let it begin...

i. love. baseball. no, i don't watch it all that much. but i love it. i love to play it. i love to watch it. and now i love to watch courtney play it. tball started for her yesterday and i was c r a z y excited! she had a blast, she loved to play, and she did great. when the game started i told paul they can have five parents out on the field...he says "i don't want to be that dad". half way into the inning he says "i'm going out there". an inning later he sends me a text saying "i love this". needless to say, we are proud...once again of our little girl. i played baseball for years. was the only girl and to see courtney out there is just so much fun. but most of all, she enjoys it. i will never make he do things because i love them and thankfully i didn't have to test that with baseball. isn't she adorable!!!!???

i love taking pictures

just some recent iPhone pictures.

i will one day miss these days

daddy has been out of town for five days. ..which i can post now that he will be home... courtney and i always have had the agreement that when daddy works late or is out of town she can sleep in our bed. as i laid down last night and looked over...i realized that i will one day miss this view. i pray...literally...that we will always be close enough that she will come lay in bed with me when daddy is away or her husband is away. it may sound silly or even weird but it's my baby girl and these are some of my favorite times. the "i love you mommy" whisper as she rolls over. the times she puts her arm over me as she sleeps. and even the not so gentle kicks in the middle of the night. i will one day miss these days.

ode to the pump

good bye dear friend. it's been great. it's been fun. but now my baby boy is one. the hours i have spent with you outweigh to whom i said "i do". it's time we go our separate ways and I can once again enjoy my days. i wish i could say i'll miss you but that would just not be true. i must let you go and free the freezer too. so. goodbye is what i'll leave you with.

good. bye. my. dear. breast. pump.

austin is one!

little man turned one! but...little man has a fever and needs me. so here are some pictures. i will have to finish the post later. duty calls.

ok. i'm back. over a week later. one year old and a five year old does not leave much blog time.

as usual. austin is amazing. well. we love him. he's a boy. he's a baby (i do not say toddler until he walks and is "bigger"). he is a doll and he is a brat. he is crazy obsessed with anything with a motor. 

A N Y T H I N G. no joke. i vacuum and he says brm brm. he is all boy all the time and daddy couldn't be happier about that. 

i can't say there is a big "i'm one" change. we are just going day by day with nursing and breast milk and not doing the "he's one, cold turkey to milk". see. you learn a little with each kid i think. he has milk when sissy will share and he loves it. but thankfully we had tons of milk frozen and he is still a happy little nurser in the morning and late very late in the night. no, he doesn't sleep through the night anymore. why? probably my fault. he makes a noise and i get him. no need to wake courtney up too is my theory. it won't last forever. in the meantime, i'm tired some mornings. 

he has eight teeth, sucks his thumb when he sleeps, can stand on his own, can take a step or two, signs 'more, eat, drink, milk, i love you, all done, baba', says 'mama, sissy, dada, doggie, no no, ni ni, nana, thank you, all gone and blue', waves bye-bye, blows kisses, points...hm. i think that's it. 

our newest thing is him eating with a fork. he will eat twice as much if i will stab it with a fork for him to feed himself. what a weird-o.

austin wears mostly 18 mo clothing and size four shoes when i put them on him. we are into size three diapers but do size four during the night. he wants everything sissy has and to do everything she is doing. i do recall my dad telling me they called me "me too" for a while. whatever my sister was doing i was saying "me too". i do believe we have another 'me too' on our hands. and i love it. courtney told me today that austin is her best friend. so precious.

courtney starts kindergarten

i'm not going to cry (again)...i'm not going to cry...i'm not going to cry. ok. i'm going to cry. yes. today our sweet baby girl started kindergarten. i. can. not. believe. it. i mean, i can because she is there and not here, but where does time go? i look back at the latest posts and see austin growing month by month. but courtney is five and sitting in a kindergarten class right now. it blows my mind how it goes by and i know it is going faster and faster each day. i would like to say i did well this morning. i cried. but she didn't know it. i was so worried about dropping her off and her seeing me cry and she starts crying and then i can't leave because she doesn't want me to leave and it would be a big ordeal. well. it wasn't. she was such a big girl and so excited. i love our little (big) girl so much and i am so proud to be a mommy of a kindergartener. and of course we took tons of photos.

austin eleven months

good golly. the boy really barely fits in his cradle for these pictures! to think he was once the size of his torso and now. well. he looks like a toddler! so. he's eleven months old (and a few days now) and just growing and growing. this month has been a big transition for him. he now crawls and has forgone the army crawl. movin' up in the world. i know. he has seven teeth and has been working on a molar for a few weeks. not fun. austin now says dada, sissy, doggy, night night, and mama. but the only one he does not say at the appropriate time iiiiiiiiiis mama. seriously! he crawls around looking for dada. we wake sissy up and he says sissy sissy sissy sissy. he sees a dog on tv and says doggy. but mama. when i ask him to say mama he won't. he signs more, milk, and eat. has finally learned that there is an edge to the couch and our bed and no longer tries to dive off. praise the lord! austin ended up with roseola after our trip to california just like his sissy did. not a big deal. just a fever then a rash. his newest feat and daddy's favorite is his love for cars. he pushes them around now and even makes a car sound. austin is all boy. he is so tough and rough and well. boy. we love him.