Friday, November 30, 2012

Fun Visitors

On Thanksgiving weekend we had some fun visitors! My college friends, Kasey and Justin, were in San Diego for Thanksgiving weekend. They live in Arizona, but rented a house 2 miles away from us for Thanksgiving as a fun getaway.

They stopped by to hang out for a bit on Friday night. We picked up pizza and let the kids run around. Their sweet daughter, Parker, is about 2 months older than Austin and is such a doll.

It is always a breath of fresh air to see old friends. So much to catch up on and never enough time!

Kasey and Justin, thank you so much for spending time with us. We loved meeting Bennie too - she is the best!




Thursday, November 29, 2012

13 Months

This post is long overdue! I decided to quit taking the monthly sticker pictures since it started to seem like a monthly wrestling match. I loved having them his first year, but was hard to get Austin to sit still in the chair the last few months! For my own memory I want to make sure I keep documenting Austin's monthly updates. Also, I've been surprised at how quickly I'm forgetting what happens at each stage with him. Someday when I'm brave enough to have a second child (not yet!!), I think I'll be glad I have these.

So, what's new at 13 months (and now really he is almost 14 months)?....
Skater boy!
We officially have a WALKER! Austin officially started walking (taking more than 2-3 steps) right around his 13 month birthday when Andy and I were in Florida for Pat and Patty's wedding. We came back from that short trip and he was cruising all over the place.
Every day he gets better and better and faster too. He's certainly had his fair share of bumps and falls since then, but usually gets right back up and keeps going.
Bossing around Grandpa and Dexter. He got it from his mama...
We also have quite a little talker on our hands. Some of Austin's favorite words are...ball, bird, bunny, "chhhh" = cheerios, baba (sippy cup/milk), awa = agua/water, book, boat, dad, mama, "ja"= Jessi, auto=car, "da"= Dexter, dog, woof, door, bye-bye, shoe, teeth, nose, where, there.
Disturbing amount of tennis balls found under our couch
His personality is showing more and more. He is definitely an extrovert and loves to laugh! If he is getting grumpy/fussy, a trip outside to visit friends usually perks him right up. Austin also loves to hug. He loves to hug the kids on our street and he will hug Dexter 20 times in a row. So sweet!
Notice a trend with his best friend here? Austin is really into Dexter. Dexter just uses him for Cheerios.
Along with the good is a little bad...Austin has started to throw little fits. He's bitten me on the shoulder and hand a few times and isn't afraid to show his frustration. When he really gets mad he's started banging on his mouth. He's also starting to push boundaries and will go all around the house and say "no" and point at whatever he is not supposed to touch, then will immediately touch/throw/pick up that thing (i.e., cookbooks on the shelf, TV remote, baby monitor on the table).

Playing with the cookbooks he's not supposed to touch.
We are also in the process of transiting to one nap. Some days he still takes 2, but it kind of depends on what is going on that day and how tired he seems. He was starting to completely boycott his morning nap, so we decided to give 1 nap a try and for the most part it is working. Today he slept from 1:30-4:40pm and happily went back to sleep around 7:30pm. He also took a short morning nap in the stroller around 10:30. We normally put him down for his nap around 12:45/1pm and he'll usually sleep until 3:00/3:30pm. I'm excited about the new schedule because I think it will allow us to get out and do more things in the mornings.

This month has had a few lows too - we all had a 24 hours stomach bug this month and have been to the doctor for 2 other unrelated issues - a busted lip and a bad cough. The day I had the stomach flu Austin fell in his crib while playing around and boycotting his morning nap and busted the inside of his lip/gums (right above his teeth). We didn't hear him fall, but he started crying a cry that seemed a little different than normal. Andy went in to get him and there was blood all over his sheets. We were freaked because we thought he may have thrown up blood. Andy put him in the bathtub and then we realized something was wrong with his tooth/lip. Thankfully, the doctor was able to get us in right away and Andy took him in. They put him on a liquid diet for a day, then he was fine. Next, he caught a cold, which turned into a nasty cough a week later, so we went back to the doctor exactly one week later. Welcome to cold and flu season with a baby/toddler, right?!

We sure do love our little guy and are trying to enjoy every phase!



Thursday, November 22, 2012

Cutest Train Party on the Block

Cottage Way does it again -- proves itself to be the best neighborhood ever!

Our neighbors, Amy and Dave, threw the coolest party for Billy's 3rd birthday last weekend. They rented a train and a wood fired pizza truck and the kids and adults all had a blast! From inside our house, it sounded like Disneyland arrived outside of our front door. It really was brilliant. Two hours of easy entertainment for the kids. They went around and around the block on the train and it never got old.

Here are a few pics. Hope its ok that I shared, Amy!







Thursday, November 8, 2012

Patrick is going to the Chapel....

And he's gonna get married! 

Andy and I are headed to West Palm Beach, Florida this weekend to celebrate Patrick and Patty's wedding. We can't wait! 
Patrick is one of Andy's very best friends from high school/college/life. They were best friends in high school, roommates in college and I know will be friends forever. I like to tease Andy now because they text each other every single day.

I took a trip down memory lane a few nights ago and dug out some old pictures of everyone. I laughed so hard going through all of these pics.

We can't wait to celebrate with you this weekend, tacopajo!
THE HIGH SCHOOL YEARS:
The Woodlands High School Pep Rally. Beat Conroe! 
Senior prom. Andy was my date.


THE COLLEGE YEARS...
Nerd Alert!
Andy and Pat's Mustang collection. I had to sort through about 1,000,000 car pictures in order to find a few people pics during the college years...

Haley, Jenna and my house in College Station before we moved in. 

Not sure, but funny. 

Andy, Pat and a few friends drove from Baylor to San Diego randomly on weekend and surprised Andy's mom and some friends.

The late college years. Apparently they went through a tough guy phase.

THE POST COLLEGE YEARS:

Our Wedding - 2007 

Houseboating - Lake Powell - 2009
Andy and Pat at Top Golf in DC this fall

In all seriousness, love these guys so much! What a blessing to have lifelong friends!


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Fall Family Pics

We had another fun photo session with the wonderful Melissa Parsons last weekend - http://www.melissaparsonsphotography.com. We met at Swami's beach in the early evening for pics. Austin was having no part of sitting still and smiling at the camera, so we spent most of our time walking with him in the water. He LOVED walking on the beach and didn't seem to mind that the water was freezing cold!

Here are a few pics. We had so much fun!












Saturday, November 3, 2012

Playing Around + Mini Sewing Project

Me and my boy playing on the computer on Halloween:

This was my October sewing project. Bought a 3 dollar shirt at Walmart and sewed on a pumpkin! Next project: little turkey shirt for Thanksgiving.

One more random pic before we go. Can't get enough of these jammies we got for Austin in Tahoe.


Friday, November 2, 2012

Halloween 2012

We had a fun Halloween this year! Much more fun with this year with a 1 year old vs last year with a 3 week old. I'm pretty sure we were just dazed and confused at this point last year.

Austin and I went to a party at Jess and Grace's house during lunch. It was so fun to see all of our friends dressed up. Jess, Rob and Grace just got bought a new home and its beautiful! She did such a great job hosting 10+ crazy babies and their moms.
The line up: May, Anderson, Austin, Lauren, Scarlett, Olivia, Lexi, Grace, Parker and Blake. Not pictured: Micah and Makenzie
This one cracks me up. So sorry Lauren!! Austin doesn't quite understand what is and isn't appropriate yet! 
I think I LOVE the outtakes more than the "good" pictures. Get anything good, Scarlett?
Next Up...The annual Cottage Way kids parade and block party. And by parade we mean....minivan blasting music and kids walking around behind it (aka: mass chaos). We had such a great turnout this year!
Attempt at a group shot. See uncooperative little astronaut to the far right.


Andy and sweet baby Knox. Cutest little nerd I've ever seen! So glad Shelby, Stone and Knox are our neighbors!
And an poor quality iphone pic, but one to remember. Dinner in the middle of the street post parade. Why not?! Don't have to worry about clean up!