Electronic devices make me smile

We are still here

Since the beginning of January, my work has been absolutely crazy.  Luckily, my boss is very understanding and I am able to leave around 6pm most days to come to home to nurse Austin and play with him before he goes to bed.  David picks him up from school around 5pm and then I am home by 6:30.  Then, sometimes I bring some work home to do after he goes to bed.  This is challenging for me, but it definitely helps that Austin is such an easy baby and is happy to be with his daddy in the evenings for a while before I get home.  I worked last Saturday for a half-day and went to work this morning thinking I would stay until about 1pm.  David called me around 11 to say that Austin had a fever of 101.7.  So, of course, I call the doctor to make an appointment since they are only open until 1pm on Saturdays.  I packed up my things and went home to see my poor little guy.  He was obviously not feeling well since he was fussy after eating and napping and he usually only cries when he is hungry or tired.  I took his temperature again and it had gone up to 102.7.  I didn't want to give him Tylenol until the doctor had seen him so that she could observe his full symptoms.  Everything checked out okay except that he just has a fever and runny nose.  She said fevers in infants can last up to 5 days; I sure hope it doesn't last that long.  After he nursed at the doctor's office and the Tylenol kicked in, Austin seemed in better spirits and is napping now.  Poor guy!  I hate seeing him sick.  Looks like my work will just have to wait (or I will do it from home - it really can't wait since we have a deadline on Monday...no good).  Here are some pictures from earlier this week....

Loud Mouth

How can such a loud noise come out of such a tiny thing?

5 Months!

Austin turned 5 months last Monday, January 9.  He has changed so much in the past month.  He is practicing sitting up on his own.  For the past week, he has been having rice or oatmeal once a day.  He is still sleeping about 10 hours at night with 4 naps (about 1 hour each) during the day.  He still nurses or takes a bottle of breastmilk 6 times a day.  He is a growing boy who loves his milk!  Last Thursday night he rolled to his tummy in his crib.  He must have gotten comfortable because he was asleep on his tummy when I went to wake him up.  This past Saturday night, he had rolled onto his tummy but was not comfortable so he fussed for me to come help him.  I flipped him over to his back, he found his thumb, and went back to sleep.  That was the first time in a long time he had woken up in the middle of the night. He loves sucking his thumb but really only does it when he is tired and ready for some quiet time or a nap.  It is his way of telling us he is ready to sleep and he uses it to sooth himself.  He is really such an easy baby.  I keep waiting for something to go wrong.  Maybe teething will be tough or maybe he will be accident-prone (like his dad, hopefully not though).  He smiles all the time!  Dad's "Hey" in an Australian-type accent, makes Austin smile every time.  He loves his toes and usually pulls his socks off when playing on his mat.  Of course they end up in his mouth - just like everything else he touches.  He can now sit in the BOB stroller without his carseat.  We went for walks on Saturday and Sunday this weekend since it was close to 60 degrees and most of the snow had melted.  I think he liked it - I want him to get used to walk/runs in the stroller since we will be doing alot of that this summer.  He likes the "Tickle monster" book- he is one ticklish little boy!  He laughs when we tickle his neck, under-arms, and thighs.  Alexis, a babysitter, came to stay with Austin last night for 5 hours while David and I went to a movie and dinner.  It was so strange leaving him in our house with someone else (besides family) - and for 5 hours!  Alexis' comment when we returned was "he is such a happy baby".  Austin- you ARE such a happy baby.  The past 5 months have changed our lives and we can't imagine life without you.  We can't wait for what comes next - sitting up, teeth, crawling, walking, talking.  You will be doing all of these things before we know it!  Stop growing up so fast!

Seems like yesterday - where did all that hair go?

 Smiling big!

Practicing sitting with Savannah dog

Rice cereal

This weekend, Austin had his first go at rice cereal.  He liked it although none of it really ended up in his tummy.  He started to get the hang of opening his mouth when the spoon came near.  He tried to swallow, but most of it just ended up on his chin or bib.  Here are some pictures from the momentous occasion.

 Before...

 I could get the hang of this

 I might need a bath

 Time for a bath!

Third time for rice cereal - I am a pro!

P.S. Austin turned 5 months today.  Time has flown by!  Austin, you are such a cutie and we love you!  Hopefully I will have time to do his 5-month post, and, of course, take the 5-month picture with Savannah dog.

Christmas in Texas - Part 3

The next family Christmas was Stacy's family.  We went to his sister, Marilyn's house, and had appetizers and desserts and did a white elephant gift exchange.  It was fun because there were 4 babies there.  Two, Rhett and Morgan, are more like toddlers (22 months and 20 months).  Annabelle is Allison (Stacy's daughter) and David's 9-month old.  We are looking forward to the next time we go to Houston when Austin is mobile and he can play more with his cousins. 

 DiDi and Granddaddy with their grandkids!

 Drooling, chubby legged, with DiDi

 All the girls and their little ones (Allison & Annabelle, Brooke & Rhett, me & Austin, Meredith & Morgan, and Ricki)

The next day, I met my friends for lunch at Zoe's.  It was brief, but it was fun to see Jenny, Peyton and Mallory.  We even got to sit outside since it was such nice weather.  Peyton was in the US from Guam for about a month and we were lucky to see her.  She brought Austin some cute clothes and a hand-me-down book from her childhood.  We missed Annie and Sara!

 Jenny, me, Peyton, Mallory & Austin

We also visited great-Grandmother (David's dad's mother) - She is 94.  This was her first time to meet her 3rd great-grandchild.  She loved holding Austin!

That night was the Holiday Bowl (Texas vs Cal).  My mom and Stacy had their friends over for Goode Co BBQ and game-watching.  We decked out in burnt orange for the game.  Thankfully, the Horns pulled off a W.  (Don't worry - my shirt has a longhorn on it, you just can't see it.)

 Our little future longhorn!

We stayed 2 nights at Mimi and Big Deal's house (Tues and Wed), so Austin got to spend some quality time with Mimi while I went running on the bayou each morning.

 Loving Mimi's lap

On Friday morning, we got on the road to Dallas.  We spent Friday and Saturday night at my dad and Michelle's house (Pop and maybe G-ma or Gram).  David played 9 holes with my dad on Friday and 18 holes on Saturday.  And we had a special visitor- aunt Lauren!  She had to work at the hospital on Christmas eve and Christmas and couldn't take any time off so she was not able to come to Houston. :(  But, she finished her last day at the hospital job on Thursday 12/29, and drove to Dallas to see us!  We went out to eat on Friday night at the Porch in Dallas.  On Saturday, I went on a 6 mile run while Dad and Michelle stayed with Austin (Lauren was still sleeping :) ).  Michelle, Lauren, Austin and I went to a nice lunch at a French restaurant called Rise (specializing in souffles).  Austin enjoyed his time at a girly restaurant while the guys played golf.  Lauren drove back to Austin after lunch and that night (New Year's Eve), the rest of us went out for a casual pizza dinner.  Austin fell asleep at the dinner table and didn't make it until midnight....David and I didn't make it til midnight either.  We are lame.  We did have to wake up at 5:30 the next day to drive back to Denver.  Is that a good excuse?  Our 12 hour drive back to Denver was uneventful and went by fairly quickly.  Austin was an angel in the car and we made it back before 6:30pm.  It was a wonderful week in Texas with family and friends!  We miss everyone already!

 

At lunch with the girls

 Aunt Lauren is fun!

Christmas in Texas - Part 2

On Christmas morning, we had brunch at mom and Stacy's house - with one of my favorite southern Christmas traditions - cheese grits!  Yummy!  We opened gifts from Santa and from mom/Stacy/DiDi/Grandaddy.  Austin got some clothes, a musical "walker/push toy", a first Christmas ornament, a monogrammed Christmas stocking, a Santa stuffed animal, and some books.  My mom found my first children's Bible and gave that to him - a very special gift!  

Around noon, we headed over to Mimi and Big Deal's house for Christmas with David's parents and his sister's family.  We had yet another Christmas meal and opened gifts.  This is always fun because Ben and Summer really enjoy the gifts and they do the "one at a time" opening.  Austin loaded up on gifts from Mimi and Big Deal.  He got a few toys - an inflatable penguin, a car dashboard that makes all kinds of noises, and some teething toys.  He got a really cool illustrated picture Bible from Ben and Summer, along with some other books that his cousins picked out because they were their favorites as babies.  He also got a ton of 9-12 mo clothes (I requested these)!  I got a baby food maker and freezer trays (I will be making this before we know it).  We also got 2 different hiking baby-carrier/backpacks, one basically new one that David's mom found at a garage sale, and then Ellen gave us hers that they have outgrown.  I will see which one works best when it is "hiking weather" in the spring.  I am excited to use this!  David's big gift was new golf clubs from his parents.  He had been using the same irons since he was 16 - I suppose it was time!  It was wonderful Christmas with the Stephens family!  We are very thankful for all of the gifts - Mimi and Big Deal are very generous! 

That night was Christmas with my mom's side of the family at her house.  We did a "white elephant gift exchange", ate some yummy lasagna, salad, and desserts (the cake I baked!).  It was fun to see all of the Cumbie family.  We missed Grandmother and I so wish she could have been there to celebrate Austin's first Christmas, but I know she was smiling from heaven :)

 Happy Christmas baby with a bit of an eye infection

 DiDi what are you doing to me?

 Back in his "Christmas best"

The day after Christmas, we had lunch at La Hacienda (again) with Doug, Tim, Melissa, Ryan, Bobby, and Stephanie.  We then spent some time over at the Barretts' house playing with Ben and Summer and just visiting. Here are a couple of pictures:

 Happy boy - sticking that tongue out!

 Chillin with Mimi

 Talking to my cool big cousin, Summer

I love to talk!

That night we had Christmas at my aunt Carrie and uncle Robert's house with my dad's side of the family.  Great grandmother BB came from Austin, along with Scott, Marsh, Lisa, and Mary, to see Austin.  It was a fun night with family and good food - great to see everyone!  Elf-yourself on the computer was the comedy for the night.

I like it when BB holds me!

 Handsome boy

Hanging with uncle Stephen

Pretty good family picture - thanks Carrie!

Christmas in Texas - Part 1

Christmas will be a series of posts since our 9 days in Texas for Austin's first Christmas is definitely blog-worthy.  We were originally going to leave on Thursday 12/22 at 4am to drive to Dallas.  Mother nature intruded and we decided to leave at 3pm on Wednesday 12/21 due to the impending snow storm.  It's a very good thing we left early to get ahead of the storm because Denver and most of eastern Colorado got dumped on.  We ended up getting about 15 inches of snow at our house.  We drove to Wichita, Kansas that night and stayed in a La Quinta (since they allow dogs).  Austin did great for the 7 hours we were in the car.  He slept most of the way and we made 2 stops to nurse him and do a quick diaper change on the seat of the car.  Our night of sleep (1am-7am) was not that great as Savannah was a nervous dog the whole night.  She growled and muffled a bark at every noise (the walls were very thin).  We got on the road to Dallas the next day around 9am.  Austin behaved in the car again.  He slept, pulled on his dangly toy, and talked to himself during the 6.5 hour drive to Dallas.  We arrived at my dad and Michelle's house around 4pm.  They were very excited to see Austin since they hadn't seen him since October.  That night, my aunt Sally, uncle Brent, and cousins Will and Brooke came over for dinner.  This was their first time to meet Austin.  

On Friday morning, we hit the road for the remaining 4 hour trip to Houston.  We made it to my mom and Stacy's house around 1pm.  We unpacked the car and Mimi came over to see Austin.  Mimi and DiDi played with Austin while I went for a run (it was actually very nice that afternoon - not even humid-feeling and about 55 degrees).  On Friday night, David and I even got to go to a last minute dinner at Cyclone Anaya's (yummy mexican) by ourselves while DiDi and Grandaddy (Stacy) babysat.

On Christmas eve, David took Austin over to his mom and dad's house while I baked a cake (chocolate gingerbread toffee cake), ran, and got ready for Christmas eve church and dinner.  We went to church at MDUMC "the Journey" service.  I am excited for when Austin will understand the meaning of Christmas and for we can teach him about Jesus birth.  Austin behaved himself and was all decked out in his Christmas tree smocked outfit.  I splurged and paid $48 for this outfit.  David looks at this as $25/wear.  But, I made sure he wore it 4 times.  So really it was $12/wear.  Plus, it is a great hand-me-down item or can be worn by a second child.  After church, we met the Smiths at La Hacienda.  This was Austin's first time at David's favorite mexican restaurant.  He was practically a celebrity among the La Ha staff.  We then had desserts at the Stephens house.  

 Hanging with cousin Summer and aunt Ellen

 Fun Summi

 Looking sharp

   Deer in headlights