Walker is nearly 5 months old, and after spending so long looking forward to January when I would finally get to meet him, I honestly can't believe how the first half of this year has flown by. 

an afternoon trip to Sundance so Beckham could experience snow during Utah's driest winter

Walker is the sweetest little baby.  The trickiest part of the transition to two kids has been keeping the baby safe from the toddler. I can be so vigilant, but Beckham is incredibly impulsive and very fast, which means that we've had a few scares. When Walker was a month or two old, the pediatrician ordered an X-ray of his torso because Beckham jumped on him immediately after I put him on his baby mat after an hour of holding him in the carrier.  Walker ended up being totally fine, thank goodness. Another time, he started fussing the second I put him in the car, so when he began wailing on the short drive home, I assumed he was just wanting out of his carseat and called back assuring we would be home soon. I was horrified to open the car door and find his face covered in blood after, I assume, Beckham tried to tickle his face with sharp toddler nails. The carseats were subsequently moved a seat apart. Walker didn't end up with any permanent marks. No hitting, stomping, kicking, tackle-hugging with the head or aggressively bouncing the bouncer or swinging the swing are constant reminders in our home. But in spite of his impulsiveness, Beckham adores Walker. He frequently talks about Walker is "so tiny" in his high-pitched voice and always wants to have Walker grasp his finger.   "Aww, it's holding my hand!" he'll exclaim. 

Aside from his new brotherhood, 2.5 has been a wild ride:

• Beckham is DEEP into the vehicle phase of toddlerhood and pretty much only thinks about trains, race cars and monster trucks. His new thing is to try to scare the baby or the cats awake with loud "vrooms" like Lightning McQueen does to the tractor cows in Cars. 
• He runs off all the time. We had to put a chain lock on the front door because he kept bolting down the street. I also have to put him in very bright colors when we're out in public and enforce some strict rules about what happens if he elopes.  
• He randomly spouted off a good chunk of my phone number when I was starting to recite it to a cashier lady.  I never taught him my number and don't say it that often, so I have no idea how he learned it.
• Shortly before Walker was born, Beckham smashed a wooden train track into the TV and broke it. His inability to watch any TV was an instant natural consequence and he talked about it for weeks afterwards. 

pics from that first month with itty bitty 6lb 5oz Walker

Beckham went from hating haircuts to begging for them

poor Walker after getting aggressively tickled by Beckham

Beckham "reading" a monster truck book to Walker and trying to help him turn the pages; pics of all things trains and cars including a miniature train exhibit with Uncle Eric and his fiancé Gracie, and Beckham burying his toy cars in the new dirt in spite of my protests

our smiley little baby

at Olivia's wedding in Arizona where Beckham went NUTS for the dance floor and actually had to be carried away kicking and screaming because he couldn't be part of the couple's first dance; at the Tulip Festival, where Beckham was NOT down to hold Walker for a picture

Atticus trying to commandeer the swing; meeting Nana for the first time; Dallin teaching Beckham how to "go fishing" in the backyard

By the end of pregnancy, it was just a waiting game wondering if baby was going to come closer to 37 weeks or 41. My nesting checklist was huge, but I was getting through it. I was able to keep up with Beckham less and less. On January 15, 12 days before my due date, I took my blood pressure at home and found it to be quite high. It had been higher than my normal since Christmas Day, though not enough to concern anyone. This time, my midwife sent me to labor and delivery. Was this going to warrant an induction?  It had for some of my friends and relatives, I knew, so I was starting to become very anxious as I convinced myself that it was baby day and realized maybe I wasn't mentally ready yet.  After several hours, Dallin finally got home from work and took Beckham so I could take myself to the hospital...where of course my blood pressure was now the lowest it had been since Christmas.  They sent me home, and now I was actually kind of disappointed because I really DID feel ready.

Luckily for me, I went into labor a day later at 4 pm.  Beckham and I were supposed to head out on a playdate when out of the blue I was hit with two-plus-minute-long contractions averaging three minutes apart.  I texted my friend to cancel as I rocked on my yoga ball, struggling to breathe through the contractions. They weren't incredibly painful, but they were too intense to really do anything aside from get through them.  I downloaded a contraction timer which immediately told me to "go to the hospital." Weren't contractions supposed to slowly build up in intensity and duration? In spite of several calls and texts, I couldn't get ahold of Dallin.  Beckham knew something weird was going on with his mom, so of course he decided to just bother me by yelling in my face and grabbing my shirt with his teeth and pulling as I groaned through contractions. Finally, I got ahold of Dallin's coworker and asked him to please tell Dallin to answer the phone because I was in labor. Dallin drove the 30+ minutes home through rush hour traffic, and then he helped me finish packing the hospital bag and an overnight bag for Beckham, who was picked up by my cousin Paige. We made it to the hospital at 7 pm, but in spite of my contractions measuring strong and consistent, I was only dilated to a 1 by the time they checked me at 8. At 10 pm, I was still a 1, so they sent me home on morphine with the instruction to try to go to sleep but to come back if contractions were strong enough to be felt through the morphine and wake me up.  I was honestly confused if I was actually in labor or if I was just having prodromal labor -- what if it took another week to have the baby?  The morphine made me feel ill, and I found myself laying in the shower wondering if it was supposed to make me feel like this or if I was allergic to it.  The only thing that made me feel better was to just curl up in bed and close my eyes, and so I fell asleep. At 1:30 am, I woke up to strong contractions that made my water break. The nurses congratulated me as I returned to L&D at 2:30, but when they checked me I was still barely a 2. At 4:05 am, after the contractions started to get more crampy and painful, I got the epidural. Honestly, I think I slept through a lot of my labor after that because I'm mostly relying on the notes I wrote to recall.  I remember I did paint my nails at some point! By 6:45 am, the epidural had caused the contractions to slow, so they put me on Pitocin.  I finally measured at a 3 (80% effaced) at 7:30 am. At 8:40, I had progressed to a 6 but the baby's head was still high.  At 9:40, I was at a 9.5 and the baby had descended. I began pushing at around 10:05 am and was shocked when the midwife said it was time to get the camera out just a few minutes later as he was born at 10:14 am.  I couldn't believe it as they placed him in my arms--he was actually here! But after my experience with Beckham's birth (being so calm post-delivery without realizing he had had a cord evulsion and was really struggling), I was quite anxious this time around.  I kept asking if the baby was alright until they assured me and he began to make tiny whimpers. "He's just mellow!" they exclaimed. There was no NICU trip this time, so Dallin and I were able to just bask in this precious time cuddling our new baby boy. 

 Before we left the hospital but after many, many hours in the mother-and-baby room contemplating names, we decided to name him Walker Loren Urness. Loren is a family name on the Urness side.  He was 6 pounds 5 ounces, but as for his height, I have no idea! The L&D nurses measured him at 19.5 inches, but a few days later the assistant at the pediatrician's office measured him at 17.5 inches. At his two week appointment, he was measured at 19 inches. So, who knows.   

Jordie flew up from Arizona to watch Beckham after he spent a day at Paige's house. When he came to meet Walker for the first time, we skirted nervously around the edge of the hospital bed and looked up to Dallin for reassurance with a little smile as I asked, "Do you want to say hi to your baby brother?" He giggled at Walker's hiccup. "Baby!" he said, and Dallin helped him up onto the bed. He was still a bit apprehensive and alternated between wanting to get down and wanting to stare at him. He touched Walker's face but said no when asked if he wanted to hold his hand. And then in classic Beckham fashion, he spent the rest of his time there monkeying around the room and even sang Walker the happy birthday song!