Austin at the doctor

We found out at the doctor's office that Austin loves to play with paper and look at himself in the mirror.

Belly laugh!

Austin belly laughed for the first time at Wal-Mart last night and I had to share. It is the sweetest thing ever!

Happy Half Birthday!

You're six months old and we love you more and more each day.

Here are a few new things about you:

-You love to eat. I make all your baby food and your favorite is definitely sweet potatoes. You also love bananas and applesauce. You're not a big fan of green beans.
-You love sitting in your high chair and eating little snacks. You like peach yogurt melts and banana puffs. You try so hard to feed yourself but the darn things get stuck to your hands. You'll get it soon.
-You're so close to crawling. You scoot all across the floor and will prop yourself up on your hands. We'll be baby proofing our
apartment soon.
-You have the sweetest personality. You love your Daddy so much. Seeing his face makes you smile. Your favorite thing is when he throws you up in the air. It makes Mommy cringe but you love it and I know that he will catch you every time.
-You love your Mommy too. I can feel it so much when you're content in my arms when I'm rocking you. Sometimes you like to hold my hand when we're watching TV or when you're riding in the shopping cart. You just reach out and grab my finger. It warms my heart. I'm not going to lie. There's been some tough days but it's all been worth it.
-You are so close to having some teeth and boy, we will be so thankful when they get here. Sometimes they really bother you.
-You had your first ear infection...and we didn't even know. We took you in for your six month check up and the doctor told us. I guess that explained some of the days when you were more fussy than usual.
-You love your froggy bouncer. You have liked it for awhile but not that your feet touch and you can actually bounce it's like a whole new world has opened up.
-You have definitely taken after me in that you're not much of a morning person (as you can tell in this picture) but you looked so cute in your overalls and messy hair.
-By far, the biggest change in our life is that you started going to daycare about 6 weeks ago. Your Tio Joey, Tia Melissa, and Samantha decided to move back to Roswell so we had to find somewhere for you to go during the day while we work. I will always be thankful that Melissa took care of you for the first 4 1/2 months of your life. It was hard leaving you at first but it would have been so much harder if you were only 6 weeks old. So, thank you Melissa! It's amazing how God walked in front of us and prepared the perfect place. You go to Peppermint Plantation and it has worked out great! Your teachers are so precious and they love you to pieces. There's a rumor going around that you already have a girlfriend. Her name is Allison and she is adorable. I see an arranged marriage in your future.
-Your first Easter was this weekend. You looked like such a little gentleman. I don't think you were a very big fan of the tie, but you wore it like a champ. We went to Sundown, Texas and celebrated the resurrection of Jesus with your family there. You have lots of cousins there so it was very fun. Tio Isac and Tia Lucy have a swing in their backyard and you loved it! There was an Easter egg hunt after church and you were pretty fussy so we didn't participate this year. But you sure enjoyed checking out Luis' eggs.

-We went to the mall in Lubbock on Saturday and I didn't have your stroller so I rented a little cart. I wasn't sure how you were going to feel about it but saying you enjoyed it would be an understatement. You drove all around the mall and had so much fun.

-You still love taking baths and you finally had enough hair for your first shampoo mohawk. There will be many more to come.

We love you so much Austin Brynn.

4 months old!

Austin is 4 months old. We cannot believe how much he has changed and grown in these few short months. Our life is a whole lot of crazy all smushed together, but we wouldn't change a bit of it.

Austin is now rolling from his back to his tummy and his tummy to his back. He's so smart. We found out yesterday that he is in the 90th percentile for the size of his head. It's because he's got so much knowledge and wisdom up there.

He is still staying with his Tia Melissa (that's Aunt Melissa) during the day. He and Samantha have a fun time together. She tries to climb into his car seat. Sometimes he's still in it!

We had some awful cold weather. We could have thrown Austin off a cliff at the Grand Canyon and he would have been fine because he was wrapped in so many layers of clothes and a bunch of blankets. (Okay--that's a complete exaggeration. We would never do that. My heart is beating really fast just thinking about that. Ha!)

Austin has become very fond of his feet. He will grab them and roll from side to side and when he is in the tub, he likes to chew on them. I blacked out his little boy parts but it's not like he cares. He prefers to be naked.

Austin and Pumba have come to be friends. Pumba will go check on him when he cries and sometimes will go lay next to him during tummy time, which has gotten much better. Since Austin can lift his head and look around he has a pretty good time when he's on his tummy. On Wednesday, Austin was feeling pretty crummy (he has a cold) so I took off the afternoon from work and brought him home. I put him on his tummy (between naps) and Pumba came right over and laid down next to him. This is the closest they have ever been to each other and Austin had such a ball with him. I caught a few precious pictures. These pictures remind me of that song "Let me tell ya bout my best friend..."

Austin has also come to like sitting up. We were getting ready for church on Sunday and I put him in his Boppy so he could sit up and watch and he loved it! It's like he has his own recliner. He goes to the nursery when we go to church and does really well. Last week was his second week there and as soon as we walked in, one of the workers looked at him and said "Hi Austin. We're glad to have you back". Talk about impressed! She had only met him once and remembered his name. We have finally settled into a church and are excited to get plugged in. We never realized how important is was to make visitors feel welcome until we became the visitors. Austin wants to tell you what he learned in Sunday School.

He went to the doctor yesterday for his 4 month check up. He is 15 lbs. 12 oz. and is 26 inches long. He has grown 4 1/2 inches in 4 months! He is in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. The doctor said that he is doing well and we can start him on solid food! Since he wasn't feeling very well from his shots yesterday (4 in one leg and 2 in the other) we decided to wait until tonight to feed him his very first solid food. We're starting with rice cereal. I'll let you know how it goes.

He is just the best looking kid around and we love him to pieces!

Austin laughing at his Daddy

Austin says Hi!

Growing Boy

It is unbelievable how much Austin has changed in 14 1/2 short weeks. In the first picture he is 2 1/2 days old. In the second picture he is 14 1/2 weeks. He has turned into such a sweet boy. He has such a funny personality. He talks...alot. While I was getting ready for work this morning, he was in his bouncer outside the bathroom door and he talked...and talked...and talked. It was so fun to try to decide what he was telling me. I was having a good hair day so I'm sure he was complementing me. He has already outgrown so many of his clothes. He's over 15 lbs. and is very tall. I think we've got a big boy on our hands. Since he was born almost a toddler it makes sense.

His onesie in this picture says "I might be small but I'm still a big deal". How true this is. I knew that our life was going to drastically change when he came along but I had no idea. There's no "running to the grocery store" anymore. I've got to make sure he's dressed, check his diaper bag, make sure he's fed and got a clean diaper, etc. But, we would not change a thing. Life is so good. I constantly
remind Austin of that fact when he is crying his little heart out.

I missed his 3 month update but here are a few new things:
-Austin can stand up! We just have to hold his hands so he can balance.
-He is so strong. We found this out when he had a chunk of my hair in his hands and it required both of his parents to get my hair free. I do believe I have a small bald spot.
-He eats pretty well. I am still nursing him and it has not been an easy road for the past few weeks but we fought it out and things are better. He prefers his bottle because it's not as much work. We have had many discussions about how Momma's milk is so much better than formula and since I don't want to have to exclusively pump (Ick!) he better eat from me.
-He still loves bath time. I caught this little jewel during his bath last night. He loves to splash around. Apparently he just splashed himself in the face and was pretty surprised.
-He wears 0-3 month onesies, 3-6 month pants, and 6-9 month pajamas. Crazy kid. Couldn't make it easy on me, could ya?
-He still hates tummy time. I mean, really hates it. He will last for maybe 30 seconds but sometimes I just let him cry because he needs to strengthen those muscles for when he starts to crawl. He will pull up his knees and scoot forward but hasn't figured out that he has to also move his arms so they get stuck and he does not appreciate it. I think we'll be baby proofing soon.
-We still haven't figured out how to sleep through the night. Most of the time he goes to sleep around 9:30 and wakes up at 4:30. Sometimes he goes back to sleep, sometimes he wants to play. We don't like those times. It makes for a very sleep Mommy and Daddy.
On a side note, I just want to publicly say how blessed I am that Austin has such an excellent Daddy. He loves him so much and would give him the moon. He also takes such good care of me and rotates with me on getting up during the night. Sometimes he has to tell me to sit down because things never seem done. I need that reminder that dishes can wait. He is the best husband and father around. (Clean up your puke. I'm done being mushy.)
-Austin is sleeping in his crib. It was not a hard transition at all! We started with putting him down for naps in his crib and graduated to night time. We are so proud of our big boy.
-Jeff and Kristen (brother in law and sister) came for the weekend last week. We had such a ball. Something amazing happened on Saturday morning. Austin woke up and his Auntie came and got him and I slept until 11:00. Yes, 11:00. It was a little slice of Heaven. Thank you Auntie KK!
-He's started giving us "the lip". I guess it's our fair warning that he is not happy and about to cry. I try not to laugh...but it's really cute.

I'll try to not go so long between blogs so I don't write a novel like this one. He goes back to the doctor for shots and check up on February 17th so I'll send you his "stats".