Walter's Words:

I just wanted to do a quick post listing words Walter can say at 14 months.
Walter can say:
Daddy
Mommy
Uh-oh!
Up
Please (said yesterday for the first time at Wal-Mart when he saw me put a gallon of milk in the cart) He can also sign "please"
More (can also sign)
Milk
Clock
Duck
Ba-ba
Doggie
Woof
Moo
I Love (said to Josh yesterday when Josh said "I love you" to him)
I want my Mommy (said to the babysitter)
I want Daddy (said to mommy a month ago when having his diaper changed)
One, Two, Three
Josh taught Walter to count to three in Spanish yesterday (Uno, Dos, Tres)
He has started to to sing the ABC's with me and can say a few of the letters: Z, B, C, D, E etc.
Grandpa
Grandma
Christo (kid at his babysitters)
Chrisheeto (kid at his babysitters)
Amelia (his babysitter's daughter.  He says Meelia
He tries to say Kinoah (his babysitter's son) it comes out no-a
I did it! (said when he did the jack-in-the box all by imself
Cheese
Hi
Hello
Stuck
Milk
Juice
Mae (his cousin)
Luke (said only once or twice and not in Luke's presence so I don't think he knew what it meant)
Fish
What's this?
Up
Shoe
Neigh (horse sound)
Book
Boo
Buh (for balloon)
Mmma! (blowing kiss or giving a kiss)
Teeth
Brush
That's over 50 words which is on the level of a 19 to 24 month old baby!  Add to that the fact that he's as big as a two year old (weighing about 26 1/2 pounds and about 33 inches tall) people are very surprised to find out he just barley turned 14 months on June 9th.  He's a very smart little kid who seems to be in a very big hurry to grow up and we love him to pieces!

And now. . .

Grandpa Yospe and Walter

My mom and me at the Real Game

Walter in his "thinner" days. He's now 12 pounds at 5 weeks old. And he's now wearing his 3 to 6 month old outfits.




My swollen foot while I was still pregnant. Those are finger marks - this was an early sign of my cardiomyopathy.

Walter. Notice his face is filling out.

It's been a while since I last posted on my blog. Almost a month! And now. . . I thought I would update everyone on what I've been doing since getting out of the ICU.

First off, Josh went to work in Las Vegas about two-and-a-half weeks ago for a company his brothers work for. He is installing audio-visual equipment in elementary schools right now. He will be gone a few MONTHS! Coming home some weekends.

Meanwhile, I've been staying at my parents' house to save money, for their help, and just so I'm not lonely sitting at home while on maternity leave. Every other day I run home to pick up my mail. I'm glad my sister-in-law lives upstairs from us and will collect my mail for me.

I've been able to get out a few times with my parents, which is something I'm sure I wouldn't do if I were just staying at home alone. We've taken two of my brothers out for their birthday dinners. Abe's family decided on Noodles and Company, while Jake's family went to Archibald's at Gardner Village. I also went with my parents (and Walter of course! He's coming along too) to the Real Salt Lake game about a week ago to see my sister-in-law sing the National Anthem. That was fun. Walter slept the whole time, which made it a lot easier.

Walter is a little DREAM. He hardly ever cries. He's pretty mellow and serious looking most of the time, but I've seen him crack a few smiles. I've even seen him laugh a few times, but every time I've seen him laugh he was sleeping. I don't know what's so funny that he's dreaming about. I would love to see him laugh while he's awake! I'm sure he will soon.

I've been walking the dogs every day (not far). And some days I drive them up to the park above my parents' house and just let them out to go to the bathroom while I wait in the car with Walter. This is super lazy of me. The park is only about three blocks away, but it's uphill. And it's difficult to push a stroller and keep two little dogs on leashes without them running around the stroller and strangling my baby in the process! And like I mentioned before, there are two pretty steep streets I would have to walk uphill on to get there. And it's a little difficult to push a stroller uphill when I have a heart condition. No. It wouldn't KILL me. I'm sure it would be good for me. But it isn't fun when I feel like my heart is having an asthma attack.

I've also just been paying our bills as they come. Lots and lots of hospital bills. Bills for Walter, and double bills for me because I got to go to the hospital TWICE!

For those of you who don't know I now have a heart condition. It's called Cardiomyopathy. Some women get it after they have a baby. Mine was most likely caused by a viral infection in my heart. Basically, my heart is enlarged, which is causing it to have to work harder to pump my blood around, which, like I said earlier makes me feel like my heart has asthma. I'm currently taking blood pressure medication and a heart-strengthening medication in hopes that it will go away, but it's possible the small damage to my heart will be permanent. The doctors said if that is the case that they would advise against me getting pregnant again. And if my heart condition does go away, there is a 25% chance that if I got pregnant again it would come back and be worse and more permanent than it already is.

It took me three years to get pregnant the first time. My OBGyN told me I shouldn't even try to get pregnant for at least two years because it takes two years for a c-section to heal completely. Plus Josh is out of town indefinitely, so I guess I'll deal with the whole "Second Pregnancy Issue" in two years. Right now I have to focus on my heart issue. Oh! Speaking of my heart issue. My doctor also told me I have a completely separate heart condition where my heart has created a secondary route for my blood to travel through. He said I would need to have an out-patient surgery to have it cauterized shut. I'm hoping to have that done by December since my insurance would have to pay for the whole thing since I've met my deductible this year.

I'm going to try to add some pictures now, which might end up at the beginning of this post since blogspot won't let me move the pictures around any more.