It still fits!

This may be the one item Adler can still wear from last year. You may remember my mom helped me sew some of these rompers. I made this one a bit big last year (by accident), so now it's perfect for this summer. I still have some leftover fabric from this...wondering if I should try one for Eli?

Phone pics

Some pics from my phone. You know that's when your favorite moments happen...when you don't have a camera handy! Glad for the invention of camera phone!

Eli started smiling at 6 weeks! How special it is to see him recognize his parents and smile at them!

Brothers

Picnic at Piedmont Park

Ok, this moment lasted for a second, so I'm glad I have a photographer for a husband, who would haul a wagon filled with a 2 year old and photography gear. Eli didn't care for the wind that ended up being on the top of the hill, so lunch was fast. Once we got to the playground, everyone was happy, so it was a great day!

Ninjas in Training- A comparison-What do you think?

Eli at 6.5 weeks

Adler at 14 weeks....lets just hope the onesie shrunk and that's why it fits Baby Eli at 6.5wks!

6.5 weeks of baby Eli

Aunt D came to visit:

6 weeks already!
Tummy time.......
Eli's first "real" bath:

Pictures

Happy baby.....

Not so happy baby......
Boys with Neanie and Papa


Sleepy Eli...




Eli with Grammi and Tom Tom....
Adler wanting to watch TV in "Eli's chair" with a blanket....being camera shy, that's weird!
Brothers!
Boys with Grammi and Tom Tom
Family of four
New parents

My loved little Valentine

New Daddy
Uncle PT and Adler...Sadie stealing a kiss
Grammi and Adler
Hunton boyz
Day we brought Eli home

Mommy of two

Wow, it seems life is flying by! It seems when Adler was a new born, time stood still. It seemed he would be a baby forever! With Eli, each moment seems to be fleeting. I just want time to stare at him a little longer, trace every line and detail of his face, memorize every expression he makes. I know too well that I will turn around and he will be a running, talking, car loving little boy, and the days of him being my little baby will be far behind us! I love that I have this perspective as a mother of a 2nd baby...to treasure each stage, challenge, scream, late night, sleepless moments...they will be over before you know it! 

I had a great weekend with my sweet friend, Deanna, who flew all the way to the ATL from TX to see me and meet Baby Eli. We missed KT (who had to cancel her flight bc little Maylee came down with an ear infection-hope she is feeling better!). I dragged D around Atlanta for some shopping because for the first time in a long time I had a) a Manny for Adler (daddy) b) money (from my bday) and c) coupons (30% off Old Navy, Gap, and BR). We had so much fun and a great dinner that night at La Paz. Thanks, D for coming! KT we missed you!

Adler has been a great big brother, but very mischievous. In the past three weeks here's what Adler has been up to. Mind you, these things happen within seconds and usually when I'm changing a diaper or nursing:

a) got into a jar of vaseline and covered his hands and face in a massive glob (we often put vaseline on his cheeks bc they get chapped-guess he thought they needed some extra moisture) 

b) dug his cars into flower pot dirt, covering himself, the dog, and the deck in dirt

c) crunched up gold fish crackers and threw them on Sadie (poor dog, she was trying to lick them off her back)

d) pooped in the bathtub and threw it onto the bathroom floor

Looks like I need a clone! Adler also came down with a nasty sinus infection which brought us to the doctor, followed by the pharmacy. I had my first experience at the doctor's office with two kids, then grocery shopping with two carts at Publix. (I decided I was there and might as well pick up groceries...pushing and pulling carts was interesting....maybe I'll lose this baby weight after all!)

Eli has been great! We are getting longer stretches of sleep from him at night! Last night we got 5 hours, then 4, so I only had to get up once! It was such a treat! He is such a sweet baby. He's developed the same intense cry his brother had, but it seems to not last as long (maybe I am just more experienced this time?) - and more confident that I can settle him. I remember always being anxious in public places with Adler that he would start crying and I wouldn't be able to calm him. He loves his swaddler and being held. Either of those things seems to make him pretty happy. Adler loves to hug and kiss him and has been telling him "good boy!" and still likes to say "here, Eli!" - sharing a toy - when Eli is crying. They already seem best friends!

Stephen says he is going to be better at sharing pictures with me from his camera. If not, he has to buy me one. That's the deal. Alright, that's my update for now.

Eli is 1 month old!

Happy One Month, Eli! It's been a fun first four weeks of getting to know you! You have been a busy boy! You have done great going along with all the places we've been...from Piedmont Park, to and from Adler's school, playgrounds, mom's Bible study, Kangazoom, shopping, doctors appointments...you've been a trooper!

It's been a fun and sometimes crazy month being a mom of two. I'm pretty much used to no sleep at this point, but it does help to take a nap every other day or so. Eli is getting up every 3-4 hours at night...we had a 4.5er last night and that was great!

We had our 1 month check up this week. Eli weighed in at 10lbs 8oz and was 21 3/4 inches long. He is in the 75th percentile for weight and 50th percentile in height. When Adler was one month, he weighed 9lbs and 6oz (one pound less!) So, looks like we may be having another big boy in the house! We love you, Eli!!

Is this photo...

InLawsAreFune-2, originally uploaded by stephenhunton.com.

from lack of sleep from babies, OR from a fun jowling match when the in-laws came over? If you guessed the later...you are correct. hurray.

Sitting on Shoulders is the Best

Sitting on Shoulders is the Best, originally uploaded by patrickhunton.

It doesn't get a whole lot better than this....

Birthday Story

Two and a half years ago, I posted Adler's birthday story. So, it's only appropriate to share Eli's as well:

I had convinced myself that I was going to give birth to Eli at 38 weeks, which was Super Bowl Sunday, February 1st. I had Adler at 38 weeks, which also happened to be a Sunday, and the same doctor who delivered Adler was on call on that Feb 1st. It just made sense that he would arrive on that day. I had prepared everything around that day, but as it grew closer, I started to wonder if he would actually decide to show - and realized I was going to be disappointed if I woke up on Monday morning with no baby!

So, Sunday, Feb 1st arrived....we went to church, no baby. We came home and made lunch...no baby. The Super Bowl started...no baby. But, I did have an upset stomach the entire day. I hadn't eaten much because nothing sounded good. I called my friend Bonnie to see where they were that night - I told her I wasn't feeling well, but figured it was just an upset stomach. Bonnie was my "on stand-by friend" for help with Adler. Bonnie was convinced I was in labor, but I didn't think so. But, come to think of it, I was having contractions. Bonnie said I should time them...geez..now there's an idea. I started writing them down and realized they were about 5 minutes apart. That's when they tell you to call your doctor, but I decided to clock them for an hour. So, I did that for about an hour while putting Adler to bed, telling Stephen he needed to stop watching the game and start acting like something was going to happen, packing a bag...this seemed like the real deal. Finally convinced these contractions were getting worse and not going away, I called my doctor. So, at about 9:30pm my doctor told me I needed to come to the hospital! Yikes! Maybe this was for real! It just so happened that my sister, Rylie, was in town, so she and her boyfriend came to the house to keep Adler for us.

On the way to the hospital, Stephen said he felt like he should be driving 80/ running red lights/ getting pulled over/ yelling "she's in labor!"/ getting the police escort/etc. I remember feeling each bump in the road...if this wasn't labor, I wasn't sure what was! Stephen did get his "moment' when he pulled up to the Emergency entrance and yelled to the security "She's in labor!"...who then insisted I sit in a wheel chair while the security guy wheeled me to labor/delivery and Stephen parked the car. I thought it was a little over the top, but it did add to the excitement.

So, here's where things slowed down....I got hooked up to machines, an IV, checked out by my nurse, who was great...all to find out that I indeed was having contractions, but it was either early labor OR I was just dehydrated from a day of not eating well. It was about 11:30ish and they decided to watch me until 2am and see what happened. I was determined that I was going to have this baby, so that's when I started making laps around the hospital...having to stop and breath through each contraction...seriously! If this wasn't labor, what the heck was? So at 2am, I had dilated a bit more, but it was certainly going to be a long night of no sleep. So, after more laps around the hospital, watching Family Matters, Prince of Bellaire, Full House (probably one of the first episodes, when uncle Jesse moves in) - good old Nick at Night...chewing ice, downing water, apple juice and cranberry juice....6am finally arrived and contractions were super intense. I still hadn't had any drugs and I was like the woman in labor you see in the movies. I had it in my head I was going to just see how I could do without drugs, but at this point of no sleep, no food...I caved to the epidural at about 8am.

From there it was smooth sailing! I didn't even realize how much pain I was actually in until after the epidural kicked in. I finally felt like I could relax and it even felt like I could rest after a night of no sleep. Pushing time came at about 10am, it only took a few, and he was here! There is nothing like this moment in your life. It's hard to describe....you're excited, scared, anxious, yet never more in love with your spouse, most aware of the presence of Christ, overwhelming feeling you are on holy ground and you know your life is changed forever. Sweet Eli was just screaming his little lungs out-it was like hearing angels sing! I got to hold him right away and they kept him there with me for what seemed like a really long time. I loved that moment with him, but a part of me was thinking - don't you all want to check him out and make sure everything is working properly? I guess they weren't too concerned! We were shocked by how much dark hair he had, recognized Stephen's hands and feet right away, and decided he looked like a good mix of Adler and Stephen. He's perfect!

Now, at this point, Stephen and I STILL were not certain about his name. We had a name we had been calling him, then over the course of the past couple months, our hearts changed about the name. We thought maybe God was calling us in a different direction. We had concluded to keep praying and trusted that we would know the right decision when we met our baby boy. Our minds had been made up after reading Probers 22:1 which says: A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. And when Stephen looked at our sweet baby, we both looked at each other and agreed he looked like an Eljah which means "The Lord is my God".

So that's how sweet Eli joined our family at 10:22am, February 2, 2009. He weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 20.5 inches long.

He is such a sweet baby, nursing has been a breeze, and for the most part, he seems to go with the flow. He does hate his car seat, but is happy when we start moving. So far, having a new born has been pretty easy. We're not sure if that is because of different baby personalities or experienced parents, but that's fine with us!

Adler has been a great big brother. He loves to help, brings toys to Eli when he is crying and says, "Here, Eli!". I do have to keep my eye on him because he just doesn't know that Eli may not want to play with Thomas the Train quite yet. He loves to watch diaper changes and is happy to help mommy throw them away. He often comments, "Eli's cute!".

We've had a great time with our families who have all visited in the past couple weeks. It has been so nice to have them all here to meet Eli, entertain Adler, and help with stuff around the house. Thank you, all for coming!

We are looking forward to a visit from Katie and Deanna in a couple weeks! It will be so much fun! Ok, that's about all I have time for! Here are some pics from my phone while we were in the hospital.