Swimmin'

It has only been 2+ months since my last post – ONLY? ONLY? What the heck have I been doing??? Okay, you don’t really care and I get that so I won’t bother catching you up. We’ll just jump right into the current stuff.

Saturday morning was Hunter’s first swimming lesson at the YMCA. Chad taught swimming lessons when he was younger and we both think it is important to get Hunter in the water at a young age.
When we first arrived, Hunter didn’t know what to think. He had a little bit of terror in his eyes, which broke my heart. Since I am still incubating Hunter’s little brother, Chad took the class with him. Hunter was obviously the youngest kid in the class, but not by too much – I imagine that there was at least one other kid under the age of two there.
When they first got in the water Hunter was NOT having it. He was crying and I was stressing because I was in street clothes and couldn’t make him better (I’m a crazy, neurotic helicopter of a mother, but that is okay – I am working on it). Once they got in a little deeper and class started, Hunter really started to enjoy himself. They gave them little koosh type balls to play with and those helped keep the little guy distracted and happy. He smiled and cooed for most of the 30 minute class. It was so fun to watch him and I look forward to going every week and watching this great bonding time for him and his daddy.

Hunter getting ready to get in the pool with daddy. I love his little trunks.

Just a swimmin' fool

Floating on daddy

Getting ready for the big jump!

Loving that slide!

My favorite pool rats!

A Birthday Letter

I know that I am late posting this as he is now almost one year AND one week old, but here is my letter to my ONEderful son…


Dear Hunter,
I can’t believe that you are actually a whole year old. What an amazing 12 months the last 12 months have been! You have brought so much joy into your daddy’s and my life. I can’t even begin to describe how much we love you, and that love grows more and more each day.
You are so much fun and changing and doing new things every day. You love to smile and laugh. You’ve started dancing and scooting around to music and it’s the cutest thing ever. You will eat anything that you can get your hands on and try new foods all the time. You love daycare which makes me feel not quite so guilty about having to send you to one. You are a wonderful sleeper and this past weekend, Daddy and I were both awake before you! That has NEVER happened.
Daddy can’t wait to take you fishing and was just talking about how excited you will be the first time you see him pull a fish out of the water. You are certainly a daddy’s boy and your daddy wouldn’t have it any other way. The two of you recently spent three days without me and while I worried and missed you like crazy, you and Daddy just had all sorts of fun without me.
In a few months, you are going to be a big brother. I’m so excited that you will get to grow up so close in age to your brother or sister but it still makes me a little sad that you didn’t get to be “the baby” longer. I’m a mom, so you’ll always be my baby though!
We are so excited to see what the next 365 days bring for you Hunter. You’ll be walking in no time, and then running and talking (besides mama, dada and tickle tickle). You have changed so much already. Part of me wants you to stop growing and stay my baby forever but I know that the world is waiting for you Hunter, so go get ‘em!
Love you baby!
Mommy

A New Rope

Sometimes I just get to complaing. I’ll start griping about one thing and then that will lead to something else that ticks me off and before you know it, I’m just angry at the world. I would like to blame this on pregnancy…but let’s get real. It’s just my personality. It’s not that I’m never happy. I can’t stand people that complain all the time but sometimes, I just get to goin’ and can’t stop. A few times lately, Chad has looked at me and said “Geez, you’d complain in they hung you with a new rope.” OBVIOUSLY I would complain about this – but more so because I was being hung and notsomuch about the rope itself. (The saying makes no sense to me, as most of my husband’s hillbilly Holton talk comes out similar to the teacher from Charlie Brown – whah whah wah…)

But yesterday, I realized that he was right (GASP!). Sometimes I really do complain about things that I should be thankful for…as least I think that’s where he was trying to go with that statement.

It’s the middle of winter in Kansas. The temperature barely ever breaks freezing and the cloudy and gloomy sky appears to have moved in for the long haul. Yesterday, there was this glimmer of beauty. The Sun! And highs in the 40s! You know what? I actually complained about the sun. There’s my new rope for ya!

My commute home from work takes me about 15 minutes. I have to be at daycare by 5:30 to pick up Hunter so it does cut it pretty close if I leave any later that 10 after 5. Yesterday, I left and had to get gas and wasn’t on the road until almost 12 after and I actually began cursing the sun…

The highway home takes a steady turn about midway through that lands you smack dab face to face with the sun. This blinding moment causes one to slam on their brakes, which then causes the car behind you to slam on their brakes and so on and so forth. A traffic jam – and the culprit cause is the sun. The glorious, wonderful, powerful sun, with all of its delicious Vitamin D and skin tanning abilities is going to make me late to pick up my son. I can’t back charge the sun the extra dollar per minute that I’m late. Grrrr…

But I wasn’t late. I’m never late. I was complaining about something that I had no control over and that really ended up having no effect on me at all. As I drove home, after picking Hunter up the sun was setting and absolutely beautiful and I actually felt compelled to apologize to it, and to God. I could not believe that I had been complaining about something like that. I felt guilty and ashamed.

I am 100% sure that I am not done complaining about things but I’m hoping that this little moment has been enough to let me step back and think about what it is that I’m complaining about and make sure that it isn’t this new rope...

What should have been his birthday...

One year ago today was Hunter’s original due date. A year ago, I went to the doctor – still very pregnant. That afternoon, I somehow convinced myself that my water had broken and we went to the hospital, only to have them tell me that I was indeed, not going into labor. Boo! It would be another EIGHT DAYS before he would make is grand entrance. But man-o-man…he was worth the wait.

In other news, the countdown has officially begun until we find out if Hunter is going to have a baby brother or a baby sister. 14 days to go…

In even more other news, tonight is Bunko night. I love Bunko night. I play with a bunch of girls that I hardly know and two that are my closest and dearest friends. We all have fun. We eat good food. We laugh – A LOT. There is often yelling and sometimes even tears (Michelle!). Since having Hunter I have a hard time ever feeling like anything other than a mommy but Bunko night is just about celebrating a bunch of crazy women rolling dice and enjoying life – as long as I remember to leave enough diapers at home for daddy!

Priorities

This morning, around 1:45 I awoke to Hunter screaming bloody murder through the monitor. I went into check on him and pulled him up to me and we went back into our bedroom and sat on the bed and I rocked him back to sleep. He was sound asleep in minutes and I have no idea what had originally upset him. But we just sat there, rocking for 10 minutes or more because it had been weeks since I had had to rock my baby back to sleep and while I don’t miss the loss of sleep, I do miss the quiet bonding we had in the wee hours of the morning. Soon, there will be no more nights like this for me and Hunter and that thought made me cry. It makes me cry again as I write this. In a few months there will be another baby to rock to sleep in the middle of the night and I’m so scared that I won’t remember how special it was to rock my sweet Hunter. Sure, he won’t be so old that he will NEVER need rocked, but not like he needs rocked now, not like he did just two months ago. So now, when he does wake in the middle of the night, I will rock him just a few extra minutes before putting him back in his crib and forgo those extra minutes of sleep, because after all…which is really more important?

Please excuse me, I'm worthless

I am 100% a believer is Pregnancy Amnesia now because I do not remember pregnancy being this exhausting the first time around. Then again, by this time with my last pregnancy I had zero children to chase after and filled my days with court TV shows and Ellen. These days I’m working full time and spend my off hours entertaining my little Hunt Dog. I hate that I can’t be a dream mom and wife because I am just too exhausted. I want to sleep ALL THE TIME. With my last pregnancy, I was too busy throwing up to be tired. Now, when Hunter hits the crib, mommy hits the hay too. I have not made it to see the 10 o’clock news in well over a week, and even then, I’m lucky if I make it to the weather!

I tend to use my weekend to catch up on my sleep but Saturday we actually had plans to do something other than sit at home and take naps. I paid for it yesterday the same way that some of my childless friends paid for the few too many drinks that they had on Saturday night. I had a headache to rival any hangover and an exhaustion that no size of diet coke would stand a fighting chance at beating. It was worth it though.

Saturday we went to Kansas City to visit my sister, brother-in-law and my wonderful, adorable, always exciting niece. It was so exciting to see Hunter and Cami playing together. I cannot believe that we didn’t get any pictures of them together. Cami had fun showing Hunter all the fun things there were to do at her house. They shared a few puffs and took a Ritz cracker break too. I can’t wait for these two to grow up and to watch their friendship grow.

Here is the most recent picture that I have of the two of them together. How sad that I don’t have any from Christmas, or even Thanksgiving. Add that to the list of reasons that I am a horrible mother…

Far above the Golden Valley...

...Glorious to view, sttands our noble Alma Mater, towering toward the blue! Lift the chorus, ever onward, Crimson and the blue. Hail to thee, our Alma Mater. Hail to old KU!

College basketball has been in full swing for a few months now but the real fun is beginning this week and The Big 12 enters conference play. I love this time of year. I am fortunate enough to be the fan of a good college basketball team. Not so much can be said for my picks in college or professional football or professional baseball, I’m afraid.
Growing up, KU was OUR team. I don’t know where the love originated but my folks instilled it in my sister and me. I don’t have a very good memory, but I have several childhood memories that revolve around those Jayhawks.

* 1988 – Danny and the Miracles. I was only 5 when they won the National Championship, but I’m pretty sure that I remember that game…I think.
* Watching KU play at the Golden Harvest Classic in Kansas City
* The first game that I ever attended at Allen Fieldhouse was KU vs. Colorado. I couldn’t tell you the year but I remember Poncho Hodges played for the Buffs and every time he had the ball, the whole crowd would chant “Tube Socks, Tube Socks” I couldn’t tell you who won that game, Tube Socks is all I remember.
* Our parents bought us KU Basketball trading cards a few years in a row. I remember spending a lot of time looking at those things and picking out my “boyfriends.”
* I’m pretty sure that the first time I ever heard my sister use the word “sexy” was in reference to Rex Walters – she was maybe 15 at the time. Weird.
* The annual photo roster calendar that my dad would get every year that I always thought was SO COOL.
* The time my dad didn’t want to let my friend Michelle into our house because she was wearing a Duke shirt. Can you blame him?
* Driving to Lawrence with my dad to watch Roy Williams’ “I’m Staying” speech on the jumbo screen at Memorial Stadium the first time he was offered the UNC job. I suppose that is pretty moot now though.
* Meeting Wayne Simien in the halls of Leavenworth High School two years before he ever sported the crimson and blue.
* Two words – Mario. Chalmers.

There are some not so great memories out there too, but why give anyone ammo! 

KU is fortunate enough to have two rivals on the hardwoods, one in-state and one just across the state line. I’m not a typical fan in that I don’t bask in the losses of these teams, the only time that I really even care about either team is when they are playing against us, or if whether they win or lose a game directly effects KU in some way (i.e. Mizzou beats Texas so that KU can clench the Big 12, etc.). I could go into my feelings about the fans of these teams, but I have loyal followers that I don’t want to lose by calling the majority of KState and Mizzou fans a bunch of trash talking, bandwagon jumping jerks who tend to find more joy in a KU loss than they do in their own team's win – but whatever. I should mention that that is a lump judgement and does not specifically refer to any known reader of this blog, thus far.

Onward and upward – Rock Chalk Jayhawk, KU!