I recently wrote this to a friend and thought it worth sharing....
Austin is extremely cute. He's becoming mr. personality of course as time goes on. Dad and I take him to Sam's and we'll be discussing something in an aisle and he'll walk a dozen feet away, turn around to look at us, make the vocal intonation of "Bye bye" without the actual words and wave at us...as in "I'm off now....I'm running away....good bye then.....thanks for all you've done, but I really must be going...... Then turn around and head off across the aisle "intersection", through the fruit section, past the soymilk department and over to the cut flowers and forklifts (of course) before he ever bothers to look for us. Then he'll see us standing forever away and practically choke with excitement while he does his little Egor run/walk back to us. Ummm, yeah, lots of the ladies at Sam's know Austin. We go there not to buy anything but bananas and strawberries or something just so he can push the wheelbarrows around, spin the hose cart wheels, squeal at the umbrellas and "bah!" at the fountain, balloons, vacuum cleaners and red "don't-back-into-the-freezer-section" posts.
It's great....plus, everything is in huge crate-size proportions so our biggest stress is not whether he's going to "help" take all the toothpaste boxes off of the lower shelf but rather playing interference so he doesn't get run over by some unsuspecting shopper who has a wee one dart out from behind the cracker section into their cart. It's a full-time job for sure!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Tour the house: upstairs
Here is the view you see when you reach the top of the stairs. We have our bedroom and office upstairs along with a great play area for Austin since the room is so big. We recently decided to take the bed off its frame so Austin gets a whole 'nother playground area. He stands up and bounces, which makes him giggle. He'll come flying at the bed and collapse at the edge, falling into his blanket and giving it snuggles.
It's also nice too to have one part of the house that has carpet and even nicer that it's as far away as possible from the back door so we no longer have to deal with muddy paws on the pillows....sigh....yay!!!
Here is our park....oh, I mean our backyard! It's HUGE!!! I even have my own shed for gardening stuff...woo woo, and Austin has his own playground!! We are in the process of putting up a vertical extension of our fence to discourage the dogs from jumping the fence after squirrels, rabbits, other dogs, birds, the leaf that floated by just right....we're both REALLY looking forward to being able to let the dogs out and not have to wonder whether we're going to have to go chase them down the street. 
One other amazing thing is our location. We're centrally located to everything we'd want to be, are 4 miles from Mom and Dad, and our street dead ends at River Bends Park....an ENORMOUS park that is the flagship of the Shelby Township Parks and Rec Dept. It's the biggest public free park for a looong way. And, we live 0.25 miles from it!! They have a river, nature center, skate park, basketball courts, baseball fields, sledding hills, playgrounds, frisbee golf courses...all for free!! If I could have hand-picked our location I couldn't have done any better.
Our wonderful house!
On December 27, Pete officially bought his first home. And lucky me, I go with Pete, so we have our first home!! This is officially the greatest deal of the century. In 2004 the home sold for $164,900. It was foreclosed on and when Pete saw it, he decided to offer the bank $30,000 less than what they were asking AND ask them to pay for our closing costs...ummm, a little optimistic I think? But, as Pete's philosophy in life continues that it never hurts to ask. Well, they didn't quite agree to THAT, but they countered at $80,000 with them paying 6% of our closing costs. I only include actual numbers because otherwise the story is too vague, and it's really amazing that we are in our beautiful home....our half-price house.
It's a 2br, 2ba 1150SF home on a double lot with a 1-car garage (You can click on the pictures to make them bigger). There isn't a chance we could have done this without family. During the walk-through home inspection we discovered lots of TLC that was needed. We (Dad, Nana, and various supporters) have installed a working sump pump/laundry pump, fixed at least 4 leaks, one of which was pouring water down through the wall into the basement, have painted, shampooed carpets, installed the washer, dryer, gas stove, fridge (with water and icemaker to Pete's great enthusiasm), replaced countless lightbulbs and were excited and surprised when the lights actually worked, chiseled out wooden doorframes that had been busted through (yay Dad and Jus!!), tore down wallpaper, rewired 220V line, installed locks...whew....the list goes on. I am now intimately familiar with the inner workings of a tub drain. This was certainly a major project to be in here, but thanks to lots of help we have a warm, wonderful home!
It has over 20 full-size and mature trees on the lot and now that spring is headed towards us like a mack truck, we'll be finding out new things that grow in our yard everyday! This week we discovered that there are 15 hostas growing in the bed by the front door....woo woo! We've also been surprised by some mystery little purple flowers poking up I need to find out what they are....such a happy surprise!
Okay, I've got a few more photos to post and 4 months to catch you all up on in our house, so off to put more posts up....
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The bath shot
While I'm in no short supply of embarassing baby pictures (I'll never use), I had to make sure I had the quintessential "baby in the tub" shot....no naries included :)
And yet another new skill
Recently Austin discovered how to open the toilet seat all by himself. Awesome.
Snuggles with Dad
Mike and Sandee came for a visit recently and Austin got to show off his cute stuff....and give Dad some snuggles in the rocking chair.
Delicious crackers with Dad
Pete and Austin, sharing a moment and a cracker after a dinner party with Mom and Dad.
Austin the acrobat
So Austin and Papa Ross have been working on this trick for a LONG time (well, long for Austin since he's only been around for a short time then, okay?). It started out Austin would perfectly balance as Papa Ross was getting him into position for the up-down game (see a previous post) and one day he held him close and just waited, seeing if Austin could balance. Of course once he did, this started to evolve into the balancing game. It took a couple of months, but this cool shot is the end result. It's all done slowly, carefully and with spotters....and what amazing balance!
Baby in training....
Papa Ross is helping Austin pump up his chest and arm muscles with some assisted pullups....on the shower rod....gotta get in shape for summer, right!
Austin's grown wheels....
There is his tiny self sandwiched in the little red wagon. He LOVES riding things. The other day he rode on the dolly while standing up, Papa Ross puts him in the wheelbarrow and drives him around bumping on the grass. He get rides in his little wagon, in his tiny dump truck Daddy got for him, he enthusiastically steers the wheel of the little plastic ride-on lawnmower the neighbor kids have, and while he waits for his short legs to grow a couple more inches, he happily pushes his little plastic BMW motorcycle around the driveway.
Radio Flyer
Austin is focusing really hard on staying stable in this tiny Radio Flyer wagon Grandma Peterson sent when he was little(r). He is proudly displaying his screwdriver though...(fillips head taken out of course).
Holding on to Unca John
After a brief bout with a gingersnap cookie we went to see Unca John who, among others, helps Austin twist the "buzzzzer" on the stove, also known as "bah!?" Good fun....
Storytime with Papa Ross
Austin is getting into storytime. It wasn't always so, but now it's fun to pick books out at the library and he'll get his favorites. He had one favorite with a cute little girl on the cover and he'd tear his book stash apart looking for her ::giggle:: and right now his favorite is "The wheels on the bus"....what GENIOUS wrote that song?!
Snuggle with the Honey Bear....
While Papa Ross was holding Austin a few weeks back, Austin spied the Honey Bear sitting on the counter and started shrieking in excitement lunging for it....apparently the Honey Bear just needed some snuggles!
A family photo!!
Finally, we got a good family photo! You'll notice too that Pete and Austin are very handsome in their matching shirts....
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The greatest gift....
Sometimes you never know why people come into your life. A couple that was in ours just briefly gave me the gift of this photo...
Ooh, Ooh! Look what I FOUND!
Austin loves his yoyo that was in a stocking from Grandma Katie over xmas. It's definitely a team effort to make it work, I just loved his face in this shot. Next to him is his lion from Papa Ross that he shrieks upon waking up and seeing him and will go over and collapse on him "snuggling"....there is something that melts your heart when you see your kid being affectionate....it's pretty cool....
Austin grows a handle-bar mustache
So for the past couple of months, Pete and I have been enjoying a delicious fruit shake each morning made with our VitaMix (http://www.vitamix.com/) the greatest blender/food processor on EARTH that Mom and Dad gave us when they bought their new and improved one recently. It's SOO yummy and it tastes so good AND it's good for you....but it doesn't go through the tiny holes of a sippy cup. So, Austin has been practicing drinking shake out of our glass and occasionally he gets all "juiced" up with shake....on his face....and shirt....and hands....you get the point. This time, it made a pattern like he had a (pink) mustache. Very tough-looking.
No, no, YOU eat what's on the spoon....
YOU eat what's on the spoon and I'LL eat the cake. Here is a friend of ours' son offering Austin a bite of rich carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (drooling just thinking about it) and Austin decided the bit on the spoon was too tiny for his taste....he'd just go ahead and help himself thankyouverymuch! We had to engage some strategery to keep his fingers out of the cream cheese frosting....mmmm.....cream cheese frosting......
The serious business of driving....while matching....
Nana got Austin a little shirt that matches one of Pete's henley's perfectly. So Austin and Pete can truck around together in their Daddy/Austin matching outfits. Here they are driving down the road (at a whopping 2mph) on the way to some friend's house. Austin LOVES driving. Papa Ross and Austin and I were at Home Depot today and they have carts with steering wheels in them for the kids and Austin "drove" the cart around Home Depot for probably 30 minutes contentedly. It was probably a fluke too, but it was sure funny to watch Papa Ross turn the cart one way and Austin would turn his little wheel like he was "on it."
he he...my handsome bald boys :)
What a boy.....
So there are certainly things Austin gravitates towards that make me believe there is a biological difference in the genders such as....well, the way he looks always strikes me as very "boy." He's fascinated with all things circular - wheels, motorcycles, balls, buses, vans, cars, rims, etc. He recognizes motorcycles and buses by the sound of their engines and gets ALL excited about it. But nothing solidifies my jesting about "what a boy" he is that is not explained in this picture. As Pete jokes, he's fulfilling every man's dream. And in case you wondered, he puts his own hand down there and would INSIST on it being there to fall asleep in my lap for a few weeks a while back. He's since moved on and is now capable of having his hands OUTSIDE of his pants too. he he...very talented now, riiiight.
Dad and Austin clapping
Among the fun things to do while sitting on Dad's tummy, singing
and clapping are at the top....closely tied with "giddyup horsey."
Nana's Nose...
....and Austin's nose. Nana is the reason Austin knows that a nose is
called a nose. Here they are blissfully discovering noses....
Ahh! Don't get my toes!!
Here Austin and Papa Ross are playing "the up-down game" where Papa Ross holds him in a sitting position and lifts him up and down with varying heights and speeds. Austin thinks it's the greatest. Here's a variation in which Papa Ross pretends to eat Austin's toes and Austin is using all his little leg muscles and balance to keep his toes "safe" while still balancing. We get lots of giggles from this game.
So sleepy, but so sweet
Austin was crawling around discovering the hair on the floor waaaay in the corner behind the table and was getting really sleepy (see those red little whites of his eyes?). But amidst his busy schedule and pending need for a nap, he still managed to squeak out a smile for Momma :)
Baby boxers
So with Austin not in diapers for much of the time and with summer coming up, Nana and I undertook the mission to find cute undies that would fit his wee bottom. So now Austin has a bunch of cute sesame street briefs and we couldn't resist his cute bottom in a pair of boxer-briefs....somehow it becomes that much cuter when the "brief" reaches his knees with only a 2" inseam.
Rebozo Love
The natives of many south american and other indigenous cultures use a wide piece of fabric called a rebozo (http://www.rebozoway.org/). I'm actually using a big sari Katie brought back from her stay in India as one for a winter walk but had to quick catch a picture of Austin happily in his rebozo first. I've managed to shovel our entire driveway, rake leaves, wash dishes, take walks and a nap for him all while he's happily in this piece of fabric on my back. I love wearing Austin :)
Austin's first steps!
On Feb. 8th, Austin decided to go for it. Here are his first steps going back and forth from Nana to Mom. The next day Nana and I went to a learning center open house and he decided he was done with all this finger-holding nonsense and was off and running (or walking rather), pushing buttons, giving baby dolls snuggles, watching kids build blocks, and hiding behind the teacher accessories displays. It was so fun. We just walked behind him the whole time as he explored the whole store. The inflatable planets dangling from the ceiling were enthralling, the battery-operated button-pusher toys were fantastic, and the plastic food at the mini store was shared by all (of the kids). It was definitely a defining moment of momma-dom to watch him interact independently with lots of kids instead of the constant shadow he's needed up until that point. Very cool.
Peeking
Austin discovered how to peek under things a few months ago and it was so cute to see him stash a toothbrush or a car under the bed or sofa and then look at you in surprise as though it had disappeared....then peek....AHA! Here he is looking for some lost treasure :)
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