July 4th Weekend

What a fun weekend we had with both of our families in town! On Friday Shane's parents, sister, and brother-in-law came over for the day. Not only were we celebrating Independence Day, but Shane's Dad's birthday! We grilled out hamburgers & my mom made a wonderful strawberry cake for Gary's birthday! Everything was delicious!

On Saturday we all switched houses and spent the day at Mat & Shanna's house! Again, we had a wonderful meal & Austin got to spend more time with his Gran, Papa Gary, GiGi, and Papa Jim! He was very tired when we got home that evening though!

Sunday we went to eat mexican food with my parents- they always try to get their mexican and BBQ fix while in town! After that we did a little shopping and then headed to dinner with some of my Dad's family! We had a fantastic time visiting with Tammy, Judy, & Chelsea! Austin had a meltdown on the way home from dinner- probably a combination of gas & being extremely tired. Of course it about killed my mom to see him get that upset. Now they know he's not a perfect baby ALL of the time! :)

Today Shane is working while we get things done around the house before my parents leave to go home this afternoon! It has been great to have everyone here this weekend, and I know Austin enjoyed spending time with his grandparents! Here are some fun pictures from the weekend!

Oh, and thanks to GiGi for making Austin a new swaddle blanket!

Gran & Papa Gary with Austin

Mat & Shanna Gary's Birthday Gran & GiGi with AustinAustin & Mommy Papa Jim & GiGi with Austin Playing with Papa Jim Family picture He's starting to chew on his toys more!Look at those chubby legs!

Cute boy

Laughing at silly GiGi This one just makes me laugh

Happy 9th Anniversary

Today we celebrated our 9th Anniversary! My parents are in town celebrating the holiday with us, so they watched Austin while we went out for dinner. We usually go somewhere nice for steaks/seafood, but this year we opted for La Hacienda Ranch for mexican food (my favorite!) It was so good! I will admit that it was weird for us to be out without Austin. Isn't it funny that we went the first 8 1/2 years of our marriage doing everything with just the two of us, and now after 3 months it's so strange to be without him? :)

Anyway, Happy Anniversary to by sweetheart Shane! I'm so blessed to have you as my husband & can't imagine anyone that I'd rather spend my life with! To many more years together! I love you!

Sleeping

I wanted to document these two things about Austin's sleeping habits:

He likes sleeping in his carseat! He usually pitches a small fit when we first put him in, but once we get in the car & start up his favorite instrumental CD- he's OUT. Of course this makes running errands great!

Austin loves to be swaddled when he sleeps (overnight and naps)! When he starts getting fussy, nothing calms him down like being swaddled! We use the miracle blanket swaddle because it's the most difficult for him to get out of- it's like a straight jacket! Anyway when you put it on, you have to lift up his legs to tuck it under his back. He's so smart and now he automatically lifts his legs at the right time when we are swaddling him. It just shows how excited he gets to be swaddled!!! He's started making his way out of it by morning (see picture below), so GiGi is sewing a bigger one when she visits next week! I've had several people comment that it's so cute that he still likes to be swaddled- is that weird? How long did you swaddle your babies?

My parents arrive this Wednesday for the holiday weekend! They are coming in early so that they can watch Austin while Shane & I got out to celebrate our 9th Anniversary on Thursday! Then Shane's parents arrive for the weekend! It should be lots of fun to all be together!!!

Rice Cereal- Like it or not?

This weekend we decided it was time to let Austin try some rice cereal. He has been eyeing our food for weeks and seems to always get fussy when we are eating- so I decided that meant he was ready. Forget asking the pediatrician if it's time! So we tried on Saturday and he seemed a little bit confused on what exactly he was supposed to be doing with it. He ate a little, but spit a lot of it out & made some facial expressions like he did NOT like it. So we tried again today, and he did much better! I have a few pictures of the occasion (we took video too, but will have to post that later when I figure out how!)

In other news, Austin has decided to be a FANTASTIC sleeper for Daddy, but not so much for Mommy. Everyday this past week he has woken up between 5-6am, but this weekend (when it's Daddy's turn to do the morning feedings) he woke up at 9:30 & 8:30... nice. I'm just being sarcastic- he's a great sleeper overall... we are VERY blessed!

Before he started eating (FYI- lots of people think he looks like his Papa Jim in this picture!

He sure liked getting messy- Mommy didn't like it though!
Posing with Daddy & Mommy

At least someone likes the activity center...

First Father's Day & 3 Months Old!

Today was Shane's first Father's Day! I made arrangements for him to go play golf since he hasn't played in a while! He had a great time even though it was extremely HOT here today! He went with his friend, Jared (we met Jared & Leah in our childbirth classes.) While the guys played golf, Austin & I went over and ate lunch with Leah & Reid (who is exactly 2 weeks younger than Austin.) Then the 3 of us went out to dinner to celebrate!

I'm so proud to be married to such a wonderful man! A man who is an unbelievable daddy to the most precious little boy! I love to watch how excited Austin gets when he sees Shane- how his eyes get big, his smiles & coos, and he starts kicking his legs in excitement! Shane is such an involved daddy- he feeds Austin, puts him to bed, changes tons of diapers (especially the stinky ones), gives him baths, takes him for walks, reads to him, plays with him, and so much more. Thank you so much for all that you do- we love you!

And a specials Father's Day wish to my dad & Shane's dad- we are so blessed to have been raised by such wonderful men! We love you Papa Jim & Papa Gary! :)

In other news, Austin turned 3 months old yesterday- I can't believe how time flies! We have an appointment to have his picture made on Tuesday, so I'll post those soon.

He's getting so big!

I couldn't resist posting this sweet picture- even though I'm looking gross from just working out!

Growth Spurt... I Hope

I know I shouldn't be complaining, but I'm so irritated to be up at 4am. I'm hoping Austin is going through a little growth spurt because he has not been sleeping "through the night" for the past 3 days. He's been waking up anywhere between 4-5am. I can't get him to go back to sleep for anything- he just lays there and fusses with his eyes closed. So I finally get him up and feed him- he SUCKS down the bottle & then is ready to go back to sleep immediately. I'm giving him 6-7 oz at every feeding during the day, and then 7 oz before bed at night... ugh, I don't know what else to do. Suggestions?

Again, I know that I shouldn't complain- he's a great sleeper. It's just hard to go back to getting up in the middle of the night when you're not used to it!

Sucking down the bottle- he loves to eat!

Austin isn't the biggest fan of burping though!

Happy & content afterwards!

GiGi's Visit

First off, let me just say that yall have made it quite clear that you don't care about Shane & I (based on the number of comments to my last post)- it's ALL about Austin! :)

My mom (GiGi) was in town for a few days this week on her way to Amarillo, so we enjoyed spending some time with her! Yesterday I got some shopping done while she watched Austin in the store, and then we went out to eat dinner at Cheesecake Factory with my aunt and cousin's wife! We had lots of fun and Austin was such a good boy. He was out all day long and didn't fuss much at all!

He is starting to smile and coo a lot more now- especially after he has eaten (fat & happy as the expression goes!) He has also discovered his hands, feet, and tongue in the last few weeks. So he always has his hand (or thumb) in his mouth or is sticking out his tongue. He's like a little snake with that tongue- it's too cute! Anyway, here are a few pictures from GiGi's visit!

He loves his paci

Laughing and Cooing with GiGi

Such a big boy in his new outfit!