2nd Haircut

We took Hunter to see my hairdresser Brian on the Avenue for his second ever haircut. Brian also plays soccer with Dad, so it was good to have someone we know do the job. Hunter was great in the chair! He didn't like the cape too much, but once he could get his hands free he felt much better. He took Brian's comb from him and "helped" with the haircut himself! What a good boy!

Afterwards, Hunter enjoyed the duck statues on The Avenue. Dad took pictures while Hunter jumped on and tried to ride them!

A Little Brother

We had an ultrasound on December 3rd, before we went on vacation, and saw our sweet little baby squirming around. For most of the appointment, he had his hands next to his face and eventually started sucking his fingers. A few times he seemed a little annoyed that the tech was pushing against him, so he started pushing back and, boy, did I feel it!

The tech asked if we wanted to know the sex and we told her we did, but asked that she give us a chance to look and guess before she told us. After taking several measurements, she told us that if the baby did not switch positions, she would be unable to see the sex. (Sounded awfully familiar to our experience with big brother, Hunter!) Luckily, I remembered to bring some orange juice with me, and sure enough after drinking some the baby moved around and ended in a better position. The tech said, "Well there you go. What do you see?" All we saw was a blurr, so she got another angle to give us another try.. Both Ryan and I knew immediately that we were looking a baby boy parts!!! We are absolutely ecstatic; and while I don't think you can ever know for sure the sex of a baby until you get an ultrasound, throughout this pregnancy we both thought we were going to have a boy...we only had fleeting moments where we second guessed ourselves.

So, on vacation in Punta Cana there were many many conversations about baby boy names. We finally came up with one we BOTH really like. We are keeping our options open, but Mason Alexander feels like it is the right fit for our second son right now.

Here is a sneak peek at our second little angel:

Giddyup!

Hunter's favorite thing to do these days is ride things. Whether it's his rocking horse, his bathroom stool, our suitcase...basically anything he can get his leg up and over to straddle. He climbs aboard and starts clicking his tongue, which is his sounds for a horse as it sounds like hooves walking.

Ryan and I have many times found ourselves down on our hands and knees searching under the couch or coffee table for a missing toy, when suddenly little hands grasp our shoulders and a leg gets thrown up on our back, then the clicking begins. It is hilarious!

Ornament Love!

This is the cutest thing! I mentioned in the previous post that there are a few ornaments towards the bottom of the Christmas tree that Hunter just goes crazy over! Well he has started giving kisses to the kitty ornament that actually looks a lot like our cat Jack. I was finally able to capture some pictures of him doing this...it is just so adorable!

2010 Christmas Tree

Upon our return from Punta Cana, we picked out our Christmas tree on Saturday and then spent all day Sunday in our pajamas decorating it and the house! Hunter loved all the ornaments and kept trying to get at them when we were unpacking and putting them on the tree. We finished up the decorating when he was napping and when we brought him downstairs upon waking, he saw the Christmas tree all lit up and gave a sigh of delight and awe. Such a sweet sound!

Since then he has been VERY good about not touching the tree or ornaments, but he loves to point at the ones at his eye level and tell us what they are. For example there is a kitty cat ornament he points to and yells "Jack" or "Kitty", a picture of mommy to which he squeals "Ma", a picture of daddy to which he squeals "Da", and a penguin that Hunter imitates by doing the "penguin walk". Gosh- he is just so amazing and too cute for words! We can't get enough of him!

Lizard Chasing

There were a ton of tiny lizards in Punta Cana! Hunter loved checking them out. Here are some short videos of us terrorizing one with him.

(Please note: No lizards were harmed in the making of this video.)

Punta Cana Vacation

We just returned from an awesome 5 night vacation in the Dominical Republic. The resort and weather were awesome! It was a much needed getaway for us all. Ryan and I admit that vacation with a toddler is not quite a relaxing as it was before (much time was spent ensuring Hunter didn't crack his head open on the marble floors throughout the resort), but we all had a blast together.

We all got a ton of beach and pool time and, given that it was an all inclusive resort, ate way too much! Many days, after a morning of hard play in the sand and surf, Hunter would cuddle up in one of our arms and take a snooze on the beach. Other times, we would even get a chance to make it back to our room to clean him up and put him down in his crib. There were also a few evenings when Hunter would crash right at dinner time, sometimes in the restaurant waiting for dinner.

He certainly didn't sleep his vacation away though! In fact, the little guy was making some moves! As you will see in the photos, the ladies were all over him on the beach; he even had his first vacation fling. After dinner we would often go to the lobby bar, there was a large open area for running around and a huge Christmas tree in the center. Many of the kids would end up there, running and playing with each other, while the parents had cocktails. One evening, a sassy little 10 month old named Emily latch on to Hunter...literally. She toddled up to him and grabbed him by the shirt collar and wouldn't let go, so Hunter did what any guy would do...he leaned forward and gave her 3 kisses right on the lips!! (All infront of her father no less...the kid has no fear!)

Hunter also met an (almost) 4 year old boy, who within 5 minutes taught him how to transform his hand into a gun and shoot invisible bullets at people. So now, of course, this is Hunter's favorite thing to do (lovely...sigh).

The staff at the resort were great. Very nice and attentive. Most genuinely seemed to enjoy children, so we got many comments regarding how handsome, cute, and BIG Hunter is. He certainly won the hearts of many Dominican hostesses and waitresses. One waiter in particular couldn't believe it when we told him Hunter was only 16 months old.

This wasn't the only way that Hunter seemed to mature during our vacation. He was great during our 9 hours of door to door travel time both to and from the Dominican, and overall, he was just a very good and listened to us very well. He stayed close when we asked him to, so we didn't have to worry too much about him running off or getting into too much danger/trouble. It was great!

Admittedly, we took a ridiculous amount of photos during this trip. Here are some of our favorites...

Spinning Spinning Spinning

It seems that Hunter is getting more and more energy in the evenings and is also getting more and more silly!

This particular evening he got into some stickers, so we put them all over him. Then he decided to entertain himself, and us, by spinning round and round...and round!

Big Boy Potty

Lately, Hunter has been very aware of when he has to go poo-poo. Many times he will get up and leave what he is doing, even if completely engaged in play with Mom or Dad, to find a quiet place to do his business. Often this involves going to a back corner or behind a big toy or piece of furniture. Afterwards he often pulls at his diaper and says something to us, which we interpret as "Hey guys, I just made a big nasty...new diaper please."

Since he has this awareness and is intrigued by the toilet, we decided to get him a little potty and put him on it from time to time. He hasn't done anything on it yet. If we ask him if he has to poo-poo, he'll push and strain a bit but nothing has ever come out...except for little squirts of pee from all the pushing.

Here is a short little video...love the little grunt! He is definitely his father's son!

A Bath Time Story

This may be a little inappropriate, but it was so funny, I feel the need to document for all!

The other night, Ryan and I were giving Hunter his bath when he let out a monster tub fart! Naturally, we started laughing. Hunter then proceeded to giggle and then push and grunt, trying to get more gas out. (He really is an entertainer...anything for a laugh!) Well nothing was coming out, but he was pushing so hard that we were afraid he was going to poop in the tub. Ryan then noticed that every time Hunter tried to push out a toot, a little bit of pee would shoot out! When I saw that, it just made me hysterical; I could not stop laughing. I would pull it together for a second and then just lose it again and go into hysterics, which of course made Hunter want to keep on trying. So I eventually left the bathroom so Ryan could get Hunter out of the tub. When I finally had myself under control and thought I was okay to return, Ryan had Hunter out of the tub and was getting his towel around him. Hunter took one look at me and started giggling and pushing again, shooting pee all over himself and Ryan. Ryan was taken by surprise and yelled exasperated, "Felicia, knock it off, he's peeing all over the place!"

Well I just lost it all over again, so of course Hunter pushed again and squirted a little more pee on himself and Ryan. I ran out of the room again hysterical! It was a vicious cycle...but soooo funny!