We went to the zoo with some friends. Hunter was completely scared of the elephants, not too thrilled about feeding the giraffes, but he loved the bears and flamingos. The zoo is beautiful with many flowers, trees, and hills!
Bubbles
Our neighbor brought bubbles over for Hunter and Lillian to play with...Hunter was super excited!
Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday was fun in Oklahoma City. We went to church with our friends and family. Hunter was not a fan of the group pictures and really not a fan of taking pictures with Dru! We went to lunch with my parents, Chris's parents, siblings and all four of his grandparents.
A REAL Hair Cut...
We took Hunter to a real place to get his hair cut. He liked the balloons and sitting on the frog. His hair cut is darling and now he looks like a little boy!
Good News/ Bad News
Interesting morning. I had both GOOD "mommy news" and BAD "mommy news".
Good News: I had an sonogram today and saw Baby "it"! Don't know yet if it is a boy or a girl, but I will know in May! Today, I am 12 weeks, 3 days pregnant! October 1st is my due date. Little baby was kicking and moving all about--so CRAZY that I already could see feet, nose, etc.
Hunter went with me to the doctor. He was chatting with the technician until she started pushing on my tummy. Hunter started freaking out, dropped his sippy cup, arms upward toward me saying "pwease, pwease." He wanted me to hold him right then, of course. :) Baby looks good though!
Bad News: The plumbers came to our house this morning. Our line is backed up--gross! Two guys working on our toilets for 2 hours. Just after they left, I put Hunter in the bath so I could get dressed to go to the doctor.
I turn around and Hunter is playing with the TOILET PLUNGER IN THE BATHTUB. Seriously? I almost started crying. I almost left Hunter and the plunger in the tub.
Am I really ready to parent two kids? If we have a daughter, I already feel sorry for her.
Thankful
Being a parent causes you to think a lot about your own parents and childhood. The older Hunter gets, the more I am thankful for my own parents. I am thankful for so many things--their constant love, the sacrifices they made, the morals they lived for me to learn. More than anything, I am thankful for their unselfishness. Sounds simple, but let me explain...
Everyday I raise Hunter to learn, grow, and develop. It is definitely bitter-sweet. Each milestone is an achievement, but it is also some form of independence from me.
Breastfeeding>Bottle>Baby Food>Finger Food>Silverware
or
Holding>Sitting>Crawling>Walking
Each skill starts with me and ends with Hunter's learned independence. Basically, I pour my heart and soul into teaching him not to need MOM!!! :( In the past few days, I have had 3 conversations with young moms about how fast our kids grow and how it is so sad! It is! I cannot believe how time goes by so quickly!
I realize my fear of "letting Hunter go" because I love him so much. In my immaturity, I already fear the first day of kindergarten, first sports events, girlfriends, graduation, and moving out of my home!!!
BUT, all that to explain why my parent's have loved so unselfishly... it seems they always saw the BIG PICTURE for us...
They DID let me go gracefully. I think about how they encouraged me to "go away" for college. They encouraged me to spend a summer away (in Hawaii:) taking summer school. They respected my desire to get married young and leave home. When Chris' job meant moving 15 hours away-they were supportive. I know ALL THESE were hard on them, but they were what was best for me. So often, I think how they could have made me feel guilty or scared to take those opportunities. Instead, they pushed what was better for ME not necessarily what was better for them.
I put this picture of my brothers' and me because I am so thankful to have parents who encouraged each of us in our own pursuit of work, love, and life. It is a blessing to each of us. It has blessed me greatly.
I have been reading a book called "That's My Son" by Rick Johnson. The book discusses my place in God's plan for Hunter-how to communicate with him-discipline him-pitfalls as a mother...and so on.
Johnson says, "A parents main task is to receive a child as a charge from the Lord and then dedicate the child to God's ways."
I want so much to view raising Hunter and all my kids as a "charge from the Lord" and not as something that is supposed to fulfill me. That is hard.
That's my rant for today. Thanks Mom & Dad! I love you!
Hanging with Lillian
It is wonderful having neighbors who can't get enough of us! :) Okay, so they have a daughter, Lillian, who is a couple months younger than Hunter. Hunter LOVES to go play at their house. Her pink toys and animals are WAY cooler! Hunter loves Addison and Sarah too!
The best part is trading off babysitting. My only concern is Lillian tries to kiss Hunter a lot and look at her trying to hold his hand!!! Easy girl!
Sarah...have to make a shout out to the Christmas shirt in March! Guess you could make fun that Hunter's pants look like capris and his shirts are now 3 quarter length!
Learning
We've somewhat been under house arrest since Christmas with the weather. I believe there was only ONE sunny day the entire month of February. Snow and grey have been the norm.
But, Hunter has been learning so much so quickly!
His FAVORITE vocabulary consists of:
"pwease" (for EVERYTHING)
"hot" (which he says about everything in the kitchen and bathroom because I tell him the oven and bath water are hot!)
"eyes" (I tell him at nap time to close his eyes and now every time I put him in his crib he says eyes about 30 times)
"no,no,no" (usually with a VERY serious expression)
"mama" or "m-A-A-m" (usually only when he is crying, hurt, thirsty, hungry)
"dada" (all day long!)
"dake" (he always looks for Drake when we pull in the driveway)
Hunter has also been learning some crazy moves in his crib apparently. Twice last week we heard a loud THUMP and screaming. The result: a terrible black eye and a red cut in HIS eyebrow. HOW? WHAT? I have NO IDEA what he was doing or how he did it!!!
He seems to have calmed down in his crib this week. Maybe he had to learn the hard way to not do whatever it was he was doing!
Valentine's Day Visit to Cincy
Grandpa Jim, Grammy, Aunt Elaine & Aunt Ashley came to Cincinnati over Valentine's Weekend to visit!
On Valentine's Day, the girls kept Hunter one night and the adults went to the Waterfront on the Ohio River for a steak and lobster.
Ice cream at the famous Graeters!
Brushing teeth for bedtime and clinging to Elmo!
My Aunt's always play with me!
Playing with Grammy!
Love my grandparents!
In the shark's mouth-so scary!
Looking at fish with Grandpa.
At the aquarium.
They were supposed to leave Monday but got snowed in, so we watched Olympics and Grandpa Jim cooked for us! A picture of our street.
Visiting Dallas & OKC
Hunter and I went to Dallas for a long weekend to visit Mimi & Grande. We drove up to OKC for one night to see friends and family there too.
Hunter LOVES his Aunt Ashley & Aunt Elaine. He is always happy, happy to see them and his great grandparents!
Hunter thinks buddy Eli is really cool. He made smoothies for Hunter and kept playing "drink the pretend smoothie." Hunter really thought there was something in the red cup. Eli is WAY more 'advanced' than Hunter (even if his mom, Reba, does encourage him to wear pink hats). :)
I had to make a stop in the Village and see my friends (Emily, Cari & Erin) & Hunter's precious friends (Griffin, Cali & "on her way"Annabellel).
It was a great weekend to be in Dallas because Sam & Boone were in town. It was really nice to have good Mexican food and hangout with my parents.
Sam already letting Hunter drive.
Boone & Avri let Hunter crawl all over them at dinner.
Don't think they were ready for my flash, but Grande graciously sharing ice cream with Hunter minutes before bed.
Lunch with Aunt Diana.
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