Christmas Time

We were in Salt Lake for Christmas this year with Matthew's family.  Austin met so many new family members and did surprisingly well at recognizing everyone.  We had a great time and loved the time to spend with family that we don't see as often as we would like.  Despite the flu bug getting to just about everyone we had an overall great trip.
Austin loves opening presents.  I think it was mostly the ripping paper part that appealed to him but he also loves his new toys. Here is Austin Christmas morning:

We got to spend lots of time with cousins while in Utah. We got to meet Aaron for the first time.  We moved away just days before he was born and finally we are able to meet!  Austin and Aaron were so handsome in matching church outfits.

Jenna and Cole were also in Utah during Christmas. So we were able to get some quality cousin time.

Austin with all his cousins

It snowed! Austin was a little confused about what all the snow was about but he loved sledding and playing in it.

Sledding with Matthew's little sisters and cousin Aaron

Last of all here are a random assortment of pictures from Christmas of us having fun and hanging out.

Playing Just Dance 2.   LOVE this game!

bowling with the sisters-in-law

Matthew is still on crutches and couldn't bowl so he hung out with Aaron instead

taking a bath in the sink

Dancing with Grandpa. Austin calls him "pa"

donuts on New Year's Eve

Riding with "Nona"

A Little Bit of Everything

I can't believe Christmas is almost here! We have been super busy around here so the holiday season has snuck up on us and therefore the blogging lacking.  Sadly, one of the project I did not complete was Christmas cards.  I love sending them out every year but and it has always been on my list of things to do but I guess it was always near the bottom and then I ran out of time.  But Merry Christmas to everyone anyway!

Matthew's leg is healing but quite slowly.  It still has lots of fluid and is swollen and can't do much with his leg except to bend his knee.  He has spent countless hours studying lately due to three tests right before the Christmas break.  Austin sometimes likes to help him study:

Austin lately has been so cute and fun to play with.  He loves making towers.  He will make a tower with pretty much anything he can find that will stack. For example:

 He is also really trying to say words.  He can say dada, mama, bubbles, cheese, moon.  I know, random assortment! He also does lots of signing which helps him ask for things he wants.  I feel like recently he really is understanding everything I say and it's fun to see him respond! 

Drinking Contest

Yes, we were able to go to Texas to see my family for Thanksgiving despite Matthew's broken leg and surgery.  He was in a lot of pain while traveling but was a trooper and was glad to be with family for Thanksgiving.  His pain has decreased tremendously but still is usually confined to the couch with his leg elevated and iced.  He just has his post op appointment and was told he can start bending his knee slightly but still cannot put any pressure on it and will be on crutches for 12 weeks.  He has started a new semester of classes this week which has added a little more difficulty to his schedule but we are making it work. Austin constantly lets us know that Matthew's leg is hurt and often times gives his leg hugs.

I will have to do a separate post for Thanksgiving as I don't have all the pictures from family yet, but I did have some really cute pictures of Austin and his cousin Cade. They were playing outside together and then decided it was time to take a break and get some water.  They kept taking turns watching each other drink and it seemed like they were trying to out drink each other!

These boys had so much fun together! Yay for cousins!

Matthew's Break

Yes, Matthew is done with final exams for this quarter and he has a break from school for the next couple of weeks. However, he also got another break. He broke his leg this weekend playing basketball!  We took him to the ER and found out that he fractured his tibia.  It's so sad. This happened on his first day of freedom from class and he is now confined to the couch or to crutches and is in a lot of pain.  We were also scheduled to leave town and fly to Texas this morning but that obviously didn't happen.  Tomorrow morning Matthew is going in for surgery. They have to put in a metal plate and screw in his leg to reattach the bone together.  Let's hope everything goes well.  This is how Matthew can be found lately:

Poor guy. He will be on crutches for about 6-8 weeks.

Halloween

This year for Halloween we went with a  sports theme. Austin was a football player, I was a cheerleader and Matthew was a referee. We had so much fun dressing up and Austin was such a  good sport about wearing his helmet. Friday afternoon we went to a carnival that Matthew's school put on for the kids. Then on Saturday night we went to our Trunk-or-Treat. Austin loved picking out candy from people's bowls and putting it into his bag.

 Austin loved fishing at the carnival

 Taking a water break

 So people went all out in decorating their trunks so we decided to decorate as well. 

 This is the only picture I could get of Austin actually trick-or-treating

And is is on the run.  This was Austin's favorite part.  He loved running all around amongst all the other kids.

Fall Festivities

Last weekend we went to a pumpkin patch with some friends to pick out a pumpkin and enjoy the activities they had for kids.  We found out something about Austin while we were there. First is that he really doesn't like animals, especially petting them.  This is the face we got from him anytime we brought him over to  pet an animal:

He hasn't really been around pets all that much so I guess he is just scared of animals.  Here are a couple more from the corn maze we walked through and picking out a pumpkin.

Then we were able to carve our pumpkin with some friends.  Matthew did an awesome job with the ghost he made.  Austin wasn't much help but he was really good at eating pumpkin cookies.

This fall Matthew has been playing on some intermural sports at his school. Austin and I love to go watch him play.  The teams he has been playing on are a bunch of other first year podiatry students.  In volleyball, his team won the championship! Yay! We are hoping for a cool T-shirt or something like they do at BYU!  In softball, his team made it to the first playoff game.  In the last game they played, Matthew was pitching and  was picking up a grounder but it popped up and got him in the face.  He got a pretty good black eye from it. You can see it in the picture of Austin and Matthew below.

Austin is clapping for Matthew after he made a hit.

Dude Face

Yes, that is Austin's nickname.  I'm not sure how it came about, but it is the one that has stuck. Our little dude is now 15 months old.  He has changed so much over the last few weeks and is more of a toddler now than my little baby boy.  Here are his new developments:
-He has 8 teeth now. (4 of them came in at the same time last week)
-weighs 25 lbs (70 percentile)
-Is 32 inches tall (80 percentile)
-He is a walking machine.  He started walking at 14 months and now just wants to walk everywhere.  However, he is a little too confident in his new ability and therefore always has bumps and bruises from falling down.
-Austin loves spoons of any kind. Whenever we go anywhere Austin has a spoon in hand.  It's even kind of a joke now whenever we go to the pool, playgroup, store, etc. He just loves to stir things and scoop things.
 -He is also really into pots and pans lately. In the picture below you can see he set out all the pans and gave them all lids!  He would play with them all day long.  So I got him his own mini set which he loves! (Notice all the spoons in the background. The bigger the spoon, the more he wants it)
-Austin has become such a picky eater. I can count about 8 things that I know he will eat and none of those are veggies!  He has really started to want to feed himself so maybe that will help but we are really trying hard to expand his menu.
-He has finally learned to drink from a sippy cup. Yes, it really has taken him this long! He nursed just fine but it took him awhile to figure out how to use the sippy cup.
-Austin loves to do things he sees Matthew and I do. His favorite things to imitate are brushing teeth, putting on makeup, stirring cooking food (of course), talking on the cell phone and putting on shoes.
-Austin has been learning baby sign. He can sign milk, water, eat, more, all done, cookie, bird, bath, hat, book and ball.
-He is learning body parts and can point to his head, ears, eyes, nose, and belly button.
-I love my little dude face!

Playing at the Park

This week has been the first time since we moved here that the temperatures have been under 90 degrees during the day. It has felt wonderful. So we made a trip to the park for a playdate. Austin loved going down the slide...

...swinging...

...but most of all he loved scooping up dirt into his cup.

White Coat Ceremony

Over the weekend Matthew received his white coat. This is a ceremony in many medical schools to symbolize the start of their professional career and the students all recite an oath to uphold medical morals and ethics.
I'm so proud of Matthew and excited for this experience.
This is my friend Heather's picture. She does amazing photography and it was such a good shot of all the students in their white coats reading the oath.
Matthew's mom was able to come in town for the ceremony and it was so nice to be able to spend the weekend with her. Austin loved having someone else to play with.
Doesn't Matthew look so official!

Austin's 12 month Pictures

Our good friends the Dicksons took these adorable 12 month pictures of Austin. I love how they turned out. They totally show off Austin's personality. These are my favorites:






And of course that tongue of his...

$25 and Under Boutique

Come say hi to me if you come! :)

Random Happenings

Not a whole lot has been happening around here lately but Austin sure is growing up more and more these days. These are some of his new things:
-He is starting to walk with support.
-His third tooth has come in. It's one of the top front teeth.
-He has suddenly become a very picky eater. I can count the things he likes on one hand.
-He has a weird obsession with playing with kitchen utensils. Wooden spoons, ladles, slotted spoons, anything like that he loves to play with.
-He is learning baby sign and now can do signs for milk, hat, and bath.

In other news, Matthew is doing very well in Med school so far. He has aced his first two tests. He spends lots of time studying but is really enjoying school and all he is learning. Austin and I went to a cool Children's museum the other day and brought my camera only to find out there was no memory card in it. So here are some recent videos of Austin instead.