Sunday, April 27, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
PHOTO REQUEST
We were unable to take pictures of our own during the ceremony...all of the pictures that are on the blog appear courtesy of Grandma Waldron. If you have any shots that you think we may enjoy, please feel free to email them to us (full resolution preferred for editing purposes, if beggars can be choosers). Any photos can be emailed to keithpwaldron@hotmail.com. Thank you in advance!
THANK YOU
We would just like to take a moment to thank everyone for sharing Austin's very special day with us. And thank you to all of those who were unable to attend, but continued to keep our family in your prayers on this joyous occasion. We are truly blessed to be as fortunate as we are, with so many people in our lives surrounding Austin with so much love and adoration. God bless.
The Christening...VIDEO
A very big thank you to Glenn for video taping the ceremony and providing us with this memory for years to come!!
The Christening, April 13th
Wow, what a busy day!!! We will try to remember it all, but will likely forget a few things along the way, so we ask for your forgiveness in advance.
Things started out pretty smoothly actually...Keith was walking with a sleeping Austin in his stroller around noon while Christine was prepping herself for the 1:30 ceremony. After Keith returned with Austin at around 12:15, Austin ate while Keith got ready. Everything was like "clockwork"...all the precision that Keith and Christine had hoped for. Austin even had an explosive "movement" right before leaving for the church, assuring everyone that there would be no messy "blowouts" on his gown during the ceremony.
The first, and really only "oops" moment came halfway to the church, when Keith realized that he had forgotten the directions to the restaurant that he intended to have available for everyone at the church. This realization led to a comedic "Chinese fire-drill" of sorts in a parking lot: Keith jumped out of the drivers seat of his car and into the rear of his parents vehicle, while Christine ran into the seat that Keith had vacated so that she could continue to drive to the church and get Austin dressed while Keith went back to the apartment to get directions. Fast forward 15 minutes and Keith pulled into the parking lot of the church 5 minutes before the service was to begin and Austin was just getting finished with his "prep-work".
The christening itself went off without a hitch. And let it be known that Austin was the best behaved child there. Granted, there were only four children there, so his odds were better than 25% to begin with (when you take into account that he was older than half of the other children), but he behaved admirably well. Of course, his parents are going to take some credit for this though too...they were constantly bouncing him and trying to entertain him throughout the ceremony. The goal was for Austin NOT to be that one child that everyone remembers screaming during a Christening (like the little one in the front right this Sunday). One of the funny things was that everyone behind Keith must have been fixated on Austin, because every time he was lifted up in the air (for his own entertainment), flash bulbs went off with people getting their snapshots of their favorite 5-month old.
The after-ceremony party was held at the Blue Moon Mexican Cafe (if you enjoyed the meal and live in the area, there are multiple locations throughout Bergen County). The place was packed with people, but it was also packed with love...something that the entire family is incredibly thankful for.
Austin certainly was tired, and occasionally fussy...but on the whole (especially considering he usually takes a 2-3 hour nap from 1-4 pm) he was very, very well behaved and even-tempered for the majority of the afternoon. Keith tried taking him outside in the stroller for 15 minutes to see if he would fall asleep, but he was resistant....so, he came back in and ate (albeit, begrudgingly) from his bottle. After he finished eating, he continued to make the rounds once again and seemed a bit "reinvigorated" for the rest of the evening.
When all was said and done, we had a wonderful day, and we hope that all who attended can say the same thing.
Saturday, April 12th
With the Christening but only a day away, Grandma and Grandpa Waldron were in town to visit and see as much of Austin as they could before they returned upstate NY (not likely to see him again until Memorial Day weekend). They arrived at around 11:30 am and had lunch (grilled cheese, nothing special) and got to hang out with Austin, who had recently awoke from his nap. After lunch (and while Christine went to get a manicure/pedicure) Grandma and Grandpa took Austin to the park for a walk. He started to fall asleep while at the park, but after he had slept for a mere 10-15 minutes, a young girl came by on her bicycle and yelled loud enough to wake the little guy. Little did Grandma and Grandpa know, that would be his "power nap" for the day.
As Grandma and Grandpa returned from their walk, they met up with Uncle Kevin and Aunt Peggy in the condo parking lot, just in time for the 4 of them to team together and babysit Austin while Keith and Christine went to Ashley's birthday party (Ashley is their god-daughter). As the story goes...Austin was very happy and remained entertained throughout the afternoon (Keith and Christine left around 3:00 pm). Unfortunately, everyone's intent was for Austin to eventually take a nap...what they all failed to acknowledge was his desire to have plans of his own. So, NO, he did not nap. Then again, they also planned to give him a bottle and have him eat a bit in the afternoon too. Again, he had his own idea of what he wanted to do....and apparently, eating was not on his itinerary.
Keith and Christine arrived home a little after 5:00 pm to find Austin fighting with his beloved family, refusing to take his bottle. Luckily, Daddy had the magic touch on this day (although, admittedly, that is not always the case), and Austin finished his bottle. As you may expect, he was mighty tired by 5:30, so he was ready to go down for his nap after the bottle. After he went down, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Peggy left to go back to her parent's house, while the remaining adults ordered Italian take-out.
It ended up being a very busy day for our little boy, but no where near as busy as the day that was to follow.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Busy getting ready for the Christening...
But...we wanted to let everyone know that all is well in the household. The picture is from our walk in park today. Kinda stylish, no?
Looking forward to seeing many of you this weekend!!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Things are well...
Austin is doing very, very well. Overall, he had a very happy week! Nothing really special to report, but...
- Christine is going grocery shopping today and picking up some food for us to mash/puree for Austin to eat. Digestively, he has handled the cereals (Rice, Oatmeal, Barley) well. Unfortunately, he is beginning to reject them...likely because they taste like elementary school paste (I don't care if you ate it back then, it still didn't taste good). So...he should be trying the good stuff (i.e. sweet potatoes, squash) tonight or tomorrow.
- We went to JCPenney's Portrait Studio yesterday for his 5 month portraits. He wore his stylish Easter outfit and his christening gown. We really only liked 2 of the shots enough for 5x7 prints and 1 that we liked as an 8x10, but they will be scanned and posted on the blog when we receive them.
- We need a dog. Austin is really taking to watching Moxy; he can watch her clean herself for 15 minutes and be completely engrossed by her the entire time, smiling and talking to her. The problem is that she will NEVER let him truly interact with her (heck, the adults in the home barely get to interact with her). So....once we get a house, a dog (that he can actually interact with is in order for sure. We've got to find something that Moxy can out- run and that will be good with Austin--someone like Rusty should fit nicely, no?
Well..'tis it to report for now...wishing everyone a nice week ahead!
Some quick clips for your viewing pleasure:
Sometimes he sits well.
Other times? Not so much.
Sitting and Talking with Daddy
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Hmmm, been a while, huh?
Things have been extremely busy here, hope you won't hold it against us for not posting the last week or so.
RE: Easter Weekend...
The drive there (late Thursday evening) was quite brutal, even by Keith's standards. Blowing snow and dumb drivers (throughout the Catskills and areas south of Syracuse) made the customary 4 hour drive an interesting and stressful 5 hour drive instead. That landed us in Hannibal, NY just shy of 3:00 am.
Friday was a pleasant day, spent with Grandma and Grandpa primarily...just playing and having fun mostly.
Because we were scheduled to drive back to NJ on Easter Sunday, Grandma arranged for Easter dinner to be served on Saturday. Great Grandma and Great Grandpa came over to play, feed Austin his bottle, and enjoy Grandma's home cooking! One of the highlights of the day was Uncle Kevin and Aunt Peggy's unexpected arrival to join us for the day for our family meal.
After dinner was finished and company returned home, Keith and Christine went to visit the Somers family and see how Jess was holding up (being pregnant with twins and scheduled to deliver in 2 weeks time). Everyone was really excited for the upcoming arrivals, James (the eldest son) was especially excited for the Easter Bunny the following morning. Jess seemed even more excited to give birth, claiming that it felt like, "one is trying to escape at this very moment." Despite how she may have felt, she looked great and we can't wait to meet "Hall and Oates".
Sunday was very laid back. Everyone just sorta hung out and chilled. After a nice lunch, Austin was packed up into his seat and we made our best efforts to get back to the tri-state area before he needed to feed again. Surprisingly, in contrast to the horrendous drive North on Thursday, the drive South on Sunday was a breeze, and we made record time....making it all the way back to the apartment in 3 hours and 55 minutes, before Austin even needed to eat. It was perfect!
RE: Last Week
Things were extremely busy, mostly at Achieve. Rich and Carla took the boys to Florida for the week, which left us short staffed at Achieve. Keith spent Wednesday and Friday mornings (when he is usually blogging) at the office tending to much needed clerical work in addition to interviewing new candidates for job openings. Tuesday and Thursday mornings were consumed by bills and fantasy baseball preparation (hey, I need a few hours to myself once in a while too, ok?)
How was Austin throughout the week? Mostly good and occasionally fussy. He ran an occasional mild fever, which seemed to dampen his spirits on an off throughout the week- but we are growing accustomed to his "teething" moodiness. He is beginning to more actively reach for objects (we will try to post a video later in the week) and he is nearly rolling from his back to his stomach (we did try to record his initial roll this morning, but he has difficulty moving his arm out of the way, so he is going about 75-80% over prior to flopping backward onto his back again). Lastly, he is now eating either rice cereal, oatmeal, or barley in the mornings with few complaints (outside of being restrained and bored)...but he continues to eat very well so long as we keep the cereals a more thick consistency (he doesn't like it too "soupy").
Socially, Aunt Katie came over to watch Austin on Tuesday night, and he visited Joelle and Katie D. on Thursday and Friday respectively. On Thursday he was crying quite a bit with Joelle, but he was on his best behavior when he went to the Dunne home. Then there was Saturday....Dave Hammerle celebrated his infamous 40th birthday!! Again, Austin was on his best behavior and did his best to be the life of the party while he was awake.
RE: Anything new?
Well, we have decided to stop with the whole "letting him cry himself to sleep"- thing. We tried it for a week consistently, but he was simply unable to calm himself at night...sometimes screaming to the point of making himself hoarse for durations of greater than 90 minutes. Apparently, he simply isn't ready to sleep through the night again.
The other change is his new evening eating habits. Previously, he would always eat at 7:30 pm and fall asleep for the night. The reason that he gave Joelle such a hard time at her house (Thursday) was that she tried to feed him. In the past, if he started to get tired, it meant we would feed him and he would fall asleep immediately after feeding. Now, when he is getting tired/fussy...he wants to be left alone and allowed to sleep. Unfortunately for Joelle, she was trying to be good to us (as the parents) by feeding him as we had requested, but he was having none of it and screamed until she would just cuddle with him, at which point he fell asleep.
So...that is his new pattern. He eats around 4-5 pm, then falls asleep around 7 pm....he wakes up later to eat when he wants to (usually between 11 pm and 2 am), and we accommodate him to preserve our own fragile sanity.
Closing...
Well...that pretty much encapsulates the last week or so in a neat little storyline. Thanks for your patience in waiting for me to get up this update (and thanks for calling/writing to be sure that everything was alright when the postings weren't as frequent as you may have grown accustomed to). As always, efforts will continue to be made to keep up with the blog as much as possible to allow for those who love Austin to share in his growth and development.
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