Christmas Photo and 12 month stats

Just a quick one today. I thought I'd share Austy's first Santa photo with you all - it isn't the best as the 1.25hr line up at DJ's (despite getting there early) meant Austy was overdue for his morning sleep by the time we got through, and then he was terrified of Santa, clinging to my neck with his feet digging into my ribs like one of those clip on koalas you find at souvenier shops! It was all we could do to spin him around and get him to look at the camera, so unfortunately you get to see my ugly mug too!


I thought this wouild be a great place to put Austy's 12m stats too, before I forget them...

Height: 82cm (98th percentile - one tall boyo)
Weight: 11.4kgs (gone down a bit - now he's just under 90th percentiel - must be all that movin' and groovin' he's been doing!)

Vocabulary: (all the words i can think of at the moment - there's probably more)
gongongong (gone)
diega (tiger)
burbees (birdies)
turtur or turdooo (turtle)
shoua (shower)
baa (bath)
bor (ball)
tuk (truck)
bus (bus)
car (car)
picka (peekaboo)
boo (boo)
growls like a tiger
oo oo ooh like a monkey
kookookook like a kookaburra
gurgle like a magpie
meows like a cat

Newest tricks:
Blowing raspberies on the back of his arm and giggling
Squishing his face up against every glass surface he sees and giigling
Actions to open shut them song (giggling!)
Walking really fast while pushing his car or holding our hands
Climbing stairs (Elizabeth showed him -aaaargh! Thanks Lizzie!)
Again - probably more but I can't think of them at the moment.

The birthday boy!

I have to apologise for not getting in here earlier to update you all on Austy's first birthday, but with work, study, day to day stuff and looking after a sick and teething Austin, I just didn't have the time. So better late than never, eh?

Austin had a blast on his birthday, despite the ridiculous 38 degree weather (much like today). He had a difficult time trying to get to sleep the night before, much to my frustration as I had a cake to decorate and things to organise, but he must have been a wee bit excited as we had been telling him all week about this big party he was going to have and all of the wonderful surprises we had in store for him!

Luckily, he had a bit of a sleep in (which helped me to recouperate from the late night too!) and then after his shower with Dad and breakfast, we sat down to open some presents together before his morning nap. He had been excitedly doing laps around the present pile all morning waiting for Dad to come and help him open them, and then once the first present was open, he wasn't really interested in opening any more. When he came across clothing gifts, he was quite funny, picking them up and ditching them straight away and looking for the toys! And of course he got way too many of those, as he was thoroughly spoilt!

The big hit of the day was his Fisher Price Learning Car that we bought for him (I went to two separate toy sales hunting that one down and nearly had to rain check it - so I'm very glad he likes it!). He presses the buttons and dances on it and keeps pointing at it several hundred times a day and yelling "Car!"

We didn't manage to open all of his presents before nap time but we didn't want to push it as he needed to be rested up for his party. He had a great morning sleep which helped us to finish setting up and after his nap he came staright outside for his BBQ party. We sat on the lawn and opened some more presents and he decided it was more exciting watching his cousins opening the presents than actually doing it himself. Either that he was overwhelmed by having so many people he recognised in the one place.

He munched down some fruit chunks for the first time (he always just turned them to juice in his hands all the times I'd given them to him before) and filled up on a vegemite sandwich. It was the best he'd eaten in ages and we think it's because he saw so many people eating around him. He was quite good about the heat, and while it didn't really bother him we got the wading pool out for the kids to all crowd around and he got to try on his new swimmer set from Nanny and Grandpa.

After the splash about, it was cake time. He wasn't to happy about leaving the pool, but the cake soon distracted him and he ate all of the chocolate portion in his piece. I had made a tiger cake, which had tiger stripes inside as well, being a choc orange swirl flavour (something I made up by modifying the standard butter cake recipe a bit). It was yummier than I expected, and Austy agreed! The icing melted very quickly though so I think he wore more of that than he ate.

As the party slowed down, it was time to show everyone the VCD I made of Austin's first year. Austin loved it and just sat glued to the screen while the photos and music played for him. Once everyone had left we played with him and his new toys for a little bit and as Andrew walked him back into the loungeroom (holding his hands) he let go, thinking he would just plonk himself down on the ground like he always does. Instead, the little tacker saw his new car and just kept on walking at full pelt, falling after about four steps, once his legs got too far ahead of his body. Andrew and I were thrilled as we both thought that his first steps would be taken when one of us was at work, but luckily we were both home to see it! He hasn't repeated the incident since, however he loves to run while we hold one or both of his hands. He's super fast at his crawling and since he wants to get everywhere super fast I think that he's probably not that interested in walking just yet.

Thankyou to everyone who sent over gifts and cards for him, he was thoroughly spoilt and is getting into all of his new presents (and looking very cute in some of them!). Our little baby is a boy now, and growing up, oh so fast. While I miss some of the baby things, like being able to hold him while he sleeps in my arms, those early smiles and being able to leave him on a rug on the floor and know he will stay exactly where I put him, we are both so excited with all the new things he is doing now, and the fun we have ahead of us. Every day now he cracks us up with some new trick or cheeky moment, and we can only guess that the next year will be even better.

Dad's home, Mum's back at work....

Yep, well the year has avnished before my very eyes and I'm back in the working world, starting to clear my way through the haze of the first year of motherhood...

Andrew came back from Japan last Friday, not soon enough for Austy who had been through yet another chest infection in his absence and also started getting his 9th tooth, showing up as a big snowy mountain on a very fat sore looking gum. He missed his Dad tremendously, and Andrew brought back Austy's smiles with his return. We had a nice relaxing weekend reaquainting ourselves as a family and now Austy is getting used to a whole new routine as I head off to work three days a week.

His affectionate nature is blossoming now though, he gives us the tightest squeezes on our arrival home and giggles infectiously. His speed crawling and leg climbing are sports he has mastered to almost olympic level, and he demands a lot more attention now, wanting to be with us the whole time, or else he's escaping and getting into mischief chasing poor Gryffin, turning off the computer (he LOVES pressing buttons... why oh why did I teach him that - I never thought he'd apply it to the computer!), opening and closing drawers and cupboards... you name it, and he'll be into it!

He's a keen botanist, always studying nature as closely as possible, especially leaves, plant clippings and seed pods, and he wants to spend 90% of his time outside no matter what the weather. Wheel technology is still a specialty for him though, I think he is yet to decide whether he wants to be involved with machinery or nature ;)

He frightens quite easily though, especially with noisy things like the front awnings going up or down, and dogs barking, and just wants cuddles from Mum to fix it. Other times though, he is full of confidence even reaching out to strangers in a queue.

I'm hating being away from him, not being there to make sure his every need is met every second of the day, but the new role I am filling at work as a simulation engineer is interesting and I feel comfortable with a much better supervisor to teach me how it's done.

Andrew on the other hand is getting the hang of rinsing nappies and finding tricks to make Austin have his meals and naps when he needs them. I think he loves the freedom of Austy all to himself three days a week!

Austy is in the wars

Well, our boy is getting himself into more and more trouble each day. He was clinging onto the bookshelf in his room yesterday while I got his clothes ready and tried to dress him standing up to save myslef from a tantrum. He was happily talking to his books when he slippedand even though my hands were sooo close (I was slipping his shirt on his free arm) I didn't catch him quick enough and he came a cropper. We had a doctors appointment yesterday afternoon, and the doctor was going on about what a shiner he had, and how he had a black eye - made me feel awful and I thought it would only get worse overnight.

But today his bruised eye has settled down – I thought it would get worse… but now he has a big long scratch on his bum. He decided he should stand in the bath and as I told him to sit down he slipped. I caught him, but in my mad hurry to grab him before he hit his head on the bath, I scratched his bum… He cried at first but I think it was more the shock from slipping. Then I was in tears seeing the big red welt and scratch I had caused (felt so sad that I’d hurt my lil man) while he giggled away, continuing to play with his bath toys as if nothing had happened.

Still feel sick thinking about it. It’s quite a long scratch – and my nails are all short too. He just wants to stand ALL THE TIME!!! He has no fear. He pulled himself up against the hall stand today and then grabbed my keys off with his free hand (he only ever holds on with one hand now). Then, forgetting he was supporting himself he let go so he could hold the keys with two hands. I was behind him ready to catch him and grab the keys off him before he poked an eye out with them, but he stood for almost a minute! He keeps crawling over to me and climbing up my legs and clutching on in a stand position like you see lots of kids doing at supermarkets.

Oh, and he has decided he is scared of the vacuum cleaner again, I had to carry him and he clung on for dear life. Then later on he stumbled across the vacuum cleaner as I hadn’t had a chance to put it away, and started bawling. It wasn’t even on.

Oh well he got me back after the supermarket shopping today. I was trying to put him in his car seat and he wanted to stand in it (surprise surprise) so I let him snatch my keys off me so I could strap him in. Then I calmly proceeded to swap my keys for his toy phone, ignoring the tantrum that ensued, but before I could escape, he snatched the plastic phone and bashed my nose with it. OUCH! The tantrum stopped - I think he was shocked that Mum screams in pain too.

Were did he get these tantrums from, is waht I'd like to know! Still bloody gorgeous though, and gives me the bigest tightest squeezes. He misses his Dad though, and every time we come home from somewhere the DADADAD chorus starts.

His talking is getting really good now, he now says baby for baby instead of bubba, but now all buttons are "bubba"s. "Gone" is now said at the end of a solids feed as well as at the end of a milk feed, and he was watching finding nemo at the photo shop today and started yelling out turdool, turdool at the top of his lungs and sure enough there were a dozen baby turtles swimming across the screen. He will be chattering before we know it.

Austin tries to talk!

It's been a little while since I have updated you all on Austy's adventures as I have started back at uni (continuing my GM Masters program) and Austy hasn't been the healthiest little kid on the block.

Firstly, I guess I'd better tell you that Austy is definitely much better than he was, after the locum prescribed too low a dose of prednisilone for his croup. Then, as the croup wasn't as bad anymore after the initial course, our GP said he was fine before we went to Sydney, and then in Sydney when he was still waking up in the middle of the night choking and coughing we gave him another course (on our GP's instruction). He still wasn't right so we saw a doctor there. The Sydney GP said he was fine too and just to prop up his bed and use a vapouriser. Andrew and I weren't so happy as we felt he was still not how he should be, but figured there was nothing more we could do if the doctors were saying he was healthy. The, last weekend he coughed so hard he lost all his morning feed on my PJ's after I picked him up to pat his back when he started choking and coughing, so I took him to another doctor (an after hours one) who said he was pretty sick with a chest infection, and should have been given a higher dose of prednisilone to start with as he also still had croup! The doctor was concerned that the other doctors had missed it and said he wasn't far off needing to be hospitalised... He was surprised at how well Austy was handling it all though - our little trooper! Anyway, he's finished his medicines now and is MUCH better, so I am greatful for the after hours clinic and the doctor we saw there.

Now onto the exciting stuff! Austy is getting so good at pulling himself up on things now that he hardly sits or lays down for us anymore. He used to be so easy when he loved to lie and watch the world go by, or even when he would sit peacefully, but since he learned to roll at 7 months he has developed pretty quickly from there! So now I'm glad he was a late roller - I didn't realise how easy it was to look after him knowing he couldn't move. He's very much on the go now, crawling properly on the odd occasion when he can be bothered (still prefers his caterpillar belly flop style though for it's speed, despite how much effort it takes!), pulls himself up on everything and walks around furniture, as well as trying to climb everything. If we don't shut doors, he quickly ends up in the bathroom trying to get into the "ouwa" (that's Austy for shower - just in case you didn't realise...)

This week has been an amazing one in terms of speech. He has always been a bit of a gabbler (think he takes after his Mum ;)) but now the words are starting to sound like things we say. He doesn't always use the same consonants but the rhythm, tone, and vowels match the way we say things and he uses the words in context so we know he is trying to communicate rather than just the usual baby babble. "Mum" and "Dad" are old hat - this kid says things like "baa" (bath), "ouwa" (shower), "Guh" (Gryffin) , "du" (duck), "lie" (light) and the latest one is "yiega" or "diega" (tiger - the stikarounds above his change table). Andrew didn't believe me until this morning when Austy was yelling "diega, iega, diega.." while I was dressing him and Andrew was tring to have a sleep in in the room next door! Last night straight after his dinner he had a bath as we had been playing in the dirt while I weeded the rose bush out the front. This morning after breakfast he looked at me and said "baa?" with a questioning look as I unstrapped him from the high chair. I told him "no, shower" (he normally has a morning shower instead of a bath in the evening). Then after lunch as I unstrappped him from the highchair, he was asking about the bath once again. So he is definitely making associations with things and is catching on pretty quickly. I guess I should just give the poor boy a bath as he obviously loves them so much! I am depriving him by taking him into the shower with me...

The study is more of a challenge than I thought it was as I can't do anything while Austin is awake since I can't see him playing in the lounge when I'm in the study, and the short blocks of time I get when he is asleep makes it more difficult than I ever thought. Just as I get my head around a problem, Austin is awake. So Andrew has just bought a laptop so I can at least watch the lectures in his awake time, sitting in the loungeroom watching Austy play with his toys and save his sleep times fro assignments. It has really driven home the fact that I have to complete my studies before we have another baby though. It's hard enough with just one.

Anyway, I'll have to call it quits for the night and catch some early shut eye - the boy is so exhausting now - keeps me on my toes! Just thought I'd leave you with a coulple of recent photos to check out how grown up he is now. I know it's a cliche but I can't believe my boy is almost 1! Only 2 months to go till Austy's first birthday...

We're BA-ACK!

Our trip to Sydney went really well, and Austy travelled much better than we could have ever expected. He slept for half of the plane trip there and played for the other half. On the way home he slept at the airport while we waited for the plane, and was full of beans for the flight, even managing to sit in a seat of his own for part of the trip as the plane wasn't full.

We took Austin on many an adventure, his first ferry ride, bus ride, train ride, even his first cable car ride up to Taronga Zoo! He loved the zoo and was capttivated by all of the animals that he has seen many times in picture books and in his bedroom, especially the girraffes and meerkats. He also had a ball watching the young snow leopards at play, leaping and pouncing on each other, as he really does have a thing for cats, and I'm sure he was thinking how great it would be to pull tails that big and fluffy!

We also had a day at Bondi Beach, although it was too cold for a swim, but Austin was amazed at the waves all the same. We went through the Sydney Aquarium again, because I wanted to show Austin and see what new exhibits there were since the last time we went was 6 yrs ago. Needless to say Austin loved it, and has come home with an even keener interest in Siegfred the turtle who lives in our dining room.

Austin was great the whole time, despite still being a bit sick with the cough left over from his croup. He got a bit sick of the pram at times, but I think I would be too the amount of time he spent in it. Luckily I had the sling with me and he slept in that a few times while we were out walking. While we were at the apartment he learned to sit up on his own (ie. go from crawling to sitting by himself) and now claps for himself every time he does it! He still isn't crawling properly, but will crawl on his knees for the first few strides before flopping down to his tummy. He has also learned to pull himself up into a stand, and was becoming an expert at opening and closing the sliding doors that separated the rooms at our apartment.

He settled into sleeping in the portacot really well and the trip didn't seem to affect his sleeping habits at all, although he did go for about 4 days eating absolutely no solids whatsoever and then another 5 eating just a couple of spoons at each meal. He just doesn't seem interested in food at all at the moment, only milk, which he won't take from a bottle, so I'm not looking forward to a hungry boy waking several times at night when I go back to work in just over a month and take his milk jugs with me!

Anyway, after that successful and enjoyable break to Sydney (even if it did rain for the last 4 days of it!) we are already planning our next family holiday!

First scare for Mum!

Not long after my post here on Friday night, Austy started coughing in his sleep. I thought nothing of it until he worked himself into a coughing fit, waking up and screaming in between trying to catch his breath! I was worried but most concerned that he got his much needed rest as he has had a cold and thought the cough was part of that. So I held him upright against my chest, rocked in our bedtime chair and patted his back, singing to him until he fell asleep. I held him for about half an hour just cuddling him and feeling sorry for him as he had worked himself into such as state whilst struggling to catch his breath and his breathing was quite rattley.

No sooner had I put him down and walked out of the room that the whole thing started again. He was more upset this time and so was I. I was trying to calm him down so he could breathe easier but nothing would work. Then Slinky Malinki (rapscallion cat) came to the rescue! For those not in the know Slinky Malinki is Austy's favourite book by Linley Dodd in the Hairy Mclary series. Sure enough the page with Slinki Malinki all tangled in yarn got him giggling again and his breathing slowed to a more normal rate. I was too scared to put him back to bed though and called Nanny Robyn around for a second opinion that he needed to see a doctor straighht away. We decided that it would ease my mind (and also didn't think he would get much sleep in his cot if we didn't) so we called the locum out. He came at 12:30am after a 2 hour wait during which Austy slept on my chest in the darkened loungeroom.

I was unimpressed with the doctor's manner as he seemed to hardly care at all except to tell me I was dressing him too warmly (he had a body suit and cotton PJ's on underneath his grobag as it was acool night and that's what the grobag recommendations say for a 16 degree room, which his was). I think he was a tad warm mainly because I'd been holding him and he had woken and fussed for a bit before the doctor arrived. I already felt awful that my precious boy was sick, and this doctor made me feel even worse. Anyway I realised that I should take what he said with a grain of salt once he diagnosed Austin with croup and told me to give him a dose of prednisolone (a broken down tablet from the bottle I had in the cupboard for my asthma) with a teaspoon of HONEY!!! Once the doctor left, I dutifullly crushed up the tablet portion and mixed it with my milk, and Austy took it just fine... no honey needed here to possibly set off an alergic reaction or give him some disease (you're not meant to give honey to an under 12m old for those reasons).

Anyway, the course of pred is now over and Austy seems to be on the mend thank goodness, ready for our trip to Sydney. We are getting him checked over tomorrow morning by our regular doctor just to make sure and then we are off for our big adventure - travelling with a baby for the first time!

Just to prove he is getting better, here's a photo taken last night when it seemed someone had changed his batteries and installed energiser max instead of the regular eveready ones. He escaped me whilst I was trying to get him dressed for bed after his bath and every effort at catching him and bringing him back for his evening massage failed, so I got the camera out instead!

9 months old today

Here's our big 9 monther! He is loving water more and more now, so I must get Andrew to take the camera to a swimming lesson again soon, since we only have photos of our first one which wasn't his best as he tired too quickly. He jumps in off the side now and as a result qualified for his free fall certificate (we are told but yet to receive it). The bath turns into the new Splashmatic washing machine when Austy is in it, not interested in toys, just churning up the water.

His latest trick that he started doing today, is clicking his tongue as he has been watching me closely when I do it (sort of like a clock ticking). He thinks it's hilarious! Almost as funny as me twisting a dead leaf around in my fingers for him, which got many a giggle the other day. Gosh he's a giggler - and we love it!!

He hasn't been all that well this week, picked up a virus last week which hit him on Monday, but has coped pretty well with it and laughing almost as much as normal, just a lot more tired and a few more temper tantrums than normal. But that big chubby cheeked grin is still there whenever we look at him.

Austy had a big adventure last Sunday to his Mum and Dad's work, super fascinated by the robots in the Body Shop and fell asleep walking through General Assembly... hmm, does that mean only Daddy's work is interesting? He also had a great day last Saturday as I was babysitting his big cousins Jake and Alyssa. We went to the park for a picnic and then Austy was thrown in the sling so I could keep up with Jake (who's just turned 2) running 100 mile an hour through the playground. We haven't done much else this week as both Austy and Andrew haven't been feeling the best, but we are off on our trip to Sydney next weekend. Austy's first plane trip! I'm sure we'll have lots of news for you when we get back.

Austy finds his knees

Really, just wanted an excuse to post this pic, as it's my newest favourite. But yes, Austy has finally found his knees and will occasionally rock on them, but crawling is still faster on his toes, so the knees are just for rocking.

He is a bit of a comedian too. The other day I was laying on the floor with him playing adn I was resting on my elbow, so my t-shirt rode up a little. He spotted it, raced over (toe crawling of course) and latched on to my... belly button! I couldn't help but laugh so he looked at me, cackled, and latched right back on. Sorry buddy, no milk there - belly button lint doesn't count!

Now back to the housework - my turn to host Mum's group this week. Eeeek, the place is a mess!

Austy's Crawling Tips

Step One: Push up on hands and toes (and sometimes knees if you can find them)
















Step Two : Push and flop... woooooopsy, flopped a bit too far!






You can check out Austin's crawling on video if you go to Austy's Album (see the link on the right) and select "Austin in motion" as the album which you would like to view. I have just uploaded the video footage of tonight's crawling, the first time he has started to think about using knees instead of toes. He still needs to work out that it's easier if he uses alternating legs though rather than two arms, two legs at the same time.

Our little explorer

Well it has been a couple of weeks since I last gave you all an Austy update. I'm not sure where the time has gone exactly, but we have just been enjoying our little boy.

The teeth saga is finally over for a little while as the 8 chompers he now has are well out of the gyums and the blisters he got on the inside of his upper lip (as a result of teething) are now healed too. We're managing to get him to eat solids again (other than fruit gel or yoghurt!) so as a result he's back to his happy self and also sleeping better during the day. Yesterday his morning nap went for a record 2.5hrs! I cleaned all the floors, did some washing, sat down and relaxed then actually got to do my hair and put make up on and get ready for my treck into the city in the afternoon. And then he surprised me with another hour nap while I chatted and had coffee with some friends!

He's been well on the move for about 2 weeks and Andrew's parents keep asking us if he's crawling yet. I say he is, because he can get very quickly from one room to another, but they say he's not as he doesn't crawl properly. Hey, who says you have to use your knees to crawl? Austy does a pretty good job using his toes instead and going two arms, two feet rather than alternating between them. If he's not "crawling" until he uses his knees, I wonder if he ever will as he's getting quite good at his own unique version of it, and looks pretty happy with what he's doing. He's into everything! We shut him in the lounge room most of the time now as it's pretty baby proof. I tried to sit out on the back lawn with him today and have a picnic lunch with him, but the baby chair came out so I could strap him in and keep him still. He got to explore the grass (and eat the leaves and chase the cat) after he demolished his first sandwich of swiss cheese with a tiny scraping of vegemite and butter.

Our boy is also 8 months old now (and a whopping 11kgs), and such a social little being. He loves to smile and laugh with people and will go to anyone. He especailly loves watching children, which generally tires him out enough for a good kip! He has developed such an affectionate nature too, and while I get the most cuddles and kisses (he loves to squeeze my neck tightly as he plants a big wet dribbly one on my lips... or bites my nose!), he will willingly share them around when you ask him to ("Kisses for Aunty Katy?") except sometimes when it comes to Dad he thinks it's a great game to pretend he's going to kiss him then snap his head away at the last minute.

He has become a tummy sleeper in the last week too, which might be why we have seen extended sleeps now. He rolls straight over and tucks his arms under him and then nods off into a deep slumber. We know that when he's on his tum, he will generally sleep longer than when he falls asleep on his back.

More teeth...

Argh... I don't know where the time has gone! Austin has been having some major grief with his teething, but I am now happy to report that he has 8 teeth (just the last one on the top gum keeps bobbing up and down, but I *think* it's finally properly through now) so he should get a break for a while. After being very grumpy and clingy for the past three weeks, he had a wonderful day yesterday. He was back to his normal happy self, and Andrew and I just didn't want to do anything but play with him and enjoy our happy boy! However today he was out of sorts again, but I'm sure this tooth is through now, so hopefully we'll get more days like yesterday soon.

We celebrated Andrew's 31st birthday on Wednesday, although it was one of Austy's worst days. Andrew was happy to get up and help me though so I could make him a special egg and bacon breakfast and banana cake (which went down well with our guests, but Andrew was happy to get a couple of pieces). Austy's Nanny and Grandpa got back from their overseas holiday last Sunday, so the day was spent at their place with Matt, Jazz and Elizabeth. That little girl is so clever - she is crawling really well now, clapping, waving the works. Austin is happy to sit and watch while he blows kisses, chats away to himself and rolls his tongue - he learns what HE wants to learn, so picks up the strangest little habits!

I managed to brave the toy sales on Thursday morning while Andrew looked after Austy, and stocked up on some pressies for his birthday and Christmas, and Elizabeth's too as I was looking at all the baby toys. Unfortunately I didn't see much for the older nieces/nephews but I'm sure there will be more toys on sale closer to Christmas. Austin was also lucky to get the Fisher Price laugh and learn activity table to play with now as I thought it was a great toy to help encourage him to pull himself up in the months ahead, and at half price, it was a bargain. He absolutely loves it!

Sadly I have packed away most of his size 0 clothes as he is now in size 1, so no more all in ones, as they don't make them in that size except for the PJ type. So I have invested in a few pairs of overalls to keep him warm, as they won't fall down like trousers will when he starts crawling, which isn't far off by the look of him - especially at nappy free time when he becomes the most mobile and wriggles off the mat to tempt fate with our carpet!


Austin and Harry











He has also had a few play dates lately, with Harry (9 months) who lives around the corner, Pip (9 months) from fitness group, Katarina (8 months) my old school friend's baby, and the babies from mother's group. Think that's about all I can think of to say about Austy for now. So until next week, time for a tired Mum to get some shuteye.

Katarina and Austin

Three new teeth and loves to swing

This week Austy has sprouted not one, but three new teeth, all from three separate pairs! That would probably answer our question as to why he has been so unmsettled lately, why he will only eat jelly (and sometimes a bit of vegies if he lets me get away with the one spoon of vegies, one of jelly trick!) and why he hardly sleeps. The poor kid has red patches on his gums where the remaining three are waiting to cut, and finally seems to be settling back to a decent stint of sleep at night, although sometimes wakes before I go to bed for Panadol. We don't give it to him unless he wakes and won't take a feed, and cuddling won't settle him, so if he's really having trouble, he'll usually wake an hour after I've put him down for the night.

Another first this week, was Austin's first go in a swing at the park. After fitness class on Friday, I saw another mum giving her 16m old a swing in the baby swing, and thought, what the hell - Austy seems just as big as her. So in he went and he LOVED it. So I took him to the little park across the road today and got some photos. Yep he still thinks it's wonderful, closely followed by the fascinating bark chips underneath the swing!

I managed to get some pics of Elizabeth crawling, although they aren't the best - she never sat still BEFORE she was crawling, let alone now - but I thought I'd post one here for Andrew's side of the family, and anyone else who wants to see.

We also managed to get to the toy sales and start buying things for Austy's first bithday and for Christmas - man this boy is going to be spoilt! Andrew and I couldn't decide, and there's still a few things we want to get, so he won't be short of toys by the end of the year. He's really starting to have fun with the toys he got for Christmas last year, with them having a weekly rotation so he doesn't get bored.

Austin's tricks this week include saying "Meoooow" and rolling his tongue - I did it to him one night and the next morning he was doing it and giggling at himself! We have also lowered his cot as he takes Elleanor Elephant on tours around it while he waits to fall asleep, and tried to fall asleep with his arm over the rail the other day, so we were quick to drop the base, in case he tried to climb out as he likes to use the bars to help him move around.

Nothing else exciting to report. I took some photos of Katy's baby, little Zachary, on Thursday, so here's one of them for anyone who wants to check him out in detail.

Update on "the babies"

I missed out on photo opportunities on Saturday night as the teething monster had certainly taken hold and byu the time I'd finished cooking and eating Austin had to go directly to bed! Do not pass go, do not collect $200...

However I do have news - Elizabeth is CRAWLING! She only does little stints at the moment before she falls on her tummy for a rest, but she's quite mobile and also pretty fast. Andrew was trying to get Austy to pick up tips from her, although I'm quite happy to wait to childproof the house, and I think that with crawling, there will be more temper tantrums (no, Austy, you can't have that!) unless I somehow become superwoman and keep everything he's not allowed to have completely out of sight. He's quite a determined little man, unlike Elizabeth's laid back demeanor. I guess with a determined Dad, and stubborn Mum, he was bound to pick it up! Besides, he will certainly need determination to be the next Tiger Woods in years to come...

So instead of a pic of Austy and Elizabeth, I thought I'd share this one of Pop and Austy instead from our Golf Club lunch the other day (using up the last of Andrew's vouchers).

Also, I have entered a pic of Austy into the Cyberbabe competition so that we might have the chance to win a family holiday. It's a bit of a popularity contest rather than a cutest baby thing, but all a bit of fun. So if you have some free time, it would be great if you could give him a vote (http://www.babyexpress.com.au/shop/photo_gallery/current.php). If not, don't worry, as I said, it's just a bit of fun.

Love and hugs to everyone!

We have a breakthrough!

Well, another tooth, that is. Yes he FINALLY has cut one of his top front teeth, his right one came down last night and the left one doesn't look too far away. Austy has been rather unsettled of late, even being a shocking sleeper at night for the last few nights and for some silly reason Andrew thinks he has slept less than me, even though he doesn't get up to feed him three times at night and then again four times more when he won't go back to sleep... But as we have been waiting for these top teeth for three whole months, I was beginning to get skeptical about whether it was teething causing him to be unsettled or whether he was entering a sleepless, insomniac, cuddle-me-lots phase. He was crying last night while I was cooking dinner and I told Andrew to pick him up and hold him. He told me that he was, but he was still screaming, then I hear "Oh, Hun, I see a top tooth!" I responded, "Yeah, yeah, like the last time you thought you saw one..." (he has been telling me he can see them for over a month now). But sure enough as I layed Austy back in my arms and he opened his mouth to let out another wail, there, low and behold, was the elusive top tooth, well and truly cut through the gum, and a very pale gum right next to it where the other tooth of the pair should be any day now.

So, having worked out why he prefers his cold fruit over warm vegies, and why he has been screaming at night and refusing milk, we dosed him up with bonjella and panadol (which I am reluctant to use unless it's obvious that teething is bothering him) and he slept through till 7:30am! So when he wouldn't sleep all morning, I gave him some lunch, followed by another dose of panadol and the little angel is sound asleep catching up on lost z's right now. I am feeling a little guilty for giving controlled crying a go last week after he hadn't slept in the day for four days straight (I thought the lack of sleep was doing more harm than a few minutes of crying), but at least now I know that technique just isn't for me (we BOTH ended up in tears and NOONE slept!) so we won't be doing that again.

Another milestone we reached this week is that we turned the car seat around to face forward. I will add a photo when I get around to it. As much as he loved facing backwards, he has hit the 10kg mark (the seat must be turned anywhere after 8kgs and definitely before 12kgs) and is sitting up really well on his own now for extended periods of time. We could have reversed the seat moths ago when he hit 8kgs, but as he's heavy for his age we felt he wasn't ready developmentally until he could sit well. We really think that the carseat manual should say something like turn the car seat when the baby is over 8kgs AND over 6 months as he was definitely not ready when he hit 8kgs and would have flopped his head forward quite a bit if we turned it then. He hasn't squealed with delight as he did when the seat was facing backwards, but he is taking so much more in now, looking all around him as we drive, and loves it when we stop at traffic lights and I turn to look at him and play peek-a-boo!

Now I must get back to the housework as Matt, Jazz , Elizabeth and Zarny are coming over for our regular Saturday night meal together tonight and I still have to take Austy shopping for food when he wakes up. Andrew is busily painting the laundry after having ripped out the cupboard and retiled, and is getting it ready for our new massive clothes drier to match our massive washing machine, making life a hell of a lot easier for a stay everywhere but home Mum like me!

And a few messages:

Dad and Zona - Congratulations on becoming Grandparents again (wow, twice in one week!) with the birth of tiny little Clay Stewart... he is just gorgeous, thanks for the photos, and send my love to Grant and Wendy, I am so very happy for them especially knowing the difficult and long journey they have been through to parenthood. I will have a little parcel on the way for them soon!

Mum - Sorry I missed you the other day, I will be printing out some more photos for your album soon. Hope you are well.

David and Robyn - Hope you are still enjoying your overseas treck, thanks for the updates, you sound so very relaxed. I am keeping Zarny fully nutrished! She has a Joy cooked meal twice a week now, with our family get together with the babies on Saturdays and Zarny comes on her own on Wednesdays and helps with Austy while I cook her a nice meal. She's doing really well - you have nothing to worry about, there. The babies are both doing wonderfully (except for a few teething probs here with Austy as above) and Elizabeth seems to be hanging back on her crawling, waiting for you guys to get home - who knows, they may both start crawling at the same time! I'll try to get some pics of them together to add here tonight.

Deb and family - Glad that you are enjoying Austy's updates - thanks for reading!

Our boy is 7 months old

With all this rolling practice, our little boy is becoming more and more mobile, making it difficult at nappy change and dressing times, but exciting knowing that he could be crawling anytime soon. Matt and Jas brought Elizabeth over for our weekend catch up and pasta bake on Saturday night, and it was so much fun watching the babies play together. They are becoming so interractive with each other now.

I think I have come to the conclusion that our daytime sleep issues will never be sorted, sometimes he will sleep and sometimes he won't so we just have to go with the flow. He was particularly tired after his swimming lesson today but just refused to sleep, so I got him out of bed after three hours of trying and these are the smiles he gave me when I did his 7 month photo shoot. I have a thing for black and white photos of Austin at the moment, can't you tell?!

Other than that, all is well here. Austin missed swimming lessons last week as he developed a bit of a cough on Monday and we wanted to keep him warm and dry. He's much better now though, loved his lesson today and will do a make-up lesson next Tuesday, so will go to swimming two days in a row. Zarn has said she will come and watch on Tuesday.

We are off to the golf club for lunch with Pop tomorrow, so hopefully Austy will behave and have a sleep beforehand.

Austin becomes a BIG cousin!

On Saturday at 12:26pm Austy's newest little cousin Zachary John entered the world, weighing 8lb 1oz. Austy's Aunty Katy was fairing quite well when we visited her and Zac on Sunday morning, despite having a cold and an ear infection as well as having only just given birth less than 24hr earlier. Katy is a tough one, I'll give her that!

Katy was beaming from ear to ear and proudly proclaimed that she dilated all on her own this time without the need for syntocin (like she has had with each of the other three) and as her epidural had worn off by the pushing stage, she pushed without much pain relief after the midwife talked her out of an epidural top up, another thing she was quite proud of, this being her last child for her little family.

Zac was in the neonatal ward, but only as a precaution. He was being given a drip of antibiotics through his arm, just like Austy had as he was "a bit grunty" at birth and they were worried that he had Katy's cold and may also be prone to ear infection. When I saw her though, she was waiting to talk to the doctor, who was going to perhaps let her take him to her room and he could be given the antibiotics there.

Little Zac has a cute little chin, which I think is very similar to Austy's. Other than that he is Katy all over, with short, blonde eyelashes (clashing with his dark brown hair) and her frown!

When Ausy and I got to the hospital, Tom, Alyssa and Jake were there and both the kids rushed over to Austy's pram while I gave my lil sis a big hug, some chocholates and pressies for Zac. Jakey suprised us all saying "Austin!" for the first time, very loud and clear and he blew us both lots of big kisses when he went home with his Dad.

On Austy news, the poor little tacker has a bit of a colkd himself this week, with a nasty cough. Andrew thinks it's from going to two hospitals in one week (also visited Nanna Merit at the Lyall McEwin onThursday evening). So unfortunately we missed swimming yesterday in preference of keeping him home, warm and dry.

Austy on the move

Well Austy has finally done it! He rolled from his back onto his tummy all by himself on Monday and has been doing it all week. He will not stay on his back now and prefers to play on his tummy, while he used to only put up with that position for just a minute or two. I think it helped that he had just learned how to "have a rest" (lay his head to the side) when he was on his tummy before he learned to roll, and every time we had helped him to roll we cheered him anyway, so now he rolls and pushes up on his hands looking for a cheer and thinks he's the bees knees.

However not only has he learned to roll, but he also seems to get from A to B seemingly easily with a bit of a commando crawl motion. He won't go up on both knees like Elizabeth does, but does one knee at a time. This morning I turned away for 30 secs to turn on the bath and when I came back to the lounge I found him lying a metre away from the rug I'd left him on! So we think he just didn't want to roll until he could use the new skill to motor around!

He's noticing EVERYTHING at the moment and tries to spin everything now that he knows how to do that. He has spinny things on his aquarium toy on his cot and on the bath seat, which have put the idea into his head along with that red FP key. But Mummy's har does not need spinning... it's also hard to read him books when he tries to spin the pages. Oh well.

This week has seriously flown by, but perhaps because Austy has been a little bit more difficult than usual. He's getting back to a full night's sleep (YAY!) but has been fighting us for day sleeps and being grumpier than normal as a result. I miss how happy he normally is, so hope to sort out those day sleeps again soon too. We managed to get three sleeps in today and I missed mother's group in preference for a sleeping baby, but he still wasn't his normal self this evening and acting very overtired. CYH would tell me it must be a "wonder week" where you wonder what the hell is wrong with them (actually supposed to be a week of lots of growth and mental development but I joke that they tell you it's a wonder week whenever things get a bit difficult). Although, he has been developing alot this week, and really taking an interest in things, and understanding what comes next. We can't keep him out of water, and he screams as soon as we remove him from the bath or take his wash down water away at the end of the night, so I am trying to prepare him for it by telling him "last splash" before he is taken away from water. Works for the bath, but not after wash down. Thought the house was going to collapse tonight with the tantrum he threw when I tipped out his water bucket! Oh well, he'll learn, there's more water again tomorrow.

I have also been a bit snap happy this week as a few of the mothers I know helped me to work out how to take better pictures with the digital camera. I have been practising heaps and Austy (of course) is my favourite and spunkiest subject (sorry Andrew!). So now we have so many photos of Austy at 6m. I have posted a few of my favourites in the album, but also a couple here for those who can't see the album.

Okay, time for bed, and time to get out of this baby spew jumper...

A week of whispers!

Austin has developed his whispering skill after many a whisper in his ear that it's time for sleep! He started whispering on Thursday saying "Bababa" with and without sound and then finally working out the whisper. "Bababa" is by far his favourite word (make that sound, I can't find it in my dictionary!) and when I took him to buy some buttons for his new handknitted stripey jacket yesterday, he was whispering it over and over so I gave him a tube of buttons to shake as I carried him in the sling and told him "Yes buttons". This kid will be chatting away in no time!

He's also trying to learn a new sound at the moment. Currently every thing he says has an ah sound on it (Mamama, Bababa, Dadada, Vavava etc.) but he's been watching me very intently as I say "Ah Boo" He's got the "ah B" bit right but he's still working on the "oo". His favourite new game is peek a boo, and he now pulls his sheet (in his cot) or the rug he is lying on (on the floor) over his head and whips it down again with a huge smile waiting for me to say "Ah boo" or "There he is" after asking him "Where's Austy?" when he has his face covered.

He still watches everything we do, and after a trip to see Aunty Katy on Thursday, learned how to spin his red Fisher Price key after Jakey showed him. Before that I was blowing it around so he'd pout it to his mouth and blow a raspberry, but now Jake has showed him to hold it in one hand and flick it with the pointer on the other hand. He thinks he's ever so clever, and the red key has now taken over as his favoutite toy.

On the topic of Austy's Aunty Katy, his newest cousin is ready to enter the world any day now, as Katy is 37w pregnant. She has never lasted this long with any of her other babies, so is very excited that the babe is nearly here. She's looking very healthy, despite her illnesses and increased medication, and is definitely ALL baby! This one looks like it will be competing with Asuty as far as size goes, looking very healthy tucked up inside her belly. I had to remind Katy that Austy is almost as heavy as Jake (who is nearly 2 already!!) so if she can't pick up Jake, she shouldn't try to pick up Austy. She had to get her Austy fix though and gave him lots of cuddles.

More news: Austin has finally rolled on his own! At 6.5m he was found on his tummy at the top of his cot after Andrew popped him back to bed yesterday morning. We haven't seen him do it again, except for immediately after when I put him on the floor, and while he gets close, it seems like such an effort to haul those kgs over to get all the way onto his tummy. He often rolls to his side and then rolls back to his back again. We suspect he "cheated" and used the cot bars to pull himself the whole way yesterday, as he has rolled several times by pulling himself through the final bits of the roll by grabbing onto my fingers.

He's still a pro at eating, and his mouth has this solids bizzo worked out, but unfortunately his tummy isn't keeping up. Last week he was waking with tummy pains, and a tummy as hard as rock until I massaged it and settled him back to sleep. Against the helpline's advice we took the rice cereal out of his diet (they told me to just feed him the cereal but I was sure that was what was causing the problem) and have just fed him fruit and a little bit of veg this week, and his tummy problems have gone away. (1 point to Mum, 0 for the helpline!) I know he needs the rice cereal for iron, but I will introduce it very slowly as of next week, and no rice cereal after 10am - one of the lovely girls at my mothers group gave me this gem of advice after she had similar issues with her daughter. In the mean time, he tucks into his baby spinach mixed with sweet potato, so we know he's getting his iron there. Personally, I'm not a fan of powdered foods, and would rather feed him natural stuff like fruits and vegies which don't bloat him, but apparently all babies should have rice cereal...

On the sleep issue - now that we've resolved the waking with tummy pains, for some strange reason he has started waking hourly until midnight, crying until I pick him up then settling the instant he is close to my chest. I cuddle him for 5 minutes and then he goes back in the cot, but it has made it hard to get anything done as I'm constantly going back to his room, and then am exhausted in the morning because ther'es no point in going to bed until midnight and then he wakes again at 4am and 6:30am. I think I have kissed his beautiful 12-13hr sleeps goodbye with the onset of solids... I will be cheering when he sleeps through again.

Okay, time to go and grab the little tiger as he is again refusing his day sleep... I'll get this housework done one day, and maybe finish making Elizabeth's nappies, if I'm lucky.

Austy starts swimming lessons...

Despite not having a morning nap prior to the lesson start time of 10am, Austin was keen to jump in, with arms and legs wriggling all over the place as we approached the "big blue bath". I had to hand him to the instructor while I got in myself for fear of him jumping out of my arms and diving in! He is definitely a water baby through and through... who knows, he could be the next Thorpedo... he definitely has big enough feet!

Unfortunately the camera lens was fogged for half the class, so Austy's Dad could only manage to get a few pics of him with a tired grumpy look on his face, when the novelty had worn off and the tiredness set in.

We passed a ball from baby to baby (it was a struggle to make Austy let go and pass it on, but the balls kept coming around the circle so saved us a tanty), snag songs, splashed lots and swam in a floaty ring through a tunnel. Austy also had a ride on a floating mat and we submerged him with the other babies who had been coming for a while. He didn't cry with the submerging but it seemed like forever that he was under and I scooped him through pretty quickly - the instructor said that I needed to slow down or I'd scare him. I tried, but it's hard not to automatically grab your baby when their head is under water. Better luck next time, eh?

Hopefully Austy will wake a little earlier next week so we have time for a morning nap and he will enjoy his swim alot more.

Austy's photo album

You will now see Austy's album in the top right hand corner. Click it and type in the password to view. Contact us for the password (this album is only for family and friends).

In the Leaves

By popular demand.... Austy's first Autumn experience taken 27th May 2006

Check out the toasty warm new boots! Austy won these with his gorgeous 4m old smile. Click the "Austy Wins!" link to check out his winning photo.

Austy In Print is born!

Intro

Hi all, hope you are well. I am new to this blogging business but found it easier than starting a web page form scratch, hence the web page I started working on while Austin was waiting to arrive still being only half finished! Hopefully I'll work this all out soon enough and Austy In Print will grow to give you lots of news and photos about what's going on in the Austy Household.

Austy Log

Straight from Austy's chair...

This week has been a tough one, especially for me as sleep has been the last thing on the menu, and we hardly ever get that far down. Austin had his 6 month needles on Tuesday, and while he didn't cry at all for the first one and harldy let out a grizzle for the second one, they messed him up a bit and by Wednesday he was not a happy chappy. The baba sling and my home made mei tai became my best friends if I was to get anything done. At least he loves being carried in the sling - I wouldn't know what I'd do without one. He would only sleep in our arms and not in his cot and also was waking in a cold sweat when we did manage to get him into the cot. Thankfully, our happy boy is back again and we are getting lots of giggles. Now we just have to work on getting him to sleep through again!

Asleep on Dad's shoulder

Other big news on the Austy front is that he started solids on Monday and has been eating lunch all week. His appetite is just as big as it has been on my milk alone, and he gobbled 100mL of food in his first sitting. He loves his tucker (just as much as my milk!). So far he has tried apple and rice cereal, apple and banana (with rice cereal to thicken), pear and apricot (again with rice cereal), pear and carrot and potato, sweet potato and pumpkin. So far his favourite seems to be the pear and apricot - he couldn't get enough!

Austy eating his first solids (Apple and rice ceral) on Monday


Messages

Austy's Poppy and Zona:
Hope all is wonderful ovber there in sunny Perth, and that little Charlize is thriving as much as Austy is. Also send my best wishes to Grant and Wendy as the birth of their much awaited precious lil one is approaching. Thinking of you.

Austy's Grandma:
Hope you're feeling better soon. Thought you might like this as a great way to keep up with Austin's millions of photos! Will still send you the monthly ones in hard copy for your little Mother's Day album.

Austy's Nanny and Grandpa:
Still winning lots of money David? Hmm, that American dollar is sure to drop when you guys return from your holiday, as you'll be bringing all their money back to Oz with you! Missing you both. Zarny is doing fine.

Austy's Friends:
We hope you enjoy reading this at your leisure, this way we won't bombard you with photos, as you can come here and check them out when you need and Austy fix, rather than getting your email overloaded (sorry, we just think he's gorgeous!). Also, when I forget to call until it's far too late at night, you can still find out what's been happening by checking out this site. Hopefully I'll remember to update it :)

Now, off to the shower before the little tacker wakes again and prevents me from doing so! Woops too late. Sorry about the editing, I can't get it to work...