June 30, 2009

Skinny Legs


Ryan and I went to St. John as part of our honeymoon in 2007 and we went back again in 2008 for our babymoon. The island has become a very special place for us as we have celebrated two major milestones on its shores and it's one of our favorite vacation spots. Both times we visited, we ate at a place called Skinny Legs, which is a local and tourist favorite and it's the only restaurant we visited both times we were in St. John.

So maybe they don't have the best food or amenities and it's not even fully enclosed, but the atmosphere is amazing and we just loved the experience. In fact, it's the place where we learned that Hurricane Dean might threaten our stay during our honeymoon in '07. We were lucky that it ended up moving just south of us and only brought us 1 day of nasty weather.

On our most recent trip, we picked up a little onesie in the gift shop when we were leaving as I was about 25 weeks pregnant at the time. I put it away and forgot about it until this week when I finally came across it at the bottom of one of Austin's drawers. It was size 6-12 months which is a pretty good range so I was really hoping it would still fit him. We were in luck, but it is a little snug so I'm not sure how much use we will get out of it now.

For sentimental purposes, I took a bunch of pictures of Austin in his Skinny Legs onesie. The funny thing here is that Austin has about some of the chubbiest legs I've ever seen!



June 29, 2009

Austin's newest obsession...

A picture of my new swimsuit...

Ok, so that's certainly not me in the picture and I will not be posing so seductively should I have my photograph taken while on the beach. In fact, I will probably be hot and sweaty and covered in sand and sunscreen with my hair in a messy ponytail...but you get the idea. Isn't is cute though? Mine is a dark purplish-blue color and I'm really excited about getting a chance to wear it on Thursday when we head down to Garden City for our first beach trip of the summer!

I am seriously so excited I can hardly stand it and even more excited about our week long trip to Litchfield at the end of July. I just don't know how I'm going to get all the laundry and shopping done and pack up everything we need without forgetting something! Traveling with a baby is certainly much harder than I ever expected and we may have to rent a bus to haul everything we need to bring!!
Kenneth Cole REACTION Ruched Swim Halter Dress Swimsuit

June 28, 2009

Sacked out Sunday

I was busy cleaning up the kitchen after dinner while Ryan was in the living room feeding Austin his bottle. I noticed it got really quiet in there and when I peered around the corner, this is what I saw!

How absolutely adorable is this?

June 26, 2009

Still toothless...

Well it looks like I was wrong...again! I swore Austin was getting a tooth a few weeks ago as seen in this post, but here we are almost a month later and still nothing. I think I'm just going to have a toothless child!

However, teething or not, the boy still loves to chew and bite on anything that fits in his mouth. I bought some teething biscuits a few weeks ago and swore that after the mess he made that first time I would never do it again, but I decided to let go of my inner Kate Gosselin and let the little guy make a mess. I've got a curious little boy here so I better go ahead and get use to messes! Teething biscuit was EVERYWHERE, but Austin had a wonderful time...which is what really matters in my opinion. Needless to say, him and I both needed a bath after the fun and the highchair needed a good wipe down as well!


The mommy suit

So yesterday I dropped my cute little kiddo off at grandma JoAnn's for the afternoon and headed to Macy's to do the dreaded bathing suit shopping!! We've got at least 2 beach trips "planned" for this summer, (and I put planned in quotes b/c we don't have dates or places to stay completely figured out yet) and I needed a new suit to replace the maternity ones I wore last year. I have ALWAYS hated bathing suit shopping, even when I actually looked somewhat decent in one (like in the the picture you see of me on our honeymoon 2 years ago), but I will not lie, I still have a baby pooch and about 15 more pounds to lose so I couldn't opt for something quite as revealing as the picture below.

I tried on every type and style of bathing suit the department store had to offer, and decided that this year I will be sporting the full coverage swim dress (aka mommy suit) to the beach and I'm not one bit ashamed or embarrassed to admit it! It is actually more reasonable than a 2-piece anyway since I won't exactly be laying out and working on my tan, but rather keeping a curious 8 month old busy and trying to make sure he doesn't ingest too much sand or sea water!

It's actually a pretty "hip" little suit and I'm really kind of excited about it. It's really comfortable, you don't have to worry about certain parts slipping out or being exposed, and I don't even need a cover-up! I won't make any promises, but if Ryan happens to catch a picture of me in it while on the beach I may have to post it just for fun. I think my string bikini days are over, here come the mommy suits!

June 25, 2009

Pull-ups


No, I'm not talking about toddler underpants, but the physical action of Austin pulling up on anything and everything he can get his hands on. Nothing is safe anymore and I've got little baby handprints on every piece of furniture, door, window and wall! He's even learned to pull up on the television console and change the channel on the DirecTV box (much to his daddy's dismay).


...and much to my dismay, Austin has also learned to pull up on the stairs and can actually climb a few. Boy does he love those stairs! (Don't worry, I was right there behind him the entire time.)

Just stopping by...


...to say Hi!

June 23, 2009

Keepin' cool

Austin and I went on an outing the other day when the temperature was topping out at about 95 degrees but the humidity made it feel like 105! I did everything I could to keep my baby cool...no socks, no layers, sunshades in the car windows, AC on full blast...but when we got home and I got my nugget out of his car seat, his back and his little head were just drenched in sweat. It was too hot even to go to the pool so I had an idea. I filled our bath tub up with slightly cool water, stripped down my sweaty baby to his birthday suit, and dumped a load of toys in the water as well as my little boy!

I sat there and supervised while Austin had a ball playing in the tub and splashing around. He was much happier than at our actual bath time because I wasn't scrubbing him down or making him sit still. He mostly pulled up on the side of the tub and threw his toys overboard or tried to chew on the water spout, but man did he have a great time doing so! With the look he gave me after our 30 minute playtime in the tub, it was like he was saying "thank you mama, I needed that!"

By the way, is there anything cuter than a little naked baby bum???





Lauren & Jason's Wedding

Saturday we traveled to Columbia for Lauren and Jason's beautiful wedding. Lauren is the younger sister of my best friend from high school, Keri. Lauren and Keri are barely a year apart in age so I got to know Lauren pretty well over the years. Lauren's husband, Jason, was the same grade as me and Keri in school, however I never really got the chance to know him well. I've heard fabulous things though and the new Mr. and Mrs. seem to be extremely happy together. As they danced their first dance to "Chances Are" they sang to each other and just looked so in love. It brought back memories of my wedding day which will be 2 years ago this August!

It was great to catch up with Jess and Keri at the wedding and to see many old and familiar faces from high school. It actually made me get a little excited about my 10 year reunion next summer! All this catching up lasted a bit longer than expected but Austin was being a real trooper and loved meeting all the new people and being held and doted on the whole time. He briefly fell asleep on Ryan but managed to stay awake through most of the festivities. He did, however, sleep the entire way back home to Greenville and make us pay for keeping him out so late the next day!! He also managed to have a blow-out 15 minutes into the ceremony and a diaper leak 2 hours into the reception! Thus, the reason for the two different outfits.


The church and awesome classic car the couple rode away in!


Me and Austin with Lake Murray in the background.


Austin and Miss Kylie, Keri's daughter.


A close up of the beautiful Kylie! She was the flower girl at my wedding as well.


The gorgeous couple! Mr. & Mrs. Cone

Keri, me and Jess

Ryan and a sleepy little boy!

Lauren & Keri's cousin, Kayla, snuggling up to sleepy Austin.

The groom after being tossed around in the air to 'Shout!'

Sisters & Kylie looking on as Jason is thrown into the ar and almost hits his head on the ceiling.

Austin saying goodbye to Aunt Keri and Uncle Shawn!

June 21, 2009

Father's Day Top 10


While Ryan's face makes an appearance on the blog fairly often, I really haven't written much about him and the truly amazing father and husband that he is.  Since today is his 1st Father's Day, I thought that this would be the perfect time to mention some the things that make him so wonderful.  Forgive me if I start to brag a little, but here are the top 10 things that make my husband (and Austin's daddy) the greatest!

10. First off, let me start by saying that Ryan has a job that requires him to work very long hours most of the time and can be quite stressful.  He likes his job and he's very good at it, but deep down, being a patent attorney is probably not what he always wanted to be when he grew up.  He works hard, however, because he not only wants to be successful in life, but because he wants to support his family and make it possible for me to stay at home.  Of course he would have absolutely no problem if I wanted to go back to work, but it makes him very proud to be able to support this family on his own and he will always do whatever it takes to make that happen.  That right there is a very special and rare quality nowadays and truly speaks volumes.

9.  Speaking of Ryan's job, many nights he stays at the office late finishing up his work and sometimes doesn't make it home until Austin's bedtime.  To cope with the fact that some days he doesn't get to spend much time with his son, Ryan rocks Austin to sleep and puts him to bed almost every night.  He enjoys that one on one time he gets to spend with his son and it lets me get a bit of a break in the evenings.  This has been the usual for a long time now and is probably the reason that Austin can fall asleep on his daddy anytime and anywhere!

8.  The first days after Austin was born, when I was hardly able to get up from the hospital bed, Ryan changed every dirty diaper (without being told) even though he had never done it before in his life.  To this day, while he may shy away from the major blow-outs, he has no problem changing diapers and always does it perfectly!  Since Austin doesn't like to hold still for a second nowadays, many times we make diaper changing a team effort which makes it go by a lot smoother.

7.  Austin wakes up around 7 am everyday and during the week I am in charge of getting him up in the mornings as well as anytime he might wake up during the night so that Ryan can be nice and rested for work.  However, on the weekends Ryan gets Austin up in the mornings and lets me sleep in.  He even turns the monitor down low and puts it by his head so I won't get woken up and closes the bedroom door so that I can't hear the noise from the living room.  I've never even asked him to do either of those things but he does them anyway just to be nice!!

6.  Ryan has never been one to throw money around and he has always been one to live within his means.  I have always had a hole in my pocket, but over time he has really helped me and taught me to be more conservative with our money.  We both drive old cars and we don't indulge in the latest fashions or technology, however, Austin has never ever had to do without.  When it comes to his son, Ryan is more than willing to splurge on name brands and make sure his baby boy has everything he could possibly want or need.  There's no way our child is spoiled, is there! 

5.  Seeing as how I stay home with Austin, I've gotten him into a routine and have always done things a certain way or in a way that I know that works for us.  I, as well as Ryan, both know that he is perfectly capable of figuring things out himself and taking care of our baby on his own, but he has always respected my "baby knowledge" and the way I do things and tries to do them in the same way.  It's just so nice to know how attentive he is and respectful of my ways and ideas.

4.  Speaking of our routine, sometimes if I've had a long day or I'm really tired or busy, I may deviate from the routine and skip out on Austin's nightly bath or try to avoid a struggle by not putting on his lotion or feed him foods I know he likes instead of making sure he's had a well balanced day.  Ryan, however, follows the routine to a T and never skips out on anything no matter what!  Just seeing how dedicated he is actually helps me to "suck it up" a lot of times.  In a lot of ways, he makes me a better mommy just by being here and being himself!

3.  Ryan really is a great dad and loves Austin to no end.  He will do anything to make him laugh or smile even if it involves making a complete fool out of himself!!  He will make silly sounds and crazy faces and jump up and down just to get a tiny smile and not care one bit about who sees or hears him.  Of course I may be hiding in the bushes or walking in the opposite direction, but secretly I love the fact that he can completely let loose with Austin and just have fun and be crazy!

2.  Ryan is the definition of an involved dad and will do whatever it takes to be there for his son every step of the way.  Even though he doesn't get to spend much time with Austin during the week, he more then makes up for it on the weekends.   Wherever we go, he wants to be the one holding his son and walks upright and proud even with spit up on his shirt, a baby on his hip and a diaper bag on his shoulder!  He has truly embraced being a dad and loves to show off his little boy.  In fact, he's already giddy about the prospects of baby #2 (or is that the process that goes into making baby #2)?!

1.  Finally, the #1 reason that makes Ryan a truly amazing husband and father is the simple fact that he loves Austin and myself so much and is never afraid to say it or show us.  He honestly gives Austin at least 50 kisses a day and says I Love You to us both more times than I could count.  He is a wonderful and loving man who means the world to me and I am so glad that Austin gets to grow up with such a special father who will always be by his side no matter what!

Happy Father's Day, honey, I love you so much!!!

June 18, 2009

Mice on Main


Most Greenville natives know the story of the Mice on Main, but for those of you who don't, here is a quick overview. As part of his senior project, a Christ Church student, Jim Ryan, came up with the idea to place 9 bronze mice sculptures in various places along Main Street in downtown Greenville. His idea spun from the children's classic, Goodnight Moon, which he enjoyed reading when he was younger, and since its creation in 2000, searching for these 9 mice has become a favorite activity among the children (and many adults) of Greenville.

Today, my sister, and Austin's Aunt Catherine, came to visit and we took a trip downtown for lunch and a stroll along Main St. We quickly located Marvin the mouse atop the fountain outside of the Hyatt hotel and there we introduced Austin to his very first mouse on Main! We've still got 8 more to find and can't wait to make another trip down Main St. to find the remaining members of the mouse family!



June 17, 2009

My heart is melting!!


Not only has my little nugget given me a quite a handful of sweet slobbery kisses lately, but he has also been calling ME mama!! He's been able to say mama for awhile now, (probably since I've been drilling those two syllables into his head since he was born) but he's finally relating those sounds to me and saying it to get my attention!!

I was feeding Austin lunch today and had to get up and run to the pantry for a minute. A few seconds later I heard a loud, "mama!" and when I whipped around he was looking right at me and getting frustrated that I had taken a break from spooning those yummy sweet potatoes in his mouth! Ok, so it might have just been a coincidence, but when I paused from feeding him yet again to look out the back door, I heard another sweet baby call "mama" a second time! Even after lunch, while Austin was enjoying his favorite activity of "ring around the coffee table," every time he noticed I wasn't looking directly at him, he would repeat "mama mama mama" and give me a huge smile when I looked! He's only 8 months old and he's already figured out that he's got me wrapped around his tiny little finger.

Have I mentioned lately how much I ADORE my son??

June 15, 2009

Has it really been 8 months??


Today Austin turns the big 8 months old, or 2/3 of a year. So crazy to think he's been here for that long and even crazier to think that we will be celebrating his first birthday in just a few short months. See that ticker right about this post, it's almost at the end and I can't believe it! What a fun and active month this has been and I foresee a lot more action in the next 30 days!! Here are some things that have happened in the past month:

-So, the biggest accomplishment is that Austin has learned to crawl! He is a pro at it now and can go from the living room to kitchen in less than 15 seconds!! He loves to be mobile and to explore. We can't take our eyes off of him for a minute!

-Austin is also giving kisses now which I LOVE! He routinely tries to give Lucy kisses after he sneaks up behind her, but she isn't a huge fan of his sneak attacks and gets out of the way pretty quick. He also tries to kiss his reflection, can we say adorable!?

-Austin is still taking about 24 oz. of formula a day but solid foods have become a huge staple. He loves to feed himself and enjoys his puffs (seriously, this kid is a Puffaholic!), cheerios, baby goldfish, banana chunks and pieces of sweet potato. We attempted spaghetti last week but he was more interested in playing with the slimy noodles than eating them. His favorite entree so far is macaroni and beef, yum!

-If Austin isn't crawling around, he's probably pulling up on something or making his way around the coffee table. He loves to stand and can even hold on with one hand, bend down to pick something up off the floor and go back to standing with ease. I told Ryan the other day that he will be walking before he's 10 months for sure. The boy is fearless!

-We have successfully gotten rid of the early evening nap and Austin is now taking 2 good naps a day. He goes to bed around 8-8:30 and usually wakes up around 7:30 but lets us sleep in till 8 am every couple of days. We really are quite lucky that we have such a great sleeper on our hands!

-Austin is talking a lot more and some of his favorite things to say are ma-ma, da-da, gee, and ba-ba.

-This has been a slow month on the scales as Austin has only gained half a pound and hasn't really grown length wise as far as we can measure. I've heard that many babies slow down around this time and especially in weight now that he's more mobile. I'm interested to see exact measurements when we go back to the Dr. next month and see how he's comparing on a national scale. One thing that is growing, however, is his baby soft light brown hair!

-This month Austin has also been to his first wedding, first college baseball game, first minor league baseball game, gone swimming for the first time, had his first long car ride, and his first all day outing.

Austin really is such a joy and I absolutely love him to pieces!!

Time for an upgrade

At 22 lbs., Austin has now outgrown his infant car seat and carrier and we have upgraded to the big boy car seat! We bought the Britax Marathon Convertible seat and really like it so far. Austin sits up higher and seems to be a lot more comfortable. He's still rear facing and will stay that way until he is over a year old, but at least he can see out the windows now!


June 14, 2009

Falls Park







Downtown Greenville is such a fun and active place and Falls Park is a beautiful park located right in the heart of downtown. On Sunday evening we ventured back downtown (seriously, we can't get enough of the place) for a stroll by the falls. We spent several hours just walking around and enjoying the sites and watching all the people. We even made a visit to the shelter where my first baby shower was held to give Austin a view post-womb. He had a fantastic time and got some great pictures, too!

Meeting the mascot

Saturday was somewhat quiet as Austin and I hung out indoors while dad finished up some yard work and changed the oil in the cars. That evening however, we went to Liberty in downtown Greenville for dinner and then walked over to watch a Greenville Drive game since the Zooperstars (from American's Got Talent) were there preforming. As we were walking around Fluor Field, we came across Reedy Rip-it, the Drive's fluffy green mascot and I took Austin over for a visit.

Kids love mascots, right? WRONG! When we were about a foot away from the giant stuffed frog, my poor baby let out a terrible scream and started to cry hysterically! Reedy ran off and mom and dad tried to calm down our scared little boy. We'd never seen him react that way before so once he calmed down, we tried to make a slower approach with daddy holding Austin as I stood in front of him and kept his attention. We snapped a quick picture and Austin didn't seem to mind Reedy this time, although we didn't stick around for handshakes or anything!

Austin has met Santa, the Easter Bunny and a clown and didn't seem to mind any of them, but Reedy must have rubbed him the wrong way that first visit. I think Reedy was as anxious about the second meeting as we were but it all turned out ok, whew!

June 12, 2009

Where oh where?


"Where oh where has my daddy gone?
Oh where oh where can he be?
He said he'd be home at 6:30.
Oh where oh where can he be?"

Likes & Dislikes


I am happy when:
-mommy comes to get me out of my crib after a nap
-I finally get a hold of the remote!
-daddy blows raspberries on my side
-mommy give me puffs
-I see my bottle
-we go for a stroll in the neighborhood
-mommy reads me my books
-I am naked!
-It's time for a bath (because I get to be naked)!
-mommy and daddy toss me in the air and catch me
-I spot Lucy!
-I hear the Backyardigans theme song
-I throw things on the ground and mommy or daddy pick them up for me
-I hear the phrase "peek-a-boo!"
-mommy claps and sings to me
-I get to feed myself
-I see my reflection
-we play in the pool
-mommy and daddy give me hugs and kisses!

I am NOT happy when:
-I have to get my diaper changed
-mommy or daddy are putting my clothes ON
-I'm out of Puffs
-someone takes away the remote
-I fall on my tushy
-I have to be still
-I drop my paci over the side of the crib
-my bottle is empty
-I can't reach what I want
-mommy feeds me peas
-I can't fit a toy in my mouth
-I accidentally sit up in the crib and it wakes me up
-mommy wipes my face and hands
-Lucy barks real loud
-I'm not getting attention
-I'm too sleepy to go to sleep
-I have to ride in the car for a long time
-strangers get all up in my face
-daddy has to go to work
-my teeth are coming in!

A note from Austin

dAZADDDDDDDDDDDDDDXZZQQQ

_______________________________________

Austin had to make his mark on the blog, and yes, he really did type that! He also turned the wireless off which I had no idea you could even do via the keyboard. He's almost 8 months and can already do stuff with a computer that his mommy doesn't know how to do. A sign of the times, I guess!

June 10, 2009

A visit with our grand-nephew


Let me start off by saying that Ryan's family tree is a bit confusing. He didn't come from a typical family to say the least, but a loving family nonetheless. Ryan's parents are divorced as you may have noticed and his dad is much older. Actually, Ryan is 27 and his dad is in his mid-70's! Ryan also has 2 half brothers who are old enough to be his father and who have kids almost the same age as him. In fact, one of Ryan's nephews has a son of his own who is older than Austin! So, if you're following all this, Ryan has a nephew who is his age and a grand-nephew who is older than our son, Austin. Strange, huh?!


Anyway, Ryan's nephew and grand-nephew came up from Santee this weekend and we got to spend a little time with them after church on Sunday over at Ryan's dad's house. Dennis (Ryan's nephew) and his wife, Joy, have a little boy named Lincoln who will be 2 at the end of this month. Don't let those gorgeous blond locks fool you though, this little guy is ALL BOY!


Austin was just plain tired out from a busy morning in the nursery and immediately fell asleep, but Lincoln went full speed the entire afternoon and gave me a taste of what it's going to be like keeping up with a toddler. I think I better get my running shoes ready and start lifting some weights!! I thought I couldn't take my eyes off of Austin for a minute, but when Link's daddy looked away for a mere second, he found a rotten plum on the ground and popped it right into his mouth and started chomping away!!


He was quite the handful, but quite the sweet little boy as well. He loved saying "cheese" for the camera and giving kisses. I was sad that Austin slept through most of their visit but a little glad at the same time because I think Link might have seen him as a play toy instead of a helpless infant! They will have plenty of chances in the future to knock heads, however, I'm sure of it!

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