July

At Austin’s 18 month checkup on June 30, one of the things the doctor asked us was how much Austin was being read to. Trust me, as an avid reader and lover of books, I have tried and tried to get my child into books. He has just shown zero interest and will never sit still long enough to hardly get through a few pages, much less an entire book. The doc suggested reading to him while he was in the highchair, or letting him sit in his crib while I read to him. So that night, I tried reading to him in the highchair while he ate dinner. No dice. I tried again after his bath, right before I put him to bed. We rocked in the glider like we do every night, but this time he actually sat still and let me read an entire book to him. Better than that, he actually liked it!! I was SO excited! The next day, he requested a book (“boo??”) as soon as he got in his highchair to eat dinner. He ate every single bite, probably without even realizing it, as I read a book to him. Since that first night, the boy has been obsessed with books! Score one for Mom!! We bought him more books over the weekend and they are now all over the house, as he is constantly taking them wherever he goes and will randomly just plop down and open one up. If he sees you sitting down on the floor, he runs to go find a book and then backs up into you and plops down in your lap for you to read to him. He even turns the book around if it’s upside down. He says “book” all the time now, and when I finish the book and say “the end”, he ALWAYS tells the book “bye bye”, which makes my heart melt. He points out different pictures in the books and says what they are, like cats (which he calls Lola and always kisses the cat in the book), dogs and bikes.

He loves kissing your booboo’s (and his booboo’s too!). All of a sudden, he started calling Justin “daddy” instead of “dada”. So stinkin cute!! His voice sounds so sweet when he says it, with a slight inflection of his voice with the Y sound. He says “bless you” when you sneeze, which he did for the first time just the other night. I about died, it was so cute. At first I was like, did he really just say that?! Then I sneezed again and sure enough, he said it again! He has been a constant sneezer all his life and we have always said “bless you” to him, so I guess he has finally picked it up himself. He also says thank you, Caesar, milk, eat, outside, light, hot, hair, teeth, toes, shoes, cookie, water (or wawa), and he uses sign language to say “please” (something he learned at school). For the longest time, Justin and I have always laughed and said “ewwww” whenever Austin poots. He would get the biggest kick out of it and just laugh and smile every time. Well now, he says it to us when we poot or he says it after he poots. It is hilarious when he does it, but I decided it’s time to teach him “excuse me” instead! I can’t have him saying ewww to other kids at school when they poot!! So that is our next thing to work on.

He just had his first bout of thrush this month that he picked up from someone at school, and we are on Day 3 of antibiotics. Luckily it was caught early, and he only had a slight white film on his lips, cheeks and tongue. He didn’t have any bumps in his mouth or on his throat, so luckily he has been acting like he feels perfectly fine. Even after the first day of the antibiotic, you could barely see it anymore.

Austin LOVES to say “Oh My!” I have yet to figure out where he picked this up, but the way he says it is just hilarious! He uses that phrase instead of “uh oh” a lot or when he hears a loud sound or something like that. He just says it so seriously and so matter-of-factly that it just makes me giggle every time. He also says “elmo” and sleeps with his Elmo that Aunt Jenn Dial gave him when he was born. It’s so cute to see him snuggle up to it and cuddle it under his arm, just like I did my favorite teddy bear. He has to make sure he kisses Elmo goodnight and that we kiss Elmo and tell him “night night” too. He also says “eat eat” when he’s hungry and he’s OBSESSED with Nutri-Grain Bars, or “fruit bars” as he calls them. He would eat an entire box in one sitting if we let him. He loves all the flavors but his favorite is apple and when you ask him what kind he wants, he screams “apple!!!!” By month’s end, Austin had popped out three more teeth all within three days of each other. Two top molars and the bottom tooth next to the center on the right side. Yay, we’re up to nine!!!

I still can’t get over what a beautiful boy I have. I stare at him every night in the bathtub, when his hair is wet and back off his face, and I just can’t get over what a beautiful, perfect face he has. His features are so perfect and he’s got a melt-your-heart smile and the biggest, prettiest blue eyes with gorgeous eyelashes. I am so in love with him. I am still in awe that Justin and I created him. We talked recently about his birth, and what a complete miracle it was. I can’t believe how strong I was throughout the entire thing and I am so proud of myself for going through what I did to bring him into this world. I can’t imagine life without my little dude. Our lives haven’t been the same since January 4, 2010 and I couldn’t be happier about that! :)

June

We started off the month with a doctor’s visit, as demanded by daycare, for what looked like poison oak/poison ivy. At the doctor’s visit, Austin weighed 22lbs 8oz, so he gained just over a pound in two months. The spots on his legs ended up just being bug bites. This has since happened multiple times, and we’ve discovered that even just mosquito bites whelp up to very large bumps that almost appear to blister. Evidently he takes after his momma and has very sensitive skin and reacts to bug bites this way. Tooth #6 also came in, so he now has the four center teeth on the top and the two center teeth on the bottom. He is still learning animal sounds, and he still whispers “roar” when you ask what a tiger says. He “tweets” for birds and we’re working on barking for dogs. He loves to point out your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, toes and shoes. He will poke his finger directly in your eye and say “eye!!”. It’s cute, but can get irritating when he does it over and over again! When our cat Lola will actually sit still for him, he loves to give her kisses, play with her ears and he also pokes her in the eyes too. He is in the stage where he repeats everything we say (time to watch the language!!), which is hilarious to hear him try to say some of the words we say. He calls my coffee “coco”. His granddad taught him to hold up one finger when you ask him how old he is!! It makes me feel like my son is soooo smart!! One Saturday, we were looking at a touch-and-feel books that has pictures of different animals. We came across a lizard and I decided to teach him to stick his tongue in and out when you ask “What does a lizard do?” To date, I think this is his BEST trick!! He also pants when you ask “What does Caesar do?” (Caesar is my in-laws lab). Panting for Caesar and whispering “roar” always gets a laugh, but the lizard has to be the cutest thing he does!! He has since taught his classmates what lizards do, too. We had his 18 month checkup at the end of June, and he weighed exactly 23 lbs, which is the 30th percentile. He is 31 ¾ inches long, which means he has grown just over a foot since he was born! It’s hard to believe he is almost three feet tall!! Austin is more fun than I could have ever imagined, and I keep hearing that it just gets better from here. Can’t wait to find out for myself!! Splashing in the puddleAustin and Alex :)Fun with the Hand Family!Austin loves Micah!!Getting love from JennaLittle Miss AlexBackyard pool fun!