Milestones: 19 Months Old

His hair matches his personality!

We are really enjoying this age! Austin is so fun and playful! He is also a handful..... like today at church when I tried changing his diaper in the mothers room and he threw a full on fit in front of all the other mothers and ran around the room naked with poop all over his bum. I was horrified and wanted nothing more than to spank that little naked booty but of course I had all eyes on me and couldn't do anything but gently scold him, wrangle him down to the ground, and attempt to clean the poop off of us both..... good times. I was just as excited as he was to drop him off at the nursery door and let his teachers handle him for a while!

On our way to church! You can tell by that face that nothing good is about to happen....

I try to fill each day with some kind of activity or learning experience to keep him entertained, and most importantly, to tire him out! At the end of each activity, whether it's a trip to the pet store or a walk to the park, I ask, "Austin, did you have fun?" He always responds with, "Fun! Fun!" and I quietly smile and give myself a pat on the back for hopefully providing him with a happy childhood :). Well, now every morning after we do our usual morning routine, Austin starts saying excitedly, "Fun? Fun? Fun!!!" in excited anticipation for what we are going to do today :). Like I said, although he can be a handful, being his parents is such a fun and rewarding experience!

Grandma Porter also likes to keep him busy when she babysits! She is a Montessori Preschool teacher so she likes working with him one on one with all her Montessori stuff. Lucky kid!

Today was water day!

We can't go for walks or to the park without bringing a toy to push. It's all fun and games until Mom has to carry it all home because he suddenly becomes too tired....

Grandma Porter bought him a baby doll and stroller to help him prepare for his new baby sister. It was a genius idea and he is really loving taking care of his baby!

Taking his baby for a walk :).

 I am always singing to the radio in the car and I love watching Austin in the rear view mirror because he is almost always bobbing his head to the music. Last week we were listening to the "I'm so happy" song (I don't know the actual name or artist) and as always I looked in the mirror to see what he was doing. I couldn't hold back the laughter when I saw him clapping along to the song when the lyrics said, "Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof." and singing "So Happy! So Happy!" over and over with the chorus of the song! It was such a cute view and I hope I always remember it.

I wish you could see his sweet little face in this picture! This was one of those moments when he wanted to hold my hand in the car so I had to drive with one hand while reaching into the back seat with the other. (Yes, this was taken at a stop light....)

He calls himself "Aussa" and his favorite game is hide and seek. The reason I am mentioning both of these facts together is because he loves to go hide and then start yelling, "Aussa!" over and over again until we come find him :). It gets even cuter if we wait to find him because he then switches over to, "Josh? Ash?" over and over until we come find him (hehe). I don't know what I find cuter, being called Momma and Daddy or Josh and Ash. They both sound so adorable coming out of his little mouth!

He LOVES his Daddy so much!!! You can't blame him though, Josh is definitely the fun one who has the energy to chase him around the house, pull him in his wagon, and wrestle with him on the LoveSac. When Dada walks through the door from work, Austin runs to him and jumps into his arms screaming, "Dada!" I'm not gonna lie, I feel a twinge of jealousy each time because he does not react that way AT ALL when Momma walks in the door from work! He looks up from what he is doing, gives me a smile, and then resumes what he was doing..... I have no idea why he does that and it drives me nuts! I miss him so much while I am away and I would love nothing more than for him to run to me the way he does for Josh. Maybe he is punishing me for leaving him? I try not to dwell on it.....

He has become a pro at mimicking everything we say. Now when he falls down he says, "Oh goodness!" or "Oh geeze" or "Oh shoot!" just like I always say. The oh shoot part sounds really close to the naughty version of the word so we have been trying to get him to stop saying that one.... On a not so cute note, he also has mastered the word, "Stop it!" and yells it at us with the angriest, most serious face he can muster whenever we try making him do something he doesn't want to do..... He has also recently learned how to sweetly say sorry and gently pats your head when he does it. That one is my favorite because of how quickly he changes his voice once he realizes he has hurt you. He suddenly becomes so innocent! You can't help but instantly forgive him.

The other morning I walked into his bedroom to get him up for the day and he pointed at me and said, "OOooo! Pretty!!" It made my whole day and I must have shown it because he does it a lot now. He says it whenever he notices my jewelry, or plays with my hair. Of course I have to have actually put on jewelry and done my hair but I will willingly get dolled up any day to get a compliment like that from him!

Yeah, we have a lot of fun :).

I love this kids' hugs more than anything in the world!

....and lucky for me, he was in a very huggable mood on this day!

I know I am biased, but he is truly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!

You would never know this was what we were dealing with just fifteen minutes prior!

Some fun moments over the past month:

There's nothing cuter than a chubby baby bum!

Especially when it's escaping up the stairs with its puppy!

He loves sitting with his Daddy and watching movies/sports or climbing on his lap and teasing him until his dad plays with him or chases him around the house.

Trying to fit in with the big kids at the skate park. The stuffed dog in the wagon really makes him look like a tough guy hahaha!

He is always in a cuddly mood when he first wakes up from his nap. Sometimes it is a happy cuddle, and sometimes it is a miserable, crying cuddle. Either way, he always has his blankie!

His bed-head kills me! If I'm ever needing a good laugh, all I have to do is go get him out of his crib after a nap.

Loving his baby!

I love this memory! He brought his baby over to my lap and the three of us cuddled and gave kisses :).

Melt my heart.

Maybe having two babies won't be so difficult after all? We can only hope!

He loves eating at his little table and especially loves using a fork. If the food doesn't require a fork, he just holds onto it.... either way, he won't eat without it!

Bath time! This poor kid is constantly falling and smacking his forehead. Lately he has had a permanent unicorn horn in between his eyes!

Grandma and Grandpa Ronnenkamp came to visit before we left for California and we had a great time!

Grandma can't get enough of her little twin.

It is evident by the constant smooches!

Austin got to show grandma all of his favorite movies.

The gang.

Grandma had fun giving Austin a bath and Austin had fun doing circus tricks for her :). This kid will do anything for attention!

Sadly, he came down with an ear infection during their visit :(. I thought he was just being a Mommas boy because he would not leave my side! I couldn't even do the dishes without him laying on the floor by my feet.

Poor sick baby :(.

We went to the Library for baby story time and had fun playing on the computer afterwards! Austin LOVES technology so of course he would go straight for this.....

We had a park play date with our friends Jura and Juliette after the library and Austin surprised me by wanting to stay in the swing the whole time! Usually he swings once and then wants to get out and go run around.