He's Mobile!!

Austin's first Valentine's Day.

(Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Its been a crazy couple of weeks. Keith and I have both had the flu, fortunately Austin stayed healthy. Work has been busier as well, it makes me not even want to look at a computer by the end of the day. Thus the lack of posts.)

Austin is 'unofficially' mobile. I say 'unofficially' because he still isn't crawling or walking. But, he is very capable of moving from one side of a room to another, very quickly. He is very creative. He rolls, or scoots while sitting, or crawls backwards. By crawling backwards, he pushes himself with his hands and actually watches where he is going. It is quite a sight. It won't be long before Austin starts crawling though; he is up on all fours and has figured out how to move his legs, its moving his arms that he hasn't quite figured out yet.

Austin has learned how to move into the sitting position. It was fun watching him do this for the first time. He woke up while I was watching 'Austin TV' (we have a camera pointing at his bed and can watch him on our TV), he just pushed himself right on up from his side. The other night I put him down to bed and he wasn't quite ready to go to sleep, so he sat up and played for a while. He got himself pushed into the corner and tried to pull himself up. He is almost there, he tries to pull himself up while I give him his bottle in the mornings, he pulls on the arm of the chair. I'm curious to see if he will pull himself up or crawl first. Last night and this morning he was sitting up and got tired, he was leaned over with his face in his lap. Crazy kid!

Austin still doesn't have any teeth yet, but that doesn't keep him from chewing on anything he can get in his mouth. It won't be long before his 'teethies' come in. I wouldn't be surprised if he has 4 pop in within a week. He won't use traditional teethers for some reason, but I did finally find a teether he likes. We've tried lots of new foods in the last week. The big thing is finger foods. So far this consists of 'puffs', 'biter biscuits' and shredded cheese. He will actually try putting them in his mouth by himself, but he would much rather I do it for him (typical male, wants to be waited on). He still won't hold his bottle by himself either. We also tried mangos, avacados, butternut squash, cottage cheese, and yogurt recently.

I got a food processor for Christmas (thanks Mama). I really wanted one because I wanted to make Austin's baby food. Unlike many things I want to do, I've actually followed through on this. I steam, puree, mix and freeze it ice cube trays. Sometimes I put him in his highchair in the middle of the kitchen while I make his food. I enjoy doing it and he actually seems to like my food better than Gerber for the most part. The meats have been the hardest, my first try didn't go so well. Here is a list of foods I've made for him:

• Green Beans


• Carrots


• Peas (not a fan, I'll stick to Gerber for these)


• Bananas (just mash w/ a fork, I don't freeze them. Probably his favorite food.)


• Sweet Potatoes (he likes Longhorn sweet potatoes too)


• Squash


• Zucchini


• Apples


• Pears


• Peaches (peaches are too much trouble, probably won't make those again)


• Chicken & Carrots (not a fan, I don't think I got the texture right)


• Chicken & Apples (he loves this)


• Butternut Squash (new this week, as are the foods following)


• Zucchini and Potatoes


• Chicken Delight (chicken, potatoes, carrots and zucchini)


• Mangos


• Avacado (I didn't freeze this, just mashed with a fork and fed it to him. I don't think he likes it much, he does better when alternating with other food items)

The boy loves to eat! No wonder he is growing so fast. He gets upset if you don't feed him fast enough, but sometimes he likes to eat at a more leisurely pace. He tends to look down and play with his seatbelt on the highchair or watch Lance (our cat). I've got a toy I keep on his tray (ball popper spinny thing), I push it and he will watch the balls spin and I can actually get the spoon in his mouth. I do still purchase Gerber foods for him, it is just much more convenient for when we go out to eat. I am starting to feed him some food from my plate too. Last night we had mexican and he tried some rice and beans. Today we went to a country style buffet and he had some squash, yams and a couple of black-eyed peas.