Ladykiller

It's fall and beautiful outside. Papa Ross was playing with Austin. He kept eyeballing Papa Ross's hat. Ahh...I'm made weak by the power of his cuteness....and I have to tell you all now because by the time he can understand English, I have to stop telling him he's the cutest thing to walk the planet...otherwise he'll know it and it won't be so cute. But for now, what a ladykiller.

No Way!

I was rearranging bookshelves and Austin was desperately trying to stand up on ANYTHING, so I put the shelf on it's side and he was rockin' out, completely pleased with himself, for about 5 minutes. He's trying so hard to balance and stand on his own, and anything 12-15" tall is fair game to try and pull himself up on to practice standing. It's funny because the friends I have who's kids are also this age are definitely not standing, but are great at other things Austin thinks is a waste of his time...like rolling over or military crawling. Just goes to show how different each kid is! Looking back through our baby books, we all learned to stand before we learned to crawl too.

This is the way we do the laundry.....

So, this is how I get the laundry done :) Austin comes down to the basement with me and "helps" me put the clothes in the washer. After his shirt is thoroughly soaked through, we put the soap and clothes in. When it's time to change the clothes to the dryer, he stands on the edge of the dryer holding onto the dryer lint trap and I toss clothes by him. THEN, the climax is when all the clothes are warm and snuggly, tossed into the basket and Austin gets a front row seat riding up the stairs. Actually, we all think it's the cutest thing ever and Austin tolerates it, observing calmly while he goes up and down, doors opening and closing, etc.

My Little Papoose

So here is Austin on his 6 month birthday. It has finally become cool enough to try out my new babywearing jacket, and it's soo fabulous! Austin rode on my back in the Mie Tye wrap that I made out of the extra material from his crib bedding stuff and he trucked around with me while I watered all the flowers on the side of the house by the new patio pavers.

Austin gets a bath...

Now, Austin actually gets a bath regularly however this bath was special. Pete gave Austin a bath, and it was so cool. Usually, he plays in the tub (aka...bottom of a storage bin) and he plays until he's done, then gets out and fusses until he's dressed, plays a little more then it's time for bed.

Pete knows what's up. He's going to give Austin his bath tonight so he gets the lights on, cranks up Eric Clapton on our little portable CD player and after 5 minutes or so, Pete calls me in to see something. There is Austin, standing in the tub naked as a jaybird with his tiny belly pooched out. Clapton fills the air, reverberating off the stone walls. His little head is completely resting in the palm of Pete's hand, perfectly balancing the rest of his body, his arms dangling limp at his side. He has this distant, glazed look in his eyes staring peacefully into thin air as Pete dips a washcloth in the warm water, holds it up and lets it warm his little body... down the little creases in his neck, across his tiny shoulders and back and legs...and it's as though he's so completely in that moment...he's not moving but you can see him feeling the water, hearing the trickle as it makes it back to the tub, the music, being with Dad, being warm...just being...

After his bath, he snuggled into his towel and laid his little head down on my shoulder. I slipped him back into Pete's arms, turned the lights down and he swayed in Pete's arms, listening to Clapton, until he fell into a deep sleep.

This picture was taken after his head had come up but he was still absorbing the moment. I have to write this knowing I don't think I'll ever forget...I can't take that chance though...these are so special...

In which my fish filters are finally vindicated...

So, when we left Alaska, the ONLY things I brought with me from our fish tank setups were the two fish filters (and a net and siphon...both of which can be replaced for a couple bucks...not sure how those made it through moving triage). I was given quite a bit of well-intentioned sass for keeping the filters, especially when our cargo room shrunk yet they continued to migrate with us across to MI. HOWEVER! I have finally been vindicated as we found a 29 gallon aquarium with everything but filters, plants and fish for $10 at a garage sale last week! Bwah ha haaa! Haaa...the filters live again!

We added 5 male Mollies (I don't want zillions of baby fish running around so it's a sausage-fest...no girls...it gets basic when it comes down to fish...) and will add a couple more over the next few weeks. Austin picked them out. At Petsmart they were the ones he saw and laughed and squirmed and kicked his little legs...yes, please...I'll take those :)

Pete decorated...it's a little cabin with a water wheel that spins with the bubbler and bubbles puff from the chimney...I would totally move in if I were a fish. So far, the fish think the roof is DE-licious. It rocks.

Here is Austin pre-fish splashing in the water. He thinks it rocks too. I can finally nurse while sitting down sometimes while he watches fish. Yay!

Swing, swing...

Swinging with Papa Ross in the back yard on the hammock swing Pete (finally) owns...this is a favorite...for both of them...lol...