Swimming Lessons!

This week, Hunter started swim lessons at the Monterey Sports Center. While we have done mommy & me type lessons before, these lessons are sans parents - a whole new territory!

While it was insanely nerve wracking to watch someone else handle Hunter in the water (along with 3 other 4 year olds!) I think it is awesome for Hunter to have an athletic activity that doesn't have much to do with his leg. Hunter loved each and every second, and can't wait to go back for more! Swim time is my new favorite time of the week, as it is so much fun to sit up in the bleachers and just observe the joy in Hunter's face as he experiences new adventures!

Sorry for the poor picture quality, the indoor pool doesn't photograph well! Hunter is all the way on the left, in the red trunks:

I was nervous for Hunter as they were taken around on the floaty, but then the floaty turned and I saw his face :o)

Preschool-powered floaty:

Feeling like superman after his first big-kid swim lesson!

Shamrock Shakes

After a busy couple of days spent checking more things off of the pre-baby to-do list, we capped off the weekend by testing out a recipe I found for homemade shamrock shakes! We felt pretty jipped in the shamrock shake department this year, as only ONE McDonald's in our area carried them, and only for two weeks... While browsing blogs one day, I found a recipe for a homemade version, and Justin and I both agreed that it is unlikely we will ever pay for a McDonald's shamrock shake again - these were amazing!

The Recipe is as follows:

1 Cup Vanilla Ice Cream

1/2 Cup Milk

1/4 tsp mint extract

4 drops green food coloring

- mix all ingredients in a blender, enjoy! (recipe makes one shake)

Hunter's favorite part - the button!!

Cheers!

A Satisfied Customer :o)

The Nesting Instinct

The nesting instinct is described as

an uncontrollable urge to clean one's house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world.

I am experiencing this primal instinct big time. Add my label maker and you've got yourself a party! Today Hunter and I tackled the play room. We dumped out every single bin and went through each and every matchbox car, army guy, and happy meal toy, deciding which to keep, and which to give away to other kids. He did a great job, and was a huge help with putting toys back in appropriate categories. After we found a home for everything, we brought out the big guns:

Hunter and I had a great system going, where I would print out a label, and he would read it and place it in the correct spot (hey, organizing and reading lesson all in one!)

Onto a vocabulary lesson - the 'Armory' bin contains his nerf pistols, bullets, and some other nerf ammo:

Every once in awhile Hunter will do something that screams either 'Little Justin' or 'Little Nickie' - I think this picture speaks for itself :o)

Now before you go calling DCFS on me for torturing my poor child, Hunter really did have a good time! Sometimes when he gets very particular and it is clear he has picked up on some of my OCD tendencies, it is very frustrating, and I even feel guilty about it. Other times, I am really grateful that this adorable little buddy of mine likes to organize as much as I do :o)

And please, pray for Justin - as we are moving on to the garage tomorrow...

Baby Batt

Tomorrow will mark 27 weeks! Had another level II ultrasound with the perinatologist today, and got all good news :o) The doctor took a careful look and found no evidence of any joint contractures or clubbed feet, and full extension and flexion in all the limbs. The baby is measuring right at 27 weeks, with the exception of rather long humerus(i?) and femurs! (Josh, what is the plural of humerus and femur??)

With 13 weeks to go, I set up an online 'baby pool' - We hope you will all check it out and log your predictions!

http://www.expectnet.com/games/BabyBatt

Baby Batt ~ 26 weeks, 1 day

Back by popular demand ~ the belly photo. Last photo I posted was taken at 19 weeks, which is hard to believe! Anyway, here we are at 26 weeks, 1 day (sorry for the weird facial expression - I can never get that quite right heh). All is well in there (this little one seems to be quite the party animal though!), and I'm still feeling ok, although things are slowly becoming more and more difficult (carrying Hunter, walking up stairs, finding a comfy position to sleep!) Nothing horrible or out of the norm though, so I'm definitely not complaining! Next ultrasound is on Monday the 15th, looking forward to seeing the baby on the inside again!

For comparison's sake, here I am at 19 weeks:

And today at 26+1

Baby Steps...

I haven't been very good about updating on Hunter's progress, mainly because there was a good 5 weeks there where we weren't doing anything! It has been a long, difficult, and frustrating time for both Hunter and I, and I just didn't want to write about it. However, today I am writing with a renewed sense of joy, hope, and most of all, gratitude.

This has been a very, very big week for Hunter! We saw the surgeon again on Monday, and she was very pleased with Hunter's progress. Hunter was given a leg immobilizer, which we were able to start using at therapy this week, and he will start wearing it at home starting next week!

Big event #1 came on Tuesday at therapy: Hunter has already been doing a great job straightening his leg (he is 5 degrees short of full extension!). On Tuesday, Katheryn (our PT - I'll use her name from now on instead of 'the therapist'!) asked Hunter to bend his leg as much as he could. So Hunter started with his leg in almost full extension, and with no help, bent it to 91 DEGREES! If you recall, the surgeon had his knee bent to 90, so the fact that Hunter can now achieve even more flexion is absolutely huge, and a wonderful indication that the surgery was indeed a success. After that, Kathryn put him in the immobilizer brace, and tried to get Hunter to step down on his left foot. Hunter was pretty freaked out by this, and would only touch his toes on the floor very gently.

Big event #2 came today!: Today, Hunter went to therapy a little more prepared for the leg brace, and he was tremendously successful! After a few stretching exercises, Kathryn put Hunter's brace on and had him step on the floor. He was still resisting putting any weight on the left foot, so Kathryn let him play with the foot controls for the bed they have in the therapy room. An electronic gadget was just the right motivation! Hunter started pushing down on that foot with no trouble at all and even said "hey, this isn't so bad!". Since he did so well with that, Kathryn decided to have him try walking with a walker.

After the first two steps, Hunter tried racing down the hallway hopping with only the right leg, and we realized the walker provided wheels and a little too much support! After that we had to bargain with Hunter - five hops, then 10 real steps, five hops, etc. Just when I thought this was all so amazing, Hunter decided he wanted to try standing without holding on to anything -

Seeing the progress this week has been like seeing a light at the end of a long, frustrating, exhausting, and very challenging tunnel. It was a reminder to both Hunter and I that this is only temporary, and that the best is yet to come!

On our drive home, we stopped for a milkshake as a reward for all of Hunter's hard work. During the drive I had the song "Tunnel" by Third Day stuck in my head:

I won't pretend to know what you're thinking

I can't begin to know what you're going through

I won't deny the pain that you're feeling

But I'm gonna try and give a little hope to you

Just remember what I've told you

There's so much you're living for

There's a light at the end of this tunnel,

There's a light at the end of this tunnel For you, for you

There's a light at the end of this tunnel

Shinin' bright at the end of this tunnel For you, for you

So keep holdin' on

You've got your disappointments and sorrows

You ought to share the weight of that load with me

Then you will find that the light of tomorrow

It brings a new life for your eyes to see

What a day :o)

Batts Finally Out and About...

Hunter's recovery has been an interesting, exhausting, yet fairly uneventful road so far. The surgeon cut Hunters cast in half on February 9th. He is required to wear the bottom half at all times (with the exception of showers and physical therapy), and then he wears both the top and bottom halves to bed. So, four weeks post-surgery, Hunter is still pretty much immobile, although it has gotten a little easier to carry him around now that he isn't so sore.

As you can imagine, we really haven't been up to much. Hunter and I have been sticking around the house for the most part. Hunter has gotten really good at Justin's motorcross and skateboarding x-box games. We've also been working on puzzles, and building things with Hunter's trio set, in addition to our regular 'school at home' activities.

Hunter expanding on Justin's tower:

Like Father, Like Son - he couldn't even take is eyes off the game for 2 seconds while I took the picture!

Today was a particularly fun day. Hunter was signed up to play basketball this season, with the same coach he had for soccer. Due to the surgery being right in the middle of the season, we had to pull Hunter out. His coach, Coach Brown, asked Hunter if he would come and be the assistant coach for the next few weeks, now that they are actually playing games. Today was the first game, and Hunter had a great time. Coach Brown went above and beyond, making sure Hunter was as in on the action as he could be :o)

After the game, we decided to visit our favorite eating establishment here in Monterey, the Paris Bakery!

Justin enjoying his Chicken Focaccia, and Hunter patiently waiting for his treat -

Hunter's usual - A smiley face cookie and an apple juice

My usual - a hazelnut latte, today I also enjoyed a lovely ham and swiss croissant (photo courtesy of Hunter)

Before we left, Hunter put on Justin's hat and then wanted to take a picture of himself - Justin and I think it came out pretty great!

As you might be able to tell from the basketball pictures, Hunter's shorts seem to have gotten a little shorter over the winter :o) So since we didn't have any other plans we decided to head out to the Carter's outlet in Gilroy. As we walked in the door, the saleslady handed us a coupon for 20% off your entire purchase of more than $50 - Justin sighed and rolled his eyes as I went skipping down the aisles, snatching up clothes at 40, 50, and 60% off (before the coupon!) for both kids (yeah, that's plural - yikes! :o)

After what I would consider a successful mission, we stopped and got Hunter his first shamrock shake to enjoy on the drive home (and in case anyone is concerned, lunch was served in between the cookie and the milkshake)

We are expecting Hunter's walker to be delivered early this week, so hopefully that will help him get up and around the house more. Our next appointment with the surgeon is on March 1, at which point we should gain a little clearance and be able to keep the cast off for longer periods of time.