Catch up! ~ 2013 in review

Ok, it has been over 10 months since I did a blog post; sorry people! It just sometimes is the last thing on my mind and easier to push off to “later”. Well, it is really LATER, so I’ll try and do an update since last March on each of us!!!! Sorry for the long post.

What is happening with everyone….?

Logan

Logan is about to turn 3 years old in less than 2 weeks!  During the summer we did a couple sessions of “Tiny Tot” swim “lessons”. He loves the water; however, we felt that this class was too “baby like” for him because it wasn’t doing much in the way of getting him prepared to be in the preschool level class without Mom or Dad.  He didn’t want anything to do with the teacher and at times would just cling to us even though he liked the water. Luckily, a couple years ago (since Shaun was this age), the pool where we go started a new class called “Super Baby Swim” for 2 year olds where the parent still gets in the water, but the format of the class is more like the preschool level, where the kids stand on the table and swim with the teacher, etc. Unfortunately, the class is only offered on M/W mornings, but Bill was willing to do it all. So, August-December Logan and Dad faithfully went to Super Baby Swim for 5 months! Logan kept improving and we think he is ready to move up next month to Preschool 1; ready or not he is registered to start on February 4! We’ll see how the first day of that goes when he realizes that Dad is not getting in too!  But, Cousin Antonio is in that class, so they will be together; hope that helps!

Logan loves going to story time at the library once a week. It is just Logan and Dad since Shaun is in school. Even if he doesn’t participate in the singing that they do there in class, he is always singing around the house and occasionally sings a song from story time, so he is taking it all in. He loves to pick out books along with the books that we have reserved.

We went and saw Sesame Street Live in May and Thomas the Train in July for Logan. We went the same year that Shaun was 2 to both, so we knew that this was a good age, and they loved both. Thomas the Train was at the Snoqualmie rail station. This is an annual event that they put on for the kids with a big Thomas engine and even a 30 minute train ride and activities.

Logan’s first sports experience was with Kids Love Soccer in July-August. He seemed to be able to take it or leave it, but still had fun I think.... I took 2 weeks off in July and so was able to take him to his first one since we signed up for a morning time. This was the Mommy, Daddy & Me level, so the parent is out there with the child as they go about kicking the ball while doing an activity like pretending to be an animal or finding a certain color cone, etc.

Logan participated in his first program at church for Christmas. He stood up with all the other kids, but didn’t really do any singing. That’s ok; I was just glad he went up there, because in the dress rehearsal he screamed and would not even go up on stage.

Shaun

Shaun is in Kindergarten and almost turning 6!! I still can’t believe it and it is January.  He absolutely LOVES it. He is in half day which goes from 8:25-11:25 Monday through Thursday and every other Friday from 8:25-1:15. Fridays are the school’s shorter day, so there isn’t time to get in both the AM & PM Kindy classes, so they trade off and go all day. He gets to ride the bus to school each day and home on Fridays. He LOVES the bus. We are in the walk zone but right on the line and it is ok to go to a bus stop, so why deal with the zoo at school when we don’t have to? The walk zone kids are automatically assigned AM (which we wanted), so there isn’t a bus to take them home mid day (because they are in the walk zone), so Bill picks him up at the end of his day. On Fridays he gets out at the same time as the rest of the school and so there is a bus to ride home, yay for Shaun!

Mrs. Lee, Shaun’s teacher is great and she adores Shaun. From what we can tell, Shaun is a good student! At the fall parent/teacher conference Mrs. Lee said that Shaun gets very into everything that they are doing and is at the top of the class in most everything. What more does a parent want to hear? Shaun started reading last April, and I am pretty sure he is way above the average student in his class. He can’t get enough of books. Along with the reading we do together, he always wants to sit in his bed after he has been tucked in and read for a bit. I feel like such a bad parent when occasionally it is too late and I have to tell him to go to sleep and not read; there are usually tears…

Shaun continues to love his sports. He can’t wait for the practices and games. In March/April he did indoor soccer, June/July Tee Ball, September/October outdoor soccer, and just last week he started basketball. Outdoor soccer was the first time we went outside the Y and did it through the club. I figured now that he is elementary age, it is a good time to branch out and do the “normal” team clubs. There was no basketball for kindergarteners through the club, so we are back at the Y this year, but I just signed him up for little league Tee-ball/baseball that starts in April through South Snohomish Little League. The only thing I know about this yet is that it is April-mid June and consists of 2 games a week and we had to volunteer or pay more money so we will be working 2 shifts at the concessions! Sounds like it will be a bigger commitment; we’ll find out!

Shaun also continues to love his swim lessons. He has been in the Advanced Preschool level 4 since June, twice a week. They swim back and forth across the deep end building endurance and learning different strokes. This advanced level goes through the age of 6, so he will be able to stay in this level for another year, unlike P1-3 which only goes through the age of 5. Then it’s time to move on up to the Beginner series for 6-16 year olds…

He lost his first tooth in May, and has lost 4 others since and currently has another lose tooth. One of his top front teeth is about half way in and the other top front is just starting to come through. The bottom front two are both pretty much in.

Shaun finished his second year of AWANA Cubbies in May and started his first year of AWANA Sparks in September. He is so good at memorizing!  He gets it from Dad. He already completed his first year book. That entailed memorizing 20+ verses and the 27 New Testament books. He is now on the extra credit book, which he has already completed the review of all verses in the year 1 book and is now working on new verses. Bill and I are both helping out in Sparks this year by being a leader in the small groups who the kids say their verses too. It can be challenging at times dealing with wild K-2nd graders!

Bill and I

I don’t think much has gone on with the 2 of us that is really note worthy. I just took 2 weeks vacation over the holidays; the same time period that Shaun had off from school. I am excited to be able to take time off when Shaun is off school as well. In a few years I will also be able to take off their spring break while still taking off 2 weeks in the summer and 2 weeks at Christmas; one of the small benefits at being at my job now for 12.5 years!

Bill is counting down his time left in the Navy before he can retire. The clock currently sits at 3 years 8.5 months; 9/30/17! He will have his 20 years in then, and wants out! Back on 9/21/97 he started his Navy adventure; happily that is what brought him to me! J

Oh, and I can’t forget, we took an overnight trip to Great Wolf Lodge in November. For those that don’t know, it is a gigantic indoor water park/resort just south of Olympia. Logan had fun and Shaun really had a blast. Kids at least 42 inches tall can go on all but one slide; you have to be 48 inches tall to go on the “Tornado”. Shaun was 47.5 inches, so just missed going on the Tornado, but that was fine. There are a bunch of other slides that he loved! He has no fear! Dad & Shaun checked out a couple of the slides first while Logan and I went to his area. Then when it was my turn, Shaun showed me the ropes and told me it would be fine and to not be scared… Logan had fun too in the kiddy area and pool areas. We definitely want to go back when Logan is tall enough to go on the slides too! We got a room with a bunk area for the boys, which they loved also! Let’s just say that we were ALL tired by the time those 2 days were over!

For pictures of all of the above mentioned activities, please click on over to Facebook on the appropriate monthly picture. I will try and be better at blogging, but no guarantees!

Happy New Year 2014!

Visits to the dentist & doctor!

It has been a week of medical appointments for the boys! 

Yesterday, the boys went for their 6 month dental cleaning/check up.  Shaun did great! The hygienist even said that his lower 2 front teeth are getting loose! I can't believe he is starting to loose them. It just seems like he got them all; ok it has been a bit, but still... Logan didn't have such a good time.  As soon we left the waiting room he knew he didn't like what was going on and started to cry.  His check was short and sweet, basically just the dentist looking and counting his teeth and painting on the fluoride. He did much better 6 months ago; awareness can change things...

Today the boys had their annual check up at their doctor's. They both did great and are growing well.  Shaun also got 2 shots (Dtap & Polio) and Logan got one shot (Hep A). The good news for Shaun is that he is all done with shots for a while and ready for Kindergarten!!!!

Here are their stats and comparisons:

Logan:

He is 2' 11.5"; 70%. He grew 1.75 inches in 7 months; down from the 89%.
He is 28 pounds 6 ounces; 51%.  He gained a little over 4 pounds in 7 months; up from the 27%.
His head is 51.5cm; 97%.  It grew 1.3cm in 7 months; same percentile!

Shaun:

He is 3' 9.5"; 91%. He grew 3.5 inches in a year; up from the 85%.
He is 49 pounds; 90%. He gained a little over 6 pounds in a year; down from the 92%.

How does Logan compare to Shaun at 2 years old?

Shaun was .25 inches taller.
Shaun was 13 ounces heavier.
Shaun's head was .4cm bigger! All pretty close though!

The old wives tale for boys says to double their height at 2 to get their adult height. This predicts that Logan will be 5' 11" and Shaun will be 5' 11.5"...

Shaun is 5!

I can’t believe my first born is 5 years old. Where did the years go? I know I will be asking that for years to come. He has become and is becoming such a kind hearted, playful boy! He loves preschool. He wishes he could go to school more. He can’t wait to go to Kindergarten. He is always asking when that starts. I found out that registration for Kindergarten starts on March 4th! He has been doing “homework” in his getting ready for Kindergarten workbook. (He pushes to do this more than I do!) He is a pro at almost everything in the book. The main things that he is trying to learn in the book are telling time (on a clock with hands) and the basics of adding with coins. Telling time is just the basics of reading the “o’clocks” and the “30s”, so like one o’clock and one thirty. He kind of gets it, but not totally. With the money, he knows that a penny is 1 cent, a nickel is 5 cents and a dime is 10 cents. We are working on the adding concept, but not quite there yet.


This week Shaun is “Star of the Week” at school. I don’t know everything that they do, but the star brings in a poster of pictures of themselves, family and outings and answers to some questions about themselves. I think they then get to talk about the pictures each day and be the center of attention! Today, he also has snack duty and show and tell. I think also that the birthday student gets to wear a birthday hat, and I’m sure they sing happy birthday! A very special day and week for Shaun!

He loves swimming. He has turned into such a fish. He is currently in preschool level 3. He loves to swim under water. He can stay under for quite a while! He is working on getting his “reach and pull” arms more coordinated. He can swim quite a ways. The teacher told me at the end of the last session that he is close to moving up to the preschool advanced level 4; he just needs to mature a little more because he is still pretty uncoordinated with his arm movements.

He also is currently playing basketball through the Y for the 2nd year. He loves going out on the court and running. He is not the most focused on the team, but he is improving, even trying to dribble now, and shooting correctly, not granny style! Indoor soccer is next, starting in March. He reminds me about all his sports and to not forget to sign him up…

Unfortunately, Shaun got his first (double) ear infection this week. All of a sudden, on Monday after lunch he started complaining that his left ear hurt and he was even crying with tears about it. We knew this wasn’t just something to “ignore”, so we called the consulting nurse and she said, that he should be looked at like we thought. Fortunately, our doctor’s office said they would squeeze him in since they didn’t have any openings. I was so glad, because I really didn’t want to have to go sit and wait at urgent care! Amazingly, we were seen right away, and were out of there pretty quickly. One ear is worse than the other, but the infection is in both ears. He was such a trooper and big boy. He was answering the doctor’s questions and pointing to where it hurt. He is on antibiotics to clear the infection, so hopefully that is all that will be needed. It is an inner ear infection caused by a cold. We have been really lucky and this is our first ever experience with any kind of ear infection with either boys. I know a lot of people that have had kids with chronic ear infections and even had to have tubes put in, so I feel pretty lucky. As soon as the Tylenol kicked in, to take away the ear pain, he was back to his normal self and is allowed to do all normal activities. He doesn’t even really have a cold; just a slight cough. He has had much worse coughs/colds, so I was kind of surprised that this “mild” one did it to his ears!

The boys annual checkups were scheduled for Thursday, but have been rescheduled to March 14 because the doc is sick, so we will find out all their new stats then!

Shaun, you will always be my baby no matter how old you are, and I will never forget the day of your birth; such an answer to so many prayers by so many people! I love you to the moon and back! Love, Mom

Logan is 2!

My precious Logan,

Today is your 2nd birthday!  I am so proud of the little boy you are becoming.  You are so talkative and want to do everything your big brother does.  You love the Wiggles, your stuffed animals and fruit! You are a picky eater; you mainly just nibble at meals.  Hopefully you get more of an appetite soon. 

I can't believe that you are 2 years old already.  It seems like just yesterday I was rocking you in my arms as a new born baby.  I will never forget January 26, 2011, such a special day; we got to meet you finally at 1:40pm!  I still thank God for you every day.  God placed you in our family at just the right time; amazing how His plan and timing is always best!

I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be.

Love,
Mom

We held out like his doctor adviced and just swtiched Logan to forward facing in the car. He loves it and thinks he is such a big boy.  Amazingly this advice changed in the 3 years since Shaun, so this was our first time going all the way to 2; Shaun got to turn around at 1. Happy Birthday bud!

Here he is facing backward for the last time. 

Here he is facing forward!



A Simple Blessing...

...by Michael W. Smith, is what I am currently reading.  I have been reading quite a bit lately, during the evenings when relaxing before bed.  I have a desire to learn and grow in my faith, so I  have been reading all kinds of "Christian living" type books the last few months. 

We went to one of Michael W. Smith's Christmas concerts back in 2007 with the family when I was very pregnant with Shaun. This book is about "The Prayer of Blessing" that Michael says at the end of each concert.  He wrote a book about it because it has been so impactful to A LOT of people.  The book takes a chapter each to discuss each of the 6 sections.

Here is the blessing:

In the name of Jesus Christ,

I bless you with the promises of God,

which are "yes" and "amen.''

May the Holy Spirit make you healthy

and strong in body, mind, and spirit

to move in faith and expectancy.

May God's angels be with you to

protect and keep you.

Be blessed with supernatural strength

to turn your eyes from

foolish, worthless, and evil things, and to shut out

the demeaning and the negative.

Instead may you behold the beauty of things

that God has planned for you

as you obey  his Word.

May God bless your ears to hear the lovely,

the uplifting, and the encouraging.

May your mind be strong, disciplined,

balanced, and faith-filled.

May your feet walk in holiness and

your steps be ordered by the Lord.

May your hands be tender and helping,

blessing those in need.

May your heart be humble and

receptive to one another

and to the things of God, not of the world.

God's grace be upon your home,

that it may be a sanctuary of rest and renewal,

a haven of peace where sounds of joy

and laughter grace it's walls,

where love and unconditional acceptance

of one another is the constant rule.

May God give you the spiritual strength to

overcome the evil one

and avoid temptation.

May God's grace be upon you to

fulfill your dreams and visions.

May goodness and mercy follow you

all the days of your long life.

-Michael W. Smith 

Happy New Year 2013!

Hi everyone!  Sorry it has been a bit since I have posted.  We are doing well.  From the hardest day of my life in the last post, it has been good since.  We will always miss Skye, but know that she is in a better place.  Ethan and Coral are doing fine too. We found out from the autopsy that she had pneumonia, and so that is what took her. I got a porcelain Angel to display and to always remember her.  For Christmas, I made a photo book of all the pictures I had taken of Skye to give to Grandma, Bill's Mom.  She was so happy to get it!

What has been going on in our family since November?  Busy, busy, busy; as you can imagine with the Christmas season!  Shaun sang in "Wee Praise" at church and also performed a short Christmas concert at Preschool.  It was all so cute!  We had family gatherings and good Hunter family time together.

We all enjoyed a nice Christmas vacation. I took off a week and a half, between Christmas Eve and New Year's day. It was good to have some quality time with the family. We got my fairly long 'To Do' list done, which always makes me feel good. I like to get things done that are harder to do during the week when working or even on the weekends. The biggest task we accomplished was cleaning out the garage. We have a deep garage, so there is plenty of room for junk to build up, because it is "out of the way". Well, it was not really out of the way anymore, so time to clean and organize! We organized and took one load to Goodwill and one to the dump.  Dad took Shaun with him to the dump, and Shaun was in heaven!!  He loved it and didn't stop talking about it all evening.  This afternoon, when playing he made a dump in the corner with a pile of toys.... Boys?!?!?! :)

Shaun continues to LOVE school. I hope it continues well into the future.  He loves to do "homework" all  the time.  He finished up a Preschool activity book and has started a "Get Ready For K" workbook.  He also got a workbook for Christmas from his teachers.  There is one page for each letter with an activity. I have limited that book to one page a day, otherwise he probably would have done it all in 1day!  He can do one page out of each section a day in his K book, probably about 8 pages.... He should be good and ready for Kindergarten by the time it gets here in September, maybe not me though!  Never thought I would have to limit the "homework".

Shaun's appetite has grown in the last couple of months. He now eats a small size adult serving.  "More please!" is Shaun's favorite phrase during meal times.

Logan is growing and maturing before our eyes. He is talking up a storm.  He continues to add more words and they are getting clearer by the day.  He is talking in phrases/sentences now too.  He has also turned into Mr. Independent!  "I do it!" is his current favorite phrase.....

It seems like I am always throwing Logan's clothes in the 'Too Small' bin.  I feel so blessed to just be able to go to the closet to get the next size clothes out, and it is fun passing on his small clothes to 3 friends! Passing on the generosity others have given us feels good! 

Logan has continued to be our picky eater.  He doesn't eat much, just nibbles at his meals, but I try not to worry about it too much, because I remember the doctor saying once that they won't starve themselves.  Fruit, is the one food group that he would eat until the cows come home, which we don't allow for reasons I won't mention! :)  I can't believe he will be 2 in less than 3 weeks now!

Happy New Year to anyone who reads this!!  I will try to blog at least once a month to not get behind again!  If you're not on Facebook, you can see the latest pictures by clicking on the monthly pictures at the right.

The hardest day of my life.....

On October 27, 2012 at about 10:30pm, 6 week old Aurora Skye Hunter-Phillipson met Jesus. We are so sad to not have her here with us on earth anymore, but she is now healed and wrapped in the loving arms of Jesus. Beware, some tissues may be needed when reading this post.

About mid week she started taking a turn for the worse. They had to up her meds, the ventilator and then by Friday they had her sedated like I spoke of in that post. They couldn’t really figure out why or what was causing her oxygen and heart beat to go up and down. They had maxed out the oscillator and her oxygen levels were still really low. They said it would soon be time to make a decision. The actual decision was more as to when Coral was ready to remove the tubes.

I got the call from Ethan about 8:30pm Saturday night that the tubes would be coming out that night sometime. I headed right down there to be with them. When I got there Coral was sitting on the couch they had brought in the room holding Skye. She had been put on a different ventilator and a bunch of the stuff in her arms that had been placed there in the last couple of days, like some IVs I think had been removed. She was dressed and had a little pink bow in her hair.

We sat there crying together and just watching beautiful Aurora Skye for about an hour and a half. One of the docs came in to give his sincere condolences. He explained that researching the CDH disorder is his specialty, so he wanted Coral to know that he (and the other doc that had been closely working with them) were deeply saddened by this. He also wanted her to know that if she so chose, she can allow them to do an autopsy to hopefully learn something about what was going on in her little body and thus possibly help babies in the future with CDH. Ethan and Coral had already discussed this and have chosen to do so.

So, at about 10:30pm Coral said that she was ready and so they got the nurse that would turn off/unhook the ventilator. It was the simplest of tasks, yet so big. They then could take out the tube in her mouth and get the tape off her face and we could see her without any of that for the first time. What a beautiful girl! Coral then got to snuggle with her in lots of different positions. She was such a natural snuggling her baby on her chest.

About 20 minutes later the nurse came back in and listened for a heart beat. She didn’t hear one, so she got the doc to make sure, and then it was official.

It was now about 11pm and I went out in the waiting room to give her some alone time for a bit. I came back after 20-30 minutes and sat with them again for a little bit.

Coral was then ready to go, so she wrapped her up in the knitted blanket and laid her back on the table, and we said goodbye. The nurses assured her that they would take good care of her. Then was the long, quiet, tear filled walk through the hallways out to the car. I know this was only possible because God’s hand was on Coral the whole time; she was so strong.

I was also so impressed with one of her main nurses, Rhama. She was on the day shift, which works 7am-7pm, but was still there when I got there at about 9pm, and stayed until about 11:30pm because of them, so heart warming!

Bill was able to spend a few hours with them Sunday afternoon. I took them to the train station Monday evening. The boys met us there so we got to hang out with them for about an hour before the train came. It was sad all over again to let them go. We will miss having them around!  We all didn't think it would end so soon or so abruptly.  Coral said on Tuesday that it was weird being back home.  I hope and pray that they both will be able to grieve as necessary and get help in the process if they so choose.