1st Birthday Party!

Today we celebrated Austin's first birthday (again)! Our family & close friends came to our house for a Barnyard Bash- and we had so much fun! Everyone came around noon & we ate a lunch of chicken fingers, potato salad, beans, fruit salad, and rolls!

The birthday boy

Lunch

Decor before lunch- thanks for making such cute table cloths Gigi!

1 year picture & candy (on the side you can see the mason jars that we drank from- how fun!)

Dining room (where we ate)

Cutie

Next we opened presents! Austin liked the gifts, but was most excited about tissue paper and ribbons! We are blessed to have such generous family & friends! Now I'm wondering where we're going to put all this stuff..... :)

Some of the gifts (cute balloons, huh?)

Opening presents

Playing with his grandparents

Finally it was cake time! I was SO please with how the cake turned out- both the regular cake and Austin's smash cake! He absolutely loved it... especially the icing! He was such a mess afterwards that we ended up just giving him a bath in the sink. Of course after that he refused to take a nap because of the sugar high.... so he should sleep well tonight!

The cake table

Eating cake

He obviously enjoyed it!

Being silly for the camera

Bath time



We spent the remainder of the afternoon visiting with everyone and playing with Austin. We all had a wonderful time- the perfect 1st birthday party!

Family picture

Papa Jim & Gigi (my parents)

Papa Gary & Gran (Shane's parents)

Uncle Mat & Aunt Shanna

Beth & Jason

Max snoozed on the coats during the party

Enjoying the spring weather & spaghetti

It's been a beautiful week, so on Tuesday I decided to take Austin for a walk. We tried out his new sunglasses (thank you Christy, Zach, and Payce!) I thought he might try to take them off, but he didn't!

I still think it's funny how he sticks his legs straight out when in the stroller!

Yesterday we took Austin to the playground in our neighborhood! I was anxious to see how he would react to the swings & slide. First off, he wasn't in the best of mood because instead of taking his afternoon nap.... he played for over an hour in his crib. Anyway, when we got there we put him in the swing- and he seemed to really enjoy it! There was another woman there with her 1 yr old (he was 2 days younger than Austin)- so it was fun to see them interact with one another. They also had a dog with them... which Austin was more interested in. Overall it was a fun time, so we'll be going back on a regular basis this summer (along with the pool which is right there too!)

Austin on the swings

Going down the slide with mommy

After we got home, I made spaghetti & we fed Austin some for the first time. He LOVED it- I think it's his new favorite meal (just like his Papa Jim!) It was a huge mess that resulted in a bath, of course! He's growing up so fast!!!!!

Yummy spaghetti

A few last pics from his birthday that cracked me up:

Austin chewing birthday cards which resulted in me taking them away

His reaction... sad then MAD

Happy 1st Birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday to the most precious little boy in my life! I can't believe it's been exactly one year since my life was blessed by you- time has flown by this year!

Austin's 1st Birthday party will actually be in 2 weeks (March 28th) so all of his grandparents can attend! So we will have pictures of the official party later! As for today, we woke Austin up by going in his room this morning snapping pictures- I'm sure he was wondering WHAT was going on! Since today is also my sweet husband's 33rd birthday, he decided our birthday breakfast- whole wheat apple pancakes, strawberries, and orange juice! Austin loved all 3 things (this was his first time to try orange juice and he couldn't get enough of it!) After that we opened birthday cards- he especially enjoyed chewing on them! We headed over to Dallas to spend the day with Shane's sister & brother-in-law (whose birthday is tomorrow!) After a quick stop for lunch, we did some shopping at the mall before headed to dinner at La Hacienda Ranch! It was soooooo good! We ended our evening at Mat & Shanna's where we celebrated the boys' birthdays with cupcakes! This was Austin's first time to eat cake... much less chocolate. And you can tell by the pictures that he LOVED it!

Taking a catnap after dinner!

Not sure about this whole cupcake thing....

Ok, it tastes pretty good!

Is it all gone?


Look at how big he's getting!

Shane thought that posting one picture for each month of his first year would be a bit much, so I'll go with one every quarter (can you tell I'm a CPA???)

March 14, 2008

1 month old

3 months old

6 months old

9 months old

1 yr old

Some new things Austin is doing these days!

*Austin and Max play together a LOT! I guess that's what happens when you don't have a sibling! I'm amazed at how Max has adapted to Austin's mobility- I wasn't sure how well he'd do. He is also so gentle with Austin! When Max gets mad at us, we usually get a playful bite, but he has never once done that to Austin. One thing I am concerned about is that Austin is spending too much time watching Max- as I caught him eating grass and cat food this week. :) ha ha!

*He is becoming a bit more picky about food. He is starting to show a dislike for carrots, peas, and chicken nuggets- or maybe he's just sick of eating them! Other than that, he'll eat just about anything!

*Austin takes 2 bottles a day- one before he takes his afternoon nap & one before bed! We have introduced whole milk, and should phase out formula completely within a week.

*He is crawling a lot faster, and pulling up on everything. His favorite thing to do is go round and round the coffee table, or along the couch to the end tables & back. I have a feeling that walking could happen pretty soon. I also have a feeling that I'm not ready for that yet!!! :) Oh, and he loves pulling up and turning on the bathtub faucet to play in the water....

*Austin is now forward-facing in the car seat- and LOVES it! He enjoys looking around & also being able to see me & Shane in the front seat (or in the rear view mirror.) We were a little concerned that facing forward would make him carsick, but we've seen no evidence of it so far!

Happy Birthday to the two most important people in my life- I love you guys!

Stats from Austin's 12 month appointment:

Weight- 26 lbs 3 oz (90th percentile)

Height- 31 3/4 in (95th percentile)

Head- 47 cm (75th percentile)

He got 2 shots in his arm this time- and cried but got over it within a minute or so! Whoo Hoo- that's wasn't so bad! As a treat for how well he did at the doctor, Austin had a peanut butter sandwich when we got home (1st one ever) and scarfed it down!)

FREE Blog Design Giveaway!

It's that time again... if you want a chance to win a FREE Blog Design Giveaway by Traci from Sweet Cheeky Designs, go here and leave a comment! Let her know who sent you!

One Year Ago

I was looking through old posts and THIS one caught my attention from a year ago. Boy do I remember how miserable I was feeling... little did I know that I'd have the most precious little boy in my arms a week later!

1st Trip to the Zoo!

So today we took Austin to the Ft Worth Zoo for the first time! Shane took the day off, and we decided the zoo was a good option because the weather was going to be nice!

We got to to the zoo around 12:45 & stayed until around 4.... and Austin did fantastic! He never once fussed! I've decided that we will be going to the zoo a lot- he loved the animals, he was constantly being stimulated (therefore he didn't mind missing his afternoon nap), he ate snacks while we looked at the animals, and then he fell asleep within minutes of getting into the car!

Austin's favorite animals/exhibits were:

*The penguins- it was feeding time & so they were all out of the water and then jumping in to get the fish that were being thrown in. He loved watching them jump in and swim around.

*The river otter- again because it was constantly swimming around and close to the glass.

*The parrots- we bought this seed stick thing where the birds will fly down and land on the stick to eat. So basically you are holding the birds. Anyway, Austin LOVED it & kept trying to grab the birds.

*The meercats- first of all, these little animals are just the cutest things EVER! We were also able to get very close to them, and they would come right up to the glass and interact with the kids!

Here are more pics of our day- Shane did a good job getting some great shots!

I've always thought the way that flamingos rest their heads on their backs is so neat!!

A constant battle all day long- trying to get Austin to look at the camera! There were just too many other things to look at!

A cute baby giraffe- there were several of them!

Look at those beautiful colors!

At one point I caught Austin sucking his thumb... which I've only seen him do a handful of times!

The way the lions behaved reminded us of our cat, Max, obviously on a much larger scale :)

Being silly- Austin does this a lot now where he just lays his head down and smiles at us!

The gorillas were funny to watch- so much like humans!

Mommy & Austin

Love this one- just breathtaking!