Cereal!

We got to start Hunter on solids per our dr at our 4 mth visit. I was glad to get the green light because this boy has been hungry ever since he was born. I waited a couple of weeks after our appt before I started him on them. So far he likes the rice cereal although this morning he "talked" the entire time I was trying to feed him. It's hard for a baby to keep food in his mouth when he just wants to make noises and not swallow!

We've tried applesauce which he doesn't seem to be a fan of and on Christmas Day we gave him squash and he really seemed to like that.

This is the first time we gave him cereal.

He is the cutest thing ever!

Sick...Again

We are down again but definitely not out. In mid-November the first cold of the year hit us. Hunter and I were both sick at the same time and he spent a month sleeping in our room because of this gagging reflex he had every time he coughed.

In December Korey brought home a stomach bug which he shared with me. I got it two times worse than he did about 4 days later. Unfortunately we passed it on to my mom, my sister, and her husband. Thankfully Hunter did not get it. Besides almost praying for death in the middle of the bouts of throwing up and other side effects because that's how bad I felt, the one other thing I was praying for was that Hunter would not get it. I'm amazed that he didn't and I'm grateful God answered my prayer. Because I was sick I had to stop nursing him and because he had already been demanding the bottle more and more I decided that we would officially stop. I got to nurse him a couple more times after I had recovered with the knowledge that this would be the last time which made me more mentally and emotionally ready for it. We made it 5 months which isn't bad even though I would have liked to have made it longer. He is still getting breastmilk from my freezer stash though which should last us until right after the new year. I can honestly say breastfeeding is one of the hardest things I've ever done.

We decided not to go to Houston before Christmas because we were afraid Hunter might get sick and we didn't want to carry the sickness to Korey's family. We didn't want that to be their Christmas gift. :) We were talking about going down for New Year's but now we won't because we are sick and don't have a dog sitter.

Just last week, the week before Christmas I noticed Hunter's nose started running. By that night he had a fever. I took him to the dr the day before Christmas Eve just to make sure we weren't stuck sick without a dr during the holidays. This time he had a cold and cough which meant he was back to sleeping in our room. Every year I look forward to the Christmas Eve service and this year I stayed home with him while my family went. Korey said the church wedding coordinator that helped us at our wedding was sitting nearby so he was trying to wave his left hand around with his wedding ring so that she wouldn't think we weren't together! By Christmas day I wasn't feeling good and I left my parent's house on Christmas day with a fever. I made myself go to work yesterday and flashed my kleenex and Sudafed in front of everyone so they would know not to come near. The worst part is that neither Korey or I are getting much sleep at night because Hunter starts coughing which wakes himself and us up. Then it's all we can do between more meds, a bottle, a paci, and a lovie blanket just to get him to go back to sleep. I am tired! And I am tired of being sick!

This pic is actually from our first round of sickness back in Nov. Korey is reading to Hunter in our bed.The spoonful of sugar with all of this is that Hunter rolled over for the first time tonight...snotty nose and all! And I'm so grateful I got to see it. I was afraid I would miss it and had been literally praying I wouldn't miss the first time! Korey got to see it right as it happened and then got the second time on video. Yay for Hunter!

4 mths

I apologize if he looks like he's flipping you off. :) Here is my baby at 4 months and already wearing 6 mth clothes! He can smile, laugh, "talk", knows where his feet are and most recently reaches for my water glass and wants to drink out of it. He may skip right over the sippy cup!

2nd Anniversary

For our 2nd Anniversary (in November yes I'm still behind!) we decided to head north to Oklahoma. I had heard about the McCurtain county area on TV and looked it up, found a cabin, and voila! We had a relaxing weekend ahead. The drive was only about 3.5 hours and it was very scenic.

Korey is outside our cabin grilling our dinner on the charcoal grill.


This is Broken Bow lake. Sorry for the shadows!

The dam at the lake. It was very pretty!

More scenery!

This was our cabin. It was decorated in a John Deer theme. What you can't see is the hot tub in the corner!!

It was cold in there before we got the heat on! I am so thankful for this rocking chair in our cabin. It was much needed since we took Hunter with us. (We took him with us because I am still nursing him and couldn't bear to be away from him for that long!).

Hunter is holding the bottle by himself! Ok it was just for a few seconds.

Me and my baby! He is growing up so fast!

Pack Mule

Yesterday I left the house with the following:



Hunter's diaper bag

Hunter's bottle bag

My purse

My lunch

My breastpump

My breastpump milk storage bag

A jacket

My water bottle

And Hunter in his car seat



Needless to say it took me more than one trip just to get everything in the car!

Sick

Well...we are down but not out. A week and a half ago (on a Saturday) I noticed a scratchy feeling in my throat but tried to tell myself it was because of something I'd eaten. By Sunday I was getting stuffy and by that afternoon Hunter was running a fever which meant we were both sick. Sunday night was the worst ever. I was stuffy and couldn't breathe and poor Hunter was congested so we kept having to suction his nose in the middle of the night just to help him out which meant that irritated him plus the fact he didn't feel good. He cried and cried. None of us got any sleep. We had him sleep in our room just so we could check on him. That is the worst feeling to know your child is sick and there is nothing you can do for them except hold them. I'm sure the nurses at our dr's office were tired of hearing from me. By Monday the fever was gone but he was still congested so Korey ran to BRU to buy a humidifier. That helped us sleep somewhat better. On Wed night I noticed Hunter had a barking cough so I read that was probably croup. When I took him to the dr she said he did have croup and a slight ear infection. Great. Naive me thought that since I was breastfeeding him he wouldn't get sick. It's been over a week and he is still getting over it and whenever he coughs sometimes he chokes so we have to whack him on the back so he'll catch his breath. Whenever he coughs in the middle of the night our feet hit the ground so we can check on him to make sure he's not choking. Day 11 and I'm ready for this to be over!

Also, it wasn't but two weeks ago that we were at the dr because whenever he would nurse he would pull away from me and cry which he's never done before. After two days of that I called the nurse and she said to bring him in. The Diagnosis? Mr. Personality. Yep, that's right. No ear infection, no teeth, no sickness whatsoever. He is just showing his personality she said. Gee thanks. I wanted a reason! Then of course he got sick so he hasn't wanted to nurse much so we've been doing all we can just to keep this child fed! It got to the point where I contemplated letting him stop nursing because maybe he was weaning himself. I think he's figured out that he gets his milk faster from the bottle (since we've had to supplement him from the first month) than from me. The little man doesn't want to work for it! Aaagghhh. Finally, finally, he slowly started to nurse again. I'm so glad because I wasn't ready to stop. And even though he is better but not 100% it is still sometimes a challenge for him to nurse because of his stuffy nose. I do have one pic I took during this sickness...it's of Korey reading to him while he's propped up in our bed. I will post it soon.

Chubby Cheeks

I love it!

Visit from Grandma

*Sorry for the first flipped picture*



In October (yes, I'm behind!) Korey's mom came to visit Hunter. Here they are hanging out on the couch where she is talking to him.



We had found a little pumpkin house over at the Village at Fairview and decided to take some fall pictures there. It was our "free" pumpkin patch! Here I am with my baby.

Hunter's shirt says "Nuts about Grandma." She gave it to him that weekend and it was perfect because it was fall colored and it's 6 mth size and he was just moving into that size.

The Scott Family!

Hunter and his daddy

We did these pictures in about ten minutes which was perfect because he started getting fussy at the end. Afterwards we ate lunch and went shopping. Thanks for visiting Nana!

What Makes Hunter Smile

Hunter absolutely loves his mobile! Whenever we lay him under it he looks up and as soon as we start the music he starts smiling. It's so cute!

I put him under the mobile in the mornings after he's finished eating and I'm getting all of our bags into the car. Love it!
Gotta love that face!

And random...but this is how we shop! No sitting our car seat on TOP of the cart for us...it makes me shudder thinking of what happened if it slipped off. I've already had one shopping cart incident with him and I don't want another.

Buddha Belly

My aunt and uncle came to visit so they could finally meet Hunter. This is the only pic I have of her and it's the back of her head! She and my mom went outside to talk and she took Hunter with her and sat and rocked him and lightly patted him on the back. He was out cold! The pic is grainy because I took it through the window. We need Aunt Shirley for naptimes!

What can I say...this baby is growing a buddha belly. He's just chilling on the couch with me.

Korey decided to teach Hunter how to box. They are practicing their moves.

Hunter is almost 4 months old and I noticed a week ago that he was busting out of his 3 month size clothes length-wise. Soooo...we are moving up this baby to 6 month clothing! They are still big in the waist but he needs it because he's looonnggg. And he has found his hand which he chews on constantly. Makes me wonder if he's teething because he drools constantly. My Hunter is a baby no more! :(

Korey's Bday

**Note - Pretend these pics are in order as a result of trying to blog and hold a baby in one arm!


In the middle of October we celebrated Korey's bday. Forgive the cake writing...I wasn't sure how it would look once I did it. But the cake itself was yummy and yes I made it! It was chocolate cake with mocha flavored filling. (It's the curse of being Type A).

Korey is opening his gifts while my dad is playing with Hunter.

Hunter is getting one on one time with his grandpa.

For two years I've been pestering Korey to find his diploma because I wanted to get it framed. His mom thought she might have it at her house in Houston but she didn't. Finally, just a few months ago, he was cleaning out an art portfolio and found it there. So I snuck it out one day and had it framed for his bday. Now it can join the wall of diplomas in our house! I think he likes the diploma better now that it's framed but for years he downplayed its importance. It's a college diploma so it's a big deal!

I just realized I didn't upload any other pics for this post. The rest were of Korey opening his gifts. Clothes...exciting!

When Daddy Babysits...

It's Official

Korey's last day at his day job was at the end of October. After the end of the year we will only have one steady income - by choice. This is crazy, especially in today's economy, but his business, and his confidence, has grown tremendously since we've been married that he's ready to take the leap. Beans and rice here we come!

See his work here.

Back to Work

As of Oct 4 I am officially back at work. It was an especially hard week as I jumped cold turkey into being away from Hunter for the whole day, I walked into the middle of my company's bankruptcy proceedings, and I wasn't getting to nurse Hunter throughout the day so I'm having to pump to prepare his bottles for the next day. And not to mention that once I get home from work Hunter is ready for his next feeding so the minute I walk in the door we sit down and I feed him, then there is dinner to be made (thank goodness for the slow cooker!), bottles to be washed, bottles to be prepped for the next day, and getting his diaper bag ready for the next day. (Korey washes the dishes!) Whew!

My day starts at 5am just so I can get ready and get him fed before we leave the house. Korey gets him up and dressed since he likes to see him before he leaves the house at 6 and then hands him off to me. It takes about 45 min to nurse him and give him his formula bottle mostly because he's sleepy in the mornings plus I get to hang out with him some before we leave the house.


Just a note on breastfeeding and pumping...the bad thing about nursing is that you have no idea how much you are actually feeding to your child until you start pumping alot and let's just say I freaked out the first week of work because my volume was LOW!! I had no idea how I was going to fill 3 bottles and I had to delve into my freezer stash but thankfully after a couple of adjustments God has provided. I haven't had the volume he's needed since day one so I have had to supplement him with formula per the dr so he still gets half of the ounces he needs from me and the other half from formula. Breastfeeding is not easy but thankfully he nurses like a champ and has had no problems with also taking a bottle. But he does drink every last drop of everything you give him so I'm hoping the dr will let me introduce cereal at 4 months!


With going back to work I wasn't prepared for the guilt I would feel with having to be away from him. Why isn't there a scholarship for moms who want to stay at home with their kids? The first week was emotionally hard and I cried many tears even though I knew he was in good care. It has gotten better being away from him but I love the weekends now because I can nurse him all he wants and get to just play with him. Not to mention that we have skipped a couple of Sundays at church just because both of us didn't want to put him in the nursery and be away from him for yet another couple of hours since we don't have the time with him during the week. We both enjoy him so much! I've also wondered if he knows that I'm his mom and I've had to reassure myself that he does as I've had to be away from him.

I'm glad the holidays are coming up so that I can have more time at home with him.

Hunter's Newest Tricks

Last Saturday we were invited to dinner at a friend's house for taco night. We decided to bring guacamole which is one of Korey's favorite foods. It prompts an automatic "I love you" whenever he sees I've bought avocadoes. Conditional love! He had Hunter help him make it. He looks like he is about to dive in.

Korey knows how to play the drums and I, unfortunately, (or fortunately!) have never gotten to hear him because we don't have room in our house for his drum set. But our friends had one and he drummed away and Hunter helped.

I don't think Hunter is too thrilled with this.

He has such a cute smile! For whatever reason I started making an "O" sound and singing it to him a couple of weeks ago. Now he can listen and copy it. We have video of him saying it back to us. It's so cute and makes my day.

At dinner time we put him in the swing so we can eat but he ends up fussing and one of us usually ends up holding him and trying to eat at the same time. We are figuring out his personality which is that he likes to see what's going on and doesn't like to be left alone. Two days ago we pulled out our space saver seat (because I found out it reclines!) that we opted for instead of a high chair and he loves it! Now he can sit at the table with us and see what's going on and he's very happy. Now if we can just keep him from putting his feet on the table!

Surprise Visit to Grandma

In September we decided to take a quick road trip to Houston to surprise Korey's mom for her birthday. We were told that she had just been saying she needed to go see Hunter and lo and behold we walked in!

Pretend these pics are in order!

Here is Korey and his brother with their babies!
Hunter and his cousin Brandon chillin'.

Hunter giving his Uncle Kevin the eye.

Rock on Uncle Kevin!

We borrowed Brandon's bumbo to test it out.

I let Hunter have some tummy time.

A picture says a thousand words. This picture says don't ever try to poke holes in a pork roast with a knife so the marinade will soak in. Because you will miss. And stab your finger. And have to get surgery. And all of these bandages are for that one finger.

Aunt Corey playing with Brandon. Brandon and Hunter are about 6 months apart.

And finally Korey's mom is holding her sweet grandbaby!