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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Introducing....


McKenna Rose Crowley
Friday, March 26th
8:56am
8lb 12oz
20 1/2 inches




If her entrance into this world is any indication of the adventures this little girl will have, we are in for an exciting ride! Stay tuned for a birth story. It was exciting!


Monday, March 8, 2010

My Little Zoolander, Take 3

Austin has still been going on modeling auditions and has landed a few more shoots. We're hoping to break into commercials soon. He had his first commercial audition last week but didn't get the job. It was a good learning experience though. It never occurred to me that I'd need to figure out how to get him to look at the camera and smile without saying anything to him! So we're working on some non-verbal cues for next time.

Recently he had some pics from previous shoots came up on the internet though! Which was pretty exciting.

Infantino had a catalog on their website but it wasn't up for very long. The link still works though.
Infantino Catalog
Go to page 26 and there's my little man!

Here's the pics in case the link doesn't work






He was also in a catalog of Carter's Clothing recently. It's currently up on their website.
Carter's Catalog
See page 8!

And the pics in case that link dies





And a while ago he did another shoot for Infantino that hasn't come out in a catalog yet, but they did buyout his picture. So we'll be keeping an eye out for it soon, hopefully!




Oddly the two shots they had previously bought out didn't show up on their website or the catalog. (And the one in the catalog wasn't the one they said they had bought.) I'm hoping that they're still coming, but who knows. I know they already put out some new packaging for some of their carriers, but the shot of Austin wasn't used. So I don't know if that means it may be used in the future or if they just buyout more pics than they know they're going to need. Either way, he gets paid for the pics, but it would be really really cool to be on a box!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

She's Here!

Oh, did you think I meant McKenna? No, sorry, not McKenna. She's still cooking! And hopefully will be for several more weeks. I'm still enjoying being pregnant and still need some "Just Austin" time!

So who's here? Why, "Tessa, the Heffernan Hauler", of course! She's my new MommaMobile! (Yes, I name my vehicles. I just like the name Tessa & "Little Heffernan" is how we used to refer to Austin sometimes. We watch too much "King of Queens"!) I love her!! And I'm a little embarrassed to admit that her arrival has been almost as anticipated as McKenna's! I'm definitely not one of those women that is embarrassed to be driving a minivan. To me, it's like a rite of passage into "Official MommaHood".

I could have fit two kiddos in my Civic, but that would have been about it. Once you stick a stroller in the trunk, you can't haul anything else. No groceries, no packages, nothing! Plus, my front seat passengers have been sitting with their knees up by their ears with Austin's carseat behind that seat. And on top of that, if you take into account that my sweet hubby is a mere 6'3" tall, there's no way he could drive either of our cars with a carseat behind the driver's seat. So really, a minivan was completely necessary!

But oh, the space! So much space!! We have seating for 8. There are more storage spots than I know what to do with! Honda moved where they store the spare tire from behind the front seats to the back, so that spot is now an in-the-floor storage. I drove it to quilting the day after we bought it and was amazed that not only could I fit all my equipment and my kid, I could also fit all of Susan's equipment. And that was without even putting the seats down! Ah, I was in heaven. Oh and it has just a few cupholders. Just 14!

It has auto sliding doors, with which I have already fallen in love, with just one kid in my arms. It's going to be awesome with two kids!

This is what I was meant to drive!

So without further ado, introducing "Tessa, the Heffernan Hauler"

Ain't she purdy?!?




My fancy new dashboard. I'm almost done learning what all the neat buttons do!


Just look at all that space!!


Austin really couldn't care less what car his seat is in. As long as he has a toy, he's a happy rider!



Wednesday, March 3, 2010

17 Months

Please don't mind the lack of smile in this month's Pooh pic! I had to bribe the boy with fishies just to get him to sit. So his funny little smirk is really cuz he's got a fishy in there!

It's really scary how tall he looks in this pic to me too!! I'm hoping it's just because he's slouching or the angle, cuz he's too young to look so big!





New this month...

Austin has learned several more words this month. And he's getting somewhat more understandable. Although I'm still probably the only one that knows what he's saying. (I was always impressed with moms who could understand their toddlers when all it sounds like is gibberish to anyone else. Turns out it's just a natural mom thing.)

His best new word is "this". It has replaced his "hmmm"s that I mentioned last month. Which is a bummer since I never really got good video of those! He's horribly cute with his "this" though. He uses it both when he's asking what something is and when he wants something.

He can say most words that start with a "B". He says Boomer, ball, Bob, balloon, boom. They are only subtly different from each other but they are different. He can clearly say "cheese" now too. I was very excited about that one, since it's one that he knew the sign for also and normally if he knows the sign he only does that if you ask him if he can "say" something. He was very proud of his "cheese" too. The first time he got it, he said it over and over again for the entire lunch!

He says "Pooh" & "Tigger" too. Pooh is pretty clear. Tigger....not so much. He just tries to make the 'G' sound but it comes out "Kkcchchtsckh". He sounds very German! He gets very excited whenever he sees a Tigger too. And he love the cartoon "My Friends Tigger & Pooh" so much that often times he'll wake up and that's the 1st thing he says in anticipation of watching it! What's odd about how he says Tigger is that he can say "Go" incredibly clearly, so I think he just likes his version of Tigger.

Other words - Suz (although, he always signs Doggie when he sees Auntie Suz since he associates her with Boomer), down, up, guitar, car, yogurt (I'm pretty sure), & shoe.

Okay aside from his new words...

Austin is getting so good with his shape sorters! He has one that's a hippo where the shapes are color-coordinated with the holes, so I thought he was only doing so good with it because he was matching the colors. Then I saw him do shapes on one at my Mother-in-law's house and he was matching just about every time even when there was no color to match.

Along that same line, he could sort his nesting boxes for hours at a time.

He's very into babies, which I'm very glad about. Hopefully that will translate into being very into baby sister soon! We've been working on "recognizing" babies - the yogurt he eats usually has a baby on the side, so he learned the sign for baby and I try to point them out anywhere we go. He's a little confused cuz he signs "baby" for all kids, baby or not. When I ask him if he wants a baby, he does say yes. But he also says yes if you ask him if he wants a spanking or to eat poo, so that's not horribly reliable! And I know he has no comprehension of McKenna being in my belly, but when you ask him where Baby Sister is, he lifts up my shirt and kisses my belly, which I love! As long as he doesn't try to give her kisses while we're in public!

Austin loves going to the park. He's learning how to go down slides by himself and could swing for hours!

He gets really naughty when he's tired. He tends to knock things off the table and bang on things he knows he's not supposed to. But the most disobedient thing he does is pull the pin out of the kitchen door hinge. It comes out easily, but we don't want him to try that on other doors and accidentally lock himself in his room. He thinks it's funny even though he gets his hand smacked when he does so. We've just recently had to escalate how hard we spank his hand, just to the point of tears, which breaks my heart to do. But it's making a difference, thankfully!

He learned to climb up on the couch by himself. Which is great for when we tell him to go get ready to watch a video. Not so great when he does so to climb onto the windowsill and fling himself over the couch without us there to make sure he doesn't go flying off the couch!

His teeth are still all on one side of his head except for the front teeth, but he is getting close to getting his molars on his right side. Which is great since I was starting to get a little worried that he would only be able to chew on one side!

Austin is a darn good little drummer! If you put him down at church he bolts right for the drums. And is always horribly upset when it's time to stop. He's got some pretty good rhythm too. Pretty soon we'll have to get Uncle Jemery to start teaching him some beats!


Monday, March 1, 2010

Belly Belly Belly

There are three types of preggo bellies. Some pregnant women look like they just ate a big meal, all the way until 40 weeks. The second type look like they're smuggling a small ball under their shirts. And then there are some women who have bellies that actually look like a baby could fit in their bellies. I fall under the 3rd category! And while I thought most women did also and that the 1st two categories were few and far between, apparently I was wrong. Seems like every pregnant woman I know is much smaller than me!

And the general public seems to think so too! I'm to the point where I get asked if I'm due any day now. Unfortunately I've been asked that for the last 4 weeks too. I've had to explain that no, I have a good two months or a month and a half, or a month left! 2 weeks ago I was even asked if I was overdue! I'm convinced that the average person doesn't know what the average 9 month pregnant woman looks like!! At least that's what I tell myself to make myself feel better! Thankfully my good friend Rebecca also had a significant belly and was only a few weeks ahead of me. So we got to endure the comments and wide-eyed looks together! We're just convinced we have more intestines than other women.

Actually I love having a big belly. It makes picturing a real baby in there much easier and it gives me more to rub! =D Really the only downside is trying to find shirts that cover the whole belly and not just part way down. Cuz it's no fun having a breeze make your belly cold!

The Belly Progression