THE Santa! And our DAY at the mall!

So, my brother in-law was telling us that one of the malls here in Dallas is supposed to have "THE SANTA." He wasn't sure which mall, but his friends come up to get their kids picture with THIS Santa. The "Coca-Cola Santa" they call him.
Well, he's at North Park mall. And Augie had his picture with him!!!


I will say, I'll do it differently next time! You can get a ticket starting at 9 am. Then pictures don't start until 11:30. We knew this, but I didn't want Gus to have to go early to get a ticket because his dad and Kathy were in town. I didn't go because I Augie was due to eat at 9:00.
So, we got there at 11:30. We took our ticket . . . #164!!! Time estimate: 5:30! At first we debated on not having his picture taken there and doing it some other time. I had a feeling it wouldn't happen though. And we didn't have any other plans. AND . . . we still had to find him a Christmas outfit. So, we duked it out. We stayed at the mall from 11:30 to 6:30. It was dark by the time we left!

We did find him a Christmas outfit though!
And a wonderful outfit for him to take his pic with THE Santa.
And I found tennis shoes - for when I can start to jog/run again (1 week, 1 day, and counting down!) - and I love them! (Happy Birthday to me from Gus!)

I will also say that Augie was quite the trooper! He slept a lot, ate good, woke up and enjoyed the scenery for awhile, and we thought he would even make it through the picture with Santa. We were wrong. Santa was late - supposed to be there at 5:30 after his break, got there at 5:45, and Augie fell asleep HARD at 5:40. He tried to stay up with us, but when he was done, he was DONE! SWEET, SWEET BOY!!!




MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL . . .

. . . AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

My Early Birthday Surprise!

So . . . a little something about my husband . . . if you don't already know . . . He's a financial man! Checkbook balancer! Money manager! Bargain hunter!
AND I LOVE HIM FOR IT!!!
He told me to watch for a package from his dad & Kathy - I assumed it was our Christmas gifts. Well, a couple days go by, and I received a package. It was not from them though . . .
Gus pulled it off - he surprised me! - Which is hard to do considering how clever I am! :)

I opened the door to the UPS delivery person, and they were holding a BIG box of flowers! Absolutely beautiful, full of color and life!!! Gus did good!

The part that I'll never forget though . . . I commented that he was a little early for my birthday (11 days to be exact) I expected him to say soomething about it having to be so that I wouldn't ruin the surprise . . . but instead he told me that "he had to so that he would get the free shipping promotion"!!!
He didn't even try to hide it !!!
Like I said, I love him for it!
We need every extra penny we can get - diapers are a constant need for our precious little man.

I LOVE MY FLOWERS AND MY BARGAIN HUNTING, SURPRISE GIVING HUSBAND!!!
YOU'RE THE BEST GUS!!!

Our 1 month old!!!

Augie turned one month on the 12th! What an exciting event. He himself wasn't phased by it, but Gus and I were thrilled to all be together on such a monumental day.
Our little man continues to grow VERY quickly! We decided to do our own measurements - we weighed me - and then we added Augie. The difference was 10 lbs.! It's not exact of course, but better than nothing.

He is really filling out. His 2nd chin has come in, and his tummy is definitely getting bigger. Gus is of course chearing him on and wants him to turn into the marshmallow man! (Not really - but he wants him to be really chunky because he thinks it's cute.) His little legs stretch to fill out his jammies now. His arms are so long that the sleeves come up just past his wrists. His torso is lengthening a little - but it's growing more in depth than length!!!



WE LOVE YOU AUGIE - HAPPY ONE MONTH BDAY!!!

Growing So Quickly!

Everyone always tells you how fast babies grow. They're not lying! You never realize how true it is, until it's your own child you're watching change before your eyes - every single day!
Augie will be a month old this Thursday! He's already grown and changed quite a bit. I can't keep up!

This is after his first bath - 5 days old! He fit into premie pajamas for the first week!

Our little Fall Blessing!

Our second family picture!

This is one of my all time favorites - he smiles in his sleep a lot (playing with the angels!), and we caught him! If you look really close, you can see the dimple that he has in his right cheek. It is precious!
He does look so much older in this picture, but really he was only 9 days old!


Our next challenge is to catch him smiling when he's awake!!! He's done it, but only a couple times.
Last night was classic though - and will be a memory to cherish forever. We had just gotten home from visiting my parents, were relaxing on the couch - the three of us. Gus and I were smiling at Augie and talking to him, and he (eyes open as big as could be) SMILED the most FULL SMILE, DIMPLE AND ALL, right at us. It gives me goose bumps thinking of how wonderful that moment was!!! Like I said, one to cherish forever!


WE LOVE YOU AUGIE!!!!

Our First Doctor's Appointment

I'm a little late on this one, but Augie had his two week appointment (1 week ago). He is doing GREAT! The doctor is wonderful. He is very personable and talks to you like a normal person - he explains everything that he thinks you don't understand . . . like what a tear duct is (which I knew, but I thought it was great that he went out of his way to explain - so I didn't interrupt). Why the tear duct? Because Augie's was clogged and oozing yellow puss in the corner. The doc said it was normal and we had to just keep it clean and it should go away. It did - He's looking all better now. No more eye boogers for our boy!

The rest of the visit went a little like this:
They measured our little man - he had grown a 1/2 inch!
They measured his head also - normal sized!
And of course - they weighed him . . . the doctor giggled at this one! On average, they expect babies to gain about an ounce a day. Well, let's just say Augie is a CHAMPION EATER! He almost doubled that!!! He weighed in at 8 lbs. 1 oz.

Then came the hard part - he had to have a shot (Hep B) and get his heal stuck again (PKU). :(
It was probably the hardest thing I've had to do all year! I cried when she took the needle out (of the package - not Augie!) and couldn't stop. As soon as she gave him the shot, of course he was screaming. It was one of those horrible screams where it seems like they don't breathe for a whole minute straight! Quivering lip and all! So, I cried with him and told him it was ok. Then they stuck his heal, and he cried some more. I started to collect myself by this point, and he did too! Our kiddo is pretty tough!!! He caught his breath, took his pacifier, and tried to go to sleep. All that crying was exhausting!

I'm hoping to be more prepared next time - he has to get 3 shots when we go back! :(
Thank goodness that's not until January!!!

First Sponge Bath

At first, I was a little worried how this would go . . .
We tried using the little bath tub with the water hammock that was given to us . . . not such a great idea.
Towels on the counter . . . GREAT idea!

I think Augie was in shock at the beginning, but he then realized how much fun bath time can be!!! We did go through a couple of towels - and rounds of bathing - because of unannounced bathroom breaks, but we did make it though.
TOWEL #1

TOWEL #2

TOWEL #3

AND HE LOVES TO HAVE HIS HAIR WASHED! He just lays there and stares up at you - begging for more!


What a sweet boy we have!

I'M A MOMMY!

I am officially a MOMMY!

August Albert Staats IV
Born 11-12-09 at 4:40pm
6 lbs. 15 oz.
19" long

I went in on Wed. night to get my "medicine" to make the induction easier on Thursday. My contractions were strong! Everything seemed to be going well. I was 90-100% efaced and at a 5-6 by about 11:00am on Thursday. We thought I'd be pushing by lunch time and have little Augie shortly after.
By 3:30, nothing had changed. Augie wasn't turning his head to the right position. His head wasn't dropping into the proper position either. And the doctor told me she was 100% sure I'd be needing a C-Section.

We were guessing that he was too big - maybe not going to be able to fit - close to 8 lbs.
WE WERE WAY OFF!!!



But our bouncing baby boy is as beautiful as can be. The official Staats Pac is HERE!

And with a full head of hair:

My Husband - The Good Sport

Story Book Character Day at school was Friday - so naturally, I wanted to participate. I had to think of something to include Augie though. He is such a BIG part of me right now!!! Then, I had it, Thing 1 & Thing 2! Me and Augie - perfect. But not quite . . . I felt like something was missing! Something was . . . it was Dad!!! This was a Staats Pac Halloween - and I was leaving out an important part of that Pac!
At first, there was great reluctance from Gus (because I requested that we paint our hair blue), but when we found inexpensive blue wigs instead . . . everything was good to go! It was pretty much the easiest, most inexpensive (I think we spent $10) costume to put together EVER, and we received A LOT of compliments!


You may be wondering how Augie was incorporated into the equation . . .

That's right . . . He was our "Little Thingaroo!"

Great participation from the whole family!!!

Halloween - Here we come!

I was SO excited to get to carve pumpkins this year! We were busy traveling during our honeymoon last year (not that I minded at all), and we did not really celebrate Halloween. This year, we're dressing up on Friday (for work), and we carved pumpkins, and we're going to hand out candy on Saturday.



The most exciting part of this is that I didn't even get out the camera to take pics of our pumpkin carving - Gus did! It was very heart warming - he said he wanted Augie to see what his "first Halloween" was like!
I'm really glad to be getting some more pictures of us together too - our last few days (hopefully only days now) as a happy couple. Soon we'll be a trio and our lives will change!!!

This one is for you Jess!

I have once again become overloaded with the school year's schedule of events. Trying to keep my head above water and get ahead to be prepared for my little Augie's arrival has been anything but easy!!! I am still lining up lesson plans to make sure that whether early, on time, or late, I'll be ready to leave it all and spend the full time needed with my son when he decides he is ready to make his entrance. At least all of the big events will be past by the time he does come!!!

Updates:
I have carpal tunnel - awful! My fingers (especially the finger tips) are asleep all day long. I have to wear braces on both hands at night and keep them elevated to be able to sleep. I have moved from the bed to the couch in the den. It helps to make it easier to sleep during the night.
I can't wait to be back in my bed, laying down, and sleeping horizontally!!!

As of the doctor's appointment and final sono last week, Augie is doing great! He is still head down and kicking. They estimated him to be about 6lbs. 6oz. (for now). I was already at a 1 (as far as dialating) with 50% efacement. We're hoping that means he might come a little early, but . . . we'll see!!!

I go back in this Wednesday at 3:45 to see if there has been any more progression/changes.

This past weekend - Sunday - was our 1 year anniversary!!! We canceled our Bed & Breakfast reservations to stay closer to home just in case. Plus, we didn't want to pay to be uncomfortable and out of town. We had a great time - visited Grapevine, and had a small replay of our honeymoon - stopping in small shops, eating at a wonderful Bread Baking Co. for lunch, and ending with an amazing dinner at Mi Piaci (our favorite Italian restaurant). We just skipped the wine drinking part! :(

On sunday, we unwrapped our cake from the wedding, and enjoyed a nice slice of wedding sweetness. We really had it wrapped GOOD! It kept very well - and was quite enjoyable!


All together - it is a busy, but wonderful time of the year - and we're looking forward to it getting even busier and better . . . as soon as Augie is HERE!!!

Still waiting - Still Smiling!

Belly Pics

I have had a few of you waiting for these!!! I am officially SHOWING! There is no hiding my baby bump, and everyone tells me everyday, "WOW, your belly just gets bigger everyday!"

At first, it took some getting used to hearing it. I just wasn't used to hearing about how BIG I was . . . but as long as my baby is growing, healthy, and happy . . . I'll take all the BIG compliments I you can dish out! (I'm really not THAT big!)




I am definitely truckin' along though, and got big enough to take belly pics! All of these posted are a few of our favorites!!!

The Nursery

I know we put a picture up of the decor for the nursery when Dad and Kathy bought us the bedding (THANKS AGAIN DAD STAATS AND KATHY), but at that point we had no baby furniture!

Shortly after, we received the chest of drawers and the night stand, but the crib was on back order until August 28th. So we weren't quite as excited about everything - because we couldn't get "the full effect."

Well, the crib came in ON the 28th! (THANKS MOM STAATS AND GRANDMA GATES!!!) We picked it up that night, set it up the next day, and then got an itch to put the rest of the room together! We have taken advantage of some coupons and purchased our first box of baby detergent, a matress, and a diaper bag! We promise not to buy anything else until he's here!!! We couldn't let the coupons go to waste - especially the matress one. I really wanted to set the room ALL up once we got the crib.

So we now have an almost complete nursery! Crib, chest of drawers, night stand/changing table, nursing rocker, decorations on the walls, bedding set up . . . and we have shelving, but we haven't hung it yet.
Pictures? . . . BUT OF COURSE . . . This is just one wall, but it's the main one. I can't get the whole room in one picture. It is really coming together though!!!

We hope you like it little guy!
XOXO, Mom and Dad

Augie Update

I forgot how much school can take over your life at the beginning of the year! I keep thinking about blogging, and the next thing I know, I'm falling asleep at my computer. Well, at least on weekdays. Today is probably the last Saturday that we don't have something on the calendar . . . until November! I have all of my schedule in my phone calendar, and it just keeps filling up by the second.

We have made great progress since the last blog though - I'll put them in a few short blogs so not to bore anyone too much! And yes, I'm blogging at 6:00 in the morning on a Saturday, because Augie kicks and punches me until he gets fed - starting at about 5:00am! The early morning feedings have already begun.

SOOOOOO - let's have an Augie update!!! I went in for my last appointment/sono/finish up the paperwork not very long ago. There's a new pic of Augie below, and he's not quite as HUGE as we thought he was . . . YET! He's "about" 3 lbs. right now. The Doc says my fluid looks good and I'm right on track! He is already head down and will probably stay that way . . . my dad thinks he's going to come early . . . so be ready for anything!!!

PS - in this picture, he's laying on his left side. His head is in the pic. If you look closely, you can make out his eyes, nose, and mouth. And the two things beside his face are his arms. He likes to move them around a lot!



This was by far, the most exhilarating experience of my life! I get to feel Augie move all the time, but to see it on the screen was just amazing. He opened and closed his eyes. He opened and closed his mouth. And for now we'll laugh and cry at the fact that he even stuck his tongue out at us!!! What a precious child. I can't wait to meet him!

A Busy Weekend!

So this weekend held two major events for the Alexander Family! Elena Rae had her 2nd Bday party and Alexa Lee had her Baptism. What a handful.

It all started on Saturday - the Birthday Party! Elena invited all of her cousins and friends to hang out at Grandma and Pops for fun in the sun . . . swimmiing, water balloons, and a slip and slide . . . and A LOT of kids running around!

And her beautiful Nemo and Dori cake truned out perfectly. It even came with little sqeeze toys on top that she played with in the bath tub.


Gifts consisted of several new outfits . . . and a 2 year old girl's best friends: a tea set and a play kitchen of her very own!



And then on to Sunday! Alexa's Day!

We get to church and she almost leaked out of her diaper onto her white gown - it was a close one. So Marci quickly changes her, comes back to sit down for mass, and she lets a big one rip . . . AND SMILES!!! I love how babies think that it's funny to pass gas and poop. It makes me laugh! We made it through mass, and on to the Baptism.
Alexa is just such a happy baby. She slept through the beginning of the ceremony and didn't cry at all when Father Don poured the holy water over her little head.

Then she proceeded to enjoy the wonders of passing gas while the priest blessed her - and, again, smiled really big after each bubble was released.

WHAT A HAPPY BABY!!!

Needless to say, we had a lot of fun and got to have a lot of family time! It was a GREAT WEEKEND!!!