It's finally December!

Well, things have been a bit hectic around here lately. And to be honest, I can't remember much about the last two weeks. We've all been fighting off colds lately, we've put our tree up, finished shopping and wrapped all of our presents. So far, Austin is pretty intrigued by the tree. We put most of it up just Jared and I while Austin was asleep for the night. He woke up to the house decorated the next morning. We left several ornaments out for him to put on the bottom of the tree, which he really just enjoys pulling them off the tree and trying to put them back on at this point. We wrapped all of our gifts this weekend, and now he's into carrying the gifts around the house. Hopefully the paper doesn't get too damaged on them. Oh well though. Part of the joy of Christmas is to see how amazed he is by things and how excited he gets. So far, it's been a pain, but a lot of fun to watch him.

This is Austin with his Santa hat on. He has a huge head as we all know, so we thought the oversized Santa hat would be cute on him. He didn't keep it on his head for our pictures though, which is a real shame. It was pretty cute!

I don't know where he thought he was going, but he was on a mission. My purse is heavy. I have no idea what's inside of it, but all I know is it probably weighs about 8 pounds or so. Austin helped himself to it off the chair and drug it around our living room for a long time the other day. It's amazing what he finds to entertain himself. It seems like sometimes his toys just don't cut it. So, he normally finds other things to do that keep him busy. And let me tell you, he's always busy!

Austin got to spend a lot of time with Grandma and Grandpa this weekend. I love that he's starting to not be so attached at the hip to me all the time. It always takes him awhile to warm up to new people and situations, but after awhile, it never fails. Instead of buying each other presents this year, Jared and I went out to dinner and a movie. It was great! We don't get to eat out a lot, let alone go out without Austin, so the break was nice. And it gave Grandma and Grandpa some alone time with Austin. On Sunday, Jared had another family photo session, so Austin spent part of Saturday, and part of Sunday with them. He loves taking books to people to read to him. You can even see him in the one picture among all the dogs. He loves the dogs too, but he really loves his books! There are many areas that Austin has just started to take off in during the last few days and weeks. His vocabulary sees to be expanding pretty rapidly (he seems to say kitty, dog, cake, book, get down, and hello are a few). He's also started to wave both hello and good-bye, hold a phone up to his ear, and a camera up to his eye (he must have picked that one up from his daddy), blow kisses with his hands, brush his hair with his hairbrush, and he'll even go get his shoes and socks sometimes if we ask him to. He's even becoming very proficient with using a spoon and a fork to feed himself instead of his hands. Now, maybe, he'll actually start to eat meat (I think i'm dreaming on that one!). It's amazing to watch him grow. It really is something new everyday.

Here's Austin with his first Lollipop. He wasn't too sure what to think about it as you can see. He did enjoy it for the very short amount of time that he had ahold of it though!

Xmas Tree Rock

Tonight we setup our tree. I decided to try my hand at a stop motion movie. It isn't the most interesting movie, but definitely a fun way to start the holiday season.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Number 2!

It's been awhile since i've made a post, so I'll give you fair warning, this one is probably going to be a little long! We've had a busy past week, with friends visiting, family, and Jared has been ill most of the week (thank you Chris!). Austin is continuing to grow and learn new things everyday. He just never stops changing. I was watching him eat the other day and was just amazed at how well he has been doing feeding himself. I found it hard to believe that just a few months ago, I was still having to feed him all of his food. He still refuses to pick up meat, or even eat it for that matter. We were eating vegetables and cheeseburgers for dinner the other night, and Austin picked up a lima bean over cheeseburger. A lima bean. I actually said before he did that "I'm going to die if he eats that over the cheeseburger." And sure enough, he did. Luckily, i'm still alive!

Tooth number 12 has finally made it's way through, so Austin officially has all of 4 of his molars by the age of 14 months. Talk about one right after the other. He really only has about 8 teeth left until he's done I think. These molars have been pretty rough on him in more ways than one. He struggles drinking from his normal cup, he refuses to eat certain things, and he hasn't been sleeping well at all. These pictures crack me up. He's eating an animal cracker and drinking out of a sippy cup....the two things that always seem to make him feel better no matter what. He kept coming to me to get a cracker, and then he would sit back down in the corner with his milk and his animal cracker and eat it, then stand up and go get another. I'm going to have to say, either his teeth were bothering him that day, or he was upset because of the Purdue shirt he was wearing. Either way, it made for a long week!

Austin has started to play peek-a-boo a lot lately. He's enjoyed the game for quite some time now, but he initiates it all the time. On this particular day, he figured out how to play using his hands. He normally does it with a blanket or cloth diaper, but he decided that he would use his hands for a change. It was cracking me up, and it was so cute.....and then he ran into the garage door with his hands over his eyes. Luckily, he didn't cry. I'm thinking at this point, he has a hard head, because he runs into things all the time and rarely every cries because of it. He's such a good little boy.

As i've said time and time again, Austin LOVES to read books. He's started to "read" them to himself lately also. He enjoys bring books to people to have them read to him. This is a book that his grandma got him for his birthday that he brought to daddy for a quick read. It has pictures in it and you get to match the pictures to objects in the book. He's starting to match them on his own when we aren't helping him, but he's able to locate animals such as cats, dogs, cow, horse, pig, sheep, mouse, and some other objects such as cake, milk, balloons, and other things. He also started to very clearly say the word "book" this week. It's probably one of his first very recognizable words for those outsiders who aren't around him frequently. And a special Thanks to all of those who have boughten him books, he loves them....it's still continues to be one of his favorite toys.

Ever been stuck between a rock and a hard place? I know it happens to me all the time, but who knew it could happen to a toddler also! He still loves to push his Mickey airplane around. He sometimes even makes a "vroom" sound when he does it. On the side of Mickey, it has a shape sorter, which he's figuring out very quickly. He's able to put a circle and a square in so far. He still has the triangle and star left to go. In this picture, he has the seat of Mickey up, and is sitting on it....backwards none the less. Talk about one crazy baby!

Austin also likes to talk on the phone. He hasn't quite figured out how to hold the phone, but if either Jared or I is on it, he holds anything he can find up to his ear. It's usually the wrong way, but he'll figure it out one of these days. It's neat to see how he catches on to different things right now. I think he's even starting to try to say "hello" when he picks up the phone.

These are some pictures from Austin's first bubble bath. At first, he wasn't too sure about the bubbles. But after awhile, he was taste testing them. He had a lot of fun with them, and let me tell you, he smelled soooo good after it! It was a blast to play with him in the suds. In the other picture, he's showing us where his tongue is. He still gets tongue and tummy confused with each other. So far, he still knows his tongue, tummy, and head. I was working on feet with him, but these past few days, he hasn't seemed too interested in learning those sort of things.

Austin is really starting to enjoy sitting on the couch with us. In this picture, grandpa, Austin, and daddy are all sitting on the couch watching football. Grandpa was trying to get Austin to signal for a touchdown, which he halfway did. He's really starting to want to do the same things we are lately. He wants to talk on the phone like us, use the remote like us, sit on the couch or chair like us. Most notably is that he wants to eat with a fork like us. He loves to "stab" things with his fork and put things in his mouth. Sometimes he even picks up his food, then puts it on his fork with his hands, and then eats it. It's too cute.

Like I said earlier, with it being Thanksgiving, we got to see friends that we haven't for awhile and family also. We got to see Mike, Matt and Drew, and Chris and Kristin this week. We always have such a great time when people are in town, because we don't get to see a lot of our friends otherwise. We enjoyed the week playing games, talking, eating, and just hanging out. This is Austin with his Uncle Chris. Uncle Chris had just gone out to the garage for a beer, when Austin stole it from him. Thankfully it wasn't opened yet, but what's the saying "like father, like son?" So true. Granted, this wasn't Austin and his daddy, but he likes the beer (or hopefully the can) just like his daddy does!

To end the week, we got to see Jared's side of the family for a bit on Friday. Our nieces were all over, as well as Austin's Aunt Taunja and Uncle Jim. Austin is still fascinated by kids, and it's so neat to watch him interact with them. This is a picture of him and his cousin Claire playing on the floor. They are only about 5 months apart in age, so it's neat to see them together. Austin tried to play with Kylie and Katelyn, but wasn't too sure what to think. He still enjoyed following them around and trying to play with them though!

I was so excited for this to be Austin's first Thanksgiving that he would actually be able to eat something at. Unfortunately, he didn't eat anything at all. I gave him mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, turkey, and rolls. The only thing he ate were the rolls. I'm thinking he might have texture issues like his daddy does with some food. Hopefully, he'll get over that at some point. All in all, it was a busy, hectic, crazy, fun, exciting week. We are so grateful and blessed for the people we have in our lives, and for the joys that life brings to us. And most importantly, grateful for this awesome little boy that was brought into our lives last year. I couldn't imagine a day without him (well, okay, maybe sometimes when he's really crabby), but you get the picture. :)

11 Teeth and Counting!

Here are a few pictures from last week and last weekend. Austin loves to play outside, and since the weather has been so nice, we've been spending a ton of time out there. Two weeks ago, we cleaned out our cars, and picked up the garage. Austin even got to "drive" the car. As you can see, he was pretty proud of it! He also got to help Jared drive a remote control car. Austin was scared at first, but then very intrigued by it. Jared looks forward to the day when they can each have a car and play with them together. Austin loves being outside to the point now where he will bring me his shoes when he's ready to go outside. I have left his shoes out so that he can explore them a bit, and he lets me know when he's bored in the house. The other day he even brought me his shoes and then went over to the door and started to bang on it. He can't talk, but he can still let me know what he wants!

Austin also loves to play on the couch. I'm so afraid of him falling off of it though, because he really doesn't pay much attention. He started to walk across it earlier this week which scared me to death! I've told him to "sit down" so many times that he now says it on his own. It's not very clear, but you can tell by the intonation in his voice that that's what he's saying. It's too cute. He even tells the dogs to "sit/get down" when they are bugging him when he's eating meals.

Austin is really starting to recognize things in books, his surroundings, and even his body. We've taught him just in the past week where his tummy, head, and tongue are. I'm working on his feet right now, but he doesn't quiet understand them yet. He points to his chest most of the time when you ask him where his tummy is, he always gets where his head is, and he sticks his tongue out when you ask him where that is. It's pretty neat to watch how quickly he catches on to those things. He also knows how to find objects in books. He's discovered the following in a few of his books: cake, balls, toothbrush, hairbrush, presents, cat, and a dog. He picked those up just last week. It's so much fun to watch him learn. I'm just amazed constantly how quickly he catches on to a lot of it.

Tooth number 11 broke the surface finally this weekend. It's his bottom left molar, and these have been a huge pain. He has pretty much gotten one right after the other. One thing we have discovered that seems to help a bit is giving him a sippy cup. We normally only offer a normal cup, but I think the pressure of sucking on something helps relieve some of the pressure on his gums. So, lately, he's actually gotten to use a sippy cup....darn it! With these teeth they seem to bother him a lot at times, and then not at all at others. On Saturday we woke up to him with bright red cheeks, and a bright red forehead. So far, I think these have been some of the worse for him. One minute he's happy and running around, and the next, he's like a completely different kid. Someday, he'll be done with them all. I can't wait for that moment!

This is Jared and Austin hanging out on Saturday watching football. The picture was just too cute. Austin actually sat still for a little while with Jared, which is shocking. The kid rarely ever sits still!

On Sunday, Austin was helping me, yet again, with the laundry! Jared even took him on one of his favorite things to do, a laundry basket ride! How fun! Austin got to spend some extra time with Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday also, because Jared had another photo shoot! YEAH! Marley, the new puppy, is starting to get used to Austin, and they play tug of war together. At first he would tackle him, but they both seem to be adjusting well to each other. They are going to end up being great friends!

First real pair of shoes!

We had another busy weekend, shoe shopping for Austin, photo shoot, hanging out with friends, cleaning, and the grandma and grandpas. I wonder if life will ever slow down, and then I think I really don't think I want it too.....it's too much fun this way!

These are a few pictures of Austin eating breakfast. He loves to eat yogurt, and is starting to get really mad at us when we don't give him a spoon. He's been trying really hard, but this particular day, he didn't quiet get where the spoon went. He ended up with yogurt all over the front of his shirt, all over his high chair tray, and even some on the floor. He got frustrated with the spoon and just decided to eat the yogurt container. He tried again today at lunch and did really well putting his spoon in the container and then to his mouth. There was hardly any on the tray, I'm so proud of him!

Friday after Jared got off of work, we went and bought Austin his first pair of real shoes from Fred Toenges. He's not really too sure what to think of them, but he's starting to walk a lot better in them that's for sure! They are blue, Velcro Stride Rite tennis shoes....and are really stinking cute! He seems to be very comfortable in them. I'm glad we took him somewhere to get fitted, because we learned he has wide, large feet. He's in a 7 wide right now in toddlers. I don't think he has too much longer before he'll be in boy's shoes. I couldn't believe it. The shoes I've been having him wear are 4/5's, so there's quiet a difference in size, and he seems to be much more comfortable now. He got to wear his new shoes home, which made for a really long car ride. This may sound bad, but this was too funny to me for some reason. As soon as we got on the road from the shoe store, he started crying. When I looked back in my mirror, he was trying to pull his shoes off. All I was seeing in my mirror were his feet up in the air and him tugging at them. He got so upset because he couldn't get them off of his feet, he cried and screamed the entire way home. I sat in the front seat laughing because I was just thinking "it's only a pair of shoes". But I guess when you aren't used to having them on your feet, I can see why he was crying. He now loves them and brings them over to us frequently. He's gotten to wear them outside quiet a bit, which he's really been enjoying. Hooray for nice weather!

On Saturday, Austin and I got to tag along and help Jared at another photo shoot. We went to another local park here, which also happens to have farm equipment. Austin was looking at this combine and was very intrigued. It was HUGE and very loud! Jared got some great shots, and it was a lot of fun. Austin and I got to get out of the house and he got to play in more dirt. What's not to love about that? Saturday night we went over to Matt and Drew's house for dinner and a bon fire. Then we played Phase 10 and had a really great, fun night with them! On Sunday, we got motivated outside and cleaned out the garage and our cars. Austin loved to be outside and help us! He even got to "drive" my car which he loved. We went over to grandma and grandpa's on Sunday night for dinner, and then came home early for an early bed time. It was another great, busy weekend. But like I said earlier, I wouldn't trade them for anything!

How we Love Fall!

It's so amazing to me how awesome a 1 year old can be. I'm constantly impressed with how Austin changes everyday, and it's such a neat thing to be able to witness daily. We've had quite the week this past week. We finally got Austin back to sleeping through the night on Wednesday. It seems like every since he started to actually sleep through the night around 7 months, it's never been consistent. I finally got frustrated about two weeks ago and bought a book about the importance of good quality sleep and a good sleeping schedule for babies. As most people know, I'm not really into reading parenting books, because although they give you good tips and advice, you ultimately have to do what's best for you, your family, and most importantly, your child. Although I haven't totally bought into this book, it does offer some amazing tips, and I wish I would have started reading it when Austin was a lot younger. Once I started to read it, I started to feel like we have created and made Austin a bad sleeper. It seems like anytime we do something different in routine (traveling, staying out too late with him, etc.), or he starts to cut teeth, he starts waking up in the middle of the night. We finally got him back to sleeping through the night, but now he wakes up around 6 am! Ouch! We've missed out on things lately because of his sleeping schedule and the fact that we have to be home at the 7:30 lately, but I've started to realize that if your lifestyle doesn't change when you have children, then somethings probably not right! Needless to say, he's happy, well rested, and actually starting to focus on things more attentively then he has before. He's still ornery as ever though!

Austin has started to look for objects a lot more lately. Last night, Jared was hiding a toy dog, and would ask Austin where his puppy was at. Austin kept looking all over for it, and eventually found it. It's too cute to watch the wheels in his brain turning trying to figure the world out. I've been asking him lately also what a puppy does, and he's started to stick out his tongue and pant like a dog. I almost think he should have been a dog for Halloween instead of a firefighter. Austin is just about ready to cut yet another molar. He's currently got 10 teeth, and he's just about got another one making it 11 teeth! Yesterday he even looked under the bed, found the cat, and started pointing at him and saying "dat". I had no idea what he was saying, but I got down on my knees, and sure enough, the cat was under the bed, and Austin had found him. It's such a small thing, but it's such a big milestone for him. And I'm so glad that Jared has afforded us the opportunity for me to witness this stuff daily, I'm so grateful for that.

We got some flower bulbs this week and we needed to plant them before it got too cold outside. Austin LOVES to be outside, so he helped. He tried to eat one of the tulip bulbs, but we caught him before it got too far into his mouth. He was watching Jared a lot, and would "dig" holes with his rake and pushed the mulch around. He's definitely not afraid of getting dirty, and was such a big helper!

It's been awhile....I know.

Where to begin.....Austin is continuing to change and grow daily. His primary mode of transportation is now walking. About a week or so ago, he figured out how to go from sitting to standing all by himself. He's even trying to work his way up to running, which is adorable! He still falls, a lot, but he loves trying and the challenge. He has also started to climb onto anything and everything that he can. I caught him the other day in a bathroom upstairs trying to climb onto the counter. He pushed in a storage tote and was on top of that, getting ready to get on the counter. It's a good thing I keep a pretty good eye on him! He also tried to climb on the coffee table, couch, and entertainment center recently. One things for sure, he's definitely a boy!

The zoo closed for the season at the beginning of October. This is a picture from our last trip there. I look back at the beginning of the year and I kind of thought that getting the membership was a waste of our money. He didn't really seem too interested in the animals, but he loved to go out for the trip. After about 2-3 months over the summer, he now actually points to the animals and enjoys looking and watching them. This is a picture of him looking at the monkey's.

Shortly after his first birthday, Austin got his first haircut. I know, you're thinking, he doesn't really have hair! But his hair on the back of his head was really long (probably at least 2 inches), so we trimmed up the back of it. It looks a lot better, but I was really sad to see it go. It seems like more and more each day, he doesn't look like a baby anymore, which, he's not. He just keeps looking more and more like a little boy. In this picture he's holding the clippers, getting familiar with them before we used them on him. That was NOT an easy project either!

Lately Austin has spent a little more time with Grandma and Grandpa. This is a picture of grandpa reading to Austin, and Austin helping him with the pop up's in the book. Have I mentioned that this boy loves books and to read? It's one of his favorite things to do and play with. He even reads through books in the car!

Austin has also started to hold objects, like a phone, up to his ear and has started to talk on them. It's too cute. He has a toy cell phone, and he holds it every which way you can, except for the right way. He loves pushing the buttons on it and making noise with it. It's really cute to watch him pick up on these sort of things. It seems like he's also starting to figure other things out, like how his cup works. We have to help him with it since it doesn't have a spout on it, and he's starting to put his hands up and help a bit. He's also starting to use a spoon a little, with most of the food not entering his mouth, but on the floor. Oh well, you gotta start somewhere!

On Friday this week, the Bates house suffered a terrible loss. Dad had to take Cinc, the family dog of 12 years to the vet, and Cinc didn't come home with dad. His liver was starting to fail, and he had quit eating. I think we've all known for a few weeks that he wasn't doing very well. But I think this time, Cinc knew it too. We will always miss him, especially his smiles (I swear he would do it!), his whirlies, and his terrible breath. And I'm sure dad will even miss him in the winters when he would have to clean up the concrete because Cinc wasn't smart enough to find the grass. But he had a fun, happy, exciting life for 12 years, and he's in a place now where he can have all of the B.L.T. sandwiches he wants now. We will miss him dearly. He was ssuch a great dog.

On a brighter note, however, Mom and Dad stopped by our house on Sunday to surprise us. The picture above is their new 10 week old Bichon Frise-Cocker Spaniel mix puppy, Marley (I think). Yesterday his name was Gus, today, it's Marley. They couldn't stand not having a pet in the house, so Marley came into their lives yesterday. He's only about 5.5 pounds right now, and came complete with the puppy breath and puppy smell. He's adorable and I'm so excited for them!

I don't think Austin was too sure of what to think of Marley. The other dogs know they can play with Austin, but not too rough. Since Marley is so young, he doesn't know that! He managed to tackle Austin a few times and give him kisses. It's a good thing Austin is so used to dogs and loves them. He never even cried or anything, he just kind of thought it was fun. Marley and Austin are going to grow up together, which I think is kind of a cool thing!

Needless to say, Sunday dinner was a little chaotic this week. Three dogs, one toddler, and a partridge in a pear tree! Ha....I crack myself up sometimes :)

Two Molars! Finally!

This is Austin in his "Teething Bites" shirt that he got for his Birthday from Uncle Chris and Aunt Kristin. And it is so true! He finally let me feel in his mouth today, and it feels like both of his top molars are finally starting to poke through. Thankfully! He's been really moody and fussy, which isn't fun for anyone. Thankfully, these past few days he seems to have found a bit of relief. Now, if we could just get on with his bottom two molars and move on to some new teeth! Poor kid!

A Visit to the Doctor and 1 Year Pictures!

We finally got around to doing Austin's 1 Year pictures this weekend. We had to do picture where he actually dug into a cake, since he didn't really do that at his Birthday party. I had to help him dig in, by taking his hands and shoving them in the cake, which then resulted in him shaking all the cake off of his hands. Frosting was flying all over the place! We did everything we could think of to get him to dig into his cake, but he still needed help. Jared got some great shots of him. I'm so glad he fell in love with taking pictures!

Austin had his 1 year checkup on Wednesday this week. He's been a bear this week, and I had a hunch that it was his teeth, yet again, that were bothering him. He's had a low grade fever most of the week, hasn't been sleeping well....again, and has just been cranky! Well, the doctor informed us that it looks like he's about to cut not 1, but all 4 of his molars sometime soon. No wonder! I figured that's what it was, but I certainly never though about all 4 of them at the same time. That even hurts me to think about it.

His checkup went well over all. He's doing all the things he's supposed to be doing, starting to walk some (he's still wobbly, and is only taking several steps at a time), saying words like mama, dada. He's completely off his bottle and onto a cup, and he's all the way on table foods. The doctor gave us the go ahead to feed him anything except for things that he can choke on. This week, he tried strawberries. He liked them one day, but not so much the next. He's definitely a fruit baby though. He still loves peaches, pears, bananas, and melons. He hates meat, loves cheeses, and enjoys vegetables, just not leftover. He's too funny when it comes to his food!

He is also growing like a weed. He was 23.5 lbs (70th percentile for weight), 31 3/4 inches long (95th percentile for height), and his head was 18 3/4 (90th percentile). He didn't gain much weight since the last time we were there, but definitely gained a few inches in height! He's such a big boy now! He got several shots, and cried and screamed. I hate it when they do that! His next checkup will be at 15 months. I still look at him and can't believe how big he's gotten.