a couple of firsts today

Tobey is now actually leaving the ground when he jumps.

When Tobey and I were watching Thomas and Friends this afternoon (just started to let him watch that one cartoon a day), and he said to me, "mommy, go."  I felt a little rejected, but then he told Penny and Miles to go too.

I felt like something else happened and now I can't remember...

gotta love this picture

tobey is 21 months old now

21 months sounds pretty old.  Soon we won't even be counting in months any more!  One new thing about Tobey is that he is saying "mommy" instead of "mama".  He is saying a lot more words for sure.  Today during Mass (first day of advent), he told Adam and I that the priest and deacons were wearing purple.  That's pretty smart.  He also yelled out "Jesus" during the consecration...also very smart!  We also measured Tobey's height, and he is now 32.75 inches tall.

Adam has added some pictures to his youtube page so check them out:  http://www.youtube.com/user/Slizide

Also, here is a picture of Tobey yesterday when he turned 21 months.

tobey can count to two...

...but he skips one.  Hehe!  He learned how to say two a few days ago, and now he won't stop.  Everything is two, and he throws up his entire hand with his two fingers crossed.  He must not have the fine motor skills to hold up two fingers so that's what he does.  When someone counts to three, he joins in only to say two.

Tobey is also learning to take turns.  I was watching my friends' kids yesterday, and they all took turns with me letting them fall on pillows.  I would count to three and let them fall over.  Tobey got so excited when it was his turn that he would stomp real fast and say me.  He would then start yelling "two!"

stall tactics

People warned me that this day would come, and here it is.  Tobey has figured out that there are things he can do to delay his bedtime.  The first thing he started to do was to ask for milk, and of course we are not going to deny him that milk.  Next, he started to pick out multiple books for us to read at bedtime.  We have now limited him to two.  He is also crying out for us, mama and daddy.  He never did any of this before.  He simply went to sleep.

adventurous

Tobey is getting a little adventurous.  This is how I found him today.

our little helper

I really wish I got some pictures of this, but it was one of those things that if I got my camera, he wouldn't continue.  Adam and I were hauling mulch to from our driveway to the backyard yesterday, and we were trying watch Tobey at the same time.  To keep him occupied, we told him to help us move mulch with dump truck.  So Adam and I moved mulch with our wheelbarrows, and Tobey moved mulch with his dump truck.  He made about a half dozen trips before he decided he was bored.  That's pretty good though for a 20 month old!

sudden infant dog syndrome

Last night Penny looked cold in the bed so Adam covered her up with the fleece blanket that covers her bed. I didn't like the way he wrapped the blanket around her head because she had no way of breathing so I said "She is going to be breathing in carbon monoxide...you know, like SIDS."
Adam:  SIDS?
me: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Adam: Sudden Infant Dog Syndrome

And then we both lost it.  Adam was laughing so hard that he was crying.  We laughed seriously for 10 minutes straight, and then when Adam laid down to sleep while I read, he started laughing again.  So I said, "Really?  Why are we laughing about this?"
Adam:  I don't know.  It just doesn't make any sense, but when I said it, I thought it did.

And then we laughed more about it for a while.

But honestly, is it really that funny?  This morning I was thinking that it really wasn't that funny.  Yet we continue to laugh about it.

**Disclaimer:  We don't think SIDS is a laughing matter at all, having had an infant ourselves.  It is just funny that Adam thought he was making a joke, but instead he said something that made no sense whatsoever.

blessing

Adam and I finally got a blessing for our miscarriage from Father Jack.  I kept forgetting about it, but as December 22 grows closer, I have been thinking about it much more.  We also set up to have mass said for our intentions at the 6:30am mass on Dec 22nd, 2011 and at the 9am mass on Dec 22nd, 2012.

One thing that was part of the blessing (which of course I don't remember much that was said, but it was all nice) was for patience.  It made me think that we are not getting to meet our baby on December 22, but with patience, we will eventually meet our baby in heaven.

penny, the biker dog

me:  Tobey, who rides on a motercycle?
Tobey:  Penny
me:  Who flies an air ambulence?  (no one I know, but naming things out of his book)
Tobey:  Penny
me:  Well, I sure wouldn't want to be on that plane.  Who drives the fire truck with ladder?
Tobey:  me

tobey's fifth month (june 26 - july 25)

I actually remember quite a bit about this month...probably because I didn't get much sleep.  This month started with our first trip to Fort Myers with Tobey.  It was a long day in the car, and as soon as we got there, Tobey flipped out and was completely inconsolable.  We had a couple of those episodes while we were there, but overall, Tobey did very well for his first time away from home.

When we got back from Fort Myers, I'll never forget, Tobey slept from 9pm to 6am without waking which was the longest stretch he had done. After that, it was all downhill.  The next day he get a shot or two at his 4 month appointment and got his first fever that night.  Needless to say, I was getting up quite a bit to comfort him and to nurse him.  But he got over the fever and was, but he was getting up all the time at night...literally every hour!  It was as if he learned that if he cried, we would come get him.  And all he wanted was to be rocked.  He absolutely refused to co-sleep.  He just wanted to be rocked so for three weeks, I was awake 24/7 (except for the couple of days that Adam stayed up for me so I could sleep).  For those 3 weeks, everyone was completely miserable, especially Tobey who was so sleepy.  He was not getting enough sleep, and it was obvious.  We finally got things sorted out when Tobey turned 5 months, but I'll have to write about that in my next entry.

We also started Tobey on solids this month.  Looking back, I probably should have waited longer, but I was just doing it because my ped told me too.  (Sidenote:  I really didn't mesh well with this ped and eventually switched.  When I told her that Tobey was taking 5 naps a day for 45 minutes each, she said, "oh that's not normal."  Okay, thanks for your feedback!)  Anyways, he just wasn't ready for it.  But feeding him foods was fun for sure.  I think we just tried rice cereal, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes.  I liked them alright, but once he tried fruit, he never went back to those.

Okay, here is what I said on FB:

Casey Jaye Walker Slide Florida bound! Finally leaving...
June 26, 2010 at 7:13 am

Casey Jaye Walker Slide my mom wanted to go for a 6 mile run this morning
at 7am...I got her to compromise by doing a 3 mile run at 8am. She kicked my
butt.
June 27, 2010 at 9:51 am  (doesn't have anything to do with Tobey, but I was apparently able to run 3 miles at 4 months post-partum...)

Casey Jaye Walker Slide just listened to my mom and aunt tell me about all the
shells they have collected and how they want to enter them into competitions.
When I laughed at them, I was told "When you find [such and such rare shell],
you start to go a little crazy! And you can get your picture in the paper."
June 27, 2010 at 8:16 pm  (and this is funny)

Casey Jaye Walker Slide My grandma just told me the story of when my
parents brought Jessica Gomez home from the hospital. I said "Oh Ko-ko. Oh
Ko-ko." And then I bit her foot.
June 28, 2010 at 8:12 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide the beach was a success today. the little man did not
get angry...partly b/c he was going to town on his thumb.
June 29, 2010 at 10:36 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide <3 <3 <3 <3 Tobey <3 <3 <3 <3
July 1, 2010 at 7:56 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide can't wait until my little ishwan (Jessica Gomez) and
Tobey's only uncle (David Gomez) get here this afternoon!
July 2, 2010 at 10:56 am

Casey Jaye Walker Slide family reunion weekend!
July 2, 2010 at 9:28 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide I'm not looking forward to driving back to Georgia
tomorrow, but I am really looking forward to seeing my dogs! I miss Penny and
Miles soooo much!

Casey Jaye Walker Slide my baby is now 13 lbs 3 oz (25%) and 25.5 in (75%).
he is such a sweet boy! new pictures coming soon.
July 6, 2010 at 7:00 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide tobey had his first fever last night. it was a little
rough...
July 7, 2010 at 8:19 am

Casey Jaye Walker Slide my baby is laughing out loud! :)
July 7, 2010 at 4:16 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide back from the pediatricians, and Tobey checked
out just fine. His sleepless nights for this past week were blamed on teething.
Ironically, they gave me paperwork on teething that said that teething does not
cause sleep problems.
July 12, 2010 at 2:47 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide Tobey loved his rice cereal! I was so surprised to see
him grabbing the bowl and spoon and opening up for each bite. I think he may
not have been sleeping because he was hungry because he is out like a light
now (unswaddled). Poor little fella!
July 12, 2010 at 8:08 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide TGIF! So glad Adam can help me tonight with
Tobey! For the last 10 nights, I have pretty much stayed up all night rocking
him b/c he would cry otherwise for seemingly no reason at all.
July 16, 2010 at 6:35 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide so thankful for Adam Slide who made it possible for
me to get a full night's rest! I love you! :-*
July 17, 2010 at 9:08 am

Casey Jaye Walker Slide Adam: What do you want to do tonight?
Me: Order some more cloth diapers.
Adam: That is what you want to do on your Saturday night?
July 17, 2010 at 7:37 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide Tobey thinks that sweet potatoes are yummy! (Much
yummier than oatmeal and rice cereal.)
July 20, 2010 at 10:10 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide oh man! The dogs just ate my sandwich!
July 21, 2010 at 11:16 am (again, nothing to do with Tobey, just funny)

Casey Jaye Walker Slide me: so I got the last of the cloth diapers in the mail
today.
adam: so it's done?
me: it's done.
adam: did you post something on facebook about that?
July 23, 2010 at 7:58 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide movie and milkshakes with my baby (my husband
baby, not my baby baby)
July 24, 2010 at 10:01 pm

Here are the pictures:

 All of us and our babies

 Great Grandma Fisher and Tobey

 Swimming in the baby pool

 Swimming in the ocean

 Wearing Grammy's hat

 With cousin Aiden

A friend of mine got this from her home country of Brazil

5 months old - July 26, 2010

end of an era

I haven't nursed Tobey in a week so I think it's safe to say that we are officially done.  I really liked nursing and having that special bond with him.  Ideally, I wanted to make it to 2 years, but I can't force it.  I really have only nursed him when he has asked me since he was about 15 months, but he doesn't ask anymore.  Instead he asks for trains and train books. But to nurse for 20 months is really good, and I know he got a lot of good value out of it, as did I.

babies

We were talking to Tobey tonight about when Penny was a baby so we started asking him if he remembered other babies he has seen.  The end of the conversation went like this:

Me:  Do you remember cousin Ezra?  You are related to him by blood.
Tobey:  Blood.

God find us

God finds us.  We do not find him.

I have heard that 3 times in less than 24 hours.  Trying to make sense of it all, but I think it just means that as hard as we may try to look to find God, He has already presented Himself around us and in us.

Okay, crying baby, but hooray for 1 hour 45 minute naps with feet straight up in the air against the side of his crib!  Actually, he isn't crying as much as he is just saying, "Daddy".  Man, this kid loves his dad.

advent

I've never really done much for advent except for light candles and do evening readings, but this year I am committing to a 6*6 plan...waking up 6 days a week at 6 am.  By doing this 6*6 plan, I should have more time to pray and read my Bible uninterrupted.  If I have more time, I'd like to get dressed and ready for the day and maybe even eat breakfast.  However, Tobey often wakes at 6am, but I am pretty sure I can't do any earlier than 6.  We'll see how it goes, but maybe I'll do better at it since I am saying I'll do it on my blog.

I'm also going to spend 30 minutes, 3 times a week, cleaning.  So I guess that's a 3*3 plan?  I really hate cleaning, but advent is only 4 weeks so I think I should be able to commit to cleaning 90 minutes a week for 4 weeks.  Plus, I'll hopefully have a clean home for Christmas!

5 year anniversary

So I couldn't find pictures from each anniversary, but I think that's something we'll make sure we do every year going forward.  I made sure we took plenty from our 5th anniversary on 11/11/11.

Adam and I had really been struggling to figure out what we wanted to do for our anniversary.  We tried to book something in Asheville, but everything was full.  To make a long story short, after all our wasted time and effort, we decided to just go out to dinner.

On our anniversary morning, a friend of my sister's sent me a message saying she could get us a room at the Ritz Carlton for only $125.  Adam and I jumped at the opportunity because when else could we ever afford to stay at the Ritz.

So we go to check in, and the guy tells us that since it's our anniversary, they upgraded us to a special suite on the 20th floor.  Adam and I are thinking this is awesome because we expected just a standard room.  But then we got up to our room (The Buckhead Suite), and the door to our room was actually double doors, like what you would see in a movie.  We walked inside, and we were just floored.  There was a dinning room, living room, bedroom on the corner of the building, 2 bathrooms, wood floors, and a shower that was its own room and included a hot tub inside the shower room.  The suite was at least 1000 sq ft if not as big as our house.

So it gets better.  My sister's friend works on the club floor in the lounge, and she slipped us a key so that we could get free drinks and food.  We ended up getting free drinks, appetizers, desserts, breakfast, and lunch.  It was unbelievable.  Then my sister's friend tells us that there are only 6 special suites in the Ritz, and we were in one of them.  There is one more like ours, two that are a step up, and another two that are a step up from that.  She also said that our room retails for $1500 a night!  Adam and I just kept saying that this would be the nicest hotel room we would ever stay in so we had to enjoy it.

Here are some pictures from our stay!

 Our view of downtown (we were in Buckhead)

 One of the bathrooms

 The shower room (hot tub is on the left)

I am pouring nasty bubble water into the hot tub because it tasted gross (note the slippers).

wow, 5 years

Today is our 5 year anniversary, and we will be going to dinner at a restaurant called Parish in Inman Park and then staying at the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead.  It's fun to think back to each of our anniversaries and what we did:

1 year - Cruise
2 years - Provino's
3 years - Outback
4 years - some southern style kitchen in Atlanta (I'll have to ask Adam what it was called)
5 years - Parish and Ritz-Carlton

I should have taken a picture each year on our anniversary...maybe I did...I'll have to see...but someone is calling mama now so I need to go.

sad

The due date for the baby that we lost is quickly approaching.  I had been handling it pretty well, but it seems that every time I turn my head, someone is having a baby or someone is pregnant.  And while I am so happy for all these people, it is just a reminder to me that had we not miscarried, we'd be only 7 weeks away from meeting our baby.

I remember Adam and I talking about how we'd probably be pregnant again by the end of the summer which would bring added meaning to the miscarriage in that if it weren't for a miscarriage, we wouldn't have this other baby.  But it is nearly winter and nearly Christmas and nearly December 22 and not pregnant.

God knows what He is doing, but that doesn't take away my sadness.  I wish I were 7 weeks away from meeting Adrian.

loving our new life

I have to say that I am really loving that fact that Adam got laid off.  It has really been nice to have him home, not only to help me out, but also just to be able to spend time with him during the day.  I know that he and Tobey are really enjoying this time too.  I think Tobey is going to have a breakdown when Adam starts a new job.  He really has been become really attached to "dadee".

So far, in only 2 weeks, Adam has received one offer, has had many interviews, and even more phone calls from recruiters.  Thankfully, the one offer that he did receive is giving him until January 1st to respond which means that he has plenty of time to explore more options knowing that he has a fallback.  Actually, the fallback doesn't sound too bad and would be something Adam would consider taking regardless.

Despite the fact that being laid off due to budget cuts is just not a fun thing to go through, this really has been a blessing for us.  Adam needed a shove in order to look for a better job.  Not only will he be getting a better job, he is getting to stay home with us for a few months.  We are really excited to see what happens in the weeks to come.

tobey's favorite words

old
new
green
blue

When we told Tobey yesterday that his hair was "wild", he corrected us by saying that it was "new".

tobey's fourth month (may 26 - june 25)

Once again I don't remember much about this month.  What I do remember is that Tobey discovered his feet, and it was super cute to see him playing with them!  We also got more into using cloth diapers, and we even began to use them full time, even overnight.  Tobey still took the majority of naps on me, and we really struggled to keep him entertained.  He seemed to get bored with whatever we showed him after about a minute or two so we were constantly trying new things to entertain him.  Here are my Facebook statuses:

Casey Jaye Walker Slide Tobey is 3 months old today! Fourth trimester is finally over!

May 26, 2010 at 8:46 am

Casey Jaye Walker Slide Don't feel like you need to get up at 5:30 every morning, Tobey. Mommy might be more fun if you slept in a little.

May 28, 2010 at 6:20 am

Casey Jaye Walker Slide got 10 hours of sleep! It's a memorial day weekend miracle!

May 29, 2010 at 10:47 am 

Casey Jaye Walker Slide 4 more pounds to get to my prepregnancy weight and 4 more weeks until we go to Florida.

May 30, 2010 at 4:12 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide is preparing herself for a long night. We are trying to transition Tobey to sleep without being swaddled. The first step: Go from a double swaddle to a single swaddle.

June 1, 2010 at 9:44 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide was up from 12:30am to 5:30am when she finally let Tobey just sleep on her. This boy really relied on that double swaddle. Today will be a regular coffee day instead of a decaf day.

June 3, 2010 at 8:20 am

Casey Jaye Walker Slide tonight trying the double swaddle but with one arm out and just a t-shirt instead of a sleeper with no positioner and the fan on. hopefully this will prove to be a winning combo.

June 3, 2010 at 6:54 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide Tobey took a nap in his crib instead of on his mommy!

June 4, 2010 at 2:55 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide wow i <3 my baby.

June 5, 2010 at 7:27 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide had a leak with the one size Fuzzibunz (only the second time Tobey wore them). So disappointed! I am hoping I just did not have them adjusted correctly.

June 7, 2010 at 9:18 am

Casey Jaye Walker Slide My baby took a 2 hour nap in his crib today like a big boy!

June 7, 2010 at 9:18 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide is so thankful to be a SAHM!

June 9, 2010 at 3:41 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide Tobey put his foot in his mouth!

June 12, 2010 at 10:36 am

Casey Jaye Walker Slide Tobey's new favorite activity: Sticking his whole fist in his mouth, chocking on it, taking it out, and repeating...all day long. Occasionally, he will substitute his foot for his fist.

June 17, 2010 at 10:10 am

Casey Jaye Walker Slide 's baby has been squealing all day! He learned how to make a squealing sound, and now he won't stop.

June 21, 2010 at 9:41 pm

Casey Jaye Walker Slide loves tobey's new rumparooz! thanks Abigale Attridge for the suggestion!

June 25, 2010 at 11:53 am

Casey Jaye Walker Slide can't wait to take my little Tobes to Florida tomorrow! :) He's so cute!

June 25, 2010 at 8:38 pm

And here are some of my favorite pictures from this month:

 Riding Miles

 We were so peaceful

 He didn't like the stroller, but he tolerated the BabyBjorn.

 Really studying that dragonfly

 Started playing in his exersaucer this month

 Yum!  Toes!

 Happy boy!

We let him play on the bed a lot before he got mobile. 

 Toes again

 Our favorite pair of pjs

Happily playing

4 months old - June 26th, 2010

adam's fashion statement

no pants

Tobey is so wild.  He is refusing to wear pants, and sometimes diapers, now.  He all of a sudden is totally into using his potty that we only bought a week ago.  Today, he had his first BM in his potty, but before we could clean it up, a certain someone ate it (MILES, GROSS!).  He also is peeing in the potty and then clapping for himself.  After he had done this, he walked around the house bottomless chanting, "poop poop poop."  I wasn't planning on potty training any time soon, and everything I have read has said to wait until two, as did the ped.  But kids really dictate when they are ready for things, so if Tobey is ready, we may have to get ourselves ready real quick.

trick-or-treat, tobey

Tobey wasn't so sure about going trick-or-treating.  Last year we dressed him up and took pictures, but this year we decided to actually take him to a few houses.  The bad thing is that his bed time is 6:30pm (early bird!), and kids don't even trick-or-treat until about 7pm here.  At about 6:15 we tried to get him in his costume, but this is what he did:

He curled into a ball and started crying because he wanted to take a bath and go to sleep instead.  One thing about Tobey is that he likes his bedtime.  He does not like to stay up late.

It took both of us, but we finally got this little guy in his painter's costume.  We tried to take some pictures, but he wasn't very interested in doing that.  Once we started walking, he got a second wind and did pretty well.  We took him to only four houses, but I think that was more then enough.  We got home just in time to start answering our door for trick-or-treaters.  We let Tobey have one bite of candy, but the rest we gave away.

Here are some pictures from Halloween 2011:

2011                                                    2010

I can't believe he has grown so much since last year!  And is so much more mobile that he wouldn't even sit down for one photo.  I really wanted to get a picture of him sitting next to a pumpkin each year, but I guess it will just have to be a picture of him being next to a pumpkin each year.  2011 will just have to be the year to demonstrate his mobility.

Refused to wear the hat 

Give me candy! 

Checking out his loot 

Getting one bite of one piece