ONE!

January 21, 2010, at exactly 1:00am, our lives changed forever with the birthday of our beautiful baby boy, Hunter James. We were having one of the worst storms of the winter, freezing temperatures, strong and fierce winds knocking trees over and knocking out the power. The power actually went out for a brief moment at the hospital during our stay.

January 21, 2011, Hunter turned 1 year old and we've had the best year with him! The weather was absolutely beautiful so we decided to take a trip to Santa Cruz. We had a great time - it was a sunny and warm 72 degrees. =) We had Hunter's 1st birthday party the following day at a restaurant in downtown Campbell. We had a private area upstairs and enjoyed celebrating our boy with our family and close friends. We really missed those of you who couldn't be there.







We took Hunter in for an eye exam (just standard 1 yr check up, everything's ok) and his doctor said something that was so weird to hear - he said now that Hunter's one we're not new parents anymore, we're experienced. Experienced parents - us? I wouldn't quite call us experienced, but I think we have definitely learned a lot this past year. We're pros at changing diapers and swapping out old clothes for new ones. We can give quick, to the point bath and love, fun ones as well. We know just how to rock him to sleep and how to make him smile and laugh. It's been a GREAT first year! We love our little monkey sooooo much and look forward to all the trouble he's going to get into this year - I'm pretty sure it's a safe bet it will be a lot ;)

I thought I should also include Hunter's 1 year stats, we just had this 12 month doctor appointment on Friday. And to show how much he's grown, a comparison with his birth stats ;)

BIRTH:
Weight: 8 lbs, 13 oz
Height: 20.5 inches
Head: 35.5 cm

1 YEAR:
Weight: 23 lbs, 7 oz - 65th percentile (yes, 23 1/2 lbs is only 65th!)
Height: 31 inches - 75th percentile
Head: 49.5 cm - 95th percentile (not surprising ;)

Almost...

Hunter is almost one year old and, of course, that has me reflecting a lot on this past year. For instance, exactly a year ago I was still pregnant and school was on winter break and I'm trying to remember what the heck I was doing with myself?! No baby, no school, no work... I simple can't remember what that was like - but I'm sure I was doing a lot of relaxing, leisure reading and baking. =) I look around my living room and it's full of colorful toys and a foam tile alphabet floor mat and I love it!

Hunter is certainly a busy-body that keeps me from ever taking a rest. When I picked Hunter up from Sunday school last week I asked how he was and they said he was great - and then added that he is so into everything they don't know how I manage at home. He wanted to play with the diaper pail, during snack time he was eating everyone else's snacks... LOL... but they said he always has a big smile on his face and he's a joy to be around. Yep, that's my boy. If there's a door or drawer, or something with a lid, he wants to be opening and closing it. If he's not supposed to touch it, he is drawn to it like a magnet. He now claps his hands and cheers, which is so cute. He also wants to feed himself most of the time, which makes for a messy meal time, but if he's happy and eating then I'm happy.

Mark and I took Hunter to the park yesterday for the first time since he started walking. It has been soooo cold here, and yesterday the sun was shining and it was a warm 65 degrees. We had a great time. Hunter loved being able to walk around and explore, and not just be stuck on a blanket next to mommy ;)









Hunter now has 7 1/2 teeth - that 8th one is really taking its time coming in. Unfortunately, they've been waking him up a lot at night but I'm hoping once the swelling of this 8th one goes down that we'll have a little break from more teeth and he can return to sleeping through the night for a while.

Happy 3-day weekend to you all!