Three Days Until Christmas

I found these two enjoying the Christmas tree together.
"You like those lights, Baby Austin? Santa coming down chimney! You cited?!"
Happy Christmas!

Eight Weeks

Austin is eight weeks old and we are all in love...

Sharing a Cookie

Last night Cooper made my heart melt. Literally...puddle on the floor.

He was sitting on the kitchen counter after naptime, eating half of a freshly baked gingerbread cookie. He broke off a corner, handed it to me and said...

Cooper: I share this with you, Mommy.
Me: Aww, that's ok, Baby. You eat it; it's for you.
Coop: No, I want to share with you. (Handing me the corner.)
Me: That is so sweet. Thank you for sharing with me!
Coop: You know why I share with you?
Me: Why?
Coop: Because I love you so much.

And...puddle. It wasn't only the words he said, it was the way he said it, and the way he looked at me. Just the shear, genuine way about him at that moment meant so much. Amazing how at such a young age, they really do know love.

Santa Came Early

Santa came to our house tonight. He came on his sleigh with his reindeer, down the chimney. (He did, however, have to ask where the chimney was first.) He had a red oven mitt filled with treasures flung on his back. And he had the cheeriest "HO HO HO" I've ever heard. Santa handed out gifts to me, Daddy, and Baby Austin and just as he was about to fly away on his sleigh, he discovered the lights were broken and they needed to be fixed because "I have busy night tonight!"
Do you think someone is excited about Christmas??

The New Dessert and a Movie

When you have a toddler and a new baby in the house, you have to get creative when trying to actually spend time with your spouse. Philip and I had dessert and a movie night last night--dessert was s'mores made in the fireplace and the movie was watching the kiddos on the video monitor. Both kids were asleep, but we didn't mind. We completely enjoyed watching them.

Around the House Today

Today, while sweet little Austin was napping,

and I was trying to be productive,

a busy little three-year-old played in his one little world. Every time I looked up, he was doing something different, but he was completely focused on his current "project." Cooper has always, always had little treasures he hangs on to and plays with throughout the day. From the minute he could grab a toy, he's done this. But now, those little single item treasures have turned into piles of treasures, or what he now calls his "trash piles." Today, he made a lot of trash piles all over the house. And while they literally might look like trash piles to you and I, he can tell you exactly what is in each pile.

We even played trash truck today--the fireplace was the truck and Coop and I were the trash men. He would drive the truck and tell me when we were at the next house, where we jumped off the back of the truck and emptied the trash cans. It was so fun to hear what the "scene" looked like in his head--the green truck we were riding on; the big buttons that made a loud noise; the sounds the truck made when it was moving and crushing the trash; the handles we were holding on to; the different places where we stopped (Poppi's office, Daddy's office, Nana's house, and school); and the different trash that we picked up, some of it was even smelly, apparently.

Coop decided that under the Christmas tree was the perfect spot to park his trash truck, dump truck, and Lightening McQueen car. And that Santa needed to ride in Austin's car seat.

I love Cooper's creativity and I love that he is so good at playing by himself. At times I feel guilty that I'm not right there and entertaining him or playing with him the whole time, but I know it's good for him to play independently. And, he's totally happy doing it. He can sit and play with his cars or his little animals and his barn or his train set all morning, talking and creating a whole scene for what's happening.

Oh, and at seven weeks, someone loves his activity mat! He is really focusing on the little toys hanging down and will just stare at them like he's really trying to figure them out. All while kicking his legs and waving his arms like a bird. We do tummy time several times a day, but he doesn't stay on his tummy for very long because he keeps rolling over. Coop gets so excited for Austin after each roll; he cheers and claps for his sweet baby brother!

Austin is One Month

Look who's one month old and pretty awesome.

Checkup stats:
9 lb 8 oz (exactly three pounds over birth weight!)

He's eating every two to three hours during the day still and just recently started having one or two four hour stretches at night. I'm hoping he continues to add hours overnight--Mama sure needs more sleep!

We are having so much fun with Austin and getting to know him. He's started having some fussing periods. Sometimes it's just a fussy "moment" during the day, other times his fussy moments last all day, which makes for a long and difficult day for me until Philip gets home to help. But, we are figuring it out each day. Cooper is still just doing great; I'm so proud of him. He loves his little brother so much, giving lots of kisses throughout the day and telling him "I love you, Baby Austin." He loves to check on Austin and show him toys. When Austin fusses, Coop helps to sing or pat him or just talks to him. I really couldn't be prouder of how sweet and loving Coop is. He is such a great big brother!

Big trash truck, little baby.
I had a lot of fun taking these one-month pictures of Austin. He got pretty cozy the second I put him on the bean bag. It was cute to watch him slowly fall asleep and then go from being curled up to hanging his arms and legs over the edge of the bean bag. Coop started playing all around him, and Austin did not even budge.

The other day the boys and I were in Coop's room and Austin was laying on the rug, but started fussing. Coop said, "I have good idea! How bout put him on my stool? (meaning the bean bag) That make him happy!" Sure enough, the second I laid Austin on the bean bag, he was happy and content. I made sure to make a big deal to Cooper that he had such a great idea and he helped take care of Austin. Coop was sure the proud big brother.
Fireman Cooper decided to clean the board...
...then he was off to fight another fire!Happy One Month, my sweet Austin!!

Let's Talk About Trucks

When I picked Cooper up from school today, this was our conversation in the car:

Me: How was school today?

Cooper: Good.

Me: What did you do today?

Cooper: I play with tractor. I play outside and with my friends and with toys.

Me: (Holding up the turkey artwork he did) Did you do this today? I love it!

Cooper: Yes, it's a chicken...for Tankgiving.

Me: A chicken??

Cooper: Yes. It's a chicken. See?

Me: Did you read a book or sing songs today?

Cooper: Mom, I don't want to talk about school. I want to talk about trucks on struction sites (that means "construction"). Ok?

Me: Sure! That sounds fun.

Cooper: There are cement trucks. And gas trucks and harvesters and diggers. Oh, look that trash truck!! (Pointing out the window.) That big!!! I have big trash truck that like! Where it going? What those guys doing? They building road? Maybe I go to Jackson's house after naptime? What Jackson doing? Whoa! You see that truck? (Pointing to a delivery truck.) What inside that truck? I drive truck like that one day. That truck go to struction site? This lollipop yyuuummmmyyy! Where we going now? Daddy be home 15 minutes? (Everything is 15 minutes these days.) Hi Baby Austin. Baby Austin sleeping. He not see that truck. Whoa!

And so on and so on... I wish I could have recorded everything he said. He was quite the chatter box, jumping from one thing to the next, but always bringing it back to trucks.

Love this all boy!