Thankful For...

And all the amazing other friends and family that we ae so blessed to have in our lives (but I don't have pictures of), I am thankful for you all. Happy Thanksgiving!

Ball Of Fire

We have always called Julie a ball of fire, because she is one. But lately she has become a ball of fire with a lot to say. I wanted to share a few of the "conversations" we have had recently.

This morning John was sleeping because he worked a graveyard last night. Andy was crying wanting to be fed and Julie got right in his face and said, "Baby SHHHHH (with finger over her mouth) Daddy nigh-night!"

Every time we are in the car it is "window down!"

If you ask her what her name is, her response changes, but this week it is "Pretty"

Mom, Justin, Audrey and I went to the Elfin Forrest yesterday. When we got to the top of the hill, Julie looked out at the estuary and said "WOW!"

When we were getting ready to go to the Elfin I kept saying "we are going to see Auntie Audrey and Uncle Justin" She would chime in "And Poppy!"

I love all the talking she is doing. It is really fun and you never know what she is going to say next!

Accomplished

I usually blog about the kids. They are always doing new and exciting things...but this blog is all about me!

Today, I have worked my booty off. I have gotten so much done, that I just had to share!

John helped me move the couches out last night. So this morning, my mom brought over her Dyson (the most amazing vacuum in the world!) and her rug cleaner. John's mom came and got Julie, so I started out by picking up the whole house. Then I vacuumed the whole house, which I did last weekend, but still got 2 full canisters with the Dyson....EWWW! Then I cleaned the carpets in the living room, and spot cleaned the carpets in the rest of the house. They look awesome. Then I looked into the kitchen, and that floor looked gross in comparison, so I cleaned it.

Then I emptied the dishwasher, which is pretty much a daily thing with the bottles, but still a chore non the less. I reloaded the dishwasher, cleaned the counters, sink, table and chairs. Then I took the really dusty blinds down in the kitchen and hosed them off.

While everything was drying, I washed all the mirrors in the house. Do you know how hard it is to get dried pb&j off the mirrored closet doors....yuck! Then I striped our bed, washed the sheets and remade the bed. And put Julies clean clothes away. And wiped down her bathroom (my wonderful hubby did our bathroom last week).

Now I am eating lunch (leftover meatloaf and mashed potatoes, yum!) and watching What Not to Wear. Andy is taking a nap. That's right, he has been home with me all day, so a lot of this I did with him in the Bjorn. Next step...shower.

Our house is ready for company. Even though we are not having company. I am pretty sure that has never happened! Now, John just needs to mow the lawn, and we are ready for Christmas decorations! Inside and out! YAY!!!

2 Months!

Andy is two months old today! And he is not happy about it...no seriously, not happy. We went to the Dr Monday and he got ALL of his shots. As in 5 shots. Yesterday he slept all day and today he cried...all day. It started about 2 am and he is still in the background...crying. Not only is he crying, but he is covered, neck down, with an angry red rash. I called, they said to keep an eye on it and come in tomorrow morning. Fun!

But overall, the appointment went well. He now weighs 13 lbs 2 oz...up 2 lbs 4 oz from last time. He is 24.5 inches. That is pretty crazy considering he has grown 2.5 inches in one month. Can you imagine??

Here are some of the things he does now:

• Smile


• Coo loudly


• Turn his head side to side to find you


• Pick his head and shoulders up when he is on his belly


• Look at his mobile


• Eat....A LOT

Bed Update #1

Julie did so well last night. After just a little trouble getting to sleep, she slept soundly until 1:30 am. She woke up and I went in and she was in the middle of the room, still obviously half asleep. I asked her to get back in bed and she said "Okay Momma" and off she went.

Andy slept all night too, that makes 2 nights in a row.

Yes, life is good at the Hunter house!

Two Big Steps

As I blogged about before, I was worried that Julie would never sleep in a real bed. Lately I have been thinking about it a lot and I really wanted to put her in a real bed while I was still on maternity leave because I had a few more hours of sleep to spare than I do when I am working. Then I was trying to be reasonable and said to myself that I should wait until Andy was on a more set schedule.

Well, the last few weeks, Andy has only been waking up once a night.

Then last night (this is where the angels start singing) he slept through the night! And I mean all night long! From 9:30 pm to 6:30 am. How beautiful is that!

Even though I know he probably won't do that every night from now on, we decided to go for it.

We took apart her crib and made it into a toddler bed.

She helped and was so excited! She kept climbing up and looking at herself in the mirrored closet doors.

She went to bed a few minutes ago and kept wanting to come out of her room to cuddle with Daddy, but she has been in her room quiet now for about 15 minutes, so I am assuming she is asleep.

I will let you all know how it is going in a couple days......

And in other news...I finally got a picture of Andy smiling!

Pepere's Hat

Last time my mom went back east she brought me back one of Pepere's hats. It is a wool hat, one of his dressier ones that I always loved to try on when I was younger. I hung it on a hook in Andy's room because I feel like Pepere is such a big part of Andy even though they never met. Andy is so serious, so full of thought, until he smiles. When he smiles he really means it. He doesn't smile at his toys or while by himself, that is why I can not get a picture of him doing it. He smiles at people, mostly me, John and Julie. That is how Pepere was, he didn't just smile or laugh at anything, but when he did, he meant it and you knew it.

Anyway, I thought the best spot for this hat was in Andy's room. So I hung it on the baseball bat coat hanger that Andy has. But Julie has a place for the hat that she thinks is more fitting. She pushes the ottoman in Andy's room and climbs up, gets the hat, at does this:

I know most of you are thinking, "Oh, cute, she wants her horse to wear it" but this is not just any horse. Pepere made this horse for my brother and I when we were young. We played with it for years and years and my mom saved it. Now it is by far Julie's favorite toy. She calls it "my neigh" and "feeds" it everything she eats and shares her drinks with it. She seems to know that the hat and horse go together. Andy has 2 other hats on those hooks, and she has never taken another one down, just Peperes. It makes me laugh every time I come into the living room and "my neigh" is wearing the hat. And I know that Pepere is up there doing the same.

It has been a few days....

I thought I would give everyone an update. Only one really exciting thing has happened, and that is Andy started smiling. It is the sweetest, most amazing thing you have ever seen. I have been trying to take a picture, but it is not really working. This is the only one I have gotten, and it is more of a smirk. He has a cute, lopsided smile that will melt any heart.

We also went to the opening ceremony for the Atascadero Veterans Memorial and Julie is now obsessed with airplanes. The ceremony was beautiful and we got to spend time with Memere, cousin Mariah and Uncle Justin.

Then I got to go to a little party at my mom's house and see Christina (who just started her very own blog!!! www.brian-and-christina.blogspot.com. I am so excited because I will get to know what she is up to, even if it is just over the Internet!). It was nice to get to spend some time with her and she painted us an amazing dove painting for Andy's room. I will get pictures up of his room soon, but there's one more thing that we need before I do that. In the mean time, here are the dove paintings.

Our painting (a wedding gift from Christina)Julie's Painting

Andy's Painting

Other than that, we have been to gymnastics, worked on some Christmas presents (we are making some this year, that is why we are starting early), went on some walks, cleaned out our cars and John and I got to go to a movie. Overall, a good week.

The Mini Gymnasts

The last couple weeks we have been taking Julie to a gymnastics class for little kids (they call them guppies, cute huh?) and needless to say, she loves it. This week was especially exciting because we brought her buddy Anabelle with us. Even being as young as they are, they knew this was special girl time. And Julie loved showing Anabelle the ropes....literally!

A Super-Duper Halloween!

This was a great Halloween! We had a lot of fun and got to see a lot of family and friends. It all started out with the annual "Cut and Gut" pumpkin carving session. Gross name, I know, but that is what happens when young at heart boys name the event. We had fun carving after Julie went to bed. Maybe next year she will get to paint a pumpkin or something. John did the pirate ship, Chris did the cool face, Kay did the skeleton and the "Hammers" pumpkin and I did the pumpkins with our names on them. Here are the results:

The next stage of our Halloween fun was going to Farmer's Market in San Luis with Heather, Joe, Lina, Tom and April. We even got to see Tanya, Matt and Anna. Lina was so cute dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood! And Anna was the cutest panda bear you have ever seen. Julie had fun because she was allowed to walk around, holding our hand. But being out of the stroller is a real privilege for her.

On Halloween, we had to go see all Julie's friends that she goes to day care with. When we got there, they were having a parade. It was incredibly cute! All the kids had their costumes on and were really having a great time. Beth had already had them paint pumpkins and decorate cupcakes. To say the least, she is awesome! These are pictures of Julie, Anabelle and Anika. Anabelle is Beth's daughter and Anika is the daughter of another girl that Beth and I played softball with back in the day. It is so amazing to see our girls playing together....maybe some day they will all play on the field together (I can hope can't I??).

After we left Beth's, we went into my work for the Halloween Potluck. As much as I love being home with the kids right now, I miss the great people that I work with. So it was nice to go and have lunch with them and show off my adorable kids a little. Plus, they got to see their Memere and Auntie Audrey, which is always a highlight.

From there, we went home for a nap. Julie slept while John and I prepared for the afternoon and fed Andy. Then, Grandma Anne and Popop Dave came over and we all went to a carnival at Dr. Patterson's office. Julie got to experience her first bounce house. I think she is addicted. She also fell in love with a little boy dressed like the Hulk. I kept trying to get her to go for the fireman, but no such luck. This carnival is also where we got the great picture of them at the top of the page. Julie is such a good big sister!

When we got home from that carnival, Chris and Kayla were at our house waiting for us with hot, delicious pizza. Seriously, how did we get such great friends! After eating some dinner we all headed out to see Great Grandma Hazel and Aunt Sharon. Then, we went over to the Harvest Festival at the Community Center. They had a some cute little games that Julie got to play and a Banjo Band that Julie just loved. And there was a cakewalk which was a big hit with the kids. Julie didn't really get the whole thing, so it was not a big deal when she didn't get a cupcake, considering she had already eaten way to much candy! In the below pictures she is doing the cake walk and a beanbag toss.

While we were at the carnival, Uncle Justin and Aunt Audrey stopped by on their way up north. Audrey was looking very festive, as was Poppy! I love this picture!

This was just about the end of the night. We walked home and did a little reverse trick-or-treating to our neighbors houses. I had made some sugar cookies to share so we brought them around. Julie could almost say trick-or-treat. Mostly she just said "treat!" We came home and put the kiddos to bed. Julie didn't make a peep all night. John, Chris, Kay and I watched a zombie movie that was pretty awesomely awful, but it was really fun.

We had a great Halloween. Julie had a blast, and if you wonder what Andy was up to while all this fun was going on....