10 Months

Woah, my baby boy is in double digits!! And I've spent the last few days shopping for first birthday party invitations- how can this be?! It seems like almost overnight, my boy has gone from a little baby to a busy, busy little boy. It's so funny to me how different Austin is from the way Bella was as a baby. Austin is just way more physical than Bella was. He climbs on anything he can and seems to have no fear. I think it's safe to say that Austin is "all boy"!

Like I said, the boy will crawl on and over anything!

He has also finally started crawling on his hands and knees! He still plops down on his belly occasionally, but has been crawling on his hands and knees more and more. I'm happy about this because it keeps his shirts a little cleaner since he's not constantly swiffering the floor with his belly.

He can pull up on things now, which is fun for him. Not as fun for Bella. Now she has to eat her snacks at the kitchen table because Austin will take them from her if she's eating on the couch. I guess it's kind of a good thing that she is now forced to eat at the table rather than in front of the TV! I know it won't be long before he starts "cruising".

He just cut a new tooth, so now he's up to 5! He also started biting :( I'm hoping it's something that's just accompanying teething and not that he's going to be a biter. Bella didn't bite, and I hope we don't have to contend with Austin being a biter! So far his love nips have been reserved for Scott and I.

He loves to yell! And one of his favorite things to do is have yelling conversations with Scott, Bella or I. If he yells, and one of us yells back, he cracks up. Needless to say, with a 3 year old and a loud 10 month old, our house is NEVER quiet. Except maybe at night, when they're both asleep!

Here's my big boy yelling at me while I take his picture...

People often ask me if he's a good eater. My usual response? "Look at him, doesn't he look like a good eater?!" He's started with some finger foods and I have to put very small quantities on his high chair tray at a time. If I put a lot there, he'll get a giant hand full and try and stuff them all in his mouth, which just makes me nervous! He loves cheerios, puffs, biter biscuits and these baby corn husk things I've found at Wal-Mart. He's also developed a liking for non-food items. He has worked hard and earned himself a new nickname around our house- the goat. He's really fond of eating paper. I feel like I'm constantly having to make sure there is no paper within his reach, because if he finds it- he'll eat it! He's also been known to snack on refrigerator magnets and dog hair. Gross.

Austin has become a lot of fun lately. Not that he wasn't a joy before, but now he's just FUN!! There's never a dull moment at our house, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I am crazy about this kid! Happy 10 month birthday Austin!!

Amazing Dads

I have certainly been blessed when it comes to the fathers in my life. I was first blessed by being given a wonderful dad. Then, again, with Scott. Sometimes I wondered if I would be able to find a man who would be as good a dad to my future children as my dad was to my brother and I. And, I'll admit that there were times, before we had children, that I wondered if Scott would be a good dad. Scott's never been a guy that wanted much to do with children (at least before he had them). But, at 1:35am on January 18, 2007, any doubt I had about Scott being a good dad melted away. I watched as my husband became a father. And in that moment, I knew that he would be an amazing father. Happy Father's Day to all the Daddies, but especially to Scott and my dad!

Here is Scott holding Bella shortly after her birth.

And here he is getting to hold Austin for the first time...

Scott is fun to climb on...

Stretch with....

Or just hang out with...

My dad has continued to be an amazing dad by being a wonderful Granddaddy to my children. Bella and Austin love him so much and look forward to anytime they get to spend with Grandma and Granddaddy.

Here is my Dad getting acquainted with his brand new granddaughter in the wee hours of the morning, shortly after her birth.

And here he is holding his grandson for the first time.

Birthday Flop

Friday was my 32nd birthday. I'm not one to really make a big deal out of birthdays, so we didn't have any big celebration planned. It was just a normal Friday. I had to go to work and then we had planned to go out to dinner as a family. I was really looking forward to dinner though. We were going to Oceanic, which is right on the beach at Wrightsville. I was looking forward to eating on the pier, enjoying a cold drink and relaxing a little. I was really looking forward to a walk on the beach after dinner with my family. The day didn't go exactly as we had planned...

It was Scott's turn to go to the gym that morning, so I was home alone and had just gotten out of the shower when I heard Austin on the monitor. It was earlier than he usually gets up and he was crying. Normally, he wakes up really happy and I hear him babbling away to himself over the monitor. So, I went to his room to check on him. As soon as I opened his door, I saw it- poop everywhere. All over him, his pajamas and his bed. Awesome. I got him all cleaned up and headed back to my room to set him up on some pillows to enjoy his morning bottle. That's when I discovered more poop. It seems our 9 year old dog has developed some incontinence issues lately. I feel really sorry for him, but it's still frustrating none-the-less. I cleaned it up and took the dog outside. Little did I know, I had missed some. The dog had left another "deposit" in the bathroom. By the time I got back in the room, Austin had found the second pile of poo and was playing in it as if it were play doh. Gross. I screamed as if I were being attacked. I cleaned poop off of Austin for the second time in about 30 minutes. After cleaning and disinfecting the bathroom floor, I was finally ready to finish getting ready for work. By now, I was running quite late, but luckily Scott had returned from the gym. I had a brief "woe is me, it's my birthday, and so far it's been crappy" moment, but I got over it quickly. Scott was his usual helpful self, and volunteered to take the kids to school so I could try and get to work on time.

I just kept looking forward to my beach birthday dinner. We got to the Oceanic, got our prime table on the pier and I got ready to relax. I was even carded when I ordered my drink! The day was definitely on the up and up! It was a good, glorious 30 minutes until Bella started complaining of a tummy ache. And it went downhill fast. I took her to the bathroom in hopes that would solve the problem, but she was doubled over and crying. I quickly realized she had to get home- and quick. Scott quickly found our waitress, who brought our bill and threw my uneaten dinner in a to-go box. Poor Bella- we had to pull over once on the way home and then rode the rest of the way with a barf bag, just in case. We got home and I got my sweet girl settled in bed, fully anticipating a rough, long night of barfing.

10 minutes after we got home, Bella was back up and completely fine. Maybe she just got too hot? Who knows. Regardless, I was certainly glad she felt better. She was even able to join Scott and I for some Oreo ice cream cake.

There was definitely a time where I would have been really disappointed with the way my birthday turned out. But I honestly could not have cared less that it didn't go according to plan. I certainly have a lot to be grateful for. I am married to my best friend who is also an incredible father. I have 2 healthy and happy children (aside from the occasional barfing). I will gladly deal with poop and barf any day (although, I'd rather not!) for Scott, Bella and Austin. They are worth it and better than any birthday dinner or present ever.

She's sneaky like that

Bella, Austin and I just returned from a trip to the grocery store. If there's anything I've learned since becoming a mother in regards to taking children to the grocery store (or any store for that matter) it's this: expect anything. We've experienced everything from diaper blowouts to runaway children. Today was no exception. Since Austin has become an independent sitter, he sits in the front of the cart and Bella walks along side. I've really become aware of how many crappy foods are marketed to children since Bella has been walking through the store instead of riding in the cart. It's crazy the bad foods that are stocked eye level to a 3 year old. It's shameful really, but that's not the point of this post, or maybe it is...

I was almost through with my list and finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, when I went to get some yogurt. While I was picking out flavors, Bella spied the Pillsbury Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk ready to bake cookies. The girl has a bad sweet tooth.

Bella: "Can we get these, Mommy?"
Me: "No. We already have ice cream in the cart. We don't need ice cream and cookies. Maybe some other time."

That was it. No whining. No fit. Easy. So I smile smugly at my parenting skills and continue to pick out yogurt.

Most of the time, I prefer to do my grocery shopping on a weekday. It's far less crowded and the shelves aren't as picked over. The one drawback to shopping during the week though- not many grocery baggers. So, I usually end up bagging most or all of my groceries myself. Today was no exception. (Sometimes I do prefer to bag them myself so I can make sure that raw chicken doesn't end up in the same bag as grapes and apples. I guess not everyone appreciates being able to avoid salmonella while eating fruit.) Anyhoo, as I was bagging away, what should come down the conveyor belt? Those Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk cookies. My smug smile was replaced by my gaping mouth. When I made eye contact with Bella, her guilty smile gave her away.

Me: "Bella, did you put these cookies in the cart when I wasn't looking?"
Bella: "No, you did."
Me: "Bella, it's not nice to tell a story. Tell me the truth, did you put the cookies in the cart?"
Bella: "No"
Me: "Well if you didn't and I didn't, who did?"
Bella: "She did." As she pointed to the check out lady.
Both the check out lady and I were doing our best to keep a straight face.

Bella finally fessed up. But, by this point, I figured those cookies were destined to be taken home with us. Because, Bella's sweet tooth was likely inherited by me. Maybe not the best parenting decision, but those cookies will be delicious, I'm sure. Perhaps I'll be a little more vigilant over Bella's "shopping" next time.

Dance Recital Debut

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, Bella took a dance class for the first time this year. It was technically called a "Creative Movement" class because, let's face it, using the term "dance" to describe the movement of 2 and 3 year olds is a stretch, at best. She has really enjoyed herself. And as her first year of dance came to a close, we got to enjoy Bella's first dance recital yesterday. They danced to "How Much is that Doggie in the Window". Her Grandma (my mom), Nana (Scott's mom) and Papa (Scott's dad) came to watch her perform too. Her Grandaddy (my dad) was out of town and had to miss it- but no worries Dad, I'm sure they'll be many more recitals to come! Bella was super excited, which was evident when she showed up in our bedroom at 6 am saying she was ready to go...
As a mother of a tiny dancer, I had to hang out with Bella to make sure she was all ready when it came time for her class to perform. So, I didn't get to sit in the audience and watch the performance. I could only see a little bit since I was off on the side of the stage with the other moms. But, true to my over emotional self, I teared up as I watched her sing, dance and wag her little doggie tail.
After her class danced, Bella and I slipped in the back of the auditorium to watch some of the other dancers. I enjoyed watching her in awe of the older girls. She would comment to me every once in a while "She's good!" or "I love their sparkly costumes!" She's such a girly girl sometimes and it's always fun when Bella and I get some one on one "girl time". But, she is a 3 year old after all, so she could only sit still through 4-5 dances and then was ready to move on. We would've headed home, but all the dancers were supposed to go on stage together at the end, and Bella wanted to stay so she could go on stage one more time. So, we headed for the lobby where we ran into my mom and Austin. We hung out with them until it was time for Bella to go backstage for the grand finale. When she went back on stage at the end, she just kept waving at the audience. From the side of the stage, I just figured she found Scott and the rest of our family. Scott later told me that she wasn't waving at them, so who knows she was waving at!
Her first recital was a success! She had a blast and is already looking forward to another year of dance in the fall. I think she's most excited because next year, she'll get to start tap dancing "like the big girls".
Here are a few pictures. I didn't get as many as I wanted because it was a little hectic backstage and Bella is not always the most cooperative person when it comes to taking pictures.

Here's my little doggie before the promise of ice cream later in the day if she cooperated for a picture.

It's amazing the instantaneous change in attitude after the promise of ice cream...

Here are the doggies on stage ready to perform. Unfortunately, this was the best picture I could get from my angle...

Bella and her buddy, Jenna.

Memorial Day Weekend Festivities

I hope everyone had a fabulous Memorial Day Weekend! We sure did. And the stormy weather we were anticipating never arrived, so the weather was perfect! We started the weekend going to Lewis Farms to pick some strawberries. As I feared, May 29 was a little late to be picking. They were really picked over. My little helper and I picked for as long as a 3 year old attention span could handle, and literally only had about 10 berries in our bucket. Had we come earlier in the season, like we usually do, our bucket would have been overflowing... Luckily, they sell pre-picked berries. So we still went home with a full bucket. Fresh picked strawberries are the best! We rounded out our berry picking outing with some homemade ice cream. Mmm, mmm!

Yep, Bella, I'm not seeing many berries either!

We headed to church Sunday morning, and my kid's outfits were so complimentary of each other, that I couldn't resist a picture... Bella hates having her picture taken, so she has to be bribed to sit down and smile. I think I had promised some candy for this one...

Sunday afternoon we headed to a cookout with friends. Most of our friends have children, so there's something for everyone to enjoy! Bella looks forward to hanging out with her friends as much as we do!

Bella, Brady and Sadie enjoying the pool.

If you can't tell from the picture, the number of kids in our group is about to increase! We even joked Sunday afternoon that we may need to invest in a herding dog to keep the kids in check when we hang out soon!


This was where the kids decided to eat dinner. Whatever works!

We brought entertainment for Austin too. Since he still does the belly crawl, I wasn't too excited about his nice smocked outfit getting all grass stained! He had a blast too, but I could tell he wanted to get out and play with the bigger kids!

Although we live only minutes from Wrightsville Beach, we decided to leave the beach to the tourists on Memorial Day. We went last year and spent no less than 45 minutes trying to find a parking spot. So, we just set up the kiddie pool in the backyard. No crowds to fight and no sand to clean out of the car!

I put Austin's swim trunks on for the first time this weekend. He wasn't too thrilled with the pool at first, but then he decided it could be fun...

Luckily, Austin has a great big sister who wanted to make sure he was having fun too.

I think we have another water loving kid on our hands!