Let it snow

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

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

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!

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

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!

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!!

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!