ALBUM: 2008-03 Week 19

The McKennas Visit

...the other exciting part of our Sunday included a visit from Aunt Angela, Uncle Ed (from Queens), and Elizabeth (from Boston, MA). They came over to visit a little before 4:00, perfect timing as he was going to be awake the entire time they planned on visiting ('til about 6:30).



They were so enamored by him, and he by them. Elizabeth got an opportunity to give him a bottle, and then another! He polished off 6 ounces in less than 15 minutes, and seemed like he would take some more...and after thawing more milk, he took 3.5 more ounces. Mommy is a little disappointed (because it means that her son is getting so big so quickly), but we are going to start moving toward the 9-ounce bottles.



After his 9.5 ounces...he was in a very happy place and remained there for the rest of the evening. He was so great!!! It was nice that he was able to show them how happy and fun he can be to play with after he was in a state of "discontent" when they came to visit prior to the new year. Everyone got to hold him, lie with him and play with him in his exer-saucer.



Although their time spent was brief (Liz had to catch a train back to bean-town), it was perfect (he started to get fussy and tired a few minutes after they left) and we wouldn't have changed anything about their visit! We are looking forward to the next one...

Technology ROCKS!!!

Sunday was an eventful day...starting with our first ever internet video call to Grandma and Grandpa Waldron in Hannibal. Grandma had purchased a webcam earlier in the week and installed it on Saturday, but Grandpa wasn't around and Austin was sleeping when she installed it (with Keith's assistance remotely , again via the internet)...so today was the big day.



We knew that Grandma and Grandpa would enjoy watching Austin play, but we didn't expect Austin to be so interactive.



With Grandma and Grandpa "full-screen" on the 46" LCD TV in the living room, Austin was able to see and hear them, and really looked at them, smiled, squeaked, and interacted with them! It was a pleasure to watch it all happen the way that it did.

Once Austin woke up from his long afternoon nap, we figured, "Why not try again?" So, this time, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Peggy came online, and wouldn't you know it....a similar reaction from Austin. We say similar because he still spent a lot of time looking at the TV and squeaking at Kevin and Peggy...he was just less attentive than in the morning. It was an unintentional game of peek-a-boo: he would look up at the TV, see them and smile and say something. Then he would be distracted by his toys for a little bit, only to look up and be surprised and excited by their presence again!

Technology definitely gets a bad wrap for how it has made all of our communications less personal (i.e. IM, and text messaging), but it was nice to see it work in one of the most personal possible ways for us today...bringing our boy closer to distant family.

ALBUM: 2008-02 Week 17

A few new vids for you...

Austin's first time in his Exer-Saucer
(February 16th)



...and...

Austin's first bath in the tub
(February 17th)

ALBUM: 2008-02 Week 16

A very pleasant weekend

Very peaceful, but very nice...that was our weekend.

Katie came over for pizza and good company Friday night while Keith was working, but (reportedly) she had a nice time and Austin wasn't too fussy until it got closer to his bed time. Keep your fingers crossed--Katie (and her hubby, Mike) are about to join the ranks of parenthood any day now!!



Keith worked on Saturday, but while he was away, Aunt Steph and DJ came over to visit Austin and were blown away by how big and strong he is gettign. While Austin was napping during the afternoon, Keith spent time getting his newest computer up and running with a webcam...which is now operational. Grandma and Grandpa Waldron got to see Austin later in the evening, which was more exciting for them than Austin because they could only see him (a problem that will rectified during our trip back to Hannibal for Easter--then they will be up on the big screen).



Saturday night was eventful in that we went to visit Karen, Liam & co at Liam's parent's house in Westwood. It was very nice to see the entire family, because it is very rare that everyone is able to get together at the same time. The kids all seemed to love Austin, and were great with him...even if he wasn't always great with them (it was past his bedtime, in his defense).



Today was pretty uneventful, other than a walk...hopefully there will be more to report on later in the week

ALBUM: 2008-02 Week 15

What's fair is fair

When Keith told Joelle he was going to put a video of her online that had her drop the "f-bomb" to his 3-month old son, she said that she would rather that it not be out there for all to see. After a brief negotiation, it was decided she would allow an embarrassing video of herself online if Keith put up one of himself as well.

So...in the interest of fairness...a video if Keith rocking out to Symphony X and helping Austin play air-guitar and air-drums while having no shame whatsoever.

A Happy 1st Valentine's Day

Daddy got to see very little of Austin yesterday, but it is a day for the ladies after all.

Austin left the house with Daddy the same time as Mommy left for work, because the boys needed to go to the floral shop to pick up some flowers to give the women in their lives. After a brief stop for flowers, the gentlemen went to Achieve (arriving a little before 10 am) so that Austin could see Joelle (a.k.a. "the girlfriend") and give her a flower. She was very happy to see him and he was kind enough to stay awake for an extra 30+ minutes instead of napping...so she got a lot of smiles. and chat-time. A small fraction of their time spent together can be seen below:

Warning: Due to adult language, viewer discretion is advised.

After a short nap, the day returned to one of "business as usual". Austin went to the Hammerle's for lunch from Mommy, fell asleep on the ride to Achieve and didn't wake up until after 4:15. He gave Mommy a pretty white rose, and they went home for him to get bathed and go to bed.

All in all it was a simple, yet very enjoyable, 1st Valentine's Day.

ALBUM: 2008-02 Valentine's Day

Starting to Roll-Over!!

We awoke to Austin's cries the other morning, nothing unusual in that respect. So, Christine got up to check on him (hoping to be able to put his pacifier in his mouth so that we might be able to get a little more rest)...and low and behold, (keeping in mind that he sleeps on his stomach) he was lying on his side! He is now consistently starting to roll over in his bassinet when he wakes up or is fighting falling asleep. He hasn't yet rolled completely on to his back, and we don't have any video of his maneuvering yet...but rest assured, we will share the events with everyone as they happen (if not a few days late if we are too busy to post immediately on the blog).

A Wonderful Weekend

Grandma and Grandpa Waldron drove down from Hannibal, NY on Saturday morning to spend an all-too-brief weekend with Austin. They arrived at around 10:30 am while Austin was still taking his mid-morning nap (rumor has it that Grandma was awake at 4:00 am excited with anticipation for the days ahead). When he woke up he was very happy to have their company...

After he woke up around at 11:30, Grandma gave him a bottle and both Grandparents got to "eat him up" before he went down for his lengthy afternoon nap.



It was probably a good thing that he fell asleep when he did, because Grandma and Mommy (and Moxy too, apparently) were both very tired and took a nice little nap themselves as well.

The rest of the weekend was very nice...filled with more love and affection than anyone can possibly imagine. All in all, Austin had a very enjoyable weekend...and we are sure that Grandma and Grandpa can't wait to see him again at Easter!

Cute Sneezer

(okay, so sneezer isn't a word,but you get the idea!)

Video from last night

Rich and Carla had a jumper at the office (in the back storage area) that we didn't even know was there...but Sang knew and remembered, so the girls set it up for Austin while Daddy was working. Mommy managed to capture the moment on video. Time for us to get his own jumper out of storage.

Our weekend in a nutshell

This weekend was pretty uneventful, and (as parents) we have been somewhat neglectful of taking as many pictures as we had been taking previously (although Christine is admittedly much worse than Keith)...those combined factors have led to fewer postings of late. That, and Keith doesn't have as much "hands-free" time without Austin now that Christine has returned back to work full-time (she is working all 5 days for the first time this week).

One eventful thing that did happen over the last week, though: Austin had his first fever and croup cough. Christine (and to a lesser degree, Keith too) has been fighting a cold for over a week, so we think that it might have gotten the better of him. He woke up Friday morning with an elevated temperature over 100 degrees. We could tell that he wasn't very happy; he didn't fuss all morning and was content just being held in a chair (as opposed to constantly needing to be "bounced" in standing). By mid-morning his temperature was 101 degrees. After some Tylenol and a trip to the doctor's office (she just told us to keep doing what we were doing), his temperature stayed below 101 for the next 36 hours (varying between "normal" and 100.5 degrees. By the time he woke up on Sunday, he was his usual (sometimes fussy) self.

Sunday was pleasant enough...we went for a walk in the unseasonably sunny and warm winter afternoon prior to going over to the Sica house for the 1st half of the Super Bowl. We returned home for the 2nd half so that Austin could be retired to his bassinet at a time close to his usual bedtime.

Friar Tuck: Before and After

Austin has lost nearly all of his birth hair. All that remains is a ring around the back of his head that runs from ear to ear...like Friar Tuck!

Additionally, after posting pictures of his clothing and diapers last week, we thought it would fun to take 2 pictures from his first week and compare them to some more recent pics. You can see the difference developmentally, but the pictures have also been scaled to reflect a true comparison for growth as well (we used his head size, which is 25% larger now than when he was born!)

Enjoy!!