Happy Birthday Mommy!

I want to wish Christina a very Happy Birthday. Christina has been an amazing Mom and Wife. Austin and I are very blessed!!

I had the best birthday ever! John let me sleep in while him and Austin made me pancakes. After that they gave me the card that they made and my presents. Because of the holiday, I do not like to go out to eat late, so we went to and lunch/early dinner with Austin at California Pizza Kitchen which is my current favorite restaurant. Austin was very good while we ate, and he even learned how to take his baseball hat off. He was trying to put it back on but has not mastered that skill yet. Austin is always cracking John and I up with the new things he does. His current favorite game playing peek a boo.

After lunch John and I dropped Austin off at Grammy and Papas and went to the movies. It was very nice being able to watch a movie with just John and I. We then picked up Austin and headed home. Holidays are a little different with and infant. The rest of our night was our usual routine until Austin went to bed. And because Austin has not mastered the art of sleeping in, he was that morning at 6 so by 11:30 John and I were passed out on the couch. We woke up at 12:01! Oh well it has been the best year, adding Austin to our family and the best birthday ever, spending it with John and Austin.

Merry Christmas

Austin successfully made it through his first Christmas like a champ. With all the running around and late nights, Austin, for the most part, adjusted well. To start off our holiday season John and I decided to redo our downstairs. With tons of help from my dad, we painted the whole downstairs and upstairs hallway, re-tiled the fireplace and replaced our carpet with wood floors. We also got a new front door as a present from my parents. It was a lot of hard work, more for John and my dad (but having your house torn apart for 3 weeks with a 5 month old is not easy either!). We got through it and the house looks wonderful. Austin was a little upset through the process because it was loud and he couldn't spend time playing on the floor and had to spend a lot of time upstairs but he was good.

Every year John's family meets at Target to do his Grandpa's Christmas shopping. Everyone goes and picks out their gift and John's Grandpa stands at the register and pays for everything. Afterwards, we all go out to dinner. Austin was very excited to pick out his own present this year.

To start our Christmas festivities we had our annual progressive dinner with John's brothers, sister, and parents. It began at noon and ended around 9pm. I didn't know how well it would go with Austin being packed up every hour into his coat and car seat (which he hates), and not having a nap but he was good and by the third house he crashed and slept the whole time. He never even made it out of his car seat and had to open his present the next day.

Austin also debuted his new talent. He is actually very good at this.

(This isn't the full video - for some reason it won't load right. Also, I don't know how to turn the video sideways - sorry!)

On Christmas Eve, Austin went to Grammy and Papa's house. He got to spend lots of time with his cousins, who are very entertaining to Austin. Austin likes to sit and watch all the action as they all run around the house.

On Christmas morning, Austin gave us a present and slept into around 7:00am. Once he was up, he was more concerned with his breakfast than presents. Santa must have known Austin was a very good boy because he left him a lot of presents. To our surprise, Austin actually understood the concept of opening the presents. He may have just wanted to eat the paper, but he enjoyed it.

On Christmas night Austin went to his Great Uncle Bill's house for dinner. Austin loves spending time with John's family and so does mommy and daddy because there are enough people there to hold Austin so we can actually eat dinner together.

Random Pictures:

(practicing his crawling)

(who's addicted to the tv??)

(We started a new tradition this year. On Thanksgiving you get a new pair of Christmas pajamas and a Christmas movie.)

(Austin trying on hats at Meijer. He sits in the front of the cart now which makes shopping much easier!)

Big people food!

Yesterday was another huge day for Austin. He got to eat his first teething biscuit and later that night had pieces of banana. I was very very nervous the whole time but, Austin did great. He never even gaged until he put the biscuit too far in his mouth. He got very mad when we took it away. Austin liked his bananas but, since I have been making his banana baby food, he didn't seem to notice that I put something different in his mouth. He just chewed them up and went about playing. He still can't put them in his mouth by himself - which will be nice when he can feed himself a snack. We will keep practicing though!

Austin Learned a New Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

5 Months Old!

John and I have been so busy that I just noticed we have not updated or added new pictures in a very long time.

Well the big new is... JOHN IS DONE WITH HIS FULL-DAY STUDENT TEACHING!!!!!!!!! Austin and I are so excited to be able to have John home before 8:00pm every night. These last 4 months have been very hard on me and especially Austin not getting to see John very much. He loves his daddy so much and bursts into a huge smile whenever John walks in the room or even looks at him so, now they will get to spend a lot of time together. I am just as excited to get to spend time with John.

Our little peanut is now 5 months old and growing every second. He finally is getting hair which makes me very happy. His little peach fuzz is getting darker and longer. He is officially sitting by himself. We still put a pillow behind him because he falls back once in awhile. He loves to sit on the floor and play with his toys. I can now actually get stuff done because he is very content entertaining himself. Austin is grabbing EVERYTHING now. If it's not nailed down it's in Austin's mouth. He has found his feet and the minute he lays down has to grab them. Which has made diaper changes a little more challenging but we are working through it. He has learned in the last few days how to pull off his socks which then end up in his mouth.

Austin has also started showing signs of crawling. He wants to move when he is on his stomach he just hasn't figured out how. We have been practicing with him - getting him up on his knees. When we do tummy time he looks like a fish out of water right now, moving his arms and legs but not getting anywhere. He used to fall asleep during tummy time, so at least now he knows he wants to go somewhere.

We still have no signs of any teeth but have constant biting and drooling. I feel bad for the little guy because you can tell his gums are bothering him. Hopefully something will happen soon and he will get a little relief.

Austin is now eating baby food 3 times a day. He loves it so much that he hasn't been taking his bottles that well so we are going to have to cut down his portions so he will start to take them. Normally, he would have some oatmeal and fruit in the morning, veggies and fruit for lunch, and some brown rice cereal and veggies or fruit for dinner. He is such a good eater and is not very picky. He has decided he does not like peas, and cries when he realizes that's what I put in his mouth. Austin also really likes to help when it comes to feeding. Once we put the food on the spoon he likes to grab it and put it in his mouth. he does a really good job and other then the really big mess it makes, we don't mind and let him help.

Austin is doing great at Grammy's, Aunt Anne's, and Little Turtle School. Other then packing him up each day for a different place, John and I really like that he gets different things at each place. With Grammy he gets one-on-one attention and he loves that. At Grammy's it's nice and quiet and he gets to cuddle and play with Kacie. At Aunt Anne's, Austin gets entertained all day long. His cousins sing and dance and put on shows for him. He also gets to go out places which he loves. He loves his Aunt Anne and likes to give her flirty eyes because he knows she will spoil him. Austin loves Little Turtle school and his teachers really love him. I like that he gets to be around other babies his age and there a few older babies in his class that he watches. With Austin being an only child, I think it is really good for him to have that interaction with other kids.

Austin got to have his first visit with Santa last Friday. When we got there at 5:00pm, we were shocked to hear the next available appointment wasn't until 7:20pm. I was hesitant about waiting since Austin usually goes to bed right around that time but we waited and I was so glad we did. Being the good mommy that I am, I completely forgot to pack Austin any baby food for dinner. All I had was one 6 oz bottle with me. John being the great husband and daddy he is, left the mall and went to 2 different grocery stores to find Austin his organic baby food. Other then a sweet potato stain on his shirt from dinner (along with no food, I also did not have a bib), Austin did great with Santa. Austin was such a good boy this year that Santa even sang his favorite counting song to make him smile for the picture. Of course Austin was the cutest kid in the mall and got stopped every few feet to have people say how adorable he is. Austin never gets sick of the attention and puts on a huge toothless smile whenever anyone talks to him.

John has taught Austin how to stick out his tongue. This makes telling Austin no when he is doing something he is not supposed to interesting because you tell him no and he sticks out his tongue. Fortunately we know he doesn't mean it and is just practicing his new skill.

Like Father, Like Son?

Everyone tells us that Austin looks just like his Daddy. What do you think?

Sleepover

Austin had his first sleepover last night. His cousins Brooke, Brennan and Riley spent the night. After going out for pizza we made a fire where we had s'mores. The girls played Hannah Montana on Wii and then it was the boys' turn to play some Madden football (which quickly put the girls to sleep). In the morning we had some pancakes and then it was time to go...

Squeaky Clean

Austin and Daddy reading a bedtime story

Tonight Austin had his first bath in his big boy ducky tub. He is growing so fast that he no longer fits in his baby tub and was getting the whole floor wet every time he was taking a bath. He was very excited and loved it. He got to sit up and play for a long time. When he got tired it was very comfy for him to lay down and play.
I know I say this every post but I can not believe how fast Austin is growing and changing. It seems that everyday he is doing new things and is getting to be more of a "big boy" and less of a baby. This week he will be 20 weeks. He is eating baby food now which he is not so sure about sometimes. We try to tell him he can't have bottles his whole life. Right now oatmeal made with pear juice and sweet potatoes seem to be his two favorites. This weekend I made my first attempt at making a bunch of baby food for Austin. It was actually fun and thanks to a 2 hour nap Austin took, I got all of it made. On the menu was avocados and bananas, plain bananas, peaches, squash, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, pumpkin and apples and green beans. I made a trip to the organic grocery store and bought everything for his food. It was so easy. I plan to continue it. The food tastes so good, much better then the organic baby food from the store.

Austin also has his first play date in Friday. We went to visit my friend Jessica that I went to school with. Jessica and I started hanging out in elementary school and now her little girl Maddie is only 2 months younger then Austin. It was so cute seeing them together. Austin kept trying to grab her hand. We cant wait to get together again.

Austin has also began holding his own bottle although we still hold it for him. He has been grabbing at it but tonight he held it for a very long time until he feel asleep.

Quick update

Austin is officially sitting on his own. This weekend at his cousin Brenden's 7th birthday party, I sat him on the floor and put a boppy pillow behind him incase he fell. To my surprise he sat like that for about 3-5 minutes without falling. Yesterday, I did the same thing and he sat and played with his leap frog alphabet ball for a few minutes.

He hates to lay down and is working on pulling himself up from a laying position. A few times I have thought he was actually going to sit himself up.


He has not been napping during the day very well. We are not sure why but every night around 5pm he has a major meltdown. We are hoping to get him back on track soon.


He has not seen the surgeon yet, but praise God it looks like his belly button is healing up on its own. We are still going to have him checked but it wont be until December. We are believing it is going to continue to heal on its own.

I'm a big kid now!

Austin had his 4-month well visit today. He is now 14 lbs and 27 inches long! The doctor said he is a very tall baby and has grown 3 inches in 2 months! I had a feeling he was going to be tall like his daddy but now I think he might be even taller. He had to get 3 shots, which was horrible for him and me. He screamed all the way to Aunt Anne’s, and finally fell asleep right before we pulled in the driveway. Our doctor also wants Austin to see a surgeon soon because he might have a slight hernia. His belly button has been really red that last couple of days and she would like a pediatric surgeon to take a closer look at it. She said that it might be something that can be cauterized or might need surgery on. We are praying that it is nothing and he will not need any medical treatment.

On the brighter side, Austin is growing and changing so fast that every morning I ask him if he grew over night. John and I are amazed at the things he is doing. He is now eating 6 oz every 4 hours (thanks to a little challenge made by his younger cousin Cody) Austin has also started on baby food since his little belly is not getting full from just formula anymore. He usually has oatmeal in the morning with some bananas or pears (which he is not fond of), and peas in the evening which he loves. John and I have decided to give Austin all organic food to help reduce the amount of chemicals in his body. We decided it was something small we could do for Austin that would contribute to a healthy life. I hope to start making his baby food so that he has more of a selection then what is offered from pre-made organic baby food. With a little guidance from Katie, I think I can do it. (Have I mentioned John and I would not have a clue what we are doing without Dan and Katie?) Austin has gone back to sleeping through the night. He rarely wakes up in the middle of the night anymore. He usually goes to bed about 8pm and wakes up about 7am. Daylight savings time has been a wonderful event in our home. Austin did not take to well to it the first night and tried to go to bed at about 6 at night.

Austin is rolling over now and is never in the same position that we left him at night. Most of the time he is completely the opposite direction that we left him.

This is what happens when you leave a 4 month old on the couch while you make his bottles. We literally turned our back for less them a minute. Its hard to tell but he was laughing in the second picture. I think he would have just sat there if we hadn't picked him up.

He loves standing and can stand on his own if he is leaning against something. He has also been practicing sitting on his own and if not tired, can actually sit alone for a minute or so. Austin is officially teething, with confirmation from his doctor. Austin spends most of his day with one or both hands in his mouth and the rest of his day drooling. It is quite amazing; he can actually fit his whole fist in his mouth. Lately he has been trying to suck his thumb while drinking his bottle. 4 months old and he is already a multi-tasker!

On Halloween Austin, John and I went to Grace Christian Church for their "Candy Town" event with Anne, Dave and the kids. Beforehand we all met at Fudruckers for dinner. Austin had a great time. He got to see Dan, Katie, Nate and Uncle Tim, Aunt Vicki, Cade and Noah, also. Grace put on a wonderful event which John and I were very happy to see. We wanted to find something that we could do with Austin every year. There were a ton of carnival games which Daddy played to win Austin candy. After all the games, they did a wonderful praise song for the kids along with a skit about sin. All of the kids had tons of fun and Austin’s older cousins left with huge bags of candy. We can’t wait to attend next year when Austin is older and can play some of the games himself.

John is halfway done with student teaching and we couldn’t be happier. Austin is definitely a daddy’s boy right now. He loves his mommy but when daddy’s around it's all about him. John can get Austin to laugh just by talking to him. We can’t wait until John can come home early and spend more time with our little guy.

Trunk or Treat

Last night Austin got to go "trunk" or treating for the first time. John, Austin and I went with Dan, Katie, and Nate to their church. People decorate the trunks of their cars and all the kids dress up and walk around collecting candy. Austin dressed up as a turkey and had a great time. He even managed to stay awake for most of the event. He was so happy to be able to play with Nate. Austin is starting to become more interactive and will soon be able to keep up with Nate who is always on the move now that he can crawl and stand.

Austin also got to go on his first trip to Frankenmuth. He was such a good boy and took a nice long nap in the car on the way there. When we got there we decided to try to see if he was able to sit in a high chair considering his dislike of his car seat and to our surprise he loved it. He sat like such a big boy for about 30 minutes just playing with his new toys. I actually got to eat about half of my meal before he decided he wanted out. We love his new ability to play with toys. Right now his favorite toys are his little soft books. He will sit and look at them for a long time.

He is also grabbing at things which means we really have to watch what we put close to him (as we recenlty learned when he almost dumped my glass of pop at dinner. John's birthday was on the 23rd, so we went out to his favorite restaurant, Mongolian BBQ.

Austin even made Daddy a birthday card!

So, Nate and Austin started a new tradition this year. They will be posing after the MSU and U of M game in their team's colors. As you can see, Nate was all smiles with the Spartans win. Don't worry Austin... Michigan will win next year....and the year after that... and the year after that...