Hunter's First Birthday

Hunter's first birthday was a blast! We had a backyard cookout, and despite the heat, it was great to have the whole family and a bunch of our closest friends all together to celebrate. Hunter loved his cake and was totally overwhelmed by all the presents. Thanks to everyone who came for making the day so special for our little guy!

Check out the slide show here:
http://joylynphotography.com/hunters1st/

To see how much he's grown, check out his 4 month photos here:
http://blog.joylynphotography.com/2009/09/13/family-days/

Hunter's First Easter

Here we go!

While Hunter has been mobile for some time now, he hasn't been interested in officially crawling. He'd much prefer to scoot and roll where ever he wants. But, all that changed a few days ago.

As you can see, we'll be officially crawling any day now. I can't wait to hear those little hands smacking the floor as he shuffles around the house. Our baby is becoming a big boy! :)

The adventure of Bubba & the Tasty Bubbles

Snow Day 2010

Hunter, meet snow.

Snow, meet Hunter.

Happy New Year!

Hello.

Testing 123.

Anyone out there?

For those of you faithfully checking our blog for updates, I'm so very sorry. Since my last post about Hunter's check up, we've been very busy, and unfortunately, it hasn't all been the good kind of busy. We've been faced with challenge upon challenge during the last few weeks of 2009. I'll do my best to recap what we've been through below and I'll be uploading pictures from the holidays and more recent adventures soon.

In November, we watched our bouncing baby boy become lethargic as he fought a terrible case of H1N1, at just 6 months old. With fevers topping 102-103 for over 3 days, we were forced to feed him pedialyte from a dropper when he wouldn't eat. As we prayed and watched and waited for the tamiflu to start working, we felt helpless and afraid of what could happen.

Then, shortly after, we prayerfully watched our beautiful Aunt Suzie fight a strong fight, and then, sadly, lose the battle to cancer. Her Christmas funeral was one of the most bittersweet moments of my life. We knew she was not suffering anymore and was rejoicing with the angels over Christ's birth, but it left a gaping hole in our family.

But, looking beyond the last 6 weeks of the year, there are many, many smiles in 2009. It was a big year for us, with lots of huge changes. I'm reminded of the day - way back in 2008 - when we decided to start our family, the months of negative pregnancy tests, that one glorious morning when we found out we were pregnant, and the flood of emotions that came with it. We were so happy, so excited, and so scared out of our wits at the thought of the being parents. That day changed everything about 2009. Everything.

I remember deciding that our apartment just wouldn't do and the many late nights looking at house after house trying to find the one that would fit our new little family, all while feeling the exhaustion and nausea of the first trimester. Then, finally, we closed on the house just before the start of 2009. The day we got the keys, we ran through each room and up the stairs to the soon-to-be nursery to imagine all the possibilities. I remember the signs that God sent us, showing that he was watching over us and confirming our decisions, and the days and nights we worked to ready the house for the biggest change of our lives. Step by step, we prepared for the arrival of our little CanCan.

Then came that sweet morning, when I woke up at 4:30 feeling a little different than usual. I remember so clearly the look of utter shock on Jamie's face, when I woke him up to ask him to write down my last contraction. And, after 23 hours of labor, I remember the most joyous day of my life. April 28. The day I held my son and kissed his sweet face for the first time. The day I became a mother and watched the love of my life become a father.

The next three months would include lots of guests, all excited to see our little guy, and lots of firsts. I remember being so proud of every little thing he did, including the very first time he squealed, feeling so undeserving of such a perfect creation, but knowing definitely that I was created to be Hunter's mommy. Sometimes, I try to forget the many - MANY - nights of hourly feedings, diaper changes and soothing. But, they are part of our journey to 2010, too.

The following months held the frustration of attempting to balance work and motherhood, while constantly feeling like a failure at both. We started daycare and commenced the weekly doctor's visits with Hunter. In 2009, he had 3 ear infections, Swine Flu, multiple colds and viruses, and as my last post references, a bout of seizure-like behavior that sent us reeling into a long night at the emergency room, CT scans, Xrays, blood draws, and eventually an EEG with a pediatric neurologist. We were terrified of what they would find, but relieved to receive a benign diagnosis that won't have any long-term effects.

So, we welcome 2010. Please come in and stay a while. Bring with you new memories to erase the heartache of the past several weeks. Build on the mountain of joy that is our son, the mountain of joy that was our solace last year. Grow our family closer and more content with our haves and help us be less focused on our have-nots. Let us decide to cherish one another and pursue that which is good and just. Let 2010 be better than 2009.

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!!!

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.

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!

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 :)

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.

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!!