10 months of Austin!

Austin Daniel...our third boy! When I found out I was pregnant with Austin, I wasn't quite ready to have a baby in the house again. I'm so thankful that God has a perfect time for all things. I remind myself of this often when I am overwhelmed with 3 little boys.

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When choosing a name for Austin, we felt like we had hit a brick wall. We had lots of girl names ready but not another boy name we could AGREE on. I kept holding out for Caleb or Jacob. We also liked Owen, Gavin and Brandon and my husband liked Evan. The stipulation for the first name was that it had to end with an "n" (like our other two, Ethan and Hudson). The middle name was required to start with a "d" like his brothers. We settled on the Daniel for the middle name pretty easily, but the first name came  close to the end of the pregnancy as a suggestion from a couple in one of the churches we were doing a tournament at. The meaning of a name is pretty important for me as well, so no wonder we had a hard time deciding with all our stipulations!

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Austin :: useful, revered

Daniel :: God is my judge

Austin was born in the midst of sickness in our house, but praise the Lord he was a healthy little jelly bean! He was my smallest baby.... 6 pounds, 9 ounces, but very long...22 inches. I love the memories of Austin tightly swaddled with his hospital hat on and his tiny little eyes looking for me. From the start he seemed to be a good baby and all were thrilled to welcome him home.

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He came 15 days before Christmas, so he was my special Christmas gift. Very alert little boy that didn't seem to require as much sleep as his brothers. He is a very fair boy, fair light blonde hair and fair flawless skin. He was my only child that didn't have jaundice.

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Jonathan is an awesome dad! He has survived watching 3 c-sections, which is saying a lot for my easily queasy husband. He takes over and helps out with all 3 children and knows how to care for me and make me take it easy. He's really good at making cereal for breakfast too :)

I'm am so thankful for the help of my family after Austin's birth. My sister and dad took Ethan away for a week and my mom cared for Hudson at home while I was still in the hospital. She then cared for me and Austin while I recovered from my c-section. It was special to have my dad around for this baby's birth. He has never been able to make it when my other boys were born. We all celebrated Christmas together too.

Austin fattened up quickly and loved watching his brothers play. He adjusted to a schedule nicely and slept well through noise those first few weeks of life. Here he is at one month old...

At two months old, we started traveling with him. He did a good job for such a little baby! He did develop a bad cold when he was 9 weeks old with such a wheezy cough and squeaky breathing. I spent many nights helping him try to sleep through the difficult breathing. Thankfully he checked out ok and it did eventually clear up.

Austin started smiling "for real" around 9 weeks old. At 10 weeks he celebrated his first Valentine's Day.

At 11 weeks, we took Austin on his first outdoor walk in the stroller in Ft. Lauderdale. At 12 weeks he visited the beach for the first time. We visited the beach in Miami, FL where Austin just slept in his stroller the whole time. About this time, Austin was a very good sleeper...took great naps and slept for about 6-8 hrs at night. Even after I tried to wake him during the day for a feeding, he continued snoozing in the corner of the couch. I have learned that if Austin is having a growth spurt, he sleeps AWESOME, but if he isn't he is very restless.

3 months old and happy traveler!

At 4 months old, Austin started rolling over and constantly practicing his new trick while he was sleeping. He stopped sleeping soundly at night and was so hard to get to settle down for naps. But no matter how much sleep he got, he was always the same happy boy during his awake times.

Visiting Aunt Laurel's house

First Easter

Visiting Grandma and Papa's house

Meeting Pop-pop

At 5 months Austin loved to roll around, jump and jump and jump, make sounds and play with toys.

 At 6 months Austin started sitting all by himself. He lost most of his hair, and it started coming back in very fine and light blonde. By the end of 6 months Austin no longer sat in one spot. He figured out how to move from place to place by propelling his body forward while still in the sitting position. Austin began to say "dada dada"all the time.

At 7 months, Austin started crawling! He crawled an army crawl by walking one leg and crawling on the other. Towards the end of 7 months he began pulling up on furniture. He began to roll his r's and say "dada" and his favorite words seem to be "book" and "Jesus."

 At 8 months, Austin was on the go, moving around furniture, jumping, and crawling. He favored any toy that made noise or that he could chew on. He started taking a bottle or sippy cup again and got his first two teeth!!! He also enjoyed eating baby food more than previous months.

During his 9th month, Austin has added several sounds to his vocabulary..."Mama," "Baba," "Nana." He loves watching the boys play and has started climbing on his brothers when they are lying on the floor. He has even climbed up the first stair on occasion. He loves to hide in small spaces and likes to push the kitchen chairs around. He loves going on walks in his stroller. Sweet potatoes and fruit are his favorite baby foods. He has also started eating solids like puffs, cheerios, cheese, and banana bread. He loves to put toys into containers and take them out again. He goes down our little slide and excitedly recognizes the neighbor's cat. He is now pushing his walker around while walking behind it. His favorite place to hang out is the open dishwasher and the front door where he can watch all that goes on outside. He is starting to show displeasure when toys are taken away from him or he has to be confined in his high chair.

A huge answer to prayer is that he is sleeping through the night again and seems much more settled while sleeping than he has ever been before. I never thought I would make it to the point of getting a good night's sleep again, but God has answered many, many prayers. More on this to come! It deserves its own post.

Here is the happy boy at 10 months! What exciting things will he do this month?