Our First Christmas

Well, it's really Austen's first Christmas. We had so much fun watching Austen open all his presents.....he had a lot. He was really into tearing off the paper and he loved all his new toys.
This post has the most pictures ever, but it was really hard narrowing it down from 300.

I gave him a candy cane on Christmas Eve....he loved it of course!Here's his dad helping him open his pajamas the night before Christmas.

This is Christmas morning before he saw his stocking.

Discovering the stocking....he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be touching that.

Showing me what was inside.

This pic makes me laugh.....he looks sooo serious!

Soooo many toys!!! It was toy overload!! I think he was a little over stimulated because he did not sleep at all on Christmas night!

Where Do I Begin???

I guess I'll start by saying if you haven't read my post from yesterday, you should scroll down and read that one first.....

It's kind of ironic that I chose yesterday to label my blog post "he's into everything" because at the time I wrote that I had no idea just how bad it was about to get. First, I have a picture of him emptying out his dresser. (This isn't bad.....it's actually kind of cute!!!) Later that day I noticed Austen picking at these tiny wooden peg things that cover up the screw holes in our office desk. I didn't really think anything of it because I never could have imagined that he would be able to get them out.......well I couldn't have been more wrong. Here's a pic of the empty holes.

And here's a pic of the wooden pegs.

I turned around and noticed he had something in his mouth.....it was three of the above wooden things and there was one on the floor. I was shocked that he could have gotten those out of the furniture, but I was absolutely frantic when I realized that there were four more empty holes on the other side of the desk. I looked everywhere for the other four pegs and when I couldn't find them I assumed he must have swallowed them. I immediately called the doctor and they said if he had swallowed them he should be able to pass them just fine, so I shoudn't be too worried. They said to look for them in his poop over the next couple of days.......how fun!!! I still don't know if he could have swallowed four of those things, but they are missing so the mystery remains......

And because that wasn't enough for one day there's more!!! An hour later Brian noticed that the dog had thrown up in the family room. He thought he had cleaned it all up, but there was more behind the recliner. Unfortunately, Austen found it before we did. All I'm going to say is I found some on his hand AND face, so you can draw your own conclusion. I certainly did.....YUCK!!!

To top it all off the poor little guy is now sick just in time for his very first Christmas. We made it one month shy of a year with no sickness at all......great timing to get his first cold huh??

He's Into EVERYTHING

Did I mention he's into everything??? Well he is!! The other day I caught him sitting partially in the office garbage can with all it's contents scattered around in front of him. (He's really into ripping paper into tiny little pieces, so finding a magazine is a jackpot for him.) Here he is shredding some magazines while sitting in the garbage can.

He also got into the kitchen garbage can the other night and pulled out an avacado skin that I had just thrown in there. (This was totally my fault.....I must have forgotten to close the garbage cupboard all the way, but I have to say I'm sooooo glad it wasn't something worse...it could have been really bad.) I turned around to find him eating all the leftover avacado and loving it!! He had it smeared all over his shirt, pants, socks, and face. He also had it smashed on the tile and in the grout of the floor that I had JUST finished mopping. By the way these pictures do not do the mess justice....it was way worse than it looks.

He LOVES to play in our pantry!!! I have cleared the floor and bottom shelf of things that he can't have so he can go in there without me worrying too much. Well last night the dog came out of the pantry with a red vine and I immediately knew that we had another mess on our hands. Austen had somehow opened the red vine lid that I can barely even get off and he had licorice everywhere!!! He was in heaven!!! He had licorice in both hands and kept pulling more out. Luckily I got some pics before I took the candy away and cleaned up. Too bad you can't hear the sounds he was making while I was taking the pics though, it was super funny!

Just today he has cleared out six dresser drawers in his bedroom, pulled out and shredded all the tissues from a kleenex box I had left within reach, and managed to get a roll of wrapping paper off the table. I'm sick with a bad head cold, so he's been taking advantage of my weakened state!!!

Christmas Comes Early Around Here

Apparently Brian and I need to work on our patience. So far we have given Austen two of his Christmas presents early. First it was the walker and now it's this super cute airplane toy. It has a moving propellor that has a light display and it sings too. It's his new favorite thing.

He wouldn't smile at me while he was getting a ride......he was all business.

Christmas Is Coming

And that means time to make Brian put up the Christmas lights!!! I loaded the pictures backwards, so this first picture is the finished product. I didn't include the super cute candy cane tree that's in the corner, but it's really cute!! It has a red and white trunk and the top is all red. Brian got very creative!
Here's Austen watching daddy.


And here's Brian up on the ladder.

The Baby Has Spoken

Austen is changing a lot lately!!! Sometimes I even notice things that are different in the morning from the night before. The other morning I noticed that his eyelashes had sprouted over night. When he went to bed they were normal and when he woke up they were super long and perfectly curled. (Why is it that boys always get the amazing lashes???) Just the other day he would say mama as just another one of his babbling noises and then the next day it was like he figured out what it meant. Now he says mama when he wants me! It's so cute.....well he might be over using it a bit. He says it when he wants to nurse, when he wants to be held, when he gets hurt, and when he's hungry. So it's a lot, but still cute. I'm counting this as his first word even though it's a toss up between Mama and Hi.

Austen didn't really like bath time much when he was new, he learned to tolerate it by about 3 months, and by 5 or 6 months he didn't love it, but he liked it. He would splash around a little, but he was mostly all business. Then one day about a month ago he discovered that he could play in the tub. Now he loves it and I can't get him to hold still while I get him clean. He loves it so much that when I take him out he screams at me and then he scowls the whole time I'm getting him lotioned up and dressed. Here's some cute pics of tubby time.

And here's the scowl I get for taking him out.

When I'm cooking dinner, I used to put Austen in his highchair to keep him contained so I wouldn't have to worry about what he was getting into. Well, that was before he discovered that he could still open some of the kitchen cupboards (we didn't put latches on all of them). Now he refuses to be in his highchair. He would rather be mommy's little helper and do this:

This year I decided to brave the madness and go Christmas shopping on Black Friday. My sisters and I got in line at Toys R Us at 11:15pm and waited in the cold until almost 2am just to get inside the store. We didn't think they were going to have anything left, but I think we all ended up getting just about everything we had gone there for. It was pure insanity. Austen was at home with a tummy ache, so when Brian called and said Austen had been screaming for the past hour and a half I had to leave my poor sisters there to fend for themselves. Luckily I had already put the toys I wanted into our overflowing cart, so they stayed and got my stuff for me! They ended up having to wait in the checkout line for 2 hours!!! I owe them! I got some really good stuff though, so it might have been worth it. I got Austen this super cute activity walker and I was so excited for him to have it that I couldn't wait until Christmas. We ended up getting it out for him the next day, but I'm really glad we gave it to him early because he's at the perfect stage for it. It has a little phone on it and he takes it off and holds it up to his head. It's so funny!!! He's also started doing that with the remote which makes me think I talk on the phone too much!

He figured out the walker part instantly!!! I was so surprised. He had no fear, he just took off. In a matter of a few hours he had taught himself how to control his speed and also how to back up when he gets stuck. He is the ultimate problem solver!!! The only bad thing is that with all of his walking and crawling he's starting to lose some of his squishyness. His rolls are disappearing and it makes me so sad!

Mommy's Little Helper

Austen is now ten months old and up to a lot of new things. He can now clap and does so often and he also has started to whistle. It's very cute!! He loves to follow me around the house and "help" with whatever I'm doing. If I'm doing my makeup, well then he's going to play with my makeup (don't worry Brian, I barely ever put makeup on anyway). If I'm in the kitchen cooking, then he's emptying the cupboards....the one's that don't have a saftey latch. I generally think it's cute even if it is a little messy, but the other day when I was in the bathroom and turned around just in time to see him throwing his bath toys in the toilet, well that wasn't so cute!!! I also thought it was cute that he was "helping" me sort the laundry until he decided to crawl in between the washer and dryer and get stuck. (Pictures to follow.)
I kind of thought Austen was showing signs of being an early walker, but he seems to have digressed in that area. When he was just doing the army crawl he was very interested in walking, but now that he has gotten the regular crawl down he has lost interest in walking. He just crawls too fast to be bothered with something new I guess.
Austen loves Sophie and she is starting to think he's alright now that he can open her toy cupboard and sort of play with her. They like to play tug of war and she keeps hoping he'll throw her ball. When he does get her ball he tries so hard to throw it, but it only goes a few inches....not far enough for her to even bother with though.

The other night he fell asleep on the couch. I don't know why I think it's so cute....maybe because it's sooo his daddy.Here he is playing with the mop. I shortened the handle all the way so he could push it and he thought that was the best toy ever!!!

Stuck in between the washer and dryer.

He crawled in and then realized he couldn't turn around to get out.

It was a tight squeeze....I could barely get him out!

I Guess This Is What Happens.......

When you leave the Dad in charge.Spilled finger puffs everywhere!!!He "somehow" got the whole container and dumped them in his lap and on the floor. Sophie was in heaven and Austen was fascinated by Sophie eating them all.

I'm sure there are bigger messes to come!!! Yesterday I caught Austen throwing his bath toys in the toilet and today he got himself stuck between the washer and dryer. He is seriously the most curious kid in the world and it doesn't help that he is smarter than me. He finds his way around every contraption I come up with to keep him in one room. He is busy, busy, busy!!!

HaLLoWeEn

It's obviously Austen's first Halloween and needless to say I was really excited to dress the little guy up. I bought his costume a year ago when I was 6 months pregnant, but it was so cute that I couldn't pass it up. It's a cute bat outfit and luckily it totally fits his personality. (And by some miracle it fit him physically as well.....I bought it before I knew I was going to have a little giant on my hands.) He didn't mind the costume and was just happy as could be so I thought we would have a fun time trick or treating, but throw in the cold and the fact that bed time was nearing and trick or treating turns out not to be so fun for a 9 month old. We went down both sides of one street and then he was done, but he got to go to a few houses AND he was even holding his little pumpkin bucket for people to put candy in. It was a really fun evening and I can't wait for next year because I think it will be even more fun.

Here's our cute little bat. (Notice all the pics are blurry. Aparently he is a very busy bat!!!)

I had him in the stroller at first, but that didn't last too long.

He turned to the side at the last second in this pic, but he has such a cute smile in it that I had to post it.

And......he's done!! Had enough of that!

Austen goes to the doctor tomorrow for his flu shot booster so I'll find out how much he currently weighs and put it on my next post. I'm always fascinated by how quickly this guy can put on the pounds. (About as fast as his mom after all this Halloween candy.)

The Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch and picked out our pumpkins to carve. It was a nice warm day which made it even more fun. Austen and daddy took a long time picking out the perfect pumpkins and then we took them home and carved them. Well Brian and I carved them and Austen sat and watched. He won't be participating in the carving for a while.....if ever. I'm not sure I'll ever let him have a knife.

The pictures loaded backwards for some reason, but here is the finished product. Mine is on the right, Brian's on the left, and Austen's in the middle.
Here's the cute pics of the pumpkin patch.

Austen is going to be a bat for Halloween and yes, we are going to take him trick-or-treating for as long as he'll last. I can't wait to see him all dressed up!!!