Austin's First Christmas

Life is good when you're eight month old Austin Collins and it's Christmas. So many new toys! So much wrapping paper! So many ribbons! Such cute pajamas! And of course, so many pictures.

Gran and Pops watched Austin open their gift via Skype. He loves to spin the football, and has already figured out how to put the basketball in the hoop.

Unwrapping presents Austin-style actually took so long that we had to take a nap break. As Grandpa pointed out, this will be the last year Austin will let anything interrupt the gift-giving!

Our little elf playing with some of his new toys

Austin loves his ride-on bulldozer from Grandma and Grandpa. He started pushing himself backward and forward with his feet right away. I better watch out when he has the balance to ride around by himself! Check out the little Converse shoes...too cute, huh?

Getting to open so many gifts can really take it out of a guy. Austin fell asleep in Daddy's lap for awhile before lunch. It's been a while since that happened!

Traditions, New and Old

My parents (aka Grandma Susan and Grandpa Russ) have been visiting us since Saturday. We have had a wonderful time enjoying each other's company and, of course, playing with Austin. He just eats up the attention...he is one loved little boy.

Mom and I made cinnamon rolls yesterday, in keeping with longstanding family tradition. One little twist, though--we ate them for breakfast this morning while un-stuffing our stockings instead of as part of a Christmas brunch. Who wants to wait until 11AM? They were delicious as always and I'm looking forward to leftover cinnamon rolls tomorrow...or maybe tonight.

Zach and I decided to start a new family tradition, too. We made nativity scene cookies and decorated them, then used them to tell the Christmas story. Austin was not really an active participant this year but we hope in the future it will be a way to keep the true reason for Christmas at the forefront of his mind. I know, we're not going to win any awards for our decorating skills but they tasted good and we enjoyed sharing the Christmas story together.

Austin's Secret

Saturday morning I was trying to get a few things done and Austin was tired of playing by himself in his room, so I brought him into my room. I put him in the laundry basket and started looking around for things that might keep him occupied. Things that he hasn't seen before, maybe something colorful, something with some interesting textures, all that stuff that's good for babies. I found what I was looking for.

Yep, Austin is playing with some bras from the back of my drawer. The fun ones I used to wear before the ability to nurse while wearing became a fashion priority. I'm sure he'll just love pictures like this when he's older.

Christmas Tree

Zach, Austin, and I got our first Christmas tree this weekend! Zach and I have never bothered to put one up before because we have always traveled for the holidays. But now that we have a child, it seemed like a much higher priority. And as I sit here in the living room and gaze at the pretty tree across the room, I can't imagine why we didn't do this sooner.

Indiana County is the "Christmas Tree Capital of the World" (at least according to Indiana County residents) so there are tons of places to get trees. Saturday afternoon, on one of the coldest days of the year so far, we headed to a farm outside of town to get our tree. Austin was a real trooper--as the only true Pennsylvanian in the family, he doesn't seem to mind the cold. We looked at dozens of trees--they always look perfect from across the field--and finally found one that was just right.

It was fun to finally put up all the ornaments that we've been collecting for six years. I have already bought several more to give as gifts. (Don't tell Austin about the adorable Very Hungry Caterpillar one I found for him today.) Ahhh. A beautiful tree inside, snow on the ground outside...it definitely is feeling like the holidays around here.

Some before and after pictures. Sorry the second one is blurry; our camera doesn't like to focus on the tree and I couldn't be bothered to try and fix it.

How "Walkable" is Your Neighborhood?

I discovered a nifty site called Walkscore yesterday. It calculates the distance from your home to restaurants, schools, grocery stores, etc. and assigns your address a score from 1 to 100, with 1 meaning you're completely car-dependent and 100 meaning you live in a "walker's paradise." The site is very candid about the strengths and weaknesses of its algorithm. For example, it doesn't take into consideration whether or not there are any sidewalks around your neighborhood, or whether the businesses that seem to be close by are actually on the other side of a freeway. Still, it's kind of fun to see what score your home gets.

My current home gets a 71, which makes it "Very Walkable." I would agree, or perhaps even give it a higher score. After all, we lived without a car for nearly a month and found that we could get by walking almost everywhere we needed to go. Our duplex in Burbank was apparently even better--it scored an 83. Again, pretty accurate. We walked a lot of places on a regular basis in Burbank. The weaknesses of the system became apparent when I put in my parents' address, though. It got a 60, "Somewhat Walkable." But there are no sidewalks in that neighborhood, and nearly all of the businesses mentioned are located on a major street that also has no sidewalks. Growing up I hardly walked anywhere--it just wasn't safe or practical.

So here's a little discussion starter for my blog readers. What's your home's walkscore? Do you agree or disagree with it? Leave a comment--I'd love to hear what other people think of the site.

Pictures from our Trip to Texas

We are home now after spending a week in Texas. It was such a fun trip. Austin was predictably the center of attention, to everyone's delight. Our time there produced a plethora of cute pictures, mostly from my mother-in-law's camera. There's something about her flash that keeps a smile on Austin's face, whereas our camera tends to catch him with his eyes half-closed. Anyway, I had a hard time choosing which pics to include so this post might get kind of long!

During this trip we met Great-Aunt Debbie's fiance, Paddy. He will make a great Great-Uncle to Austin!

Austin quite appropriately tasted turkey for the first time on Thanksgiving Day. It was mixed with another seasonal classic, sweet potatoes, and he seemed to like it.


Chillin' with Uncle Heath

"Look, Mom, Pops did my hair!"

Gran quickly became one of Austin's favorite people.

Four generations of the Collins family

Cute clothes from Gran and Pops

Gran is trying to turn Austin into a fellow Mavericks fan!

I'll Admit it...I'm Hooked

For years I have said that I would never want a video game system in my home. I grew up without one and sure, I liked playing video games when I went to friends' houses, but I have always felt that they are pretty unnecessary. I would rather my kids spend hours reading or listening to music or playing outside or any number of other activities besides pushing buttons and staring at a screen.

But oh my. I think my feelings may have changed. Bill and Becky (my in-laws; we're in Texas right now) recently bought a Wii. And it is so fun! I am especially hooked on Wii fit. I spent about an hour this morning exploring all the activities and watching the balance in my Fit Bank go up. Man, that little thing is motivational! "Oh boy, I just unlocked 10 reps!" "Great, a new yoga pose!" I would think. And I would just want to keep going.

Now Zach and I certainly have better things to spend $250 on right now than a Wii, but for the first time in my life I am tempted. I never thought I would see this day.

Baby Foosball

Zach, Austin, and I were playing with his ball before bed tonight. He likes to watch Mommy or Daddy roll the ball to him but he doesn't know how to roll it back yet. We also tried getting him to kick the ball but without much success. Then we tried this and the real fun began.

Who else thinks this would be a fun playdate idea? Can you just picture a whole roomful of babies kicking the ball back and forth?

My Fame Continues

So my loyal blog readers already know how I got my picture in the paper for getting a flu shot. The days following were full of friends and neighbors commenting on my appearance in print. But things like getting a flu shot don't keep you in the spotlight for long.

But apparently this exciting moment in my life was not quite over. Yesterday I got a laminated copy of the picture with a handwritten note from Don White, the Pennsylvania state senator representing the Indiana area. He is glad I got my flu shot and hopes others will do the same to stay healthy this winter. Wow! Perhaps this is just a little technique to butter up his constituents but if so it worked! I immediately felt warm fuzzies for my state senator. I wonder if he does that for everyone whose picture makes it in the paper? That could keep a guy busy, you know?

Example #3

Zach is still grading, and the funny papers just keep coming. Here's the latest he found amusing enough to pass over to me.

On what one would assume was a cold day, January 27, 1756, a baby was born and named Johannes Chrysostomos Wolfgang Theophilus Amadeus.

You can just picture baby Mozart being born, with the snow swirling outside, can't you?

How Zach Earns a Living

In addition to being a tuba/euphonium teacher, Zach teaches a large lecture class called Introduction to Music. It's for non-music majors, mostly freshman getting their general ed. fine arts credit. He recently assigned a little project that involved students writing a short bio on a composer, then listening to a piece by that composer and writing a response. He has been grading these projects for the last few days. With over 100 students in the class, you can imagine that it gets a little tedious, but there are always some that are good for a few laughs.

Example #1 (about composer John Adams)

"This was considered his best piece ever. Out of all of the music he wrote prior to this, this song was the best of them all."

Good thing he explained that...I wasn't really sure what "best piece ever" meant.

Example #2 (about composer Franz Joseph Haydn)

"He was a very well-known composer in the classical period, although he did dapple in the late baroque and early 19th century romanticism periods.
...which is what makes him one of the most famous composers of the 20th century."

Who knew that Haydn lived for about 400 years? And "dappling" sounds fun, whatever it is.

You kind of hope these kids are also enrolled in a good English course, don't you?

Lots of Cuteness Going On

Zach says it's time for a mostly-pictures post because there's "a whole lot of cuteness going on" around here. I agree so here we go.

Austin is sitting up on his own...



...for at least a few seconds, anyway! A little bit longer every day, I think.

Yesterday I was putting away laundry in Austin's room and Zach mentioned that the laundry basket was one of his favorite "toys" when he was younger. He put Austin in it for fun. Genius! Austin can sit up in it and it doesn't let him tip too much to the side; put some toys in there and he's good to go for awhile. He loved it when Daddy gave him a ride around his room, too.

Do you think maybe Austin is getting too big for his bouncer? (This picture is actually from a few weeks ago. I don't think Austin has sat in the seat since, although it is still sitting there in the kitchen.)

On a slightly unrelated note, I got to do something really great tonight. I went to the grocery store by myself! And the store was really uncrowded because it was Sunday night and most of western Pennsylvania was at home, the Steelers game having just finished. I never would have thought that going to the store by myself would lift my spirits quite so much but there you go. Just one of the ways life changes when you have a baby.

The Secret to Quick Voting...

Bring a baby! I arrived at my polling place (a building on IUP's campus) to find quite a long line, made up mostly of college students. I came prepared to wait: Austin had just woken up from a nap and he wasn't hungry. But an election official saw me with my stroller and offered to escort me to the front of the line. In and out in about ten minutes. Works for me!

By the way, the Girl Talk blog posted a great clip of John Piper putting the election in perspective. Check it out.

Halloween Fun

Today was (obviously) Austin's first Halloween. Until last weekend we weren't sure if we were going to dress him up, but a trip to the mall and a $5 costume we found at Old Navy made up our minds. We took him around town to see several friends and of course it was generally agreed that he was quite adorable.

Our little dragon...

Austin and his buddies, Noah the monkey and Micah the lion...

At Last!

Austin finally rolled over from his tummy to his back today. As with rolling from his back to his tummy, as I posted a few weeks ago, I did not see it happen the first time. The first two times, actually. I realized he was getting really close, then the phone rang. When I got back to his room he was on his back. I put him back on his tummy, ran into our room to get the camera, and once again he rolled while I wasn't there. (He's already good at doing things while I'm not looking--yikes!)

But anyway, Zach managed to capture a roll on video when he got home.

I have to admit, I am pretty relieved that Austin is doing this at last. I know all babies develop on their own timeline, but nearly seven months has been feeling pretty late for this particular milestone. I think the Lord is trying to teach me to trust Him more with Austin's development.

Sometimes I Really Miss LA

At least Austin looks pretty cute all bundled up.

Somebody Tell Me This Was Worth It...

Austin has been eating fruits and veggies for about three weeks now, I think. I have made some of his food (carrots, pears, butternut squash) and bought some of it already made (peas, prunes, pear/blueberry blend). But this week I decided to make some peas for him myself. After all, commercially prepared baby food peas are just not very appetizing and baby food isn't cheap. So I bought a bag of organic peas, steamed them, and pureed them in my blender. So far so good. It was easy, they tasted good, it certainly looked like I would have a large (cheap) amount of organic peas for Austin. But my baby food cookbook told me to press them through a sieve to get rid of the skins and make a smoother texture. That didn't sound too difficult. Half an hour later I was not so sure. Yes, the resulting product was much smoother, but my arm ached and I'm not sure if I ended up with any more peas than I could buy in jars for my $2.65.

On the bright side, my peas look an awful lot better than the kind in jars and Austin seemed to like them a bit more. And I know the whole task would have been easier with a food mill. That might be a worthwhile investment. Or maybe Austin would just be okay eating peas with the skins still in the mix?

My 15 Minutes of Fame?

Yep, that's me, right there on the cover of the Indiana Gazette. Getting my flu shot. The county did a free flu shot clinic yesterday to test their system for large-scale distribution of medicine in case of a pandemic or something. Free is always a good deal, so off I went. And not only did I get a flu shot, I got a few minutes of fame.

A Little Update

Apparently Austin CAN roll over, although I haven't seen him do it yet. I was downstairs eating lunch when I heard him start crying in his crib. I thought "darn it, those phone calls I just got woke him up early from his nap." I didn't hurry to get him because I was hoping he would fall back asleep. A few minutes later I went up to check on him, though, and I found him facedown at the end of his crib, perpendicular to the position in which I put him down. Poor little guy! He almost repeated his new trick for me later while we played on the floor...but not quite. Maybe he's saving it for Daddy.

Six Month Checkup

Here are Austin's latest stats: he is 28 1/2 inches long, more or less (a different person has measured him at each checkup, using a different method, so I'm a little wary of the accuracy), and weighs 19 pounds 4 ounces. Daddy thought he would be over 20 pounds but he's not there yet. Give him until next week.

Otherwise he is doing great! He received another round of vaccines, of course, but I think now we get a little reprieve from that unpleasantness. And the physician's assistant student who examined him told me not to worry that he's STILL not rolling over; some babies take as long as eight months to start. She said it could even be his size that's making it more difficult for him. So once again all is well and we are thankful for that.

Beautiful Fall Day

Autumn in Pennsylvania is absolutely amazing. The trees are in the process of changing and everywhere you look there are beautiful shades of red, orange, and gold. To top it off, today was also rather warm for fall--about 80 degrees. You can't spend a day like that inside! So we joined our friends the Himes for a picnic at Blue Spruce Park.

And finally, the boy who hasn't even mastered the sippy cup yet tries to move on to bigger and better things...

Give Peas a Chance (or, Austin Celebrates his Half-Birthday)

Wow--Austin is six months old today! And what a wonderful six months it has been. I think I love being his mommy more every day. He has gotten much more affectionate lately--when I pick him up he grins and throws his arms around my neck. True, that is almost always followed by grabbing a hunk of my hair, but it's awfully sweet anyway. His "talking" is full of new sounds that to a mommy's ears sound something like real words. (He says "Hey, you" a lot.)

Austin is STILL not rolling over. I can't tell you how many times he has come sooooo close. I grab the camera and think maybe I will capture the first time on film. No success. Austin actually seems more interested in forward motion than sideways rolling. He can scoot several inches on his belly when he's trying to get a toy in front of him.

We started giving Austin fruits and veggies this past week. And so we come to the title of this post. Here is Austin giving peas a chance.

He was not a huge fan. But we'll keep trying. In addition he has had carrots (also not a favorite, although they didn't elicit the same faces as peas) and pears (which he seems to like). Fortunately, so far Austin hasn't spit out any food, even if he doesn't seem to like it much. He is a fairly neat eater for someone so new to the process, I'd say.

Austin has a pretty adorable fall/winter wardrobe, I think. I am enjoying the change in season because I get to dress him in new clothes just about every day. Here are some favorites.

And finally, possibly one of my very favorite recent pictures of Austin. There is just nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby.

A Night In

Zach and I had an at-home date last night after Austin went to bed. When you have just spent $_____ (ridiculously large amount) having your transmission rebuilt and you also have a six-month old, it becomes a very attractive idea. Not to mention, you can have that kind of date in the pajamas that you decided to put on after the aforementioned six-month old splashed you a lot during his bath.

So we turned down the lights in our dining room (love the dimmer switch), lit some candles, and enjoyed some homemade quesadillas and Mexican rice. I have a rice recipe that tastes just like it came from a restaurant, so we were hardly missing a thing except high prices. It was so nice to enjoy a leisurely meal with my husband and only my husband.

Before Austin was born a lot of people told me to continue making my marriage a priority after his birth. I understand what they meant now. Sure, Zach and I talk quite a bit every day, but one of us is usually holding the baby or playing with the baby or feeding the baby. And after Austin goes to bed it's easy to zone out with the TV or get busy catching up on work. We definitely need to have dates, even if just at home, more often.

A Moment of Oneness

Zach asked me tonight if I'd looked at the Meadows' October calendar online yet. (That's our local frozen custard place, for those of you unlucky enough not to be familiar with it.) I hadn't, so we opened a new browser tab and took a look. The calendar showed that today's flavor was Peanut Butter Oreo Swirl. Zach got up to put his shoes on and said "I'll be back." And I knew exactly where he was going and why. Sometimes, you just don't even need words, you know?

We're Back

Austin and I returned home yesterday from our visit to my parents' house. It was a great trip: Austin did well on all the flights, he absolutely loved playing with Grandma and Grandpa, and the lack of naps brought on by all our tooling about town did not cause him to revert to three feedings per night like our Florida trip. (Thank goodness.)

I don't think Austin remembered my mom and dad from seeing them in Florida a few months ago, but once they got reacquainted he was crazy about them. His face lit up every night when my dad came home from work, and my mom could make him laugh like nobody else.



Even though MU had a bye last weekend, Grandpa and Austin had to show off their matching Tiger spirit.We got to see Aunt Megan and Uncle Andrew several times. The pics below are from a little family get-together we had Saturday with my Aunt Jan and Uncle Steve. What's with the chicken costume, you say? Megan used to collect chicken paraphernalia, and this costume was proudly worn by her Kid Sister doll. Until we decided to try it on Austin, that is.

Friday was definitely a highlight of the trip. Megan took off work so she could hang out with Austin a little extra. She took us to the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead where we got to see all kinds of farm animals. This time the sheep and goats did not scare Austin, unlike our previous experience at the Indiana County Fair.

Does Austin look like goat food?

Austin also met Megan's cats on Friday, his first feline encounter. I was a bit worried beforehand that they might try to scratch him or something, but apparently my worry was misplaced. Observe.

Over the River and Through the Woods...

...to grandmother's house we go. Remember that song from elementary school? Well, it's true this week for me and Austin. We are leaving tomorrow to spend about a week with my mom and dad. (And you do indeed cross a river and go through some woods to get to the Pittsburgh airport.) We are excited about spending more time with Grandma Susan and Grandpa Russ but sad that Daddy doesn't get to come. It is likely to be quite a busy week--I think we will be making a lot of trips around town to introduce (show off) Austin to various friends and relatives. Only natural with a boy this adorable.

Pictures, etc.

Wow, it's been awhile! Not much has been going on around here, I guess. We STILL don't have our car back; "about a week" apparently means something different to the folks at Aamco than it does to us. (They've had our car for two weeks as of tomorrow.) So we've been walking a lot: downtown, to church, to the grocery store...I feel pretty healthy.

Austin and I have settled into a nice little routine since Zach went back to work. I am trying to learn to manage my time better during the day, especially while Austin naps. I have found that printing my weekly calendar (I love Google Calendar) and then making my to-do list on it is a good strategy for me. I like crossing things off.

Okay, the title of this post said something about pictures so here we go. I have been trying to remember to take plenty of pictures...I know someday I will want to see Austin doing things that seem ordinary now.

Still not rolling over, although he comes close.

IUP pride

Enjoying a little naked time while we try to clear up a diaper rash

My guys were all ready to cheer on their teams last Saturday. Must have worked; USC and MU won their games.

Thanks for the super-cute onesie, Aunt Megan! We got lots of comments on it and people wanted to know where you got it.

First Food

We gave Austin his first real food on Saturday, if you can call rice cereal real food. (Zach said it reminds him of the fish food we fed our fish when we were younger.) Here's how it went:

As you see, he made some funny faces for the first few mouthfuls, but then he figured out how to suck the cereal off the spoon and the process improved considerably. I've thickened it up gradually since then and he seems to like it all right. So here we go...it'll be burgers and fries for my big boy before we know it.

One-Car Family, But Without the Car

A few weeks ago we took our car to get its annual state inspection. It passed, but the technician noted that it was a little sluggish shifting from first to second gear. We had noticed the same thing just the day before. He suggested we get it checked out, said maybe it just needed a transmission flush, maybe it needed something more. So we had it checked out this morning at Aamco. (Is "double A, M-C-O" in anyone else's head?) Turns out our transmission needs to be rebuilt. According to the diagnostic computer, the transmission is having trouble shifting from all the gears. (We haven't so much noticed because I bet it has been several weeks since we drove more than 35mph. Such is life in a small town.)

Besides the monetary expense, which is nothing to sneeze at, we are now facing the slight hardship of being a zero-car family for the next week or so. Fortunately there are few things in Indiana that are not within walking distance, and it's a nice time of year to need to take a lot of walks. We can walk to church. We were planning to go out to lunch for my birthday this weekend, so we can just walk downtown. I can walk to my Bible Study. Zach can walk across town tomorrow to pick up our CSA veggies. And when walking is not an option, such as my Women's Club meeting tonight, it is not hard to find a ride. No one seems to mind driving 500 feet out of their way to pick you up.

County Fair

Zach, Austin, and I went to the Indiana County Fair yesterday. This is a really classic small-town fair: lots of livestock, home-grown vegetable contests, fried food, carnival rides, a demolition derby...what more could you ask for a Saturday's entertainment?

I guess it's our big city roots, but Zach and I really like looking at all the farm animals. Maybe someday Austin will enjoy that too; yesterday he seemed a little indifferent. At least until those sheep started baahing and he decided to cry. Pretty scary, those sheep. (To be fair to the sheep, Austin was getting awfully tired. It's hard to get in a good nap with a demolition derby going on nearby.)