Thomas is 4 Months!

Yes, 4 months have gone by since Thomas was born. It’s crazy how time flies. He is getting bigger and bigger every day and it makes me sad to think that my baby is growing so fast. He actually had his check up on the 15th, so these are the stats:

He weighs 15.2 lbs and is in the 44 percentile. He is 25 3/8 inches long and in the 60 percentile and his head is 16.5 inches and in the 58 percentile.

He is loved very much by all of this siblings. In fact, Gordon started tearing up at Thomas’ checkup because he didn’t want his brother to get hurt by the shots. It was so sweet and wonderful that Gordon wanted to take care of his brother so much. Celeste and Eddie are equally as invested in this little boy. They leave for school in the morning and say good bye to Tommy and no one else. They get home from school in the afternoon and kiss Tommy on the check before doing anything else. Thomas isn’t rolling over yet because he still has helpers, but he’s close and I’m not worried. He loves watching his siblings play and especially likes it when his siblings play with him. We also have neighbor girls who come over and ask if they can watch Tommy while they are playing upstairs with Celeste. It’s so cute and actually very helpful when I’m trying to get stuff done, so I gladly accept their offer to watch him! Celeste can even get him to sleep, so I probably should start paying them for their time, but I figure that when they are the ones asking to watch him, I don’t have to pay, right?!

We got some pictures and video of Thomas cooing and talking the other night. He is such a sweet boy and we love him so much!

Thomas Tries Cereal

Yes, Thomas is growing so big. I thought it would be a good idea to try cereal this week with Thomas. It was so funny to watch his face. I don’t have much of a story about it, but the picture says it all, I think! We go in at the end of the week to find out just how much he has grown in two months, so be ready for another blog post at the end of the week.

Basketball

 

Celeste and Eddie are playing basketball this year. They’ve never played before, so it’s all new for us, but there is a program called Upward Sports that has all different sports in the area. They are held at different churches and private schools in the area. We heard about it from our neighbors who have a son the same age as Eddie. He was going to be starting and they called to tell us about it so we could put Eddie in if he wanted. Technically Gordon turned four before the season started, so he could have played also, but we decided to keep him out this year and start next year. I don’t know if it was a good idea or not, but we’ll definitely put him in next year!

The kids had their first game on Saturday. Celeste is the only girl on her team and probably the youngest or one of the youngest, so she doesn’t get the ball much and she can hardly get the ball to the basket, but she really works hard and hustles to get where she is supposed to be. The age group she is in is 3rd or 4th grade through 6th grade. She was a little nervous about her first game, but now that it is over, it wasn’t so bad and I love that for the most part, the parents are good sports and clap and cheer for everyone, so kids like Celeste can feel good about doing their best, even if it isn’t as good as the other kids.

Eddie’s team is adorable! The kids are working on dribbling the ball and staying in bounds on the court. Every once in a while they make a basket, but they aren’t keeping score. Our neighbor kept score and said our team won 8-4 or something like that, but the score board was only used for the time and not the score. Eddie, along with most of the kids, love chasing whoever has the ball. These kids are so new at this that the coaches are even allowed to be out there on the court to keep the kids from hurting each other and help them learn to pass, throw and dribble the ball during the game. It was really funny. I can’t wait for Gordon to start next year.

(Eddie is yellow #4)

The church school that is sponsoring it is the Evangel Church. The kids earn stars to iron on their shirts by memorizing scriptures, showing good sportsmanship and being Christ-like. They also have little devotionals during their practice time and during half-time of the games, they had a bible story and activity. I don’t mind it at all. I like that they pray before the games and they talk about how Jesus loves them and wants them to be happy. My kids may not need that kind of stuff from basketball because we talk about it at home and church, but there are kids there who do need it. For some of those kids, it’s the only place they hear that Jesus loves them, so I’m okay with it.

So, for the next couple of months, our Thursday evenings are taken and our Saturday mornings are busy, but the kids are learning new things and making new friends and I love it!

Thomas is 3 Months Old!

Yesterday marked Thomas’ 3 months of life. He doesn’t have another doctors appointment until next month, but he is doing well. He’s sleeping better. I can usually get five hours of sleep at night before he wakes up, so I’m not complaining! The picture above shows how he likes to lay, upside down! It’s weird, but he will often calm down if he is fussy if we put him in this position over the couch.

He’s such a wonderful part of our family and I couldn’t imagine life without him.

We have a thumb sucker. We’ve tried to get him to take the pacifier, but if that thumb is closer, he will take it!

He’s smiling and was trying to laugh the other night. We tried to capture the smiles, but didn’t get any really good shots. I was making him smile and Kyle and the camera were in the other room. By the time Kyle got in the bedroom, Thomas was slowing down and wasn’t smiling as much. As soon as I get some better pictures, I’ll be sure to post them.

Gordon’s 4th Birthday

This year Gordon’s birthday was on a Wednesday and we had planned on having a small party with some friends on Saturday, which worked out perfectly because the boys and Kyle all had strep throat, so it was definitely good that we waited until Saturday to give them all time to recover.

Gordon asked for a Captain America cake. Some day I’m going to learn how to decorate cakes and make them look great, but for now, I just make due with what I have and know. I made a Captain America Shield cake because I figured I could do that with little problem. Gordon loved it and was so happy it was Captain America that he didn’t care what the cake looked like!

 

He just had his four year old check up on Monday. He is doing great. He is in the 47th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height, which means he is right one and doing well. The poor boy had to have three shots in the leg, but he’s all caught up and doesn’t have to have any more immunizations for a long time, so we’re all happy!

I just love my Gordon Boy. He’s a sweet, caring little boy who loves to climb, jump, ride bikes, dance, swim, pretend fight, play with cars and anything else that will keep him active. His favorite things is anything to do with cars, sports, or The Avengers. He can pretend to be Captain America one moment and then take off his shirt to become the Hulk the next. He has found things around the house to help in his transformations such as a hanger turning into a bow for Hawk Eye and a plastic fireman hatchet for Thor’s hammer. He loves when someone reads to him and absolutely ADORES his little brother. He has started Sunbeams this year at church (the class that I teach) and since he is the oldest in the class, he is the only one that really sings or answers questions. He is sure cute in there though and I look forward to teaching him this year.

Christmas at the Hunter Home!

Christmas this year was very quiet, but nice. We had to really work on coming up with new traditions. We spent a lot of time on Skype on Christmas day, and the kids loved being able to see and talk to their cousins and grandparents.

Here are some pictures from our Christmas this year.

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Eddie got reindeer food at school (oats and glitter), so the reindeer would see the sparkles and stop at our house. It was so cute watching him spread the food around in the front yard on Christmas Eve before bed. Yes, I even put a picture of me in there in my pajamas playing on my new tablet. That was my Christmas, so I had to throw a picture in! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas because we sure did!

Eddie’s First Concert

I always love going to the kids’ concerts at school. They are always so cute. The winter concert this year was supposed to be at the school, but they asked us to send in a form stating how many people were planning on coming for each child. When they discovered that there would be over 500 people coming to watch the kids, they had to scramble to find a larger place. Thankfully, there is a local Baptist church that was willing to let us use their church building. I’m not sure there was still enough seating for everyone, but it was definitely bigger than the school gym, so everyone was happy!

We got a little bit of him singing on camera, but it’s hard to hear. Their concert celebrated all of the holidays in December, so he now knows songs for Christmas both religious and commercial, Hanukkah and Kwanza. I loved it! They did so well and it was so fun to listen and watch them.

 

Because of the way they have the music program set up, Celeste won’t get to sing in a concert until the spring, so we’ll get pictures of her when the time comes!