35

On this day 35 years ago the man that would grow up and become the love of my life, husband and father of my child was born.

Happy Birthday My Love!

Hunter also wants to wish his da-da a very happy birthday.

Things I Don't Get

Things I don't get:

-People who dress their kids predominantly in monogrammed and personalized clothing. Every now and then and for special occasions sure but some people seem to only dress their kids in items that are personalized. My question, what do you do with it once they outgrow it? You can't sell, giveaway or even use them for future kids. Seems wasteful.

-Decorating for "Fall". Fall is not a holiday. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas I can understand. But decorating for "Fall"? And how come people don't decorate for Winter? Winter is like the unwanted step-child of the four seasons.

-Posting political rants on Facebook or Twitter in the hopes of changing someones opinion. Hint- you will NOT change anyones already set political opinion.

-Why traffic is always, inevitably worse when I either a- really need to be somewhere or b- really need to pee.

-Why anyone would spend $145 on a baby cashmere sweater that they will either puke on immediately or outgrow in 2.5 seconds. Seems like you could put your abundance of money to better use.

-Certain outfits that various "fashion bloggers" wear. Look, I know I'm not the most trendy, fashionable person but seriously, some of the outfits I see on these people I'm just like "dude that's hideous" and not only that but they then get 100 comments saying how cute the outfit is. WTF? Am I missing something here?

-Why the Kardashians are rich and famous. Not sure how I would feel about myself as a human being if I was rich and famous because my sibling made a sextape that went viral.

 

What are some things that you don't get?

 

 

*If you do one of the things listed above, or if you are a Kardashian, please don't take offense. I'm feeling a bit snarky today.* 

 

More Family Pictures

My friend Laura who took our photos Sunday, showed me the rest of the ones that she finished editing. I think they all turned out great. I was really nervous we wouldn't get that many good shots since I know it was hard to get Hunter to not only look at the camera but to smile. But we definitely have plenty to choose from now for Christmas cards, Christmas gifts and hanging around the house.

Aren't my boys the cutest?

Photo evidence of him eating dirt. Sigh.

Yes this makes me nervous, but you can't deny Hunter is enjoying himself.

This is Kristian's favorite picture. Hunter's face is priceless.

Hunter has a bit of a WTF look on his face but I think this picture is still pretty cute.

We are so lucky to get to live so close to water.

 

This is one of my favorites. His cuteness just kills me.

He loved the little bear rocker that Laura brought.

Hunter has a sock monkey that he just loves so I couldn't resist a picture of him in this hat that Laura brought.

 

 

SWW

 

Another Wednesday and another week where I'm saying So What if:

 

-I CANNOT wait for this damn election to be over, especially since Kristian and I are voting differently and I'm tired of debating with him.

 

-I really don't like either candidate or politicians in general.

 

-I have no idea what I'm going to do for Kristian's birthday on Monday.

 

-I had to convince Kristian last night to NOT give Hunter one of the toys that we bought him for Christmas early.

 

-I couldn't stop laughing watching Hunter wolf down his graham cracker when I picked him up from daycare during snack time. It's like he thinks everytime he eats it's a race.

 

-Hunter ate a fistful of dirt when we sat him on the ground during our family photo session. He's a true boy through and through.

Family Photo Sesh Sneak Peek

This past Sunday my friend Laura from college came over to take some family photos of us in the woods behind our house. Fortunately we did not get rained out again and the weather was beautiful. Laura is the same person who took Hunters newborn photos and my maternity photos almost exactly a year ago in the same spot. Crazy how fast time flies.

Kristian isn't a big fan of having professional photos taken, he doesn't see the point but he knows it makes me happy so he eventually gives in. I knew I wanted some nice ones to update the frames in our house, for Christmas cards and Christmas gifts for the grandparents.

I'm still waiting for the DVD of all the photos but Laura posted some sneak peeks on Facebook and I LOVE them. If anyone in Northern VA is looking for a photographer I definitely recommend her, she takes great photos and has so much patience when it comes to photographing easily distracted babies and dogs!

**The outfit I chose is the one most people liked when I posted options on Instagram. The cardigan, belt and boots are all from Target. And Hunters sweater is from Old Navy.

How cute is my husband?!

Nothing is stronger than a mother's love.

Not sure how we ended up with a little blondie but he sure is cute.

This was taken about a half second before Hunter had a meltdown, he did like this pose.

Does it get cuter than this?

He totally looks like a Baby Gap model.

I can't tell you how hard it is to get a baby and a dog to look at a camera at the same time. This was pretty much the best she could get. Moxie is totally eye-balling a squirrel off in the distance.

Required Fall Activity

I don't usually do weekend recaps, mainly because most times our weekends are pretty mundane. But this past weekend was pretty close to perfect. First and foremost, Hunter slept AWESOME (and I've now probably jinxed myself). He slept from 8-6:30am straight (Fri/Sat/Sun nights), I changed and fed him at 6:30 and then he went back to sleep for another 1-2 hours. Normally he's up at 6am on the dot (if not earlier) and ready to go for the day). In addition to the awesome night sleeping, both days he took a 2 1/2 hour nap. I love naptime. I'm praying to the sleep Gods that this pattern continues. As Kristian said "He finally gets it" sleep is a good thing.

In addition to his great sleeping, there were other highlights of the weekend which included a trip to the pumpkin patch, followed by a solo mommy/Hunter trip to Michael's and Target in the afternoon without any meltdowns. Sunday we took our family pictures and Hunter did really well all things considered (sneak peek pictures coming tomorrow). After about an hour he was over it and fussy and ready for a long nap. That afternoon mama got to go get a much needed massage. It was just a very nice weekend with my little family and my son couldn't have been a better behaved child. Oh and we had the trifecta of football wins, VA Tech, ECU and the Redskins ALL won, that almost never happens.

Here are the pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch. And by pumpkin patch I mean the flower nursery down the street that has pumpkins and activities for kids. We didn't feel like driving out to a "real" pumpkin patch.

 

Every little boy need a camo puffer vest.

My little pumpkin surrounded by pumpkins.

"Hey Moxie, what are these?"

My cute little family.

Maybe next year he can actually go down the bouncy slide. For now he just gets to sit on it.

My little Dracula

Hunter and Moxie refused to look at the camera.

Our pumpkin haul. The mommy/daddy pumpkin and one for Hunter, Moxie and Halpert.

 

This is a family picture of us at the same place last year, 7 months pregnant.

 

 

Here is our family picture this year.

Last year my belly was the size of a pumpkin and this year my baby is bigger than the pumpkins.

 

 

 

 

No Turning Back

Our kitchen renovation FINALLY got underway this week. After months and MONTHS of talking about it, it's finally happening. And I can't WAIT for it to be over. Living without a kitchen basically sucks. All of our kitchen stuff is now in boxes in the dining room and basement. I've had to move Hunter's highchair into the living room (with a towel underneath in case he drops food). I'm having to wash and prepare his bottles in the bathroom, which grosses me out and the house is just cluttered and disorganized which is driving me batty. We should hopefully have it done in about two weeks.

In the meantime we are having to eat out for most of our meals. I plan to go to the store this weekend and get some stuff for sandwiches and microwave meals (we have a small microwave we can use) so that it's not all fast food because I'm already sick of it.

Another downside of the renovation is that I'm having to lock our cat Halpert in the unfinished part of our basement so that he doesn't try to sneak out while the workers are there during the day (which he totally would). It's where his litter box already is located and I moved his food and water and a comfy dog bed in there and I leave the light on. The first day he meowed as soon as I put him in there but the past two days he hasn't made a peep and seems fine when Kristian lets him out in the afternoon. I know it's a bigger deal to me than him but I still feel bad.

Anyways, here are some of the progress pictures i.e. what it looks like now that we no longer have a kitchen. They gutted it on Tuesday and today they plan to do the plumbing stuff since we are rearranging where the sink and dishwasher will be.

The first three pictures are the kitchen all packed up. I hate packing up kitchens and this just reminds me that I really don't want to move anytime soon.

 

 

And here is the scene I came home to on Tuesday night. I would be lying if I said this didn't give some anxiety. No turning back now.

 

They left the old refrigerator plugged in so that we can keep our food and Hunters milk. Hopefully we won't need to be without a fridge and can just transfer stuff from the old one to the new one when the time comes.

 

 

And just as a reminder here is our inspiration photo and what we hope our kitchen will resemble.