Happy Belated Halloween!

Trick or Treat... sorry these are so late!

We celebrated Halloween at Tim and Ingrid's. The whole WeRo crew strutted their stuff with the
Star Wars theme, note the dogs participated as well (Chewbacca and Yoda respectively).



And yes Austin is a mini-Vader version of daddy!



Scooby Doo and Shaggy kept us all well-fed on more than just scooby snacks



And this adorable bee didn't sting anybody, not even her dad who was a Sox pitcher in training ;-)

Where Does the Time Go?

When I started this blog, my goal was to post a picture a day, then it became to post at least once a week... now I feel like I am clinging to the hope of at least twice a month. I often find myself wondering what happened to all the time in just one day, and now I'm wondering where October went. It is wild enough when the time flies by in your own life, but knowing that Austin is 10 weeks already makes my head spin...

Austin had his two month check-up and is growing like a champ. He also got his first mega-round of vaccines (double-legged war bandages pictured below) and was completely wiped out after that experience. His big brother Camden knew just what to do and snuggled up with him all afternoon.



Camden really is the sweetest... and now that he knows it is okay to get close, he can't get enough of Austin.



When we came home from North Carolina, we were greeted with the wonderful news that Nolan Vaughn made his appearance into this world - also on his parent's anniversary. So, in sharing my enthusiasm for his arrival, I just had to re-post a photo of him to show off how cute he is! Austin cannot wait to meet him when we venture out west this winter. And we look forward to years and years of summer vacations together with the Vaughn family (*hint-hint Commander, let's make it happen).

After all of the initial travel surrounding Austin's first 8 weeks of life, we have spent the past two weeks enjoying being home. Puppy playdates, brunch with friends, football on the couch... it has been wonderful, but not especially exciting to photograph. Most of the pictures I've taken are just my infatuation with how adorable Austin looks just being next to me. Though he has recently learned that he has hands - and can grab stuff with them - which is so fun. It is amazing to watch his development unfold right in front of me!





We spent an afternoon with Alex, Aiden, and Chace - and Austin has definitely made a new friend in Aiden. He was entranced by this big kid who wanted to play with him. I can't wait to get them together again.

We also attended Sofie's 2nd birthday party and while the birthday girl partied herself out, Austin got to meet his great aunt Betsy and see Gigi and Gramps.



Oh, and how could I forget my favorite part of the last two weeks?! Lori came to visit and Austin got to meet another awesome "Auntie"! It was so good to spend some (long overdue) time with her. She was amazing with Austin - a true natural!



We can't wait to see her again - hopefully in December, along with a whole lot of other family and friends when we travel down to PA for the holidays. I will try to do better with posting between now and then...

OBX or Bust!

Everyone told me that I was crazy to take a 2 week old on vacation to Nantucket - and they were partially right. So when everyone again told me that I was crazy to drive a 6 week old from Boston to North Carolina, I probably should have at least given it a second thought... but the chance to spend a week with family could not be passed up, so off we went! Our first stop was New Hope so that Austin could wish his Gigi a happy birthday and meet family friends Denise and Liz. Then onto the Berg before our early morning departure for the Outer Banks.

Oh please mom... no more driving!

But then alas, we arrived and a meeting long overdue: Austin finally got to snuggle with his uncle Kevin for the first time, and later in the week - cousin Marielle too!

And of course he loved seeing his Granny and Grandpop, and Uncle Patrick and Aunt Steffay again. So many wonderful baby holders and bouncers, Austin was in heaven!





And the Bailey family also joined in the Daniel fun this year so Austin had even more people to play with all week long. Kirsten and Nicole, he is so bored this week without his cousins to keep him smiling constantly!

There were also lots of little firsts: more smiles for everyone in the family and lots of cooing. And Austin went swimming (and he got a kick out of it... literally!) and we tried facing out in our carrier (with extra mommy-assisted head support) so that he could really check out the beach. He loved it so much that he has been practicing holding his head up on his own ever since. And when his daddy arrived mid-week, he showed off all he had learned to do with his new activity mat jungle friends.







These days Camden always feels a little left out, but he definitely wasn't on this trip. Dog friendly houses, stores, and beaches made Duck the perfect destination for our family! He played so hard that he napped even more than Austin.



FAMILY PHOTO!
We've even got a sleeping Austin in the foreground, but where are Chris and Stephanie!?! :-(


*T-shirts are a Bailey original design (and thank you Morgan for taking such a great picture)

We may have vacationed too late in the year to catch our usual meteor shower show, but our final night sent us off with a beautiful sunset. Until next year Daniel family, until next year...

What a Week!

This week was really fun. Austin shared his first social smile with me. Here is the video of his second one (I hope you can view it).

We also have been keeping really busy. We had lots of visitors. One of our favorite weekend activities includes watching football and as usual, we watched the games with Shannon and Mike. While they were over, Austin asked them to be his Godparents and they said yes!


The Berge family came over to meet Austin and we got a taste for what real multi-kid chaos can feel like! :-)

Then Patrick and Stephanie stopped in for a night (their third visit to see Austin!) to see how big he has grown, and Aunt Dawn moved in for a few days to help me while Chris was traveling for work. Austin and I are sooooo loved!

While Dawn was visiting, we ventured out in the humidity to go apple picking with Heidi and Sofie. We ended up actually only picking pears, but boy were they delicious!

I was so sad for Dawn to leave, but that meant Chris was coming home. Austin and I went out to visit the Grays to pass the time until he landed. Our first long car ride didn't go so well, but it was worth the trek out so I could see Lauren, one of my besties, and Austin could see Charlie, his future bestest bud. They are stinking cute together!

Depsite Charlie having 5 weeks on Austin, they weigh nearly the same! Below they are in their matching outfits, made by Charlie's incredibly creative mommy. Austin hopes he gets a new outfit each time he grows out of the former (hint, hint, tee-hee!)

Of course, I had to sneak in a picture of Julia, my favorite little girl, even though she was sulky to me this time. She is such an awesome big sister to Charlie, and I will get that hug next time! ;-)


And after all the excitement of the past week, it was time to rest up and wait for daddy's arrival and vacation in North Carolina next week, whew...