THE BASTINGS BUZZ: February 2009

Colorado Trip

So we headed out tuesday morning Feb 24th (after I got home from working all night--yep, no sleep for me). It was a little ruff start as we had to force Tylenol and Zithromax down Austin before leaving--which he then threw up. (The day before leaving I took him in to the doctor's and found out he had pneumonia.) Poor guy. But other than forcing down the medicine (note to self--don't try to dilute Zithromax with juice or McDonald's orange punch because it doesn't work at all) he was a great sport and the car ride to Colorado Springs went amazing well. For most of the way I sqeezed myself between the two carseats in the backseat and pulled out my bag of tricks to keep the kids happy--toys, food, books, puzzles, movies. And they were soooo great--only got a little fussy the last hour of the trip.

Austin was pretty excited to see Tyler and they had a fun time playing together--most of the time. This is about the only picture when Austin was happy and not whinning that Tyler was on his pillow.

The next day we went to Pump It Up and had a blast!! It was 2 huge rooms of inflatable playground. And it only cose $6 for Austin (parents were free)!!

The funnest part was going down the big slide---over and over

I don't know who had more fun--Austin or Craig. It was an easy hour and 1/2 of entertainment and exhaustion.

At one point I was rooting Austin to "go go" and he turned at looked at me and said "No, I'm tired".

The next day we went to the Children's Museum in Denver. They had all sort of neat areas for kids to play and use their imagination. These were some of Austin's favorites:

The Firetruck

The Train Stop

The Vet Hospital

The Supermarket

The Animal Forest

(Austin was a squirrel and an ant if you couldn't tell)

That night we met up with Brian and Angie at Chuckie Cheese for Angie's birthday (oops-no pictures) Austin had a great time playing games and so did us big kids. I did walk away victorious winning the most tickets (30) on the "Deal or No Deal" game.

Over the weekend Craig flew to Wisconsin to meet up with him family for his grandpa's funeral. He had a great experience and was glad that he could be there---he left there with a new respect for his grandma after hearing stories about his life.

Meanwhile I hung out at my sisters house. These pictures are from a cute place called "Focus on the Family" that we wenet to. It is nice when the kids don't need us for entertainment.

On the drive home we pulled out a new toy we had gotten Austin---a Little Einstein's Rocket with the Einstein's inside (his new favorite cartoon) And what a blessing it quickly became as he must of played with that toy for 4 hours straight. The kids were again awesome on the ride back and the last 2 hours Austin watched Little Einstein's videos. It was a great trip but it was nice to be back home.

5 months old

Mikayla is growing up so fast!! She is starting to enjoy her morning bowl of baby cereal. It still gets all over her face but more of it is now making its way into her belly.

She has the sweetest smile and loves to smile at everyone who smiles at her. She isn't much for cooing but loves to scream and squeal. She can get pretty loud and quickly Austin decides he wan't to join in on the fun.

She has discovered how to use her hands to reach and grab toys and of course puts them in her mouth which quickly becomes a slobbery mess.

And recently she has discovered a new view of the world (Mickey has too--thanks to Austin) and enjoys it much better than laying on the ground. Another couple weeks and she will probably be sitting up all by herself. She usually takes about 3 short naps during the day and sleeps mostly through the night. She does wake up about 3 a.m. some nights but is easy to get her back to sleep. She is finally sleeping in her own room in the crib. And now I sleep better because I don't hear her trying to wake herself up by kicking her legs up and down.

For some odd reason she likes to pull her blanket up and over her face which she somehow strangely enjoys. All you see is her kicking legs but lift up the blanket and she is smiling. Such a silly girl. She has even put herself to sleep using this technique (yep--she is sleeping under that blanket).

And when there isn't a blanket around a sunday dress will still do the trick.

It just makes me laugh.

She also loves her older brother and enjoys his hugs, kisses, and any soft attention he gives to her. Overall she is such a sweet and happy girl and so easy to love!!!

OSU vs Baylor at Gallagher Iba

So Craig got to "cash in" on his birthday present this last weekend. We drove down to Stillwater on Friday and spent the night with some friends. Austin warmed up to their boys real quick and had a great time playing with them. Craig and I went to the game the next day and had a great time---the Cowboys won 84-74!! The kids were great on the 1 and 1/2 hour rode trip there and back which gives me hope that maybe our rode trip to Colorado this week will go okay (crossing fingers)

Valentines Day

Craig---Austin---Mikayla

The 3 biggest loves of my life

For the past several years me and Craig have decided that for valentines day we write each other a handwritten letter sharing our feelings...which I will say has proved to be more special than flowers that die or chocolate that all gets eaten in one day. Every year I enjoy putting my feelings on paper just as much as I love reading my love letter from my hubby.

Austin Update

Austin continues to get bigger and more grown up. Sometimes I can't believe I have a little toddler walking around the house, talking, and imitating everything!! His vocabulary is growing so fast. It kind of makes me laugh when he bosses me around saying "come on mommy" or "drink" as he sits on the couch and waits there for me to get his drink and bring it to him. He is so sweet and enjoys taking care of his baby and mickey. He talks to them all the time. What makes me laugh is when he talks to his other toys like his lawn mower. While standing in the kitchen he said "come on mo" a couple times to his mower that was in the family room. I guess he thinks his mower should move all on its own. He had also said "sorry mo" or sorry to other toys at various times. I just have to laugh. But his new favorite toy is his "copter". He will carry that thing around the house for hours zooming it here and there.

Another small thing that makes me smile is when I go looking for him cause I haven't seen or heard him for a while and he has pulled out his books and is reading them.

A new recent accomplishment is counting. I have heard him count to 5 all by himself. From 6-10 it gets a little more fuzzy and he needs some coaching. He is getting pretty good at singing his ABC's and it is so fun to watching him sing to his kid music in the car.

He is also very attached to his pillow--always carrying it out of his room in the morning or after nap time or laying on it around the house when starting to get tired.