MEEERRRYYY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Santa Austin hopes everyone is having a great holiday season. We are staying busy as usual. Holiday cards might be coming out a little late. Considering, all my addresses are in our home computer...that is in storage. :) Hope to be in a house soon. Austin is a crazy man by day. It is hard to get anything done....which is why I guess I am updating my blog at 12:30 a.m.

A cute video of him eating pees and watching Days (of our lives) OK, I was watching Days....he was just dipping all of his food in ketchup. He likes condiments like his mama. Too bad he can't eat ranch. He just doesn't know how good food can be...

October fun!

A group of us traveled to Hermann, Missouri for their famous annual Oktoberfest. It was a fun night of wine drinking, beer drinking, and camping in city park.

Don't let the name fool you. This town was gorgeous. Here is a shot of one of the wineries we stopped at.

Josh...being that guy drinking wine out of a paper bag...on the hillside...at a winery...by himself....in Hermann, MO.

Halloween came and went. Austin had a good time. He was Wolverine. He loves pumpkins which he fondly refers to as "balls." Close enough...

We even gave him Hugh Jackman chops....and his mask....well, let's just say it didn't fit over his eyes, because his head is larger than the average bear. Oh, well. He probably wouldn't want to wear it over his eyes anyway.

Trunk or treating at our church. Austin and my nephew's Cameron, a.k.a Tiger, and Eric, a.k.a. "A Bat" had a blast. I mean this is pretty much what is looks like trying to take pictures of toddlers, and a 4 year old. They are so wanting to be somewhere else. The fact that they are all relatively facing the same direction is a miracle.

Apparently we are going through a sitting in things phase...

Oh...look at this tiny box top on the ground, what's this for?...





sitting...


Austin has an odd attachment to the laundry basket. If it is visible he wants to be in it.

This time he had to bring all of his friends and blanket too.

And then there is this box he found......No idea how he fits in there. This thing is like a clown car.

First Day at school!

For Austin and me. Lots of stuff to bring to work!! I am working at the Parent's Day out program up at our church three days a week, 9:30-2:30. I am working with the 2-3 year olds, and Austin gets to go to the baby room for free!! Bonus! Busy first day for me and him. When I picked him up at the end of the day I was told he had a great first day. He had "colored" a bus. And by colored I mean, a line of green, and line of blue. She also told me I might want to bring him more food for lunch. I was like...yeah, he eats a lot....so...I mean I packed him a whole hot dog, six or seven grapes, about a half a cup of mixed veggies, several teddy grahams. Plus I gave him a snack before I dropped him off. He is an eating machine.

Posing for the camera. Tell grandpa how excited he is for school.

The boys hanging out watching football.

Bump on the noggin'. He fell the other day, like he does a hundred times a day. This time he landed just perfectly so that his head hit the corner of the stereo cabinet. Poor boogerbutt.

Our temporary home for now

Austin and I are back in KC. Living with the parents for now. Doing lots of house hunting. Starting work in a few weeks.

Austin in his new home eating spaghetti, and being a goof.

Playing in the fountains down town Iowa City before we left.

LAAAAATER IOWA!!!

We are out like the Gout....



Well, the house is sold, so that means we have to move. We have two ginormous PODS in our driveway as you can see. Since we are homeless for the time being, we felt it was the best way to go since they will just put all of our stuff in storage. My dad came up this week to help. It has been so nice, since Austin doesn't make packing the easiest. Until my dad arrived. The majority of our packing had been done between the hours 8-midnight.

Grandpa and Austin sitting in the POD....too cute.

Tickle monster

I didn't have a baby pool, so I did the best I could, and used one of my shoe drawers. Some might call it trashy. I call it being resourceful.

Austin Hefner getting ready to hit the tub.

Finally got Austin on video saying tickle tickle. Kind of blurry. Sorry.

Summer Traveling

Spent the fourth at Josh's dad's house in Sparta Wi. Austin always has fun with cousins Casey and Layney. They all had their flag shirts on.

We also took a trip with all the Stegings in June. We rented a person's property for the week outside of the Wisconsin Dells. A fun touristy town known for waterparks and scenery. The place we stayed at was really great. We had a couple of cabins, lots of trails, ponds, zipline, grills and fire pits all over the place. You could even take a canoe trip out and see a bald eagle nest complete with adults and babies. It was really cool. We took some pics of Austin for his belated first birthday and some family ones too. Using the property as our back drop.

Me on the zip line, I almost made it across with out getting wet. As I threw the line back it got tangled, you can tell Josh was happy about it.

Austin throwing rocks and laughing. This is his new fav thing to do. He is in constant search for rocks to throw.

Our big boy starting to eat with a spoon. He is messy, but is trying.

A little get away with the sisters

I started working on this post several weeks ago. Guess it has been a little crazy around here. More to come later

For the big 3-0 I decided to jump ship, and visit my sister Megan in Mobile, AL. Our other sister, Tara, joined us as well for the King Girls Mobile Extravaganza....Megan's name...Meg's friend let us borrow their condo for the weekend on the bay. Just a little 3 bedroom, 4 bath shack of a place. We went from sharing one bathroom growing up, to us all being able to shower at the same time. We didn't know what to do with ourselves. It was a great weekend. Ate lots of good seafood. Got a nice tan, and several nice cocktails. It was a fun way to spend my 30th!

View of the bay from our condo

Ahhhh....the beach....

A celebratory glass of wine at the wine loft!!!

Happy Birthday Booger Butt!

How come I don't feel a year older, but he looks huge!! 22 lbs 9 oz at the doctor, 21 1/2 in for ht, still 50% across the board except for his 80% head. I think that is why he is always falling over.

Austin had his first birthday party the other day. It was fun. We had some fam in town, and a few friends came over to help us celebrate. He really wasn't into his cake. He had like a few courtesy bites since we were all staring at him, but then he was over it. We'll see if he still feels that way next year.

Helping me bake cookies for the weekend. He hugs the oven and puts his mouth on it. I feel the same way about cookies every time I make them.

Birthday breakfast. I mean it might be the same breakfast he gets most days, but that day it had a candle. :)

Grandpa and Grandma King helping open presents.

So, this is what happens when you move to just one nap. Austin has been rejecting his afternoon nap, so we have been just shooting for one, and the kid fell asleep mid bite. Even after cleaning everything up, he was out. He told me later when he woke up, "Sorry for sleeping mom!"

Updates

Things have been crazy around here to say the least. Josh's job is questionable right now. We are just trying to keep a happy face on and hope for the best. We are thinking about moving back to Kansas City. There I said it. We have a lot to think about, so just keep us in your thoughts. I will update when I know more. Until then. Austin turns one in a few days. I guess I haven't updated his "stats" in a while, so....let's see.

• He walks/runs all over the place. Especially when he knows he shouldn't be playing with something.



• He says "tickle, tickle, tickle" while moving his hand...it is so cute. I will try and get it on video.



• He says Da-Da, and occasionally ba-ba for mama...but usually when prompted to say mama, he stares at you for a few seconds, and then very confidently says "DAD!"



• He waves back if you wave at him. Sometimes just not right when you wave at him. He is the late waver. About 30 seconds after walking away he starts waving with both hands.



• He is a chatter box in the mornings. I can be half asleep, but his legs are kicking a mile a minute, and his mouth is going just as fast. No idea what he is talking about, but he is excited.



• He loves to clap, and point at EVERYTHING...especially lights. Josh has a clapper in his office, (because he is a HUGE nerd), and he has trained Austin to bang on the top of the hard drive to turn it on. If he could do it all day long he would.



• Anything that makes noise he loves it. Plastic balls on the wood floor. LOVES IT!!! Josh...hates it.



• He's a hugger. I ask him for a kiss, and he gives me the biggest hug. I love it!

Some pics. and a video of him playing with a ball.

Big boy!!

Our eating machine......

This video is lame, I admit. He is just playing with a ball, but it's for the grandparents.

Easter pics and such

Here is how we start the car ride. Book...check, Toys...check, Hat...check, Socks and shoes...check

And....less than 10 minutes later we have arrived home to....this. I question him as to what happened to everything on the way home, and I get the look..."I'm naughty mama."

New Layout..I mean I try and mix it up once a year.

Why are naked babies, so cute? Austin gets so excited for bath time he trys to crawl in the tub. Joke was on us though, because he was actually peeing. I stepped in it shortly after this picture was taken. That's why naked babies are really only cute for about 30 seconds.







New hat....that he loves to take off his head and throw. See how I am trying to distract him with a toy so I can get a picture with it on his head....gone are the days of him sitting real still while I take 20 pictures....got to be quick.






Our little monkey walking in his monkey jams.

I've had writers block....

Well, not really, I guess I have been sort of anti blogging lately. Not for any particular reason, just being lazy I guess. I have thoughts like....I should put that on the blog, and then I don't. Josh and I were gone for a while. We were looking at daycare/jobs options for me, but nothing has come of it. We just got a laptop for me, so that I can blog more. That way I don't have to worry about Josh being out of his office. I had my first real spa with beauti control like two years later, so hopefully I will start bringing in a little more income these days. So...pretty much that summed up our past 5 weeks.

Austin gets busier by the hour. We have survived a few bumps and bruises on the head. He has no fear that is for sure. He no longer crawls like a fish out of water. He started taking his first real steps this week too, so that has been exciting.

Loves his new overalls from Grandma King, and his shoes from Grandma Patti! He looks pretty cute.

He likes pointing at light....and ceiling fans...

Couple of videos of his latest activities.

Starting to walk a little....a.k.a. moving while falling forward.

Dancing on the piano.

Who doesn't like a high five?

Austin thinks high fives are HILARIOUS....





What is that behind the mirror....?












Oh, it's my son....naughty....I left the room for 2 seconds. Today I found him stuck underneath one of the dining room chairs. He couldn't figure out how to get back out. I pretty much run on tylenol and caffeine.

p.s. Did you notice Josh's perfect pushup in the first pic. Got him that for x-mas last year. He was like, doing pushups on those are hard...uh, yeah, they don't call it the perfect really easy pushups?

For your viewing pleasure

Austin and I were getting stir crazy in the house, so we bundled up and hit the pavement getting the mail and taking a stroll around the neighborhood in his buggy.

Decided to post some videos of Austin now that he is getting busier for those folks who don't get to see him very much.

Austin playing...

Austin laughing...

Austin army crawling, and piano playing...

It's a New Year after all!

We spent a lot of time in Kansas for the holidays. Going back and forth between all the families was overwhelming at times, but I think would I really want it any other way? In the midst of all that we managed to misplace our camera, so the one picture we have from Christmas is with Stella, my sister Megan's dog, and Austin.

Back at home we busted out Maria's ride she got for Austin. He loves it. He is stone faced the whole time he is in it...check exhibit b

Exhibit B...

After several minutes of trying to talk to the other baby, he gave up and starting eating the mirror.

Perpetrating in the new car seat.

OK, so we don't know if this is a fluke or not, but 90% of the time Austin waves if you wave at him. The other 10% is both hand waving...(which can be confused with excitement), clapping of hands, or just staring in confusion and drooling. Regardless, it is all very entertaining.