Here are lots of videos from the first few weeks of November to help the grandparents and great grandparents survive Thanksgiving If you’re lucky you may get pics and stories later too. But not today, Justus’s pre-school Thanksgiving dinner is in an hour…Pace yourselves, these may have to last a while.
I like to call this one, “Miles, look at me!”
Smiling with Dad
Of course, when the camera came on this wasn’t as good, but it’s Justus singing the Tigger song.
One of the first Belly times (about 2 weeks ago)
Belly Time last night- he’s growing so fast!
Once again exhibiting his ingenuity, Justus figured out what two bubble things to combine to create the biggest bubbles:
So this is leftover pork loin, I made into BBQ. Justus LOVED it the night before and gobbled it up. He refused to eat it for lunch the next day though. I told him he had to have 3 bites to get down. I was so lucky to have the camera right beside me. One of those parenting moments, you feel a little bad for laughing at…no not really bad at all!
Miles first time with his toy. We used to call this Stimulation Station with Justus. Miles can go about 10 min. before he wears himself out.
BIG SMILES & TALKS
Justus was gone all weekend in CA for his first professional conference (AAR) where he presented his first paper too. It went great! My BFF Sarah came in for a night to help me out with the kids too! (THANK YOU!!!!!!) We made a couple videos to send dad.
From Justus:
From Miles:
From Miles 2:
We went for pizza one night. When we got home, Justus wanted to play pizza makers. This is more of an interview with the pizza maker. I’ll try to get a better video of his pizza making antics later, but he cracks us up. Best imagination ever.
Justus sings Twinkle, Twinkle to his little brother. We have had almost no jealousy issues with our sweet big brother. It was amazing to us the connection between our two boys. It was instant. I realized Miles had probably heard Justus’s voice more than any other in utero, so it made sense. Miles quiets down when Justus is around. Now that he is getting more alert, he also loves to just watch/listen to his big brother play. If anything we have to stay on Justus to not “cuddle” his brother too much
Justus sings the Bama Fight Song. He definitely has his father’s knack for remembering song lyrics!
He doesn’t sing this one as well, but his antics are hilarious.
Every night before bed, I tell Justus a story. We’ve made up all kinds of stories about pirates, cars, dinosaurs, etc. Sometimes I just tell the story and sometimes it’s more of a Mad Libs kind of thing. Anyway as a result, he’s a pretty big storyteller himself. One of his favorite games is a matching game…well I’ll let him explain the rules and tell you a story about a banana and ice skates
a kite and a hotdog: My favorite part of all these stories, he “put his ‘umbrella’ up in the air and he couldn’t reach it and he pull and pull and pull.”
a football and a car:
Pre-school Halloween Party: a not-so-good attempt at getting 3 & 4 year olds to play Hot Potato. They all were more interested in what happened when you got out (candy, of course) than the actual game.
Sweet Miles is Talking and Smiling: Sorry for the jiggling
J2 stories:
Justus and I are playing UNO. I just dealt the cards. He smiles and says, “Oh mom, fancy that!” He’s holding a Reverse card (one of his favorite cards).
Driving through the industrial district of Dallas the other day, J2 blurts out “Shooo…that stinks like Auburn.”
Justus overheard J2 in the bathroom a while back: “I love you poop. Goodbye poop. You came out of my body.” (flush)
Justus refers to pre-school as “going to work.”
He has a little notebook he calls his “bible.” He keeps it in a special place. Sometimes he takes it out to “write songs” in it.
Prior to his “bible,” during church, sometimes during the music and sometimes during the sermon, he would start writing songs. I asked him if it was the ones we were singing. He said sometimes they were and sometimes they were new ones. Watch out Wesley brothers!
He’s been wanting a specific car from the Cars movie, but we haven’t been able to find it. He says he’s “keeping his eye on it, mom.”
The other day he was playing trains. One of them fell off the bridge. Justus said “oh my goodness!” with the exact same inflection as Meme
Apparently Justus doesn’t talk at pre-school like at all. His teacher emailed me a couple of weeks ago to tell me he said his first word…In circle time, he answered his favorite color is “green.” A couple days later, he said his favorite shape was a “square.” His teacher wanted to know what sparked this sudden conversation and if there was any reason for why he said those two words…Other than his answers being true, I had no idea what to tell her. He doesn’t stop talking at home
Pictures 7-9: Pre-school pirate; Woody (Ryan) and the dinosuar (Ben) are the two friends we hear the most about
Pictures 10-14: Halloween prep shopping with Meme & Pops- Thanks for getting Justus his costume & pumpkins!
Pictures 15 &16: checking out pre-school art with Meme & Pop
Picture 18: making spider webs with mom
Pictures 19-22: Justus and Miles
Pictures 23-37: Miles being Miles- he really does almost always sleep with both arms up- no swaddling for this boy
Picture 38- Family Pic- Meme & Pops came for a long weekend which also happened to be the Bama v UT game
Pictures 39-47: Meme & Pops visit (46 is Justus study space at SMU)
Pictures 48-51: Church trunk or treat (51 is a legitimate look of terror. You had to crawl in through the trunk of a van and come out the side door. Daddy was forced to go too)
Pictures 52-55: Neighborhood trick or treat- for the first time in our marriage we live in a legitimate trick or treat neighborhood. We didn’t have to drive somewhere else. We’re actually in the neighborhood other people drive to for trick or treating! Justus loved both getting candy and giving candy. We never quite figured out his system, but he definitely had one. He would look at the trick or treater and then the candy and then carefully select what he thought they should have.
Pictures 56 & 57: We just got this in the mail today from my aunt. When we got married, she made one for Justus and I. This one is for J2! Can’t wait to hang it up!
More pics later this is just from the first week and a half or so of Miles’s life. The one picture with a laptop was Miles meeting Uncle John-Seth (in China). They won’t get to really meet until next summer
My mom came for 3 weeks to help us with Miles’s birth. She was amazing! She unpacked, organized, reorganized, babysat, cooked, cleaned, chauffeured and more. This post is for her. Some of the pictures she took and some she is in. Some are pre-birth, some are birth, and some are the week after. We love you grannnn-ma
Pictures 1-4 are the night grandma arrived- 39 weeks preggers and of course it rained. It rained 3 or 4 times while mom was here. It was seriously the first real rains we had since living in Texas. Pictures 5-8 are some cute mommy and Justus pictures. The baby wrap (made out of an X-long twin sheet) served well as a belly wrap before Miles was born as well Picture 14 is a “race track” Justus built himself. The significance- he told grandma he put the letters and numbers with holes in the inner circle so the cars wouldn’t fall into them…brilliant child. Pictures 15-21 are grandma and Justus’s park date. Picture 22 is daddy and Justus watching Alabama football the night before Miles was born. Pictures 23-28= proud grandma. Pictures 29 & 30- Miles sleeping in the bassinet that is over 80 years old. My Opa, his sister, my dad & his 4 siblings, myself and the other 8 grandchildren, Justus 2 and now Miles have all used this bed. Pictures 31 & 32 are the ABC PJ’s my grandparents bought my parents while they were pregnant with me. Again worn by me and my siblings and big brother. Picture 33 is the blanket big brother and grandma picked out for Miles. Pictures 34-36 are the quilt grandma made for Miles called Miles of Texas. Pictures 37 & 38 are the Rescue Heroes dune buggy grandma got Justus on their date night before she left.
For posterity sake, the birth story: Friday night, I started having strong contractions, but the never really got closer than 8 min. Sunday morning, I woke up around 2am with contractions that were 6-7 min. apart. At 3:30, they jumped to 4 min or less, so we called my midwife and decided to go in. We also learned my midwife’s husband had a stroke and she wasn’t going to be able to deliver me. (Pray for the Winfords. He’s paralyzed from the neck down and still in the hospital) I figured Justus’s doctor hadn’t delivered him and I’d already switched midwives in the move, so why not? Plus, I really wanted to labor in water and this was pretty much our only option at that point (God bless Texas).
So we left for the birth center. My new midwife, Lisa said I was about 6cm, so we got comfortable (around 4:30). At this point the timing gets a little fuzzy for me. My contractions started coming pretty strong and pretty quick. Lisa suggested I labor as long as possible out of the water and let gravity help. I did for awhile, but started having small urges to push. I decided it was water time. We filled the bath, I maybe had 2 contractions and then really felt like I needed to push. Somehow I went from 6-10cm really fast. So after less than 20 min of pushing, “little” Miles was born at 7:14 am. The whole experience to this point had been so much more peaceful and calm then the hospital, so I was already confident we made the right choice. To be honest, delivery was probably the easiest part of this pregnancy which sounds crazy to say. Post delivery things were amazing for Miles. Mommy and daddy cuddled and cuddled and cuddled him…such a different experience than the first time! Dad got to cut the cord. My recovery took a little longer…I passed out twice which was by far the weirdest feeling I had all day. In spite of my slower recovery, we were still home introducing little Miles to big brother Justus before 6pm. Again so different from bringing big brother home at 19 days old!
J2 stories from the birth day: We left Justus a note that said it was time for Miles to come out and we would be home later. My mom said she read him the note and he just smiled. All day he kept looking at it and smiling.
Justus sent an early picture to the grandparents. My mom said when Justus saw the picture, he just stared at it and smiled and smiled and smiled. Then he said, very quietly, “that’s my baby. I like him.”
The birthing center
Our birthing room- The “Rose room”
the Other part of the room
The Tub
Our wonderful “substitute” midwife, Lisa (far right) and her two students Sue and Rebekah
First bath- long after lots of cuddles and snuggles
There are stories to go with these pics, but we’re pretty wiped out so they’ll have to wait for another day. For now, just know that Ellen was absolutely incredible today.
He decorated himself, his tent, blankets, sheets, stuffed animals and guys, and maybe a coloring book or two. Needless to say, we’ve moved his desk out of his room!
Swimming in the back yard…
while dad hangs a clothesline…
and mom life guards…
with a fan plugged in
One of my recent favorite pictures- “working” with dad
Just because you can never have enough bathtime pics
I mean how cute is he?
Seriously?
A recent painting of, you guessed it, A Backson!
Out first cool day, we ventured out for the free trolley ride in Dallas. There are four trolleys that rotate service and do a 45 min loop. Some people use it for transportation, but we just did the loop for fun.
Before we left, we showed Justus the four different trolleys and he insisted on the Green Dragon. We had NO control over which trolley was running, but we lucked out! “Next time, I’ll ride Petunia with grandma!” He LOVED it!
All of the trolleys were built and used years ago before being restored and put back to use in Dallas. They are loud and clanky and totally worth it My Opa told us he was actually in Dallas aroudn his 8th grade year. His uncle owned a barber shop across from SMU. The Green Dragon is one of the trolleys that was actually originally used in Dallas until the 50s. So we all decided Opa probably rode on the Green Dragon too! Then we went to the Dallas Farmer’s Market. We saw farmers “just like Uncle Owen” and bought oranges No apples though, there were ONLY red delicious and granny smith…disgraceful!
The night before preschool- Everything is all laid out ready to go! They prefer tote bags to book bags at his preschool. Not good for a little boy who has been wanting to wear his Thomas backpack to school for like two years! Like all good parents, I blamed it on the school. Instead we got a plain black tote bag and sewed his name in button letters with a few trains at the top.
Morning of the first day of preschool- all ready! He LOVED it. They have a whole bin of Cars cars to play with, so he’s in heaven. We didn’t even take him in the first day- just went right through the drop off and pick up lane. Today was his 2nd day…he’s come home and barely eaten before he collapses for his nap Mommy has been enjoying her time too. I know any day now, I’ll share my time with a little baby, so trying to take advantage of the alone time!
We FINALLY have birds in the bird bath this week. Our highs are below 90 all week! It’s been so much fun to actually use our backyard. We’ve eaten lots of our meals out there. Next week we’re supposed to jumps back into the 100s though
Our Asbury Seminary friends Greg and Courtney Coates came by last night with their little girls Lydah and Eve. Our two shy oldest children eventually warmed up and had a blast! Justus was helping me get their beds ready before they arrived. He went in the kitchen and got two cups with water “in case his friends got drinky at night.”
Belly Pictures- Mostly for Tori
No matter which due date you take, we are officially full term! My Dayton friends have been wanting belly pics, so this part is for them. I love Justus’s expression in this picture, so precious.
“Mommy, I want to take a picture with Miles.” We decided the belly kind of hid him in this pic.
Ready to pop!
We took these with the self timer, so we’ll try to get daddy to take some better ones soon. Grandma comes in 10 days! Miles comes…we’ll see
Father’s Day- Daddy was writing his thesis, so we came to bring him dinner and cards!
Then we went to play in the fountain at UD!
Justus finished his thesis in June and successfully defended it in July. His committee granted him thesis honors and highly recommend he edit and publish in Modern Theology. Very prestigious! So proud of him!
Mary Kay is going really well. We are half way through moving up into the Director position. The goal is to finish before the baby gets here! The dream is to finish up now in August! I love that MK has no geographic territories and my future unit is now spread across the country Lots of Summer MK fun
I earned a fun family outing to a Dragons Baseball Game!
A lunch I earned!
Dayton baby shower- Thank you Jessica, Jade, and Catherine for organizing and everyone else who came!
“He is my best friend” -Justus Hunter in reference to our good friend Scott…we miss you!
Scott’s wife and our other good friend, Jade. One of the first people, Justus wanted to call when we got to Dallas. He had to tell her about seeing the “Lighting McQueen” movie and the Pooh movie
My parents came to help us move. My dad dug up and potted all my plants and my mom helped pack up a few more things (she came a week earlier and packed the whole kitchen and more)! They were only around for a night, but a great help! We celebrated with icecream at the UD fountain. John-Seth was visiting as well! He too was a HUGE help, but he had to endure a whole week with us!
some Chinese students who were on campus. JS talked to them a bit.
Mary Kay Annual Awards Picnic- I was #1 for my Sales and Team Building for the year! All the girls gave me a sweet book they all signed wishing me luck on the move and the baby. Pops and John-Seth came too
Justus and his dad drove our U-Haul from Lexington to Dayton. Neither one wanted to make the long trek from Dayton to Dallas though. So we looked into other options. We ended up going with a u-pack and unload, but we drive option. Had it worked out right, it would have been cheaper in the end too, but…Truck driver and Justus trying to figure out how to get the truck in…
Justus created these poles to try to hold up the power, cable, and phone lines.
Long video, but don’t feel like editing right now…Anyway a few lines snapped. The driver said #1 the lines were hung too low, #2 no matter which way he tried to come in there was something in the way: a garage, a steep drop, the lines, etc.
An Interview with Justus on the status of the Moving Truck & our Move to Dallas:
So…we ended up with a pricier option: pods. Not much we could do at that point though
I wish I had pictures of our incredible help on both ends, but alas. Thank you so much to our Dayton friends for packing, loading, and cleaning. And Thank you so much to our brand new SMU friends for coming to unload us! What blessings! On the way down, we stayed in Bowing Green with Meme and Pops for a night.
The boys’ old WWF figurines were re-discovered
And great granddaddy came to visit us.
Then we traveled to Little Rock for the second night. I was just a but swollen each time. Justus drove pretty much the whole day- I love him! Little Justus did pretty well too. I think we only had one crying episode. Not bad for 3 days in the car after watching your whole life get loaded on a truck! We arrived in Richardson, TX on Wednesday night; the truck came on Thursday night; and I left for my MK seminar in Dallas on Sunday!
My brand new red jacket I earned! They didn’t have maternity sizes but this fit pretty well!
We toured the manufacturing plant, and this nice man pushed my wheelchair for the whole tour! After going to Seminar last year with a 36 week pregnant Jessica, I decided to opt for the wheel chair as well. It was a great idea. I don’t think I could have handled all the walking/heat otherwise!
The Manufacturing Plant has several stations set up by all the different departments. They decorate them and everyone gets to vote on which one they like best.
Jess and I all dressed up for our 50s Area Awards Night! I think I look like my mother and therefore grandmother in this picture/outfit. My shirt is a vintage 50s maternity shirt I got online.
Jess was #1 in our whole area for her sharing and I was the #3 consultant!
Part of the Bullock Future National Area
The Big Seminar Awards Night with the Williams Unit
Blurry- but my Seminar Roomies- all incredible directors who I am so blessed to be mentored by and so excited to work with!
Yes, there are quite a few pics of Jess and I. We spent 4 years in college together and then some time apart. But for the past 2 years, we’ve been blessed to live in the Dayton area together. Seminar was kind of our last hurrah, so we had to milk to for all it was worth!
Justus went to see his first movie in theaters with daddy while I was at Seminar. They saw Cars 2. He thought it was ok, maybe a little scary. He also decided he wanted to see the Pooh movie with mommy when she came home. So since we still had a gift card, why not? The creature in the Pooh movie the characters were scared of was called a “Backson” (see picture above). It took a while to convince Justus it was all a misunderstanding and Backsons weren’t real. Now he’s just obssessed with them.
“Mommy, can you make me look like a Backson?”
“Mommy, look, I look like a Backson!” Note: this is not my commentary…these are actual quotes
“Mommy, this is a silly Backson face.” Note Again: This is several days after we saw the movie…he still makes “backson” comments frequently!
“Duuuuuuude”
“Mommy, can you sing a Backson song?” “Well, Justus how do you think it would go?”
So I don’t know if you noticed, but my son seems to thoroughly enjoy the full length mirrored doors for his closet in his room:
And one more song for all the people:
So we moved into a record-breaking drought in Texas. For a while we were also tracking the record for most consecutive days of 100 degree+ temperatures. The record was 42 days. On day 41, we only hit 97 because some clouds moved in. They brought no rain. We did not break the record. It was over 100 the next day. Not so fun when you’re in your 3rd trimester of pregnancy. Also not so fun for the poor 3 year old who can’t wait to play in his back yard. (to provide frame of reference, it was 90 by 9am today and currently at 7:40 it’s 102). There is not so much a “cool” part of the day. Anyway, last weekend, the heat broke for about 2 days, so we ventured out for our first Dallas exploration. We went to the Trinity River Audubon Center, southeast of where we live.
There were lots of long grasses and Justus did not want to go walk in them because of grasshoppers. We finally realized he thought they would be huge and mean like the ones in Bug’s Life. After much discussion, he finally came with us. Once he saw an actually grasshopper things went much more smoothly. We also realized our young urban child needed more exposure to the great outdoors. So camping is in order for next Spring!
Our little explorer
Fully equipped with hat, camera, and “puddle jumpers”- not that rain is an issue here
Inside they had some really cool displays. Justus loved the turtles…
And the dancing “snake guy”
That’s all for now! We finally found the camera-computer cable so I could get the pictures off the camera. Now I can take more pictures! Justus starts classes next week!
Yes, I realize we are a little behind, but life’s a little busy right now Justus must turn in his thesis on Tuesday, I’m in the middle of becoming a Mary Kay director, we move in one month (finally signed a lease this week!!!!), squeezing in all those doctor appointments and check ups, regular summer stuff, and oh yeah, packing- whew! Here’s some pictures/videos from the past few months:Justus practicing his big brother techniques on Jeremiah Cashio
Our new puppet stage- courtesy of mom’s Mary Kay
He told me he was the “king”…I have no idea
Mary Kay Girls’ Night Out- my amazing team won a special contest in March- Way to go girls!
Our attempts at an Easter picture #1
#2
#3 this will have to do
A bi-annual event in Dayton called Urban Nights- Justus thought it was AWESOME to walk AND write in the streets
J-U…
Jade, playing at Urban Nights- it was getting dark and we were under a tent. She did so well and played lots of my favorites like Landslide
We met up with our friends Matt & Beth in Cincinnati for a Reds game. This was the boys’ second baseball game in a week. Now Justus is a baseball-holic!
The Reds’ stadium was a little too big and loud for him, but he still had fun dancing and singing.
We went to Knoxville late in May to celebrate Isaac’s graduation and get in one last visit!
Helping Grandpa gather sticks for the graduation smores fire
Big Helper
The Graduates- these boys have gone all the way through school together- aren’t they adorable
Isaac’s Graduation video- made mostly by my parents
Justus made a friend at the party. This is Elia (my parents’ church’s youth minister’s daughter). They’re a couple of months apart and both going to be a new big brother/sister at 3 1/2 years. They are about the same size and had a blast. I mean it’s after 9pm and both are still smiling.
They loved playing in grandma and grandpa’s rocks. Elia wanted to bake and make things with the rocks; Justus mostly wanted to throw them They managed to compromise and did a little of both.
On our way to go sailing with Grandpa and Isaac! We were pirates, Arrrrgh!
Justus was really excited about finding an island and digging for treasure…unfortunately the wind wasn’t great. The only island we could reach was already occupied by “unfriendly pirates.”
Isaac towing us due to no wind
Thank you Isaac!
Ahoy, Mateys! Justus was a little nervous at first. By the end I was holding him by his life jacket strap as he dangled himself on the side of the boat. He loved the small puffs of wind we did get and kept telling Grandpa to “go faster!” He is normally a super timid and shy child, but if water is involved you have to keep a close eye on him.
When we came home, we got a new pool for Justus…and his pregnant mommy to survive the summer
Getting his face wet
One morning he got up, took off his diaper, and dressed himself for the day.
Playing at the park
My smart child found the shade
and his own private sandbox
“New” Graco Nautilus Car seat/booster seat- Retails for $180 at some places, ours was $30 on Craigs List! Other than the great deal- I LOVE LOVE LOVE that Justus can climb in the seat and buckle all by himself (he was getting a little heavy for mom)…and for those who are safety conscious he can’t unbuckle completely Justus LOVES his cup holder and arm rests and big boy chair!
John-Seth came to visit, so we threw him a quick surprise birthday party.
Paul & Kristin came up from Cincy. We played lots of games!
and ate cupcakes
Happy Birthday, John-Seth!
Here’s our small garden this year. Since we move in a month, I only planted tomatoes and herbs.
Our “loot”- My favorite summer job: we are garden sitting for the second summer. All we do is water and weed. The pay is fabulous and the best part, we keep anything that needs keeping: herbs, flower blooms, tomatoes!
We’re a mile from the mass transit (so Justus can take the train in to work), walking distance to a park and elementary school, 1/2 mile from the library, and just over a mile from the pre-school Justus will probably go to. It’s 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths (Hollywood bathroom), more closets than here, ONE STORY!!!!, garage and a BACKYARD!!!! I’m told the backyard is for baseball
Yesterday, Justus helped me carry and pack 5 boxes of books! He was an awesome helper. He’s very excited about moving to Dallas. Dallas apparently has “the best baseball”. He also has been promised that we will see the new Cars movie in Dallas. He told me the other day though the best part about our new house in Dallas would be his baby brother Miles would come He does have his sweet moments that’s for sure! Luckily they far outnumber the not-so-sweet ones.
J2 Interview
Mom: What are some of your favorite toys right now?
J2: Race cars! Baseball!
Mom: What are some of your favorite things to do right now?
J2: Race cars and baseball! Swimming! Watch [the movie] Cars!
Mom: What are some of your favorite things to eat right now?
J2: Hot dogs and hummus
Mom: Anything else you want to tell?
J2: Nothing else! (he wants to go play a game and then go pack his closet)
If you’re lucky you may get pics and stories later too. But not today, Justus’s pre-school Thanksgiving dinner is in an hour…Pace yourselves, these may have to last a while. 
November 22, 2011
eahunter
Fully equipped with hat, camera, and “puddle jumpers”- not that rain is an issue here 
