What's New With The Johnsons

Drawing

2012-01-23T17:39:00.001-06:00

We've been doing a little drawing this afternoon. :) Check out Hunter's "H" and his smiley face. I'm so proud!!

33 months

2012-01-14T08:41:00.003-06:00

3 months away from 3 years old! I don't like this one bit. It seems like Hunter JUST turned two....how can he possibly be almost three??

Our little genius is quite the comedian. He cracks us up every day with the funny/random/surprising things that come out of his mouth. He's exceptionally smart, if I do say so myself. :) He's still really in to numbers, letters and shapes. He can almost draw a smiley face. Even though he's becoming a big boy, he still likes to be rocked when he's sleepy and I think I'll hold on to that as long as I possibly can.

They say that age 3 is worse than age 2 and I'm already preparing myself for that. Hunter is quite independent and sometimes has some ideas about how things should be done that are different from what ours are. For the most part though, he's very well behaved and is still a super sweet little boy. He loves to be involved and wants to help with whatever you're doing.

Some of his current favorites are --
Food: PB&J. Interesting since he wouldn't eat it at first, then would only eat it with peanut butter and no jelly. But, 9 times out of 10 this is what he requests for lunch.
Drink: He's still a big milk and water drinker. I occasionally treat him with a little juice, especially if he needs the vitamin C, but he's not really a huge fan.
Fruit: Bananas. He's eat 5 a day if I'd let him. He really likes the little Cuties mandarin oranges too. By the way....both of these must be peeled by only Hunter.
Toy: Anything that involves playing outside. He really likes his basketball hoop, train track and play kitchen. With the chilly weather this winter, we've been going to some indoor playgrounds and bouncy places to play and he loves running around and still loves to jump.

He is quite the little singer and has a really great memory for lyrics. He sometimes will just sit in the back seat and sing. Some current titles are the playlist are: Row row row your boat, You are my sunshine, Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Ring around the rosy, and the IU fight song. :)

He's currently around 31-31.5 lbs and a little over 36 inches tall. We'll see what his official stats are at his 3 year well check.

Sometime over the next 5-ish weeks, Hunter will become a big brother and I am certain a good big brother at that. He is convinced the baby is a girl, so I hope he's not too disappointed if he's wrong! We've been preparing by getting baby things out of the attic, washing clothes and all of the fun stuff that must be done before Baby gets here. He's interested in all of the baby gear and toys and always asks if it was his when he was a little baby. We've been looking at pictures of him when he was born and he really enjoying doing so. He also likes to talk to my tummy, which just melts my heart. One exchange earlier this week went like this:

(Lifting up my shirt while I was sitting on the couch) "Baby, where are you? Baby, come out! Mom, she won't come out!!!"

Soon enough. :)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-05T11:05:00.004-06:00

Happy 2012!

This year we stayed in Texas for Christmas. Since I was at the point in my pregnancy where the Dr. didn't want me traveling past, Mimi and Papa came down to spend Christmas with us this year. They flew down on Christmas Day and stayed for a week and we were very thankful that they spent their Christmas with us.

Santa was very good to Hunter this year and even brought the red rocket ship that he specifically requested when he sat on his lap. :) He made cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and even put the sprinkles on them all by himself and finally got to rip in to those presents under the tree that he had been begging to open for the past several weeks.

Here are a couple of pictures of him on Christmas Day:

I wasn't great at getting very many pictures. That seems to be a recurring theme in my blog posts recently....

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays as much as we did this year. Hunter really understood it a lot more this year and it was so much fun watching him. We are truly blessed.

Dinner time

2011-12-16T21:57:00.004-06:00

Hunter set the table all by himself for the first time tonight. :) How sweet is this?! Man, I love this kid.

Hunter-isms

2011-12-14T11:24:00.005-06:00

This little guy has been saying some really funny things lately. I know I need to document these types of things because they will someday be forgotten. My mom has dubbed these "Hunter-isms", and here are some of the funniest ones from the past couple of weeks.

Scenario #1:

AJ was working out to a video in our bedroom. Hunter loves to "work out" with him, copying his moves, which is cute enough in of itself. AJ asked Hunter if he could do one move and Hunter said "no". "Why not?" AJ said, to which Hunter replied, "I'm just a little boy!". :)

Scenario #2:

In preparation for Baby #2, Hunter now has a big boy room upstairs. (His nursery was downstairs) Since he's also in a big boy bed and that he knows he can get out of, I have to gate him upstairs so he doesn't try to come down the stairs in the dark at 3am. One morning before work last week, AJ got up and started the coffee maker, went into the office and heard a little voice coming from upstairs saying "Dad, you making coffee down there?". HA!!

Scenario #3:

We were watching a show on PBS called "Wild Animal Babies" before naptime. This particular episode featured lions and talked about how lions lick themselves to clean themselves. Hunter walks over to me with his tongue sticking out and said "My want to clean you" and proceeds to lick my arm. Nice!!

Thanksgiving and Whitney's shower

2011-12-01T14:30:00.002-06:00

We made our last trip to Indiana until after Baby #2 arrives last week for Thanksgiving and my sister Whitney's baby shower. Whitney is due 6 days after me so we are really excited to have our little ones growing up so close in age with each other.

Travel was easy, thank goodness, and we enjoyed seeing family and friends while we were there, as always. We had two Thanksgiving dinners - one at my Mom and Brad's, and then down to Rushville for the Winship side of the family dinner in the evening. Hunter had a ball playing with my cousins' kids. It has been several years since we were in Indy for Thanksgiving so it was nice to be home again.

It was a decent day outside from a temperature standpoint, so Hunter got to play a little football outside with Papa and Uncle Brian. He loved it!

Friday, Hunter got to play with his friend Hudson who is a couple of months younger than him. These two haven't seen each other in about a year and they were so cute together. I was horrible at taking pictures and didn't even get any of the two of them together, unfortunately. I hate when I do that!

Sunday, we celebrated the upcoming arrival of my nephew(!) with a baby shower for my sister! I am really excited about being an aunt and to see all of the future fun these cousins have in store. It was a nice time and we enjoyed her special day with family and friends. Hunter had a burger date with the guys and somehow managed to make $20 off of the outing.

Here Hunter is hanging out with Aunt Mitty one night:

And on a frozen yogurt run on our last night in town:

Breakfast with Santa

2011-11-20T20:15:00.002-06:00

My heart is full tonight after spending this morning downtown at the Christmas Affair with Hunter and AJ. I love this time and year and Hunter "gets" Christmas more this year so it is extra fun. Today he got all dressed up in his spiffy Christmas outfit and got to make a gingerbread house, which he loved, and sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas (a red rocket ship).

I really hope that this gingerbread house lasts a long time. It is so sweet and I love it so much because he made it (mostly) himself. We also were talking about Santa and that he needed to tell Santa what he wanted him to bring on Christmas. He came up with a red rocket ship all by himself. He's been in to the show "Little Einsteins" lately, so I think that is where he came up with this idea. Cute. :)

Here are a couple of pictures from our day:

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-02T15:33:00.002-05:00

I must say, Halloween has never really been one of my favorite holidays but I really look forward to it now that I have a child. Hunter was super cute last year but this year he really "got it". We talked for a while leading up to it about what he was going to dress up as and what trick-or-treating was. (Side note: I'm told that this is really the last year I'll get to pick what to dress him us as since he'll probably have his own very strong opinion about that next year. We'll see!) He's had fund dressing up in his cowboy boots while waiting to wear them on Halloween.

This year he was Woody from the movie "Toy Story". I started working on his costume well in advance so it was all put together in plenty of time. My mom always made our costumes when we were growing up and I really wish I could make his costumes special like that, although I'm not quite there yet in my sewing skills. :) So, thank goodness for Etsy and Amazon!

We got started a little on the early side so we could get finished before it got too dark and come home to hand out our candy. Hunter did a great job and had the hang of it in no time, other than not understanding why he couldn't eat every piece of candy as he got it. :)

He wasn't really in the picture taking mood....he was too preoccupied with getting started trick-or-treating, but I managed to get a few pics...

Before we headed out -

Heading up the neighbor's driveway -

Hunter and Owen the pirate -

I picked Skittles....SEE!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-25T15:16:00.004-05:00

We went to the Pumpkin Patch at Sweetberry Farms in Marble Falls again this year. This is the same one that we went to last year and really liked it. It's about an hour away but is a really pretty drive down a winding highway so it was fun to make an afternoon out of it. Hunter got to feed the goats, which he thought was pretty hilarious, see a fire truck up close and personal and get his face painted like a scarecrow!

I just love this sweet picture. Hunter put his arm around AJ while watching some horsey rides -

Happy Fall! (Even though it's still 90 degrees here! :) )

2 1/2!

2011-10-12T22:03:00.006-05:00

Happy half birthday to Hunter! To celebrate today, we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch and a little playtime. He had a great time and there were only a few people there which made it even better. :)

Here are a couple of pictures of him playing today:

This boy cracks me up every day. Sometimes he breaks out a new word that I've never heard him use before and it just makes me laugh (and realize how much he hears and processes!). For example, the other day while eating breakfast, he decided he didn't want his vitamin. He took it out of his mouth and said "I don't really like this. It's disgusting." I didn't even know he knew the word disgusting! He's also starting to create conversations between his toys, which is pretty funny to watch. He has a Buzz Lightyear and a Woody doll from "Toy Story" and he makes them talk to each other. He's definitely all boy - give him some sticks, rocks and dirt to play with and he's happy. On the other hand, he's very sweet and uses his manners very well. We certainly have some crazy times, but 6 months in to 2 years, I wouldn't call his twos "terrible" by any means! According to my measurements, he's about 36" tall and 30 lbs right now, and will be the first to tell you that he is far from a baby - he's a big boy!

Texas State Fair

2011-10-10T14:02:00.003-05:00

We took a family roadtrip to Dallas this weekend. Hunter and I went to the Texas State Fair while AJ was at the Texas/OU football game, which is inside the fairgrounds. Hunter got to see a dog show, go to the petting zoo, see some livestock, listen to a storytime and rode some rides.

I definitely learned a few lessons regarding navigating a fair of this size for next time, but the most important thing is that Hunter had a good time. I had planned on trying to miss the majority of the crowd as much as I could, going in after the game started and leaving before it ended, which didn't really work out as I had planned, but it ended up being okay for us in the end because we were still there when AJ got out of the game so he could ride some rides with him. It didn't even cross my mind that I couldn't go on the little kiddie rides with him being pregnant, but they wouldn't even let me on the carousel so it all worked out well in the end. I had also planned on trying some crazy fried fair food but ended up only having a funnel cake. Better luck next year!

I forgot my real camera at home, so I only had my iPhone to take pictures, but still managed to get a few.

Our mornings so far this week

2011-09-21T18:16:00.010-05:00

Here is what I saw when I walked back in to our bedroom this morning after leaving the room for a few minutes. He had my mascara in his hand and was applying it to his face. :)

Save this one for the "show to first girlfriend" file!

This morning as I was driving, I heard him singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in the backseat. He sang the entire song! I've never even heard him sing part of it before, so I was surprised to catch him singing it. It was so cute.

Monday morning he helped me bake for the first time. We made some banana bread and he loved helping. He also loved the banana bread, as that is all he wants to eat now...

And with the finished product -

Mmmm....I want to eat it -

What??? I'm just sitting here....not doing anything...

Sweet Boy

2011-09-14T14:48:00.002-05:00

The moments like these are the reason I like keeping this blog. I know one day I will forget some of the funny and cute things that Hunter says/does and will really enjoy looking back and reading these entries.

Hunter can be a wild and crazy and sometimes sassy little boy (he's a 2 year old!!), but he can also be so sweet that it just melts my heart.

Yesterday I bought a little storage shelf for his playroom. As I was putting it together, he was grabbing everything that I needed to use, picking up things I was asking him not to, and the entire process was exhausting me. As I was finishing it up, he looked at me with his hand on the shelf and said "This is beautiful, Mommy".

This morning, Maggie was sitting on the couch next to him as he was eating some Cheerios from his snack trap. He pet her and said "I love Mag. She's my best dog".

Man, I love this sweet boy.

Hunter's Big Announcement

2011-09-10T10:28:00.002-05:00

Hunter is going to be a big brother! I know he will be a great one. His baby brother or sister is due Feb. 23rd.

Mr. Inquisitive

2011-09-09T12:59:00.005-05:00

Hunter's response to anything has been "Why?" for quite a while now. I've gotten pretty good at the game and can go one for several back and forth questions/answers until he stops asking. :) However, lately he has been taking it to a new level. He has been pointing out objects that he doesn't know the name of and asking what it is used for.

Example:
H: "What's that thing?"
Me: "A whisk"
H: "Whisk. What do you use it for?"

If he sees an animal that he doesn't recognize, he also asks what it is and wants to know what it says. I love that he is so inquisitive and eager to learn. It's so fun teaching him new things.

We have had a ridiculously hot summer. This week we finally started seeing some temps in the 90s, but had 80ish 100+ degree days this summer. We've enjoyed getting out and walking again in the mornings and the 90s have been a nice break from the blazing heat. Hunter has really enjoyed playing in the backyard this week and stopping at the playground on our walks. Here are some playground pics....sometimes he is more interested in picking up nuts and playing with the mulch on the ground than actually playing on the playground. :)

We converted Hunter's crib to a toddler bed on 8/28. He loves his big boy bed and has done remarkably well in it.

Here is his last time sleeping in his crib :( -

And his new big boy bed! -

Scrumptious!

2011-08-15T13:38:00.004-05:00

Last night as we were eating dinner, Hunter says to me "This o-detti is so scrumptious!". I LOVE this. First of all, my not even 2 1/2 year old just used the word "scrumptious" in a sentence (while complimenting something I cooked, no less :)), and second of all, I think it is so cute when he says o-detti for spaghetti or o-nana for banana. He later said that it was delicious. This kid cracks me up.

Speaking of cracking up, sometimes when he thinks something is really funny, he'll say "That cracks me up". Which, of course, cracks me up. He says some of the funniest things!

And again, speaking of scrumptious, Hunter and I stopped at Einstein's this morning on the way home from dropping Maggie off at the groomers. He got his very own bagel thin and I snapped this pic of him while he was eating it. I love his little smile in this one!

First movie

2011-08-05T15:05:00.006-05:00

Hunter and I went to see his first movie on Tuesday! I took him to see "Winnie the Pooh". I thought it would be a good option for his first time since it is only 63 minutes long. I think I enjoyed it as much as he did! It was really cute and I was so proud of him for sitting there and being such a good boy throughout the movie. He probably would have done even better if we didn't run out of popcorn. :) He wasn't a big fan of the previews and kept asking when Winnie the Pooh was going to come on but he was quickly entertained when the movie started. He sat on my lap most of the time but also wanted to sit in his own seat at times.

Last week we went on a playdate to a burger joint here in Austin that has a playscape and small splash pad for the kids. He liked the water, although I didn't know at the time that he was coming down with a little virus. :( He had a pretty high fever that afternoon and all though the next day.

While we were waiting for enough time to pass so he could take some meds before bedtime that night, he was hanging out on our bed and playing with my iPad. I have a kitty cat app that repeats what you say in a funny voice and Hunter was cracking up watching it. I said "yikes" when they kitty cat jumped and he thought it was hilarious....

He sounds horrible here, but it is only because he was laughing so hard. Luckily he was all better after a couple of days.

Here is a cute pic of Hunter and AJ from Father's Day that I just found when downloading the latest pics. I must have missed this one during my last "catch-up" post!

We're still here!

2011-07-25T15:56:00.001-05:00

Wow, this post is way overdue to say the least. We've had a very busy past few weeks so I'll try to give the cliff note version of all of our activities so I don't put you to sleep. :)

In early June, AJ was traveling for work so Hunter and I flew to Indiana for a few days while he was away. This was Hunter's first trip as an official frequent flier and he did great in his own seat. We had a late flight on the way back so he ended up sleeping almost the entire way. I even got to read a magazine and listen to my iPod for the first time in a really long time. :)

While we were in Indiana, we crammed in quite a few things. We went to the Indianapolis Zoo one afternoon while Mimi was getting their house ready for a showing (if anyone is reading this and happens to be looking for a house on the south side of Indy, let me know! :) ) and Hunter loved it, of course. We even got to spend one night at Aunt Mitty's house while Mimi got the house ready for an open house.
I love this video of him playing piano with Mimi. He looks so proud of himself. :)

Eating corn on the cob for the first time -

Mimi came down at the very end of June and stayed for a week to visit for my birthday. While she was here, AJ's mom, two brothers, and their sons drove down from Connecticut to stay with us as well. We all kept busy and there was a lot of activity to keep Hunter busy and entertained. I was really bad about taking pictures, unfortunately, so I don't have much to post of their visits.

Playing with Mimi at the pool:
After my birthday dinner:Hunter finished up swimming lessons at the Y last week. He is quite the little fish and loves playing in the pool so I wanted to take advantage of his love for water. He was, in my opinion, the best little "swimmer" in the class and he loved every minute of it. It was a Mommy and Me class so I'll spare you the pictures of the two of us in the water, but here he is before his first class.

This boy continues to crack me up every day with the random things he does/says/picks up from others.
- He tells on himself. He'll tell you exactly where something is that he's put down or what he's done, even if he knows it's something that he shouldn't do.
- He moos or neighs quite loudly and repeatedly from the backseat whenever we pass a cow or horse in the car.
- He knows how to make calls on my phone, so don't be surprised if you receive a random call from me with a two year old on the other end!
- He loves "working out" with Daddy...see below...

- He put on a pair of my heels the other day and started stomping around the bathroom floor saying that he was wearing "tap dancing shoes". (Not sure where he learned that!)
- He also banged his head on my knee one day and said "Ouch. Double ouch". I started laughing and asked him where he learned that and he said that it is what Goofy says. (He still loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)

Here he is enjoying a cupcake at his friend Owen's 3rd birthday party the other day. He kept it relatively mess-free!

This is a pic that I just think is cute. We're at Chuy's and he's eating a push-up for the first time. He had about 4 licks and was over it.

Finally, he's now 2 1/4 years old so I measured and weighed him the other day. He's about 28 lbs and 35 inches. Such a big little guy!

Hunter Says

2011-05-31T22:20:00.003-05:00

As Hunter was trying to grab a pen that I had -

Hunter: "Mine!" (It really comes out more like "mys"....as in yours and mys. Makes sense to me!)
Me: "Don't be grabby and don't say mine. That is not a nice thing to say."
Hunter: "Hunter's!"

So, I guess he was technically minding me. :)

Another thing he has be saying is "sure don't". Like...

Me: "Do you have to potty?"
H: "No. Sure don't."

Me: "It's time to take a nap."
H: "No. Sure don't."

Funny boy. :)

Not complaining, but...

2011-05-29T22:12:00.006-05:00

File this under the category of "This NEVER happens". Hunter fell asleep in his highchair while eating lunch this afternoon. Yes, this is the same child who took 9 months to sleep through the night and pretty much the same amount of time to start napping regularly.

I'm pretty sure this is a result of him turning two.....I mean, my sweet little cuddly baby has now turned into a full-fledged, wild and crazy, funny and hyper little boy. Andrew was here this weekend and he LOVES playing with Andrew....fortunately Andrew still likes him and isn't quite to the age where it's a nuisance to have a brother ten years younger than you following you around all of the time. But, when Andrew is here, Hunter goes.....and goes.....and goes. He just wears his little self out before it's even naptime!

We had a pretty big weekend. Friday night we celebrated our friend Chris' birthday by going out to the Round Rock Express baseball game. This is a pic of Hunter watching the fireworks after the game -

I think he looks a lot like AJ in this pic!

SPI

2011-05-21T11:29:00.009-05:00

We took some much needed family R&R this past week. We made the 6+ hour roadtrip down to South Padre Island for 5 days. It wasn't but might as well have been Hunter's first time on the beach - his actual first time was when he was 6 months old and he slept in his carrier the entire time. When he first tested out the sand between his toes he was NOT a fan. It didn't take too long before he got used to it and loved being able to run around in the open without being pulled in all sorts of different directions like usual. He was very interested in the water and first but then that flip-flopped also. By the end of our stay, he didn't even want to be in your arms if you were standing at the shore. "Get me out of here!" he would say. :) I think the waves coming towards him scared him a bit. Here are some pics from our week...

This is the view from our balcony - Hunter is in the middle and Daddy is lounging at the right.

Relaxing after a long day at the beach -

We had great weather, although it was super windy. It was very cloudy one of the days but the temps were nice. We stayed in a condo which ended up working out great. Hunter had his own room so he could go to bed at his normal time while we stayed up and played games, watched TV, etc. Since we had a kitchen in our condo, we were able to stay in and make some dinners and lunches so we only went out twice for dinner. The last night we went to a restaurant on the water and there was a dolphin swimming around the pier, coming up from the water occasionally. It was really neat to see. I wasn't fast enough with the camera to get a good picture of him.

I got a little teary looking at his little footprints in the sand and knowing that I'll never see his footprints that small again. Do I think too much? Probably! I still had to take a pic to document, though.

Every single time Hunter encounters someone he says "Hi" to them. Which I love and is super sweet, but he also calls everyone "guy". So, it's "What's guy doing?" or "Hi guy", etc. So, we tried to explain to him that it's appropriate to say "Hello, sir" rather than "Hi, guy"....now he says "Hello sir guy". :)

Also, now when Hunter wants you to hold him, he says "Hold you", rather than "Up" as he used to say. So cute.

We had a great week on the island and hope to have many more memories there!

Why?

2011-05-09T11:00:00.003-05:00

Well, I knew this wasn't far behind since Hunter's favorite phrase has been "What's that?" lately. The other day "Why?" was the response to every question we answered. It's funny and cute now....we'll see how long we still think that. :)

I've always heard parents say how sad they were when their little ones started pronouncing words correctly that they used to have cute mispronunciations of. Hunter's interpretation of banana will be mine, I think. He says Oh-nana and similarly Oh-jamas for pajamas. I love when he says those. He is also starting to say things like "My Cheerios" rather than "Hunter's Cheerios" or "Yes I am"/"No I don't".

We are two weeks in to potty training and it has actually been going better than I expected. He has been napping in his underwear and only wearing a diaper at night. We've had some accidents, probably around 1 a day, but yesterday we was totally accident free and he even told us that he had to go 3 times!

Potty training

2011-04-29T17:34:00.003-05:00

I don't know if I would quite yet say that Hunter is potty trainED, but we are definitely potty trainING. I'm a big believer in letting them stay little while you can and not pushing things on them, but he's been showing most of the signs. Plus, from what I have read and from what Dr. Dan told us in our well check, any time now is a good time to start trying. He especially mentioned that the little ones who are really verbal are usually early to train.

Last week he went potty in the big potty 3 times by asking to, so I figured I'd give it a shot this week. I must say, he has been doing remarkably well. So far this has been WAY easier than I ever anticipated. He's had some accidents here and there but that is to be expected. He's been solely in underwear this week, even during outings, except for naps and bedtime. He's actually been waking up dry from his naps for the past 4 days so I think I'll try to keep him in his underwear for naps next week. I just want to be sure he's ready for it before I take that step. :)

The reason I say we are training, rather than officially calling him trained is because he still isn't stopping play to tell me that he needs to go. He's really great when I pull him away from what he's doing to go, but I guess him taking the initiative to go will be the next step. Regardless, way to go, Hunter! He is doing a great job and I am super proud mommy!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T21:19:00.003-05:00

Even though Easter is not Hunter's actual birthday, it is always going to be even more special since he was born on Easter Sunday 2 years ago. This boy might just be able to make a birthday week and entire birthday month!

We started out the weekend by going to our friends Joel and Leah's Easter party on Saturday. We had so much fun and it was a fantastic party. The kids got to hunt Easter eggs, pin the nose on the bunny, color eggs and smash cascarones. Hunter just participated in the egg hunt and the cascarone smashing but we really enjoyed the party and all of the yummy food!

Here is my little handsome man before church this morning. Happy Easter!

Houston Aquarium and 2 year stats

2011-04-18T19:35:00.002-05:00

Birthday week continued for Mr. Hunter William as this weekend we ventured up to Houston to visit the Aquarium. Hunter loves looking at "ishies" so we knew he would really get a kick out of it. It was nice - a little smaller than I anticipated - but really, I guess how many different kinds of fish can you see in a day. They did have alligators, turtles, snakes, lizards, sharks, and a white tiger. We also rode the choo-choo train and carousel.

Hunter had his two year well check with Dr. Dan today. I am ecstatic to report his stats. He is 34 inches tall (40th %) and 26 lbs, 14 oz (35th %)! Why am I so excited about this, you may ask...? He has been hovering around the 5-10th percentile in height ever since he was born so I was getting a little worried that he was going to grow up to be a small little guy. I've definitely noticed that he's been getting taller since he can reach more things and can officially open all doors with ease. On top of that, he was SO GOOD for his visit. He let Dr. Dan do everything that he needed to do without protesting one bit and barely let out a whine when he got his two shots. He was such a big boy and Dr. Dan said he was the easiest two year old he's seen all month! I was so proud of him so I took him on our first frozen yogurt date afterward.

He mostly just played with it, but he did say "Mmm, ice cream so yummy". :) GREAT day!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Hunter!

2011-04-14T19:00:00.007-05:00

I wish I had a magic remote to slow down the time! Hunter turned 2 on Tuesday, April 12th. I still remember that day like it was yesterday and he has brought so much joy to our lives. There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't make me laugh or do something that amazes me with his sweetness, innocence, and comprehension. I just love this sweet little guy so much!

Over the past month, he has been doing and saying some pretty funny things. He says "hi" to everyone. Cute, and very social, but when we had the carpet cleaners here last week he said "hi" to them every single time they passed by him. I think they started to get annoyed but it made me feel bad for him when they ignored him. When he wants to do something, it is "time" for it, e.g., "na na time" (time to eat - he still calls food in general na na, even though he knows the names to all of his foods), "play Owen time", "watch Dada time", "shoot basketball time". You get the idea. His other new favorite sayings are "Oh, what's that, Mama?" or "What happened?". Also, when he eats, he wants to eat whatever you are eating, even if he doesn't know what it is or if he has just eaten himself and he LOVES to dip things. Finally, he pooped in the potty for the first time on 3/29! Yay Hunter!

We've had quite the birthday week celebration! As I mentioned in his party post, Mimi and Papa were here to celebrate with us. He LOVES having them here and asks where they are when he can't see them. Sunday, the day after his party, we all went to the Round Rock Express (Minor League baseball) game. Hunter has been loving baseball lately so he really got a kick out of it and it was a gorgeous day to sit outside. We were in a suite so we were in the shade and could go inside to the air conditioning whenever we wanted. It also helped to be in a "box" so Hunter was limited in how far back and forth he could go up and down the aisle. His friend Owen and his Mommy, April joined us.

Here are some pics of Hunter on his big number 2! We just hung out and played around the house during the day and had curried spaghetti for dinner for the first time - a Winship family favorite! - (if you are reading this and you know what curried spaghetti is, you have known me for a LONG time!) and cupcakes for dessert.

They say that the terrible two's are turned on like a switch, and I have already gotten a little glimpse of that. Hunter started making this face literally the day after he turned two. It is his "I don't like this/I'm confused/This isn't what I had in mind" face.

We took Mimi and Papa back to the airport yesterday and Hunter fell asleep in the car on the way there. He woke up after we dropped them off and I knew he was going to be confused since they were there when he fell asleep and not there anymore when he woke up. He immediately looked over to where Mimi was sitting and said "Mimi, come here please". :( Sad! Hopefully we will see them again soon. We are so glad they were here to celebrate with us!

Party Day!

2011-04-10T18:58:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was Hunter's 2nd birthday party! We had a blast with about seven of his friends coming over to celebrate with us. Mimi and Papa flew in as well and, as usual, saved the day in helping me with the preparations!

The theme was Mickey Mouse. Here is his cake:

A balloon artist made balloon animals for the kids:

Yummy cake!

Hunter's buddy Harrison just had a birthday too, so he came knowing exactly what the best part of a birthday party is - cake! We were very happy he was able to come, considering his baby brother or sister was due to arrive that day!

Some pics of the kids playing:

It was a fantastic day and party and we felt a lot of love. :) Thanks to everyone who helped make it so special!

Zoo Animals

2011-03-26T13:45:00.002-05:00

Hunter and I took a quick day trip to Waco to visit their zoo on Friday. I've heard good things about their zoo and it is only about an hour and fifteen minutes away from our house. Hunter LOVED it! He kept saying "see animals" all of the way up there. It was a nice zoo with all of the animals you'd expect to see - giraffes, lions, tigers, monkeys, elephants, etc. The elephants and lions were especially active. Here are a few pics from our trip:

He especially loved the "ishies"....one of his favorite animals right now...

We will definitely be back!

Choo-Choo!

2011-03-14T13:35:00.004-05:00

Hunter has really been into choo-choo trains lately, so when our friend April suggested this playdate we knew it would be a fun day!

There is a park not too far from our house that has a short 1 1/3 mile track with a miniature locomotive that you can ride! I hate to call it miniature, because it's not super small, but it is small enough where the conductor sits out in the open and pulls several cars that the passengers ride in. We checked it out on Sunday with Hunter's friends Baker and Owen, and their mommies and daddies, of course. :) The weather wasn't that great but it was a good, cheap form of entertainment for the boys. We'll definitely be back!

Here is a little history about the train if you are interested. It's a cute story -

http://www.cedarrockrailroad.com/Cedar_Rock_Railroad/History.html

And some pics from the day:

The train -

Hunter waiting for the train to come -

Hunter, Baker and Owen. Impossible to get all 3 of them to look at the camera at the same time!! -

A wider view of what the train looks like -

Ready to roll! -

23 months

2011-03-12T14:28:00.003-06:00

Well, here we are. Hunter's last month of being a one year old!

While I am floored about how fast time has gone by since he was born, I really love the stage that he's at right now. He is just so much fun and such a happy little guy. He does things that make us laugh all of the time and it's just amazing how big of a sponge his little brain is.

We celebrated his 23 month birthday by taking him to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time and he LOVED it. He mostly wanted to play basketball but did run around and do some other things as well. He ate one piece of pizza and then threw the crust down and said "all done" because he wanted to get up and play. He cried when we left but luckily it didn't last too long. I forgot to take pictures....bad mommy.

The other day, he was playing in the drawer where all of the cookie sheets are and pulled out a muffin tin and started saying "muffin". He's never seen me make muffins so I couldn't believe that he knew what it was! He also said "Skype" when we were Skyping with Mimi a few days ago, which he's just picked up by hearing us talk about it, I assume, because I always ask him if he wants to talk to Mimi on the computer rather than using the actual word Skype.

Now that the weather is nice, we are spending a lot of time outside. He asks to go outside from the minute he wakes up in the morning. It has been a little chilly in the mornings so we usually wait until the afternoon, but he is happy as a clam just running around in our backyard. He also enjoys the playground and loves to play on the slide.

He's quite the helper these days and loves to be included in whatever I am doing. He's been helping with the laundry for some time now and runs in there to help whenever he sees me heading that direction. He helps me put the wet clothes into the dryer and gather up the clean clothes to go fold. He also helps me make the bed by giving me the pillows. Never too soon to get him excited about bed making, I suppose!

He's becoming very independent and is learning to walk down stairs by holding on to the railing. He's still a little timid and wants to hold your hand most of the time, but he can do it by himself if he wants to. He wants to do everything by himself - "Hunter do it", he says.

He's doing great at feeding himself with utensils. I can give him some applesauce or yogurt and let him feed himself with a spoon with minimal mess. When it comes to food, he's also my little vegetarian baby because he's not big on meats at the moment. He'll eat some brisket (although is picky about what kind of brisket...) but if I order him a cheeseburger he'll just pick the cheese off and leave the meat. There isn't a veggie that he doesn't like, thank goodness! His favorite food right now is probably mac and cheese (his typical answer whenever you ask him what he wants to eat).

In addition to his letters and numbers, he now knows 4 shapes - circle, square, triangle, and heart. He loves pointing all of these out whenever he sees them. He floored me the other day when we were driving and saw a school bus...he loves to look for school buses. He said "school bus", and then "two school buses". I couldn't believe that he knows to put the plural form of the word when talking about more than one! He does this for balls, cars, etc. but buses just seems harder to me. So fun. :)

Oprah!

2011-03-01T15:45:00.004-06:00

Hunter and Daddy had their first boys weekend while I was out of town last weekend. It was the second time I've left Hunter overnight so it was still very hard to leave but I did much better than the last time. :)

My friend April and I went to LA to see the Oprah show! We have been trying to get tickets to see her for several months. The drawing for tickets is totally random. You basically have to stalk her website to see when they are opening up the window to apply for tickets, then apply for show dates and they email you after they close the window to see if you are one of the lucky ones. We had applied several times before and never got them and then happened to check online on the day that she had the window open for her After-Oscars Party show taping at the Kodak Theatre the day after the Oscars (which is why we went to LA instead of Chicago). We were only there for two nights but it was so cool to be around all of the Oscars buzz and to be in the Kodak Theatre with Oprah the morning after while everything was still set up from the night before. Our seats were in the top balcony so they were a little far away, but they weren't bad at all...everything was pretty clear!

Hollywood!
This was about 1/3 from the back of the line. They were checking in people at ONE card table by marking them off on pieces of paper. At 6am. In 40 degree weather. And I was wearing open-toed heels. Not thrilled at this point...

This was taken with my phone so it's not a great picture. We could see better than this in real life. But, it's Oprah!!

Hunter and Daddy hung out with April's husband and son, Chris and Owen while we were gone. They had a cookout one night and went to breakfast the next day. They did a pretty good job holding down the fort while we were gone. I'm glad they got to have some male bonding. :)

Mimi Visit

2011-02-15T16:30:00.005-06:00

Mimi came for a visit last week and just left today. We love when she's here and hate when she leaves! Hunter had a great time playing with her and unfortunately was asleep when we dropped her off at the airport this afternoon so he has been asking for her all day. When we got home he went to the stairs and yelled "Mimi, where are you?". :(

She babysat on Sunday night so AJ and I could go on a date night for Valentine's Day. We went to the new Vince Young Steakhouse downtown which is actually converted into a restaurant from the house where MTV's Real World was filmed when they were here several years ago. Ambiance - pretty cool. Food - okay. We'd go back but it's definitely not our favorite restaurant in Austin. I did get a picture with Vince though, so that probably is influencing my opinion a little bit! Unfortunately it was dark and the pic is blurry so it didn't really turn out.

On Valentine's Day Hunter had a menu full of hearts - heart shaped red velvet pancakes for breakfast, heart shaped grilled chese for lunch and heart shaped pizza for dinner. The pancakes were kind of a bust, but I love experimenting with new things and coming up with some lasting traditions for him to look forward to.

As I've previously written, Hunter loves pushing buttons. Today he said probably one of his most complete sentences yet as I was putting something in the microwave - "Hunter push the five button". Later, he did it as he was sitting at the computer with me - "Hunter push the N button". It makes me a little sad that he is growing up so fast and I won't have little baby phrases to gush over too much longer. I need to get the video camera out and just tape him talking so I can remember his sweet little phrases!

22 months

2011-02-12T17:09:00.000-06:00

My little Hunter Bear is almost two! How is that even possible?!?

At 22 months, Hunter is the sweetest little boy. He just says and does the cutest things and has great manners. He even thanks himself sometimes when he does something nice. :) He even has good manners with strangers - "Bless you, guy" - totally unprompted to a gentleman sitting next to us who sneezed. :) His only bad manner so far seems to be one that we've been struggling with ever since he has been feeding himself - throwing food on the floor from his highchair. If anyone reading this has any suggestions on how to get this to stop, I'm all ears.

He pretty much knows all uppercase letters, around 5 lowercase letters, and numbers 1-9 at this point. Sometimes he will get a couple of them mixed up, but he's got them all down pat for the most part. If you hold up a letter or point to a letter he correctly identifies it. He will say what letters he sees at random times (walking into CVS, you hear "C" "V" "S" as he points towards each). If he is sitting on my lap at the computer he will point to letters on the keyboard and say which one he is pointing to. It's pretty stinkin' cute. This also works in reverse, so if you tell him to find a letter on a page or the keyboard he will point to it.

He's always been a yes man up to this point but "no" is slowly starting to make its way into his vocabulary. He still says yes for most things but when you ask him things like if he's tired, if he wants to go to bed, if he needs a diaper change, the answer is a firm (and quick!) "no".

Speaking of not wanting to go to bed, he's starting some bedtime stalling tactics which are pretty funny and cute. When he's saying night-night to whoever isn't putting him to bed, he'll start telling other random things he sees night-night too - "Night-night TV", "Night-night chair", "Night-Night cup". And he always mysteriously needs a long drink of water right at the time we are headed into his room.....weird how that is. :)

He's getting MUCH better with his utensils. He loves to use a fork and is doing a pretty good job at getting things onto it and in his mouth.

He still loves Mickey Mouse and Elmo but has really gotten into playing with trains lately. He still loves any kind of ball and loves jumping. He's such a funny little boy and has such a great personality.

Snow!

2011-02-03T22:33:00.000-06:00

We had another snow day this year! This year wasn't as snowy as last year, but it's always fun to wake up to snow in Austin since we don't really get it that often.

Hunter wasn't a big fan last year -

This year is was just okay for him - he didn't like it in his mouth at all! I think he was mostly happy to just be outside.

There were a lot of kids and doggies playing in the fairway -

Maggie enjoyed herself -

By the afternoon the only sign of a snowy morning was a lone snowman -

What Does Baby Say?

2011-01-27T13:18:00.001-06:00

Last night I was in the kitchen making dinner and Hunter brought in one of his books - "What Does Baby Say?" - sat down and started "reading" it on the floor. I picked up the camera to try to catch him without notice, as he usually will start pointing to the apple on the back on my phone and want to see the picture if he sees me with it and then the photo-op is over, but I managed to get a little bit of it on video. He was saying what the baby says from looking at the picture on each page. It amazes me every day how much their little minds pick up at this age!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfgIf8kx8Hc

We had a bit of a rough start to the week as we all passed around the stomach flu. Luckily everyone is better and the house is now completely sanitized from top to bottom. :) I sure hope we don't have to go through that again anytime soon!

21 months

2011-01-17T14:41:00.001-06:00

Here we are....at 21 months. I'm already starting to think about Hunter's 2nd birthday party. Crazy. "They grow up too fast" is just one of those cliche lines that you always hear from people when you're pregnant or have a newborn. Kind of like "Your life is about to completely change" or "You'll never sleep again"...you just think "Yeah yeah yeah, I've heard it all". But man, it really does go by too fast. It's just not right!

One thing that I forgot to mention on my previous post and wanted to make sure I documented was something Hunter said on Christmas Eve. We went to a candlelight service at church that evening. Hunter hasn't really ever been around candles except for birthday parties, so when the candles were being lit he started saying "Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday" over and over....and quite loud I might add, which stands out a little while Silent Night is being softly sung. :) So, it turned from just "Happy Birthday" to "Happy Birthday Andrew", "Happy Birthday Dada", "Happy Birthday Mama". AJ told him that it was Jesus' birthday and to say Happy Birthday Jesus. Which he did....repeatedly for almost the entire car ride home. Regardless, it was pretty stinkin' cute and made me smile thinking about the sweet innocence of children and the true meaning of Christmas.

He's getting much better with his colors. Everything used to be blue, but now he's saying the correct color of objects more and more - green apple, orange golf club (yes, he does have an orange golf club, he's not just making it up!! :) ), yellow school bus. He also can correctly identify about 8-10 letters, depending on his mood. Sometimes he'll get stuck in a rut and keep saying the previous letter over and over again so then we have to call it a day on practicing his letters. :) He can somewhat count to 13. I say somewhat because sometimes a couple of them get jumbled up in the middle, but he's doing a really great job.

He's moving right along with putting sentences together, even sometimes saying "I". The other day he said "I push the door dada" (he LOVES to push doors closed and still loves pushing buttons), which is by far the best sentence he's said so far. He also said "I want another" at dinner the other night. Still, most of the time it's more like "Hunter jacket on", "Hunter drink", "Hunter sit", "Maggie eat pood (food)", "open it please" (his manners are still fantastic). He's starting to get the hang of the fork and spoon more and more and claps for himself when he successfully gets the food on to the fork/spoon and into his mouth. So cute! He knows his last name is Johnson and says Hunter Johnson all together. The other day he even caught the football from a short distance about 6-8 times in a row! He's currently sleeping about 12-13 hours at night with an 1.5ish hour nap during the day.

He's such a sweet little boy and when he tells you he loves you out of the blue it just melts my heart!

Negotiation - Toddler Style

2011-01-10T14:20:00.001-06:00

Hunter LOVES Mickey Mouse and Elmo. He always asks to watch them but, of course, doesn't get to as much as he would like to. Somewhere along the line he's learned that persistence pays off though, because if I say no to Mickey, he'll go through the entire line of characters hoping that I'll eventually cave. The conversation goes a little something like this -

H: "Mickey, please"
Me: "Not right now, sweetie"
H: "Minnie Mouse"
Me: "No, Hunter"
H: "Goofy"
Me: "Maybe later"
H: "Duck"
Me: (starting to ignore him)
H: "Elmo"
and it continues...."Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Oscar, Peeeeeeeease Mama."

He also picked up on one of the not-so-common Mickey Mouse characters while he got to watch whatever he wanted to in the car during our road trip. The older duck with the glasses named Professor Von Drake, or "Propessor Dake" as Hunter says. Sometimes he'll throw that one in there too because he knows it cracks me up every time. :)

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T10:45:00.008-06:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We spent Christmas morning here at home this year. Santa was very good to Hunter and Andrew. They woke up Christmas morning and opened their gifts and later on we hit to road to drive up to Indianapolis to see my family. This is the 3rd time we've driven. The first time was pre-baby and it took us 16 hours. Last year, Hunter was 8 months old and it took us 19 hours. This year it was about 17 1/2. Not too bad and Hunter really did great overall in the car. He had his moments, but heck, so did we! All I can say is thank goodness for the Volvo DVD system!

We arrived on the 26th and got to spend a couple of days hanging out with Aunt Mitty and Uncle Brian (and their doggie "Petch" -- translation: Fletch) before they jetted off to Florida for the new year. We spent some time with Grandma Hunter and other family members, and of course Hunter loved hanging out at Mimi and Papa's house (with their doggie "Fo-fee" -- Sophie).

Big milestone here - Hunter pee-peed in the big potty for the first time on 12/26! I'm not expecting this to become a regular thing, but he said he had to go and sure enough, he went! There was a bit of a mess involved, so I'll spare you the details. :) He has a Sesame Street potty seat that sits on top of the big potty here but all he does is sit there and point/name all of the characters. I think I'll need to get a plain one when we start full-blown potty training!

I was terrible at taking pictures once again, but here are few from the past couple of weeks.

Hunter's new playhouse:

Trying to get a good pic for our Christmas cards:

Opening his rocking chair from Mimi and Papa on Christmas Eve:

New Year's Eve dinner - here he is looking at pictures of himself on Mimi's phone:

Hunter, Daddy and Papa. It was actually quite balmy in Indy that night:

I have NO idea where he picked this up but think it is totally hilarious and still crack up when I watch it. I guess he's seen AJ doing push-ups before, but it is one of those things that the says/does out of the blue that make you realize how much he actually does pick up on! Such a little show-off. :)

20 months

2010-12-13T21:37:00.007-06:00

At 20 months, Hunter is an absolute hoot. He is such a little parrot and will repeat ANYTHING. Example: Yesterday as I was driving my GPS says "Turn left", I hear a little voice in the backseat saying "left, left, left". He repeats pretty much anything at the end of a sentence. He's putting sentences together like "Mommy's car", "Hunter's jacket", "Two socks". When he hears someone laughing or just thinks something is funny, he'll crack up and then sigh with an "aww, man!" at the end. Hilarious! He has great manners and even impressed another grandmother while we were in the waiting room at a Dr.'s office the other day.

Also....he can COUNT!!! He doesn't start at one and go to two, three, four, five, but he does start at one and when you ask what comes after one he says two, ask what comes after two and he says three, ask what comes after three and he says four, ask what comes after four and he says three. :) We're getting there!

There is a gymnastics studio here in town that opens up their gym to toddlers on Mondays and Fridays. Our friend Allison introduced it to us and it is a great way to let him run off some energy in the mornings. He's still going to Gymboree and loves it, although isn't into the class portion of it as much as the free playtime.

We are making a little progress on eating with utensils. He is more and more interested in them and requests a "pork" at every meal. He can sometimes get the food on his fork and into his mouth, but mostly holds it in one hand and eats with the other hand. I still wouldn't trust him with a spoon and jar of yogurt all by himself yet though!

Ready for Christmas!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-29T20:52:00.005-06:00

We spent Thanksgiving in Connecticut with AJ's family this year. It was my first time in Connecticut and we had great food and great company. Hunter did pretty well on the flights although he is becoming harder and harder to travel with in my lap. We had an open seat next to us on both of the flights on our way back and I'm beginning to think it is almost worth it to get him his own seat even though he can fly free until age two.

Hunter loves our shower. He loves to get in it because he knows he's not supposed to. Our hotel in Connecticut only had a shower - no bath tub - so Hunter got to take his first shower last week. Boy oh boy, he really thought he was getting away with something. He LOVED IT!

The week before Thanksgiving was pretty busy also. I'm a first year member of the Junior League this year and we had the Christmas Affair (same as the Holiday Mart for you Indiana folks) from Wednesday to Sunday. I only had to work two shifts but was down there pretty much every day for shopping, Santa pics, etc. Hunter wasn't such a huge fan of Santa this year. He cried when I sat him in his lap but they managed to distract him long enough to get a decent shot. I should have done a better job at talking him up beforehand!

One last pic of Hunter climbing in Maggie's cage and actually shutting the door this time...his face says it all.

W&B Visit

2010-11-15T22:40:00.005-06:00

Aunt "Mitty" and Uncle Brian came in town this past weekend to visit. Hunter has had a hard time figuring out how to say Whitney, but it is now a very clear "Mitty", sometimes preceded by "An" for Aunt. I just realized as I am typing this that I didn't get pictures of them with Hunter. Darn it! We had so much going on.

They had an AJ and Kristin-style travel day on Friday, getting in about 6 hours after they were scheduled to, so that day was pretty much a wash. We were planning on going to Chuy's (a must for out-of-town guests) but ended up picking it up and bringing it home because Hunter was asleep by the time they got in. Saturday, Miss Anna stayed with Hunter while we took the Indiana kids down to tailgate Texas style. Granted, the UT football team isn't great this year and the fans aren't as crazy, but we still had a great time. Milestone for me -- it was the longest stretch that he's stayed with a babysitter (other than my mom when we went on vacation). Anna is great though...I know he loved playing with her and we had a great time at the game.

On Sunday we relaxed and AJ cooked a great meal on his Big Green Egg and they left today. It was short trip but was a lot of fun. We loved having them here and can't wait until they come back!!

19 months

2010-11-12T15:54:00.005-06:00

I'm in denial again about how old my baby is getting. Closer to two now.....unbelievable. Although, two is his favorite number answer to everything, so maybe that will work out for us. :) (Blue is his favorite color answer, but we're making progress on our colors) He is so much fun right now and I just love being with him.

We've had some unseasonably warm weather this week, so Hunter and I took advantage and went to the Austin Zoo on Tuesday. It's a small zoo - more of an animal sanctuary as the animals that live there are rescues. For example, two of the lions that lived there were old domestic pets that had been given to the zoo. Others were circus animals that lived in small cages. Even though it was small, it was the perfect size for him and allowed us to explore without being overwhelming. He even got to feed some goats and deer until some random brown substance from one of their noses appeared on his arm, so I broke out the antibacterial wipes and then we were done with that... :) All in all, it was fun and he got excited about seeing the monkeys and now knows what a lion says.

Here are some of the other animal sounds he knows:
Monkey
Doggie
Kitty Cat (LOVE when he says meow!)
Sheep
Pig
Cow
Duck
Horsey

He can identify many more animals than that by pointing to pictures in a book, but those are the ones that he knows what they "say".

He's really in to Gymboree now and is becoming quite the climber and more and more adventurous. He's not to the grabby point (yet) and doesn't care when someone takes something away from him. He still loves the balls and bubbles and really likes the rocking horse. At this point in toddlerhood, he's really a very well behaved child and well on the road to developing great manners (saying "thank-you" more and more unprompted, "please" all of the time and "bless you" very frequently). I really couldn't ask for more!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T13:59:00.004-05:00

I'm not one that really gets in to Halloween but I was really excited about it this year. It was Hunter's first year trick or treating so we spent a lot of time trying to pump him up by talking about it with him, trying to get him to say "trick or treat" and dressing him up in the CUTEST. COSTUME. EVER. Seriously. :)

He loved going to everyone's house and wasn't timid at all....as a matter of fact, he cried after we left the first three houses because he wanted to go inside their house. We went to a few houses just down the street from us and then came home and recycled all of his candy for our trick or treaters. :)

He also attended his first UT football game on Saturday. We've taken him down to tailgate a couple of times and Hunter and I have just gone home while AJ went in to the game. We decided to see how he'd do going in to the actual game this time. He lasted until halftime, which considering the facts that 1) he napped for about 20 minutes on the way down there and that was his only nap all day, 2) it was an evening game (6:00) and so he was getting close to his bedtime anyway, and 3) he spent a couple of hours tailgating beforehand, he did GREAT. I was very proud of him! He loved watching football and clapping when everyone else clapped. :)

Such a big weekend for a little guy!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-25T20:42:00.004-05:00

AJ, Hunter and I spent Sunday afternoon at the Sweet Berry Farm Pumpkin Patch. It was about an hour drive and was really a gorgeous, scenic trip. The weather this year is quite different than it was last year....our pics from last year show us in sweatshirts and jeans...this year we are in shorts and flip flops. We are having some unseasonably warm weather which makes it a little bit harder to get in to the fall spirit. My favorite season in Indiana is the fall....I just love the crispness and smell of the air and the gorgeous scenery with the leaves changing. The IU campus is absolutely amazing this time of year. But, I digress...

Sweet Berry Farm seemed to have a lot more to do for kids Hunter's age than last year's Patch. I think next year he will be able to really get into it. He wasn't thrilled with the drive so he was really excited to get out of the car and run around. He loved the goats and thought it was funny that they ate the leaves that he was feeding them. He also liked trying to pick up every single pumpkin in his sight (and there were A LOT of pumpkins) and enjoyed watching the bigger kids ride the horses.

All in all, it was a great trip and I'm looking forward to heading back next year.

Tomorrow we will be trick-or-treating at Dell. I'm trying to teach him how to say "Trick-or-Treat!"...we're getting there! Hopefully he'll have it down pat by Sunday so he can earn lots of candy (for us to eat... :) ).

American Idol 2025?

2010-10-21T14:25:00.002-05:00

Hunter has been a singer for a while. He would usually do it in the backseat, mostly when he was tired as if he was lulling himself to sleep. He has an Elmo book that plays "Take me out to the ballgame" and sings along with it sometimes, which I FINALLY caught on video the other day. Click only if you can stand the cuteness!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le1g_PiyQxg

18 months

2010-10-15T21:13:00.009-05:00

Hunter is officially closer to two than he is to one. Unbelievable, but true. :( He can tell you how old he is though, putting up one finger and saying "one". Everything else that you ask him, though, the answer is "two". Examples - Hunter, how many naps did you take today? Two. How many blocks are there? Two. Etc, etc, etc.

I was excited for his appointment today because I really feel like he has been growing a lot lately. He pretty much skipped the 12-18 month size and I'm finally buying age appropriate sizes. 18-24 months are still a little baggy but make much more sense at this point to get him through the season than 12-18 month would. So...his official stats are: Height - 30 3/4 in. (10%), Weight - 23 lbs, 10.5 oz (22%). He's finally out of the 5th percentile and slowly moving up! The most impressive part of the day is that he got three shots and didn't even cry a tear! I was such a proud mommy. :) His little face got red and he let out a tiny little whine but never cried or shed a tear. The nurses were talking about him as we were walking out of the room because they couldn't believe it either! He is such a big boy!

Here are some more pics from his half-birthday:

Since my last post, Hunter attended his first high school football game. Our friends Chris, April and Owen had been to one recently and invited us. Hunter loves watching football and can point it out on TV, a magazine, anything that either has an actually football on it or a player in a football uniform. Hunter and Owen had a blast and we lasted until halftime only because Mommy and Daddy needed to eat!

He has been so much fun to watch at Gymboree lately. He is really enjoying all of the activities - climbing, expoloring, playing with the other kids, etc. rather than just playing with balls by himself. Here he is playing basketball this week. He made a couple of baskets by tossing the ball in as he does here rather than tipping it over the edge of the rim but I couldn't catch him making it on video...of course!

This setup was outside of our grocery store - who would have thought it? Couldn't resist Hunter's first John Deere picture!

First Dentist Appointment

2010-10-04T22:09:00.008-05:00

Hunter had his first dentist appointment today. He was so well-behaved and I was so proud of him. It was pretty easy but he was a perfect angel while the dentist was brushing his teeth and looking around his mouth. This office sure isn't anything like the dentist I remember growing up! The waiting room looked like a toy store and the exam room had a flat screen on the ceiling cued up to Baby McDonald before we walked in. I really liked his dentist and he said that Hunter's teeth and mouth looked great! We won't need to go back for a year.

Here are a few pics from today:

Chatterbox

2010-10-02T22:00:00.006-05:00

Hunter's vocabulary seems like it has grown exponentially over the past week or two. He has been talking throughout most of the day for a while, whether it be baby talk, pointing out things around the house that he knows the word to, or saying "Hi doggie", "Hi mommy", "Hi dada" (I LOVE how he says hi to everyone. So sweet). However, he is now consistently putting together three to four syallable phrases. His latest are: Bob Builder (Bob the Builder), Bless you (appropriately after someone sneezes), Here go Mama, Let's go Mama. He also says please appropriately, which I can't resist. He gets whatever he wants if a "peeease" follows it. :)

He also says thank you occasionally unprompted but mostly after I tell him to say it. He says hot when he sees food or the oven (thankfully the door doesn't get hot on the outside). He touches whatever he says as he says hot, so we need to work on not touching things that might be hot. He does blow for hot things, mostly coffee (foffee, as he says), which is pretty darn cute. He has started hiding his eyes with his hands and saying peek-boo while uncovering them, recognizing the Longhorn logo and saying Texas as he points to it. No fear, my fellow Indiana fans, he has been saying IU for a while now. :) We tailgated for the first time last week and he has about half of the hook 'em horns hand gesture down -

His other lower molar came through yesterday. Man, his teeth seem to come through slowly. He has been waking up in the middle of the night again, so I think these molars really bother him.

Big parenting milestone!

2010-09-22T21:30:00.017-05:00

Our 3rd wedding anniversary is coming up this month so AJ and I decided to take our very first post-baby vacation sans baby. We went to Maui, which is where we went on our Honeymoon. We love it there and it has sentimental value to boot. Mimi flew down to stay with Hunter while we were gone. It was definitely hard to leave him but I did okay and knew that he was in great hands. She kept me updated throughout the day with pictures, emails and phone calls so that made it so much better. Unfortunately, Hunter had his first ER visit while we were gone. He had a fever and wasn't eating or drinking but it ended up being a virus and we just had to let it run it's course. His molar also FINALLY came through when we were gone. So, poor Mimi had to babysit a sick and teething baby. Good thing she's 1) a great mom/Mimi and 2) a great nurse. :)

Here are a few of Mimi's cutest update pictures:

My favorite - Hunter stacking 3 blocks. He looks so proud of himself!

Doesn't even care that we're gone... :)

Trying to brush his new molar -

We picked a different resort than where we stayed during our Honeymoon so it was nice to experience a different side of the island but we did go back to our favorite restaurant that we stumbled upon while we were the last time. We mostly hung around the resort, had some great food and relaxed. AJ played golf a couple of times and I got a massage at the most amazing spa I have ever been to. Just my kind of vaca! It was a wonderful, much needed vacation and if we could have shipped Hunter there I could have stayed for another 2 weeks. :)

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

View from our room -

View from breakfast every morning -

Lahaina Grill...our favorite!! -

Hanging out at the pool on our last day -

Missing Hunter -

17 months

2010-09-14T07:39:00.002-05:00

Hunter at 17 months: He's about 23 lbs and 31 inches. Next month is the big 18 month well-check so I'm anxious to find out where he ranks on the percentile chart. He still has 8 teeth - 4 on top and 4 on bottom - although he has a molar that is taking it's sweet time to come in and should be popping through any day now.

Papa was able to take some time off so he came down to visit last week. Hunter had a great time playing with him and it was good for him to spend time with Papa!

Yes!

2010-08-31T15:02:00.007-05:00

Hunter's new response to everything is "Yes". It's very cute and I'm glad he prefers it over "No" (although he does tell the dog no and shush her on occasion). He not only responds yes when you ask him a question, but he preemptively says "Yes, yes, yes" for something he sees that he wants. Example - If he sees one of us eating fruit, he drops everything and comes over, saying "Yes, yes, yes". If he wants his shoes on, he'll bring them over to you saying "Yes, yes, yes". He'll bring his monkey backpack over to you saying "Yes, yes, yes". I was having a little fun with the yes questions/answers in the store the other day and couldn't resist sharing the video. I think it is hilarious. I'm having trouble with the Blogger video upload so here is the YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIi28SnLl58

He's now saying "Uh oh". He likes to say it when he falls down or anything falls on the floor, even if it is a purposeful drop/throw. Sometimes says it before he drops/throws just to let you know what's coming up. Another new favorite is "Hello" as he holds the phone to his ear. Most often it is the phone at least -- it can also be his hand, the monitor, a shoe -- anything that makes sense to put to his ear. :) I've been trying to take video of it but it he mostly has my cell phone when doing it and by the time I get back from grabbing the real video camera he quits performing. Today he grabbed my phone and said "Hello....hello....Mimi". I said "Do you want to call Mimi?", which he of course responded "Yes" to. So, we called Mimi. :) It is so much fun to have little mini conversations with him. He is growing up TOO fast!

Indianapolis Children's Museum and trip update

2010-08-21T23:34:00.008-05:00

Hunter and I took a trip home last week for a few days. We saw Grandma (his Great-Grandma but that is waaay too many syllables :) ) one day, and met up with my college roommate Nicolle and her son Hudson at the Children's Museum another day. Indy has a fantastic Children's Museum. It is huge, has a lot of exhibits - complete with a carousel - and hours of entertainment. I wish the Austin Children's Museum was like that! Here are some pics from the day...

It's hard to get two toddlers to look at the camera at the same time--

Fun in the water and sand --

First time riding a carousel --

Hanging out with Great-Grandma Hunter -

Playing with Aunt Whitney --

Hunter loved to walk all around and occasionally sit on the chairs (he says "up, up!") in the screened-in porch --

This was our first flight since Hunter has been walking so I prepared us with plenty of surprises to break out when he wanted to get down and run. He actually slept for a majority of our flight up from Dallas to Indy but wasn't so great today on our flight home. AJ had a work trip which landed him in Columbus, OH while we were in Indy so he drove over last night to see us and fly home with us today. It definately helped to have Daddy there to entertain, change laps, and so forth. All in all, it wasn't too bad at all and am chalking up to a success. :)

16 months old, 1st haircut and new tooth!

2010-08-16T17:37:00.012-05:00

Well, either I measured incorrectly last month or Hunter hasn't really grown that much this month because it looks like he is still around 30.5 inches long and about 21.5 lbs. We have a lot of exciting updates since my last post!

Hunter had his first haircut on Friday, 8/13 (which also happens to be AJ's birthday). We went to a little place called Snip-Its. They cater to kids and it was very cute and entertaining. Hunter really did a great job...he wasn't super squirmy and behaved very well. I was sad to get his hair cut for the first time -- it feels like we're running out of "firsts" -- but I managed to hold it together. :) Here are a couple of pics:

Pre-haircut. Look at those curls!

Mid-cut...being entertained by Daddy and some Goldfish:

Post-cut with his new big boy 'do:

1st haircut certificate:

Hunter's 8th tooth finally popped through yesterday. He now has 4 on top and 4 on bottom. His little gums are so swollen around where his molar would be coming through and I think it is really bothering him right now. Last night he woke up at 1am for the first time in months.

He has learned how to fist bump -- "pump??"-- anyway, REALLY cute. He's also starting to hide things in random places. GREAT. The other day I found his missing shoe in a kitchen cabinet. The next day, a coaster in the plant. Today, some laundry in a shopping bag. I'm just waiting for the day that I can't find my cell phone and I hear it ringing in the trash can. He's also becoming quite the climber. He's been using his little musical table as leverage to climb up on to the ottoman and the fireplace so I thought it would be safe in the middle of the room.....not so much....

Hunter's 7th tooth

2010-08-04T22:10:00.005-05:00

After a month of looking like it was going to pop through any day now, Hunter's 7th tooth is officially here. He now as 4 on bottom and 3 on top. He's not a fan of getting his teeth brushed so I've given in and have reverted back to the finger brush rather than the big boy toddler toothbrush. I've tried sitting him up on the bathroom sink while I brush my teeth so he can see how "cool" it is but that's not exactly working for him, sooo....we'll have to keep trying with that!

I think it's about time that I break down and get his hair cut for the first time. :( Check out his bedhead from his nap the other day - his hair can get a little crazy looking at times! I'll be sad to see his curls go!

You can't really see the curls in the back in this pic because I had just brushed his hair but you can definitely see how long it has gotten! His Elmo DVD is on this TV in our bedroom so he always heads over for it and turns the TV off and on and off and on. Then, he takes the DVD out of the DVD player and walks around with it saying "Elmo, Elmo". This is why we keep all of the doors that he can access during the day. :)

His newest words are "baby" and "pizza". It makes me a little sad to hear him saying "baby" because I feel like HE should be the baby! I have some Lean Cuisine pizzas in the freezer and now it's "pizza, pizza, pizza" whenever I open the door and he sees one. Not to mention, whenever I buy his little frozen Earth's Best pizzas they have Elmo on the box which only adds to his obsession. He has to hold the box while we finish shopping to keep him quiet!

No!

2010-07-29T11:18:00.002-05:00

Yep, he's learned the word "no". The funny thing though, is that he doesn't use it to say no to me. He uses it when he knows he is doing something that I'll say no to. For example, today he managed to climb his way on to the fireplace hearth. I have no idea how he did it - I was washing dishes at the kitchen island which faces the living room and literally looked down and right back up and there he was. I said his name and he started cracking up saying, "no, no, no". He also does the same thing when I catch him getting in to a drawer he shouldn't be. I don't know what I'm in for with this but I'm sure I will look back on this post in the future and slap myself for saying that it's pretty cute. :)

Not much new to report this week. He's started saying "moo" when he sees cows. There is a cow on his milk carton so whenever I open the refrigerator door he starts saying "moo, moo, moo". He's really enjoying Gymboree and I love watching him have such a good time. The kids aren't super social with each other at this point but they play around each other nicely and interact a little bit. It's super cute!!

Rough life

2010-07-18T21:47:00.011-05:00

Man, this kid really does have a rough life. Poolside, snack trap, sippy cup, what more could a little guy ask for?
I just love that pic. It makes me smile every time I see it. :)

More fun at the pool.

Someone discovered a new, fun place to play this afternoon!

He's finally mastered the straw sippy cup and drank 4 cups worth of water the day the day that he did because he was so proud of himself and walked around with it in his hands all day long. Very cute. As of today he can now stand up by himself without having to pull up on something and is basically running rather than walking. Andrew has been here for the past week and he spends much of the day walking around saying "An-doo, An-doo, AN-DOOOOOO". Here is a video of him watching AJ and Andrew mow from inside last week:

Practicing his dribble the other morning. :)

15 months

2010-07-14T16:08:00.007-05:00

Hunter at 15 months: A fun-loving, full fledged toddler who loves books, balls, balloons, Elmo, and pushing buttons (literally most often, but occasionally figuratively :) ). No well check this month but I'm estimating he's 30.5 inches and just under 22 lbs. He sure has been eating a lot so I'm anxious to see where he ranks on the "percentile" chart at our 18 month well check.

He is a very active little guy. Now that he's walking he would rather walk around and get into things that he isn't supposed to rather than play with the bijillion toys he has in the living room. He is getting faster and faster at walking but still has to crawl over to something to pull up to a standing position. He is quite the talker, but not so much around other people. He's also getting into a little bit of a shy phase but a lot of friends I've talked to say their babies went through the same thing at this age. He's much more verbal when he's at home than when he's out at an unfamiliar place. He repeats what you say at the end of a sentence when you're not even expecting it which is soooo cute. Example: Me: "Mommy is opening the blinds." H: "Bides", Andrew: "I wonder why Hunter likes touching your chin" AJ: "Because it's scratchy" H: "Cat-shee". He's a downright genius, I tell ya!

He is doing MUCH better from a sleep perspective. We're getting in a solid 10:30am nap AND 3pm nap. Woo hoo! He's going down while still awake and putting himself to sleep both at night and naptime, which honestly I never thought I'd see. :) I'll savor this as long as I can before he starts cutting out one of those naps.

He really amazes me every day. He's still so cuddly and I am making sure to savor every moment because I know it won't be long until he's too busy to love his mama!
Here are a couple of recent pics:

With Mimi before we had to take her to the airport. :(

Still coming up with more indoor, non 95 degree heat things to do - Hunter's first drawing:

Yes, that is blue crayon on his teeth...

Baby Picasso:

Catching up on some email with Daddy:

Another tooth!

2010-07-05T13:51:00.003-05:00

Hunter decided to give me his very own birthday present...a new tooth popped through today! It is his third one on the bottom so now he has 3 on top and 3 on bottom. It looks like the 4th will pop through any day now but they look a little funny right now because the third on both the top and bottom are on the same side so he has his two middle teeth and then the tooth directly to the right on each.

My mom is in town for my birthday and we are having a great time as usual. Hunter has changed so much since she saw him last. He is walking and talking so much. We're trying to get him to say "Mimi" with no luck so far. He'll point to her when asked "Where's your Mimi?" but won't say it yet! Hopefully he will before she leaves. :)

Father's Day

2010-06-20T17:05:00.005-05:00

We went to Dallas this weekend for a wedding - it was a quick trip up on Saturday and back on Sunday. We were very close to the Six Flags/Cowboys Stadium area so I wanted to take AJ on a tour of the new Cowboys Stadium for Father's Day. It was great to watch his face light up when he found out that we were going to be able to go on the field and tour the locker room. It was like watching a child's eyes on Christmas morning. :)

Hunter was asleep through the first part of the tour but woke up and got to experience some of the action - even walking on the field all by himself!

Right after we first got there before Hunter woke up -

AJ throwing up the Hook'em Horns in the Cowboys locker room. Apparently this Roy Williams guy played for Texas. :)

One of the first pictures of just the two of us in (what seems like) several years -

Hunter pointing at the football (and saying "football, football" over and over again)

Daddy and Hunter in the end zone -

And he's walking!

2010-06-16T19:09:00.004-05:00

Hunter is officially walking! He has been taking 8-10 steps since my last walking post but today has decided that he wanted to walk for over 50% of the day! He can't get up to a standing position by himself yet but he does pull up on something and then, watch out, he's off! Go, Hunter, go!!! It is so crazy to see this little 2 1/2 foot tall baby walking around the house but I love it. I am so proud of my little guy!!

14 months

2010-06-11T15:36:00.010-05:00

Happy 14 month birthday to Hunter! I'm definitely realizing he is more of a toddler than a baby at this point. He is now taking 8-10 steps pretty consistently throughout the day so I know it won't be long before he is full-blown walking. He's about 29.5 inches tall and around 20 lbs. He's been eating a ton lately and is so much fun to be around.

I'm having to get more creative with the types of entertainment and activities we do throughout the day. Hunter hasn't been napping well and he seems to get "over" one toy/activity faster than he did before and wants to move on to something else. We have a little activity center called "Jump 'n Climb" that is close to our house so we went over and checked it out one afternoon. Hunter was beside himself when we walked in and he saw all of the balls that he could play with. It was pretty cute and will be a good option for times when we need to mix up our day a bit.

A new tooth and lots of words!

2010-06-07T16:47:00.002-05:00

Hunter's fifth tooth came in today. It is his third tooth on the top. It has been awhile since he had gotten a new tooth and this one took it's time finally poking through his gums. He has been extra drooly for at least a week!

Hunter's repertoire is quickly growing. It's funny how I used to worry that he wasn't "talking" very much and now he doesn't stop! He repeats words that I say when I'm just talking to him and not actually trying to get him to talk. Here are some new words that he knows (not just repeats):

book
hairbrush
balloon
Elmo
Bye-bye
April
apple
bubbles
eyes
box
yes

He still LOVES balls, balloons, and now bubbles. During one part of Gymboree class they blow bubbles and he yells bubbles, bubbles, bubbles over and over again. I swear, he is a genius baby!

First steps!!

2010-06-04T17:43:00.001-05:00

Hunter took his first few steps last night! Here is the video!

Also, had to post this funny video from yesterday morning. He never really showed any interest in pushing his shopping cart walker around until now. He cracks me up!

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-01T16:02:00.006-05:00

We have been pretty busy over the past few weeks! Sorry for the lack of updates. AJ's boss invited us to their lake house a few hours outside of Dallas over Memorial Day weekend and we really enjoyed ourselves. It was about a 3 hour drive and Hunter did pretty well in the car. There were about 18 people and 7 dogs there so he had plenty of entertainment and was beside himself that there were so many dogs to look at! He rode on a boat for the first time and didn't care much for the life jacket.

Check out his hair blowing in the wind!

I think he is going through a growth spurt because he is eating like a horse! We're to the point where I can order meals at restaurants for him most of the time which is more convenient but more expensive, of course! I'm trying to give him finger foods of things that I used to puree for him and he's continuing to be a great eater. He has another top tooth that has looked to be on the verge of popping through for days so I'm expecting it any time!

I love this pic from the park last week!

Here is some video of him being silly the other morning. Might have to do something about that console table!!

13 months

2010-05-16T19:08:00.011-05:00

We didn't have a doctor appointment this month (won't until 18 months) but my stats at home show Hunter between 19-19.5 lbs and about 29 inches long. He is mostly still in his 6-12 month clothes but does have a few 12 month that he fits in.

It seems like he is doing something different every day! He is already practicing to be a Hoosier because he can put his basketball in his hoop now. As a matter of fact, he is pretty much obsessed with balls at this point. He can spot one from a mile away and points and says "ball, ball, ball" over and over again. He likes to read his books and will look through a picture book that he has and point out all of the words he knows. He is getting closer and closer to walking - he cruises EVERYWHERE and can stand alone for several seconds but still hasn't attempted that first step! His hair has really grown quite a bit over the past few weeks and he is looking more and more like a little boy!

Here is some video of Hunter playing basketball with his friend Owen:

We also started Gymboree classes. Hunter is having a blast!

NYC

2010-05-12T09:48:00.006-05:00

Hunter and I tagged along with AJ to NYC last week while he was there on business. I had never been there before so it was a great opportunity to get to go while still being able to see daddy. We only had a couple of days to sightsee so I definitely want to go back but we had a great time and packed a lot into those few days!

We stayed at a hotel on Times Square. While AJ was in meetings, Hunter and I walked down to Central Park. We spent most of the day walking and stopped off at FAO Schwarz on the way back. The next day we took the subway to the Manhattan Children's Museum and then went back and met AJ at the hotel. We all went down to Ground Zero (not really much to see here but I wanted to go there anyway) and Rockefeller Center. The next day we rented a car and drove to Newark to see AJ's grandparents and had breakfast with his mom before we flew out on Saturday. Busy, busy! It was a great time and I'm looking forward to going back.

Here are a few pics from our trip:
An exhausted Hunter checks out the lights on Times Square after a day of travel -

Clapping for the break-dancers at Central Park -

First time on the subway (self portrait) -

Manhattan Children's Museum -

First time touching sand - not really sure what to think about it! -

Grandpa

2010-04-28T08:22:00.017-05:00

Well, it has been a very emotional week. My grandfather, John Hunter, passed away last week on April 20th at the age of 82. Hunter and I flew out on Wednesday morning and AJ met us in Indianapolis on Friday. Grandpa was a good, good man. He was patient and kind and I truly never heard him say a bad word about anyone. He had many qualities that I sometimes lose sight of on a daily basis but am now trying to remember to make them a priority in my life. There were hundreds of people that showed up to pay their respects at the visitation on Friday. It was truly a wonderful testament to how many people he touched.

Grandma and Grandpa would have celebrated their 62nd anniversary on Friday. They actually met in Texas and loved to spend the winter months down here in their RV. I flew to Harlingen the last time that they were able to come down and spent a couple of days with them which I will always cherish. Grandpa very talented in woodworking. He made us little Cabbage Patch doll swings and cradles when we were little, among many other things. I have the kitchen table that was the family dining table for my mom and her brothers/sisters growing up...made from his own two hands. I remember him coming over to fix anything around the house - he just knew how to do it all.

His death wasn't unexpected, however, we are still all so sad to lose him. As his eulogy stated - he was immensely proud of his family--every single one of them: his wife, his children and their spouses, his grandchildren and their spouses, and his great-grandchildren. And we're happy to have made him proud.

Hunter was the model traveler on the plane. He made things so much easier and I was so proud of him. Since his birthday he has added several more words to his vocabulary. He is talking up a storm! He can now say dog (points and says it at the same time), apple, ball (points to it as he is saying it), nah nah (for food), Maggie and Andrew. I swear, he is a genius baby!! :)

12 month checkup/stats

2010-04-16T22:08:00.002-05:00

Hunter had his 12 month well check with Dr. Terwelp on Wednesday afternoon after we dropped Mimi and Papa off at the airport. He had to get 4 shots and really cried this time. :( He is officially 28" long (5th percentile) and 18 lbs, 10.5 oz (4th percentile). Still a little guy so far! Dr. Terwelp thinks he will be around 5'9" by the time he is fully grown though based off of my height and AJ's height. He checked out perfectly and looks great! He won't have another well visit until 18 months.

We went to Picture People today to get his one year pics taken. I'll post them once I get them scanned!

Happy 1st Birthday!

2010-04-12T20:54:00.011-05:00

I can not believe that my little baby is now a year old! To look back at pictures and think about how we felt this time a year ago is almost overwhelming. Time goes by way too fast. Hunter has brought us so much joy and laughter over the past year. I never could have imagined how incredible parenthood would be!

We had a wonderful week of celebration for him as Mimi, Papa, and Aunt Whitney flew in to see him and help out with his party. They were so much help that I have no idea how I would have put together his party without them!

Even though his birthday is today, we had his party on Saturday the 10th. We had several friends come over to help celebrate and we were so happy to have them here. The highlight was Hunter's first experience with cake. To say that he loved it is an understatement! He devoured that thing! I made a "one" cake for everyone and a mini "one" cake for him to smash, and boy did he smash it.

Here are a couple of pics of the cakes:

And here is Hunter enjoying his:

We went to the Oasis for lunch today. Hunter's new thing is pointing...

And the birthday boy with Whitney:

The bluebonnets are in full bloom right now so we went out to take the obligatory pics of Hunter in bluebonnets today. It was naptime so he wasn't such a fan but we did get a couple of good shots.

Happy Birthday sweet baby boy!!!

Independent eater and another tooth!

2010-03-30T13:52:00.007-05:00

While we were eating lunch yesterday, Hunter decided that he did not want to eat from the spoon that I was feeding him with and would rather do it himself. He zipped his lips shut and kept grabbing the spoon. We had already made a slight mess at this point so I decided to let him go for it. He banged the spoon and bowl on his tray a little bit and then decided to eat his lunch with his hands. Very messy!

Hunter's 2nd top tooth finally poked through today. I know this is totally going to change the way he looks. No more cute little baby smile - it's going to be a full blown toddler smile here shortly!

I'm also sad to report that he has his first illness. It seems like he has caught a little cold. He has a runny nose, a slight fever, and his little voice is hoarse. I hate it! Here's to hoping he feels better soon.

Hi Dog!

2010-03-26T14:59:00.002-05:00

We now have one word and one sentence in Hunter's repertoire! He says "dada" all of the time and now, as of two days ago, he is saying "hi dog"! Here is the YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW77Xcyni3I

New tooth!

2010-03-21T16:10:00.003-05:00

Hunter's 3rd tooth has finally poked through! It is his top left tooth and it seems like it has been trying to come through for months. His poor little gums have been swollen and you can almost see the tooth underneath his gums. I know the 2nd top one isn't too far behind!

We also discovered a new favorite snack today - grapes! I was eating some and he kept staring at them and grabbing for them so I cut a few up into little bites for him and he gobbled them right up - along with many more!

Also, look how long his hair is getting on the top!

Baby dates and new foods

2010-03-19T19:23:00.003-05:00

Last weekend Hunter, Andrew and I went to the Zilker Park Balloon Festival. It was the perfect day for it - just enough wind. There were a ton of people there but it was so fun seeing all of the pretty kites on the Austin skyline! It was chilly when we left in the morning and got up to about 80 that day so Hunter changed from long sleeves and jeans to a t-shirt and shorts throughout the day and was lathered up in sunscreen. I, however, forgot about myself and still have a lovely farmers tan on my arms that has finally faded from bright red to a more pinkish shade. :)

This week we went to Babytime at the Round Rock Library with Sara and Sally. Sally is 6 months old and is such a little cutie. He hasn't been around that many girls as it seems like most of our friends had boys last year, so it was cute to see them flirting with each other. :)

He tried a couple of new foods this week. Scrambled eggs started out not so great but ended up being a hit. Today he tried cottage cheese mixed with blueberries. He took about 4 bites and actually started crying when I was trying to get him to eat more! That is the first time he's really rejected a food. I told him I don't blame him - I don't like cottage cheese either. :) He's only had both once so we'll see how he fares with them in the future.

11 months

2010-03-17T10:37:00.008-05:00

I can't believe we have an almost one year old! I think Hunter weighs about 18 lbs now and is about 28.5 inches long. We'll see what his official stats are next month at his Dr. appt. Doesn't look like we'd be able to turn that car seat around next month even if we wanted to!

We moved him from his infant carrier to his big boy car seat the weekend before last. I think he really likes it! He sits up straighter and higher in this one. I catch him looking out the window a lot and sometimes he just hangs one arm over the side like he is lounging. It's pretty cute.

Hunter is so much fun to be around. He is starting to wave and give high fives sometimes. He says dada all of the time but we're still working on mama. He is very inquisitive and is very brave, pulling up on anything he can. The other day I caught him up on the console table on all fours banging on the wedding album. Silly boy! I've yet to find a gate that works for either the stairs or the opening between the entry/living room so I spend all day hovering over him and making sure he's not getting in to any trouble!

He loves the refrigerator for some reason and makes a bee line for it whenever he sees us open it...

The weather here has been great so we've enjoyed being able to get back outside for our walks. We went down to a park in our neighborhood with our friends April and Owen and Hunter played on the swings for the first time. He loved it!

So far he's not showing any desire to take steps and just bounces up and down when you hold him up to stand. I'm not wishing for it to come any sooner than it is going to!

Let it snow

2010-02-24T13:24:00.004-06:00

Yesterday morning we woke up to something you don't see every day in Austin - huge snowflakes falling from the sky! It continued to snow off and on throughout the rest of the morning and in to mid-afternoon. We ended up getting around 2 inches in Round Rock. This is the first time we've had a real snow since 2004 so I wanted to make sure and get a few pics of Hunter in the snow. I built a little snowman for him, bundled him up and took him outside, and the minute his hand touched the snow he started crying. He did not like it AT ALL.

I wanted to get a few more pictures but he was much happier watching the snow come down from inside. :)
The best part of this story is that it was 75 degrees two days prior. Gotta love that Texas weather!

10 months old

2010-02-15T21:52:00.007-06:00

I think I am in denial that my litttle baby is getting close to a year old. Ten months totally snuck up on me so I am a little late with the update. I don't have much new to report - he didn't have a well baby check-up this month so I weighed him at home. From my best estimate he is around 18.5 lbs and a little over 27 inches tall. He is cruising all over the place and is getting more and more confident with moving from place to place. He's finally starting to get down from a standing position and will bend down to pick something up that he has dropped (while holding on to something stable).

His favorite toy right now is a shopping cart walker that I got hoping would help him take steps. He loves it but gets mad when it moves when he is behind it, so instead he just pulls it along with him while he's cruising around the ottoman. It's pretty stinkin' cute!

Here is another sweet pic of him all wrapped up like a little baby after his bath the other night. Awww!

I just love this pic from behind...I can't resist the little baby butt! He likes to look outside and bang the blinds.

Mimi and new snacks

2010-02-09T20:17:00.006-06:00

Mimi came for a visit last week and thank goodness she picked the week she did because AJ was in Vegas on business all week! As usual she helped out a TON and Hunter loved having her around. She even babysat for us while so we could go out on a date. :) She is like the baby whisperer - can put Hunter to sleep in no time. Here is a cute pic of them rocking before bed one night.

Saturday we went to Harrison's house to celebrate his first birthday. Allison had a cute sampler out of some baby friendly hors d'oeurves including puffs, chex, goldfish, and the like. I let Hunter try some goldfish for the first time and oh my, have we discovered a new favorite snack! He LOVED them. He kept eating them because he would get mad when the handful that I had was gone. It was pretty cute. My mom and I also took him to Rudy's for the first time last week and he tried brisket for the first time which he also loved. I guess he officially is a Texan!

We went to a friend's Super Bowl party on Sunday. Hunter showed his support for his favorite team - the Colts! - but unfortunately it didn't help them bring home a win.

Maggie turned 9 today. I wanted to get a pic of Hunter and Mag together but gave up after about 20 takes. So, here is the birthday girl!

Baby needs a new pair of shoes!

2010-02-03T20:25:00.006-06:00

Hunter got his first pair of shoes today! He looks so cute in them and I almost cried at Stride Rite but held it back for fear of the salespeople thinking I was losing it. :) He is just growing up so fast and he looks like such a little boy! Here is a pic of him modeling his new kicks -

Last week we went over to Hunter's friend Harrison's house for a playdate. We've had playdates with Harrison before but this was the first time that they've really interacted with each other. It was so cute to see them laughing at each other and playing together. These two sure are in for some good times in the future!

Hunter has perfected the "I don't like this"/"I want this" squeal/screech/scream which is awesome since he prefers to do it in public. Luckily everyone has seemed to be understanding and just thinks he is cute. We'll see how long that lasts!

9 month photos and more

2010-01-27T20:51:00.006-06:00

I took Hunter back to Picture People to get his 9 month pictures yesterday. As usual he was a ham for the camera and we got a handful of good pictures. Again, scan quality isn't that great but here are a few:

I went back through this 3 and 6 month pictures when I was filing these and can't believe how much he's changed! His hair is getting thicker and longer, although we're still working on growing some in the back. :) I guess I don't notice it as much, seeing him on a daily basis, but WOW...he is looking more and more like a little boy. Where did my baby go?!?

He is getting faster at crawling every day. I like to sit back, follow him, and watch him and let him explore to see where he goes. It is amazing what little things he notices that he can goes straight for. He is starting to follow me, which is fun, because this helps with him crying when I leave the room. He pulls up on everything he can find and doesn't quite know how to get down from standing yet so he will either fall over or cry until you come get him. He is just now starting to cruise around the furniture just a little bit. He's still pretty wobbly but will move from the ottoman to me if I hold my hands out and he cruises along all four sides of his crib.

He still just has two teeth on the bottom - no top teeth yet. He has moved from puffs (although he still loves them) to Cheerios and Chex. He loves the Cheerios and tries to shove as many of them in to his mouth as he can. He also tried some orzo tonight which went okay. They were a little hard for him to pick up but most of it got in his mouth. His favorite food right now is yogurt.

He is getting really good at vocalizing what he wants, even though he can't speak yet. We've been doing sign language for "eat", "more", and "all done" for several months and I think he knows what they mean although he doesn't reproduce the motions yet. He has a distinct squeal, grunt, or scream when he likes/wants/doesn't like/doesn't want something and he babbles throughout most of the day.

He's been doing pretty well from a sleeping perspective until the past couple of nights when he has decided that 7:30 is not his bedtime and he wants to stay up longer. I don't know if he is starting a new trend or is just interested in what is going on outside of his bedroom and wants to be a part of it so we'll see where that takes us.

On a "me" note -I got a new car today! We traded in my car for a SUV. My car was only a year and a half old and I loved it but I really wanted more room. With the stroller taking up the entire trunk and the passenger seat moved up to accommodate the car seat in the back I really wasn't left with much room. I was a sad to get rid of my car but really like my new SUV. I call it my soccer mom car. :)

9 months!

2010-01-13T19:49:00.002-06:00

Hunter had his 9 month well baby check-up today. He weighed in at 17 lbs, 11.5 oz (10th %) and 26.5 inches long (4th %). He's a little guy! The boy definitely has his daddy's big head though, as his head was in the 25th percentile. :) He did have to get one shot and a toe prick. Around this time is when a baby's iron supply that builds up in utero is depleted so they checked to make sure his iron levels were okay and they were perfect! He is also officially pulling up to standing and is getting better at crawling every day. We are starting to see some separation anxiety when I leave the room but Dr. Terwelp said it is normal and will pass. On the food front, he tried turkey for the first time yesterday. I just bought some organic turkey slices, chopped it up in the food processor and mixed it with his lunch and our good little eater gobbled it right up!

And we're mobile!!

2010-01-09T13:53:00.005-06:00

Happy 2010! It has been a busy past few weeks, as you can see by the lack of updates. The biggest news is that Hunter is now officially crawling as of yesterday! He's certainly not a pro just yet, but he has figured out how to move forward. I took some video:

He still will mostly roll or crawl backwards but he is crawling forward to get to something that he wants (but shouldn't have) which right now includes my cell phone, Maggie's toys, or shoes.

He also pulled up to his knees one time on Wednesday. This is the only time he's done it so far. It has been looking like he might for a couple of weeks so I went ahead and lowered his mattress before Christmas. Sad! He is also sitting up well while totally unassisted now. He is just getting so big!

For Christmas this year we decided to drive to Indiana. We've just had such bad luck flying over the past two Christmases that we decided we wanted to be on our own timetable. It actually went pretty well, considering we have an 8 month old who is not a fan of either naps or being in his car seat. :) It took us about 3 hours longer total than it did the last time we drove it but our stops were much longer than they used to be. Instead of hitting the drive-thru we would get out and sit down to eat so Hunter could sit in his high chair and play around a bit and I'd nurse him when we'd stop for gas, etc. We had a great time and I think Hunter enjoyed his first Christmas. :) (Ok, you're right, he had no clue what was going on, but I loved it!)

Here are a couple of pics from his first Christmas:

He turns 9 months old next week. Unbelievable. So, it's back to Dr. Terwelp's office for his 9 month check-up. I'm anxious to see how long he is. I feel like he's gone through a growth spurt lately because his jammies are starting to get a little small. I'll update more then!

8 months

2009-12-14T20:25:00.002-06:00

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!!!!

2009-12-11T21:31:00.000-06:00

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!

2009-12-07T21:41:00.007-06:00

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

2009-11-30T17:58:00.004-06:00

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!

2009-11-18T13:44:00.007-06:00

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!

2009-11-16T15:08:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-14T22:27:00.007-06:00

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!

2009-11-04T10:10:00.005-06:00

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

2009-10-23T10:53:00.006-05:00

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

2009-10-14T16:35:00.003-05:00

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...

2009-10-12T17:18:00.009-05:00

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

2009-10-08T11:50:00.003-05:00

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

2009-09-28T09:41:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-09-24T15:01:00.004-05:00

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 :)

2009-09-09T13:22:00.004-05:00

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

2009-08-30T11:27:00.000-05:00

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

2009-08-16T20:03:00.006-05:00

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!

2009-08-08T20:22:00.004-05:00

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

2009-07-26T18:12:00.003-05:00

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. :)