{Austin 10 Months}

Dear Austie Bostie,

How have TEN months passed already? Oh my, I can't believe that you are almost one. I just teared up a bit. It really does not seem possible that you were born almost a year ago. Its crazy that one year ago I was just put on bed rest, and was so so worried that you might come too early. We are so lucky that you stayed put until your due date, and were very healthy.

Where to start? You are such a fun, cuddly, sweet, loud, adventurous, shy, and happy baby. Sometimes you are crazy wild and crawling all over the place, and other times you are glued to my hip. Total mommas boy for sure. When your brother was this age, I read a book about personality types...and he fit into one perfectly. You? Not so much. You have a mixture of many, and I just love trying to figure you out.

These days you are a super fast crawler, and you will "walk" along things and furniture. You have taken a few steps here and there by yourself, but only to lunge toward something, and then you are done. I am just waiting or the day you take off running. Oh man, big brother will be in for it then!

You love to play with toys. All toys. Things that make noise. Things that you can throw. You have a pretty good arm, and throw things a lot. You LOVE to take things out of buckets or off shelves, and just throw them. You will spend a LOT of time emptying my pantry or your dresser drawers. You also think its hilarious when we tell you no! Oh, you will laugh and squeal. Not sure how good this is;)

Foods. What food don't you like? None. If you are not into the texture, you just chew and then spit it out. If you can't break down the food (bc you only have 8 teeth) then you gum it until its mush, and then spit it out. (example: Oranges or clementines) We just throw whatever we are eating on to your highchair tray, and you go to town. Only down side, you finish eating in minutes, and when you are done, you are DONE. You want out ASAP, and to get down on the ground to crawl around. Oh, and the mess, its everywhere.

You still nurse every few hours during the day, and go all night without nursing. This past week you were sick, and could not nurse. You would have thought that the world was over and we were starving you. Poor guy, you were so stuffed up that you could not nurse, and you hated it. Thankfully, your nose is a little more clear now, enough to nurse at least. Thank God! In the past month you bit me a few times while nursing (on accident of course;) and I had to tell you "ouch" and that it hurt. You got the hint pretty fast, and stopped.

Sleep these days is going pretty great. You are napping two times a day, and they are long! Morning nap is at least 2 hours, and afternoon nap is at least 3 hours! You go to bed at 7:30 or 8, and you are up by 530 (we won't count the two days you slept until 7:45AM, bc you were sick, and thats way too good to be true!!!!!!)

You love to blow kisses and raspberries to us. You say momma and dada and lots of grunts and squeals. Oh, and you growl when you get mad! You even make your face all red, and lay down on the ground and put your head down and cry. This almost always happens when big brother takes something away from you. Poor bubba. So hard. One day you will be able to walk and run, and get him back;)

Dance. Music. Two of your favorite things! You hear music, and your hips start moving. Then you clap. Its one of the cutest things ever. We just love watching you dance. Then you give us the "elvis lip" and we are all laughing:) You are just so cute!

Oh Austie, we love you so so much. Thank you for making everyone around you smile each and every day.

Love you always-
Momma & Daddy