Gender differences don't happen until kids are older they say....than how do you explain sleeping with your belly out this early? Notice one dog... Grandpa look at all the dogs!!!
This is great!!! This is also me before my fourth haircut.
I love my dog, but I really love my dogs!
Mom's new favorite picture of her little puppy :)
Yeah dogs!!! and my new big boy haircut! Thanks Grandma!
Bye Bye Grandpa & Grandma, thank you for watching me every week, I loved it and mom did too because she never had to worry. I'm going to miss you on Tuesdays but there will be lots of days and nights we will share in the future!

Hello all, we hope your week is going well as it nears an end! As you may have gathered from our postings this week we are having a Hunter care change over. Hunter will be entering the world of daycare next week. We hope this will be good for him as he can socialize with other kids, and have a better schedule, he will go for three days Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Mom hopes this will be better for everyone involved, only time will tell. We send out a huge thank you not only to Grandpa & Grandma but also to Amy and baby Paige as Hunter had fun there on Thursdays, we will miss you too, but we will get together to shop and play as often as possible!

As you can see Hunter had a great day playing with Grandpa, Grandma and all of the dogs. He will be breaking them in by getting them nice and disgusting so he won't be able to tell which one is which, this way I can keep one in my car, one at each of the Grandma's and one at daycare. Parenting made easy :) Happy Friday, we will talk to you soon!

Hello everyone, yesterday Aunt Lori watched Hunter while I was at work (Grandma is on vacation for once). Hunter had so much fun playing with his cousins, but as you can see above his attention span is not very long, when I went to snap the picture he was standing playing with the magnets too :) Thanks Lori for giving Hunter a fun day!
Hunter knows where his nose is and will point to it, if you have his undivided attention! Today he got his finger stuck in there :)
Today was a day for trying new things. This is Hunter's dinner, which was Eggplant Spaghetti, yum! In this picture you can tell he didn't quite know what to think. He also had cheese for lunch and one ounce of real organic whole milk in his mid-day bottle, which he didn't even notice. I will be adding whole milk gradually as the next weeks pass, at one year old Hunter should be drinking whole milk with no more formula.
I love Eggplant Spaghetti Hunter says! Not really, he was laughing at mom showing him where his ears are, now that he has his nose down. For some reason he found it hilarious, maybe it was the monkey face and noises :) Well, nothing else to report tonight. Hunter will rise and shine early for Grandma & Grandpa to babysit, they are sharing their vacation, lucky Hunter and lucky me! Hunter will miss baby Paige and Miss Amy but they are getting ready for Paige's first birthday party on Saturday, boy how the year flew by! Have a good day, and we will talk to you tomorrow!

This weekend Grandma helped Hunter perfect his..."How big is Hunter?" and he puts his arms up while everyone says..."so big" Sometimes he even gets his arms all the way up!

Monday....
Hunter took his first steps!!!!

Hello everyone, we are back from our camping weekend and as you scroll down you will hear the chronicles. Today Hunter and I had a fun day unwinding from our trip, and I tricked him into taking his first steps. Normally kids take their first steps toward their parents, but it is only natural that Hunter would take them for his dog! Hunter will only walk holding onto one of your fingers, so I started walking him around the living room, then I threw his dog on the couch and started walking him faster towards it saying... get your dog....and when he was almost there I would pull out my finger and he would take 1-3 steps depending on which time we did it, a total of nine, I tried to get it on video, but by the end he was tired and falling into the couch. So, after a big nap it was off to run errands with Dad too. Then we ended our day at Hunter's favorite restaurant....Red Robin! What a fun time because Red Robin was actually there, when he approached Hunter he would start to cry, but then when he wasn't around Hunter would twist and turn to see him, and keep waving, but again when he got close he was not interested. Hunter also enjoyed all the people having birthdays, as he clapped along with the staff. Then it was home to bed, but I realized today that I have to officially change Hunter to the next size pants because he looked like there was a flood coming, poor guy :) It was the first time he had pants on in so long, I am loving the cooler weather! Well that's a wrap, we hope you have a wonderful week!!!

Sunday...this is Hunter clapping! He loves it when you clap too, and now if you say "yeah" he will clap it's so cute! Sunday was dreary but nice and relaxing, Hunter was getting back to himself and entertaining all of us! He had a nice big nap and while he did I introduced everyone to my new favorite activity, Sudoku. It is a number puzzle game and lets just say if I have a Sudoku party, I don't think any of them will be in attendance. Then after lunch and Hunter waking up it was time to pack up and go home. We got home, Grandma made dinner, we sold our pop-up then it was back to our home to prepare for the week, what a great weekend!

Saturday....Hunter had a rough first night of camping, we were all up all night Friday as Hunter was crying. We think it was a combination being in a new dark place, his throat hurting, being hungry and missing his dog (mom rushed out of the house leaving him at home) Hunter wanted to eat but couldn't so it took him many bottles to fill up, but around mid-day on Saturday everything turned around. Hunter started eating more, and as you can see above Grandma got some fluids in him with this popsicle that Hunter liked a lot more than my homemade apple water ones :) I took Hunter in for a diaper change and he began clapping, I was so excited because I have been working on clapping for a long time, now we just need to blow kisses! Hunter also started pointing to his nose when asked, Where's Hunter's nose? and can do the sign "more" what's next?

We had perfect camping weather... nice and warm, and the rain didn't affect Hunter at all. Grandpa and Grandma had fun and Grandma did really well for her first camping trip! Then Papa and Grandma Smith came late that night for what was suppose to be campfire fun, but turned into fun under the tent still getting wet :) We found out that you don't mind getting wet when you are searching for the beer or wine coolers! Hunter went right to bed and slept all night! He was feeling much better, and Grandma bought Hunter a faux dog at Meijer that helped soothe him :)

On Friday, Hunter got a nice long bath before the Doctor and before camping!!! Hunter went for his 9 month well check and was suppose to receive his shots, both his check and his shots were late due to him being sick, then having surgery. Now, we delayed his shots once again, due to him being sick and the fever he had for 2 days. I cried for the first time at the doctor since the breathing machine, she showed me the back of Hunter's throat which was covered in blisters, this is painful and the explanation for him crying for what appeared to be nothing, and not eating or drinking at all to well. She recommended we mix Maalox and Benedryl to coat the blisters and numb them so he could eat comfortably and boy did it work! Other than that it was a clean bill of health, she was very impressed with Hunter's diet, but encouraged me to give him cheese now, that will come some time this week. He is in the 50 percentile for height, weight and head circumference; he is 29 inches, 22 pounds, and I don't remember about the head, I'm just happy he has one :) She said he is developmentally at 13 months, but his speech is at 11 months, and we are just so happy with all of his progress since the surgery! She also said that we don't need to give Hunter any vitamins because he is getting more than enough in the whole foods that he is eating. She gave me some new things to research as new shots are being requested for babies, we will see about that. Hunter did better this time he only choked her with the stethoscope once :)

Then it was off to lunch with my work friends Jae and Kathy for a little Mexican Fiesta! Hunter had to show off his new skills in walking, and his new shoes. Kathy brought Hunter lots of gifts, clothes and toys, which he played with right away! He even got his own John Deere dining set which he used all weekend! Hunter always has a good time with the ladies! Then it was home to load up for camping, we had a great weekend, we hope you did too!

Last week Grandpa showed me my new tractor, I thought you would want to check it out too!
Grandpa searched for a John Deere with a motor in the back for Hunter because he knew it would be safer.
It needs a horn Grandpa!
Grandpa will be mocking up this tractor so that Hunter will have his own seat and steering wheel, but someone else can sit behind him to actually compete in the Family 4th of July Pull in 2007, I see a first place in his future!

Hunter will be so cute on his tractor next year, he already loves to ride on it! If you take him off he lunges for it, and waves to it! He is already building his wardrobe to compete in, our friend Kathy gave him a John Deere shirt that says "future farmer" wait till Grandpa sees it, so cute! Hunter's fever is gone today, it was a rough night last night, but hopefully tonight will be much better! Hunter's mouth is really sore, any fruits or vegetables seemed to hurt it, he would scream (oh no...is he beginning to take after me?) He barely ate anything, he wouldn't even take a bottle, but I read that kids are resilient they can go without food for three days (I guess he doesn't take after me there!) So, I am not worried, I'm sure tomorrow he will be back to normal. We hope that you are feeling well, and enjoying what is left of our summer! We plan to this weekend by camping in some of Michigan's finest weather :)

Is this magnets on the fridge? Mom what has come over you?
This is fun, here I am mid rotation on my bottom.
I rotate in circles on my bottom when I get excited!
My E.T. laugh

Hunter had a rough night last night, day today and already bad night tonight so far. Hunter is sick and running a bad temperature, he can't seem to get rid of it, it goes down a little after medication and then spikes right back up. I only had three hours of sleep last night, so I am praying for more tonight but it isn't looking good. Poor thing, he just looks at you with those big eyes and pouty lips like....fix it. You can tell just by looking at him when the temp goes down, he will smile and maybe laugh, but still stays pretty quiet. Grandma found today that Hunter loved his new magnets, which we discovered he liked at his friend Paige's house, so even though I have a magnet issue I broke down for Hunter's sake. We are just keeping to the numbers and alphabet. I am very fortunate to have such a good quiet baby when he is sick, I hear it could be a lot worse! I'm sure Hunter will be back to normal tomorrow we just need to get rid of the fever and keep it gone, well we hope you are having a great week, and we will talk to you tomorrow. Yes, it is Dave, his Dad and all the kids in picture 54 of the 3 day Michigan photo gallery, and in picture number 61 on the right it is my mom and I from behind at the closing ceremonies. Thanks everyone for your support and letting me know about the pictures!

What's this? A baby hamburger?
I'll dive right in!

Last week Hunter tried ground sirloin for the first time, much to my surprise he liked it! This time he had his own baby burger with bun cut out of bread, he even tried a little ketchup and pickle ( I do mean a very little) In one more month Hunter should be eating everything we are able to eat, therefore I am introducing him to more and more everyday.

Hi everyone! I mastered standing today!
I started by using Mom for support....
Then she let go! I wasn't real sure about what to do.
I wiggled, rocked, shook and caught myself a few times before....
Plopping on my bottom!!!

Hello! What a day, today was Hunter's 11 month birthday and another milestone...standing. I just can't get over how fast it is going and how sad it is! It is so exciting, I know that there are wonderful things ahead, but I also know and have enjoyed all the wonderful things that are here and gone. I realized today as we walked together Hunter now only holding one finger next to me, that my baby is gone. Time for another! Yeah right! By the end of the day today, Hunter could stand for a long time, we kept waiting for him to fall, but he didn't he even did the "dog" sign while standing, I guess this is a sign that walking alone is right around the corner, oh boy...I'm not ready for that! Well, on a different note, we hope you had a wonderful weekend and that you have a wonderful week!

Hunter waving to Dad from the Merry-go-Round yesterday, who knew it would make mom whoozy :)
Hunter sitting tall during his first demolition show.

I just have to share a story from the fair yesterday, that maybe you had to be there, but I find very funny! Any of you who know my husband know he is the king of politically UNcorrectness. So, we are walking by the barns of farm animals when I say to Hunter "do you want to go see all those smelly animals?" when Dave jumps in scolding me that I was offending the 4H-ers, farmers, etc. Now....I find this hilarious because "smelly animals" would be the nicest thing that ever came out of his mouth, sometimes even in reference to people, but he is concerned about me offending people, oh my goodness! Let's be honest those animals are smelly, and some of them quite nasty! Enough to make you want to be a vegetarian :)

Today, Hunter and I shopped till we dropped! Hunter got some summer clothes for next year, his first pair of walking shoes, new pajamas, and a balloon from an admirer at Polo! I am going to add balloons to my list of what to have at Hunter's birthday party, boy did he love it, it entertained him for a half an hour. Dad is fishing today, and other than that everything is quiet, hope you have a nice quiet weekend, we intend to!

Hunter was excited to reunite with his friend Paige!
You can tell his playing with her.....
Chasing her....
Oh yeah...and.....beating on her head :( and pulling her hair :( He is not even one and I already have a bully.

Thankfully Miss Amy and I have similar discipline beliefs and she took care of it! Who knew these problems started so early, what's next....biting? Hunter did well napping though, 4 hours! Which made him able to go to the fair for the first time tonight! What fun! His first fair, first ride, first 4H petting zoo (yuck!), and first fair food.....just kidding! Ha Ha, but Dad and I experienced a new fair food, Butterfly chips (Wendy I miss you!) they were very good. Another treat we didn't try but wanted to, is a treat Grandma would love....fried candy bars! Last but not least his first car show where people try to injure themselves, wow it just doesn't get better than that! I will post the pictures tomorrow, well have a great Friday, we are shoe shopping for Hunter. His feet seemed to grow overnight, all the sudden his clothes and shoes barely fit, and you know I love shoes!

HELLO! We had a fun day today!
It was half resting....
and the other half playing!

Hello everyone, we are feeling much better today! Hunter is back on track and so am I, it took a few days. As you can see in the pictures, Hunter is bringing his dog wherever he goes, it is hard finding the right time to wash him. He has to be in and out before nap or bedtime. I need to go shopping for the replacements. Hunter tried fresh tomatoes out of Grandpa's garden today, he didn't quite know what to think from his facial expression. Hunter also is keeping his balance a lot better when he is cruising around, and walking with our help. At times he can do it with only one hand holding on, and can balance for a few seconds standing on his own. Now, this is not something I am working with him on, because I was hoping he would walk late, I worry too much as it is now, when he is walking I am going to be a nervous wreck! Hunter is also making more noises and constanent sounds, and getting better with the sippy cup. He is really getting use to that tongue. I started weaning Hunter from the bottle last week, I started with his daytime bottle, which he now gets his formula in a sippy cup. Once he gets use to this and it isn't a problem, I will then switch the morning cup too. I don't want him to be one of those kids who is three and still drinking from a bottle, or like some kids drinking pop from it :( Anyway, that is the update on what is new in Hunters world, all of these things take a lot out of him and he has been really tired. He is looking forward to playing with Paige tomorrow, it has been a few weeks, take care, talk to you tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Papa!!!

Hunter had fun at Papa's birthday party, he had a little ice cream, played with balloons and as always entertained us all! Other than the party, we haven't been doing much as I am trying to rest and get Hunter back on schedule, he is doing great I thought it would be harder than it is. Hunter loves his dad, when he gets home from work Hunter cries for him. Now, a little sidebar.....I have taken care of him for almost 11 months day and night(I'm not complaining, this has been the best year of my life, I am just illustrating a point)....Dad has taken care of him here and there, and then three days for the walk.....does Hunter cry for me? NO. This is the beginning of the unfairness when it comes to the relationship between a mom and child, and a dad and child. Life isn't fair. Well, thank you all for your thoughts and wishes, I really appreciate the support! Take care and have a great week!

We're back and in one piece!!! We did it! All 60 miles and we didn't sweep! The first day we walked according to the 3-Day 21 miles, but according to a few pedometers worn by walkers it was 26! We struggled physically and emotionally but overall the experience was amazing! My mom camped for the first time, we waited in line for a shower truck 3 1/2 hours on Friday night, only to come home to shower Saturday night, we tried new foods, met new friends, and overall learned that you can do anything you set your mind to! Enjoy some pictures from the event under Hunter's slideshow, these were taken by friends and family, our camera was disposable so I'm sorry you won't be able to see those. We were greeted by Dad, Grandpa and Hunter all weekend, and Dad did great with Hunter with Grandpa's help! On Saturday our great friends Marianne and Michele came bringing smiles, and caffeine in the shape of pop and chocolate! On Sunday we were greeted by Great Grandpa & Grandma in their Breast Cancer gear, and my Mother & Father-in-law, Sister-in-law, and nieces and nephew! They came with signs the kids made, smiles, support, and they even helped hand out popsicles to other walkers! Thank you all for you support!!! We needed it! We were sad to find out that my Aunt Rose came too, but she didn't find us in the crowd :( but we are so grateful for the drive and effort! Love you all!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!! Bottom's Up!!!

I forgot to tell everyone how cute Hunter was last night when we sang Happy Birthday to Grandma. He looked around puzzled, as if he was thinking.....how strange...they all know this song! Hunter is starting to be more affectionate, I really noticed this change about the time when his dog was missing. Now, he will give hugs (if you aren't paying attention to him) but sometimes when you are, and give big kisses, just have to watch out for the teeth, boy are they sharp! He gave Great Grandma a lot of kisses last night, and he helped Great Grandpa walk with his walker :) Well, Mom hope that you had a wonderful day, despite the fact you had to work :( and how many people can say that they are going to walk 60 miles when they are a grandma, we are proud of you! One more day until our walk! I obviously won't be able to post, but please keep us in your prayers, especially our feet! Keep Dave in your prayers as well, as he will be officially taking duty as a father. Enjoy the rest of your week and weekend!

On Sunday morning Grandpa made me a bachelor's breakfast! Three of my own mini pancakes, is this a scrapbooker's dream or what!!!
I had to really check this out. Usually my food comes in little pieces or mush!
Mom thought I would put the whole thing in my mouth, but I fooled her. I picked millions of tiny pieces off one by one.
I even shared with Grandma!

Hunter had a busy day today, everyone swears Hunter is saying "mama" but I won't believe it until he looks at me and then says it. I am usually not in the room when he is saying it. I do admit it does sound like it, and he does make cute mouth movements, but when he comes crawling or walking up to me saying "mama, mama" then I will believe it. We celebrated Grandma's birthday tonight, it is tomorrow the 9th. She is going to be 40 of course, what a young grandma! Hunter tried baked beans again and this time he only shivered once, then seemed to enjoy them. He also tried a little chocolate ice cream, I know there has been a lot of new food sampling lately, but he is almost a year old. Also my idea of sampling is probably not even a quarter teaspoon :) Our entire dinner Hunter ate whole peas, one by one he moved them around, ate some, some rolled away, and boy were we glad he didn't want to share these! Hunter also started to give better kisses today, and Grandma thinks he is starting to know how to blow his nose, which if that is true will make me sooooooo happy!!! Well, that's it for tonight, have a wonderful day tomorrow and mom....Happy Birthday!

Thanks Grandpa, for bringing my dog home!!!
I was very upset when he was missing!

Hello, Hunter is so relieved to have his dog back! My dad dropped it off while we were out running errands, when we got home Dave said, Hunter where is your dog, and showed him. He got the biggest smile and never let it go for the rest of the night. I knew he loved his dog, but I had no idea how attached he is to it! We will be buying replacement dogs this week :) to prevent this situation from occurring again. He kept falling off the furniture when he was cruising because he only had one hand, the other for "baby Magnum" and his crawling not so good when one hand is devoted to keeping dog safe! How funny! Other than getting dog back it was a pretty quiet day, hope your week is off to a good start!

And the shocker is......Hunter had his first sucker! This picture also shows off his adorable haircut!
Let me get a closer look at what is making me drool.
It's sticky and it's good!
Here it comes....
Wow! This is great!

Hunter enjoyed his sucker yesterday! I think it really helped with the teething, and it was fun to see him really explore something new! The little girl who was sitting next to us at the parade was very excited that Hunter couldn't eat candy, she filled up a huge bag, her poor mother! Well, we had another busy but fun day today. It started with Hunter eating a new breakfast food that you will have to see tomorrow, then we went for maybe our last walk before our big 60 mile walk, Hunter slept the whole time, boy was it hot....again. Then it was in the pool to cool down. Hunter enjoyed the pool more this time, I think he is getting use to floating. Grandpa taught him how to splash Grandma, which he thought was fun of course. Things like splashing, or dad letting Hunter smack his head, pull his nose, etc. may be cute at the time, but they won't be cute later, or when I have to explain to a perfect stranger why Hunter is hitting her in the head. These things I can see in my humbling parenting future! Then it was home to play with Dad and go to bed. Going to bed was a little difficult this evening as Hunter left his favorite stuffed animal, baby Magnum, at G & G's. I didn't realize he was as attached to it as he is. Before I realized we didn't have it, I said out loud, where is your dog? Looking around, Hunter began looking around and started to cry. He wouldn't take any other stuffed animal, and wouldn't calm down. Dad rocked him to sleep, and we laid Mickey next to him, hopefully a few nights with Mickey will give him an understudy :) Well, that is the scoop, we hope you had a wonderful weekend, and that you have a wonderful week!!!