18 Month Austin

Our sweet baby Austin is 18 months already.  He is super active and physical for his age and often gets mistaken as being quite a bit older than he is.  This partly comes from working so hard to keep up with his big brother.  Overall he is a very happy and busy boy.  Lately his favorite things are playing or reading about trains (choo-choo's), being outside, or playing with water.  He has started showing a strong preference for certain books and will push away most books that do not feature a train.  Often I am only allowed to read his favorite, "Trains,cranes and troublesome trucks."  He is typically a super eater and requests his favorites by name including: juice, milk, grapes, bananas, crackers, and cheese.     

Dylan's 4!

 

Dylan is so excited to be 4!  He is the youngest in his preschool class so he got to watch all his buddies celebrate 4 first.  He woke up on the morning of his birthday and said look Mom I'm faster...as he ran down the hall in his PJ's.  "4 is faster," he said.  He has been making lots of other "Now that I'm 4 I can..." declarations in the past couple days including: "Now that I'm 4 I can ....eat spicy foods, pick out my own clothes, buckle my car seat, turn on the TV, etc.  Our little boy is definitely testing out his independent side.  At his 4 year doctor's checkup Dylan was a champ!  He got 3 shots with a mere "ouch".  No tears.  The next day when Austin bit him after he blocked him from taking a toy he cried and said Mom, that hurt more than my shots.  Siblings... what can we say.  Dylan is between the 50th and 75th %ile for both height (41.5 '') and weight (39.6 lbs).  Here are some more pictures of his fun birthday with his friends at Hoots:  

My friend Megan made Dylan this amazing Cars Cake

 

We did a Cars pull string Pinata.  I was nervous that the 1st person would pick the right string to open the candy and no one else would get a turn, but it worked out great.  Everyone got a turn and the kids loved it!

 

Birthday Loot! 

 

Later that night we went to Dylan's favorite restaurant Sweet Tomatoes for dinner.

What a Fun & Busy Day! 

Easter & the 3 Egg Hunts

 An Egg hunt earlier in the week with our Mom's group

 UNM Duckpond Egg Hunt on Saturday Morning

 Dylan was so excited to see the Easter bunny.  He even wrapped up a carrot to bring to him.   We saw the bunny first thing and he handed him the carrot.  Then he would not go close enough to get a picture.  Austin wasn't to keen on the bunny either as you can see in this picture.

 We left a carrot & the empty Easter baskets out Saturday night.

 Easter Cutie!

 Egg Hunt at Grandma & Grandpa's House

 Cousins

Our attempt to get a Family Photo

Reflecting on 3

Three was such a fun age.  I wanted to keep track of some of Dylan's favorite things and the most memorable things Dylan enjoyed, did, & said while he was three.

Favorites:

Color: RED
Food: Cereal, the kind I like (Oatmeal Squares), Dino Chickens
Drink: Smoothies as a snack, milk with dinner
Restaurant: Sweet Tomatoes & Chick-fil-A
Toys: Dinosaurs, Dragons & Cars
Shows: Dinosaur documentaries (seriously), Kipper, Dragon Tails, Barney & Bob the Builder
Movies: Cars 2, How to Train a Dragon
Books: Any Dino Book

Funny Sayings:
 "Brilliant Job Mom" - Picked up from Kipper

When I grow up I want to be....
 a dinosaur hunter or a doctor

Happy Birthday Austin!

It is hard to believe that our sweet baby boy is 1 already!  Austin is now 26 pounds and 31.5 inches long, well tall really, now that he is standing up most of the time.

 

 Our Little Monkey Excited For His Birthday Party

 Jungle Cupcakes Scott and I created for his Big Day!

 Yummy Tiger Cupcake!

 After his birthday outfit was covered in cupcake, he changed into his super cute new Lobo outfit from Aunt Allison.  Here he is loving his new couch from Grandma & Grandpa!

 Taking his new trike from Nani & Pops for a test drive

Brotherly Love

Happy Birthday Austin!  We Love You!!!

11 Month Monkey!

After uploading and looking at all the pictures we took this month I was inspired to add pictures to fit the words to a little board book that Austin has called My little Monkey.

My Little Monkey I love you for all that you are and all that you do.

Whether you're:

Glad

Sad

Silly

or Spunky

you'll always be my little Monkey!!!

Not that I'm biased...but man is our little guy cute! Maybe this is weird, but even the sad face picture makes me smile. Austin is such a good baby. Just a month to go until his big 1st Birthday.

Funny Notes about Austin this month:
* He discovered his tongue this month and is constantly sticking it out, making raspberries, and trying to grab it.
* He crawls very fast and is into Everything. Here he is taking out all the pots and pans. We now have added baby locks to all our cabinets :)
*He loves to stand and walk around furniture, toys, anything possible. Here he is pushing Dylan on the toy train. He is so strong. I was shocked when Dylan said, "look Mom." Sure enough, there was Austin pushing Dylan all the way down the hall and around the kitchen.
*He loves music and makes singing noises and does a cute butt drop dance when we listen to music. Here he is playing a maraca.
We are planning a jungle themed family birthday party for our little monkey at the end of March. Complete with Monkey, Lion & Tiger cupcakes. Stay tuned to see the mess :)

Gotcha!

I've been posting a lot of pictures of Austin to transfer to his baby book, but lately I've taken a few pictures of Dylan that I wanted to share. Normally he runs from the camera, looks away, or makes a funny face, but these turned out great. These last two pictures were taken tonight when I was taking a picture of Austin for turning 10 months today. Dylan looked at me and said, "You can't get a picture of me, I'm too fast!" The game began and I ended up with lots of blurry pictures some with no one in them, but in the end...

Success, Gotcha!

10 Months

This month Austin has become very vocal. He stared saying Dada in addition to Mama. He also says something that sounds like a mix between clap and quack. I think he is trying to say clap but it is hard to tell. He babbles constantly. His favorite thing to yell is still Mama, and I do mean yell. He is most definitely a Connors boy. Those of you who know them will most certainly agree. Good lungs run in the family! Needless to say, I definitely feel loved :)

Austin has also started eating more solid foods. He loves Puffs, Cheerios, Bananas, strawberries, yogurt, sweet potatoes, and graham crackers. He also eats nearly all baby foods.

He had been sleeping really well. Averaging 8-10 hours at night nursing and then going back to sleep for another 3-4 hrs until recently. He just got his third tooth last week and two more on top are just cutting through as well so we have not been sleeping as well lately. He still naps twice a day. Lately he has been taking an 1.5 - 2 hr nap in the morning and and a shorter 1 hr nap in the afternoon. In the picture above. Austin had just woke up from a long morning nap very happy. He looked so cute I quickly ran to get the camera.

Austin is a very busy baby. Crawling. pulling up and exploring everything. Here are some more pictures of him in action this month:

Austin loving the play saucer

Cute little Bear's fan in Daddy's hat at the park

Destroying Dylan's Puzzle

Learning to Drive :) Dylan is such a good big brother!

Tent playtime

Reading Go Dog Go...so advanced for 10 months!

We are so blessed to have such a Happy, Busy Baby!

Christmas Photofest

I connected our camera to the computer and we had 341 Pictures this month! It was taken me a while to sort through. We had such a fun December. Here are some of my favorites:

Dylan looking so handsome getting ready for his preschool's Christmas Performance.

Santa Picture

Family Xmas Photo 2011

Dylan loving his new game: UNO MOO

The Pickle Present
All the cousins search for the hidden pickle ornament on our tree at our annual Christmas Eve Brunch. This year Ryan won. The runners up won glasses (to help them see better next year :))

Wow, Santa came! Before Dylan would look to see his stocking and gifts he insisted that we check to see if Santa ate the cookies we left for him.

Dylan teaching Austin how to use his new toy from Santa

Photo Op Success!
Alyssa, Dylan, & Austin all looking in the same direction