First Christmas

Christmas has been a week-long affair for Austin. It started with a drive to Montreal on Dec. 24 -- which was a rather uneventful almost-six hour ride, despite that fact that he slept very little. Santa's sleigh (aka, our SUV) was pretty full however -- it's amazing the amount of stuff you need to bring when travelling with a baby and Christmas presents.

Austin's Christmas present to everyone was to sleep in until 8:15 on Christmas morning, followed by present opening at the hotel with grandma and granddad, Ali, Billy and Suzie. He tired of the game quickly, so mommy and daddy finished opening his gifts for him. He did, and still does, very much enjoy the gift Santa brought him.

Then it was off to great-grandma's house for brunch with the rest of the family. Below is a picture of grandma with most of her grandchildren, and now great-grandchild.
And, of course,there was another flurry of present opening.

Christmas dinner was at a friend of the family's where Austin sampled most of the meal. He wasn't too sure whether he liked turkey or stuffing, but he certainly did love the homemade spicy guacamole appetizer...who knew!?

We made the reverse trek along the 401 on Dec. 26. Again, he chose to sleep very little, prompting us to decide, when possible, future drives will be done at night.

On Dec. 28 (at Austin's bedtime) we loaded up the car once more and headed for London. Christmas at grandpa's (Ryan's dad's) was the next morning, where once again Austin opened a present or two before tiring of the game.

Last, but not least, Christmas moved to Nana and Gramps' house (Ryan's mom's) on Dec. 30, where Austin received, and mommy and daddy opened, more presents.

Austin clearly doesn't understand the whole Christmas and present thing, but will definitely enjoy all the toys, books, dolls and DVDs he received. And mommy will too -- because there are now new books to memorize and more than one Baby Einstein DVD to watch!

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A visit with Santa

A few weeks ago, we took Austin to see Santa at the mall. Although a little hesitant to smile, he was very good. And we managed to buy a really good picture.

Then, last weekend, we went to the PCL family Christmas party where Austin, once again, got to sit on Santa's knee. He was too intrigued by Santa to even look at the camera and smile, but we did manage to get a few nice shots. You can almost see just how badly he wants to reach over and grab Santa's beard!

We'll be heading to Montreal on Dec. 24 to spend Christmas with the Gardner clan, then home on the 26th and to London on the 29th and 30th to do Christmas with Ryan's mom and dad. It'll be busy, but fun.

Merry Christmas (and Happy Hannukah) to all.

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Nine-month checkup

Austin went for his nine-month checkup yesterday and he's doing well. He's now 21 lbs 9.5 ozs and 29.5 inches long -- I think he must have sprouted in the last few weeks because, suddenly, all of his pants are too short! I guess it's time to start bringing out the 12-to-18-month size clothes.

I should mention, however, that he has a blocked tear duct. An ophthalmologist told us that it's not uncommon in children -- about 6% of babies are born with it. And 90% of the time, it clears up on its own by the child's first birthday. So that's the hope, and we're massaging his tear duct regularly, as instructed. But if it doesn't clear up, he will need surgery next spring. We've been assured that it's a very quick, and effective, surgery.

He's still cruising along the furniture, the walls, chairs and anything else he can get his hands on, and in the last week, he has tried to take a few steps on his own. Unfortunately, when trying to walk from the dresser in our room to the bed (about a foot and a bit apart) he took a pretty good tumble -- and has now developed a small, but healthy, dose of fear. It should keep him from trying a stunt like that again for at least a few more days.
Regardless, he still manages to get himself into every nook in the house, as you can see in the picture he's behind the couch and under the shelf!

He's doing really well at sleeping at night now -- many nights he sleeps from 8 p.m. until 7 a.m. But some nights he still wakes around 5 a.m. for an 'early morning snack' and then goes right back to sleep until 8, or even 9! But as usual, he's still not much of a napper. On a normal day, he'll take two, 20-30 minute naps.

That's all for now.

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A place for family and friends to read all about Austin

Rather than sending out e-mail updates and photos to everyone, I decided to start a site for Austin where I can post whenever I get a chance, and everyone can check back often.

I've put up a few things already, many of which were sent by e-mail over the last few months. I just thought it would be nicer to start this site with something on it.

The latest news is he is really trying to walk. Crawling is no longer how he gets around. (His military-style crawl on his toes and elbows takes much too much work I guess.) Instead he walks along the wall, the couch, the table, and, his favourite, by pushing a chair or stool across the room. Yesterday he took his first step without holding on to anything, although he immediately fell into Ryan's arms after doing so. And last week, he stood unassisted by anything for five or six seconds before deciding to sit down. It's only a matter of time now I guess.


That's all for now, happy reading.

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Previous Austin videos

July 19: Austin rolling over and over



July 15: Austin's first swim




August 9: Austin sits up on his own now and loves playing with his blocks



August 18: Swimming in the lake at the cottage near North Bay



August 31: On the move



Sept. 28: Austin's version of crawling



Sept 27: Austin loves his Jolly Jumper



Oct. 27: Cruisin' right along

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Austin's first Halloween

We took Austin to a Halloween party, so of course, he needed a costume. It was an adult party, but that was no reason not to bring him. Our 'family' costume theme stemmed from finding a cute cowboy/sheriff costume for Austin at Old Navy. From there, we found convict costumes for the two of us to wear. The sheriff was in bed by 9, but here are a few of the shots we snapped before he called it a night.

Although we didn't take him trick or treating on Halloween night, we did dress him up to give out candy to the trick or treaters.

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Austin's summer vacation

Our vacation was a one-week getaway to a cute little cottage on a lake near North Bay.

We spent most of our week relaxing on the deck and swimming in the lake. Although Austin wasn’t too keen on the ‘not-so-bath-like’ temperature of the water, he went swimming every day we did, and once he got used to the water temperature, he seemed to enjoy himself.

And he even went skinny dipping one day!
One afternoon, we strapped Austin to Ryan’s back and we walked along the road beside the lake. Austin enjoyed himself so much that he fell asleep. (Yes, we adjusted his head right after snapping his photo.)
On a not-swimming-weather day, we drove into North Bay for the afternoon, where we checked out the miniature heritage train and the heritage carousel. Austin enjoyed both – especially the carousel, which, when he was put on the horse, he immediately knew to hold onto the pole.

After that, we walked along the waterfront, and, since our cottage didn’t have a beach, we stopped to play in the sand and to stick our feet in Lake Nippissing.

On yet another outing, we drove to a nearby provincial park and, once again, strapped Austin to Ryan’s back and went for a hike. Austin enjoyed looking around and bouncing up and down on daddy’s back as we made our way up and down the rocky trail.
And then Austin decided that hiking was much too tiring.
After two hours of hiking, Austin was just a little bit hungry.
The rest of the week, all three of us spent our time relaxing and hanging around.
Love
Austin, Mom and Dad
xoxo

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