Austin's 4 Month Update

Stats from your 4 month checkup:
Weight: 13lb 2oz (15%)
Length: 25 inches (52%) 

You're in the same percentile as your last appt, so growing steadily at the right pace.

You had to get 4 shots today at your appt :( You did great - you definitely screamed while getting the shots but calmed down quickly afterwards. They were running almost an hour behind today and you were a trooper even though we blew straight through nap time. 

You are wearing size 3-6month clothes and are definitely still tall and skinny. You get too long for your clothes way before you fill them out completley. You're in size 2 diapers, but I think we're close to moving up to size 3.

4 months is such a fun age! You are a social baby and love to chat and laugh with us. You are pretty happy and smiley 99% of the time. When you cry its usually with good reason. I'm hoping you are happy go lucky and relaxed like your Dad. When we are in big crowds or are out and about you just stare around quietly and take everything in. Every now and then you cry in a social setting if it gets too loud or if I laugh or talk too loud right by you....oops! 

Last week, you rolled over from your back to you belly then back over again onto your back. You did it over and over again that night, but have only done it a few times since then. You try to roll over in your crib but usually only make it onto your side. I'm not looking forward to you rolling over in there - one more thing to make me paranoid about! 

You love laying on your changing table and trying to grab your little feet and kick your legs while we change you. Yesterday you even started grabbing and banging around the things on your changing table. You grab you stroller toys and bring them straight to your mouth to chew. You usually have both of your hands or a toy shoved into your mouth ;) 

You sleep in your crib for all of your naps and at night...sometimes you take your late morning nap in your stroller if I take you for a walk then. And sometimes you take your afternoon nap in the Ergo if I feel like socializing outside in the afternoon instead of sitting inside (sorry, buddy, mama has to stay sane)! 

You also found your thumb recently and will suck on it to comfort yourself to sleep. I am actually so glad.   We unintentionally weaned you off of your pacifier when we were letting you cry it out to sleep, so this is a good alternative. You always have your thumb but those pacifiers are so easy to lose. 

I was so stressed last month about getting you on a schedule and, lo and behold, you put yourself on one...not because of anything I did, but just because you were old enough and were ready and probably because I decided to relax and let it go. Usually you eat at 6:30am, 9:30, 12:30, 3:30, 6, and 7:30or 8, then I feed you again before I go to bed at 10 or so (unless I fall asleep before that). Then you wake up once a night anytime between 1:30 and 5am - since the time is never the same, I usually give you 15 min or so to try to fall back asleep before feeding you. Every now and then you fall back asleep, but I think you are usually legitimately hungry. The Dr. said we should keep feeding you in the middle of the night until 6 months. At that point, if you aren't sleeping through on your own, we will do some sleep training. 

You've gotten better at napping and will usually take a decently long nap in the early morning and early afternoon and a short nap in the late morning and late afternoon. 

 Austin and his girlfriend, Grace. Grace and Austin were born 8 days apart. 

This month you got to meet most of the Darcy side of the family. Everyone flew in for Grandma Millie's service, so you had fun playing with all of your great aunts, uncles and 2nd cousins! In a few weeks, we are flying to Houston for work and to visit family , so you'll get to meet the Moffitt side soon! I'm a little nervous about flying with you, but you're quite the trooper and will probably do great. 

We are so looking forward to your 5th month of life. I wish time didn't go by so fast, but it sure is fun watching you grow and discover the world around you. If only I could protect you and keep you innocent forever...

Making Friends with Spot

Here is a little story about Spot...

Darcy children all had a stuffed toy Spot when they were little. Moffitt children did not - we were neglected....just kidding, mom and dad.

Austin got his first Spot for Christmas this year from GranJan and I am bound and determined to make it his favorite toy. Auntie Robin still sleeps with her Spot so it is very important that Austin learns to love Spot at a young age. Mama is trying, Robbie!

Andy with Spot when he was a kid....love the wallpaper ;) 

Buc-cee's

Saw this on Pinterest and laughed out loud....

Here is Austin is his Buc-cees onesie that Andy bought on our last Texas to San Diego road trip:

Judging by that double chin, Austin must have eaten too much fudge, Dr. Pepper and beef jerky at his last Buc-cees stop. 

For those of you non-Texans, Buc-cees is a HUGE gas station/convenience store in Texas. Think Wal Mart..tons of food, weird souvenirs, etc. And for some reason everyone stops at them even though it makes your pit-stop take 45 minutes instead of 10. 

Is it really almost February?

Crazy that its almost February 1st...it makes me happy and sad. Happy because the Super Bowl and Valentine's Day are coming up, so we have excuse eat fatty food and attend a few fun parties. Also happy because Austin is getting bigger and easier every day. I do not want time to fly by and I'm definitely trying to savor every stage and moment...but as you know, the newborn stage is hard and exhausting! I'm sad that it is already February because this is the month that I have to go back to work. I've loved my time at home all week long with Austin. I know that this is ultimately a good thing because I like structure and I love my job and my coworkers....but its still sad to leave the "do whatever we want all day" days of maternity leave.

I had every intention of blogging more often than I have, but life has gotten in the way. January was a busy month! In true Darcy fashion we decided to do everything at once and in addition to learning how to be parents, we've been dealing with this...

I could write a novel about it, but the short story is that we may or may not be moving...it depends on whether or not (and for how much) we can sell our house. And that is a total toss up in this economy/market. And to be honest, I'm a little torn. If we sell, we are moving back to Texas and will build in a great community right by my parents called Woodforest. http://www.woodforestdev.com/
The draw is more space for less money, yard for Dexter, close to my family, close to my work and Andy just needs to be close to the airport for work since he travels so much.  If we don't sell, we are staying put in a house we love with the best neighbors/friends anyone could ask for. We have wonderful friends here and love being close to Andy's family. So really we are in a win-win situation either way. It just seemed like the timing might be right to make the move. Its definitely a challenge showing a house with a 3.5 month old baby and hyper 80 lb dog, but such is life and its good for me to learn how to run errands with a baby in tow.

In other news (and random thoughts)...
> Austin is sleeping a little better through the night. Usually wakes up 1x to eat and goes straight back to sleep. I'm slowly weaning him from the swaddle and I think its helping.
> The weather has been so nice here the last few days and Austin seems to love going for walks in the fresh air...yay for me. He was boycotting the stroller for a bit so I was feeling a little stuck inside.
> I've had a few girls nights out and they are SO necessary and fun! We went to Rappongi's in La Jolla last night...so yummy and had lots of good laughs! I came home to a well fed, sleepy baby (go dad)!
> Granny was here again last week since Andy was gone Sunday to Sunday for work and we are sooooo thankful that she is willing to hop on a plane anytime to come help out!
> I'm obsessed with Pinterest..if you haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet...then jump. Maybe I'll even write a blog post about some of my favorite finds. Ok, who am I kidding...I stink at blogging frequently.

Here are a few pics of my favorite little friend:

Shout Out

This is a much delayed shout out to the fabulous Megan Arroyo for taking our Christmas Pics!

Check her out: http://meganarroyo.com/baby-photography/little-darcy/

Austin's 3 Month Update

Austin, are you really 3 months old already? Time is really flying! 

We don't have a doctor's appointment this month, so I don't have official height/weight stats...but I think you are somewhere around 12.5lbs and 24 inches. We had to make an "emergency" trip to the pediatrician on December 30th because your eye swelled shut and half of your face turned beet red...turned out to be nothing of course...but you weighed 11lb 10oz that day and you scared your mama half to death. 

You've graduated to size 2 diapers already and are just barely hanging on to your 0-3month clothes. You are a little too long for them but you are too skinny for the 3-6 month clothes. I think this will be a trend for you. 

You are so much fun at this stage. I can tell you are soaking in the world around you. You are a Mr. Chatterbox and you love to coo and "chat" back to us all of the time. I could chat with you all day long. You are all smiles when you are awake and you even try to smile and play with me during the night sometimes. Its so hard not to talk back.

Your neck is so strong and you can hold it up for a long time when we do tummy time. You rolled over at least 4 times the other day (tummy to back) but you don't always do it when I put you on your tummy. 

For the last week or so you've been intently holding your right fist out in front of your face. You must be planning something in that little head of yours... you just haven't quite figured out how to connect the dots yet. 

You often stick your whole fist in your mouth. You haven't found your thumb yet but I'm hoping you learn to suck your thumb instead of the paci sometimes so you can soothe yourself to sleep. (I might regret wishing for that later in life). 

You love when we hold you up so you can "walk" and use those little legs.

When you're sitting in your bouncer seat, you bat at the hanging toys. I'm sure grabbing is next!

You are still sleeping in your bassinet but we moved you to your own room finally. The crib transition needs to happen this week, but I'm waiting for your dad to get back in town to help me. We still swaddle you for all of your naps and nighttime, but I'm debating leaving one or both arms out. I've tried it a time or two and I don't think you're quite ready - maybe in the next few weeks. 

We are still working on nailing down your little schedule, but I think we are making progress.

Sleeping through the night isn't quite happening yet either. The perfectionist/planner in me is having a hard time with this because I feel like you should be sleeping through the night by now. You will usually wake up once around 1:30 or 2 and again around 5 or so. I'm experimenting with different bedtimes, cluster feeds, dream feeds, etc...but I haven't found the right time/combo for you yet. You might just be catching up on your weight still, or going through a growth spurt. Or you just don't like to let me sleep ;) Who knows?!

The month you had your first Christmas and your first New Years. Your Grannie came to visit again and you did lots of playing and hanging around the house. 

All in all this was a fun month! Its a million times easier than week 5-6 or so even though sleep is still a little scarce. 

I am so grateful for a long maternity leave and for the time I get to spend with you. I go back to work on February 17th and Jessi will start to nanny full time then. Thankfully, I work from home so I'll still be around to see you all day :) God is good and has provided quite the little set up for us. 

We can't wait to watch you grow and change this month! 

Austin's First Christmas

We had such a fun first Christmas with Austin! It felt like Christmas lasted longer than normal this year. Grannie came out to visit the week before Christmas to help me while Andy was out of town, so I think that made it seem like a 2-week extravaganza. When Grannie was here we shopped, wrapped presents, and hung out with Austin. It was sooooooo wonderful to have her here - I wish she lived next-door!

Since we were going to spend the night at GranDude and GranJan's on Christmas eve, we opened our presents from Grannie and Grandpa with Austin a little early on Christmas Eve-Eve so we would have less to haul over there. Even though Austin had no idea what was going on, but it was still special to open presents with him that night. We were spoiled - including the Dex Man! He was in heaven with his new weasel toy. Andy got some much wanted Bronco parts, Austin got a mound of fun presents, and I got these amazing memory keepers from Paper Cotiere that I am obsessed with!

 Link to Memory Boxes: http://www.papercoterie.com/product/memory-keepers/. I made one for Austin and one for our Wedding and will use them to save special cards, hospital bracelets, little keepsakes, etc.

Dexter and his new toy. You put an empty plastic water bottle inside the weasel...sounds gross but its dog heaven!

Early Christmas present from Aunt Robin - a TCU sweatshirt. 

On Christmas Eve we loaded up the car with enough stuff for a week long trip and headed over to Andy's parents. We had a relaxing low-key Christmas Eve. Our night involved lots of hanging around, overeating and of course, playing with little Austin.

Austin didn't have the best night's sleep on Christmas Eve so I felt a little cracked out on Christmas morning, but it was still so fun and I did manage to score a nap later that morning.

Jan always gets everyone matching pajamas (such a fun tradition). Here we are looking a little frightening with no makeup and matching pjs. Life with a newborn, right?!

We got a ton of great presents. I can't tear Andy away from the iPad. Its great! I actually wasn't sure how necessary they were since we all have iPhones...but it so fun and convenient! I'm pretty sure I will never get to use it ;)

Here is Austin with all of his loot on Christmas morning. We opened them all for him since he slept through present opening time on Christmas morning. He usually wakes up to eat around 6:30, then is ready for another nap by 7:15 or 7:30. And will usually sleep until 9:30 when he is ready to eat again. Our mornings are pretty predicable but the afternoons still get a little dicey. I think he is playing catch up still from his low birth weight and he likes to eat about every 2 to 2.5 hours in the afternoon/evening. Some nights we get to sleep 5-6 hours at a time and others he wakes up every 3. Who the heck knows. I'm trying to "schedule" him and follow all of the rules but he obviously has his own little personality and internal schedule.

Here are a few more pictures from Christmas Day:

Austin and his Great Grandpa Bob. I'm pretty sure Grandpa Bob said "isn't he beautiful" about 50 times...so cute!

 New sweater vest. Love it!

Robin being Robin ;) Working on her Lego retro VW van.

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas! We missed all of our Texas family, but are hoping to make a visit sometime in February!