Silly things with Hunter...

I realized that I have already started to have to find little funny ways to get Hunter to do things or keep him content while doing something.  For instance, in order to get him to open his mouth and let me brush his teeth, I sing him the "Happy Birthday" song while he's taking his bath.  Haha.  He loves for me to sing to him so the first song that popped in my head was that song and then he let me brush his teeth!  It doesn't work every time but for the most part it does.

Here are a few others:

- You know my boy is picky about eating. I told you how he just doesn't like his highchair, well, sometimes, I feed him in the bath tub (seems to be a very productive place for us, huh?).  One day, I wasn't able to pick him up from day care until late and he was already super crabby and tired when we got home.  He didn't want to eat anything  but I was starving so I had some macaroni and cheese that I had leftover in the fridge.  Nuked it for 2 minutes.  Told myself that maybe after his bath he will try and eat some cereal.  I grabbed the mac and cheese out of the microwave, started his bath and put him in.  He looks at me and starts going bananas like he wants MY mac and cheese after I just put away his dinner that he refused to touch. So he ate all my mac and cheese.  LOL.  I only try this on nights when Hunter is crabby/ tired  and I have to get him underway with his bedroom routine pretty quickly and works everytime.  Love our bathtub! In addition, we have put away the highchair.  Henow sits at his little table with chairs and loves it and it works like a charm (whenever he doesn't eat in the bathtub). =)

-  Now I don't want to say that I'm already starting him on chores or I may be in trouble with all those child labor laws buuuuut, Hunter does like to help mommy sweep, do laundry and empty the dishwasher.  The sweeping is a no brainer, and doesn't really help with the collecting of dog hair and crumbs but he does hold the dust pan for me while I sweep it up.  Laundry, he helps me with grabbing all the dirty towels around the house and putting them in the laundry room as well as when I finish putting laundry away, such as putting his socks in his drawer.  When we're all done,  he pushes the laundry baskets back to the laundry room for me.  As for the dishwasher, he hands me all the silverware while I organize it in the drawer (except for the knives, I grab those first before he does).  =)

- Hunter is obsessed with his blanky's.  I think he has 5 or 6 of them. I have found that the more blanky's he has in his crib when I put him down to bed, the faster he falls asleep. Then I go back into his room about 15 minutes later once he has fallen asleep and take some of them out because because he ends up getting too hot but he averages about 3.  I have to keep about 2 or 3 in there or else he will wake up in the middle of the night wondering where they are and will cry for them.  Yes, he notices.  He could care less about his plush monkey or rabbit.  It's all about the blanky's.  I keep a spare one in the car when we go on a car ride that I know he may try and take a nap and it definitely helps! He also gets mad if we cuddle up to any one of his blanky's.  He definitely has his stamp on them so no one will touch but him!



Sitting in my "Tot Spot" chair with my blanky.



As you can see there are 3 here on the couch while we read books and play some before bed.



- Hunter knows pretty much all of his body parts.  He knows where his eyes, nose, mouth, head, ears, feet and belly are.  He has now officially learned where his booty is and sticks it out when we quiz him on his body parts.  With that being said, sometimes, he likes to quiz mommy of my body parts by touching them.  He will touch my mouth, eyes (eye lids..have to watch for this one), ears, head, feet, belly and then when it comes to my booty, he won't touch it! Good man.  He will stick his out and make me say what it is!  So funny, I never taught him that.  I am raising a natural gentleman.

Here is a video that Sean took of him while they were at the park the other day.  Hunter can climb up the stairs to get to the slide all by himself- over and over again.  This wears him out by the way.

Hunter's 1st ER visit...

I have never had a stomach virus nor have I had a whole family sick with it.  Last Thursday, Sean picked Hunter up from daycare and they said he hadn't really eaten anything all day and he threw up right before Sean picked him up and on the way home from daycare he was throwing up in the car.  Sean called me at work and I of course, immediately called his pediatrician's office.  I set up an appointment for him to be seen at 7 pm that night (they have a night service available for sick kids).  While we waited to be seen by the doctor, he threw up 3 times and was so miserable.  The doctor checked him out and told me that he had a ear infection that the reason for the vomitting could be related or unrelated to the ear infection.  I knew it had to be unrelated because he has never thrown up like this from all the ear infections that he has had.  So she told me to just keep liquids in him and he should be good in a few days.  Yeah right.  That Sunday Sean and I took him to the ER.  From Thursday to Sunday he didn't eat a thing, not that he needed to because liquids are more important because of dehydration but he would try and drink water and I would try to take a syringe to try and get him to take some Pedialyte and then soon after would not be able to keep it in.  The water just went right through him and the diarrhea  was so bad that I thought it developed a rash on his bottom but later found out that was an allergic reaction to his ear infection medication.  I had to throw in the towel because enough was enough, I was really starting to get worried and how many more days was I going to see my little guy so miserable?  When we brought him to the ER, fortunately, the doctors said that he wasn't severely dehydrated but knew that he needed some fluids.  They didn't give him an IV because they wanted to see if he would drink this fluid first that they described to me like "sugar water" but with electrolytes (I think it was called Enfamil Ephalyte). I told them "good luck with that" but for some reason he sucked it all down with a straw. I guess that was the trick.  Ha! Then I had described to them that the liquid would not hold well and it would be coming out one of his two ends and they said that would be okay because they would like to test it.  Sure enough it came out in his stool about 5 minutes later and found that he was positive for the Rotovirus and  because of the allergy to the medication was another reason for his  out of control diarrhea. They told me that the Rotovirus was viral and that there really isn't anything that they can do to clear it up but to just let it run its course.  Also, it can last up to 10 days! They said that most likely he got it from daycare because at that time Sean nor I were sick.  So that led me to my next question, why weren't Sean and I sick from Hunter being sick for those 4 days already?  The doctors warned us that it is contagious and it is just a matter of time.  They told us to just keep disinfecting like we had been and just see what happens.  We spoke to soon, the very next day, I got sick and had to have Sean come home from work to help take care of Hunter while I was miserable.  Then the next day was when Sean got sick.  Yep so we were all miserable with this virus until the end of last week.




This was the only picture I managed to snap while sitting in the triage of the hospital.  After they gave him the fluid he threw a fit and I knew why because he was hungry so they let him have a few crackers while we were there.  Poor baby.

I ended up going to see my OB because they called me to check and see how I was doing (I notified them as soon as I got sick).  They asked me to come in and found that I had lost 3 pounds and my doctor gave me some Ziflucan to take to help with the sickness so that I could eat.  Which helped tons later that day.  I was able to start eating normal again.  I did have a major scare when the doctor put the doppler on my belly to hear the baby's heart beat and he couldn't find it.  After about 15 minutes of trying, he told me that he needed for me to get an ultrasound at the hospital.  I was going bananas freaking out thinking that having this stomach virus for the past few days and not eating and being sick that it could've possibly done something to harm the baby.  Thank God that as soon as the ultrasound tech put the thing on my belly, he right away told me that I could breathe because he saw the heartbeat.  Up until that point, I had already prepared myself for the worst (waiting that 1.5 hours in agony) and was so happy to hear that everything was okay.  Fortunately enough, my dad was able to be there with me.  He came in town a few days for a visit.  Now for a tiny bit of top secret information....I did get curious and ask if he could tell the gender yet and at first he said a girl and then after doing a few measurements and the baby was flipping in all directions, it was pretty clear as day that it looks like we are having another boy!  I'm not going to say for sure yet because my official anatomy appointment isn't until the middle of April so I will try not to think that we are having a boy ..yet.  Even though, I think we are having a boy anyway but we will see.  Just a few more weeks.....



Waiting to see the doctor.  Who's the patient?



So far this pregnancy...

I thought this would be a good time for me to fill you guys in on how I'm feeling....so far, cannot complain at all except for the tiredness factor which I hear doesn't really let up in your second pregnancy.  I guess because you have another child to take care of and it's not like I can sleep all the time like I did with Hunter but overrall I feel just like I did with Hunter.  No sickness, no heartburn (yet), just plain tired. There are some differences though.   In the beginning I was starving ...I mean starving like I haven't eaten in 3 days which was exactly how I was with Hunter the entire pregnancy! LOL.  My starvation mode has finally tapered off and I literally feel like I'm just eating for one.  Which has given me a lot of relief because I have already gained 10 pounds in the first trimester which I did with Hunter and ended up gaining a total of 50 at the end! This time I am making sure of not to gain 50.  Maybe 40, but not 50! Not that I know I can't lose it but gosh, I hated the way I looked even 6 months after having Hunter.  Another difference is that I craved fruit the entire pregnancy with Hunter.  Sean would buy me a watermelon each week and I would eat the whole thing!  This pregnancy, I am craving sweets.  Not everyday or anything but it seems to specifically boil down to frosting. I can eat it plain, on cookies or obviously have a peice of cake.  So lately, if I get a craving for it, I'll make some cupcakes. Keep about 8 of them so that Sean can have a few and give the rest to his daycare or the kids across the street.  I just want a "fix" and then I'm done.  Plus, remember, I'm trying to not reach the 50 pound mark. I've cut out eating bread.  Every now and then I do crave a sandwich so I have one but other than that I just eat a soup and salad for lunch and I feel full.

Then, as usual with all second (continuing) pregnancies, I am showing so much sooner and feel like I'm nearing the third trimester!  Everyone even keeps asking if I know what I'm having yet and I tell them "no, not until April" and then they quickly ask, "are they twins?" YIKES!! Anyway, but I am exercising a little (when I'm not exhausted) and I feel like I exercise a lot even just around the house with keeping up with Hunter and cleaning that I burn a decent amount of calories anyway.  At least I think I do =) Here's a photo that my friend here took of me at work what I currently look like.....



Already looking super preggo, huh?

 I personally don't have a preference on what I would like for this baby to be because honestly, I could go either way.  If its a boy, perfect.  Hunter has a playmate for life and I have a bunch of boy stuff anyway and I am already familiar with raising a boy now.  If it's a girl, she will be my playmate for life and will have to later deal with the teenage years. So we will see.  We do have names already picked out for either of them but we won't know until mid April what this baby is.  I did find out that my official due date is September 12 which is 4 days after Hunter's birthday! Yeah, I'm a little freaked out about them having a chance of having the same birthday but my doctor has been warned that when it's closer that he is to make sure that they don't =) 

Tax Money

I know that I am not the only person who plans how they will spend some of that tax money that Uncle Sam will be giving this year so I thought I would fill you in on a few things that Sean and I have absolutely decided to get:

#1 - A shed. 

We need a shed so badly that we cannot unpack finish setting up the house.  I know its sad. We moved 6 months ago and things have not quite moved along as well with the house as I liked but with this new HUGE shed that we are going to get it's going to make everything finally go into their places.  We have things in the guest room that we would rather have in the 4th room but that is where we have been keeping the stuff that would need to go in the shed.  Plus now, there will no longer be a guest room because it will be for the baby - not anytime soon but in a few months my nesting craze will kick in will need to start the converting.  Also, Hunter desparately needs his own play room and a room to just lounge in.  My living room is completely taken over by toys! I need this 4th bedroom open so that I can have a living room back! Not that Hunter won't have toys in there but I don't need for all of them to be in there.  Haha.

#2 - A new MAC computer for me.

I told you how Hunter accidently spilled water on my old MAC and yes, we are still trying to get the memory off of it.  In the meantime, I've been having to use Sean's computer and I like to use it when he's at work but of course, he likes to take it to work!  I already ordered a new one and should be here in a week! I'm so excited! 

Here it is!

#3 - Hitch on our new car
Sean traded in his truck in for a Chevy Traverse but it didn't come with a hitch on the back and we need it to pull the boat.  In fact, we need the hitch on first so that Sean can get the boat out from the back yard to put the shed there! 

Our new family car!

The rest of the money will be saved.  I have to admit I did splurge a little and go to IKEA and bought a few things for the new baby's room that can be for either a girl or boy if I throw in a girlish or boyish color and some new end tables.... 

BTW, I go to tomorrow to see exactly how far along I am.  I have a due date anywhere from the end of August to September 15!