the Andersons: September 2012

{Austin refused to smile for me during this photoshoot. He told me he was too tired, or something....}

Austin has chunked up quite a bit over the last month.

We had a doctor's appointment and here are his stats:

12 lbs 8.5 oz

23.5 inches

He is in the 70th percentile for his weight and height. We might end up with an average size child! Austin has grown out of most of his newborn clothes, and is fitting into some of his 3-6 month clothes {which I am excited about, I was getting bored of his wardrobe}. His onesies above are getting quite snug, and harder to pull over his ever growing ~~cheeks~~ head.

Austin has developed quite the personality over the last month, he's a very smiley guy when he is awake and somebody is paying attention to him. It melts my heart when I walk past him, and he gives me a giant grin. He also is very serious at times, and tends to inspect and study people, objects on the ceiling, and his surroundings. He is the master of making odd faces. His eyebrows don't ever stop working.

Aaron and I were talking the other night, and we both decided that if there were one phrase that described or personified Austin, it would be, "Look at that hair!" The first thing that everybody notices, or comments on is his hair. It cannot be tamed. We try to comb it down, but when it dries, it just sticks straight up again. After a day out, it is usually super greasy; nobody can resist running their fingers through those locks. We are thinking about trimming the sides up, any thoughts/suggestions?

Austin is usually a really good sleeper, now that we have gotten him used to falling asleep on his own in his crib. He generally sleeps for about a 4-5 hour span at night, but there have been a couple of 7 and 8 hour nights. We are hoping for more of those, more often.

This boy is a noisy one. If he isn't talking and cooing to you, he is grunting, crying, burping, hiccuping, farting, or noisily sleeping. He snores just like his dad.

He is always moving too {it is almost impossible to get a picture of him that doesn't have some part of his body blurry, unless he is dead asleep}. His legs and neck have both gotten stronger; he is starting to be able to hold up his head pretty well. We've tried using the bumbo chair, but he definitely doesn't like it; hopefully he will warm up to it.

Austin has recently discovered how to stick his hand directly into his mouth. It is fun to watch him look at his hand, and carefully guide it into his mouth to suck on. Though, after a couple of seconds, it becomes uncontrollable again, and flies out of his mouth. We think that Austin is going to be left handed, because it is always his left hand that he prefers. We've tried, as an experiment, putting his right one in, but he will take it out, and put his left back in.

Austin hasn't taken much interest in toys yet, though he can stare at a light on the ceiling for hours. There is one ball with a bunch of tags on it and a bell inside, that he will watch if you shake it, but

Car rides are a hit or miss. Sometimes he will fall asleep, or if not, he is usually screaming. But, maybe things are changing. He did pretty well on our trip up to Rexburg with the band this last weekend; he slept a lot of the way. And last night I took him to IKEA with me, 30 minutes away; he didn't make a peep and was wide awake the whole time. Maybe it was that it was dark out, or maybe it was the mirror that we put on the head rest in front of him.

Austin is eating much better. We weened him from the shield this last month. He still puts up a fight every now and again, but it's not a battle 7-8 times a day for me. He's gotten quicker too, 30-40 minutes rather than an hour.

He is growing so fast, and gets cuter every day. We can't imagine life without him.