Laundry Room and A Closet

I don't think I have mentioned this before, but I haven't had my bedroom closet since I was about 6 months pregnant. My closet backs up to our master shower and the laundry room.

It all started when we were doing some remodeling in our master shower. Carl noticed the shower was dripping and thought a new shower head would do the trick. Nope, it wasn't really the shower head leaking. So, he took off the part that it on the shower wall that you turn it on and off with (not sure the real term for this). This is when he discovered the pipe was puttied together. Yep, puttied. We had to move all of my clothes into our spare room's closet so he and his buddy could cut a hole in the wall to fix the pipe. Please don't ask why that took so long to complete, lol.

Fast forward a few months. Hunter is born, Carl's work is stressful, I start my job. I notice that the laundry faucet is leaking. Carl discovered it has been leaking for a while. It has soaked the laundry room wall and, yep you guess it, my other closet wall. So still, no closet. Carl researches how to take out the walls, he even had a guy come and estimate the work ($3,300). Carl had enrolled a student who actually did drywall, and he said he would charge $100 to drywall both walls. So Carl removed the wall, removed the floor in the laundry room and the carpet in my closet. The guy came in and was finished in an hour. Carl was able to paint both walls, put in tile in the laundry room, and put up baseboards in the laundry room. He replaced the old washer connectors with nice, metal connectors (the old ones were aluminum and had rusted... the source of the trouble). I think we spent a total of $200 on this fix. After 4 weeks, awww, finally I had my laundry room back (thanks Mrs. Swann for allowing us to do laundry at your house!).

During... I have no before pictures, Carl had kicked Hunter and I out of the house during that process

Wednesday, Carl put my closet together. Yesterday, I put all clothes back in. It is so nice to be able to get dressed in one room. I don't have a picture of my closet because we have to replace the carpet in our room (since Carl tore out the carpet in the closet and some outside of the closet).

Thank you, Carl, for all the hard work you have put into this house.

Aquarium... again!

Carl took off from work on Wednesday and Thursday this week (he has Fridays off), so he has had a nice long weekend with Hunter and me. On Wednesday we headed to the aquarium. There were more people there than when Hunter and I went, but still not nearly as bad as over the summer.

Hunter loved it. He was so tired half way through, but stayed awake. Whenever he got up to the glass (we were actually able to take him out of the stroller since there were 2 of us) it always seemed like an animal came right up to him. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

He started out in laying in the middle of his "home"

They ended up having a staring contest

This turtle just stayed right at the corner swimming around Hunter . It was awesome

6 month check-up

We had Hunter's 6 month check-up today. He had a great time talking to himself in the mirror and trying to get his reflection's feet. We didn't have our usual pediatrician since we had to reschedule due to the snow storm. My only complaint is there doesn't seem to be "notes" written on the computer chart. More on that later.

He weighs 18 pounds, 7 oz- 60 %ile

He is 27 1/4 inches- 69%ile

Head circumference is 45 cm- 76 %ile

Hunter had to get 4 shots and an oral vaccine. We always tell him that they are to keep him healthy and others healthy. I know right now he doesn't understand, but hopefully this will help as he gets older to prevent him from being scared. I don't want to act like it is a bad thing. We brought turtle along and gave it to him right before the shots. He did a lot better with the shots today; he only cried a little bit and then just whined about the whole ordeal.

The pediatrician said he is going along nicely on his growth curve. We are to start giving him more baby food and less formula. She seemed to be under the impression we had been giving him baby food for a while now (when really, it has only been a few weeks). This is where those "notes" would come in handy. We weren't even suppose to start him on baby food until after this appointment according to our usual pediatrician due to his allergies. But we are now allowed to start him on Stage 2 and the meats. We were even told to give him a Cheerio to see if he would munch it. I opted for the Puffs because they dissolve better (in my opinion). He did munch it, but I think I need to get a different flavor. He loves bananas, so I figured he would like banana flavored puffs.... not so much. I want to give him bananas in his mesh feeder to see how he likes that.

Winter Storm 2010

I have seen more snow in the past month than I have seen my whole life. I have never had a white Christmas, NEVER. Hunter got a white Christmas his first one. Well, he was asleep when it started, but that's not the point.

On Christmas night, it started snowing. It continued snowing Sunday and through early Monday morning. There was so much snow on the ground. It was crazy. There is still snow on the ground today.

Hunter isn't of the age to appreciate play in the snow. So we spent much of the days playing inside with all the new toys.

Monday, we ventured out in Carl's truck to Target to purchase all of those cans of formula. We also made a stop at the mall and I used my NY&C gift card and Carl got some new shoes.

Today, Hunter and I stayed in most of the day. We went outside and I put him in a container and pushed him around. He wasn't too entertained, and we came back inside. I'm ready for this snow to melt so we can go back to our normal lives.

I don't remember giving birth to a Pterodactyl....

When did Hunter turn into this?

Source

Apparently when he doesn't get his way....

Christmas 2010

Hunter had a wonderful first Christmas! He was very well behaved and just chilled where ever he was. It wasn't until close to bath/bed time that he started to get cranky and only wanted Mommy and Daddy. Unfortunately it just so happened to be the time we went down to visit my parents' neighbor who has watched me grow up. Sorry, Lucy. Hunter does love you!

Santa visited our house around 9. Hunter must have been worn out from the excitement of Santa's visit because he was in bed by 7:45 Christmas Eve. Santa did not go overboard. Hunter is 6 months old and will not remember this Christmas. We got little small things for him and his big gift was his ball pit.

The bone is for Koal.. not Hunter... see:

Looking at the box, I would have never guessed the size of this thing. I only got one bag of balls; I guess I need to get another bag.

Hunter started kicking in his crib around 6, but I brought him into our bed and he slept until 8. We got up, ate some breakfast, and he played with his Santa toys. I am not a fan of wrapping things, so everything from us was from Santa.

Not so sure...

Warming up...

I'll just play outside this crazy thing

How could you have Christmas without turtle?

Around 11:30, Carl's mom, sister, and two nieces came over to open gifts. Hunter was spoiled with new clothes, and we were very spoiled with Target gift cards (thank you again!). We have already used them (plus the one my mom and Kelly got us).... 10 cans of Hunter's formula, a set of PJs, Pedialyte, and a container for Hunter's old clothes. Hunter and Carl's youngest niece, Carolyn, played in the ball pit most of the time.

Hunter and Nina

Carolyn

We then headed to my parents' house for brunch. After hearing Ryleigh ask, "Can we open presents NOW?" a million times, we finally passed out gifts and opened them. In the old days, we went youngest to oldest, opening one gift at a time. Now with so many grandchildren and the adults really not having gifts to open, everyone just opens the gifts at the same time. Again, Hunter was spoiled with gifts and we were spoiled with gift cards. Thanks guys!

Aunt Nat

Like last year, we did Secret Santa. I was able to get Mel a canvas print of the girls from the beach photo session with Sarah; Carl got Jeremy a Visa gift card. I got a NY&C gift card from Jeremy; Carl got a golf chipping net from Nat. I have no idea what Natalie got, sorry Nat!

Thank you everyone for making Hunter's first Christmas wonderful! And thank you to those who got Hunter gifts, but gave them to him before Christmas. :]

Like these slippers from Aunt Ashley and Uncle Chris

And this fun driving toy from Aunt Kelly, Uncle Harry, and Emma

Merry Christmas!

Sorry, Posting Overload!

Are your eyes burning yet? Lots have been going on and Hunter went to bed earlier than normal tonight. Plus, neither Carl nor I have to get up for work tomorrow, so we get to sleep until Hunter wakes up around 7.

Hunter likes to look at the lights and ornaments on the tree.

I wanted to get one of these for Hunter. My sister's mother-in-law purchased this "Hunter" ornament for us. She has bought one for all 6 of her granddaughters (yes, 6 granddaughters) and told me that she had to buy one for Hunter because he is like a grandchild to her. She is like another grandma to Hunter and we call her "Meemaw".

Oh yes, I meant to post this on the "Aquarium" post. I am playing into his turtle obsession. I held up a few different turtle stuffed animals and when I got to this one he reached for it. How could I say no?!

Yes... I'm a mean Mommy. I take all his toys.

Aquarium

Today, Hunter and I headed to the Aquarium. We got there about 30 minutes after it opened and it was not crowded at all. The last two times I have gone, it was crazy packed. It was sooo nice. I was able to put Hunter right up to the glass and let him sit and watch as long as he wanted.

This guy was in the middle of his "home" and started to stare at us. He just walked right over and up that branch. Hunter loved it. He stayed and looked at us for about 2 minutes then walked away.

He really liked (even though it doesn't look like it) the walk through tank (I can't think of the proper name for it... I have a little anomia going on).

We were looking at these turtles....

Hunter must have been thinking about this turtle.

After the Aquarium, we went and ate lunch with Daddy. Hunter was very excited to see his daddy. He smiled at all of Carl's coworkers (most of them I had worked with when I worked there). All this daily activity with Hunter makes me look forward to summer vacation when I get to be with him for almost 3 months.