Big Discovery

Austin started teething at three months. The order that his teeth came in were all four bottom inscisors, then the top four inscisors. At Thansksgiving time he started teething his first molar on the bottom left, I think it officially broke skin on about December 4. He was really fussy and acting like he was teething at Christmas time, but we never actually discovered a tooth at that time since we were anticipating the next would be his lower right molar. The week of his birthday that lower right molar finally broke skin so we thought he was up to 10 total teeth.

So Friday night we were giving Austin his bath and when we got done we had him laying on the bed in our office to dry off, lotion, pjs and brush teeth as usual. We were playing with him and during one of his smiling/laughing sessions I caught a glimpse of a point of a tooth on his upper left gum. We pulled back the lip, and only for a second because Austin hates to show off his teeth, and not only did we see that his upper left cuspid is just breaking through the gum, but his upper left molar is already a significant amount out. So now I think that the upper molar was the one causing him the troubles at Christmas time.

Another cake

I did this cake in about May 2008 for the Fredonia Fire Department. I'm including a picture of the decal so you can see what it is supposed to look like. Although doing this I discovered that the Fire Department decal is not correct because the Arizona Flag has 13 rays for the 13 counties and the decal only has 9 rays.

1 Year Appointment

We just got back from Austin's one year checkup. He was very brave through SIX shots! He was a human pin cushion, but he barely cried at all. I got a prescription of EMLA cream to try after reading about it in Parents Magazine. I'm not terribly impressed by it, it was challenging to get him to hold still for me to apply it and cover with a bandaid, then I don't know that it did much for him to relieve the pain because he still cried. And the nurse told me the last time to just put it 1 inch apart on his thighs and arms, but then today she said I did it wrong because two of the shots needed to go on the back side of the leg. I wish they could just apply it, but it has to go on an hour before the injection. Of course with as behind as they were today we probably could have had them apply it then wait. We had to sit in the waiting room for 30 minutes before they called us in, then we had to wait for the doctor. We were at the clinic for an hour and 30 minutes total!

Anyway, enough ranting! He is completely healthy at 31" long and 21lbs even. I find it interesting that for length he is between the 75-90th percentile, but in weight he is only in the 10-25th percentile for his age. He looks chubby to me, but I guess most babies are pretty chunky looking. It looks like he will be a tall guy!

Close up of cakes

Here is a close up of the cakes for you Brandi. I decorated them the morning of the party, so it was kind of a quick job and not my best work. I forgot to smooth out Bert's nose, so it looks really messy, oh well! I also made cream cheese mints and forgot to serve them.

The Big Party

The big birthday party turned out so great! I had a great cast of helpers with Dustin, my Mom and my sister Cathy. We served a baked potato bar and chili for lunch, although I forgot to put out the bacon bits and chopped green onion. Austin liked the food, but I think he liked being fed by the twins even more! I made two cakes, but Austin seemed a little intimidated by the sticky frosting and he didn't dig right in. We couldn't get him to blow out the candles, but his buddy Rowen was there to help out! He got a lot of great gifts, it was nice to have so many friends at the party. Through it all he was happy and had a good attitude, he is truly a social person.

Happy Birthday to my Big Boy

Here is a video of the birthday boy that we took last night (before the power outage). I hope you enjoy!

Aloha Friday

Today is my son's FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

My question is:

When is your birthday, month and day?

I remember once I heard that if you have a certain size group of people that odds are that two people will have the same birthday, but I can't remember what the group size is. Let's see today if anyone that responds to my Aloha Friday has the same birthday.

My birthday is October 8.

Some interesting things about my birthday:

• I was born on my brother's 19th birthday (long story about the age gap, for another blog).
• One of my good friends in school (my graduating class was 122) was born the same day, same year.
• In 4-H one of my extension agents had the same birthday as me.
• The last President of my sororoity collegiate chapter has the same birthday as me. Our Chapter was founded in 1991, so there should be about 19 Presidents, of which at least two of us have the same birthday.
• In the Tribe I work for there is at least one tribal member with the same birthday. The Tribe has about 280 enrolled tribal members.

Play along with Aloha Friday at An Island Life. All you have to do is post a simple question on your blog, leave the link at An Island Life and then visit others to answer their questions. It's a fun was to make new bloggy friends!

Prayers and Pregnancy Vibes

No, don't get the wrong idea here, we ARE NOT trying to conceive again yet.

I have a Sorority Sister who was in the Sorority at a different time than me, but I've come to know her through our Alumni Chapter, and we have gotten to be good friends. She is currently in her third attempt at IVF. They will be implanting the embryos on Thursday, so my thoughts and hopes are with her this week. Her first IVF was at the time I got pregnant with Austin, so I know this has been a long (and expensive) process for her.

I can't understand why it is that people who would make great parents sometimes can't conceive, and yet we constantly see on the news the aweful stories of child abuse from people who clearly should not have children. Right now on the news they are talking about Baby Gabriel, and new evidence that the mother may have overdosed him, how SICK! It's one of those great unjustices in this world.

So today I pray that those who desire to love and nuture a child be as blessed as Dustin and I, and that whereever Baby Gabe is, that he is found so those that love him will be able to have closure and peace, and preferably that he is found alive and well.

Birthday Week

Wow, my baby boy will be 1 on Friday!!!

I am so excited, can you tell?

The party planning is going well, we picked up some great stuff while we were in Grand Junction for a work trip. We got a combination of blue first birthday decor and some Sesame Street stuff, just enough to make the theme, but not total over-kill. Not too many people have RSVPed yet, but I'm not too worried about it.

I found out tonight that my sister Cathy will be coming for the party. She will fly in on Austin's birthday and be here Saturday for the party. My Mom is already here, so I'm excited that they will both be here to share in the fun.

Since my sister is coming in we need to pick her up in St. George, so since we are going to be in "the big city" I can pick up all the rest of the supplies at Wally World, or Albertson's, so I'm way excited about saving all that cash!

So Austin is on the go these days. He took his first step on Christmas Day and three steps the next day. But like all of his other milestones, he has decided to take a break from the whole walking thing for now so he is back to racing through the house on all fours. He also loves to race behind his new cool John Deere tractor that Santa gave him. Yesterday the weather was awesome so we walked to the park and he swung, went on the curly slide with Dad, and bounced on the horsees. I just love his smiles and his giggles melt my heart.

Aloha Friday

My question is:

What is your favorite baked potato topping?

I'm going to do a baked potato bar for Austin's birthday party lunch and I'm trying to come up with ideas for the toppings. I personally like the classics: butter, sour cream and chives.

If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave your link at the Aloha Friday page. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

Wordless Wednesday, on Thursday!

These are our special family ornaments.

This is from my employee Christmas Party back in December, I received my five year service award.

The Big Party Invite