To James Walker on your first birthday

Our sweet James Walker,

What a year it has been. When you were born a year ago, we never imagined all that would happen in your first year. But we did know immediately just how much we loved you. You stole my heart from the first moment I saw you.

I cried and cried and laughed and cried some more. Seeing your sweet cheeks and listening to your little grunts. Hearing the doctor announce your mighty weight and seeing your daddy hold you. I knew you were our last precious baby and that these moments were so precious.

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Our time together in the hospital was full of sweetness. So much of that was because I knew what to expect and had learned after two previous stays how to be my own advocate and your advocate. I soaked up as much of you as I could without a worry about any of the things that worried me with your brothers. Our first weeks at home with you with KK there to help us were peaceful and fun.

You have been such a sweet, easy baby. You picked up a schedule quickly. You were sleeping 12 hours at night by 3 months old and have been so adaptable and being on-the-go as the third little boy in our household. You love people. New people, people you know, people you don’t know… you love them all.

You are always smiling and laughing and watching. You take it all in and we have all loved watching all of your firsts. You weren’t just my baby or your daddy’s baby. You were Hudson and Hayes’s baby, too. We all gather around to watch your bath or watch you taste a new food. When you sat up or crawled, you had a full audience. Having you here has been so sweet and exciting for all of us. You’ve united us in love.

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You laugh and smile all the time except when you’re starving or sleepy. You will eat anything we offer to you and are already a much better eater than your big brothers. You make me feel pretty good about my cooking!

When your daddy comes home from work you crawl as fast as you can to the backdoor to see him and can’t wait for him to pick you up. You are constantly looking for your big brothers and you think they’re hilarious. But you also let them know when they’ve taken something that belongs to you or they’re bothering you. You’ll hold your own just fine!

When I think back over the past year as KK was with us celebrating your life and helping care for you and for me, I’m so thankful for those first couple of months. She loved nothing more than to be able to hold and rock you and your brothers. And in the months where her health started to decline and we saw less and less of the mother and grandmother she had always been, your sweet spirit, James Walker, was what kept my spirits high. You were the sweetest distraction from the hard, hurt places. A bright little light in my day that always gave me so much joy as I was grieving.

Even still as I watch you grow up and learn new things, I’m mourning not being able to share that with my mother and your KK. It’s beautiful that life goes on, but also such a hard reality when someone so important isn’t there to share it.

The blessing of being able to teach you and hold you and love you has been the biggest gift to me in the hardest, sweetest year. When I tuck you in at night, I linger a little longer as I imagine what it must have been like for my own mother to tuck my brother and me in. I rock you a little longer, I hold you more, and I’m always so aware that you’re our last little one.

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You’re my little sidekick, my buddy. You babble all the time and have about six words that you say regularly. You’re not walking yet, but I don’t think it will be long. We’re not in any big rush– we just love you so much.

James Walker, we all love you so much. Introducing a baby to the family isn’t always an easy thing, but you, my dear one, have been nothing but a joy. You have added so much to our lives. We are all absolutely wild about you.

We pray daily for you and that God will guide us as we raise you. Your daddy and I love you so much, J. Dubs. Our sweet baby boy.

Love,

Mama

James Walker is 2 months old

2 months old

Dear James Walker,

You are two months old! Fastest two months of my life.

This month was a little more challenging in terms of getting you figured out. You’re a lot more alert and want to be sitting up and looking around as much as possible, which means someone needs to be holding you. But we’re breaking that habit and getting you a little more content with being awake in your bouncy seat or Mamaroo. And we still allow ourselves some sweet cuddles and holding you for naps. It’s a hard balance because I want to snuggle you as much as possible, but need you to be okay with being put down so that we can get things done around the house.

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You love looking around and taking everything in, though. When Hudson walks up to you, your little face lights up. You smile and coo at him and I just know that the two of you will be great buddies with him looking after you. Your smile is just so infectious.

Last night, we were all eating supper and you were in your bouncy seat. I heard you cooing and talking to us and you so badly wanted our attention. It was the cutest thing and you did immediately get all of our attention.

You had a great two month well visit and took your shots like a champ. I managed not to cry and you only cried for a little bit. But you charmed the nurses!

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You are on a 7:00-7:00 schedule now. I feed you at 7:00 p.m. after your bath, put you down for the night swaddled in your crib, and then go back in to feed you when you wake up. We’ve had a couple nights where you’ve woken up at 5:00 a.m. (hallelujah!), a few nights of 3:00 a.m., and it seems you’re regressing and now waking up at 1:00 a.m. We’re aiming to get back to that 5:00 a.m. and just staying the course. But you eat quickly in the middle of the night and go right back down to sleep. I’m super tired these days, but also so happy to see you in the middle of the night. You love talking to me in the middle of the night!

We love you, sweet boy, and we’re excited to see what the next month brings!

Love,

Mommy

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Weight: 14 lbs (85%)

Height: 24.5 inches (97%)

Diaper Size: 2

Clothing Size: 3-6 month

Likes: Baby Einstein Take a Long Tunes, Snugabunny Bouncy Seat, sitting up and looking around, Hudson, your crib mobile, hymns as lullabies, bright colors, sitting up

James Walker is 1 month old!

*I did these monthly posts next to a Jelly Cat stuffed animal for Hudson and Hayes, so I decided to do them for James Walker, too. My sweet friends at Peekawhoo were so generous to gift a giant Jelly Cat monogrammed bunny to James Walker for his monthly pictures. 

James Walker 1 Month

Dear James Walker,

A month ago we were waiting at the hospital to go into the operating room to meet you. It may have been the fastest month of my life. It seems like yesterday that I was still waddling around wondering how big you would be and what color hair you would have. And you’ve been here with us for a month!

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Oh sweet boy… you’ve changed us so much. You have softened and tripled the size of my heart. You’ve changed the way I view motherhood just in your short 31 days of life.

You relax me and your being here has made me stop and slow down and look at Hudson and Hayes in a different way than I did a few weeks ago. You are such a gift and have given us so much, and we are just so so grateful!

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You have yourself on a nice little 3 hour schedule. You take long long naps after every feeding and I know that will end soon. You love the bath. We got a Puj bathtub for the bathroom sink and you absolutely love it. But you are ready to eat as soon as you get out of the bath. We bathe you around 8:30 every night (sometimes just letting you sit in the warm water) and then do your bedtime feeding at 9:00. You are in your bed swaddled and asleep between 9:30-9:45. And in the last couple of weeks you’ve started sleeping until 2:00 a.m. before you’re ready to eat again. That’s a nice little stretch of sleep for us. I feed you again at 2:00, then you’re usually back up at 5:00, and then again at 7:30.

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Being in the nursery with you is so peaceful and I just love being in there. I think you do, too.

We’re doing a combination of nursing and supplementing with formula. We do both at every feeding and, so far, it’s going well and isn’t hard to do both. We’ll reevaluate when summer comes and Hudson and Hayes are home all day. But between nursing and bottles, you’re satisfied and you’re growing, and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to be just a smidge of your nutrition. But I’m also so thankful to be able to make sure you’re getting enough to eat so you are gaining weight.

This month with you has been so peaceful and sweet and we are all just so excited that you are here. You’re our little book end baby. The missing piece to our family puzzle.

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A year ago, I attended the Making Things Happen workshop and we were asked to close our eyes and visualize ourselves in 15 years. And with my eyes closed, I saw my family, and I saw three little Carrolls. You are that third baby that I prayed for and knew we always wanted. We’re so happy you’re here!

I love you so much, baby boy.

Mama

Monthly Stats

Weight- 12 lbs 5 oz

Height- 22.5 inches

Clothing Size- 3 month and 3-6 is some brands that run smaller

Diaper Size- size 1

 

Our Home: James Walker’s Nursery

I had so much fun nesting and preparing for James Walker. We moved into our house in December 2013 and this room was Hayes’s room. We never decorated it, though, because he was still in a crib and we knew he’d transition to a big boy bed soon anyway. And then I got pregnant with James Walker, so Hudson and Hayes moved in to a shared brother room and this room became the nursery.

We had all of the furniture, so it was great that we didn’t have to make any big purchases. I chose a simple, soft color scheme because I just love blues and wanted a soothing nursery. I wanted a lot of linen and pale blue with some fun pattern mixed in. The rocking chair was the same chair we had for Hudson and Hayes, but I got some great fabric from Fabric 101 here in Columbia for $8 a yard during an after-Christmas sale and had the chair and ottoman recovered.

A local friend of mine recently moved and was selling some of her home accessories, and she gave me the table skirt and I bought the table lamp and trumeau mirror from her for a steal!

The shelf on the wall was in Hudson’s room and before that it was in our study before Hudson was born. I bought a set of three of those from Ballard Designs right after Todd and I got married.

I did get all new crib bedding. My dear friend, Nina, was selling her white linen bumpers and crib skirt and it was exactly what I wanted for the bumpers, so I bought those from her. And I had the buffalo check crib skirt made from beautiful fabric from Calico Corners.

The “little boys” sign is from Aedriel and House of Belonging. I originally bought that to go in the playroom, but the more I looked at it, I knew it had to go in James Walker’s nursery. Maybe someday all three boys will share a bunk room and it can go in there!

The You Are My Sunshine sign was in our guest room in our old house and it is from Sugarboo Designs. I love seeing those lyrics on the wall. It’s impossible not to sing along!

The nest painting was something I’ve wanted forever and it was a gift to James Walker from my mom. The artist is Deann out of Nashville- she’s incredible!

On the shelves, we used a lot of things that were mine or Todd’s from our childhood. Books, Bibles, Beatrix Potter plates and piggy banks.

It was fun to take things we already had and move things around to create his nursery. I absolutely love sitting in this room and feeding and rocking my sweet boy. I hope he has many sweet dreams (and good sleep!) in this room!

Baby boy nursery

Baby boy nursery

Baby boy nursery

Baby boy nursery

Baby boy nursery

Baby boy nursery

Baby boy nursery

baby boy nursery

Baby boy nursery

Sources:

Crib: Newport Cottages

Changing Table/Dresser: Newport Cottages

Giraffe: Melissa and Doug

Rug: Overstock

Elephant Hamper: Home Decorators

Bookshelf: Pottery Barn Kids

Cafe Shelf: Ballard Designs

Nest Painting: Deann Designs

Little Boys Sign: House of Belonging

You Are My Sunshine Sign: Sugarboo Designs

Buffalo Check Fabric: Calico Corners

Bumpers: Cottage and Cabin on Etsy

Bunny Pillow and Blanket: Pom Pom at Home

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