Sibling?!?

Well, Austin is going to be a big brother! We are very excited, I am 12 weeks pregnant and due at the start of May. At this point I think it is a girl, but yesterday at the Doctor's office the Midwife reported that it sounded like a boy - now keep in mind when I was pregnant with Austin the Dr. said it was a girl when we heard the heart beat, so I am assuming if the midwife said it is a boy this time, then that means it is a girl. Hahaha! We will find out the gender hopefully right before/after Christmas time.

We are all definitely excited and are gender neutral. This has of course put us in the house buying mode - we will start really looking hard in December and hope to have a place in the early Spring. Plus if the feds lower interest rates again, we would be stupid to not buy a house right now.

Enough talk, how about some pictures.

While we were home in Texas, Austin got to play with his cousin's red car, so when we got back to Atlanta I went on craigslist.com and found us our own little red car. Austin LOVES the car as you can probably tell.

Here he is loading all of his material possessions into his car and taking them around the house with him.

And then there is this - okay right in front of him, out of the picture is his Longhorn Text-Board-Book that has all sorts of facts about going to UT. Well, if you look at his hand, you will see that he is attempting to make a 'hook-em' with his hand - my little budding Longhorn. It probably helps that every time we read the book his momma puts up her horns and sings the fight song to him! Hook-em Horns!!

Maybe baby #2 will have red hair too! Oh how will I pay for my raising!!

Happy Halloween - a few days early

Tonight while we were at Grandma & Grandpa B's house, we snuck over into their neighbor's yard and borrowed their Halloween decorations for a few Kodak moments. Austin is a puppy dog.

I know, I know

what is the point in having a blog if you are not going to use it? Long story - camera was in hiding - back in the saddle again...

First and foremost, GO LONGHORNS!! We beat Nebraska today - but in typical UT fashion it was a nail biter until the end. Mind you, out here the only way I get to "see" a game is to read online a play by play description, not actually the real broadcast!! Not that I would watch a broadcast anyways - with the kid and all.

Second, the camera was MIA as Eric took it hunting with him last weekend. Hunting in Georgia is like hunting in Missouri, you have to climb trees, unlike Texas where you just climb into your truck and drive around the pasture or open your windows and sit in your recliners (Dad & Scott). Anywho, Eric got a deer so he was happy - Austin did not know what to think of the meat, but he sure thought the cooler was COOL!!

So here are some pictures. In preparation for Halloween, he was practicing his best pirate face..

Showing Maddie how to give kisses - and if you know Maddie, that is her specialty

And my favorite. If you have ever met an old cowboy, you probably have at some point noticed his saggy bottoms. I have a few relatives that are perfect examples! Anywho, somehow in these pants Austin looks like an old cowboy with saggy bottoms and it makes me laugh out loud every time I see it. So for those of you who get this analogy, you should enjoy the same laugh I get. An even funnier fact is that Austin owns four pairs of these exact same jeans because they were on sale at Target a few months back for like $3 so I stocked up - little did I know how great these pants would be!!

Enjoy! We will take more pictures at the park tomorrow since the camera is no longer MIA!

Back from Texas

AAAHHHH!!! It was SO great to go home - I missed everything and everyone - especially the mexican food & bar-b-que - I WANT MORE!!!!!!!

What I do not miss is the Texas weather that created an absolute nightmare for AC & I - we were to arrive back here on Monday night at 7 pm - instead, because of bad weather in Dallas, not only did my awesome Dad & his wife have to drive me to Midland, a full 2 hours from San Angelo, where I was visiting, they also had to sit and wait with me to make sure my 8 PM flight took off to Dallas. Once in Dallas at 9 pm, we had to wait until 12 midnight to take off for Atlanta. During this time, for ONE SOLID HOUR Austin SCREAMED AND CRIED at the top of his lungs - to the point that the airline staff said that I would not be able to board the plane if I could not get Austin to calm down!!!!!!!! It was MISERABLE and all because he was just too tired. He finally cried himself to sleep about 10 minutes before we boarded the plane and slept until we arrived in Atlanta at 3 AM - my loving husband met me at 3 and drove us home safely and we finally got to bed at 3:45 am - just to get up at 7 am and go to work & school. Needless to say, the airline will be getting a formal complaint from me. I was beated down!!

BUT, we had an absolutely awesome time in Texas and cannot wait to go back in December. I need at least 2 months to recover from the flights home.

Here are some cute pics - although I just didn't really take to many shots - mostly just AC & his cousin Carter.

Hanging out in a toy with cousin Carter.

Riding a REAL 4-wheeler with Carter driving - I know, I know I won't let the child watch TV but I will let him ride on the back of a battery powered 4-wheeler with his 2 & 1/2, almost 3 year old cousin driving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Austin obviously having fun waving for the cameras!

and one of cousin Carter all by his lonesome - thanks for sharing with us Carter!!

While we were home, Austin went on big long explores with his Grandad T - exploring the great wide world - I don't think Austin will ever be able to spend more than one hour in doors after this past weekend, his Grandad just kept him outside the whole time, and it was beautiful weather!!

We are now back in ATL and having fun spending time with Dad. Austin actually just left with his Grandma B for the night, so I will get back to work - hope all is well with you guys!!

Hanging out, being silly

This morning, Austin seemed to be having some fun with Maddie, so we took some pictures together. I asked Austin to share his toys with Maddie, and this is what he did:


Correct me if I am wrong, but don't they look alike in this one, both putting their noses up in the air - what type of kids am I raising.

Austin with that weird/guilty grin

In this picture, he kinda looks like a hillbilly who is missing some teeth. He actually just got 4 more, but you obviously cannot tell in this picture. His teeth are my only explanation for why he has a faucet coming out of his mouth and nose this week. Pretty icky I know!

So as many of you may know, Eric & I are pretty laid back as parents. We do not get upset or too particular about things and we certainly will not impose our views on others.

BUT...

Imagine Eric's surprise yesterday when he walked into Austin's very expensive preschool to find Austin sitting in a high chair watching TV! You see my friends, the TV is the only thing we are neurotic about - we don't want our son to watch TV until he is at least 2 and then ONLY in limited amounts. There are good research studies and a recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics that warn against this - BUT we do not get crazy at other people's houses and therefore Austin has viewed TV on the rare occasion. BUT NOT AT HIS PRESCHOOL THAT I AM PAYING A FORTUNE FOR HIM TO ATTEND JUST TWO DAYS A WEEK!!!!!

Needless to say I was VERY ANGRY last night when Eric told me this. So I sent an email to the school and the director provided a satisfactory explanation for this, but I just felt like I needed to use this forum to get it OFF my chest. I AM ANGRY!!

AAAHHHH, I feel better already. Now, don't judge me for my neuroses, we are just trying to raise our kid the way we want to raise our kid. I don't judge others who let their children watch TV and I will be the first to admit that sometimes it is hard to keep a child entertained 5 days a week without a TV, but we are doing it and we plan to continue.

Okay I am finished now. Have a great week!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

This is the last week of my 1st quarter so I am CRAZY busy, and I am flying home this weekend to my dad's house, so we are a little swamped, but not too swamped to not post some new pictures.

First, we must say we are proud of our Longhorns and the good fight they put up, but this year OU came to play and we lost - sad, sad, sad. However, Austin spent the day running around with a burnt orange balloon to celebrate the big game. He is fascinated by balloons...

Yes, he is also trying to eat a golf ball in this picture, we basically live right on a golf course, and this was part of our "welcome home" gift from the complex - he thinks it's food

What a face!

Obviously blowing up the balloon himself - hahaha

As you maybe can tell from this picture his new trick is to dump out all of his toys from his toy boxes and then "put all of the toys up" notice the "" marks, because he only puts about 1/2 of the toys back in the box - rest is up to mom & dad...

odd picture, but just one more for good measure - have a great week - we are on our way to the park!!

OOOOPPPPPPSSSSS!!

It has been WAY TOO LONG since we wrote something, so here are lots of pictures to make up for our absence.
First, as you may have gathered by now, this kid LOVES to be outside and parks are his FAVORITE!! Eric is a scavenger for new parks and keeps finding new ones to go and explore. This one is just around the corner from his office and has a playground, tennis courts, and multiple baseball fields - Austin got to run the bases...

Here he is rounding first base, although a lot wide and far, far outside.

Here he has discovered that you can stop and pick up the rock that Mom & Dad are using for the baseball - hey people, sometimes you must improvise....

Here is that face again, the one we have not yet decided if it is cute or not.... kind of looks guilty of something -

Here we are telling him that he has run the wrong way, and that 2nd base is to his left, but we obviously are not getting very far....

We have now moved on to the park, and all of the toys that are offered here...

sliding with Dad is the BEST - well, almost the best, sliding by myself is actually best, but this slide was TOO long for me to go solo...

This is a globe that is about 5 feet off the ground, right by the top of the slide where AC can look through to see Mom on the ground below ... hard to take this picture because of the sun behind his head.

and then there is always the parting shot of him trying to escape the stairs - he loves to climb stairs and is not a big fan of the hand rails, something we are definitely working on...

Hope you all are having a good week.

Eric met Kenny Rodgers yesterday (the singer not the baseball player) apparently he lives in the area and wanted to buy a car, not from Eric but a co-worker. Eric said his salesman indicated that Kenny loves to be asked for autographs - so if he sees him again and you want an autograph... I am kidding.

As for the rest of the family, my classes end next week for our first session, and I will go to only teaching on Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings, so I will get to spend more time in the evenings with Austin & Eric. AC & I are getting ready to go home to my dad's house for a long weekend, so we will have many pictures to document our travels in Texas. I cannot wait to get some REAL Mexican food & Bar-B-Que - it's just not the same here in Georgia.

Finally, all you Longhorns out there better get ready for this weekend - GO TEXAS - Beat OU!!!! I hope we can get the game out here on one of the TV stations - unfortunately we are stuck in SEC country and don't usually get any games from West of the Mississippi.

One more thing, Austin's new favorite calming pasttime, i.e. the time just before nap is to sit in my lap in front of the computer and look at pictures of himself I have saved. He smiles and says Mama & Dada when appropriate - pretty cute - and yes, I do not consider that watching TV although some could argue he is; whatever!!

Have a good week.