New Hat

You may have heard on the news that much of the South woke up covered in ice this morning. We didn't get it too bad here in Austin, but it was enough to make it necessary for us (and when I say us I mean Jon) to chip away at a thin layer in order to get our car doors open:


Ice on the hood.


Looking out the back window.

The cold morning was a perfect opportunity to try out Amery's new hat, courtesy of Grandma G:

Can I just brag a little?

I recently visited the website of my awesome photographer friend - Lyndsay Stradtner of Life in Motion Photography - because I heard she'd made some changes to it. Lyndsay shot my maternity photos and Amery's newborn photos, and she was recently named 2008 Best Kids Photographer by the Austin Chronicle. Lo and behold our little man is featured not once, not twice, but three times. If you want to see them, go to Lyndsay's website (link above, then click on Website), and in the portfolio section at the bottom of the screen, click on "brand new." Amery appears in pictures 1, 4, and 5. While you're there, take a minute to check out the rest of her amazing work.

My Boys

I took this shot of my two favorite boys (three with Kona) before work on Friday...

...and because I couldn't decide which of these is cuter I'm posting both...

Howdy!

Stuff he does like

Kona:


Going for walks in the baby carrier:


The Jumperoo:


And last, but definitely not least, is Duck. Duck has been Amery's favorite toy since he was about 3 weeks old. If he's sad or in a bad mood, you can almost always guarantee a smile or a laugh when Duck comes around. Now it's not enough to just see Duck. Now he wants to eat Duck. As soon as you get Duck close enough, he grabs him in a big bear hug and tries to shove as much of Duck as possible into his mouth:

He doesn't like it.

The Bumbo seat. He doesn't like it. Supposedly all babies love this thing. Our baby is not one of those babies.

More Holiday Pics

Here are a few final pictures from our trip to Minnesota this past holiday season.


New duds from Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Derek.


Hanging with Grandpa.


Hanging with Grandma.


With papa in front of the tree.


Spending some quality time with great-grandma.

Ok, technically this picture was taken after we got back to Texas, but he looks so darn cute in this lil outfit from Gene and Susan that I had to include it.

Santa's Little Helper

Sorry for the delay in posting new pics. I left our camera cable at my parents' house so I can't get them off our camera until I get it in the mail. Here are a couple from my dad's camera (click on them for larger versions):


Christmas Eve. This one is for Auntie Jennifer who bought him this outfit.


Four generations on Christmas morning.

At the Lake

I'll try to do a "real" update with a bunch more Christmas pics soon. For now, here are a couple of cute shots from Laura and Brett's home on Ross Lake.

Christmas with the Olsons

On Saturday we spent the morning having brunch at cousin Nancy's house and then headed over to cousin Andy's house for Christmas with the Olson family. Here are a couple of cute shots from the festivities.


Getting some cuddles with Nancy after brunch on Saturday morning.


Hanging out with Nick and Laura. That big arm looks pretty comfy!



Perfectly happy snuggling with Auntie Gerry.


And because I know they read the blog, I had to put in this (blurry) gem for Brian and Jamie. Don't take it personally, Brian!

Amery and Santa

Amery met Santa today! Amery and I, along with Grandma and Aunt Laura, bundled up and headed downtown to Macy's to see the annual Christmas display and visit with Santa. Amery's still not so sure about all the layers that are required for an outing in Minneapolis.

We have a picture with "awake Santa" but I haven't had a chance to scan it yet. I was able to snap a picture with my own camera of Santa goofing around.

Greetings from the Great White North!

Amery and I made it safely to Minnesota yesterday. He did pretty good on the two flights although I pretty much had to bounce him non-stop or he would fuss at me. Luckily I had grandmothers next to me on both flights.

While the flights were relatively uneventful, the drive from the airport to my parents' house was another story entirely. It was a total nightmare. We left the airport at 3:30 and it had just started to snow. The snow combined with rush-hour made for some of the worst traffic I have ever experienced in my life. Ever. Ever. It is a half-hour drive from the airport to my parents' house. It took three hours. Amery was starving but was so upset at all the travel that he would not take a bottle all bundled up in his car seat. I didn't want to take him out to nurse him because obviously that's dangerous, and that would have been really hard anyway. After over an hour on the road, I couldn't take it anymore. We were going 2 MPH or we were stopped so I finally pulled him out of the seat for 5 minutes to strip off his fleece snowsuit and give him the bottle. After that he calmed down a bit. I had to rock the car seat constantly for the rest of the trip home.

Today has been a much better day although he has decided grandma and grandpa's house is way too interesting to take a nap. Awesome. We managed to capture one happy moment:

The Year of the Dragon

We celebrated Christmas with Jon's family on Saturday since we will be in Minneapolis on Christmas day this year. After a big lasagna dinner (yum) we exchanged gifts. Amery received a vintage 1960s rocking dragon that was restored by our sister-in-law, Jennifer, and her mom. It's too big for him right now of course, but how cool will it be when he's big enough? I'll tell you now, it will be very cool.





The rest of the evening was spent hanging out with cousins Jax and Jade. Sorry Jax, I had one good picture of Jade and one good picture of you and Jade won this round:


We also spent some time giggling at Grampy:

He loves the hat. He hates the hat.

Amery got a new hat for our Christmas trip to Minnesota. He's hot-cold on the idea.




He also decided he wanted Papa to join him in the bathtub this morning:

Long Johns

Since it's pretty chilly here for Texas this morning (36 degrees!) Amery decided to get ready for our trip up to Minnesota in a couple of weeks by sporting his raccoon long johns from Aunt Laura and Uncle Brett.

We put up the Christmas decorations last Saturday and Amery was clearly stoked about it:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a collection of pictures from Amery's first Thanksgiving (and he just turned two months old!) hanging out with mama, papa, and his cousins Jax and Jade.

Eight Weeks

My favorite time of the day is right after he wakes up. That's when I get a good half hour of solid smiles and laughs.

Seven Weeks

These are a week old already, but they are too cute not to post so I'm playing catch-up.




Amery has this toy cell phone that he thinks is hilarious.


Once in a while, mama gets a nap too.