We have a Walker

This video was taken last Saturday. Not his "first steps" but one of the first times that he took more than a few steps.  Enjoy !!!!

A little of this, and a little of that....

Hunter and Issac taking turns driving the school bus

 It seems we are on the go all the time, these days.... With playgroup activities, gym, and general errands, the days just seem to run together. Hunter has been getting up at 6:00am every morning, and then goes back down for his morning nap around 8:30, then we're off and running for a few hours. Home for lunch and another nap for him, and my race to get cleaning, laundry and blogging begins.

This summer we're going to put Hunter into a Summer Reading program at the Library. So Wednesday morning's we'll go for story and music time. Should be a lot of fun for us. We've gone to several of just the story times there, and they do such a great job with entertaining even the youngest of babies.



Hunter LOVES to drive cars....



Well our little man is finally walking for the most part. He still struggles with getting up off the floor on his own, but once he's up, he's on the move. So far (knock on wood) we've only had one traumatic fall, hitting his head on the tile floor. No major damage, just one scared little boy, and a momma who about had a heart attack.... 



So proud of his balloon



New Tidbits about Hunter: 

~ He is now one of the pickiest eater's. We are struggling to keep him happy and feed. The only way we can get veggies in him, is by giving him baby food. Really thought our days of buying baby food were over. One day he'll like something, the next he doesn't want anything to do with it. 

~ He's doing really well with drinking from a regular cup. Which is good thing, because all our sippy cups seem to leak all the time. So I'm more than ready to get rid of them. 

~ He is now an official climber. Caught him the other morning climbing on top of a toy to reach the top shelf of the book case. Yicks !!!!!!

~ He loves to watch The Cat in the Hat and Sesame Street now. He'll point at the TV in the morning wanting you to turn it on. 

~  He will now wave "Hi" to everyone and everything.
~ He also gives hugs and kisses when you ask for them. ( melts my heart every time)

~ Can say the words up and puppy pretty well, and "all done" with sign language. Dada and mama on occasion.

~ Goes banana's in a store that has balloons. Pointing and saying something (not sure what he's saying)



Showing off his belt made from rings



 In the past 2 weeks, Hunter has been invited to 2 birthday parties. It's crazy to see all his playgroup friends turning 1. When we meet them all, they seemed so young. Now they are all starting to walk, climb and get into mischief together. I've noticed that playgroup time now is more of the mommies chasing the little ones, than the mommies socializing. No more flip flops, it's time to bring out the tennis shoes !!!!



Big boy drinking from a cup all by himself




First rid on a carousal



Diggin his party hat ( days after the party )



A Whole Bunch of Busy and Fun

So Seriously where is time going these days???  I logged into out blog tonight, thinking "yes, I do need to update it's been a couple of weeks" WOW ~ it's been over a month. So I do apologize for the lack of pictures and stories. With that being said,  I'm going to attempt to fill you all in with all of the details of our very busy, but fun Spring that we've had.  Our little Hunter is now officially 14 months old, and growing like a weed. He's 21 pounds and 30 1/2 inches long. And one very independent little toddler.

~ He's starting to take steps on his own, and with any luck (I think) he should be walking on his own by the end of the week. Each day he's getting braver and tougher. I truly believe that toddlers should learn how to tumble before they walk, because they sure do take some hard hits.

~ He loves looking at books and when you sing to him (most of the time) his favorite songs are "5 little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" (which he knows the word jump and will jump when you sing it) and "The Wheels on the Bus"

~ Just over the past week or so, he's shown signs of actually understanding what you are telling him. He knows the word NO, and will stop-look at you- and continue on. (but at least he stops for that brief moment) he also knows when you ask him where his water or milk is, he will stop and look for his cup, if he sees it, he will go for it. Same with his favorite ball.  It truly is amazing to watch him grow and learn each day.  

The Dog Day's of summer are already setting in on us here in Texas. With temperatures in the

mid-90's every afternoon, it makes playing outside next to impossible. So we got Hunter a water table and giant sized kiddie pool (big enough for Mommy and Daddy as well) And boy, does he LOVE the water. We spend a good hour each day playing in the water, then it's a major melt-down to get him in the house. But it's worth it, we have a blast splashing around and chasing his plastic boats around !!!

No fear of the water !!!!

So most of Hunter's play group buddies, have already had at least one hair cut if not more. Seeing this picture makes me think maybe it's time for us as well. But then I think, that's the only patch of hair this little guy really has. So we're going to hold out a little longer on the "first" hair cut. This hair style is done with smeared grilled cheese in hair mixed with a little applesauce. Who knows maybe we're onto something good for "all natural" hair care products.

After an afternoon of playing outside in the water, we were messing around with putting his swim shorts on his head. This little stinker doesn't like to wear his hat, but wore these shorts for almost an hour. He sure did look adorable, almost like a chef hat.

Right before Easter, our playgroup had an Easter Egg Hunt for the little ones. Not sure what to expect, we let the little one's go and amazingly they caught on pretty quick, especially Hunter once he figured out the eggs were stuffed with treats. yep, that's my kid- always hunting or begging for food !!!! I'm pretty sure everyone packs extra snacks now when they know we will be there. Hunter has the sniffer of hunting dog and will sniff out those snacks NO matter how quite, or sneaky you think you are being. My new saying is now " I promise, I do feed him"

Hunting for treats

Hunter with one of his playgroup buddies Bo. We had Bo for an entire day several weeks ago. After the jealousy cleared the air, all went well. (thank goodness) the boys played really well together, napped at about the same time, and had a blast while eating lunch together.

Easter Sunday, after church we "hid" some eggs in the front yard for Hunter and let him go to town. Of course, if the egg didn't have a treat it was tossed aside and forgotten about. I guess that means next year we will have to stuff all his eggs with some sort of treat.

Hunter trying out the antique hall chair. Just his size !!!

Right before Easter, Greg made a trip to Chicago to help his Mom load a truck with all kinds of things. Boxes, and bins full of childhood memories, toys,papers, hats, stuffed animals, antique furniture, dishes and Christmas decorations. They spent a couple of days going through things and repacking them for the road trip back to Texas. Then the two of them made the long drive here. I was super nervous as to what they would be bringing with them. But we've managed to find a home for most of the items. The antique furniture looks really good, and has given us more storage, especially in the kitchen area.

Hunter with some of his play group friends.

Hunter and Bo watching the garbage truck out front. They were so excited, the banging on the door caught the men's attention and they waved and honked the horn for the boys. Too cute !!!!

One of our favorite playgroup outings to this place. They have a huge inside play area for little guys only. Lots of things to climb on, jump in or pretend with.  It's child proofed, padded and gated so it's a great place to just let them run off their morning energy !!!!!

Arizona

 This past week Hunter and I spent sometime with my parents in Arizona. We had a great time with them, and Hunter sure didn't take long to warm up to the new surroundings and made himself right at home. (Rearranged things in the living room, opened all the cupboards and drawers and left hand prints on all the glass he could find)

Growing up- we spent our Spring Breaks in Arizona and boy did this past week bring back those memories.... couldn't wait to get to the pool, and then hated to get out of it... Seems our little "water bug" had the same feelings. Hunter took to the water, like he had been swimming for years. No fear in this kid (yet) sure hope that continues, I love the water and could spend hours at the pool. So I'm really looking forward to spending the hot summer days at our neighborhood pool this year.

 Grandma and Grandpa hosted a little Ice Cream Social while we were there. Of course that afternoon it was super hot..... but I guess the heat made the homemade ice cream taste that much better. Hunter was a trooper with the heat and was having a great time showing off for everyone.

 Where's my ice cream........

 DJ Hunter at your service, what would you like to listen too?  This quickly became a favorite item of interest for Hunter. He even learned how to turn it on, and get a CD to play.

Swimming with Grandma. We went swimming every afternoon and evening. Seemed to be the trick to a peaceful nap and good night sleep.

Thanks for all the fun Grandma and Grandpa

Spring Time Fun Part 2

Oh how we love Spring time in Texas..... Finally, we get some super nice weather, where we can get out of the house and explore. In Texas Spring time means a whopping 2 or 3 weeks of great weather before the unbearable heat of summer sets in on us.... With that being said, we are taking full advantage of these beautiful days and cramming as much as possible into each and every day.

Hunter was doing a little kitchen exploring the other day, and discovered the drawer under the stove. Luckily, I just had some extra odds and ends stashed in there. And since then has become the "Go-To" fun spot of the house. Our little man could spend 30 minutes or more playing with the pans and spoons in his newly discovered treasure chest.

Any Spring Time photo in Texas would not be complete without the ever so famous Blue Bonnet photo's.  Although, Hunter had better things to look at than us during his photo shut, he still took some really cute photo's. This has to be my favorite time of year. I find myself looking so forward to the Blue Bonnet photo's. Even with the super hot summer lurking in the future, you just have to enjoy Spring time in Texas.

After playing in the fields of flowers, we went out for pizza. We thought Hunter would really get a kick out of eating pizza, but instead he was more into watching everyone else while stuffing his mouth with blueberries. Oh well, the pizza was good, I didn't have to cook or clean-up and Hunter had a great time. Recipe for a successfully fun day for the Garvey clan.

Hunter and I spent a relaxing morning at the Zoo, with a few close friends from our play group. We went into the bird house for the first time. WOW ~ a little scary at first with all the birds flying at you looking for the nectar cups, but once you're in and relax a little having a beautiful bird land on your arm is really a cool experience. But the ones that land on your head, not so cool.....

We plan on taking full advantage of our Zoo membership this year. The one really good thing about it is, we can get into the Zoo at 7:30 am, which gives us several hours before it actually opens to the public. Which means we're in and out before it gets to crazy or hot. yeah for us !!!!!