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 :)