A Day With Adam (by guest blogger Grandma Conrad)

Adam had his first field trip with preschool a couple days after Jackson was born. Grandma took the day off of work, and went with him...they had a fun day!!

I was able to go with Adam on his first field trip for his preschool. We went to the Everett Children's Museum and spent the day playing. This is a picture of Adam waiting outside for the other kids in his preschool group.

We were going to go on a bus ride so here Adam is being the bus driver getting us all loaded up to go.

This is one place he loved going, he is flying an airplane. He kept saying, "sit down Grandma, I am going to fly you somewhere." I'm not sure where we went, but it was sure a lot of fun. He even had me sit in the co-pilot seat and help him fly the plane a few times.

The main purpose of the field trip was to go on the bus ride, here is a picture with Adam and the group of kids that are in his preschool, they had fun riding the bus and looking out the window at all the cars that went by.

When we got back to the museum from the bus ride it was lunch time but Adam was having to much fun to stop and eat. So we just went from room to room playing, Grandma had a hard time keeping up with him. He liked playing on the fire truck and anyone that was playing with him he would tell them that his uncle Daris was real firefighter.

He loved putting the balls in the tubes and watching them go all over in the tube. The air would take them up and around. He would put all five balls in each of the different tubes and then stand and watch them.

We ended the day up on the roof of the museum where they had a BIG slide to climb up too and and then go down. It was a pretty high slide and it had lots of turns in it but he loved it. He is working really hard to get to the top.

When we finally left after 6 hours (I told him the Grandma was tired and needed to go home) I think he would have stayed there until it closed at 9 in the evening if I would have let him. I told him he needed to eat something so we sat in the back of the car and had a little car picnic. He was hungry so he ate really well. It was a FUN day and I'm glad that I could spend the day with him. I went home very tired but so was he, I had to really keep him talking on the way home because he kept wanting to fall asleep. Love, Grandma

Welcome Baby Jackson

Monday, September 21, 2009 - we became a family of 4! Meet Jackson Carl Wallis! He was born at 10:49pm and weighed in at 9 pounds 2.9 ounces and is 20.5 inches long. This picture was taken right after he finished up his first bath. Not such a happy guy!
I woke up Monday morning at about 5am to contractions. They weren't very regular or close together, but they were strong. Scott and I called Grandma Conrad, who came to pick up Adam, and we settled in to wait and see what would happen. By 1:00, I was ready to be done, and called the doctor. We went in to see him, but unfortunately, the contractions weren't doing anything productive, so they sent us home with instructions to take a bath, or go for a walk. We went home, and I took a bath, which basically brought my contractions to a stop.
I had talked to my acupunturist earlier that day, and decided to go in for a treatment, to see if she could help my labor progress. I had an appointment at 5:00, and by the time we left and went to walk around the mall at 6:00, the contractions were back. They quickly progressed to being 3 to 5 minutes apart, at which point we decided to call the hospital. They told us to come in. We got to the hospital at about 8:30, went thru triage, where my contractions continued to get stronger and they decided to admit us. Once we were settled in the room, the doctor came in and broke my water, which just made everything go even faster. By the time I was ready for an epidural, the anasthesiologist was walking into a C-section. We hoped he would be out in time, but I guess I wasn't that lucky. By 10:30 I was ready to push, and Jackson was born at 10:49pm. It was an amazing experience! He is a perfect little boy! He looks just like his older brother did when he was born!
Here is Adam meeting his baby brother for the first time:
Jackson and mom are just hanging out getting to know eachother.

Our first family picture. Not sure what Adam is laughing at!

And here's Jackson ready to head for home.

That's what they do - all the day!

Adam loves everything Transformer right now. He got several new transformers for his birthday, and he carries them around the house. He wants to wear his Optimus Prime t-shirt every day, when he and Daddy wrestle, Adam is Optimus Prime and Daddy is Megatron. He even takes them up to his room each night, lines them up and covers them with a blanket(a transformer blanket - no less) for bed time.
Here is Adam with all of his transformers lined up on the couch. In this picture, they are cars.
In this picture, they are robots.

Adam can change them from cars to robots, but has a hard time going the other way. Whenever he asks us to change them back to cars, he says "That's what robots do. Change from cars, to robots and back - all the day". (I wish you could all see him as he says this - he gestures very strongly with his hands, and looks very serious!!) I guess that's what I have to look forward too until he can figure it out himself. Changing them from cars, to robots and back - all the day!! Good thing we got the level 1 and 2 transformers!!

A four year old weekend!

September 13, 2005 - a day to remember!! I can't believe it was four years ago that Adam was born. He was our miracle baby, and I am so thankful to have spent the last four years with him!!
Scott and I decided to go all out this year, and had a little party for him at his most favorite place in the whole-wide world! Jump Planet! We invited a few friends and had a great time on Saturday. Unfortunately, most of the pictures turned out too dark, and it's hard to see who is in them. Scott did get this great one of Adam running around the corner.
All the kids had a great time - and I think they probably all went home afterwards and took a nap! Thanks to everyone who came to help us celebrate - and for the fun presents! We are lucky to have wonderful friends!!
The next day was Adam's actual birthday. Grandma Conrad, and Daris and Rachael joined us for another celebration. The weather was beautiful, so Scott grilled some hotdogs and hamburgers, and then Adam opened up another round of presents. Do you think he looks excited?

Adam is a transformer kid right now. Grandma found him a great T-shirt, which I'm sure he'll be wearing constantly!!

He's been telling EVERYONE that he wants OPTIMUS PRIME for his birthday. Scott found this great one, that flies and talks - and the best part is that it doesn't transform into anything! One less guy to change back into a car! He lost no time getting started playing with this guy and the Megatron that he got as well. He just needs someone to play the bad guy and he's in heaven!

And here he is blowing out his candles - all four of them!

I'm stealing an idea from a friends blog (hope she doesn't mind). Everytime she blogs about one of her kids birthdays, she writes about things she wants to remember about them when they were that age. So - here goes!

Things I want to remember about Adam at age 4...

• I adore listening to you laugh! You have the best laugh around and it comes so easily!
• I love watching you play with your dad! You love him so much and can't wait for him to get home everyday! He can make you laugh better than anyone else!
• Although you love your dad - you idolize your Uncle Brian. Somehow he has taught you everything you know, and he is the coolest person ever!
• I love laying in bed with you at night, after reading a story and singing songs with you. Your current favorites are "The Wheels on the Bus" (although your bus has very strange occupants - likes pigs, cars and robots), "You've Had a Birthday", "If You're Happy and you Know It", "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", and "My Eternal Family" (or the builders song, as you like to call it!)
• Everytime someone wished you a Happy Birthday, you would say "Happy Birthday to you" right back to them! I guess we didn't talk about how you respond to that one!
• For some reason, you have started to gesture very big with your hands when you have something important to say. I love to watch you talk about things that are important to you. ("That's what robots do - they change from cars to robots, all day!!")

There are so many more things I could write about my precious Adam. I hope he knows how much he is loved. We went for a walk last night, and Scott and I were talking about Adam and what our life was like before he was born. Scott mentioned that he was happy before we had kids, but he could never have imagined how much happier adding a child to our life could make him. Adam is the light of our lives, and I am so happy he joined our family 4 years ago!

Great Grandparents

I feel very blessed to have 3 of my grandparents still living. What a blessing that is! Early in September, my dad's parents came to Washington to do some fishing. We didn't get to spend too much time with them, but we did get a photo session in.
My dad's brother, Byron also came up. Adam had fun playing with Byron, and kept getting confused and calling him Uncle Brian. It was pretty funny!

I know Adam is still young, but I hope that he'll remember spending time with his Great Grandparents.

"No more baseball, we want football"

Scott is getting Adam all ready for football season! We did, however, take one trip out to Safeco Field for a fun Mariners game. We have really great neighbors who gave us tickets to some awesome seats! They were in row 17, right behind home plate. It was even a day game, so we didn't have to worry about getting Adam (or me!) home for bed time. Adam did start out the game by chanting "no more baseball, we want football", which he and dad have been chanting around the house for the past couple of days, but he soon got into the game!! (Or at least he got into stomping on all the peanut shells under our seats!!)
The first 6 innings were pretty boring. After the Mariners loaded the bases in the 1st, and then didn't score - everything went 3 up and 3 down. But, the Mariners started making it exciting in the 6th. Adam got into it and started adding his voice to the cheering crowds!!

The Mariners did end up winning 3 to 0. Here Adam and dad are cheering as the Mariners pitcher closes out the top of the 9th inning. It was an exciting ending to a fun day at Safeco Field!!

Thanks again to Sarah for the GREAT tickets! We had a fun afternoon at the game. And now - "ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL??" We are!