Birthday Pics

It's been a busy and fun few weeks celebrating Hunter's birthday and Christmas. We'll start with his birthday.
The cake... a Monster Jam theme cake complete with new monster trucks for Hunter. I made it and had an idea what I wanted and was glad it turned out to be pretty easy to decorate. I had to keep it hidden so Hunter didn't see and want the trucks on it. Of course, once he saw it all he wanted was the trucks!

He got really good at opening presents. I don't think we had to help him open any presents. This was on his birthday opening his new ball pit.

And in his new ball pit. I like it since it folds up nice and small and can be put away easy : )

With his new George book. Hunter loves Curious George.

Opening presents at his party. One of my favorite parts of his party was when we told him he could open presents. He had wanted to check out his presents as they came in but we told him we'd do presents later. Then when we said it was time to open presents he ran right to them and was ready to rip them open. It cracked us up because he knew exactly what we meant! He took opening them up very seriously and once everything was opened started to check out his new toys.
In his new sled.

With his new loot. And yes that's a dance-with-me Brobie from Yo Gabba Gabba.... thanks Aunt Heather : ) Hunter does like to dance with him and sing "go brobie, go brobie..." It gets stuck in your head!

Time for cake. He couldn't get the trucks off the cake fast enough. But did blow the candle out by himself. Mnnnn, mnnn tasty!

Happy Birthday Hunter!

Hunter turned 2 today!! We had a pretty low key day thanks mostly to the already snowy weather and coming snow. He has a b-day party on Saturday to look forward too. He did get to open his presents today and had some new fun things to play with. His favorite a new official monster jam monster mutt truck. He went to bed with it tonight : )
I told Adam yesterday that he'll be 2 at 2:18 a.m. and Adam asked if I was going to wake up then. I said probably... since I've been waking up a lot at night lately thanks already to the next baby. It was funny because Hunter, who doesn't wake up very often at night anymore, (thankfully!!) woke last night at about 2:30 a.m. I think he wanted to be told "happy birthday" early : )
I told him all day it was his birthday and he kept saying "birthday" and smiling. And we've been asking him how old he is and he'll say "2" and hold up his thumb and index finger. He's also gotten really good at opening presents and will get lots more practice in the next week! We'll be on toy overload for sure!
Pics & video to come... for now I'm just hoping we don't get the 8-14 inches of snow they are forecasting for tonight : (

Pictures!!

We went this week to take family pictures and Hunter's 2 year pics. Of course they took a bunch of pictures, I probably ordered too many and am posting a lot of them : )

A side note... we've a had a rough few weeks with Hunter bumping his head and getting bruises on his face! It started on Thanksgiving with a giant goose-egg on his forehead.... seriously giant! Then a few days later he fell off a chair and landed on his chin and that left a really nasty bruise. So I called to make picture appt. and said no more bruises as those 2 had almost gone away. Well of course 2 dys. before pics he hit his forehead again and that bruise shows up in most of the pictures :( Especially these pics in his blue shirt with the white background.

These are the pics from the cd so they aren't all cropped yet.
My little bruised 2 year old

Hunter did really well but didn't quite want to hold still or smile for the camera. He kept wanting to put his hands on or in his mouth or face. We'd ask him to show us his teeth to smile and this is what we got.... a big cheesy grin with him pointing at his teeth. I was cracking up.

You can see the belly in this one. I realized too that we haven't taken any belly pics so far this pregnancy and I'm 30 wks this week.

The "I'm 2" shot.

He kept jumping up and down...what's new? I think he liked having the big white canvas all to himself.

My little baby Gap model : )

They were throwing a ball at him to get him to smile and look so that's why he has his hands up in both pics.

Fun, fun... it actually ends up being quite a long process from start to finish and trying to decide what to actually order. But I really do like getting all the pictures. Now I just have to buy more frames : )

Christmas Tree

We got the tree up and decorated. Hunter has done a good job of leaving it alone for the most part. The cat does more damage on a daily basis than Hunter. Max likes to sleep under the tree on the tree skirt, attack the tree skirt, bat at the ornaments... all which cause needles to fly everywhere everyday. And the pine needles stick to his fuzzy fur and end up all over the rest of the house. Oh well... it's the price you pay for a "real" Christmas tree.
Here's Hunter posing by the tree.

Hunter discovered that candy canes are very yummy. I tried to eat one in front of him and he quickly took over.
It doesn't show up great, but all around his mouth is very red and sticky. Along with his hands and everything else.
All part of the Christmas fun!

Oh No!

Hunter's latest phrase. I think he's said it a couple hundred times today. He just keeps saying Ohhhh Noooooo over and over. It's cracking me up.
He said it for the 1st time the other day when I was trying to give him applesauce and he clapped his hands spilling it all over. He had it all over his hands and held them and was quiet for a second and then quietly and slowly he said "Ohhh Noooo!" Adam and I cracked up and now it's his new favorite phrase!

Christmas Tree

December already! There's snow on the ground, my tree is up and the Christmas lights on! I've even done a little Christmas shopping already.
We went yesterday to find a Christmas tree. It felt very wintery since it had been snowing all day and was snowing pretty hard while we were searching for our perfect tree.
Hunter did really well, especially for being completely bundled up and outside in the cold and wet snow for awhile. We got the whole experience at William's Tree Farm with a horse drawn wagon ride out to the woods to find a tree and a snowstorm to complete the Christmas mood. My camera batts died early on... grrrrr.... but luckily my Dad had his camera too. So here's just a few pics.

Hunter bundled from head to toe experiencing the snow. Really the 1st time he's been out in the snow since he never played in it last winter.

Hunter and Daddy looking for a tree.
Hunter & Pa braving the elements.

We did find and chop down a tree, more pics of that to come later. We got it up and decorated today. Hunter already broke 2 ornaments before the tree even went up. So with all the breakable ones up high now hopefully he'll leave it alone for the most part... we'll have to see how this goes with a 2 yr. old!

Last Look at Fall

I'm a little behind... and now in the full Christmas/winter mode. But just a few days ago it still felt like fall and not winter quite yet. We had a few nice days in November to get out for a little bit. Hunter still loves running around outside even if it is with more clothes & layers on.

No Fear

Can you see what he is fascinated with in our drive-way.? Yes, a little snake! Lovely right?!? He loves to find any kind of critter and was so happy to find this little snake.
The snake was pretty little and I didn't let him touch, although he wanted too! It's hard to believe this was just a little over a week ago and the weather was so warm and nice out. Now it seems it that is going to be just a memory til spring : ( We enjoyed it while it lasted though!

Another sneak peak

I got one more sneak peak at our next little boy. I had another ultrasound last week and that will most likely be the last one. He had his little hand by his face again, must like that.

We don't have a name yet... or a list or any ideas. So if you have any boy names you like I'll listen to the suggestions, feel free to submit your names!
Otherwise everything is going good and we still have about 3 months or so to decide : )

Do you know who this is??

Anyone recognize this person??

Okay so it was Halloween and this was his "costume." I'll leave it up to you what he actually was but let's just say the mustache is real and he did go to work looking like this. It was a full beard which I had been begging him to shave off... he did and left just the mustache for Halloween. Then came home from work and said that all the guys loved the mustache and he told him to leave it. Mnnnnnn.... no! Thankfully it's gone now.

Oh and this was on his birthday too.... Happy belated birthday! Glad to have my clean-shaved husband back : )

Monster Jam

Sounds like something leftover from Halloween but no... it's Hunter's new favorite show. He calls it "Trucks!!" For those who are not familiar, it's monster truck derbies with huge trucks smashing other cars and things. Daddy, of course, introduced Hunter to it and now he's hooked. As soon as Adam gets home from work Hunter is begging to watch "trucks." He sits enthralled and does lots of "ooohs" and "ahhhs." He also just says "trucks" excitedly over and over again while watching. His "truck" sounds like "twuuuuckkkk." Too funny... he's definitely all boy!

Photo Shoot

Our friend Teara and baby Madigan came over this week. She's been playing with this a fancy camera and wanted to get some pictures of Hunter. He loved the attention and since the camera is fast she was able to get lots of great pics.

Looking at a bug I squished.

My trike

A plane, a plane!

They all turned out so cute (I'm biased.) I told her I can never get him actually looking at the camera, much less smiling too!

Thanks for the pics Teara! I see a photography career in your future : )

Sad Elmo

I wasn't planning on buying Hunter a Halloween costume but we were invited to a Halloween party so I thought I should. 1st trip to the store I came home with a costume that said it was a size 2T/3T but when I tried to wrestle Hunter into it there was no way it was going to fit. Couldn't even zip it shut, way to small! Took that back and bought him Elmo. He loves watching Elmo. He screams with delight every time the Elmo World music comes on Sesame Street. He also points out anything Elmo (including this costume) when we go thru the store.

Attempt 1 to get it on him did not go well... I chalked it up to him being tired. Attempt 2 with Daddy home... same result. Very difficult to get on and much crying when it was on. Attempt 3... still not going well.
Adam thought we had to acclimate him to it be making him wear it so he tried that. He showed him the mirror, they watched Elmo on TV. Hunter would have nothing to do with it what so ever! He ran to me and held up his arms, crying and saying "all done."
My only pics of him in it are sad Elmo pictures.

Adam trying to watch Elmo on TV with Hunter in his Elmo outfit... Hunter wasn't impressed.
So in the end he didn't wear a costume to the party but he still had lots of fun : )

One Last Zoo Day

We went to the zoo again a few weeks ago and had such a beautiful & warm Saturday to enjoy the outdoors. It was almost 80 and just so nice! We went with Grandma & pa Bell and Hunter's cousin Zane.

Everyone in front of the bears... the leaves were also so beautiful both at the park and on the drive there.
My 2 little monkeys.
Hunter & Zane relaxing in their strollers.
We took Hunter on the merry-go-round for the 1st time. I should say I took him... He got excited to sit on his horse when we 1st stepped on and then became restless very quickly as we waited and waited for the ride to fill up and start. I was starting to think this was a bad idea and I should just ditch him over the gate to Adam when it finally started. Hunter's eyes got so wide and excited as it went round and his horse went up and down. He loved it and sat so still during the whole ride. Sigh of relief from mom!
We also took him on the little train ride (both are only $1 each.) He loves choo-choo's and did really good on this ride as well.
Another fun day. It's fun to see how much Hunter enjoy's the animals and how much he's changed from just a few months ago when we 1st went.

It's A...................

Oh Boy, Oh Boy... It's a Boy!!

I've thought it was a boy since I knew we were expecting again and I was right. Another boy. We had our ultrasound and everything looks good. The little man weighs 1 lb 2 oz. My due date came up as 2-13. Just 1 day later than the original 2-12. Getting closer to being a little valentines baby.
We are excited of course. A little brother for Hunter, they will be just a little over 2 years apart. And since they are both winter babies we should be able to use lots of Hunter's clothes again. I have so many of his little baby things that I liked so much and he grew out of so fast.

We got a couple 4-d ultrasound pics. I don't think they scanned very clear but if you look close he has his little arm and hand covering one eye and the other hand by his chin.

This is a profile pic with his arm up by his face again.
We are thankful that the baby looks healthy and that I have been feeling just fine throughout! Looking forward to life with 2 boys!

Oh and we have Hunter say "brother".... although I really don't think he has any idea what's coming yet!