Introduction to James, Elias, and Cora

Today marks the first ever Walters' Family Day. We will always celebrate today because it the day that James became a legal member of our family. The 3 of us with the judge who signed the adoption papers, recognizing us as James' legal parents. This morning we met with our lawyer and went before a judge to finalize our adoption. The entire hearing took less than 10 minutes, including time for pictures. We were sworn in and asked simple questions like our names, place and date of marriage, and if we were willing to accept responsibility for raising James. Our social worker, Tramona, was able to join us for the hearing and the four us went to lunch afterwards to celebrate James! This afternoon we had our first ever family pictures taken to celebrate Family Day. James is a very smiley baby, but he's also very curious. We had a hard time getting him to smile, he was more interested in looking at the photographer, the fancy lights, and her camera. We're pleased with the res...

Earlier this month James had his 4 month checkup. He's now 27.5 inches long (that's above the 95t h percentile) and 16.8 lbs (75 th percentile). The shots and everything went well for James and developmentally he's doing great. At the appointment we got the go-ahead to start feeding James food. So far we've tried fresh bananas mixed in with rice cereal, pears, peas, and carrots. Any guess what he was eating when we took this picture? Carrots are by far his favorite. Weird , we know, but he loves them. James is also learning to roll over, he did it twice this morning. He doesn't love belly time, but it's important developmentally, so we have him on his belly a lot these days. He loves the little tractor from Grandpa and Grandma Walters and will push it between both hands. It's funny to watch him because it takes a lot of concentration to move that little tractor. James was also lucky enough to have his first trip to the zoo last week. Tobias' good frie...

This morning was James' baby dedication at our church. Everything turned out beautifully - although the time change did make getting up this morning a bit difficult. Tobias and I absolutely love our church and James' dedication is just another reason why our church is so special to us. The next baby dedication wasn't scheduled until Mother's Day (which is after Tobias will be gone on deployment), so I asked if we could do one before Tobias left and they were very happy to do it! This morning the pastor even mentioned how Tobias was leaving for his deployment. Overall it was a beautiful service and very special for the three of us. For the dedication our Preschool Minister read Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. My mom, Jill Mama, came in yesterday afternoon and it was great to have her here for James' dedication. Here she is this af...