Growing Baby

Ugh! I wrote this March 28 and it never posted...

My baby girl is one! Oh, how the time has flown. She is SUCH a little darling! She is sweet and mischief, all in one. I can't imagine life without her. She has taken to the idea of "toddler" very strongly and spent quite a bit of time just walking around yesterday afternoon. It was quite a shock to Todd and me!

We spent the weekend in Kerrville to celebrate Laine's big day with Todd's parents. They have been at an RV resort there, so we rented one of the on-site cabins close to them. It was a perfect arrangement and we will definitely plan to do it again (though preferably without Todd getting a stomach flu next time). We celebrated on Saturday to maximize the chance to enjoy warm weather before the cold snap blew in for Sunday and Monday. Laine had her first cupcake and enjoyed smooshing all of the icing around! :-) Isaac loved Laine's choo choo train and they have been playing with it together ever since.

We returned home on Tuesday and everyone was happy to sleep in their own beds once again.  Laine opened a few more gifts at home, including a nifty Wheely bug from Aunt Krissy and Uncle Dave, a sweet dress and pants outfit from across the pond, a stuffed lamb with a Sandra Boynton book from the McCrackens, and a "house" from Mom, Dad, and Isaac.

Here is the video update from the past almost-month:
March 1

March 3

March 4

March 6

March 12 - this is their favorite game lately

Learning to walk on March 13

This past weekend...
This was a really cool treehouse at the RV resort

New toy!

LAST NIGHT'S ACTIVITIES!!!

Book Trailer

My friend Amalia had to make a book trailer for a children's book. The kids and I helped. Hollywood, get ready for the Walters! Click here to see the video.

Week in Review

Isaac and I re-discovered the ball thrower. It is MUCH better than me throwing by myself. I am a terrible throw. No dogs were injured in the making of this video...

CRAZY wind storm earlier this week. You can't see much in the video, but listen to the noise. Nuts-o.

This dump truck toy box was made by Todd's grandfather for Todd when he was little. The door says "TJ's Trucking" on it because that was Todd's nickname as a little boy.

This was our entertainment on several different afternoons this week. Laine was napping, so Isaac and I had some fun in the front yard.

This has also been a repetitive activity this week. I am so glad that Isaac now gets excited about playing with Laine!

This little one is all mischief. I have to keep her out of trouble somehow! (Please don't report me; I swear on my life that I have never closed the gate while she is inside).

Isaac has a spray bottle for cleaning the windows (and occasionally himself).

Tonight's entertainment:

Look, Mom, One Hand!

What's Going On

I could explain about my identity being stolen, but it's just annoying. So here are some videos of the kiddos instead.

I love seeing Laine "cruising." Isaac never did this. He would crawl over to something and stand up. He very rarely, if ever, actually continued to walk around it. He preferred to only walk forwards - holding a walker or someone's hands.

It's chilly outside today, so we had a little indoor water-play.

Making her way around the bathroom. Todd leaves for Europe tomorrow morning. He's returning late Friday night. I told him he'd better hurry or he may miss Laine's first steps. She can stand without holding on now and likes to do it. I haven't yet caught it on video, but she's also started to assess whether she can take a step or two to get to something that's just beyond her reach.

Just another day...

Laine is finally starting to eat solid foods. My sister gave me this great recipe for stuffed burgers. It's a good thing the recipe makes 6 burgers because Isaac can down half of one and now Laine wants to get in on the action, too!

This is how we prefer to work off all of that hamburger:

Road Rally

Isaac has a new favorite show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It's not bad, as kids' cartoons go. There's a reason Disney is worth so much money... Anyway, they have an episode called "Road Rally" where Mickey and all of his friends each take a different type of vehicle and go on a little road trip. It's not a race - it's a road rally. Isaac loves this notion. Now any time Laine stands up to walk, Isaac announces a road rally and takes off after her. I have great fun trying to keep him from mowing down his sister and still keep encouraging him to run around and enjoy being a kid. Here are a few of the road rallies from the last week.

We took a family walk on Sunday. We almost didn't get out of the park next door:

Yesterday was 70 degrees and sunny in the late afternoon. It was a rainy morning, which made for the perfect conditions to play in the yard for a while before it finally got dark.

I swear I also take still photos, but the kids are in such constant motion that this is a better way to capture them these days. This way you can hear them, as well, so you can have a better idea of what's going on in our little piece of paradise.

The Latest Videos

Here's what's been happening in our neck of the woods.

Laine turned 10 months old and is the cutest baby girl I know:

Isaac loves her (when he can smoosh her):

Laine started practicing walking (and now you know why I don't post more often). These were taken on January 29, so you can get an idea of how she's progressing:

January 30:

February 4:

Kids playing in the sandbox on a sunny day:

Laine invading Isaac's personal space, which she does a LOT:

I picked up Isaac after school yesterday and we worked on getting out some wiggles before getting in the car to come home for lunch and a nap:

Sometimes, Laine takes a break from learning to walk:

Isaac's grandparents got him a spray bottle and a squeegee for Christmas. He's been "washing the windows" with water for a few days now. He loves doing it! I follow him around and try to keep him from soaking things other than the windows. It's been great for developing the muscles in his hands.

Our little fireman loves water. I finally gave up and ordered him rain boots today. When Austin doesn't get rain for 9 months, I can now be blamed. :-)

I hope you enjoyed the update! It's not that I haven't had anything going on... I am just quite busy chasing 2 little people around the house, yard, school, 

Standing by the stairs

Not much time to type, but here's today's adventure. She did this for about 15 minutes.

The Road to Crawling

A story in videos...

October 16:

November 18:

November 19:

November 21:

November 28:

December 9:

December 28:

Also December 28 (roughly 1 minute after the last video):

Since I shot the last vidoe, Laine has not done a *single* belly crawl to get anywhere. LOL! She has been low-crawling to various places like the bookshelf, the small trampoline, or the bottom stair and then pulling herself up to a stand. She's not confident enough to stand upright, but she does get her feet under her while she remains bent forward. If she could reach a little higher, I have no doubt that she'd be standing upright most of the time. Good news for mommy, however, is that "real" crawling seems to be new and exciting enough to delay her *wanting* to stand in one place, so she's just motoring around and not standing for the last day or so. This is great because she stood on her own 5 times, at increasingly longer lengths, on Christmas Day.

Baptismal Gown

This post is just for Nana. I forgot to post pictures of Laine in her beautiful gown. I am sure someone with better editing software could do a good job accommodating for all of the light being behind her, but I couldn't do much to brighten the images. I hope you still enjoy them!

Wurst Fest

I apologize for the delays in posting lately. Our computer seems to be having "technical difficulties" with the extra storage drive (where the photos are stored) or Picasa (our photo editor).

Grandma helps Isaac with his hat.

Isaac and Laine in their lederhosen and dirndl, respectively. Grandma made these fantastic outfits for the kids!

Isaac takes Grandma for a walk around Landa Park.

Baby Girl and Daddy

Baby Girl and Mommy

Isaac, pausing long enough for a quick photo before running off again! :-)

Baptism Weekend

Laine and Todd before the baptismal service. Laine practicing her newest trick. LOL

The Walter family!

Reading the service leaflet

Mom and blue-eyed girl:

Todd's sister Shannon has agreed to be Laine's godmother, so she and the kids came all the way to Austin for the service! It was wonderful to have (almost) Todd's entire family here at once. We missed Scott. :-)

Godmother and goddaughter

The girls!

The McCrackens and Laine

Cute kiddos

SAND!

Kate and Grandma digging up dinosaur bones

Laine was not impressed:

Cousins!

Isaac helping Isaac to dig at another park. Sensing a theme?

Grandparents with all four grandkids!

Fun at the park:

Isaac goofing off with Grandma: