16 years of Austin (my baby boy)!

16yrs seems like such a long time...although looking back over the yrs I often wonder where they have gone!  16yrs ago, I gave birth to my first baby boy!   So much love and joy he has brought into our lives!  When I look at him, especially on his birthdays, I am reminded of those first special moments with him, when the world stood still and nothing else mattered.  The world kept turning, but ours frozen in time!  I can still feel the cuddly warmth of him in my arms that first time, smell him all fresh and new into this world, and see him as my baby, in my arms!

The yrs have brought hysterical bout's of laughter from him to trials and tears!  So in honor of him on his special day, when he will take on all new adventures in the life of a 16yr old, such as driving and dating, I am going to reminisce of a few moments of the past 16yrs...so stick with me.
Bringing Austin into this world, although worth it, was no easy task!  I grew very sick during the end of my pregnancy (as I know more now than I did then), and I thought that he would never make his arrival into this world.  Finally 4 days ofter due date I went into labor and delivered him early in the morning of the 23rd of March.  Although I was on medications during my delivery that made me ill and delivered him without medications to relieve pain, It was still the most breathtaking and intimate moment!  And it was during my delivery with him, I decided I was going to become a labor and delivery nurse (it only took me 16 yrs to get there).

At 10weeks Austin got very sick with RSV and was hospitalizes for 3days.  Even though he didnt feel well he still smiled and flirted and cued at the nurses.   He has always been such a sweet little man.

As a little boy he loved to go to the airport and watch his airplanes come in.  He was very peticular about the way he looked, his hair and his clothes!

14 months he took a dump in his dump truck, and proceeded to paint his room with it during nap time.
He drove moms car over Grandmas basket ball hoop when he was 2!  He was so upset to have to tell Grandma.

That summer he was bitten by a yellow jacket and went into anaphylaxis shock!  Very scary moment for mom!  He just tried to smile at me because he knew I was stressed and his little face continued to swell.

He loved to fish, take things apart and put them back together and climb! That kid could climb anything and everything...from the fence at 13 months to the basket ball hoop I found him sitting in at 6.  One day I found him on top of the street sign sitting there!
  
I will never forget in the 1st grade when he won "feet of the week" and brought home a foot doughnut and a little girl in his class.  I sat and watch with pride as he pulled the bar stool out from the counter, got her seated and cut his foot doughnut in half and let her choose the half she wanted first! How many 7 yr olds do that.
I think we always new he would be such a smart kid.  His kindergarten teacher told us once she could get him to do class work because he went around the room and found things to repair and just wanted to fix everything!  Not a shock he still fixes everything.  It was in Kindergarten that he took apart our broken vcr and simply told us that it needed a new fuse.  Who even knew they had a fuse (not me)!

As the yrs have passed and I have watched him grow from my little man who would stick out his pointer finger and say "cool man", to my little big man that is bringing home girls to meet mom, fixing the computer problems and inventing stuff, there is so much pride and thankfulness in my heart for the love and laughter that he has brought to us over the yrs.

I love you forever, I like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be!  (from a book I read with him as a little boy)!
Happy Birthday Buddy! 

Album 12\08\2010 (37 photos), by Mindy Anderson

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So, again the kids are fighting today...and it is snowing.  I told them to go play in the street!  Bayleigh said "you calling us street kids"?  Weston said "no she is trying to get us run over"!  Austin wouldnt go outside to play and Weston trying to get me to force him.  I told the kids I didnt like to go out in the snow as a teenager either and I wasn't going to force him.  Tyson said "thats cuz you didnt have loving parents".  I told him I was going to call gma and tell her he said she wasnt a loving parent...anyway, it turned into a big discussion and argument about what he really meant!  Then I told him the story of when my sister and I were fighting in the car on the way to the Grand Canyon. I told him, "No, my parents just kicked us out of the car in the Grand Canyon and told us to walk home after my dad stuffed our pants with snow"!  Now, that is loving parenting right!  He asked if we walked home...I told him "Tracy got farther than I did..."!  So, even in the event that I feel like a terrible parent some days when the kids are fighting and I am threatening to go to work even though I am not schedulled or to "go play in the street", I am reminded of the good ol days when our own parents were at their wits end and sick of us fighting too!  Tis' life, right?  I do love my kido's, contrary to what may seem some days.  So I will make them hot chocolate for when they come in from currently "playing in the street in the snow"!
And I am missin my sis... :(  Trac, I would walk home from the Grand Canyon with you anyday...even with cold butt cheeks!  Love ya


 

Cabin Fever and Demons!

Life with the Andersons...as we now know it!
The kids are really starting to get cabin fever and need to get out of the house.  Fighting and arguing has begun once again and Bayleigh thinks her life will end if "those boys dont stop teasing".  The arguing and whining has gotten so bad that a couple nights ago I had a dream that i gave birth to a demonic infant which had several defects including teeth that were fangs.  It tried to bite and tear at me!  I am sure that this is not a result of Ambien which I have now had to consume to help me sleep some nights due to my crazy work schedulle!  I told kyle that this dream was the result of my "demonic children who fight nonstop"!  I love my kido's.  REALLY!  but there is a point at which we try to "drown" out all the fighting and bickering, which is exactly what i tried to do in this dream!  Maybe I should call that dream lady on 97.1.  This dream left me quite disturbed, even days later!  I am still thinking about it!
Yesterday, Austin and Weston thought it would be funny to move Sams car at the school and turn the windshield wipers on so that when she found it they would come on full blast. Those little pranksters!  somehow they managed to move her car without the keys and when she got in and turned on the car it broke the wipers.  This became the source of much discontent last night as they fought about whose fault it was that the wipers are now broken!  You have to admit, that is pretty funny that they care enough about her to think of ways to have fun, but they dont always consider the consequences of their choices!  This wouldn't be the first time Austin has tried to move a car.  When he was 2 he managed to park my car on top of Grandmas basketball standard!  Yep, you heard me right.  You see, there is never a dull moment with us!

Bayleigh has a new bed, which is full size and has drawers and a cubby space under it.  Tyson likes to hide in there and try to scare her!  She claims he teases her for "everything" and she "just cant take it anymore".  Teasing apparently includes everything from a look to a comment about how long it will take to be ready to leave for school!  I wasnt really ever sure that kids could create so much drama and noise!
So, we have a new rule at our house!  When someone teases someone 5 times they get to take that person for ice cream!  We will see if it works or if the kido's will just use it to get to the ice cream store!   If that doesn't work, we will change the rule to if there is teasing, arguing or bickering mom and dad get to run away on a date!  Hey we could get a lot of dating in at this rate!