Hunt Family Connection

Spring Break – DAY 5

I had a whole list of things that I was hoping to accomplish on Friday, but when it was all said and done, only one item from the list could be crossed off.  But it’s a biggie, so I think it’s ok.

As we prepare for another baby here in the Hunt Household, we’ve been talking about getting me a more up-to-date and carseat-friendly vehicle. Minivan/Mega-fun has served us well these past couple of years, but it’s time for a change. We offered to take our very good friend Craig (who also happens to be a car salesman) out for lunch and he agreed to spend the afternoon helping us look at cars. I don’t think we expected to find and decide on something so quickly (if you can call 4 hours of shopping, negotiating, signing papers quick), but we ended up driving this home Friday night….

It’s a 2008 Chevy Trailblazer with 32,000 miles on it.  I have never owned such a nice, low mileage vehicle – I’m a little stunned and very excited. We wanted to get something that was going to work well for us for many years to come, and after sitting in and driving MANY different vehicles, this is the one I kept coming back to.

Thanks to Craig we got the “friends and family” pricing and we traded in the minivan – overall we are very satisfied with the deal we got :) It makes me feel very grown-up – silly, huh??

After we got everything signed and squared away, we grabbed some dinner and went to visit Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery. We had dinner with them and hung out a bit before heading home and getting G to bed. It was a long day and I was more than ready to go to bed myself. Unfortunately, Graham had some trouble staying asleep….which led to Wil and I having trouble getting/staying asleep. Not our best night, but we all got to sleep in a little bit this morning.

Graham and I tried to do family music time at the library, but Graham just wasn’t into it for some reason – we ended up leaving before it even started.  We did stay to trade in our library books for new ones and Graham read and played a little bit in the children’s section. We played outside when we got home because the rain hadn’t started yet, but spent the rest of the day inside because once it did start, the rain just didn’t want to stop.

I’m sad to see spring break week coming to an end, but feel like we got plenty accomplished (including rest and relaxation!) We also have lots to look forward to in the coming weeks – ultrasound, visit from Nana, birthday celebrations, etc. Life is good…..

Spring Break – DAYS 3 and 4

Graham stayed home with us on Wednesday – we enjoyed sleeping in a bit, and then lounging around in mommy and daddy’s big, comfy bed before getting up to go downstairs.  Graham and I had breakfast while daddy slept some more, then played in the house since it was rainy and cold outside. G crawled into my lap just before lunchtime, and fell asleep there….I have to admit that I started dozing off too. I took him up for his nap and I got some rest too. When he got up (3 hours later!) We got up, had lunch, then went out to run errands – stopping at daddy’s school to water his plants, picking up a couple of things at Rite Aid, stopping at Party City for birthday party supplies, and peeking into Bambini to check out their toys.  We had dinner, played, and took a bath before bedtime – it was a very good day :)

I started the week thinking I would get all kinds of things done around the house – I had big plans :) After the way the dust and dander impacted me on Monday, I wasn’t physically able to get back to the tasks. Today I felt good enough to get back to work, but I decided not to. I decided that it was more important that I take these next two days to recover, relax, and rest. I may feel a great sense of accomplishment if I get back to those things on my list, but from past experience, I know that I will also feel a bit of regret and resentment that I spent my “vacation” doing things that I felt I had to do, rather than things I want to do. So as I made my way to breakfast with friends this morning (yummy and lots of fun!) I declared today “all about me!”  After breakfast I did some shopping and found pants to wear (thank god!) and a cute/comfy maternity top at Kohls.

Trust me – they all look much better on :)  And the best part is that they all seem nice and comfy – comfy is good.

After shopping I called Wil and asked if he wanted to join me at a movie – He’s Just Not That Into You – and he did! It’s a predictable one, but it was better than I expected it to be. We laughed, we teared up a little – we liked it! It definitely makes you think a little bit about relationships and what it’s really all about.

We picked G up on our way home and while I played with Graham outside, Wil did some tidying in the garage. I had a hard time getting G back inside and he cried and whined the whole time I fixed dinner. He eventually got over it, and we had a nice evening watching basketball and hanging out in mommy and daddy’s bed – I think he loves the new bed as much as I do :) 

Since G has been in bed I’ve been enjoying Thursday night tv and playing around on the ‘puter. Ohhhhh – right now McDreamy is doing a very romantic thing – I must go pay attention. One more day of Spring Break to enjoy – and I intend to!

Spring Break – DAYS 1 and 2

We are two days into spring break and things are going pretty well. Wil got sick as soon as vacation started, so he’s been spending most of his time resting and trying to get better. I’m still recovering from the same sick I’ve had for what seems like forever – now it’s just the cough hanging on.

Graham went to daycare on Monday and they took a very exciting field trip to Splash – an indoor waterpark type thing. I’m told G had a good time – my maternity swimsuit has not yet arrived, so I wasn’t able to go with (NOTHING FITS RIGHT NOW!…..but that’s a whole other post and rant) Jim and Chery had him on Monday night and got him good and tired out.

While G was at daycare I did some laundry and started attacking Graham’s “big boy” room and the craft room. By the time the day was over, I had 5-6 boxes to take to Goodwill, several bags of garbage, and 3 loads of laundry folded. I also had a pretty horrible wheezing/breathing problem after kicking up dust and dander all day.

The wheezing/breathing problem seems to be aggravated by the cough that is hanging on, and I didn’t get much sleep at all. I took G to daycare again today as they had a little nature visit planned and I wasn’t sure what kind of a mom I would be with only a few hours of sleep.

I finished another three loads of laundry, but tried to take things more slowly and rested a bit more than Monday. It’s fun to catch up on my favorite soaps – Young & the Restless and Days of our Lives :) After lunch I wandered out to Home Depot to accomplish a few tasks…..

1. I ordered Graham’s big boy room carpet – if all goes well, installation will occur sometime in the next few weeks
2. I picked up a can of paint to freshen up G’s big boy room – a grayish/blue color. I asked if there would be a kind of paint that would be more safe to use than another (fumes….pregnancy) – the men seemed rather clueless about the issue and suggested I just have my husband do it…..works for me!
3. I picked up a couple of new lights for the room – they really need to be updated a bit….

Here’s what’s there now….

ewwww, right?!  And here’s what they will be replaced with….

ahhhhh…much better :) We’re also planning to switch out the trim/door in the room – I’d like all of it to be white. So in the next couple of weeks, while we wait for the carpet installation, we’ll remove the trim, we’ll get the room painted (and I guess when I say “we” I mean Wil – unless anyone else out there volunteers to help!), and we’ll get those new lights installed. I’m excited to see the room all freshened up and brand new….hopefully G loves it enough to want to sleep there every night!

Tomorrow G is staying home with us, so we’ll find some fun things to do together.  I want to visit the library for sure, and then I hear there is a carnival going on out at the mall – we’ll see what the weather is like.

I leave you with my most recent realization…..Graham was 23 months on the 22nd of this month – that means he’s almost TWO!!  Where did all of that time go??  Guess it’s time to start putting together some thoughts about what we want to do for the birthday boy this year :)

Technology and Ice Cream – both quite awesome :)

Today was quite fun – we were able to attend my niece Aubrie’s birthday party thanks to Skype! 

Graham LOVED it – thought it was great to be able to see Aubrie, Mara, Nana, Papa, Auntie Carrie and Uncle Joel. Aubrie even took some time to play “peek” with him while we waited for the party to start – fun!!  I felt like we had a seat right there at the party – we’re so excited to have been there :)

Almost as exciting as the party was our dessert after dinner tonight. I went to DQ and brought back blizzards for us and a cup of ice cream for G.

He seems to love DQ ice cream as much as his mommy – when it was gone he cried and kept asking for more! Can’t blame him – it’s good stuff :)

The rest of our weekend was pretty routine. We went to music time at the library – I’ve enjoyed the guy performing the last couple of weeks and Graham seems to dig him too. We saw our friend Henry there with his mom and dad so we got to chat with them a bit.

After nap on Saturday we went to Jerry’s in our ongoing quest for carpet for G’s big boy room. Didn’t find anything I loved there, so went back to Home Depot today.  The estimate we have from them was a bit more than I was planning to spend, so I adjusted my carpet choice to better fit our price range.  I think I’ve found something that will work so I’m hoping to go back and get it ordered this week. I’m also planning to get the room emptied out and hopefully pick some paint….maybe even remove the trim as we are planning to replace it with a nicer white trim.

Time to settle in for Amazing Race, Celebrity Apprentice, and Iron Chef – I do love my Sunday night tv :)

A haircut and other updates

Graham got his haircut on Tuesday, so I took a picture of him “drawing” later on that evening.

The haircut is always a bit of a challenge, but he does a fairly good job. This time he didn’t want to sit in the chair by himself, so I sat in the chair and he sat in my lap. He was acting kind of shy and whined a lot – everyone thought he did a good job though. I went armed with cookies and my cell phone – big help!

Graham did a pretty funny thing tonight while we were sitting together – He elbowed me as he was trying to move around, and I said “ow” or something like that. He turned to me and said “ok?? ok??” I often ask him if he is ok when he has fallen or hurt himself in some way, so I guess he’s learned to do the same for me – it was pretty sweet :)  He also said “excuse me” after he burped tonight – I’m pleasantly surprised to see that one sinking in!

Spring break is soooo close! I know I still have to go to work tomorrow, but I don’t have any meetings, so I can wear comfy clothes and just hide out at my desk and catch up on some paperwork – pretty stress-free really.

We have no plans to go anywhere over break – mostly just some goals we’d like to accomplish here at home. Some things on my list – cleaning out Graham’s big boy room, tidying up and decluttering the guest bedroom (getting it ready for you mom!), shopping for quotes on carpeting for Graham’s big boy room, visits to the insurance and finance guy, and many trips to Goodwill to unload bunches of stuff we don’t really need.

Wearin’ O’ the Green!

Graham and I will be celebrating our bit of Irish heritage and wearing our green today :) 

Good times

I have to say, despite the newly developing tantrums, Graham is TONS of fun to be around :)

He’s saying more and more all the time, and we’re really working on getting him to say more than just one word at a time. He loves to play and loves it when we are both around to play with him. He especially enjoys being chased and being surprised – daddy is really good at this game….mommy gets tired pretty easily these days.  One of his favorite words is AGAIN!! when he is playing this chasing/surprise game :)

Wil taught him how to give “big boy hugs” so now he wraps his arms around you – it’s awesome. He’s also pretty generous with his kisses – he even asked me for one the other day!  Graham is quite polite and continues to say please and thank you – we hear them often. He also says a very enthusiastic and loud “GOOD BYE!” whenever someone is leaving – I get it every morning and it always makes me giggle.

Now that I sit and think about it, he makes me giggle a lot. Just last night he was showing me a new trick (I’m wondering who I can thank for this….) – blowing raspberries on his hand. It made me laugh, and since I was laughing, he started laughing too - hysterically. Before long he was laughing so hard when I laughed, that he couldn’t even make the noise. Good times.

Even though it has been windy and wet all weekend, we have been having a nice time together. Yesterday Graham and I went to music time at the library – it was a guy we had not seen before, and he was pretty entertaining. We stayed to look at some books, and then got a few to take home. Graham fell asleep on the way home and I was so tired myself, that I just collapsed on the couch with him and we both napped for about an hour. This kind of ruined our afternoon nap timing, so after lunch we decided to go to the Home Show at the fairgrounds to walk around. We were so excited to run into our friends Pamela and Kevin – pretty amazing considering how packed with people that place was! After the home show we were inspired to go visit the new Lowe’s store in town – Graham’s favorite thing there were the lawn mowers – it was not easy to get him away from them!  Today we were all up for breakfast together, then Wil took Graham out for some errands so I could get a little extra rest. Graham was starting to doze off during lunch, so we are both resting right now. I hear him chatting, so the nap only lasted an hour….definitely not as long as I would have liked!

Wil is at school catching up on some work – Graham and I are planning a little outing to watch Grandma Chery play tennis and run around the tennis club with Pa-Paw. I also need to make a Target run, which happens to be close by their tennis club..should work out well.  Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery are coming over to the house tonight to play a little and then put G to bed so I can go out to eat with Wil and his volleyball team – tonight is their last game.

Guess it’s time to get up and moving – sounds like he’s definitely awake! 

This made me giggle this morning - enjoy!

Another New Friend

Graham has been getting some very nice and soft new friends lately - the most recent of which came in the mail on Friday....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He promptly grabbed the bear and took him away to show him his kitchen. The bear also seems to be good for quick chats.....

.....and power naps!

This bear came from Graham's great-great Uncle Jim Kennedy. Kennedy was my maternal grandmother's maiden name and Uncle Jim is her brother - we used this family name for Graham's middle name. We're feeling pretty special that Jim thought of us and sent us this cute and cuddly bear. He has yet to be named....we'll have to think on that :)

I'm also pretty happy to have accomplished some photo tasks this morning. I've edited and backed up our pictures from January and February.

The time change is throwing us a little bit - I've been moving Graham's bedtime up a little more each night, so hopefully we're on track for a good bedtime tonight and easy morning tomorrow.  It looks pretty chilly out there at the moment - I hope they weren't serious about all of that talk of snow coming!

Surviving!

Let's start with a picture of Graham that I took with my phone a week or so ago. 

We were on our way to daycare, and he just decided to plop right down there on the front step while waiting for me to load up the van with our stuff. Sometimes it's hard to get him in the van in the morning as he LOVES being outside and would rather just wander around the yard/driveway. When it's nice he gets to spend a lot of time outside at daycare and I'm very grateful for that.

It's been quite a week here already - the cold/cough has taken a lot out of me, and Wil came home sick yesterday so we are both in pretty sorry states.  Graham was coughing a little bit last night and had a runny nose, but I still hold out hope that he won't have it as bad as we do.  It seems that many have been sick around here lately - both children and adults.  There are just some nasty bugs going around I guess.  Many thanks and great appreciation for Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery though - we are so lucky to have family here that can help when things feel a bit overwhelming.  They had Graham on Monday night, and offered to pick him up from daycare again today.  I'm hoping I'll feel well enough to clean up the house a little bit tonight before Graham gets home - a lot has been let go while we're not feeling our best.

A very good thing happened at work this week (a bright spot amongst a slew of not-so-bright moments!) and it's the beginning of what I hope is a very happy ending for a student I mentioned in a post awhile back. I was able to briefly meet his forever family this week - yay! They seem really wonderful and ready to provide him with everything he could need to make this transition. I think that he will have opportunities available to him that he would never have even imagined....I'm so very excited about the possibilities for his future.

And thank goodness today is my day to work at my office downtown and meet up with my friends for lunch - Wednesdays really help me get though the week and I am in desperate need of one right now :)