Random stuff...

The bad news: I think I am going to be having another back surgery. I set up one appointment already with the surgeon who did my first surgery in 2006. I am waiting to hear from a surgeon at U of M for another opinion. I am not sure if I will go to Mayo or not...just depends what these surgeons say. I have kept the Mayo appt for now (November 13th), but we'll see how things play out. I don't want to go to Mayo, come back at end of November and have surgery right before Christmas. Trying to figure out if I should have surgery asap and feel ok by Christmas or hold off till January...I'm starting to get desperate b/c I feel so rotten! Please say a prayer for me...I need a miracle at this point.

On another note, I love how Hunter's school sends him home with all the random artwork he does. I take pictures of it and then pitch most of it. I'm going to make a digital scrapbook of all of his artwork at some point. I don't like when he comes home with marker all over his clothing and face. I want to dress him nice for school, but hate when things get ruined.

Below pics are from yesterday. I LOVE dressing them in matching clothes!!! It's my favorite thing to do. I won't be able to get away with it for long, so I'm going to do it while I can.

Jack is trying to grab Hunter's chin...I just love how they are interacting more and more. Sometimes it's hard b/c Hunter gets mad that Jack is on the move and after his toys. I know it's only going to get worse and I've noticed it's gotten harder just in the last two weeks.

I told Hunter to hold Jack and he practically chokes him.
I thought this was funny b/c they are just both making weird faces.

Moments before both kids were mad that I was trying to take a picture. I have a secret song I sing/whisper to Hunter to get him to do things when he doesn't want to and it worked. I had a church council meeting last night, so Nick was on his own from 6:30-9:30pm last night. They went out to buy popcorn and watched Toy Story on Netflix before bed since we got it in the mail yesterday. I always feel guilty leaving him with the kids at bedtime, but it's not that often and he leaves me much more than I leave him!

Cider Mill with Amber

On Sunday, Hunter and I met my friend Amber at the cider mill--Three Cedars Farm. I wanted to bring both kids and give Nick some time to himself, but Jack was teething and agreed I should not take Jack out. I felt like I was with Hunter all day and Nick was home with Jack all day. In the morning, I took Hunter to pre-school at church and went to mass alone while Hunter was in his class. Nick stayed home with Jack since he was so fussy with his teething. Then we drove back home and all went to Costco together. The formula Jack is on (Similac brand) had a recall so we had to return it to Costco and get another brand. The recall is due to beetles and other insect parts found in the formula--disgusting!! After Costco, we had naptime and then I left with Hunter. We had a lot of fun at the cider mill together :) Amber got Hunter some great birthday presents too, so thank you Amber!!

Amber, Hunter and I on the hayride

They have lots of good setups to take cute pictures!

Of course we had to get cider and donuts

Amber with her favorite 3-year old

I love this cider mill b/c they have lots of fun things for the kids to do. They have this train to play on and Hunter had a great time!

The had a new thing this year...a corn box. It was really neat.
This was new too this year. They had this "Three Little Pigs" setup. They have all three houses, the big bad wolf, and three real piglets in there. You can push a button and it read the story out loud over a speaker. I thought it was really cool...especially b/c that is Hunter's favorite book right now! Hunter thinks the big bad wolf lives in our dining room. It points to him and pretends to pet him--it is interesting to see his imagination at work, however, it's kind of weird to me that he tells me the wolf is always standing in the same spot in that room.

Wiard's Orchard on Saturday

We went to Wiard's Orchard on Saturday afternoon. It was pretty cold out! My friend Hillary's family runs the orchard, so she had given us free tickets to the country fair they have going on. Hunter had tons of fun--they had a huge slide, fire truck rides, hayrides, pony rides, play structures, cider, donuts, etc. Poor Jack was teething horribly all weekend, but he hung in there at the orchard. He had a rough weekend, but slept through the night last night and seemed happy this morning.

I tried to get a picture of the kids together by the pumpkins, but they weren't going for it.
I got one cute one of Jack :)

Hunter was way too busy for sitting still for a picture.

They had a huge slide, so Hunter had lots of fun!

I pretty much had to pry him away from it b/c they were closing!

He would get to the bottom and scream, "I want to do it again!!".

Eating hay on the hayride. He was being a troublemaker. I have heard 3 is worse than 2 and so far, I agree.

Me and my boys on the hayride. You can see the devil child was up to no good!

The hayride took us through the woods and they have all the halloween stuff set up. They do a thing at night for halloween...it is scary! I haven't been since I was about 23 and it was SO scary then...I'm a wimp and can't even watch a scary movie, so that's not my thing. Hunter was oblivious to what was going on with all the skeletons around--he was more interested in the hay!

Family pic on the hayride!

They had this firetruck ride too that we went on. Hunter loved the dog that rode with us :)

We also got cider and donuts :)

Jack even had a taste of the donuts...he loved it of course. I never would have let Hunter have sugar when he was a baby--I've gotten more laid back this time around I guess! haha.

Lots of big words in one video...

I've been working on trying to teach Hunter one new big word every day. It doesn't always happen, but I try. Words like hilarious, ridiculous, smartest, dangerous, are a few from the last week. This video illustrates his knowledge of these words...plus one extra random thing he says that's quite funny..you'll have to watch to see where that one comes in.

Click HERE to view.

In addition, I feel like I have only been talking about Hunter lately, so here is a cute picture of Jack and daddy. Jack got his first tooth yesterday!! I can feel it and you can't see much, but it's there...FINALLY. He has been really fussy, so that would explain it. It kind of stinks b/c our new nanny (Julie) started today. Jack is not only teething, but he's in a phase where he only wants people he knows to hold him. I think he was fussier than usual for her b/c of those two things. I'm sure after a few more days he'll be fine and his normal happy self with her, but I feel badly that she may have had a rough day with him. She seems to be doing just fine so far and we look forward to getting to know her. Hunter has said a few times that "Miss Julie is nice", so that's a good sign!

Jennifer

Hunter's first trip to the dentist

I wasn't really sure when to take Hunter to the dentist for the first time. The pediatrician says one thing, but the dentist says another. There is a big discrepancy between what they both recommend (1 versus 4 years old), so I just picked when I thought he was ready and didn't want it to be traumatic by going too young. He was PERFECT. All of the ladies there said he was the BEST 3 year old (only 3 by two days) they'd ever seen. Hunter let her do everything, was happy about it, and didn't even want to leave! I am so happy that it was a positive experience for him. He's even asked a few times since Wednesday to go back to the dentist--haha. I told him in 6 months he can go again. They had warned me not to have high expectations. Basically they said if he'll let them count teeth and just make sure there are no cavities, that is a success, but he let them do everything...even using the spin thing to shine his teeth! He made me so proud! They give the kids special glasses to wear to block the light
He picked bubble gum flavor, which was funny to me b/c he doesn't even know what bubble gum is yet!

He got to pick a new toothbrush out--Lightening McQueen of course! He looks so nerdy here, but it's so cute!

Miss Kathy, the hygienist, also let him pick a prize out of the basket for being so good. He picked this money bubble necklace thing...it's still in the bottom of my purse. We had lots of fun moving the chair up and down while we were alone in the room for a few minutes!

Happy Friday!

Whitmore Lake Festival

Last Saturday evening we met up with my aunt, uncle, and cousins (The Couchman Family) at the Whitmore Lake Festival. I think people watching was the best part (the Whitmore Lake folks and carnies). My aunt was practically famous there b/c she is a teacher in Whitmore Lake--people were coming up to her left and right saying hello! We bought Hunter a bracelet so he could ride all the rides he wanted. They scared me a little, but he had a blast.

He rode this train at least three times. I love his expression here--pure happiness!
This totally scared me. He rode these swings with one of Rhonda's students...he is smiling, but this was before it started. He saw it going and said he wanted to ride it...and he was tall enough, but he got a little scared.

The girl riding it with him would say "Hunter, just look at me!" when he would look nervous. He didn't cry, but I think he was relieved when it was over! He went down this slide at least 8 times, if not more. He LOVED it.

He raced these two other kids, but he took off late and lost :(

He's too young to care though and still had fun!

My brave boy!!

So much fun!! I carried his bag to the top for him b/c once I let him try to carry it up the steps and he kept tripping on it. He also raced his cousin Joe (who is my age) and Hunter won! Yay Hunter!

Here Hunter is before he starting crying hysterically. He got really upset once the patch was on and he couldn't see out of his one eye.
Surprisingly, he stopped crying and still stood next to the pirate for a picture!

He also rode these motorcycles at least twice. We got our $12 worth for the bracelet!

I didn't get any pictures of anyone else besides Hunter :( Jack spilled two beers...one on Nick and one on my uncle Joe. You can't keep anything in Jack's reach or he will pull it in your lap. He got soaked in beer right before we left and still didn't get a bath for two more days after that!