Still little ... and stuff ...

So, my little guy is now 2 months old. I can't believe it. Usually at this point I'm up and at 'em ready for anything you throw at me, but this time I'm just taking it easy and staying home as much as possible. (Try that one with four other kids, including a teen who thinks she has to participate in EVERYTHING at the high school ... oh, except for the part about getting her own license so you don't have to drive her everywhere. But I digress ...)

Anyway, here is his 2-month-old picture with Austin:


Which Austin do you think has the better smile? I kinda like the one on the right:


Anyway, he still seems little to me, even after the comparison with his cousin Gavin. In fact, at his 2-month check-up he was exactly 10.5 pounds. Not very big for a 2-month-old boy. In fact, he was something like 40th percentile for weight and height, and 5-7 percent for his head. My kids have beautifully proportionate heads to their bodies, which apparently makes them small ...

Anyway, last week Austin got to prove that he's still little when he got to meet his other new cousin, Aspen, last week:


Aspen is 3 months older than Austin. What I also failed to mention is that these Palmer girls are tall! Just look at Ellie, who is a year younger than Shayla (Shayla is leaning on Ellie, but it was all I could get of the two together):


And Katie, who is a year younger than Zachary:


Boy do these kids know how to have fun:


And last, but definitely not least, is that Tyler participated in the 3rd grade talent show. I hadn't even asked him about performing since he complains about having to practice, but then Monday he told me he had signed up and was performing. He did great:


And now we're off to Omaha. Wish us luck on the long drive -- I'm dreading it already ...

Adorable

Can I just say how adorable my little guy is?



Let's just hope he's this happy when meeting G&G after a very long car ride next week ...

Twinners

Anyone else ever get into public before you realize something:



I must have been feeling a little green today ...

Still little?

So last night at the grocery store I ran into a neighbor who asked, "Now is it just me, or is your baby LITTLE?!?" I tend to think he's still little. Just this morning I weighed him (with clothes and diaper still on) and he weighed 10.2 pounds. Yes, you'd think that's still little.

That is, until you see his cousin Gavin. Yesterday afternoon Austin and Gavin got to meet for the first time. At first glance they aren't too different in size (or too interested in each other :) ...


Then when you set them down you see a small difference:


Until you get the whole picture:


Yes, that Gavin is small. Even if Austin scrunched up like he did, there is still quite a difference:


So, people, now you know the difference between 6 pounds and 10 pounds. And do think babies of both sizes are born ...

I just thought this one was funny because it looks like Gavin is screaming and Austin is trying to cover his ears. Of course, Gavin is just yawning and Austin has no idea what he's doing ... but it's funny anyway:

Is it the weekend yet?

I don't know why I'm asking -- the weekend will probably be even more busy with kids home instead of at school! It's been a busy, busy, busy last few days! Paul had surgery on Thursday, which coincides with Austin having a growth spurt and wanting to eat every two hours. Add to that the fact that the car was in the shop and you'll get why I'm exhausted!

In the midst of these busy days, though, I've had some fun stuff, too. First of all, my baby sister Rebecca had her baby! Hooray!!! She surprised us all by having her little boy a week early. Her baby was born May 6 at 9:35 a.m. He was only 6 lb. 2 oz. and 18.5 inches. (He's going to make Austin look like a giant!) He was born on my nephew Caleb's birthday and exactly six weeks to the day after Austin was born. These two little boys are going to be total buddies! I went to the hospital for a quick visit and snapped a few pics:


Friday afternoon Tyler's class had a Mother's Day program. It was cute. My favorite part was the book he gave me at the end telling different experiences we have had and such. There is one called "Supermom to the rescue." I don't know what the teacher told them to write for this title, but he decided to write about a time he couldn't sleep and came up to my room to tell me (at 2 a.m.) that he couldn't sleep. He said I gave him some ideas to try, but that none of them worked. Then he says, "But that's okay." It's cute. I'm glad he left out the part where I got mad that he was still awake and that he woke me up when I was already getting so little sleep with Austin ... :) Anyway, here we are with the picture he drew of me:


Earlier in the week Tyler had his Hershey Track Meet. It was FREEZING!!! The sad thing is that it wasn't very cold in the morning when he left for school, so I even chuckled as he threw in a hoodie since I figured he wouldn't need it. Turns out it was much colder at the high school:

I was so glad I had a blanket in the car. Some of the poor kids were just freezing with only shorts and t-shirts on. Tyler had fun but was definitely glad to leave as soon as he was done. By his last race (hours later) it was finally warming up. Here he is in his last race (200 m):


Here is Tyler's cousin, Nick, who I'm so glad I ran into since I didn't realize he was going to be there. His mom tried to get him to wear shoes that actually tied, but he refused. I'm just surprised he didn't lose one of them on the track:


I'll get to spend my Mother's Day taking care of my hubby in addition the kids, so no weekend off for me. I guess that's what Motherhood really is all about! Here's hoping that next week is much less exciting than was this week! :)

Blessing Day

Austin, how do you feel about your blessing day?

Wait -- isn't that how you feel about most things? What a great baby.

Yes, yesterday was a special day in our family -- Austin Luke Brown was blessed! It was great to have five of my seven siblings attend ... although we missed the other two and my parents. There were three babies blessed at church yesterday, which is the first time one of our babies has been blessed the same day as another baby.

In any case, Austin needed a new outfit for the special occasion. I looked at probably 10 different stores trying to find the perfect outfit. I didn't want to spend much money, but I wanted a nice, simple outfit. When I couldn't find that we went for all dressed up:


Even his socks were perfect for the occasion (thanks Rachel!):


Of course, with it being a special day we took lots of pics of the little guy:


Awwwww, Mom! Why you gotta take so many pics?

Pinewood Derby

This week we had our first pinewood derby! Tyler was so excited. I just hoped his car didn't come in dead last every time ...

He had Paul cut it out how he wanted, and then he did the painting all by himself. It was spray-painted silver, and then he painted a big green X on top, the number 45 on the front (the number he was assigned), and the word "Winner" on the tail. He also painted flames on both sides:

(This pic also shows his current "smile." Hope he gets over that awkward smile soon!)

I love this pic showing his excitement:


Turns out his car was VERY good and consistent at getting third place. I think it did every time except for once (when it got fourth). Here he is telling Paul that his car came in third AGAIN:


He REALLY hoped that he'd come in at least second once. If you click on this pic, though, you'll see how close his third really was (he's in the farthest lane in third place):


This black car was my favorite -- see how the car is a race track? Pretty cool:


What did Austin think of this whole thing? Just as happy as always:

(Yes, he still has the little old man hair. Hopefully he'll get some on top soon. :)

Tyler got an award for best hand-painted design. From the looks of all the cars lined up at the beginning, I think he's the ONLY kid who hand-painted his car. Seriously. I was glad he got an award for that, because he planned it out just how he wanted ... and then all the other cars' paint jobs looked perfect!

He also got a medal for coming in second in his pack -- his car was the second-fasted Wolf car there:


Way to go, Ty Guy! Hopefully next year we'll do it again and you can come in second -- or even first -- in a heat or two ...

Baby shower

This afternoon was my baby sister's baby shower. It was a lot of fun -- with six Palmer girls there (the five "originals" and one SIL) what would you expect? ;)

We played a game where everyone cut off a piece of yarn as long as they thought would fit around Rebecca's stomach. We were all pretty off:


Cindy's piece fit around her nearly four times. Kimmie won the game and was only a couple of inches off. (And she guessed too short, so that gave her bonus points from Rebecca .... :)

Watching Rebecca open her last gift was the most fun. First a short background: She LOVES Jeeps and got one when she got home from her mission. She sold it a couple of years ago since she figured it'd need a bunch of work soon, much to her dismay. She also is a runner -- she ran a marathon a couple of weeks before her wedding (crazy!) and runs still even though she's due in a couple of weeks. (Punk!! Makes the rest of us look bad ... ;) In any case, she got a jogging stroller (Jeep brand) from Mom and Rachel:

No, it doesn't just look like she's hugging the box -- she IS hugging the box. It was very cute. And notice on the pic that her little boy will have a steering wheel so he can "drive" a Jeep of his own.

Good luck, Rebekina! Austin can't wait for his buddy to arrive.

(And mom, here's one more pic of Kylen w/his current favorite toy.)