What a Busy Weekend!

I'm going to warn you before you start to read.....this is going to be a LONG post! We had a busy weekend of visiting friends, family, and traveling this weekend. I'm just now starting to feel as though I've actually recovered! Here is how Austin and I started off the weekend on Friday. We woke up, and played on the floor, took a bath, and then went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Here are two pictures of Austin pre-Grandma and Grandpa's house. Sometimes, the box of toys is more fun than the toys itself! As you can tell in the other picture, Austin is starting the stages of pre-crawling.....getting up on all fours, sticking his butt way up in the air, and rocking back and forth. It will be any minute now and he's going to take off. He's pretty quick with the army crawling, but our whole world is about to change soon!

After I gave Austin his bath, we headed over to my parent's house so that Austin could meet his Uncle Ben for the first time. Ben's flight landed very early in the morning in Chicago, and he had to drive to Fort Wayne, so he didn't get in until around 4 a.m. Needless to say, he wasn't up at 10:30 when we showed up. Since Ben wasn't awake yet, Austin got his first fishing lesson from Grandpa out at Lake Bates. He actually attempted to real in a fish once, and then was so fascinated with the reeling process, he tried to eat it. Go figure, huh? In the picture above, you can actually see Austin's top two teeth that he's been working on for the last few weeks. Thankfully, they have made their way through his gums, but still continue to bother him some. I think he's actually working on his 5th tooth right now....not sure where that one will pop up from yet!

Ben finally woke up around 12, due to Austin's talking and babbling. It took him awhile to warm up to his Uncle, but he eventually got there. He let him hold him, and Ben even got on the floor and played with him for a bit. Austin still sleeps a lot right now (he's still taking two long naps, and one shorter one a day), so he didn't get to see much of Ben. What he did though, he enjoyed. He let Ben hear his new favorite word "Ba-Ba-Ba" whatever that is, and showed him all of his new toys that Grandma just bought for him. It was good to see Ben, and I was so excited for him to see Austin. Next time Ben comes back home it will be so much more fun for him to see Austin! I can't wait!

On Saturday, my parents took my brother to go see my grandparents. I would have loved to have gone to visit, but our friends, or Uncle Chris and Aunt Kristin as we like to call them, were here to visit and see Austin next. They live in Atlanta, Georgia, so we don't get to see them too frequently. Last time they saw Austin was in January, so I was excited for them to see how much he has changed. In January, he was just figuring out how to roll over both ways, and now, he's on the move! He was still drinking only from a bottle, and now he's eating cereal, fruits, and veggies. Aunt Kristin took the opportunity to feed him. Austin actually ate better for her than he has for me lately! Sometimes I call him the disgruntled eater and he's very difficult to feed. Uncle Chris and Aunt Kristin spent all day Saturday with us. They pushed Austin in his swing, played on the floor, fed him, played with him in his jumper, and even got to experience the difficult task of changing a diaper. They are troopers, and we love those two so much. They treat Austin as if he was their own, and we couldn't ask for a better set of friends to be involved in his life.

Sunday was race day. This was our 3rd year to go to the race, and we took Ben for his first time. We sat right in front of the beginning to the pits, so we got to witness many of the accidents up close. The race was a lot of fun, really hot, but fun. This is a picture of Ben in front6 of the McDonald's Car. I was trying to get a nice picture of the two of us, but he pushed me out of the way. Typical response of a big brother!

On Monday, we relaxed, bought plants for our Garden, and then went over to Matt and Drew's house for some hamburgers on the grill, and a game of Cornhole. It was the end to our busy weekend.....and like I said, I think I'm just now recovering from it. We just aren't as young as we used to be!

Nothing New...Just a New Hat!

Today, Austin and I ran a ton of errands in anticipation of the Indy 500, and his Uncle Ben and Uncle Chris and Aunt Kristin being in town for the weekend. Austin will get to meet his Uncle Ben for the first time tomorrow (Friday), as he flies in from Los Angeles late tonight. Uncle Chris and Aunt Kristin will be leaving Atlanta on Friday and will get to see Austin on Saturday. They haven't seen him since January, so they are in for a huge surprise and will be shocked with how much he has changed since then. Anyway, we had to go to the store to buy food and drinks for the race, stop by the bank, hit the bread store next (you can't beat .79 for a loaf!), and lastly, we stopped by The Children's Place to see what was on sale. We didn't find the great deals that we normally do there (I bought all of his summer shorts there, brand new, for $2 a piece, my best find yet! And they are all Cotton Twill Preppy shorts....adorable!). I did buy him this new hat though, which I just think is adorable (I really do love this store! It's by far, my favorite in terms of children's clothes). Since he still has next to no hair covering his head right now, he'll have to wear a hat for the majority of the summer. He has a blue baseball cap right now that he wears frequently, but I just think that these things are too cute to pass up!

It's Zoo Time!

The last two days, we couldn't have asked for better weather. Really, this entire week has been awesome. 70-80 degrees, a slight breeze, and not a cloud in the sky. Needless to say, we've done a lot of walking and swinging on the swing. Today, Grandma, Austin, and I all went to the zoo and signed up for our membership. We saw a ton of animals today, but Austin wasn't too interested in them yet. I have a feeling I'll be going there frequently, to get some exercise and get out of the house. And hopefully sometime this year he'll begin to enjoy it. It was really busy there today, it looked like most of the FW schools were there today. Hopefully it's not like that all summer long. The new African Exhibit wasn't open yet, but from what we saw, it's going to be awesome!

In the last few days, Austin is looking more and more like he is going to crawl. He's starting to get up on all fours and rock back and forth. He's also starting to work on pulling himself up onto things. He's tried that many times in the bathtub and on my legs. Pretty soon, he's really going to be a handful, as if he isn't already!

Austin's First Pair of Shoes

Last week, Austin's grandma went out to buy him his own pair of Crocs since he's so in love with mine. As you can see, he does about the same with his own that he does with mine. They stayed on his feed for a few minutes, and then went straight to his mouth. They are really cute, but still a little too big for his feet. They are just another toy at this point!

Austin has been pretty cranky this week. He is currently cutting tooth number 4, and you can definitely tell! Hopefully, he'll be done with this soon so we can have a little bit of a break. He has pretty much cut one tooth after the other, and I know I could stand to have happy Austin back for a few days!

Austin is also working on crawling right now. He's getting up on all fours quite a bit more than what he has in the past, and he'll lunge forward, and then he'll start Army crawling. It's only a matter of time before he is up on all fours! He also appears to be working on pulling himself up from the sitting position. He's growing up too quickly!

Jump, Jump, Jump!

After months and months of trying, Austin has finally figured out his jumper. We've been putting him in this thing for probably two months now. Up until now, he would just spin around in it and look at the world. He just recently figured out how it works and he loves it! He gets a big smile on his face when he gets in it, and he loves to jump now! Jared taught Austin earlier this week how to clap his hands, which is adorable. He's starting to understand the "bye-bye" wave, but doesn't do it too frequently yet. He's still really into waving "Hi" when he eats though. It's amazing how much he is starting to learn and how quickly it's all falling into place. He's growing up way too fast, just like everyone says kids do!

He Loves Crocs!

I'm making up for not posting enough last week, by doing two in one day. I thought these pictures were hilarious, because anyone that has been around Austin in the last few weeks has realized that he has a small obsession with shoes and feet. When we came back from Georgia, we caught him going after my dad's feet. The story is, when I was younger, my dad would give me a nickel to rub his feet for 30 minutes, or 5 pennies to rub them for an hour. Naturally, at that young age, 5 pennies seems like more than a nickel, so I would take the 5 pennies and rub his feet for "an hour". Granted, it was never an hour, but still. We laugh about it till this day. I'm beginning to think that instead of teething rings, Crocs are a better investment. In fact, as you can tell from one of these pictures, he has sought out my Lime Green Crocs over a toy (I told my mom to buy me the most obnoxious color she could find, and let me tell you, she found it!). He went from our living room, to our foyer, all by Army crawling. Thankfully, I find these things so hideous that I only wear them around the house so they aren't too dirty (comfortable, I won't deny that, fashionable, not at all).

Austin's New Swing

We had a blast with Austin this weekend. His little personality is starting to explode. He's been very very talkative lately. We think he might even be working on saying "mama","dada", "hi", and "Allie". I swear I heard mama this weekend, but Jared thought it was dada, and my dad, swore it was Grandpa. Either way, he's starting to babble quite a bit, which is adorable. On Saturday, Austin spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa so that Jared and I could get some much needed things done around the house (for the second weekend in a row) and so we could go on a date. One of the things we got done around the house was hanging up Austin's new swing. He loves it, as you can see from the picture above. He's nothing but smiles in that swing! It was a late Easter present, but it's definitely been worth it.

Last week I was working with Austin to try to teach him how to wave "hello" and "goodbye". Well, he woke up on Saturday morning and waved hello to Jared throughout all of his breakfast. He continues to wave like a pro! We're still working on the goodbye wave. He's starting to get it, but those little fingers are just not moving the way he would like them to yet.