Glorious Sleep

As of this week, Luke is officially sleeping through the night. (knock on wood) It started last Saturday night and I thought it was too good to be true. Then it happened again on Sunday. Still, I went to bed Monday night expecting to be woken up in 2 and a half hours. Nope. He slept for 6 and a half hours. Finally after 5 nights strong, the week reached it's pinnacle with Luke sleeping 9 hours. In a row. Without medication.

I woke up at 7 this morning and asked Joel to go check and make sure he was still kicking. He was.

Today I am feeling great and as Joel observed at 7:30 this morning, "You must feel rested because you're actually talking to me in the morning." Why yes I was and yes I do. Thanks Luke. This week has been quite marriage building. You deserve a pony.

This is what Luke looks like now. Handsome.

Working On Working Out

I was going to call this blog, "Back in the Saddle" but didn't for two reasons. 1. I think Joel already used that title for one of his blogs and 2. I am not really back in the saddle. I merely sat in the saddle one time and considered sitting in it again a couple of other times and that is not a very good title for anything.

I finally reinstated my gym membership. I bought a new pair of work out pants in an size appropriate for my new, more maternal physique, used some Christmas money to buy an new ipod shuffle to try to trick myself into thinking exercise is fun and hit up the Lifetime Fitness across the street. Entering the gym for the first time in a long while I was wishing I was wearing a t-shirt that said, "I had a baby kind of recently. That is the reason I look the way I do." I don't think they make those.

As I made my way to the rows of dumbells to choose my poison, I thought, "I'll just pick up something light and go up from there." I did not go up from there. I might as well have curled a couple of cans of soup at home.

After my intense upper body work out featuring some Arnold presses with 7.5 lb. dumbbells and some upright rows with a barbell that didn't have any weight on it at all, I figured I should get in some cardio. I hopped on the treadmill in front of a flat screen with CNN playing in closed caption not realizing that reading while walking makes me motion sick. I decided to walk 4 miles per hour, a decent clip but one I've easily managed before. About half a mile in I was panting like I was in the last leg of a marathon and tripping over my feet trying to keep up. I decided to check my pulse thinking it was up there....like 170 or so. It was 190. From what I hear, that is very high. I just told myself that the the treadmill pulse gizmo was inaccurate and kept on. I didn't die, so don't worry, that's not how this blog ends. About a mile and a half later, I decided that I'd rather be home sitting on the couch so I left. Three days later, my arms are still pretty sore and I am considering a second visit to the gym. Although I would hate to burn myself out too quickly.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

This week has been a big week in the baby department. Two beautiful girls were brought into this world by two incredible women.

Our cousin Angela delivered her baby girl, Lydia, on Monday, January 4th. Ang, not expecting to meet this little one until March, had to have an emergency c-section due to a very serious medical condition (you can view Amber's blog for more information). The good news is that God is faithful. Ang is a tough cookie and appears to be on the mend. Little Lydia is thriving and doing as well as possible for a 2 lb, 11oz human. She is a perfect, tiny baby and has amazing parents to love and care for her. We are continuing to pray for the health of mom and baby and are thankful that they are doing so well.

Our dear friends Andy and Ashley Simonds had their daughter at about 12:30 am, January 7th. Janie Caroline Simonds is sweet and beautiful and all things grand. She will make an excellent match for our boy Luke in a couple of decades. We are hoping to find a way to arrange a marriage for them and so far, I have to say, Luke seems to be quite taken with her. Andy and Ashley are going to be amazing parents and we are so thankful to have them in our lives. Little Janie Simonds is one blessed child.

Luke first setting eyes on the lovely Janie. He is clearly spellbound.

A Year in Review

Well, it's 2010. A big year for our family. In just six months we will move back to Orlando for the grand unveiling of Hunter Vision, the best LASIK and cataract center on the planet. Joel and Josh are an amazing team and this practice will surely be remarkable. As we begin a new year's journey, I like to take a look back at the previous year and recount its happenings.

With the arrival of our son, 2009 was the most transformative year of my life to date. Here is a list of some of our most memorable moments in the past year. Joel and I (in chronological order with captions by Joel):

1. Went to the Florida State fair together for the first time (Joel may not have added this to the list but it was monumental to me).

Lizzy paid a dollar to see this. It was the only ride she let me skip.

2. Found out we were going to be parents.

Luke at 10 weeks. If you zoom in, he is already reading a tiny book (1776).

3. Located the worst movers on the planet who, for a small fee (not small), kindly damaged and /or destroyed our belongings before dropping them off in Kansas.

A box of ours, courtesy of The Movers Group. They pay a giant to kick boxes to each location.

4. Moved to Overland Park, Kansas for Joel's fellowship with the world renowned Dr. Dan Durrie.

Phone picture of Durrie Vision I took after my interview in May 2008.

5. Filed many complaints with the Better Business Bureau against The Movers Goup.

Lizzy is proud to be partly responsible for this rating.

6. Took up camping and fishing together (well, we camped once and fished twice).

The fist looks bigger when you hold it out in front of you like this.

This may be my favorite picture ever of Lizzy.

7. Joined Covenant Chapel and made some wonderful friends.

Luke's first visit to church (This photo doesn't quite fit in the chronology correctly)

8. Welcomed our handsome, talented, intelligent, articulate, astute, innovative, industrious, affable.....son, Luke Joel Hunter!

First family photo.

9. Had some amazing visits from, Pop and Grandma Hunter, Uncle Josh and Aunt Lisa, Grandma Ariza, Aunt Kaci and cousin Elijah, Uncle Isaac and Aunt Rhonda, Titi Nessa and Uncle Josh (the other one) and Aunt Lauren.

We don't have a photo of all of our loved ones that visited. Here is a picture of me with a Polish chicken at the Kansas City Zoo

10. Had a white Christmas for our first family Christmas!

Pretty Christmas view off our porch.

I was going to resolve this year to always know where my phone is at all times and have it fully charged (right now I actually think it's dead under Luke's crib or dresser or maybe in my car) but after reading this, I might have to switch it to letting thing go or letting bygones be bygones or letting sleeping dogs lie or to coin a new phrase, "not be mad at our mover anymore."

Happy New Year to you all! 2010 is the year of perfect vision!

Snow Driving

The view from our apartment after last night's snow fall

I have tried a few times in the past few weeks to contribute to this blog but every time I begin to write an entry I get bored with myself and stop. You will be glad that I didn't post any of my most recent compositions. They went a little something like this "Today I put a load of darks in the wash. Luke ate 47 times. I am very tired."

It is a cold snowy day here in Kansas. I have our thermostat set to island temperature so that I can still wear shorts at my leisure. Acutally, I am super paranoid about Luke being too cold so I make sure our apartment feels like it sits directly on the equator. Do you know what direction our toilets would flush? Me neither. Anyway, Luke sweats a lot.

Last night I decided to tackle some Christmas shopping. I geared up and exited our apartment. To my surprise it was snowing. I thought, "This is great! What perfect weather for holiday shopping!" Then I thought, "I've never driven in snow, I wonder if it's difficult? (The answer is yes) I've driven in a hurricane so this should be a breeze. (foolish)"

I realize that driving in snow is a competition to see who can drive the slowest. I won. Wait, no. I came in 2nd. I was grateful to the person who won because If they had not been driving 35 MPH below the speed limit, I would have certainly hit them when I did a 180 and wound up facing against the flow of traffic. Fortunately I was only going 15 MPH so I just bounced off a curb and didn't hurt the car. The car that I just avoided hitting also hydroplaned which I may have been responsible for since I think they broke suddenly when they saw me drifting. So, we're good friends now. A bit shaken and teary, I called Joel for support. I decided, only 5 snow-driving minutes away from my destination, that I better just turn around and idle home with my hazard lights on and never drive again. I understand now that the term, "Florida Ice" was coined by someone who doesn't know what the word "ice" means.

As an end to our evening, Joel asked me "If I always cried a lot or if it was just since we've been married." I don't cry a lot. He cries a lot.

NFL game

The players were frozen like this until spring.

I went to my first NFL game this weekend. The Chiefs were playing the Broncos and Dr. Durrie asked me if I wanted to join him. If Durrie asked me to join him in sitting on a block of ice in a walk-in freezer and focus on something incomprehensible for two hours, I would do it. Hyperbole? No, it was very very cold and football is harder for me to understand than Bob Dylan lyrics.

Durrie said that I should "bundle up" because it was going to be cold, so I wore a coat. Midway through the second quarter (for the uninitiated, a "quarter" in football equals 1000 minutes), I realized "bundling up" means a different thing in Kansas than it does in Florida. My bones hurt. When he asked if I was cold, I said, "Nnnnn." Then I asked if they make the football out of some kind of shatter-resistant material.

The Chiefs lost. They lost bad. Everyone in the stands booed their own quarterback at several points. It takes a lot of emotional fortitude to be the Chiefs' quarterback. After a fumble at the end of the third quarter, Durrie asked if I wanted to go. I tried to say that I was the only person in the stadium that wanted to leave more than our quarterback, but I said, "Nnnnn."

I love hanging out with Dr. Durrie. On the way home, he said more wise things than most people say in their whole life. He knows more about refractive surgery than probably anyone in the world, and I want to know that much too. What would you do to spend time with someone from whom you have that much to learn? I'd watch football in the freezing cold.

fun week

Hard to get a post in this week. That is how a fence maker might also begin a blog. For him it would be a double entendre. For me, it is just the one entendre. We are busy folks, but it is all good busy. Lizzy continues to raise Luke to be a good, strong, wise man. She finally got to nap while he napped yesterday and was a new woman. She might even beat this cold that has been harder to get rid of than an unwanted piece of glitter on your face.

For me, the doc that runs the pre and post op clinics at Durrie Vision is off for the week, so I get to do that all week. I love, love doing this. Weeks like this week confirm for me 100% that Hunter Vision is exactly the way I am supposed to spend the rest of my life. As you can imagine, there is a little suspicion of me when I walk in a room to see a patient expecting to see Dr. Durrie, because it is his name on the building. But it has become clear over the course of the last 5 months that, more than anything, people just need to know that you know what you're doing. If that is established, everyone is happier. And if that doesn't work, I tell them that my name is on the other side of the building.

Josh and Lauren get here today. That's my brother-in-law and his girlfriend from California. I enjoy them both immensely (though I've only ever met Lauren through Facebook). They are much much cooler than me, so I am going to have to buy a pair of high tops or a Criss Cross CD or whatever it is cool people do now. Ed Hardy shirts? I don't know. Anyway, I'm excited. I finished this in a rush because I am leaving for work now.