Has anyone seen my turtle?

Yesterday, I found Miles in his swing like this. He had been playing with his bath toy turtle, and somehow the turtle ended up on his shoulder. Mr. Turtle tried to sneak up on him, but Miles couldn't be fooled. Watch this:

Here's another video. This time, Miles is showing off his - er - "excellent" motor skills:

For dinner last night, Miles enjoyed butternut squash, which is one of his favorites (not that he has a lot to choose from). Can you tell that he likes them?

What? All done?!

Some of you may be wondering what Miles does these days other than fend off toy attacks and spit food onto this chin. Well, he is really coming along. We've noticed in the past week or two that he has started noticing things around him a lot more. Instead of being content in our arms, he tries to reach for everything he sees! If he gets something, he of course wants to put it in his mouth. He's come very close to rolling over, but no success there yet. (The ol' cloth diapers may be inhibiting him here - it's hard to roll over that wide bottom!) He continues to drool like a maniac, but no teeth have broken through yet either. He sits up very well, but we can't leave him unattended. (If we aren't right there, the only things that will catch his fall are his face or his head.) All in all, Miles is a happy, healthy, and funny little guy. He makes friends wherever he goes!

Here is a picture of Miles getting ready to go on "an adventure" (i.e. errands with Mom). Our next BIG adventure will be a trip to Oklahoma to visit family. Miles is looking forward to meeting his Hunter and Bounds relatives for the first time! Doesn't he look excited?!

Lastly, for all you Hanuman fans, you'll be happy to know that he is still up to his old tricks, doing whatever he can to get some face time on the blog. I leave you with these:

"It's exhausting entertaining this kid . . ."

Honored and Humbled

During a free moment today, I happened to check my alma mater's website (Capital University) in order to see how the women's basketball season is going this year. I was surprised to see my name (Kendra Meyer) in the headlines on their athletic website. I was honored and humbled to see that I had been honored recently by D3Hoops.com. If you're interested in finding out more, see http://www.d3hoops.com/all-american/women-alldecade.html

and
http://www.d3hoops.com/all-american/all-decade/women-fourthteam.html

My years as a student-athlete were a lot of fun, and I am grateful for all they've taught me.

Feast your eyes on this!

Since my last post, we have been celebrating many feast days in the Hunter household! First, there was the Feast of St. Maximus the Confessor on January 21. In honor of Miles' patron saint, we invited folks over to our house to share a meal. We also recited evening prayers to Saint Maximus. What a blessing! Here are some pictures from the evening:

This past weekend, The Orthodox Church celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple (February 2). We didn't have a party at our house for this feast, but Miles did get cleaned up for Divine Liturgy on Saturday:

Miles has been feasting each and every day as he explores the world of solid foods! His dining repertoire currently includes rice cereal, bananas, sweet potatoes, and avocados. I've got some mangoes and butternut squash waiting in the freezer for him to try out next. Yum! This boy really likes to eat (surprise, surprise!)!

We can't get over what a big boy he is in his chair!

Lastly, here are pictures of Miles with two of his favorite buddies,
Hanuman and Norah.

(Yes, he is sitting up by himself . . . but not without his Boppy, which will catch him when he loses his balance.
You don't want to see this kid take a nose dive - it isn't pretty!)