Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Distractions

Hunter's had a rough couple of days. The new teeth still haven't come through, but his nose is crusty and drippy and his mouth is a constant fountain of drool, so it can't be long now. We've been trying to distract him from the pain by doing some of his new favorite things....
Like stacking blocks with daddy

He LOVES to stack things. He goes to this table multiple times per day because these blocks fit into each other and make it easier to stack then some other blocks. He can do 5 high! Here's proof (of 3 at least)...He also loves his Mega Blocks. He'll put these together too, but prefers for us to do the stacking and give him the job of pulling apart...

We're cleaning up in that second picture. What did I tell ya? My kid is sooo type A.He also LOVES when mommy and daddy are silly, so James put these eyes from the Mega Blocks set on his eyes and Hunter thought it was hysterical. He pulled them off of James's eyes and then put them back on!

He has the cutest new laugh that I've been trying to get on video (even the ladies at the church nursery noticed it this weekend), but everytime I pull out the camera, he gives me the "stop it lady! I'm not your monkey" look.

So since I can't share that I felt the need to share some other sort of cuteness on video with y'all. And that would be my kid's mad singing and dancing skills. He may have received the type A personality from both parents, but definitely not the dancing. Neither of us have much rhythm on the dance floor. Actually neither of us have much contact with any sort of dance floor. Ever. Well maybe if it's a slow song. Maybe.

Anytime Hunter hears music he stops and looks around with this really serious look on his face and then starts dancing and singing. He started doing it tonight so I ran and got the camera, but he realized what was going on very quickly and the dancing stopped immediately. I don't see a future in the theater with this one. Stage fright is already setting in. He did give us some cute head banging action though.

Unfortunately I am often computer illiterate, so even though I've spent the last 20 minutes trying to figure out how to turn this video in the right direction, it still looks like this...

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Grace

This post by Angie at Bring the Rain is one of the most compelling things I've ever read. She is so gifted in writing. Take the time to read it. You'll be thankful you did.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

All boy

Hunter and I are having so much fun these days. I love his little personality. It comes out more every day! Although he's not walking without holding on to furniture...or cabinets...or the wall (which he totally could do, but that kid refuses to do anything until he can do it perfectly), he is in to everything he can reach. And somehow he finds a way to reach things that I think are for sure at a safe height or distance. I found him in our bedroom the other day walking around the bed singing a little song. Luckily I found him before he got into anything. I know he had something planned though - I mean look at that mischievous face... Hunter loves to figure out how things work, examining every toy very carefully, but will quickly throw the toy across the room the instant he's through with it. So, it doesn't take long for my house to look like a tornado has come through. I left him in the living room for like 5 minutes the other day, and when I came back this is what I found...

Yes. He pulled the table apart and turned it over. I'm blaming James for his superhuman upper arm strength, because we know it is surely not from me. The good news is that he has totally started helping me with the clean up process. He throws (and I mean throws) the toys back into the container they came from whenever I start singing the clean up song. I'm training him well. Now if I could just work on that screaming...

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Hunter's First Swim

We all went to my mom's pool today after church for Hunter's first swim! I know he's a little old for this to be his first swim, but considering my hatred for the bathing suit, I think it's pretty good timing. Aunt Courtney took TONS of pictures with her awesome new camera. Here are a few...
Hunter with Aunt Katie

Pulling off daddy's hat and glasses. This was his favorite part of the day!

After he'd had enough of pulling off daddy's hat, he started pulling off his own and throwing it in the pool.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Yes. I'm still alive.

Things I've learned while sitting on death's doorstep (in no particular order):

1. No matter how excited I am about the 6 things I have planned for the weekend, when my fever is 102 and my body aches so bad that the clothes on my back feel like some sort of torture device, I will not be attending any of those functions. Not. A. One.

2. As the parent of a toddler boy, one should expect that he will appear one day with a huge, red, scabby, burnish looking thing on his body. Hunter's is on his abdomen and no one knows where it came from, which makes it all the more painful every time I look at it. Hunter? Hunter's not phased one bit by it.

3. My husband keeps his promises. And I couldn't love him more.

4. When you see your son for a total of only 3ish hours in a 5 day period, you really really really start to miss him...and almost forget what his sweet face looks like. So you'll sneak in his bedroom at 2 am when he's sleeping (and unfortunately you are not) just to take a peek.

5. James knows the clean up song. And he sounds DANG cute singing it.

6. Four nights in a row sleeping in a separate bed from your husband is too many.

7. Missing just one day of Hunter's life takes away the opportunity of witnessing so many cute things. I'm trying to get some of these on video so they can be the subject of my next post:)

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Oh Erik


Y'all! Was anyone else as effected by tonight's Survivor as I was? I feel physically ill. Literally. My stomach hurts. I can't even sit down to enjoy the other 3 shows that I tivo on Thursday nights. And that says a lot. I just want to call Erik up and say, "Don't feel stupid Erik. I love you and so does Jesus." Stupid Natalie. Girls are the worst.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

These Days

Hunter's Top Ten lists for the week...
Hunter wants to give a shout out to:
1o. Aunt Courtney - she watches him every morning while I'm at work, and he loves her!
9. pizza - actually pretty much any piece of food he sees - but definitely pizza
8. puzzles...especially throwing all the pieces all over the room, then showing no interest, then racing over to start throwing again the minute mommy has put the puzzle back together.
7. his new favorite toy, a plastic cartidge from his My First Story Reader book
6. sucking through a straw - Yay Hunter! We no longer have to squirt liquid into his mouth like an animal.
5. Sucking on everything in sight. I'm not kidding y'all. When we take the paci away, he sucks on his pointer finger, restraint clip on the car seat (like the entire time he's riding in the car), wooden puzzle pieces, the fork at dinner, the shopping cart handle (Ew. I guess I need to pull out the floppy seat again. I've gotten lazy in using it.) or pretty much anything he can get his hands on.
These are the cartidges from # 7 above.
4. throwing things
3. freaking out when he doesn't get back whatever he threw like a millisecond after he throws it - He especially loves to do this in public.
2. Screaming at ear piercing frequencies and decibels equivalent to the Metallica concert.
1. the beloved paci - no way my kid is going to develop any expressive language if he doesn't loosen that grip a little. He's obsessed. Addicted even. I think we need to hold an intervention.
Hunter has no love for:
10. diaper changes - He thinks it's really funny to crawl away as fast as he can while cracking up when I tell him it's time to change his diaper. Why that kid thinks he can out crawl me, I'll never know. He thinks it's hysterical; until I catch him and start to change the diaper. That's when the real fun begins. And when I go temporarily deaf from the screams.
9. getting lubed up after his bath - He's always hated when we put on his lotion.
8. brushing his teeth - Yes, I'm sad to say this has become a fight. Remember the post when I bragged about how much he loved this? No more bragging. I've learned my lesson.
7. laying down for a nap - It's really not that bad. Once he's down, he talks himself to sleep, but we do have to follow the same ritual as with the diaper changes. See # 10 above.
6. cuddling - This makes me SO SO sad y'all. My kid used to LOVE to cuddle, and I whined and complained that he wasn't mobile. Now he is for sure mobile and doesn't have time to cuddle me.:(
5. keeping things on his high chair tray during meals - everything ends up on the floor y'all. Everything.
4. when he can't get into his toy chest - he just beats on it and screams until I come running. This is a pretty frequent thing, so here's a visual...
3. the church nursery - Those sweet little ladies are so good to him even though he screamed like ALL 3 HOURS on Sunday
2. when I make him wear adorable little outfits like this...
1. the molars that are cutting through his gums - I have no love for this either. It's so sad when he screams out in pain:(

Thursday, May 1, 2008

The Baby Bug

Yes. I have it already. Everyone told me that when little H turned one I would start yearning for the next one. Did I believe them, though? NO WAY! I was too overwhelmed then to imagine 2 of them. I have to admit it, though. Y'all were right.
And then today, my friend Lauren brought her sweet little girl, Meryn, over and Hunter was SOOO interested in her. And I realized what a great big brother he will be!

And she thought he was pretty neat too...

So I was even more convinced that we should deny the whole waiting till he's 2 plan and just go for it now (don't freak honey...just keep reading).

But then this happened...

And a second later, that watch was hitting Meryn in the face.

I guess we should wait a little longer.