Sunday, October 7, 2012

Hunter is ONE!!!

Yes, my sweet baby Hunter is one!  Actually as of today, he is a little over 13 months, but he turned one on September 1st.  Since this whole blog tells you the story of his first year, I will not do that here.  Instead, I will tell you about his awesome parties!

Hunter turned one on Labor Day weekend.  We were in Dobbin visiting my parents, so we decided to have a family party there.   We all had a great time, but Hunter had a blast!  He got to play with his cousins and new friends.  Hunter had been taking steps for about 2-3 weeks before he turned one, but it wasn't until his actual birthday until he decided to get up and just start walking.  It was awesome!  Just out of nowhere, he got up and just started cruising like he had been doing that all along.  He must have known in was his special day.  We had successfully waited the whole year to give him any kind of super sugary dessert.  So on his birthday he had the most sugar-filled, bright blue icing cupcake we could find.  Just a warning to those parents whose children are yet to turn one-- be ware of the color icing they eat.  Let's just say, the next day you will find a nice brightly colored surprise in their diaper :)

Thanks Mimi and Papa for a wonderful party!  Hunter loves you!!!

Here are some highlights from his Dobbin party:

Good morning Birthday Boy!

A birthday kiss from Charlie

Hunter and Nattie

Cousins playing beautiful music together

Here he goes!

Proud of our boy!


Icing was EVERYWHERE!




Hunter opening presents with his guests

Daddy got Hunter a ukulele.  It's his FAVORITE toy!



A week later, we had a party in San Antonio for all his local friends.  This was a blast.  We had his party at a local park and 16 of his little buddies came.  Daddy grilled hot dogs, the kids played and had cake, and Mr. Todd did face painting.  Hunter had such a great time and said he can't wait for his birthday next year.  Thanks GranDana and Grandpa Larry for helping us make this a success!











I can't really say that I am sad about Hunter already being one.  I do miss those sweet moments of snuggling him when he was so tiny, but that little boy is just so much fun.  He gets more and more fun every day.  I can't be sad about that.  I love my little Hunter and he will always be my very special baby boy.

Months 10 and 11

So since I am waaaaaayyyy  behind, I will do my best to catch you up on Hunter's 10th and 11th month.  Hmmmm..... let's see..... that was in July an August.  Hunter started crawling really well at 9 months, but did not start walking until 12 months, so that must mean he was a super crawler between 10 and 11 months.  Sometime in there, he started saying "mama," "dada," and "bye bye."  We are calling it a three way tie for his first word because they all seemed to come at about the same time.  He got really good at waving bye to EVERYONE and everything.  The summer was very fun for Hunter.  He spent some good times in his pool with his buddies and had several play dates.  Since pictures can tell a story much better than I can, here are the highlights from those two months:

Hunter was supporting our Olympic Team!


Hunter loves to watch Daddy mow the lawn


Family Photo- Hunter 10 months


Hey there Handsome!


What are you looking at?


Hey!  What's up?


And here are a few from August:  
Splashing it up with MacKenzie



The Herzog Clan in Dobbin


Cousins!!  I can't believe three more are on their way :)


Hunter and his second cousin sweet Cambry


Saturday, September 15, 2012

The surprise of my life :)

I cannot believe it has been three months since my last post!  I guess you could say I have been a little busy.  Hunter is now one years old- which I still have a hard time figuring out where the year has gone by.  I will give some highlights of the last three months if I can remember them :)  I will also tell you all about his first birthday in another post.  But right now, I want to tell you about the BIGGEST surprise of my life...


A picture is worth a thousand words right, so here you go...



Yes, that is exactly what you think it is.  I took that test on August 16 and finally passed this time.  I have heard at least a million times that "You will get pregnant after you adopt."  I got so tired of hearing it and just wanted to punch someone in the face (not really, I don't usually punch people :)) Noel and I started trying to start our family in 2007.  In the later part of 2008, I started seeing a fertility specialist.  Lots of hormones and one surgery later, still no baby.  The doctors wanted to proceed with more fertility treatments, but after a year of that, we said no more.  So in August of 2009, we decided to follow our hearts and God's leading and start the adoption process.  I am pretty sure you all know how that turned out :)  Fast forward to this August.  One day, I casually told Noel that I thought I was a couple of days late so I would probably take a pregnancy test that week sometime.  He said okay and we didn't give it much more thought.  I honestly couldn't remember when I should have started because I stopped keeping track of that so long ago.  Also I have been soooooooo...busy with Hunter, work, and my photography that a lot slips my mind these days.  The next morning I got up to get ready for work.  I remembered that we might have some pregnancy tests in the cabinet from several years ago.  So I dug through the cabinet and dusted off the box.  I checked the expiration date and found they were still good for four more months.  I am sure you know what comes next...I saw that two blue lines appeared very quickly and then I though to myself "oh, it's negative, no big deal" and threw it away.  I have seen so many negative tests that I didn't even really think one could ever be positive.  I started getting ready for work when I realized that I didn't know what those two little blue lines meant.  I guess I thought one was supposed to make a plus sign or something.  So I pulled the test out of the trash and got the box.  I took one look and literally said "Holy Cow!" I started at it in disbelief for a minute and then just chuckled and said "well, okay God."  I started getting ready for work because I didn't know what else to do and then realized that I should probably tell Noel.  He was still asleep so I woke him up and asked him to come look at something in the bathroom.  He staggered half awake and I pointed to the counter.  He looked at it and said "well, okay...congratulations."  It was so funny because he was so calm and had the cutest sleepy smile on his face.  So we looked at each other and hugged.  I obviously had a blank stare on my face and he said, "ummmm....shouldn't you call your doctor?'  Yes! That is a good idea.  I was so totally in shock I couldn't even think of what to do next.  So we both called into work, got dressed, and took Hunter to daycare.  Hunter's teachers looked at us so funny because we were obviously not dressed for work and we never drop him off together.  I know I looked like a deer in the headlights. I can only imagine what they thought.

To make a long and frustrating story short,  I called my doctor's office who said that I didn't need to come in because all they would have me do was take a urine test.  I tried to explain my unique situation and that I was told if I ever conceived that I would need supplemental hormones right away.  The blood work they ordered would have taken almost a week to get the results and I knew I couldn't wait that long.  So I called the fertility clinic that I had been to three years ago.  God bless the Fertility Center of San Antonio.  I spoke to a nurse right away who told me to come in and I didn't even need an appointment.  They did blood work to confirm the pregnancy and check my hormone levels.  They also gave me the prescription I needed and called with the results that afternoon.  I am so thankful for them!  I am going to see this doctor through my first trimester and then transfer over to my regular OB/GYN.  I will get an appointment and sonogram every two weeks at first and then we will work on weaning off the hormones.

My due date so far is April 15, 2013 which is three days after my birthday.  How fun is that?!?!  I am currently 9 weeks and 1 day.  I do have a baby bump and have been feeling pretty good.  The fatigue and nausea is just now hitting me, but so far it isn't bad. I can mostly just deal with it.  The fun part is that I get hungry every three hours and get to have lots of snacks.  I can already tell I am going to be a pregnant woman who has cravings.  So far,  Noel has only had to go to Whataburger at 11 PM once.  I won't make that a habit and am trying to eat healthy, but what fun is being pregnant unless you can have a little fun with it, right?

So we feel soooo blessed.  I am still in shock a little bit daily and I look at my growing belly and realize I have to slow down and rest more.  As soon as I realized I was pregnant, I did some quick math and found that Hunter and his little brother or sister will only be 19 months apart.  That is less of a gap than we were planning on, but I don't mind. I will take what God gives me and be happy--maybe VERY tired, but happy.

Here is our little peanut at about 7 1/2 weeks.  I will have another sonogram on Monday.

It was so cool to see the baby, my baby, and see the little flicker that is the heart  beat.  Noel and I decided that at this stage, the baby looks like a gummy bear.

One of the most fun parts of being pregnant so far, was telling people.  Long, long, long ago I imagined what that would be like and how I would share the news.  Now since absolutely NO ONE was expecting this, it made it really fun. Here are some of my favorite reactions:

My Mom:
I called her and asked her if she was ready for her sixth grandchild.  There was a long pause and she finally said "are you pregnant?"  "ya" I replied.  This was followed by another long pause.  Now repeat her question and my reply about three more times.  Then she finally said "Oh my God!" and just started laughing in amazement.

My brother Steven:
I told him that we decided not to have there be too much of an age gap between their twins (which are due 11/3/12) and the next kid in the family so we were gonna have a baby in April.  He was super excited and we talked for a little while.  He finally told me that I inspired him so much that he was going to take a nap, but decided to mow the lawn instead.

My brother Ryan:
I asked him if he thought Natalie and Brody would want another baby cousin.  He asked "from where?"  to which I replied "from me!"  He was happy and congratulated me and then said that he thought I was calling because we were in town.  Telling him I was pregnant was the last thing he thought I would say.

Noel's Mom, Dad, and Sister Jennifer:
Noel's mom loves to get new pictures of Hunter, so we decided to print a picture of the pregnancy test and put it in with a stack of Hunter's pictures.  We were going to see them that weekend anyways so we waited two days to tell them.  As soon as we arrived, Noel told his mom and sister to sit down at the table so they could look at the new pictures of Hunter.  I had the pregnancy test picture as the fourth one in the stack.  I didn't take into account that they would look at each picture SUPER slow and talk about how cute Hunter was.  I thought they would never get to the surprise (maybe it was just my anticipation).  So finally they pulled out the test picture and Jennifer immediately got it and said "No!" in disbelief.  She looked at me and I said "yep!"  Then my mother in law got it too and they were already both up on their feet, jumping up and down, clapping their hands in excitement and crying.  It was so cute.  Noel's Dad was sitting by me and had no idea what was going on until they finally said the word "pregnant" and then he got a huge smile on his face.

Our friends Todd and Candes:
We told Todd, Candes and their two boys that we wanted to take them out to dinner since we felt like we hadn't seem them in a while (it had been like a week).  We sat down at the restaurant I told them that we lied and there was a reason we took them to dinner.  I then told them that we were going to have a baby.  Well, Candes smacked me on the arm and said "shut up!"  "Are you serious??"  And of course I replied "yes."  Now repeat this about 10 times.  Meanwhile Todd just stared at me like a deer in the headlights.  It was priceless and so hilarious!  I think this was my favorite reaction.  

My Co-workers:
So I decided I needed to do something fun to announce it to my co-workers.  I thought long and hard about it and decided to post this picture up outside my office with the following caption below:


The price of adopting our first child ........ $$$$
The going rate for a bale of hay.........$250
A new family photo..........$0
The look on your face when you read this and realize there are four of us in this picture........priceless!

Baby Burns due to arrive April 15th


So, I just posted this on a large piece of paper outside my door so it would be noticeable and just sat back to watch the show.  It was so funny!  Some were confused and thought it meant we were adopting again, but most people got it.  A lot of the ladies cried, which was sweet.

So, this brings me to the end of my tale about the biggest surprise of my life.  We never thought we could conceive, but I am so glad that I have a Lord who is bigger than anything and is still in the business of preforming miracles.  Thank you sweet Jesus!



Tuesday, June 26, 2012

9 Months

Yes, Hunter is already nine months old...actually he will be 10 months in just a few days.  This little boy is just growing up so fast.  He is crawling all over the place, standing, dancing, clapping, waving, and getting into everything.  Just when we thought out house was baby proof...he finds something new to get into.  Did I mention that he says "mama," "dada," and "bye bye?"  Yes, I know what you are thinking.  We were skeptical too and thought they were just sounds, but he started saying these specific words appropriately and with meaning.  We are not sure what came first mama or dada, but we will call it a tie.

Hunter continues to be the happiest baby around.  He laughs hysterically at almost anything, especially Charlie.  Those two are best buds- well it may be a one-sided relationship.  At least Charlie is still faster than Hunter and can still get away from him when he wants to.  Hunter is a big fan of swimming.  He loves to splash in the water and squeal.  I do think my child is part monster though. If you have been around Hunter for any length of time, then you will know the awesome growling sound he makes SUPER loud.  It just comes out of nowhere sometimes.  Everyone we know thinks it is funny,  but I am not so sure about people at HEB or Wal-Mart yet.

Hunter is into a new stage that if we tell him no, or heaven forbid try to put a diaper or clothes on him, he will throw a fit.  I tell him that he is only nine months old and shouldn't know how to throw himself back and kick and scream.  Where do these kids get this?  He is also starting to get whiny at times.  I find myself telling him "is that what you want to get upset about?"  Or he will cry when I leave the room and I tell him, "you know mommy will never leave you, so don't be sad."  I look at him and can't help but think that these little insignificant things are so important to him that he gets distressed over it, how silly is that?  I feel like God's given me a bit of perspective of how we view things when compared to His bigger picture.  What is big for us is so small for God.  Just like Hunter thinks he will not get fed if he doesn't bang his hands on the high chair tray, we think God will not meet our needs and we worry.  Nothing like having a child to give you some perspective :)

Here are a few pics from this month and my precious baby boy:

 Swim time
One of us is in baby jail, not sure who though


Watch out world! Here I am!





 I love to listen and dance while Daddy plays guitar for me

   Hunter's first tractor ride with Papa

 Hunter and his girlfriend Hadley

  I'm so excited!

Hunter's friends: Hadley, Isaac, Hannah,and Luke