Milestones: 21 Months Old

Today marks a milestone for Austin in a sad way because it is the first time in his life that he has ever thrown up! He puked up some blue frosting at his first birthday party, but that was nothing compared to what has been going on here! I came home from work last night to a very sad, very lethargic, very sick little boy. He and Grandma were sitting on the floor attempting to get the projectile vomit into the bowl while Austin was crying and doing anything he could to push the bowl away, making a very disgusting mess. I held the poor little guy the whole rest of the night and dealt with his vomiting every ten minutes, supplying him with watered down Powerade to keep him hydrated. I've never seen anyone puke that much. It was awful..... Daddy helped out until bed time and then he slept in the guest room while Austin and I took up residence in the master bedroom, well supplied with towels, extra blankets, pillows, and Powerade. All of which came in handy throughout the night as Austin soiled everything we had.... seriously, I did three loads of laundry this morning and all of it was just from the one night. When we woke up, the entire house smelled like vomit so we both bathed and got all the vomit off of us, and then Mom set to work at airing out the house, spraying Fabreze over all the carpet/furniture that was soiled, and disinfecting the entire house. Fingers crossed that it will pay off and no one else will catch this awful bug!

On a lighter note..... over the past month:


We had our first pool day of the year and Austin loved it! I didn't want to worry about diving into the pool 9 months pregnant to save him so we bought him a life jacket. It was more of a hindrance than a help so we bought him a different one with floaties that go on the arms which was much better! What's funny is Austin seems to be much more cautious this year than he was last year. Last year he had no fear. He dove into the pool without any thought or care as to how he was going to survive. Luckily he seems to have developed enough fear to not do that unless someone is there to catch him.

He took his first shower like a big boy! He likes coming into the bathroom and peeking through the curtain at us while we shower, but has always freaked out when we tried to get him to come in with us. Well, he finally grew out of that and he loved it!

He calls himself  "Aussa" and just lately has started adding the T to make it "Austa." He runs around saying, "Austa, where are you?!" whenever he wants us to chase him around the house :).

He has developed this strange desire to eat paper. Newspaper, cardboard, printer paper, you name it! It is very weird and we don't know what to think about it. Hopefully he grows out of it soon!

He is obsessed with his little baby blankets and has to have his entire bed full of at least 8-10 of them in order for him to sleep. He carries them around the house everywhere and I love it when he grabs one and comes over to me with open arms saying, "Honeys!" That's his new code word for "let's cuddle!" At first we couldn't figure out why he was saying it but we finally remembered that we always pick him up and say, "Ohhhh Honey...." in a very patronizing voice whenever he cries or gets hurt to make him feel better. It was always kind of a joke between the three of us but he must like it!

He loves pictures of babies and LOVES looking at Instagram with me so he can point out all the babies in the pictures people post.

Grandpa Porter bought him this funny hot dog holder that he is obsessed with! We love it because it actually gets him to eat food! It's this long plastic weiner dog that has an open back so you can put the hot dog pieces inside and he has a doggy bowl for the ketchup. Austin loves feeding the dog and himself. I know hot dogs aren't the healthiest thing in the world but if you knew how picky of an eater this kid is, you wouldn't judge!

He loves watching us hug/kiss and will sometimes run over and hug us each by the legs to join in! I think it makes him feel happy to see that his parents love each other and that in turn makes me feel happy because that is not a feeling I ever grew up with, but always wanted.

During his last ear infection he suddenly wanted to bring a bottle to bed at night. We normally never allowed this, but he was sick so we went with it. BIG MISTAKE! The ear ache came and went, but the bottle never did. We tried going back to the old routine but he threw huge fits for hours and just for the sake of getting some sleep we gave in.... Then it got even worse when he learned how to push on the bottle nipple and squirt milk all over the place. His bedroom, our house, his stuffed animals, they all smelled like sour milk! We are still working on all of that but with the baby coming in a few days, we haven't been trying very hard.

He makes us laugh when he gets super hyper and starts running around the house at full speed and then stops to jump up and down in place a few times before he takes off again! Such a boy!

On laundry day (Sunday) he gets to ride up and down the stairs in the laundry basket with Dad. It's so funny because he jumps onto the pile of clothes in the basket when Dad gives the word and then waves goodbye to Momma before they take off :).

We aren't sure if he is sensing the baby coming soon and he is going to be replaced as the only child, or if it is just a normal phase he is going through, but he has suddenly become very clingy to Mom. He no longer wants to go into Nursery at church. We have tried going in there with him and sitting there but he won't get off my lap! He sits there for two hours watching everyone play, too scared that we might leave him behind. At Baby Story Time I went to the bathroom and once I was out of sight he suddenly became frantic, crying and running around the library searching for me. It is sweet but difficult all at the same time.

As you can see, a lot of growth has happened this month! He is becoming such a big boy and we are having so much fun with him!

Oh you know, just walking around the park picking my nose!

This is the last week of it being just Austin and Mommy! I am enjoying every cuddle and hug I can get from this sweet boy before our little world changes!

It was getting too quiet for comfort while I was doing laundry and this is how I found him! I borrowed this baby swing from a friend to prevent the baby from being pounced on by Austin but now I'm thinking we might have another problem on our hands...

We have been having fun every Friday at Baby Story Time with Jura and Juliette :).

We went for a walk one morning and Austin saw the sprinklers so he had to get out of the stroller and run through them! It was freezing cold water but he didn't care!

We were sitting on the couch together watching his favorite TV show (Caillou) and then he decided to put his arm around me, just like his Dad! Melt my heart!

He got a new hair cut and it was absolutely miserable for all of us. Just look at that awnry face!

He was running down a big grassy hill at the park with his Daddy and fell down right at the bottom, face-planting into the cement :(. He had a massive goose egg and road rash on his forehead. The swelling has gone down now, but it's looking like it's going to scar :(.

Picture of our first day at the pool!

Having a blast being silly with Grandma!

He loves playing basketball, and even likes watching it on TV! He tries so hard to make the ball into the basket but sadly has some growing to do...

Handsome boy heading to church!

Fun at the Clark County Fair 2015!

Dad got his bratwurst, Mom got her Texas Twister, and Austin had his entrance ticket that he refused to let go of most of the day. Life is good!

We went out to Logandale for a weekend at the fair and to visit my parents. It was such a blast! Austin cried and cried when we left for home on Sunday. We finally had to pull over at a gas station and bribe him with chocolate milk to get him to find happiness in life again.

Even though his sadness was slightly irritating, we couldn't blame the poor boy. Who wants to go home after all the fried food, ice cream, farm animals, pig races, horse riding, and sand box play? Who wants to go home after helping Grandpa water all of his trees out in the yard like a big boy, digging in the dirt for hours with Buddy, enjoying a beautiful spring night on the porch playing with all the solar powered butterflies lighting up Grandma's flowers, and waking up to waffles and fresh strawberries for breakfast? I didn't think so......

The three amigos headed to Logandale for some good times!

Petting the mini pony with Momma.

Visiting the baby goats with Grandma and Grandpa.

Austin loved the massive Clydesdale horse but was scared to death of the John Deere tractor next to it. He was frozen in fear until Grandma picked him up and forced him to touch it. Kids are so funny sometimes!

Learning how to ride with Daddy.

Petting the piglets! This was Austin's favorite stop and it was so cute watching him. He gently laid his hand on them and watched them sleep :).

Meeting the chickens with Grandpa.

As you can see, we all had a really good time!

Wandering around the carnival and checking out all the cheaply made toys that Mom and Dad wouldn't buy for him no matter how hard he cried....

LOVE this guy.

At the food area trying to decide what we all wanted to eat! The smell of all the fried food was heavenly and made it so hard to make a decision!

We met up with our good friends Jura, Adrien, and Juliette at the pig races!

Love my girls!

We've decided to make it our yearly tradition for Austin to ride the ponies. He was so serious about it and tried really hard to get his horse to go faster by bouncing on it.

Our serious cowboy.

After dinner we all got some ice cream!

It was ridiculously messy...

....but totally worth it!

We took Austin back to Grandma's house for his afternoon nap but he refused (go figure). So we got back in the car and on our way back to the fair grounds he fell asleep in the car! He was so out of it he didn't even wake up when we put him into the stroller! That's how you know it was a fun day!

Digging in the dirt with Buddy.

These two are the best of friends. Austin talks about Buddy constantly no matter what day or what time it is. He even asks to FaceTime with Buddy! It's going to be a very sad day when that old dog passes away....

Baby Bump News: 37 Weeks!

The last Baby Bump pic of baby girl before she graces us with her presence in 11 short days!

The comparison photo: 37 Weeks with Austin!

This will be the last edition of the Baby Bump News for this baby and although I have loved being pregnant and journaling about it, I am soooooo excited to meet this little girl!

Oh. My. Goodness. Talk about nesting!!!

I caught the nesting bug pretty bad this time around. I am the proud owner of an entire closet full of nursing supplies, feminine supplies, diapers, blankets, and lots and lots of adorable baby girl clothes! When I was pregnant with Austin we didn't have a home of our own quite yet so I wasn't able to nest properly, and to be quite honest, it was my first baby and I had no idea what I would even need to buy anyway! I knew babies needed clothes and diapers, but after that, I was clueless. Luckily I had two AMAZING baby showers that filled in the gaps.

I am carrying baby girl much differently than I did Austin. Austin carried high and I suffered from extreme back pain if I sat down for too long. When I say too long, I mean a half hour. So I found myself walking around a lot and I was unable to do anything that required sitting, like church or the movie theaters. Now with baby girl I have the opposite problems! I'm carrying her low and instead of pain from sitting, I have extreme pain from walking! I get shooting pains down my pelvis that leave me immobilized until it resolves itself, and when I walk it feels like the baby is falling out of me..... I now understand the waddling jokes!

However different the pains might be, the cravings have been the same lately. Fruit and chocolate (mainly strawberries)!!

It's funny how with each pregnancy you get a glimpse of what your baby's personality is going to be like. Austin was all over the place! He moved constantly and was always stretched out, not wanting to be restricted in any way. When I laid in bed, thinking about my baby boy, I always got the feeling that he was going to be blonde, adorable, stubborn, and was going to have a unique personality that would give us a run for our money! OH HOW RIGHT I WAS!!!

With baby girl I have gotten completely opposite feelings. I already know she is going to be so sweet. She moves around, but not too much. I can only think of one night when she kept me up all night with movements. This was a nightly occurrence with Austin..... She has been so much nicer to me as far as symptoms go like nausea/vomiting, and acne. I could be totally wrong about this, but I imagine her looking just like her Daddy. The Scandinavian genes run strong in my family (blonde hair, pale skin, and light eyes) but I think this little beauty is going to be dark like Josh and his Native American ancestors. I guess we will see!! I also already know she is gong to love being swaddled. Austin HATED it and would kick off any blankets we tried covering him up with. Baby girl, however, always seems to be curled up in a ball, rarely stretching or making me miserable. At her 20 week ultrasound she was all curled up with her hands up to her face, making it hard to get a good picture. I think she is going to be the perfect baby for the Solly Baby Wrap I bought to carry her around in! I think she is going to be the silent, intelligent type whereas her brother is the loud, intelligent type. She's going to love watching Austin and will get a kick out of his craziness! I could be totally wrong about all of this, but I guess we will find out very soon!

I am counting down the days to April 21st when our sweet baby will be delivered by C-Section and I can spend the next three days in a hospital bed being waited on by the nurses (finally a role change!) just snuggling, nursing, and smelling her sweet baby scent! I think that's why I have loved nesting/preparing so much. It gives me a glimpse of the beautiful miracle that is about to happen! And when I say miracle, that's exactly what this little girl is! It's a miracle that I somehow got pregnant with her. It's a miracle that she survived the first trimester while I miscarried another baby and then proceeded to bleed and be put on bed rest once the doctor figured out that I was somehow pregnant again! It's a miracle that she continued to survive all the craziness and drama of my life and that her brother's karate kicks to my stomach haven't somehow damaged her. I thank God every day that I am still pregnant and that I have made it this far. You don't even think about these things until you lose a child. Once you know what that pain feels like, you find yourself grateful for every little thing you experience, painful or not, because it means you have not yet lost another one.

Up until this week the baby has been measuring small. Never small enough to cause alarm, but on the very edge of the growth chart kind of small. I haven't stressed about it though because Austin was the exact same way and he turned out just fine. Then, at this last doctors appointment, the fundus of my stomach grew 2.5cm in one week and she is in the normal range now! In case you didn't know, they measure your stomach at every doctor's appointment the last trimester and it is normal for a baby to grow 1cm per week. The measurement should be equal in centimeters to the number of weeks you are pregnant, plus or minus 2. Anything out of that range is abnormal. So for her to grow 2.5cm in one week and suddenly jump to the normal range was quite a surprise! Must have been all that chocolate from Easter???

Austin loves petting my stomach and he calls his baby sister, "circle." Close enough, right?! He also loves kissing my stomach and it makes me melt when I imagine how sweet he is going to be with her! 

Enjoy your last two weeks in heaven baby girl because life on Earth is going to be quite the shocker! But I promise no matter how hard it gets, or how painful that "owie" is, we are going to love you more than enough to make up for it!

Easter 2015

I love this little family of mine so much and can't wait for sister to join us in a few short weeks! (36 weeks prego)

This was Austin's second Easter and it was a lot more fun now that he is old enough to understand what's going on. We started the festivities a week early at the Inspirada Community Easter Egg Hunt! We walked down to the pavilion with some neighbor friends and had a blast finding eggs and listening to the DJ play kiddie songs. Austin thought the DJ was awesome and stood there watching him in a trance for the longest time until the Easter Bunny caught his eye! He ran over to the photo booth where the Easter Bunny was busy taking pictures and went under the rope that was being used to hold back the crowd, determined to go see that bunny! We had to run after him, trying to push people out of the way before he interrupted the photo taking that was going on. The ironic part is we later waited in line for a half hour so Austin could properly meet the Easter Bunny and get a picture with him and that was when Austin suddenly chose to become shy and reserved and wouldn't look up from his feet! He let the Easter Bunny hold him but he wouldn't look up at him and wouldn't look at the camera either. He's such a funny kid. Everything has to be on his time table.

Once it came time to do some egg hunting, we spent most of the event teaching Austin how to find the eggs and put them in his basket. By the time he grasped the concept, there wasn't much left to find. But he didn't care! He was having too much fun opening up the handful of eggs he did find and discovering what was inside!

Afterwards we made the trek home and stopped at the park on our way, letting Austin get some more energy out on the playground. There just happened to be a political meet and greet luncheon going on so we got some BBQ out of it too! Score! By the time we made it home we were all exhausted and took a nap.

Discovering the goodies inside!

Daddy teaching Austin how it's done.

Finally getting the hang of it and searching for eggs on his own!

All worn out after all that fun in the sun!

Austin talked about the Easter Bunny all week after that and loved telling us about the eggs! It was the perfect prelude to the actual Easter day because he was now a professional at finding those eggs! Josh and I woke up Sunday morning excited to see Austin's face when he spotted his Easter basket and found ourselves instead waiting for the crazy kid to wake up! Of course he chose this particular morning to sleep in! By 9:15 we decided we should just go in and wake him up or he was never going to take a nap later on in the day! It was so crazy because he NEVER sleeps that late! The little sleepy head came downstairs and went to town on all the candy waiting for him and still has not put down the little magnet-drawing board that was in his basket!

Then we went outside and found all the eggs the Easter Bunny had hidden around the front yard. The bunny must have figured plastic eggs would suffice this year since Austin isn't quite old enough to handle the real thing yet (and his parents were too tired to deal with cleaning up egg dye). This was just fine with Austin as he opened every single egg before he dropped them into his  basket, shoving chocolate into his mouth as fast as he possibly could. We had to take the basket away from him soon afterwards because he would have eaten the entire thing if we would have let him! He was not very happy about that....

We hid eggs once more before it was time for breakfast and General Conference. We ate cinnamon rolls and hard boiled eggs but Austin hardly took a bite because he was so busy with his new drawing board. We spent the rest of the day as a family, relaxing and listening to Conference. It was the perfect day! So calm and fulfilling! We were all sad to see it come to an end. Before we put Austin to bed we sat in his room listening to him jabber on to us about all the fun he had. He kept saying, "fun! fun!" after every little story. His English is getting good enough for us to actually understand him speaking partial sentences! It is amazing listening to his vocabulary grow and hear him put proper phrases together! He cried for quite a while after we laid him down for bed because he didn't want all the fun to end. We couldn't blame him. We felt like crying ourselves when we thought about work the next day......

Happy Easter Everyone! We hope your day was just as full of love and happiness as was intended by our Savior the day he made the ultimate sacrifice for our salvation.