8 months

Hunter is now 8 months old!  He didn't have a well baby check this month but I tried to weigh him and measure him at home and from what I can figure he is 17.5 lbs and 27 inches and is finally filling out his 3-6 month size clothes.  He is so much fun right now.  Over the past few days he is starting to get really good at picking up puffs and putting them into his mouth.  Maggie loves that he is feeding himself now as she probably eats about as many puffs as he does.  He is also showing some signs of crawling and will get up on all fours and rock back and forth.  He also can move backwards while he is up like this or on the wood floor.  Here is some video of him scooting across the floor today:

Through the night!!!!

Couldn't pass up blogging this!  Hunter slept through the night (my definition of) for the very first time last night!  He slept from 7:00pm to 7:40am!  He woke up briefly a couple of times but was able to put himself back to sleep.  Of course, I still woke up around 4:00 worried that he had not woken us up and couldn't fall back asleep for an hour because I was sure he was going to wake up any second... :)  Who knows, we might have a budding good sleeper on our hands.  Now we just have to work on those naps!!

Another tooth!

Hunter's 2nd tooth has officially poked through today. It has made for a rough few nights from sleep perspective but he has been quite the trooper with me dragging him out for Christmas shopping, etc. He loves to shop and just take in everything around him and cracks up at anyone that talks to or even looks at him. It's so cute.

Here is a pic of his first tooth before the 2nd one started to come in:

He's not a big fan of showing off his teeth so I've got to catch him open mouth to get a good pic. Every time I try to look at them he pushes my finger out with his tongue.

I'm getting very excited for his first Christmas. I know it will get more exciting every year as I start to see Christmas through his eyes and remember what it was like to anticipate Christmas as a child.

Here is another recent pic that I just thought was cute. Notice he only has once sock on, as he does in most of our recent pictures...that is because he loves to take his socks off and put them in his mouth. Still not crawling but he's definitely figured out how to get where he wants to go by rolling!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we took Hunter and Andrew up to see AJ's side of the family in New Jersey. It was a fairly quick trip - we were only there for 3 nights - but we packed a lot of fun into those days! We had a direct flight, which was nice, but it was long and Hunter didn't sleep very well during either flight. I don't know if it is just a fluke or if it is what we are in for from now on with him getting older. AJ's mom made a delicious Thanksgiving meal and it was the first time that I have met several of AJ's relatives so it was nice to be able to meet everyone. Here is Hunter meeting his Nana for the first time:

We went to Breakfast with Santa put on by the Junior League before we left for NJ. It was a little disappointing, to be honest. The breakfast wasn't anything to write home about although they did have some crafts that Hunter could have enjoyed if he was a little older. Hunter did great meeting Santa for the first time, however. He sat on Santa's lap for at least a solid minute just staring up and him before he decided Santa's beard needed a good tug! We finally got him to look at the camera and I thought the pic turned out great!

First Tooth!

Monday I noticed a little something starting to come to the surface on Hunter's bottom gum and over the past couple of days it has gotten closer and closer to poking through. Today you can definitely feel the top of it and it is sharp! It is also easily visible, that is, when he will let you put your fingers in his mouth to try to see it..most of the time he spits my finger out. :) He's handled teething pretty well, although you can tell that it is bothering him during the night. He's back to waking up every 2-3 hours but hopefully that will pass once his tooth is fully in. I did get a pic of him with an open mouth last night and you can just barely see it if the pic is zoomed in on his mouth. Just in time for Thanksgiving dinner!

He loves his butternut squash. I mixed it with apples one day and he loved that as well. We've started the Gerber puffs, which are very similar to Cheerios except that they melt in your mouth. At first he wasn't too sure of them but now he can't get enough. He's trying to pick them up on his own but they're too small for his little fingers to grasp just yet. I also picked up some Baby Mum-Mum's yesterday and he's doing great feeding himself with those! These are like rice teether biscuits. Here is some video from lunch today.

7 months!

Hunter turned 7 months old on the 12th - it is so hard to believe! He didn't have a well baby check this month, but I tried to measure and weigh him myself and from what I can tell he is in between 16.5 and 17 lbs and is about 25 1/4 inches long. Such a big boy!

Since about 6 months he has gone from getting up every 2-3 hours to about twice a night. Last night he slept from 8pm-4am! Naptime is pretty sporadic but we've been getting at least one good one in there per day recently.

We ran out of organic fruits and veggies that we could get on this side of town so we made a trip down to Whole Foods this week. His new vegetable is butternut squash and he seems to really like it. He loves to drink water from a regular cup or a sippy cup and is doing pretty well at holding his sippy cup on his own. He is very interested in whatever you have or what people around him are doing and loves to grab and touch new things. He still loves to jump in his Baby Einstein jumper and roll around on the floor and Mimi discovered he is ticklish on his feet. :)

Family Vaca

Last week Hunter took his 4th plane ride to Naples, FL, where we vacationed with Mimi, Papa, Aunt Whitney and Uncle Brian. Brian's parents own a home in Naples and they were generous enough to let us stay there and we had a such a good time. Hunter loved their pool. He splashed all around and loved being in the water. Here are some pics of our stay -

Hunter practicing his free throw:

The girls at the pier:

Family pic:

Whitney was playing with him one morning and I finally got his baby laugh on video. I love it!

Happy Halloween from the little monkey!

Hunter dressed up as a cute little monkey for his first Halloween. He stayed home with me and handed out candy while AJ took Andrew trick-or-treating, and I think he liked seeing the costumes. He got to stay up a little past his bedtime and did pretty well!


He is becoming quite mobile. He has learned how to get from place to place by rolling so I am really having to keep an eye on him now. Even if I am just standing in the kitchen doing dishes, he is bound to be halfway across the room when I look up! Here he is last night - I put him down on his blanket and he made his way over to his Baby Einstein gym and started playing there.


He is doing really well with his solid foods. So far we haven't run into anything that he blatantly hates or spits back out at me. It seems to be more of the different textures than the tastes that throw him for a loop more than anything.

His personality is really starting to show and it is so fun to watch. He is quite the little flirt and was a hit yesterday with the ladies at Nordstrom as he cracked up laughing while people were walking by him and shopping. On Sunday we walked the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and he got a little fidgety in his stroller at times. I had to carry him for a few stretches and he just loved looking around and smiling and laughing at the people walking by him. I need to get this on video - it is just the cutest!

Weekend Trip

AJ took Andrew to watch their beloved Longhorns play Oklahoma in Dallas last weekend so Hunter and I went to Indiana while they were out of town. It was my first time flying by myself with him and it went pretty smooth. We met my friends Nicolle and Damion out for breakfast one morning and Hunter got to meet his new friend Hudson. Hudson was born in July so he is 3 months younger than Hunter. Hunter was a little "vocal" while we were there but Damion still managed to get a good pic of the boys. So cute!

Hunter also had fun visiting with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Hunter, Uncle Bill, Aunt Margaret and Uncle Lou, cousin Nick and of course Mimi, Papa, Aunt Whitney and Uncle Brian. It was a quick trip but we packed a lot in to a short time! I can't get over how grown up he looks in this pic with Whitney. He looks like a toddler!

Last evening Hunter rolled over from his back to front for the first time. He has been rolling the opposite direction for quite some time but this was the first time he has rolled in both directions. Very exciting! :)

His new food this week is bananas and so far they are just okay for him. Another one of his new tricks is blowing raspberries and he thinks it's funny to do it while he is eating. Once he learns how to make a new sound he likes to do it over and over and over again. He is also laughing a lot now - full blown deep belly laughs. It is the best sound in the world!

6 month checkup

Hunter had his 6 month checkup today with Dr. Terwelp. He weighed in a 16 lbs, 3 oz - which was in the 25th percentile - and is 25" long - the 5th percentile. He has grown 6 inches since he was born! He had to get a few shots, but wasn't able to get a flu shot yet as they are out of the thimerosal free shots at the moment. He'll should be able to get one in the next few weeks though. They have to split the flu shot up in to two shots for babies so he'll be getting 4 flu shots - 2 seasonal and 2 H1N1. :( He is doing great and got a clean bill of health!

Our friend Allison organized a little playgroup with some of her friends that have babies around the same age and we had our first date yesterday. The oldest baby was born on February 2nd and Hunter is the youngest at April 12th so they're all pretty close to each other. We have 4 boys and 1 girl. They just played on their tummies on the floor and had a great time looking at each other.

I tested my movie-making skills (or lack therof) by putting together a little video of Hunter's first 6 months. It was the first time I have done anything like this so I have some work to do! Here is the YouTube link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td2P0bBrRn8

It goes by so fast...

It is hard to believe that my little baby was born 6 months ago today. I look back at the pictures and video from that day and the early days and weeks and it just does not seem like he should already be 6 months old! He is such a little joy and I just love watching him explore and learn new things. He now loves to pull on and play with his feet. They are great little toys that are with you wherever you go! He is truly a blessing.

Today we celebrated Hunter's 6 month birthday by going to get his pictures taken at Picture People. He flirted, smiled, and talked up the photographer and we got some great shots. The scan quality isn't that great but here are some of his shots...

Saturday afternoon we went to a Pumpkin Patch out in Elgin. It was more of a Pumpkin Festival than a patch, but we had fun and got some great shots despite the "cold" 57 degree weather.

Hunter must have been tired from our day trip because that night he set a record and only woke up ONE time in the middle of the night! Last night he woke up twice, but this is still a big improvement as it has typically been closer to every 2-3 hours. We'll see if he keeps this trend going!

Solids

Hunter has been doing so well with rice cereal, I decided to go ahead and get started on his solids a few days early. He seemed to be eating a lot during the day so I thought he was ready. We first started on carrots which he seems to like pretty well. A couple of days ago he had some peas - the first time he tried them they were a hit....the second time, well, not so much. We'll see what today has in store! I enjoy making his baby food. I'm trying to buy organic as much as I can and it is fun to whip up all of these concoctions for him. :)


Last week was our 2 year anniversary and we went on our first date since Hunter was born. Our friend April babysat him. She has a 15 month old and her husband was out of town so she had both boys by herself. Whew! Sounds exhausting just typing it. :) Last night, AJ had a work dinner that spouses were invited to so we have had 2 dates in the past week! We're lucky to have great friends that we trust to leave our little one with.

Next week is a busy week - including his 6 month birthday and Dr. appointment!

New pic

I just love this picture of Hunter from a couple of days ago. It got really cool here for few days so we had to break out some long sleeves and pants. I had this Longhorn outfit on him and decided that we needed a little IU representation so put some IU socks on him to go with it. :) He is really sitting up well with assistance. He loves his Baby Einstein jumper and now can turn himself around to all of the different "stations". He is also starting to push up with his feet a little during tummy time so we might have some sort of modified crawl working here soon!

Busy, busy!

It has been way too long since my last post. We have had a busy couple of weeks! Our friends Tiffany and Joshua got married in North Carolina last weekend. Mom went with us to stay with Hunter while we were out at the wedding functions. She and Brad flew down on Tuesday - Mom, AJ, and I flew to NC on Wednesday while Brad stayed here and house/dog sat - then we flew back on Saturday - then Mom and Brad left on Tuesday. Whew! The wedding was nice and we had a good time. Hunter was a good little boy on the plane for the most part, although it was a just little more difficult this time than last. AJ's Great-Grandmother lives outside of Raleigh so we flew in on Wednesday so we could visit with her before driving to Wilmington. She is a very sweet lady and I really enjoyed meeting her. Here is a pic of Mrs. Cotton with her Great and Great-Great Grandsons!


Hunter didn't have a well baby check-up at 5 months but I think he was just under 15 lbs. We'll see what he weighs in at when we go for his 6 month visit! I started his rice cereal again two nights ago since we'll be starting solids at 6 months and he is doing great with it! He is getting most of it in his mouth and not even making that big of a mess. I suspect that the tummy issues he was having before were not actually due to the cereal so I thought we'd give it another shot to see if it keeps him full at night. We'll see!

LOL :)

We had several fun things going on last week, the most exciting of which was Hunter's first laugh! He has seemed to be on the verge of laughing for a couple of weeks and we have been waiting for him to break in to laughter for us. I must say, it is pretty darn cute. :) He's given us a handful of really good ones and laughs harder when you laugh back at him. I love it!

Saturday was the Longhorns first football game. We took Hunter down to the action for a little bit to his 1st tailgate! I'll have to admit, I was pretty excited about his first football experience, although I did feel like I was cheating on my Hoosiers. I guess this means I'll have to take him to Assembly Hall as soon as possible. :) He seemed to really have fun. We were in a shaded area and the weather wasn't too bad. It actually looked like a storm was going to blow through at one point and cooled things off a bit although it never did rain. He liked being outside and even took a little snooze while we were there.



His favorite activity right now is to stand up in your lap and jump up and down. He is finally big enough for his Baby Einstein jumper and he can entertain himself for quite a while. He has a lot of fun in it!

Mimi visit

My mom was here last week and boy did Hunter have a good time with her! AJ was out of town for a couple of the days so as usual she helped me out a TON. It had only been since July 4th that she saw Hunter, so about 6 weeks, but she could notice a huge change in him developmentally. He is much more engaged than he was then and of course, who can resist those big smiles! He didn't roll over while she was here but I'm sure he'll have plenty of new tricks to show off next time. :)


We nixed the rice cereal for now. He was doing a good job getting the hang of the spoon, but it wasn't making a difference in his sleep habits and it doesn't seem like his little system is just quite ready for it yet.

While Mom was here we took a trip out to the Oasis for lunch. For those of you not from Austin, the Oasis is a local restaurant out on Lake Travis which is famous for it's beautiful sunset view. We have a had a really rough summer. Yesterday we were on day 67 of triple digit days so far this year (the record is 69) and the lake levels are extremely low. It was so shocking to see how low the water was. I got home and compared to some old pics of the same view...

We need some serious rain!

Our new favorite thing to do is Skype with Mimi. We finally got it hooked up and have been able to video chat with each other several times. It is so much fun! Now we hate having to talk on the phone without seeing each other. :)

4 months

I can't believe we are already at Hunter's 4 month appointment and 2nd round of shots! He was quite the trooper again and didn't cry all too much when he received his shots. He weighed in at 13 lbs, 13 oz (40th percentile) and 23" long (10th percentile). He is getting so big!

The only challenge we've been having is with his sleep patterns. We talked to Dr. Terwelp about this and he said that physiologically he should be able to sleep 8-12 hours a night at this point. He also said that most babies are sleeping longer than Hunter does right now, although he does see some that are in the same boat so we're not exactly out of the norm. He suggested including rice cereal as a part of his bedtime routine to see if that might help him sleep longer. Tonight was the 3rd night we've tried it. So far it hasn't made a significant impact but he's still getting used to eating from a spoon and really spits most of it out right now.

We had dinner with our friends Mark and Allison last week. Their son is Harrison, who is one of Hunter's very first friends. Harrison is 2 months older than Hunter and you might remember me mentioning their playdates in previous posts. This is the first time that we stood Harrison and Hunter next to each other and it was sooo cute! Harrison touched Hunter's arm and Hunter didn't know what to think. We finally got a pic of the two of them together (thanks, Allison!).


Saving the best for last -- Hunter rolled over for the first time on 8/14! It was just the two of us at home and he did it twice. After that I realized it was the real thing and got the video camera and was able to capture it on video the 3rd time. :)

Nap strike and new tricks!

I thought this was just too cute and funny not to post. Occasionally, Hunter will have an afternoon (or entire day) that he refuses to sleep, which I affectionately refer to as a nap strike. Usually he will either fall asleep and wake up within minutes of going down in his crib, making it perfectly clear that he does not intend to lay there any longer, or sometimes he just won't fall asleep at all in the first place. The other day we were having one of these afternoons - he wanted to play and wouldn't fall asleep. It looked a little something like this:


Followed by phase 2 of the nap strike, about 5 minutes later:


Sorry that it does not include sound... :)

He is almost to the point where everything goes in his mouth. His hands automatically do and he is getting to where he grasps different things and brings them to his mouth also. He is not quite rolling over but looks like he's getting close. He's got the baby push-up mastered!

Andrew has been here for two weeks so Hunter has had a lot of fun playing with him. He also had another playdate (aka Mommy Lunch) with his friend Harrison this week. Next week is his 4 month appointment and then the week after that Mimi visits!! I'll make sure to post an update after his check-up.

3 months

If you remember when Hunter was a couple of days old, he had to be readmitted to the NICU so they could treat his high bilirubin levels that were causing his jaundice. When we were there, AJ told my mom "When I find this Billy Rubin guy, I'm going to kick his ass!". Hunter had a 3 month check-up last week. This isn't a regularly scheduled visit, but at his 2 month visit Dr. Terwelp checked his bilirubin levels again and wanted to have us come back in at 3 months because it was still a little higher than he would have liked. We hate this because they have to prick his little heel and squeeze out a vial of blood and it is so sad. They weighed him (12 lbs, 7 oz!) and measured him (22.5 inches) and after the exam thought that due to how well he is growing and how his color looked that it wasn't necessary to check his bilirubin. Looks like we finally got that Billy! He is officially double his birthweight and has grown 2 1/2 inches. This puts him in the 10th percentile for length and the 48th percentile for weight! He's got the cutest little chubby cheeks ever and he is smiling all of the time. I love it!

As far as sleeping through the night goes, we're pretty hit and miss. He had a REALLY good night earlier this week and slept for 7 (SEVEN!) hours from 8pm-3am. Ever since that night though, it has been back to every 2-3 hours, maybe one 4 hour chunk of time. I've decided that anyone who says that their baby has been sleeping through the night since they were 4 weeks old is just plain lying. There just isn't any other explanation for it. :)

First plane ride!

We need to get this boy a frequent flier number! Hunter had his first plane ride when we went to Indy over the 4th of July. My birthday is July 5th so we usually like to take a long weekend with the Independence Day holiday being so close and a corporate holiday for Dell.

It wouldn't be a trip that I took without any travel stories and this time did not disappoint...

We had an early morning flight on July 1st - 7:10 am. We started off a little late but not too bad....it just takes us so much longer to get out of the house these days! We got to the airport and it was PACKED. When we were checking in at the kiosk I was not able to check in electronically and had to wait to speak to an agent. Ugh...now I was starting to get a little nervous. We stood in line for quite a while and thankfully a gentleman in front of us let us go ahead of him. We were at the check-in counter for at least 20 minutes as the agent tried to get me cleared - apparently this was some security precaution that we got caught up in. By this time we had less than 10 minutes before our plane took off. This agent actually left her position at the counter and walked us through security to make sure we got on the plane. She was by far the nicest American Airlines employee that I have EVER encountered. Sooo, along with the baby we have all sorts of extra stuff that we are traveling with now...a carry-on (with a change of clothes for all 3 of us...I have learned my lesson...), the diaper bag, a stroller, and a big car seat travel bag. We're rushing along, trying to get our laptops out, shoes off, bags pushed through the x-ray machine and then comes the car seat bag....the openings on these x-ray machines are deceivingly small. :) I seriously looked like Greg Focker trying to push this thing through the x-ray machine. It did go through but they had to call someone to help get it out of the other side. AJ thinks we broke it because he looked back and all of the people in line behind us were stopped and shooting daggers through the back of our heads with their eyes. Oh well, we got through okay and finally made the flight. We were the last two on and got separted but we were only flying to DFW so it was okay.

Here is a pic on our layover -



Hunter was a sweet little angel on all of our flights. I was really worried about the air pressure changes hurting his little ears but we didn't have any problems with that at all. I tried to nurse him whenever we were going up or down but a couple of times he was sleeping hard so I put the pacifier in his mouth and that seemed to work.

Mom picked us up at the airport and of course was super excited to see Hunter. I suppose she was excited to see us also. :) The last time she saw him was when he was two weeks old. When we were waiting for our bags the man who was next to us came up to me and said "I don't think you are going to get your baby back, ma'am".


We had a great few days in Indy. We got to see Grandma and Grandpa Hunter who came up with my uncles Bill and Steve to visit us on Friday. Here is a cute pic of the 3 of them -


Whitney and Brian threw a very nice "Meet the Baby" party for him on Sunday. We had a house full of family and friends who stopped by to meet Hunter. It was so nice to see everyone and it was a great party. Here he is all partied out -



I love the pic of Mom and Brad holding him because we have a similar pic from when they were here and he weighed, what, 5.5 lbs and now look at him! He is just getting so big so fast!

We had a very nice trip and it was nice to get out of the 105 degree heat for a few days. We laid over in Dallas again on the way home and when we got off of the plane in Austin we were waiting outside of the plane for our stroller and carseat that we gate checked and they never showed up. I was not a happy camper...this was a brand new stroller that I just bought right before our trip and a carseat that we need to have to get the baby home from the airport...on top of that, how do you lose something that was put right by the plane as we were getting on??? So, down we go to the lost luggage counter, where we have had the pleasure of spending time before, and we walk in and the super nice lady from our first flight that walked us through security was working at the counter! They gave us a loaner car seat to use and they delivered both the carseat and stroller around 2am that morning so all is well. I am writing a letter to American about this lady. It isn't very often that you encounter someone so helpful in the airline industry these days...and she was nice to boot!

Hunter has finally getting back into his sleep pattern. It has taken a few days to get readjusted but it looks like we're back on track. We have a big week this week including 3 month pictures tomorrow!

Big changes!

Hunter is now 12 weeks old which means that my maternity leave has come to an end. After much discussion and consideration, AJ and I have decided that I will be a stay-at-home mom and I have officially resigned from Dell. We are both very excited that I will be staying home. I'm very happy to be able to be here with him every day and am looking forward to all of the fun we will have together! This means my Dell email address is not a good way to contact me anymore. You can reach me at my Yahoo or MSN address - kjwinship@yahoo.com or kristin_winship@msn.com.

Hunter is getting bigger every day and our days go by so fast. We are establishing a nice little schedule. He usually goes down by about 7:30 or 8:00 at night and is up at about 8:00 in the morning. We go on a walk as soon as we get up and get changed so we can try to beat the heat. (We've had 21 days of triple digit temperatures so far this year!) By the time we get home from our walk, Hunter eats, I eat, he goes down for a nap and I shower it is noon before I know it. He is starting to play with toys and is very interested in everything that is going on around him. It's so amazing how fast they develop! I was downloading some video they other day and found some of him at about 2 weeks old and I can't believe how big he is now.

I will blog later about our trip to Indiana over the 4th - Hunter's first time on a plane!

Ahh, sleep!

Now here is a milestone that deserves documentation! Hunter "slept throught the night" last night for the very first time! I put "slept through the night" in quotes because technically sleeping through the night is 5 (or 6, I can't remember) hours at a time and this was from 7:30pm-1:30am. Still, I'll take what I can get! Hunter is still sleeping in our room but last night I tried something different. I put him down in his crib in his room when he went down at 7:30 because I thought it might be quieter for him. We have his monitor in his room and when we put him down in our room we leave the door cracked. I stayed up until about 11:00, sure that he would wake up at any time to eat, but finally decided to lay down and then woke up in a panic at 1:00 when I realized that he hadn't woken up yet. I went to his room to check on him and he was still sound asleep. :) I've tried this trick again tonight and he is sleeping as I type so we'll see what happens!

2 months!

Hunter had his 2 month checkup today with Dr. Terwelp. I was not looking forward to this one because he had to get his first shots today. They give them 5 sticks and I didn't know what to expect but it went really fast and he did very, very well. It was much better than I expected. They also checked his bilirubin so his poor little heel got stuck AGAIN. He actually cried more for that than he did for his shots. One of the levels is still a little higher than they would like for it to be so we have to go back when he is 3 months old just so they can monitor it. After that he will go back at 4 months for more shots. :(

He is growing like a weed. His first scheduled appointment (that was unrelated to his jaundice issues in the beginning) was at 2 weeks old and he was in the 4th percentile for weight and length. Today he is in the 5th for length - 21.5 inches - and the...ahem...20th percentile for weight! He is up to 10.3 lbs. I guess we don't need to worry about him getting enough to eat!

Last Prego Pic

Ok, so this is a little outdated, but I love it so much I wanted to upload it anyway. On Saturday, April 11th, our friend Piper came over to take some pregnancy pictures of me. Turns out it was great timing because my water broke at 11:50pm that night so the pictures that she took are the last ones we have of me pregnant which I think it pretty cool. When they came over to drop off the disk a few weeks later they brought this one blown up and framed for us and it is now hanging in Hunter's room. :)

Chunky Monkey!

We had a follow-up appointment to Hunter's weight check from a couple of weeks ago and he is up to 8 lbs, 15 oz! He has gained a pound and a half in the past two weeks. Little chunk! He is still in size newborn in clothes and diapers but I imagine it won't be long before we are in 0-3 months (which will make mommy sad!).

Hunter had his first "playdate" with his friend Harrison last week. Harrison's mommy, Allison, and I went out to lunch and it was a perfect day outside. We sat outside and talked and ate and had a great time. Harrison is 2 months older than Hunter and they were both good little boys and slept almost the entire time. I'm sure these two will have many, many fun times together in the future!

Dr. Visit

Just a quick post to update on our cardiologist appointment yesterday. Everything looks and sounds good and the murmur is just a typical newborn murmur - they call them "innocent murmurs" and they eventually will go away. We are very thankful for that! I'm starting to learn that there is always going to be something to worry about with having a baby!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

So big!

I looked back over my past few posts and it is hard to believe how big Hunter is getting already and how much he has changed! Here is a more recent picture that cracks me up because it looks like he is just lounging on the couch like a big guy, and super cute one I couldn't resist posting of Hunter and AJ.

I took him to the Dr. yesterday to get his weight checked and he is up to 7 lbs 7.5 oz! He is growing up so fast already. We were pleased with his weight gain - he is 4 weeks old now - but Dr. Terwelp found a heart murmur that he wants to get checked out. These apparently aren't all that uncommon in newborns but due to his size and the fact that he is a preemie, he is sending is sending us to a pediatric cardiologist to be on the safe side. I am trying to stay positive and hope that this is just a common murmur and nothing more. I will be sure to post an update.

Whitney was here to visit the weekend before last, so last week was my first week home without any help and I think I am doing pretty well. :) My mom made a ton of food and froze it for us before she left and we are still enjoying that so I guess I'm not totally on my own yet! I am loving being at home with him and being a mommy. Hunter is still eating about every 2-3 hours, but last night he went for 4 hours in between feedings one time and boy, does that extra hour make a HUGE difference. I felt like I was on vacation!

We went on one outing this week to meet AJ for lunch and then Hunter and I went to Babies R Us to get a couple of things for his room. I still am wary of germs, but I am able to put his carrier/carseat in his stroller and totally cover him up where the hoods of the carrier and stroller come together, so I did that and felt okay about it. He did a pretty good job and it is nice to get out of the house with him.

Here is a pic of Hunter and proud Aunt Whitney! I will post more after our Dr. appointment tomorrow.

We have a 2 week old!

Well, the past 2 weeks have gone by amazingly fast. It is hard to believe that little baby Hunter is already 2 weeks old! We sort of lost that first week, since we were in the hospital most of the time, so I imagine that made it seem to go by even faster.

Hunter had his 2 week checkup with Dr. Terwelp yesterday morning and he is doing great! They want babies to be back to their birth weight by 2 weeks of age (Hunter's was 5 lbs 13 oz). Hunter was up to 6 lbs 1.5 oz! He is in the 4th percentile for length, weight, and head circumference which was great because that was on the term babies chart rather than the preemie chart. Now that he is up to his birth weight, I can also start demand feeding - feeding him when he wants to eat rather than having to wake him up every 2-3 hours to eat - although so far he has pretty much been sticking to the 3 hour schedule. I'm hoping that he'll decide he wants to sleep longer than 2-3 hours during the night soon. :)

Mom and Brad left on Sunday and we sure are missing them! AJ took off Monday-Wednesday to stay home and help me and my sister flies in on Thursday for a visit. We are enjoying our new little family and settling into a routine. Here is a pic of Mimi, Papa, and Hunter before they left!

It's a BOY!!!

Hunter William Johnson made his debut 4 weeks early on Easter Sunday, April 12th, at 8:22am. He weighed 5 lbs. 13oz, and was 19 in. long, and AJ and I are over the moon that he is here. There is a lot that has happened over the past 9 days so I apologize in advance for a long post. :)


AJ sent out a note to our friends after he was born and it is the perfect way to tell the story of what happened - here it is -

________________________


From: Johnson, Antoine
Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 10:35 PM
Cc: Johnson, Kristin
Subject: Best Easter Ever


Hello everyone,

By now many of you have heard that Kristin gave birth to our new son this morning. Hunter William Johnson was welcomed into the world at 8:22 this morning. He was quite an Easter surprise.

Details:
Saturday was like any normal Saturday. Kristin’s mom was in town to help get the final things she needed for delivery. They went shopping, picked out new baby outfits, etc. Keep in mind that the due date wasn’t until May 9th. Our friends April and Piper came over that morning to take some pregnancy pictures for Kristin. Boy do we have great timing!

Anyhow, Kristin’s mom wanted to treat us to Salt Lick so that’s where we went for dinner – again everything normal so far. Also, Kristin did not have any Braxton-Hicks contractions at all during her pregnancy – our baby was pretty relaxed and chilled out.

After dinner, she helped her mom pack for her 9am Sunday flight back to Indiana. I went to bed to read and watch SNL. She came to bed shortly thereafter. As soon as she laid down – 11:50 on Saturday night, her water broke. She hadn’t even finished packing her overnight bag!! Well, we got her dressed, woke up her mom, and hustled to the hospital. By this time her contractions started. By the way – Kristin and contractions do not get along! After the epidural she was all good though – many of you got phone calls from her!

She labored for about six hours and pushed for about an hour and a half. My mother-in-law was a godsend. She was there to help us through this and offer encouragement. She was completely complimentary to me and made sure that we were both comfortable throughout the process. My wife is a phenomenal woman. She did so well during this that I was truly inspired by her.

We did not know what the sex of the baby was before he was born. This was the best surprise I’ve ever gotten! I was the first person (other than the doctor) to see my new son enter this world. He is truly a blessing! Andrew was born on Father’s Day and that makes Father’s Day special for me. Hunter was born on Easter Sunday, and Easter will always be special to me as well.

He’s a little on the small side – he came 4 weeks early! However, he’s doing well. He’s taking to nursing right away and he’s discovered that he likes to suck his thumb sometimes. Kristin has done great so far – she’s going to be a great mother. We’re all tired but happy. What more could any of us have asked for? Andrew is very excited about his baby brother. He’s going to be a great role model. I could not have done this without my mother-in-law Jan. I’m so happy she was here to witness all of this.

We have plenty of pictures, and I’ll send them out later. We’re at North Austin Medical Center room 224 for anyone that wants to come by and say hello.

Thanks to everyone!

Antoine Johnson


____________________



We were able to go home on Tuesday, April 14th and had a pediatrician appointment with Dr. Terwelp on Wednesday. They wanted to check his bilirubin levels - this is a breakdown product of blood and high levels cause jaundice - and since he is techincally a preemie it needed to be monitored closely. His bili levels had gone up since leaving the hospital at Wednesday's appointment and so we had to go back for another check on Thursday. Thursday's levels had jumped higher than anyone expected, so he was readmitted back in to the hospital Thursday evening to spend some time under the phototherapy lights to work on getting his levels down. It was very hard for us to see him hooked up to all of the machines and having his blood taken several times a day, but he was able to come home again on Saturday evening.


Here is a picture of the little guy -






He has a special little name, as Hunter is my Mom's maiden name, and William was my Dad's name. He is settling in to his new home and routine quite nicely. He is a good little baby and we are so thankful that he is healthy and is home. My Mom has been here and has been a godsend. She has helped us so much. Brad flew in yesterday and my sister will be here to help out at the end of next week. We are lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends and family.

Indy trip

I made it to Indy and back last weekend without any airline drama for a change. My sister threw a baby shower for me on Saturday and it was perfect. It was at noon, so we had a delicious lunch of chicken salad croissants, veggies/dip, fruit, and of course cake! I had a great time and I think everyone else did as well. It was great to see my friends and family and I am very appreciative for everything that everyone did to make it a special day. I felt very loved. :) It was a pretty short trip, but I did get to see a lot of people. It is crazy to think that the next time I am home I will have a baby!

I had a quick Dr. appointment on Thursday before I left. Not much new to report, although the baby is head down, so even though there is plenty of time left, hopefully he/she doesn't decide to flip. 8 more weeks to go!

I passed!

I have been waiting on the news to update the blog and I have the official word – I passed my glucose test! For those of you (men) who are reading and don’t know what that is, it is a blood test they do right around this time in your pregnancy to test your blood sugar. You have to drink an orange drink that tastes like flat McDonalds orange soda in 5-10 minutes and get your blood drawn an hour later. If your sugars are too high then you have to do another 3 hour test, where I believe you drink the same drink but then have to get your blood drawn once an hour for 3 hours, which I was NOT keen on. I have had such a sweet tooth and was totally convinced I was going to fail, but I passed with flying colors. :) It’s the little things that excite me, huh…?

My appointment last week went well. It was just a quick checkup. The baby is measuring right on schedule. I have another appointment late next week so they can check me before I fly out on Friday. Whitney is throwing me a shower in Indy and they wanted to check me before I travel. Everything has been smooth sailing so far, so I don’t anticipate having any problems, but keep your fingers crossed. This will be the last time I can travel before the baby is born so I’m really excited to go home…although I wish that I could stay a little longer. I’ll make sure to post some pics when I get back!

I’m starting to get tired again, but other than that I’m feeling well and really can’t complain at all. I will be 30 weeks on Saturday which is totally crazy to me. It seems like time has flown by ever since I hit 20 weeks. I think I will start to feel more prepared once we start to fill up the nursery with the essentials. I'm starting to think about the fact that this baby is eventually going to have to come out and he/she isn't getting any smaller! Hopefully the epidural will sound less scary to me in 10 weeks.... :)

I almost forgot - we have our first class next week! We have about one per week for the next 5 weeks or so, so I’m looking forward to those. I’ll keep you posted on how those are going!

25 weeks

I'm not sure how I feel about posting a side view picture of myself in all of my pregnant glory, but my friends from home have been asking for belly pictures so I’m biting the bullet. I think I look as big as a house!

My Mom and Brad came down for a little visit last week. We all had a great time. AJ and Brad were able to get in a few rounds of golf while Mom and I played around at Babies R Us. :) Brad loves the fact that he can play golf in January. They picked a good week to come and we enjoyed having them here!

I had my 24 week appointment last week and everything is still going well. Next appointment is in 4 weeks. I'll have the glucose screening test and that is my last 4 week appointment. I’ll start going every 3 weeks after that, which means it will be my 3rd trimester ALREADY! Time is flying by. We are still working on names and it is much harder than I thought it would be. It’s not even that we are in disagreement - it’s more of names reminding of someone else that you grew up with, or someone else already has a child (or a dog) with that name, or that it just doesn’t work with Johnson (crazy, but true), etc. The baby is moving a lot and I’m still feeling well, although it is becoming increasingly difficult to put on my socks and shoes. I might have to start asking AJ for some help here before too long!