March!

Bill finished school! He now joins the ranks of those who have a Bachelor’s degree! I am really proud of him. It is a big accomplishment. He had good grades too, mostly As and a few Bs, finishing with a better GPA than I did. He would say he could have done better because he seems to be a perfectionist in the grade department, but I think he did great! He is going to go through the graduation ceremony with a few of his friends in June. They only have one ceremony a year on this side of the mountains. It will be at Benaroya hall in Seattle for all the Central campuses on this side of the mountains. Sounds pretty prestigious to me! Bill is getting excited for spring, so Shaun and he can go play outside at parks or wherever during their playtime.

Shaun is becoming a walking pro! Shaun picked up where he left off a little while after recovering from the flu. He has come a long way in just the last week or two. Some evenings he does laps in circles around the living room because he likes walking so much. He tries to go faster than he is able, so falls, but then sometimes laughs and giggles about it and gets right back up. He wants to run already!

Next month, we are looking forward to Easter and our annual trip to the ocean!

Sounders Fans!

The Hunter family are Sounders soccer fans! We got a Jersey for Shaun, a warm up jersey for Bill and a t-shirt for me! Don’t we look like fans! We even got Shaun a miniature soccer ball. I think it is just about the right size for Shaun!

Dad & Shaun

Mom & Shaun

Full view of Shaun's jersey!

Future player?

The Sounders played their first game ever last week, and won 3-0! A team member even got player of the week from the whole league! They played their second game last night and won 2-0! Bill even checked out some soccer books at the library to learn about all the details and rules since he hasn’t ever played and I haven’t played since I was about 13. We may even go to a game this summer, depending on if we need to choose between the Mariners and Sounders.

Also, Shaun’s buddy, Mady, won the Sounders photo contest! Click on this link to see the winning picture! Go Mady!

http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=284&sid=148670

First Hair Cut!

Shaun got his first hair cut today! His hair was getting in his eyes and looking a little shaggy, so we figured it was time. I searched around for a kid’s hair place (not considering the one where Kirin probably got lice) and found one in Country Village. Last week I thought we had found one in Lynnwood, but it had closed.

Shaun did really well. He fussed a little when he first was put in the chair, but he was fine as soon as Elmo came on the TV. He got to sit in a Blue Angels chair! He fussed again a little at the end, but she said that he was really good for his first hair cut and being so young. She had two others earlier today that screamed the whole time. He looks like such a different kid, so grown up!

Here are some pictures!

Before

Getting started

Look at Shaun in the mirror watching Elmo!

Checking out the cool buttons

The cool Blue Angel's chair!

Almost done!

Finished Product!

Tough Week!

Last week was a tough week around our house. We were all sick with the stomach flu at various times. First Shaun threw up Saturday morning. I didn’t think too much of it because he was acting normal and eating fine for the rest of the day. So, then we went to my Grandma’s 90th birthday party that evening. We had a great time there, but little did we know, we may have passed the bug around! :( Then, Sunday mid day I started not feeling well. I quickly went down hill and pretty much just laid on the couch while Shaun played until Bill got home that evening (it was his reserve weekend). I felt absolutely awful when I went to bed, but then I felt somewhat better when I woke up. I stayed home from work on Monday because I definitely was not normal and pretty weak from lack of food. By Tuesday I was ready to go back to work after taking it easy for a couple of hours in the morning.

Tuesday, Bill started getting a queasy stomach, and by the time I got home from work he was in bed and looking awful. He was down most of Tuesday, but on Wednesday he was up and about again. He wasn’t totally his normal self, but much better. During all of this time, Shaun was feeling pretty well, just with some diarrhea issues and not his full appetite back. It was our first experience dealing with diarrhea with a baby/toddler and it really brought us to another level of parenting! I won’t go into any more detail than that!!! I’m sure all you parents know what I’m talking about! We stalked up on Pedialite, and various foods that the nurse suggested to help, but it just had to take it’s course.

The 3 of us are better now and glad to be!

I was also thinking of going to get Shaun’s first haircut soon at a neat kid haircut place that one of Shaun’s buddies, Kirin has been to twice already. However, Kirin’s mom informed us earlier in the week that he contracted lice from somewhere and suspects in might be that hair salon. The only other places it could be from she said were our play group and baby class, and no one else has it. So, I think we will be picking another hair place!! To make matters worse for Kirin, he had to get his head shaved because that is the only way to get rid of lice on a child under 2. This is a little guy that was born with a full, and I mean full head of thick hair and has already had 2 hair cuts. I’m sure he looks a lot different! Lice are something that I hope we can avoid now, and in the future!

On another note, Shaun is getting 2 molars, one on each side on the bottom! I don’t know if they helped contribute to his feeling off last week or not, but he now has 10 teeth! He has been extremely cranky the last few days. I can’t wait until teething is over for good!

Birthday Month!

February has been a busy month! The big milestone was Shaun’s first birthday!! I can’t believe that my baby is already 1 year old. The entire year has gone by in a flash. We had an Elmo themed birthday party on the 14th. He really loves Elmo and especially loves the Elmo balloons that are still in our living room. He points at them all the time. Great Grandma got him an Elmo chair, which he really enjoys too.

The week before his birthday Shaun was sick. During the weekend he developed a really bad sore throat. He didn’t want to swallow anything, even his saliva. That Monday we took him in to the doctor to have him checked out. The doc said he had Croup. Croup is a virus that usually involves a lot of coughing because of the narrowed/inflamed throat. Shaun never had a bad cough, just a slight one. And then after a few days his throat was feeling better, so he could get back to eating like normal. He lost his voice though, so was hoarse for about a week, but otherwise okay. Thankfully he was well enough for his party.

Shaun and his buddies moved up to the “big kid” baby class. It is the class for 12-24 months. They look so big sitting in chairs and eating their snacks while listening to a story!

Shaun also had his 1-year checkup. He is doing really well. The two shots didn’t even really bother him at all. He got the MMR & Chickenpox shots. Here are his stats:

Weight: 22 pounds, 36th percentile
Length: 30 inches, 56th percentile
Head: 49cm, 99th percentile!!!

We also got his 1 year pictures taken and a new family picture taken since the family picture from when he was 1 month seems a little out dated now! Click on the 1-year picture at the right to see the rest of the professional and February pictures.

Also, Shaun is done with the binky!!! He weaned himself off when he was sick, so we didn’t give it back to him when he was better and he hasn’t missed it. He didn’t want his binky when he was sick because his throat hurt too much to swallow, and I think sucking means more swallowing. We also have started Shaun on whole milk instead of formula. The doc said that he is now getting all of his nutrients from the food he eats, so he doesn’t need the formula for that. We will slowly finish up the supply of formula we have on hand. He eats whatever we are eating for dinner! No more buying baby food jars! Next step is to get rid of bottles. I don’t know who is going to be unhappier, Shaun or I. I love the snuggle time we get each morning and evening.

Tomorrow morning I am getting my wisdom teeth pulled, so I am writing this before hand so I can just relax and recover all weekend. I just have the top two wisdom teeth and they tell me that those are the easier ones to get out and to recover from, so I am hoping that is true!

A Cupcake Mess!

Tonight was our playgroup birthday party! All of Shaun’s friends are turning 1 this month, so we had to have a party! They played around like usual and then we had cupcakes. What a mess! It was the first time eating cake for all of them.

Ready to try it out!

This is good!

Num Num

MmmmmmMmmmm

I like this cake stuff!

And here is a video of some of the action!

January 2009

At the beginning of the month Shaun started to do this crawl where he puts his head down, looks straight down at the floor and crawls really fast. He runs into things because he is not looking where he is going! I guess speed is better than direction….? He is getting a little steadier and confident on his feet. He can lean against a wall or chair or something without holding on at all. And, breaking news, just in the last week he has started to take a few steps!!! He falls after taking a few, but he does it! He has also advanced to the “big boy” bathtub. No more inflatable tub inside the tub. He is in the real thing. We got a mat so it is less slippery. He loves to splash around and play.

We also were trying to decide when would be a good time to try him longer in the nursery at church so we could go back to Sunday school. We were thinking maybe around his birthday, but then a new Sunday school started up this month, so we went for it! It starts half way through the first service, so he only has to be in the nursery for 2 hours instead of 2 ½. The first time he did okay. They said he was getting fussy and tired for the last half hour, but otherwise okay. We haven’t had to go rescue him in a while (knock on wood), so that is good. He usually cries when we leave him, but they are able to distract him with toys.

We found out some sad news that needs prayer. Bill’s dad (also named Bill) was diagnosed with stage 2/3 colon cancer. He had surgery at the end of December to remove a tumor and will be starting chemo here pretty soon for 4-6 months. He lives in Las Vegas with Bill’s step mom, Mickey.

On a lighter note, we finally got to have our Christmas Eve gathering! Shaun got even more spoiled. The snow can’t ruin Christmas, but it sure can delay it! Thankfully the snow has been gone this month (hopefully for the season), but the rain has sure come back!

Today was the last day for Shaun to get Mommy’s milk because I am DONE pumping!!! Over the past several months I have been greatly slowing down, and it felt like the time to stop based on how my body was reacting and producing. I figured it was close enough to his birthday to “count” as a full year! Shaun has been eating more and more of what we are for dinner. He is getting really good at it.

Tomorrow we are going to a super bowl party with some new friends from church. Go Arizona!!!

Here is a quick video of some first few steps: