Two Videos

Gunner got a new rocking horse from his Aunt Linda. He loves it! Here's a video of his first time riding it!

He also got a ride on the train at the mall after he saw Santa. He thought that was fun.

Christmas week photos

Just a few pictures...Gunner got to ride a train at the mall, ride a rocking horse at home, and he got to see Santa again (the same Santa from last year).

ONE Year Old!

Gunner's ONE! He had a fun birthday on Saturday. We baked him his own cake and let him dig in with his hands. He didn't actually eat very much of it but he had a glorious time squishing it between his fingers and putting it in his har (video at the end). It was very entertaining!!

Today was the 1 yr well-baby appointment and Gunner is 20lbs 7oz and 29" long. That puts him in the 50% for height and 25% for weight. His head was 50%. So, he's grown and he's perfectly healthy. Yay!!

Next up, terrible twos!

Video proof of Walking

Ok, so the video is a little dark, but we finally got him taking a few steps. He still prefers to crawl when he's in a hurry, but he's walking more and more. He's the proof!

He's WALKING!

Gunner took his first steps this past Sunday Nov 2nd! All of our cadets that we sponsor were there to witness it, but Mike was at West Point for the football game. Gunner walked about 3 steps to get his toy numerous times, but the most he walked was about 5. It was fun to watch. He's still much more content crawling because it's faster, but he loves to run full speed while he's holding our hands. I think he'll be walking/running unaccompanied soon. I'll try to get some video.

We had a fun Halloween. Gunner had two costumes--we dressed him up as a monkey to trick or treat at the next door neighbors and then he was a scary cat at home when the trick or treaters came to get candy. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get good pictures of him in the cute little cat outfit.

First Haircut!

Gunner finally had his first haircut. His hair was about an inch past his ear (and we can't possibly have him out of regs). He sat patiently while Mom, Dad and Grandma took turns trying to figure out how to cut his hair. The last picture is after the haircut--unfortunately, he had yams all over his face!

Back in regulation!

10 Months!

"Just a tiny bit more time...." and he'll be walking!!!

Gunner is 10 months old today and yesterday he took two steps and a dive into my lap. We're not counting that as his "official" walk yet because he was very off balance, but he's close. He's cruising all around and crawling faster than we can run!

We weighed him at 19.5 lbs today and he's somewhere around 28 or 29 inches tall. It's hard to tell because we can't get him to sit still long enough to measure. We can't even get his monthly pictures of him sitting in the chair anymore because he just wants to stand up and walk off it. Oh well. I guess we'll have to leave it to the professionals for photos from now on.

We went for a walk today when it was 43 degrees out so it was a good excuse to bundle Gunner up in the snow suit before he grows out of it. It was a riot! He looked like the State Puff Marshmellow man!! It was a nice walk though. With any luck, it'll snow in the next few weeks and we can take him sledding! Yeah!

Back to Normal!

Well, we had quite a scare earlier this week. Monday night, Gunner was up crying most of the night. In the morning, he was pretty much normal (playing, smiling), but he felt a little warm. When he woke up from his morning nap, he was not happy. He wouldn't eat lunch and his fever was at 101.5. We tried to get him to sleep, but he just wanted to be held and he cried and cried. Finally, after some Tylenol with no apparent break in the fever, he was completely lethargic. So, we went to the Acute Care Clinic on base. They took his temp and it was 106!!! They freaked out (and so did we) and we took an ambulance to a local ER. They just gave him Ibuprofin/Tylenol and his fever broke and he was back to his normal happy self. The next morning, half his face was red and swollen with his left eye almost swollen shut. They put him on an antibiotic and he's been fine ever since. We're happy we have our happy baby back. What a scare!

You can kind of see his swollen face in this picture (his left side). It had gone down quite a bit by the time we took this picture.

His hair was crazy after waking up from his nap today.

By the way, we never posted his 9 month stats: 28.5" long (50th percentile) and 18lbs (15th percentile). So, he's growing, but is still on the small side. Funny how he was perfectly healthy when he was off the charts on the small side!

First Trip to the Zoo

We took the day off today and spent a few hours at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Gunner loved it and of course, the monkeys were his favorite exhibit. He also loved the bear swimming in the water, and the gorilla with its baby was a hit too.

Mike Finished a Marathon!

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera but we asked another race fan to take some pictures of him and hopefully she'll email them sometime. But, I got some pictures of Mike and Gunner after the race. He did great and was still able to walk the next day. Congratulations to Mike on finishing his first marathon!

8 Months (plus a little..)

Gunner rules! This kid is so happy and fun. He smiles and laughs all the time (unless you try to take a toy away from him...then, watch out for Mr. Att-ti-tude!). He weighed in at 17.5lbs at 8 months which puts him in the 10-25th percentile so he's back on the charts. His height measurement put him even higher than that. Go Gunner, Go!

We took Gunner on his first camping trip last weekend and he swam in a lake for his first time. He did great with both. We're waiting to get the pictures of his swim. We'll post them soon.

Enjoy the pictures!

Just some pictures...

Goofy smile, but you can see my teeth!

Yummmmmm, yams.

7 Months Old!

This kid is so dang fun!! He's close to crawling (or at least walking like a little chimp on his hands and feet), his teeth are coming in, and he's eating all kinds of vegetables and he's learning to hold his own bottle! Best of all, he never complains! He's still sleeping great, too.

Gunner got to meet Donovan, Pinball's son. She and I had the same due date, but Donovan showed up 3 1/2 weeks early. He's about 5 lbs bigger than Gunner. Pinball and I flew F-16s together in Korea. It was fun to have them here last week.
Gunner has been spending lots of time with his Great Aunt Linda. She's been taking excellent care of him while Mike and I have been working our crazy schedules this summer. We're so thankful that she's here!! She's been amazing.

Finally, we've been giving Gunner a "treat" and letting him watch Baby Einstein videos occasionally. He squeals when they begin and then for 20 minutes, he's absolutely GLUED to the video. It's amazing. As you can see, he's spending quality time with his best buddy.

Back From Ecuador and Gunner Sits and he Eats!

We had a terrific time in Ecuador. I traveled all around the country seeing different bases and talking to pilots while Mike saw a lot of Quito and the surrounding areas. He played, I worked. Standard. It is a gorgeous country! We also got to spend a few days in the Galapagos islands. There are animals and birds everywhere! It was amazing! We're happy to be back with our little boy though.
Mike and Missy on the Equator--left side of the picture is the northern himisphere, right side is the southern.

Mike and Missy with giant tortoises.

Mike wants to be a tortoise.

Gunner had a fabulous 10 days with his Grandma. She took such good care of him and she taught him how to sit up all by himself. He also grew about another inch and gained almost 2 lbs! We knew he had a growth spurt coming. He had his first taste of a vegetable today--yams. He made some funny faces initially, but he gobbled it all up. The kid is not picky. He is also getting close to crawling...he's up on all fours these days. It won't be long.


Gunner likes to drink from a cup!Yams, yum!

6 Months Old

Gunner is half way to a year already! Time has flown by. He's sitting up on his own now (although he still has the occasional wipeout forward or backward, but it builds character, right?). We had a terrific time with the Tittels last week. We took the COG railway to Pike's Peak. It was fun to meet their little girl, Anna.

Gunner is perfectly healthy and is doing great, but he hasn't really grown much since his last appointment. He's only weighing in at 13lbs and 24 1/2 inches long, so we're on a mission to fatten him up. Luckily, my mom and aunt are in town and I'm sure they'll be able to make that happen! They'll be watching Gunner for the next 10 days while Mike and I go to South America. We're looking forward to it but I'm not sure how I'll take the separation from Gunner. Thank goodness for email and digital pictures!!!

Gunner and Anna Tittel playing together.

Hiking

Gunner took his second hike last weekend. We went up to Cheyenne Canyon with Jim and Stacey Chacon. It was a bit chilly so we didn't go very far, but Gunner enjoyed the beautiful scenery!Mom carried Gunner up the hill....
And Dad carried Gunner down the hill.....And then Gunner got very sleepy.... After the hike, Gunner and Jack got to play together. Jack is just 2 weeks younger than Gunner.

Gunner and his "Uncles"

Just wanted to post these pictures of Gunner with Uncle Marshall (left) and Uncle Mitchell (right). He LOVES to play with them every day over at Mrs. Stacy's house. They are both excellent role models and hopefully, Gunner will grow up to be a good boy like them! They just took their Colorado state school exam and Mitchell is already reading at the college level (as a 12 yr old) and Marshall, who just finished kindergarten, is reading at a 6th grade level!! We're so proud of them! Gunner loves them both!