A Busy Day

Today was a busy day full of firsts!

Our friends Brandon and Crystal brought their 8-week old son, Austin, to visit. It is good to see friends and meet new babies! It was tough getting pictures of the boys together because Hunter wanted to give Austin kisses (or was trying to eat him, it's hard to tell! Ha!)
After an attempt at a nap, we went to the park to meet some friends from church. Hunter had a fun time riding in the wagon, and playing in the sand (all firsts for our little guy!) We will definitely have to take him back to play some more, especially when he's bigger. Of course, the sand was fascinating and made it to Mr. H's mouth, as everything does!

Now, Hunter is sleeping soundly in his bed. He had his peas (which he is liking better everyday! Praise the Lord!) and a quick bath to get the gunk of the park off. We are thankful for good friends and beautiful West Texas evenings.

6 Months Old and Growing Like a Weed

Hunter is now 6 months old. He is precious beyond words! What a joy. At his 6-month doctor appointment we learned that Hunter is almost 16 pounds and 26 inches! Growing like a weed! He can now sit at the table with the grown-ups with his handy high-chair cover. The car seat is too heavy to carry anywhere now!

Mr. H is a busy busy boy! He can scoot or roll himself all over the place. He can get around pretty quickly so we have to keep an eye on him. He loves paper and anything else he can put in his mouth. We sometimes put his toys on the ground and toss them away from him just to watch him move to get them. Of course, this means that the carpet has to be vacuumed more and the dog toys have to be picked up. Thankfully Oscar Bob and Dixie know the difference between their toys and Hunter's toys!

This week we started solid foods. What an experience! Hunter's doctor said to start with green veggies then go to yellow veggies then fruits. Hunter's Granna and I made some food on Monday. We did peas, green beans, zucchini, and spinach. We started with the peas. Hunter does not like them! He makes a sad yucky face and won't swallow. I've been mixing the peas with his rice cereal and he is a little better at eating them. I pray Hunter isn't a picky eater like his momma!

Hunter has recently started trying to pull up on people but his little legs aren't quite strong enough. It won't be long though before he's doing it on his own. He's always loved standing. Our sweet boy is changing every day and learning new tricks. We can't wait to see what God has for our next adventure in Hunter Land!

Have I mentioned how blessed we are?!

By the way, Hunter's dedication at church is July 13th. Please let me know if you need any more information. We don't want any of the important people to Hunter to be left out!

Ewwww!!!

Well, I guess I had a mom first (and hopefully last) today. As my dear sweet son and I were playing on the floor, I had the genius idea of playing "airplane". We have done this several times before with no problems. I guess the whole "30 minutes before swimming" applies to flying as well.

We had an emergency landing because my mouth (yes, my mouth) was full of spit up. Not just a little spit up either, a whole mouthful! Eww!!!

Where has the time gone?!

A few new things during the fifth month of Hunter's life:

• Sleeping in his nursery.
• Hunter is very active. Since he still occasionally wakes up during the night, it has been easy to keep him in the pack n' play in Momma and Daddy's room. When Mr. H started trying to pull himself up to sitting in the bassinet part of the pack n play, we realized that it was time to move to the crib. We tried this once at 6weeks and sweet baby cried and cried. We gave up after 2 weeks of trying to get him to sleep in his bed. I didn't really care about trying until summer came. Summer's here and he is now sleeping like a big boy in his own bed. The first few nights, we listened to the monitor as Hunter "swam" his way around his crib. He was panting like a dog. We found him in the corner of the crib all curled up. We pulled him back to the middle and he slept really well. By the way, the Angel Monitor is a great invention! It is a sound/motion monitor. If Hunter doesn't move for 20 seconds, an alarm goes off. Very cool and reassuring. (Our child does not normally sleep naked. He fell asleep as soon as we put him in his bed. He woke up a little bit later and we put on p.j.'s and his sleep sack.)
  

• Sitting up.
  
• We still need a little assistance, but Hunter can sit up on his own for a pretty good period of time. Before we know it, he's going to be doing it all on his own.

• Rolling all over the place.
• Hunter can really get around now. No blanket is big enough to hold him. He's like a little log rolling all over the place. He can entertain himself for a good period of time just playing on the floor and discovering new things by rolling around. He's fast too! He can be across the room in the blink of an eye. Momma's not sure about this moving thing. I know it's only going to get crazier from here!
• Scooting.
• Hunter is really trying to scoot now. The motion is so small it's hard to tell he's really moving, but he can reach toys put in front of him pretty easily. He's going to be crawling soon. It's fun watching him reach new toys and get around.
  

Hunter's really growing faster than his momma would like! I hate that time is passing so quickly, but I love each new stage. I used to get sad thinking about how much he was growing and missing the previous stage, but it just gets better and better! I am constantly amazed at the perfection of God's creation. Everything happens in the order it needs to happen and development happens at just the right time. It's amazing to watch! I just don't understand how anyone could look at a sweet baby and deny the existence of God! I can't believe my baby boy is almost 6 months old!

Welcome to Miami!

We just got back from Miami visiting Jimmy's family. What a blessing that we were able to get down there. Jimmy's Nanny and Papa just fell in love with Mr. H (as everyone does!). It was a joy to watch them interact and play.

We left Monday afternoon and drove to Arlington. We spent the night and got up too early Tuesday morning and went to the airport. Mr. H didn't sleep much Monday night so thankfully, he was nice and tired for the flight. We were very nervous about flying with Hunter. I really didn't want to be the people no one wants to be around with the crying baby. We prayed that God would allow this trip to be easy for Hunter and if not, that God would put someone understanding next to us. God truly answers prayers. Hunter slept for about 2 hours (almost the whole flight) and played the rest of the way. Prayer #1 answered. As for prayer #2, the man sitting next to us has 6 kids, the youngest is 3 weeks! Not only that, but he was reading a Christian book. Another answered prayer! God is good!


We went straight to Nanny and Papa's house from the airport. The weather was beautiful! Hunter had a great time meeting new family and letting them fall in love with his precious smile! Hunter found a new toy in Nanny's big remote control. Of course, everything goes straight into his mouth right now. Who needs toys anyway?! Thank you Aunt JoAnn and Uncle Robert for letting us stay at your house and feeding us such yummy food (especially the mushrooms! Ha!!) and for nice warm showers! ;)


The trip home was fairly uneventful, if you count a broken down plane, (never good when flying stand-be) a stop at security (never try to fly with an expired drivers license!) and a sleepy baby uneventful! Really, he was so easy to travel with! He charmed the flight attendant and several other passengers on the plane with his big smile. We were exhausted and took a nap when we got back to Arlington which gave Papa (Jimmy's dad) some quality time with Mr. H. We went to a Rangers game Thursday night! Momma loves Ranger games! I highly recommend the all-you-can-eat seats! How fun. It was really windy like West Texas! We felt right at home! Thankfully, the Rangers looked good and won! We tried to get Hunter on TV, but they were already booked full. Jim Knox was close by and Papa told him that it was his grandson's first baseball game. Shucks! That would have been so much fun! Hunter looked adorable in his new Rangers outfit.

We had a blast seeing family and spending time with people we love. We are glad to be home, but it was good to see and spend time with family!! Thank you God for giving us such loving family!
(Hunter's Granna and Poppa and Aunt Sassy were glad to see Mr. H. They said he grew too much while we were gone. Oscar Bob and Dixie were happy for us to come home too!)