Hunt Family Connection

Sleepover!

Graham is currently on his first overnight stay with Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery - this was the scene this afternoon...

 

We found the suitcase at Target yesterday - it was the only one like it there and seemed to be just sitting there and waiting for our little plane-lover. He wheeled it all over the store and has been enjoying it ever since. He's so very proud to have his own suitcase and we had a lot of fun packing it up this afternoon.

We anticipate that an overnight stay or two will become necessary when baby sister arrives, so we thought we'd better start practicing now. Graham was very excited about the idea and perhaps was far more ready for this step than I was :)  I know he will be very happy at Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery's house, but there is a little piece of me that will miss my goodnight hugs and kisses. 

Wil and I had a very nice dinner out together with no worries about getting home in time for bedtime. I wish I could enjoy sleeping in tomorrow, but have to get up to go to work by 8am. It will be nice to only worry about getting myself ready - showering whenever I'd like instead of trying to time it so I get done with everything before he wakes up.  No drop-off at daycare - just driving myself right to work. If it goes well, we'll make sure the next sleepover is on a non-work night.

Some updates

I have tons of pictures to edit and I'm having a hard time learning how to do so with my new 'puter. I tried to tackle just photos from today and think I have some ready to share....we'll see how I do :)

Wil left for a conference on the east coast this morning (EARLY this morning!) so I wanted to be sure and put together a post about what he missed today.

We had floors installed over the weekend while we were away at the coast and came home to a BIG mess. I spent most of the day trying to clean up the mess and put things back where they belong. We also had a number of deliveries today

First came the new furniture (at 7:30am!) - Sofa and loveseat for the living room...



...chair for the office

 

It's sooo soft and cozy, but a little stiff 'cause it's new - I'll have to put some time into breaking it in :)

Next came the guys from Sleep Country with Graham's new box spring - I didn't take a picture of the box spring, but here is a picture of the bed all put together.  Note the super cool airplane quilt that Mum-Mum made for G's big boy bed - he LOVES it!

 

Finally, the guys from Sears came with the dishwasher...

 

They only deliver, no installation. We thought Wil would install it, but didn't know at the time that he would be away. I attempted to set up installation for today but it didn't go well, so I've decided to just wait until Wil gets home to take care of it.

I fixed the playroom back up so that Graham would have somewhere to play when he got home from daycare - I think everything is pretty much back in its place...

 

I also spent a chunk of time in Graham's big boy room to get that ready to sleep in if he would want to tonight...

 

I haven't put too much in there yet - we'll concentrate on sleeping first :)  I did bring a box of his favorite books and an airplane night light. A little later I also brought in his CD player so he could listen to his nighttime music.

Graham was beyond excited to sleep in his big boy room tonight and wanted to go up there right after dinner. We went to check out the room and hang out there for a bit before his bath. After bath he got into pjs, we read a couple of books, and he crawled right into bed! He gathered up all of his favorite things, gave me hugs and kisses, asked me to turn on the music, then happily said goodnight as I left the room.....and that was it! He chatted to himself for awhile, then fell asleep.  I had to get one more picture of G on his first night in his big boy room...

 

Doesn't he look so little in there??  It's 10:00 and I've checked in on him a couple of times. He's sticking to the same general spot and is sleeping soundly - here's hoping the rest of the night is just as uneventful.

Wil called to tell us that he made it to his destination so we're happy he got there safely. Graham and I both miss him already, but hope he's having a good time.  I'm going to get back to work on figuring out how to use this computer - I'm still rather frustrated but am trying to read as much as possible to figure it all out.

Graham’s coloring and our weekend

Because it was raining a bit last weekend while we were camping, I had Graham playing with a notebook and some crayons inside. I drew a few pictures for him in the notebook, and much to my surprise, it looked like he was trying to color in the lines sometimes!  It’s pretty awesome to see the progression from wanting to eat the crayons, then moving to moving the crayons in and out of a box/bag, and now wanting to color in the lines – what a big boy :)

(click on the page to see layout credits)

We had a great weekend – busy, but not too busy – Graham was even kind enough to sleep in on Sunday morning :)

On Saturday Graham and I got up to go to family music time at the library and saw Kara and Sammy there too! After tiring of the music Graham wanted to go get some new books to read. Graham really wanted to go outside and play at the library, but it was too wet for that. We signed up for the summer reading program, agreeing to read at least 20 minutes/day, and got to pick out a free book. I did grocery shopping and ran errands while Graham napped, and then Saturday afternoon we went to a Birth-to-Three playdate.

Sunday morning Graham and I went to the “sand park” after breakfast – the weather was perfect!  When G went down for his nap I met Kara out to do a little shopping for a friend and then I did a tiny bit of shopping for myself. I was good though and all I brought home was a mobile that I can hang my own pictures from – I thought it would be fun for Sprout’s nursery deco. Wil and Graham were out running errands all afternoon, so I wandered over to the tennis club to soak up some sun and read next to the pool – very relaxing!

In between all of that, I managed to get a few loads of laundry done and put away too.  I also loaded up a couple of bags of clothes to take to Goodwill while I was sorting through drawers and closets. I’m trying to set aside all of the clothes I won’t be able to wear this summer to make room for the maternity ones.

This week is our last week of school/work so it’s a busy one – a few things coming up…

• going away party for co-workers
• Opportunity Center graduation
• one of my schools is throwing me a baby shower
  

Yurt Camping – Graham’s first time!

We decided it was about time Graham came out camping with us. Not wanting to rough it entirely (I am rather pregnant after all!) I decided a yurt was a good option.  For those that don’t know, a yurt is a glorified tent – has beds/futon, table/chairs, electricity, and a hard floor. Oh – and heat….heat was definitely a good thing to have this past weekend :)

The adventure really started in the wee hours of Friday morning when Graham woke up crying…and then threw up all over his crib. Wil helped me get the crib stripped and we took G to bed with us…where he threw up again. We eventually all got to sleep and Graham was in great spirits when he woke up Friday morning. I got him into the bath tub and gave him some breakfast…which he threw up :(  Do you see the pattern forming here?? Apparently several children at the daycare had the same kind of evening, so between Wil, Jim, and myself we stayed home with Graham on Friday.

I thought Graham was doing much better by the time evening came – he had no fever, was running around like a mad man, and had kept down everything he had eaten since breakfast. I also thought it would be much easier to travel in the evening instead of the next morning…so off we went to our campground at Honeyman (on the coast!)

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that Graham threw up (twice) on the way over – oops.  We finally made it and got beds set up quickly – we all really needed that. 

We all slept quite well and Graham even slept in a little since we got to bed later than usual. He was ready to go when he woke up, so we (cautiously) ate breakfast then headed outside to play a bit. It was chilly and a bit misty at times - not ideal, but Graham was prepared with his raincoat and frog boots. We tried to take a walk to explore a bit, but Graham wanted to turn around and head back after just a little bit, and wanted me to carry him - good workout for me I suppose! 

While Graham napped after lunch, Wil and I enjoyed some quiet time outside. I had my book (thanks mom!), a magazine, and my word find puzzles to keep me busy. Wil did some reading and also walked around exploring a little. He got fire wood for the evening and learned that there was a program about butterflies at the Nature Center at 3:00. Graham woke up in time to get to the butterfly presentation, but when he saw the HUGE playground next to the Nature Center, there was no way he was going anywhere but there.

Wil built a fire when we got back to the yurt and I got started on dinner. Graham definitely got lots of good outside time to play.  I thought it would make him good and sleepy, but instead we had trouble getting him to sleep (he sat on the couch with us and watched a movie) and even though he went to sleep at 10ish, he was still wide awake and ready to go at 5:30am Sunday morning - EEK!  

I had not slept very well at all, and Wil wasn't feeling well Sunday morning so it was hard to get started. Once I got up and moving though, Graham and I headed over to the dunes/beach. We had lots of fun building and stomping on sand castles (I'll let you guess who did which). Graham was also quite entertained by some birds that were dropping into the water looking for a morning snack :)  We heard a lot of noise coming from the dunes right behind us - G was convinced they were airplanes and there was no telling him otherwise. He firmly told me "NO Mama - AIRPLANE!"

After the beach we went to the Nature center for a talk on slugs and "thoroughbred" slug races. We learned a lot about slugs - they tried to get Graham to touch one but he wasn't havin' it. He managed to stick out the whole presentation AND our slug won the race - woo hoo! Of course we had to visit the playground when we were done though.

We packed up and headed for home around lunchtime - Wil was feeling much worse by then and got sick in the car on the way home - luckily we still had the throw-up bowl handy.  As a side note, I think it's funny that Graham has the same reaction to daddy throwing up as he does to mommy's singing and dancing - "NO DADDY/MOMMY NO!!" I assured him that daddy would be just fine - he asked Wil many times on the way home..."daddy allright?"

And so the yurt adventure came to end and we are left with piles of laundry and things that need to be unpacked. My sweatshirt has that great campfire smell - love it!  Despite the less than ideal moments during the weekend, there were some very good and peaceful ones. Wil and I have always enjoyed hanging out at the yurt together - reading, soaking up the great outdoors, etc. It's fun to experience it all through Graham's eyes now - definitely an adventure :)

Quick Suki update: She looked good when we got home - I think a little stronger and definitely eating more as evidenced by the kitty throw-up upstairs....seriously, as if we needed more of that this weekend?! We will be talking to the vet today to see what kind of follow up is needed. We are cautiously optimistic about her condition...will have to wait and see I guess.

I will be heading home after work to get the house cleaned up a bit from our weekend away - Graham is excited to be spending the afternoon/evening with Pa-Paw.  I have a few more pictures from the weekend and they can be found HERE – enjoy!

Graham's 1st Guitar Lesson

Graham spends Monday nights with his Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery - they have a lot of fun and once in awhile we get to see what they've been up to.  This one made me smile :)

Graham is very lucky to have such a talented (and patient!!) Pa-Paw.

A first we could have lived without....

....Graham's first cast :(  There was a bit of an accident at daycare yesterday - Graham's leg got caught on a seat belt strap as he was jumping down from his carseat. The daycare provider managed to catch him so that his head didn't hit the ground, but his little leg got twisted a bit. She called right away and let me know what happened, and that he was not wanting to put any weight on his left leg. We set up an appointment with the doctor to have a look - he seemed to think that there were no major problems and thought G would be walking on it by the end of the day, but in case he wasn't, he also gave us the name of a specialist to call. Last night he was very tired and very sensitive. He didn't want to walk and was very upset when I would touch his leg/ankle area.

This morning Graham still refused to put weight on his leg and was still very touchy, so I called to make an appointment with the specialist. They got us in later this afternoon - we had x-rays taken and as it turns out, Graham has what the doctor called a "toddler fracture." He assures me that it is quite common and that he probably sees one every couple of weeks or so. While they don't always show up on x-rays, he was able to spot it on Graham's x-ray and showed me as well. We went to casting and came home with this little blue cast. The healing time is fairly quick so we are going back in 3 weeks to see how it looks.

Graham was a trooper today and didn't complain too much about all of the poking, prodding, and picture-taking. In fact, when we got home it didn't take him long to start crawling around and climbing all over the place. His leg must feel much better now that it's all protected and wrapped up tight - he was in much better spirits than last night. We'll hope for a good night of sleep too :)

Mom sent several pictures tonight of me when I was almost 3 years old (just one year older than Graham!)

It's the opposite leg, but the same injury. Mom tells me it didn't take long for me to adapt and do just about anything I wanted.

It could be a long three weeks, but we are so grateful that he's going to be ok and that the injury was one we could easily get fixed.

Birthday Week Continues....

There is just about an hour left of my actual birthday - I'm awake waiting for Wil to get home from his night class...

I've had an awesome birthday - Kara brought flowers and cake to work today and Melissa joined us for a very fun lunch in the office (tomorrow we go out for lunch - yay!) and I got to see Wil during the day because he came downtown for an insurance meeting (an unexpected bonus!) I also enjoyed lots of fun internet birthday greetings of one kind or another (emails, ecards, and facebook messages!) - thanks to everyone that sent something to help celebrate the day!

 

 

 

When I got home, I had some more cards in the mail and a birthday package from my mom and dad. I had a nice phone chat with my brother and nieces and also chatted with mom and dad, and then I went to join Graham at Jim and Chery's house for dinner.

They made me a special dinner with some favorites - cheddar brats, chips/dip, green beans, and beer!

For dessert we had Oreo cookies (another favorite) and Graham got to experience his first Oreo. Ohhhhhhh Oreo cookie.....

 

He was pretty excited about the whole thing, and again showed his advanced intelligence (tee hee) when without prompting, he split his Oreo open and started licking the frosting!

I'm so darn proud!!

Thanks Jim and Chery for the great dinner - and thanks again to everyone that sent gifts, cards, or happy thoughts. I feel very lucky to have so many family members and friends that take good care of me :)

Swimming Lessons

Wil and I both attended swimming lessons yesterday so we have some photos to share

Looks like he's having a pretty good time! We each get to pick out a toy from the bucket at the beginning of class and then we throw the toy and "swim" to it. Oddly enough, both times I have helped Graham pick a toy, we have chosen a toy that sinks....that doesn't work so well! This boat that he's reaching for in the photo above was our 2nd choice.

Here's a shot of me telling Graham to KICK - he's still not interested in kicking at all. Our instructor has tried many things to get him to kick, but it's not happening - she seems stumped!

I choose to think that Graham is just too smart to waste the energy while someone is holding him. Or perhaps he's just too polite to splash his poor mother in the face :) We'll keep working on it though - I'm sure he'll get it!

And the most exciting part of the swimming lesson - the "Tick Tock" game. There is a litle rhyme first about tick-tock and a clock (I don't remember the whole thing) and then someone is supposed to ask what time it is....the instructor throws out a number and that's how many times we're supposed to lift them in and out of the water. I think the first time it was 3, but the 2nd time it was 7 - what a good workout for mommy's arms! Graham LOVES this - he was also a big fan of "jumping" into the pool.

Graham did great today and we made it all the way through to the end. He took a nice long nap after we got home and then we spent the rest of the afternoon running errands.

More about the birthday party....

Ok - I finally have a few spare moments to share more from Graham's birthday party.  I have the pictures uploaded and even some video!

First of all, I have to say that we had a GORGEOUS day for the party - couldn't have asked for better weather. We were able to be outside most of the time and even opened presents out there. Here is a shot of Graham and his little friend Savannah running in the yard - sooo cute!

You might be wondering about G's shirt....I got it at thinkgeek.com and there is a coordinating one that Wil wore that says v 1.0 - I can't believe I didn't get a shot of the two of them together! Oh well - next time.....back to the party.

A little football game broke out on the back lawn and the little people did run around and "play" along with them, but one of my favorite shots is this one of Graham taking a break on the sidelines....

Kind of looks like he's trying to start the wave, doesn't it?!

After some visiting and playing in the yard we had a bite to eat - brunch goodies like egg brunch casserole, muffins from Costco, and fruit. After eating we took the presents out to the patio and G dug in (with mommy's help!) Here are a few moments of the action...

G did a nice job of getting into his gifts - especially when it came to tossing tissue paper out of the bag and over his shoulder :) After awhile Savannah came over to help him some of the packages - he was more than willing to share the fun!

Graham got a lot of fun toys, clothes, and other good stuff - it was hard to keep moving from one thing to the next as G would have liked to check everything out and play with it a little before moving on.

After opening presents we went in to have cake - well actually, cupcakes. Instead of letting him dig into a whole cake, I thought it would be fun for him to have his own cupcake.  Here's a bit of what that looked like....

Of course you can't eat something and NOT run your hands all through your hair! This is what he looked like when it was all said and done...

mmmmm...cake :)

Not long after this Graham seemed completely worn out, so he took a bit of a power nap - while he rested, Wil and I worked on removing everything from it's box and layer after layer of wire twist tie thingies. When he got up from his nap I put him in his new bean outfit (love it!) and sat him down in the middle of all his toys. This kept him occupied while we played some cards with Warren and Sarah.

We ordered in pizza to celebrate Wil and Sarah's birthdays too - HAPPY BIRTHDAY WIL AND MUM MUM!!  And as I mentioned in the quick recap, the boy was up until 10:00pm that night - he just wouldn't quit!! He had a really good time with the bunches of balloons and I wish I had the camera out to capture some of that fun...while G played the part of the Energizer bunny, I watched the finale of Big Brother and crashed on the couch. I finally had to put him in bed because I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer!

So there you have it - you can see more pictures by clicking HERE. My next free moments will involve writing thank you notes - we are so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives to help us celebrate these milestones. I wanted the party to be as much about thanking them for all of their support this past year as it was about Graham turning a year old. It was a day to celebrate many things and we couldn't be happier about the way it turned out :)

Happy Birthday Graham!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazing....I can think of no other way to describe this past year. Graham has brought such immense joy to our lives - it's really unbelievable how much impact one little person can make!

Today we will celebrate all of Graham's accomplishments and experiences of the last year, but we will also be celebrating our feelings of accomplishment as new parents. This last year has been a roller coaster of emotions, but through it all we've grown closer together as a family and, if I do say so myself, have managed to do a fairly decent job of raising this guy!

As birthday week got underway yesterday we were feeling nostalgic (and a little bit lazy) around dinner time last night, and decided that it might be fun to make an anniversary trip to Hometown Buffet. The night I went into labor with G I was feeling pretty down, so we went to Hometown Buffet for some comfort food. I don't know if it was the dinner or the walking we did around the mall after dinner, but around midnight that night I started having contractions. By 8:30 the next morning, G made his grand entrance into the world.

So let me tell you - there were some pros and cons about taking G to the buffet. PRO: there is a lot of food to choose from....the boy put down almost a full plate of food that included mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans, french fries, cooked carrots, a dinner roll, and some finger jello. CON: The boy got bored with the place long before I got to have what I would consider a meal. You waste a lot of precious eating time just getting up and down to get your own meal. Oh - and as a side note....finger jello is really fun, but incredibly messy!

After dinner we sprung for one of those fun animal cars/strollers in the mall so that we could walk around some. We felt this was a complete scam at $4 to rent the cart, but we found it was worth every penny because G "drove" around the mall for quite some time and didn't get bored with it at all. In fact I had to peel him out of the thing when it was finally time to go.  All in all, not a bad start to birthday week :) 

Today of course is Graham's actual birthday - I made cupcakes last night when we got home so I'll be sending him to daycare with some to share. Tonight it will just be the three of us....I have a little something for Wil and I (I thought we deserved a little present this year) and I haven't decided if we'll let G open something or just wait for the party this weekend. We did give him a gift that came early - a very cool ball from Aunt Linda and Uncle Sam. He is LOVING it - Wil and I have been trying to teach him to roll the ball back and forth and sometimes it happens by accident, so we react with wild praise and Graham claps his hands and laughs right along with us. We're looking forward to a nice evening together, no matter what we decide to do.

One last thing - we tried to have some pictures taken so that we would have them done before his birthday, but G was not feeling so good when we had our photo shoot. Despite feeling icky and not being the best subject that day, Jay Eads took some great shots of the boy and did some amazing editing to come up with these photos: GRAHAM IS 1.  We're going to try for some more shots another day and hopefully some family pics too - we are awfully impressed with what he's done so far.