I can't believe we have a 1 year old! Everybody says it I know, but time really does fly! I remember when some teachers at Tony's school would tell me how fast 18 years went with their children and I really couldn't see is going that fast. But, now I have a glimpse of what they meant and want to enjoy every moment I have with Austin. We had a great time at Austin's birthday party (pictures to come, sorry!) My sister and her family came down, and most of Tony's family was able to make it. We had a lot of friends from our small group come celebrate with us too! Austin loves cake and cried when we took it away from him. He would have eaten the whole thing! Carol made the cakes, she even had to make Austins cake twice. One for pictures and one for his party. Austins cake was a baseball and the big cake was a baseball diamond. She even made little baseball cakes for all the kids to have! Here are some pictures from Austins 1 year photos. Since Tony's whole family was in town we were able to get a new family photo of the Strange/Mimms clan adding little Aroa to our group. We were also able to get a great shot of 'the cousins', Jessica's (my sister) children, Lara and Dylan too with Austin. Enjoy!

Austin and his lasagna

You've got to check this out. I got it from a friend's blog. Go to google maps, enter "Boston" and "London" in the boxes at the top, and see what comes up. Be sure to read the specific directions, at least down to No. 9.

We've finally posted new pictures of Austin up on our website. The new pictures include additions to his 10 month album as well as posting pictures of our trip to the Georgia Aquarium. We went there for the first time when Jen's mom and stepdad came out for a visit last month. Check out the pictures below and click any of the pics to go to our website and see the full albums.

Austin and I went for a walk yesterday. Well, I went for a walk, Austin went for a ride in his wagon. He REALLY likes riding in his wagon.

Fish Lips


It has taken me FOREVER to finally capture this on film.
Austin loves to make fish lips and he usually does it when
he is eating. Usually when I get my camera he stops, but
with Tony's help we were successful!

The Georgia Aquarium

Mom, Steve, Tony, Austin and I went to the aquarium this last weekend and we had a great time. I forgot my camera! Thankfully Mom remembered hers! (you saved the day mom!) It was a lot of fun and there was so much to see! My favorite part was the underwater tunnel you walk through. I could have stayed in there for hours.

The underwater tunnel

The very cool Whale Shark

Tony, Austin, and I in front of the
Whale Shark Tank

Here are some great shots of the fish and Beluga Whales.

Austin and his Pop Pop at the aquarium

The New Strange Family






The new Strange Mimms Clan






Austin standing, havent gotten the process of cruising down yet, but enjoys climbing and standing.
Not the reception Max and Annie were hoping for!

Happy Valentines Day






Tony With Austin & Kim (Tony's sister) with Aroa






Grandpa with Austin. What is that white stuff?







Austin did not like his first experience with snow, his feet are still to chubby for shoes so we couldn't set him down on it. John and Tony tried to introduce him to snow but everytime he touched it he started to cry.

FW:

Aroa awake and looking cute!

I'm awake!!

Here's baby Aroa, awake and checking out the world.

Aroa Lynn Strange was born last night at 11:04 pm Feb 12th.

20 1/2 in

7 lbs 8 oz

(from Jen) I spoke to Kim this morning and she sounds great. She said she was really tired (only got 2 hrs sleep last night) and that Aroa was awake most of the night. Aroa is sleeping now though. Kim expects to be at the hospital until tomorrow afternoon. Everyone is doing well.

**sorry for the small size of the picture. It was sent to my phone and then I forwarded it from my phone.

Finally we have new pictures of Austin up on our website. We have been really bad lately at keeping up with posts and updated pictures. But now, at long last, the pictures are up. Click HERE to see the new pics.

Austin is 10 mths old!

Can you believe it! He is growing up so fast. Tony and I will be putting more pictures up from the last couple of months on our website today so more picture to come!

Here is some pictures from a photoshoot I did with him this weekend. I love this shirt! He has a lot to love! The UP overalls are from Grandpa and Grandma Mimms and he looks so cute in them!

Austin is crawling

Austin started actually crawling forward today. He had been crawling a little but it was in reverse. He hasn't perfected it yet but he's moving forward though!

Only in Georgia

Yay for a 3 day weekend!!! (and a follow up on Austin)

After this week, I am so glad that we have one more day off tomorrow. As I posted before, on Tuesday Austin got tubes put in his ears. That was a rough day. Poor kid hadn't eaten since 7:45pm the night before, was tired and then trying to wake up from anesthesia. The combo did not make for a happy baby. As the day went on the effects of the anesthesia slowly wore off and by Wednesday morning he was back to himself. But....later that day was his 9 month checkup. That, in and of itself, wasn't such a bad thing. The bad part was that part of this checkup was his third round of shots plus he finally got his flu shot. So, again Austin was not a happy baby for the rest of the evening. But wait, there's more. Thursday was an appointment for him with a pulminary specialist to check out his wheezing and breathing issues. Luckily this was a pretty easy appointment. He had a chest xray taken and it turned out that his lungs are completely clear. Yay! The doctor is pretty sure his wheezing is being caused by reflux. Also discovered in the xray was that Austin is pretty constipated, which the doctor said can make the reflux worse. This is the other end of the spectrum from where he was at the beginning of the week. He had been sick with a stomach virus, throwing up and diarrhia. So from diarrhia to constipation. Anyway, she gave us a prescription stool softener to help get him regular again and then we are to see how that affects the reflux. If he still has it, she also gave us a prescription to fill for reflux medication. She took him off of the breathing treatments though (Yay!!) but said that if his wheezing returns, to put him back on it and to make an appointment to come back in. In three months, if he still has reflux, we have follow up appointment.

So, it's been a very long week. I want to thank everyone that had us in their thoughts and prayers, we definitely appreciate it.

We're home

We're back from getting the tubes put in Austin's ears. It went well, and fast. They took him in around 7:35 or so and it was before 8am when the doctor came back to talk to us after the procedure. Austin was pretty upset and hungry when he woke up. He's asleep now though and we'll see how he is when he wakes up.

Getting ready to get tubes

We're in the pre/post op room getting ready for Austin to get tubes put in his ears. He'll be going to sleep in a few minutes.