Update

All of Hunter's tests came back normal and it turns out it's just something he will grow out of, with no worries of long-term side effects! Praise God!!!

Ho, Ho, Ho

Can you tell that we're just a tad bit excited about Christmas this year?! :)

Yo ho ho, It's a Pirate's Life for Me!

For Hunter's first Halloween, we decided to dress his cute booty in pirate garb. The best part is that his costume was 100% homemade and cost less than $10. For his shirt, I grabbed a plain onesie and created an iron-on using an image I found online. I added the phrase, "Arrrrgggg... wipe me booty!" and voila, we had the majority of the costume complete! I made a simple cut out and tacked it to a hat from his closet and used the scraps to make his eye patch. He loved it! And, even though the hat and eye patch only stayed on for a few minutes in the morning, Hunter the Pirate was a big hit at daycare! As for Mommy, I was happy to send him to school in a costume that would be comfortable all day.


Saturday night, we decided to go all out and finally get around to meeting all of our neighbors. Going with the pirate theme, Jamie and I rummaged - or should I say pillaged - through our closet for some scurvy-worthy garb. What we came up with surprised us both! The only thing missing was a pirate's best friend - his parrot! Hunter's costume took about an hour to make and was met with lots of smiles around the cul-de-sac.

Happy Fall, Y'all!

This year, we each got a pumpkin to carve. Hunter did an amazing job on his baby pumpkin, don't you think? haha :) I'm so proud of our little pumpkin family!

Giggle Monster

Uncle Cameron came to visit on Saturday and didn't waste any time finding Hunter's tickle spots! Hunter absolutely loves his Uncle Cameron :)

Flavor Fest

We've started introducing a few new foods and surprisingly, Hunter is less than eager to chow down on the apples and sweet potatoes we've tried so far. Check out how it all went down, or should I say, how it all came out:

Happy Feet

If you couldn't tell by now, I'm head over heels for my little guy. Everything he does is so amazing to me! But, having said that, Hunter has just entered one of my absolute favorite stages: the rolly-polly stage! Having just discovered his feet, he turns into a little rolly-polly ball as soon as he lays down. As an added bonus, he's also discovered that his feet fit nicely in his mouth. I love it!!! Check it out:

Look who's almost sitting up!

Please excuse the sour ending... 90% of our videos end with Hunter spitting up. Just gotta love that good ole acid reflux!

The Exersaucer: part exercise, part flying saucer

Ok, so that's probably not how Evenflo would describe their product. They'd probably refer to it as a learning environment or creativity center. Me? I call it a life-saver. Hunter loves it and Mommy loves being able to do the dishes to the tune of a happy baby.

Check out our big boy manning his domain in his bunny slippers:
(the bunny slippers have grippies on the bottoms, which help him stand up extra tall and spin around to his favorite toys faster)

Hooorah!

Saturday morning, Jamie and Hunter will be going back to Daddy Boot Camp! This class, offered by UNC Hospitals, brings new dads together with soon-to-be dads. Last time, Jamie was a soon-to-be daddy, learning to change diapers, hold a baby and deal with hormonal new mommy (thank goodness he didn't have to use that knowledge! haha). This time, he'll bring Hunter and be the one giving advice. My, oh, my how I'd love to be a fly on that wall!

Grab the Kleenex & Turn up Your Volume

Click here to watch the slideshow of photos from our recent photo shoot. Kudos to our photographer, Joy, for doing such a wonderful job and capturing our little family so well. 

Photos by Mommy & Daddy

After the professional photo session, the photog bug bit Mommy, so we did our own little photo shoot. Hey, no need to let those cute (and still puke-free) outfits go to waste! So, we grabbed our own props and seized the moment. And a big thank you to my photog partner-in-crime (aka Jamie) for taking most of the good photos. I'm still uploading and editing the others, but here are a few:

Here come the duckies

So, the photo session is done! Yay! Mommy, Daddy, Hunter, and the duckies (hunter's favorite game) are all tuckered out from whistling, clapping, jingling toys, bribing with the paci, and making silly faces. Joy was a real pro with the baby babble and silly noises, which is just what we needed. She did a great job! I think we got some really good shots of Hunter. I can't wait to see them!

Maybe now I can finally get out some birth announcements. Stay tuned for the pics, we should have them in a week or two.

Now, since Hunter's sleeping in his crib and Jamie's asleep on the couch, I think I'll go take a nap in my clean bedroom, in my clean house... ahhhh what a nice feeling it is.

...just don't open the door to the pink room, you might get lost. We'll deal with the mess I shoved in there last night some other day. Haha :)

Matching Father & Son Costumes

Found these at Target today but just couldn't get Jamie to buy them. Haha.
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Countdown to 9/12

On Saturday, September 12, we'll be having photographer Joy Lyn Phillips come and take photos of Hunter! I'm so VERY VERY VERY excited! You can check out her work here. I especially love the session she did for Anna Grace.

A Solid Performance

Tonight, we introduced "solids" on recommendation from the pediatrician. It was no surprise that Hunter loved his rice cereal, since he's always had an appetite the size of Texas. But, we were surprised at how well he responded to the goo-filled spoon fulls. Check out our little cereal-eating-cutie in the video below.

4 Months Already!

Just left Hunter's 4 month checkup. All went well! 14 lbs 8 oz and 25.5 inches long. Shots went well too. Sleepy boy now. Spent all his energy showing off for the nurses! They loved him! And Mommy gives the new pediatric practice two thumbs up!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

I'm in love...

I'd like to quit my job and take care of all the babies with no Mommy. Want to help?

Laughing Baby

We have wonderful news!!!! Last Sunday night, Hunter laughed for the first time!!! Since then, we've been doing everything we can to get him to laugh, hoping to catch it on film. Today, when we got home from work, we were finally able to do just that:

Rest and Relaxation

For those of you who have been to our house, you know we've got a huge deck that overhangs the downward slope of our backyard. But, until recently, it was just a deck. Yep, we had a beautiful, but sadly empty, deck. Jamie's grill was all alone out there! But a couple of weeks ago, my brother came to our rescue!

Check out the awesome outdoor furniture he built for us:

The smile of a job well done!

Hunter loves being outside, so I know he'll appreciate the new additions!

We also bought a hammock, too! A hammock that so conveniently spilled me out onto the deck floor as the neighbors gazed on. Lucky me. I had an audience for my most recent most embarrassing moment! And, of course it was a total wipe-out, complete with a little girlie squeal and a loud thud as my bottom landed on the metal hammock frame, followed by the whoooosh of the hammock fabric swinging above me from the momentum of my fall. I guess if you have to embarrass yourself, you might as well do it well. So, I laid there flat on my back staring up at the bottom side of the hammock, laughing so hard I could barely get up. As Caitlen would say, GO BIG OR GO HOME!!!!

Here are a few pics of Hunter with his favorite Uncle :)


This is how Hunter watches TV.
Here, he was totally amazed by the antics on Deadliest Catch.
I'm sure he was thinking, "Whoa, those crabs are HUGE!!!!"

Thank you, Cameron!! We love you!!

Back to Work

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. I've gone back to work full time and it just seems like there aren't enough hours in the day! But, here's a quick update:

- Daycare is going well. Hunter is adjusting just fine, Mommy on the other hand, not so well.
- Work is tough. Makes me wonder if I'm doing the right thing...
- Hunter is growing like a weed. Smiling all the time!
- I've gotten to see my sister and my brother in the past two weeks. I'm on cloud nine!

Here are some pictures my dad took during our last visit. Enjoy!

Vacation!

Last week, we enjoyed a much needed getaway at the beach. An oceanfront room and the familiar sound of the crashing waves worked wonders on erasing the crazy stress we've been under during the past few weeks.

The view from our balcony, can we say B-E-A-utiful?!?!

We even had two rocking chairs, which Hunter loved.

Of course, the Hampton Heavenly Bed wasn't too shabby either :)

Hunter wasn't so sure about the whole "walking on the beach" thing.

But, he later decided that the beach was kind of cool,
as long as Mommy and Daddy packed toys.

Ugh.

Yesterday, at BJs Wholesale (like Sam's Club but better), a woman stopped me in the parking lot as I was about to get Hunter out of the car. She smiled and politely asked, "When are you due?"

Well, if I wasn't motivated to lose the remaining 12 pounds of baby weight residing around my midsection, I am now. Ugh.

Where is Thumbkin, Where is Thumbkin?

...Here I am!!! Yep, you guessed it! Despite our best paci attempts, Hunter has found his thumb and has enjoyed sucking his favorite little digit for the past two weeks. When he woke up from his afternoon nap, I could hear the smacking from the other room. I figured he was just gumming his little hand like he always does when he loses his paci, so I went in to pop the paci back in his mouth hoping for a few more minutes of "nap time". To my surprise, Hunter was happily gumming his thumb. He's no pro thumb-sucker yet, but it won't be long!

FTM Syndrome

Today, I took Hunter to the doctor to check on a few issues. There were only two things I really wanted the doctor to look at, but of course I took the opportunity to make a laundry list of other concerns. My thought is, hey, if I've got to pay a copay, I'm going to get my money's worth!

When the nurse called us back, I had to explain what was going on with Hunter. This is when it happened. As I ran through my laundry list with the nurse, she had this look on her face and that's when I realized what was happening... I was coming down with a bad case of FTM Syndrome - something I promised myself I wouldn't do - EVER. There I sat with my First Time Mom Syndrome flaring up despite my best intentions to avoid it. I had promised myself I wouldn't be THAT mom, you know the annoying one who worries over everything?

The good news is that all of Hunter's ailments were actually symptoms of my FTM Syndrome. He's totally fine. Me, on the other hand, I'm still looking for a cure. Unfortunately, I think the only cure is to have more kids. Oh dear.

Under Construction

Don't worry, you've landed at the right place. I'm working on a new blog layout to fit our new adventure into the land of parenthood! Stay tuned for updates on the blog make-over!