Lookin' For Trouble

I came out of the bedroom where I was putting away laundry to find this

(I've given this pic the title: "Lookin For Trouble")

Another pic of him in the dryer.

This is quickly becoming a very cool place to play.

We got quite sick around here last week. It coincided with Austen's second tooth breaking through, so you can imagine how fun it's been. It also happened a couple of days after his shots which I think added to the grumpy-ness. He had a pretty bad cough along with a slightly runny nose. I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure he had a case of RSV. I had all the adult version symptoms too which are different from just regular rhino virus. There was a couple times where his breathing really scared me, but it wasn't ever bad enough to take him in, so the RSV thing is unconfirmed. Anyway, he's finally starting to feel better and sleep better too.....thankfully! He went on a hunger strike last week and I'm not sure if it had to do with the sickness or if it was just him being stubborn. All he wanted to eat was string cheese and raisins. He finally started eating better yesterday, so I thought I would give him a little taste of some ice cream I was eating. He love, love, loved it!!! Today we went to Coldstone, so I gave him another taste and he got so excited he was yelling and bouncing up and down. I think it's his new favorite thing.

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We finally had a warm day, so we headed over to the playground. Ever since Austen started walking I've been wanting to take him. At first he wasn't quite sure about walking on the wood chips, but after a while he warmed up to the idea and was actually having fun. He went down the small slide a few times (with help of course) and then wanted to climb up the slide by himself. He only made it half way up, but he still had fun doing that over and over. We tried the swing and he wasn't really loving it, so we'll see if he warms up to it next time.

Picking up wood chips.

I think I said "not in your mouth" about 1,000 times.

This is the "are you serious with all the pictures" face.
He had a fun day with some cousins at the play ground and we can't wait until it's warm enough so we can go back!

Smartest Baby Ever

I know it's annoying when people brag about how smart their kids are, but I'm going to do it anyway.

Because it's my blog

And if you don't like it, you can skip this post!

That being said, now we can get to why I think Austen is so smart.

He is my little problem solver....if there is something he wants, he will figure out a way to get it. I don't really like to admit this, but he can even outsmart me and has done so on several occasions. His problem solving rivals some adults'!!! I'm in a good mood so I won't name names, but trust me it does.

Just this weekend he learned another sign to add to his sign language repertoire. For those of you keeping track, he now knows how to sign milk, more, and all done. We are now working on hungry, drink, and Grandma.

He also figured out how to throw. It was really cute to see how excited he was when he finally did it. (He's been trying for weeks, but never seemed to know how to actually let go when the time came.) Now he throws EVERYTHING.....toys, shoes, the remote (which we finally found by the way.....after we already ordered a new one. All I'm gonna say is maybe I should do the laundry more often ....).

The real reason I have been so blown away by him lately is how he has been playing. It's shocking to see him do things that I had no idea he even knew about. For example he got a pad of paper and a highlighter out of the desk drawer, set the paper on the ground and was pretending to scribble on it. The highlighter has a lid, so that's why I say he was pretending. I couldn't believe it.....I didn't think he knew what any of that stuff was for, but I guess he watches me closer than I think. We gave him an empty water gallon and he pretended to pour it into a cup, then pretended to drink out of the cup. I was amazed! Here's some cute pics of him pretending to pour the water into his cup.

Now he's pretending to drink it.

He's started to close his eyes in anticipation of the flash, so all my pictures look like this one lately. His Dad let him have some licorice for the Superbowl.



Sharing the candy with Daddy.

Here he is with his new favorite thing that he stole from Grandma's house. I swear you can buy all the toys in the world, but they just want to play with garbage.

He uses it as a walking stick sometimes, but he also will put it up to his mouth and make noises into it. Very cute!

He loves to help me do laundry!! Here he is pushing the basket from the bedroom to the laundry room.

Notice the concentraion.....he takes his work very seriously.

Next Time I'll Bring Ear Plugs

We just got back from Austen's 12 month well child visit and Austen definitely remembers the Doctor's office and what goes on there. WOW!! He screamed from the second we got there until the second we left. Not only was he screaming, he was also trying to get away which was really fun for me trying to hold him, calm him, and listen to what the Doctor was saying. Poor kid.....not only was he traumatized just by being there, but he also had to get five shots. It was awful!! He doesn't have to go back for 6 months, so in the meantime I'm hoping he'll forget he hates that place. Like the title says, I think next time I'll take some ear plugs.....for the Doc.

Austen has pretty much abandoned the whole crawling thing for walking. He's getting pretty fast now so there's really no need to crawl. He's started doing this crazy thing where he'll lay down on his tummy on the carpet and do this fake laugh thing (I think that's to get my attention) all while petting the carpet. He thinks it's hilarious!! Here's some pics:

We've been trying a bunch of new foods and I'm discovering that he's pretty picky and he has to have things a few different times before he will decide if he likes it or not. Last night I gave him a little piece of cooked broccoli and he absolutely HATED it. No need to try again! He was trying to get all the little pieces out and was making an awful face. He used to not really be that into apple juice, but now he's decided he likes it so he's been drinking that and water out of a big boy cup. He has also decided that he loves raisins......I think raisins might be the new bananas.

Here's a few random pics. It's been hard to get a good picture of him lately because he never stops moving! If I can get him to focus and look at the camera he's usually tyring to grab it.

Classic Austen "sad" face.

Lately he loves to knock his toys over and crawl on them....must be a boy thing.

Not only does he open the drawer under the dryer, but now he likes to climb in.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

With Austen turning 1 this past week I have spent a lot of time thinking about our life this past year. I love to remember Austen's fabulous entrance into this world and all that has transpired since. It has certainly been an adventure!! So in honor of Austen I thought we'd take a look back. Here's some cute pics of him from his first day home from the hospital to his 6 month photo shoot.

First full day home (5 days old)
Exactly one month (and already not fitting in the infant tub..haha)


Two months (first smile caught on camera)

Three months (Finally enjoying the concept of stretching out)

Four months (he was a thumb sucker, but he has since decided the passa is way better)

Five months (I swear he was the happiest baby ever!)

Six months (Ahhh the rolls....I miss those)

WOW!!! A Year Already?

Austen,
I can't believe that you've been in my life for a whole year already. The time goes by so fast and yet I can't imagine my life without you. You have taught me more about life and love in twevle short months than I had managed to learn in my previous 26 years. You are my everything! I am so blessed to be your mom and all I can really say is thank you for picking me.

You are constantly amazing me and making me laugh.....usually at the same time. There is so much to love about you, but at your current stage I'm really loving that:
-You HATE blankets when you're sleeping....no matter how many times a night I cover you up, you always kick them off.
-You get so excited that you start to dance when you see a banana or tapioca pudding.
-You make singing sounds when you're trying to fall asleep.
-You not only love to stick everything in your own mouth, but you also love to put stuff in my mouth, your dads mouth, and even the dogs mouth.
-I find things shoved into any little nook and cranny (I just pulled a starbucks cup sleeve out of the printer and I'm pretty sure I haven't even found everything you've put down the heater vents, not to mention the T.V. remote has been missing for six days now despite our best attempts to find it).
-And what I'm loving most about you at this stage is how when we snuggle you fit perfectly in my nook.
I love every single day with you and I can't wait for what's yet to come.


On Austen's big day we went to the Aquarium and then had cake. It was a very fun day, so I took lots of pics.....enjoy.

We gave him some new pacifiers that he wasn't quite sure about.

He kept taking it out to inspect it.

He loved all the bright fish at the Aquarium.

In the canoe at the Aquarium. He didn't want to get out!

Looking at a huge snake.

Worn out when it was time to go.

Opening his gift from his Great Grandma J.

My attempt at making a rocket ship cake.....the M&Ms started bleeding.

He wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake.

He figured it out though.

After he had eaten his fill of cake we immediately had to stick him in the tub. It was everywhere...he even got some on the dog.

We Have A Tooth!!!

And it only took a year!! His first tooth finally broke through and judging from his behavior today I think another one is already on it's way. They were just taking their time coming in and now they're all going to come in at once I think. Oh well, it's better to get it over with.....poor little guy. He gets VERY clingy and whiney which makes me think he's got to be pretty uncomfortable.

Austen has found a new lookout spot. He loves to sit on the fireplace hearth and check out the whole family room. It's pretty cute to watch him get situated up there because he hasn't figured out how to sit down from standing yet so he sort of crawls with one leg on and one leg off until he can sit. (That probably doesn't make any sense to you unless you've seen him in action.) I got a few good pics of him up on his perch, but I loved this one...he's all business. Mr. Serious!!!

Here's one of him walking. It's very cute and robotic.

This one's blurry, but it gives you a view of what I see all day.


I was trying to get a good pic of him smiling and laughing, but everytime I held up the camera he got his serious face.....kinda looks a little mug shot-ish. Oh well, it's still cute!

Childproof???

What does that even mean??? Austen is still into everything, but he's actually learned what "no" means and he's pretty obedient. He has however learned to undo the child safety latches on the cupboards (he figured that out about a month ago and it's been interesting...) and he loves to get into the fridge. He can't open the fridge yet, thankfully, but as soon as I open it he puts his head down and crawls as fast as he can towards the fridge. (He puts his head down when he wants to crawl fast....maybe it's more aerodynamic???) It's kind of funny though because now when I need something out of the fridge I have to get it out really fast so I can have the door shut by the time he makes it over to me. It's a race, but sometimes he wins....as you'll see below.

Austen has gotten so good at walking that he rarely crawls anymore. It's sad and fun at the same time. I love to see him walking around, but it's sad too....he's growing up so fast!

His other new thing is shutting doors. At first I thought it was funny, but now it seriously tests my patience!! He'll go in the laundry room or pantry or his bedroom and close himself in. When he realizes he's alone he'll start to cry, but when I try to open the door he gets mad and immediately slams the door. It's a bad cycle.

Here he is getting into the fridge. What you can't see is that he has climbed up onto the ledge so he's actually in the fridge.
He figured out how to open the drawer under the dryer where we keep all our clean rags and he loves to empty it out.


I had to include this pic of his latest battle wound even though he's making a weird face. I caught him while he was eating, but you can really see the bloody scratch right between his eyes. Learning to walk is a dangerous job. (He actually just scratched himself, but he keeps picking the scab and making it worse....at this point I'm beginning to wonder if it's ever going to heal.)

He's also been making these hilarious faces lately that involve sucking in his lips. It's really hard to get a good picture of it, so for now this one will have to do. It's not his most extreme lip sucking, but it's something.