Birthdays, Babies, and Easter

As you can see, there has been lots of stuff happening the past couple of months with our family. First of all, Baby Micah is no longer the baby. Jacob Alexander Gomez (Aunt Heidi and Sam's baby) was born on March 30. Mommy got to go and spend time with Baby jake and Aunt Heidi for a few days after he was born, but cousins Hunter and Micah have yet to meet him in person. Although, they do get to see him on the web cam almost every week which is awesome. Jake is growing like a weed and we can not wait until the whole family can go and seem him again...or we can convince Aunt Heidi to bring him to MO to see us!!

Micah Chase is now 1 year old and is growing into quite the little opinionated toddler. He loves to eat, unlike his brother, and in this picture taken on his birthday, he swiped that cupcake right out of his brother's hand and stuffed it in his own mouth. The whole scenario was priceless and totally shows the difference between Hunter and Micah's eating mannerisms. Hunter nibbled around the outside of his cupcake while Micah stuffed his in by the fistful...too funny! Micah is now about 23 lbs and 32 inches tall. His weight has actually evened off a lot the last few months (which I can not imagine why since he eats constantly!). But, he is very energetic and loves to play, just like his big brother. Who, by the way, he thinks is next to God because he follows him around like a lost puppy.

Micah is not walking yet, much to Mommy's dismay. I think his little legs and knees are permanently bruised from crawling around outside all the time. He is very quick, though, which is probably why he has no desire to walk even though I think he could if he wanted. He will take a couple steps and then plop down and start crawling again. He says a few words like mama and dada, but usually not on cue....just whenever he wants something. We are trying to teach him sign language so we know when he wants more food or drink, etc. His big brother is helping out a lot with this. I think Hunter likes the sign language DVD just as much as Micah does!
Mommy also celebrated another birthday. As Hunter would say, I am three and Mommy is three-three! It is so cute. Mommy did not do anything too exciting for her birthday, just spent time with her boys. Her favorite gift was her new phone which she purchased with the money Papaw sent her...thanks Papaw!!

Micah also celebrated his first Easter this year. Easter was early last year and Mommy was still on bedrest waiting to Micah to arrive. The kids both had fun Easter morning opening their gifts from the Easter bunny. They both got coloring books and DVD's and a bunch of other stuff that is still taking up space in my living room over a month later! Both boys also enjoyed the Easter egg hunt at Daddy's cousins house. Hunter got lots of candy and McDonald's coupons....which he may love almost as much as Mommy! Hunter and Micah also both got Easter baskets from Grandma and Grandpa with summer toys and new pajamas. All in all, I think they made out pretty well!

Lastly, Micah finally got his first big boy haircut. Mommy and Daddy had whacked at it a few times, but Mommy finally decided to take him to the barber and have it cut professionally. He was too cute sitting up on that big chair with the little cape around him. He actually did a great job until the end when he got annoyed and was ready to be done. As you can see here, he looks so grown up now. I think I may have seen the last days of my boys being babies...

Look Who's 3!

Well, since my big boy is now three years old (he will no longer let me call him my baby), I figured I better update the blog. I know, I know....it is a little late, but late is better than not at all. We had a big Imagination Movers party for Hunter's birthday this year. Our house was packed to the rim with kids, and friends and family. All his little friends from daycare came and we made guitars and colored. Mommy went all out with the arts and crafts, and if you know my Mommy, this was a very big deal! Hunter received amazing gifts and we send out many thank yous to all of you for making it such a success. Hunter even ate his cake this year ( I think this is a first!).

Hunter's big present from Mommy and Daddy was his very own camera. He had shown an interest in Mommy and Daddy's camera, much to Daddy's dismay, so we decided to get him one of his own before he ended up breaking the high dollar one!! Hunter loved his gift and had taken over 100 pictures before the end of the day. We do not know yet if any of the them will come out, but at least he is having fun with it.

We also had a party in Ohio with all Mommy's relatives. We went on a big trip for Aunt Heidi's baby shower and decided to have a party for Hunter as well. Mamaw, Papaw, Aunt Heidi, Aunt Andrea and many more relatives were able to celebrate with us this year. Thanks to everyone for the generous gifts! Even though we keep reminding Hunter that Micah's birthday is next, he still thinks he gets to have another party first (or "pirst" as Hunter would say)! Next year we may need to remind him that everyone usually only gets one party per year.

Micah Chase's 9 Month Update

OK, how is it possible that my baby is already nine months old and Hunter is going to turn 3 next month??!! We went to the doctor for Micah's nine month well visit last week. He currently weighs almost 21 pounds and is 30 inches long. His weight has evened off a lot since the first few visits, presumably because he is now MOBILE!! Yes, crawling all over the place, getting into everything, picking all the dirt off the floor....he does it all. He now pulls himself up on the couch, coffee table, bed.....whatever is in his way. The doctor says he looks great. He is in about the 50th percentile in weight and still in the 90-95th percentile in height.

Micah has also already started drinking out of a cup! Yes, the same cup that his older brother wanted nothing to do with until we forced him around a year and a half. Micah picked it up the first time and drank like he had been doing it forever. Micah also loves to eat....everything! He pretty much likes all the baby foods we have tried (except maybe peas) and has started onto solid foods. He loves his snacks such as cheerios, gerber puffs, crackers, etc. and has even tried spaghetti! We are so relieved that this child is not as finicky as his big brother!

Micah has also started talking over the last couple of months. By talking, we mean babbling, but he obviously has a lot to say....we just do not always know exactly what that is. We can make out ba ba and da da and some loud grunting/screaming noises, especially when he is hungry. I have not heard ma ma yet, but hopefully if we keep practicing it will come out soon.

Christmas in Ohio 2008

As I mentioned in my earlier post, we made the long journey to Ohio for the first time this year with two kids. The kids were both fabulous on both legs of the trip and got to see many relatives. We stayed and Papaw's house, which Hunter loved!! All the home he kept saying he wanted to go back to Papaw's house.

The first night in Ohio, we had our Christmas at Papaw's house. Aunt Heidi and Uncle Sam made it from New York and Aunt Andrea and Nicholas were already present when we arrived Friday afternoon. Hunter got lots of toys...a new building block set, a cash register and a pattern puzzle toy. Mommy also got some new sweaters and Daddy got a blue tooth headset. We were happy all around!

Saturday we went to Mamaw's house for more Christmas and presents. I must say that we (and by that I mean Hunter, Micah, and Mommy) have more clothes than any one household should own. Mamaw gave each of us a huge bag full of new clothes. Hunter was not that excited with the clothes, but looked at each piece to humor Mamaw and Mommy. Aunt Andrea and Nicholas got Hunter an electric guitar and this was by far Hunter's favorite new toy. It plays music and Hunter sang his very own song ("Guitar, tar, tar, guitar......repeat) over and over again while playing with his new toy. Everyone got quite a kick out of this and I think Uncle Sam has already committed to being Hunter's manager if he decides to form his own band in the future. Aunt Heidi and Uncle Sam got the boys a new red wagon which we have already enjoyed since coming home. Aunt Heidi got Nicholas a basketball hoop and ball which all of the boys enjoyed playing with while at Mamaw's house. After another long day we returned to Papaw's to sleep and get rested for the next day.

Sunday we all went to church. Both of my boys had to go to the nursery (of course!) because they do not know how to be quiet during church. After church, we headed to Grandma White's for some more Christmas festivities. Hunter and Micah received more gifts and Mommy got a Victoria Secret gift card from her Secret Santa (woooohoooo....her favorite!). Hunter, Micah, and Nicholas got matching camoflage overalls and pajamas....so cute!

The next day was Monday and time for us to return to Missouri. We were all a little sad, but ready to return home and enjoy our new gifts. Thanks to everyone who was more than generous this holiday season! We hope you all also enjoyed a great holiday with family and friends! For more pictures, click on the link below!

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=cfef8135415962cc&sid=0BcNGLls0aMXMg

Christmas 2008

As 2008 is drawing to a close and 2009 will soon be upon us, I decided I better make another post to the blog. We had a great holiday season with two boys this year. We actually got to be at home on Christmas morning this year and the kids got to open their presents from Santa. Hunter was very excited about the presents this year and the whole Santa thing, as was Mommy and Daddy.






We went to church Christmas Eve and, of course, the kids were terrible and would not sit still. Hunter kept crawling underneath the pew and banging the candles on the floor and Micah kept squirming and talking out at the most inopportune times. But, we went to the early service, so when we got home we convinced Hunter to go to bed early so that Santa could come and bring him presents. He left him cookies and chocolate milk and some goldfish (I do not know why, but this if what Hunter wanted them to have) for the reindeer. Mommy and Daddy still had quite a few presents to wrap, so this worked out well (especially for Daddy who ate all Santa's food) and we were still all in bed by about 10 PM.

Both of the kids must have been pretty excited about Santa coming, because they were both up by 6 AM Christmas morning. Hunter got the stockings down and was as excited about the play doh and markers in them as he was anything else! Next, we let them unwrap the presents. The first few were uninteresting as they were just new shoes and clothes. Micah really didn't care, as he was just as happy playing with the paper and boxes. We saved the big gifts for last.....Hunter got a guitar and Micah got the bounce and spin zebra. Hunter also got a new bike helmet and Micah got a few other toys too.

After we finished presents and had breakfast, we headed out the Grandma and Grandpa's farm to have Christmas with Daddy's family. The kids got more toys from Aunt Robyn and family, snow pants and boots from Grandma and Grandpa, and some other miscellaneous stuff. Of course, Hunter thought all the gifts were for him so we had a few wrestling matches between Hunter and Eli, but all in all it went pretty smoothly.

After lunch, we packed up the boys and headed back to Columbia to switch vehicles and drop off presents before we started on our big trip to Ohio. And yes, I did mean big trip! We attempted the 10 hour trip to Ohio for the first time with two boys! I never said we weren't crazy!

We left Columbia about 4 PM on Christmas Day and started out on our journey. Micah got hungry about an hour after we left and we had to stop for the first time. We just pulled over at a rest area and Mommy got in the back seat with the kids and fed Micah while Daddy continued to drive. The trip actually went very smoothly. We arrived in Indianapolis about 10:30 that night and got a hotel to spend the night. The kids had been asleep for a couple of hours by that time and thought it was day time since we were stopping. Both were ready to get out of the car and move around while Mommy and Daddy were just ready to go to bed. It was after midnight before Mommy finally got Micah to go back to sleep and Hunter in bed with her. The kids rested peacefully for about six hours before they were up and ready to go again! The hotel had free breakfast, so Mommy and Hunter had a waffle and Micah got his bottle before we hit the road again about 8 AM. This part of the trip actually went very well too, and we made it to see Mamaw at her work by about 11:30. Hunter was super excited to see her, as was Micah and Mommy. Mamaw got to take a quick break for lunch (they had ordered in pizza), so she took us to the breakroom and somehow got Hunter to eat a whole piece of pizza. As most of you probably know by now, Hunter does very little eating for Mommy!! After a short visit with Mamaw, we got back into the car and arrived at Papaw's house by a little after noon. I have to say, the trip went as well as anyone could have expected. The kids were both great and I must say, the DVD player is fabulous! Stay tuned for more details about our trip.....

Halloween and such

We had another successful Halloween...this year with two kids. As you can see, they were both cute as can be!! Hunter insisted he wanted to be a zebra (who knows how he got this idea in his head), so Mommy searched and searched until she finally found one on the internet. I do not know why my child can not pick something we can go buy off the rack at Old Navy! Anyway, he helped me find the outfit on the "computer" and then was super excited when it came to him in the mail. Luckily, Micah does not have an opinion yet and just wore Hunter's tiger outfit from when he was a baby.

The first Halloween events were the weekend before Halloween. On Saturday, we went to the Mizzou Homecoming parade. We went downtown and parked at the church and watched the parade. Micah wore his tiger outfit (because the parade was for the Missouri Tigers, of course) and to help keep him warm. It was about 40 degrees that day, so we all got pretty cold after awhile ( or at least mommy did...it did not seem to bother the kids as much). Hunter was so excited about Truman, the bands and especially the candy. The child is very strange. For someone who does not like to eat the candy, it makes him very happy to get it. He would run out in the street and pick it up as the different people in the parade threw it at him. Of course, he wanted to open every piece as he received it! Then, he would try it and decide he didn't like it and want to go on to another piece. This lasted for about an hour and a half until it was time to go home.

On Sunday, our church had a big Halloween party for the kids. It was really cool because they had all kinds of games and activities set up inside the church. Hunter loved throwing the balls into the holes, miniature golfing and the maze the best. Of course, after each activity he got more candy. Hunter did not want to go home, but after awhile Micah got cranky (I think because he was hot inside all those clothes) and we had to leave.

Then, finally Friday came and the actual Halloween had arrived. The kids got to wear their custumes to daycare and Hunter was so excited to show his friends. He had been talking about his zebra for weeks by this time, and all the kids knew Hunter was going to be a zebra for Halloween. They got to play games and got more treats there too. Finally the evening came around, and we got to do the real trick or treating. We had been practicing for weeks and Hunter knew just what he was supposed to say. But, when the night was upon us, do you think he actually said "trick or treat"? Of course not!! He tried to act shy (and we all know he's not) and when he gets emabarrassed he says "blah" and talks like a baby. I was so embarrassed and thought people were going to think that there was something wrong with him. But, he still got a lot of candy and overall I think we had a good time. And, since Hunter does not like to actually eat the candy, Mommy and Daddy got to eat lots of candy...woohoo! I hope everyone had a fun Halloween!

Six Month Update

Well, Micah Chase is already six months old and Hunter is 2 1/2. Do you know what life is like with a six month old and 2 year old?!! It is crazy....they are on the go constantly and I just try and keep up.

We took Micah to his six month well child check up last night. He continues to do great and he is such a happy boy. He weighs 19 lbs 4 oz and is 28 1/4 inches long. He has dropped to the 75 percentile in weight, but still in the 95th percentile in height. He had to get 6 shots and he was such a trooper.

I am sure he will only continue grow and put on weight now that he has started eating food. Yes, I said he is eating food! What a concept?! Hunter still does not like the whole eating process. Micah has been eating his rice cereal in the evenings for about a month now. He is doing great. He does not spit it out like Hunter did and really seems to like it, although it looks pretty gross to me. We started fruits and vegetables last week. We tried green beans one night and Hunter was more traumatized than Micah was. Hunter kept saying, "NO.....Baby Micah not like green!" over and over again. I am pretty sure Hunter is the one that does not like green stuff! We have only tried a few different things, since the doctor said that we should only start one thing at a time. She said if he is allergic to something then we would know what it was if we only start one new food at time. He seems to have like the squash, green beans, applesauce and pears we have tried so far, so I am thrilled!

Micah has also become mobile since my last post. He scoots and rolls all around the house. He has also actually started getting up and his knees to do the real crawl, but is better at going backward than forward. We had a scare last week, when he rolled off the bed. But, luckily, he was ok. I ran and picked him up in a panic and he just looked up at me and grinned. So ornery!

Micah has also gotten his first two teeth at about 4 1/2 months. I think he is going to get the two middle top ones soon too, because he is chewing on everything and drooling a lot again.

Well, I think that is about it for now. Micah has a lot more firsts coming up and I am sure the holidays will be fun for all of us!

Say Cheeseburgers!

The new thing we do when we take photos is tell Hunter and Micah to say "Cheeseburgers"!! Hunter will say it really loud and Micah will just laugh like he is hilarious. So, I thought I would share some cute pictures of the week. Can you tell that they are related?!! Enjoy!


Micah has also started sitting in his new Bebepod chair this month. Unless you have seen one, it is hard to explain what it is.....so here is a picture of him in the chair. I can not believe how strong he is and how he can hold his head up at only four months. He will sit in that thing for a half an hour straight and play with the toys on the tray. We did not have one with Hunter, but the babysitter and some other friends at work had one and said how much they liked it. So, we asked for one for Micah and the people at work got it for him at the shower. Thanks Guys!!

Four Month Update

Okay....so i am not quite as good at this as I was the first time around!! Micah Chase is already 4 months old. We went to the doctor earlier this week and he weighed 17 lbs 8 ozs! He is still in between the 90th and 95th percentile for babies his age. I can not believe how much bigger he is than Hunter was ( or is now for that matter!). His little fat rolls on his legs and arms are just so cute! Hunter better not pick on him because Micah will be able to beat up on Hunter in a year or so! Micah is so strong and active for being only 4 months old. He is already rolling over both ways and scooting like he is going to take off crawling any day.

He can also hold his head up really well and happens to like tummy time, which Hunter hated. He is such a happy baby. He will just lay on his belly and talk and laugh when we talk to him. Over the last two months, Micah got baptized, spent a lot of time with the grandparents, and made a trip to Ohio. I think he is going to be very good and experienced little traveler like his big brother. However, unlike Hunter, Micah has lost almost all his hair in the past two months, much to Mommy's dismay. The whole back and sides of his head are now without hair. Hunter had already had a couple of haircuts by the time he was 4 months old because he had so much hair!

Micah also started daycare at the beginning of August. The babysitter even says he is a very good baby and hardly ever fusses. I think Big Brother Hunter also likes having him at daycare so he can help take care of Baby Micah! We tell Hunter that he makes Baby Micah happy and Hunter is so proud of himself.

Upcoming milestones to watch for:

teething (they are coming soon!)

eating (cereal and then food)

moving (crawling any day now!)

Two month update

We went to the doctor on Wednesday and Micah Chase weighs 13 lbs and 8 ozs and is 25 inches long. He is huge! The doctor said he is in the 90th percentile in weight and the 95th percentile in height......maybe Mommy will get the football player she always dreamed of! I think Bob is already convinced that Hunter is going to play baseball, be a left handed pitcher, and make it to the majors so we can all retire early! Micah is much bigger than Hunter ever was and likes to eat more too! The doctor also said he was healthy and everything looked good. He had to get his first round of immunizations....they were not fun, but at least they are over with until the next visit. I think that is it for now, but I will post more pictures soon!

Baby Micah is 2 Months Old!

I woke up about 6:15 this morning and got ready for work. I was thinking that I must have been sleeping really hard last night because I did not even hear Micah wake up in the night or Bob get up and feed him. Of course I was in a hurry to get ready for work (as usual), so I kind of forgot about it once I started doing my hair and make-up. I gave Bob a kiss good-bye, like every morning since he is off on paternity leave, and asked how Micah did last night and how long he had slept. He said he is still sleeping (it was almost 7 AM)! He had been sleeping since 11 PM....it was a monumental day on his 2 month birthday.

I actually called Bob this morning after I had been at work for a little while to see how the kids did this morning and he said he actually had to wake Micah up at 8 AM so he could feed him before he took Hunter to day care. I just knew Micah was going to start sleeping as soon as Bob got to stay home with him when I had to do the first 6 weeks in which he hardly slept at all!

Baby Micah is getting so big and doing new stuff everyday now. We go to the doctor on Wednesday, so I will update with his current height and weight then. He is definitely an eater because he pretty much eats 5-6 ounces in every bottle throughout the day. Hopefully, we will not have trouble getting him to eat like we did, and still do, with Hunter. He is also starting to make noises like he is talking and interacting with us. He also smiles all the time. Hunter just loves it when Micah talks and smiles and gets up in his face and makes noises back at him.....it is soooo cute!

Micah also likes laying on his belly and doing belly time. Hunter did not like this at all. Micah's head is getting so strong and he can pretty much hold it up on his own now. We have also started letting him sleep on his belly (I know, I know.....you are not supposed to do this), but I really think this is one of the reasons he is sleeping so much better. He did not like laying on his back or being swaddled like Hunter did when he was a baby. Micah likes to be free and does not like to cuddle very much.
Micah also like to sit in the bouncy chair that was Hunter's when he was a baby. Hunter also tries to sit in it when he gets a chance, even though he calls it Baby Micah's chair. It is weird that he wants to sit in it again even though he has not used it since he was less than a year old.

Well, that is about it for now. I will try and do some better updating and maybe even get Daddy to do it too since he is off work until after the first of July!

Micah Chase has arrived!

I know, I know.......I am a little behind schedule with this post......well, maybe a lot behind schedule, but better late than never, right?! As most of you already know, Micah Chase was born on April 9, 2008 at 2:52 p.m. and weighed 8 lbs, 8 ozs and was 21 3/4 inches long. I went to my doctor's appointment in the morning and she had indicated that I would be induced on April 14 if the baby did not arrive before then. I had pretty much convinced myself that he was probably going to stay in there until that date. However, when the doctor tried to schedule the induction, the labor and delivery was booked for that Monday. She came back in the room with a funny look on her face...she said, "I have bad news....the L&D is full for Monday." Then, she waited a minute and said, "How would you like to have the baby today?!" Obviously, I was ecstatic because I had been on bedrest and was ready for my baby to join me at home. She sent me right down to check in to the hospital and get some blood work done and then they moved me into my room.

They started potosin at about 11:00 AM and I could not even feel any contractions for about the first hour. Well, then they came pretty strong and fast for about an hour before the people got there to give me my epidural. From about 1:00 to 2:30 PM I was feeling pretty good and then the doctor came in and checked me and said I was ready to push. I only pushed about 5 times and Micah was here! Needless to say, my labor was much easier this time around compared to when I had Hunter. My total labor and delivery time was only about 3 1/2 hours.

Micah was a big boy right from the start and getting bigger everyday! He has lots of dark hair, although not quite as crazy as Hunter's hair was when he was born. Hunter loves his little brother and likes to give him hugs and kisses all the time......he is just not quite as gentle as I would like him to be! However, Micah is learning to be tough right from the start! We love having the new addition and are settling in to having a family of four. Here are some pictures for now and I promise I will try to update soon with the happenings of the last two months since he was born.

Still waiting....

Well, unfortunately there is still no baby. Mommy is still on bed rest and has been for the past week and a half. My doctor's appointment on Wednesday last week revealed that, although my blood pressure was still high, it has been pretty stable and now they will not induce until 39 weeks! I was so hoping that my baby would get to come out this week. They did an ultrasound and growth scan this week and the baby weighs approximately 7 pounds, 12 ounces. Mommy really hopes this baby will come soon because the thought of having a 10 pound baby is terrifying!!

Our family had a pretty rough week and thought the arrival of the new baby would lift everyone's spirits. My great-grandma passed away after a long, eventful life....she would have been 95 years old today! Although we will all miss her, we know she is in a better place. (Gram, if you are listening, could you help move this process along.....the baby really wants to come out now!) It was especially hard for me being on bed rest because I could not go to Ohio to spend time with the rest of the family and celebrate her wonderful life.

My next doctor's appointment is not until this Wednesday (4/9). If nothing has changed the induction date will be Monday, April 14......that is if the baby does not decide he wants to come out before then!

Bed Rest....

Unfortunately, I have been put on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. After my doctor's appointment last week, my blood pressure was still high and they decided it would be best for me to stay at home until I have the baby. I am over 37 weeks now, so I am just hoping the baby decides he wants to come out and see us soon. I really do not want to be stuck at home with no baby for another 2 weeks.

We had my baby sprinkle last weekend and have organized the baby's room awaiting his arrival. We now have plenty of diapers/wipes/formula, etc and are ready for him to bless us with his presence. Here is an updated picture of mommy and baby belly with three weeks to go (or maybe less!). Hopefully, mommy does not gain 20 pounds in the last two weeks because all she can do is sit here and eat!!

The time is drawing near!

We had a rough week this past week. I went for my weekly appointment and ended up getting admitted to the hospital because my blood pressure was high and they could not get it to go down. They also thought I may be leaking fluids and that my kidneys may not be functioning fully. They ended up letting me go the next day after 24 hours of observation and a lot of tests. I missed my Hunter terribly, but Bob brought him up to the hospital for a few minutes the first night to see me before he had to go to bed. And, since he got to see me in the hospital, then maybe he will not be as shocked when I am in the hospital when the baby actually arrives.

They let me go back to work now, but if my blood pressure is still high this week then they will probably put me on bed rest for the duration of the pregnancy. The doctor still says the baby looks great and would do just fine if he was born now. She also says that if I continue to have problems with my blood pressure, then they will probably induce between 37 and 38 weeks (which means only one more week!). I much rather have time with my new baby than have to lie in bed wasting my leave before the baby gets here.

Six Weeks and Counting....

I am visiting the doctor and having ultrasounds and non-stress tests done every week now, just like I did with Hunter. They are pretty cautious with me because of my bad kidneys. Last week, my blood pressure was a little high and I have started swelling so they are watching that pretty closely to make sure I do not get toxemia. Hopefully, that does not happen because they will have to put me on bed rest!

They are also doing the bio-physical profile (ultrasound) where they measure the baby and the fluids and make sure every thing is ok. The baby only scored 6 out of 8 possible points on the test this week because he did not breathe on his own. However, they said the breathing is only hit or miss at this stage because babies do not actually start breathing on their own until they are born. He did the practice breathing the first BPP so they said they would not be concerned unless he did not do it consistently on the next few tests.

Also, during the non-stress test they watch the babies heart rate and it has to increase at least 10 beats per minute above the baseline two times within 20 minutes. Well, our little boy did it four times with one being an extra long period of activity (the first NST he did it 7 times!). I definitely have very active babies! The baby now weighs over 5 lbs (appx. 5 lbs 3 oz according to the ultrasound measurements) and is measuring about a week to a week and a half ahead of schedule......I am counting down the days!

My Baby is 2 Years Old!

I can not believe my baby boy is already two years old. The last two years have went by so fast. Hunter is learning so much lately. It seems like he is learning to do new things and to say new words almost everyday.

We had his birthday party last weekend. The theme was Mickey Mouse. Hunter is very into Mickey right now and will watch his Mickey DVD over and over and over again! Papaw also got him the Mickey Mouse clubhouse for Christmas, which he loves. He says all their names (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Duck, etc.) and even makes me include Mickey in our prayers at night. We got him an ice cream cake with Mickey on it for his birthday. He really liked it until he touched it and got green icing all over his hands! Then, he kept saying "OOOOh" until I wiped it off....he is such a strange child when it comes to things like that. He does not like getting messy at all!

The biggest event of turning two for Hunter was the monumental move to the big boy bed. Papaw came last weekend and he and Daddy painted and put up a border in Hunter's new room. The room is blue with balls everywhere! We even let Hunter pick out the color....his favorite is blue! Papaw even got him cool sports ball bedding. Then, his new bed came and we moved him from the crib to the big boy bed. I was a little concerned because Hunter has always been such a great sleeper. I was afraid he might get out of the new bed and not go to sleep. We moved him a little earlier than I would have liked, but wanted to make sure he was fully transitioned before the new baby arrives. However, much to my relief, the transition has gone very smoothly. The only day this week he did not go to sleep in his bed was Sunday at nap time......and I think it might have had something to do with the upcoming party (we had his party Sunday afternoon). Every night for the last week we have put him in the new bed and he has gone right to sleep. We are so lucky and blessed!!

Things Hunter likes to do:

1. Play Ball!!! This is by far still Hunter's most favorite thing to do. He has so many balls it is ridiculous. He loves his basketball hoop and loves to "dunk" the ball (by "dunk" we mean shoot the ball in the hoop). He is even getting pretty good at it which is suprising to me, at least! Daddy has had to move the hoop up several times already since we got it. Mommy is also very glad that the hoop has now moved from the living room to Hunter's new big boy room.

Hunter also got a new blow-up baseball bat and ball and tee from Aunt Robyn and family for his birthday....thanks guys! Mommy made the mistake of letting him open this second at the party and he was no longer interested in anything else after that. He loves to throw and hit the ball. It is amazing to me how he knows how to throw like a pitcher....he even hikes his knee up, winds the arm and throws, bringing his arm all the way to the ground in front of him after releasing the ball. It is so cute!! He loves throwing the ball to Mommy and Daddy.....especially Daddy because he is much better at hitting it than Mommy! Daddy thinks he is going to retire someday because he is going to make Hunter into a major league pitcher.....and he happens to throw left handed which I guess is even better.

2. Color.....like I said above, his favorite color right now is blue, with green coming in a close second. He loves to draw and color with his coloring books and crayons. The bad part is that we have had a few incidents with coloring on the floor and walls! He got a new Seseme Street coloring book and crayons from Big Dave for his birthday.....thanks Dave! It has like 400 pages which I am hoping lasts longer than the last few we have bought. He knows all his colors now and actually finally said "yellow" for the first time yesterday. I think he has known for awhile what it is, but just could not figure out how to say it. Sometimes he would call it green, but then look at me until I said yellow for him. He now says blue, green, red, pink, black, white, yellow and purple. It was cute last night because we made such a big deal out of him saying yellow....we would ask him what color something yellow was and he would yell really loud "yellwoooo".

3. READ, READ, READ! He actually will allow us to really read books now without flipping through at super fast speed. He still likes for us to explain the pictures and and he will point and name different things on each of the pages. He got some new books for his birthday too which are Seseme Street and have balls on them (thanks Erin!). These along with the Seseme Street pack we got him for Christmas are among his favorites right now. He also still loves Mommy to read Good Night Moon before bedtime each night.

Baby Update:

We have still been pretty bad at updating the blog, but Mommy, Daddy and Hunter have only about 8 weeks to go until the new baby arrives. As most of you probably already know, we are having another boy. Mommy has only managed to gain about 8 lbs so far......like with Hunter, she has been pretty sick throughout the majority of the pregnancy. Also, chasing a wild 2 year old around 24/7 keeps one from gaining weight too! Besides the sickness, everything has been going as planned and the baby seems happy and healthy ( or so the dr. says!). We still do not have a name, but hopefully one will come to us soon!

Happy Halloween

As you can see, our little Hunter was the cutest little kangaroo you have ever seen for Halloween this year (we are not biased or anything!). I think he understood the concept a little better this year....at least the eating part! His favorite part was when Big Dave gave him a zebra cake. This is his new favorite thing to eat ever since Daddy and Dave have been eating them at the tailgates this fall. He now goes to the pantry and wants me to pick him up and let him pick out what he wants to eat....and, of course, it is always the box of zebra cakes! Mommy is not all that pleased with Daddy for teaching our child to be a junk food junkie!



We also went to some other friends' houses for Hunter to trick or treat. Jen and Lucas had a whole little baggie of goodies made up for him and a cute little book. This was much more appealing to Mommy than the zebra cake! We also went to Brian's and saw several other little kids for Hunter to play with. He also took candy from their bowl and put it into his kangaroo pouch. He had taken the baby kangaroo out by this time and threw it in the car. I guess all the kids liked it at daycare, though, because the babysitter said they had fights over it because the other little girl wanted one too! We hope everyone else had a fun Halloween too!

Look Who's Going to be a Big Brother!

Bob, Hunter and I have some exciting news for everybody....our little Hunter is going to be a big brother! We are pregnant and the new baby is due in April. The last couple months have been pretty rough on us. I have been really sick again, but Bob and Hunter have both been troopers. Hunter has become a lot of a Daddy's boy now. We decided to start up the blog again to keep everyone updated on the status of our household.

As you can see, our little Hunter is not so little anymore! He is getting so tall! He is still so skinny, though, and it is hard to find pants that do not fall down off his waist! He finally decided that he likes to eat, and we are so glad. He has a mouthful of teeth ( I think 16 in total)....pretty much all of them except the 2-year old mollars in the very back. He is still pretty picky (go figure...just like his mom!), but will eat multiple helpings of food at one sitting. It seems like he eats constantly the entire time we are home in the evenings. He is like a bottomless pit....I have no idea where it all goes!!

Hunter is starting to talk more and more. It was slow at first, but now it seems like he is learning new words every day. His favorite is still "ball". Everything that is round or circular or even resembles a ball in some way, is a ball to him. The grocery store is a sea of balls to him....all the fruits and vegetables that are round are all balls...and he will tell everyone who is around that they are balls! He is starting to learn animals (he can say duck, doggie, and cow) and likes to say "moo" when he sees a cow (especially at grandma and grandpa's farm!). He is starting to like to read books a lot. When I say "Read", I mean he points at the pictures and wants you to say what everything is on each page. He will say a few things if you ask him what something is, but mostly he just wants you to say it.

I do not know for sure how much Hunter weighs now because we have not been to the doctor in awhile, but I would guess around 24-25 lbs. We have an appointment next week, so we will let you know then. Halloween is also coming up soon, so we will take lots of pictures. Until then.....

Hunter's 1 YR Well Visit

Hunter had his twelve month doctor's appointment last night. He was extremely crabby again and did not enjoy the visit at all. Maybe he could sense that something bad was going to happen before he even got the shots. Then, when he actually got the shots he screamed bloody murder and would not calm down until we left the doctor's office. He got four different shots this time....two in each leg.

Hunter weighed 21 lbs and was 31 1/2 inches long. He is only in the 25th percentile in weight and 95th percentile in height. I guess he is going to be tall and skinny! We are still a little concerned that he does not like to eat a wide variety of foods, but the doctor said that we should take him off the bottle and the formula and transition him to whole milk. Hopefully, he will continue to grow and get all the nutrients he needs. Besides the eating, he seems to be on track with his gross motor and physical skills development.

Well, after some long thought and consideration, we have decided to retire Hunter's blog (since he is a year old). We may still make some posts, if something monumental happens, but probably not any more often than once a month. We have been having trouble the last few months keeping up with it, so we have decided to let everyone know that we are going to set it aside for awhile. Hunter is just too busy now and it is hard keeping up with him, let alone anything else. I hope you all have enjoyed the blog and keeping up to date on Hunter's first year!

Hunter's 1st Birthday

Well, a week has now past since Hunter's 1st Birthday party. The party did not go well, to say the least. Hunter woke up last Saturday night with a fever and would not leave Mommy's arms all Sunday morning. He had a cold and was getting another tooth and just did not feel well, in general. We finally had to call Grandma and Grandpa to come early and watch Hunter so Mommy and Daddy could get ready for the party. Hunter sat on Mommy's lap and did fairly well for the opening of the presents. He just was not his usual happy self. However, when we put him in the high chair to sing "Happy Birthday" he started to cry.....not just wimper or whine, but scream! I tried to calm him down and show him the cake, but he was having no part of it. We finally just had to take him out and take him to another room to calm down. Then, Mommy fed him his bottle and he fell asleep. By the time he woke up, the part was over! I will post a picture from the party, but Hunter was definitely not smiling, like usual.

Mommy also had a big let down before the party even started on Sunday. Aunt Heidi (and UNCLE SAM) and Mamaw were supposed to be coming in for the big party. However, Aunt Heidi's (and SAM's) flight was canceled out of New York due to the big snow last week. She (and HE) was flying Jet Blue and all the flights were backed up, so she (and HE) could not even get on another flight. She (and HE) was supposed to be flying to Ohio and then riding with Mamaw to Missouri but, needless to say, that did not happen. So, the part went on without them. Daddy had even been working on the basement so that the room would be finished before they got there! I guess not all is lost....at least the room is pretty much finished now and we will soon be able to move the computer out of little Hunter's room now that he is a year old!

We tried the cake thing again later in the week on Hunter's actual birthday, but he was still having no part of it. He was pretty much sick all last week and was not eating very well, in general. I think we traumatized him because now every time we put him in the high chair he starts to cry! Hopefully, by next year he will be over the fear and be ready to party!

One year milestones:
-Standing and cruising along furnitre and getting into everything!
-Takes 1-2 steps on his own
-Eats more baby food and starting to try solid foods like cheerios and crackers
-Says "mama", "dada", "baba" and other similar one syllable words
-Loves to clap and play games like "Patty cake"

We will post more after his doctor's appointment. We are going for his check-up and shots tonight!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow......

Columbia had its third big snow storm of the winter last weekend and Hunter and I got to go out and play in it. There have been some winters when we have not had any snow storms and this year we have already experienced three and we still have two more months to go! We bundled Hunter all up in his snowsuit and sat him out on the deck in the pile of snow. At first, he did not quite know what to do. But, I think he could sense the excitement from Mommy and Daddy. The snow was really wet, so we made some big snow balls and gave them to Hunter to play with. We even layed Hunter down in the snow and made a baby snow angel. He did not appreciate this very much as he could not sit back up by himself in the abominable snowman suit. Here is a picture that we took that we thought we would share. I hope everyone is staying safe this winter!

Hunter's First New Year's

For New Year's this year, Hunter and I went to Ohio to visit relatives. Hunter is definately a pro at the airport now. Since my family was not all home for Christmas, we had our Christmas celebrations during New Year's weekend. Hunter and I headed for the airport on Friday and spent most of the day there. Daddy wanted to watch the Mizzou bowl game that day and insisted on dropping us off early so that he could be back in time for kickoff. We arrived at the airport at 11:30 AM even though our flight was not until after 2 PM. We made it through check in and security rather painlessly and Hunter got to eat his bottle. Mommy was starving by this time and so we went to one of the restaurants to eat. Hunter was pretty good except that he kept throwing all of his toys on the ground for Mommy to pick up. After eating, we headed to our gate to wait for the flight. Mommy let little Hunter down on the ground (which probably was not too sanitary) to try and get rid of some excess energy before getting on the plane. Hunter entertained everyone in the area. He crawled all around the gate area....he would throw his little balls and then chase them, pick them up and throw them again. It was quite amusing. By boarding time, Mommy and Hunter were both exhausted. Once we got on the plane Hunter fell asleep and slept until the final descent into Columbus. I was so happy because the Mommy got to take a little nap too!

Papaw was at the airport waiting for us when we arrived. Once we got settled in the car (which was not an easy task with all of luggage and the carseat and stroller), we were headed to Mamaw's house. Little Hunter was getting a little anxious and was definately ready to be out of the carseat. We arrived at Mamaw's house with perfect timing as Aunt Heidi and Mamaw were just getting there too. Little Hunter got to eat and play with his cousin Nicholas. Then, Mamaw gave him a bath and it was time to head back over to Papaw's house to go to bed.

The next morning we had our Christmas at Papaw's house. Papaw was a little under the weather (we later found out he had mono!!!), but the whole family was there. Both of Mommy's sisters and their husbands were there along with cousin Nicholas and Mommy and Hunter. Our Daddy was the only one absent from the celebration. Little Hunter got some more toys to play with and make lots of noise! Mommy did not have much too open as Papaw got her plane ticket so she and Hunter could spend the holiday with them. Hunter seemed to enjoy this Christmas more than the one at home since he was feeling much better.

By about noon, we were all tired, so Mommy and Hunter headed back to Mamaw's house to nap where there wasn't as much commotion. However, Hunter did not want to sleep once I got him out of the carseat, so we ended up having only a short time to rest before Mamaw got home and the rest of the gang showed up. We then headed out to my grandma's for our big Christmas with the extended family. Hunter was the center of attention, as usual, as he crawled around and entertained all of the relatives. After a full evening of Christmas festivities, Mommy and hunter headed back to Mamaw's house to go to bed. Mommy was not feeling the best and was pretty worn down from all of the traveling.

The next morning (Sunday) Mommy and Hunter were going to go to church to meet Aunt Heidi, Papaw and the rest of the family. However, we got a call saying that Papaw was still not feeling well and that they were not going to church. Therefore, Mommy and Hunter decided to stay in too since Mommy was also still not feeling 100%. The rest of the gang arrived at Mamaw's house shortly before noon. Mamaw had prepared us a traditional Christmas feast with turkey, mashed potatoes and all the fixings. After lunch, we got to open our presents from Mamaw. Of course, little Hunter got more toys and Mommy and Hunter both got new clothes. The story of the day was about Mommy's new camel boots. We had went to the mall over Thanksgiving when we were in Ohio and Mommy had picked out these boots that were on sale for Mamaw to get her for Christmas. Well, somehow in the hustle and bustle of things they had gotten misplaced. We originally thought we set them down in the parking lot while trying to get little Hunter in the car and left them there. Anyway, the previous day Mommy and Aunt Heidi had went to the mall before heading out to Grandma's house. We saw the boots again and they were even cheaper than before so Mommy bought them for herself......now back to Sunday and Christmas at Mamaw's house. Mommy opened her presents and there were the camel boots! Mamaw had went back to the mall too and told the lady at the store about losing the boots. She remembered us because of our baby Santa (little Hunter had his Santa outfit on that day). We had actually left the boots in the store (not in the parking lot) and she had saved them for us! The day before Mamaw could not bring herself to tell Mommy she had already got the other pair back because she wanted it to be a surprise. Anyway, Mommy had to return the second pair of boots, but was very happy because she had received her boots that she had wanted for a long time.

That evening after making another trip back to the mall, we headed to my aunt's house for New Year's Eve. Hunter took a 3 hour nap from about 4-7 pm so he was ready to go. We let him take a late nap so that we could stay up a little later than normal. But, we did not know how late he would actually stay up!! The little guy made it all the way to midnight to welcome in his first New Year! Aunt Heidi tried to put him to bed at about 10 PM, but he was having no part of it. He wanted to stay up and socialize with the rest of us. He was not even cranky or anything. He was actually very good and entertained all of the relatives once again. Mommy was actually much more cranky that Hunter as it was way past her bedtime too!

The next day was the last day of our trip. Mamaw took Mommy and the Little Hunter back to the airport. Hunter was pretty good on the trip even though he did not want to take a nap on the plane this time. His schedule was obviously pretty messed up because he had stayed up so late the night before. Once we got back to St. Louis and little Hunter got to see his Daddy, he fell asleep in the car on the way home. Mommy and Daddy even stopped for dinner and he slept through the whole thing. He was very good until the last twenty minutes of the trip when we woke up and was mad because he wanted to get out of the carseat. We survivied another trip and made it back home safe and sound to start another new year. Happy New Year to you all!!

Hunter's First Christmas

OK, I just had this post almost finished and the site experienced some sort of technical difficulties and I lost the whole thing! I will try this again. The last month has flown by once again and we have survived our first holiday season with little Hunter. He was actually sick for most of it, which is one of the reasons we have not made a post for so long. Hunter has been fighting a cold on and off for the past month. In addition, the Friday before Christmas, we had to take him to the doctor because he had a fever and found out he had an ear infection. So, we had to get antibiotics (which he hated) and try to get him to keep them down. We ended up mixing it with his formula because every time we tried to give it to him with the syringe we would throw it up along with anything that he had eaten up to that point. After the weekend at home, we thought he was getting better and survived daycare for the mere two days that he had to go that week. Mommy was off the day after Christmas too. Friday we were off and headed to Ohio for Christmas with my family. Hunter survived the trip and was very good the whole time we were there. We returned on New Year's Day and he headed back to daycare the next day. But, about halfway through the day, the babysitter called and said he had been crying on and off for most of the day, had a fever, and was not feeling well again. So, we had to take him to the doctor again the next day and found out he had a Rotavirus....which I had never heard of but is supposedly pretty common in kids. Hunter was throwing up again and had nasty (looking and smelling) diarrhea. Besides all of that, Hunter was cutting more teeth and his nose was running and he was not eating well anyway. Daddy ended up staying home with the little guy for the rest of the week and Hunter did not go back to daycare until the 9th of January.

Having said all that, I will get back to the original point of my post....Hunter's First Christmas. Christmas Eve (which was Sunday), we got up and went to church as usual (and because Jesus is the whole reason for Christmas in the first place!). Although Daddy did not think so, Mommy insisted that we also had to go to church again that night for Christmas Eve service which was separate from the normal Sunday morning church service. And, Mommy was pretty excited about it because there have been very few years we have been in town to go to our own church on Christmas. After church (the morning one), we headed out to the farm to have Christmas at Bob's parents house. I will let Bob update this portion of the post at a later date.

Christmas Day we spent at home with just our little family. This was a nice change from the usual hustle and bustle of the holidays. We got up and opened presents which Hunter had been trying to get under the tree for weeks. But, this day he was not really interested. He did not even want to tear up the paper like he usually does. When Mommy and Daddy were opening their presents, he crawled into the kitchen and ignored us. He still was not feeling the best and kept climbing up into our laps to lay down. Mommy was going to make cinnamon rolls since it was a tradition in her family growing up. She thought that she had got all of the ingredients, but found out Daddy ate the last egg for breakfast the day before. Mommy was a little distraught about this for awhile until Daddy promised to go to the store the next day, so she could still make them before she went back to work. Daddy also made us Christmas dinner. Although a little untraditional (we had chicken and pasta), it was still very good. After dinner, we ended up going to bed pretty early since Daddy had to go back to work the next day and Mommy and Hunter were a little under the weather. Although not the best of circumstances for the holidays, we have lived to see another year...Praise the Lord!

Here comes Santa Claus....

We took little Hunter to see Santa Claus for the first time last weekend. We were kind of concerned that he would be scared or would cry because several of our friends indicated that their kids were scared of Santa when they were his age. But, never fear, our little socialite is always ready to see and talk to new people. I really think that we bore him sometimes because he likes to get out of the house and go see new things. Anyway, we took him to the mall and he got to sit on Santa's lap. As you can see in the picture, he talked to him and laughed just like his usual joyous self. He likes to touch faces and he reached up and touched Santa's face and beard and Santa just laughed at him, which of course made Hunter laugh too. We are getting excited for Hunter's First Christmas and hope you are too!

Hunter's 1st Blizzard

Hunter experienced his first taste of wintertime last week. It was cold (really cold....it was -4 degrees one morning) and we had lots and lots of snow! We had about a foot of snow at our house. I think this is even the most snow that we have had out here in Missouri since I have lived here! The news said it was the biggest snow in the last decade, so that would be about right (I can hardly believe I am old enough to have been here more than a decade!). The snow wasn't so bad, but the freezing rain and ice that came before it made getting around pretty treacherous. Bob spent a couple hours just shoveling the snow out of our driveway. I do not think that the City even came to blade our road until the afternoon of the second day. Both interstates were shut down and most area businesses were closed. Therefore, Mommy and Daddy did not even have to go to work....it was just like we were kids again (woohoo for snow days!). I do not think we would have been able to get out even if we wanted to. The roads were still pretty bad a couple days later on Monday when we all had to go back to work. Anyway, it was too cold to stay outside for any length of time, but we did take our little Hunter out and sat him in the snow to see what he would do. So, here are some pictures we thought we would share. He did not seem to mind it and took off crawling just like normal. However, Mommy did not think that this was so funny when she picked him up to take him back in the house and got snow all over her and the floor!

Hunter is 9 Months Old

I can hardly believe our baby is already 9 months old. It has went by so fast. Here are some of the things he has been doing.

CRAWLING
Hunter has been doing the army crawl for quite some time now. We actually thought that he was never really going to crawl up on all fours. He was really pretty fast at it too! However, right before we went on vacation, he started getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. But, he would go back to the soldier crawl if he wanted to go anywhere. Sure enough, though, when Mommy and Daddy got back from the cruise the baby was no longer doing his army crawl. It was so sad. Mommy and Daddy had missed the transition to the real crawling. Now he is even faster than ever and goes from room to room in the house freely! Of course, we had to get a gate for the top of the stairs awhile back so that he would not fall down the stairs.

EATING
Mommy and Daddy were actually starting to get worried that our baby was never going to eat food. The one thing he would get from his mother was her finicky eating habits! He did not want anything to do with the baby cereal and gagged every time we tried to feed it to him. Mamaw did not believe us when we told her that he really gagged and pinched his mouth shut like he was grown. But, she got the chance to experience this in person when she tried to feed him cereal over Thanksgiving. Basically, over the past month, we finally got him to start eating more. He now usually eats a whole jar of fruit (applesauce and pears are his favorite!) and maybe a half of jar of vegetables (if we are lucky!) during a day. He really does not like the vegetables, but Daddy says we have to keep trying to make him eat them. Mommy has decided that this will be Daddy's responsibility because the whole process stresses the Mommy out! Hunter will shake his head and swing he arms around and get food everywhere if he does not want to eat. We usually have to take the child straight to the bath tub once he is done because food is from one end of him to the other. He has had food in his hair, ears, hands and even his eyelashes.....not to mention all over Mommy's kitchen table and floor! Anyway, we are glad that he starting to eat and hopefully, will grow up to be big and strong.

CLIMBING
Hunter can now pull himself up in his bed and on Mommy's furniture...especially the coffee table. It was a very sad day last weekend when Mommy had to put all her breakable candles and other decorations away. Our house is definately very "lived in" now and has Hunter accessories all over the place. Hunter also pulls himself up in the bath tub which makes Mommy very nervous. He loves his bath and swims around and plays with the toys like a little fish (except when you have to wash his hair!). In addition, Hunter pulls himself up onto the side of his crib and talks to us when he wakes up. This also makes it much more difficult to put the child to sleep because he will sit up in the crib and play if he does not think that he is tired. We also had to lower the mattress in the crib so that he would not fall out of it.

TALKING
Hunter knows how to say some words now and talks....constantly. It is too bad that we do not understand most of what he says because he obviously has a lot to tell us. His favorite things are still "ba ba" and "da da". He says da da da da all day long sometimes. I guess he really loves his Daddy. He has teased me with "ma ma" a couple times, but still will not say it regularly. I swear the other day he turned around at us when we told him "no" and said "no no" like he was taunting us. I am sure you do not believe us, but we even have witnesses. We were at our friend Dave's house and Hunter was trying to crawl behind the TV and when we told him "no" he looked at us and said "no no". We all laughed hysterically although this probably will not be funny has he continues to get older and knows more of what we are telling him!

TEETH
Hunter has been getting more teeth like crazy over the past few weeks. He has had the two bottom ones since last summer, but never got anymore. Well, finally the top ones started coming through. He now has the top two middle teeth and the next two on each side are starting to break the surface. At one point, we were scared that he would have a mouth full of teeth and still not want to eat!

STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATES AS HUNTER IS LEARNING NEW THINGS QUICKLY THESE DAYS!

Mommy and Daddy's Anniversary

Mommy and Daddy celebrated there second anniversary on November 13. Mommy and Daddy planned a big trip as there anniversary gift to each other this year. Mommy and Daddy had planned a trip to Fort Lauderdale, FL and then a cruise to the Bahams. It was actually originally planned for last year, but was canceled due to the hurricanes. As noted in an earlier post, Little Hunter went to stay with Mamaw and Papaw in Ohio which was an adventure within itself. We set out driving to Ohio Friday afternoon November 17. Hunter was actually quite good on the drive. We had to stop a few times, but made it in about 9 1/2 hours which is normal. After about 9 pm, Hunter slept the rest of the way. Daddy drove most of the way, but got tired once he got to Ohio at about midnight. Mommy drove the final two hours and we made it to Papaw's house at about two in the morning. Mommy and Daddy were exhausted but I guess Little Hunter was well rested and ready to play (see earlier post). We were scared that he would not like being leftm, but it ended up being much more traumatizing for Mommy and Daddy than it was for Hunter.

On Saturday, we headed to the airport and said goodbye to our baby for a few days. We flew out of Columbus, but we had a pretty long layover in Charlotte, NC. This worked out well for Mommy as she got to watch the Ohio State v. Michigan football game at the airport. We actually got to see the whole first half of the game before we had to catch our next flight to FLA. Luckily, OSU won the game so the trip did not start off on a bad note!

We made it to FLA about 8 PM and back to our hotel by about 9 (after a minor rental car ordeal!). The hotel was really nice and we found out later that the Minnesota Vikings football team had been staying there that same night as they were playing the Miami Dolphins the next day! Mommy and Daddy were so exhausted from the trip and the night before, that they pretty much crashed once they made it to the hotel.

The next day was really the only full day we would spend in FLA. We actually slept in since this was probably the only time we had ever done this since Hunter has been born. We had to go listen to a timeshare deal that morning and then headed off to the beach. There was only one problem.....it was cold! I guess I use the term cold in relative terms, but it definately was not beach weather. I tried to lay out, but ended up covering up with blankets because I was freezing. We did get to put our toes in the water while we were walking down the beach, but that was about it. When we left the beach, we stopped at one of the little shops and bought me a coat! Since all I had packed was summer dresses, my attire was really not conducive to the weather. Apparently, this was the first cold front all year! After eating at one of the beachfront restaurants and driving downtown on the strip, we headed back to out hotel for the night. We watched a little bit of football and then went to bed as we had to be at the cruise for check-in at 6 AM the next morning.

The next morning we headed off to Port Everglades to get on our ship. The ship was not one of the biggest ones, but still was pretty extravagant. Once we got checked-in and through customs, we boarded the ship and was served breakfast in the dining room. After breakfast, I was ready for hours of laying by the pool and getting a tan.....but, it was still cold and it felt even colder since it was pretty breezy on top the boat. We were both still tired and ended up renting a room and sleeping for a couple hours until it was time to eat lunch. Shortly after lunch, we arrived in Freeport, Grand Bahama.

Once we de-boarded the ship, we had to catch a taxi (or so they called it) back to the resort. It was really more like a twenty year old van that they piled as many people as possible in and headed toward the hotels. Our resort was very nice and had all kinds of ammenities. There were multiple pools, restaurants, and a spa all on site. There was also lots of little shops across the street that we could go to. There was even a trampoline on the ocean that i wanted to jump on sooooo bad....there was only one problem.....it was cold! It was so upsetting. We could not even swim in the Bahamas because it was cold there too!! I had to wear sweatshirts and sweatpants the entire trip! He tried to tough it out most of the time, but we even had to buy a sweatshirt for Bob. We also got some gifts for little Hunter and some other relatives while we were there.

The first night, we tried to go to sit in the hot tub since it was obviously too cold to swim....and it was cold! Unbelievable! Bob thought maybe that the hot tubs in the Bahamas had cold water because it was supposed to be hot there. However, we later found out that the elements in the whirlpool were broken and had to be replaced. Bob felt sorry for me and bought me a massage at the spa....at least the hot tub was actually hot in the locker room and I got to relax after my massage for a little while and pretend that I was outside in the sun!

The next day we headed back to FLA. Daddy got up early and took some pictures of the sunrise. We checked out of the hotel in the morning and hung out at the pool covered in blankets until it was time to set sail back for the US. The hot tub was finally hot by the last day and I got to sit in it....although it was pretty cold when I got out! We caught a "taxi" back to the port and made it thought customs and back on the boat. Well, this time it was even colder and it was nighttime. We ate dinner and both thought we were going to be sick. The wind was blowing so hard it was rocking the ship back and forth like crazy. After both taking dramamine, we finally broke down and rented a room again so that we could sleep. After first debating whether to throw myself overboard to the sharks, we decided that this would be a better option. We made it back to the inland safely about 10 PM that night.

The next day we woke up and headed back to the airport to fly back to Ohio and our baby.

Lessons learned:

-You can never rely on the weather...even in the Bahamas!
-You should always pack a coat....even if you are headed south for the winter!
-Hot tubs are not always hot!
-Prepaid calling cards from the Bahamas are not really prepaid!

All joking aside, we did get to relax and spend some time alone and recoup for a few days before heading back to the "Wild Tiger". Bon Voayage!

Happy Thanksgiving

Even though it has been almost two weeks since the Thanksgiving Holiday, I thought I would share some of our adventures. Hunter is growing like a weed and into EVERYTHING!! He crawls all over the place now and finds anything and everything that he is or is not supposed to have! He has now earned the nickname "Wild Tiger" from Mommy and Daddy and some of our other relatives. We spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Ohio with my mom and dad...or at least Hunter did. Mommy and Daddy actually spent most of Thanksgiving in the airport. We got to get away as a belated anniversary trip for a few days...stay tuned for more details regarding our trip.

Anyway, during this time, Hunter spent time with Papaw Paul and Bonnie and Mamaw Michelle. They all said that he was very good, but I am pretty sure they all got their share of wrestling the "Wild Tiger"! We thought that he may be scared with us leaving him with relative strangers, as he really does no know my relatives in Ohio very well since he has only seen them a few times. However, everyone said that he was very good. He wasn't scared of anyone...not even on Thanksgiving when there was a whole house full of people. They said that he is exactly the way he looks in the pictures....happy and smiling all the time.

They actually said that he slept and ate good too, which is suprising to me since when we got back his schedule was totally off. Mamaw would not put the Hunter in the bed awake and would just rock him until he fell asleep. We have put him in bed awake ever since he was two months old and he has slept through the night since then too. Well, Mamaw and Papaw thought they would just let little Hunter wake up in the middle of the night and get up and play!! Mommy and Daddy were not pleased about this as it took a week for us to get him back to normal. On the first night we arrived in Ohio, Hunter was alseep in his carseat and we were going to take him in to Papaw's house and put him in the bed. Well, Papaw got the child out of the carseat and then he was wide-awake and started clapping his hands and smiling. I guess he was pretty excited to see his Papaw. Anyway, then the child would not go back to sleep for two hours and by then it was like four in the morning! Mommy and Daddy headed off for their vacation the next day (see next post) and were ready for some rest and relaxation.

Mommy and Daddy made in home on the evening of Thanksgiving. Mamaw thought that Little Hunter would sleep on the way to the airport to pick us up since he had a full day of entertaining the relatives, but this was not the case. I think that he stressed his Mamaw out a little bit on the drive. He obviously did not want to be in the car and whined all the way to the airport (an hour and a half drive!). Every time that he cried Mamaw would pull over the car and get out and tell him it would be ok. We had to inform her that you just have to let him cry and eventually he will go to sleep. But, Mamaw thought that this was cruel and unusual punishment and instead would stop and take him out of the seat! By the time that they made it to the airport, Mommy and Daddy had been waiting for over a half an hour and Mamaw was a basket case. But, Little Hunter was very happy to see his Mommy and Daddy. The daddy sat in the back with Hunter on the way back home, so he was happy as a lark (as long as we kept the interior light in the car on for him to see!).

We made it back to Papaw's house by about 9 pm and figured that little Hunter would be ready for bed....but again, this was not the case. He was so excited he thought it was necessary to stay up until after 10 PM (his usual bed time is between 7:30 and 8 PM). Mommy and Daddy got to eat a late Thanksgiving dinner and headed to bed after a long day of travel.

Daddy (and Hunter too) got up early the next morning and Daddy headed back to Missouri. He wanted to go to the Missouri football game the next day, so Mommy and Hunter were staying in Ohio a few extra days to visit family. Daddy took Mommy and Hunter to Mamaw's so that we could hit the after Thanksgiving sales at the Mall.Here is another picture of Little Hunter after Mamaw dressed him up in his Santa outfit to go to the mall. The mall was filled with all the crazy after Thanksgiving Day shoppers. Mommy and little Hunter did not last very long....the long lines and people were out of control. We could not even get into some of the stores with the stroller because they were so packed full of people. After about an hour, we headed back to Mamaw's house for our Thanksgiving lunch. Even though it was not actually Thanksgiving anymore, Mamaw cooked us turkey with all the fixings and it was delicious as usual. After another full day of shopping and visiting relatives, Mommy and Hunter headed back to Papaw's for the night. Papaw got Mommy pizza from the local pizza place which Mommy loves! By the time Hunter finally decided he wanted to go to bed, it was after 10 PM again!

The next couple of days went by pretty uneventful, except that Papaw got sick and we had to stay at Mamaw's house Saturday night. Hunter did not have a bed there and Mommy was a little concerned that the child would not stay put to sleep. After rocking him to sleep, he did stay there from about 10 PM until about 4 AM. Then, he thought it was necessary to get up and play. Mamaw thought that was ok and let him get up. We tried to give him a bottle so that he would go back to sleep, but then he threw it up all over everything. We had to strip the baby and the bed and throw everything into the washing machine. Hunter finally went back to sleep by about 6 AM, but by then Mommy only had a couple hours to sleep before we had to get up and get ready for church.

We headed to church after stopping at Papaw's to get some clean church clothes to wear. Hunter is very social, but for some reason is scared to death of the nursery at church. Even at our church here, he cries every time we take him there. Well, of course Mamaw thought that it would be cruel to make the baby stay in the nursery and that he should stay in church with us. The only problem is that the baby does not like to be quiet. He likes to talk out and disturb all the people sitting around us.....not to mention the fact that he does not like to sit still. Mommy made a deal with Mamaw that if the child was to stay in church, she was responsible for wrestling the "Wild Tiger". We survived church with only a few embarassing moments and spent the rest of the day visiting more relatives.

After a full weekend in Ohio, Mommy and Hunter headed back to Missouri on Monday. Papaw took us to the airport and we were finally headed back home. Hunter was relatively good on the flight, although he still did not want to sleep as Mommy would have liked for him to do! Daddy picked us up from the airport, and we made it back home a little after 7 PM that night and attempted to prepare ourselves to get back on schedule. Hunter must have been exhausted as he slept through the night, luckily, as Mommy and Daddy had to go back to work the next day. Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Trick or Treat!

We survived Hunter's first Halloween. Hunter was Tigger the Tiger which fit in well with the whole Tiger theme out in these parts. He actually did not even seem to mind wearing the outfit all day. Even though he did not know what was going on, he was very excited. The kids at daycare must have rubbed off on him. We took him to some of our friends' houses last night. He may just have been excited to get out of the house. Sometimes we think that Little Hunter thinks that we are boring. He likes getting out and seeing people and doing different stuff. Even though he could not enjoy the candy in the literal sense, he did have fun playing with it as most of the wrappers made some sort of noise.....and Mommy and Daddy enjoyed eating the candy! Happy Halloween!

Texas!

Last weekend Mommy and Daddy went on their first trip without little Hunter since he has been born. It was a little traumatizing for the Mommy, but we did have a good time. Mommy was out of town for work in Arkansas for three days and then came home for one night only to leave for our trip to Texas the next morning. Little Hunter went to stay with Grandma and Grandpa McArthur at the farm. I am sure that the trip was much more upsetting for Mommy and Daddy than it was for Hunter. Grandma and Grandpa spoiled him rotten and let him pretty much do whatever he felt like doing. We have spent all week trying to get his schedule back to normal. Anyway, here are some pictures of our trip for now.

The drive to Texas was really long...if I had to do it over again I would definately fly. Daddy insists that Mommy made it much longer than normal because she kept having to stop and go to the bathroom. However, it was the Daddy that took a long time every time we stopped. Then, we got stuck in rush hour traffic in Dallas. Once we finally got through that and were almost to Austin (where we were staying)there was another traffic jam. We were only 15 miles away from our hotel and we sat still on the interstate for almost an hour! Needless to say, by the time we got there Mommy was very tired, hungry and grouchy. It was way past her bedtime and nothing but fast food was open to eat.

The next day went much better. We all got up early and headed to the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin. It had a lot of cool stuff including the limo the president actually rode in, a replica of the oval office just the way it was when he was president, and a lifelike statue of the president on his farm which told jokes like was actually talking to you. This is a picture of the statue. It was very lifelike and kind of freaky!

Next, we headed to the Capitol building in Austin. It seemed much larger than the one in Missouri! It was cool because half of it was built underground. They were running out of room, so they built an extension of the building underground. As you were walking up the the front walk, there is a place where you can see the diffent levels underground and those levels have underground balconies where they can walk out and see up to the top. Here is a picture of Mommy standing outside the Capitol.

Next, we drove down to San Antonio for the rest of the day and went sightseeing. Here is Mommy and Daddy at the Alamo. It was not what I expected it to be. It was very small inside. Also, it looks very odd because it is a fort right in the middle of downtown San Antonio.

They had a monument with the names of all the people that died at the Alamo. In this picture you can see Davey Crockett's name right above our heads. It was pretty cool to read about what they actually went through. There were all kinds of historical things inside the fort.

Also, while in San Antonio, we to the Riverwalk Mall. It was pretty impressive (even though Daddy would not let Mommy shop...she would find out why later!). The San Antonio River ran right through the middle of the mall. We took a tour on a boat down the river and the guide told us about all of the history of the buildings along the river. It was pretty cool and our tour guide was really funny.

On the way back from San Antonio, Mommy would finally find out about her surprise. There was a huge outlet mall right along the highway!! Since we had been doing a lot of stuff that Daddy wanted to do, he decided to let Mommy go shop so we would have something to take home to our little Hunter. And, of course, Mommy went crazy at the mall. We did not even make it to half of it because Mommy spent too much money at the first stores. However, we got a lot of new winter clothes for Hunter and some stuff to put back for Christmas. After the shopping, Mommy was pretty tired so we all went back to the hotel and crashed.

The next day we headed over to College Station for the football game. We found out that the George Bush Presidential Libary was actually on the campus of Texas A&M and only a few blocks from the stadium. Therefore, we decided to head up early to check it out. Here is another picture of Mommy and Daddy outside the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station. For those of you who did not know, we went to Texas to watch the Missouri and Texas A&M game. After the tour of the libary, we headed over to the stadium. We just hung out there until time for the game. The stadium was huge compared to Missouri's stadium. It was a triple decker and appeared as if it was almost straight up in the air. Texas A&M has a lot of traditions before the game. We saw the marching of the corp of cadets and the band. The band playing at halftime ended up being the highlight of the day for me...there band was very good. Missouri ended up playing terrible and, of course, they lost the game!

Even though the Tigers lost, the trip was still a success. The next day we got up early and headed back to Missouri. The trip, again, was pretty miserable. It rained almost the entire trip back so it was pretty slow going. It made it back to pick Hunter up a little before eight that night. Mommy and Daddy were very happy to see their baby. I think it will be awhile before we decide to leave him again!

What has Hunter been up to lately?

FOOTBALL
Hunter did get to go to his first football game. However, he didn’t see much of the action because he slept thru most of the first half. When he woke up he wasn’t very interested. He had already had a long day, partying at two tailgates. So Daddy walked him and Mommy back to our tailgate spot so they could head home. We took him to the next game as well, but had even worse results. Hunter was awake for the action, but didn't care for it too much and didn't even make it through the end of the first quarter. That will probably be the last game he gets to go to for a few years. He'll just have to hang out with the guys at the tailgate until game time and then head home for his nap.

This weekend Mommy, Daddy and Big Dave are headed to College Station for Mizzou's game against Texas A&M. We try to go to one away game each year (not including bowl games). A&M should be a great place for a college football game. However, Mommy and Daddy won't be taking Hunter with them. This will be the first time both Mommy and Daddy have to leave Hunter, but he'll be in good hands at Grandma and Grandpa's.

PARENT'S AS TEACHERS
About three weeks ago Hunter had his Parent's As Teacher's screening (the picture is of Hunter and cousin's Jackson and Eli). He got his vision & hearing tested and was evaluated in the areas of communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, and personal social. Hunter did great!!! He only received two "watch for & work on" marks. One of these marks was in the area of speaking, saying things like "da", "ga", "ka", and "ba". These are supposed to be the easiest for him to learn at first. Mommy & Daddy have been working on this with little Hunter, but right now he has more important things on his mind (see below). The second area was reaching out to touch himself in a mirror. I don't think we have to worry about this one anymore. One of his favorite play toys is Mommy's little mirror she used to use to put on her makeup.

NEW TRICKS
So what new tricks has Hunter learned (here is another picture of Hunter and Eli). Lets see, the most exciting was when he started crawling the day after the visit from the Parent’s As Teachers lady about three weeks ago. She must have inspired him, because Daddy and Hunter were hanging out, playing in the living room the next day and he got this half inspired/half obsessed look on his face and headed straight for the remote control laying on the floor. As soon as Mommy got home that night Daddy asked Hunter if he wanted to show Mommy his new trick. She had no idea what to expect, but Daddy put a toy in front of Hunter just a little bit out of his reach and almost right on cue he crawled over to get it. Mommy was so proud of little Hunter! Daddy told Mommy the first thing he crawled after was the remote control and she said little Hunter was a “typically guy”. Now it’s three weeks later and Hunter is a little mad man. He only does a military crawl, but he is all over the place getting into anything and everything (mostly stuff he’s not supposed to). He has so many bumps and bruises we have lost count. It’s kind of like a Simpsons episode where Homer does something over and over again, forgetting that it hurt the last time.

Hunter is also getting better at sitting up and has learned to patty cake when we sing him the song. Daddy tried to teach him to cluck, but he decided he wanted to smacking his lips instead. He also has started sticking out his tongue and spitting (it's cute until Daddy gets formula in his eye). Before we know it he'll be walking. Daddy already installed a gate above the stairs the other day. We have to keep a closer eye on him now, but its been exciting seeing him learn new things.