Austin Charles

our first year continues...

New!!

January

9 Month Pix

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Halloween

Thanksgiving

Pre-Christmas in NC

Christmas

Birthday

I know we're late posting this, but I thought folks might enjoy seeing how we spent the holidays this year.

Halloween

For Halloween, Austin dressed himself (yeah right) in a Tigger Suit. 

Mom took great pleasure in dragging propping him outside while we doled out the candy.  That didn't last long, despite the heater.  Soon, we had to move ourselves back inside.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in North Carolina this year, visiting family.

As you can see, Austin was more than ready to go.

We also took the opportunity to snap some family pictures to capture the moment.

The grandkids soon got bored with all the posing and decided to stir things up a bit. I'm fairly certain Danielle is saying...BOYS!...in one of them.

We also celebrated Aunt Michele's birthday.  The Japanese Steak House we went to for dinner insisted she don a chef hat and flap her arms like a chicken.  Ah...the things we'll do for cake.

Pre-Christmas in NC

We were lucky enough to get to take another trip back to North Carolina in December.  Beau spent much of the time in Charlotte working, while the rest of the family was laid up with a pretty nasty stomach flu.

We were able to get everyone together just before we headed home to do Christmas with our North Carolina family.

Austin and Michael got matching Panther's jerseys.  Unfortunately neither one of them felt like modeling them for us that night.  Hopefully we'll get them together in January when we see them one last time before summer.

Christmas

We didn't do very well capturing Austin's first Christmas.  Luckily, Micah had her camera just about everywhere we went.  Hopefully, we'll be able to steal some of those from her and add them to the website.

Austin wasn't feeling well during the week prior to Christmas.  Unfortunately, Great-Grandmother Andreasen got the brunt of it when we went to visit her for Christmas.  He was also seen giving Uncle Mark a piece of his mind....which changed drastically when Mark pulled out the food.

Instead of making Austin wait for us to help him unwrap all of his gifts and tear into the insanely packaged boxes, Santa was nice enough to take his toys out and leave them by the tree Christmas morning.

The boys woke mommy up WAY too early (if the sun isn't up, people should NOT be out of bed), which is why she's hiding in most of these pictures.

Birthday

Since Brooke's birthday is sandwiched between Christmas and New Years, the boys thought they would give her a special treat.  Not only did they make her breakfast, they also teamed up to make a cake. 

I'm not sure who was having more fun with the mixing, but it didn't take Austin long to realize he really likes chocolate cake batter.

Overall, we had a wonderful holiday season.  We would like to thank everyone for their cards, gifts, and good will.  With any luck, 2007 (or 2008) will see the addition of another new member.  We can't wait to keep adding to the website.

January

January blessed us with loads of snow.  I've been reminding Beau that it was MY idea to get us a snow blower.  I'm sure he's secretly pleased, but all I get is him rolling his eyes at me.

As you can imagine, Austin has been enthralled with watching the snow.  I opened the shutters so he could watch for himself (in which he promptly pinched his fingers).  Every so often he treats me to a squeal of excitement, so it's well worth it.

The cats have been allowed back into the main part of the house again (for now).  Every day we're watching for them to get into trouble.  So far though, the girl kitty has been keeping a low profile.  She enjoys long naps on our bed.  The boy kitty though....well he's managed to find Austin's diaper basket downstairs.  He seems to think it's fun to hang out in the strangest places.

The monster seems to be quite the movie buff now.  He thinks it's pretty cool to pull out the entire movie collection and then fling them all over the office.  He generally seems quite pleased with his accomplishment too.

9 Month Pix

I know I'm late on the 9 month photos.  As you can see, it has been a struggle getting him to sit in one place long enough to get the shots.

I finally managed to get him to lay down on the mat so we could see how much he's grown.  As you can imagine, he's less than impressed.

The Boppy was a bit more entertaining.  He insisted on crawling to the camera.  I finally had to pin him down in the middle, which sent him into a fit of laughter.

The bouncy seat was a lost cause.  It's official that he's too big for the seat and he insisted on sitting straight up.  I think it's time to put that one into the closet and find a new distraction.

I finally decided the best way to see him grow is to just stand him up (which is what he wants to do anyway).  Hopefully we'll have better luck on his first birthday.