This month the kids had their doctor check-ups. Taylor had her two year visit (hard to believe it’s already been two years since we welcomed this little lady to our life!) and Joshua had his 9 month check-up. Both kids are making great progress developmentally. Taylor is 33 inches tall and Josh is not far behind at 27 inches. They are less than a pound apart in weight. Taylor is 20 lbs, 15 oz and Joshua is 20 lbs, 5 oz – also their heads are basically the same size. All that to say- I don’t think it will be long before people start asking me if Taylor and Joshua are twins!
Taylor has started potty training. We are off to a good start. Mostly, she just sits on her potty with her clothes on while reading books to help make her comfortable with the idea of sitting on the potty. No successful use of it yet though. I think that may be a little while off still. One HUGE milestone for Taylor lately has been her change in attitude towards food. I have absolutely no idea what happened. But within the last month she has decided that she doesn’t mind eating food after all. We went from trying desperately to get her to eat anything other than graham crackers to her eating chicken, meatloaf, celery, bacon, banana chips, olives, etc. It’s amazing. She is still very sensitive to food- so if anything hits her throat funny she will almost immediately begin gagging which usually means everything else is coming up. This usually only happens about once a month- hopefully it will be less and less.
Joshua has been making huge strides. Not only is my son a champion eater, but he is also a self-feeder now- at least when it comes to Gerber Graduate Puffs. One or two puffs at a time isn’t enough either. He has to have an entire fistful of them at once to be happy. Joshua has even started drinking out of a sippy cup! No crawling yet- but he seems like he’s getting closer and closer to crawling every day. I guess for now he is content with rolling around to get to the toys he wants. Lately, Josh has been going through some significant separation anxiety. Most of you know, I stay home with the kids so it may sound weird for me to say he’s got separation anxiety- but it’s true! If I leave the room or just go out of his eye sight for a second, Josh has a mini meltdown. Not until I come back does he calm down. I started putting him in my moby wrap and toting him around the house- but let’s be honest- when your kid is over 20 pounds you can’t really do that for long. Not to mention I can’t really get anything done cause I have a 20 pound kid strapped to me. Taylor has been a good helper in this regard. If I do have to leave the room and Josh starts to have a melt down she will go over to him and start handing him toys and talking to him. It’s really sweet. :)
Below are a few pictures I took of the kids this week at our neighborhood park. So glad it’s finally warm enough to get outside and play with them. I see lots of visits to the park in our future!
Last weekend we celebrated Taylor’s life with family and friends. Taylor loved seeing all her buddies and especially loved having everyone sing happy birthday to her. :)
Here are a few pictures of our fun afternoon.
The Hunt family welcomed the start of the football season with a picture of all us Hunts decked out- even River- in our Broncos gear! Of course Taylor is the cutest of all in her little Broncos cheerleading uniform! Go Broncos!
Not too long ago we had another NICU family over at our house for a little reunion. Baby Chris was due around the same time as Taylor but was born at 25 weeks – just a few weeks before Taylor was born. Chris and Taylor were roomies at the NICU. He was a little guy back at the hospital- but not any more. Chris is 15 pounds now and doing great! Thanks for coming over Tricia and Chris!
Last weekend the Hunts met up with the Knapp family and we all went wine tasting at this great place in northern Virginia called Bluemont Vineyards http://www.bluemontvineyard.com/. We all had a great time. Thanks for hanging out with us Knapps!
So about two weeks ago I left my job as a legislative assistant for Representative Poe to be a full time Mommy to Taylor by day and law student by night. Looking at these pictures I’d say Taylor is pretty happy about it. :)
In the last month Taylor has grown a lot! Not only is she 10 pounds now! BUT she’s also much more mobile, squirming around on the floor and she’s discovered her feet! Here are a few pictures of this new fun stage.
Karen, my little sister in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Program, came over to the house today to meet Taylor for the very first time. Taylor loved meeting her Auntie Karen and she showed it by giving Auntie Karen LOTS of smiles! Thanks for coming over to visit Karen!
The Hunt Family spent Labor Day weekend at a beautiful little spot on the Maryland shorline called Osprey Point http://www.ospreypoint.org/. We had a wonderful weekend and came home feeling refreshed and ready to get back to our busy schedules. Below are a few shots from the weekend.
Our pretty little lady!
Well, last week I started back to work and school. Jeff also started back to school on the nights that I am not in class. Life at the Hunt house is crazy! For the time being Jeff is working from home and taking care of Taylor during the day. Sure enough, I wasn’t at work for even three hours before I got a phone call from Jeff. Proudly he told me that Taylor just turned over for the very first time – from her tummy to her back – all by herself. Naturally- this would happen my first day back to work. Despite the fact that I missed it, we were both elated. It’s another milestone for our 1 1/2 pound wonder baby.
September 1st we celebrated the first 6 months of Taylor’s life. It’s hard to believe that half a year has already passed since Taylor came to us early. It was a day of great rejoicing as we reflected on Taylor’s life- born 13 weeks premature at 1 pounds 9 ounces and now 6 months later weighing 9 pounds 6 ounces. Her life is with out a doubt an answer to our prayers. We want to say thank you again to our friends and family who partnered with us in praying Taylor home. God is faithful.
Taylor had her check up with the pediatrician this week. We haven’t been to see the doctor in a month. The longest stint yet to go without seeing her and we were all pleasantly surprised to discover that our little lady is starting to pack on the pounds! Four weeks ago Taylor was 8 pounds even. At her check up this week she clocked in at almost 9 1/2 pounds – catapolting our little girl from not even on the weight growth curve to the 10th percentile for her adjusted age (3 months)! She’s still getting extra calories in her milk to beef her up- but we won’t be adding vegetable oil to her bottles anymore. Taylor also got her flu shot and no side effects- thank goodness!
The Hunt family is looking forward to a few out of town trips in the next couple months. This weekend we are in Osprey Point for a business trip for me- but it’s a beautiful spot on the Maryland shoreline and Jeff and Taylor will be there too- so look for some pictures soon. We will also be taking a little mini vacation at the end of September- site still to be determined – somewhere in Virginia. And last but certainly not least we are VERY EXCITED about our upcoming trip to Westmont College in October for Jeff’s 5 year college reunion. Lots of fun exciting adventures ahead. We will be sure to share them with all of you. :)
Thanks for checking in on Taylor. Below are a collection of a few pictures we’ve taken in the last couple of weeks. Our little miss preemie is growing up!
