The Cutest Little Toy Box You've Ever Seen

My dad made Hunter this toy box for his birthday...

I LOVE it, and Hunter does too despite the look on his face in the picture. I know y'all are totally coveting it, aren't you? Don't worry, I'm sure he'd be willing to make some for more for your little ones for the right price;).

"Today is your birthday (party)...nananananana"

Mom, Kate, and Court that title's for you:)

Today was Hunter's 1st birthday party! We had tons of fun. My sweet friend, Tricia, took TONS of awesome pictures for us, so get ready because I'm posting A LOT of them - they're too cute to narrow down.

Hunter was a champ opening his presents. He sat with me the entire time, which is pretty dang amazing if you ask me. He started out pretty interested in the wrapping...

That lasted about a millisecond, at which point he became really overwhelmed by all of the paper surronding him...

And then there were yawns...

But he perked up pretty quickly when he saw how fun his new toys were...

Gotta love bows, especially when they go with the party theme:)

Singing Happy Birthday...

He seemed into it until he realized there were about 500 people watching him. Hey, you'd be freaked out too.

The candle...

Surprisingly, he didn't jump right in...

A little coaxing was required, but once he got that first taste, he couldn't get enough.

He hated how it felt on his hands, though.

So, he picked up his fork. I'm totally serious y'all. He picked it up on his own, without any help, and started using it! I have a well mannered little gentleman. Yes. Yes I do.

Unfortunately amongst all of the partying I forgot to take a picture of Hunter with all of his friends. Tricia did get some action shots of a few of them, though...

times, they are a-changin'

During the months and months that I was obsessing about Hunter's lack of movement, everyone (and I mean everyone) kept telling me how thankful I should be because once he started moving, my house would be turned upside down. Well, I swore to myself that when that day finally came, I would rejoice in it and I would not get frustrated. That day is here y'all, and I'm proud to say I'm not frustrated at all, but LOVING IT!

Hunter is crawling all over the house - I think it's a relief to him that he can finally get where he wants on his own. So yesterday morning while I was getting ready for work, Hunter crawled into the bathroom with me (like every morning now - yay!) and started throwing his paci, then crawling over and picking it up. Throw, crawl, pick up, throw, crawl pick up. This kept him amused for quite a while (another plus of him crawling - I can actually fix my hair before work. Does anyone even remember what my fixed hair looks like? I didn't think so.)

Throwing things and then fetching them is his favorite game now. He's been throwing toys and pacifiers and whatever else he can get his little hands on for a long time now, but since he can now move around and retrieve whatever he threw, it adds an entirely new dimension to the game.

So back to yesterday. First he threw his paci in the shower, and then got mad that he couldn't make it over the step to get inside to pick it up. So I got it, rinsed it and gave it back. Then he threw it in the toilet. I didn't notice this until I saw him kneeling at the toilet peeking in. (This, I might add, is Hunter's favorite place to pull up. That kid loves the toilet. This could be good. Maybe we should start potty training next week...hmmmm.) So, obviously that paci went in the garbage. I got another paci for him, and within 1 minute, it too ended up in the trash can, and it was not my hands that put it there. So we were down to 1 paci for the day, and I didn't panic or get frustrated or anything. All I could do was smile. My heart was so happy. Then I realized what a blessing God has given me in all of this waiting. Although I felt like Hunter was NEVER GOING TO CRAWL DANGIT, he has! And I have no frustration - zero y'all - with him tearing my house apart, which if you know me at all, you see what kind of miracle this is. I live by order. This is the girl who alphabetizes everything and hangs her clothes based on style in the closet (evenly rotating through them of course). Go ahead laugh.

When Hunter throws his paci in the toilet or shower or trash can or when he crawls over and pulls on my pant leg when I'm trying to get dinner ready or when he crawls into the living room when I really need to be at the computer working on my lecture, I love it. I'm so thankful, and so is Hunter. Can't you see the excitement!

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make me a Match

Last night my friends, Matt and Emily, got married. It was such a beautiful wedding, and I am so honored that I was able to be a part of their special day. I set Matt and Emily up around 4 years ago because I knew they would be perfect for each other. I can't remember another wedding where I felt as happy for the bride and groom as I did at last night. It is really special when you love both people so much. I couldn't stop smiling. I'm so excited for their union!


(Marcy, we missed you. Here are your pictures.)
This is Matt and Emily's first dance - such a perfect picture to show who they are as a couple - so fun!

Emily, Me and Matt - I don't know what this weird thing is that I've started doing with my neck in pictures. It's cute of them, though, and it's their day not mine. . .even though we really wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me, would we?;)

My dear friend, Amy, and me - I called Amy four years ago before setting Matt and Emily up to get her opinion (she knows them both as well). Amy gives great advice, and y'all know how indecisive I can be. I just needed some reassurance.

Matt and Emily at the end of the night.

Love Times Three

This was me and James three years ago today. Actually pretty close to this very minute we were doing this. I still remember that day so vividly, feeling nervous and happy and excited all at once. It seemed so surreal. I had been dreaming of my wedding day for so long and it was finally here! I felt honored to be the woman marrying James, and I still have that same feeling today. I love you, BH. You have exceeded all of my expectations. I couldn't ask for more.

And He's Off

So my doctor sends these milestone checklists before certain well baby visits - I guess so that she can completely freak out parents. I know, I know. I'm a health care professional. I totally get the importance of assessing a child's overall development in order to insure that we can identify any problems and initiate treatment as early as possible...blah blah blah.

I received my checklist (which will from now on be referred to as the piece of paper that is in no way making me feel guilty as a parent or "stupid checklist" aka s.c. for short) a couple of days before Hunter started crawling. I did appreciate that it came so early because that gives me the opportunity to start working on the things on the list that he's struggling with - oh y'all know I will.

The s.c. is broken up into communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving and personal/social skills. The first time I looked at it, it was a stretch to say that Hunter met 1 (ONE!) in every skill category. I put it down for like a week and now we're up to 2-3 - see therapy really is beneficial especially when you do it on your kid every.single.day! There is still one category that he is not doing so hot on. Y'all will never guess which one. Communication! Do y'all even know what my profession is?! Apparently I'm not that great of a speech therapist. All this time I've totally been neglecting my poor kid's communication skills because I was so psycho obsessed with his gross motor development. Which I have to say he has totally taken off on. He's crawling like a champ and walking around the living room table at record speeds (well, for him). And the ease at which that kid can maneuver between sitting and crawling is amazing to me having seen what he could do two weeks ago. Here's some proof:

Anyway, back to the communication skills. The s.c. expects my kid to use at least one word other than mama or dada. Are you kidding me? Don't panic y'all. I am a professional, and I know that it is not a problem if your kid isn't saying 3 intentional words by one year. According to the s.c. my kid is also supposed to be following simple one step commands without a cue. WHAT? Any speech pathologist can tell you that according to the Preschool Language Scale - 4, your kid doesn't need to follow simple one step commands with a cue until between 1-0 and 1-6. So, I'm not freaking out...yet.

I was beginning to feel a teensy weensy bit of guilt when I realized that a lot of my friends were signing with their kids and I hadn't even begun to think of doing this yet. It's really sad considering that was my foreign language in college and I use it at work semi-regularly. But, no guilt here! Right? Right! I'm sticking to it. I will not let the s.c. negatively impact the new found joy I am experiencing because of my kid's amazing mobility!

Dang Red Eye

Will someone please explain this to me?

and this

and this

I swear Hunter did not used to have red eye in every picture I took of him. I' ve been seriously debating whether this is my camera getting old - which it's not, I just got it like 2 years ago - or just my sucky picture taking skills. I've spent way too many minutes looking at my digital camera manual to try and figure out what the heck I'm doing wrong. It says that low lighting might cause red eye, but here's a picture I took today in the car while it was cloudy and raining out

Zero red eye. How do you explain that one Fujiflim?

One of my friends suggested I use a red eye reducer on my computer to fix the problem. This is actually a really good idea, so I went home and found that I already have one installed. Let me tell you, though, this is not an easy thing to do. In like 80% of the pictures, the stupid software makes one pupil like the size of a golf ball and the other the size of a piece of lint. How they think that's okay, I'll never know. And if the puplis actually come out the same size, I some how make them really off center - like this He looks totally cross eyed, but there's no going back now, because I saved it. Why? Because it doesn't let you preview the full picture unless you save it. Good.

Can anyone out there help me? Advice? Please?