Traveling with Hunter

Lately, Hunter has become a little frequent flyer.  He has been to North Carolina, Vegas and now Pennsylvania.  We are also planning another trip in November to meet my mom in Myrtle Beach.  This past week just Hunter and I made a trip up to Erie, Pennsylvania where we met my mom.  We went to visit his Great Grandmother who isn't doing so well and I've been really wanting to go see her and of course wanting Hunter to meet her.  I was a bit nervous because Sean wasn't going to be with us to help with everything and also because we were going to have a connection in Philadelphia that I thought we wouldn't make it because the layover was so short but it worked out.  Hunter is not one to just fall asleep easily when he is tired (he's been like this from day 1).  He needs his routine and his crib and then he knows its naptime/ bedtime.  He will fight sleep until he can't take it anymore and just scream.  Not that I was worried about him doing that because I've gotten to the point now that he is one year old and if he is going to cry in public then thats just what he will do.  Hunter is a very happy baby just when he is hungry or tired he is a mess and lets you know it.  So, anyway, Hunter did very well on all the flights.  Only on one of them, he had an outburst because he was so tired and it only lasted about 30 seconds. No biggie. I was very proud of my little boy.

Over the course of our few trips, I have made some adjustments to our packing.  It is true, that you can never take too much when you have a child but I do think that there are few things that you can downsize in order for you to not take so much and overpack (yes, I am horrible at this).  For instance, why take a toy car when you have a toy truck?  Even though he LOVES both of them, he can settle for one because they generally are the same concept (I know, duh!).  Also, taking toys that you know are his favorite are a Must when you are at your actual destination but taking new toys or silly stuff that you can make fun on the actual flight are a definite Must.  With Hunter having his usual toys at the hotel made him feel like he is at home with his routine but new toys on the plane keep him from getting bored.  Here is an example of a new toy, it was actually a book, that kept Hunter from getting bored:

You would think that after reading this book that he was done with it.  No.  He loved the fact that he could put his fingers through the little slot and that I could take it and do the same thing.  Also, I would bring it up to my face and play peek-a-boo with him. He absolutely loved this.  The most simplest toy/book worked.  I also brought him little toys that shake and rattle and some silly putty! LOL.  He surprisingly, didn't try to eat it but loved the feeling of it between his fingers. Also, an umbrella stroller is another Must.  I'm not sure if this is typical but Hunter will not stay put in his usual stroller so I didn't take one on the way up there because what's the point?  He will just stand up in it (while moving) and give me a mini heart attack so my mom had one for us when I got there. Plus, he's loving that he can walk now and does not like to be strapped in anything but my mom said that I absolutely needed one and that it was time for an umbrella stroller.  Sure enough, she was right.  I think Hunter loves how he is snug in it and that there isn't a bar or anything preventing him from leaning out a little (he's strapped in, of course) but he actually stayed in the stroller the whole time! I was excited about that.  Oh, and now that he is fully on whole milk now. No formula.  I was really worried that being at the airport they wouldn't have Vitamin D milk.  Hunter drinks organic Vitamin D milk but in an emergency it won't kill him to have the other stuff.  So, just in case, I had a little formula left over and I brought it.  Yes, I had to use it.  US Air does not provide milk.  So unless I had some with me from purchasing at the airport (which was like finding a needle in a haystack for the red kind).  I had to go that route.  Glad I brought and Hunter didn't even notice the difference. 

Hunter and Mimi pushing around his new favorite stroller.

I also have to thank all of our "flight friends" that we met on our trip.  Joanne was on our first flight (it was just us in the row) and she played with him and made silly faces and he would crack up.  Then there was Devin on the connecting flight from Philadephia to Erie, who was 20 years old and had no clue what one-year olds do so I had Hunter show him all his tricks:  giving mommy kisses, showing with his hands "hi and bye-bye", howling like an Indian (opening his mouth like a big "O" and pushing his hand to his mouth back and forth making sounds), blowing raspberries and doing the "Wave" with his arms up and down.  Devin thought is was the coolest thing and would do it with him and Hunter would just crack up too!  Next would be George (or Jim, can't remember) where we were a little snug on the Turbo Prop plane from Erie to Philadelphia and he apparently talked Hunter into sleeping and Hunter actually fell asleep on me! Thanks so much George/Jim! Then there was Dennis on the way home who Hunter loved to touch his goatee on his face.  My boy is not shy.  I guess he loved the texture of it and had fun with that. I felt bad for Dennis because he was trying to do a crossword puzzle and Hunter would not leave him alone.  You feel so stuck in that window seat!  Also, I do have to thank US Airways for being so great and accomodating to us and everyone else that was exceptionally nice and went out of their way to pick something up if we dropped something.  Overrall, I can say that I can definitely take another trip with him.  It's exhausting but worth it.

Hunter meeting his Great Grandma for the first time.

I love my Mimi!

And the best part about coming home, was coming home to daddy!

Not sure you can tell but I dressed Hunter in his Steelers outfit to be ready to watch football with Daddy when we got home! (and yes, I know this is a terrible picture)

My 1st Birthday!

Well, Hunter is officially "1"! . We had his birthday on Saturday at the house and we all had a really nice time.  Hunter even started to walk at different times and seemed like he knew that it was "HIS" party.  All he cared about was the water! He loves the water (like most kids do) but if it has anything to do with water or splashing, he is all over it! We found out that he does not care for cake or icing.  Everyone laughed and told me that I have corrupted him because I do not allow him to have any sugar and said that he was afraid to try it!  They don't understand my boy, he is full of energy (btw, Hunter did not take an afternoon nap because of all the excitement)! I made a book of his special day on Shutterfly (which I use to make all of his photo books) and I posted the book of the pictures for you all to see! Enjoy!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create your own custom photo books at Shutterfly.com.

No more "baby-baby"!

Congrats to us! Us three have made it through Hunter’s first year of life!! I can’t believe that the time has come for my little baby boy to turn 1 year old.  I admit, it's been a little hard to swallow now that he is turning 1 but I have shed my tears about it and I am ready!   Not that I’m unhappy for the upcoming year of new experiences and seeing him grow, but my newborn baby will not be a “baby-baby” anymore. 

First picture taken with Daddy.

We've seen him grow so much from those little booty socks and newborn diapers to size 5 shoe and size 4 diapers.  We saw him smile for the first time around 2.5 months and it lit up our whole world. Then around 3 months, Daddy got him cracking up with him. He didn't take a pacifier until he was about 4 months old (thank God for that one!) and did not really care for any solid food until he was about 8 months old where he really started eating alot.  He first rolled over at about 4.5 months old from tummy to back and then at around 5.5 months he rolled from tummy to back and then back to tummy.  7.5 months old he was crawling and about a week later he was already pulling up on furniture.  We made our breast feeding journey until 10 months where he decided he wanted to stop when we went on vacation (sniff sniff). This little guy has become me and Sean's whole world and wouldn't have it any other way. He has started walking unassisted about 3-4 steps and has started to stand up on his feet from the floor on his own and  stand there for a little while until he decides to take the few steps or plop back down.

Not only is he into everything but he has learned how to move stuff (aka boxes or anything of that sort) to a location where he wants to climb up to and stand.  For instance, he will push the little step that I use to kneel by the tub for his bathtime over to the toilet, then stand on that in order to climb up onto the toilet lid and then from there he will get to the back of the toilet and even sometimes reach for the sink! Yikes! There is no way that I have time to snap and photo of this because I only turn my head for a second and he’s already up there! Yep, the toddler-ness has officially started. So, the step is gone until we need it for when he can brush his teeth at the sink.

Bye- bye.

I hate even mentioning this but for his 1^st birthday he is going to have a "shiner".  I feel absolutely horrible about it too.  He was walking with his Fisher Price walking toy (which btw, is perfect because the wheels don't roll too fast for him while he's pushing it) and for some reason he missed his footing and nailed his eye brow/head into the coffee table.  Ugh...I hate even talking about it and of course on Tuesday when I went to drop him off at day care I was thinking that they would raise suspicions about the bruise around his eye but nope, they said that when they start to walk that this happens A LOT.  Of course, I think, "Great"....more "shiners" to come.  Anyway, I guess this is something else that I have to look forward to no matter how closely I watch him.  Hopefully, we won't notice too much in his pictures on Saturday.

Bad toy.

Hunter has already has been displaying some tantrum-like behavior these days.  Take a look at one of his rare moments.  He was pushing the chair around in the kitchen and it got stuck on the rug:

Here's a video of him in the first few days of moving in and after getting his room pretty much set up, we put down a new rug for him.  This was right before bedtime and he was just acting so silly:



Either way, Saturday, September 8, we are ready for our little boy to turn 1.  We love you, Hunter so much and hope you have a wonderful day!

This past week...

Now that we are in our new house, I wanted to share with you our disaster of hoarding that has taken place from the past 4 years.  Yes, my husband has a problem. I have been trying to have a homeade intervention for him but I guess I haven’t been very effective to him.  Haha.  Seriously, I really do not know where all of our stuff came from.  Moving is the only way for you to see how much stuff you actually have.  It took us 2 of the largest U-Haul truck loads to get everything here! Then a few of Sean's truck and my car of stuff! We thank everyone that was here to help us. It was a lot!

Moving Day: Our living room.

Hunter loved that the T.V. was on the floor.  This was such a "baby hazard" for me. I snapped a photo and quickly got him away from it. =)

Moving Day: Other side of living room.

Moving Day: Den. Marley was somewhere in here for the rest of the day.  I had to bribe him with the sound of food in his bowl to get him out.  Poor cat.

One tuckered out dog.  Millie was even exhausted from the move.  She hardly moved from her bed for 2 days after.  LOL.

As part of Sean's "intervention", we have decided to have a yard sale/give-a-way at our house in the upcoming weeks so that we can get rid of the stuff.  As of today, the kitchen, Hunter’s room, most of the clothes and bathrooms are all in order.  Everything else is still in a box or shoved some place for the time being until we can free up space to move it to where it goes.  Plus, its so hard to arrange stuff with a 1-year old! Hunter is all over the place and wants to be in everything that we are moving but at least it makes it fun for us but also time consuming.  Nap times is where the progression of unpacking has been made.  Thank goodness that we have a long holiday weekend because we have a lot to do before all of our guests come over for Hunter’s 1^st Birthday party! My little guy is becoming a big boy and I’m so excited for him.  Like I said before, we will have a few friends come over along with Sean’s family.  We are planning to meet my Mom, brother and sister-in-law the weekend after in Myrtle Beach in celebration for his birthday.  Mimi (my mom) has asked me to only bring his bottles/sippy cups and his blanky’s.  She is planning to provide all of his necessities as well as his toys (can we say spoiled?).  Fine by us. It will make our traveling a lot lighter! We are excited to see everyone. 

Also, Hunter has been adjusting very well to his new day care.  The first day that he was there, I called them 3 times and each time they told me that he hasn't been crying, he just ate something, and has been playing with the other kids. They also told me that he was taking a few steps on his own! Other than him not taking his usual 2 naps like he does at home, he was pretty tough with getting him to relax and take one.  This didn't concern me because he did the same thing at his old daycare so I just told him that he is just very stimulated and doesn't want to miss anything.  I gave them a few tips on how to calm him down and he does take about an hour and half long nap now.  At least its something! He is right in between staying with the infants and moving on to the Toddler room depending on when he will be officially walking and they were telling me that when he moves to the Toddler room that he has to sleep on a mat! I was like, good luck with that one! He can't even take a nap in the crib that he has at daycare! This is going to be very interesting when it gets to that point.  I can see at the age of 15 months that I am going to have a Parent-Teacher meeting regarding Hunter and him not sleeping on a mat.  LOL.  Me and Sean just crack up about this one. Who knows, maybe Hunter will surprise us when that times comes.  Oh and Hunter is getting his year old molars in already! Yikes! Poor baby..he's had a few miserable nights this week.  Hopefully, his teeth will all come in at the same time.  =)

P.S. - Just kidding about Sean and the hoarding but yes, he does keep everything!