Austin is 7 months old

7 months ago our sweet baby boy was born. wow. seriously, last month flew by. my sister-in-law is having a baby in a month and a half or so and i messaged her this morning and told her to enjoy every moment because it flies by. and i wasn't joking. i think with the 2nd one it goes by even faster. austin is amazing. we get compliment after compliment on his amazing temperament and "go with the flow" attitude. we adore this little one for sure! his two bottom teeth have come in even more (i'm pretty sure the top two will pop through anytime). he sits unassisted all the time now. he rolls to get what he wants and has begun the scootching (is that a real word?) movement and brings his knees up which means crawling is in the near future. he says dada, mama, baba, and had figured out he has a tongue in his mouth...moms out threw will get that. he loves to suck on his toes and shoes. he is still going strong nursing and eats regular food a couple times a week is all. i'm kind of doing half baby led weaning and half home made baby food. i'm different, i know. he is wearing nine months clothes still - whew! he usually takes two two hour naps and is in bed by 7:30, wakes at 5 to eat and up for the day between 6:30 and 8:30. and he's the cutest little boy IN THE WORLD!

pinterest fail

i made this today (not a picture of mine, stolen picture from site i got the recipe from). i got the wonderful idea off pinterest. if you are not familiar with this website, brace yourself, set aside a few hours, log on and be inspired. I have made many things off pinterest; from food to crafts to sewing items and even decorating ideas. they were very successful and i was so proud and excited. though with the whole pinterest "thing" it is not as eventful to share these neat things as people are pretty sure you just got the idea from pinterest. now even when i don't get the idea from pinterest i'm sure people think i did. oh well. so. i've made things, many successful things but this was a complete and total fail. it was disgusting. gross. nasty. ewe. paul will say "i told you so". and so will ethan. it looked good. it sounded, well, different. and it tasted awful. i do not recommend even trying to make it. sadly enough because i was so ready for it to be good. ready for what it is? it's chocolate avocado pudding. ok ok. i know. but i wanted it to be good so bad. so very badly. have you made it? do you have a recipe that is actually edible? i must say i would be willing to try again. is that bad?

because i blink...i blog

ok. one more time. because i blink...i blog

believe it or not, i struggle with creativity. what? annie? no way! i am creative in every way but a stinking blog name. i have been blogging for years now and i have had two oh so very creative names for these blogs. C.A.P.E - Courtney, Annie, Paul, Ethan and A.C.E - Austin, Courtney, Ethan with the birth of our baby boy. dropping myself and paul for no reason other than i could not come up with an acronym using all of our initials. seriously, how lame is that? i read blogs of people who seem so creative with their names. granted, some have rockin' names to use like "slaughter". but, i do not. i have a last name that i have to spell for everyone. which i love because it is my husband's. but it was not a blogging name that was just awesome by itself. justice. a new friend's last name is justice. that is a good blogging last name. so many options. or what about my sister in law. who today i ask her to come up with a blog name and she calls me a mere, oh, ten minutes later with a super cute idea with an even super cuter "sub-blog page". really? ten minutes? oh well. off that soap box. i love my last name. my husband doesn't want it on our blog anyway for all those people who stalk us. which he doesn't know that i'm usually the only one reading our blog anyway. and i'm ok that it took me only three years and ten minutes to come up with a good blog name. again, oh well.

so i was sitting in my 'pumping chair' - which, mind you i calculated today that i have sat in for way over one hundred hours since my sweet baby boy was born five months ago - thinking. that's what you do when you pump breast milk, right? think. and i thought "the other day someone told me not to blink" i'm sure i was talking about how fat i mean fast austin has grown and it hit me! why do i blog? because i blink! i blink and so do we all. God says this life is just a blink of an eye. blinking and blogging are my things. i blog for my kids. a digital memory book that i print each year (for the day the internet is obsolete too, books will always be around) so. even though i blink and my little girl is 4 and my baby boy is five months old, i blog to keep track of all the things that happen with my eyes wide open. as much as i would like to say i will remember all these things when i'm old and grey. no grey yet. i will not. and i will mix up what really happened. which will be totally fine and even quite comical at times. if you have a grandma over the age of, oh, 75, you know what i'm talking about. but i want to be able to hand this over to my kids one day and them to theirs and so on until the bindings are so worn out that the book is put away by someone who couldn't stand see it get ruined. one of my offspring are bound to inherit this trait from my as i inherited it from my grandmother who keeps everything and i am so thankful she does. 

so that's it. we have a new blog name and that was a very long story to why. though we are done having kids and i would not have the horrible dilemma of once again having to shuffle around our initials for the perfect yet still completely lame acronym, i am happy to announce our new blog name and also know it is here to stay. heck, maybe it will make me write better since i won't stare at A.C.E. or C.A.P.E. for five minutes every time i want to blog and completely lose all creative energy within the frustration of a horrible blog name. maybe.

February at a glance

I love taking pictures. Not a 'breaking news' statement, I know. Since Austin was born I made a commitment to myself probably the hardest commitments to keep; zero accountability to print pictures every month; and blog more often. So far, complete success. I rock, for now. So, as the picture taking has dwindled a little bit, I am still sure to capture what moments are special to me and us as a family. Here are a few from the month of February around here.

Courtney loves to show up in baby items:

One of the intentional traditions I have started is baking with Courtney. We love to bake together. Probably because we love to eat what we bake while we are making it. :-) I love when Paul grabs the camera to capture these memories that I have in my heart.

It snowed for the first time this year.

Our first snow man for the year. Our very small snowman.

Austin's first tooth broke through. 

We took the kids to the park - just a week after the first snow it was 70 degrees. Arkansas.

I continue to be in love with my husband. Who is getting better and better looking. Lucky me!

On my way to bed each night I go in and kiss Courtney, tell her I love her, and tuck her in. This night I walked around the corner to this and it simply melted my heart. I love this girl. I love the innocence of a child sleeping. I love how she cuddles her cow. I love how she uses the nap mat I made her years ago. I love how random she is. I just love her.

Daddy bought Austin his first truck.

Courtney and Austin began taking baths together. He is pretty much too big for the sink but can't sit up yet. This is our solution.

 We went to Crystal Bridges for the first time. Will go back when we have more time. This is the Last Supper. It's amazing. Its upside-down, until you look in this crystal ball. And, best of all. It's all made with spools of thread. Simply amazing!

This sculpture is mostly jack in the boxes. Courtney LOVED it. She is such a goof.

Ok. Seriously. How cute is this?

Our kids love my brother. Honestly, he doesn't come see them too often, not nearly enough. But they love him. Austin does not lay on people like this. He wants his head up, he wants to see what's going on. But he laid on Blah Blah and laid his head down. It was adorable. He loves him.

So that's it. February in a glance. 29 days of us.

Austin is SIX months old!

Good golly where does time go? Our little baby boy is 6 months old today. I have been taking monthly pictures from the get go. 1 month - kinda big, "he's a month old already" I remember thinking...2, 3, 4, 5 though...not a huge deal. But SIX months old. That's a big milestone in my mind. It has been a crazy fun time having our newest addition and he is just a big (and I mean BIG...9 month clothes already) bundle of joy. He is a happy as happy can be baby unless he is sick - see previous post and loves his Dada also see previous post(s). The newest thing...drum roll please...he rolls to get things. See, to the normal world this is not a huge deal; it's what babies do. Well, Austin has refused to roll from belly to back for..oh..months now. Which means he has given the "come roll me over cry" for months. Buuuut, 2 nights ago he rolled and rolled and rolled until he could not roll anymore due to a piece of furniture being in his way. Yes, we captured it on video, no you can not see it. See, that is another part of our life that is comical. Courtney was having a naked moment (or hour) and as I viewed the video there she is, buck naked in the background. Just not ok for internet viewing. Though hilarious for when you are older video. So. Austin is wearing 9 month clothes, rolls all over, has 2 teeth, has had his first cold, is 99% breastfed - eats home made baby food every couple of days, sleeps from 7:30PM-5:30AM (usually), takes 2.5 naps a day, is on a self made 3 hour schedule, is already in a big seat (still backwards), can sit up unassisted shortly, is too big for sink baths (and we have one big sink, no divider!), says Dada and Mama but does not know what he is saying though Paul may beg to differ, and...oh that's good enough for now. We sure do love our little boy!

no sleep explained

It has been a crazy time around here lately. Austin has been one busy little boy. 2 weeks ago(ish) he says Mama followed by Dada the next day. A few short days later he cut his first tooth which happily explained his sudden lack of the desire to sleep through the night. Within the next couple of days he cut his second tooth which continued the no sleep through the night. While he was already not sleeping through the night he decided (i really don't think HE decided) to get his first real cold and stretched his not sleeping through the night to basically not sleeping at all, ever. It's been tough on baby and Mama and really Dada and even Sissy. No sleep baby means no sleep Mommy. Which means extra work for Daddy and more tv time for sissy (just being real here).  I now believe all babies are just who they are. We can some what "sleep train" them but really, they are themselves. Why do I say this? Well, we had Austin sleep everywhere when he was a newborn. In the living room on the couch, in our room with the tv on, in his room in his crib, in the truck while we went places, in his pack n play in the dining room, in my arms, on Daddy's chest...seriously everywhere a baby could sleep, he slept. Now, his bed. That is where he sleeps. That is the only place he will sleep. Sick, tired, happy, sad, full, dirty, clean...his bed is where he wants to sleep. So, we did 'what we were supposed to do' to get him to sleep wherever - oh, we even did the noise maker, no noise maker, loud house, quite house - we did it all. But, he is a little person who has a little mind of his own and a little way he likes things no matter what we do and his bed is his choice. So, two nights ago as he is congested and can't breath and has a fever I strip him down to a diaper and lay him on my chest (not how he likes to be held usually), he lays his head down and eventually falls asleep. With the moon light accenting his little chubby legs and arms (that seem to be holding me as tight as I'm holding him) tears roll down my face. What better feeling can I mom have other than her baby sleeping on her? I'll tell you. None. There is no better feeling. It's like his little soul and mine are just hanging out while he gets some much needed rest. It was what heaven is like I'm sure!

Austin and his new chompers.

the day of love - aka Valentine's Day

We all know I. Love. My. Kids. - this is no secret. But do we know I absolutely adore my husband too? Honestly, it's kind of a new thing. What?! "You've been married for 8 years!". Yes, we have, and I have always loved him but as of lately I adore him, I am in love with him and I truly think he is an amazing man. I couldn't tell you exactly when or exactly how this all came about but I don't think that matters. I think it's amazing to wake up and be as excited to see my husband that day as I am to see my kids. My kids are everything to me, this is so obvious if you know me at all and can I say it is an awesome feeling to have towards my husband too? Well, it is! So, this Valentine's Day we are celebrating - we don't usually celebrate Valentine's Day - maybe because we were in such a different place every year...maybe because it's a total hack of a holiday...maybe because we are just different like that. But this year we have a babysitter and we are going on a date and I am excited To Date My Husband Because I Adore My Husband.

On that note: Courtney would probably say she adores her Daddy too. She got to go on her first date today and boy was she excited!

She got all dressed up:

Made her Valentine a special card:

Counted down the seconds until her Valentine arrived with these gifts:

and went on her first date ever with the best daddy ever: