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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Austin at 18 months

A year and a half!  Where has time gone?  It is hard to remember life without our now TODDLER!  Austin is all over the place.  He walks around the house like he owns it, sometimes yelling at the top of his lungs.  Maybe I need to start teaching "inside voice"?  We went to see Dr. Pielop yesterday for his 18-month checkup.  Austin weighs 26 lbs 6 oz, which is the 79th percentile.  He is 34 1/2 inches tall, which is 96th percentile.  His head is in the 95th percentile.  He is a BIG BOY!  Dad is hoping for a future athlete, of course.  This boy loves to eat.  His favorite foods are spaghetti, scrambled eggs, raspberries and strawberries, mommy's homemade spinach and banana pancakes (sneaking in some green veggies), turkey hot dogs, goldfish crackers, butternut squash, and avocado.  He doesn't like meat that much and loves fruit, mainly berries.  We are sticking with milk and water; there is no need to introduce juice.  He still hasn't figured out that there are very yummy things out there like cookies and ice cream.  We are taking our time with that.  

Austin just started to really trying to repeat words.  Just this week he has said apple, eyes, eggs, and Austin.  "Ma" means more.  He also intentionally signed "more" this week.  He also says "A-ba" (Amen) at bedtime.  This is so precious.  His absolute favorite is still "Truck".  The whole way home from his school to our house he says "truck, truck, truck".  We went to eat at Jason's Deli after church last Sunday.  It overlooks the lovely I-10.  Austin's high chair faced the window and he pointed at every 18-wheeler and said "truck".  There are LOTS of 18-wheelers on I-10 so this occurred during the entire meal.  During dinner tonight, he pointed to our Christmas card that is hanging on the fridge and said "Aus-an".  So cute!  

Austin is starting to throw tantrums and get upset when he doesn't get what he wants.  We have a strong-willed boy on our hands.  Today when we got home, I asked him to follow me back to my room so that I could change clothes before proceeding to fix dinner (which is a messy occasion).  He did not want to go back to my room; he wanted to stay and play at his kitchen.  I know, I am a mean mom but all I wanted to do was change out of my work clothes that I had been in since 6am.  I carried him back to my room while he got very mad and proceeded to scream short, loud "AH!", over and over, and over.  He clinched his fists and turned red in the face while screaming.  Boy, was he mad at me.  Then I shut the door to lock him in our room while I changed.  He banged on the door to get out.  I pretty much ignored him.  I think we need to start a time-out system.  

Austin, besides the beginnings of the "terrible twos", you are so fun and such a cutie.  You think it is hilarious when it is bathtime and I start filling the tub.  You sneak back to your room and try to get your lovey, Bear, out of the crib.  It is as if you are hiding from the bathtub and me.  You laugh and laugh.  You love throwing yourself into your little armchair and rubbing your face on its soft material.  I can't wait until you learn more words.  I think you will be running and jumping soon.  We love you, Austin, our 1 1/2 year-old!!

Learning ABC's, pointing to TRUCK

Loving books right now...that is your favorite thing to do.

A is for Ah-bel (apple)

Chillin with my blue truck

Favorite page in Maisy book- all vehicles are "trucks" to Austin

Playing catch

Head plant in the chair

This could be very unsafe....

Oh, and I learned about my belly button this week - he can barely see it under his round belly :)

Again!

All boy!

Splash time

Transferring water from toy to cup, to toy to cup

Footie pj's are the best, Bear in hand

Still a thumb sucker - have a feeling this won't be going bye-bye anytime soon.


Sunday, February 3, 2013

Life lately

Wow, when the last post on the blog was about Christmas and it is already February, you know you are WAY behind.  A lot has happened and Austin is changing so much.  This is going to be primarily pictures with captions, which are more fun anyways.  We are settling into our house - we just had some new furniture delivered on Friday and there is only 1 box left (crystal that I am not sure where to put yet since we had a built-in in Denver that housed this).  Austin is loving toddling around our house like he owns it.  He will toddle from his room to his new play kitchen, yelling the entire way.  He is proving to be ALL boy!  I will do a post next week hopefully that is dedicated to 18 months after we go to the pediatrician and get the stats and check-up results.  But just a few things - he is really understanding what we are saying.  He says some form of "what's that?" all the time.  His usually response to almost everything is "uh huh", even to "Austin, do you want to jump off a cliff?".  Maybe we do need to teach him "no"?  He is obsessed with trucks right now.  OBSESSED!  He repeats the word over and over and over.  Annabelle gave him "Little Blue Truck" book for Christmas and he asks to read it over and over.  He gets very upset if you don't read it immediately when he requests.  There is a white ugly truck parked in a driveway a block down from our house.  Every time he is outside in the driveway playing, he takes off across our neighbors grass, pointing and yelling "truck".  We follow him because he would walk all the way down the block alone, just to see the truck.  It is hard to entice him back to the house.  Silly boy!  

We started going to Bayou City Fellowship back in November.  We are really enjoying it and feel at home there even though we haven't met many people yet.  Austin likes his Sunday School room (it took him about 4-5 times before he didn't cry when we dropped him off).  We will start a community group next Sunday evening.  It will be a great way to meet other people in a more intimate setting.  They even provide childcare and it is on Sundays at 5, which is a great time for us (weeknights are tough).  A sorority sister of mine (1 year older) and her family are in the group.  I am excited to begin making a group of friends through the church and I think most of them will have young kids.  

In other news, I just resigned from my current job (only lasted since October 1, oops).  The drive was so tough and the busy times were just too many hours.  I was really struggling being away from home that much. They were generous and let me work from home in the evenings but it just wasn't good for the long-term, especially since the company was going to be re-locating to the Woodlands in 2014.  That would be 1 hour + each way, which is unrealistic.  So, I will be going to work for Greystar, an apartment management, developer and owner.  It is about 15 minutes from our house!  I will be an accounting manager in the property group.  It is where Stacy works and he was able to get me an interview.  They were actually needing a new manager because they just took over management of a new portfolio of apartments.  I will be back in the real-estate industry like I was in at Archstone in Denver.  I liked that industry and am looking forward to that side of it.  My hours should be more normal and might even be able to work from home on Fridays 2x a month.  I start on 2/25 and my last day at Southwestern Energy will probably be 2/20.  I am thankful for Stacy helping me find this job! 

The rest will be an update through pictures... 


Playing with cousins Lisa and Mary in town from Austin

Lisa is 10 and Mary is 8, my first cousins

Wagon ride with Daddy

Still in Santa pjs, loving his chair.  He realized that Santa was on these PJs about a week ago so we will keep wearing them until he outgrows them :)

Showing Savanna (Sara's 2-year old) his tupperware cabinet

More wagon time, although the past few times we have gone out he has wanted to walk all by himself, to the Truck, of course

Great grandmother BB came to see our new house!

Savanna came to see our house!  (Oops, out of order)

Loving sitting in BB's lap

Mowing the yard...in shorts in January, that's Houston

Gas refill

Happy boy!

New play kitchen.  Hand-me down toys are great...thanks Barrett family!

His own pots and pans (maybe he will find these more interesting than messing with Mommy's?)

Cousin Annabelle came by to see our house for a play date

Cute cousins!

DiDi's grandkids!

Chillin in the thick Houston grass...much different than Denver grass

Legos at Ben and Summi's house

On a mission...to see the white truck....see it? - way across the street!


Ha!  Catch me if you can!

Trying Mommy's spaghetti!  And loving it!


Downward dog 

Playing at cousin Rhett's 3rd birthday party

Daddy is in the maze with me!

He will now not allow us to feed him with a spoon or fork.  He wants to do it himself - so we practice with yogurt and applesauce.

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Self-sufficient boy

Sunday snuggles and books - while Mommy gets ready for church,  Daddy and Savannah read books to Austin

Did I mention he is obsessed with the green John Deere tractor too?