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.