Ode to my Spoon & Forward Motion

Yesterday after I finished posting to the blog, I came across another funny thing Austin does and though you might be interested. After every meal, I wipe his face, remove the bib, and clean his spoon. Then, I give him the spoon to play with while I throw things away and tidy up. He usually just flings it around until he drops it on the floor. Recently, he's taken to talking to it and sometimes "serenading" it. Here's glimpse of how much he loves his spoon.

I also caught our little man engaging in some forward motion today. This is a first to my knowledge. He was after his starfish toy this morning when he started doing it and I had to run for the camera. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving and Goofing Around

Well, we spent our Thanksgiving this year in Marfa, TX with Sam's family and friends. Austin flew well again and did pretty good on the 3 hour drive from Midland to Marfa. We had a good time. Here's a picture of Austin riding in the truck out to a friend's house for Thanksgiving lunch.

Here we are after lunch relaxing at the house.

Here we are on our way back home at the Midland Airport.

Once we got home, it was time to get geared up for Christmas. Austin looked on from his jumper while I set up the Christmas tree. He was not that excited about it until it came time to touch the tree.

Austin's Great-Aunt Shannon made him a special hat for Christmas. Here's also wearing that and sporting his "almost" black-eye. This is what happens when I don't give Sam "advice" when he's holding Austin. This little shiner was gone by the next day. I'm sure it will only be the first of many boo-boos.

This past Saturday, I caught Austin and Sam spending some father-son time. It was too cute.

Austin is also beginning his experience with crawling. So far, he can get up on all fours and scoot backwards. It really makes him angry when he does all that work and realizes that he is further from his target (usually a toy or the pacifier) than when he started.

Here's Austin this morning in his hat!

Ok, I'm a slacker

Okay, okay. I haven't been keeping up with my "Keeping Up" blog. Sorry. Things have been pretty chaotic around here with Sam's upgrade, my school, and Austin's increased awake time. Here's my attempt at catching you up on all the happenings.

Well, on November 7th, Austin, Sam, the dogs and I went out to Burns Park in North Little Rock for a walk and a picnic with Matt, Lisa, and Andrew Halderman and their dogs. We spread out some blankets and hung out. It was a nice relaxing afternoon.

The next day Austin showed off one of his many talents (thanks to Granny showing him how he can reach them). He LOVES his toes and plays with them regularly. Here I got him with big toe in mouth.

The squadron has a Burger Burn one afternoon and Austin and I went to see Sam at work. It just so happened that Sam got nominated to get a pie to the face to raise money for the Christmas party. The guys encouraged me to "pie" Sam, but I let the boys have their fun.

Austin loves to hangout with his puppies. He loves to watch them go by.

During Granny's most recent trip, Austin was allowed juice. He loves his juice from either a cup or a bottle. The first video is Austin drinking from his sippy cup. The second is him holding his own bottle (kinda). And yes, he's drinking from a pink bottle. He's very comfortable with his manhood.

He is also more and more fascinated by the things around him. He especially loves the colorful remote control.

This was take today at the airport as Granny was leaving. One more big smile from Granny and his pumpkin hat courtesy of Great-Aunt Shannon.

Austin on Halloween and Sitting

Well, we dressed up for Halloween and answered the door since Austin was a little too small to go trick or treating. He was a pretty cute Tiger despite Sam's scrooge-ness. Yes, there are scrooges for Halloween. Anyway, here we are at the beginning of the night. It only last about 30 minutes.

Austin has been working very hard on sitting up. For those of you who don't know, he is a very active baby. Simply laying around playing is not his style. He must be sitting or standing. He really prefers the standing though. Here's a video of him in the exersaucer and me trying to make him laugh.

Here he is sitting up like a big boy and playing with his toys.

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Pumpkin Patch

We took Austin to his first pumpkin patch this morning. It was pretty chilly out, but he still had a good time. He even got a tiny pumpkin of his own for free! Of course we paid $12 to get in, but it was worth it and I can't wait to take him next year when he can really enjoy it. I think we got some pretty good pictures though.

It was too wet to sit by the pumpkin, so we stood.

Oh, the happy boy!

The happy family!

First Food!

I decided last night that it was time Austin had some food. So I made a quick trip to Walmart for his groceries. Of course all he got last night was rice cereal, but I wanted to be prepared for the week! I am very proud of the little man. He actually ate more than he got on his face. He seemed to like it. He really liked to grab the spoon at the last second and try to feed himself. I think I'm in trouble. Anyway, here are some pictures of last night.

Loving the spoon so much that he blows kisses. Not really. This fish face is Austin sucking his own tongue.

This is the beginning of feeding. He didn't really have much on his face.

I think he likes it.

The end.

First Fall Experience

Well, we went for our first walk at Burns Park yesterday. We met Shelley, Kara, Cole, and Tessa. We walked 6.5 miles! It was about 50 degrees out, so we had to bundle up. Austin was a trooper the whole time and stayed snuggled in the stroller thanks to the blanket Shelley made and the pumpkin hat from Aunt Cindy.

The boys also spent some tummy time on the back of Kara's truck. I think they would spend more time like this if we would set them up some playdates.

Finally

Sorry that it's been almost a month since my last post, but we've been pretty busy. Here's a little bit to help you catch up. Austin got to watch his first Texas Tech game. Unfortunately it was the game against Texas and we lost, but he's not a fair weather fan.

We took a little trip down to Crystal Beach and Georgia at the end of September. We got to see some relatives and Uncle Tyler turn 21.

Sam is still working on his upgrade process to Aircraft Commander and still on nights. The good part about that is that he is home to spend time with Austin during the day.

Speaking of the little man, I took him out on the porch yesterday to try to get some pictures of him in his Halloween costume. Here's what I have so far.

I also caught him playing in his Bumbo chair with the tray. He tends to like to play while hanging over the side though.

I also caught him playing with his Mickey that our neighbors Beth and Mason brought him from Disney World last January.

Beach, Here's Johnny, ExerSaucer, and Rolling

Austin had his first trip to the beach this past weekend. He got to spend sometime in the surf and napping in the sand. Well, not really in the sand, but in his tent.

He also got to spend some time in the Johnny-Jump-Up. He likes being able to stand up and twirl around.

Last week, I bought him an exersaucer to give him some stimulation and me some spare time to get stuff done. So far nothing has gotten done, but Austin likes his exersaucer all the same. Here is a picture and a video. In the video, he is talking to one of the toys. He did this for about 30 minutes that day.

And here is just a cute picture from his bath last night.

Austin reached another milestone today. We were playing on the floor, doing some tummy time and Austin rolled over for the first time all by himself. I saw it coming so I was able to catch it on camera!

First Nap in the Big Boy Bed and Mr. Thumb

Well, despite my desire to keep Austin from sucking his thumb, he has devised a way to spend time with Mr. Thumb anyway. Over the past week, I have been awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of Austin sucking on his fist when he paci had fallen out. I've done my best to find it and pop it back in for him in the middle of the night. Well, today I laid Austin down for his first nap in his crib, also known as his Big-Boy-Bed. Sometime during his nap, he lost his paci, but found Mr. Thumb. It was too cute for me to disturb, so here it is.

Here are some other pictures from the past week.

Here's one that shows how big he is getting. You can compare it to the other pictures on his tummy time mat and see how he's grown.

Here's Austin hanging out with me while I work on his scrapbook and a picture of one of his scrapbook pages.

Here's one of the boys sleeping in on a Saturday.

That's about it.