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...