Adoption Journey: October 2012

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.

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: