Is This Normal?

Being that Austen is my only child, I'm never really sure if he is normal or not. I'm constantly calling my mom and sisters to ask them what they think. I'm not sure about this one though....

Is it normal that Austen has no idea he's a kid????

He's just started wanting to do everything "by himself" which is great, but also requires a lot of patience from a mom.
So far our biggest battle is him wanting to get himself in and out of the highchair. I think it's too dangerous (the broken arm is still fresh in my mind) and he thinks he should be able to do it without me, so when I won't let him, he gets a little upset.
He's not easily distracted by anything, especially not food so he carries on with his wounded pride complaining for a while.
I'm sure there are more battles to come......a lifetime of them.

Oh well, for now they are manageable.

Here's my cute little man in his new sunglasses.

And playing Call Of Duty with his dad.....because if Dad can do it why can't he, right?
(In his mind anyway)

Countdown To 2

Two years ago today I was super pregnant, in fact today was my due date.

I'll save myself the embarrassment and not post a picture of that.
It wasn't pretty.

Anyway, as Austen's 2nd birthday approaches, I've been thinking about the day he was born quite frequently.
That day felt like an awakening.
I had no idea how much he would change the very core of me and just how much I would love him.
The last two years have gone by in a flash, but when I try to remember my life before him it's impossible.
I'm so excited to celebrate this milestone with him! This year more than last year even because he seems to "get it" this time and he's excited about it.
(When I tell him it's almost his birthday, he says "YESSSSS presents".)

So, while I'm sad to see him grow up so quickly I'm also excited to see the person he's becoming.

In 3 days we get to officially celebrate him turning 2.
(Even though he acts like he turned 2 months ago.)
We've been counting down the days.
I'm not sure who's more excited me or him.

Plus we got him a really cool present that he is going to love and I can't wait to give it to him!

Obsessed!

I can't remember if I've mentioned Austen's biggest obsession or not, but if I have mentioned it in passing it has since gotten worse.......much worse. He eats, sleeps, and breathes Toy Story!!!
I'm not kidding either. He HAS to watch it while he's eating (while holding his Woody Doll). He talks about it in his sleep, he's even had a nightmare about the part where Woody's arm falls off in #2. In fact Toy Story 2 has since been black listed because Woody's arm gets ripped while playing and then Andy says "Oh you're broken, I don't want to play with you anymore". Austen went around for days saying "play anymore" with his sad little pouty lip and actual tears in his eyes! I explained to him that Woody's arm got fixed and even showed him that his Woody doll was perfectly fine, but he was too traumatized by it to let it go, so I had to shelve that one for a while. Don't worry, he still has #1 and #3 to be obsessed with.

In #1 there is a bad kid that blows toys up and tortures them for fun, most kids don't like Sid (his name). Austen, however thinks Sid is hilarious. I'm a little disturbed by that.

Anyway, he quotes the movie all the time and does funny little things and then says (Woody doed that). And that's not a typo, he says doed instead of does. Cute!

He still finds time to be creative though, even with all that Toy Story on the brain.

He likes to put Woody in his dump truck and give him rides. He even tells Woody to hold on. And he makes car noises as he's pushing it around.

He brought his laundry basket out one day and filled it with his favorite stuffed animals. Then he climbed in with them and watched his movie. Notice the penguin pillow pet in the bottom of the basket.......he LOVES that thing. Thank you Grandma J!

And the most creative thing he's done lately......
He took one of the little cups from his play kitchen, scooped up some fresh snow from the porch in it, grabbed a spoon, and then brought it to the couch with his little "friends" and ate it like a snow cone.

I don't know where he gets his ideas from, but they are hilarious!

Our House Is Falling Apart

Our house is practically brand new as far as house age goes, I mean it's only five years old and everything is breaking. First our dishwasher started making this horribly annoying noise. It still worked just fine, but the noise was making me crazy, so we replaced it. Now our new dishwasher is a P.O.S. and doesn't even get the dishes clean! It's not the best dishwasher on the planet, but it's on the higher end of the scale, so I'm pretty pissed about it! (sorry for using that word Mom, but I am.)

A matter of days later, our microwave died. It just quit heating the food up. Come to find out one of the main parts has been recalled, so they'll give you the new part for free. I thought that was good news until I found out how much it cost to have someone actually install the part. It's cheaper to just buy a new microwave!!!

Brian always says these things happen in 3's, so I was waiting for our fridge or something to break.

It wasn't the fridge, but it was the ceiling fan in our family room. The thing just dropped out of its bracket one evening. It stayed attached to some cords so it didn't come crashing down, but it was about to. We had to rig it up with a ladder and some other stuff for the night until we could fix it. We were totally clueless as to how to fix it! We even had my younger brother rooting around in our attic on New Year's Eve trying to figure it out. Luckily my Dad showed up the next morning with his tools.

I was pretty sure this thing they did with the ladders wasn't safe, but no one fell.

They even let Austen feel like a big boy and help out with his new tools.

Hopefully Brian is right and since we hit our #3 we can be done with this crap for a while. (knock on wood for us.)

I Told You He Liked To Shower....

Now I just have to teach him it's a naked only activity.

Toys Toys Everywhere

Austen got so many toys for Christmas!!! He's in heaven and will go from one thing to the other all day. So far he hasn't picked a favorite, he likes them all equally.

Playing with his cash register from Grandma and Grandpa.
He loves it when I pretend to buy things from him and he loves to put the play money in his wallet.

He loves this mop and broom set we got him.

Bowling in the hall with Daddy.

His beloved tool bench from Grammy Linda.

His play kitchen from Aunt Taunya. Here he is boiling his passas.

And putting pizza in the microwave.

Christmas......Finally!

I was sooo excited for Christmas this year because Austen is old enough to really get it. He was super into the whole Santa thing even though I didn't really push it. On Christmas Eve we had an amazing and fun dinner at my sister's house. My Dad read the bible story and then we let the kids open a present.

Austen opening his customary pajamas and slippers.

He got about halfway through opening his gift and then he requested the vacuum to clean up his mess. He's so not normal!


Christmas morning was so amazing. I woke Austen up by telling him I thought Santa had come and he needed to come look . He was so excited. He jumped out of bed not quite fully awake and when he got out into the family room he was bewildered! Santa had set up all the toys so they were ready to play with and the dinosaurs he left were front and center. Austen just stood there for a while taking it all in. It was seriously a moment I will never forget. You could just see the wheels turning and it was so adorable.

Austen trying to process the scene.

He got the customary orange.

Pulling the goods out of the stocking.

We let him open a few presents before we had to take off for extended family stuff. Here he is having his new buzz lightyear toy help him open another present.

One of my favorite pictures ever!!! He's telling Grandpa thank-you for his present.

Austen and daddy in their Santa hats.

Austen got so many toys that he left 3 unopened presents under the tree. I kept telling him he could open them, but he said "no, all done". I think that means we did good, he just wanted to play with the stuff he already opened. I'm saving the rest for his birthday!!!