Fun Day

We had some fun today and so I took a few pictures....

Little fuzzy, but a picture of Ansley relaxing on the couch

Austin playing with his new tool box that Aunt Farya & Uncle Paul gave him....he will not stop carrying the thing around, between this & his "tractors" he is entertained for hours!! It's screwdryaya this, hammer that, tractor, and "cool" - we love that our friends & family are so generous!!

here he shows you the proper use of a screwdryaya

a picture of my new haircut - (sans makeup SCARY-which is why it is me & Austin in the picture) - most days I don't bother putting on makeup since I don't leave the house with our newborn....she is asleep in her kick & play behind Austin & I on the left side of the picture (note she is wearing pink for a change).....also note that I FINALLY hung the plates in our kitchen & Eric FINALLY put up the cabinet door handles ... we have been busy these past few days.....

Ansley's latest trick - she smiles - real smiles, not gas smiles, but it is hard to catch when you are holding her in your arms....best I could do .... she makes me laugh out loud when she smiles like this

So after the doctor visit last week, we started introducing more vegetables to Austin's diet, as he does not eat enough green leafy things....tried more today....didn't work. But he does like to eat.....this is before meal

this is after...pretty good appetite...plus he had half of a pear....just no green things....I will keep trying, even if I have to coat them in ketchup!

>97%

Seriously?!? Does this even have to be a distinction that you can be told about your child?

Take a guess why we were told Austin was >97%......that's right, head circumference! So we went to the doctor for his 2 year checkup & for Ansley's 1 month checkup and found out the following:

Austin:
36 inches tall - good as they say to double age 2 height to find out adult height = 6 ft (78%)
28 lbs - and most of that is in said cabeza (46%)
51.5 cm head circumference - seriously?!? (>97%) - they won't tell us the real # thank goodness
BMI - 18% - I don't know how I feel about this - are they using this to say that kids as young as 2 might have a BMI that indicates they need to go on a weight loss/management plan? I'm going to find out more about this....

Ansley:
21 inches - 30% - seems odd since she is not really even supposed to be on a growth chart yet
8 lbs - seems she eats well
38 cm head circumference .....67% - yeah that's why I told you her stats, seems she has a ginormous head too! No wonder these kids have to come out by c-section!!!

You know they say you become your mother/father respectively according to your gender, and folks, short of having brown hair, I have become my mother!! I got a hair cut on Tuesday and as she is cutting my hair, I think, hhhmmmm this looks like the way my mom wore her hair for as long as I can remember...no picture....just know that I have my mom's hair cut, long neck, and VERY pale "mayonnaise" colored legs......hahaha - can't think of anyone else I rather be!

Have a great Thursday!!!

Party!!!

Well, Austin finally came home from Grandma & Grandpa's house on Sunday, so we had a party!! We actually gave him cake too! I planned on giving him ice cream too, seeing as how I made homemade peach ice cream - but in typical Lynn fashion, I forgot about it in the freezer, so now we have 4 quarts of ice cream to eat .... maybe it was an intentional slip up!

Blowing out the candle - he knew exactly what to do!

After smashing his face into his cupcake! ps. it's Red Velvet cake in case you can't tell

and then smashing it into pieces because apparently he didn't want to eat it, just play in it

Now for the gifts - as you can tell, he got tractors for his birthday - cool ones!! Grandad & Nanny gave him the big one that has all working movable parts & Uncle Bunny & Aunt Stacey gave him the 2nd one - it is remote controlled & he can move it forward/back & then the bucket moves up & down....

Aunt Stacey helped give him a bath, and decided to spike his hair up for bedtime - he was one cool looking dude! Thanks Aunt Stacey!

Happy Birthday Austin!!

ps. we did not give Ansley away, she just slept through the entire event!

Happy 2nd Birthday Austin!

So you finally turned 2! Even though I have been referring to you as our 2 year old for several weeks now! (okay, technically your birthday was Thursday, but I did not get a picture of you then & you went to school that day and your grandma has had you at her house ever since Thursday, but I had to get this up here so I would not forget what I wanted to remember about this big day for you!)

We are so glad you are our son, and so proud of all of the things that you do!

Some of our favorite things you are doing right now:
"People" - you love to be outside with all of the people - including Saxi, Madison, and you just call everyone else "people"

You called yesterday to tell me that grandma bought you "tennis shoes" - you said "grandma, want tennis shoes" - I cannot believe you are making sentences now

The other day you dropped a cup of "agua" and said "mamma, fix it" - thanks for helping with the housework!!!

You love to say "screwdriver" which sounds like screwdryaya and then make the same noise as daddy's electric drill - you carry things all over the house and try to screw things in - you love forks for this activity

You LOVE agua - playing outside in the tub, with the garden hose, you will come in from being outside with daddy covered in water and I will ask you what happened and you say "Austy agua" - you are literally wet from head to toe.

When I ask you what you want to eat, you ALWAYS say "daddy" - which we still don't understand, but we think you mean that you want to eat with daddy as you love to share oatmeal at breakfast and you will eat ANYTHING that daddy is eating, even if it is on your plate and you won't eat it off your own place; if it comes from daddy you will always eat it!!!!

You give the best hugs at dinner, "mamma, hug" "Anly hug" "Daddy hug"

You LOVE dinosaurs, and can say the word as clearly as I do - you seem to love the big words.

Other things of important to you in no particular order: outside, hugs, mmmmmmm (which means you want a kiss goodbye from whomever is leaving), man come, outside, sandbox, chalk, bike, bubbles, animal noises (frog, pig, dog, cat, horse, cow), outside, thanks to grandpa an elephant is a "hunt," "ready, set, go," "mahat, ghani" (only Grandad knows what that means), juice, vacuum, alligator, "no, mama, no," Anly Cowen, outside .... just some of the more popular and daily things you love

No matter how long you have been outside, you could play for 1 hour more, but we are sticklers for your bed time, so even when there are 30 people outside, you still go to bed at 8pm in the big boy bed that you share with bear, dog, frog & of course your trusty Pooh.

We think you have stopped biting, it has been a few weeks, and we are very relieved....please don't "hurt" anybody else......"pease"

Bottom line, we love you and all the things you do ... your our little red headed dude!
Mom & Dad

Feet

I hate feet; but I guess I can say my kids have "cute" feet for now - kind of....as it turns out Austin has big feet - they are basically 1/2 the size of mine right now and as we all know I have 30+years on him.....a bit troubling.....he had to get new shoes again yesterday, this is a monthly or quarterly trend....this time, they were a size 7.5 WIDE, yes my friends, my son, like his father, has a wide foot!! Kinda look like bear paws.........aw, how cute!! haha

I tried to get a few shots comparing feet sizes...

I also tried to take a few pictures of the kids together - after this little endeavor, I can assure you that I am not going to every try to become a photographer - whew was I exhausted!!

Tried to compare lengths too - didn't work too well

This was about the best shot I got of the two together - I was trying to get a few good pictures for Father's Day...check back tomorrow to see if I got any better ones.

Sleep & Forts

No seriously, this is all she does....

Last Saturday afternoon

Monday

Oh!! Tuesday. Wait, that is because her mother had a Coke!! She was like this for all of about 45 minutes.......

Last night....

Now, funny enough it looks like she only has white onesies that I will allow her to wear....no so, just seems that is what she is wearing when I take her picture...and no! we do not keep her in her car seat 24/7 - it is just easy to take her picture there because Austin does not try to get in the frame when she is in her car seat - he loves to have his picture taken.

Wanna see.....now most of these pictures are actually for my brother's benefit.....when we were kids our parents had this huge sectional sofa that could be used to make awesome forts...well again to combat my sleepiness Austin & I made a cool fort

the entry way in it's good stage.....

the entry way post Hurricane Austin

Austin showing me how to have fun inside of said fort

Austin attempting to explain to me that these are his packing bubbles to pop not mine....

and a parting shot of his favorite toy - and if you look close enough, a shot of his legs, which will show you that the mosquitoes in Georgia LOVE our son!!!

Have a great Thursday.....we are preparing for Father's Day!!

Ways to combat sleepiness

Start by going outside with your 2 year old while your newborn sleeps peacefully....look in the trees in your back yard .... look for a hawk!!! Yes, if you can see from my horrible picture taking ability, there is a hawk in the center of this picture on a branch about 25 feet from our back porch.....we won't be having a koi pond now will we??

Next, you should fill up a plastic box with 4 gallons of water and provide said 2 year old with a few cups, a bucket, a pan, and whatever else might be laying around on the back deck.....

He is a little camera shy with his big old belly hanging out.....

We spent lots of time measuring out the water from one cup to another, little "mad scientist" for ya'

And just for you Texas folks.....here is a shot of part of our back yard, put into perspective with the deck railing just above where Austin has been playing....you cannot even see the tops of the trees....this is one part of Georgia that I LOVE compared to Texas.....you have to admit at least I have found one thing that I love.....


Have a good weekend.....must get some sleep......

If you could only see me now...

I've only had 4 hours of sleep - what I have failed to mention about the bliss of our new home is the bliss of our son's new sleeping habits - we know it is a reaction to the addition of Ansley, but it is hard....what am I talking about....the fact that little blue eyes wakes up every night at approximately 2 am and either tries to come into Ansley's room and sleep with me or tries to go into Eric's & my room and sleep with Eric. He does not want to sleep alone and he does not want to sleep through the night. Up until now, our son has been a GREAT sleeper for the majority of his life - few ups & downs here & there - but for the most part, GREAT!! Now, not so great. So why do I write, because I am tired and if I take a nap then I wake up too groggy for my own good & my kids good. So I write to stay awake.....please send happy sleepy dreams our way....I need some sleep!

No pictures today...maybe some later...planning to take Austin outside to play in the water to wear him out to see if that will help him sleep.....must get some sleep......zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Baths & Haircuts

Well, a little late but we finally gave Ansley her first bath ... she did not seem to mind it, seemed pretty relaxed, just kept her eyes closed most of the time - she doesn't look relaxed in the picture, but she seemed to be okay....she's clean!

Austin has been sweating up a storm during naps & the night time & outside, so I went yesterday and asked for a buzz cut - just about....great summer do!

Ansley was sleeping on her daddy last night and Eric said to me, "have you ever seen a cuter face?" So we had to take a couple of snap shots.....pretty darn cute if you ask us (we can't be impartial)



Happy hump day!