We're In This Together

iPics

2012-02-06T08:00:00.027-05:00

This past week we had a few really pretty days. I don't think I've mentioned how crazy this winter has been! Anyways, Hunter and I took advantage of these days by going to the park. His new thing is to lay down in random places and say, "Night night" and pretend to sleep. Silly boy!

His trike came it! I must say, Carl and I were very impressed with the material for the trike. It is nice, solid metal. The plastic wheels are not made out of the cheap, thin (you squeeze it too hard it is going to break) plastic. Hunter loves his bike. Unfortunately, his legs are about 1-2 inches too short so he rests his feet on the bar.

We bought some on-the-stick-popsicles for Hunter. The first one he didn't quite get the whole stick concept and would immediately throw it on his tray after taking a lick. He has since learned to hold it by the stick.

Last weekend we had a play date at the park with B. We spent 2 hours at the park. Hunter would have stayed longer, but it was time to get home for dinner.

Last week, Hunter fell while he was at the sitter and had a nice bruise. Then, this week, when we went to visit Carl at work for dinner, he ran into the metal door jam and got another bruise. And that same night when we were walking to my car, he tripped and hit his head on the cement. He had a nice set of bruises all in the same area.

Daddy picked Hunter up from Mrs. Cathy's Friday. He sent me this picture as they were getting ready to leave. He looks like such a little boy in this picture. It makes me sad to think he is growing up so fast!

Sickies

2012-02-05T20:40:00.000-05:00

My poor boys have been sick this weekend. Carl and Hunter have both had a pretty bad cough and Hunter has had lots of snot. Saturday, Carl went to the doctor to get some cough medicine and ended up being diagnosed with bronchitis. I no longer thought Hunter had just a cold (even though the only symptoms he had were a cough and runny nose... he didn't act "sick"), so I took him to Patient First (since his pediatrician's office was closed).

The nurse took his height and weight, counted his breaths, and took his O2 levels and Hunter cooperated and sat like a big boy the entire time. She swabbed his throat for strep just to do a full work-up. It ended up that is what he had- strep. No fever, no symptoms, but tested positive for strep.

So, Hunter is on some antibiotics for his strep for 10 days (again, I asked not to be prescribed PCN due to my allergy and my family history of the allergy). It apparently does not taste very good (that was a fun first 2 rounds of that medicine), so we have been sneaking it in his milk. I will have a three day weekend as I will be staying home with little man tomorrow. No complaints here.

My sickies ready for Super Bowl

Video Dump

2012-01-25T08:00:00.001-05:00

Hunter and Carl being silly.

Hunter being gross and blowing spit bubbles. Eww.

In class this past Saturday. He played "drummed" before the activity began...

Then not wanting to drum because it wasn't on his terms...

He wasn't too happy that I helped him...

iPics

2012-01-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, we had a birthday party at The Little Gym of Virginia Beach. Hunter loves TLG, especially the sticks! Lucky for him, they did a stick activity at the party, then we did 2 in class Monday and 2 in class on Saturday.

Hunter woke up Monday morning, got his diaper changed, ran into the living room, grabbed the remote, turned on the T.V., and started channel surfing looking for "ooh-oh-ahh-ahh" (Curious George). This kid is OBSESSED with George! He no longer wants to watch Peep or any other kid cartoon, just monkey. We taped the 2 movies, and now if he hears the Jack Johnson song, he asks for monkey.

This is just him being silly. He had lovey behind his head with his hands behind his head, relaxed. He, of course, moved when I went to take the picture.

This is pretty much where Hunter hung out during class on Saturday. His "independent 2's" attitude is starting to show itself. He sat down on the big red mat during the warm up because he didn't want to participate. Oh boy!

Crafting

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

One of my New Year's resolutions was to be a little craftier. I found a cute little wreath idea on Pinterest and decided to tweak it into a Valentine's Day wreath. Ashley and I spent a good hour or so wrapping the yarn around the wreath (next time we said we would try ribbon instead).

I'm really excited how the wreath turned out. I have to get a door hanger so I can hang it on the outside of the door.

Mine:

Ashley's:

Bath Time Activity

2012-01-22T08:00:00.001-05:00

I found this idea on Pinterest (you know you're addicted, too!). I've been looking for fun activities to try with Hunter and have found quite a few good ideas.

All you need for this is some shaving cream and food coloring (optional, but so fun). The food coloring didn't stain and easily washed off. I used cheap shaving cream, the foamy kind, and the liquid food coloring (I read the gel kind doesn't work).

Hunter loved it! After a while, I didn't even put the food coloring in. I even got some speech "therapy" in.

Hunter had to ask for "more" and say/sign "please" (he typically does both). I gave him two choices between colors. He typically choose the second, which isn't uncommon. We talked about what he was doing and what was going on (You're painting... it is fluffy... splash splash splash). He soon discovered he could wash all the shaving cream off of his hands and I would ask, "Where did it go?!" And pretty soon he was washing it off and asking, "Go?"

We did this for at least 30 minutes. And we did it the next night, and the next, and the night after that. Then Mommy ran out of shaving cream. I'm going to have to go to the dollar store to see if they sell shaving cream.

Hunter Update

2012-01-21T21:00:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned in Hunter's 18 month post, I had asked for a referral to an orthopedist since Hunter was intoeing and moving his pelvis when he ran (among other things, like tripping a lot). Before I asked for the referral I took pictures and videos of Hunter's legs and showed them to the physical therapist at work (who I trust). She said I should definitely get it checked out.

Monday was Hunter's orthopedist appointment. I should actually say it was more of an appointment with the physician's assistant (who was very nice and knew her stuff... I know they go through a TON of schooling) and a 1-2 minute visit with the ortho. The PA did some stuff with Hunter's legs and showed me how much more his right hip rotated in than his left (it was crazy). She had me set him down and me go to the other side of the room so he would run to me (and cry the whole way). She told me that he had femoral anteversion on the right side and he would grow out of it, but the ortho would come in and check it out and answer any of my questions. The ortho comes in, says hi (his pager went off, he checked it) and did some stuff to Hunter's legs. He then said that Hunter has the femoral anteversion on the right side and tibial torsion on both sides and he will outgrow both at 6 and 4, respectfully. As he was asking if I had any questions, he was headed for the door.

He seemed like he was in such a rush and Hunter's case wasn't really worth a lot of time. I wasn't put at ease like I thought I should have been with a "he will grow out of it" answer. The physical therapist I work with asked how the appointment went. She asked what the doctor's plan was. When I told her nothing, she just had this look on her face. She told me to get him a trike and she would put a figure 8 strap for his feet to help give him some input through his hips. In 6 months she will look at him. Her words were, "There is always UVA."

So, we ordered him a trike. One with an adjustable seat so he should be able to reach. I hope that the doctor we saw on Monday is correct. I hope that he outgrows it. I hope we don't have to go to UVA. I plan to see if I can email the orthos at UVA to get their opinion. I am also embarrassed to say I have not yet done ~~any~~ a lot of research on either of these conditions. I have been swamped at work and actually bringing work home to do once Hunter goes to sleep. I've never done that!

I can't wait for Hunter's trike to come in. I will definitely post pictures of him on it.

New Stuffed Animals

2012-01-13T21:36:00.000-05:00

The girl who makes Hunter's adorable hats, Kayla, has also made crocheted stuffed animals. I sent her pictures of the Peep characters and asked if she could make them. She said yes, but she was super swamped and it wouldn't be until after Christmas. Hunter doesn't exactly understand the concept, so that wasn't a big deal.

They came in the mail the other day and I love them! They turned out better than I could have imagined! And the best part... Hunter loves them and labels each one! He doesn't put them down and loves to snuggle them. Kayla really put a lot of time and effort into these stuffed animals. Here is a picture of the characters on the show followed by the animals Kayla made.

Another Place We Love

2012-01-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

The zoo!! This weekend was beautiful! We went Saturday and Sunday (well, Carl took Hunter Sunday while I deep cleaned the house). Hunter is really into the animals and is very independent when it comes to walking. We don't bring the stroller anymore because he rarely wants to be carried. We usually follow him around, letting him go where he wants. Sometimes we do have to redirect him when he starts picking up everything off the ground.

Oh, yeah, the lions. When Carl took Hunter to the zoo on Sunday, he had a big blow out. This happened right in front of the lions. Carl said Hunter refused to walk or be carried any where. The zoo was apparently very empty so he just changed Hunter at the rock seat there. When he turned around, all 3 of the lions were standing at this opening (with thin little bars separating them and the lions). One even growled at them. By the time Carl got over the initial fear, the other two had gone to lay down.

A Place We Love

2012-01-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

One of the places we love to go when the weather isn't so nice is the Orb. This is by far the cleanest bounce house I have ever been to! It isn't usually too crowded either because it is kind of hidden. And you only have to pay for the children (even though we jump, too). It has a nice toddler bounce area, but Hunter doesn't like to stay there. He loves the big, open bounce "houses" and the slides. He is able to go up and down one of the slides on his own (the green one in the videos below), but does enjoy when Carl and I go with him. It also has a little ride-on toy section. Hunter finally got the hang of pushing the button to go!

Feeding Ducks

2012-01-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

I mean geese (and the occasional seagull). Hunter LOVED it! He thought it was so funny to throw food for the geese and the noises they made.

After feeding the geese (and playing on the playground) we took a walk by the water. It was a beautiful day.

iPics

2012-01-09T21:03:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I've done an iPics post and I have a few photos I want to share. Hopefully every one's new year is off to a nice start!

I ended 2011 with my wonderful husband and some awesome friends... and most importantly this little man.

Hunter has been enjoying his chair. We had to take away the ottoman because he has been using it to stand on while he is playing. We had quite the fall yesterday. I'm not normally one who freaks out when he falls, but it looked bad. After a snuggle, a kiss, and a little tickle, he was off playing again (trying to stand on the ottoman).

Aunt Ashley and Uncle Chris got Hunter a piggy bank for Christmas. He loves it. He wants to carry it around with him all over the house (which he can't, because it is breakable). So he has to sit in his rocker or his chair to play with it. He has figured out how to take the bottom stopper off and dump money out so he can put it back it.

He played in this thing for a good 30 minutes.

Best $20 ever spent. ~~Carl folds it up because I don't know how~~ We fold it up every night and he finds it the next day, drags it out, and asks for help. He finds it especially funny when Koal tries (and sometimes succeeds) at coming in.

We were finally able to meet up with my high school friend, Nichole, and her daughter S. S is about a month younger than Hunter but is very petite. We went to a bounce house and then out to lunch. It was nice to catch up with Nichole (I hadn't seen her in almost 2 years).

Just another date... with another little girl.

Spikey hair!

Favorites From 2011

2012-01-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

I did this last year and wanted to continue the tradition. I like looking back on what we did over the past year!

January- This was Hunter's very first The Little Gym show week! It is so amazing to look back at that post and see how much he has grown and developed in almost a year. He still loves every minute of TLG (and so do we). Our New Years post was my second favorite.

February- A post on our crazy weather. It had snowed and then it was in the 60's. I got to dress Hunter up in his snow bunny suit and then we got to go play at the park a few days later.

March- What Hunter was up to at 9 months. I love looking back at what Hunter was doing each month before he turned 1.

April- Hunter's 1st Easter. He enjoyed his basket of goodies, but not so much the Easter grass (don't worry buddy, I'm not a fan either!). Hunter's first use of sign language and his zoo trip were close seconds.

May- Hunter taking his first (technically second) steps! I love watching him walk with his sea legs... not quite sure what is going on, but still really excited that he is moving his legs like that. I loved this post because it reminds me how blessed I am to have such great friends. I also loved this post because it was the last monthly update before our little man turned 1.

June- Hunter turned 1!! I wrote a series of posts about his 1st birthday party. I still can't believe we have had him in our lives for that long. It still seems like yesterday that I was snuggling him in the hospital!

July- We went for our first family vacation down in NC with the Lewis family. It was so much fun and so relaxing. I would love to do that every year! I also admitted to being a crazy mom and I started our kitchen remodel (which, as you saw from my new years resolutions, I still have to finish). I also wrote my first guest post.

August- Carl and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. I posted Hunter's 1 year photo session with Sarah and the progress of the kitchen remodel. It was also a sad month as I had my first real experience (old enough to realize what was going on) with someone I knew passing away. We had a family fundraiser for Joe Weschler to support his wife and son who survived the car fire.

September- I left Hunter and Carl for the weekend for the first time. I went to D.C. for Katie's bachelorette party. We also had a mini photo session with BeniBee before she moved and I posted videos of Hunter talking. I also posted this funny picture set of Hunter with some rocks and announced Carl's new school journey.

October- My childhood best friend and my high school best friend got married (to each other) and I was so honored to be a part of their wedding! It was fabulous. We had a baby sprinkle for Kelly and welcomed baby Alyssa this month! Hunter had his first 2 word combination!

November- I finally posted about Halloween, ha. I was interviewed for the first time by a writer. I posted about Hunter's development and some things I was very thankful for.

December- Christmas! Hunter was old enough to be excited about things, but still not old enough to understand the concept. He loved opening a few gifts and playing with toys. We saw a lot of Santa this December! We went to Christmas Town for the first time and Hunter rode rides for the first time. Kelly took some pictures of our family and Hunter turned 18 months!

New Years Resolutions

2011-12-31T16:15:00.000-05:00

I stole this idea from Amanda. I think about things I should do in the new year, but I typically never do them. Maybe if I put them in writing I will actually do them! With that said (and if you hop over to Amanda's blog, they are going to be almost the exact same as hers, haha, great minds think alike!)

1. First and foremost, this is my number one priority. Going through grad school with Carl working full time and me working very part time, we have some debt. We've played around with a budget and actually stuck to one for 2 months and then fell off the wagon. This year, we will stick to a budget and pay off debt. I would love for the only things to have by the end of 2012 is our mortgage, my school loan, and Carl's school loan. Luckily, we don't have a car payment, so this shouldn't be hard. I've started reading Dave Ramsey's book (thanks Ashley).

2. Keep our house cleaner. Don't get me wrong, our house is by no means "dirty". But I don't vacuum every day like I should. Our office isn't very organized (I know... something in my house not organized with my crazy OCD). We have a small house with a lot of stuff. So I want to make better use of our space! I get rid of stuff all the time. Currently I have Hunter's changing table ready to give to the thrift store, I just wanted to make sure none of our friends needed one (so if you do, I haven't set the pick up yet... but I will next week. Message me if you want it!).

3. Run a 5k. I started the Couch To 5k earlier this month, but haven't kept up with it. I was feeling really good running (the first day was awful) and Hunter was enjoying riding along.

4. Be more crafty. I already made some leg warmers out of an old sweater with an idea I found on Pinterest. I have a Valentine's Day wreath I want to make. I just want to do some fun things and show Hunter that we can make cute, cheap things!

5. Finish the kitchen remodel. Really, I just have to paint the walls. How hard could that be?! After those cabinets, the thought of picking up a paint brush makes me feel sick to my stomach. I just have to get over that. Our kitchen looks funny and I need to fix that.

6. This one I need the help from Carl. Finish getting everything else in the house ready so we can eventually sell it once he is finished with school. We need to tile our back bathroom (I say we, I really mean Carl), put a fresh coat of paint in the bathroom, paint our bedroom, and probably re-carpet all the rooms. The carpets could probably wait until right before we put the house on the market. And then we have to get the yard and flower bed ready. Need some curb appeal.

There. It is out there for anyone to read. These are my goals for 2012.

Richmond Children's Museum

2011-12-31T08:00:00.001-05:00

Kelly and I took Emma, Hunter, and Alyssa to the Richmond Children's Museum to play and see the authentic Santa. On the way, Emma entertained Hunter with a book before they both fell asleep.

The line for Santa was crazy long and Hunter and Emma were going a little stir crazy. Kelly stayed with Alyssa and the stroller in line and I took the two to the 3 and under section. It is a lot bigger than the toddler area in our children's museum and they had a great time.

Hunter enjoyed the chicken egg part (just like the one that is similar at our museum).

Kelly messaged me letting me know it was our turn to go into the Santa area. We didn't know that there would be another line inside that area. But that line went pretty fast.

Sitting with Princess Amanda

With Santa

He went right to Santa! As we were standing in line, a little kid was screaming on Santa's lap and Hunter kept saying, "No! No! No!" I told him he didn't have to go to Santa and that I would sit with him. When it was our turn, he reached out his hands to Santa and sat there without screaming. I thought he was fine, but when I went to pick him back up he had little tears rolling down his cheeks. Poor baby.

This was our picture I purchased.

After Santa, we let the kids play where they wanted. It is a really nice museum with lots of open, free-play centers.

And this is a video of Hunter watching the video of him and Emma in the car. Hilarious!

Past Few Weeks

2011-12-30T08:00:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago, my work PTA did Cookies With Santa. I made sure the day the fliers went home with students I payed for a spot. It is usually sold out early the next morning. I asked for the first time slot, so I had an IEP meeting, picked up Hunter, and came back to work early (to get a good parking spot). Since we were so early, we went to the OT/PT room and played. He really enjoyed the swing.

However, he did not enjoy Santa.

My little sister turned 21 on Dec. 15. We went out to dinner to celebrate.

I tried to correct the red eye.. it probably looked better with the red eye on Mel, haha

Hanging out with Ms. Sarah

He loves sitting in the Melissa & Doug boxes

This is Hunter's favorite sippy cup. Kelly gave us a few sippy cups to try out when we were switching over from bottles. This just happened to be one he loved, purple top and all. He wouldn't leave the house without it, so we went out to lunch with Ms. Sarah today with his orange and purple cup.

Christmas Town- Lights

2011-12-29T08:00:00.002-05:00

I know I've said it before, but I just want to re-iterate... I'm terrible at editing pictures and I took these with my iPhone (so they are not going to do the lights justice). So here they are, unedited and taken with an iPhone:

It was absolutely beautiful! Next year, we are definitely getting in the line for the skyline before it opens!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

On Christmas Eve, we let Hunter open a present. This was a tradition we did in my house (although, when we were younger, we opened a gift that had our pajamas) and something Carl and I both wanted to have for our family. We had him open the Melissa & Doug Pound and Roll Tower.

He played with this for at least 20 minutes:

Santa came to visit that night after Hunter went to bed. Santa brought Hunter Fisher-Price's Play My way Customizable Play Center. Santa forgot the sink that goes with this play center, but Fisher-Price was kind enough to rush ship us a whole new table (without us having to send back the old one). It should be here within the next few days. He also got Hunter a few books.

Dreaming of Santa

We bought Hunter Melissa & Doug (can you tell we love that brand?!) Band in a Box and Clay Play. I got both on super sale.

Carl bought the family the iPad. Hunter loves seeing the peek-a-boo games on the iPad.

We went to my parents' house for my dad's famous brunch. Delicious. The kids opened gifts in a few nano seconds. Ryleigh kept saying, "I'm all out of presents." Hunter opened about 2 and was over it. We packed the rest in the car and opened them at home. We taught my dad how to play Angry Birds (I think Hunter is a lot better at it than he is) and Hunter passed out watching Peep.

We headed home for a bit, then headed off to Carl's uncle's house. We had a good dinner, opened gifts, and had a great time with everyone. Hunter was showing off his goofy personality most of the night. He even put on antlers (until we took out the camera).

Thank you everyone who made our Christmas (especially Hunter's) so awesome! We are so very blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. We were all very spoiled!

What We've Been Doing

2011-12-27T14:52:00.000-05:00

Relaxing and enjoying time together. I'll get around to posting about Christmas and all the other fun things we've been up to!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-26T12:24:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We certainly did! Hunter was very spoiled by everyone. More to come later...

Please don't mind the extra 's' on our last name... I didn't realized Shutterfly added an 's' on this card. Oh well.... just look at the cuteness on the picture, haha.

I know the feeling...

2011-12-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

This is definitely how I felt after work on Wednesday (when this was taken)...

18 Months

2011-12-22T22:04:00.000-05:00

Hunter is 18 months today. I just still can't believe we have a "baby" who is a year and a half. I know I say this every time, but he just amazes me. I love watching him learn new things and problem solve. He has such a silly personality and he loves to make us and himself laugh. If he thinks something is the slightest bit funny, he does this fake, over the top laugh and looks at us to make sure we laugh too.

He has definitely taken an interest in the TV. We limit the amount he watches, but sometimes Mommy just needs to cook some dinner and it holds his attention (for 10-15 minutes). He likes Peep, Dinosaur Train, Elmo, Baby Signing Time, and Kipper. If they laugh, he laughs; if one of the characters gets hurt, he gets sad. He is getting good at reading facial expressions.

Hunter has been playing with toys appropriately and loves all his little animals and cars. Cars are probably his favorite toy and then little pull along toys. Oh, and any toy that he can turn on and make lots of noise. Ha. He has been playing a lot with his puzzles. He will take a given piece and put it in different slots saying, "No. No. No. Yeah!" It's cute.

He built that tower of blocks (to the left of him) all by himself.

At The Little Gym, he has been loving the balance beam and climbing on everything. He loves the warm up (walking, running, jumping, rolling, etc.) and the group activity (using some sort of manipulative). He loves his "Ruh" (Miss Sarah) and likes to be the first one in the gym. We were going to move him up to the Beast class in January, but I think we will stay in Birds because we have made a lot of great friends in there. No need to rush, we will move up in the summer.

He loves his friends and we talk about them. He likes to name them in the car when we are driving home from Mrs. Cathy's house. He is labeling everything and we've really been working on "What's that?" when he doesn't know something. His receptive language is great and he loves using sign language.

We went for his 18 month check-up today. I had to fill out a form asking me all these yes/no questions regarding his behavior. As I was reading it, I knew it was looking for signs of Autism. It is safe to say that, for now, Hunter is not showing any signs. Maybe after those 2 year shots... only kidding, I know vaccines do not cause Autism.

He is 26 pounds, 2 ounces and 33.15 inches... a little over the 75th percentile for both. I let my dad know that he is no longer "short and fat" haha. I mentioned his legs again, this time not for the bowing, but because he is turning his right foot inward. Our pediatrician watched him walked and agreed there is a need to see an orthopedist. The referral was written for "in-toeing". I requested a certain orthopedist, and he said that was fine, but typically people see the partner so-and-so. I told him that was fine as long as it wasn't Dr. X... he said he caught my drift. We go for that appointment in January. Luckily, this doctor is in the same building as our pediatrician (it is a huge CHKD building) so we won't have to go to the main hospital in Norfolk. Even if this doctor says he will grow out of it, I will feel better that we went and had it checked out.

Christmas Town

2011-12-18T20:27:00.001-05:00

Living Social was running a deal last month for Busch Gardens' Christmas Town. It was over half off of the tickets so I jumped on it! I didn't want to pay $50 for us to go, but I was willing to pay $24.

It was BEAUTIFUL! They did a wonderful job decorating. We really didn't do much while there except for looking at lights and letting Hunter go on rides. We did see the Elmo Show which Hunter, I think, liked. It was long enough to get the point across, but short enough to keep his attention. They did a wonderful job with that. I We wanted to see the penguins and also go on the skyline to see the lights from the air; however, the wait was an hour for each one and it was getting late by then. Next year, we will have a plan!

Here are some pictures and videos. I will post some of the decorations in another post. Sorry the quality isn't good, I used my iPhone and I am not very good at editing pictures.

Having a snack while waiting for the whole park to open.

Dancing on stage

Visiting the Clydesdale. He loved petting him, until he moved, haha.

Once the horse moved, he did not like him anymore.

Watching Elmo

This was how he looked the whole time.

On his first big boy ride... LOVED IT!

Train ride

Next year, we are buying a ton of lights for our tree so it can be this bright

Another ride... when I came to get him out, he told me, "No!"

And another...

And another.

Santa-filled Weekend

2011-12-11T21:23:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, we were invited to a Brunch with Santa and then a Santa gift exchange. Hunter was a little unsure of the big guy, but eventually warmed up to him at the first party (enough to give him a high-five and a ball... not enough to sit on his lap). Here are a few pictures from each event.

Santa?!

No thank you, Santa. I normally would like bells, but not from a stranger.

But I will give you a high-five.

Hanging out with Miss P

After a long, fun-filled day!

Family Pictures Sneak Peak

2011-12-11T20:59:00.000-05:00

Kelly was an awesome friend (well, she always is) and took some family pictures of Carl, Hunter, and I. We may have stolen the place idea from our friend, Brittney. Here is one she posted on Facebook. I will post the others as soon as I get her a CD.

Winter Wonderland

2011-12-05T08:00:00.001-05:00

We decided to head to Hunt Club's Winter Wonderland. They have part of the Coleman Nursery's old display (at least that is what it looks like). I will say it was a lot better than the collection in Portsmouth, plus we got to go to the petting farm.

We started out the day by looking at the horses. One actually came up to the fence, but Hunter refused to pet him, even after I did. He likes these big creatures from a far. I still find it funny he wanted to pet the wild ones in NC but refuses to pet tame ones.

Then we visited the goats. He pet them and then decided to brush them. He had to brush each one and would chase them down to do so. We also went into the chicken coup. I really don't like going in their "house" because when you look up you see about 10 sitting in the rafters. I just kept hoping none of the chickens needed to use the bathroom while sitting up there.

After the animals, we went into the Winter Wonderland. The entrance is beautiful!

Hunter likes looking at anything animals.

At the end, they have a nice little sitting area with a pretty tree. There is no way Hunter would have sat still to take a picture in front of it.

We swung back around to visit with Santa. Hunter is very timid when it comes to strangers. Basically, if he doesn't know you, he doesn't want anything to do with you. His head goes down and he tries to ignore you. At least he didn't cry!

Ummm... I'm not so sure about this guy with a fake beard

Daddy... SAVE ME!

Hunter ended his day by snuggling on the couch at MeeMaw Swann's house with a Tech blanket.

Christmas Photos Take 1

2011-12-04T20:39:00.000-05:00

I tried to get some at home Christmas card pictures. Didn't work out so well. I was able to snag 2 before Hunter ran over saying, "See! See!" and sitting in my lap to look at the pictures. Then he became bored and grabbed a book, climbed in his rocker and declared, "Ead!" (read). Maybe I can get a good one at the mall in the snow globes.

iPics

2011-11-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

Friday night Kelly hosted a Pampered Chef party. I got to snuggle this little cutie. She looks just like Emma did when she was her age. It is incredible. Oh, and if you're interested in purchasing Pampered Chef stuff, I'm doing a catalog party and you can make orders online.

We went to Winter Wonderland- The Coleman Collection. This is included in our Children's Museum Membership. The display plus a whole lot more was at Coleman's Nursery, but it kept burning down. They moved it to its new location and it does not have a lot. Hunter enjoyed the "choo-choo" and chased it around the track.

We then walked down the street to the museum. In the toddler section, Hunter found the abacus and a bucket and decided to do some math.

This weekend was gorgeous. We definitely didn't want to waste it being inside. We took a mile and a half walk around a lake near our house.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T19:40:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of family and friends. Hunter was ~~very~~ a little traumatized by all the faces and people picking him up. I can't remember the last time we had so much trouble putting him to bed. He screamed and cried every time we tried to lay him down even remotely awake. We can normally lay him down wide awake, and he might play in his crib a little bit, but then goes to sleep on his own. I may have crawled in his crib with him to try to snuggle him... but he wasn't dead asleep when I got out and started the process all over again. He has since recovered. Even with that, Thanksgiving was awesome with amazing people.

Can you find Ryleigh?

Molly was pretty easy to find

I downloaded the Adobe Photoshop Express for my iPhone. I attempted to edit these pictures on there. I swear they look better on my phone than they do all big on the blog.

What I'm Thankful For

2011-11-23T20:41:00.000-05:00

-Carl. He is my rock, my best friend, and the love of my life. He always thinks about what is best for our family. He has worked so hard (and continues to) so we can be where we are now.
-Hunter. I know people say it all the time, but I can't remember what life was like before he came along. What did we do before we had him? He is such a joy and truly amazes us each and every day. I was rocking him the other night (when he actually fell asleep on me, this is unheard of these days) and realized just how big he has gotten. He is almost too long to snuggle comfortably on me. I just love him.

I'm thankful for my little man... who is officially 17 months old!

-Our family. We may be dysfunctional, but I love them. My sisters are my best friends and I cannot wait for Hunter to have a sibling so that they can be best friends (one day... when they're old enough to appreciate each other, haha).
-Our friends... who technically fall in the family category, because they are family. They keep us sane and totally understand if we ever have to cancel last minute. They offer to do things for us without expecting anything in return (and same goes on our end).
-My coworkers. They are so supportive and are amazing. I learn things all the time from them. They are professional and passionate about what they do (and super knowledgeable).
-Mrs. Cathy. For all that she does for our family and for taking super care of Hunter.
-Having jobs. I know some people are having a hard time finding jobs, and I am very thankful that we are both able to have jobs.
-Many, many other things. I'm thankful for the life we are leading and those in it!

Emma's 3rd Birthday

2011-11-22T08:00:00.012-05:00

One of the first names Hunter learned to say (other than mom and dad) was Emma. Again, we can't believe that she is already 3! Her and Molly were born 8 days apart. We love Emma's spunk and independent personality. She had her party at the Orb and everyone had a blast. I didn't get a lot of pictures because Carl and I were getting our workout jumping around with Hunter.

Here is what I did get:

In the toddler area

He decided he needed to go on the big kid slide

That cake was a little piece of heaven. Happy birthday Emma!

Carl's Paper

2011-11-21T21:51:00.000-05:00

Carl is taking a composition class this "mod". He is writing a persuasive paper on one of my favorite subjects... sign language. I was super excited telling him that he could interview me for his paper. That idea was vetoed. Boo. Anyways... I was helping him find some good sources to use for his paper when I came across this lovely file (from the ASHA website... our governing board):

Source

I think that every time a parent tells me that their friend's, sister's, ex-husband's former wife's son didn't talk because of sign language, I might just hand them this article. Just joking, but I wish I could. Maybe I will just say there has never been a study to show this to be true.

If you didn't know, I love sign language. Hunter signs all the time along with saying the word. He signs "baby" when he sees baby Alyssa.... I don't even remember teaching him that sign (he probably picked it up from Baby Signing Time).

Anyways... if you ever want tips or information on sign language, I will be more than happy to give you lots of information! My goal is to become certified in ASL (one day).

iPics

2011-11-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

I just love when Hunter crosses his legs in his car seat. I think it is even funnier when he has his juice between them.

Like in my last iPics post, I'm still trying new recipes. This week it was potato soup. The worst part was cutting up 5 large potatoes into 1/2 inch squares. The rest was a breeze. Next time I will not use all purpose seasoning because that is what I tasted the most. Still pretty good for my first attempt.

Just relaxing on the couch, watching some Peep.

On the way to the zoo... where we rode the train (he loved it) and we saw all sorts of animals, like the monkey below.

Hunter was cracking up over these monkeys! They were fascinated by Hunter's rock and would try to grab it from him (obviously, they are behind glass and can't).

Recent Hunter

2011-11-20T15:58:00.000-05:00

I am just amazed at Hunter's development and little personality. He is starting to become his own little person and it has been a joy to watch. He is starting to answer simple wh- questions. He is labeling everything and will ask, "That?" when he doesn't know what something is. Occasionally I hear, "What that?", but not as often as I would like.

When we were headed to the zoo today, I asked him what animals we were going to see. He answer, "Raff." (Giraffe) When asked what else, he said, "Ooh-oooh Ahhh-ahh." (Monkey). I again asked what else, and he said, "Moo! Roar!" (Cow, lion/tiger). On the way home, I asked what he saw, and he would say the name/sound of the an animal he did see (I asked him for more animals 3 or 4 times).

He is labeling pictures of familiar people. We have a few frames with multiple pictures and he will go through the people he knows. He especially likes to name Dada and Mama.

When we go to The Little Gym, he loves seeing his friends. He doesn't always play with them (there is too much other stuff to play ON), but he definitely knows when something is not right (especially when someone subs for Miss Sarah... which luckily isn't often). He has gotten really good at the beam expander independently and when we spot him, he walks one foot in front of the other forwards and backwards by himself on the balance beam itself. He tries to forward roll on his own, but hasn't quite mastered it yet. He loves any type of rotation, whether it is on the floor or the bars. He is also participating in opening and closing circle every time, shaking the shakers, hitting them on the ground when it is time during the song, cleaning them up, and hitting the floor for the closing song. I cannot express what an awesome experience it is for Hunter to go to TLG, and I am honestly not saying that because I worked there.

There are some other tid bits that I wanted to include, but can't think of them. I will have to start writing them down. Oh well. Here are some videos of Hunter.

We try to send Daddy a video every night before bed (since Carl has his new school and work schedule). We also call him (and pretty soon will be able to FaceTime with him once he gets his new phone in December).

This is one of our bedtime favorites. Hunter likes to "read" along.

Walking on the beam expander (from a few weeks ago)

Being Miss Sarah's helper can be a dangerous job (haha). For the record, he did not get hurt and he didn't hit the orange base like it looks.

Molly's 3rd Birthday

2011-11-20T14:28:00.000-05:00

Last week we celebrated Molly's 3rd birthday. I cannot believe she is already 3! I love her little OCD self. At her party, Molly would not share her toys with her two sisters, but if Hunter came up to play with them, she would say, "Ahh, here Hunter. You want to play with _______?"

Here are some pictures from her party:

I've fallen and can't get up!

Chowing down!

I have what on my face?

iPics

2011-11-14T21:34:00.000-05:00

Waiting for all their friends

Hunter was invited to a friend's (from TLG) birthday party this past Saturday. He really enjoyed playing in her playroom with his friends. He also ate like we never feed him, haha.

Sunday was Molly's birthday party. This is just one of the many cute pictures from that day. Molly and Ryleigh wanted to hold Hunter's hand on our little walk. More pictures to follow in its own post.

I found this recipe on Pinterest. The bacon took a little longer to cook than what it said, but maybe if I had used thinner bacon (but next time I think I'm going to use turkey bacon to be healthier). I took this picture to send as a joke, "Heart attack in a glass dish" haha. It was good though, and I'm not a big meat person.

Don't mind Hunter... he likes to dip anything in ketchup, even green beans.

This is the reason....

2011-11-08T20:04:00.000-05:00

Carl and I go to work everyday. We want him to be able to have and do great things.

And I guess so I can also use that awesome degree I have.

iPics

2011-11-07T21:35:00.000-05:00

Hunter is able to walk on the beam expander all by himself now. It is amazing to watch! Next is the regular balance beam.

We have been trying to take Koal for a daily walk lately. Hunter likes to hold the leash. Luckily the leash is long and he holds the end and I hold higher up.

Drinking from a big boy cup.

Hunter... it's what's for dinner.

Daddy and Hunter built their first fort this weekend. They told me, "No girls allowed!" I still snapped a few pictures.

We had dinner and hung out at Kelly and Harry's house Sunday afternoon/evening. Emma wanted to push Hunter in the swing. Hunter thought it was hilarious.

And I got to snuggle my little Miss Alyssa

Where's Hunter?!

Interview

2011-11-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

One of the mother's of a former student of mine from The Little Gym contacted me asking if she could interview me for an article. Susan writes articles about different careers for people to use as a reference when trying to decide what to do with their lives. Where was this when I was going to college?! I changed my major quite a few times and my undergrad and graduate degree are in two different areas.

Susan wanted to write an article on a speech-language pathologist. I was honored and agreed to answer her questions. I love my job and hope others find my answers helpful in deciding if this is the right career path for them.

Here are the two articles:
Article 1: Speech Language Pathologist
Article 2: Program Advice

Susan has written a lot of great articles on other careers. You can use the search bar to search different career fields if you wish.

Smashing Pumpkins

2011-11-04T08:00:00.001-04:00

Not really. Really it should be titled "Tricking A Toddler Into Playing In Pumpkin Guts" but that would have been too long and not as interesting.

No. I will not touch that.

What? You put my rock in there? Let me see how I can get it out without really touching this thing.

Great! Now you hid it under the seeds and guts?! Now I actually have to dig for it? I'll make sure to shake my hands off beside you.

Zoo Boo!

2011-11-03T08:00:00.001-04:00

This year we went to the Zoo Boo. Hunter absolutely loves the zoo and all of the animals and I thought it was an added bonus to dress up and go trick-or-treating and watch animals "carve" pumpkins. We saw the tigers (they were hilarious) and bears playing/eating pumpkins. Hunter did well going up to the strangers as long as he had both Carl and me. The one time I didn't go up with them so I could snap a picture, Hunter would lift up his basket and acted very shy. Stinker.

Checking out the birds while saying and signing "bird"

Poor guys... they always look so unhappy (there is one hiding under the blanket)

Checking out the bears

Checking out the Tapir... the female is always squealing!

Even the train had a costume on!

Stuffing the pumpkin with pine cones

Looking at the "raff" as Hunter calls it

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T08:00:00.015-04:00

Kelly was wonderful and had everyone over for Halloween... even after just having had a baby. We had a great time and so did the kids.

Hunter loved trick-or-treating. He wasn't quite sure about the first few houses, but after realizing he was getting things in his bag (and getting to keep them), he was more than happy to go up to strangers and smile. I kept saying, "Trick-or-treat" in hopes he would say it (but he is selectively mute when it comes to strangers... he did mimic it twice when we weren't around people) and we always thanked the person.

Here are some pictures from our fun night:

Hunter ran right over, sat down, and waited for food... fatty

Outside!

Love my little cow

Kelly looking amazing for just having had Alyssa

Headed home

I just love Sophia's face after seeing Hunter without his shirt on

Hey there!

What big muscles you have!

Fun At The Little Gym

2011-11-01T08:00:00.011-04:00

Hunter just loves his TLG class. I'm so glad he enjoys it as much as I enjoyed working there. He especially loves his Miss "Ruh" (Sarah).

I love watching him participate in the opening circle and closing circle. He loves to shake the shakers, put them away, slap the mat at the end and clap. It is amazing to see how much he has learned; he knows the routine, he knows that during exploration when we start to clap and sing he should find Miss Sarah (sometimes he does not want to participate in the skill, but we still make him go and watch what is being shown). He is now starting to try to do a donkey kick. I have a video on my phone from home, but he isn't lifting his leg in this one.

His favorite things to do lately are walking on the balance beam, playing on the rings, and "sliding" down the cheese. Here are some pictures from our class on Saturday.

He was so excited!

Weee!

Moo!!

2011-10-31T08:00:00.001-04:00

Decorating Cookies

2011-10-30T08:00:00.000-04:00

Harris Teeter had these cute Halloween cookie decorating kits. It has the frosting in a little bag to pipe out the icing, sprinkles, and the cookies. I decided to pick one up to do with Hunter.

Hunter had a great time spreading out the icing and eating it off of his kid "knife". I let him spread my icing, too.

I didn't get to take any pictures of the sprinkles. I had cut a little hole at the top of the sprinkles and let him shake the container.

He enjoyed the last part.

The Little Gym Boo Bash

2011-10-29T15:05:00.000-04:00

This years' Boo Bash was the biggest turn out I've ever seen at TLG. It was amazing how many people attended! Hunter was pretty overwhelmed with so many faces, but had a good time.

The amazing staff... love them

He is really into the balance beam

Having a snack

Phone Thief

2011-10-29T08:00:00.004-04:00

At least he leaves proof he had the phone (and then hid it between the wall and couch). These pictures do make me smile, though.

iPics

2011-10-28T08:00:00.001-04:00

So, my software update ate my photos (probably something I did wrong), so these are almost a week late. I figure I won't have just one iPics post this coming week because we have a ton of Halloween related things to do this weekend (but don't worry, they will be titled different things). Here are the photos I've taken since the software update.

We headed to the park this past weekend and brought Koal along. Hunter thought it was so funny watching Koal go down the slides. He also had lots of fun climbing, sliding, running, etc.

And we visited this sweet little girl (oh, and her mommy, daddy, and sister).

We practice good oral hygiene in our house and we also multitask.

Good thing he hasn't figured out the correct remote yet. I'm in trouble.

Enjoying a slurpee

Checking out the giraffes

Hunter decided to get in the toy box when we were at the doctors. This was not a visit for him, haha.

16 Months

2011-10-27T20:47:00.000-04:00

On October 22, Hunter turned 16 months. Almost a year and a half! Time sure does fly! He is such a joy to have in our lives, even when he is being a little stinker.

Playing at the "farm"

At 16 months...
-he is throwing some temper tantrums. And he is starting to get an attitude. Yesterday I had to stick him in time-out twice. He is to say he is sorry, give me a hug, and he can get up. He is pretty stubborn (a trait I have) and will sit for a while until he apologizes. The whole time he is sitting, I explain why he is sitting there (you hit me and that hurt so you need to take a break). It breaks my heart because he just cries and cries with these crocodile tears, but I've been standing my ground.
-but for every "mean" moment, he has at least 10 sweet moments. He is just so lovable and finds everything funny. We know exactly how to make him laugh. He is also curious.
-loves stacking and knocking things over. Putting things in and dumping them out. He could do that for hours (that might be a little exaggeration). He is still loving animals.
-he has moved up to size 5 diapers and has outgrown some of his 18 month clothes. It was probably a bad idea to buy him 18 month winter clothes near the middle of summer.
-is saying soo many words. Following along nicely with his language and intelligibility milestones/guidelines. His receptive language is great. He is following two-step directions.
-has 16 teeth... it is just crazy to see all of those teeth in there!
-can almost do a forward roll by himself, he flops forward-sideways (if you understand that). He is also kicking one leg up doing a donkey kick (a lead up to a handstand, but typically with two feet coming up) while saying, "Eeh Haa!" Love it.
-is saying more two word phrases. Tonight when we were rocking in his chair, he sat up and said, "Dada eat." I asked, "Daddy went to go eat?" and he said, "Yeah." It was so funny. Agent-action phrase for all my SLP friends! Woohoo!
-he loves going outside and play. He always has to pick up two rocks (one for each hand) as we are walking around. He usually tries to hold lots in his chubby hands. It cracks me up watching him try to fit just one more rock in his hand.
-he copies us, knows his routine (we get in the car after Mrs. Cathy's and he says "nack... juice!"), and loves his friends (he loves to say their names and Mrs. Cathy (Cah!)! He is finally responding to people on the phone by saying hi and bye rather than waving.

I could go on and on about this little guy. If you want to see more pictures from our day at the farm (aka Brown Wren Acres) you can go to Ashley's blog.

Welcome Baby Alyssa!!

2011-10-23T13:59:00.000-04:00

Since I don't think Kelly is going to get around to blogging (slacker), I'm just going to post the basics. I'm just too excited about my new "niece". She is adorable and I love her chubby checks!

Kelly delivered ~~little~~ Alyssa early Monday morning (1:33 AM). She weighed in at 9 pounds, 7 ounces and 21 inches long. Oh, and she did it without an epidural! Way to go Kelly!

Here are some pictures of her (I stole the one of her and Kelly from Facebook... I like to hog Alyssa when I visit).

So in love with this little girl

Well... I only have a few pictures. I decided to update my phone's software and somehow some of my pictures from a certain point in September (along with contacts and text messages) disappeared. Ugh. Luckily I had uploaded some to Facebook and had sent some to Carl.

iPics

2011-10-17T08:00:00.028-04:00

When Daddy's truck isn't in the driveway (and it is a nice day), we take the chalk outside. I was amazed when I saw Hunter had drawn this. Haha... just kidding. I wanted to take his picture, but he didn't cooperate.

I found this lovely piece of glass in our spaghetti sauce. This has convinced me to find a good, homemade recipe. If you have any suggestions, I will gladly try them. We are apparently getting very nice coupons and a refund from the company.

Eating some pizza, the correct way. I was pretty impressed.

Hunter and I got to take a little snuggle Friday afternoon. He wanted to come snuggle on the couch with me while watching "Peep". I enjoyed every second of it.

He loves sitting on the balls at TLG. Or laying on them.

Enjoying Sweet Frogs. He loved the strawberries and kiwis I put in. He also requested sprinkles.

He ran up to the hose and yelled, "Water!" Smartie pants. Oh, please don't mind that "flower bed". It is still a huge work in progress. We've been worried about the inside and the porch.

All Work and No Play

2011-10-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

makes Hunter a dull boy. Good thing he likes to have lots of fun...

Kelly's Baby Sprinkle

2011-10-15T21:15:00.000-04:00

I realized I never posted a "real" post about Kelly's baby sprinkle. We had a nice girls' dinner (plus Kelly's adorable newborn nephew) at Olive Garden. We got to watch Kelly open adorable gifts. And we had some delicious cupcakes. I cannot wait to meet little Alyssa (who should be making her debut any day now... if only she knew that!) and snuggle her.

Here are some pictures:

She wishes that glass of wine was actually hers...

Tiny little hat

And as a comparison of Kelly pregnant with Emma and then Alyssa...

This is what it looks like in reverse

And just as a funny... Michelle tried to record rather than take our picture with my iPhone, haha.

My Best Friends' Wedding

2011-10-11T08:00:00.015-04:00

I put the apostrophe after the 's' because Katie and Stephen are two of my best friends. Katie and I met when we were 4/5ish, in D.C., on a see-saw. Our sisters played soccer together and were in a soccer tournament up there. We have been best friends ever since.

Stephen and I met in high school. We became best friends. We had a lot of ups and downs in those younger years, but I considered him my best guy friend through it all. Other than Carl, I have never had a guy friend who I considered to be my best friend.

I would like to say Carl and I have a 1 for 1 record of being match makers. We might just end on that good note. Stephen was our roommate in our rental house. Of course, Katie was over a lot. Stephen thought she was cute, I asked her if she would ever go on a date with him, and the rest is now history.

Friday night we had the rehearsal dinner at Doc Taylor's. It was a very nice dinner. The food was delicious. Hunter behaved himself.

Saturday everyone got ready for the wedding. It wasn't until 5:30 so no one was rushed to get things done as fast as they could. They rented a house in Sandbridge to have the reception and the ceremony was on the beach in front of the house. It was such a beautiful day and the wedding was beautiful as well. The reception was so much fun. I can't remember the last time I had danced so much. Carl and I were able to enjoy ourselves without having to worry about Hunter (thank you soooo much!). We definitely missed him, but it was nice to be out together.

The yummy cake. It was beautiful.

Snagged this photo of Stephen and Katie enjoying each other's company on the balcony.

Fire pit.

Love them.

With my handsome husband.

Bouquet toss. Good job AB!

I'm pretty sure Stephen was telling Kyle to make sure he caught the garter.

The DJ made Kyle do a little dance before putting the garter on AB.

Umm... how do we do this?!

I think you go like this.

Don't smash it in my face.

Father-daughter dance to Forever Young.

iPics

2011-10-10T20:55:00.000-04:00

I use my phone as my primary camera now-a-days. So I apologize if my iPics posts are filled with photos. I usually don't have enough from one place to have different posts.

We were gifted this pumpkin. Hunter loves it. When we were walking up the porch after Carl and I had put it out there, Hunter said, "Ooooooh!" He has to touch it every time we walk outside or inside.

Hunter has been enjoying bath time. He loves to get on his belly and slide around saying, "Weeee!" He, however, is no longer a fan of laying on his back to rinse out his hair. This usually ends in a bucket of water being dumped on his head. Little stinker.

I think it is hilarious how he crosses his legs in the car seat. The other day he was back there like that with his drink and book. He was just laughing as he was turning the pages. It was an entertaining car ride.

Kelly was a little over 38 weeks when I took this picture. She has been trying her best to get that stubborn little girl to come out. Hunter and I pulled up in front of their house (without me telling him we were going there) and he started yelling, "Muh! Muh!" He loves his Emma.

Hunter was quite the gentleman and pushed Emma around (with a little bit of help from Emma's feet). I think he had more fun pushing her around than he did when he was playing inside.

Just a little preview of the beach during Katie and Stephen's reception from this past Saturday. More from the wedding to come.

Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs

2011-10-07T08:00:00.002-04:00

That's a Sandra Boynton title, haha. Apparently dinosaurs and vintage airplanes go together. Yeah, I didn't know that either. This airport believes they do. Hunter enjoyed looking at the dinosaurs, at least the herbivores.

He did not like the T-Rex. He knew those guys were bad news.

Monkeying Around

2011-10-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

Hi Dada!

2011-10-05T08:00:00.001-04:00

Our first two word combination!

iPics

2011-10-04T20:59:00.000-04:00

Sorry this is late. Carl and I had been making an effort to be in bed by 9 these past two weeks. It has been hard to blog with that schedule. Anyways...

This past week it rained NONE STOP. Poor Hunter is an outside kind of kid. By the weekend, he was standing at the door reaching for the door knob.

Hunter loves his Elmo phone.

Hunter also loves his Emma, Kelly, and Harry. He gets so excited when we pull into their neighborhood. I thought they looked cute sitting in their little chairs together.

Yummy corn on the cob and mashed potatoes.

One of the parents of one of my kids I work with has been giving me hand-me-downs. This is Hunter's favorite toy so far.

As soon as he sees this chair he starts making monkey noises.

New Journey

2011-09-26T20:58:00.000-04:00

Next week, Carl starts school full-time (along with continuing to work full-time). He will receive his Bachelor Degree in Network Security in a little over 2 years. He will go to school in the morning and then work from 1:15-9:45. If he ever gets out of class early, he will go to work early, and, thus, get off early.

Carl is concerned about me be a "single-parent" for 4 days a week. He is extremely nervous about not seeing Hunter, except in the morning before we leave, those 4 days. I can handle the single-parent thing knowing he is going to accomplish this amazing goal (all while working himself crazy). I'm concerned about how much Carl is going to miss Hunter.

The solution: Hunter and I will bring our home cooked dinners to Carl's work twice a week and have dinner with him. Carl is also more than likely going to purchase an iPhone once it is time for his upgrade in December, so we will be able to have "face-time" on our phone (either that or we can Skype).

I am very excited about this new journey. Carl worked so hard while I completed my graduate degree. I just wish we were in a position that Carl could just go to school full time and not have to work. He does think that he isn't going to go to his graduation ceremony... yeah, we'll see about that!

A little "if"...

2011-09-25T17:00:00.000-04:00

My friend Amanda posted this little "what if" type of post on her blog. I wanted to do it, too (it kinda reminds me of those "All About Me" chain letters you would fill out when you were a teenager and send to all of your friends to see who else would fill it out and send it back... you know what I'm talking about? Wait, I'm the only one who did that?!).

Anyways, I thought it would be fun, so here it goes:

If I were to get pregnant again... I would be excited and terrified (how will we afford a new baby? How will we love this baby as much as we love Hunter?!)! The thought has crossed my mind about only having Hunter, but I don't know where I would be without my siblings. I want Hunter to experience that. It probably won't be for a little while with the new adventure our family is about to embark on (more on that later).

If I could have any job in the world I'd be a stay-at-home-mom and part-time speech therapist once Hunter starts school (I really do enjoy my job!). Unfortunately, that is not in our cards. Since it is not, I have a great job with great hours (and almost 3 entire PAID months off). Can't beat that!

If I had a day to myself I'd probably catch up on all my magazines and T.V. shows. And go get a massage and pedicure.
If I could get married all over again it would just be a huge party... on the beach. And I would have a ceremony dress and a reception dress. We wouldn't worry about what everyone else wanted for our wedding.
If I could live anywhere in the US (as long as my family was shipped there as well), I would live in Florida or Hawaii. I love warm weather and the beach.
If Hunter were a girl his name would be Peyton Lynn. That is what we had picked out for our girl name (that we knew for sure). But now I'm not sold on it and have found other names I like for a girl (if we have one).
If I could have any talent in the world I would like to be crafty. I look at Ashley's and Mrs. Miller's blog and wish I had that kind of talent.
If you met me in real life you would be surprised that I'm really laid back, even with my crazy Type-A personality. And I'm not a big talker, I like to listen more than I like to talk.
If I could go back to school and get a different degree I'd be a Physician's Assistant or an Occupational Therapist. I do really want to go back and get my OTA degree at some point. Many of the kiddos I see now need some sensory in their life and I'm not qualified to give that to them.
If money were not an object I'd drive a Mustang (preferably a 1967 Shelby fastback) and a Pathfinder.
If I could meet one celebrity I would want to meet Jennifer Aniston. Love her!
If I could only shop at one store for the rest of my life it'd be Target. I would live at this store if I could.
If we get another dog it will be a tiny Yorkie.
If I could go on a trip, RIGHT NOW, we'd go to any HUGE zoo. Hunter is really into animals right now.
If I had to chose between a house cleaner and a personal chef, I'd love to say I would pick the house cleaner, but I like my house cleaned a certain way in a certain order. I don't think I could trust someone to do that. The chef would be able to create different dishes, one for me and Hunter and one for ~~picky~~ Carl.
If I had the option of plastic surgery I would have a tummy tuck (only after we had our next child). Even if it were to just take away the stretch marks, I would be happy!

iPics

2011-09-25T07:27:00.000-04:00

We went on a nice bike ride last weekend. Hunter had so much fun. He got to see all kinds of animals while on our ride.

Kelly, Emma, Hunter, and I walked from Kelly's house to the pet store (and Farm Fresh). Hunter had a great time looking at the turtles and all the fish.

Waiting to get his shots. He just kept climbing up and down the steps.

This came down out of the tree during the rain storm on Friday. Dominion Power came out and said, "Not a power line. You will have to call the cable company." Cox Cable was suppose to come out between 8-10 on Saturday... oh, but when I called at 10:30 apparently there was never an order put in. Ugh. Carl was able to get the branch off of the cables, but we still have the cable hanging down in the yard. Monday it is suppose to be taken care of.

These two rainbows (you can barely see the one on the right) showed up after the storm.

Watching some football with Daddy.

Hunter loves TLG. I love to watch him play and grow. He knows the routine of the class and I think that is awesome. He claps along, puts things away when the song is sung, and loves to "help" Sarah.

Pictures with BeniBee

2011-09-24T15:56:00.000-04:00

There were a lot more on the disk, and I tried my best to narrow down my "favorites". Sorry if this is picture overload!

15 Month Check-Up

2011-09-24T15:16:00.000-04:00

Hunter had his 15 month check up on his 15 month "birthday". Here are his stats:
-Height: 31.5 inches (75th percentile)
-Weight: 25 pounds, 4 ounces (90th percentile)

When I was telling my dad these stats, he said, "So he's short and fat?" haha. He also said that he hopes Hunter gets Carl's height and not mine (trust me, we are all hoping for this).

Anyways, Mommy forgot my little "Hunter" binder in the car. I realized this as I was filling out the yearly "up-date your information" paperwork. I remembered almost everything I wanted to ask (or mention to) our pediatrician.

We are going to readdress the bowing in his legs at 18 months. He said that his legs should straighten out with more weight baring. He said that when he has referred this young in the past, they typically do not do anything.

He also said that children this young have not been around long enough to get outdoor allergies. I'm not sure how much of that I believe; Hunter's nasty runny nose started at the same time Carl's and my allergies started. Maybe it is a coincidence since he did start back at childcare that same week, but I have my doubts. We can give him allergy medicine to help dry up his nose (which we do at night if he has had a really bad running nose during the day).

As our pediatrician was trying to listen to Hunter with the stethoscope, Hunter looked at him and said, "No!" I guess that answered the pediatrician's question as to whether he was saying no yet. ha

We had my our favorite nurse. He tried to get Hunter to stand on the "big boy" scale, but Hunter wasn't having anything to do with him or that scale. Hunter cried as soon as he and another nurse walked in to give him his shots. As soon as the shots were over and they were walking out, he calmed down and even waved good-bye to Nurse T.

15 Months

2011-09-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

He is just so big. Where did my baby go? What am I saying, he will always be my baby, but I mean, where did my little, stationary baby go?!

We went Monday for a photo session with BeniBee Photography. Here is a little sneak preview (there will be more on this later). This is a picture for his 15 month update.

We go for his check-up today after I get off of work. I can't wait to find out how much chunk-munk has gained.

At 15 months, Hunter:
-is wearing 18-2T clothes. He is quickly outgrowing the 18 month shirts and onesies. We are on our last thing of size 4 diapers and just got our first shipment of size 5. He is still in a size 5 shoe (although we bought size 6 at Stride-Rite).
-'s expressive language is expanding every day. I have been working really hard on two-syllable words and two words put together. He will occasionally do these, but tends to stick to one-syllable words. His receptive language is amazing. I would say he understands about 90% of what we say without any cues or prompts. We are working on following two-step directions (like I said, CRAZY MOM). Poor kid, he will never get a break from this!
-is almost running. He can do it barefoot, but still has difficulty in shoes. He tends to fall on the concrete when he goes fast. We have a few boo-boos from recent falls outside. I am definitely not a physical therapist or orthopedist, but I am very concerned with how bowed his tibia/fibulae are and how his ankles seem to be compensating for this. I think this might have a little to do with how much he falls when he is trying to gain speed. I've spoken with our PT at school and I am going to mention it to our pediatrician tomorrow when we are there so he knows I am concerned.
-All 4 of his molars have popped through. He has another top tooth coming in. Pretty soon we will be able to do a little bit chewier of foods.
-is definitely a routine kind of kid. The other day I stayed a little later at work and our sitter said Hunter walked up to the door right around the time I usually pick him up and gave a pouty face because my car wasn't in the driveway. He also knows that when we get in the car from her house he gets his juice and snack. As soon as he is in the car he yells "drink" and "nack".
-loves to feed himself! We can usually only get a few bites in with us feeding him. After that we have to give him is fork/spoon so he can feed himself. This eventually ends up with him using his hands, but at least he is eating.
-loves all animals. He chased a dog at the photo session, he went crazy in the pet store, and chased L's cat all around her house. I love how much he loves animals (Mommy loves animals too)!
-is rarely biting now. We sometimes have to remind him to give kisses as he is coming up to our pant let with an open mouth. Sometimes he sneaks one, and we say "ouch" really loud and set him down (if we're holding him). He knows to say sorry and give us a kiss. He does occasionally hit the dog, but will immediately say sorry to him. Koal doesn't even flinch. He is such a great dog with Hunter (except when he knocks him over trying to chase him/kiss him/sniff him).
-is really trying hard to do a forward roll by himself. I have a feeling that will come pretty soon!
-still loves his TLG class. He knows the routine before the next part comes. We used sticks last week, and I asked what was in Miss Sarah's box and Hunter yelled, "Sticks!" I was very impressed he knew what was in there without Sarah taking them out!

He is just the love of my and Carl's lives!

Rocks

2011-09-21T21:04:00.000-04:00

Just sitting here with my rocks.

Is anyone watching?

Anyone over there? No...

Good!

iPics

2011-09-18T21:19:00.000-04:00

Hunter loves playing on top of Daddy's truck. He thinks it is just so funny to run back and forth (with Carl holding onto his arm of course). This day, Hunter and Carl matched (and it wasn't planned)

Don't mind me, just sitting in my monkey chair in the middle of the road (we are at the end of a dead end street, so the only traffic is our 3 neighbors past our house).

We have been spending our afternoons outside. On Friday, the temperature dropped. It may not have exactly been hat weather, but I have been waiting all summer for Hunter to wear his new hats! He loves his hats and didn't complain one bit. Do you see the rock in his hand? He has to pick up 2 rocks every time we go outside. We have quite the collection on the front porch.

We played with sticks at TLG this week. Sarah was holding the box, and I asked Hunter what was in the box (before we sang the song... if you go to TLG you know what song I'm talking about... the one that tells you what you're about to play with) and he yelled, "Sticks!" He followed the directions with minimal prompts. I love how much his receptive language is growing!

We went to L's 1st birthday party on Saturday. She was eye balling his sippy cup (along with another little girl). Hunter would turn to the side, and say, "No!"

On Saturday evening, there was a baby sprinkle in honor of Kelly and baby Alyssa. She got a lot of cute stuff. I just loved when she put the outfits and hats on her belly. I cannot wait to meet little Alyssa!

A few things to note about this picture. Hunter has heart stickers on both feet and both hands (he insisted on this). He is dipping green beans in ranch (because he wanted "dip-dip" and I wasn't going to give him ketchup... again). The piece of sandwich under his arm has little finger holes in it because Hunter apparently thinks his finger is a fork. He will poke his finger through foods and put them in his mouth that way. He is a character!

Children's Museum

2011-09-15T08:00:00.001-04:00

We love the Children's Museum. It is big and allows Hunter to run around. There isn't much that is out of his reach. There is only one area that Hunter really doesn't care for, so if he doesn't walk in, we avoid it (it is super loud and has a huge elephant... he likes his big animals from a distance).

He loves the bubble room!

He loves this crazy creature

Note the big kid playing

Instagram

2011-09-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

I love Instagram. Am I the only one who has just recently discovered this app? (Thanks to Sarah!) I don't have any editing software on my computer (okay, that's a lie, I do have Picasa, but I never use it, and does that even count?!).

This app has lots of different "choices" as to how to "edit" your pictures. Do you love my terminology? See how much I know about this stuff? You don't actually edit, you just click a name thingy and POOF your picture changes. Easy stuff.

Here are my pictures I have "edited" with Instagram.

iPics

2011-09-13T20:14:00.001-04:00

Last year, Hunter would fall asleep every trip to Mrs. Cathy's house. He hadn't fallen asleep until last week. I looked back at him at a red light because he was being silent. Of course when I went to take a picture he woke up.

This is how I finished my cleaning after he woke up from his nap.

Oh, hey there cool guy.

We went to a birthday party this weekend from M. Hunter loved the play room, especially this piano.

3 TLG babies. M is the son of my boss from TLG and his wife (who is my coworker at my school). They have become a part of our family and I am so thankful to have worked there and gotten to know everyone. And little L in the back is the daughter of the owner from TLG Virginia Beach (who is the twin of M's mom... have I confused you?!).

He was ready for the Giants game. Unfortunately, they lost.

And last but not least, the fan is finally up!!! I have only had the windows and a small light on the other part of the kitchen to give me light in there. I keep forgetting I have the lights on this fan! ha

Always Remember 09.11.01

2011-09-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it has been 10 years! I posted this in 2009:

I can remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. It was my sophomore year in high school. I was walking to my biology class through our court yard. I passed two kids and heard one of them say, "Someone bombed the World Trade Center." I really thought that they were just joking and thought that that was a horrible and stupid thing to say. I'm pretty sure I muttered, "You guys are stupid" as I walked past (mature, I know). I walked into biology class and my teacher had the radio on and was listening to everything unfold. I couldn't believe what happened; I don't think I actually understood how tragic it was at that time. We did some busy work while we listened on the radio. I don't remember much else that day during school, except that every minute or so, someone was getting called to the office to leave. It wasn't until I got home that day that I realized all of what had happened. It is still hard to imagine that something like that could happen here.

Thank you service men and women for keeping us free and for risking/giving your lives for the freedom of our nation. Thank you fire departments, police departments, and EMS for keeping our cities safe.

Where were you?

Image Credit

Hello?

2011-09-10T17:00:00.001-04:00

Puddle Jumper

2011-09-10T08:00:00.001-04:00

Hunter and I like to walk around outside after I get off of work. It had rained earlier that day, but since we don't play in the grass, it wasn't a big deal. As we were walking, Hunter walked through a puddle. As soon as he heard the sound, he immediately turned around and went back. He just started stomping. It was so funny! He eventually sat down and splashed in it with his hands and feet. I caught some on video.

Boys will be boys!

iPics

2011-09-09T20:55:00.000-04:00

I'm ~~a lot~~ a little late posting this. I was catching up on my Hunter time. But here are some pictures from the week before.

Carl and I took Hunter to MacArthur Mall to play in the play place. He loves to run around in there. All the things are padded. He will definitely tell you when he is finished; he walks over to the gate and will say, "Out."

Some of the fun on the other side of the gate (no quarters needed to entertain).

Hunter enjoyed a Popsicle on his tray. I was impressed he didn't seem bothered by his hands getting so cold!

Katie getting ready for an "action" shot behind Air.

Carl sent me many pictures while I was in D.C. This was just one of them. Hunter likes to go under the kitchen table and sit on the rails. He also likes to straddle Koal (Koal tolerates it for a little bit, but then decides to stand up and walk away).

Good Talking

2011-09-06T21:36:00.001-04:00

So, he may not be totally intelligible to you (the audience... which is very typical at this age), but I've interpreted for you. I'm so proud of him for now using more words than gestures. He is starting to get frustrated when we aren't understanding what he is saying to us... is it terrible that I love that?! haha. He is definitely copying everything we say. He is working on using multisyllable words, but we still have a long way to go (and luckily, this is all typical as well.

Girls' Weekend

2011-09-04T22:03:00.001-04:00

This weekend I was able to celebrate the pending marriage of one of my BFFs. Not to be big headed or anything, but Carl and I hooked them up. Yessss.

Katie and I grew up together. I think we met when we were like 3 and 4, on a see-saw, in Washington, D.C. Our sisters played on the same soccer team and they were playing in the big WAGS tournament in D.C. Stephen and I went to high school together and were best friends in high school. He also lived with Carl and I for a year when we rented a house before we were married.

We celebrated Air's birthday Friday night

Back to the weekend... Katie's sister now lives in D.C. and we (7 girls... 6 of us in my SUV) headed up there and stayed 2 nights.

Saturday morning we got ready and headed out to wineries. 4 to be exact, in the beautiful mountains. I'm not a wine person (in all honesty, I'm not really an alcohol person... period); I've never liked the after taste. But I knew I would have fun whether I liked the wine or not.

The first winery was so cozy. Our lady was awesome. She took her time, didn't sound scripted, and chatted with us like she was one of our girlfriends. And the wine... amazing! I may have not loved every wine, but I liked them. I even bought a wine. I know... I was speechless, too!

After this winery, we went to our next stop. We weren't rushed, but she didn't take her time like the first one. And she was very scripted. I did like one wine, but wasn't a fan of the others.

There was another bridal party that came in

Me and Katie

Katie received her first (and only) kiss of the day

The third winery we arrived early. There was another party there, and we told the lady we were in no rush. But she told us to come on up to the "bar". She was rushing through each wine. I felt like I was taking shots of wine, none of which I liked. Katie told me those wines were probably for people with a more acquired taste of wine. We had lunch after this winery, which was a good thing because all those "shots" of wine were catching up to us (I'm pretty sure they caught up to me at the second winery).

Lunch time! Yum!

The last winery was a very big place on the water. It was beautiful. I couldn't tell you if I liked any of the wine there; it all started to taste the same to me. I do remember one had an after taste of a pickle which I definitely didn't like, lol.

What is a bachelorette party without something like this?!

I napped on the way back to Jill's place. We watched a bunch of youtube videos (thanks Laura for the nightmares) and finally headed out to dinner at 10. We came back home and stayed up for a while before hitting the hay.

Off to dinner!

It was a great weekend! I missed my boys, but it was nice to have girl time. Katie and Stephen, I'm soooo excited for your wedding next month. I cannot wait to celebrate that day and stand up there with you guys while you promise your lives to each other. Love you guys!

1st Day Back

2011-08-30T21:14:00.000-04:00

As mentioned before, I returned to work on Monday. We didn't have to report until 9 due to Hurricane Irene (which we thankfully had no damage nor did we lose power... we had one huge branch fall on our a/c unit at 5am on Saturday, but again, no damage). Hunter was super glued to me when we got there, but luckily his friends were there (since I dropped him off later than our normal time). He was easily distracted and didn't cry. My day went by fast due to lots of meetings.

Having fun at Mrs. Cathy's!

Today didn't go as well. He knew as soon as we pulled up where he was and started to whine. He then gave me the pouty lip as we were sitting on the couch. And he cried as I handed him off. Just tear my heart out and stomp on it! Mrs. Cathy always sends me a text about 2 minutes later telling me he is smiling and happy. I know he has fun and enjoys it there. And I tell him every morning that Mommy and Daddy work so he can do all the fun things that he does.

When I looked in the back, this is how he had his leg. haha

I still have to get my kids scheduled. I've only been able to complete one class so far. Right now, I have 53 students and 1 pending. The other full time therapist has about the same amount, and our part time person I believe has 10. But we still have to screen all the kindergarten students and then evaluate the ones who do not pass the screening (if consent by the parent is given). So my numbers will likely increase as the school year goes on.

Completing his chore... how cute is that?!

My little surfer dude. Can you tell we love books?!

iPics

2011-08-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

I scheduled this ahead of time since we are going to be hit by Irene this weekend. We are riding it out at the house. My biggest concern is being stuck in the house, without power. We sleep with fans on (for the noise) and we are usually an "on the go" family. It is also putting a damper on my last weekend before work (boo!).

Hunter LOVES Peekaboo Barn and Peekaboo Wild. If he sees my phone, he will either say, "Moo" or "Roar" to tell me which one he wants to play.

Most meals look like this. He loves to feed himself and so we have been letting him (most of the time). Some days we need to eat and run, so we can't let him do this.

He doesn't quite understand "time-out" yet.

After our TLG class on Wednesday. We have been taking advantage of my summer break and going sometimes 3 days a week. Unfortunately, Hunter is terrified of my old boss Randy who happens to teach the Wednesday class. He doesn't like to be anywhere near him, lol.

Who needs toys when you have a box you can wear?

I will let Hunter play at the dishwasher after I have taken clean dishes out (it isn't often that we actually wash dishes in the dishwasher). I was putting away the last thing I had taken out and turned around to find him like this. Silly boy.

Hunter got his first major boo-boo last night. He was running around with a bucket over his face and ran into the table. We think he bit his upper lip on the inside (he of course wouldn't let us see). It looked fine this morning. He was only upset until he saw a book and then wanted us to read to him. Carl took a self portrait to show off the blood.

Spinning birdies! Hunter LOVED this in class on Friday. Some of the kids did not (like little A on the left).

Enjoying a nice nap.

We headed to the park Friday afternoon to enjoy one last outing before we were stuck in the house all weekend. We weren't even going to try to take the car anywhere because traffic on our main road was TERRIBLE (we live right near a I64 entrance and the back road to/from Elizabeth City).

Tough Choices

2011-08-27T13:27:00.000-04:00

Do I read "Barnyard Dance"....

or "The Going To Bed Book"...

I think I will read

"The Going To Bed Book"

Some tough choices we are having to make during this hurricane!