On September 11, 2001....

I had been married 1 month and 7 days…
At my job for 2 months and 17 days….
Was 22 years and 346 days young…
I didn’t know I was about to witness our country’s next Pearl Harbor.

I woke up to my alarm clock about 6am to a bunch of talking on the radio. I thought this was kind of odd since there was usually music or a commercial playing. I listened for a few minutes. They talked about a plane crash/explosion in New York and about President Bush in Florida. I remember thinking, “Why are they talking about that”? I got up and instead of getting in the shower right away; I went out to the living room to turn on the TV. There was news on pretty much every channel and they were talking about that same incident in New York. I was watching the coverage; they were showing the aftermath of the first plane’s crash when I saw on live TV the 2nd plane crash into the other tower. The announcers and everyone were quite shocked! We then learned of a plane crashing into the Pentagon and one into the ground in Pennsylvania shortly thereafter. I distinctly remember the announcers talking about the “accidents” at first until they realized that there were too many to be accidents. I remember watching both towers fall.

I proceeded to get ready for work, where we all tried to “work”. I think we were able to set up a TV and get some reception to keep up on the events besides just listening to the radio.

What were you doing when you learned of the attacks on our country?

It’s hard to believe that 10 years has passed since that awful day and that 9/11/01 is a day in past history. There are some for which it is a history lesson because they are too young to remember or weren't born yet. Our lives were so different on September 10, 2001 than they are today or any day since then.

But, I know that God is and will use Satan’s evil to His glory.

Here is a kid friendly portrayal of 9/11:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B4rsaPBd7OulZGU1MjRiY2EtMDU3Ny00OTA2LWJhYTMtMzYwMTgyMzI5ODlk&sort=name&layout=list&num=50

Logan at 6 months!

I know I'm a bit behind in blogging, sorry. The summer has been super busy like usual! As I think of things that have gone on, I will try and blog about them! Here are Logan's 6 month pictures that were taken earlier in August. I think he is a cutie!

4 months old!

Logan is doing well. He is now giggling a lot and trying to turn over. He really wants to sit up by himself, but can't do it yet.

He had his 4 month well check up today. He is well! The doc says he isn't out of the woods yet on the lactose issue because he wouldn't expect it to just go away even with a normal second stool sample. It means that he is processing things better though. Doc says at 9 months we will try him on yogurt and cottage cheese because those only have partial lactose in them. I am to stay somewhat lactose free. I'm taking that to mean no outright milk or other highly concentrated milk products, but I'm going to eat pretty much everything else. He is eating more formula than my milk now anyway, and it has been going pretty well.

Here are Logan's 4 month stats:

Weight: 15 pounds 10 ounces, 67%, he gained 2 pounds 8 ounces in 2 months, down from the 80%.

Height: 26 inches, 86%, he grew 2 inches in 2 months, up from the 84%
Head: 44cm, 90%, it grew 3.5cm in 2 months, up from the 61%! Another big headed boy!

Here is how Logan compares to Shaun at 4 months:

Weight: 15 pounds 7 ounces, 64%
Height: 26 inches, 86%

Head: 43.5cm, 83%

Logan @ 3 months!

These were taken at the end of April. I just had a chance to get them posted!

Brothers - Professionally

Back to Work

The latest news is that I went back to work on May 4. The transition went well for all 4 of us. For me, it was kind of like being in a time warp at work; like I never left, but it was 3 months later! The boys so far have had good days. The first 3 days (Wed-Fri), they just stayed home and hung out. They didn’t go to swim class and story time because Shaun had a cough/cold (yes, again which he passed to both Bill and I; but not Logan!) This week they were back to full activities and all 3 did well on the outings.

Logan is doing well. Right around when he turned 3 months, his fussing seemed to get a little better. More of his wake times are happy now. He still can be fussy though. Napping is still an issue that we need to work on. At night he still is getting up once a night around 2 or 3am. About a month or so ago, he was making it through the night some nights, and now no nights, so just a few nights ago I decided to go back to giving him a bottle as his last feeding instead of from me. The first night I did that he slept until 6:30am! The second 2 night he woke up again about 2am. We’ll see how it goes.
I got my entire ‘To Do’ list that I mentioned in the last post done, plus got both cars in for service!!!! I am very happy about that! Now to stay on top of pictures and baby books so I don’t get behind anymore!

Here are the other happenings in the Hunter household since my last post:

Ocean trip!
We went on our annual ocean trip on April 15. This time we stayed at the Navy resort at Pacific Beach. We rented a 4 bedroom house right on the bluff above the beach. It was great! We went with my parents, sister and Aunt and Uncle. The house was great and just the right size for all of us. The 2 bedroom condo we have shared with my parents and sister at Moclips was just getting too small last year and especially now with Logan too. It was pretty cold this year, so we didn’t even take Logan on the beach. Shaun had a great time making some sand castles, running around and flying a kite. We also had a grassy area right outside the house to play too. I can see even more playing happening out there in the future. We already made our reservations for next year (have to because they book up quickly for weekends). It’s a bonus that the house rental is cheaper than renting the condo, and way cheaper than 2 condos which my Aunt and Uncle would rent too. Plus the resort has other amenities like a hot tub, fitness room, restaurant and 4 lane bowling alley. We went bowling on Saturday night. Shaun came and had a blast. Dad helped him give the ball enough propulsion to get down the lane and he loved to watch it hit some pins.

Easter 2011
This year for Easter, we went to Beth & Jon’s house across the water. Shaun had another fun ferry ride, like he did on Thanksgiving. We had a good visit with family including the 3 boys. It was fun to watch Shaun & Antonio hunt for eggs on the back deck. Shaun new exactly what to do this year, while Antonio was still trying to figure it out, like Shaun was last year. It was pretty cute.

Zoo!
We went to the Woodland Park Zoo on April 30. We seem to make it there once a year. The Saturday before I went back to work was the best day of the days we had available in the last week I had off, so we went and luckily it was the first day of the new Dinosaur exhibit. Shaun loved the dinosaurs!!! We all went through the exhibit once. Then I sat and fed Logan while Bill and Shaun went through it 2 more times! He got a few dinosaur souvenirs too: a shirt, stuffed animal and figure. We got Logan a shirt too. Grandma & Grandpa are talking about taking him back sometime this summer too. The dinosaurs are life size and move, make noise, and some spit on you! It is a temporary exhibit through September 5.

Mother's Day
I had a good first Mother's day with 2 kiddos! They got me a nice new ring! It has all 4 of our birthstones on it. A very nice gift!

Logan is 2 months old!

(I tried inserting pictures, but then Blogger would lump all words into one paragraph. Let me know if you know what I'm doing wrong-to keep the spaces between paragraphs and my list at the bottom.)

Logan is doing well. He is totally over the virus and back to his old self. We are praising God for his recovery; the whole experience was scary and made us feel like first time parents again because we have never experienced a sick infant before. He is starting to smile! He doesn’t do it all the time, but when he does he throws out a bunch of them. They are very cute I must say!

He also is sleeping through the night some of the time. The last 4 nights he has slept until either 5 or 6am 3 times and the other night woke up an additional time around 2. I am pleased with that! We also started putting him in his crib in his room instead of the bassinet in our room. I decided it was time even though that means my baby is already growing up!

Napping has been harder. He doesn’t like to sleep during the day without being in one of our arms. We had one really good nap day when we swaddled him for the first time. He slept for over 2 hours in his crib. The 2nd try with swaddling didn’t go well, but the next couple of tries weren’t as good as the first time, but he did sleep swaddled in his crib for 30-45 minutes. He is a much fussier baby than Shaun ever was.

Here are his 2 months stats from his appointment today:

Weight: 13 pounds 2 ounces, 80 percentile. He gained 3 pounds 11 oz since his last well checkup at 13 days, and it is up from the 74 percentile.

Height: 24 inches, 84 percentile. He grew 1.75 inches, and is down from the 95 percentile.

Head: 40.5cm, 61 percentile. His head grew 2.7cm, down from the 69 percentile.

He also got his first round of shots. I hate my babies getting poked, but it is necessary.

Here is how Logan compares to Shaun at 2 months:
Shaun was 11 pounds 11 oz, 46 percentile.
Shaun was 23 inches, 50 percentile
Shaun’s head was 40.7cm, 66 percentile

Other news:
Shaun started preschool level swim lessons this month. He goes Monday & Wednesday mornings for half an hour. He is having a blast. The first 10 minutes of the first class he didn’t like it. He had to get used to getting and being in the water without mom or dad, but after the 10 minutes he was doing great. I love taking him!

Bill is currently in the middle of his 2 week yearly Navy duty. This year he had to go to the base on Whidbey Island, so he is staying there during the week since it is an hour and a half drive. So, I get to experience having the boys by myself during the week; so far so good! He is doing it a bit earlier in the year while I’m still home, so we can give Auntie a year off this summer.

As I mentioned last fall, there is a baby boom going on at our church in 2011. Logan was the first. Logan’s first friend, Madelyn was just born on 3/20. They have yet to meet because we didn’t want to chance passing on any lingering germs we may have still had, but it will be fun when they do. Both of my boys have girlfriends named Madelyn!

I have about 1 month left on my maternity leave. I will be going back to work, probably on May 4. I am trying to make the most of my time left and telling myself that I can do it again! I have gotten a lot of things accomplished so far along with spending time with all my boys!

Here are some of the things I have checked off my ‘To Do List’:
*Printed 2010 pictures and got them in the album (yes, I was that behind)
*Printed January & February 2011 pictures
*Started Logan’s photo album
*Started Logan’s baby book by filling things in and picking out pictures to include
*Updated Shaun’s baby book and picked out all pictures to include (I hadn’t put any pictures in his book yet besides the ultrasounds)
*Updated/finished Shaun’s little photo album from Grandpa
*Started Logan’s little photo album from Grandpa
*Started Logan’s 1st year picture frame (includes 1 small picture for each month in the first year)

Things still remaining on the ‘To Do List’ (& it grows):
*Take a good up and down picture of Logan to go in the frame from Grandpa
*Pick out pictures and order a collage of 2010 for my work wall
*Get the professional pictures in frames and organized in groupings on the walls
*Keep up with printing pictures monthly in 2011and beyond
*Do Logan’s 3 month pictures at the end of April
*Clean out Shaun’s too small clothes
*Go consignment store shopping for clothes for Shaun (we have been blessed with a lot of hand me downs, so I haven’t had to do this yet!)
*Get rid of baby clothes & equipment soon after Logan is done with them. We have already given 1 bassinet to a friend-we had 2, some clothes to a friend expecting their first boy (yes, he is outgrowing clothes already), and my maternity clothes I gave to someone at church who knew someone in need. It feels so good to get rid of stuff instead of it cluttering up the house (and help someone else out at the same time)!
*Clean out the garage (Bill’s job mainly:)
*Clean out the basement/family room
*Convert the basement into a playroom by getting rid of the loveseat and chairs and organizing toys, etc.
*Get the carpets and ducts cleaned
*Go to the zoo!