Here is a video from his birthday party this weekend. Thanks to our family and friends for helping us celebrate this special boy! He is very loved! {More birthday posts coming soon!}
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Happy 1st Birthday Austin
Our sweet, happy, fun, beautiful, perfect baby boy Austin Thomas Todd is ONE today! Happy Birthday!! We love you more than you will ever know!
Here is a video from his birthday party this weekend. Thanks to our family and friends for helping us celebrate this special boy! He is very loved! {More birthday posts coming soon!}
Here is a video from his birthday party this weekend. Thanks to our family and friends for helping us celebrate this special boy! He is very loved! {More birthday posts coming soon!}
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Austin's First Day
We have been so blessed to have been able to keep Austin at home with one of us for his first year of life. Seriously, it has been the BEST! I stayed home for 11 weeks after he was born and Tayt was taking night classes last Spring semester so we both spent all day with him as a newborn. Then I went back to work for the last 8 weeks of the school year and Tayt became a stay-at-home dad during the day. I got to spend the summer at home while Tayt worked and then all fall Tayt was on daddy duty while I taught and again he took classes at night and on the weekend. I know Tayt never thought in a million years he would be spending his days at home with an infant while his wife worked but God's timing in our life couldn't have been more perfect. 1)We were able to bond with our first-born and spend quality time watching him grow and develop. 2)We both saw every stage and every change he made in the first 12 months. 3)We did not have to pay for childcare! So, overall it was a true gift for both of us and I know we will always look back on this first year and have very fond memories.
However, all things must come to an end and we knew right about the time Austin turned 1 we would be looking for childcare. It is definitely something I agonized over for months. This fall I finally started to look around. We discussed our options and ultimately decided that in-home care would be the best for our son at this time. We were fortunate enough to find an amazing sitter. She is a parent at my school and I already had a great relationship with her. She lives just around the corner from my school. Everything just seemed to fall into place.
Monday was his first day. Like most mothers I cried some on Sunday just thinking about it and then lost it Sunday evening when I wrote my baby boy's name in his lunchbox for the first time. We took a picture of him before we left that morning and off we went.
I dropped him off at 7:15am. There were no tears. He was happy and smiling and eating breakfast when I left. The sitter sent us a text around mid morning and said he had eaten well, he was happy and very sweet. She even sent us a picture of him playing with all the new toys. He took an hour and a half nap and ate a great lunch when he woke up! I called on my lunch break and could hear him talking and laughing in the background which made me smile ear to ear! Tayt picked him up around 1:30pm and we got a great report from his first day.
{Note: Austin pooped through his diaper during his nap. I guess he was trying to break her in and see if she could handle his "dirty side". In his defense, this is rare but he has been taking antibiotics to get over his sinus infection. I thought it was kid of funny though. Haha, oops!}
I was overjoyed to know my boy was happy and had had a good day. I pray that his sitter will grow to love him like we do and he will always enjoy his time at her house.
However, all things must come to an end and we knew right about the time Austin turned 1 we would be looking for childcare. It is definitely something I agonized over for months. This fall I finally started to look around. We discussed our options and ultimately decided that in-home care would be the best for our son at this time. We were fortunate enough to find an amazing sitter. She is a parent at my school and I already had a great relationship with her. She lives just around the corner from my school. Everything just seemed to fall into place.
Monday was his first day. Like most mothers I cried some on Sunday just thinking about it and then lost it Sunday evening when I wrote my baby boy's name in his lunchbox for the first time. We took a picture of him before we left that morning and off we went.
I dropped him off at 7:15am. There were no tears. He was happy and smiling and eating breakfast when I left. The sitter sent us a text around mid morning and said he had eaten well, he was happy and very sweet. She even sent us a picture of him playing with all the new toys. He took an hour and a half nap and ate a great lunch when he woke up! I called on my lunch break and could hear him talking and laughing in the background which made me smile ear to ear! Tayt picked him up around 1:30pm and we got a great report from his first day.
I was overjoyed to know my boy was happy and had had a good day. I pray that his sitter will grow to love him like we do and he will always enjoy his time at her house.
"THE" Question
Tayt and I dated for six years before we got married so for many years we heard the question, "When are yall getting engaged?" I'm pretty sure Tayt cringed every time he heard that question and had anxiety before every family event, but eventually that question was answered.
So naturally the next question was, "When are you getting married?" Luckily we didn't make people wait too long for that answer. Within about two weeks we had set a date for seven months away.
The questions stopped for a few months and I swear the second we walked down the isle the next question started, "When are you going to have a baby?" Seriously people, can we at least enjoy thy honeymoon?!?! Well that question continued for three years until we announced that yes indeed we were expecting.
And, you guessed it....not too long after Austin was born it started again, "When are you going to have another baby?" We get it all the time from many different people. I know that people are just making conversation and obviously we make totally cute babies so why wouldn't people want us to reproduce again, right?!? Just kidding...not about the cute thing but about people wanting that! ;) Everyone assumes that #2 will be "Austin's sister", who at the moment already has a name. (The name we were going to use if Austin was a girl.) I want to put it out there that I think #2 will be a BOY.
So just to clarify, NO there is not a #2 at the moment, but YES, God willing, we would like to have more children. For now we are content and not planning on another for a few years. The "plan", and I use that lightly knowing it is God's plan not ours, is to let Tayt get through some nursing school before we start adding to our branch of the family tree.
I hope that answers some questions for a while!!!
So naturally the next question was, "When are you getting married?" Luckily we didn't make people wait too long for that answer. Within about two weeks we had set a date for seven months away.
The questions stopped for a few months and I swear the second we walked down the isle the next question started, "When are you going to have a baby?" Seriously people, can we at least enjoy thy honeymoon?!?! Well that question continued for three years until we announced that yes indeed we were expecting.
And, you guessed it....not too long after Austin was born it started again, "When are you going to have another baby?" We get it all the time from many different people. I know that people are just making conversation and obviously we make totally cute babies so why wouldn't people want us to reproduce again, right?!? Just kidding...not about the cute thing but about people wanting that! ;) Everyone assumes that #2 will be "Austin's sister", who at the moment already has a name. (The name we were going to use if Austin was a girl.) I want to put it out there that I think #2 will be a BOY.
So just to clarify, NO there is not a #2 at the moment, but YES, God willing, we would like to have more children. For now we are content and not planning on another for a few years. The "plan", and I use that lightly knowing it is God's plan not ours, is to let Tayt get through some nursing school before we start adding to our branch of the family tree.
I hope that answers some questions for a while!!!
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Baby's First Christmas (2012)
This year Christmas was all about Austin!! Of course he had no idea what was going on but I think everyone enjoyed having a baby around to watch and play with. Our Christmas holiday has always been busy. Tayt and I usually feel like we are running around Texas to visit all the family. Hopefully some day soon everyone will come to us and we can host the holiday festivities. I'm pretty sure we will have to buy a bigger house before that can realistically happen. We decorated for Christmas the weekend before Thanksgiving since I am off work that whole week but by the time Christmas rolled around I was more than ready to put it all away. It was hard to have things out that a baby can't play with. Make note of our tree for 2012...ornaments started in the middle so they were out of baby's reach! Austin was unimpressed with Santa and even more so the elf that was dancing all around in front of him trying to get a smile. We got a half smirk which was funny. We were anticipating the "crying baby with Santa" picture and would have gladly taken that but our boy was not the least bit scared of the big guy! Yay! And The Todds sent out our very first Christmas card this year. Sorry if you didn't get one. I ordered 30 and sent out every one. Next year I'll be ordering more. Okay, on to the pictures. Be warned, this is a LONG post with lots of pictures!!
Here is the timeline of our Christmas' of 2012:
1. 12/22/12: Todd Family Christmas: Christmas at Tommy's house with Tommy, Dee, Joe, Heidi, Tracy, Summer, Hali, Amanda, Tyler, Rhiannon, and Summit. BBQ, presents and good company in Cedar Hill. I know the Todd family was very grateful to have Tyler home from the Navy for Christmas this year.
2. 12/23/12: We had planned to go to Killeen for Christmas with Tayt's mom but Austin had a fever and we had to postpone. Instead we stayed home and Santa came early to our house. Austin got a HUGE connecting tent, ball pit, tunnel play place. We had no idea it would take up our entire living room. Austin loved it!
3. 12/24/12: Christmas Eve: Church at Christ Church in Plano and dinner at Marcia and Rick's in Prosper with my extended family. As we headed to meet my parents for church, we got a call that Tayt's niece Hali had been in a bad car wreck and was being Careflighted to Parkland Hospital. Tayt dropped me off at church and rushed down to the hospital. Thank God she is fine and walked away with only some bumps, scrapes and bruises. After church Austin and I went to Marcia and Rick's with my family, where we ate and played charades. We missed Tayt and I'm sad I never got a picture of the three of us all dressed up for Christmas Eve.
4. 12/25/12: Christmas Day: We woke up and headed to my parents for the day. We opened presents, had a yummy breakfast, watched Austin play, Tayt, Grant and Trent tried to install a new thermostat for my parents (most of the day), my mom and I set up her new Kindle fire, we ate a delicious dinner and just relaxed all day. One of the big highlights of the day was the SNOW!!!! It started out rainy and then by mid day it turned to beautiful,big snowflakes...YES, SNOW IN TEXAS ON CHRISTMAS! It covered everything and stuck around for a few days.
5. 12/30/12: Christmas in Killeen: We finally headed down to Killeen and spent the evening with Terry Lynn. Again, we ate a yummy meal, talked and watched the Cowboys lose. :( Austin had a rough night and cried most of the night. Poor boy was still sick with a cold and cough. The next morning we drove home to spend New Years Eve cuddled up at home as a family.
Yes, it was busy but I love getting to see all of our family in such a short amount of time. It is times like this that I am reminded how many people love our little family of three. We are so blessed and treasure all of our family. In my opinion, family is the greatest gift we could get and they are all the first thing I thank God for every day. I pray everyone had a wonderful holiday and was able to spend it with the ones they love as well.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Love, The Todds (Tayt, Allison, Austin and Tanner)
{P.S.-Thank you Blogger for letting me publish such a long post with lots of pictures!}
Here is the timeline of our Christmas' of 2012:
1. 12/22/12: Todd Family Christmas: Christmas at Tommy's house with Tommy, Dee, Joe, Heidi, Tracy, Summer, Hali, Amanda, Tyler, Rhiannon, and Summit. BBQ, presents and good company in Cedar Hill. I know the Todd family was very grateful to have Tyler home from the Navy for Christmas this year.
2. 12/23/12: We had planned to go to Killeen for Christmas with Tayt's mom but Austin had a fever and we had to postpone. Instead we stayed home and Santa came early to our house. Austin got a HUGE connecting tent, ball pit, tunnel play place. We had no idea it would take up our entire living room. Austin loved it!
3. 12/24/12: Christmas Eve: Church at Christ Church in Plano and dinner at Marcia and Rick's in Prosper with my extended family. As we headed to meet my parents for church, we got a call that Tayt's niece Hali had been in a bad car wreck and was being Careflighted to Parkland Hospital. Tayt dropped me off at church and rushed down to the hospital. Thank God she is fine and walked away with only some bumps, scrapes and bruises. After church Austin and I went to Marcia and Rick's with my family, where we ate and played charades. We missed Tayt and I'm sad I never got a picture of the three of us all dressed up for Christmas Eve.
4. 12/25/12: Christmas Day: We woke up and headed to my parents for the day. We opened presents, had a yummy breakfast, watched Austin play, Tayt, Grant and Trent tried to install a new thermostat for my parents (most of the day), my mom and I set up her new Kindle fire, we ate a delicious dinner and just relaxed all day. One of the big highlights of the day was the SNOW!!!! It started out rainy and then by mid day it turned to beautiful,big snowflakes...YES, SNOW IN TEXAS ON CHRISTMAS! It covered everything and stuck around for a few days.
5. 12/30/12: Christmas in Killeen: We finally headed down to Killeen and spent the evening with Terry Lynn. Again, we ate a yummy meal, talked and watched the Cowboys lose. :( Austin had a rough night and cried most of the night. Poor boy was still sick with a cold and cough. The next morning we drove home to spend New Years Eve cuddled up at home as a family.
Yes, it was busy but I love getting to see all of our family in such a short amount of time. It is times like this that I am reminded how many people love our little family of three. We are so blessed and treasure all of our family. In my opinion, family is the greatest gift we could get and they are all the first thing I thank God for every day. I pray everyone had a wonderful holiday and was able to spend it with the ones they love as well.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Love, The Todds (Tayt, Allison, Austin and Tanner)
{P.S.-Thank you Blogger for letting me publish such a long post with lots of pictures!}
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Thanksgiving (in pictures)
The weekend before Thanksgiving Tommy and Dee came over and then took us out to eat at PF Changs (my favorite)!
On Thanksgiving Day we went to my parents to eat, play flag football, watch the Cowboys game and just relax with my (extended) side of the family! The food was EXCELLENT. Austin ate everything he tried and enjoyed playing all day with everyone. My cousin even took a few family pictures of us so we could make our first family Christmas card.
The weekend after Thanksgiving we drove down to Killeen to see Terry Lynn and went out to eat Japanese food. Tracy and Rob met us for dinner too. Austin was so good for the whole THREE hours we were there and made a huge/fun mess with the rice!
{These are a few pictures from my phone.}
Happy Thanksgiving 2012!!
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