Where have these last 10 months gone? Our baby has officially hit the double digits and is always on the go! This past month has been a busy and little rough month, but his big toothy grin has gotten us through it all.
Hunter is 18 lbs 5 oz and is 27-1/2” tall. Luckily we have no more doctors’ appointments until he turns one so we can spend the day celebrating with no shots!
Hunter is always on the go and has gone from walking to trotting from place to place. He is pretty much over crawling and prefers to be on his feet most of the day. We try to keep him inside his play barrier so he has lots of room to get into everything safely, but he loves to sneak out and explore the rest of the house. He is a really smiley guy and is mostly happy, unless something he wants (or can’t have) is taken away and then he can throw quite the temper tantrum. He is a little chatterbox and is always hollering for Ma Ma or Da Da. He loves to play with his toys and his favorites are his cars, balls, hammer and his new cell phone he got for Christmas. He is a big fan of the remote and loves to try to disable the TV or hide the remote whenever he snatches it. He is a great eater and loves to make a mess so he can splash around in the bath afterward. He loves to help with laundry – he is great at pulling out all the clothes and diving into the baskets. He has missed going on our normal walks in the Tula because of the weather and COVID, but we hope to get back to that again soon. He has loved all the extra Daddy time this month and playing with his sisters and big brother. He can be quite the trouble maker and gives us a run for our money, but he is the most easy going baby and is really as cute in person as in pictures. We are very lucky to have him in our family!
Walking
Hunter is nonstop. He walks everywhere and has gotten quite fast, especially when he gets outside his barrier. He is pretty proud of his speed too and keeps us on our toes!
Emergency Room
Speaking of keeping us on our toes, it would be remiss of me to leave out our choking scare at the emergency room. If you already read this in the last blog, please skip to the next section.
Hunter was wandering around his space and he grabbed something (I still don’t know what it was) and stuck it in his mouth. Before I was able to get it out, he sucked it in and I could feel something a little crinkly before he swallowed. This has happened in the past and he usually swallows and is fine but he started making weird breathing sounds and had a hitch in his breath. We watched him for a little while and even though he seemed fine, he still had a catch in his breath. I decided to call Nurse Line because I didn’t feel right about it and they told us to go into the ER. I was a little nervous about going into the ER because of everything going on with COVID, but I got him in right away while Brian waited for us in the car. The doctor and nurses were amazing but after x-rays came back negative the doctor wanted to get a second opinion. Hunter was his normal happy self but we had been there for several hours at that point and Hunter wasn’t allowed to eat so he worked himself up so much he passed out on me. The doctor hadn’t heard the hitch in his breath before but the nurse had so she called Children’s Mercy Downtown to talk with about next steps. As she was in there talking to me about doing the right thing by coming in, even though she didn’t hear it, but that I should trust my instinct, Hunter woke up. As he started crying because he was hungry, his breath started catching and the doctor heard it right away. She got on her cell phone, got a hold of the ENT and ordered us to go straight downtown to be admitted for tests. Since he wasn’t turning blue, we got to avoid an ambulance ride so we hopped in the car with Brian and headed straight to the hospital.
We pulled up and Brian dropped us off so he could go park. With COVID, all the signs said one parent allowed in with the child so he was going to wait for us until we got further direction. I was anticipating another long wait, but we got rushed right through and back into a room right away. I was totally not prepared for anything so I hadn’t even changed him yet so I had to borrow a diaper and get him cleaned up. As the nurse was grabbing a diaper, we were swarmed with nurses, doctors, the ENT surgeon and several residents. I was exhausted and super overwhelmed so when they told me that they had the Operating Room prepped and ready to take him up I was totally thrown and started to panic. I asked if I could call Brian and they told me that he could absolutely come in – but when I called it kept going straight to voicemail. I was able to get a hold of my Mom and she kept calling him so I could talk to the doctors. Here I was, it was 12:30 in the morning with a crying, tired and hungry baby that I couldn’t feed, thinking we were going to have tests run I have 10 people around me asking me multiple questions and ready to run us up to get Hunter put on anesthesia and sent to the operating room. To say I was on the verge of tears and completely overwhelmed and terrified was an understatement. Luckily as one of the nurses was getting ready to run out to the parking lot, Brian walked in. He was able to help me change Hunter and listen and ask questions while I took it all in. It felt like a whirlwind and before I knew it we were upstairs in the anesthesia area and Hunter was flirting with all the nurses. They went over everything that was about to happen and then the nurses took Hunter back while we were shown the waiting room. Watching him go back with the nurse, his little fingers curled around one of hers was one of the scariest moments I have lived through as a parent. We got to the waiting room and as the surgeon went over everything one more time, he left and that’s when everything hit me. I sat there, praying for everything to go well, thinking the absolute worse and waiting for them to come tell us something. What seemed like a lifetime, lasted only several minutes and the surgeon walked back in. I held my breath as scenes from every horrible hospital show I have ever watched played through my head, and when the surgeon said he was fine, I finally let out the breath that I didn’t know I was holding. They luckily didn’t find any foreign object but there was a lot of fluid in his lung and they were able to suck it all out. He believed that whatever it was that he swallowed went down the right tube, but because he choked and got so upset, a bunch of fluid made it into his lung and caused the hitch. He reassured us that we did the right thing by bringing him in and he would have done the same with his kids. He left us with pictures of our little baby’s lungs and we waited for the nurses to bring us back to him.
We jumped up as the nurses came to get us and we got to go in and see him. He was just coming off the anesthesia and completely out of it but it was the best sight to see. I got to hold him immediately and feed him and that’s when I knew everything was going to be ok. All the doctors, nurses, techs, residents, etc. were unbelievably amazing and I am so thankful they were so careful with our boy. We got to take him home shortly after and he slept in our arms all night peacefully. I don’t think I slept the rest of the night, but when he was up walking around in the morning, laughing and getting into everything again I knew he was going to be fine.
Mr. Happy
Hunter is such a happy guy and loves to smile and giggle. His sisters can bring on the biggest giggle fits and they tend to try to outdo one another. His smiles can brighten even the worst of days!
Little Foodie
Our boy loves to eat just like his big sisters. This month he has been expanding his tastes and got to try spaghetti for the first time. Let’s just say it was a hit and ended up with an even more fun bath!
Playing Around
Hunter loves to play and thanks to Christmas, he has even more toys to play with! He loves riding and pushing his Mercedes around and dancing with his sloth. He also loves playing with all of the balls he got and driving his little car set up.
Christmas
It was Hunter’s first Christmas and unfortunately due to the virus, I don’t remember it all too well but we did a lot of celebrating beforehand (link to past blog). But he had a lot of fun opening his presents and spending with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Mat.
New Year
Our New Year was pretty uneventful, especially with being sick, but New Year’s Day brought us a winter wonderland with a full day of snow and the girls loved watching it come down. It was a little weird not watching the Rose Bowl Parade, but we did watch the special and Bailey created her own float!
Snow Fun
We got our first big snow fall of the year on New Year’s Day and the girls took full advantage of the fun. They were outside at least 3 or 4 times a day sledding, making snow men and playing around with Hunter.
Outdoor Time
Before we got all the snow, we had some pretty decent December days and were able to get the kids out at a few of our favorite parks. It was definitely refreshing and we are looking forward to getting out again this week with the warmer weather!
Sister Fun
The girls love their baby brother and he loves them so much in return. They dote on him and try to make him feel as included as they can when they play. He loves that they can pick him up and spin him around, even if Mom isn’t always so sure.
Bourbon
Bourbon has definitely proven to be a handful, but a sweet and funny guy. He had quite a few adventures himself this past month – most notably when he found a dead possum and decided to spread the love by rubbing himself all over it. Unfortunately, I still had my sense of smell then and it was the most revolting smell ever. He had no remorse and found his favorite dead mole on the way home to show me. Each kid has their own special bond with him. Bailey and Bourbon are quite the twosome and love to snuggle and play together. Bourbon and Sienna tend to wrestle and have fun tackling each other in the yard. Hunter loves to pick on his brother while he is sleeping and they both fight over Mom’s lap. He is such a good dog, even when he is being ornery, and we love the little guy!
Sleepy Boy
Hunter is quite the snuggle monster, just not always on me. His favorite nap partners are Dad and Grandma. With the virus and the holidays, he has gotten a lot of Daddy snuggle time but he has definitely been missing his Grandma snuggles!
We are so fortunate to have our sweet little Hunter in our lives. He gave us quite the scare this past month but we are so glad everything turned out fine. He is the happiest and sweetest little guy and we look forward to watching more of his shenanigans!
