First Pool Day of the Year

We can safely say that winter is over in Nevada and summer is quickly on its way. We have been having weather in the high 80's which means it's time to start hitting the pool! Sadly this also means that our daily walks are getting shorter because Mom is sweating after one or two laps around the block so we are very grateful we have something else that is fun to take its place :).

Austin LOVED LOVED LOVED our first day at the pool. We have a kiddie pool that is just his size and is perfect for him to crawl around and splash to his little hearts content. Josh and I had fun just soaking up the sun and watching him. His poor little feet were all scraped up afterwards from crawling on the cement but it didn't seem to bother him. It was also the perfect way to tire him out. Usually he takes his afternoon nap at around 2:00pm but he was so tired and grumpy after swimming that we were forced to break the nap cycle and put him down at 12:30! Let me just say that never happens!!

Here's some pictures from our fun in the sun. I'm sure I will be posting at least a hundred more by the end of the summer.



 

Clark County Fair 2014

The pictures say it all folks. You can't have more fun than the Clark County Fair! I refuse to believe it! This was Austin's first time and I am convinced that he loved it possibly even more than we did.

My favorite fair moment was watching Austin ride a mini-pony for the first time. I know this sounds crazy because he wasn't even nine months old yet but he was such a natural! He acted like he didn't even need his Dad there beside him. While all the other older children were crying and begging to get off, he sat there holding onto the reigns and patting the horse's mane while he talked to her in his baby jibber. It was so adorable seeing his little fat legs doing the splits as he was straddled across the saddle, swaying along with the horse's gait. Such a good memory! We were so caught up in the moment that we even bought three copies of the cheap picture they took of him to share the memory with some Grandmas! Yes, I know..... we are suckers. Grandpa Porter bought Austin a little black cowboy hat now that he is an official cowboy but he wouldn't have anything to do with it. He's not a big fan of things going on his head. Maybe next year?

Of course we ate food and more food. The weather was on the warm side so I was a fan of the frozen banana stand and as always Josh got his BBQ. Austin isn't old enough for the carnival so we skipped that part. I wasn't crying about it though because I swear the older I get, the weaker my stomach gets!

Grandma Porter was in heaven the whole week we stayed with them. I was also in heaven because I had more hands to help with the baby which meant more free time for me!! On Saturday all of my extended family came out and we all had dinner together fair style. Our family is big, noisy, and I swear everyone but me suffers from ADD because it is impossible  to get the whole clan to go in the same direction at once. Nevertheless, family is family and I sure love 'em :). Austin gets super grumpy once bedtime hits and he wouldn't just fall asleep in his stroller because there was way too much to look at with all the lights and noise going on so we left the group early. After a nice warm bath and a little rocking, he was out like a light! That's how you know it was a good party!

Austin experienced grass for the first time (crazy, I know) and he was a big fan! He kept pulling it out and shoving it all in his mouth. We fought it at first and then we got tired and gave up. If he wants to be a cow when he grows up, who are we to stop him?

visiting the baby bunnies. I'm convinced there is nothing cuter than baby bunnies!

little cowboy

 

figuring out the reigns

talking to his pony

Wandering around the concession stands. Austin scored a puppy during our venture. Later that night we realized that the puppy's eyes light up a creepy green color and it literally looks possessed.... we weren't expecting that fun little surprise haha. 

visiting the craft tent and the pretty garden outside of it

Dad wanted to win his son a giant blow-up baseball bat. Austin popped it with his teeth ten minutes later....

Right where this trouble maker belongs!

Like mother, like son?

Little crazy goose enjoying the ride

He loves his Grandma!

Goats! This kid isn't scared of anything.

The perfect day :)

Wrandi and Tyson came to visit!

Let me tell you a little bit about Wrandi. We met at church our freshman year of college and bonded instantly because we were the only 2 out of 3 people in that ward who were 18 and not divorced or getting our Masters/Doctorate degrees yet. It also turned out that we were both Pre-Nursing majors and had a very similar past and family life. We continued to be friends and later, roomies, all throughout college. Not only is our friendship famous for being awesome, it is also famous for having some pretty epic fights. We started calling her "Pantsy" in college because she likes to wear the pants in every relationship which doesn't always go over so well. But in the end, we always got over it and went back to being awesome :).

 

A little walk down memory lane:

Roomies

pumpkin carving at the Singles Ward FHE. Our pumpkin was ridiculously ugly.

Football craziness at the Blackout

Getting into Nursing School

Graduation day!

Keeping up with tradition

Wrandi's wedding day

My wedding day

Anyways, now we are both nurses and are all old and married, but still great friends! So of course we had a great time when she and her husband Tyson came to visit for the weekend :). I can't wait for them to start having babies so they can play together and be as good of friends as we are! ;)



Our options for fun were limited since we have the little guy now, but we still had a great time. We played games, ate tons of homemade food, watched movies, talked, and went for a nice walk in the gorgeous weather. Love you guys! Hope you come back soon :).

Lake Las Vegas

Papa Art came to visit and since the weather was absolutely perfect, we went to Lake Las Vegas! It was so fun. We walked around the grounds, watched a guy "walk on water," and showed Austin the fish and ducks. After that, we came home and had a BBQ. Steak and potatoes, you can't beat that! Weekend with Grandpa was a success. Mom and Dad were also able to squeeze in a little date to our favorite buffet :).



Guy walking on water

Heading out to dinner :)

Irony

Why is life so ironic? Why can't we have what we want, when we want it?

Why is it that when you need a job, you can't find one. Then once you decide to quit your job, everyone wants you!!

It hasn't even been a month since I quit and I have already had two different Nurse Managers call me, wanting me to run their clinics.

I can't say it wasn't tempting and that's the ironic part! I wanted so badly to quit my job and stay at home with my baby, and then once I got it, I suddenly felt tempted to go back to work again! You could say I am having a little identity crisis at the moment. It doesn't help that the Managers who called sat on the phone for 45 minutes raving about how I was the best  nurse this company has ever had and how they will do anything to get me to come back and work for them again. You could say my peacock feathers got pretty ruffled and I was loving all the gratification that for some reason never came around when I was actually working there! Grrrrr...... irony.

So yes, I thought about it. I thought about the money, the excitement, the titles, the power. All of which I have been missing lately. Josh even "upped the ante" by telling me there is a condo in Lake Las Vegas he wants to buy for us to vacation to whenever we want and even gave me a very generous spending allowance for any shopping I might feel like doing at any time. Can you guess which side of the fence he's on?

Tempting.... oh so tempting! 

But then I spent the day with my son and kept remembering all the reasons why I quit. He is growing so fast and won't be a baby for long. I have to keep in mind that my days as a nurse aren't over, they're just put on hold. I worked so hard to get to this point in my life and I can't be taking it for granted. 

It's not easy staying at home. Let's be honest, it can get pretty boring when the only person you have to talk to all day long is an eight month old who repeats himself over and over with the same two syllable words. I am trying to learn how to slow down and not crave the fast pace of my former life. 

Ironically that's what I hated most about my former life when I was in it! Confused much? Yeah, me too. I called the Managers this morning and turned down the jobs. No condo in paradise for us just yet. Right now it is time to slow down and focus on family.

Milestones: 8 Months Old

Oh Austin, how much you have grown! Last month you were our sweet baby who sat there contently playing with your toys, too lazy to really go anywhere unless you really really wanted to. And even then, you found it just as appealing to lay there and cry for someone to come pick you up rather than expend any energy of your own in crawling.

That was last month.

This month it seems like someone sprinkled adventure dust over you while you slept and you woke up a new man! You are everywhere! If I want to go to the bathroom I have to choose between leaving you alone for a minute and hoping you don't do too much damage, or locking you in the bathroom with me and going about the fun job of simultaneously trying to pee while keeping you out of the garbage, toilet bowl cleaner, etc. Thank goodness for hand sanitizer because the second I turn around to wash my hands, you are instantly in the toilet!

Getting into everything!

The word "NO" is a joke to you. I know you understand me because the second I say it you turn around and give me that mischievous smile, think about it for a moment, and then you go right back to what you were doing!

That mischievous face I'm talking about!

You love pulling all the DVDs off the bookcase, which isn't that big of a deal. Except for you insist on grabbing the DVD that's totally out of your reach, resulting in you falling, smacking your head on the corner of the bookcase, and crying like someone just shot you. We blocked off that bookcase with the Love-Sac which resulted in you finding the window sill and pulling on the blinds. I opened the blinds and allowed you to stand there looking out the window while I went about my business of doing dishes. Then I noticed you were chewing like there was something in your mouth. I went over to check on you and saw that you were chewing on the wall! You had chewed through the paint and the plaster, clear down to the metal and dry wall! I spent the next five minutes fighting you to get all that stuff out of your mouth and with the amount of struggle you put up, it must have tasted good! I closed the window, put you in front of your toys, and went back to my chores. Less than two minutes later you were right back up to the window eating the wall again! I couldn't help but laugh when I heard myself say, "Austin! Stop eating the walls!" It just sounded so ridiculous.

Pulling all the  DVDs off the shelf

Look what you did to our brand new walls! Now I get to add painting to my to do list :(.

After that, I spent the day keeping you from turning the Playstation on and off, and tearing apart the cute decorative basket it sits on. Of course that went along with trying to keep you away from all the electrical cords. I love you kid, but I find myself getting excited for Dad to come home and give me a second of peace!

Getting my two second cuddle in :).

I keep telling myself I need to get up before you or Dad wake up so I can get ready for the day and perhaps even exercise. But that thought flies out the window by 4:00am when I fling myself back into bed after being up with you at least four times throughout the night. Last night it was literally every hour starting at midnight. Judging by the low grade fever and your sudden desire to chew everything like a puppy, we think you are teething.

Waiting for Dad to get home.

You have so much fun playing with your Daddy! He does fun things like make box-cars and pushes you around the house!

It is so funny to me that you love trying new food so much because just two months ago you wouldn't give anything but breast milk the time of day! You are supposed to continue breast feeding until you turn one but this is suddenly a huge struggle! You are way too interested in your surroundings and can't seem to sit still long enough to nurse! My milk supply is already starting to dwindle so I've got to make a change somewhere. You don't mind taking a bottle because it allows you to sit up and watch everything while you eat so I think I'm just going to have to start pumping all throughout the day and giving you bottles..... great :(. I hate pumping and it is especially annoying now that you are into everything and I can't pump longer than a minute without having to stop and go rescue you from whatever situation you have gotten yourself into! But I am determined to not give you formula so you better thank me someday!

I turned around for a second and you had gotten into the Edamame I was going to snack on! I laughed so hard because you had them all shoved in your mouth and they were scattered all around you!

We give you bits and pieces of our food when we eat (usually only mashed potatoes and bread) and you love it. I decided to give you Cheerios the day you chewed on the walls, hoping that would be a good alternative. It was an instant success! I bit them in half at first, making sure you could swallow them and now you are eating them whole. It is so cute watching you try to use your chubby fingers to pick them up and shove them in your mouth. You use both hands to grab one Cheerio and then try to fit both fists in your little mouth, which results in the Cheerio getting dropped in your lap without you noticing it haha. I get a kick out of watching you :). You also love Greek Yogurt more than anything else we have given you! I have been sharing it with you, but yesterday you ate the entire container by yourself!

Eating your Cheerios for the first time!

The weather has been perfect for taking walks and you are loving it! Besides hating the sun because it makes you sneeze and making me constantly shade your eyes, you sit contently while we push you around and look at all the beauty around you :).

 

Taking a walk around the neighborhood with Dad after work!

Soaking in the sunshine!

Here's a little photo dump of the past month:

You amazed me when you started pulling blocks one by one out of that bucket! I then put them back in and put the lid on and you proceeded to take the lid off and pull each block out again! You're too smart!

Cheese!

Eyes are still blue!

I am starting to see more of your Dad in you as you get older. You definitely have his chin!

Chillin' in your stroller while Grandma P. took you for a walk.

Grandpa P. bought you that Star Wars onesie and you are finally big enough to wear it :). It says, "I'm small but I know things." It's perfect! haha

learning how to sit up and play

hanging out with Dad while Mom was working. This was taken when you were just barely 7 months. It's crazy how much you've changed over the month!