Welcome to Motherhood

So, Austin is almost 9 months old, and I think I have finally had my first "life as a Mom" moment. I'm sure there have been others, but this is a good one!

It started when I went to get something out of the fridge, and an unopened bottle of balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing fell on the floor...breaking the bottle. I look up from the mess on my kitchen floor to see my sweet little boy high-tailing it into the kitchen to check out the mess. I quickly navigate my way around the spill, grab Austin, and put him in his saucer while I clean up the kitchen floor.

Once I finished with that mess, I go get Austin out of the saucer and notice the all to familiar stench of a dirty diaper. I go get a diaper and wipes and put him down on the living room floor to change him. I quickly pull off his pants, hoping to get him changed before he tries to crawl away. As I went to lift his leg up, I realize that my hand is in something warm and slimy. Then I look down and realize that when I took his pants off, I had also flung poo onto my sock and jeans. So, here we are, in the middle of the living room floor, both of us covered in poo. Anyway, after I finally get him cleaned and am putting his new diaper on, I realize that he stuck his foot in the old diaper and wiped his foot down my arm.

Anyway, we are both cleaned up now At least I was doing laundry anyway, right? And the bonus of it all: the overwhelming smell of vinegar in my house is masking the poo smell! Yeah! It sure is a good thing he is so cute!

For Sanity's Sake

I am becoming more and more ready for spring to arrive. I am tired of looking outside and seeing this:

So, the snow and the inversion had finally taken a toll on me. Salt Lake City was ranked in the top 5 cities with the worst air quality for several days last week. To escape the filthy air, we decided to go to St. George for the weekend. It ended being a very short trip (because I had to speak in church on Sunday).

It was so nice to see the blue sky and that the sun still does shine in some places. We even got to wear short sleeved shirts for the few days we were there.

Austin did really well. It was his first time being in his car seat for that length of time. He hardly fussed at all! He sure did like being able to get down on the grass and ground to play. He would immediately find any stick he could. Such a boy!

So, I think I finally found some Mexican food in Utah worth talking about. I know...Cafe Rio is good, but I mean real sit down, order from a menu, free chips and salsa kind of Mexican. We just happened to try this restaurant called the Panama Grill. It was SOOO good. Excellent salsa...which is what really counts, right? I ordered a burrito....and I think it was better than Cafe Rio's. Anyway, we will for sure be going back there next time we are in St. George.

It was so much fun to get away for a little while. Now, we are back to real life, but at least the sun is shinning in Salt Lake this week. I can actually see some grass in back yard! Wahoo!!

Growing So Fast

So, the last month and a half have been very busy for Austin. He is learning so much so fast. He got his first two teeth within about a week in January. He did really well with it....was a little fussy, but not too bad.
He has also advanced from his army crawling to the real thing. He is pretty fast, and loves to chase Cotton around. The poor cat doesn't know what has happened to her sweet, quiet little life.



He has started pulling himself up on the furniture, and walks along the edge of things. He will also walk if we hold his hands. Just today he has started standing on his own for a few seconds at a time. I don't think it will be too much longer before he has the whole walking thing figured out. Yikes!!! I guess I really need to get the house fully baby-proofed now! We have had a few bumps and bruises all ready, and I know that there are just more to come!







We are so in love with this little guy, and having so much fun watching him grow and learn.

More videos

So, I didn't realize that it had been so long since I had uploaded videos from the camcorder. (Okay, my not realizing how long it had been is only part of the reason. The rest of the reason is that I can never remember how to do it...so I have to get Justin to do it for me! I know...a sad, but true, confession!) Anyway, I found a bunch of cute videos that I had forgotten about. This first one is Austin playing peek-a-boo.

Austin loves his Daddy! He loves it when Justin "chomps" his tummy. He can really get him giggling!

Busy Boy

Austin is definitly keeping us on our toes lately. He has figured out how to "army crawl", and let me just tell you, NOTHING gets in his way. He has also pulled himself up a few times. I don't think he understands what he has actually done though, which is good for me.

He loves to jump...whether you are holding him up, in his suacer, or in the jumper. He can really get going too!

And now for the "army crawl" videos I have been promising. In the one video you can hear him saying "DaDa." I've decided that he thinks it is a game now. I keep trying to get him to say "MaMa," but he either laughs at me, or says "DaDa" with a growly voice.

Pretty darn cute, huh? We finally got the gate up on the stairs. We had been planning on putting it up for a while, but it became absolutly necessary when he figured out that he could crawl over and through things. Now there is no stopping him. We are excited to see what he will do next.

Our trip to Houston

We spent the first week of January in Houston visiting family. It was a bit more exciting than we had anticipated because both my Mom and Dad got remarried in December. So, there were lots of people to visit. We arrived on a Sunday night...really late after a flight delay in Denver. We were able to spend the first night and next day with my Dad, his wife, Jeanie, and her children.

Then it was off to Katy. We had grand plans of doing all the touristy things on this trip, but a few things came up and we didn't get to. Needless to say, it was a very low-key vacation.


We were able to visit with my Grandparents, aunts, and uncles though. I was really excited for them to get to meet Austin, but especially for him to get to meet his Great Grandparents. I think they liked him...I mean really, how could you not?

Austin with his Great Grandparents

Four generations:

Grand Daddy, Mom, Me, Gran-Mama, and Austin

It was so nice to get to see family. I thought that I had taken a lot of pictures while we were there, but I really didn't. So, if you guys have any pictures from while we were there, please send them to me. Here are a few of the pictures that I do have.

Erin and Austin

My cousin Molly, Sarah, and Austin

My mom reading a book to Austin

We went to visit James at work one night. He is the manager at a CiCi's pizza in Katy. We were able to eat good pizza, good Mexican food, and I enjoyed quite a bit of BlueBell Ice Cream. Boy, do I love that stuff! (Every trip I have an agenda of where I need to eat...to hold my cravings over until the next time we make it down there!)

James and Austin

Sweet little guy

My family visiting James at CiCi's (Shannon, Mom, Chuck, Justin, Austin, James, Me, Charles, Erin, and Sarah)

One of our family friends has a great dane. This was just a funny picture we took, since this dog is so huge. Austin loves animals, so he did really well with us trying to pose him on the dog.

Our favorite B's

Bath Time

Austin has always loved bath time. He outgrew his infant bath tub a little while ago, and wasn't quite good enough at sitting up on his own yet to sit just in the bathtub. So, for Christmas we got him a bath seat. He loves it...thinks he is so grown up!

Blankie Boy

Well, we definitely have a blankie boy on our hands. I must admit that I have no problem with this at all. He loves to snuggle his blankie (any blankie really...as long as it is soft.)

Birthdays

Justin had a milestone birthday on December 28th! He turned the big 30! We had Jon and Joann babysit Austin so that we could go out to a nice dinner. We went to the New Yorker restaurant downtown. Let me just tell you...I had the BEST steak I have EVER had. I think that overall Justin had a pretty good day!