February Update

I really just wanted to check in because I am realizing that the month is coming to an end and I have had only 1 post this month. Such a slacker.

*Hunter still doesn't have any teeth but we've started to feel bumps so at least we know he will have teeth...eventually

*He's started cruising a bit. Just along the sofa and coffee table but he's starting to get this walking thing slowly but surely. And he'll stand for about 10 seconds on his own before he realizes he's on his own and quickly grabs for the nearest stationary object

*EC training is going really well. Although it's more observation than communication at this point. He definitely understands what to do on the potty and I sincerely hope it continues. Not having to deal with poopy cloth diapers is awesome

*My birthday is in 4 days. I'm one of those people that loves birthdays and I like to celebrate for the whole week, but it's no fun without Adam here

*As of Saturday Adam's home for at least 2 weeks! He may go back to San Diego, but who knows. His year is looking CRAZY busy

*Adam and I are going out for lunch on my birthday, sans Hunter, and it will be the first time we've had a non family member watch him. I'm a bit nervous, but we've known Natalie for almost 5 years and her boyfriend is one of Adam's good friends so there's not really anything to worry about

*I had to go jean shopping last week because I am down another pant size. I realized this a few weeks ago when I was sitting on the ground at the park with some mommy and baby friends when a woman behind me motioned to my friend and told her to tell me to pull up my pants. Mortified! I knew I was sagging, but I didn't realize my ass was so offensive

*My friend Heather started a really cool blog this month. She has a different goal for each month and she will blog about it daily. This month her goal was to do Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. I happened to have that DVD and was so inspired I have been doing it as well. It's been so good for me, I think I actually found my abs

*Getting in better shape has motivated me to eat better so I started Weight Watchers. I'm not going to meetings, just following the points program. Basically, I'm just food journalling. But I downloaded a free phone ap and it's been really helpful. I love that I'm not dieting just paying better attention to portion size and what I'm putting in my mouth. Good news, I still get wine

*I haven't run in over 2 months, since a few weeks before Christmas, so I probably won't be completing my resolution to run 1000 miles this year. Oh well. It got really hard to coordinate running around naps and crankiness. My wonderful husband bought me a really nice elliptical trainer right before the holidays. It's been absolutely amazing and I will continue to use it daily but I'm going to start running again next week

*I won't be running the LA marathon next week. I could, and I could probably finish, but my legs would be so pissed. So I'm thinking about running the Las Vegas marathon in December. I'm starting to run again in a whole new kind of shoe and a whole new style of running so I need a good amount of time to adapt

I think that's all the news that's fit to print.

Where's the teef?

I have to start off by telling you that I'm sitting indian-style on the floor right now. I'm so used to being on the ground with Hunter all day I just automatically fall to the floor in the evening rather than the sofa. Oh, and did you notice Hunter's shirt? A little gift from Daddy's trip.

Hunter turns 9 months tomorrow and he's becoming so much fun. He's started moving, not crawling really, it's more like the breast stroke. He can get around pretty well, but it's fairly inefficient. And it's so funny because it was like one day he was totally stationary and the next day he was pulling toys off of his shelf or suddenly under the sofa.

He's getting so big! He was such a tiny guy when he was born, it's crazy to think he's more than tripled in size! Right before Thanksgiving we had to get a new car seat for him because his old one was getting too confining. Unfortunately he wasn't ready for the transition quite yet so he's stayed in the smaller car seat. Luckily most of his length is in his legs so his feet just dangle a bit.

We went to our 9 month appointment today and found out Hunter is way too big for his current car seat that was supposed to last the 1st year. He still has a huge 48 cm head. I wonder if this hinders the crawling at all because he'll get himself up on his knees and then his head goes right to the floor. I'm not kidding, it's like an orange on a toothpick! He tips the scales at close to 23 pounds and he's just over 30 inches tall.

Hunter talks so much these days. He's always babbling and this week he's really stuck on dada. So everyone we see he looks at and he says dadadadada, smiles, then gets shy and turns away. We were at a play group this afternoon and Hunter and his friend, baby Elizabeth, were babbling at each other. It was like they were having a real conversation although all they did was yell dadababararalala back and forth.

He also had his first wrestling match with his friend Hudson. Before, he would cry when he thought Hudson was being too aggressive, today he was able to get all rumble tumble before the tears appeared. He's still not sure about the more aggressive boys, but he's getting more tolerant. Adam was joking that Hunter will be just like his dad, friends with all the girls.

I'm just enjoying him so much. He becomes more wonderful by the day. And the last few weeks have been really rough with Adam gone. Hunter's kept me going, if just because I have to be present for him. I think Hunter understands that dad isn't here and it's affected him as well. But we're in the zone now and we've adjusted pretty well to being alone during the week.

And one final tidbit: still not a tooth in sight!!!! No lumps, no bumps, no swelling or redness. But he still drools like a fountain, runs a low grade fever some days, pulls at his ears and is generally fussy. The doctor assured me that this is all due to teething. But where are these elusive teeth?

Since you've been gone

Hi Dada,

It's only been a day and we already miss you!

Playing with my toys isn't as fun as playing with you

Even my new toys

Even the coolest spoon in the world isn't as cool as you

The washing machine is awesome, but not as awesome as you

Me learning to feed myself makes mom VERY happy, but not as happy as you make her

Oh, Ringo misses you too

I almost crawled and Mom was ecstatic! But not as ecstatic as she will be when she see's you Saturday

Goodnight Dada!

We love you!

First Week

Ahaha! Guess who got a mac book pro? I did I did. Okay, so it's 6 years old, and a hand me down from Adam, but I do enjoy having a laptop again. I gave my old one to my nephew and have been purely Windows and desktop ever since. It suited me fine, but I'm looking forward to couch computing again. I DEFINITELY missed it.

I have to admit the new year hasn't been the best. And I kept hearing everyone exclaim how it was going to be the best year ever and it actually made me feel worse. New Year's eve morning I was awakened by a very sick dog at 4 am, it wasn't pretty, and I was awake after that. Then the next morning I was awakened at 4 am again, but this time by a bout of hiccups Adam had for over 24 hours. Then Adam got sick, and it's just been a weird week.

Adam had also been waiting to hear about upcoming work. We both had been so on edge waiting to hear about it. And the industry shuts down during the holidays so we'd been playing the waiting game. Adam had us both convinced it wasn't going to happen. Finally, by the middle of this week he got confirmation on the job he was waiting for and possibly another. That made us a bit more optimistic about this year.

But it's good news, bad news. As is often the case. Good news is there is work, bad news is that it's 6 weeks in San Diego starting Monday. It's close enough to see each other on weekends but it will be quite a change for Hunter not to have daddy at home. And it was so cute. Today, Adam was changing a diaper and said to Hunter "come on, just say Dada for me before I leave" and Hunter looked up and said "Dada."

I'm a little nervous because I don't have much of a support system or family in place here and I feel a bit like a single mother. I have been so lucky to have Adam, primarily, at home since Hunter's birth so there might be some challenges ahead. Definitely some adjustments. Just being able to take a break will be a commodity.

Six weeks is a long time. Especially because Hunter will be almost 10 months by the end of the project and will probably be crawling and possibly walking. And starting to say a word or two. There's just so much development that takes place during these months. Crawling and talking are BIG milestones. But Adam will be able to experience it on weekends, so it's not so bad.

Hunter is still doing great. We still have no teeth but I think this is a lesson in patience for little old me. I get way too wrapped up in the occurrence of milestones and have to constantly remind myself that all babies are different and do things at their own pace. As long as he's in the realm of normal, we're all good. And he is. He doesn't crawl but he steadies himself on the sofa, coffee table or toy box. He's not a huge talker but we've heard the mama, dada, baba and a few other babbley words. A few days ago he said "Mac" and Adam said "fanboy."

Sleeping has improved immensely. We get some now. I don't want to go into details because I believe in the great power of the JINX. And I know it could change tomorrow and it probably will next week. We also dropped a nap and are down to 2. I love the naps because I can get stuff done but Hunter is a very scheduled napper so it really breaks up our day. We are slaves to nap time. So the fact that we only have 2 now is quite an improvement.

I can't wait to see what this year has in store for us. I feel like we've had enough excitement this week to last a whole year. So maybe the rest will be smooth sailing... ;)

Year's End

Seriously, I just sat down to write and realized there's a load of laundry that needs to be folded and another that needs to go in the dryer. But I want to write something because it's New Year's Eve and I feel I've been neglectful of this blog. I need to write. And sum up 2010.

It's all been so crazy with the holidays and the little man. And the traveling! We drove to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving (easy as pie) and to Jerome, AZ for Christmas (a bit challenging, but 8 hours in a car will make anyone stir crazy.) We had lovely holidays and a wonderful 1st Christmas!!! but I so look forward to celebrating in our own home next year.

Hunter continues to amaze me on a daily basis and I can't wait to experience what 2011 has in store for him. He's starting to wiggle around on the floor and when he gets up in the morning I sometimes find him pushing up on his arms which leads me to believe that crawling may be coming soon. He is nearly standing on his own and just this morning he took 3 steps while holding onto the coffee table.

He said mama and mum for the first time a few weeks ago. And last week he started going crazy with baba. He still hasn't said dada but we've heard abba, ada, pa and poo and he's started mixing consonants. Like bagoo and paga and what sounded like el gaupo.

Oh, also, he still has no teeth. At our 4 month appointment the doctor felt his gums and said "Oh yeah, there's some swelling. Looks like teeth are on their way!" That was 4 months ago. And I've been feeling the rough edge of the lower teeth for, like, 3 months now.

And it's awful because Hunter seems so uncomfortable. He's always running a temperature around 99.5, no teether can sate him for longer than a minute, and he just drools like a St. Bernard all the time. But everyone, including the new doctor, says this is normal and some kids don't get their teeth until after a year. Which just seems so mean.

But I'm fairly certain he will have teeth. Just like I'm certain that one day he will have hair... and eyebrows.

So my goals for 2011 are to help my kid grow some teeth and hair. Just kidding, but seriously, dude, throw me a bone, or some teeth.

My goals:

Run 1000 miles- that's less than 3 miles a day so it's doable. Although I'm not starting off very well because I haven't run for 2 weeks. I am using the elliptical so I'm not a complete lazy ass.

Lose 37 pounds- 3 pounds a month, totally doable. I haven't been dieting like crazy or running and have managed to lose 2 pounds since Thanksgiving. Bow down

Run 2 marathons- LA for sure and maybe Las Vegas in the fall

Make art- I'd like to finish at least 1 piece a month and have a representation of my year in art

Sell my art- just one piece is enough. Hello Etsy?

Read 10 good books- I used to be an avid reader, it's always been like dessert to me. I want to feel that again

I am an evil wife! I was so tired yesterday morning after having been woken up twice in the past 2 hours by baby boy that I turned the baby monitor on it's highest volume and hung it over Adam's head. It was quite a rude awakening for my dear husband.

Sorry baby, I owe you!

5 Holiday Gifts for the All Natural Baby

5 Holiday Gifts for the All Natural Baby

So I'm posting this list from The Stir because there are a few products that I love. The Lil Bumpkin quilt has been great for Hunter to play on during the day and wrap up with at nap time. I had Hunter's quilt custom made and Tiffany, the genius behind Lil Bumpkin, chose fabrics to coordinate with Hunter's nursery.

Do you see the squirrels? It's perfect!

I didn't know about Aden & Anais before I had Hunter but I received some swaddling blankets as a gift and they are the best! They are the only ones I use. I love the large size and the soft breathable fabric. I know we'll use them for a long time to come. I also really like the Green Toys Stacker and I think I may purchase this for Hunter for Christmas. He's just getting into stacking stuff, well more like unstacking, but this seems right up his alley. And the price is awesome too. I am loving the Green Toys site. I think I've already found Hunter's birthday gift!