Merry Christmas (11 months)

Austin had a very Merry Christmas. On Christmas morning the grandparents and great grandma came over. I had breakfast ready at 10am. After breakfast, we opened gifts. Austin did not know what to think of everything. He would start to open a gift then get distracted and move on to something else. Austin got a lot of presents. He got big blocks, Leapfrog Scout Turtle, Vetch teaching Turtle, stacking cone, abacus, Chicken Elmo doll, Turtle for the bathtub for his toys, and many books. It was a lot of fun to watch Austin play with everything.

For Christmas, I made a calendar of Austin for everyone. Each month will be exactly one year ago. It is really cool to look back at how much he has changed already. Then for everyone’s birthday I have a picture of him or her with Austin. Everyone seemed to really like his or her calendar.


December was a busy month with getting ready for Christmas. Austin went to two Christmas parties. He was fun to watch him with Santa Claus. We did not just throw him on Santa’s lap though. We knew that would not go well. Austin does have some stranger anxiety. It is not bad but he still noticeable. Brian had some time off this month too. It was really nice spending time as a family.

Last night, Brian and I went to the home opener of the Cavs. We had season tickets for four and a half years and last year we did not renew because we knew we could not go to many games. But we still like the Cavs and enjoy going. My mother in law watched Austin for us while we went. Brian and I had fun. I’m sure Austin had fun with grandma and grandpa too.


Brian and I have been really good at still doing things as a couple. Luckily my parent’s are able to watch Austin almost anytime. Most of the time we do things as a family but probably about once or twice a month Brian and I do something alone. I think that is really important. Because our every day lives are crazy with Austin. Even though things are so much easier now (than 8 months ago), Austin requires a lot and that can be challenging at times.

We have been so spoiled by Austin though. Most of the time he is an easygoing baby. He usually only cries when he’s hungry or tried. But like everyone he has his moments that he is not happy and that can be miserable. I don’t like a crying baby. I let Austin cry as needed but I definitely don’t let him cry uncontrollably for long periods of time. Because usually if Austin is crying there is something wrong.

Like last night he woke up at 3am. Austin has been sleeping all night now for a while but occasionally he will wake up because he is hungry. I was not too happy that he was up because I was tired. Plus supposedly Austin is supposed to be off the bottle in a month (I really don’t think that is going to happen by a month but we will see what the Dr says at his 1 year check up). So I don’t want to keep feeding him a bottle in the middle of the night. When I went to check on him I found out that he peed and pooped through his diaper so that was what was wrong. He did not like having to be changed in the middle of the night so he was screaming a lot. I had to give him a bottle to calm him down and he went right back to sleep.

Next weekend we will probably take down the Christmas lights and probably our Christmas tree. Austin did not really bother the Christmas tree much. He liked to stand next to it. He would stand unassisted near the tree. It is neat to watch him stand-alone. Austin really liked his new tree and we did too. We are very blessed to have such a wonderful son!

Happy Ba-Ba Birthday Amy! (10 ½ months)

Austin favorite words right now are ba ba. We are not sure what they mean but he loves to say it! Austin is also good at saying da da. He does not realize that Brian is dada yet but he is getting close. He kind of says mama but not often and has no idea that I am mama.

Austin also learned to clap his hands this week. I have been working with him for a while now to clap his hands and he has finally done it. Brian and I were very excited. He sometimes recognizes the word "clap" and will do it. Austin loves to walk around with his push walker. It is really cute. He also loves chewing on everything so many times he will have a teething toy in his mouth as he walks around. Austin is so cute!



For my birthday we went out to dinner at Parason’s. I love Italian food. It was nice. Then we went back to my parent’s house for cake and ice cream. Austin and I blew out the candles together. The next time we sing happy birthday it will be to Austin. I am very excited about his birthday. I can’t believe he is going to be a year old. Time really does go by too fast!


Last week, I mailed out our Christmas cards. We went to Hobby Lobby to get some props for Austin’s picture. I love that we have a photo studio in our house. When Austin is happy we can set it up and we get great pictures. As you can see Austin’s Christmas picture is very cute!


We are starting our Christmas shopping. I can’t wait for Christmas. Christmas is going to be so fun with Austin! We are so lucky because he is a happy baby. He loves to play and have attention. On Christmas he will have all the attention. We will be able to watch him eat the wrapping paper (of course I won’t let him but he will certainly try).

Austin now has 8 teeth. He loves to eat puffs and Cheerios. He still eats stage 2 baby food although he is starting to have chopped up fruits more and more. He usually has three servings of fruits a day and one serving of vegetables. He also has baby cereal for breakfast and dinner. He always loves yogurt. He must have gotten that from me because Brian is not a fan of yogurt. I eat yogurt everyday.

Austin has been taking his naps easily these days. I love it. The only issue is sometimes the evening nap does not go well. When he gets home from daycare he is tired. Usually he is asleep in the car seat. I try to bring him in the house and directly to his crib to finish his nap but he usually does not sleep long. Then he is cranky in the evening because he is tired.

Also Austin has another ear infection. He has had 4 of them now. He will not take his medicine in milk any longer. He does not like the taste and he will not drink it. So we have to give it to him in the syringe. At first it was terrible. Austin would scream and cry and it was very difficult to get it in him. He is getting better everyday with it. Most recently, he has come to accept the inevitability of it all and will sit there and reluctantly cooperate and take his medicine without being forced. Thank goodness. I hold him and Brian gives him the medicine. It has been working out better. Hopefully he will not have any more ear infections for a while.

Happy Thanksgiving (10 months)

For Thanksgiving we went to my parent's house. We ate at 4pm which worked out nicely with Austin's nap schedule. I have always liked routine but with Austin it is a must. We stick to his schedule every day. Thanksgiving morning while Austin was napping Brian and I looked though the ads. Every year Brian and I would go out shopping on Black Friday. This year there was nothing we really wanted so we decided not to go out. Well kind of. Brian went out at midnight to Target for some pans for me but he was unsuccessful at getting them. I decided I would rather sleep (hey, one of us had to stay home with Austin anyway!). After Austin's nap we went to Old Navy since they were open on Thanksgiving. They had some good deals so we got some clothes. After shopping we came home and Austin took his afternoon nap. Once Austin got up we went to my parent's for dinner.

At dinner we let Austin try turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. Austin does not like food much yet. He prefers his milk. Some mashed potatoes got stuck on his tongue and he gagged. After that we stuck to his turkey and sweet potato baby food. We even tried to give Austin a tiny piece of pumpkin pie and he was not interested. Generally he's not a fan of most foods. He is starting to like things he can chew on though. Brian gave him a piece of pizza crust that was all bread and he liked playing with that. He also will eat bananas whole that Brian will give him. He just peels it and hands it to him and Austin will gum it. He only gets little bits off. Sometimes he'll take a big bite, but he spits it out right away because he doesn't know what to do with it.


Austin got to play with Gizmo. Gizmo is a dog but he is really sized like a pony. He is 150 pounds. Austin loves playing with him. Gizmo just lets Austin do whatever he wants. It is really cute to see.

Austin is now 25 pounds. He is cruising around the furniture. He also loves to walk with his toy walker. He crawls so fast. Anywhere he wants to go, he goes. He is now able to climb up and down stairs. He learned how to go down the stairs the correct way. He now does it for our living room step too.

This weekend we went out and bought a new Christmas tree. Our previous tree was huge and has fake snow on it. Austin is going to just eat the snow so we decided to get a smaller more basic tree. Our previous tree only had glass icicle ornaments on it. Again that is not going to work with Austin. We decided we will use our new Christmas tree for a few years while Austin is young then go back to our nice tree once he is older and will appreciate it.

I am excited to put up our tree but need to wait closer until Christmas because I don't want to worry about Austin knocking it down for a month. Austin loves to get into everything! We did set up our deluxe Christmas light display outside already. Austin likes to watch it out the front window.

The weather has been great so we have been going for our walks. I know it's going to change soon. I'm going to miss walking with Austin. However the snow is going to be fun for him especially once he gets older.

The other week I went to the store while Brian stayed home and watched Austin. In my absence, he hooked up our camera to the back of Austin's car so you could watch Austin get pushed around the house from his perspective. He made a couple of entertaining videos of it. You can check them out below.




We even went to see decorated Christmas trees with Austin at the Knight Center in Akron on black Friday. He got his picture taken with Alvin and the chipmucks. It is officially time to start getting ready for Christmas. It is going to be fun (like Austin playing with a bowl full of spaghetti fun - see video clip down below).


Austin taking care of leftovers:

Happy Halloween (9 months 1 week)

It is hard to believe that Austin is already 9 months old. Where has all the time gone? He is getting bigger and into more and more every day. At his 9 month check up, he weighed 24 pounds 3 ounces and was 30 inches long. He is still in the 90th percentile in both height and weight.

Austin is able to furniture walk extremely well. It will not be too much longer and he will be walking alone. He loves to climb stairs and he is an expert now. He is able to come down too. He just learned how to turn around to come down the steps. Previously he would go head first down the 1 step between our living room and dining room. We had a blanket there for him to land on. That doesn't work so well for a flight of stairs, so we taught him to turn around.

Austin is mommy's little helper. Anything I do Austin helps me. He loves to empty the dishwasher with me. He takes the silverware and throws it on the floor. When I am putting clothes away, he loves to take the clothes out of drawers and throw them on the floor. He has discovered the toilet paper roll and knows how to unroll the toilet paper.
When I make dinner, he is in the kitchen going though the cupboards finding something to play with. He loves our thermos from when we packed our dinners for Cavs games. He rolls them on the floor and plays. Austin is so much fun right now!



For Halloween, Austin was a monkey. Brian got his costume the day after Halloween last year. It was a great costume for him. It was nice because it kept him warm. Plus he looked so cute! We went trick or treating in Grandma and Grandpa D's neighborhood. We went around the block and were only out and about for about a half an hour. Then we went to visit Great Grandma. We knocked on her door with Austin to surprise her. Trick or Treat! Then on Halloween we went around our block with our neighbors. We probably walked around for 45 minutes to a few houses. It was a lot of fun. As usual, Austin likes being out and seeing people and things. He seemed to really enjoy it.

Vacation without Austin (8 months 3 weeks)

Leaving Austin to go on vacation was extremely hard. The morning we left Austin woke up extremely early for some reason. If Austin did not wake up, I was not going to wake him up. But I was happy he woke up because I spent more time with him. Leaving to go to the airport was the hardest. I did not want Austin to see me upset but it was hard not to cry. When I handed him to Brian so I could walk out the door I was devastated. I could not believe I was doing this. I already missed him and had not even left yet.

My parents took us to the airport so Austin could stay home with my mother in law. Again I did not want Austin to see me upset. When I left my mom, I fell apart again. People at the airport had to think I have never traveled before. I knew Austin was going to be well taken care of but I was going to miss him.

Once at the airport, I was okay. I still thought about Austin all the time but I was ready to have some fun. Once we arrived to Fort Lauderdale, we waited for Melissa and Jonathan to arrive. Then we got on the biggest cruise ship in the world: Allure of the Seas. The ship was amazing! It was by far my favorite cruise ship ever. There was so much to do on board. It had little neighborhoods that were really cool. It was really kids friendly too. I wished we had brought Austin at times.

Brian and I had an excellent week together. It was nice to spend some time together. We love our vacations because we get to spend alone time together. Our lives have always been hectic and with Austin they are even more crazy.

The ports we went to were Haiti, Jamaica, and Cozumel. In Haiti, we just went swimming in the ocean. It was cloudy so we loved it. In Jamaica we went kayaking and climbed up a water fall. The kayak did not have a rudder with made steering really difficult. Climbing the waterfall was amazing! I really enjoyed that. In Cozumel, we did the amazing race with Melissa and Jonathan. I love it! I have always wanted to do the amazing race and this was my opportunity. The best part is we even won!

We really had a great vacation. We missed Austin a lot. The emails and pictures sent to us really helped me feel closer to him. We were really happy to see him at the airport when we got home.

First Vacation without Austin (8 months and 2 weeks)

Brian and I are going on a Caribbean Cruise on the Allure of the Seas without Austin. We decided before Austin was born that we would go on vacation once a year alone. We thought it was important to focus on our marriage too. Melissa and Jonathan are going on the cruise with us. It will be fun to spend a week with them. However I am very sad to be leaving Austin at home.

Austin is our world. Everything we do these days is on Austin schedule. Many times I don't get done what I want to because I am busy playing or taking care of Austin. I would not have it any other way.



My mother in law is on her way up here to watch him most of the week. My parents have two nights with him during the week too so she can have a break. As much as I love Austin, he is a lot of work and is exhausting. He does not stop unless he is sleeping. He crawls all over the place and is always finding something to get into that he should not. He must be watched all the time.

I am excited for the Grandmas to spend more time with Austin. I know they are going to love it. However there are many times I wish Austin was going with us. Brian and I are going to try this. Hopefully everything will go well for them and Austin. Austin is usually an easy going baby however there are times he screams like crazy. It's a loud screeching scream. Those times are frustrating but I am now use to it and realize that he is fine but just usually over tired. I hope they don't have too many of those episodes.


My mom and mother in law think I am completely crazy because I have been sending them all these emails about Austin and Austin's schedule. I thought it was best to have everything in writing. This way I could tell them both at the same time. I really want Austin to keep his same schedule. He is going to be confused enough on where Mommy and Daddy are, let alone if his schedule is all messed up too. They say kids thieve on schedules so that is what I am hoping for.

Last week, Austin had a bilateral ear infection again. It's his third ear infection. Two were bilateral. Luckily he is feeling better. Austin is such a good baby even when he is sick (we took the photo of him smiling on the stairs the same night he got diagnosed with his ear infection). He did vomit some and was a little fussy but all and all it was hard to notice he was sick. I was glad I took him to the doctors though. I wanted him to be all better before we left. He had a cold for two weeks before we took him to the doctors. We don't always want to rush to the doctors because we understand kids are developing their immune system and they are going to get sick. But obviously if he continues to act sick and we think something is wrong we take him to the doctors right away.

We have to finish getting everything ready for the trip. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day and then we leave Sunday morning. We are really going to miss Austin.

Happy Birthday Brian (8 months)

Last Saturday was Brian’s birthday. He took off work on Friday to spend the day with Austin and I. We had a lot of fun. We went to breakfast at Brian’s favorite place, Wally Waffles. I was excited because I got a pumpkin waffle. After breakfast we went out to Medina to a consignment sale. I got Austin lots of clothes and Brian picked him out some toys.




Once we got home, Brian decided to fix our washer for me. I was really happy. Austin tried to help too.


Saturday we took Austin to swim class. Brian is the one in the pool with Austin. Austin loves water. He has so much fun. During swim class, Brian was told to blow in Austin’s face while Austin goes under water. Austin did not know what to think but he did not cry. Austin is good at splashing water around.


Saturday night we had a wedding to attend. My mom was nice enough to watch Austin for us. Kids were invited to the wedding but we decided we wanted a nice date night. My mom did not mind at all so we went and had a good time. It was nice to spend an evening with Brian. Brian had a great birthday.

Austin is so fun at this age. He interacts with us all day long. He is almost always happy. However if he is not he definitely lets you know. Austin is more talkative too. He can now say da-da. He does not understand what it means but he can say it. I love it!

We are busy these days with Austin. I use to think we were busy before Austin. I have a new appreciation for busy. Our busiest time is the evenings. I have to make dinner. When I make dinner now, Austin has a pan and a wooden spoon. It’s amazing the pan and spoon keeps in entertained. It really helps because if he is not playing with that he is crawling all over the house. That makes making dinner a little difficult. We eat at 6pm.

Austin eats much better these days. However we have learned that we have to keep feeding him right after each bite. Little time for breaks because if there are too many breaks he is no longer interested in eating. He likes bananas, prunes, and pears the best. He is not a fan of green beans, peas, and carrots. He really does not like meats because he gags on that right now.

After dinner we clean up the kitchen and go for our walk around the block. Our walk takes about half hour. Austin really enjoys our walks. We are not sure what we are going to do in the winter. After our walk it’s playtime until about 8:30pm. Then he gets his milk, story, and diaper change before going to his crib for the night. He goes to sleep around 9pm.

Recently he’s been sleeping mostly though the night. That is wonderful. He sometimes gets up for a feeding around 4am but he usually goes back to bed until 7am. There are some nights when gets up earlier and does not go to bed. It is a miserable night but luckily they are now rare.