I realize that I usually just rant and rave about the ills of daily life with a 2yr. old and a 9 month old, but last night I was so overwhelmed by what a blessing they are to me. I don't really even know why I was having these thoughts, its not like either one of them ate their dinner or that they didn't make a HUGE mess of the living room, or that Lucy didn't eat something mysterious off the kitchen floor, or have exorcist-like diarrhea (probably from the mysterious thing she ate), or that I didn't give Miles at least 3 time outs in like five minutes and did I mention that they both have runny noses and (I'm pretty sure) ear infections? :) In the midst of daily routine I have been overwhelmed by these two people in my life.

Miles can make me laugh like no other human being on earth. From the minute he wakes up, he is in a good mood. It is a trait that sometimes drives me crazy, but that mostly I enjoy and look forward to. His hair is usually a wreck and, often times, is standing on end. He loves to make things "crash!!" Cars, trains, spoons, books, pillows, towers of blocks, all can crash and one must yell, "crash!" as it is happening. He loves to give cheers - cheers with juice cups, with ears of corn, with toothbrushes, it doesn't really matter. :) If Miles knocks something down accidentally or does something he genuinely didn't mean to do, he almost always says, "Sorwy." (Sorry) It's really cute. Lately he has been saying, "I'm so sorry about that." Ugh, that kid is so great. He always wants me to "come ON" when he wants to play trains and he waves his hand at me. Oh, and speaking of trains, he calls Thomas the Train - Tommy. Like they were old friends or something. It cracks me up. He can say the full name, but has somehow decided to call him Tommy - I love it! Miles calls John's car, a Volkswagen Jetta, the race car. He usually explains to me in the mornings that daddy had to go to work in the race car. So cute! We have an old car seat in John's car and when it is just the two of them, Miles gets to ride in the "race car." This is usually very exciting to him. Everyday, nearly, Miles asks to go to the park. Let me correct that, he says he needs to go to the park. Just about everyday. :) He loves silliness and to tickle and wrestle and everything "boy" that there is - he loves. He loves to make friends and is usually the life of the party. Miles is not afraid to jump into a crowd of older kids at the park and start playing. I think he thinks he is way older than he really is. :) He can walk up to a group of HSU football players and say, "Hey guys!" without one fear in the world. (that happened!) Miles is also really sweet and kind. He is so gentle with Lucy when he is not feeding her rocks! And when we are alone, he hugs me and whispers in bed, "I wud you mama." I always cry. I love that boy more than I know what to do with sometimes.

And, of course, I have my princess Lucy. She sort of likes things the ways she likes them. She likes her bottle on the warm side and will NOT drink it if it is anything less. She makes me laugh! She loves her bed, she loves to stretch out and scratch at the flowers on her sheets, she feels very safe in there. She gives the best hugs when I get her up from her naps. I live for those hugs some days. She is really, really ticklish and John gets her all the time. She loves it! Not to mention she has the cutest belly laugh of all time. Lucy is attached to my hip most of the time, but when she is not, she is sort of a daredevil. She loves to sit on John's shoulders and let him bounce her around. She loves the wind blowing through her hair, she loves to put her arms up when riding in the front of the grocery cart and she LOVES the swings at the park! She also loves to take baths. I think it is her favorite time of the day. She will splash and splash and clap and she always cries really hard when I get her out, it is sort of sad. She has started scrunching her nose when she laughs and it is seriously the cutest thing you have ever seen. She LOVES Miles. She watches everything he does and claps for him and laughs at him. Lucy will cry and sort of yell if you take something away from her that she was playing with or wanted. She also cries if other kids crawl up next to her while she is playing on the floor, like at church or other play groups - it is funny! She will nuzzle her head under your chin and it is so sweet. That girl cries almost every time I leave her sight and while sometimes it is very wearing on me, on the other hand it is good to feel needed. I know this time will come to an end quicker than I can believe so I am trying to enjoy every single second of it!

Here are some pictures of Miles's latest creative idea: pushing Lucy around in the laundry basket. Lucy actually loves it and it makes me laugh pretty hard too.



Miles has started wearing John's shoes around the house all the time.

A Month of Sickness

This has been such a long month of sickness for us at the Hunt house. If you have kids, I am sure your story is a much the same. I took both kids to the doctor in January and they both had an ear infection. Miles in the right ear, Lucy in the left. How cute of them. :) Two weeks later, I took Lucy back in and she still had an infection in the left ear and the other was also infected now. Ugh! Then, 10 days later I take her back in and she still has a double ear infection and also developed bronchitis. Are you kidding me? They gave her the last anti-biotic she can have because she is so little and after that, shots. Yuck. Then, 7 days after I took Lucy in, I took Miles back in and he had a double ear infection. UGH!!! I asked the pediatrician's office if they just wanted my bank account information so they could directly draft all of our money. I figured it would be faster that way. :) So, anyways, we are just now antibiotic free and HOPEFULLY ear infection free at my house. The doctor and nurses suggested that we keep them out of any day care, play place, nursery, church pre-school type settings so they could get well quicker. They do not go to much of that anyway, but it has made it a long month at home. It has also been fun to try and be really creative and come up with different activities to do at home. Miles has become quite the cook and has really enjoyed helping me make things. I love watching him get so proud of himself. We have also been drawing and coloring and painting and making play-dough and building forts until even that is getting sort of boring. Miles wakes up everyday and says, "I need to go to park." He even told Dr. Wiley that. Dr. Wiley said, "I know buddy, I know."

So, here are a few pictures of the kids for Valentine's Day. I intended to take their picture and send out V-day cards since I never made it happen at Christmas, but you can see below how well that worked out. :)

it's been awhile

Well, I know it has been a few months since I posted last and I would like to say that I forgot or haven't had time or something common like that, but the truth is I have three drafts that I just can't put out there, you know? I have experienced and seen a few things that I can't quite process and in the mean time, little life things have not seemed that funny. Little things have seemed really big and hard. Good news is, I think I am finally snapping out of it and turning a corner. So here is the latest at the Hunt house...

Miles fed Lucy rocks. That's right, there is an "s" at the end of rock. Here is how it went down. We get out of the car and walk up the drive way to our house. I prop the glass door open with my back and fumble around in my purse for my keys while Lucy is safely buckled in to her carrier and Miles is ... well, doing something right behind me. I was keeping only one eye on him and the other on my purse. I get the door unlocked and set Lucy on the floor, still in her carrier, and Miles helps me shut the door behind me. I run into the bathroom (I just couldn't hold it anymore!), do my business, then wash my hands as I sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in my head. I heard that is how long one should actually wash their hand for it kill germs so now I HAVE to do that. I walked into the living room and Miles is sitting in front of Lucy and he looks at me and says, "She eating rocks." I laugh and say, "Oh, really?" Thinking he is pretending, I wasn't in any hurry to address the situation. I take his coat off and Lucy's shoes off and then I hear her choke a little and I look over and SHE IS EATING ROCKS!!

I pulled two out of her mouth and grabbed two out of Miles's hands and then started bawling. I pulled Lucy out of the carrier and beat on her back a little (gently) and sent Miles to time-out so I could think. She wasn't crying or choking and his hands are little - two in Lucy's mouth, two in his hand - how many more could there have been, right? I am thinking how I can NOT call the pediatrician's office one more time because the day before, Monday, the kids had to go in for ear infections. Tuesday morning, I spilled the entire bottle of Miles's antibiotics and needed more, then Tuesday afternoon - the rocks. My sister convinces me that she probably could not have swallowed a rock, she hardly eats more than baby food and puffs and not to worry. Wednesday morning, I find a rock BIGGER THAN MY THUMBNAIL in Lucy's diaper. And it was rough and a little sharp. Are you kidding me?!!! Poor girl!!! Anyways, I call the nurse and she said as long as it came out without any blood, all is well. That is what I thought, but I had to make sure. Thursday afternoon, Lucy develops a cough. It gets worse and keeps her up all night Friday night. On Saturday, I take her back in to get her ears rechecked and have them check on her cough. The doctor says, her ears are still bad, but I don't why she developed a cough. I start crying, "please tell me there are no more rocks!" She laughed - really hard. No, there were no more rocks. Just phlegm.

Here are some pictures of the crazy kids!


Miles and his beloved Uncle Dave at Dave's graduation.


They love each other so much!


Miles woke up with that hair one day. I couldn't stop laughing!

Thanksgiving, Wal-Mart

So, Wednesday night at 12:30, I guess technically that is morning - the night before Thanksgiving, the day after my crazy Tuesday - and I go to Wal-Mart because my daughter is screaming. I'm not really sure why she was screaming, but she did not want to eat and she did not want to rock, so in my brain fog I thought I should go to Wal-Mart to get SOMETHING to make her stop. Mylicon, Tylenol, Benedryl, Vodka.... SOMETHING!!! Just kidding about the last two. I went in my pajamas, but they are black and I put on a sweatshirt, so you really couldn't tell they were pajamas, just so you know. My hair was crazy, half in a ponytail, half not. My eyes were red and barely open and the lights in Wal-Mart were so bright and offensive. There were boxes everywhere and lots and lots of people. What was everyone doing?!!! You could be asleep! So, on my way to the baby section I got caught behind these two girls that could not have been more than 16 or 17 years old. They saw the baby stuff and one of them says, "Aw, I want a baby. I need to have a baby." The other one replies, "Yeah, it woulda been cool if I'da been pregnant cause me and Salesha's baby woulda been born just one day apart." The other one says, "Awww!!" I stopped, I tried to open my bloodshot eyes a little further and I said, "Seriously. You want a baby." They turned around sort of slowly and I thought to myself, "Did I just say that out loud? Or are they turning around out of coincidence?" They were staring so I guessed that I had said it all out loud and in a moment, I decided to keep going. "You know you get really big when you're pregnant right? And then you actually have to physically push that baby out of your body and then you have to, you know, feed it and change its diaper and its clothes and it can't talk and it just cries and cries and cries right? I mean, I haven't slept in days and I haven't eaten in what seems like longer and I'm at freakin' Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving Eve to get WHATEVER it takes to help my baby girl out. Plus, I have a husband and I get to be a full-time mom, not a high school student. Look at me! Go home, go to bed!"

Wow. They were looking alright. They didn't laugh. I think they thought I was drunk and I am pretty sure the smaller one was looking around for a Wal-Mart worker or security or something. They quickly walked toward electronics and glanced back only once in my direction. I looked around and gathered a few things like diapers and pacifiers and socks, mylicon, tylenol, some organic baby food, I don't know, whatever, throw it in the basket.

I headed towards the checkout lines and tried to keep an eye out for those girls because I was embarrassed and didn't want to get stuck next to them or behind them in line. I chose one of the three lines that were open. Yep, just three. There were seriously hundreds of people shopping and only three open lines? How long had I been in this god forsaken place? Anyways, the lady in line in front of me had two baskets full of stuff, of course. She had a turkey and a pan to cook the turkey in and dressing that comes in a bag and lots and lots of rolls and a ham and a blow up snowman thing to put in the front yard and a couple of pie plates and lots of canned pumpkin and she just kept unloading her baskets on to the conveyor belt. I kept thinking, "Sheesh lady! You are barely going to get home in time to put all of this stuff in the oven before Thanksgiving is over!" The people in front of her finally got finished checking out and the crazy lady caught a glimpse of me out of the corner of her eye and she stopped. She walked over to me and grabbed my arm, she said sort of softly, "You go ahead hun. You look a little tired and this might take a while." I said, "No, that's ... really? Thanks! I'm sort of in a hurry." She winked and grabbed a coke out of the cooler by the checkout. I just laughed. I must have looked really bad and I obviously could not hide my amazement and disgust at the likes of Wal-Mart on the eve of a major holiday. The crazies think I'm crazy! But then again, I was at Wal-Mart at 1:00 in the morning and I looked scary and I just yelled at some poor high school girls and I was getting a little panicky in the checkout line. I had to take a look around on my way out, these were my people now.

Merry Freakin' Christmas Cards

I never sent out a birth announcement when Lucy was born mainly because time slipped away. So, I had a great idea to get our family pictures taken and order Christmas cards and all that good stuff. So, a few weeks ago we attempted a photo shoot with a very talented and fun photographer, Hannah Vickers, hannahvickersphotography.com. The kids got new clothes and we all dressed alike, sort of. She took us to this place at ACU that has these cool rocks with scripture etched into them and a little fountain, very cool. Anyways, it was a diaster! Miles was running a way from us and crying and trying to climb into the fountain and Lucy was very scared of Hannah's big camera and NOT happy about me not holding her. In our family's defense, the pictures were at 5:00 pm on a Thursday night and the kids were hungry and John had had a long day at work, yada, yada. So, Hannah emailed me the proofs and offered at least five times to take the pictures again. Yeah, they were that bad. So, I took her up on the offer and rescheduled. I mean c'mon, she has got a business to run and I'm sure she didn't want to put her name on those pictures. We went Saturday at 3:45 - we had nothing else to do that day, both kids napped, it was after nap time...
It was a disaster. It was the coldest day Abilene has had in a while and my kids were both a little sick (now a lot sicker - or is it more sick?). The wind was blowing, Miles was throwing one fit after another, Lucy didn't cry that much but she WOULD NOT smile either. She was very concerned about her surroundings. So, about 15 minutes into the shoot, John and I just started laughing. We decided to let her take a few pictures of us smiling holding two crying kids because that was more what life was like right now. Although they turned out cute and really funny, you can't very well send that out with Merry Christmas at the bottom! What a downer! :) John says, we ought to write "Merry Freakin' Christmas." I do think that is funny, but I'm not sure that is the message we want to send out this year. :) Oh well.

Here are some recent pictures I took of the kids!


Can you see what the future holds? Lucy is laughing now but in a few years...


Lucy and her boyfriend Simon are dressed up for Halloween. He is only 3 months old and he is as big as she is! Aren't they cute?


Lucy as a ladybug with her daddy


We carved a pumpkin and dug out all the seeds and roasted them. Miles had a great time and the roasted seeds were very tasty!


Miles in his Spiderman costume

My Tuesday

Tuesdays are my crazy days and I don't think I could get through them unless I laugh at how ridiculous they are. It is the day I teach a class early morning and the day my husband works late. Isn't that how it always works out? So, here is a run down:


The alarm goes off at 4:40 a.m. I push snooze until 4:50 and then make myself sit up in bed. First it's in to the kitchen to pump (I'm breastfeeding, sorry if this image is offensive). Get dressed in the dark, brush my teeth, grab my yoga mat and my mascara (it's never too early). Arrive at the health club at 5:30. Get the room set up for Body Flow class. Teach my class, there is good crowd, all goes well. Chit chat with a few members after class then head home. Walk in the door at 7:05 and both kids are up. Feed Lucy. Then fix Miles his favorite breakfast for the moment (he goes through phases) - yogurt, banana, and half a bagel. Lucy gets oatmeal cereal and pears and I get honey nut oatmeal. Clean up breakfast and its 7:44 which means I have six minutes to take a shower before my husband needs to leave for work or try to face the task alone with two kids. 6 minute shower it is! It actually took 8, but my husband was gracious. I let Miles watch a little PBS while I put Lucy down for a morning nap. I change her diaper, rock her and sing a little song, lay her in her bed to fall asleep. Finally have my first sip of COFFEE!! Get myself ready, with Miles's help. Iron clothes for myself and Miles and Lucy. Get dressed, get Miles dressed. Pack the diaper bag for both kids with diapers, wipes, toy for Lucy, book and trains for Miles, sippy cup of water and granola bar for Miles. Lucy wakes up. Get Lucy dressed, feed Lucy, burp her and get all three of us into the car. 9:49 and our doctor's appointment is at 10:00 - not bad. Wait an hour in the doctor's office waiting room. In the room, Miles falls backwards off of the doctor's stool that I told him not to climb up on. He is crying loudly. Lucy is crying loudly because she is naked and so offended. Lots of shots, two crying kids, and two hours later... why did I schedule their check-ups at the same time?? My husband, who works across the street from the doctor's office, came over to help me. He was my knight in shining armor today!
Grab lunch for Miles on the way home and let him eat in the car seat. Whatever!! Get home, distribute Tylenol to both kids, feed Lucy, and let Miles color. 1:00 is nap time so I put Lucy in the exer-saucer to play while I put Miles down. We change our diaper, read two books and sing one song. Hug and kiss Miles, hug and kiss puppy. 1:25 Lucy goes down for her nap. We read one book, sing one song, change diaper, lay in bed. 1:45 Miles is still not asleep, in fact, he is knocking on his door. I change his diaper (again!) and lay him back in bed. 2:15 Miles is not asleep but playing with his trains. He is not crying so I leave him alone. I fold and put away laundry, clean the toilet and the bathroom counter and sink, empty and reload the dishwasher all while listening to the ipod to prepare for my RPM class at 4:30p.m.
3:00 and Miles is still not asleep and now it is time for nap to be over. I get him completely dressed and reload the diaper bag for him and give two time outs. Shots + no nap = CRANKY. I change clothes for spin class and get my stuff together. Lucy gets up at 3:30. I feed her, burp her, get her dressed and diaper bag packed and get all three of us loaded into the car. I get to the gym at 4:18 and class starts at 4:30 - not good. Check both kids into the Kidz Zone, run to class, set up the room, get my water, start class - 4:33. Not bad. Great class, heart rate monitor says I burned 565 calories. I missed the ending on song 7, the big finale. O'Well, next time! Grab my stuff, fill out my time card, and run to the Kidz Zone to change Miles's dirty diaper (they don't change diapers, very annoying). Get both kids out of gym and loaded into car. Get home, hold Lucy because she is very fragile from having to go to the Kidz Zone. Cook Miles's dinner. Sit and feed Lucy oatmeal and sweet potatoes while Miles eats dinner. Clean up dinner and kids. Bathe Lucy. Then its diaper, lotion and pajamas. Lucy sits in bouncy while I bathe Miles and his trucks, he brings like 5 trucks in there with him. I know, I need to draw the line! :) Diaper, lotion, and pajamas for Miles. Then we sing the "clean up song" and pick up all the of the toys all over the house and put them back where they belong. I get milk for Miles and let him watch a little bit of "Cars" while I feed Lucy. I burp her, find her pacifier, read one book, say one prayer, sing one song and lay her in her bed. Miles and I say bye-bye to Cars, the light, the trees, the bathroom, the trucks, Lucy, the door, mommy and daddy's room, everything...
We read two books, say one prayer, sing two songs, hugs and kisses for Miles, hugs and kisses for puppy.
7:50 p.m. my husband walks in the door and I finally get to shower after my spin class! I load the dinner dishes into the dishwasher and start it, then I switch clothes from washer to dryer and start a new load in the washer. Then I eat dinner (a bagel with cream cheese, sadly) on the couch, check email, check facebook. Fall in bed to get some sleep.

Fall

Don't you love fall? I have already made pumpkin bread, an apple pie, candy corn snack mix, and indulged in a few pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks. Plus, it has gotten down in to the 50s at night for almost a week here in Abilene and today the temp never climbed above 75. What more could a West Texas girl ask of October?

Life is marching on here at the Hunt house and I am barely able to keep rhythm lately. Miles is transitioning from baby to KID. He is so funny and impressionable and always up for having a good time. I love his personality and have been praying, make that begging God, that I would not hinder it in any way. Lucy is getting big quick. She started rice cereal and is not quite sure if she likes it. For the most part, she is very offended by the spoon but, she is no quitter either. She opens her mouth every time and then cries when the cereal gets in her mouth. She makes me laugh.

John is busy with BSM and school (he is in class now and taking 9 hours of grad work this semester). We feel like we barely see each other lately, but he only has one more trip until January - praise God! He and the BSMers are going to Houston for a little Hurricane Ike relief. He leaves next Thursday, Oct. 16 and will be back Sunday the 19th. So pray for him and the students. :)

I am busy with Pilates training. I have another 3 day training coming up this weekend. This will be my 6th training so far and I am feeling the burden of it all (not to mention the achy muscles). But, I'm in the home stretch and am thankful that I have enjoyed it thus far!

Overall, we are doing great and having fun being a family of four. John and I are enjoying watching our kids begin to interact with each other. Miles LOVES to make Lucy laugh! He gets so proud of himself and Lucy thinks every thing he does is so funny. We love it.

Here are some recent pics. Enjoy!

Here is Lucy before her rice cereal debut! Doesn't she look great in red?!

Lucy is very uneasy about that spoon getting any closer to her mouth.

Licking her fingers! She's gettin' the hang of it!

Miles was a great helper!

Miles, the creative genius. He built this all by himself out of items from our pantry. Who needs toys?

Miles is dancing in front of his creation. He is always up for a little booty shakin'!


Lucy loves doing Hebrew homework with Daddy!



John and Miles on the new truck!