Hunter has been so fun lately...he has been testing his limits with standing and then letting go for a quick second to see if he can keep his balance. We cheer him on of course so he keeps doing it. It is so funny. He almost does it as if he is showing off too. I love watching it...so much fun! He is still all over the place...I look away two seconds and he's on the other side of the room. He is definitely keeping us on our toes.

Today was quite hot outside (what's new)..so we got a pool for Hunter and filled it up and put Hunter right in...he loved it. He's always loved the water with bath time too.

lemons anyone???

This was yesterday at lunch...just got it uploaded....it makes me crack up every time...bet you can't watch this without laughing...just try.

We had a nice Fathers Day today....and I hope Jeremy did too..I think he did. We started off with a nice breakfast...it was pretty good if I do say so myself! Rye toast, fruit, green pepper scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, o.j.....yum! Just hung out at home until we made a trip to Target (I can't get away from that place)...Later for dinner my mom made dinner, it was super good too. Ribs, mashed potatoes, salad. For dessert we had mini cheesecakes from Whole Foods...very good. Here are a couple pictures from the day..enjoy...

Happy Father's Day Jeremy...

gramma bs is on her way!!!!

My mom has been driving from Canada the past couple days to get here! Very excited....getting her room ready and sheets washed, towels hung..etc etc etc. I would even have a red carpet to roll out if I had one ; )  Hunter's napping now hopefully he'll be in a good mood for her. I'm sure he will though, he really is a good baby...knock on wood!!! I'm sure I will have many pictures to show once she arrives....ALBUQUERQUE OR BUST!!!

Today I gave Hunter tofu...you heard me, tofu! He cut it up in little pieces, he didn't like it like that so I took a spoonful and dipped it in applesauce...he gobbled it right up. Applesauce seems to be my little trick I have discovered...I have been trying hard lately to get him to eat thicker and chunkier food than just pureed baby food. I also gave him vegetables with turkey baby food, it was quite a bit chunkier than he is normally use to. He gagged with the first few bites, so I dipped it in applesauce and he ate it no problem! What's up with that? I don't get it..Oh well, I'm just happy to be getting some new foods in his tummy and not just stage 1 baby foods. Hmm what to try tomorrow??

we've been outside most days lately...such nice weather we are having...okay, it's a bit too hot for me, but it's worth it when I get to look at this face......even if he wouldn't smile for me.... ; ) He really does LOVE the swings...and he steals my heart, again and again.

another day at the zoo

Hunter and I joined some of the mommies and babies from my mommy group for a fun trip to the zoo. Jeremy and I got a zoo pass which has unlimited access to the zoo and aquarium, this has come in handy so far and I think will be paying for itself in no time. Anyways...we first had a nice little picnic on the grass while the babies played. Hunter is kind of a bully, he grabbed a pacifier out of another babies mouth and then used him to pull himself up-more than once...(and this isn't the first time)... It's kind of hard to punish a 9 1/2 month old for that behavior though...hmm. We checked out some of the animals, by then though all the babies were in their strollers zonked out or about to pass out. Oh but not my Hunter! He wasn't having it in the stroller, I ended up putting on my baby carrier and he finally passed out in that. I didn't get very many pics but here are a few..enjoy.

kissin' polar bears

waiting for his friends to arrive

yes, he does normally wear pants...we had a bit of an accident and mom didn't bring a change of clothes!! OOPS!

would you like some puffs??

Hunter and Preston in their matching hats

holy 1978!!!!!!!!

Since when did t.v. dinners start looking so retro???? Hopefully they don't taste like they were made in 1978...

You may think it's strange to take a picture of a shopping cart, but for me this is big news! I practically live at Target....and after my my last trip there where my cart WHEEL FELL OFF while I had Hunter in the seat, I was praying they would get new carts. So I show up to Target today and voila! To my surprise I see these new and beautiful, yes I said beautiful, carts. Tons and tons of them. My cart pushed so smoothly, all of the wheels turned perfectly...and at the same time too! Sad that this makes me happy, I know..hehe. By the way, Hunter would normally be in the cart here but he stayed at home with Dad and napped....Oh and did I mention, Target is now carrying groceries???! Very cool...

the new and much improved Target cart....

for you, uncle kyle

for those who don't know...uncle kyle is a bit of a husky fan...just a bit...ha

a day at the aquarium

Hunter is definitely Jeremy's son... he had a great time watching all the fishies and the sting rays, especially! No Jeremy, this doesn't mean you get to buy him his first sting ray and shark...I know you want to! lol. I love watching Hunter experience new things...it's so amazing to see a his eyes light up and smile.

another one of my favorites

I have been playing around with some photo editing software...right now trying out Picnik, which I am LOVING so far. It's so user friendly and has tons of cool effects. Hope you like this one!

just a picture i love

Hunter's first trip to the zoo

 I always love watching the flamingo's....but they STINK!!!!!

 Hello, Mr. Gorilla

 That means they might throw their POO at you, Hunter...watch out!!! haha

Hello, Mr. Gorilla......again

 Hunter liked the giraffes best (we think)... ;)

 He even WAVED at his favorite one, we'll just call her "Sophie" hehe. It was beyond sweet.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm????? Nuff said.

Checkin' out the ducks

ps, I am aware I have no pictures of Hunter and myself today, but I looked TERRIBLE and I refused to get in front of the camera.....so it was all about H and J today... ; )

I think Hunter is practicing for his "how to" book he is secretly writing....

 

STEP 1

 STEP 2

STEP 3

another doctor visit

Today we went to see the pulmonary specialist for Hunter. They just wanted to check him over since he's been sick twice in the last two months. We saw Dr. Davies and I think I liked her.... She was straight to the point but still very friendly. She checked his lungs, they were great and she prescribed him some albuteral treatments in case he starts to show signs of labored breathing again. She said he basically has viral induced asthma, which doesn't mean he has asthma by itself but when he gets sick it makes his breathing labored and wheezy a bit. So now instead of waiting and deciding if we should go to the doctor, we can just give him the albuteral treatments ourselves and help alleviate his breathing right away. She also just explained that with his trach, like most trach kids, they just get sick easier. Which makes sense as they have a direct route to their lungs unlike us "mouth breathers".

We also discussed his possibility of getting a speech valve with the  speech therapist. Because his airway is so narrow right now it's not the safest to try out now. She wants to wait a few more months and see what his airway looks like then and go from there. I got a bit excited of the possibility of hear Hunter's voice again but I know that it's just not safe right now so I will be patient. They also did a pressure test which tells how much air Hunter is breathing in while taking a breath. I don't remember what the numbers they were talking about meant exactly but they said he did REALLY GOOD. Not something they would expect from  a baby with that much narrowing in his airway. Jeremy and I thought it must have been all the hard work he had to do to breath before he got the trach. We also told her that he has been vomiting his food lately, not all the time but noticeably more than before. We also noticed his secretions are a bit milky right after he takes a bottle. She said it sounds like he may be aspirating some of the milk and that he has a bit of reflux. Adults with reflux can have bad heartburn but with babies they just puke it up (which, he does like a champ...haha). So we got some medicine for that and hopefully that should help him with that. She wasn't worried but it's definitely something we want to get better as it's not comfortable for Hunter and we don't want it to get worse.

The good news is they don't need to see him until the winter so as far as his lungs working fine, he just unfortunately caught this nasty bug twice...and it's just another reminder to us to keep his trach clean and wash our hands often. I really don't want him to get sick again...it's no fun at all!

This Dr. appointment lasted quite a while and so needless to say Hunter started out great, then slowly got not so excited about being there....as you can see below:

"I'm so happy to be here!!!"

"okay...not as happy, but i'll fake it for a bit longer...."

"okay seriously, this is starting to get on my nerves, Mom...."

"This is not cool, not cool...."