Our First Family Pictures

We finally got our family pictures done!!! After weeks of stressing about what outfits all of us should wear and lots of shopping for the perfect looks, we were ready for the big day. We were very lucky that my photographer of choice had an opening during her very busy wedding season and I'm so glad because the pictures turned out fabulous!!! The only problem I have now is deciding which ones to have blown up and framed....decisions, decisions. Here's some of my favs...I love the one on the right of Austen so much!

Isn't he the cutest?!?!

Get Comfortable

This is the longest post ever, but we have a lot of catching up to do! We have been doing a lot of fun stuff around here, but I haven't been faithfully blogging so this is going to be a catch up session. First things first...Brian thought it would be fun to drive up to Park City and go shopping for one of our Family Day Saturdays. I also thought that would be fun.....until I thought about how long the drive would be with a baby that hates the car. We decided that we would just try it and if he was too hysterical by the time we reached the mouth of the canyon then we would turn around and go home. Well, to both of our surprise he was perfect the whole way there (AND the whole way back, but we'll get to that in a minute). I hadn't been up to the outlet mall in Park City for a very long time and was excited about all the baby stores that are up there. We went in just about every store, bought a bunch of fall clothes for Austen, and after about 4 hours we decided to head home. I just have to say that Austen was perfect up there! He's the kind of kid that goes with the flow, I mean whatever we're doing he is happy. I think it helps that he loves to be in his stoller and he also loves to watch people, so for right now I guess shopping is one of his favorite pastimes. (Don't tell him that when he's older!) I was a little worried about the drive home because I knew he was tired and that's usually when he loses it in the car....he isn't one to sleep in his carseat, but he did. He slept the whole way home and never cried once. I think he might be growing out of his car hating because we haven't had any freak outs for a while now. (I hope I'm not jinxing it by saying something about it...we'll see.)
A couple days after we got home from our Park City outing I thought I would try some of the clothes on Austen just to make sure they weren't going to be too big to fit him in a few months. I was shocked when I put them on because most of them fit him already. I bought size 18-24 months. So here's to hoping that he'll be as good in the car this time when I have to drive back up there to return all the clothes. I really don't know what I'm going to do for fall because he is too fat for infant clothes, but not tall enough for toddler clothes. Taunya suggested I buy 2T (that's intended for a two year old for those of you who don't know) and just hem the pants. I don't really know how to sew except for in a straight line and I'll be honest the lines I sew aren't even straight, so anyone that wants to volunteer feel free....anyone?

Another fun thing we did was to take Austen to his first baseball game. It was a perfect summer night and so fun. Austen was perfect as usual and when he got tired he just pulled his blanket over his head (I don't know why he likes that, it makes me crazy) and fell asleep. I thought it was so funny because the announcer was really loud and so was the crowd, but he slept right through it. I got some really cute pictures with my new cell phone, but I ended up having to take that phone back (that's an entirely different story) so all those pictures were lost. :(

Don't worry, I'm almost done! Keep reading because there are cute pictures ahead.

Austen is sooo not a Nelson for at least one reason.....he isn't bald. All my sisters and even my sister-in-law have bald babies and they stay that way for at least their first year. Not Austen! At barely 6 months old he was in desperate need of a haircut. I didn't know what to do or even who to take him to, but my sister-in-law Melissa was nice enough to help us out. I took Austen over to her house for his very first haircut! I thought he would be scared of the clippers, but he really wasn't and he didn't even cry until the very end and that was just because he was done sitting there.

Here's his before pic.

The cutting begins. He kept wanting to turn his head and see what was making that noise.

Look close at his face on this one. I think it's so funny...he's cringing.

And finally... the after pic. (This was taken by my cute 7 year old neice hence the blur) The before and after pics don't really do it justice, but it made a HUGE difference.

Oh and one last pic just because. I walked in to check on Austen the other day during naptime and this is how he was sleeping, Too funny!

6 Months Old

We've made it to another mile stone!!! I can't actually believe he is already 6 months old, but the calendar says it's true so I guess I have to. On the big day, Brian came home from work early with balloons for the little man. It was sooo cute to see Austen watch them...we tied them to his wrist and he thought it was fascinating that they followed him wherever he rolled.

Here's a cute pic of him rolling around with his balloons.
Daddy and Austen....notice Austen can't quit looking at his balloons.

Austen is doing a bunch of new stuff this month. He is still eating his rice cereal, but now he loves it and he'll open his mouth for the spoon. He also gets pretty excited when he knows he's about to get fed which is totally cute! He's not quite to crawling yet, but I can tell he's getting closer. He pivets in a circle on his tummy and he will scoot forward to a toy, but only if he really wants it. He tries to sit up wherever I put him, but since he isn't fully stable while sitting this has resulted in a little mishap with his bouncy chair....let's just say I ALWAYS buckle him in now. He is still yelling a lot, but now he has added really cute cooing and jabbering along with it. I love, love, love it when he looks at me while I'm talking and then responds with jabbering. It's like he thinks he's talking to me....SOOOOO cute! He's started jumping around in his stationary jumper (I think that is the best thing I have ever bought him!) and I got it on video, but I haven't figured out how to post those yet. Maybe I'll figure it out soon and then you can see him in action. Anyway, that's pretty much the latest with him. There should be a lot of stuff happening with him in the next couple months, so stay tuned!

Monkeys and More

Saturday is still Family Day around here and coming up with fun things to do is getting a little harder. My newest great idea was to take Austen on his first trip to the zoo. I know you're thinking the zoo in July is not fun, but we actually had a cloud covered day so we took advantage. We got there in the afternoon which it turns out is feeding time, lucky us! It was really fun getting to watch all the animals eat. The pengiuns got their lunch thrown in the water, but for some reason none of them would jump in which was really weird, but amusing to watch. Austen's favorite, by far, was the giraffe. They were inside their indoor enclosure eating and he stared at them for quite a while. He was also pretty into the gorilla that came right up to the glass to eat his lunch and the elephant that had to get his food from a hanging contraption. I was surprised how into the animals he was because I thought he might be too young for the zoo, but he really seemed to like it. I think once it cools off a bit we will be there a lot more often....with or without Brian. (He thinks if you've seen it once, that's enough)

Here's a pic of us watching the gorilla. We were just standing there in the shade and he decided to come sit in the corner to eat lunch. I've never seen one that close and Austen thought it was pretty neat too.

An old zoo tradition....seeing how you measure up through the years.

I'm No Longer Enough!

It's finally happened....Austen has moved on to real food. I'm still breastfeeding of course, but it's not enough. I am sad, but at the same time I know he's ready and I need sleep! He stopped sleeping through the night because he was getting too hungry, so I knew it was time for rice cereal. I waited a week longer than I should have, but I really wanted Brian to be there to see it and also to document it. The following pictures are thanks to him because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to take pictures while trying to coax Austen into opening his mouth and holding down his arms all at the same time.
At first he wasn't sure about what was in his mouth and would only swallow it because he didn't know what else to do with it. He made some very funny, confused looking faces! He also didn't really get that he should open his mouth for the spoon. The only way he has ever eaten isby sucking, so he would put his mouth up to the spoon and then suck. It was very cute.

Brian wasn't expecting it to be this messy.

Afterwards he was really happy. I think he forgot what it felt like to be really full. He only stayed awake for about 20 min and then he was out.

He's been on the rice cereal for about a week now and he has really started to get the hang of the whole eating thing. He's been thinking it's quite funny to get the food in his mouth and then spit it everywhere, so we still have some work to do, but all in all he's been doing good. I haven't gotten to sleep for the whole night yet though becuase we are still on once a day feedings, but I am looking forward to the day when I can get him really full before bed and sleep for 10 hours! (I doubt that will happen, but I can hope!)

Fun on The Fourth

Austen's first Fourth of July was so much fun! I convinced Brian that he didn't actually need to go golfing considering he had just been the day before and was planning to go the day after. Instead I talked him into going to the Sandy City festivities. I thought it was going to be so much fun.....then I found out that the parade didn't start for hours, it was super hot, and not that much fun for anyone under the age of two or over the age of seven. Since none of us fit into that demographic, it was pretty much just a walk around some booths. Austen fell asleep in his stroller and Brian and I walked around looking at all the crap they were selling. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as much fun as I had hoped. Later we met my family at the high school for fun and fireworks. We got there pretty early so we had a lot of time to play around. (This was the fun part of the day) It was so fun to have EVERYONE there, all the cousins were so cute running aroung playing! Austen loved watching them and getting held by all his Aunts. Everyone was commenting on how heavy he is and he even got a new nickname of "cream puff" thanks to Aaron.

Our cute family

Here's some pics of Austen from before the fireworks. I wasn't quite sure how he would react to the fireworks or the missed bedtime (he loves his bed), but he was fine. He actually really liked the fireworks and wasn't fussy at all. See... he really IS a good baby.

Me and my sweetie



I couldn't leave this pic out. It's too cute!

Brian didn't have a heart attack from all the kids touching Austen and we didn't have to leave early, so overall is was a good time. AND we got some really cute pics of Austen's first Independence Day.

Feet in the Morning Feet at Night

Left foot

Left foot

Left foot

Right

Dr. Suess The Foot Book

The newest thing in Austen's world is his FEET! He has found them and he loves them! He grabs his feet all the time...when I'm trying to change his diaper (see below image), when I'm giving him a bath, when he's supposed to be going to sleep, even when I'm putting on pajamas. He just thinks of them as a built in toy. He has even started to suck on his big toe. At first I thought that was gross, but I guess it's ok since his feet are probably cleaner than his hands....at least until he starts walking. I don't have any pics of the toe sucking yet, but here is a pic of him holding his feet while I was trying to change his diaper. (Also notice the very impressive thighs. They are almost as cute and squishy as his cheeks. I love to sqeeze both, but his thighs are very ticklish and when I sqeeze them I usually get a laugh.)His other new favorite thing is his little stuffed monkey. My mom got him this cute little stuffed monkey that he loves to grab and hug. He also loves to bury his face in it which is totally cute. I used to keep the monkey on top of his Curious George books until it became too much of a distraction while he was getting his diaper changed. Now the monkey has a new place, but here's a pic of what used to happen before the monkey moved.
It's very hard to change a diaper when he is rolling around to grab something.


And here's what happens when he finally gets the monkey. I love, love, love this pic!