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.