New Additions

Since the last blog, Henry Thomas Cox has joined our family!  He weighed 9 lbs 14 ounces and was 21 inches long!  I was blessed to be able to stay home with the boys for four months on maternity leave.  We had the best time playing outside, going to Monkey’s Treehouse, going to the pool, walking around the neighborhood, etc.  I was not ready to go back when the time came.  It has been an adjustment for all of us.  Henry is still not sleeping through the night, but he sleeps longer than Austin did at this stage.

Henry had his 4 month check up the other day, and he is now 17 lbs 14 ounces!  The doctor said “this is what we call a bouncing baby boy”. She was very pleased with his growth and how alert and smiley he was.  He is starting to roll over and grab toys and bring them to his mouth.  He loves his toes right now and plays with them or chews on them.  He adores his big brother.  He is always so excited to see Austin and just watches him intently.  He loves sitting in his bumbo playing with toys.  He can even grab toys out of the bin sitting next to him.  He loves sitting in the exersaucer watching everyone around him.  Austin will go and bring toys to entertain him. Henry is such a happy baby.  He is content to sit in your lap just watching the world go by.  He has these beautiful blue eyes, and his hair is getting darker.  The hair on the top of his head stands straight up after his bath!  His smile is the highlight of my day and what keeps me sane when I have to get up every 2 hours in the middle of the night.  When I come in his room, he does this little dance kicking his arms and legs and gives me this huge grin.  He is such a sweet baby!

Austin has changed so much since the last post!  He repeats everything we say.  He is learning his colors and does pretty well with them.  He can count to ten.  Allen likes to say he does “roll call”.  My brother said it is like he is a sports announcer.  He keeps tabs on everyone around (or not around).  He loves to go down the list of our family and say what everyone is doing.  "Dada Work" "Dada Church".  He thinks if someone is not at our house, they are at church. If you eat a meal with him, he will give you a play by play of the meal.  “Mama eat”.  “Mama more”.  “Mama All Done”.  When he says crackers, it sounds like chatchies.  He has some wild hair that goes every different way after he wakes up from sleeping.  I am constantly taming it, and it seems like he is getting a hair cut every few weeks.

We had a fun fall!  One Monday, Allen, Austin, and I went to Gentry’s Farm. He had a blast going on the hay ride and playing in the log cabin.  We had a great Halloween.  He dressed up as Thomas and went trick or treating at a few neighbors’ houses.  He loved the “punkins” as he called them. 

Henry was baptized the first week of November, and Allen’s parents came to visit.  We decided to have Austin’s 2^nd birthday party the same weekend.  He had a Thomas themed party and had a great time! Allen and I took him to Adventure Science Center on his actual birthday. He loved the trains, but the rest of it was a little over his head.  Plus, I think that is where he got the stomach bug that lasted over a week!

Austin loves to talk about himself in 3^rd person and calls himself Austi.  It is really cute.  Henry LOVES his fingers.  He sucks his 2 fingers on his left hand when he is tired and rubs his head. It is the cutest thing.

Here we are picking out our Christmas tree!

Here are some pictures from the last 4 months! 

New words

Austin has been very busy this summer. We have a new nanny who he adores...as in Allen and I do not rate at all when she is around. It makes me happy to see him so attached to someone so sweet. He is going to miss her when she goes back to college.

He has gone to camp at his school for the past six weeks and loved it. We can't believe how much he has changed since going. At his 18 month check up, he was only saying mama, dada, and baby. He now says ice, trash, cheese, uh oh, bath, more, olivia, tiki (our dog's nickname), choo choo, book, bye bye, hi, etc. he knows so much more than he can verbalize.

He loves his new room. He was never phased by Jackson's crib going up in his old room, thank goodness. The baby will be here in a week! Austin does not know what is about to hit him, but I pray the transition is easy. I am stressing out about being away from him. I have only been away from him at night the night before Jackson died and last week when I was in the hospital for dehydration. I know Allen will take good care of him. He is all about "my dada", as he calls him. He loves reading books with pictures of babies in them. He is not too into the real life thing, and a few weeks ago, I was holding my friend's baby he was not too excited!

The new baby is measuring 90th percentile and about 2 weeks ahead. My doctor is on vacation until next Thursday, so I am hoping he/she stays put! We can't wait to meet this baby. Allen thinks it is a girl, and I think it is a boy. We will be happy with whatever we are blessed with.

Big Boy haircut

I took Austin to get his first "big boy" haircut this past weekend.  He did so well. Usually he just sits in my lap, but my lap is diminishing.  The barber thought it was a good time to try the booster seat in the chair alone.  He did great!  He just looked at himself in the mirror the whole time.  He loves having his hair brushed, and the barber was pretty quick at the cut.  This was the only picture I took with my phone because I didn't bother to bring the camera. He looks so serious and sad, but he really enjoyed it!

Updates

We just got back from a fun weekend in Monteagle. Austin has become quite the traveler. He won't sleep in the car making long drives even longer, but he sleeps great for naps and night time.

We are slowly getting ready for our newest addition to make his or her entrance to our family in 6 short weeks. I am feeling great, and the doctor thinks the baby weighs around 4 lbs now! Allen has done a great job painting Austin's new room.

The three of us went to Florida a few weeks ago and had a blast. He was not too thrilled with the sand and is slowly warming up to the pool.

He started camp this week, and he loves it. He even started saying more words. So far, his vocabulary is restricted to mama, Mimi, dada, baby (when you ask him where the baby is, he points to himself), bye bye, and cheese. He is doing great. Tonight he amazed us by turning the water on, putting his toothbrush under the faucet,and then turning the water off and brushing his teeth. I am continually amazed at what a sponge he is.

Here are some pictures of the last few months. He has gotten so much hair. He is still a good foot shorter than his classmates. He weighs 25 pounds and is a little over 31inches tall.

Walking now!

Austin is loving school!  He doesn’t cry anymore when I drop him off…he thinks about it, but then he gets distracted with the other kids running around.  He is exhausted when I pick him up after work and usually falls asleep on the way home. 

He is officially a walker now! He walks so much.  He teeter totters some, when he is tired.  This movement has opened up a whole new world for him-he is into everything at eye level and above now making baby proofing even more important.  Things I would never think he would ever touch-like the table by our front door…he will walk by it, stop, touch it, and shake it!  What brings that on, I have no idea.  We will be anchoring more items in our future I am afraid! 

Here is a picture of the Valentine he made us at school.  I love his first craft! 

Here is a picture of him I sent to Allen when he was away.  He is such a ham for the camera sometimes.

He is starting to "talk" a lot more now, too.  We cannot understand what he says, but he loves to talk and squeal.

First day of school!

Austin had his first ay of Mother's Day Out at St. George's today! He did great! It helped that my brother and nephew, Will, walked in with us. I think that put Austin more at ease. He actually pushed to get away from me to go play at the train table first thing! He kept looking to make sure Allen and I were there. He shed a few tears when we left, but he was easily distracted by the wild boys in his class. They are all about a head or more taller than him. I don't think about him being small, but seeing him with the other kids makes him look so small. They were all running around the room. He was doing his best to hold on to a little cubby area and just watch them. It was priceless. They have a two way mirror that we watched through for a good 20 minutes. I could have stayed there all day. My mom's best friend picked him up and said he did great! He actually napped...which I can't believe. They said he liked going outside and playing in the Cozy Coupe. I see one of those in our future. He even painted pine cones today. Wouldn't that have been a sight to see. I asked him how his day was, but he was fast asleep before I even pulled out of the driveway when I picked him up. I hope he continues to like it. There are some sweet kids of some people we know in his class, so I hope he makes some nice friends! Pictures to follow later. Allen has the camera.

Today is the one year anniversary of my Grandma's death. My dad has his hip replaced yesterday. Walking down the halls of St Thomas hospital to see him was eeary...since one year ago to the day, I was walking down the same halls to spend what would be my last moments with my grandmother (she died at about 2am, so that is why I say yesterday). My dad is doing great, and I am so glad to be where we are today then where we were a year ago. 2011 wasn't our best year, so I am looking forward to 2012 and all it has in store for us!!