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.

Austin's First Birthday

Well, Austin is officially a year old. Where does the time go? We had a great, very busy weekend. On Thursday evening Jared and I headed down to Indianapolis to see Dave Ramsey Live. It was a nice date night, and a fun event. We didn't really learn too much, but it was entertaining. We've been following Dave's plan for several months now, and have seen great results. We always said we would go see him if we got the opportunity, and we sure did. We found cheap tickets, and made it a date! We got back from that late, so Austin got to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa. On Friday, we spent the day getting ready for Austin's birthday party that was on Saturday. We didn't want to make his party a big deal, so we thought it was just going to be Austin's grandparents and his Aunt Taunja, Uncle Jim, and cousins Kylie, Katelyn, and Claire. Well, to our surprise, we had visitors show up at our doorstep on Friday; Uncle Chris and Aunt Kristin flew in from Georgia as a surprise! It was really great to see them. It's only been a few weeks since we saw them last, but they treat Austin like he is their own, and he adores them. It was a great surprise for all of us, and I don't think they will ever know how grateful we are that they came. The party would not have been the same without them there! We also had our friends Matt and Drew at the party and got to hang out with them most of the weekend. It is so great to know that we are surrounded and supported by such wonderful people that care so much. It was such a wonderful weekend with great fun, great friends, and Austin turning one.

Austin got many wonderful gifts that were unexpected. He got some diapers, clothes, a toy camera, tons of books, trucks, a drum set, a baby computer, cash (which will go into his savings for a car most likely), and even a nasty Purdue T-shirt. Wonder who got him that one :)

Austin wasn't too sure what to do with his cake. He kind of looked at it and got his ornery look on his face. He didn't dig in, but he did enjoy it. Jared had to feed him most of it, and Chris even tried to get him to dig in with no luck. At least he got to try it. He was more interested in the plate that the cake was on than the cake itself. Go figure!

Here are a few pictures of Austin playing with his cousins. When he was playing with Claire, they just sort of switched toys with each other. Claire is about 7 months old, and Austin is a bit intrigued by her. It was cute. He also got to see Kylie and Katelyn. Kids fascinate him right now, which is pretty cute to watch.

Overall, it was a crazy, busy weekend. We enjoyed good food, great cake, and got to hang out with great people the entire weekend. I think everyone had a great time, including, of course, the Birthday Boy! I still can't believe that he's already one.

walk: the act of traveling by foot; "walking is a healthy form of exercise"

Well, as you can all guess by the blog's title today, it's official. Austin is now a walker! He's been practicing for a few days, taking one or two steps at a time. Last night, however, he made his way all the way across the living room. Now, keep in mind, we do have a fairly small living room, but still. It was too precious! He's still very wobbly, but he's getting there. This is a picture of him in action......GOOOO AUSTIN!

Austin has officially been off of his bottle for about a week and a half with no complaints yet! He hasn't even cried for it yet. It sort of happened all on it's own last Monday, when I gave him a cup of formula in the morning. He didn't really seem to upset about it, and actually drank all of his formula from it. So, I decided to run with it and took him off of it completely. I'm starting to give him whole milk at lunches, which he seems to be liking a bit more than his formula. Let's hope so anyway!

Austin has also started to crawl up onto things. I have a feeling he's going to end up being a climber! He managed to climb up on this chair in our living room all by himself. I'm going to be in big trouble soon!

Austin also recently discovered our pots and pans, so I decided to get him some spatulas, spoons, measuring cups, bowls, basters, and pot holders for him to play with of his own. His favorite, is a ladle at this point. Have you ever seen Peyton Manning caring around a ladle? We have! He loves it. It keeps Austin entertained for a long time, far longer than most of his toys do for that matter. It makes a huge mess, but what doesn't with this child??

Austin has started to play peek-a-boo with us on a regular basis. He initiates it most of the time anymore by putting a blanket or a cloth diaper on his head and pulling it off. He's also started to hide behind the couch and peek his head around. It's too cute. This is him playing peek-a-boo with Jackson. Austin was cracking up, however, Jackson wasn't too sure about it. The dogs are both so good with him though, and they put up with just about anything that Austin throws their way. Austin has also started to give us kisses frequently...they are all open mouth, and on his terms, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Here is Austin in his 11 month pictures, which we just around to taking last weekend. It's hard to believe that our baby boy will be a year old in about two days. Where does the time go? It seems like yesterday we were able to hold him and give him a bottle and he'd just stare into our eyes. It wasn't that long ago we were anticipating all of the firsts that we would get to share with him....he's just so big now! Now, he's all over the place and i'm lucky to hold him for a minute without him moving all over the place. He's such a joy, and a blessing to have in our family. He's been such a great baby, and hopefully he'll continue to be a great kid!