Hunt Family Connection

What we’re up to this weekend…

I know the weekend isn’t over yet, but while Graham is napping, so I have time to recap most of it :)

Graham and I hit a couple of yard sales on Saturday morning and our big find was this -

That’s right, it’s pink and has little hearts on the wheels – what of it!?!? Tee hee – Graham LOVES to push things, especially his own stroller when we’re out on a walk.  He’s tried to walk away from other yard sales with full size strollers because he wants to push them…so when he saw this one in his size, he was in love :) There also happened to be a large bin of baby dolls for sale as well, so we picked one out to strap into the stroller. No time like the present to start prepping for the arrival of his baby sister! Graham spent a LOT of time pushing “baby” around the house and yard, and even made sure he put the baby to bed last night (with a teddy bear!) before we headed up to get him into bed last night…it’s all pretty adorable.

We also went to music time at the library, though didn’t stay long – Graham decided when everyone got up to participate in the “walking song” he was going to walk right out of the room and to the elevator.  I had a proud parent moment there though…allow me to brag a moment about my child :)  We were singing and then clapping along to a song we have sung many times at music time, and for just a couple of minutes, Graham was clapping exactly when he was supposed to…on the off beat!  I giggled a bit to myself, realizing it was a fluke and kind of funny really. When the song was over, the music guy again explained to the parents that kids need help clapping on the off beat as they don’t usually do that easily (and then he added…) “except for this guy!!” and he pointed at Graham. He was fairly impressed and even used the word “genius” – lol. I still think it was a bit of a fluke, but wanted to make sure I documented it so that we could pull it out for his “Behind the Music” special someday if it comes to that ;)

The rest of the weekend has been spent just hanging around the house. One of the projects I’ve been working on bit by bit, is to make what was intended to be a formal dining room into a play room, and turn my living room back into an adult friendly room.  They are right next to each other, and Graham’s toys had been taking over both rooms. Last weekend I cleared off the two bookshelves in the play room, leaving the top two shelves for grown-up books, and then rest for kid toys and books. That got most of the toys out of the living room.

This weekend I moved a big love seat out of the play room and added a table and chairs I picked up for G on craigslist. I also moved the pack-n-play in as we have been using it for the occasional time out and will need it as a bed and changing table when the baby comes this fall. We moved Graham’s Little People farm and train set up into his big boy bedroom and moved the coffee table back to the middle of the room instead of up against the wall in the living room. There is only one little basket of books and an activity cube (a quiet toy) left in the living room – the rest is in the play room you see in the picture. The play kitchen is still in the dining room area and there are a few toys and books in the office, but that’s ok – I just wanted to try and contain things a little better and reclaim some “grown-up” space.

Here’s a closer look at the table and chairs I got for G…

Together we did some coloring and put together a couple of puzzles at the table. I think he’s going to love doing his “work” there :)

So that pretty much brings us up to nap time. I have at least one more load of laundry to tackle and some groceries to get. I called to chat with my mom and will call my sister-in-law a little later to wish her a happy birthday. When Graham gets up from his nap he’s going on a little outing with Daddy and Pa-Paw. Of course he’ll be ending the day with bath time and we’re back to the weekday routine tomorrow morning! 

Memorial Day

It was a very good day :)  It was wonderful to get up not dreading a Monday – relaxing in bed until Graham woke up….heading downstairs to make muffins and play….walking to the park with a bucket and shovel…heading back home to hang out with Wil and have lunch. 

After lunch Graham actually asked to go down for his nap – while he was sleeping I managed to clean up my desk (it was a bigger task than I had anticipated – how does it get so messy when I hardly ever sit there?!)

Later in the afternoon Pa-Paw, Grandma Chery, Kara, Brian, and Sam all came over to hang out and have a BBQ. We had a blast playing inside and outside – there was a LOT of laughter….love that :) 

I leave you with a few pictures from our day…

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Weekend in the Life - Sunday

• I was sooo tired this morning – I fixed breakfast for me and Graham (eggs, toast, banana, bacon) and then we hung out in the living room playing for most of the morning.
• When Wil got up he took Graham on an outing to the Starbucks drive-thru – they shared a sausage piadini – a good mid-morning snack.
• Around lunchtime, Graham opened up the pantry in the kitchen and brought me a box of macaroni and cheese – the boy LOVES his mac & cheese!

• Notice the cookie debris on G’s face – he kept all of his food in his mouth or on the tray, so he got to have a cookie after lunch today – yay!
• Graham took another nice 2-hour nap this afternoon while Wil and I rested up as well.
• After nap we got dressed and ready to do some errands…

• At Home Depot we picked up another gallon of paint to finish G’s big boy room and a few other odds and ends. We also picked out some trim for the room
• Wil really needed new jeans, so he found a couple of pair he liked at Kohl’s – Graham and I rode the elevator upstairs and found a couple of things for him, then rode the escalator back downstairs to find daddy
• Wil took Graham to the mall playground and then they walked to meet me at Target where I stocked up on “stuff” that we need for the house.
• Once we met up, we moved on to the food court for lunch – a burrito for Daddy, Subway sandwiches, chips, and yogurt for Graham and Mommy.
• I can’t believe I didn’t get a shot of it, but we used our monkey harness on our outing today and it worked so well! It seems to be a good compromise in giving G the freedom he wants to walk around while we are still able to keep him close by. The more pregnant I get, the harder it is for me to chase him down!  He walked most of the day, but wanted to be picked up after dinner, on the way back to the car

• I dropped the boys off at the house then made one more trip out to the grocery store – stocking up on a few things and getting eats for a BBQ tomorrow
• Once home we played around a little more – daddy is really good at getting G riled up :)
• Tubby-time tonight – I get Graham into the tub and wash him up, then daddy supervises while he plays. Tonight daddy decided to shave while in the bathroom with G – Graham thought this looked like fun and is imitating daddy here in the photo (putting shaving cream on his face)
• Once out of the tub we got pjs on then had some green Jello for bedtime snack. We read a few books then it was off to bed!

Weekend in the Life - Saturday

• That’s right – my Saturday started at 5-something in the AM – eek! Most days I’m awake that early, even on the weekends. It’s usually my quiet time to work on my computer and just lounge around in bed. The little green light to the right of the time is from the baby monitor – I just can’t bring myself to turn it off yet :)
• Once Graham got up (around 8am) we went downstairs in our pjs to get breakfast. I made pancakes for us and Graham decided to make pancakes in his kitchen too. We also watched Veggie Tales while we waited for breakfast – very funny.
• We played for a bit after breakfast, then went back upstairs to get dressed and gather up our library books – we also had to wake up Wil to make sure he got Suki to her vet appointment in time.
• Graham and I went to the library for family music time (loved the new guy, Brian) and then picked out new library books. Graham usually sits and looks at books at one of the little tables while I pick out the books.
• Once home we got the scoop on Suki’s vet appointment – might be a GI problem so we have some medicine to try and we’ll be changing their food – hope that takes care of it.

• Wil helped fix mac&cheese for lunch – we also had sandwiches and apple slices.  No cookies for dessert because Graham threw a bowl and some food on the floor :(
• Wil put G down for his nap after lunch while I cleaned up the mess
• During nap time Wil played his computer game while I rested in bed with my computer. We both ended up napping too before it was all over…Graham was down for 2 hours and 15 minutes!
• After nap, Graham and i hung out in his big boy room for a bit – he likes to sit at his table and look at his puppy book. He also enjoys kicking around his soccer ball and running top speed from wall to wall

• Graham and I went to play outside for a bit – G pushed his lawnmower, threw the frisbee around, drove his car and tricycle, and just plain ran around a lot.
• after awhile we went on a couple of errands – Old Navy (where we got a navy sun hat for G and a fun game to play outside) and Trader Joe’s (to pick up milk and buns for dinner

• Dinner was shredded beef on buns and fried potatoes/carrots. This was one of the meals mom left for me in the freezer – just thawed it out and heated it up!  THANKS MOM :)
• Sure, he looks cute, but when G decided he was done with his food he started chucking handfuls of it at his mama – nice – sensing a pattern here at all?? 
• Wil took G out to the living room to play while I picked up the kitchen then I decided to run an errand to Shopko by myself. Found a new pair of shoes for the boy and myself – felt much better about the food throwing after buying shoes :)

• Taught Graham a new game with his drum - “loud/soft” – alternately playing softly and loudly on the drum.
• Graham and I also had fun with the camera and took some pictures of ourselves – he likes to look at them after I snap the picture
• Started the bedtime routine about 7:30, got pjs on, and read a few stories – we are so lucky that he goes to bed without any fuss :)
• Wil is downstairs on his computer and I am exhausted and about to fall asleep (at 8:30!!)

Weekend in the Life – it begins!

I feel like the weekend really begins as soon as I step out of the door at work on Fridays. My last meeting of the day went very well, and I was on my way home for a nice, long holiday weekend. Once home, I started snapping pictures :)

From left to right – a tour of my pictures and our evening….

• a fun piece of mail - $10 off shoes at DSW – can’t wait to go look around there!
• Graham has a minor “meltdown” when coming into the house – I don’t even remember what it was about….just remember that it was a bit of an overreaction
• an updated pic of my 25 week pregnant belly
• Daddy and Graham working together to bring in the garbage/recycling cans – Graham LOVES to help
• Friday Family Fun night dinner at McMenamins – Graham helped us eat our dinners…mushroom/swiss burger and fries for Wil, fish and chips (substitute tator tots) for Jess
• After dinner we walked across the street to Prince Puckler’s for some ice cream – a shake for Wil, chocolate almond ice cream for Jess, and a mini dish of raspberry cheesecake ice cream for G – yummy :)

All in all, a very good way to start the holiday weekend – when we got home from dinner Wil met his friends online to play his game and Graham and I watched Jeopardy and played catch and “ready, set, go!” until bedtime.

Much Better and Weekend in the Life

So things are definitely looking up – today is Friday and we have a long holiday weekend ahead of us. Even better…there were no “poopy” incidents yesterday!

We don’t have any big plans to go anywhere for the Memorial Day weekend – just plan to enjoy the beautiful weather they are predicting. I do think I want to take on the “weekend in the life” project that Ali Edwards suggested last weekend. 

I’ll keep notes and pictures on my blog throughout the weekend, then decide what format to scrap it all in….then will add to my “Week in the Life” album.  Already in my album is my first “Week in the Life” project which you can peek at HERE.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend – stay tuned for many details of ours!

Pooped on….both figuratively and literally :)

Yep – I came home from work this afternoon and proclaimed to Wil that I had been pooped on…repeatedly…today.

I won’t go into details on the first “incident” (mostly ‘cause it’s boring) but I was feeling a LOT underappreciated at work today. It’s a tough time of year – so much to do and just not enough time….blah blah blah.

So I left for my afternoon meetings, and walked right into a very difficult meeting that I never would have anticipated being difficult. My conversations with the parent prior to the meeting had gone very well and I felt we were all on the same page. The student’s therapist, invited to the meeting by the parent, was on a very different page and proceeded to make what should have been a 10-15 minute discussion into an hour long debate. I felt pretty beat up and attacked by the time the meeting was over, and again…..”pooped on” – lol

The final incident took the pooping from the metaphorical to the literal… I went to pick up Graham from daycare where I found the kids playing in the backyard. Graham came running over to me and wanted to be picked up. After holding him for a bit I put him back down and noticed that he had “stuff” on his shoe. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that he had stepped in some dog poop while out in the yard. Sure enough…after having picked him up I then had poop on my pants – nice.

I’m very pleased to also report that there were bright moments throughout the day – it certainly wasn’t all poop :)

It was Wednesday, so I got to have a nice lunch with Kara, Melissa, and Megan. It’s always so nice to step away from the craziness of work for a few minutes with good friends. And last night was date night! We branched out a bit since Pa-Paw and Grandma are out of town, and tried a new sitter. It went great and we are told that Graham was very good. Apparently he is perfectly capable of listening AND following direction ;)  Krystal says they had LOTS of fun and he went to bed with no troubles – yay! Wil and I had a quick dinner together and then went to the new Star Trek movie. I have to admit that it was much better than I had expected and was even pretty funny at times. Of course there were also a few moments that were pretty emotional and made the pregnant lady all teary-eyed, but it was all good in the end.

So here’s hoping that tomorrow is poop-free, both figuratively AND literally :)

Such a big help….

…for the most part :)

Graham’s desire for independence continues to be something we find both encouraging and helpful at times, and incredibly frustrating and annoying at other times.

“MY DO IT!” is a phrase that he asserts many times throughout the course of the day. He wants to come down the steps by himself (though he does request a hand to go up the stairs because he wants to do one foot per stair – no baby steps for this kid!), he wants to put on his own shoes, he wants to zip his coat, he wants to throw away the diapers, he wants to ring the doorbell, he wants to close and lock the door…..the list goes on and on!

Most of the time we are able to let him do things for himself and sometimes he will end up asking for help after all (or just do whatever it is he set out to do), but sometimes, especially in the morning when getting ready to go, I run out of time and patience for he “me do its”.

There are times when he is incredibly helpful though – right now he loves to pick things up off the floor for me (I hope this continues through the summer as I am less able to get my pregnant self down there!) and he continues to enjoy “vacuuming”. Up until now he had just been using his pretend vacuum and dust buster, but the other night, after leaving a particularly large mess on the kitchen floor at dinner time, we decided to let him loose down under the table with the real dust buster…

He actually did a fairly decent job (with some supervision and direction of course).

The other day he spilled some water on the living room floor and I asked him to bring me a towel from the kitchen. He actually brought one AND helped me soak up the puddle – he also returned the towel to the kitchen!

I will enjoy this while it lasts and hope that they are habits/interests that will stick with him :) As for the independent, “my do it” stuff, that’s bound to work to my advantage along the way too…potty training is just around the corner :)

2 Year Old Stats

We finally had Graham’s 2-year-old check-up last week and got his current stats…

Weight: 29lbs – 63rd %ile

Height: 35in. – 68th %ile

Head Circumference: 20in. – 97th %ile

Ummm – I must be his mother, because I really don’t see the big larger than average sized head – lol.

Everything looks great and we continue to be blessed with a healthy and happy little boy.

I thought we might have to get some shots, but we’re pretty much caught up. There is one series that we have not yet had – Hep A – but I’m not certain we will be getting that one.

I never really enjoy going to the doctor, but everything went well and I think now we are only required to check in once a year. Big "yipeee!" for a healthy 2 years :)

Fun finds!

Over the weekend Graham and I were heading out to Target, when we stumbled upon a whole neighborhood of yard sales going on (a really nice neighborhood!)  I decided that since it was such a pretty day, it would probably be more fun to walk around to a few houses and see if we could find anything fun (and useful) to take back home.

A much cheaper trip than Target would have been, we got all of these goodies for $6.50

Sweet little pink things for the new baby girl…

Some daycare-wear and shoes for the fall/winter for G…

And a toy that G just couldn’t part with…

I had some trouble convincing Graham to leave each sale – he seemed to find something at each place that he would prefer to stay and play with. At one house it was a microwave, at another there was a diaper champ that he was having a blast with – odd kid that one :)