December Update

Some pictures from December for your enjoyment:

For about a week, Austen would make this face every time a camera was pointed at her. Then, as quickly as it came, she quit doing it. Random.

Tinkerbell on an important call:

Hey, everyone needs to eat!

Austen enjoying her view of the snow:

My cousin, Anni, her partner, and her son, Io (Ee-oh) came up from Oregon for two nights. They stayed with us, and Io and Kaitlyn had a pretty good time together. With only a few toddler incidents, they spent most of the time getting along. ;-) They are almost exactly a year apart, Io being older.
Cooking together:

Austen helped:

Reading together:

Riding together:

Watching Tinkerbell together:

Our whole family (including my mom, dad, and Rob) except for Austen (phew!) got pretty sick with a stomach virus the Thursday after Christmas. Jeff and Kaitlyn woke up with it, so I took care of them until about 2:00 (when both of the their stomachs finally settled), then I started up a few hours later. This picture shows how Kaitlyn and I celebrated the ending to a tough morning (notice the protective towel ;-)):

If you can get past the shades, you can see Austen's first teeth! As of yesterday, she also has one poking through on the top side, and I think three others will be cutting through any day. She's a champ!

She has been sleeping very well for us lately. We finally did some "sleep training" at around 8 months after waking up multiple times a night for months. I was starting to feel physically ill and run down (dizzy spells, head aches, etc.), so we decided it was time to do something. Within three nights, Austen started sleeping ten hours straight. It was pretty painless, too! :) As a result of teething (I think), she has been waking up in the early morning and fussing, but puts herself back to sleep shortly after.

I just think Kaitlyn looks so old in this picture (minus the baby bib!):

When big sisters attack with stickers:

"SO BIG!" Love it. This is our favorite thing right now. We say, "How big is Austen?" and she raises her arms in the air...small deal to some, but major to mom and dad. ;-)

Austen is quite the "helper" these days. Putting away Christmas ornaments would have gone a lot faster if she hadn't been right on my trail, taking everything back out of the bin...

Playing nicely...for that moment:

Austen started day care this week! She will go with Kaitlyn Wednesday through Friday, and some combination of our parents will watch them on Monday and Tuesday. She has been doing great there, and is soooooo tired and ready to catch up on sleep this weekend. :) We have been surprised, though, with what a trooper she is when we get home. She plays happily all evening! Before starting, evenings were a touch-and-go time since she would get more tired by the end of the day. Who knew that going to day care all day would change this...seems backwards!

Sweet dreams!