Visit with Pop and Grammy

Last weekend, my dad, "Pop", and Michelle, "Grammy" came to visit us.  They arrived on Thursday night after Austin had gone to sleep.  On Friday, Austin went to school and we went to work as usual since they were going to spend time with Michelle's son, Stephen, who lives here in Denver.  We met them for an early dinner at Park Burger near our house.  Austin behaved at the restaurant and loved having more people to hold him at the table when he got bored. 

Laughing with Pop at Park Burger

Look at that grown-up boy in his polo!

On Saturday, I went for a 11-mile run while David stayed with Austin and Dad and Michelle went to run some errands with Stephen.  After my run and Austin's nap, Michelle and I went to eat lunch at ModMarket and did a little shopping at Nordstrom's Rack.  Michelle bought me a dress and some toys and 2 shirts for Austin.  Thank you, Michelle.  My dad and David played golf that afternoon.  We have had a record warm and dry March.  It has been the driest March ever in Denver and the 2nd warmest March on record.  I think there have been like 20 or so days of temperatures over 70.  Typically March is the snowiest month in Denver.  That makes for a happy David since he can start golfing earlier (of course, the winter did start early this past fall in October).  I digress.  That night, after Austin went to sleep, we had a very yummy meal of beef tenderloin (thanks to David), broccoli, baked potatoes, and brownies.  We even had dark and stormies (rum and ginger beer) to drink.  That was my first time to try one.  They are delicious!  On Sunday, David and my dad went to do some work around the house that they own (which Stephen lives in) while Michelle, Austin, Savannah, and I went on a walk.  After that, Stephen brought over pizza for lunch from the pizza restaurant that he works.  It was our first time to try it - yummy!  They left for the airport around 3.  Thanks for coming to visit us - we had fun!

Pop is one fun dude!

Austin is trying to scoot around.  His teachers say he can move like 5-10 feet by himself.  He still won't do this at home for us.  Maybe it's because he is more tired in the evenings.  I am hoping he will scoot around tomorrow for us to see.  I am not sure I am ready for baby-proofing yet though! :)

A video - DiDi's request

My mom emailed me to request that I put a video, any video, on the blog.  So here it is.  It's nothing too exciting.  Austin got to hold and attempt to drink from a sippy cup today.  It just had a little bit of water in it.  This is him trying to pick it up.  It's a REALLY hard and frustrating task.  Savannah found it amusing.

We had a fun weekend with my Dad and Michelle (Pop and Grammy).  More on that to come.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Rock star!

I see tulips

I see the tulips poking through the dirt.  That means spring....and then SUMMER are on their way!  We have been enjoying the weather recently.  It's been in the 50's or 60's for the past few days and is supposed to be like that for the next week or so.  I still don't rule out snow because I am sure we will have at least 2 or 3 more snows this season, but recently it has been so nice.  Austin can go outside without his blanket wrapped around him.  David was in San Diego from Wednesday until yesterday evening so Austin and I kept each other company (oh, and Savannah too).  Bible study met at my house so that I could attend.  Austin was a part of the group for the first 45 minutes and then I put him to sleep. On Friday, I left work at 3:30 and went running on a trail near the office/Austin's school.  I did 9.67 miles and felt pretty good.  It was warmer than I was used to running (about 60 degrees and sunny) since I usually go in the mornings on Saturdays and it is about 35-40 degrees.  After the run, I picked Austin up from school, we got home and ate dinner together - him avocado and cereal, me a buffalo burger on the stove-top and sweet potato fries (or bakes, in the oven with evoo and salt).  On Saturday, we ate breakfast, Austin napped, and then we went to Runner's Roost to pick up my Runnin' of the Green race bib and t-shirt.  The race was today (more on that later).  From Runners' Roost, we drove out to Rachel/Adam/Brody's house.  It is amazing all the things we needed to bring just for 2 hours of "playtime".  I brought the stroller, his portable "high chair", the baby bjorn (for walking into Runners' Roost so that I could try on some new shoes with two hands), food for his lunch, and of course the usual diapers, etc.  It looked like we were staying for days.  When we got to Brody's house, we played for a little while on the floor and then went for a stroll over to the neighborhood park.  It was Austin's first time in the swing.  He loved it, even though it was still a little too big (I had to keep a hand on him).

It was fun to chat with Rachel on our walk.   When we got back to their house, Austin nursed and then had some cereal and carrots at the counter with Brody.  We forgot to get a picture of them in their bar high's next to each other.  Oh well, next time.  The weather was beautiful!  We even went on another walk with Savannah that afternoon so that she could get some exercise.  David got home around 6:30 just before Austin's bath/bedtime.  He was sure to tickle Austin (that is what Daddy does).  While I was nursing Austin in his room, Savannah was in a mischievous mood and decided to get Austin's sock in her mouth.  David chased her around the house and cornered her, but she accidentally swallowed it.  So of course he looked up online what to do about this.  This is maybe the second time she has gotten one of Austin's things in her mouth (it doesn't happen often).  Everyone online said that it can be dangerous, can block intestines, and cause major surgery.   It said you could give the dog hydrogen peroxide to cause her to vomit immediately.  My cousin in Georgia is a vet, and I have asked him questions in the past about Savannah so David asked me to text him.  He advised us not to do anything since it is such a little sock and a big dog.  So we just let her be.  Then, at 3am, sure enough, she threw up in our room on the wood floor (she sleeps with us) and the sock came out.  David is such a worry wart, that he had been up for at least 1 hour prior to her throwing up, just worrying about her.  Thankfully, she got it out on her own.  Silly dog.

This morning, we got up and went downtown so that I could run in the Runnin' of the Green - a lucky 7k (4.35 miles).  It is a St Patricks' Day race that I did 2 years ago and skipped last year due to a baby in my tummy.  Some people from Archstone did it too, but we only saw a few of them.  I ran it in 31:09, which is a 7:10/mile pace.  I was happy with that!  They had free beer and other things after the race, but we had a tired baby to take home.  That's all for now.  I will post a video soon (DiDi's request).

7 months!

Austin turned 7 months old on Friday, March 9th.  As I mentioned last week, his first tooth poked through the bottom gum.  He is sitting up very well now and is as smiley as can be.  He is really enjoying his solid foods.  So far he has had multi-grain cereal, carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower, peas, butternut squash, pears, bananas, and avocado.  We are just now starting on 3 solid-food meals a day along with 5 feedings of breast milk (either nursing or bottle).  He knows what the high chair means and if I put him in it too early before I have the food ready he gets impatient.  I am trying to teach him the sign for "eat" and "more" so that he can do this instead of making loud frustrating noises or fussing.  He loves to play with the toys that make noise (especially his "walker" that has piano keys and a guitar on it.  When on his tummy, he can lift up well and try to put his knees under him, but he is not quite there.  We need to practice this but I am still liking the fact that I can leave the room for a minute and not worry about him ending up on the other side getting into something he shouldn't.  We just moved his crib mattress down to the next level so that when he does start going from laying to sitting on his own, we are ready.  Most days, he is just napping twice (from about 10-12ish, and then from about 2:30-3:30).  When we get home from school he has dinner and then nurses at bedtime around 7:30/7:45.  He loves Miss Mira at school.  One of the other teachers told me that Austin gets jealous when Miss Mira holds another baby or gives another baby a bottle.  If he has just woken up and is hanging out in his crib, he will hear her voice and yell out "come get me Miss Mira".  Austin, you are such a happy baby and you need to stop growing up so fast!  One thing that keeps you looking young is your lack of hair...you are still our little "cue ball".  Here are a few pictures from the 7-month photo shoot.  The first one with the big smile is very representative of his personality- big grin! (too bad I cut off his head).   

Ta-da, I have a tooth!

Austin has a tooth!  This morning, as I was feeding him his breakfast of cereal and pears, I noticed something in his mouth.  At first I thought it was just some pears stuck on his gums, but then I tried to look and feel in there and it was a bottom tooth!  He doesn't like me touching his gums so it is hard to feel it, but when he smiles I can see it.  Thinking back, he has been sucking his thumb more than usual over the past few days, but other than that, he hasn't been fussier than usual or had a fever or woken up at night.  I imagine another one will break through soon!  On another note, we went to church last night and we dropped him in the baby room for the first time.  We have been going off and on since he was born, but we have always sat in the "cry room" with him to watch the service.  He did great in the baby room; they said he was really happy even though he only napped for about 1.5 hours total yesterday.  We were able to enjoy the service without interruptions, which was really nice.  Austin has another cold which started yesterday (I think it's his 4th cold, but after reading online that babies in daycare can get 12 colds a year, I don't think it is anything to worry about unless it got worse or turned into an ear infection).

For the past week or two, Austin has cut back to two naps a day.  He naps in the morning from about 10ish-noonish and then in the afternoon from about 2:30ish-4ish.  Then he goes to sleep around 7:30 or 7:45 and sleeps until around 6am.  Since I like nursing him before bed and putting him to sleep, on Friday night we asked our babysitter, Alexis, to come at 7:30 and we went to see Acts of Valor at 8pm.  This worked well except that it cuts into my Friday night "sleep make-up".  I like to get about 9 hours of sleep on Fridays in an attempt to make up my "sleep debt" from the week.  Because we went to a late movie, I only got about 7 hours since Austin woke up at 6:30 on Saturday.  Oh well; it worked out well.

Today makes me excited about spring/summer.  We just got back from a 45 minute walk and Austin did not even need his warm hat and I was in shorts and a short sleeved t-shirt.  It is about 60 degrees, sunny and not very windy (the winds have been such a pain recently especially when running 9 miles in 35 mph gusts yesterday).

Here are a few recent pictures.

Kicking my legs up with Savannah

Stretch!

This is fun!

Bright eyed!

Trying out my new chair at BBQ restaurant

 Mom's attempt to get the tooth in a photo (sorry so yucky)

Can you see it?