Kirk is ten months old!

It is hard to believe, but Kirk is ten months old!  He is growing so fast and amazing us every day.  He is such a busy baby...always climbing, pulling, laughing and playing.  He has taken a few little shuffle steps on his own and is standing independently for several seconds.  He eats just about everything and seems to really like blueberries and bananas.  He is getting much better at drinking from a cup and has become a much better sleeper.  I am really enjoying spending time with him at home and we have developed a nice little routine.  He is so much fun to play with and we sing and dance all day.  It will be REALLY hard to go back to work in August.  I am thankful for the time I have, though,  and I will enjoy every minute.  He is so precious and time is slipping by so fast. Happy ten month birthday to Kirk! 

Kirk has a new interest in climbing the stairs...very quickly!  He can make it to the second floor of our home in seconds now!  We put up a gate to keep the little monkey downstairs!

He made it to the landing and turned the corner to keep on going!  He sure keeps us busy!

Kirk enjoyed a few drinks out of Jeremy's drink during our Father's Day dinner.  He grabbed the cup and took a big drink from the straw.  He also enjoyed a few nibbles of his food.  He is very interested in what we are eating and drinking these days.  We had a great dinner and we are happy that we got to celebrate Father's Day together! Happy Father's Day to a great Daddy!

Kirk had a little trim from Gramma Debi on Saturday, June 19.  She took a little off the top and trimmed around his ears.  I don't think it will be too long before we can have a real big boy hair cut!

Kirk, Jeremy, and I walked with "Caden's Crusaders" in the Cystic Fibrosis walk at Ritter Park on Sunday, June 13.  We were happy to give some time and love to a great cause and support our friend Caden!  Notice Kirk's terrible bruised eye...he had a bad fall at home and had a pretty bad shiner for a couple of days!  Poor baby!

                                  

I reposted this picture (from Christmas Eve, 2009) in honor of Kirk's Great Granny Walker who passed away on June 10, 2009.  We are all so very sad and miss her greatly.  I realized after her passing that I don't have very many pictures of her with Kirk....opportunities just passed by.  Kirk did visit with her about once a week, and she enjoyed spending time with him.  She always talked about how "sturdy" and strong he was.  The last time Jeremy took him to visit with her, Kirk destroyed her TV Guide.  She really must have loved him, because she let him do it!  She was a big part of our lives and her sudden passing has left us all very sad.  We will miss her and be sure to tell Kirk stories about her.  She left us with a lot of memories and we think about her everyday.  We are so thankful for our friends and families who have reached out to us and prayed for our hearts to heal. 

Summer days...

Kirk really likes his new "big boy" car seat!

This is a picture of Kirk's first time in his little pool in our backyard.  He reminds me of Animal from the Muppets!  He splashes as hard as he can and laughs when water gets in his face.  We are headed to Myrtle Beach in a few weeks, so we'll see what he does with the big water!

                                     

Kirk loves all of his new table foods, especially diced carrots!  He really likes eating them with his hair styled in a mohawk! 

Kirk has a new fondness of exlporing underneath things.  This is a picture of him starting to shimmy on his back underneath a dining room chair.  He squats down and looks underneath furniture and rolls his toys underneath things just so he can get down and look for them!

Kirk and I started Time For Music classes last week.  We are in class with cousins Bella and Holden, and our friend Caden.  We get to sing, dance, and play instruments.  Kirk seems to like anything that isn't too loud and really likes Miss Joni's balls and shakers.

It's Kirk's turn to play Miss Joni's guitar.  He usually grabs the strings and won't let go!

These are a few of Kirk's nine month pictures.  He posed and smiled so cute!  We think they turned out great!

Cool like Kirk

Kirk, Jeremy, and I enjoyed a walk in the park.  Kirk is wearing his little ball cap...how cute!

I put Kirk in bed with Jeremy one morning last week after I fed him so I could get ready for work.  I had to snap this picture of the two of them sleeping side by side.  Jeremy just needs a paci to look just like him, huh?  Funny!

Kirk really likes to play outside.  I took a blanket and his cookie jar outside today so we could enjoy the beautiful weather.  Kirk seemed to like watching his daddy mow the grass most of all.  I'm excited for the summer days ahead.  We'll have lots of time to play outside!

Kirk is eating some "Easy Mac" macaroni and cheese.  Notice the little noodle hanging in his hair...nice, huh?  Astro is loving this new solid foods thing, he gets lots of snacks!

I started giving Kirk some solid foods this week.  We had sweet potatoes for dinner on one night, so I thought I'd scoop out a little bit of mine and give it to Kirk.  He did seem to like it, and did get a bit of it in his mouth!  He seemed to really like smearing it all over his tray, hands, face, hair, etc.  He has also learned a new trick-pulling off his velcro bibs!  I had to dig out all of our bibs with snaps on them, and he still pulls and pulls.  He also tried chunks of peaches and real Cheerios.  He gnaws and gums his food for a while and then swallows it down.  We've got lots of new things to try this week.  He is so funny with new foods and I think he will need a bath after each meal!

Kirk is nine months old!

It is so hard to believe nine months have gone by! My little baby is growing up way too fast! He is crawling all over the place and starting to stand up and let go. He can stand by himself for a few seconds and Jeremy and I are amazed at how strong he is. He can shake his head "no," although it seems he does it at very inappropriate times (like when we're trying to feed him!). He says "mama" and "dada" and a few other sound combinations. His bottom two teeth are coming in quickly and they are very sharp! He still likes to eat everything and has enjoyed some of the foods I made for him. He really likes bubbles and being outside. He really loves to play with his toys and is paying much closer attention to things these days. He likes his basketball hoop that Auntie Megan got him and his new hammer that Daddy got him. He also really enjoys his ball popper that Daddy got him, I included a picture of him playing with it below.  Ok, so maybe he likes eating the balls, but that's fine, too!  Ha ha! 

Kirk is so funny playing with this toy, he puts his hand over the hole that is blowing air and the balls can't "pop" out!  We have to keep removing his hand so that the balls can come out and move around.  He also likes to stand over the hole so his hair blows in the breeze...he is a funny little guy!

Happy Mother's Day!

     What an amazing thing it is to be a mother.  As I celebrate my first mother's day with my sweet baby boy, I look back on how my life has lead me to this wonderful place.  I remember the joy I felt during my college years, hanging out with friends and having the "time of my life."  I think about how proud I was to graduate from college and graduate school.  I remember meeting Jeremy and feeling the butterflies in my tummy each time he held my hand.  I remember standing at the altar on my wedding day, thinking that it would be the best day of my life.  I remember my first group of students and how I loved becoming a teacher.  All of those moments are still important to me, but they fade in the shadow of my precious baby boy.  Each day is so much brighter, each laugh feels so much better, and my smiles are so much bigger.  I watch him explore the world with no judgement, no fear, and full of love. 
     I never imagined that I could feel this much love and look to the future with so much hope and anticipation.  I feel like my heart is outside of my body.  He takes it with him wherever he goes, and I don't want that to be too far away from me.  I want to make the world a better place so that he can enjoy his life and be successful.  I want him to feel supported and challenged each day.  I want him to know that his mama loves him more than she ever thought possible.  Jeremy and I are so incredibly blessed to have him in our lives.  I want to enjoy each day...laughs, tears, bumps, bruises, hugs, kisses, and most of all, love.  Thank you, Walker boys, for making me a mother.  Life is so much sweeter.

Kirk during our Mother's Day lunch at Chili Willis

"You are so precious to me, sweet as can be, baby of mine".....Baby of Mine, Dumbo

(my favorite Disney tune)

Go GREEN, Go WHITE!

The Walkers went to tailgate for the Green and White game today.  We were thankful that the rain held off long enough for us to enjoy our friends and tailgate for the HERD.  We are all excited for a new football season this fall with all the growing babies!  Today Kirk played with Kendall; he really enjoyed her pink purse!  It is hard to believe that the babies are all getting so big.  We saw lots of friends and Kirk had a great time smiling at everyone.  We had a great day and we're ready for some HERD football!  Tailgating will be so fun this fall!

Kirk and mama

Tailgaiting apparently was too much for Kirk...he took a little bit of a snooze!

Kirk is eight months old!

It sure is hard to believe that eight months have gone by.  Kirk is getting so big and time is flying by.  He is crawling all over the place, and getting very fast.  He pulls up on everything, and crawling under tables seems to be his favorite thing right now.  He loves to play with toys and is able to push and pull them so they will  make noise or light up.  He babbles a lot, mostly "da-da-da-da"  but I've heard "ma-ma-ma" just once.  He throws in a lot of other sounds too, and he thinks blowing raspberries is hilarious!  He is a great eater, and seems to like all of the baby food we've given him.  He's getting much better at sleeping longer at night and taking naps.  He still loves to play with all the kiddos at the babysitter's and he breaks his neck to watch people when we're out.  He smiles from ear to ear when strangers say, "Oh, what a cute baby!"  I swear, I think he understands them and cheeses even bigger.  He is a tough little guy, and has already had a few falls and bumps.  It scares me to death, but I guess I need to toughen up too.  Being a mama of a wild little boy is rougher than I thought!  I can't believe in a few months I'll be typing about his first birthday.  I want my baby boy to stay little forever!

Kirk is ready for some spagetti at Rocco's!  Maybe in a few months...haha!  We had a good time, the waitresses kept saying how cute and smiley he was...of course he kept grinning even bigger!

Kirk fell asleep on our walk and I parked him in the backyard so I could get some yard work done.  Look how he propped his foot out, I thought it was so cute!

We're getting ready for a walk; it was a very sunny day!  We had to wear our shades....too bad Kirk didn't keep his on very long!

Kirk is enjoying some watermelon in his mesh net thing.  He seemed to really like it and liked banana even better.  He makes a little bit (well, maybe a lot) of a mess, but that's okay!

Kirk on his first Easter egg hunt at Granny Dean's.  He found this blue one himself!

Kirk with his first Easter basket.  He liked his octopus toy!

Our family on Easter Sunday