New favorite place to sleep

Hunter has had some pretty rough nights over the past couple of months. At this point, we aren't really sure if it's just a bad spell or if it will never end!! Most of the problem, we believe, has been gas (whenever it hasn't been diaper rash, which we finally have control of now). Sometimes, we get proof of that when a toot escapes during one of his rampages. Other times, we just have to assume because we can't imagine anything else causing him such anguish for such a long period of time. For example, we were up with him last night from midnight until around 3:00, when he finally allowed me to transport him back to his crib. Most of this three hour period, he was screaming bloody murder, squirming like you wouldn't believe, throwing his head back in agony, and absolutely refusing anything we tried to give him to attempt to help. Did I mention that we tried again to take his bedtime bottle away? First thought was obviously hunger - he refused a cup of water, a cup of milk, a bottle of water, and last resort, a bottle of milk (which he did end up taking a little of finally). Does my child have severe hunger pains or was it gas? Did he work himself into such a fuss that he forgot what he was angry about and then decided he was just going to be angry about that? We don't think so...it certainly seemed like pain.

Of course, he woke up happy as could be (with poop everywhere, but that's another story). Didn't seem overly hungry...no apparent leftover gas pains...sure, he's been cranky today but so have I due to the lack of sleep!! Do I think anything is wrong on a grand scale? No. Do I wish I could make his pain go away in the middle of the night? Absolutely, so if you have any ideas besides Mylicon and rubbing his tight little rumbling belly, let me know.

All that being said, he has come to very much enjoy sleeping on the couch. Today, we took a nap after lunch on the couch, started together and then I snuck away 30 minutes into it so that I could do this and pick up the apartment a bit before we head to a birthday party in Kingwood (yay!). Here are a couple of pictures of my peaceful child sleeping on the couch. He's going on an hour and a half now, and I'm not about to wake him up!!

Addison turns 1

My friend Jessica sent me the picture below of her daughter, Addison, and it is just too pretty not to share with the world. Addison turned 1 on August 15 - isn't she lovely???

Happy Belated Birthday Addison!!

Communicating with a toddler

Sure, he's babbled and been saying his own little words for awhile, but lately, we've been a bit more cognizant of what words Hunter is really saying. The current list includes:

- uh oh
- dada
- mama
- mine (that's the latest and greatest)
- deboy (no idea what this means, but it is apparently his favorite thing to say)
- no (most common word from my son's mouth unfortunately)

As for sign language, he still does please, but not as often as I would like. We think he has his own version of HOT - both hands slapping his head. Very strange, but that is what he consistently does when we ask him to say hot!

He also hums when he ask him what a cow says (must have been working on that at school because I had been trying for weeks to no avail and all of the sudden he started doing it last night). He consistently shakes his head yes when I ask him if he's silly, and if he likes his food. Funny thing is a lot of times when he shakes his head yes, and I say "alright," he changes to shaking his head no.

Kinda like clapping, the waving came late, but he's pretty consistent with waving hi and bye now.

Just wanted to get this documented since I know I won't remember in a few months. :)

A day off

UPDATE from last post: Thank you Grandmommy and Heather. We cut apple juice out of Hunter's diet and it seemed to do the trick. He slept GREAT last week and over the weekend, although he did get another rash over the weekend...we're thinking it may be all citrus, especially since his FACE also broke out Saturday after I fed him a peach (like a huge peach, all over his face). Anyway, we'll going to cut out other fruits too just to see if we can pin it down completely.

OK - back to current time. As always, Hunter seems to take big steps when he's sick. Seems opposite, but it's been pretty consistent his whole life...maybe he's more easygoing because he's tired, so he'll do things when asked. Who knows!??!

Yesterday, he was running a fever and we took him to the doctor - double ear infections. I won't go into the sordid details, but it is all my fault. I feel terrible - I deserved to have to deal with this on my birthday! However, with my easygoing, sick child, I got what sounded an awful lot light "Happy Birthday" from Hunter last night. I will try to get the video posted soon - still haven't figured out why Firefox won't let me load videos without breaking. I think we need a new computer.

This morning, Hunter woke up with 103.6 temp because again, Mommy didn't do her job and wake him up during the night to give him Tylenol or Motrin. But I didn't learn my lesson, because he took a three hour nap earlier and woke up with 104 temp. Don't get me wrong, it was going down pretty quickly once I figured out he had a temp, but my goodness that was a hot baby!!! Daddy and I were both home today because of Eduardo - our offices closed in anticipation of flooding (which I do not think has happened anywhere at this point, and the rain has stopped for now).

Anyway, latest temp went down and Hunter was in a great mood. We tried walking again and BAM!!! He was taking 5 or 6 steps at a time, sometimes not even TO anything or anyone in particular! We are so proud, and he seems to be proud of himself. It's adorable - man, he's growing up fast!

I haven't gotten video yet, but I am way behind on pictures, so I will post some now.

This was his 12-month picture that I never got to post.

This one is a bit blurry, but what a great laugh...it's contagious!

Finally...sunglasses that fit Hunter's monster head!!!