where does the time go?

my son looks 4 years old here. i feel like it will feel like he goes from 19 months to 4 years old overnight. people always tell you to enjoy your kids while they are young, because it goes by so fast. i always thought to myself… “yeh yeh yeh… i know, i know”. it sounds so cliche, but really, it’s TRUE. it seems like yesterday we brought levi home from the hospital:

and zoe…

it’s crazy how fast 3 months goes by…

sleeeeeep #…

when david and i are chatting with a couple who are either a) about to get married or b) just married, we have 2 things that we always tell them is essential:

1- communication.

and 2- a king size sleep number bed.

i know, it’s a tad specific. but seriously, neither one of us have EVER slept so well in our entire lives as we did the first night we slept on a king size sleep number. and, to be honest, there were no more fights in the middle of the night telling the other that he or she is being a bed hog. i seriously remember being so stubborn as to getting up in the middle of the night to turn on the overhead light just so he could SEE how much space he was taking up.

having a sleep number is wonderful. it’s kinda like a dvr. you keep holding off and holding off and finally give in. then once you got it, you never want to go without it again. (which may be a bad analogy for me, seeing as how i blogged earlier about not have satellite or cable, only antenna, but i’d like to add a disclaimer that i DESPERATELY miss my dvr.)

we used to have a queen sized regular bed during the first year of our marriage. i cannot tell you how many times i woke up almost falling off the bed from lack of sleep space. and uncomfortable, too hard of a sleep space at that. then we sold our house and had to live with my parents for a few months, and that is when we were introduced to the sleep number. the rest, as they say, is history. not a day goes by that i am not eternally grateful to my parents for so graciously letting us take the wonderful bed with us when we moved into our new house.

these days, i’ve fallen even more in love with my sleep number. right now, there is not a better feeling in the world than crawling into my #15 side of the bed in the middle of the night after being up to feed zoe at 3:00am. no tossing and turning required, just a swift move in, lay my head on my lovely brookstone super soft nap pillow, and simply drift off to sleep as i dream about how completely comfortable i am.

and don’t think that i love it more than david. i promise, every single time he comes home from traveling, he lays down and literally says out loud, “this is seriously, the most comfortable bed EVER… there is nothing like it.”

so from the bottom of our hearts, mom and dad, thanks for the king size sleep number.

and to all you couples out there: take the advice. it’s completely worth it.

favorite recent pics

levi at uncle kyle and aunt kristen’s wedding, august 14, 2010… photo by jeslyn lanier

snapshot of zoe, september 15, 2010. i call this the “sleepy smile”… she was trying so hard to go to sleep and i was kept waking her up by taking pictures.

david and i headed to our 10 year high school reunion, august 28, 2010. really? it’s been 10 years? (and yes, my husband is super hot…)

free tv, constant vacuuming, and sleep

so david and i canceled our satellite. now we only have an hd antenna, and to tell the honest truth, i haven’t missed having a satellite one bit. not only is it saving us $90 a month, but the down time that i DO have (once in a blue moon), i don’t spend in front of the tv. i actually do things that NEED to be done, like… well… CLEAN.

you think that adding a child to the family only doubles the work, but it fact it raises it exponentially. how this happens, i do not know. i DO know that i unknowingly contributed to it the moment that i gave achilles away to some great friends of ours. i never knew how much of a professional vacuum cleaner he was until he was gone. especially having a toddler who loves to tote around pretzel sticks (then steps on them to create pretzel DUST), cereal bars (then smears them into the floor), and apple slices (then spits out just the skins and wipes them on the floor). leaving david and i to only sigh and come to this realization: we need to vacuum EVERY DAY. do we? unfortunately, no. only when we are brave enough to risk waking sleeping babies do we do this at night, and if it’s during the day, levi follows us around the entire time trying to “help” by turning the vacuum cleaner off and on. so really it just depends on what battle you feel like fighting at the moment. right now, i feel like fighting that battle for sleep. for now, the vacuuming can wait.

hey… this is my life. and you know what?

i wouldn’t trade it for the world…

the new walker family…

i’m back… or at least trying to be. here’s some updates in the walker household.

let me start off by saying, having 2 kids is crazy. i always thought that going from 0 to 1 would be the hardest. it makes sense. you don’t have a child one day and the next you do have one. total life change, right? right. so obviously when going from 1 to 2 i thought i might have it a little under control. well, almost 11 weeks later, i can finally say that i am just NOW getting things a LITTLE under control. a little bit. having two in diapers is HARD. not really the diaper part (unless you want to count zoe’s ability to blow out at least a diaper a day), but just the communication part. levi is just now understanding me when i tell him that he cannot get in the bouncy seat while zoe is in there… or hold onto both my legs wanting to be held while i am carrying his sister. he might not like the fact that he has to wait, but at least he understands.

speaking of communication, i think levi is learning a new word everyday. some of his favorites: da (for daddy), mama, more, cracker, juice, wa-wa (water),  nana (banana), apple… (can you tell he likes to eat?), hot, lala (for elmo… la la la la elmo’s world), done, pool, yo ga ga (yo gabba gabba), up, off, on, rock, car, truck, round n’ round,  and kyle (evidently he loves david’s brother). there are others, but we hear these on a regular basis, plus a new word a day. yesterday’s words were clap and school. yes, he goes to school now. 3 days a week, and he has really started to enjoy it. he feels like such a big boy carrying in his spiderman lunchbox. i love it. things he loves to do: go to the pool, jump up and down on the couch (with or without help… he’s supposed to wait for help but he’s a toddler and thinks he’s invincible), looking for rocks, dancing to yo gabba gabba, and climbing on EVERYTHING.

but here’s the million dollar question: what does he think about zoe? well, he LOVES her. he always tries to bounce her in the bouncer, give her a paci (which ends up being shoved in her cheek but hey, he’s trying), give her a stuffed animal, or “be sweet” by rubbing her head. the other day i caught him trying to brush her non-existent teeth with his toothbrush and putting his play phone up to her ear (evidently the person on the other end wanted to say hello). so yes, he DOES like her…. but he doesn’t necessarily like it when people are holding her instead of him though. he’s getting better at waiting his turn.

here is a recent picture of the little guy:

now onto zoe. oh sweet zoe. she’s two months old, and such a good baby. she isn’t really bothered by levi trying to “play” with her, and she watches him all the time. zoe loves to smile and coo, especially at her daddy. no one can get her to smile like david. can you tell that he, too, is smitten with his little girl?

with this smile, how could you not be?

easter 2010…

isn’t he handsome?

life… in abundance.

first i must start out with a confession: i have not kept up with the picture a day thing. i will try to do better in the future, and really, that’s all i can promise. haha. i will TRY. chasing after an almost one year old while being 20 weeks pregnant kinda takes a toll on you. need i say more? so. i order to make up for my absence, i will give you one seriously precious picture, along with the story behind it.

this is our daughter, Zoe:

before i even knew i was pregnant, i was putting levi to bed for the night and praying over him as i rocked him to sleep. i looked up at his name painted on a canvas that is hanging over his crib, and instead of “Levi” i saw “Zoe”. and then i felt like the Lord said, “her name is Zoe.” i proceeded to ask Him who exactly He was talking about, but that’s all i got: “her name is Zoe.” okay…

so fast forward about 2 months, when i found out i was pregnant. (again. really? that still blows my mind.) i remembered this whole scene, and i finally looked up what the significance of “Zoe” is. leave it to God to have the perfect name already picked out:

Zoe means LIFE. one of the most prominent verses that “zoe” is used in the Bible is John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

how appropriate. how perfect. how could we possibly name her anything else?

how hard the enemy tried to take the ability to create life away from us. how victorious is the LORD who not only gave us Levi, but gave us “life abundantly” with Zoe. how GREAT is our GOD?

so when we saw this ultrasound and found out that this is Zoe, my heart smiled so big i could hardly contain myself. this is our little girl. this is life. it screams defeat over the theif, and i absolutely love it.

1.26-1.28

1.26:

anyone in there?

1.27: (warning… chubby baby booty below)

he’ll be so embarrassed when he’s older…

1.28:

benefit concert for haiti at the channel…

1.24 & 1.25 : “favorites”

1.24

my favorite lamp. i got the lampshade at an antique sidewalk sale for $5.

1.25:

new favorite game: spin the top!

1.17-1.23

okay so i’m not gonna lie. i’ve been slack. i missed sunday’s pic of the day AND thursday’s pic of the day. but i did get the other days… i’ve just waited until now to post them. here’s why.

i’ve been super busy trying to get my magazine done, that (although i’m super embarrassed to say this) thursday i sat at my computer all day in my pajamas working.  so i decided to make a rule: if i ever miss a day, i get to steal a picture from one of my friends that has caught my eye. so this picture is for sunday… and it has caught more than my eye… it caught my heart. sunday’s stolen picture is from kim and dave rhodes. it’s a picture of kim and their son, frankie.

1.17:

kim and dave have been in the adoption process for 2 years, trying to adopt frankie from haiti. they were mostly through the process when the earthquake came and devastated the entire haitian population. i cannot begin to imagine the agony of hearing this news and not knowing if your own son is unharmed… and not being able to get to him. thankfully, kim and dave found out soon after the earthquake hit that frankie is okay. the orphanage he was staying in, however, was not.

now listen as i begin to tell you how amazing the Lord of All is…

the rhodes made it their mission to get their story heard. they want their son with them, and literally have done everything in their power to make it happen. it started with an interview on the local news, letters to ANYONE in the US government who could help, and then somehow kim and dave rhodes were on the ABC World News with Diane Sawyer. diane had visited the house where frankie’s orphanage had been moved to this past weekend, and when she picked frankie up and said, “hey frankie” i’m sure that there are no words that could have described kim and dave’s heart at that moment. it’s one thing to hear that your son is okay, but to see him… and see someone pick him up and speak his name… i’m sure they felt relief like they had never felt before.

and then, the impossible happened. everyone got word that frankie was coming home. the government issued humanitarian parole, so now frankie can come home and live until the adoption process is finally complete.

i admire kim so much. she is the pure example of a mother who will stop at NOTHING to be with her son. she literally did everything in her power to get her son home, and as of today, january  23, 2010, i’m so thrilled to say that frankie is at home, in greer, south carolina, with the most amazing family who loves him more than anyone will ever know.

so… to get me to stop crying… i will proceed with the other pictures of the day…

1.18:

levi trying to play the piano with david. he loves music, he loves instruments, and he loves doing anything with his daddy.

1.19:

silly bands. i had never heard of these, but evidently they are super popular right now with kids. i took a picture of them for an ad in the magazine.

1.20:

the flaming volcano at kanpai. we celebrated david’s mom’s birthday there wednesday night.

1.21: guest pic taken by amanda bass

levi and his friend, rome, playing together. it looks more like they are fighting, but evidently they were trying to feed each other that green toy, and taking turns doing so.

1.22:

this is rome’s mom, amanda. if she read my blog, she would kill me for putting this up. good thing she doesn’t read my blog 😉

and last, but certainly not least…

1.23:

frankie rhodes is home. praise the Lord!