For the first year of Austin's life, I kept a calendar baby book. Every day I would write down little things about him. I was glad when that year ended because by the end, I was trying to make mental notes of what to write and remember them for weeks at a time before I would finally write them down. It was hard to remember, and then I'd feel bad for not writing it down daily. Anyway, after that first year I pretty much stopped keeping track of any of the cute things about Austin, and I know I won't remember them all, so here's the SUPER LONG post to try and record all those little things (at least that most recent ones I can think of right now).
Austin was very slow to talk. For the longest time the only words he ever seemed to speak were mama, dada, ball and cracker. We were slightly concerned, but only slightly. I was very confident that he would talk when he was ready, but the doctor seemed a bit more concerned (granted, it is her job to catch problems early on) and therefore made me wonder if I was doing something wrong that was limiting his speech. Anyway, within the last couple of months his speech has taken off (although I think Parker and I are the only ones who can tell what he's saying), so I wanted to document the words of my cute little guy.
First word other than mama or dada was: "bah" for ball (by far his favorite toy) or "crahca" (or some similar variation) for cracker. FYI, wheat thins are preferred, teddy grahams are good, gold fish and Cheerios are acceptable.
Other words he can say in no particular order:
Nose
Eah (Ear)
Heh (Hair)
Ehbow (Elbow)
No (he learned this in the past couple weeks. It's awesome.)
Ah Duh (All done)
Uh oh
Uh now (Oh no)
Moh (More)
Dog
Ma (for Gram or Grandma)
Papa
Ehwah (Ella)
Tay Tay (For Uncle Taylor)
Mmm (don't know if that counts as a word, but he says it when he eats)
Hi
Bye (This involves a wave and, if your lucky, he'll blow you a kiss to go with it)
Bubble
Chess (Cheese)
Goga (Yogurt)
Nana (Banana)
Jesus
Whee (since turning his car seat forward facing he can now see out the front windshield. We randomly hear "whee" coming from the back seat as we drive. It's pretty cute, and a big contrast to the terrified whimpers we heard the first time he rode facing forward.)
I'm sure there's more... but that's all I can think of now.
He can sign:
more (which he seems to sign all. the. time. and is usually accompanied by the word craca)
all done
please
thank you (this sign frequently becomes a blown kiss)
book
If we say, "Austin, can you say __________ ?" he will almost always attempt it, but usually his "word" doesn't sound very similar to our requested word.
He's pretty good about putting something back, or throwing something away when we ask him to (or don't ask him to. I honestly wonder what he's thrown away that I haven't caught). Lately I've been trying to teach him to put his own shoes away, and he's done it without a problem 4 out of 5 times. He's typically pretty good about cleaning up toys when we ask him to help us, but he won't do it on his own, we definitely have to be participating in the clean up to keep him on task.
He loves to be outside. The park is always a fun spot, and he particularly likes the swings and slides.
When the cabinet is unlocked, he loves to get the dishwasher tabs from under the kitchen sink and put them in the little compartment in the dishwasher.
He loves listening to music, but will really bust out his dance moves for One Direction
Diaper changes are torture. They usually involve a tantrum (varying degrees of severity) unless he's distracted with a cracker, or something on TV or a song. I've tell him that if he doesn't want his diaper changed he can start going potty on the toilet, but he doesn't seem to get it... yet. ;)
He gets beyond excited when we turn on the TV in hopes it might be a show for him. Usually the TV is off all day, but if we need to keep him distracted, the TV works very well for him. I try to avoid it because I think it's better for his brain, and he seems to be better behaved with absolutely no TV. Maybe that's all in my head, but I don't think so; TV makes him cranky. His favorite shows are Rio, Toy Story 2, The Lion King, and Blue's Clues. We have to keep the remote out of his little hands because he knows the one button to push to turn his show on and he does so any chance he gets.
Balls of any kind are his favorite toy. He's pretty good at throwing and kicking, but he's a little inconsistent with catching. He has a little fisher price basketball hoop that he can spend a lot of time playing with. He typically stands on a box to make him tall enough to make a basket, otherwise he's just too small to get it in and although he's persistent, he gets frustrated.
Austin loves the songs Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam and The Wheels on the Bus. He loves to do the actions especially to the verses for the Babies and Mommies on the bus.
Austin has always been really good for babysitters (at least as far as they tell us.) He never cries when we leave, and I think he enjoys having new people to play with. He goes to the daycare at the gym about 5 days a week, and again never has a problem going. He loves the nursery at church too. Hope I didn't just jinx myself.
He loves to play with our tablet. We have a hard time using it in front of him because he seems to think he should have full access to it whenever he wants. He's a pro at navigating it now. As I type this on the couch he's trying to use my laptop screen as a touch screen (it's not) to close the window.
We've had the same bedtime routine since Austin was about 4 months old. Around 8:00 or 8:30 we change his diaper, put on pajamas, brush his teeth, read a scripture story, read another book or two, turn off the light, say our family prayer, lay him down and that's it for the night until about 8:00 am the next morning. He's really a great sleeper, and takes a 2-3 hour nap around 1:00 in the afternoon every day.
Rose is Papa and Gram's black lab, and Austin adores her. Austin's a little wary of most dogs, but curious about them. Rose is his buddy at Gram's house and she is soooo good with him. I've never seem a better dog... she's so patient with his "petting" (he can be a little aggressive about it) and she minds very well.
There's the highlights I can think of now. Austin's a joy to have, really about as great as they get! He's such a sweet boy and we're so happy to have him!
Friday, May 24, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Mother's Day 2013
Mother's Day was perfect. We had a delightfully relaxing day, well, at least I did. :) Parker and Austin gave me a sweet card, a mini rose bush for the planter on our balcony, and the lipstick I had been wanting to try (Covergirl Lipperfection.... I really like it!)
After church we got to skype with Bobby, who is on his mission in Chile. We miss him and loved seeing him! Afterwards we went to an awesome park for a picnic and playing, then came home and I skyped with my dear Mom. I'm pretty sure I'm her favorite because every Mother's Day she still wears the heart shaped pin covered in colorful mini shells that I made in second grade. ;) Love you, Mom! I loved spending time with my little family.
I really appreciate all the motherly figures in my life, and there are many! My mom and mother in law are great examples of women of charity, as are my grandmothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, and friends. I've got awesome women in my life!
The picture above was right after church... I'm wearing the same outfit I wore last Mother's day (that wasn't planned.) The picture below really needs no caption. On a related note, Austin has learned the word "NO."
After church we got to skype with Bobby, who is on his mission in Chile. We miss him and loved seeing him! Afterwards we went to an awesome park for a picnic and playing, then came home and I skyped with my dear Mom. I'm pretty sure I'm her favorite because every Mother's Day she still wears the heart shaped pin covered in colorful mini shells that I made in second grade. ;) Love you, Mom! I loved spending time with my little family.
I really appreciate all the motherly figures in my life, and there are many! My mom and mother in law are great examples of women of charity, as are my grandmothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, and friends. I've got awesome women in my life!
The picture above was right after church... I'm wearing the same outfit I wore last Mother's day (that wasn't planned.) The picture below really needs no caption. On a related note, Austin has learned the word "NO."
He's saying "cheese"
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Uncles
Austin's Uncle Taylor is awesome. He babysits for us a lot, and without complaint. Austin loves him, and since Austin has spent so much time at Uncle Taylor's house, Taylor's roommates have kind of become honorary Uncles (who have also baby sat Austin on occasion). Thanks for your help guys! :)
Monday, May 20, 2013
Parker's Graduation
After one semester at LDS business college, a two and a half year break (on a mission in Nicaragua,) one semester at Utah Valley University, and eleven and a half semesters at Brigham Young University, Parker graduated with his Bachelor's Degree in Construction Management and a Minor in Spanish (and technically he completed the requirements for a management minor, but due to unfortunate decisions by BYU administration he didn't officially get that... we don't need to get into that, Parker's over it).
Congratulations Parker! Now you're all smart and stuff. We enjoyed the graduation ceremony, then with lots of help from others, Debbie and I planned a little graduation celebration.
The professor above, Mark Lords, was one of Parker's favorites. Parker's friend, Alejandra, (below) was a huge help when Parker had to occasionally take Austin to school when I was at my internship. She loved Austin and would help entertain him while Parker worked.
I had to make cookies... obviously. These are some of my favorites I've ever done.
Having my sister (and dad) there was so fun, and she was my right hand woman, helping me with anything I asked. Love her.
These ladies were a huge help getting everything put together (and taken down) at the party.
Congratulations Parker! Now you're all smart and stuff. We enjoyed the graduation ceremony, then with lots of help from others, Debbie and I planned a little graduation celebration.
I had to make cookies... obviously. These are some of my favorites I've ever done.
These ladies were a huge help getting everything put together (and taken down) at the party.
I don't know why I think the picture above is so funny to me... but it is. :)
It was so nice to celebrate this great accomplishment in Parker's life, and we appreciate the support of those who celebrated with us in person and in spirit. :) Oh, and I designed the announcements/invites and really loved how they turned out. I had so much fun with them.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
This Blog 2.0
It's been a while. I don't think I've looked at my own blog since my last post, and I hadn't realized it had been so long. Time flies! I hadn't felt the desire to post, but lately I've been thinking about our little family blog. I decided (I think) I'd like to come back to it and be more regular with my posts, but I realized, I'm going to do it more for me, than for readers. Sorry readers... if any of you are out there. Some of my future posts might be boring to you. And my grammar won't be perfect. I apologize in advance. If it's on my blog it's important to me or interesting to me or just something I want to write about, and since this is my blog, I'LL DO WHAT I WANT. :) Consider this your disclaimer.
So, first of all, do I try to catch up or just pick up right here. I'll do a semi-quick overview I guess.
Halloween 2012 was mostly low key. Austin dressed up as superman. He was adorable. Parker was (last second) Jimmer Fredette. I was not dressed up. It's not really my thing. We drove around SLC like crazy. We visited Gram and Papa, then the Matheson's, then Grandma Hilton, then Grandma Talbot (bonus, Aunt Sandra was there too!). We won't ever do a Halloween that way again (too busy to stop and enjoy it much), but it was fun to show Austin off to grandparents. It worked out because I wouldn't let Austin eat any candy anyway. Plus he was too young to really get the concept of trick-or-treating. Next year we'll do the traditional stuff.
We spent Thanksgiving at my Grandparents house in Idaho. It was miserable. I take that back, it was fantastic but I don't ever want to spend a Thanksgiving that way again! We got to spend time with my dear, wonderful family (my mom's side) and contemplate the many blessings we have in our lives everyday. The miserable part came when the septic system backed up in the basement, so the house full of people (30-ish I would guess) had no drains, no toilet, no shower for a couple days, including Thanksgiving. (Can you imagine cooking a Thanksgiving dinner and doing the dishes when you have to catch all the water you use in a basin and literally throw it outside every time it gets full!? My Aunts are superstars.) We had to drive to the church nearby to use the facilities there. And to top it all off, everyone (seriously, at least 75% if not more) of the people there ended up with some terrible stomach bug. I apologize to my family members I kept up all night. I won't go into detail. I'm so glad the plumbing issues were fixed before the majority of us got sick, and my poor baby and Parker didn't seem to get it too bad.
I am grateful for my good health.
I am grateful for plumbing.
I am grateful for people who are willing to do dirty jobs (like climbing into a septic tank!)
I am grateful for a family that is so positive, service oriented, and willing to do hard things.
Parker and I celebrated our 4th anniversary. I can't remember what we did. When I was planning my wedding I was determined to not let our anniversary get forgotten/smushed into Christmas celebrations, but it kind of does. :( It's my own fault for choosing to get married on December 20th (sorry again, Mom) and not making it more of a priority to celebrate in a big way. I know we did something, I just can't remember what it was without thinking too hard.
Christmas was super fun, of course. We woke up super early, got ready for the day, and had to skip opening gifts because we had places to go and things to do. We went to breakfast at Gram and Papa's, skyped with Bobby (who's on a mission in Vina del Mar, Chile) opened gifts with Gram, Papa and Nancy, went to brunch at Jana and Jon's for the Matheson morning celebration, over to James and Cindy's for a visit with their family, Grandma Hilton, and Rose and Marshall, back over to Gram and Papa's (I think...? things are getting jumbled in my brain) for visiting with all the Aunts and Uncles there, then over to Bob and Carol Matheson's for more food and family, opened presents there with Mat, Debbie, and Taylor, then headed back home where we finally opened our gifts... around 10:00 pm. Poor Austin was exhausted, but so happy to have so many people to play with throughout the day. He loved playing in all the wrapping paper too. Parker disregarded the budget we had set (as usual... you think I'd learn) and bought me a new laptop which I kind of hated at first (it has window's 8, so it took some time getting used to). I did a special 12 days of Christmas thing where I gave Parker little gifts to count down to Christmas. It was fun, and I think he enjoyed it. It helped me remember the true meaning of Christmas and reminded me that giving is so much more fun than receiving. Oh, and we put up Christmas lights for the first time (not on Christmas day, several weeks before. :) Although they were a giant pain and I had to restring them on our balcony 3 times, they were magical.
We rang in the new year with a staycation in Sandy. We hung out with Mat, Debbie and Taylor at the Matheson's house for a week and just had a low-key, relaxing, fun time together. We ate good food, played games, watched movies, slept in and stayed up late and just took it easy. That's my kind of vacation... at least after a busy Christmas season. :) (Just a side note- I must document the awesomeness of my husband. He frequently gets up with Austin and lets me sleep in. I guess he knows I need at least 8 (or 10...) hours to function.)
Parker has been extra busy this school year (winter semester 2012) because it was his last semester before graduation! Hallelujah! Parker had 21 credits to finish up his major, and was participating on BYU's National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) team and went to the Dominican Republic for 10 days. Heavy sigh.... I'm exhausted just typing that out. Like I said, he was busy. The NAHB team worked hard all through Christmas break (although I'm remembering now that he took the evening of our anniversary off so we could go to dinner...) and pulled a few all-nighters. They presented in Las Vegas the third week of January, and took 3rd place in the nation! Go BYU! We were glad when that was over. The trip to the Dominican Republic was a great experience for Parker. The group he went with (7 people total, I believe) were all from the construction management program and went to tour construction sites there as well as teach at the university there. Parker also got to go scuba diving a few times. He had a good time.
While Parker was in the D R, Austin and I went to Medford. We flew there, and Austin did quite well. He was tired and quite the handful in the airport. He decided several times to just sit or lie down on the floor as we walked to our gate. And he loves to see the screen on any electronic device, so he would get quite friendly with people on their laptops or phones to check out what they were doing. Once we got on the plane he settled down and finally fell asleep after take off and woke up just before we landed. We had a WONDERFUL time in Medford visiting family and especially loved seeing little Ella. She's a doll! I've got such a great family. Love them.
I opened and closed an Etsy shop within about a month. I love to decorate sugar cookies, and thought an online shop would be a fun venture... but it wasn't. It was just too much stress for me at this point of our lives, so I closed it. I still love to make cookies, especially for friends and family, so let me know if you have something you'd like me to create for you! Seriously! Maybe someday I'll open it again, but no plans for that now.
Instead of my Etsy shop, I went back to school. I wish I was kidding! I can't even go a year without being in school I guess. It's really not that bad. I like learning, but that constant nagging weight of knowing you could/should be working on homework is back, and I'm not a fan. I started an online education program to be a medical documentation specialist (medical billing, coding and transcription). It's something that I hope to finish in the next couple months and ideally start working from home shortly after... we'll see. I'm just over halfway done now, and it's pretty interesting, but somewhat time consuming.
Last but not least, Parker will start his new job TOMORROW! He's working at CBRE ( in corporate real estate) working on the retail team. His first assignment is to go to a golf tournament and meet people/network and eventually sell retail space (I think...? Please tell me I'm not the only wife who is a little fuzzy on what it is their husband actually does at work). If you know Parker you know all those things are right up his alley! I know he'll do great, but he's also working on getting his real estate license. He's finished the course and has to pass the test, and again, if you know Parker you know tests are so NOT his thing. Pray for him to pass!
There's so much more to document... but I think this post is plenty long. I'll break it up a bit. Maybe if I get really ambitious I'll post pictures to go with this post. But, honestly, probably not. Just being realistic.
PS. Parker graduated from BYU, but I thought that was recent enough to deserve a post all its own. I didn't forget that major life event. :)
So, first of all, do I try to catch up or just pick up right here. I'll do a semi-quick overview I guess.
Halloween 2012 was mostly low key. Austin dressed up as superman. He was adorable. Parker was (last second) Jimmer Fredette. I was not dressed up. It's not really my thing. We drove around SLC like crazy. We visited Gram and Papa, then the Matheson's, then Grandma Hilton, then Grandma Talbot (bonus, Aunt Sandra was there too!). We won't ever do a Halloween that way again (too busy to stop and enjoy it much), but it was fun to show Austin off to grandparents. It worked out because I wouldn't let Austin eat any candy anyway. Plus he was too young to really get the concept of trick-or-treating. Next year we'll do the traditional stuff.
We spent Thanksgiving at my Grandparents house in Idaho. It was miserable. I take that back, it was fantastic but I don't ever want to spend a Thanksgiving that way again! We got to spend time with my dear, wonderful family (my mom's side) and contemplate the many blessings we have in our lives everyday. The miserable part came when the septic system backed up in the basement, so the house full of people (30-ish I would guess) had no drains, no toilet, no shower for a couple days, including Thanksgiving. (Can you imagine cooking a Thanksgiving dinner and doing the dishes when you have to catch all the water you use in a basin and literally throw it outside every time it gets full!? My Aunts are superstars.) We had to drive to the church nearby to use the facilities there. And to top it all off, everyone (seriously, at least 75% if not more) of the people there ended up with some terrible stomach bug. I apologize to my family members I kept up all night. I won't go into detail. I'm so glad the plumbing issues were fixed before the majority of us got sick, and my poor baby and Parker didn't seem to get it too bad.
I am grateful for my good health.
I am grateful for plumbing.
I am grateful for people who are willing to do dirty jobs (like climbing into a septic tank!)
I am grateful for a family that is so positive, service oriented, and willing to do hard things.
Parker and I celebrated our 4th anniversary. I can't remember what we did. When I was planning my wedding I was determined to not let our anniversary get forgotten/smushed into Christmas celebrations, but it kind of does. :( It's my own fault for choosing to get married on December 20th (sorry again, Mom) and not making it more of a priority to celebrate in a big way. I know we did something, I just can't remember what it was without thinking too hard.
Christmas was super fun, of course. We woke up super early, got ready for the day, and had to skip opening gifts because we had places to go and things to do. We went to breakfast at Gram and Papa's, skyped with Bobby (who's on a mission in Vina del Mar, Chile) opened gifts with Gram, Papa and Nancy, went to brunch at Jana and Jon's for the Matheson morning celebration, over to James and Cindy's for a visit with their family, Grandma Hilton, and Rose and Marshall, back over to Gram and Papa's (I think...? things are getting jumbled in my brain) for visiting with all the Aunts and Uncles there, then over to Bob and Carol Matheson's for more food and family, opened presents there with Mat, Debbie, and Taylor, then headed back home where we finally opened our gifts... around 10:00 pm. Poor Austin was exhausted, but so happy to have so many people to play with throughout the day. He loved playing in all the wrapping paper too. Parker disregarded the budget we had set (as usual... you think I'd learn) and bought me a new laptop which I kind of hated at first (it has window's 8, so it took some time getting used to). I did a special 12 days of Christmas thing where I gave Parker little gifts to count down to Christmas. It was fun, and I think he enjoyed it. It helped me remember the true meaning of Christmas and reminded me that giving is so much more fun than receiving. Oh, and we put up Christmas lights for the first time (not on Christmas day, several weeks before. :) Although they were a giant pain and I had to restring them on our balcony 3 times, they were magical.
We rang in the new year with a staycation in Sandy. We hung out with Mat, Debbie and Taylor at the Matheson's house for a week and just had a low-key, relaxing, fun time together. We ate good food, played games, watched movies, slept in and stayed up late and just took it easy. That's my kind of vacation... at least after a busy Christmas season. :) (Just a side note- I must document the awesomeness of my husband. He frequently gets up with Austin and lets me sleep in. I guess he knows I need at least 8 (or 10...) hours to function.)
Parker has been extra busy this school year (winter semester 2012) because it was his last semester before graduation! Hallelujah! Parker had 21 credits to finish up his major, and was participating on BYU's National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) team and went to the Dominican Republic for 10 days. Heavy sigh.... I'm exhausted just typing that out. Like I said, he was busy. The NAHB team worked hard all through Christmas break (although I'm remembering now that he took the evening of our anniversary off so we could go to dinner...) and pulled a few all-nighters. They presented in Las Vegas the third week of January, and took 3rd place in the nation! Go BYU! We were glad when that was over. The trip to the Dominican Republic was a great experience for Parker. The group he went with (7 people total, I believe) were all from the construction management program and went to tour construction sites there as well as teach at the university there. Parker also got to go scuba diving a few times. He had a good time.
While Parker was in the D R, Austin and I went to Medford. We flew there, and Austin did quite well. He was tired and quite the handful in the airport. He decided several times to just sit or lie down on the floor as we walked to our gate. And he loves to see the screen on any electronic device, so he would get quite friendly with people on their laptops or phones to check out what they were doing. Once we got on the plane he settled down and finally fell asleep after take off and woke up just before we landed. We had a WONDERFUL time in Medford visiting family and especially loved seeing little Ella. She's a doll! I've got such a great family. Love them.
I opened and closed an Etsy shop within about a month. I love to decorate sugar cookies, and thought an online shop would be a fun venture... but it wasn't. It was just too much stress for me at this point of our lives, so I closed it. I still love to make cookies, especially for friends and family, so let me know if you have something you'd like me to create for you! Seriously! Maybe someday I'll open it again, but no plans for that now.
Instead of my Etsy shop, I went back to school. I wish I was kidding! I can't even go a year without being in school I guess. It's really not that bad. I like learning, but that constant nagging weight of knowing you could/should be working on homework is back, and I'm not a fan. I started an online education program to be a medical documentation specialist (medical billing, coding and transcription). It's something that I hope to finish in the next couple months and ideally start working from home shortly after... we'll see. I'm just over halfway done now, and it's pretty interesting, but somewhat time consuming.
Last but not least, Parker will start his new job TOMORROW! He's working at CBRE ( in corporate real estate) working on the retail team. His first assignment is to go to a golf tournament and meet people/network and eventually sell retail space (I think...? Please tell me I'm not the only wife who is a little fuzzy on what it is their husband actually does at work). If you know Parker you know all those things are right up his alley! I know he'll do great, but he's also working on getting his real estate license. He's finished the course and has to pass the test, and again, if you know Parker you know tests are so NOT his thing. Pray for him to pass!
There's so much more to document... but I think this post is plenty long. I'll break it up a bit. Maybe if I get really ambitious I'll post pictures to go with this post. But, honestly, probably not. Just being realistic.
PS. Parker graduated from BYU, but I thought that was recent enough to deserve a post all its own. I didn't forget that major life event. :)
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