Swim Lessons - Week 1

Hunter started swim lessons on Monday. Really, they're survival lessons. It teaches an infant to float if they were to fall into a pool or body of water. Before they can walk they just learn the floating part. Once they can walk they learn to swim-float-swim. We go to the YMCA just 4 miles from the house. It's every morning (M-F) for 4-6 weeks. The lesson lasts no more than 10 minutes. So far Hunter cries the whole time which is very normal for his age, but he's doing so good. I took some pictures today and you can see how mad he gets.

Just floating. He will not relax that arm.

Here the instructor flipped him from floating to face down and then Hunter continues the roll and gets back to floating.
Here the instructor flipped him backwards from floating.

He goes face down.....
...and back to floating. And look, no crying here.And he's zonked by the time we get home.

9 Months

Hunter turned 9 months last Wednesday while we were in Jacksonville. He's growing up so fast! He's got a new speed with the crawling. He gets really excited about something and does the fast crawl and his little butt wiggles left to right. He finally broke a tooth through. It's the bottom right one. It's just barely there. Those things take forever to come in all the way. We've started swim lessons this week so there will be more on that in the coming weeks. It's definitely not his favorite part of the day, but he's doing really good.

This is a long one....

Last Friday, June 15th, we left for Jacksonville to attend a memorial service for my cousin who lost her battle with liver and colon cancer. It was a sad reason to have to go home. Chrisie's service was beautiful, like nothing I've ever been to. She planned everything just the way she wanted it. She wanted people to celebrate her life, to smile and laugh, to have food and be social. She got exactly what she wanted.



On the way to Jacksonville, just 10 minutes from my parents house, we got a phone call from Heath's best friend, Cory. Cory and Heath have been best friends since high school and we all (incuding Cory's wife) went to college together. He delivered the news that his mother was tragically killed in a car accident that morning. A semi crossed the median and hit her head on. It was a blessing that we were in Jacksonville at that moment. Heath was by Cory's side within the hour and stayed with him and his family that entire day and many of the days following. What started out to be a 2 day trip home ended up being 9 days. I've never been a part of anything so tragic. My heart aches for Cory, his brother, and his father.



Heath came up with the idea to plant an oak tree at Cory's parents' house. They have a house on several acres on a lake. It's just gorgeous. Heath collected money from Cory's college friends and contacted a landscaper to handle the installation. Cory's family loved this idea and were so excited. The landscaper was kind enough to do this on a Saturday and on such short notice. He had quite an audience watching him plant this beautiful symbol of Cory's mom, Jeannette.



We were thanked so much this weekend for all we (really, Heath) did, but no thanks are needed. We just did what good friends do. We love them like family and were just glad to be there for them, to cry with them, to give hugs, to make them smile and even laugh in the midst of such tragedy.

Decorating - Round 2

Heath and I have lived in our house for almost 5 years. With the completion of Hunter's room we had painted every single wall in the house. So, I guess we have to start redoing things! Our most recent project is our master bedroom. We began by putting in hardwood flooring. That led to installing California Closets. That led to repainting the bedroom and getting new bedding. We decided to just get it all done at once. All of that took over a month.

This is what it used to look like

And here it is now. The top color is called Chocolate Pudding, the walls are called Flower Pot (it's kind of a tuscany orange color, not quite rust), and the ceiling is some tanish color. We've never painted a ceiling other than white and I love it in here. I have yet to get anything for the walls. I did manage to find some new lamps. My mom made all of the bedding except the brown duvet cover.

Here's my work area. Eventually we'll put in cabinets to make it a lot nicer.

And here is the closet. Lots of hanging room on the right andthere are 50 boxes for shoes that you can't see.

Dress Up!

We had some Waller family in town this past week. They were here to do Disney. We spent an afternoon with them at their condo. My cousin's 3 girls were off getting made up like princesses at this place Disney calls the Bibbitti Bobbitti Boutique (I'm probably not spelling that right). Anyway, they got their hair, makeup, and nails done and picked out an outfit of a Disney character. So, they come prancing in all made up. It was just too cute. They're 8 (twins) and 7.



When they arrived Hunter was asleep. He woke up shortly after and the girls were on him like white on rice. They immediately started entertaining and they had Hunter giggling up a storm. He thought they were so funny. They surrounded him everywhere he went. Each one wanted him to play with the toy they were offering or pick the cherrio out their hand.

Then the costume pieces were put on Hunter. First the shoes and then the Snow White cape.

I'm in a picture mood....

Hunter has started giving kisses. So far he's given kisses to me,

Heath, Aunt Tiff, Dedi, and his glow worm (seen here).

How cute is that?!

Dressed in his meshy basketball shorts,

tennis shoes, and holding his Bison

(courtesy of Grandpa, who thought he needed a stuffed Bison :o)

Hunter's most recent favorite thing to do is to stand up at everything. He's getting better and better at refining the way he does things every single day. He was only able to stand at his toy basket, but now he stands at this toy table and most recently, the couch. He's learning how to get down from all of these places now. Just letting go isn't the best choice.

We played in the baby pool and the big pool today.

Hunter was quite a ham.


He's been dunked in the big pool. Thanks to Dedi for doing it first.

Hunter comes back up with really big eyes, but it doesn't really phase him.


My little helper.

Everything still goes in the mouth.

Boys, Boys, Boys

We went to a BBQ at a neighbor's house today. There are so many kids in our neighborhood and they're pretty much all boys. Between the 4 families we have 5 boys and they're all so close in age. Our kids are going to have so much fun growing up.

Hunter and Garland (on the left) are 8 months, just 2 weeks apart.

Cooper, on the right, is 22 months.

Jace and Benjamin are 4 months, just 4 days apart.

4 Years

Heath and I celebrated 4 years of marriage this past Thursday. His mom was so nice to come over and babysit that evening so we enjoyed an Outback dinner and a trip to Home Depot :o) . Saturday night we had dinner reservations at this great Steakhouse inside the Gaylord Palms hotel and Hunter was spending the night at Dedi's. We've eaten there once and couldn't wait to go back. Our great friends, Megan and Tommy, also joined us. Their 4th anniversary is just 2 weeks after ours and Friday was also Megan's birthday. So, we had a lot to celebrate! Dinner took two and a half hours. We had lots of courses and just took our time and had lots of great conversation. Afterwards we wandered around the hotel and found a piano bar so we had a drink and talked some more. It was a really nice night.

Sea World

We went to Sea World for the first time as a family last Sunday. It was a gorgeous day. There was a nice breeze and it wasn't too hot. It was nice to just get out and walk around and enjoy the day. Hunter really likes animals, but they kind of have to be right up in his face for him to realize they're there. He enjoyed looking at the horses though.

Less than thrilled

Oh, and he's officially crawling.

This started Monday, one day after turning 8 months.

And he is standing all the time, too.

8 Months

8 months already?!? How did that happen? I have to start thinking about his first birthday party! Somebody hold me. He's growing up too fast!! I think I'll recap the past month with some bullets.

• This month we've been to the dr. so many times. We went once for some eczema spots, got some cream, and it's all better now. At that appointment we found out that Hunter has ears full of wax (he gets that from a certain daddy who shall remain nameless :o). So, we had to treat his ears with drops to soften the wax and then go back. They flushed them out with this contraption that shoots water in the ear and sucks it back out. That worked and they're all clear now. I think this will be an ongoing battle. And now we're battling a high fever. No other symptoms except some fussiness. We'll try to make it to Monday and call the dr again.
• Still ZERO teeth! Everyone wonders if the fever is because he's finally getting some teeth, but I don't think that's the case. His gums aren't red or swollen and he's not even drooling as much as usual.
• His latest trick is turning everything over. No matter what you give him he flips it over. And he does it several times over and over again.
• He likes wheels. He turns his animal train on its side so he can spin the wheels.
• He likes animals. Almost every night Heath takes him down to the lake (retention pond) behind us and they visit the ducks. Hunter 'talks' to them and is very interested in them. He likes dogs whenever we see them, too.
• He still not crawling! He's still doing the inchworm crawl. He gets up on all fours and scoots his knees in (the first half of crawling) and then he lunges forward and flops on his belly. He's pretty good at it. He can get all the way across the floor pretty fast if there is something he really wants (like a remote or a phone).
• I'm not sure what kind of eater to call him. Some days he eats with no problems and some days he refuses. And it's not that he doesn't like what I'm feeding him. Overall, he does pretty good. I've tried some table foods, but he's not interested yet. He's getting better with the puffs and will eat a few at a sitting.
• This is what he did one day last week.....

I looked up from eating my breakfast and found him on his knees reaching into the toy basket.

THEN, I sat back down and looked up and he's STANDING at the toy basket. I missed getting a picture of him actually standing, but you can see he had to stand to do this...
And this just shows you that he can get around. Daddy has to do something about those wires.