Austin is 9 months old!



Our Austin is nine months old.  His check-up showed a healthy, bouncy baby boy, albeit on the light side!  Austin weighed 16 pounds (4th percentile), is 27 inches tall (25th percentile), and 45.2 cm head circumference (55-65th percentile).  This is about the size Emma was at her 9-month check-up, which means Austin has a little bit of catching up to do to be bigger than his sister!  The pediatrician gave me the green light to fill him up on more "calorie-dense" food, so we will definitely be doing that!  He is busy crawling, climbing, and reaching for everything in sight.  He can now sit up by himself, and when I go to get him in his crib after a nap, he will be in an uncomfortable position unable to sit nor stand.  It won't be long before he is cruising and trying to walk.  Lately, I have noticed he is more anxious around strangers, and prefers to be with his mama than anybody else.  Here he is trying some frozen yogurt at dinner, and being cute.  We love him!

 



Austin's First Official Haircut

Austin got his first "official" haircut.  I couldn't stand the hair hanging over his ears, so I clipped a few strands a couple of months ago, but he was looking a bit scruffy, like he needed a real haircut, so I enlisted a friend who cut hair professionally to help with this milestone. 

Before:

During:

and After:

Handsome boy, but he doesn't look like a baby anymore, does he?

Finally, She Plays (and in this case, also sings)!

Miss E has been taking Suzuki piano lessons for almost a year now. It was painstakingly frustrating experience at times, although I am completely empathetic to her desire to "play" but not "practice". Her musical education through the Suzuki program requires full commitment on my part, as I had to complete 4+ hours of training before I could even schedule her first lesson. But she is finally playing, and will be playing in her first piano recital in a few weeks. So, here is your preview, which is a bonus performance, by the way, because she not only plays, but sings in this version - a tribute to her Aunt Virginia's birthday:

Heard Around the House Lately

- After a brief open house visit to preschool this week, Emma asks:  "When is it a NORMAL preschool day?"

- After enduring for weeks "Is it school day today?", I responded, "Tomorrow, Sister H will pick you up, and you get to go to school with Luke."  Emma exclaimed, "I have been dreaming about going to school for a long time!"

- When I took her out of sacrament meeting at church to remind her to be more reverent, she looked a little worried.  Once she realized she wasn't in big trouble, she said, "Let's go back in before the music starts, Mom, because you feel the spirit when there's music.  If you miss the music, you won't feel the spirit, and then you can't be close to God.  Don't you want to be close to God?"

- When a speaker introduced himself as Josh, Emma asked, "What's his name?"  Curtis responded, "Josh."  Emma asked again, "What's his name?"  Curtis said, "I told you.  He said his name was Josh."  Emma asked, "Is he Josh the Baptist?" At least she's paying attention during Sunday School, even if she doesn't get it quite right!  Josh did, by the way, have a beard. 

He sits!



Here is our smiling 7-month-old sitting.  He is so much happier when he's not lying down.  He's just ready to start cruising, only if his body would obey....

First Day of Preschool 2012 - 13

Today was first day of preschool at Teddie Bear Corner Preschool.  Emma is one of two students returning from last year, so she's actually the oldest student there among mostly 3-year-olds and even a couple of not-quite-3-year-olds. 

As usual, I had to hound her to get dressed and be ready for carpool.  She did indulge me for a few minutes for me to take photos, but really just wanted to make a video of herself twirling on her toes.  With her TOMS on, she said she could dance on her "nails and toes" without hurting. 

When she was alone in the afternoon, she took out a bag of her colored goldfish crackers to practice her sorting - for homework.   She said she had a good day, and I believe her! 



San Diego Vacation

Boo-hoo!  My sister's family is moving to Utah from San Diego.  Curtis laments very sadly our summer home is no more. 

While they were househunting in Utah, we decided to help by "housesitting" (although they did not need us to, nor did they ask us to!) and enjoy the cooler weather.  It was about 40 degrees cooler there! 

During the week, we did a lot of fun things, even though Curtis had to fly back to Phoenix to work a couple of days.  On Monday, Curtis left for Phoenix bright and early at 6:30 am.  The kids and I went downtown to The New Children's Museum (not to be confused with the old one, ha-ha).  It was a relatively new facility, and they have what they call a "new" model of museum emphasizing children and the arts.  Their displays and activities were all trash-themed. 



Mountains made out of cardboard

 

Junkyard
 

The kids and I went to the beach by ourselves on Tuesday:

 

 

 

Legoland on Wednesday - because Curtis had never been there athough kids and I had:

 

 

Sea World on Thursday - where Emma had loads of fun petting and feeding sea creatures, watching the shows, and purposely getting soaked with fishy salt water:

 



 

 

By Friday, my sister's family returned from Utah, having found a new house to purchase, so we hung out for one of our last times together in San Diego.  Busy week, but a lot of fun, and Emma was in recreational heaven!