21 months

This has been a VERY busy month which has made the time literally FLY by. The month started off with a trip to Houston for the Bye week, followed by a quick turn around trip to Nashville for Jordan's game and to see friends on Halloween. Then a weekend in here Jacksonville with our Kansas City friends and their kiddos and finally Hunter's week/weekend in Dallas with Nana while momma went to NYC for Jordan's game. WHEW! I am tired just thinking about all of the packing and unpacking and it's not over yet :-)

Hunter has had a fun month, needless to say, filled with visits from all of his favorite people. He is at the age where he remembers everyone regardless of how long its been since he last saw them. It had been about 4 months since he had seen Pop (my dad) and when Pop opened the door last week to let us in the house Hunter held up his arms and yelled "hi pop"...melted Pop's heart.

He gets pretty attached to "those who love him" as he talks about them nonstop when we are home in Florida. Particularly he recently took a liking to Noah "Woawah". I have yet to post about my trip to NYC, because I am still attempting to unpack and do 14 loads of laundry from all of our recent travels, but while I was in NY Hunter stayed at Nana's (where Noah also lives). It's like a light bulb came on during that visit and Hunter suddenly realized how super cool Noah is. Noah was really sweet with him and would try to include him on everything. Hunter acted like the typical younger child most of the weekend following his older 4 year old cousin all over the house wanting to be just like him. Every sentence Hunter starts, since last weekend, begins or ends with "Woawah" as if he is either talking about him or to him 24/7.

Giving mom a fresh picked rose out of Vivi's garden

This is such a sweet phase, and pretty easy too, although occassionally I get a glimpse of what 2 year old Hunter will be like, especially after naptime. I love that he is pretty much up for anything and gets so excited about all of the little things. He is still such a great traveler, which is a blessing since he has spent the majority of his weekends on an airplane the last 21 months.

He's got a little cold right now that he picked up 2 weeks ago but it hasn't really slowed him down...it's that time of year hooray! He is still into all things that move, planes, trains, cars, trucks, and ELMO and most recently Curious George. He is still very snuggly and he understands just about anything I tell him or ask him to do, which is fun.

He loves to touch my belly and say "baby" with lots of enthusiasm but I doubt that he really understands the full concept that a baby is really in there. He loves to look at ultrasound pictures and and point out body parts on the baby. It's fun to imagine what kind of a big brother he will be.

Snuggling with Aunt Beekah

It's been a very full and exciting month and we have many more fun things in store so stay tuned!

Surprise...

There's another bun in the oven!

Due to arrive sometime in May :-)

Jags-Chiefs weekend with friends

This weekend Robbie, Amber, Kaitlyn, Patricia and Emory all came to Jacksonville for the Jags-Chiefs weekend. It has been 4 months since we were all under the same roof together and the kids have changed so much! They are all walking and talking little toddlers!

Hunter and Emory chillin on the couch watching Curious George

and playing in the rocks

we attempted to get a picture with all the kids standing... Hunter was being very cooperative :-)

We had a mini birthday party for Kaitlyn. She turns 1 on the 17th and is walking all over the place and just trying to keep up with Hunter and Emory who are pretty much in a dead sprint at all times.

She didn't even wait until after the photo op to dive into the "camicake" cupcake

Of course the weekend had to include playing at the beach with the kiddos
The surf washed up quite a bit of seaweed (eew!)

The weather was beautiful but the water was CHILLY!

Hunter loves the water

After the game Rudy, Robbie and Jordan

Whole group Jordan, me, Amber, Robbie, Patricia (pregnant with twins by the way!) and Rudy

It was such a fun weekend and always good to catch up and see our kids interact with each other. Tomorrow we fly to Dallas together where I will be dropping off Hunter with Nana before leaving for my New York trip with Jordan's parents for the Jags-Jets game... and also my first ever "trip" to New York. We have lots of fun things and shows planned so check back for pictures soon!

Halloween in Nashville

Last weekend Hunter and I made a trip to Nashville to visit friends and see the Jags-Titans game. It was great to catch up with friends again and see Hunter and Jax all dressed up for Halloween.

Hunter and Jax got all dressed up for pumpkin fest in downtown Franklin.
Jax was a lion and Hunter was a monkey.

Apparently he is quite a bit taller than your average 20 month old...

All the girls (and kiddos) at the pumpkin fest on Halloween

Hunter (20 mo) and Jax (5 mo) in matching pj's

Family pic after the game

Group pic after the game

Matt and Hunter

Chilin at the game

Hunter got a pretty good little sugar high going and was running around like crazy when we got home from the pumpkin fest. Check it out :-)

Bye Week

This year we decided to go to Houston for the bye week. It was a VERY quick trip. We tried to see a few friends but didn't make it around to everyone...not even close. We will return after the season so hopefully we can see everyone!

Started off with a nonstop flight...best way to fly with a toddler
(this magazine fun lasted a good 30-45 minutes...nice)

Elmo lasted another 30-45 minutes
(what would we do without portable DVD players?)

The guys went shooting
(brought out the 500 Smith and Wesson Magnum)

While the girls spent a lazy day on the best couch ever made (man I miss my couch)

Hunter got PLENTY of outside time

I wonder if he remembers this house (its been 7 months)

A trip to Benihana

Everything tastes better dipped in ginger sauce (even gold fish)

A fabulous fajita dinner prepared by this guy (Jim)

A wonderfully relaxing and fun weekend spent with these two. Hope to do it again someday soon! Maybe next time it will be a duck hunting trip!

Weekend with Tia Dre

Dre came to Jax for a last minute trip last weekend. Hunter had no trouble remembering her and was VERY attached by the time she left. He cried so hard and wanted to hold her (not mommy). It was so cute. I'm mad I didn't get a picture of the two of them but we will be seeing her again this weekend in Nashville, so we will have plenty more chances!

Dre and me at the Jags game (vs. St. Louis) we won in OT!!!!

After the game

I hate that this one is out of focus :-(

It's always so good to see you. Can't wait till this weekend!

20 months old

This has been a much busier month now that football season is in full swing. We have had many visitors this month and Hunter has gotten attached to each and every one of them. I love this age, well I love all of his ages, but each new month brings more and more fun.

Hunter and Daddy

Hunter playing at Chick Fila playground with his best bud Caden

Little bud has lots of play dates these days. He loves playing with other kiddos especially ones that are older than him. He copies everything he sees. He enjoys copying Jordan and me too. His manners are starting to come around more regularly. He says please and thank you and I'm sorry (mostly when he is in trouble) but sometimes he lets me know he has done something wrong because he will just come over and say "I'm sorry". Then I have to go investigate what it is that he has done. Hard to get upset when he tells on himself haha.

He loves to sing to himself. He will be playing and sing EIEIO (old Mcdonald had a farm) he just sings the EIEIO part.... He sings the ABC song only at night after he goes to bed. We can hear him over the monitor singing his ABC's which is so sweet to hear but for some reason I can't get him to do it on command. He also loves to practice counting usually he always starts with 2 and can go to all the way to 10 with a little prompting after 5. He still loves saying the names of everyone who loves him. The "list" of people who love him has gotten much longer and now includes toys, blankets and friends as oppose to just family.

He loves to go to the beach which he will ask to go everyday. Sometimes he tells me "poooooool" like in a SUPER excited voice (which just means he wants to go play in the water) and sometimes he will ask "beach"? or say "SEASHELLS!!!!" which also means he wants to go to the beach. He has a bounce house that he enjoys jumping in and he will point outside and say "jump?"

He is really into ELMO, footballs, sidewalk chalk, playing outside, playing with friends, ELMO, cars, trucks, trains, ELMO, frogs, lizards, bugs, dirt, sand, playing chase, hide and go seek, and rough housing on the bed. Oh and ELMO.

Daddy teaching Hunter how to draw

Hunter and Caden checking out the big dogs

Keeping a healthy distance

Chick fila... again

Hunter playing with his newest Elmo toy

He wears 24 month and 2T clothes, size 7 WIDE shoes, size 5 diapers (I hate moving up sizes because you get less diapers in the bigger size boxes but they cost the same so I will try to keep him in 5's for a LONG time).

It just gets better and better!

Sesame Street Live

Last weekend, while the team was in Seattle for a LONG weekend away (Friday afternoon-early Monday morning), a few of us girls took our kiddos to see Sesame Street Live. Hunter was already obsessed with Elmo prior to the show because he has the talking Elmo that Nana and Pop gave him for his birthday. He plays with it EVERYDAY. So the second Elmo came on stage he perked up and screamed "ELMOOOOOOOO" as loud as he could. It totally came out of no where and he continued to repeat it for the rest of the show. The kids loved the show and Hunter now has other characters he is obsessed with. Mostly Big bird "bi bur", Cookie Monster "cookie" and Elmo.

The show was right in the middle of Hunter's only naptime so he was a bit tired and squirmy. I kept him still by snacking the entire show. He fell asleep after the show before we even got out of the parking lot, 3 hours after his normal naptime. He did GREAT considering!

Hunter pointing and sceaming "ELMO"

The group (Hunter was more interested in the water)

Hunter snuggling with Nicole

Week with Sara and Jax

On Monday, the day after all of our family left, Sara and Jax came down from Nashville for a week long visit. The last time I saw Jax he was only 4 weeks old, so at 5 months he has changed quite a bit!

It didn't take long for Hunter to become attached to Sara

Jax seemed to really enjoy the beach :-)

Hunter posing for the cover of GQ

Hunter (19 mo) Jax (5 mo)

Hunter looking a bit primal (notice the wet puddle of rocks in front of him... that's not from the fountain)

They are ready to hit the beach

It won't be long before these two will but out hunting and fishing with their daddies!

Catch up

I am really far behind so I will attempt to play catch up in the next few posts.

We moved last week only about 30 minutes away this time as opposed to 13 hours last time. We love the house so far and the space that comes with it, but mostly we love the proximity to the beach. The beach has become Hunter's new "park" although it's quite scary how fearless he has become in the water, mostly the waves. It is a great way to let him burn off his energy in the mornings and usually results in a nice long 3.5 hour afternoon nap.

Before we moved out we got a picture of our night time view of downtown from our condo

I was pretty nervous about the moving day because a lot of things had to happen in a very short time period and the majority of it was done in the morning when I was alone with Hunter. Doesn't sound bad considering we had movers but if I gave you a rundown of everything that was scheduled to happen that day you would see why I was nervous. The morning was JAM packed starting at 8:30am I was up bright and early at 5:00am packing the remaining boxes. The movers showed up to move them all and the crazy morning began. I was so happy when I got the call from mom that her flight had landed and she was on her way with lunch...whew sigh of relief, and also great because after lunch is nap time for Hunter which meant we could get TONS of things accomplished.

The move was pretty seamless. Everything worked out according to plan. It was nice to have mom in town help us get settled in the new house since it takes twice as long to do things with a toddler at foot undoing everything as fast as we can get it done. She was a big help, it was like having two of me around. Pretty much everything went off without a snag.

Well sort of...

When the movers finished loading up our boxes that morning, from the condo, I went back in one last time to get my frozen/cold foods out of the fridge to take down to the car and lock up the apartment one last time. I was by myself with Hunter and needed to load the entire contents of my fridge onto the cart for my final trip down to the car. I loaded it up and pushed the cart to the elevator (20 feet from the condo) and went back to double check that I had locked the door turned out the lights etc. Somewhere during my 20 foot walk back to the condo my worst nightmare did finally happen. If you need a rundown of what is possible in the scenario I am about to give you then just click here. The elevator managed to come to the floor at the exact moment I reached my condo door (apparently Hunter was not walking with me anymore and had gone back and pushed the button). Just as I reached the condo door I heard the elevator ding indicating the door was opening. I raced back to the elevator as fast as I could just in time to see the elevator door close, this time with Hunter on board.

GREAT

***PANIC*** as the list of horrible scenarios went through my head at lightening speed. I pressed the button 27 times to ensure the elevator would indeed come back and get me. But where do I even begin once I get on the elevator? There are 38 FLOORS! I was FREAKING OUT.

About 45 seconds (longest 45 seconds ever) went by before the elevator came back to my floor and the doors opened. Much to my surprise Hunter was still on the elevator! Woohoo!

Apparently it pays to know the staff because the first stop the elevator made was to pick up a maintenance guy that Hunter and I see everyday on our morning trip to lobby for coffee and mail. He is so friendly and loves to see Hunter everyday. As soon as he got on the elevator and saw Hunter alone he made sure Hunter stayed on with him and brought him back to our floor (Hunter did try to get off but he managed to keep him on board). WOW that was a close one. The angels were watching over him that's for sure. So we squeaked by on that one and didn't even keep the movers waiting, since they were already en route to the house when this happened, had I actually gone "looking" for Hunter it could have been FOREVER before I found him and drove out to the house to let the movers unload.

The rest of the week was pretty low key. Few trips to the beach here and there. Hung out with Nana until the Black's and Bennett's came in town for the home game that weekend. We had a great time hanging out, as usual, and enjoyed a great win on Sunday against the Titans.

Hunter and "Beekah"

Hunter and Nana

Hunter and Papa

The Black's and Bennett's at the game

Offensive line taking a breather on the bench

Jordan is blocking (left #78) on the big screen replay

Look for more posts coming up I am not quite done playing catchup!

19 months old

It's been a pretty low key month around our house. This is the longest period of time that we have stayed in town since Hunter was born (6 weeks so far). We are moving out to the beach next week so our condo is completely turned upside down in boxes right now. Hunter has "helped" me with packing process so much so that I have tried to limit my packing to when he naps... otherwise things get unpacked just about as quickly as I get them packed. If I happen to get the box taped shut and labelled before he gets a chance to unpack it then he just pulls my color coded label off the box! So even after all this time at home a change in his little routine is in the near future. Until then its been really nice being in one place for so long and getting into a nice little routine.

It's amazing what a little predictability does for a toddler. I try to stick to the same plans every day, even when we do travel. But since we have been in the same place Hunter has been LOVING getting to predict what comes next in his little day. He seems to love his routine especially when it includes getting out of the house. His favorites are going to he lobby with me first thing in the morning for my cup of Joe, followed by walking daddy down to his car to wave to him as he drives away, our trip to the gym where he gets to play for 2 hours while I workout, he even loves nap-time and still sleeps so well. After nap-time we go for a stroll on the Riverwalk to get some fresh air (where we talk about EVERYTHING we see), but I think his favorite is when daddy gets home and he gets his "daddy time" on the bed (while I finish up dinner) he RUNS SCREAMING in excitement when he hears that front door open and sees daddy walk through. Then he turns around and sprints to the bedroom and climbs up on the bed because he knows he gets to play with daddy and lastly he loves his bath and bedtime routine with daddy after dinner. Hunter can predict each move in his day and knows exactly what to expect next before I even tell him. It's pretty cute to see him like this because we have never really had a routine that we have been able to follow for weeks at at time. Our routine used to be packing and unpacking and sleeping in a different place every 4 days or so. I have thoroughly enjoyed the calmness of the past 6 weeks.

As you could see in my last video post Hunter is really into make believe. He especially loves to pretend to talk on the phone and will even laugh out loud while talking as if the other person said something funny. He does some pretty cute things that totally crack us up all the time and it just gets better and better the older he gets. He has really been enjoying his little puzzles the past 2 months and can do them all by himself and knows the names of each piece (7-9 piece puzzles). He seems really into "choo choo" (trains), cars, airplanes and helicopters. He knows the difference between a car and a truck and when we walk through a parking lot he will point to EACH AND EVERY VEHICLE WE PASS and tell me wether its a car or a truck.

He also has some not so fun habits developing that we are working on such as, throwing toys (he thinks all toys are like balls and are meant to be playing catch), spitting out his drinks (he takes a big drink and then lets it drool down his chin all over his shirt), and begging for a piece of fruit but then when we go to open it... well it turns out he just wanted to tell us what the fruit was called (he didn't actually want to eat it). He will go up and say "nana nana nana" and almost cry for me to give him a banana and then the second I open it for him he shakes his head and runs away. LOVELY!

He loves to dance, walk backwards, turn in circles, jump and pretty much perform in anyway possible that will get laughs (he is Jordan's child no doubt)! He is so loving and snugly and when I get on the floor to play with him it totally makes his day and he can't hardly even play because he keeps coming over and giving kisses. It's like he is saying "thanks for playing with me mom." He loves to "help" me cook. If I am in the kitchen he MUST be ON the countertop right in the middle of it all helping. I usually give him jobs, something to pour or stir. But the other day I was making corn bread and he was having a little snack (mandarin oranges) while watching me. "We" poured all the ingredients in the bowl and I took my eyes away for a few seconds to grab the whisk and when I turned back around I saw him dumping his entire cup of mandarin oranges (juice and all) into the bowl of cornbread dough. My instincts yelled "NOOOOO" to see if I could stop him in time but instead I scared the living day lights out of him and he burst into big crocodile tears (partly scared, partly hurt) because he thought he was helping. I felt terrible.

He is growing into such a sweet little boy. He continues to amaze us everyday and we just thank God for this tremendous blessing.

Hunter, who loves you?

I have been trying for a while now to capture Hunter saying the names of people that love him before he starts saying them in a more grown up way because I want to remember this sweet little voice and the way he pronounces each name. He says them ALL day long but the moment the camera turns on he stops or doesn't go from start to finish without a lot of prodding. I wanted to get a shot of him saying everyone's name at least once so I could remember it in the future. I have 3 videos we did today that ALMOST has everyone in them. That's the best I can get for now :-)

I couldn't resist putting this first one up...this is his new favorite thing



This one is not a great example of the names but I love how he says "that's hot" and waves his little hands. I have never gotten that on camera before so I had to put it up.


This is probably the best example

Putting down roots

Those of you who know us well know that the last thing we thought we would ever say today would be "sure we'll stay in Jacksonville another 3 years"...

This year was set out to be a rebuilding year for Jordan coming off his injury and all the shenanigans with the Texans. We really had low expectations for staying in Jacksonville after they decided to get not 1 not 2 but 3 very high status tackles in the off-season. Well Jordan showed up and played his heart out the past few months and had the best camp he has had in 7 years and it has paid off. It amazes me how God answers prayers in some of the most amazing and unexpected ways. If you asked us yesterday what we though our options would be today we would not have even thought up a contract extension to stay in Jacksonville another 3 years...

He signs today at 2:00pm

For the family who misses him so much...

It's been a while since I posted a video. This morning Hunter was playing quietly by himself in his toy box.... too quietly. I went to investigate. Turns out he found my hiding place for Jordan's 3 potted tree plants that died last month. He made his own little sandbox right in my kitchen. Sorry its so long I didn't edit it down. It's too dark to tell but he dumped 3 entire pots of dirt on the rug and is attempting to transfer it back into the pots. Lovely


This one is kind of long too but turns out he LOVES salsa (just like his dad), Well from the look on his face it looks slightly painful yet he keeps going back for more.

Training Camp 2009

Training Camp 2009 broke on the 21st (the day before my birthday). With training camp being so close this year we were able to go watch practices and see Jordan when we wanted to. It was so nice to be able to see him so many times per week during camp and it made the time fly by! Jordan had his best camp in 7 years this year and it was nice to be able to see him in action more than once. The team stays in a hotel next door to our condo for camp and for games so Jordan was just steps away from us the whole time.

My best attempt at getting a picture of Hunter in front stadium
(across the river)

Practices were HOT, as expected in the Sunny state of Florida, but they had a nice shaded area with fans for the families to sit. Hunter stayed in his stroller the whole time in front of the fan reading books and playing. Otherwise it would have been VERY hard to keep him from running onto the field.

After practice he was able to get out and run around with daddy a bit

Since Jordan was injured last year this is the first picture we have of Hunter with daddy in uniform (even if it is just practice uniform) hopefully many more to come!

Jordan is sporting his camp "chops".

I am told they will be shaved by the first game of the year...

Although it was a great camp it's even better now that daddy is home!

18 months old

A year and a half! I can't believe it's here so fast! This has been a fun month because this month was the longest we have been home since we moved to Florida. It has been really nice to get into a routine. It's amazing how much easier things are when you stay in one place!

Hunter has turned into such a sweet little boy. He is really affectionate with random hugs and kisses all day long but he is also very independent. He requires VERY little entertainment from me. He is so good at playing by himself and entertaining himself. After a while he will come over for a quick hug or kiss or ask for a snack but otherwise he is back to business.

Highlights of month 17:

He is a CLIMBER. Can't take my eyes off this one for 2 seconds. He has been trying to jump for a few months now and it is so adorable to see him get really low and put his hands behind him and then spring up and throw his hands in the air really hard....and his feet don't even leave the ground. I will have to show a video of this it's priceless.

He is a talker. This kiddo talks my ears off all day long. If he's not talking to me he's talking to himself and he only has ONE VOLUME and you can guess what it is.... ULTRA LOUD. Almost painfully loud. He has gotten to where he will ask for pretty much any of the basic things. He asks for drinks, snacks, crackers, cookies, lovie, teddie bear, bath, to go outside, for kisses, toys, diapers (to be changed), socks, shoes, and to watch praise baby (which he asks for MANY times per day). It's so neat to see the language progress so quickly every single day.

He is learning his numbers, colors and alphabet. His favorite number is 2 and favorite letter is B. He points them out to me anytime anywhere we are. He loves them for some reason. When I ask him how old he is he holds up one finger but says "2".

He knows most of the animals and can do the sound that go with them. His favorite is donkey and cow. I will have to show a video of those two they are sooooo cute.

He loves to stack blocks and work puzzles. He is OBSESSED with airplanes, choo choo trains, helicopters and birds. We have frequent helipcopter fly-byes and he will run over to the window lift the blinds and look out yelling "whasat, whasat, whasat momma"? He calls them "copter".



And of course he wouldn't be a typical toddler if he didn't enjoy testing out his toys in the toilet to see if they float. I typically leave the doors to the bathroom locked for this very reason but he managed to slip one in before bathtime tonight. He has also thrown an entire box of nutrigrain bars in the toilet.... LOVELY.


Speaking of toilets he does show interest in potty training but he is still REALLY young (and a boy) so I don't think I am gonna go there just yet. But he tells me when he is going he will point and say "pee pee" and also tells me after he has dirty diaper. He will usually come over the second he finishes and give me a hug and sit in my lap and say "poo poo" or "diaper"... which is lovely. But, I am still on the fence about it right now.

I have also recently discovered that a favorite hiding place of his is the trashcan... specifically the trashcan devoted to dirty diapers. Lately quite a few things have been coming up missing. Since it's just Hunter and I here right now there is only one culprit. If I hadn't caught him in the act of throwing away some clean clothes the other day I would have never known. I am sure what is gone is gone for good by now.

We also discovered a free water park across the river from our condo. It's actually just across the street from the stadium and I am just now finding it. It's open everyday all day and has a perfect little area devoted just to toddlers. We took the ferry from our condo to the water park this week. Hunter had a BLAST!

First boat ride

We also recently discovered that Hunter has been wearing the wrong shoes size for quite some time. I have always just measured his foot sole to sole with his shoes for fit. He has always hated wearing shoes and will take them off the second we get somewhere. I decided to go to Stride Rite and get him properly fitted and I was WAY off. I had him in a 5 regular and his foot is a 6.5 WIDE. Whoops. Turns out he actually loves shoes, now that he has some that fit. He won't take them off and begs for me to put them on first thing in the morning out of bed he says "shoes"?

He loves trying on mommy's shoes too

He is my little helper. He loves to help me carry things and push the cart for me when I buy groceries. He is taking a ride on the cart here but when its' empty he pushes it for me and he can actually steer pretty well!

Helping me bake cookies for daddy's training camp care package.

He likes to carry his own bag. When we leave he asks for it or he will ask to bring his Teddy bear... or a toy... or Mr. wrinkles. It's always something.

This has been such a fun month. I can't believe how old he acts somedays. It has all just gone by way too fast :-(

Sweet Boy

The day will come when I am no longer aloud to discuss these things publicly so I am going to take my opportunity while I have it!

Ever have one of those days you wish you could just press pause? I wish I could press pause on this whole phase Hunter is in right now. I am not one of those people who wants to go back in time to how it used to be. I love every phase for different reasons and while I miss the previous phases I don't wish for Hunter to go back to those phases because I love him so much exactly the way he is.

This morning I was watching Hunter play by himself across the room. He had no idea I was watching him because if he had he would have dropped what he was doing, run over to me and climbed on my lap. I watched him as he talked to himself and made sound effects as he pushed the dump trunk across the room and and over the pillows he had placed in his path on the floor. After a few minutes he looked over at me for a second and locked eyes with me. A sweet grin came across his face and he took his hand to his mouth and blew me a kiss and said "mmmmwhaaa". Then he went on playing. Melted my heart.

This afternoon I put him down for his nap and said "night night, I love you Hunter". To which he replied "love you momma" (sounded like la ya momma). Then later in the pool he jumped off the side into my arms and with his arms around my neck planted a big sloppy kiss right on the lips. I tell you it doesn't get much sweeter than this!

Paci free and new best friend

We are finally staying put at home for a few weeks in a row so I thought this is as good of time as any to take away the pacifier. Hunter only uses it to sleep with but since we travel so much I have always been super careful to bring as much as I possibly can to make his travel bed as close to his home bed as possible to prevent sleep issues. He sleeps perfectly at home, goes to sleep in minutes without protest and sleeps 13 hours a night and 3 hour nap a day. But when we travel he sometimes wakes up once in the night kind of scared like he doesn't know where he is. So, because of that I have allowed him to keep that paci, lovie and blanket with him where ever we go as comfort objects.

So, it turns out taking away the pacifier was totally uneventful. He couldn't have cared less about having the pacifier. I introduced a new animal (teddy bear) a few days prior to taking it away. He caught on like planned and begs for him when we head to the crib. So, last night I put him down with everything minus the paci and he went right to sleep as usual in under 3 minutes with no protest. It was really sweet though because after I walked out I heard him over the monitor practicing the names of those who love them before drifting off to sleep. I usually don't hear anything because of the pacifier, so that was really sweet! He slept 13 hours and woke up happy with a dirty diaper as usual :-) He went down for his nap today as normal with no issues. So we are officially paci free....and it was totally anticlimactic!

Did I mention his crib is a little crowded? He loves to snuggle things :-)
He is waving night night to me.

He has recently taken a real liking to "wrinkles" the super soft snuggly elephant that Nana and Pop gave him last Christmas. When I told him it was nap time today he ran and grabbed Mr. Wrinkles and came running behind me into his room. Needless to say there is not one more square inch of room in his crib for another animal, blanket or lovie. So, I had to do some serious distracting to get him to forget about bringing Mr. Wrinkles into the mix.

He will just have to settle for snuggling Mr. Wrinkles on the couch when we watch praise baby.

He has also grown out of all of his footed Pj's this week. It's like it happened overnight. So, he has been sleeping in footless pajama pants and a t-shirt. He is so used to having his feet covered that he asks for socks now before I put him down, which is so cute. He is getting too big :-(

Oh and I got to thinking about all the places this little guy has been and I counted 12 states he has visited in the 17 months he has been around. That doesn't include states he has passed through on a drive or had a lay over in on a plane...that just doesn't count. These are states he has been to by plane or car for a weekend or week long visit. That is CRAZY that he has already been to that many places considering we usually just return to same places over and over almost every month (Dallas and Kansas city).

I'm sorry these pictures are so blurry...it kind of makes you dizzy! I just grabbed the nearest camera (my phone) and it doesn't take very good action pictures. I really need to use a real camera more often.

East coast tour with Nana

Last week my mom came to Florida for a week long stay while Jordan is in training camp. We had lots of fun things on the agenda for the week. We went to the beach, shopping, movies and finally traveled up and down the coast to Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA and Saint Augustine, FL.

The week started off relatively slow with lots of snuggles between Nana and Hunter

Lots of sloppy wet kisses =)

So sweet

A trip to the beach in Amelia Island

Follow by a pit stop at sonic happy hour

A day trip to Saint Augustine

Before the storm rolled in

Then we loaded up the car and headed to Charleston, SC. We stayed in a precious bed and breakfast right in the heart of the town. We had a blast walking the streets and checking out the beautiful architecture and market

Charleston is such a charming little place. It had beautiful fountains open for wading. It was a very nice break for Hunter from all the shopping. He loved getting to run around and burn off some steam in the VERY hot weather.

I am afraid he will think he can play in any and all fountains now.

Dinner in Charleston was at a local restaurant on the water called Fleet Landing. It was delicious.

The next morning we shopped some more, hit the market, and headed 2 hours south (right during nap time) to Savannah

Savannah was fabulous as well. The shopping and the food was amazing. We ate dinner at Belford's, which was a recommended by a friend. It was fabulous!

Hunter got his first look at horses while we were there. There were lots of horse drawn carriages around town. He loved looking at the horses so long as he could keep a healthy distance. No interest in petting here!

In Savannah we stayed in the "honeymoon suite" in another adorable bed and breakfast in the heart of the town. I must say it was my first time to stay in a honeymoon suite with someone other than Jordan, but we needed the separate bedroom/living room area for Hunter to go to bed at his early bedtime. It was the only option and worked out fabulously.

Our suite opened up to a HUGE balcony that Hunter enjoyed sitting on the next morning while momma enjoyed some coffee =)

We shopped till we dropped and then headed to Paula Deen's famous restaurant, Lady and Son's. It definitely lived up to its reputation. Lines started early in the morning. We arrived at 8:15am to get in line until 9:30 (when they would start taking reservations for lunch and dinner) they didn't open for lunch until 11:00am. Nana stood in line while Hunter and I played in the parking lot across the street. By 9:30 the line was down the street. We got our 11:00 lunch time slot and then headed out for more shopping.

This is the line at 8:30am (an hour before they start taking reservations).

If you look closely you can see Nana in a coral shirt about halfway back. Yes there were still about 20 people in front of her despite the fact that we got there at 8:15am.

We were instructed to be back at 10:45am where they would take all the 11:00 reservations in to the restaurant 1 by 1. They only take reservations on the hour so at 11:00 there were over 100 people waiting to be seated for the 11:00am time slot. It was crazy crowded when we arrived at 10:45, but we were led in 1 by 1 to our seats inside where we all devoured her amazing food. If was sooooooo good. We decided to go with the buffet so we could eat immediately. It was pretty cheap for all you can eat! Buffet menu included cornmeal pancakes, garlic cheese biscuits, fried chicken, baked chicken, grits, mac n cheese, collard greens, lima beans, pulled pork followed by banana pudding and coconut butter cake and mint iced tea! Need I say more? We "rolled" ourselves out of the restaurant and drove 2 hours south to Jacksonville (during nap time again). It was a perfect little trip!

You can see the line down the street

It was a fabulous week with Nana. Hunter just loved having so much attention all week and definitely missed his Nana after she left. It was a nice distraction for me, as I hate it when Jordan is away. Only a week and half more to go until he is home!

While we were in Savannah Hunter got a pretty good mosquito bite on his cheek. He gets mosquito bites all the time so of course I didn't think much of it but never before on his face. That night it started looking really irritated and his whole cheek up towards his nose and eye started turning red. I snapped this picture just a few hours after the bite. It doesn't look bad here compared to the next morning.
I dosed him up with Benadryl thinking he was having a reaction but it did nothing. The next morning he woke up and his whole cheek and eye where super puffy and swollen. He looked like he had a black eye! I started getting concerned and asked some mom friends about it. They informed my about "skeeter syndrome" which is pretty common in kids, and after reading about it and seeing pics there is no doubt that is exactly what it is. No need to take him in for it, the treatment is just topical cream and anti-inflammatory. He has never been bitten on the face before and apparently some kids only react this way to a facial bite...others act this way to any bite. Well, nothing to be alarmed about, just have to keep an eye on it. I have done topical Benadryl cream and Motrin (for anti-inflammatory) and they are both helping big time. It's still there and somewhat swollen but nothing like it was. Poor thing's eye was almost swollen shut! Anyway, so we learned about something new. Hopefully he will grow out of it!

17 month checkup

Our sweet little buddy is just getting too old. We had his first "Florida" pediatrician checkup this past week. He missed his 15 month checkup/shots when we moved and his 18 month is right around the corner so we compromised and did a combined 17 month checkup. Now we don't have to go back until he is 2. We have been guessing on his stats since his 12 month checkup so I now have his "official" 17 month stats. 26.4 pounds (81%), 33.4 inches (92%), and head 19.7 inches (97%).

He is doing so good in every developmental area and we are just amazed by his knowledge and curiosity everyday. He has had a MAJOR language explosion the past 2 weeks. He has always been a big talker but now it's like he carries on full conversations! He can tell us just about anything he wants by just asking. He still points and grunts occasionally but for the most part he asks if he needs something. When we ask "who loves you" he will rattle off parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles and even a few friends with no prompting! I have always practiced the names of those who love him most to keep him occupied while I change his diaper MANY times everyday. One day I did the usual "Hunter, who loves you"...? He just rattled off the entire family, friends and extended family! Usually he will just repeat after me. No prompting needed now :)

He is still super curious about everything around him now, as he has always been, but it's like his memory is suddenly kicking in. He will just point things out and name them instead of asking "whasat"... not that he doesn't still ask "whasat" 2,000 times per day. But he only asks about things he doesn't know and once we tell him he remembers! I LOVE this age. He is just so precious :-)