The Next Alex P Keaton

The week in Hunter's class the teacher started talking about the President and she asked the class who the President was and they all yelled - Obama......Except Hunter who said, "McCain should have won." Too funny, he still talks about McCain and asks why he didn't win and why more people didn't vote for him!

10 Months Old

10 months old! Luke is such a joy. He is really laid back and entertained by all things Hunter. He gets so excited to greet Hunter every morning and pretty much wrestles Hunter out of bed.

Luke has discovered gravity since last month and finds it very interesting to drop his pacifier or toy off his tray for you to retrieve. So far he doesn't drop food off his tray until he is done eating, it is too valuable!!

He eats anything and everything you put on his tray (in record time.)He is completely different in that regard to Hunter. I think in another month or two Luke will out eat Hunter!

The babble has really picked up this month and he is now having conversations with you in complete babble. He is spending more time on two feet, walking around everything, standing for longer stretches and when adventerous, taking more and more steps.

Hopefully after he gets tubes we can focus on training him to sleep at night. We are still up every 2-3 hours with him and as you can imagine we are exhausted. It is amazing what the body can do.

What's been going on?

Well, January is flying by. Getting back to our post vacation routine has been very time consuming, so here is a little update:

• Hunter started his second swim class (the first without Dad in the pool) and is doing really well. Favorite part: jumping in.
• Luke is scheduled for tubes in February. This last infection was a killer and required 3 different antibiotics to treat!
• Luke took his first steps on Sunday, 4 in a row! Wow this is quicker than Hunter by about a month.....We are in for it!! See video below.
• We had our first parent/teacher conference today for Hunter. She has observed the same things we have: he has a lot of energy, has trouble transitioning, is outgoing, loves having books read to him, first to answer questions and is very inquisitive and opinionated. She said that she really enjoys having him in class. Yeah.
• Hunter managed to open his car door as I pulled into a shopping center this week. It swung wide open, but I was able to pull right over. Now we have to make sure the car doors are always locked when we are driving!
• In an effort to stop some of the tantrums that Hunter has, we have instituted a no TV after dinner policy (he used to be able to watch a show before bed.) This is actually just as hard on me, someone who needs the TV on all the time if I am home, as it is on Hunter.

Christmas 2008

The Christmas season whizzed by this year. I don't know if it was because there were only 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas or we now have 2 kids, but it was a struggle to get everything done this year. I have also learned that I can no longer take on as much as I do and get it all done. I didn't enjoy the holiday as much this year because I was trying to fit in all the "traditions" that I have created. I will do better next year, pair down the baking, and try to step back a bit and enjoy!

We did manage to make the gingerbread house (can you see a hole where the roof meets the house wall? Hunter nibbled on the house while I was getting everything ready....just too tempting!), bake the cookies, visit Santa, make the count down to Santa chain, sprinkle the reindeer glitter outside, get Christmas pjs from their elves, leave carrots, cookies and milk for Santa and crew and wrap all the gifts! Exhausting!!

Hunter was so excited for Santa this year. He wanted a fire truck, ambulance and police car and repeated it over and over whenever someone would ask. I struggled to find the ambulance, but finally found one in CVS no less.

My parents bought him the fire truck so when he didn't have one to open at home he was a bit concerned that Santa forgot. He said "Where is my fire truck, I asked Santa?" He was so relieved to find it at Gigi and Papa's.




Luke was just excited for all the paper and loved to play with all of the toys with Hunter.

After we opened our gifts at home we went to my parents house to do it all again, and had a wonderful dinner with them.
Hunter even helped Gigi with dessert.

9 Months Old

I was doing so well capturing Luke on his actual birthday, but this photo was taken on Christmas Day. Christmas Eve was just too busy to take a picture.

Luke is itching to walk, can stand on his own, see picture below, loves his big brother and is a happy content little boy. He still has just two teeth, but doesn't let that stop him from eating a bunch of "grown up" food.

He has had a bad string of ear infections this month and think tubes are inevitable.