Go Cats!

Austin and I have been hanging out for the past few days while Allen has been at work.  Six days is a long time for him to be away.  We miss him a lot.  I know Austin will have changed a lot by the time he comes home.  His hair is starting to look red sometimes in a certain light.  Most days I think he is going to have hair like his cousin William-kind of sandy blond.  We had a good day Saturday spending time with his cousins.  George, Jamie, Mom, Olivia, Meg, William, Austin, and I all ventured to a Greek restarant for lunch.  We had to split up, so it ended up being me, William, Olivia, and Jamie at a table.  George took care of Austin across the restaurant.  It was nice to be able to enjoy my meal and not eat it fast.  We ended up eating dinner with them, too, so Austin got a lot of cousin time in. 

Austin is going to roll over any day now!  Here is a picture of how far he gets lately.

Austin and I ventured to Kroger for the 2nd time-this time I took him out of the carseat.  Should have left him in-an older lady scolded me for not having something on HER head.  haha.  This nice lady in an Auburn sweatshirt asked me how old he was, and she told me about her 15 week old.  She told me how much her baby loves her jumping toy.  So, I decided to get the one out we borrowed from a friend.  He seems to really like it.  He just gets sad when he gets turned around and can't see me. 

Most exciting new is UK is going to the Final Four!  They went twice when I was in college.  My dad actually got tickets and is headed to Houston this Friday with his college roommate from UK.  Hope we win.  Austin is excited and cheering for the CATS!

Here is another picture of Austin while we were shopping in Target.

Swinging with the cousins!

Austin and I took a walk over to my brother’s house this weekend to visit everyone.  It was so nice outside we wanted to take advantage of the warm weather.  The kids have been asking me to put Austin in the baby swing on their swing set in the back yard.  Their backyard is nice and shady in the afternoons. 

He was confused at first when I put him in the stroller like this.  This was the first time he has ridden in it without the car seat.  After awhile, he liked it.

We warmed him up to swinging by sitting in Olivia’s lap.

He was skeptical of the swing at first.

After about 5-10 minutes of being pushed by his uncle George, he was out!  I see one of these being purchased in our near future for our backyard! 

March Madness

Go Big Blue!

Austin likes to watch the games with his dad.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Austin!  This was the green outfit the nanny picked out for him to wear.

My niece, Olivia, told me the other day that there is a room set up in Pottery Barn Kids at the mall with Austin’s name on the wall.  Allen and I stopped in to see it and get ideas for his room.  It was really cute-his name was in brown letters on a shelf on the wall.  The bedding was very cute, too-it was blue with whales. Crazy thing is, the name of the bedding was Jackson!  There are reminders of our sweet baby everywhere!

Allen’s parents came up to visit Austin this week.  They had not seen him since he was 8 weeks old.  He has changed so much.  He loved spending time with his Mimi and Grandaddy.  Mimi was so helpful cooking dinner, doing the laundry, giving bottles, and just snuggling with Austin.  Grandaddy and Allen spent a lot of time working on the boat.  It is really coming along.  We can't wait to use it this summer. 

Austin and I are adjusting well to me going back to work. I have been able to get him to go to bed a little bit earlier (11:30 pm). That is a start.  It has been a huge help having Allen home during the week to help me put him to bed or just give me a break in general.  He is so good with him.  Our wonderful nanny is taking excellent care of Austin.  She even got out the Bumbo chair and put him in it the other day.  She said he did not like it at first.  When I tried it last night, he was kind of confused, but he seemed to like it.  His little head is still so heavy that he looks like a bobble head. 

Allen has been working weekends in March and home some during the week.  Wednesday was his first day of taking care of Austin while I am at work.  They both did very well!  Austin got a bath, took a nap in his crib (which is sometimes a rare event), and even went on a trip to Lowe’s!  Hopefully he continues to behave for Allen.  Allen commented how much work it is taking care of him!  No wonder I am always tired.  Hoping his gas pains will subside soon, and he’ll stop waking up at night.  No end in sight right now. 

Here are some pictures of him in his chair.

Here is his "Stayin Alive" picture!

Back to Work for Mom

The time has come…for me to go back to work!  Four months flew by!  My first day back was pretty uneventful.  I missed Austin terribly.  He was asleep when I left, so that made it easier. We have found a wonderful nanny who takes extra special care of him.  He really likes her and smiles at her when he sees her.  I really like the fact that he can have the same routine no matter what day it is!  We are so blessed to have her. 

Allen has been working over the weekends in March, so this weekend, it was just little man and myself!  My mom came over to help out and visit.  We went shopping with Austin-it was so nice to get out of the house.  We also took Austin to his first trip to Loveless!  He slept the whole time.  Mom was a huge help this weekend-helping me bathe him and rocking him to sleep while I was able to take a nap.  Austin has been waking up a lot during the night again.  I do not have to go get him, but he makes so much noise it wakes me up.  I am trying to work on getting him to bed earlier!  We will see how that goes. 

Austin’s new thing is sucking on his hands and fingers sometimes to the point of gagging himself.  I am trying to teach him to use a pacifier instead. Here is a picture of the UK pacifiers we got:

It was so hot on Saturday, that I had to change his clothes into short sleeves.  I think this picture is adorable…shows how chunky his arms are.

Mom bought him this turtleneck.  It makes us laugh because his chin is so chubby, the neck of the shirt gets lost!

One of his babysitters brought him this giraffe that is attached to a pacifier.  He sort of gets the hang of it. He’s learning.  I think he looks cute holding it. 

I try and send Allen some pictures of Austin while he is away at work.  Here is one from Saturday morning.  He woke up in a great mood.

First Ashes

Austin (and Allen actually since he is usually flying during the week) attended his first Ash Wednesday service at church.  He did ok-he has discovered his voice, so he does these high pitched shrieks sometimes.  It is very cute, but not in the middle of church.  The priest put ashes on his head! Look at the top part of his head-kind of hard to see.  It was pretty cute though.

He also went to the Pancake Supper last night.  That was a bit overwhelming for him.  He has gotten scared easily lately.  For some reason when people come up to his carrier, and he doesn't know them, it scares him sometimes.  He was excited to see his cousins though, and even got a bottle given to him by William!  I should have taken a picture of that, but I was not quick enough.  I hope he and William grow up to be best friends.  Right now, William is enthralled with Austin.  He always tells me Austin wants his pacifier when he cries.  Usually, he is right!  Olivia and Meg think Austin is pretty cute, too, and it is adorable to watch them make him laugh.  I think he enjoys them as much as they enjoy him.

Pancake Supper was the first time Allen and I have been in a real "crowd" at church.  We have been going to the evening service on Sunday nights to avoid the crowds and the sympathy.  We walked into the church, and I saw a friend of mine I had not seen in obviously a long time.  She asked me how Jackson was doing-was he still in the hospital, etc.  It took me by total surprise.  It did not upset me like I thought it would.  United Healthcare called today to talk to one of Jackson's guardians.  You would think the insurance company of ALL people would know that Jackson is now in Heaven.  Nope.  The man wanted to tell me that they have RN's available who can answer any questions I have.  Interesting.  This is not the first phone call I have gotten like this.  I think they should check their records before making phone calls like that. 

Austin is starting to get more hair-looks like it is coming in lighter.  We are wondering if it will be blond like Jackson's was.  Austin's eyes look like they are going to be brown.  He has the biggest, most handsome eyes.  It is so fun to see him jsut look around and take everything in.  I think he laid on our bed for an hour this morning watching the ceiling fan. 

The church has finally sealed up Jackson's grave in the columbarium.  They put a temporary tag on there that has his full name and 2010 on it.  I thought it would make me very sad to see his name in print.  Oddly, it kind of mad me proud.  It has been so nice to be able to go to church three times so far this week and spend a little time with Jackson. 

I think we are finally ready to take down Jackson's crib.  Mom had a great idea for us to put one of the bookshelves I had as a child in the place where his crib is.  She also ordered Austin a little blue chair with his name on it, so that would take up some room, too.  It will be nice to get the room organized and finally make it Austin's room. 

4 month Check Up

We have had a good week!  Allen is back at work flying as I am typing this post.  He said getting back in the cockpit felt good.  He said it was weird putting his uniform back on knowing that the last time he wore it Jackson was alive.  I know I am going to have the same emotions next week when I go back to work.  We both think that it will be good to get back in a routine.

Mom, Austin, and I went to Monteagle for a few days to get away while Allen was taking his check ride in Atlanta.  We had a blast, as we always do together, reading, talking, and shopping.  We rented this adorable cabin with a beautiful view.

Austin had his 4 month check up.  He weighs 14 lbs. 7 ounces and is 24.5 inches long!  He has grown a lot!  He had 4 shots and one oral immunization.  He did great.  Only a few tears.  We had a great talk with our wonderful pediatrician.  We always enjoy seeing her.

Here is his 14 week picture on the mountain:

Here are two other pictures from this past week.