Look alike

So in addition to not making girls, Alex and I apparently make one kind of boy baby. They have very round (with a hit of the oval to come) shaped heads, big eyes that start off blue, tiny chins and chubby cheeks. 

When James was born Alex (and my doctor) commented how much he and Zach looked alike as newborns. I, being the all knowing mother, completely disputed this fact as this was James! He is his own person, how could he be anything but? Then the drugs wore off and I saw what they see. 

Mini-Walls. Both of them.

See if you can tell them apart:

                             Baby A                                                                         Baby B

Perhaps a profile would be clearer?

Baby A

Baby B

 Let's see a full body view:

Baby A

Baby B

If you guessed that Baby A was Zachary and Baby B was James then you are right! While they are not identical they really do bear a striking resemblance to each other that even I admit now. And since I thought Zach was the cutest thing in the world, that is lucky as I feel the same way about James.

What's in a name?

Many people were surprised when James was born that he was named James. Why? Two reason really. 1. we could never agree on a boy name which is very unlike us, and 2. the boy name we came closest to agreeing on was not James but Tate.

About two days before the birth Alex decided he was really not set on Tate. He tried to bring up some of his old standbys such as Terrance, Lionel and James Joseph. I said we should just wait until the baby was born, maybe it would be a girl and this all would have been pointless (I should have heard God laughing at that), but Alex was determined to go to the hospital with a name for both genders.

Finally around 7pm the night before he was born, I said I was pulling the uterus card - I had carried this baby for 10 months (very uncomfortably) and I will be the sole source of sustenance for said baby, for months and therefore was only accepting the following name options, listed in no particular order:
Tate Joseph Wall
James Wall
Anderson Joseph Wall

I didn't care which one, I liked them all but NO OTHER NAMES WOULD BE CONSIDERED. He took about a 30 minute bike ride and came back with James Wall. Alex picked up on what Lauren and I did not, with that name each boy would share a middle name with one parent. And here he is.

I think he could look sort of like a Tate, but technically he looks like every other 6 week old so we could call him Manuel, Michael or Xavier. But he is our sweet baby James for now and always. 

While you are awake

 My how time flies when you are not sleeping! Or sleeping in 1.5 or 2.5 hour spurts like my sweet James. I can't believe he is a month old now!

He weighs 9 lbs and is at least 22 inches long. Huge I tell you. The preemie diapers (up to 6 lbs) are like low rise undies on him. He is an eater for sure. And he loves nothing more than being held. Just today he was screaming in the car when Alex, he and Zach went to get a car wash. The second I picked him up he melted and fell asleep on me. In the driveway. In the 100+ heat. If you are holding him (and he is not hungry) he is completely happy.

Alex got his first real taste of having a newborn last night. Yes, this is our second child, but remember, Alex was not home in the evenings really at all with Zach. Anyway, last night I went out to dinner with some friends and he had the boys - with some help from Uncle Chris. When I arrived home around 10 he told me that he had eaten every hour and refused to be put down. I was shocked...oh wait, I was not the least bit surprised having walked another Wall baby around the floor about 2.5 years ago. However this one has way more of a need to be held than his older brother. I did get the cuddler I wanted...be careful what you wish for.

And that is the end of this post due to someone crying to be held. Again.

Love for now

Here are the three stages of Zach's interest in James:
Stage One: I LOVE my brother, what is he doing? "Why is he doing that? Look at his tiny feet! These are his tiny ears Mommy!"

Stage Two: Can I squeeze his head? Can I poke his eyes? What if I pat him just a little too hard....people will just think I am being sooo sweet. Until they get a look at the mischief in my eyes.

Stage Three: And he is done. Something else has caught his eye and he is off. Luckily my sister was there to catch James as he rolled him off his lap. 

Baby Brother

I am trying really hard to not include Zach in every single post about James. I finding it very hard in real life and in my blog life. We want to compare James to Zach at every turn. Does he look like Zach? Does he eat like Zach? I don't remember Zach doing that? etc.

As someone told me before I had James - you are going to have another little person, not another Zach. But how do you keep them separate, especially before James has his own personality that is shown? I am working on it...

But since we are speaking of Zach, I will continue. He is doing pretty well adjusting to his little brother. He runs to see him each morning and each day after school. We completely do NOT trust him in the slightest, but so far he has not shown any real aggression towards James. Speaking as someone who tried on multiple occasions to suffocate her sister - I am sure this is just the calm before the storm.

But for now he likes to be close to James and to have James participate in things with him. Such as when he decided to crawl underneath James' bed and "work" on his bassinet. James slept through the loud, loud drilling on the bottom of his bed. One of the reasons I like this bed (Thank you Mimi!) is that it is too tall for Zach to reach inside. Well, unless Zach gets his stool, which of course I did not think of until he did.

 Working, working, drilling, hammering

Precious baby did not even stir. This will be his life for good and for bad. 

He will not know a time when someone was not trying to "fix" his bed

or his pacifier or his blanket. 

The newest Little Wall

James Wall joined our family at 6:59am on Thursday, July 7th. He was 7lbs 5 oz and 20 inches long. He is just the most precious baby and we are loving getting to know him. Here is what we know so far:
1. He poops a lot. And I mean a lot.
2. He looks just like his brother did at his age.
3. He has blue eyes that are not super dark so I am keeping my fingers crossed they stay blue.
4. He has excellent hearing and jumps at loud sounds. I am certain in our house he will get over this quickly.
5. He is perfect and adorable and completely kissable.

We have been home a week and so far so good! He is sleeping about as much as can be expected and eating like a champ. We feel so blessed and lucky to have him here safe and sound.

Happened?

Zach walked into the kitchen, where I was making his breakfast, and said "I ready for school, Mommy!". And he looked like this:

No shirt, khaki shorts and that hair. What the world happened in his bed last night??? It took three swipes with a wet comb to get it down.

And I specifically heard his father negotiating with him that Zach did not have to wear a shirt to eat breakfast but going to school shirtless was not an option. Apparently Zach choose to not hear that last part.