Update

This is just an update post, since we've been so busy with life the last few months. In June we sold our house (yay!), Jesse got a job offer in Arizona (yay!), but the job didn't start until August and he had work to finish up in Indiana so the kids and I got a loooong vacation visiting grandmas and finding a home to rent in AZ. During that time Jesse came out for a visit as well, he had a conference in Hawaii to attend - which I tagged along to as well - and we had a very, very fabulous, relaxing, yet still stressful summer. The end of July we moved into our new (to us) home, got the kids enrolled in school and Jesse drove all our junk...I mean...stuff to Arizona. It never ceases to amaze me how much stuff one family can accumulate!

So early August we got unpacked, moved in and school started. Isaac is doing well in school. We've never been big on pushing academics, he has a natural curiousity, his memory and comprehension are sharp, but we just figured we were normal parents proud of their kids accomplishments. His Kindergarten teacher advised us that there's a little more to it than that, so we've agreed to have him tested. I don't know what the gifted program entails, but he's currently thriving in his class and when we get the results of the tests and find out whatever they recommend we'll make decisions then.

Keltsy is our peanut kid. She started preschool this year, her b-day is the end of Sept so she's one of the oldest in her class. She went for a well check up and has dropped to the 2% for weight so we'll probably be going to a nutritionist. She has no interest in eating, but since she's heard the doctor say she needs to eat she's been doing much better. She's thriving in school, has made a lot of new friends. Her favorite game is "puppies" where she pretends she's a little yappy dog and I get to give her commands like, "fetch" and "roll over". Its probably the closest we'll ever get to having a dog.

Spencer is almost a year old now. I call him 'dozer' because he is living life like a bulldozer. If he sees something he wants, there is no detering him from that object. The best is when he's on the floor on one side of the table and tries to get across to the other side. Instead of working his way around the table, he plows right through all the chair and table legs. Its quite an obstacle course under there, but he just pushes right through. He's starting to toddle a little, he can take 2 or 3 steps at a time, but prefers the quicker crawling method of getting to whatever it is that he wants. Although he has figured out how to push the kitchen chairs around, he hasn't figured out that they can be used as a tool to accomplish his goals yet. I'm worried when he does.

Jesse's work is going really well. He loves his new job and is working on two papers from the research he did at Lilly. He is worried about working for NIH funds, he prefers private industry in that way, but he loves the lab he's in and his boss feels similarly to him about certain important point on Alzheimers. I don't understand most of it, but he's happy and thriving, that's all that matters.

I've been busy, too. As I said before, we're renting and the Arizona housing market got hit hard by the housing bubble. Bad for the current residents, but good for people moving in. Houses are affordable here now, so I've been scouring the internet finding homes for us to go see. Our ward is huge, I would expect it to split sometime soon, so it has been hard to get to know people. We have joined a babysitting co-op with a few other families, and have been slowly meeting people and starting to settle in.

That's our quick update, hopefully I'll get some pictures downloaded to show you all how much the kids have changed!

Love is in the air!

February was a pretty busy month for us...as promised here's a picture of our beautiful Keltsy!
She's such a joy to have in our family. She LOVES to color and do puzzles and activity books. She a tiny little kid with no body fat whatsoever - because of that she's always has freezing cold hands and wants to give the baby hugs, making him scream. She does love him so.

Spencer is getting quite delightful. He is already pretending to be shy, smiling and turning his head in an adorable fashion...

I've been super busy trying to scan old photos and film negatives onto our computer. Found this old baby picture of myself that shows off my big Jimmy Neutron sized head...I know where my kids get their round heads from!

Speaking of big heads, Isaac finished his first "read all by myself" book. It's a compilation of the Dick and Jane series. I knew he was ready to read, he has progressed so much this year. We saw his teacher at the school carnival and without saying he was one of her favorite kids in class, she pretty much said he was one of her favorite kids in class. Don't you love those kinds of teachers?

And Isaac took this picture, since I'm not normally in the pictures I thought I'd share one of myself. Still don't like myself in pictures, but I'm sure you're all as curious about me as I am about you... so here you go! My messy hair, post baby weight, make-upless face, but look at that adorable one next to me!

My kids are growing up!

I know we say it all the time, but my kids are just growing too fast! I want time to slow down a little and give me time to breath it all in...

Isaac's lost a tooth...his first. He got a "gold coin" - it's a dollar coin - from the tooth fairy. He had a talk with someone on the school bus and that friend told him the tooth fairy brought FIVE DOLLARS! I told him that the tooth fairy was a lot like Santa, she talked with the parents first and knew how much we approved for a tooth. He was happy with his 'gold coin'.



Spencer has already had his first illness. He came down with the croupe this last week, and although my house is a wreck I enjoyed holding him as much as I could. He really is a happy baby. I love this pic because you can kind of see his little dimple on his cheek.

Poor Keltsy is already the neglected middle child! I was going through our pictures from January - of course we have a TON of Spencer, being the new baby and we got a few of Isaac, with his first tooth being gone and there were a few he happened to be playing with the baby so I got a few of him then, but Keltsy didn't have any new pictures!

Now that it's Feb. I've been consciously taking more pictures of both her and Isaac, but haven't downloaded February's pictures yet. Maybe the next post I'll have made up for it.

Merry Christmas AND Happy New Year!!!

This is our annual Christmas card picture. Unfortunately I forget how little time I have during the day and never was able to get them printed and sent.

This season was especially joyful for us, having a new baby to help celebrate. Try singing "Silent Night" while holding a newborn baby in your arms...gives a whole new depth to the awe and sacredness of that special night when Jesus was born.

Our annual ward Christmas party was especially awesome. Santa came and the kids got to give their wishes for their Christmas list.

As you can tell from the Santa pictures, our kids LOVE Christmas and the Christmas Spirit is alive and well in the Hunter household. I love the excitement and joy in the kids faces as they are talking with Santa.

And because babies change so fast, here are some updated pictures of Spencer.

This one is just really cute.

Here's one of him smiling

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and best wishes for you and yours this time of year.

Happy Fall!

How could we not love this crisp fall weather?! As you can see from the joy on my kids faces, jumping in the leaves is obviously the highlight of the fall. We (okay - by 'we' I mean Jesse) made a huge pile of leaves right by the swingset. The kids and their dad had a blast jumping in the leaves off the swings.

Halloween is "totally awesome"! The pink fairy princess had way too much fun - see how it took two hands to hold up her trunk or treat goodies? Isaac had more fun that what his expression is showing. I think he was a little annoyed at having to wait to get a picture before diving into the goods.

Spencer came home last Sunday, he had gained a full pound and was feeding on demand, so we were all excited to go and get our precious miracle to bring him home. Now we are all sleep deprived, but loving his adorable ways and seeing his own beautiful personality shining forth. He actually is very laid back and sleeps most of the time. We were thrilled last night when his normal three hour feeding schedule stretched to a full four hours. It's amazing what a difference an hour can make!

Surprise!!!

Happy Birthday!

Spencer Preston Hunter

Born Oct. 18, 2009

5 lbs. 4 oz - 19 3/4" long

Hello Everyone! We have some GREAT news and wanted to share our joy! We had a surprise early arrival yesterday at 12:20 am...Spencer Preston Hunter was born via C-section six weeks early, weighing in at 5 lbs. 4 oz., 19 3/4" long! Mom and baby are doing very well.

Now the story, I'll warn you it's long. Saturday afternoon (around 1pm) I realized that I hadn't felt the baby moving that day. This was really unusual as Spencer was a very active baby - doing flips, stretching, kicking, etc. It really worried me for him to go from super active to nothing except a few flutters, which could easily have been explained as something else. So anyway, I started doing all the things that usually make him wake up and get active. I ate lunch - nothing...I laid down so he could stretch out - nothing...I poked my belly - nothing...juice, sugary foods, etc. - nothing. By 6pm I had myself conviced that something was really wrong and I needed to hear his heart beat on a monitor to reassure myself.

Jesse happened to be out of town (OF COURSE - my kids tend to pick the least convient time get sick) in Chicago at a Neuroscience Conference. I called a friend (Heather) and when I started to explain what was going on I burst into tears. I was trying to keep it together to not pass on the worry to Isaac and Keltsy. Well, of course the kids started talking about how the baby was just sleeping, etc. Anyway, Heather's husband came and got the kids and Heather, being the great friend that she is, went with me to the hospital. They got me hooked up to the monitor and immediately felt reassurance when I heard the heart beat and it was at a normal speed, etc. The doctor monitored the heart for a couple of hours. At this time I had definitly felt SOME kicking, but still not anywhere near what I was used to, but hearing the heart beat was VERY reassuring.

When the baby would move the doctor was looking for the heart rate to rise for 20 points and for it to last for 20 seconds. Spencer's rate was only pulling 10 points for 10 seconds, which made the doctor to want to get more information so he ordered an ultrasound. At this point I was ready to go home - it was 9pm, I was tired, thinking that Isaac and Keltsy needed to get to bed, etc...but who would turn down another ultrasound this late in the pregnancy?!

So I got the ultrasound, again heard his heart beat and for 30 min. I was waiting for him to move. They were rating certain things during the ultrasound and he needed a 8 or 10 for the doctor to feel that everything was okay - Spencer pulled a 2 (and that was having enough amniotic fluid, not really anything that the baby was doing).

While waiting for the results of the ultrasound test I called Jesse. It was around 10pm by this point. Jesse had his presentation, was going to dinner with some friends and Chicago is an hour behind our time zone - so I knew he wouldn't be back to get the phone until sometime after 8. We don't have cell phones so really no way or time to get ahold of him. About 10:30 the doctor came in, told me the results of the test and recommended a C-section. From the ultrasound he could tell the cord was around Spencer's neck, but could tell the blood was still flowing etc. and really they couldn't tell what was wrong. He was really concerned, as they could tell from his lack of movement and Spencer's heart not accelerating when it should have, they KNEW something was wrong, but not knowing what it was he wanted to get him out so they could treat ASAP. Spencer was laying sideways in my belly, with his feet down and head on my right side, so there was no way to try to deliver with him in that position, and the doctor felt that turning him might put Spencer under too much stress.

So I called Jesse back, explained what was going on, had him ask the doctor all the question he could think of and at 11pm started getting ready for surgery. Jesse rode the bus to the Conference so he rushed to the airport and rented a car. Being after 10pm there were no flights going out anymore and ALMOST all the car rental places were closed. He found Hertz out in the parking lot was open and made the frantic drive home. I was able to get a blessing before going into surgery, which was very comforting and I'm so greatful for. By 11:45 I was in the operating room and 12:20 Spencer was delivered! I was relieved to see his size and he was crying so I knew his lungs were at least functioning.

The "big problem" that was causing all this panic was that the cord managed to get around his neck THREE TIMES! He literally couldn't move. I got a quick 'welcome to the world' touch and hug. The NICU nurse came at the end of her shift and reassured me that she was so glad I had done what I did, that he wouldn't have made it to term. Jesse made it back at about 3:30am and went down to the NICU to get the status of the baby. Spencer did need a ventilator until 10am the next morning, and they couldn't find a vein so they had to use one in his umbilica cord. But he's off of the ventilator, now has a little tube that's puffs air in his nose and helps him get his lungs filled completely. And they found a vein in his arm to use, so they took out the one in his belly and we were able to hold him this morning. You could tell he likes to cuddle and according to the nurses he REALLY likes his binky!

My mom is come in last night, and our ward has been fantastic with help babysitting the kids and lots of offers for meals, etc. Turns out Jesse is sick with an ear infection, so he can't come back to the hospital - our hospital is keeping out sick people, how funny is that? For me, the pain meds work great :) - and I've been surprised at how good I feel. We appreciate all the prayers we've been receiving at this point and would appreciate any more people would like to send our way.

Apparently, Isaac keeps calling Spencer by his middle name of Preston - who knows, maybe Preston will end up being his nickname.

Thanks for the love and support,
Jesse and Amy (Isaac, Keltsy, and most especially Spencer)

Summer Fun!

Isaac's been playing T-ball this summer, and having a blast with all his buddies! Here's his first game:

His team is warming up for their first game!

Gotta run fast for that ball, then throw it to first!

Ready position...

Team picture day is next week, but the coaches will both be gone and they each have a kid on the team, so we did some less formal pictures this week - I love the way they turned out. You can tell the personality of each kid in this picture.

We've also had fun with visitors as well. Jesse parents came out for a visit, unfortunately the pictures are all on the 'upstairs' computer, and I'm too lazy to go get them right now. We had fun seeing Nauvoo and visiting some church history sites, then Jesse and his dad went to a HAM Radio fest in Ohio.

A few weeks later my sister and her three boys came to visit and we made a trip to the zoo, the Indy 500, and did LOTS of swimming. We all loved having them here, and my kids especially enjoyed their cousins company.

Here's a few pictures at the zoo:

All the cousins looking at the polar bear, sleeping in the hot sun.

My little monkeys, climbing up the 'big rock' outside the monkey cage.

A few weeks later, my parents made a trip out to see us as well. We took them to the zoo as well and it ended up being a really hot week, so we tried to find some indoor things to do, that weren't too exhausting for all of us. Here we are resting in one of the indoor exhibits at the zoo (gotta love Keltsy's face in this one)!

And another with the kids getting ready to feed the giraffe:

And again climbing the big rock outside the monkey cage (I just thought this was a cute picture):

All in all, it's been a great summer!

I've had a miserable head cold for the last three weeks, but am FINALLY getting over that and ready to get my house back in order from the 'mom's sick and not doing it today' attitude I've been having.

Isaac is looking forward to starting Kindergarten in a few weeks, we start the middle of August here. We should be finding out who his teacher is within the next week or so. It'll be fun with just me and Keltsy for half the day during the week, at least until the baby comes. I think they could use a break from each other, although they do love each other, they love to bug each other as well. I could see a big difference in their relationship when preschool was over and they were didn't get that little break during the day. It'll be nice to have my routine back as well.

I'm always sad to see the remnants of summer pass, the fireflies, the fireworks, swimming, summer reading at the library, but I look forward to the changes that come in the fall...look at me, it's still July and I'm already missing summer!