Sweet Austin

Sometimes lunch can really wear a baby out!

It's that time of year again...

Time for Holiday Cards! On Friday we will be pulling out our Christmas decorations to put up our tree and one of our favorite traditions is to look at all the Holiday Cards from last year. Then as this years cards start to come in I love to compare the photos and see the differences. If you haven't ordered your Holiday Cards yet and you are a blogger, Shutterfly is currently offering an opportunity to earn 50 free Holiday Cards, check it out here! I love Shutterfly and have used it plenty of times in the past, including last years Holiday Card/Birth Announcement. I don't have the card scanned and I can't figure out how to share it here from the Shutterfly site, but you can check out other birth announcements samples on Shutterfly here. I shopped around a bunch and not only did they have the cheapest prices but I also liked them the best. Plus, they are super easy to use and they ship really fast. I've been shopping around for our 2010 Christmas card and I thought the hardest part would be getting a decent photo with three cooperating kids, but actually I'm having the hardest time deciding which design to use because there are so many cute styles within our budget. You can select your Christmas cards from Shutterfly here or general Holiday Cards here. Hopefully you are better at making decisions than I am!

I also have made 2 photo books for Jacob & Brody's first years and they are really fun and easy to make. Shutterfly also has great customer service and are so easy to work with if your cards arrive and something went crazy (which has never happened to me... I swear ;).

The above photo is a little sample of what you will find in your mailbox from us this year ;)

November

Yikes! Thanksgiving is in two days and December will be here in one week, I guess I better get another November post in! Here is what has been going on with our family:

Aaron has been hard at work and hard at play. They have a big project going on at work that he has been an instrumental part of and besides a few hiccups, things are going well there. In addition, his boss is retiring at the end of the year. Provided that nobody transfers in to that position, he will definitely be applying for it. It's government though... so there won't likely be many updates about it for several weeks (months)! He has also been featured on the State website, you can check it out here. On the recreational front, Aaron had a successful opening day of (rifle) deer season, bringing home an 8 point buck. In an effort to save money this year Aaron skipped out on deer camp a few hours away and hunted on State land across the river from our house. He was able to cover shifts for his coworkers over the weekend, hunt in the morning on opening day and return to work by 10am! Talk about efficient! Our freezer is now stocked with venison. Click here to check out a picture.

I'm doing good! Still trying to keep up with running! I love it and hate it all at the same time. I had two of my wisdom teeth out on Friday. I had my lower wisdom teeth and two cuspids removed when I was 17 and the thought was that when my upper wisdom teeth came in they would push all my teeth together for a beautiful smile. What I didn't understand at the time was that I was still going to need to have them removed after they did their job of pushing my other teeth together and well, I've put off having them removed for the past few years. But, they are finally out now and it was not nearly as a rough experience as when I was 17. I think childbirth definitely puts painful & uncomfortable experiences in a whole new light. Oh, and I also think that IV sedation should be offered with most every uncomfortable experience.

Jacob's teacher is back. We loved the substitute, Mrs. Hellem, but I truly, honestly cannot picture any teacher doing a better job than Mrs. Render. It breaks my heart to see the pain in her eyes, no one should have to lose a child no matter how old they are. We continue to pray for healing for their family.

Jacob went ice skating for the past three weeks as part of Enrichment. He really did great! In true Jacob form, I believe he was the only child that didn't cry but he was also the most cautious! After the lesson they allowed the kids some free time and we would get out a hockey stick and puck for Jacob to play with. It was amazing to see how much more confidence the kid had with a hockey stick in his hands.

Brody. Ahhh, Brody. He's a pleasure and a nightmare all at the same time. The best way to get an idea of Brody's volatile personality is to imagine being around a really drunk person. He loves you one minute and hates you the next. He's always missing at least one article of clothing and God forbid the guy can't find his sippy cup!! He is really into making big messes right now and not only will he refuse to help you clean them up, he is greatly offended that you are cleaning it up! He spent a lot of time making a huge mess and he would like to keep it that way thankyouverymuch!

Austin is the sweetest little baby anyone could ask for. He's so mellow, happy, snuggly and sweet. He goes with the flow and tries to stay awake while we are out and about, but you would never know that he has missed a nap or two because he is such a charmer. He sleeps like a champ at night and goes right to sleep when you lay him down awake in his crib. I'm convinced he has a tape worm because he has a voracious appetite and is still just a tiny peanut of a baby. He is starting to eat more and more table foods and less purees but still isn't crazy about drinking anything out of a cup or bottle. I think he may have just barely (or is really close) to finally doubling his birth weight at almost a year old! As much as I am looking forward to Christmas, it makes me a little sad because 5 days later my little Austin will turn one and my baby days are over. Wow, they really do grow up so fast.

For Thanksgiving day we are headed to my parents where we will dine with my parents and the Hilley family. Jacob and Brody are pumped to play with their cousins who just got back from Disney World! Then on Saturday we will head to Aaron's parents and the boys can see their Uncle Pete who they haven't seen since June! We hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving! This year we are thankful for friends, family, health & happiness!!

Mud Pie!!!

Brody is an interesting child and always likes to keep me guessing. His latest favorite thing to do is attack Austin while Austin is trying to play on the floor. He will then forcefully roll Austin over on his back and then pat his stomach and roll him from side to side while saying "MUD PIE! MUD PIE!". I have no idea where this came from or what the heck "mud pie" is supposed to mean. So strange! I always yell at Brody to stop because I'm afraid Austin is going to get hurt but I guess I don't need to because Austin seems to love this game and giggles like crazy. Silly boys.

Brody is still up to his shenanigans claiming he needs to "Go Pee!" in the middle of the night and then demanding "Mommy Bed!" Brody always wins the battle against me. Even though I sleep awful, I still enjoy snuggling him and I'm just too tired to fight him back to bed. Not Aaron though, he put his foot down and said HE will handle it from now on. So last night Brody did the usual "Go Pee! Mommy Bed!" and Aaron placed Brody back in bed and informed him that he would have to wait until he left for work before Brody could go snuggle mommy. So what did we listen to from 3am until 4:15am last night? "GO TO WORK, DADDY! GO TO WORK!"

Things are going great with Jacob. His tantrums from this summer have settled down a bit, thankfully. He's loving school and behaves so well there. His teacher lost her grown son a week ago, so his enrichment teacher has taken over teaching last week and this week and surprisingly the kids have all handled this adjustment very well, including Jacob. I really wasn't worried about Jacob though, since he is so familiar with her from enrichment. Our prayers are with Mrs. Render and her family and especially Mrs. Render's 9 year old granddaughter who has lost her father.

Every Friday in November the kids will be ice skating for enrichment with yesterday being our first day. I was prepared for some tears and refusing to get back on the ice after his first fall, so I'm thrilled to say that neither of those things happened! Right now he prefers to be hanging on to daddy while Aaron pulls him along but he will try on his own for a few seconds before purposely falling down. Next week we will bring a hockey stick and see if it helps for him to have something to hang on to.

Austin is growing up fast! He's 10 months old now and seems to have had a growth spurt (although still a peanut)! He can now go from a crawling position to a sitting position and can also pull himself up to his knees on furniture. It won't be long before he is pulling himself to a stand! He loves being outside and the cold does not bother him at all (we had our first snowfall yesterday!). He continues to be a great eater and sleeper and we are very grateful!

Aaron and I are doing great, although Aaron has come down with a mild cold. He's working today and picking up quite a few weekends & on call for his coworkers in the coming weeks so they can visit family, go hunting, etc. It will work out well since it will allow Aaron to attend all of Jacob's ice skating days and he will hunt on the adjacent State land here before & after work.

Halloween 2010

Austin, our Kangaroo:

Jacob, our Red Wings hockey player:
Switzer Boys and the Hilley Boys (Mason is the bumblebee in the background). Despite their faces, they were actually having a pretty good time here. Trick or Treating = Good, Paparrazi = Bad:
Me and my snuggly kangaroo:
The fam. This is as cooperative as it gets with 3 kids 4 and under:
Me and my Brobot and kangaroo:
Mason snuggling up to Uncle Aaron after some Downtown TOT-ing:
Noah and Jacob relaxing after Downtown TOT-ing:
Trick or Treating in Traverse City on Friday:
Another family photo:
Red wing, Brobot, and Ironman!
Jacob and Brody at the nature center (part of enrichment school) on Friday:

Jacob's class on Thursday: