavity thing.

And then they had to refill it...3 times!

We had had enough and knew that some definitive action needed to be taken...we were thinking a crown.

The dentist thought they needed to be extracted. And when one tooth abscessed, we agreed.

 

 

So, after a visit to the oral surgeon, some sleepy juice, some laughing gas and a really nice dental assistant...Brig has 2 less teeth.

Not really the ones we thought would first beckon the Tooth Fairy to our house.

 

 

But we got ready for her arrival and Brig even made a little notebook to write back and forth with her.

 

 

These are the holes where his teeth once resided.

 

 

Apparently, the Tooth Fairy that was over the Walker house when Cory grew up had the kids leave their teeth in a cup of water. So, since our name is Walker...I suppose we had better do the same.

 

 

And she came! She left a whopping $1 per tooth in quarters in the water and a nice little note.  Oh...you noticed the water is orange...well the Tooth Fairy kindly reminded Brig that he needed to do a better job brushing his teeth and that is why the water was orange...but if he does better brushing then the next time she comes the water will be blue.  Yeah, she is pretty awesome and clever;)

 

 

Brig was still pretty excited even after a little chastisement and put those quarters right into his "Lego Jar" (more on that later). And yes...brushing has improved. Thanks Tooth Fairy!