Hunt Family Connection

Ellie's first days in the world

So much has been going on here - Ellie had her first visitors yesterday, including a visit from her big brother!

Graham wasn't terribly interested in baby sister just yet. He seemed a little concerned when he came into the room and didn't really know what to make of it all. I pointed Eleanor out to him saying, "look, baby sister is here!" He just glanced at her and said "yep!" or something like that... He did notice her crib in the room and wanted me to put her in it (I was holding her at the time) - he kept saying, "in there, in there". And then he crawled up onto the bed and I think he wanted to crawl into the crib :) 

We are actually in a room on the pediatrics floor, so there is a little "playground" right across the hall from my room. Pa-Paw and Graham went exploring and found some pretty fun stuff to play with while Grandma Chery got some snuggle time in with Eleanor. Pa-Paw also got some time with her and a little later in the afternoon our friends Kara and Melissa came to meet Miss Ellie. 

 

I think Jim and Chery will have more pictures from their visit - I will post a link when I get one from Chery. Right now I'm sure they have their hands full keeping up with Graham :) It's awesome that he's been able to be in a place that he finds comfortable and very fun while he's away from his house and mommy/daddy. 

Eleanor is doing pretty well and making a lot of good gains. One thing that has been difficult for her though is learning how to eat.  We've been trying a lot of things to get food in her, and while it hasn't been easy, we must be doing something right because she hasn't lost much weight. The pediatrician that came to see her said she looked very good so we're happy about that.

We are using a bottle at times to feed her, so yesterday Wil had a chance to participate in the process. It was such a beautiful scene as he sat with her in the window seat...

 

Is there any doubt that this girl will have her daddy wrapped around her little finger?!

By the way - here's the view I have from my bed of that window they are sitting next to....
 

That's a river out there - I watched a few boats float by yesterday and the sun is out now so it looks even brighter! The view is just stunning - I'm told we have one of the best ones :)

We had a pretty quiet evening, but did spend more time working on the feedings. I got a couple hours of sleep here and there in between the feedings and Wil went home around 5am to try and get some good sleep there (while the view is incredible, his sleeping spot here is less than comfortable).

We were planning to all go home tonight, but it looks like there is a little change in that plan. I have another feeding to work on now and then I think Graham is coming to visit again. I will update again later tonight when I have the chance to wrap up our updates from today.

Thanks to all for the well wishes and happy thoughts - it's been fun to read them! I'm bummed because they have Facebook blocked here - I can update my status through Twitter, but can't get in to do anything else. Ellie's doing a lot of napping so I've had some nice quiet moments to work on journaling these stories - I know I need to rest too and I am trying to when I feel like I can....I've never been good about being able to sleep on demand.  It's very restful here and I plan to enjoy that while I can - will be back later with more updates.

You take the good, you take the bad...

On a day when we are still riding a pretty significant high, we are so sad to say that we are also experiencing a heartbreaking low. We had to make a very sudden and horrible decision to have our sweet kitty Talia put to sleep today.

Wil went home to get some pjs last night, and happened upon Talia who was looking very sick. Many thanks to Jim for coming to take her to the vet hospital last night to see what was going on. After running some tests they discovered very significant kidney problems that they are not able to remedy. Wil went to the vet hospital this afternoon and got the news, then stayed with Talia as she left us. I was so sad to not be able to be with them both.

Talia is the sister (littermate) of Suki, who you might remember we had some health problems with a little while back - they also seemed to be related to the kidneys, but the vet didn't seem to think it was related. Strange that they would have such significant health problems around the same time.

We got Talia, along with her sister Suki, when we returned from our honeymoon a little over 6 years ago. Talia was very much a "people" cat and always seemed to prefer hanging out with Wil and I to playing with Suki and Hazel. She was often the one that you could find in bed with us - in fact, when I was pregnant with Graham she often slept right by my side.

Talia was a sweet, sweet kitty and I like to think that we made her life quite comfortable and pleasant. Her time with us was much too short, but super high quality :)  It is hard to feel such excitement and happiness, and at the same time feel the extreme emptiness and sadness that goes with grieving Talia's loss. We will miss her very much and our house will be emptier without her....

A look at Eleanor

I grabbed a quick picture of Ellie while her eyes were open this morning - she and her daddy are napping right now :)

She's Here!

Our baby girl decided to make an earlier than expected appearance yesterday, arriving at 7:32pm. She weighs in at a very healthy (and considerably easier to deliver) 6lb. 7oz. and is 19 in. long. We've named her Eleanor Elizabeth Hunt.

More stories and pictures will follow - all is right in our world :)

Last Week of Summer Vacation

This is the last week of summer vacation for us - we officially report back to work on Tuesday, but both have activities/trainings happening on Monday that we will be going in for. Of course Wil's is more fun than mine - while I'm sitting in meetings all day, Wil is going to be on a river day-trip (not too far from home of course!)

I can't believe how quickly the summer has gone by - I feel like I accomplished a lot though and managed to do some fun things too.  Staying here in town was a big change for me, but it seems to have worked out ok.

Uncle Bill left on Sunday afternoon and we were able to go watch him take off and head for home.

 

Graham was a little spooked by how loud it was, but was also pretty interested in the whole process. Graham was also a bit sad to see Uncle Bill go and when we asked him about it he even stuck out his lower lip and pouted some.  Hopefully we'll see Uncle Bill again soon for another visit :)

On Monday I spent a lot of time getting things ready for this baby to arrive - I still had a few things to shop for, some laundry to do, and a hospital bag to pack. Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery kept Graham for another overnight (which went great - thanks again guys!!) so that I could cross one more thing off my list that I wanted to accomplish before the baby arrived - seeing the new Harry Potter movie. Wil and I had a little dinner/movie date and enjoyed a child-free evening.  While I didn't really sleep in (still somehow managed to wake up at 6am?!) I was able to linger in bed and eventually fall back to sleep since I didn't have a little boy calling for me to come get him out of his room.

Yesterday I worked - all day long. I took Graham to daycare and then went in to work with some new employees. It was fun and productive, but I'm happy I won't be putting in too many full days at this point in my pregnancy - I was worn out by the time I got Graham home from daycare!

I leave you with a picture of something Graham is having fun with lately - squeezing into small places to "hide" or just hang out for a bit. Earlier in the evening I found him on the shelf underneath the tv :)

Fun at the Fair

We wandered out to the Lane County Fair this afternoon and had a great time - here's a bit of what we saw there...

1 - Graham was quite entertained by simply watching the carnival games - thankfully he's not old enough to know that if you play them you get to take home crazy looking toys to clutter up your home :)

2 - While not quite big enough for the rides, this little covered toddler area was perfectly sized and outfitted for Graham. How cute is this little girl that came over to play with him?!

3 - Award-winning garlic

4 - "Cock-a-doodle-doo!!!" - Graham's rooster impression cracks me up every time :)

5 - Creepy canning mannequin and a scene that you will never see in my kitchen

6 - Sitting on daddy's shoulders to watch performing dogs catch frisbees

7 - Goat that got a little fresh and aggressive with Wil as we walked by

8 - Men on motorcycles flying through the air - scared mommy a bit, but delighted the boy

9 - Daddy and Graham watching the merry-go-round - next year G should be big enough to actually get on some of the rides

Not pictured: One Fri-Jo for daddy and one elephant ear for mommy - both shared with Graham

Hunt Family BBQ

We went to Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery's house this afternoon for a BBQ with Uncle Bill. We even managed to get a picture of what the Hunt family looks like right now...

 

I was reminded that 5 years ago today Bill and Jim's dad (Grandad) passed away, leaving a big hole in the Hunt family. We had a very nice time remembering some Grandad stories - he really was a pretty wonderful man and ohhh so memorable :)

Of course there are always stories (lots and lots of stories) when the Hunt boys get together...

 

As you can see, it's been awhile since the Hunt family has seen a baby girl enter their ranks - should be interesting to see how that all plays out!

Graham also had a blast singing and playing guitar (and occasionally playing tennis) with Grandma Chery...

 

She taught him a new song - "Home on the Range" and we heard a lot of it! There's a big finish coming here....hold on....wait for it.....

 

Good times - thumbs up :)

Uncle Bill

If you let this boy "fly" your airplane, you'll have a friend for life (and you'll even get hugs at bedtime too!)

 

Graham was VERY excited that we were heading out to the airport yesterday afternoon, but we had to do some convincing that it was ok to be out there and NOT see Pa-Paw. We were at the airport to pick up Wil's Uncle Bill - or Great Uncle Bill as he can now be titled :)  Uncle Bill is Pa-Paw's brother and just like Pa-Paw, knows how to fly airplanes. In fact, he flew here from Arizona in his own plane, so when we asked Graham if he'd like to go see it, he was pretty excited to do so.

 

The picture doesn't do this whole story justice - it really needs video/sound. I believe this is where Bill was explaining to Graham how GPS and satellites work. There is so much to teach the boy and it's never too early to start, right? It was especially funny, because Bill would go into some great detail about a technical aspect of the plane and Graham would respond with something like, "up in the air!" or "seatbelt!"

After convincing Graham to leave the airport (no easy task) we dropped Uncle Bill's things off at Pa-Paw's house and then went to BJ's for dinner. Wil and Uncle Bill had what I assume was a nice conversation about computer programming and such, while Graham and I discussed the finer points of macaroni & cheese and worked on keeping food on the table. When we got back to the house, Bill was introduced to Jack's Big Music Show - he has lots of questions about Jack....like what is he really?? and what is his agenda?? Uncle Bill even got hugs when it was time for Graham to go to bed - looks like he's in!

After another long night - crying at bedtime, crying and hysterics after waking up an hour and a half after bedtime, and I think crying one more time but I can't remember when - we had a nice relaxing morning here at home. We are all enjoying nap/rest time and will head over to Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery's house later this afternoon for a BBQ with Uncle Bill. We're very happy to have him here and will look forward to more visiting before he goes....I expect we'll have more pictures of the Hunt boys to share before it's all over too!

Updated

Just a heads up that Sprout's blog was updated this morning with info from yesterday's doctor appointment and ultrasound. If interested, click HERE

Also - Uncle Bill flew into Eugene yesterday afternoon and I have pictures from his arrival - will hopefully have time to update here with that soon.

Hi, I'm 2!

It's like a bit of a showdown around here at times...

 

I'm a bit amazed at what a roller coaster we are on here at times. One minute the boy can be screaming, crying, kicking, and who knows what else...then two minutes later he's doing something that has us laughing so hard or thinking about how sweet and loving he is.  It seems that as time goes by, both extremes intensify a bit.

We attribute much of the crazy behaviors to being a two-year-old - it's just part of the deal to see him push some limits, explore boundaries, and try to get away with what he can. My friend Leila suggested something else that I had been wondering about - could be possible that he's starting to really sense that things are changing around here and that his reign as the one and only is about to end.

For the past few nights he's had a hard time settling down and staying calm - he's been almost impossible to get into his pjs (tonight I even had to get help from Wil) and then he becomes hysterical when I try to leave the room. Last night he cried and called out my name for an hour. Tonight is was closer to 30 minutes, but it was still pretty tough to take. It breaks my heart when that little voice pleads with me - "don't leave!" The other issue as of late has been meal time - he's going through a phase where he just doesn't seem interested in eating much. So instead of eating, he's been playing with his food - this usually ends in food flying around the dining room until I can get it out of his reach. Even his very favorite mac&cheese hasn't been safe from this fate lately.  We suspected that cutting teeth could be contributing to both behavior difficulties, but it's hard to say for certain.

At the same time, this age has proven to be so fun to watch as Graham acquires more language and skills every day. He completely cracks us up sometimes and has moments when you can't believe how sweet and caring he is. He continues to be quite tuned in to how other people are feeling and is always concerned that we're "ok."  His play is developing and he is doing a bit more "pretend" kinds of activities - very fun to watch. And he continues to be completely and totally in love with his Pa-Paw and gets sooo excited when he's around. In fact, just today when we were getting Graham's haircut, the hairdresser asked him to sit still and G asked, "like Pa-Paw?" - Yep, I imagine Pa-Paw would sit still while his hair is cut (and we actually did talk about that when we had dinner with Pa-Paw the other night...apparently it stuck with him!)

The other thing that was oh-so-helpful in getting us through the haircut was my iPod Touch. Graham LOVES that thing and we've been able to use it as a powerful motivator (that and his fav tv show - Jack's Big Music Show). His favorite thing to do with the iPod is watch episodes of Jack, but he is also enjoying alphabet flashcards and another app that has farm animals and sounds. Tonight when he was using the iPod I looked over and here he was holding the thing with his toes while he used his hands to click on different things. It was too funny and prompted me to put together this scrapbook page...

 

While there are so many highs and lows packed into just one day, I wouldn't trade one minute of our time with Graham. He's an amazing little guy and I really can't imagine a life without him.  These are busy and crazy times - about to get even crazier as we bring this baby sister into the mix. I'm doing my best to enjoy the moment and not wish it all by too quickly :)