Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful 2nd Christmas as a family of 3 this year! The festivities began when my parents, Papa Jim & GiGi, arrived the weekend before Christmas! We spent lots of time around the house playing with Austin & managed to fit in some last minute shopping as well! My mom brought this chair for Austin (not as a gift)- and he loves it! In fact, Max & Austin often fight over who can sit in it.

Austin climbing into the chair- he enjoys climbing in and out as much as just sitting in it.

Since we were leaving to go to Shane's parents for Christmas, we had Christmas with my parents on Tuesday morning- and what do you know, Santa came then too! We enjoyed watching Austin explore all of his new toys, and managed to open a few gifts ourselves, as well!

The gifts

Checking out what Santa brought him... what a good boy!

Sit & Spin- still needs our help with this one, and actually prefers to stand on it. oh yes.

Funny thing about the Little People Garage- he tries to climb up and slide down the ramp (like he does with his slide outside!)

New truck with legos- thanks to Nana & Jim (my parents' friends)

Opening gifts with GiGi (surprisingly he didn't care much about opening gifts this year- I thought he would love the bows and paper, but nope. He only wanted to play!)

Shooting hoops- thanks again Nana & Jim

One of his two favorite gifts- his wagon from Papa Jim & GiGi (we take daily rides around the house in it.) I cannot wait for nice weather so we can stroll around the neighborhood with it!

On Wednesday we headed to Victoria to spend Christmas with Shane's family! We woke up on Christmas Eve morning and opened gifts with Shane's parents (Papa Gary & Gran), Uncle Mat, Aunt Shanna, and Evie.

My adorable niece, Evie

Stare down competition between Austin & Evie

Austin opening presents with Uncle Mat & Daddy

Sitting in his new outdoor chair from Papa Gary & Gran

His other favorite gift, the tent/tunnel that Papa Gary & Gran got him- he could play in it for hours. Again, the cats are also enjoying this gift- and even Mommy crawls through the tunnel every so often!

On Christmas Eve we had our annual get-together with Shane's extended family! We eat together & open gifts/stockings- lots of fun traditions!

The family

Looking at the ornaments on Paw Paw & Maw Maw's tree

Drinking Gran's famous punch with Papa Gary- he LOVED it! I was scared because it is primarily grape juice... on white carpet!

Austin & Evie with their grandparents

3 generations

Shanna, Mat & Evie

The Lumpkins clan (the best pic we could get... of the adults, that is.)

Just us 3

We headed back home on Christmas day (after a wonderful fajita lunch over at Shane's aunt & uncle's house- YUM!) We had planned to travel to Amarillo with parents to see my mom's family, but decided to stay home and relax for a few days! I missed seeing my family (the first time I can ever remember not attending), but it was the best decision for us this year. Austin's only pleasure is running around- which is just not feasible in a hotel lobby for 3 days. We plan on going next year when it's here in Ft Worth! So we spent several days (just the 3 of us) relaxing, shopping, taking down Christmas decorations, and getting toys organized.

The chaos- for those of you that know me well, you know how much this tortures me.

When my parents came back from Amarillo, we had snow on the ground- so we all took Austin out to play in the snow! He wasn't sure about it, but GiGi continued to take him out to play in it until he liked it a bit more! :)

Jack & Max checking out the snowm (okay, so Jack was.)

Overall another fabulous holiday! Wish we could have spent more time with our families, but isn't that always the case? I'm still so angry at myself for not taking more pictures- especially since I did not get a picture of Austin with my parents. Ugh... guess there's always his birthday!

***MAKE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN PAST THE XMAS CARD POST TO SEE AUSTIN'S 21 MONTHS POST THAT I JUST FINISHED!***

Merry Christmas 2009

21 months old

21 things about Austin on his 21 month birthday:

1- Austin loves to help Mommy do everything! He especially enjoys helping unload the dishwasher, put wet laundry into the dryer, and take out the trash (his dirty diaper bags that we put in the garage.)

2- He recently got his 2 year molars! Seriously, how many more teeth will this kid get before he starts losing them?!?!? Time to make his 1st dentist appointment!

3- Austin loves taking baths! When I say "do you want to take a bath?", he starts jumping up and down and screaming with excitement! His favorite things to do are splash & fill his bucket with water and pour it on top of his head! I need to post a video of that soon!

4- He is very expressive with his eyebrows! He raises them and does this high pitch sound when he's questioning something, and then he frowns them when he is upset or sad. It's really cute- need to try and catch it with my camera.

5- Much to my dismay, Austin loves stuffed animals. They are one of my least favorite things, so of course he likes them... A LOT! His favorites are his bear (bear), alligator (Al), elephant (Ellie), Moose (Mo), and new chimp (no name yet.) He drags them around, puts them in the wagon when he goes for a ride, hugs them, sleeps with them, etc. It's sweet, I guess.... if you like stuffed animals.

6- He is growing like a weed! He is getting so tall, but starting to thin out a bit. I'll be anxious to get his 2 yr stats in March!

7- Austin enjoys tv/movies more than he did before. In the past, I couldn't get him to watch more than 1 min of tv before he was done. But now he will watch for 20 min or so (during snack time), and loves watching DVDs when we travel (LIFESAVER!)

8- He climbs on everything. It started with the couch, and now our bed. He also loves my step stool, as well as the one that GiGi brought him (for the sink in his bathroom.) He thinks it's so fun to climb up on the stool to wash his hands/AKA- play in the water. I will not hear him for a few minutes, and I usually find him climbing up on our bed, then sliding down- over and over and over.

9- Austin is still an amazing sleeper! He sleeps from around 7:30 each night until 8:30 in the morning. And then he typically takes a nap after lunch for 2 hours or so. My only concern is that he will NOT sleep anywhere besides his bed (and car seat if exhausted.) So no pallet on the floor or napping on the couch. A funny thing- we often go into his room to get him up & find him without a shirt on. Not because he is hot, he just likes to take it off. So funny!

10- His hair is growing so fast now! The funny thing is, it grows a ton in the front & on top, but not so much on the sides. And no matter how I comb it (to the side) after a bath, it always ends up going forward. It just grows that way... ugh.

11- Austin has such a sweet and gentle spirit. Often times we are playing with other children who push him, knock him down, bite, etc- and he just looks at them with almost a hurtful "why did you do that?" look. He never acts aggressive back. I'm sure that will change, but right now I love that he is this way.

12- The way he plays has changed a lot. He really likes to sort, stack, put things in and out of containers, etc. He also loves riding on/pushing toys.

13- Austin has always loved to jump, but recently he learned how to hop! He just hops around behind me- all the way down the hall... it's adorable!

14- He has become much more social! I think this is due to his class at church & also his Little Gym classes. He still loves to watch older children play, but he enjoys interacting with kids his own age much more than before. He's only shy around new adults, and that doesn't last too long.

15- Austin loves putting on his shoes (mainly because that means we are going outside.) He is constantly going to his drawer where I keep his shoes and says "shoes" until we get them out. And then when we put them on, he runs around the house stomping in them!

16- He gets hurt A LOT. Most of the time, I have no idea what he has done until the bruise/knot comes up. He's also had a few altercations with the cats recently... resulting in scratches. Oh well, he's a boy, right.

17- Austin still doesn't really talk much... at all. It concerned me a bit, but everyone says not to worry- he will do it in his own time. He says mama, dada (a lot), shoes, and then a few other words not very often- fish, papa, max. He's constantly pointing to things and saying "this?"- wanting me to tell him what everything is. And he recognizes places. We will drive down the street and he starts pointing and making noises when we pass the farmers market (that I take him to every week.) It's actually impressive since it's not very close to our house.

18- He does really well with time outs. In fact, he hasn't gone to time out for 2-3 weeks. But when he is put in time out, he stays on the mat & only cries for 10 seconds or so. He typically gets sent to time out for not minding, jumping on the couch, or getting into the drawers in our bedroom.

19- Austin is a decent eater. We've just entered the picky phase, so he won't eat a lot of new foods- which is frustrating. His favorites are hot dogs, ham, vienna sausages (gag), pirates booty, chips (bad, I know), fruit, dried fruit, yogurt, desserts, most breakfast foods besides eggs, popcorn, any carbs. He's also eating with a fork now, although he drops it and eats with his hands when he's wanting to really get the food in fast! And he's sitting at the table in a booster seat with us for dinner (most nights).

20- He gets into EVERYTHING. Opens all doors, opens all drawers, gets into anything when I'm not looking. He's so curious.

21- Austin has gotten very adventurous. On an outing with a friend this past week, we went to this indoor bounce house place. They have the typical bounce houses, and then these big bouncy slides. Granted the slides are a little smaller in the toddler room, but not much. I've always carried him up the stairs, or followed right behind while he climbs. They are not typical stairs, but just these narrow soft ledges that are so easy to fall off of. Anyway, he climbed all the way up the stairs and slid down by himself- I was shocked, scared to death, and quite proud. Seriously, it's like 20 feet or so tall. How can my baby be growing up so quickly???

Am I not the most blessed person ever? Love this little boy to pieces!

Until his 2 yr post....

We have one crazy cat...

So this is Jack's new way to drink water. Now he's always enjoyed drinking from the bathtub faucet, but not letting it run down his head into his mouth. Seriously... I thought cats hated water?!?!?



Check out Max watching him in this one. I'm sure he thinks Jack is insane..... and he's right.

November Wrap-Up

I wanted to post about several things from November, but don't have many pics.. so I'm going to just combine them into one post!

Max & Jack

Just a few pics of the other 2 babies in my life :) Jack is such an active little kitten.. I forgot how much trouble they can get into at this age! Max is his same old self- big and sweet (as seen in these pics.) Love em both!

Thanksgiving

We visited Shane's parents for Thanksgiving. With Austin being so active now, we barely had time to take any pictures. Honestly the only ones I have are of Austin before he went outside to play with Daddy & Papa Gary! It was muddy outside, so he had on his new boots- aren't they adorable?

Playing with sweet potatoes~ so much fun.

Decorating for Christmas

When we got back from Victoria, we decorated the house (inside and out) for Christmas! We did a lot of it while Austin napped, but saved decorating the tree for when he was awake! I thought he could help me put ornaments on the tree- but he preferred to throw them on the ground & sort them (into bags.) Whatever floats your boat buddy! Now that the tree is up though, he loves taking the ornaments off and playing with them- especially the ones with glitter! Jack and Max also love them.. fun times for all.

Sorting

Evidence of throwing

First Snow

We woke up to snow earlier this week- first snow of the season. Granted it was only a dusting, but it was still white & pretty! I took Austin out & he enjoyed stomping around in it. As usual, he refuses to look at the camera (much less smile)- so sorry there aren't better pics!