Today is my baby's birthday, the youngest of our three kids. I can't believe he is 12 already. He's no longer the tiny little guy who weighed in at 7 pounds, 8 ounces, at birth. He's 5 feet, 2 inches, tall and weighs 118 pounds. He's still my beautiful little blue-eyed boy, who when he was little hated to have blue eyes or be called cute because he thought only girls had blue eyes since his dad and brother both have green eyes. He always said he had black eyes! LOL!
These are some of my favorite pictures from when he was a baby. The sweet little angel sleeping, crazy "cupie doll" baby, and the picture from his first birthday. He was definitely more like the crazy baby than the angel baby, that's for sure. He learned to walk and immediately climbed onto the couch and jumped off. He was my only kid to climb out of his crib. He'd yell, "Baby down" and that was my warning that he was hoisting himself up over the railings to escape. He ran away from me so often as a toddler, that I put his leash (one of the harness types that strapped around his torso, not his arm) on him before we left the house and didn't take it off until we returned. By age 5, he learned to stand in the middle of the doorway to his bedroom and shimmy all the way up it until his back was against the top of the door frame, then he'd jump down into the middle of the hallway giggling. No wonder I had to start coloring my hair when he was little! LOL!
He was a handful, but he was also really smart. He learned to talk in full sentences before his 1st birthday. By 17 months, he could count to 10 (I never taught him that, he just heard me working with his big brother and picked it up). By the time he turned 2, you could carry on an intelligent conversation with him. At my husband's promotion party, his boss spent most of the night talking to baby Hunter. She'd walk away and talk to someone and come back to him. She just couldn't believe that she was having a conversation with a 23-month-old. His favorite topic of discussion was vegetables. He hated them, still does. One day, a very elderly man walked up to our cart in the grocery store and said hello to Hunter. Hunter stood up and said, "I hate broccoli. It makes my head scream!" The man looked shocked, then giggled and said, "I don't really like broccoli either!" He learned to read at a 3rd grade reading level before he turned 5.
It's been quite a crazy 12 years. My husband missed 5 of the last 12 years because of military duty. When Hunter was 4 months old, he was mobilized as a Reservist to train troops going to Afghanistan. Later that year, he deployed to Afghanistan to mentor the Afghani Army, missing Hunter's first birthday. When he came home just before Christmas, Hunter didn't know who he was, in spite of his brother and sister screaming, "daddy, daddy!" But by the next day, he had made the connection that this was the "Dada" that he's been babbling about for months. On his second birthday, we went to Kansas, so dad didn't miss another one, because he didn't return home full-time until a month before Hunter's 3rd birthday. But, dad made up for it by coaching wrestling and football and taking him hunting or to Cub Scouts, until he left again for 26 months when Hunter was 8. Because we have moved 3 times over the last 3 years, we have finally crossed over the point that dad has been home more than he's been away during Hunter's life.
So, happy birthday, Hunter. I hope you win your football game today! I'll be proud of you either way.
(Yes, this is the same kid I use as a model for my 365 photos all the time! LOL! He sure has grown!)
@joansmor He saw it and laughed. He knows he was a crazy baby! LOL! He just told not to tell his football team because he doesn't want a "Paddywagon" again. They line up the give the birthday boy a paddling! They did that last year and this team does it, too.
@annika82 Unfortunately, he does. He has 8 cowlicks around the top of his head and his hair grows into the middle forming that "cupie doll" look. We have a hard time cutting it so it doesn't do that. He just got his hair cut Wednesday because he said he was getting a mountain on his head again! LOL!
Happy birthday to your beautiful son.xx
@paulam Thanks!
@kwind Thanks so much!
@skippysue Thanks, that's one of my favorites, too, probably because sweet and angelic was not a sight I saw very often. LOL!
Since I am your get pushed partner this week I'm also here to issue a challenge! :) Would you be willing/able to try panning? Panning is a technique created by slowing your shutter speed down (usually 1/40th or slower if needed) and having your camera follow a moving subject. It usually takes a few tries, but the resulting picture will show your subject clearly and the background blurred and blended. If that doesn't work, how about bokeh?