A Visit from Baby Walter

After a long, holiday-induced break from blogging, I am back.  We have a bit of catching up to do, so I will start with the week before Christmas, where we were treated with a visit from Baby Walter (and his parents) on their way up to Birmingham for the holidays.  Luckily for us, this was our first of many visits with W this holiday, and we have loved every moment we've spent with him.  He is unbelievably good; I have hardly heard him cry yet.  He has the most adorable little smile you've ever seen and is the sweetest little cuddler (especially nice for me, since my two are not so cuddly anymore!).  Charlie is pretty great with him.  He loves him and hugs him from time to time, but other than that, pretty much leaves him alone (which W appreciates).  Evie, on the other hand, is a major threat.  She ADORES Walter, which isn't so good for him.  She learned to say "bay-ba" (baby) pretty quickly and loves to loudly point out that he is a "bay-ba."  She especially loves to point out (i.e., jam her fingers into) his eyes, which makes me incredibly nervous.  We can distract her a bit by giving her a baby doll, but it was hard to get her attention away from the real baby for a while.  It was so funny to see my normally shy little girl worming her way up onto the couch to sit next to Graeme and baby Walter.  She looked so pleased to be so outgoing! :)

Here are the boys posing for a photo.

Walter doesn't look terribly impressed with Dallas in this shot, but I really think that overall, he enjoyed himself. :)

Conferring.

Here comes Evie/Walter's fearless attacker.

Walter accompanied us on a trip to the park.  It was his first park visit and as you can see, he just loved playing there.

We had the terrible brilliant idea to get the kids together for a photo in their Christmas PJs.  My two loved this opportunity to get free rein with Walter.  I think Walter was a little less thrilled with the arrangement, although he somehow managed to escape unscathed.

I love how he has his hands folded in prayer here. :)

Sam and Audra joined us for a steak dinner, and they upped the excitement level considerably!

 It was so fun having the Reins in town, getting some special time with Walter, and having a big, raucous sibling dinner that night.  What a perfect start to our holidays!!