Fun with Dad!

Big Cheese

Hunter now cheeses for the camera!

Our Wild Thing

Hunter LOVES this story, especially when we get to the pictures of all the Wild Things!!

Thanksgiving

We celebrated another wonderful Thanksgiving with family this year! It started with an early Thanksgiving visit from Pop. Since his move to Florida it had been several months since he had seen Hunter and he was amazed at just how much he has grown and developed. It was a very nice visit.

On Thanksgiving day we went to Pop-pop and Granny J's house and enjoyed the day and a wonderful meal with them, Mom-Mom, Lee and Kathy. Despite Hunter's short 30 minute nap that day, he didn't slow down for one minute during our stay. Pop-pop even took him out to the barn to "show him the important things in life"...the tractors. On our way home we stopped for a surprise visit with Aunt Faye, Uncle Jerry and Nanny, and in spite of Hunter's short doze on the way to their house he perked right up when faced with the opportunity to entertain more people.

We drove to Pottstown, PA on Black Friday to spend the day with Ryan's extended family...probably about 30 or so in total. Once again, Hunter blended right in and didn't seem to be overwhelmed at all. He even played his first game of family football outside with the big boys! It was a wonderful day...Aunt Laurie outdid herself once again! Oh...and Hunter also won $5 by guessing the correct number of coins in the jar...an annual tradition. What a little smartie!

Reviewing the pictures, it is easy to see just how much we have to be thankful for...a loving family, great friends, a wonderful marriage, an amazing and beautiful son, another child on the way, the list goes on and on. We truly are grateful for all we have and the wonderful people in our lives!

We have a climber

Lately Hunter has been climbing on everything. Those things that are too high for him to climb, well they don't seem to slow him down much either. He tries his best to get his little knee up high enough to boost himself up. Sometimes he is successful, other times he runs to get Mom or Dad to help.

Here are a few pictures we were able to get of him at the very top of one of his toys. As you can see, he made himself quite comfortable up there! Lucky for us, we taught him early on how you get down...feet first...and he is pretty good about it so far.

Raspberries

Daddy showed Hunter a new way to blow raspberries...through the gate!

15 Months!

Hunter turned 15 months old on November 2nd and had his check-up appointment today. Our little monkey gained 3 pounds and grew 3 inches since his 12 month check-up! He now weighs in at 26 lbs 7 ozs (76th percentile) and is a very tall boy at 33.4 inches (96th percentile). The doctor was pleased with Hunter's development thus far and thinks he's right on track. He told us that his language will start to explode in the next few months and while he has been walking just fine on his own since his 1st birthday, he is going to get faster! We told Dr. D that we would soon be bringing #2 to him for routine check-ups and he congratulated us. He said not to bother trying to prepare Hunter for a baby because things just don't exist in his reality unless he can see, hear and feel them. Dr. D also said that since Hunter will be almost 2 years old when the baby is born, he probably won't have too much difficulty adjusting to a newborn as long as it doesn't disrupt his own schedule too much. Given that babies generally just need to be fed, changed, and sleep a lot, that shouldn't be a problem!

Hunter got 3 shots during this visit as well and handled them like a trooper, but afterwards he really got some knots in his thighs where he got them. They are a little bruised now, but he doesn't seem to be experiencing any pain there.

In addition to his check-up Hunter now has 7.5 teeth which he diligently brushes every morning and night. The .5 is for one of his upper molars that is not yet all the way through. He also has 1 additional front tooth and 3 more molars that are just under his gums and about to emerge!

Hunter is really enjoying the fall weather! He loves going outside to play with leaves and sticks and rocks that he finds in the yard, or just running around after the other kids in our neighborhood. He also loves playing with the soccer ball and can dribble it quite well across small distances (making his daddy so proud). Recently, Hunter has been playing with his football quite a bit. He loves to make touchdowns and do his touchdown dance!

He is learning new words everyday, but getting him to consistently use them is another matter. He may say them a few times and then he refuses. For the first time, we are having to rely on some disciplinary tactics as Hunter becomes more independent and therefore more defiant from time to time. Overall, he is a very good boy, but on occasion due to excitement, frustration, or just showing off he will do something we consider unacceptable and must be disciplined. Luckily, he has been reacting quite well when we count to 3 and/or put him in a time-out corner. As parents, we find it so hard to do that to him, especially when he starts to cry, but we know it will benefit him and us in the long run, so we are consistently sticking with it.

Hunter's next doctor's appointment will be at 18 months, so we can't imagine how big he'll be then and just how much he will have learned in the interim.

Here are a few pics we've taken over the last few months...

Ultrasound of "Thing 2"

Here are two pictures from a recent ultrasound we had on October 20th. Our #2 is looking quite good and healthy so far. One picture is a profile shot and the other is a leg/foot, which Ryan thinks looks like a great soccer leg!

Can't wait till our next sneak peek around week 20!

Happy Halloween!

Hunter had a very busy Halloween weekend! He went to a pumpkin farm with his buddies at Day Care and got to dress up with them, too! We also had his neighborhood friends, Ethan and Ian, over to make "Monster Cupcakes." He just loved playing and entertaining them at our house; he really adores those boys!

On Halloween day, we attended a party where the 20 or so kids from our neighborhood dressed up in their costumes. They really had a blast playing games together. Ryan raked a huge leaf pile and the kids spent hours jumping and playing in it, especially Hunter!

Later that evening we walked Hunter to a few of the houses in the neighborhood, so he could get a feel for the whole "Trick or Treating" thing. He was a hit and was completely exhausted by the time we got him in bed at 8:30. He passed out without a peep!

Pumpkin Carving

This year we rolled up Hunter's sleeves expecting him to cover himself from head to toe in pumpkin. Much to our surprise, he didn't want to touch the squishy insides at all. So we quickly adjusted our plans and tortured him with it instead!