Winter Vacation

While I was on maternity leave (I'm back at work now), we decided to take a little vacation during a break Austen had from "school." So Tom, Austen, Peyton and I traveled about three and a half hours north to the Wisconsin Dells. Now, the Dells boasts one of the largest places for indoor waterparks so we thought it would be a nice break to do some swimming in the winter.

The car ride up was easy. Both Austen and Peyton were great in the car. Austen is great because all he says is "I wanna watch a video" and we don't hear from him much in the backseat. Peyton slept most of the way so that was easy too. Thankfully, the DVD player came with headphones so Tom and I didn't have to listen to the Lion King or Nemo or whatever Austen was watching.

Anyway, we stayed at Great Wildnerness Lodge in one of their two bedroom, two bath condos complete with a family room and kitchen. It was pretty nice given that it was the Dells and these hotels are catering to kids and families. The place we stayed had four indoor waterparks so we had to get out and hit the first one that first evening we arrived. We managed to hit all four by the end of the trip. Austen rode the lazy river, went down a number of waterslides with us and without us and even ventured into the wave pool. We had a good time together and it made us wish summer was here already. Especially Austen - since he's been asking to go to the beach ever since we got back.

It's All About Peyton

This week our little Peyton will turn 3 months old. I looked at her the other day and could hardly believe how big she is getting. Her cheeks are filling out, she has rolls on her thighs now and she's getting a lot longer too. In fact, at her just over two month doctors appointment she weighed in at 10lbs. 11 oz. and measured 23 inches. She grew a lot in just a month or so. The doctor was amazed, especially at her height growth - about two inches - which puts her close to the 75th percentile in height. She still is about 50 percent for weight.

Peyton is up now more during the day too but is just a happy baby. She smiles all the time and I revel in making her laugh or smile. She's also a pretty decent sleeper as she's starting to get into a routine of napping in her crib in the morning and afternoon. And, just two days ago, she started really sleeping through the night. At about 8 weeks she was sleeping from 9pm - 4 or 5am consistently but the last two nights she's gone from 8pm - 6am/6:45am! Just in time for me to go back to work! What a gift. And, what a little gift she is to our family. I sure am enjoying buying her lots of little presents!

School Buses

Austen is all about school buses. He got to ride on one on a field trip to the zoo during school this past summer and now he can’t stop talking about them. He points them out wherever we go and he even sleeps with them! (Well, toy versions of them!)

When Peyton was born, one of my friends sent Peyton a gift as well as Austen. Austen’s gift was a toy school bus. He loved it and slept with it that first night. It still remains one of his favorite toys.

He also likes cookies dressed like school buses. Recently, Tom’s firm landed a big job with a school district. Someone sent them Cookies by Design with cookies representing school days. Tom brought home the school bus for Austen. Below is Austen eating his school bus cookie. Not long now before he’s actually riding a school bus!

Look! They're the Same!

Lately, Austen is really into finding things that are the same. Sometimes he'll say that his shirt is the same color as the one his dad is wearing or that he's wearing jeans too but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about finding the exact same thing and pointing it out to us.

- Last week during bedtime, Austen was selecting a book. He told me that this book has a parachute on it like this other book he pulls out. He was referring to the spine of one book and the spine of another. Sure enough the publisher's logo was a parachute. It was so small too, I couldn't believe he noticed.

- Austen and I were driving to the bank one day and we were waiting at a stop light. All of a sudden he points to my left yelling, "Look, Mommy - they're the same truck!" Sure enough two Fed Ex trucks were waiting at the stop light right in a row.

_ There are many other examples of Austen saying things are the same but the one that blew Tom and me away was when we were out to breakfast this week. Austen was being nosy and observing a dad with his two kids. All of a sudden Austen started saying, "Look Daddy, he has the same shoes as you!" Sure enough he was right. He had the same New Balance sneakers as Tom. And, I'm not just talking the brand. It was the exact same style of shoe.

I don't know what Austen is going to be when he grows up but I have a feeling it's going to be something that requires an eye for detail!