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Austin turns 2 months!

Today is Austin's 2 month birthday so on this day I thought I'd write about his milestones so far.

-The most exciting milestone is that Austin is now smiling! He started smiling at around 6 weeks with lots of encouragement and now smiles when we just look at him!

-Austin can also hold his head up by himself for several minutes at a time. He's still got a little bobblehead going on but he's got pretty good control for the most part.

-Another great milestone is that he seems to recognize both mine and Ryan's voices and he looks for us when he hears us talking.

-He also follows us with his eyes and makes good eye contact now.

-Austin is also cooing and laughing a lot and will "talk" back and forth with us when he's in the right mood.

-As of our last doctor visit Austin has almost doubled his birthweight which is a pretty big milestone and shows us that we've got a healthy growing boy!

-I don't know if this qualifies as a milestone per se, but he has recently discovered his tongue and must like the way it feels on his lips because he is sticking it out constantly now! :)

Were discovering something new about our little guy all the time and we can't wait to continue to watch him learn and grow everyday!

Austin's new favorite activity!!

Visit with Santa!

Friday night we took Austin to the mall for his first visit with Santa! He didn't fuss the whole time we were in line or while sitting in Santa's lap. We think he asked Santa for more passies and bottles of milk and maybe a warm snuggly outfit or two. :) We had so much fun and even stopped by Build-a-Bear to make Austin a Christmas puppy dog!

We got a great picture of all of us with Santa, but I won't post it yet because it's the picture on our Christmas cards this year and I don't want to ruin the surprise. I'll put it up next weekend once all the cards have been delivered, but here are a couple other pictures we took of our adventure.

Lesson #1: Never buy cheap diapers

So Babies R Us had a great Black Friday sale on their store brand diapers called Especially For Baby. Seeing as how we pay over $40 for a box of Pampers, the sale price of $10 on the generic brand was all too enticing so we bought 5 boxes in various sizes. I mean, what could happen, diapers are all the same right?! WRONG!!! These diapers are HORRIBLE!! They leak 75% of the time and soak poor little Austin and whomever or whatever is holding him at that moment. We also learned last night that not only do they leak when he pees, but they can't even hold #2! Poor Grandma Jo Ann learned this lesson for us the hard way last night. I thought for sure it was just pee when she handed him over after she felt something wet, but boy was I wrong! I was wiping it off his hands, feet, stomach, back, and neck while Grandma Jo Ann was wiping it off her shirt!! :) We had another "blow out" today at Babies R Us and I had to race to the bathroom to change a soaked and screaming baby. Luckily, Stefania was there with baby Sofia to help during our crisis and we got Austin all cleaned up and changed and feeling much better real quickly.

I guess we've learned our lesson that when it comes to diapers, don't be cheap!! By the way....anyone know of someone who wants to take 4 boxes of leaky diapers off our hands?!

Rockin' around the Christmas tree...

Ho Ho Ho!

Austin's 1 month doctor visit

Today we went back to the pediatrician for Austin's 1 month visit. He's actually 1 month and 24 days now but this was the date they scheduled us for. Austin was SO good at this visit and even smiled for the doctor during his exam. He weighed 12.94 lbs. which is in the 85th percentile and he is 23 inches long which is in the 60th percentile!! The nurse and Dr. Moll couldn't believe how big he's gotten and swore he looked much older than 1 month. They said he's doing great though and they're very impressed with his progress, especially for a strictly breastfed baby!

Everything was checked out and it all looked great. Austin even showed his appreciation to the doctor by giving him a little sprinkle when he opened his diaper to take a peek at how his circumcision is healing!

At the end of the visit, Austin got his booster shot, which I swear hurt mommy more than it hurt baby! The needle looked huge and they just jabbed it in his chubby little leg so fast. He cried out a little but as soon as I picked him up he quieted down immediately.

I can't be more proud of out little guy and are so blessed that he's a happy and healthy little boy! :)

Our Christmas decor

Smiling for mommy!

My fabulous birthday

Yesterday I turned 27...kinda depressing to think that I'm another year closer to 30...but it was a good day just the same! Austin gave me my present first thing in the morning by greeting me with a big smile when I laid him down to change his diaper. It's like he knew it was a special day and gave me the best present he possibly could, that and a dirty diaper of course!

While I was changing his diaper I turned the TV to Sesame Street because he likes to look at the TV when I'm changing him. He seemed facinated by the bright colors and sounds so I sat his bouncy seat in front of the TV for a few minutes and let him enjoy!

Late afternoon I was exhausted so Austin and I laid down for a nice long nap together. I was so grateful for my birthday nap and even muted the phone ringer to make sure I could sleep for as long as possible.

When we both woke up it was about time for Ryan to get home. He walked in the door a few minutes later with a pink gift bag and anxious smile on his face. I was in the middle of feeding Austin and I thought Ryan was going to burst waiting for me to finish so I could open my gift. Ryan is a GREAT gift giver and what makes it even better is how excited he gets when people open gifts from him. I think he gets more enjoyment out of buying for others than he gets opening his own gifts!

In the bag was a really cute card from Ryan and one from Austin (I didn't realize he could write already) and 5 ornaments for our tree. While designer trees are pretty, we believe that a Christmas tree should reflect our family and each ornament should be special. Ryan got me 2 personalized ornaments with our names, Austin's name and the year on them and 3 Clemson ornaments (I think we finally have enough Clemson ornaments to start our own orange Christmas tree).

I was so excited about my ornaments and while I was admiring them, Ryan snuck back outside and emerged with a little black bag. I wasn't expecting anything else, but inside the little black bag was a teddy bear and a little black box (my favorite kind of box)! And inside the box were a pair of gorgeous diamond earrings!!!

I don't know what I did to deserve diamonds on my birthday, (maybe giving birth to our beautiful baby boy had something to do with it) but a girl could get used to this!! It kind of made me feel bad, however, for getting Ryan nothing but clothes for his birthday! :)

Anyway, after trying on my new diamond earrings and giving my wonderful husband a huge hug, we ordered a pizza and settled in to watch the Clemson v. Illinois basketball game. I know it doesn't sound too glamourous, but we enjoyed our evening of just vegging out on the couch and ordering in! (We'll go out for my belated birthday dinner this weekend)

After Clemson won a very exciting game, we started our yearly tradition of putting ornaments on the Christmas tree. We got all the decorations down and did most of the work on Sunday, but thought we'd save the tree decorating till my birthday and make a tradition out of it! Our very first Harris family tradition! :)

Guess what day it is!?

Babylegs!!

Recently I discovered a product called Babylegs and I instantly fell in love!! I bought them from a fun website I found called http://www.babysnazz.com/ and tried them out for the first time today. They are basically leg warmers for babies and one size fits most. They come in tons of different colors and patterns and are easy to put on and take off. They fit better than pants because they're fitted and, unlike pants, you don't have to take them off during diaper changes so baby's legs stay warm! They are also good for layering in the winter and they will be great for protecting Austin's knees when he starts to crawl around. They can also be used on the arms and will stretch as baby grows. I love them because now I can put Austin in all those cute onesies we have and I can put them on and take them off as the temperature changes.

Here's a picture of Austin modeling his new babylegs! He seems to like them too. :)

Any moms out there looking to try babylegs, visit http://www.babysnazz.com/contest/ to register to win 20 free pair!

Clemson v. PC

On Friday we went back to Clemson for another basketball game. Once again, Austin did very well! He was awake for most of the game and just sat back enjoyed the scenery. Luckily the weather was nice and it wasn't too cold so the whole experience was really great. It also helped that Clemson won the game!!

Over the river and through the woods....

...to Grandmama's house we go!