Austin, Meet Brody

Yesterday, Austin met his new best friend.  Brody is Rachel and Adam's 6-month old.  Rachel and I went to UT together and met in the dorm freshman year.  She was the only person I knew in Denver when we moved here.  David and I have become great friends with her and Adam and have enjoyed hanging out alot over the past 3 1/2 years.  Brody was born in February, and I just know that he and Austin are going to be best buds...not a forced friendship at all but maybe it was set-up by the parents. :)

Rachel came over to our house around 7am and we went for a long walk with the little guys.  We are going to try to get together at least once a week to walk while I am on maternity leave.  Rachel taught kindergarten but is now staying at home with Brody.  It was alot of fun to just chat about being new moms.

 Who is that guy?

 THAT one, over there.

 He is touching me

 Now he pushed me over

 He is attacking me

I guess he is alright

Side note:  Throughout this photo shoot, Austin was pooping in his pants - not very gentlemanly behavior for his first play date with Brody.  

More special visitors

This past weekend, more visitors made a special trip to Denver to meet Austin.  My dad, his wife, Michelle, and my grandmother (BB), came to town.  Austin is BB's first great-grandchild so she was very excited to meet the little guy.  BB stayed at our house for the three nights they were in town and my dad and Michelle stayed at a hotel.  On Thursday night we grilled fajitas at home since they arrived at our house close to dinner time.  On Friday, we spent most of the day at our house just hanging out with Austin and eating some of the wonderful leftover food that friends have brought us for lunch.  BB even watched Austin while David and I went to deal with my car that was in the shop.

 Hi BB!

Hi Pop!

On Friday night, we took Austin out to dinner for the first time.  We ended up on Pasquini's patio after trying to go to the Cherry Cricket (they did not have big tables on their patio and we can't have the little guy exposed to germs in a crowded restaurant).  He did great - slept the whole time.  It was his first time to sit at the bar, at only 2.5 weeks.

Chilin' at the bar

On Saturday, we took BB to the country club for brunch while my dad, Michelle, and Michelle's son, Stephen, toured breweries in Ft Collins (it was Stephen's 21st birthday).  While trying to leave for brunch (David was already at the club hitting balls), Austin had a crying fit and also spit up all over himself.  After changing his diaper and his outfit, we were only about 20 minutes late to brunch.  I think every parent should be allowed a 20-minute late pass when trying to get places with small children.  That afternoon, BB was super great-grandmother and watched Austin while I napped for almost 2 hours!  Saturday night we went out to eat dinner at the Buckhorn Exchange (Denver's oldest restaurant established in 1893) to celebrate Stephen's birthday.  Again, Austin did well and slept most of the time.  Too bad he can't see far enough yet to take in all of the antlers and animal heads on the walls of the restaurant.  It was a steak and wild game place.  Thanks Dad and Michelle for a nice celebratory dinner! Here are a few more pictures from the weekend.  We were sad to see them leave, but hope to see them in October when we go to Houston. 

 4 Generations

And a few of Austin playing on his activity mat.  He is getting more animated and alert every day. 

2 weeks

Yesterday Austin turned 2 weeks old.  It's hard to believe he has been with us that long already.  He had his pediatrician appointment and we are happy to report that he is eating well.  He weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and they really just want him to be back at his birth weight (7lbs 13.5 oz) at 2 weeks.  Good job, boy!  Everything else checked out perfect too.  The nurse had to prick his foot to get drops of blood for his second round of newborn screenings.  He did NOT like that!  He doesn't know that next time we visit Dr. Schwartz, he will have his vaccinations and will be poked with a needle more than once.  On Austin's 2-week birthday, DiDi left to go back to Houston.  It was a sad day!  We will miss her help around the house and Austin will surely miss her voice.  She won't be back to visit until Austin is 9 weeks old.  He will have changed alot by then so I think we are going to start using the video camera more and posting videos on the blog for DiDi (and everyone) to see.

On another note, Austin is becoming an expert at riding in the stroller.  We have been on 4 walks so far (about 3-4 miles each) and he has snoozed peacefully throughout all of them.  He doesn't mind the bumps at all.  On Monday night, Austin slept from 9:30pm-3am (I even had to wake him up at 3).  We kept him awake between his 6pm feeding and 9pm feeding so that he would be tired and sleep longer at night.  It worked!  Last night, we did the same thing, but he did wake up at 11:30pm wanting to eat, and then again at 3am.  Dr. Schwartz said it was fine to let him sleep as long as he can (and not wake him every 3 hours to eat) now that we see he is gaining weight.  Hopefully he can have another 5-6 hours stretch tonight.

This past Sunday afternoon, David kept Austin while my mom, Lauren, and I went to see The Help.  We took two cars so that I could leave right after feeding him and skip the previews.  I also kept my phone out the whole movie in case David needed me to leave early.  I don't know why we doubted because Austin did great and slept the majority of the time.  They even went on a walk.  Thanks Dad!  (side note: The Help is so good....read the book first though if you can)

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of days.  He is becoming more and more alert.  When I walk up to him when he is awake, he turns his head to see me.  Dr. Schwartz said not to worry about Savannah getting close to him or even licking him a little since he can't catch diseases from dogs.  We still keep a close eye on him when she is nearby.

 Hanging out with Dad after work

 and with Savannah

 What is that big furry thing with the giant, wet nose?

I like my Bevo

12 days

Aunt Lauren brought a Savannah dog!  It looks just like Savannah - so cute.  I plan to take a picture of Austin next to it every month so we can see how he is growing.  Here is Austin with Savannah at 12 days.

Staying busy

We have been busy the past couple of days.  On Wednesday, my mom, Austin, and I went to eat lunch at a restaurant!  We sat outside on the patio so that Austin would have some fresh air.  He slept the entire time in his car seat like this.

We also went to the weekly weigh-in at the hospital.  They have these weigh-ins every Wednesday at 10am and I plan to go every week so that I can make sure my little guy is eating well.  He still weighed 7 lbs 8 oz (same as Saturday at the pediatrician).  I fed him there and then weighed him after eating.  He drank 2 oz during that feeding and he should get about 21 oz every day in order to gain weight.  So if he gets 2-3 oz, 8-9 times a day, Austin should be getting bigger by the day.

On Thursday, aunt Lauren arrived!!!  She is staying until Monday to play with her little nephew.  We hung around the house most of the day.  My very sweet friend Kristen brought us fajitas for dinner that night.  Austin is sleeping a little bit better.  His crying fits are really just caused by his tummy hurting.  He has had a couple of nights where he slept for 5 hours between feedings (so I get 4 hours of sleep straight).

On Friday, Amanda and Cecile got here.  They are on there way to Jackson Hole, WY and came through Denver for a night just to see baby Austin!  Amanda's first comment when she saw Austin was "Oh my gosh, he looks just like David!"  Hopefully he will develop some of his mother's features later on.  We went to eat lunch at Hanson's on the patio.  We then took Cecile on a mini-tour of our area of town and took her by the country club we go to.  She hadn't seen our house or where we live (Amanda had when she and Stephen visited last November before little Austin was with us).  Austin slept through lunch and the tour in the car.  The motion of the car really does put him out.  We hung out at the house during the afternoon and ate dinner at home.  Austin got a lot of love and kisses from Amanda and Cecile, who held him the whole day!

David and Andrew arrived later in the afternoon and my David met them at their hotel downtown before all 3 guys went to the Rockies game.  Andrew loves going to baseball games at other ballparks and he had not been to Coors Field before.  This morning we went to their hotel before they left for the airport to introduce Austin to David and Andrew.  We were sure to dress him in his best burnt orange again for Andrew.  David taught Austin how to put his Horns up (see below).

After that, we came back to the house to pick up Lauren (who had gone running on Highline canal trail while we were at the hotel; I wish I could have gone with her...I am ready to run again, but not quite healed enough to do that).  We took Austin on his first trip to the Farmer's Marker at Cherry Creek.  It was also the first time to use the BOB stroller.  It's not as hot today (high of 87) here so it felt really nice out at 11am walking around the Farmer's Market and we didn't have to worry about Austin being too hot.  I am paranoid about keeping him out of the sun though so we put a light blanket over his car seat to shield him from the rays.

We have had a lot of firsts the past few days and are ready for many more!!  Here's a couple more photos of Austin just hanging out.

 He just might punch me

 He was not crying....it was more of a yawn, but he sure looks angry

Eyeing Savannah

Savannah is learning that the little guy with a big, loud mouth, is off limits for now

Popular little guy

Over the past couple of days we have had quite a few visitors.  Austin is a popular little man!  I don't think I posted a picture with Stacy and DiDi yet.

On Sunday, Doug and Tory came by the house on their way to the airport.  They had been in Aspen for a wedding over the weekend and Brad (who lives here in Denver but went to UT) was taking them to the airport.  Since these guys are all Texas fans, we dressed Austin in his UT gear for their visit.  They had not been to our house either so we were so happy they could swing by, even though it was a short visit.  Doug had originally asked David if he could stay at our house on Thursday 8/11 before heading up to Aspen.  Hahaha...good thing we declined because that ended up being our first night at home.  Not that we don't love them, but house guests on our first night home would not have been fun for us, or for them.

That same day, David's cousin Christy, her husband Corrie, and their girls Hayden and Maddie, came over.  They just got back from Yellowstone and Jackson Hole.  They brought Austin some cute socks with moose on them and some yummy cookies.  Hayden is 9 and Maddie is 7....future babysitters?  Christy even offered to watch Austin if I need to run an errand or too.  I think I might take her up on that.

Last night, Ryan came over to watch the Texans game with David at a near-by bar/restaurant.  Austin wasn't decked out in burnt orange, but Ryan still got him to put his horns up.

Austin has been spending some quality time in his bouncer that Uncle Stephen and Aunt Ricki gave him...thanks!  This morning we tried out the Baby Bjorn for the first time and Savannah appreciated that since we ventured outside and played fetch with her.

P.S.  Thank you, David, for sharing your thoughts.  I appreciate your compliment that I am dominating being a mother.  I wouldn't say that, but I am loving it so far, that's for sure.  Our little guy will grow up so fast, so let's enjoy every day with him.