Baby Number 2 is a BOY & Christmas Letter 2009

I went in for an ultrasound yesterday at 16 weeks because I will be in Idaho when I am 18 weeks when it is prime time to see the baby. I went to the doctors office with the expectation that I wouldn't find out what gender our baby was. The ultrasound was awesome! You normally only get to see your baby two or three times in nine months. The ultrasound tech said that she thought it looked like a boy but that she couldn't say for sure. She did go so far as to say, however, that she would be very surprised if we were told we were having a girl later. It looked like a boy to us too.

The ultrasound tech wasn't able to see everything that she need to so I have another ultrasound when I get home from Idaho. The gender will be confirmed then.

So yeah!!! It looks like we are having another boy! I am so excited! And relived in a way. I don't know what to do with a girl. Ethan is going to LOVE having a brother that is so close to his age. Here are some pictures from the ultrasound.

This is the shot that makes us think they are dead on...we are pretty sure it is a boy too.

His little foot

His arm

And on another note....here is our Family Christmas Letter 2009.

Ethan is Walking!

I had predicted that Ethan would start walking before his first birthday. I was about a month off. But in my defense Ethan has been taking steps since he was eleven months old so I thought he would have it down by his birthday. Instead, Ethan has shown that crawling is his preferred mode of transportation. This decision has frustrated us a little. Ethan will take five or ten good steps with much prodding and encouragement from Mom and Dad so we know he has the motor skills to walk. My guess is that he lacks confidence.

So what changed his mind all of the sudden? This year we spent Thanksgiving with our friends Colin and Ginny Moses and their extended family here in Phoenix. (Thanks again to them by the way. We had a wonderful time.) There were tons of kids walking everywhere at the family gathering. Ethan watched the older kids and realized that maybe crawling isn't the best way to get around. Suddenly he starting walking around the room without any help or coxing from Mom and Dad. SUCCESS!! Finally!

Unfortunately, now that we are back at home, and it is just him and me, he isn't walking like he was on Thanksgiving Day. Still, the fact remains that HE DID IT!!! Ethan started walking! Here is the video clip to prove it. This wasn't his best walking spree of the night but I did catch some walking on video.

Hopefully he will keep up the good work. I might have to borrow someone's kids for a day for encouragements sake. Any volunteers?

We are Expecting Baby Number 2!

Well, I was planning on waiting until my first trimester was over to announce that we are having another baby but I had an appointment today and got to hear the heart beat. I am 13 weeks along (around 3 months) and I figured, what the heck, I will be in my second trimester next week. So yes, we are having another baby and are so THRILLED! Our due date is June 1st. That happens to be Jared's birthday! Here is our first ultrasound picture. I know, our baby doesn't look like much of a baby in this picture, but this was at 7 weeks.

This is what the baby looks like at 13 weeks.

We will be finding out what gender we are having in January and I can't wait!! Ethan....here comes a sibling. I really wonder what he will think of that.

Ethan is One!!!

Our Ethan turned one on October 27th! I can't believe how much our son has changed our lives. He has brought so much joy to our family. I am so thankful to be his mother and only pray that I can be everything that he needs. Ethan, happy birthday. Mom and Dad love you so very much.

Update

So I have been terrible about blogging lately. I don't have a good excuse either. So here it is, an Austin family update.

First my amazing big sister, Angie, had her first baby!!!! WOOO WHOOO! I am so excited for her. I flew to Salt Lake and then my mom picked me up and we drove to Rexburg last week to see her beautiful little girl Abby. Mom and baby are doing fantastic! She was 7 lbs. 5 oz. and she has a full head of dark hair. Something tells me that Jared and I don't have a great chance of having a baby with a full head of dark hair. Sad. Anyway, seeing my sister, brother-in-law and little Abby was so amazing. They are going to be awesome parents. Congrats Ben and Angie!

This weekend Jared, Ethan and I decided to go camping last minute. This trip was not thought through very well. You see, Jared and I have never really taken a toddler camping. Dreams of , hiking, sitting around the campfire singing songs, and getting a night of great sleep out in the wild were soon dashed by our 11 month old.

Instead...no hiking trip because we forgot our hiking backpack for Ethan.

Sitting around the fire didn't happen either. Instead I spent the whole evening trying to keep Ethan out of the fire. I would grab Ethan, pull him away from the fire pit and say "No" in a very firm voice. This would send him into tears. He just wanted to touch the beautiful hot flames of our campfire. I was relieved when we finally extinguished the flames and went to bed. We should have brought a pack'n play, but we didn't.

And about that great night of sleep I had dreamed of...this one actually wasn't Ethan's fault. After we were all cozy in our sleeping bags and Ethan was asleep a family pulled into a camp sight annoyingly close to ours. They had a very loud truck, very loud kids, and the adults were very loud themselves. They kept us up for a few hours and when they woke up Ethan Jared finally had to politely tell our new camping neighbors that they were being loud and were keeping our toddler awake. So, considering the circumstances, Ethan did pretty well and only woke a couple of times through the night.

Don't get me wrong, we had fun on our camping trip, but we learned a few things too. Next time Ethan had better watch out because we will be fully prepared with a pack'n play, a hiking backpack just for him, and maybe even a straight jacket. Oh, and as for loud camping neighbors, we will be sure to bring along a BB gun.

New Family Pictures

So my amazing wonderful sister-in-law, April, took some pictures of our family when they came to visit in July. Here are a few of my favorites! Thank you so much April! We LOVE them!! You did an excellent job.

Park Date

Jared and I took Ethan to the park the other day and he LOVED it! He went down the slide (with assistance) and climbed up the stairs over and over again. It was SO cute! Here are some adorable photos that we got of him.

Ethan Is Growing Up!!

I have been trying to deny the truth for a few weeks now but I can't anymore...Ethan really is growing up and will continue to grow up and there is nothing I can do about it. So I guess I have to embrace the truth and give this video up as evidence of that truth. My little baby boy isn't really a baby anymore....

Wicked!!!

Jared and I went and saw Wicked last Wednesday and it was AMAZING!!!! Thanks again honey for the wonderful anniversary gift. It was so much better than I even imagined! I LOVED, LOVED LOVED, LOVE, LOVED it! Now I have to buy the sound track.

The curtain...it was the only photo we could really take of the play.

Jared and I at WICKED!!

The stars of the show... Elphaba and Glinda.