Parker Loves Reading

A quick post for our non-facebook friends :)



Parker reading Panda Bear from Bryan Hunt on Vimeo.

Waiting...

Wow, it doesn't seem like almost 5 months have gone by since the last time we posted something on here after Parker's birthday. It's been a busy summer and I can't believe Halloween is here already. Erika is working on a nice long post about what we've been up to this summer to catch everyone up, but we wanted to make a quick announcement. All of you already know our situation and what we've been through trying to grow our family.

We're very excited to let you all know that we have completed our adoption home study!

We've made it through the first step in the adoption process and have been approved by the powers that be to become adoptive parents. Now we just have to wait for someone to read our profile and choose us to be the adoptive parents for their child. We know that it could be a long time before anything happens, but it's hard not be a little excited about the possibilities. We wanted to let all of our friends and family know because, while it may be a long shot, you never know who might know somebody that knows somebody.

Here is a link to the profile book we created for the adoption agency: Our Adoption Book
and a link to the website we created: The Hunt Family

We know that when the time is right, and the right person sees our profile, a match will be made. Until then, we'll be waiting...

2 Years Old

I thought I'd throw a quick post out here to share some photos and a couple updates. It's been a busy spring/summer so far, and I think just about every weekend for the rest of the summer already has something planned. Parker just turned two on June 10th, he's finishing up swim lessons this week, and I think we're going to start him in gymnastics on Thursday nights beginning next week. I changed roles at Cerner and I'm traveling more now, and I've been training a lot for triathlons. Erika has a new job at Lockheed Martin that she is settling into, and she's been training for the Hospital Hill half marathon that she just ran a couple weeks ago. Most of you that read this blog already know all that though.

So, the real reason for posting. We had pictures taken recently and just got the online proofs back. As usual, Melissa did an amazing job. Click on this link: Captures in Time, click Access Gallery (you don't have to create an account), and the code is Parker2010. There is a short video you can watch and then click the Continue to Gallery link to see all the pictures.

Here's a few from Parker's birthday party also.

Sunday was the day

You know those days where you realize something has changed, and now things will never be the same? Sunday was one of those days for us. A few things happened Sunday.

Number 1. Erika says "Hey baby" a lot when she's talking to Parker. This weekend Parker started saying "Hey Baba" to both of us. Of course after seeing that it made us smile and laugh, he is now saying it all the time. That was the first warning sign, and unfortunately the only cute one.

Number 2. I was getting a little frustrated Sunday with something that I was working on and said sh!t without even thinking about it. I immediately heard a very clear sh!t in reponse from Parker, who was standing behind me watching. Oh no. It's starting to sink in that he is getting very good at repeating things.

Number 3. Parker might have noticed me "scratching" my nose Sunday afternoon. I noticed that he was looking at me, and then he noticed that I noticed, and then he promptly jammed his finger up his nose. I realized my second mistake as soon as I made it. I giggled a little bit and told him not to do it. In baby language that must mean do it as much as you possibly can.

I said at the beginning that his "Hey Baba" was the only cute thing, but who am I kidding. Watching my son run around the living room with his finger up his nose, laughing hysterically, while Erika tries to make him stop is pretty darn cute.

So Sunday was the day. We can no longer say or do anything without first thinking about the consequences of Parker repeating it.

We haven't shared any photos in awhile, so here's an album. It's random pics from my phone and pictures that Parker's teacher sends us from daycare.

Christmas...belated

It's been awhile since our last update. We were very busy in the month of December. Christmas was so exciting this year, you would have thought Bryan was more excited this year than Parker considering he was up at 5am wanting to wake the whole entire house to open presents! I told him he was nuts, so Parker and I got a few more hours of sleep before we put Bryan out of his misery! Grandma & Grandpa Hoyes stayed with us on Christmas Eve and then made the rounds to the rest of the grandkids during the day. We then went back to LaGrange the weekend after Christmas for my family's Christmas. New Years was pretty uneventful for us, we cleaned house....lame I know BUT we were hosting Bryan's family Christmas the next day so everything had to be in tip top shape. We celebrated the Hunt Christmas on New Year's Day. Everyone was able to make it back and we had a great game night later on that night; boys vs girls with Pictionary and Taboo (my favorite). I hate to admit it but the boys did win :(

We encountered our first official injury of the year. See the photos below, it actually looks worse than it was. Parker was in the hallway by himself when it happened, I think the wall and him had a falling out :) A little ice and lots of TLC and he was back to normal within a few hours. January looks pretty calm for us, we are preparing for a ski trip in early February. We are excited BUT I'm dreading leaving my little guy for 4 days!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We are excited to see what 2010 brings the Hunt family :)

From 01-2010 Parker

From 01-1-2010 Hunt Christmas

From 12-24-2009 Christmas Eve

From 12-2009

From 12-2009

From Parker Growing Up

Say Hello, to my little friend

Meet our new puppy Tucker

From 11-2009

Parker's New Room

We finished our first work inside the house last weekend. It didn't require much - scraping and re-texturing the ceiling, fresh paint, and a new ceiling fan, but it feels good to make some progress on the inside of the house. One room down, lots to go.

It still needs some finishing touches. We decided to give it more of a grown-up look so Dad hopefully doesn't have to repaint in a couple years, but that means his dinosaur stuff doesn't match quite as well. We primed the navy blue wall with a special additive (basically metal shavings) that allows magnets to stick to the wall. Yep, the entire blue wall is magnetic.

Halloween

Time to share some pictures from Halloween. I say some, but I'll warn you there are a lot of pictures in the slideshows below. We didn't do anything too exciting for Halloween, but it was nice to have a relaxed evening and Parker had a lot of fun. He definitely knows what candy is now, and he knows he loves it! We went over to Grandma Hunt's in the afternoon for a short visit, and then Renee brought Owen over for a visit so the two boys could monkey around for awhile. We hit up a few houses in the neighborhood for trick-or-treating before heading home to hand out candy. Parker was tired pretty early that night from all the excitement, and probably coming down from a sugar high.

Bump City and the Pumpkin Patch

It seems like we've been super busy the last month or so with something going on every weekend. Other than Halloween on Saturday, we'll actually have some time to relax and hang out at home this weekend. I thought I'd share a few pics from the past month. We'll try and get Halloween pictures from this weekend posted in a timely manner so everyone can see them before Thanksgiving :).

Blue Springs has a big gymnastics center and we took Parker to their Bump City night a few weeks ago. Bump City is their open gym for toddlers on Friday nights. Parker had a blast! We've definitely discovered a good energy burner for this winter. He liked everything, but really liked the trampolines and the foam pit.

From 10-2009 Parker

Two weeks ago we went to Carolyn's Pumpkin Patch up in Liberty with Parker's daycare. It was a little muddy, but a lot of fun. Parker and Dad both got to pick out pumpkins for Halloween.









Parker's daycare also had their own trick-or-treating night last week so we had a chance to put his costume through a test run. Everybody has to wait until after Halloween to see pictures though:) Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Dancing Machine

I finished up the day 2 ride of Bike MS on Sunday afternoon, and while I was getting some much needed rest in the grass Parker decided it was time to get his groove on. He busted out a new move that we hadn't seen before with the side-to-side head shake. We were cracking up and he attracted a small audience that was also enjoying his performance. Wouldn't it be great to be this carefree again? And before anyone asks, no he didn't get these moves from me. :)

Dancing Machine from Bryan Hunt on Vimeo.

4-Wheelin

Erika picked up a 4-wheeler for Parker at a sale this weekend. After he figured out that he didn't need his feet to make it go, he was cruising. Still need to work on the steering a bit, but that's a minor detail :)

4-Wheelin from Bryan Hunt on Vimeo.

Summer Update

Where has the summer gone? I can't believe it's August already. I had to leave Parker and Bryan overnight a few weeks ago for the first time since Parker was born. Boy was that hard. I think it was good for all of us though. I had a girls weekend to celebrate a bachelorette party so Bryan and Parker had some quality father/son time. But after two nights away from them, I was definitely ready to come home!

We have been spending a lot of quality time by the pool and getting all the projects completed on the outside of the house so that hopefully come September/October the renovations on the inside can begin....keep your fingers crossed. Bryan has the retaining wall left to complete and then our duties outside should be done. It has been a long summer of improvements; I can only imagine what this winter will bring!

Last weekend we took off to Omaha to visit the Ream family. It was a blast. Parker and their daughter, Brylie, are only 2 weeks apart so it was a very exciting weekend for all. We went to Coco Keys, an indoor water park, on Saturday and then the Zoo on Sunday. The kids had a lot of fun playing together, but I think Bryan and Josh had more fun reuniting in their ridiculous PS3 games of football. I swear, will these boys ever grow up? I told Bryan that I wouldn't put it past him that these two will still be playing video games at the age of 80...I can see it now!

From 8-2009 Trip to Omaha

From 8-2009 Trip to Omaha

From 8-2009 Trip to Omaha

From 8-2009 Trip to Omaha

We would also like to introduce everyone to the newest member of the Hunt family. We went out and bought Parker a beta fish. We have named decided to name him Bob. The reason for that is that Parker is in this phase right now of "Baa-ing" at every moving creature and calling it/he/she "Bob". So we figured Bob would be easy for him to remember. The dog is Bob, the fish is Bob, heck Bryan and I are Bob sometimes to Parker :) We just thought a fish would be a lot easier to take care of then getting a new puppy or something else. Maybe next summer we will get Parker a puppy. One thing's for sure, he has taken a liking to Shyla. These two are inseperable right now. We had to board Shyla this past weekend and I really think Parker missed her because as soon as he saw her on Monday night, he was giving her kisses. He just couldn't get enough of her.

Bryan is running his first sprint triathalon this weekend. Parker and I will be there supporting him, so wish him luck! We are so proud of him, just kinda worried of the swimming event. Parker may need to let Bryan borrow his floaties :) It should be very entertaining!

Vacation Week

Erika and I both took all of last week off. We decided to have a stay at home vacation this summer to spend time with P-Man and get some things done around the house. Turned out to be a great decision. We had a lot of fun hanging out with Parker all week, got a lot done (Erika worked me like a dog), and it didn't fly by like it would have if we were traveling.

Vacation officially started last weekend when we went up to Steven & Tonya's for the 4th. Most of the Hunt Fam was there, and Erika's parents also came by to watch the fireworks. Parker liked the fireworks until he got too tired and cranky, but I think he liked the dirt a little more.

From 7-4-09 4th of July

Most of the week was spent working at home. Parker was a lot of help.

From 7-2009 Parker

Erika also had a small pool party with some other moms and their kiddos on Monday. Parker had his first dentist visit on Wednesday, and we made a trip to the zoo on Thursday. This was his second visit to the zoo, but the first time he really enjoyed it and got excited about the animals. He loved the monkeys, but I'm not so sure this one felt the same way.

From 7-2009 Parker

Parker's First Steps

Last night was very exciting. Parker took his first steps! We got him on video walking between Erika and I a few times, but later in the evening he even tried to walk by himself from the coffee table to his toys. He made it a good 4 or 5 steps before going down.

Parker Takes His First Steps from Bryan Hunt on Vimeo.

Parker takes his first steps by himself on 6/25/09

Happy Birthday Parker!

I know everyone always says this, but it really doesn't seem like a year ago that Parker was born. I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I miss little baby Parker, but I couldn't be more excited about the future. As Parker turns one today, I know we're in for more exciting changes over the next few months. He's getting very close to taking his first steps, and his little personality continues to grow every day. Erika and I couldn't be happier parents.

The slideshow above is from Parker's Birthday party on Sunday, the 7th. It was a beautiful day, and we're very thankful to all of our friends and family that came out to celebrate with Parker. Erika's homemade dinosaur cake was a hit, and P-Man made quite a mess with his chocolate cake. Afterwards we ended up having an impromptu pool party that was our first official pool gathering. It was a blast!

Parker's very lucky to have so many great cousins, aunts & uncles, grandparents, and friends. I hope everyone had as much fun as we did at the birthday party, and I can't wait until next year!

P.S. A few samples from the photo session Saturday are up on our photographer's blog.
http://capturesintime.com/blog/

Emery's 2nd Birthday

Last Sunday, May 31st we celebrated my niece, Emery's 2nd birthday. She has turned into such a young lady. She has even taken the title of "Sunshine" from Aunt Erika and it takes a lot to do that :) It was lots of fun and I think Isaac and Preston enjoyed her presents more than she did! She's going to have to get a lot tougher these next few years with 2 brothers and 2 boy cousins....poor Emery!


Here's the Birthday girl!



This is Luke & Parker, can you believe they are only 4 1/2 months apart? We have some chunky boys in the family!


Luke just chilling with grandma!

Memorial Day Weekend

The Hunt family was very busy for Memorial Day weekend. Parker took his first swim in our new pool. As you can tell by the pictures he LOVED it! It was a little cold for me but that did not seem to bother him. On Sunday evening we attended a BBQ hosted by Chad & Amanda Brown. Parker was the life of the party! Finally on Monday we did a little yard work and then we were off to the Royal's game. It was a beautiful day, the rain held off and it was very cool. Thank goodness, because I was a little worried about how Parker was going to act at the game. He did very well, but his new little friend Kellen helped keep him entertain.


Bryan & Parker at our first Royal's game!

I just love this picture of us! It's one of my favorites so far!

Parker & his new friend Kellen

The Browns BBQ

Parker do we really have to try and put everything in our mouths?


My little cheese ball!

Poolside!


Parker & I have our own Cabana boy...love ya daddy!

If only we knew what Shyla was really thinking.....



Yes I actually woke up one morning with my son sleeping on top of my head!

Swimming

Here's a quick video of Parker swimming in the pool at our new house for the first time on May 30th. He loved the water right away even though it was still pretty chilly. Should be a fun summer!

Parker's First Swim from Bryan Hunt on Vimeo.

Parker's First Haircut

We finally did it; we took Parker to get his first haircut at Sports Clips. It was quite an adventure. The little guy would not sit still at all for the lady; I think I got more hair on me than there was on the ground afterwards. We just wanted to make sure we had enough time in between his haircut and his one year pictures in case a catastrophe occurred his hair could grow out.

Mother's Day Weekend

We have a lot of catching up to do on this blog for May, so here it goes! Mother's Day was amazing this year. It was so special to be able to actually hold a child on Mother's Day. Bryan and Parker surprised me with a new product at the salon, a Caribbean body scrub. I was hesitant at first, but let me tell you it was AMAZING and very relaxing. I recommend it to anyone! On Mother's Day I woke up to lots of hugs and kisses from Parker. He was being extra lovey that day and I really needed that. It was kind of a bittersweet day for me. It was special to have Parker here with me, but I still miss Mallory and Payton very dearly. In honor of them, we went to a balloon release with the support group we belong to. It was a very special event because almost everyone in the group now has their own miracle baby after such tragedy. Parker helped in the festivities by releasing balloons for his sisters. Thanks for such an amazing day Bryan and Parker!

From 5-2009 Parker

From 5-2009 Parker

Our support group releasing balloons in memory of our babies that we have lost.

From 5-2009 Parker

Here are all the mom's in our support group, everyone has had a baby now...what miracles we have!

From 5-2009 Parker

Parker and Mommy and the Garden of Angels