Five Months Old

Today, Austin is 5 months old. I realize that's not very old, but these past 5 months have flown by. So, Austin, this post is for you. Maybe one day you'll wonder what you were up to at 5 months...

• You weigh 17 pounds, 12 ounces. That puts you in the 80th percentile weight-for-age.

• You are 28 inches long. That means that you are greater than the 97th percentile length-for-age.

• You are currently wearing size 2 diapers, although they're getting a little snug. As soon as this box is finished, you will be moving up to size 3.

• You wear size 3-6 month clothes, but some clothes you are wearing 6-9 months! You're a long fellow, so those 1 piece 3-6 month clothes don't fit anymore.

• You eat 8 ounces of formula every 4 hours. Formula is not cheap, so I'm still cursing my boobs for not being able to supply you with enough free food.

• You have started first foods. So far, you seem to like fruit the best, although, you did enjoy carrots. I think your favorite food has been bananas. You liked them by themselves and mixed with rice cereal. Yum!

• You have a big sister who adores you. She is so proud of you and is constantly trying to pick you up, give you toys and rub your head. She is probably to blame for still being bald. She rubs your head so much, it probably doesn't allow for any hair to grow. This morning at the Dr.'s office, she was talking about you to another little girl. She said "You see him. His name is Austin, and he's my bruder, not your's." Perhaps she's a little possessive, but proud none the less.

• You are fond of your big sister as well. She solicits more laughs from you than me or Daddy combined. Your Grandma says the two of you will be quite the pair when you get up on your feet and that I'd better watch out. I look forward to seeing the two of you play together, but please be nice to mommy :)

• We think you have rolled over from your belly to your back. No one has witnessed this feat, but on 2 occasions you were placed on your belly and when we looked back, you were on your back. I keep hoping you'll let me witness your new trick!

• You are a snuggler. My favorite is when I pick you up and you let out a little squeal and bury your head in my chest. It's like there's no where else you'd rather be. I love it.

• You leave a lot to be desired at night. You used to sleep from about 8pm-4ish am. I was cool with that. However, for about a month now, you've been getting up around 10pm, 1am and 4am. I love spending time with you, but I love my sleep as well. If you could go back to your old sleeping habits, that would be fine by me!

• I love how you stare at my face while I'm rocking you to sleep for a nap. It's as if you are trying to memorize every detail of how I look. I usually do the same to you. I want to memorize your face as it is right now to remember forever. You are a cutie!!

• You are such a joy. You were meant for our family. For a while, after Bella was born, even thought I wasn't quite ready for another baby, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was someone missing from our family. We didn't feel quite "complete" until you were born.

Happy 5 month birthday, Bubbers!

Bella's Birthday Weekend

We celebrated Bella's third birthday this weekend. It's hard to believe she's already 3. If there's anything I've learned since becoming a mother, it's that they grow up too fast. I held it together pretty good over the weekend, I only teared up a few times! :)

We started the birthday celebrations with a small party at Bella's school on Friday afternoon. It was a big surprise for her when Mommy and Daddy showed up at school with cupcakes! Bella had requested chocolate cupcakes with pink icing (what can I say, she's a girly girl and loves anything pink!). Apparently, it's a state regulation that you can't bring homemade cupcakes, so I had to buy them. The grocery store was SERIOUS when they put the pink food coloring in. I think most of the kids in Bella's class had pink stains on their faces. Oh well. Hopefully, there wasn't too many upset parents when they picked their kids up that day!

Bella was so happy with the kids and teachers in her class sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She had this big smile on her face the whole song. This was about the time Mommy teared up for the first time.

A few of Bella's friends enjoying their cupcakes.

Saturday was Bella's birthday party for friends and family. We had it at Power of Play near our house. I've actually never been to this place prior to booking it for her party. I think we'll have to go more often- it's AWESOME. Tons of things for little ones to play with. There is a pretend restaurant, grocery store, Dr.'s office, veterinarian, jail, post office, race track, dress up clothes, and TONS more. Bella and all her friends had a blast.

Here's Bella running the cash register in the pretend restaurant. The play money in the cash register was promptly taken by Bella to the play post office and mailed somewhere. I'm not sure where. If you get money in the mail, you'll know who sent it :)

Bella found this dress in the dress up area. She said she was Cinderella. Here is Cinderella at the Dr.'s office. I'm not sure what happened, but apparently there was an unfortunate accident that required Cinderell to use a wheelchair. Luckily, she was back on her feet soon.

Here is Bella with her friend Brady. Brady is the son of one of my friends, Emily. As you can tell, he's a cutie, and Bella definitely agrees. Whenever she's around Brady, she talks about him for days. She was happy he was at her birthday party. He was a trooper- he followed her orders each time she told him to sing "Happy Birthday" to her.

Some of the party guests enjoying their cake.

Cinderella riding her horse on the farm.

After the party, we went back to our house with my parents, Scott's parents, my brother, sister-in-law and neice to open Bella's birthday presents. She has really been into the Disney princesses lately. Her personal favorite is Cinderella. She was beyond thrilled when she opened her gift from Nana and Papa and saw it was a real Cinderella dress, shoes and crown!

Bella's gift from Scott and I was a trampoline. She squealed when she saw it and had to jump immediately. At least she let me take her Cinderella high heels off first.

Bella's actual birthday was Monday. It worked out nice, because it fell on MLK Jr. day, which meant the bank was closed and Scott could spend the day with us! We started the day with a birthday cupcake. Again, chocolate cupcake with pink icing!

Blowing out the candle. I still can't believe she's 3!

We took Bella and Austin to the aquarium at Ft. Fisher. We took a few pictures while waiting for Daddy to park the car. The weather was nice!

Bella asked "Is this alligator dead?" I sure hope so!

Bella enjoyed the aquarium at first, but quickly grew tired of meandering through the crowds to just look at some fish. On our way home, I asked what her favorite part of the aquarium was. Her reply: "none of it". Oh well.

On the way home from the dud trip to the aquarium, Scott and I redeemed ourselves by stopping to get Bella a new dance outfit. Luckily, she had dance that night, so was able to wear her new outfit immediately. I think dance class was the highlight of her birthday. The are starting to learn their dance for the recital. It is to the song "How Much is That Doggy in the Window". They let us parents come in a watch them dance. And I teared up yet again.

It certainly is bittersweet to watch my little girl grow up. Sometimes I find myself wishing she could stay little forever, and other times I am daydreaming about the girl and woman she will become. Happy Birthday Bella!

Bedtime Prayers

Last night I was tired. I found myself getting in bed right after I put Austin down. I went ahead a flipped on Bella's monitor(so I wouldn't have to get up later), even though Scott was still in her room putting her to bed. Plus, I like to eavesdrop on their conversations from time to time- they can be real gems :)
As he finished her bedtime story and she climbed in bed, I heard a sweet little prayer that I'd never heard before. Scott lead the prayer, but Bella repeated each line. It went like this:

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for my family.
Thank you for my friends.
Help me to be good.
And forgive me of my sins.
In Jesus' name, Amen.

It was something they had come up with together. I absolutely love it, and may steal it for when it's my turn to put her to bed. I don't say it enough, but my children have an amazing dad. I guess I'm pretty lucky myself :)

Mommy's Christmas

I have been wanting a new camera for a while. Mine was fine, took decent pictures, but I was ready for something better. My dad and sister-in-law recently got new SLR cameras, and it really made me want one. They just take such better pictures than my little point and shoot. So, Scott got me the one I wanted for Christmas! I was thrilled. And have been taking pictures ever since. Literally. I have taken close to 200 since Christmas. Oh my. I can't stop. Here's just a little bit...

Playing in her tent. We put it inside because IT'S COLD!

Mmmmm, the girl loves dum dums.

Smiling at his big sister.

Bella fixed herself and Austin a glass of wine. That's what she said anyway. I've never seen anyone drink wine out of coffee cups.

Austin got a kick out of talking about bananas. So far, it's the only baby food he's liked.

I've said for years that I would love to take a photography class. Maybe now I'll actually do it! I'm having fun with my new toy!

Hello, Goodbye

New Year's celebrations have certainly been different since having children. This year, as much as I hate to say it, I was in bed by 10:30. I did wake up shortly after midnight because the neighbors were shooting fireworks. Scott and I looked at each other, said Happy New Year, gave each other a quick kiss, and were quickly back to sleep.

I thought back on New Year's eve 10 year ago... I celebrated bringing in the year 2000 in Hotlanta. My Mississippi State Bulldogs had beaten Clemson 17-7 the night before at the Georgia Dome. Needless to say, it was a much wilder night. What a difference 10 years makes!

I have also thought back over 2009, and all that we experienced. A new job. A new member of the family! It was a good year! I thought I would summarize 2009 with pictures...

January: Bella turned 2.

February: Got her first haircut


March: Bella ditched the high chair and joined us at the table in a booster seat. Her first meal at the table was chick-fil-a :)


April: We celebrated Easter in a construction mess. It only took us almost a month to put down new hardwood floors ourselves :)

May: Bella moved from the crib to a big bed. This was her first night.... I think there are even more stuffed animals in her bed now.

June: Just realized how few pictures we took in June. So here is Bella going down a big slide at the blueberry festival with her daddy.


July: At the beach, with me big as a whale.

August: Became a family of four!

September: Getting used to life with 2 kids. Realized how much fun it is to watch Bella make the transition from only child to big sister with such ease. She is crazy about her baby brother!

October: The whole family dressed up for Halloween- sort of.

November: Austin's first time to church.

December: Celebrated Austin's first Christmas.

We certainly had an eventful and blessed 2009. Looking forward to 2010 and all it has in store for us! Happy New Year everyone!!

Merry Christmas

It may be a week late, but hey, it's a crazy time of year, right?! The Lindsay family, once again, had a fabulous Christmas. We try really hard to celebrate the whole month of December, and we were once again successful!

Our first Christmas celebration usually starts with Christmas at my parent's house in Fayetteville. We usually schedule this early in the month, before everyone's holiday schedules get too crazy. It's just my parents, our little family and my brother's little family. We eat and open presents from each other. It's basically just another excuse to enjoy the company of family during the Christmas season.

For some reason, one of Bella's Christmas requests was a trumpet. Since it's the responsibility of the grandparents to spoil the grand kids, my parents bought her a trumpet. Fabulous.

As any parent knows, getting a good picture of one child can be a challenge. It becomes exponentially more difficult as you add more children to the picture. Amazingly, my dad captured a great picture of my two in front of the tree. I thought this was such a good picture, I sent it out as our Christmas card photo this year.

First Christmas as a family of four!

The whole "Pitt" clan.

When my brother Will and I were born, my mom had us each a stocking knitted. I'm sure she would love to say that she made each of these by hand, but she had someone else do them. Since the first one of these stockings was made over 30 years ago, my mom has had to find someone new almost each time to make a stocking as a new member of the family came (first Scott, then Melissa, then Bella, Layla and Austin). I think she has had the same lady make all the grand kids stockings, so this poor lady has done a stocking for our family 3 years in a row. Maybe she'll get a break next year- as of right now, no one is pregnant, so for the first time in 3 years, no one will be celebrating their first Christmas next year :)


Austin's stocking holder :)

The next stop on our Christmas tour of 09 was Christmas Eve at my Grandmama's house. We all enjoyed a yummy meal then waddled into the living room to watch the kids open presents. Bella and Layla certainly enjoyed themselves.

Bella patiently waited for Layla to finish opening one of her presents before tearing into hers. She never shows this kind of patience at home!

Austin wasn't really sure what was going on, so Scott helped him with his presents. Austin is really starting to interact with his toys more, which is really fun to watch.

Later in the evening we had our annual viewing of Christmas Vacation. I felt really old when I realized that movie is 20 years old, but it's definitely a classic. Our family quotes that movie quite frequently. "That there's an RV...." or "I wouldn't be more surprised if I woke up with my head sewn to the carpet" definitely get repeated throughout the year :)

I was so happy that my kids got to have Christmas morning at Grandmama's house. Some of my favorite memories as a child were having Christmas mornings at Grandmama and Grandaddy's house. As far as I can remember, Will and I spent every Christmas eve night there, so Santa always came to see us there. It was very important to me that my kids experience it as well. I was happy that Will, Melissa and Layla also spent the night. It was so much fun to see Bella and Layla together on Christmas morning. My parents were also there, and I think they enjoyed seeing all their grand kids on Christmas morning.

Santa came!! Layla's not really an early riser, unlike my kids, so we had to wake her up. Doesn't look like she's all the way awake :)


Merry Christmas little man!


Everyone checking out their loot. Bella got a Dr. set from Santa, so she's taking my blood pressure here. I wonder how accurate a blood pressure reading is on the wrist? :)

Yes, my kids had matching pajamas. It's a new tradition I decided on and I plan on continuing as long as they'll let me. I fully anticipate this will not be cool when they are 14 and 16.

After enjoying Grandmama's delicious breakfast, we got all cleaned up and headed to my Granny's house in Red Oak. We usually eat lunch* on Christmas day with my Dad's side of the family.

*My Granny operates on a much slower time than the rest of us. So we call it "lunch" but it's really more like mid-afternoon.

Christmas lunch at Granny's always includes her famous macaroni and cheese. For some reason that I'm not sure of, Granny has never shared her mac and cheese recipe with anyone. I don't know if it's that she wants to keep her recipe a secret, or if she's just never gotten around to sharing it. Others have tried to duplicate it, and some have come thisclose, but no one has yet to achieve the exact recipe. Maybe one day she'll let us in on the big secret :)

After gorging ourselves yet again, we were up for another round of presents....

Scott and Granny

Granny gave Austin a bear for Christmas. His name is Benny and Austin loves him.

My mom (aka Grandma) and Bella

After celebrating in Red Oak, we loaded up the kids and headed to Fuquay-Varina to spend Christmas night with Scott's parents (aka Nana and Papa). We were so full from eating all day, so luckily we didn't have to eat another large meal. We got to their house and opened presents and enjoyed appetizers.

Nana and Papa gave Bella a miniture grand piano. She absolutely loves it. It's in the corner of her bedroom and multiples times a day, she'll grab mine or Scott's hand and say "let's go to my room and see if there's a piano in there" :)

Oh, and her piano has a real working microphone. It's fun. I'm sure Bella was singing Jingle Bells here. It's one of her favorites.

All of the Christmas festivities wore this little fella out.

We headed back to Wilmington after lunch with Nana and Papa. Back in Wilmington, we exchanged gifts with each other. Bella got a wagon and Austin got a ball popper (which Bella will probably wear out before Austin ever gets to play with). We finished off the evening with our traditional viewing of the movie, The Family Man. We were all completely worn out, but had definitely had ourselves a merry little Christmas. We are certainly blessed and definitely felt that way during this season. It was a busy time, but I wouldn't have it any other way.