One Year Anniversary

I didn't write on the 27th, but it marked the one year anniversary of moving to Kentucky! I can't believe it's been a  whole year honestly because the time really has flown by, but we have lived in this house away from all of our loved ones for an entire year now. We are still enjoying it. There are definitely things we miss about Portland, but we love trying new things and making new traditions with our family. We are grateful for the friends we have made here and for technology to keep us connected to our friends and family back home.

Thomas at 2 Months

Today we took Thomas in for his 2 month check up. Last month I was a little concerned about his weight being so low, but not to worry, that is not the case anymore!

Thomas is now 22 inches long, his head is 15 3/8 inches and his weight is 10.12 lbs! He has really put on the weight from a month ago. He eats well and is sleeping so much better, so there is no longer a worry that he is tiny like before!

He’s smiling and follows me with his eyes. He can lift and hold his head up like a natural and as though it doesn’t weigh a ton on his little neck. He is sleeping about 5 hours at night between feedings, so Mom is happy as well. He has great kissing cheeks that his mom and siblings take advantage of regularly and he has learned to tolerate his brother, Gordon’s, love for him, even if it is a little uncomfortable!

He’s such a sweet addition to our family and I’m so grateful to have him as part of our family.

Sick Week

So, a week ago, Friday, Eddie came into our room in the middle of the night to inform us that he didn’t feel well. Of course, as happens with most kids, he showed us before he could actually say anything, so he spent his birthday sick instead of having a party.  This is my sick boy on his birthday, still smiling even though his tummy hurt.

Then Gordon got whatever it was that Eddie had and took it to a whole new level. From Monday night to yesterday (Sunday), my poor Gordon has had a sensitive tummy and he couldn’t keep anything down. Almost a whole week before he could finally keep his breakfast down this morning. I don’t have a picture of him, but he’s lost weight and looks so different from what he used to look. It took so much out of him, that one night after he threw up, he wanted to take a bath and this is how we found him.

He fell asleep in the bath! I have never seen this happen to him before. Yes, I have fallen asleep while taking a bath because I was so relaxed, but my son does not fall asleep in the bath. He plays and makes a mess on the floor and drops cars in the tub during bath time. Never does he fall asleep!

Don’t worry though, he’s had plenty to eat today and will have no problem putting the weight that he lost back on quickly! He has also gone back to pretending to be the Avengers throughout the day, so life is good again! We called the doctor at the end of last week and they weren’t concerned unless it was over a week, so we’ve lucked out that he’s better and life has gone back to normal!

Of course, Celeste couldn’t be left out! She had to get sick on Wednesday of last week when she should have been getting ready for Activity Days. It went away quickly, but she still stayed home on Thursday and was a big help while I was yucky feeling from being around all of the yuckiness that was in the house.

We were very blessed though. Kyle, Thomas and I didn’t get it. Kyle and I both had our moments of feeling kind of gross because we were cleaning up after everyone else and breathing it in, but Thomas didn’t get it and we just had to leave the house for a little while to start feeling better, so we lucked out. After speaking with the doctor and nurse today at Thomas’ check-up, we found out it wasn’t the flu, but some other brutal virus that is going around the area. I don’t know what the virus is called, but I never want to experience that in our house again!

Grandma’s Visit and Thanksgiving

Grandma actually just left yesterday, but already we all miss her! She came a week before Thanksgiving and stayed with us for 1o days. They were some of the best 10 days ever. Once again, having extra hands to help out and make life a little easier spoiled me. Grandma insisted on doing the dishes for us every day and would even kick me out of the kitchen to go do something else if I started the dishes first. Of course she made all of Kyle’s favorite dinners!

Kyle also blessed Thomas while Grandma was here. It was really nice to have some family here for the blessing. It would have been nice to have done it while Papa was here, but since we couldn’t do it then, having Grandma there was pretty special.

 

Thanksgiving was definitely different for all of us. We’re not used to seventy degree weather on Thanksgiving day, but that’s what we had this year! Kyle was planning on barbequeing the turkey, but never planned on being able to wear shorts and a t-shirt while doing it! The turkey was beautiful and everyone enjoyed the great weather. Grandma really got to experience it all here though because the next day was colder than cold.

We also decorated for Christmas this weekend. Kyle brought up all of our boxes and as we started going through them, I realized I didn’t know where I wanted to put things, so a lot of my day was spent trying to figure out where everything should go. We got some real garland to go up the banister and found where our stockings are going to be hung. Our Christmas tree was decorated and Kyle started the outdoor lights. He’s in the same position I was in on the inside of the house. We just don’t know what we want to do with what, but he got a good start. Now he just needs to finish!

We have found one other cool thing about Kentucky that we didn’t have in Oregon. It’s okay to be religious here. Saturday night we decided to go through what they call a Mega Cave that is decorated with lights for Christmas. It was so neat to go through and we may even spend the money again to go through a second time closer to Christmas just to keep us in the holiday spirit.

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We also took the kids to see Santa on Monday. I know it’s a lot in one post, but it’s been a busy week! This Santa was so cool! We got there when there wasn’t anyone else there. Santa was playing the guitar and singing Christmas carols. Then he spoke with each of the kids about what they wanted. After pictures, he asked the kids to sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with him before we left. I think this Santa may have been the real deal!

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Thanks for visiting Grandma. We miss you already!

Nana and Papa Visit

It’s been a month since my parents were here, but life has been a little crazy, so blogging is sporadic! The kids had a hard time when Nana and Papa left. Who wouldn’t when Papa did their chores for them and Nana baked and cooked yummy food for them all week? I was sad to see them leave at the end of the week, but we had so much fun showing them around our new city. Next time they come I promise not to sleep until eleven in the morning after being up all night! Next time we will also have found some new things to do to change it up from this trip, but for a first visit to a new state, I think it went alright! Thanks for visiting Nana and Papa. We miss you tons!

One Month Old

Thomas is one month old today. To celebrate, he had a doctor’s appointment! Today, he is 7lbs, 15oz and 21 inches long. He is in the 7th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height. He’s tiny compared to my other boys, so I was a little concerned, but the doctor said there isn’t anything to worry about, he is well proportioned. He is sleeping up to 4 1/2 hours at night now, so I may be able to get past this cold that I have had since he was born!

He is a well loved baby with three older siblings who make sure he never has to cry or be alone. Celeste is wonderful around dinner time when I can’t hold Thomas and make dinner at the same time! Eddie is willing to hold Thomas or retrieve diapers or anything that he can to help his little brother. Gordon, however, is probably the cutest with Thomas, although the scariest as well! Gordon will try to hold his brother, shove a pacifier in his mouth, whether he wants it or not, and try to change a diaper on his own. Yes, he wants to be and is a big help, but he also makes my job a lot harder. I can’t leave Gordon alone with Thomas for long, so everything happens quickly, but I love that he loves his baby brother!

Thomas Mikel Hunter

We are excited to announce Thomas Mikel Hunter as the newest member of our family. He was born at 8:10pm on October 15, 2012. He weighed in at 7lb. 5oz and was 19 inches long. I was induced exactly a week early because I delivered Gordon so quickly last time, we didn’t want to take the chance of having Thomas in a car this time!

Because I was so early (I usually deliver right at 40 weeks if not over, so a week early was almost too early for my body), it ended up taking quite a while for contractions to start even with pitocin. Once they started though, my body was able to progress. The doctor broke my water at 6pm and Thomas was born two hours later.

We are already in love with this little boy. He has blonde hair, which is new for our babies, usually they are darker hair to begin with and then turn blonde, but his hair is also a little wavy, so we can’t wait to see what happens in the future. We’re curious to see if he looks like his brothers or if our caboose is going to be different in looks from the rest of the kids.

The Pumpkin Patch

A week and a half ago, we decided that since we didn't know for sure when Thomas would be coming, we should make a trip to an apple orchard. We've found that there aren't very many apple orchards around and many of them don't have any apples left after August because of the drought this summer and the late frost in the spring, or something like that. We asked around and EVERYONE said that the best place to go is to Huber's winery and orchards.

When we got to the orchard, we found out that the u-pick prices and the already picked prices for apples was the same, so it wasn't really worth going to the apple orchard to pick, but the pumpkin patch was open and ready for visitors, so we decided we may as well visit there and just buy our apples at the store they had there. They also made apple cinnamon doughnuts and pumpkin spice doughnuts that we just HAD to try. They were so yummy, nice and warm and fabulous! They had pumpkin ice cream, but it was crazy expensive, so we decided to spend our money elsewhere and make our own pumpkin milk shakes at home later!

 

The stems of the pumpkins were HUGE. I don't know that I've ever seen stems so large on pumpkins in Oregon. Maybe because we've always gone later in the season or something, but I was impressed!

 

The pumpkins went on and on. The vines and plants were so high that I  had to watch for Gordon to make sure I didn't lose him!

 

Another difference that we have never experienced at a pumpkin patch was that Kyle had to actually cut the pumpkins off of the vines and since they were so thick, you had to use a knife. Thank goodness for Kyle's Leatherman!

Eddie was so proud of his pumpkin. I told the kids they had to be able to carry their pumpkins because Kyle couldn't carry all of them and I couldn't carry really heavy ones, but I ended up helping Eddie after all because Gordon couldn't carry his either. Celeste was the only one who actually followed the rules, so hers is the smallest. 

The other fun thing we were able to do was go to the play land they have. They had tractor rides and a corn maze along with animals to pet and a race track for pedal tractors. The kids enjoyed the late morning just playing and having fun with all of the activities.

Happy Birthday Celeste!

My baby girl turned 9 today. I can't figure out where the time has gone! She is turning into a beautiful young woman with an amazing mind of her own. We haven't started dance or drama yet since we've been in Kentucky. I have mostly just been working on getting to know the city and see what is around here, so I haven't gotten to where I want to be in the car driving her everywhere yet, especially when I'm still pretty good at getting lost!

Celeste is in 4th grade and has her own sense of style. She loves to ride her bike, dance, sing, play with her friends, swim, read, listen to music, paint her nails, play computer games, dress up, play with her hair and just about anything else that is girlie!

For her birthday she requested a new bike, so we took her to pick out a bike over the weekend. This morning we gave her a necklace and I got to take cupcakes to her class for the first time ever. She also requested steak and mashed potatoes and green beans with butter for dinner. (She is definitely her father's daughter!)

I think our trip to Oregon this summer was a real learning experience for grandparents. (If that's not true, feel free to let me know Nana and Grandma!) Both grandmothers had to relearn who Celeste was this summer, but for her birthday, they completely pegged her! Nana sent her the new dress she is wearing in the picture. (The black leggings and shoes were already hers. I don't know if Nana just remembered what her school shoes looked like or not, but they were perfect with her dress! She also has a pair of pink earrings that have zebra print on them that she can wear with her outfit as well!) Nana also bought her a new Monster High Doll. She LOVES these dolls and was so excited to get this one! Her grandma got her a new jewelry box with earrings in it and a Taylor Swift CD. Since Taylor Swift is her absolute favorite singer, she was on cloud nine to get the new CD. She can't wait for after school tomorrow when she can watch the DVD that came with it. Life was definitely good for her today! I love this girl and can't wait to see what the future brings for her! What a blessing she is to us. I couldn't imagine our lives without her.

First Day of School

 I've gotten so far behind in blogging, but I have to take a moment to post a few pictures of my babies' first day of school. At the end of last week, Eddie got to go to a Kindergarten Camp where they took all of the kids to their classrooms and gave them a tour of the building. They also got to practice getting on and off the bus, so they were ready for their first day of school. It was a good thing too because there were a few kids in tears to leave their moms in the cafeteria while they went on their tour with their classes. Not my Eddie though. He was all smiles and waved goodbye last week and this morning. Celeste also got to meet her teacher last week, so she knows where her desk is and who her teacher is and what he will expect from her on the first day. We don't see many male teachers anymore at the grade school level, but I'm so excited for her. I think she will have a fabulous year with her teacher. He loves magic tricks and the teachers have split the curriculum so they can each focus on their area of expertise. Her teacher loves math, so he will be teaching her math and she will have a different teacher for reading, etc. I think it will be great for her to get several different teaching styles. Her teacher also asked for me to write about her to return for the first day, so he can get to know her better. I love when a teacher wants to know about their students and be able to help them where they need it. I can't wait to hear all about their first day when they get home this afternoon.

They are both so excited to be going to school. Eddie said he was a little bit scared, but he's so excited to be going to school finally that the nerves weren't a problem. My sweet babies are growing up so fast!

 

Eddie with his BIG backpack jammed with everything he needs for his first day!

 

Celeste couldn't fit everything she was required to get in her backpack, so a plastic bag will have to do for the first day! We did luck out that they specifically asked for plain notebooks and folders, so we didn't have to fight about getting the more expensive stuff! I love when they ask for everything to be the same and I only have to spend 17 cents per notebook when she needs 8 of them!

 

 My handsome Gordon needed his picture taken as well. He's getting so big!

OMSI, Zoo, and Aviation Museum

It's amazing that we lived in Oregon for so long and never made it to the Aviation museum until we move away and come back for a visit!

The kids saw the planes on the outside of the buildings and were more excited than I can describe. When they heard that they could get out of the car and see the planes and touch them, they couldn't wait to get going. We spent hours playing, touching and even got to go inside a few of the planes.

Nana and Papa have a pass for the kids to go to the zoo for free with them. The kids always have such a great time while they are there, so it was no surprise that they loved it again this time. We went on the train as well this time. Usually we only ride the train during Christmas time for lights, but this time we were able to ride the train into Washington Park. Gordon ended up falling asleep during the train ride, so cute!

My kids have been to OMSI only a few times, but have loved it every time and this time was no different. Cavan, Mike and Erica even got into it with the water area in the kids section. I didn't get any pictures of the balls, but the men had a good time in there as well. OMSI is such a fun place for everyone. I love watching kids do hands-on things while learning!