It's been awhile...

Sorry, but life is running away from me!! Hunter will be 14 months old this week...where has the time gone?? He took a couple of steps today (that's really a stretch, btw - it was more like he moved his feet while falling into my arms). It is amazing he isn't running yet. You should see him "drive" his firetruck around this apartment. He flies around corners, running behind it or sometimes holding onto the steering wheel from the front and walking it in reverse. He spent most of the afternoon throwing toys back and forth with Mommy and Daddy, walking all around the coffee table, barely hanging on. He's so close!!

I do have video of the firetruck, but we can't seem to get our home computer to allow us to upload it onto the internet.

Grandmommy came to visit yesterday and she and Hunter had a blast. She must have worn him out the first hour she was here (we went to lunch and a movie - thanks Mom!!!) because he took a 2 hour nap during her visit. I don't remember the last time he slept that long for me on a weekend. He does that pretty much every day at school, but not so much on the weekends.

Hunter is also clapping (finally). I know what you're thinking...he's clapping? Isn't that like a 6 month old thing??? Not with my baby boy. He's just never been interested, or maybe he didn't think he'd done anything so super yet to deserve a clap. But today, he was clapping for everything. They've probably been doing patty-cake at school or something, since that's where he picks everything up.

Speaking of...he's learned "please" in sign language. Normally, that looks like:

That is, a circular motion with one hand around the chest area. For Hunter, however, it looks more like "Get in my belly" from Austin Powers. LOL! He pats his belly with both hands...actually, it's more like a downward rub. Not circular, but that is definitely what he's doing. They had told me at school he was doing it, but I pretty much didn't believe them because they are always so nice and positive...I figured they're just trying to make me feel good because they remember how emotional I am. :) But last weekend, I told him to say please while we were in the middle of one of his 5 course meals, and I did the motion, and he "repeated" with both hands on his belly. Well, more like lower chest....just above his little pot belly. I haven't gotten that on video yet, but am working on it. We're working on "thank you" and "more" and "eat" and "cup." Not much success yet, but like I said, "please" kinda snuck up on me so we'll see!!!

Let's see...what else...oh, I'm working too much. Gotta stop doing that...things are slipping through the cracks outside the office. My poor little nephew turned 4 in June and just now this weekend got his gift from his aunt and uncle because I hadn't found time to go out and buy anything, much less ship it. I'm sorry Colin - Happy Belated Birthday, little man. I hope you like your Batmobile. I must say, it was difficult to pry it away from Uncle Brent.

Also, our house is coming along nicely. They've painted most of the walls and should start on flooring soon (I think?). It's pretty fun watching everything come together. Just another couple of months and we should be moving in (keep your fingers crossed). Apartment living isn't that bad though. Hunter isn't sleeping well still, but we think that might be something besides just an adjustment period. If any of you moms know what I'm talking about, please email me!!! We think (thanks to Grandmommy's suggestion, and Aunt Heather's confirmation today of her boys' similar problem) that apple juice could be our problem. Hunter's had some pretty bad diaper rashes since he turned one. Remember that we moved right after he turned one, at the same time we took formula away and also started introducing every kind of table food known to man. We also had not done much apple juice before we moved, but he's been having apple juice every day, multiple times a day sometimes. Hunter's cousins (or at least one of them...not sure if Heather even tried apple juice with Devlin?) had very bad rashes due to apple juice and she realized this and fixed that problem quickly. I, however, have become complacent and apparently got used to being woken up multiple times during the night when Hunter would wake up. Yes, we no longer get up when he cries now, but we still hear him on the monitor most times. Anyway, we aren't sure that the rash is waking him up and we aren't even sure if the juice is what's causing the rash, but it is at least an experiment we are very willing to try.

In my googling last night, I also came across some information on Fiengold, so if any of my readers (do I even still have readers???) are familiar with this or have tried it, let me know. I think Fiengold is for a bit more severe type problems from the little that I read, but when I did searches for sleeping problems and diet, that was what came up pretty consistently. I'm not spending any money on it until I talk to someone who's even heard of it, so if you have, please email me (or at least post a comment so that I can get back to you).

Wow, I'm rambling. Last but not least, if you haven't ever read any Julie Morgenstern books and are interested in getting organized (either with your stuff or with your time), I highly recommend any and all of her books. I listened to two of them on CD (3 or 4 times actually, both of them) over the past couple of weeks (got them from the library) and really think she may change my life. So I bought the hard copy books today so that I can read the unabridged versions and also see some of her notes and diagrams. Hopefully, I will be a new woman in a few months, especially a more organized person in the new house!!

I'm done now. Sorry for the book and absolutely no pictures!!! Maybe I will get back online from the home computer instead of my laptop so that I can share some pics. For now, I'm going to go read myself to sleep. :)