Catching Up

Have you heard of the Dragon Speech Recognition computer program? It is the one where you speak and your computer types up what you are saying. I will not be purchasing this item...instead I am waiting for when them come out with the Telepathic Recognition computer program. That way all I have to do is think about what I want to do on the computer, and it will just automatically do everything for me. It will make updating this blog so much easier, as I often think of things I want to say, I just never end up sitting down to open up the blog and actually do it. Granted my days lately have been filled up with feeding Hunter, burping Hunter, cleaning spit-up off of Hunter, singing Hunter every children's song I can remember from childhood, dancing with Hunter in the kitchen, making funny faces and noises to make Hunter smile, reading Hunter books, and rocking Hunter to sleep. Between all of which I try to squeeze in cleaning the house, doing yard work, doing laundry, reading my book, running errands, and scrap booking. The days just fly by. So I decided to use this blog post to make all the entries that I have actually been posting in my head over the last week. This will probably be close to hitting the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest blog post ever, so you may want to grab a cup of tea and a snack if you plan on reading through it. Feel free to just skim through to look at the pictures too, it won't hurt my feelings one bit if you decide not to tackle this one, as it is quite lengthy :)

Across the Miles
When I win the lottery I am going to buy a huge neighborhood with enough houses for all of my extended family to live (to you folks out in Michigan, I hope you don't mind moving coastal, as I refuse to leave the ocean...don't worry, you will get used to it!).  My family is spread out all over the country and it is so hard to see everyone as often as I would like.  I get extremely sad whenever I can't make it to something, even just an annual holiday party. I have to watch my nieces and nephews grow up via pictures and phone calls. This past weekend I had to miss my cousin Danielle's wedding. I wanted so badly to make the trip, but Hunter and I just weren't ready to make the 14 hour car ride up to Michigan.  I haven't seen my family up there in years, and I miss them all so incredibly much. I heard it was a fantastic time and it would have been a blast to be able to dance the night away with all of my cousins. At least I got to see a video and some photos of the event.

To Danielle - you made such a beautiful bride. I am so sorry I wasn't there to celebrate such a wonderful moment in your life. It looks like your wedding was lots of fun. I wish you and Tim more happiness with every passing day. Hugs and Kisses and Love to you both!!!!

Here's a picture of the Michigan Cousin Clan taken several years ago. I think this is the last time I saw them all:

Rock-a-bye Mommy
Hunter does not yet sleep through the night, however, he now only wakes up 2-3 times a night and it is usually just a bottle and new diaper then he is back in his crib sound asleep. It am usually back to bed in under a half hour.  The time span that this all takes place is usually from 10ish at night until 9ish in the morning, which for most people that would be plenty of sleep, even with the few interruptions.  The problem is that when I get back into bed, I can never fall asleep. One of the reasons is because my brain doesn't like to shut-off on command.  I will toss and turn for hours thinking of the most ridiculous things.  For example, one night I kept pondering what I was going to pack for outfits for Hunter and I to wear when we go to Connecticut during Thanksgiving week. How stupid is that?? Another reason is because I recently learned that sleep talking is hereditary. Alex is notorious for waking me up in the middle of the night when he starts either rambling off some gibberish blurbs, laughing hysterically, or humming a song while kicking a beat to go with it.  Most of the time I can't understand what he is saying, but sometimes he talks clear enough so that I can not only understand it, but I can respond to it as well and we end up having a conversation without him even knowing it. One of the most memorable moments of all this nonsense was when he sat straight up in bed and shouted "The Batteries are Blue!" Another time he got out of bed, spun around in a circle, and crawled into bed all while he slumbered. I think my favorite moment so far was a couple of weeks ago when he started giggling and I asked him what was so funny and he responded with "I am practicing making my son laugh". Even though it woke me up, I thought it was pretty cute.

Well, Hunter just had to follow in his dad's footsteps and now he talks in his sleep too.  He spends most of his nights making grunty

Between my restless thoughts and the noisy men in my life, it is hard to get a good night's sleep.  Luckily I have an awesome family who has been coming over to watch the little guy so I can take naps during the day, but I don't want to have to rely on them forever.  Does anyone know if there is a school that offers a program on learning how to fall asleep amongst these kinds of distractions?

The Noisy Little Sleeper:

Say Cheese
Hunter has reached that smiley phase. Sometimes it is easy to get them out of him, sometimes you have to work really, really hard. You have to catch him during the right time of the day too. His peaks are usually around the 9am and the 6pm time frames. Its interesting how sometimes you do something and he thinks its funny and then the next time you do it he thinks its lame. For example, last week he used to love when I gave him fishy kisses on his cheeks. This week when I tried it, he just gave me a look that said "Dude, that may have been funny when I was 5 weeks old....but I've grown out of it...that kind of stuff just doesn't work a 6 week old".   I'm going to have to constantly fill my arsenal with new material if I'm going to keep this kid entertained!!!

Smile for Mommy Hunter!!!!

Its so hard to make him smile and get a good picture of it at the same time, so I like to steal pictures that my mom-in-law gets:

Bittersweet
Its amazing how quickly babies grow up. Sometimes I wish he would just stay a cuddly new born forever, other times I get excited for what is to come.  I can't wait until he starts giggling and laughing. I can't wait until he starts telling me funny little stories. I can't wait until he wants to build sand castles at the beach. I can't wait until he wants to read me books and play games. There is so much to look forward to, but when I get in the grove of thinking like this I remind myself that I shouldn't waste my time in the present picturing the future. Time goes by so fast as it is, it is important to remember to live in the moment.  Before long he will be eating on his own, walking on his own, making his own decisions, having his own opinions, and as much as I want him to end up being an independent person, I don't want it to happen today. So am I going to spend my days relishing in my daily snuggles, enjoying our morning naps, singing any song I want before he can make fun of how tone-deaf I really am, dancing in the kitchen, and praying that time stands still until I get my fill of it all (which we all know can never happen).

Will you stop growing up so fast Mr. Handsome Man!!