German Roots

Eric's dad/Austin's grandad is from German & Irish roots & there is a city in North Georgia, Helen, that is a "traditional" German town - sort of like Fredricksburg & New Braunfels in Texas ...

we decided to go with Eric's parents to Helen for a Sunday day trip - it is only about 1 hour from Atlanta. So here are some pictures of the things we enjoyed ... warning, we were "bad" parents....

Austin loves balloons - so we got him one in the shape of Madison so that he would not miss her while we were gone for the day.

This is where things got "messy" - you see Eric LOVES funnel cakes, so of course he said "before we leave I have to get a funnel cake" to which I said, "mmmm, yummy - but of course Austin cannot have any"... I admit, I gave him the first bite, and it was down hill from there - needless to say, Eric & I eat a dessert with EVERY meal and we may have started this taste a little too soon with AC - the first picture is his first bite, the second picture is what happened next, he REALLY wanted MORE, MORE, MORE!!

Then, on our way out of town we found a HUGE toy store and inside his Grandma found a really cool train set - it is heavy duty wood. The first picture is the toy 5 seconds out of the box, the second picture is the toy 15 seconds out of the box - needless to say, Austin LOVES his train and loves to take all of the blocks off and put them back on. He had previously developed a train fascination and this little toy will probably solidify that love.


On another note, classes started for me last week, and I really love all of my courses. The are all taught in the evening, so we have a nanny/babysitter come 3 days a week and help out. But starting next week, Eric & I have been able to coordinate our schedules where AC will go to daycare 2 days a week and then be home with one or both of us the rest of the time, which will be great!! As it turns out, childcare is much more expensive in Atlanta, so we are trying to cut corners where we can.


Anywho, hope all is well with you guys!

Big Head

Does his head look exceptionally large to you? We went to see the pediatrican today for a well baby check up so that we can go to daycare & they of course took his measurements etc.
23 lbs - 25%
31 inches - 50%
19.5 inches head circumference - 105% - that's off the chart folks - OMG!!!

So... he has a big ol' noggin just like his dad!!

Hope you all are having a great day!!

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad

Today is our 2nd wedding anniversary and we are going to dinner to celebrate - having Austin there will make it that much more fun! This picture is from one year ago today - we were in our backyard in Dallas - time really flies by...

Then tomorrow is Uncle Scott & Aunt Natalie's anniversary - they have been married for EIGHTY years, oopps, maybe too many letters in that word - hehehe - happy anniversary to them too!!

This is the best picture I have of Scott - Natalie somehow has skipped photo ops on my camera.... Hope you all have a happy day as well

Back to the park...

Man do we love to play in the park!! We even met a new friend today - they live in the neighborhood and he is the same age as AC - we had fun...

A Day in the Park

Today was dad's day off, so after school, dad took AC to the park to play...

Where we learned how to fill the dump truck with sand & how to swing!! Check out how red Austin got in the face - it is HOT HOT HOT!!

Check out the trees - they are everywhere!!!!!!

Photojournalism

Some of you have recently asked, "How do you spend your days?" I'll show you...

First, we wave bye-bye to Daddy when he leaves for work...

We then attempt to scale the baby-gate that can't be that hard to remove...

Then we read and play with our magnetic animal book

Then we try to get mom to stop eating breakfast and get into the floor and play too - I am siting in a chair turned around looking at him, that is why he appears to be "jailed"

We then try to figure out what this big box is and why it does not work - hint: Austin does not get to watch TV so he does not understand how it works...

Then we play with Madison and try to figure out how to catch her tail - hehehe

Sometimes we get mad when she won't let us grab her

We even do things to scare mom - like falling and bumping our head - see the cut on his forehead & the look of surprise when his mom found out that Georgia also has a CPS

We always try to steal mom's camera, and ...

we will open our mouth when you say "Austin, let me see" to show mom, dad, etc the latest edible item we have found on the floor that obviously needs to be tasted by a 14 month old!!

Hope you all are having as much fun as us and that these pictures will satisfy your curiosity for a few days...

Blabber Mouth

Not only do we walk, we also talk - alot!! He is supposed to know 5 words by his 15 month birthday to be developmentaly on track - and we are finally there!!

We say:
Mama
Dada
Bye-bye
Uh-oh
Duck
Dog
Ball

Now of course some would argue that uh-oh does not count as a word - but we are not fans of theirs. hehehe

We are working on bear & bird but those may take a bit longer - apparently what I thought was bird earlier was not, but we are working on it.

Hope all is well with you all!!

We're BACK!!

Finally we have internet!! I cannot begin to express how long the past few weeks have been, I feel like I left Dallas a year ago, and it has only been two weeks - time has flown!!

Short end of the story - got here in 1 day, AC had 3 nuclear meltdowns but we made it in 14 hours; townhouse Eric rented is great, excellent area of town, wish we could afford to buy a house here, but cannot; Eric's job is good, he is getting settled in; my job started WAY sooner that we thought, they actually expected me to work right away!!!! So...we are in a crunch to find a babysitter - have someone coming tomorrow that may work short term or occassionally, but we are busy, busy trying to iron this out!!!

All in all, we are great. I am slowly beginning to accept that we are Georgians now, but Texans at heart - I keep referring to things like I am just visiting Atlanta, instead of actually living here.

Couple of pics...

Remember our visit from Farya, well she gave Austin a Pooh bear which, I was called Pooh as a kid and my dad has called Austin "bear" since he was born - so it is interesting that this Pooh Bear that Farya gave him has become his lovey - he has not really taken to any toy, he seems to play with things equally, but not his Pooh, he carries him around everywhere and snuggles with him at night - thus this is how you will find him in bed right now..



He is of course a walking fool - he no longer crawls at all and thus, here he is showing us how he walks - the picture is from when we were staying at our friends' house in Dallas - so it is a few weeks old...



And this last one is his current thoughts on Georgia - just does not quite know what to think...


But we get to Grandma & Grandpa B every week and our Uncles & Aunt too - so we are having lots of fun!! We miss you Texas but we are excited for our new adventures!!