Another Day, Another Built-in

Jason had the itch to get back to house projects after taking a long break once Austin was born. He has been wanting cut apart the desk in our dining room so it wouldn't take up so much space, and then add to the top for a more custom look.

Here is the portion Jason made to go on top of the desk, utilizing his favorite....MDF.

The old desk was cut down in size so that the drawers would still fit to the back, but now it takes up half the space.

 Added beadboard backing of course!

 Here's a side view of the beadboard and framing

And here is where it stands so far after being primed

Jason wants to add some doors to the shelving cupboards in case not everything was organzied beautifully at times, so we'll see how those turn out......looks like another area for a good craft corner to me (wink wink). Jason is probably cringing at that statement, but maybe that means the other built-in in the guest bedroom can return to its original purpose which was for Jason's housing books and what not.........stay-tuned!!

Easter with Austin

Funny how the first year with Austin is a whole bunch of "Firsts". It's kinda fun to imagine each holiday with Austin and how different they are now. Even though Austin couldn't run around this time and pick up the Easter eggs, it's exciting to imagine when he will.

We have forgotten to get family photos for previous holidays as it's difficult to catch us all dressed up (without spit up on my shoulder) and catch Austin at a good time to smile......thankfully this one turned out great!

 At school, all the teachers continue to remind me how much of a 'mini-me' Austin is to Jason.

 Me and my little man

 The 'couldn't be prouder' Grandparents

 Anything and everything given to Austin, he attempts to place in his mouth, so here goes the wooden egg!

 This Easter is also Jaqueline's first as well. She is only a few weeks old. Such a beautiful addition to the family.

 Austin slept though his first Easter egg hunt, but that's ok, he will actually be able to walk around for it next year!

Somone Found Their Feet

It's quite amazing that in a matter of just a day or two, babies can pick up on something and learn so fast. Somewhere between yesterday and today, Austin has found his feet!

 Which means that every time he is placed on the floor.......his legs go up in the air! Such cute little chunky thighs!

5 months

5 months in, and everyone was right....just when you get used to something....it changes. As anyone with a child would say, they never stop changing.

Austin has been chewing on those fingers for what seems like weeks now. I am suprised to not even see a bit of white on his gums, so at least we could have some hint that a tooth may be coming in, but not yet. So my guess is that he will be chewing on everything including his hands for a long time to come.

 My parents have realized that they needed to start buying more baby equipment for their house. How funny is it that you buy all of this stuff when you have babies, just to get rid of it and buy it all again in 25 years. He sure does love to sit up these days!

His hair is growing in such a light blonde/brown color and his eyes have stayed a dark blue.....which all points to a mini-Jason!

He is not quite tall enough to reach the floor in the baby einstein  jumper/exersaucer but he can improvise for a few more weeks.....

Rolling from tummy to back and from back to tummy, although many times he seems to get his arm stuck when he wants to keep going.

And of course the hands can be distracting cause they are the best when they are in the mouth!

We try to spend more time in the bouncer or on tummy time since Austin has already shown that he can be stubborn. Since we came home from the hospital, this boy loves to sleep on the right side of his head. In doing so, he has developed such a flat side which I am sure I have talked about before. The things we have tried, well what haven't we tried! First we tried a special pillow, which I still try to use in his car seat or other non-wiggly times on the floor. We also have tried using a blanket rolled up next to him in his crib, that easily got pushed aside. Next, we tried blankets stacked up under the crib but then I got scared it was too tilted and he would fall into the slats of the crib, so I yanked those out slowly while he was sleeping that night as I had second thoughts. Then, my mom knew my struggle with this, so she bought us a formal wedge, which you are supposed to use more horizontally for reflux but we were going to use vertically. Well, I had to place that under the mattress and it still was pretty tilted but I had to give it a try. Of course in the middle of that night, Austin woke up crying, against the slats of course.....ugh! So, we are back to the drawing board. I have to remember that Austin will soon be sitting up and that will help tremendously but it's hard to wait until then to notice even more progress. Oh the things we as parents struggle with!

the hardest thing I have ever done

Surely when I was in PA school, I thought to myself, this has to be the hardest thing I have ever done. The endless studying.... for test upon test upon test. Only then to go through those three years of tests, just so I could sit for another test, my boards.

But then of course, I had to choose a speciality where the physicians go to school for 15+ years. Once again, I thought, this is probably the hardest thing I have ever done. It has been over a year now that I have been in neurosurgery, while most physician assistants are comfortable and settling in by that time, every day is a challenge for me and there isn't a day that goes by where I felt like I knew it all. Not one case is alike and not every tumor, hemorrhage, or infarct acts the same.

But then of course, I truly feel like I have come across what seems to be the hardest thing by far, which is become a parent. Trying to meet Austin's every needs while bustling around the house, rushing through chores and getting ready for the next day, all while feeling as if I am missing out on something when he has to play by himself. It's easy to skip cleaning the house or even taking my time eating a meal because the more time I can spare, the more time I get to coo back at Austin.

Having a child absolutely changes everything. Before Austin, I could make up every excuse why getting up before 6 am was absolutely not happening. Now I get up at 5am just so I can start the morning routine. If I had 5 minutes before him, I would spend it staying up later or sleeping in just a tad longer, but now it's amazing how many things I can accomplish in 5 minutes because time is just that precious. I certainly have never felt so much love for a human being before and I can imagine that it just gets harder as he grows and changes. This face makes it all worth it......

Bath Time

Bath time has always been fun for Austin but this particular bath time at the grandparents house this past weekend was extra special.

At first I was skeptical as my mom laid down a towel in the tub and started filling it up with water. I was nervous to lay him in there without a baby bath tub. But after the initial shock that he was laying in water, he started splashing around like a little frog!

When I was little, all you needed to keep me entertained in the tub was cups! Something about pouring the water in and out from cup to cup was enough for me. So my mom of course had to buy some cups for Austin. She bought some that let out water from the bottom, so we started letting the water fall on Austin as he became mesmerized and even tried to grab the water.

 At one point, my mom, dad, and I were all in the bathroom watching Austin play in the tub, as we joked about how we were spending our Saturday night. It's hard NOT to watch him play and laugh and splash around.

 Who knows how long he was in there, but what a handsome little prune he is!

Easter Bunny

Another weekend for Jason to be at National Guard and of course for me and Austin that means heading to the Grandparents house! Of course that meant that Austin had to wear his Team Grandpa shirt....

Austin doesnt want to miss a thing over at the grandparents house, so he ends up being awake for so long that when he is tired....he crashes.....

So we got up in the morning for the Saturday walk in the mall and of course Austin wouldn't sleep in the stroller because the mall has so many things to look at. So Austin was pretty tired once again by the time the Easter Bunny arrived. Even though he is sleepy, at least he wasn't bawling his eyes out. Sorry the lighting is pretty bad but it was one of those unprepared moments where I whipped out the camera and took a few shots in a hurry. Thank goodness this boy looks good in all lighting!!