Aloha!

Austin is style'n with his Hawaiian out fit that his Aunt Evelyn
brought back from Hawaii. I think his smile is confirmation
enough that he loves it!!

Austin is now making razz sounds with his lips and has
finally figured out how to roll over. He has taken to sleeping on
his side, one more thing for me to lose sleep over!

Austin is 5 mths old!

Wow how time flies! He is getting soo big and has a great personality, he makes Tony and I laugh everyday! He has been going though some major changes lately. His first tooth (bottom front right) started in about 3 weeks ago and Sunday we found that the left front bottom tooth was also breaking ground. Which explains a lot!! He is still very a very happy baby despite his aches. Austin is teaching himself to roll over. Tony gives him practice but he appears to be the type of child that when HE is ready HE will do it, no matter how much coaching he gets. He has mastered 'back to belly' but is till having a hardtime with the shoulder move going the other direction. The funny thing is once he gets on his belly he fusses because he generally doesn't want to lay on his stomach! :) He has also practiced this manuver in bed (much to my dismay), which means my peaceful sleep will not be so peaceful anymore. For the most part he is too tired to roll over when he goes to bed at night. He has only done this during a nap. He is even fitting in to his 6-9 mth clothes now! He's my big boy!! Everyone at the daycare loves him and is amazed at how much he smiles. He is adjusting very well to life with friends! He has about 6 other mates to sit and google at all day! Tony and I are very please with his teachers, and anytime we ask them to do something they are very accomidating, it is great to know he is being looked after so well. I have also been able to stop by during the day to visit him, even though I seem to still catch him while he is sleeping). Talk at you soon!



 

Autsin's 4 month pictures are up! Just finished putting them on our website a few minutes ago. Below are a few pics from the album. Click HERE or on any of the pictures to go to the photos page of our website and see the rest of the pictures.

I SURVIVED!!!
My first day back to work that is... Austin's first day of preschool was good (at least for me, everytime I went there he was sleeping) The ladies told me that he played with the toys and slept. Sounds like normal!! When I went to pick him up he was a sleep again.

I was very busy at work and the day went by fast. I was more concerned with how I was going to react dropping him off but I did fine and everyone at work was very empathic. I have such a great place to work!

I am happy to be able to now spend the weekend with the little guy, now Tony and I are going to have to fight over who gets to hold him and alot special times for each to have some Austin love. :)

Austin's first day at daycare!

*Update: I know he doesn't look real happy in that picture. It was about 6:30 am and he was still a little out of it I think. Jen left me a message earlier that she had gone over there to see how he was doing and he was asleep in a swing. So I think he's doing ok.

Looks like the new notification service I am using is actually going to work. The first couple notification emails you received probably only stated that the blog had been updated. I've modified the service so now it gives you a list of the latest 5 postings and you can either just go to the blog and find those posts or you can click in the email, right on the specific post you want to look at and it will bring you right to that posting.

Enough about email updates....Austin is starting to get his first tooth! Jen called me yesterday while out and about and told me that Austin was starting to get a tooth and she could feel it just underneath his bottom gum, right in the front. He has been drooling alot more lately, been a little more fussy, and been sleeping somewhat more (or longer during the day) than normal. We had thought that the sleeping part was maybe due to a growth spurt and I guess it could partially be that too but I think the main reason is because of him getting his tooth.

You can't really see it yet. Once it's visible we will try to get pictures and get them posted. Some here, all of them on our website. Also, keep Jen in your thoughts and prayers. She starts back to work tomorrow. The bad thing is that she will have to get up less than an hour after she feeds Austin in the mornings. He usually is getting up around 4am (3 for you CST people) so it'll be kinda rough. Plus leaving him with someone else all day will be pretty hard for both of us I think. What's nice is that we will both get to be there to drop him off each day since the daycare is very close to both of our schools (literally right across the street from Jen's school and probably only 2-3 miles from mine). I think she picked a good time to go back though. She will work Friday, have a 3 day weekend and then only a 4 day work week next week. Will be a good way to get back into the swing.

Well, I am really starting to get disappointed in the website update notification services that are out there. But since I am looking for free services I guess you get what you pay for. I may have finally found the answer though. I found this service called Feedblitz. I have signed up for it and it looks like it actually may work correctly. It even imported the information for those of you that had signed up through the first service I tried, Bloglet. So you shouldn't have to do anything. I've checked and it shows you all as subscribers already so hopefully, you should start getting emails again when we update this blog. (You may actually even get one regarding this post....crossing my fingers.) Hopefully I have found something that will actually work this time. Thank you for your patience.

Oh, if you have never signed up for updates, I would say, hold off. Give me a couple days to see if this one actually works and then I will post to let you know whether or not to go ahead and signup.

In this post I am going to try to embed a couple videos for you all to watch. They are both of Austin as he is beginning to learn how to use his voice. The first one is of him checking out a new toy and doing his best impression of a monkey. The second one will be of him talking to the hats and ceiling fan hanging in his room. (Quick note, both of these were resized and saved quickly using Windows Movie Maker so they aren't the greatest quality in the world. Wanted to get them up in a hurry though.)

Ok, a couple changes to let you all know about. I never did receive an email back from the people who ran the service I was using to email you all when updates were made to our blog. So, I found a different service that I am going to try out. On the left side of the blog, just below where it says "An interruption in your life to keep you up to date on ours" you will see a link that says "Receive email when this page changes." Click that link and it will open a window that will ask for your email address. It should also have the web address of our blog listed. Go ahead and enter your email address. It will send a confirmation email to you with a link you will need to click. I was going to register everyone that had signed up before but then I saw that they send a confirmation email to you so that someone can't register for you. So I apologize but if you want updates you will have to register on your own. Or if any of you use RSS readers or you use my.yahoo.com alot, you can get updates using the RSS links on the left side of my blog as well. They are a little further down the page.

Second change for you all. Jen and I now also have our own website. It is www.tjamimms.com. We will be using this site to post more pictures than we can here on our blog. So what will happen is that we will still post some pictures here but will include a link for you to click on if there are more pictures included in an album on our website. We do link back to our blog so you can get back here easy enough.

So sign up (or re-sign up) for email updates (I've signed up just to check it to see if it works). I'll post here to let you know if it works or not, if you want to wait on signing up. Also, check out our new webpage. There are already photo albums up of newborn, 1st month, 2nd month and 3rd month pictures of Austin as well as pictures that our friend Jonalee took for us while we were in Missouri.

I'm having some problems with the service that is supposed to send out emails (to those subscribed) when there has been an update to our blog. I've sent an email to them about it and am waiting to hear back. If I can't figure it out, I do have another solution that I can try. Sorry for the inconvenience. I hope to get it resolved soon.

A couple weekends ago Austin got to meet Delenn and Taylor. We had such a great time and I can't thank them enough for driving out to see us!!! We went on a tour of CNN and saw alittle of downtown Atlanta. We love you guys! Miss ya already!

Austin is 4mths old!

Me and my daddy

First meal with a spoon















This was more challenging than I thought. Of course I was very sure that Austin would take to it right away, but we are still practiceing everyday!

Wow, how we have grown!!!
Austin went to the Dr. yesterday and he has a lot to show for the last month and a half.
Height 25in. 50th%
Weight 17lbs 10 oz 94th%
Head Circ 43cm 75th%

During our visit Austin got 4 vaccination boosters, he handled it very well. Still cried but recovered good. He has been grumpy and sore today and had a big bruise today on this thigh.

We also started on rice cereal today! It was fun to start feeding him with a spoon. Most of it came out rather than in his mouth. He will catch on soon enough! In the mean time we are giving him some in this bottle to get used to the taste and trying the spoon once or twice a day.

Here we go on another adventure!!

Austin has finally decided it was time to hold his head up (I think he knows he is going to the Dr. and we have to give a progress report of what he can do!)

Meeting Great Grandma and Great Grandpa for the first time!

Four Generation Picture

John and Carol have made sure that Austin is ready for backwoods Missouri. (See camoflage onee!)

Well we have had a full summer, we were in St. Charles from July 14-July 23. We enjoyed seeing everyone. Austin got to meet his Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Weible and many, many more good friends and family.

We had a great time visiting everyone that came to the Open House in Austin's name, it was great for all of you to meet Austin. You are all so generous! We were just happy to see you, you didn't haveto come bearing gifts. However, Austin now has an extensive Cardinals woredrobe! I can't thank you enough!

While were were there we also had a great photographer take pictures of Austin, our family, and our little Mimms/Strange clan as well. Jonalee did a great job, please take a look at some of the pictures she took. If your looking for a great photographer let me know! Click HERE to view the pics.

"I can't believe the things they make me put up with!"

We have a new puppy!

Well not really, it's Annie! She got a really short haircut yesterday! She looks so cute! She is even acting like a new puppy. Who would tell she is over 8 years old! She has been jumping around the house and with all that hair gone, Tony and I are more likely to pet her! She is in high heaven!

Max and Annie sporting their summer look!

Shaved!

(or close to it in Annie's case).

I love my fingers....

Yes I do, I love my fingers

how 'bout you?

Austin is 3mths old!

Austin turned 3 mths this week. We took him to get his picture taken on his birthday, our friend Jonalee is going to take his picture when we get to St. Louis but I have this thing about taking his picture on his actual birthday. He is growing so fast and it will be the 24th before Jonalee takes his picture. Here he his showing off standing up on Tony's lap. He loves to do this and he is always happy when he is standing up. Austin has become more aware of his surroundings. He enjoys his bouncy seat and the toys attached to it. He bangs on the toys like he is playing the drums! He also likes his rocker up stairs that has rattle farm animals hanging down and he swats at those. He has become entranced by the dogs too! He listens intently to Max talk and loves to watch Annie when she gets real close. Austin gets this huge smile on his face, it is so cute.

We are still working on tummy time. Austin is not a fan, and he would rather sit or stand then lay on his belly. (Good for us, to get him to sleep on his back). We go for a walk every night as part of our getting 'Austin to stay up' campaign- since he gets tired before bedtime. (He goes to bed between 9-10pm, so he gets up around 3am to eat.) Talk to you soon!

Austin's First Cardinal's Game
(yea, Technically we are at a Braves game.)

Austin did great at the 7:35 pm game at Turner Stadium.

Tony, Tom, Austin and I . Austin wore his Cards outfit that his Aunt Kim bought him. It started to sprinkle but we were spared a rain-out/delay.


Austin was out at the 4th inning along with the Cardinals. We were hoping to see a win, but they just didn't have it in them. The Braves won in a blowout 14-4.

Happy 4th of July!

We spent 4th of July with Justin, Luanne, & Madelyn.

Madelyn loved Austin around and kept saying 'baby' but she is adjusting to not being the center of attention. She would want me to hold her when I was holding Austin and would get mad when I couldn't. For this picture she wasn't ready for Austin to sit in her lap yet. Here Austin is amazed by Madelyn and she would make him laugh.

Austin survived!

Austin survived his 2nd month check-up which included 4 vaccinations! Two in each leg. He cried a lot, but Tony and I agree, we think he took it better than his 1st vaccination. He is very tired today and has slept a lot. Don't mind that at all!!

So here are his new stats:

Weight-14.4 lbs (75%)

Heights 23 inches (50%)

Head Circ-41 cm (50%)

Now remember that he actually over 2 1/2 months. He doesn't have to go back until his 4 mth check up which is Aug 11th. The bad news is we have to do it all again for the last of the series. We won't tell Austin that though.

We can wait to see everyone in Missouri next month. Stay safe this summer and have fun!

Austin is wearing a shirt that Carol made for Tony over 30 years ago out of a handkerchief!

It looks great on him.

His big belly was hanging out so I put a Onsie on underneath.

Austin is sleeping in his crib now! We are very excited that we don't have to buy so many batteries for the swing now! Every chance we get he takes a nap in his crib and he only wakes up once between 11pm and 5:30 am. We are attempting to give him a bedtime and Tony is brave enough (or he picked the short straw) to sit up with him when he cries and is having a rough night. He eventually goes to sleep by 11pm and we both get to go to bed together for the first time since Austin arrived. I am actually able to make this post because he is sleeping! The last 2 days he has started to find a schedule that fits for him. His crankiness is starting to limit itself to the evening. We hope the end of the mood swings are coming to a close (at least for now, knock on wood). We need a serious break! Gretchen has even offered to watch Austin so I can clean my house, now how sad is that!

But with all the craziness, each time he smiles and laughs he make up for a weeks screaming and fussing :).

Today is Austin's 2mth check up (even though he is over 2 1/2 mths old) and he has to have 4 vaccinations today. So pray for him! We will tell you how it goes next time

Talk to you soon!

If you haven't checked out the Castrucciopalooza blog, you should. It's run by a couple friends of ours from back in St. Charles, Mo. They've recently changed the look of the site and I think it looks really nice. Also, Joni takes great pictures and she is always posting some up for everyone to see. Looking forward to seeing James, Joni, and the kids again on our visit back to Mo. in July.

My sister told me that she never received an email to let her know about our last post. I checked into it and it looks like there was a problem with the notification service I had set up. I'm pretty sure I've got it fixed. We'll find out with this latest post I guess! ;-)

Austin is 2 months old!

A lot has happened since the last post. So bare with me and then we will get to the pictures!

OK, Austin and I just got back from Hampton, VA. It was an interesting ride to my Mom's. I had my first "bad mommy" experience when I locked Austin in the car! I had unlocked the back door to feed Austin and since it was getting hot I was going to keep the car running while I sat in the back but didn't want the driver door open so I manually locked only to find out after I shut the door that it locked all the doors again and I was locked out! Thanks to the 5 police officers of Hillsboro NC one hour later a very hungry Austin was fed.

Friday Jessica graduated with her Associates from Tidewater Medical Institute. We are excited for her!

We had a great time in Hampton and everyone loved Austin. Thursday Austin started to put all weight on his legs for a couple seconds and even lifted his head up 45 degrees when laying on his belly. (he doesn't like to be on his belly very much). He will now spontaneously laugh and even laughs in his sleep. He smiles a lot too! He doesn't have a schedule down yet and is still pretty fussy some days. But he will sleep 4-4 1/2 hours at night now!!!

I will try to write more later, don't want to put you to sleep until after you get to the pictures!!
There are a lot of pictures but there were a lot of people to meet in such a short time!

Austin is 2 months old!

First trip to the beach!
Austin with his feet in the sand

30 something and babies!
Debra with Jacob, Shari with Caleb, and Jennifer with Austin
What a busy year!

Donovan and Wendy

Debra and Jacob. Jacob is 8mths old

Aunt Mary Lou with Austin

Great Grandpa Harold and Austin

Nicole and Albert with Austin

Cousins!
Jennifer and Debra
Jacob and Austin

Meeting Dylan and Lara

Were here! We got there!
Aunt Jessica and cousins Lara and Dylan

Great Grandma Jenkins

A very interesting exhibit at the Living Museum
What a photo opportunity!

Aunt Kim came to visit!!

Austin took to Kim very quickly (not that he had a choice) :)

We had a great time and Kim helped with diaper changes and

some bottle feedings and even a couple crying fits.

His bottom never hit his chair, if she had anything to do with it.

He even went to the GAP with us and didn't even complain.

(good boy!)

He loves his Aunt Kim the best

(Well, thats what Kim says he told her)

We'll See!

We took Austin to the pool for the first time this past Saturday.

Austin Swimming
Just Chillin'
Swimming is hard work!

Austin loves the pool, he first pulled up his legs when he was first put in the water, but soon got acclimated and settled down and soon fell asleep. At one point his arms were stretched out in the water and he was sound asleep.

I added a new feature to our blog. If you look on the left hand side, below Jen and my names, you will see a place to sign up to receive an email when we update our blog. Right now, it's just set up to let you know that we have updated the blog. If you all would rather, I can have it email the actual posting instead. I think it will send one email a day between 12am and 6am EST with any updates. Leave a comment and let me know if you want me to leave it the way it is currently setup (only notifies you that there was an update, you actually have to come to the site to read what we posted) or if you want me to set it up to email the entire post. The one thing I couldn't tell is whether or not it will email any pictures that may be in the post, or just the text, so take that into consideration as well.

Having a hail storm

Jennifer and Austin on our First Mother's Day!!

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Austin's new ride!

Happy Mother's Day!!
Love Austin