YEA! I'm actually writing only three days late instead of three weeks like last time! Austin is growing like a weed, I'm not even sure how big he is right now...about twenty pounds and getting close to about 2 ft. 6 in.! What a GIANT! This kid is my whole world right now, he keeps us on our toes and makes us laugh nonstop. He's starting to get the standing on his own thing down, but isn't quite there yet. He loves to walk with our help, loves to climb the stairs (with supervision, of course!), and is exploring all the cool sounds he can make. His latest thing is sucking in while he's "talking". He cracks himself up and us, too! Austin has about 400 toys, and loves most of them, but when he can grab onto something he's not supposed to touch or is dangerous, he's all about it.
The month of December was a busy one for us. I think it is for just about everybody! My ward calling is the Enrichment Leader, so with it, I had to help plan the ward Christmas Party. Ummm, never doing that again, let me just say. There's a little too much of a perfect party expectation and not enough help. Anyways, it went well and my sweet hubby helped a ton. My good friend, Gena Lattin, was up to her eye-balls in stress planning it with me with her baby on the way, an active 1 year-old and serving as the 2nd counselor in the RS Presidency. I still get kinda heated about it. Oh, well. It really went well and I'm so glad its over.
Gregor's parents came out to visit at the beginning of the month for Kathy's sister's wedding. It was so amazing to see them. I know Gregor really enjoys having is parents around. His mom spoils us rotten and his dad is hilarious! Thank you again, Papa and Mom for your kindness and generosity towards us, it is greatly appreciated!!!
Our Christmas was really special. Gregor, Austin, and I wanted to start some of our own traditions since this was the first year we spent Christmas at our house and our first with our son. Gregor's family makes a big deal of Christmas Eve, while in my family, it's more of Christmas day. We kind of combined both. Since I had cooked a big dinner the night before and wasn't really in the mood to cook another one, we opted out and picked up Cafe Rio for dinner. Feliz Navidad! I loved it! Afterward, we opened presents as a family. It was so fun to watch our sweet, baby boy rip and tear paper like nobody's business! He loved it and I'm wishing that I would have just wadded up some paper for him to play with instead of spending all that money! Oh, well. I'd rather spoil my kid his first Christmas. It's worth it! Gregor got some cool stuff, but I think the topper was his GoPro camera. He's really outdoorsy and wants to take cool video and pictures of his adventures and this water-proof, smash-resistant camera is perfect! I got pretty spoiled myself with a SodaStream soda maker. (Gregor's just feeding my Diet Coke addiction!) I got some great clothes and snowboarding boots, along with a bunch of other great stuff. But as much as I loved giving and getting, it was so meaningful to celebrate the birth of our Savior with a baby this year. Seeing Austin and realizing that the Redeemer of the world came here in same infantile way just blows me away. I am so grateful for my Savior, I love Him.
Christmas was also a little bitter-sweet this year. My brother Kyle is on his mission in Ventura, CA so we really missed him, but the sweet part is that my beautiful sister, Kate, came home from CHINA! She's been over there for four months teaching english. She had such a great time there, I think she's planning on becoming a world explorer.
Gregor had his 28th birthday on New Years Eve! It was fun to plan a little party for him with a ton of fun little appetizers and his favorite, cheesecake! We had a few friends and family over (his dad and brother included!) I think he had fun, but my husband is not a group person, so when Austin was getting fussy and ready for bed, Gregor happily volunteered to hang out with him upstairs and read his book. Pretty funny, but I am grateful that he let me throw him a party! We rang in the New Year on our couch with a grumpy baby watching the ball drop on TV. Pretty magical, I'd say! I DID get my New Year's kiss though, which made me pretty happy! I sure love my little family, I can't believe my life is where it is. CRAZY!
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| Riding in the car with Grandma Kathy |
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| Greiner's and Elder Smith |
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| Love the hair! |
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| Daddy and Austin |
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| Mommy and Hammer |
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| First snow of the season |
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| @ Christina's Bachelorette party! Such a fun night at Koi! |
I'll include a few pictures, along with Austin's eight-month photo-shoot with my friend, Christina. She is AWESOME and only now breaking into the baby biz. I told her that Austin will happily be her muse, so hopefully we'll have a ton of professional pictures to share of our little guy!
