Shedd Aquarium!

An adventure to say the least - Shedd Aquarium on a Saturday afternoon - we barely survived!  BUT it was our only option if we wanted to get out of the house...on this particular day I think the heat index was well above 100!!!!! 

The Polar Play Zone makes the visit worth it every time. 

The otter came out to play - yay!

Making her escape...too much to see...too much to touch!!

Like the Dolphins...

A popcorn break.  Okay more like a break for me!!! 

Penguins, Penguins, Penguins!  By far still Lyla's favorite.  I think I'll start looking for a penguin Halloween costume now!!!!

Look at our adorable lil' penguin!!!

Daddy missed the big sign that read "No Adults Allowed"...

Never too far away - haha!

Where's Lyla?

Awww she's good!!  How many times do you think she went down the slide????

Shedd Aquarium you may be extremely over-crowded but we still love you :) 

An email from Daddy!!

From: Mike Austin
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2010 12:41 PM
To: Austin, Amanda
Subject: you are officially term


Our baby is completely safe and ok to enter the world. You’ve done a great job providing for the baby and should pat yourself on the back and give your belly a pound.

Job well done!

Now go have some tums and put your feet up, you deserve it.

Love you!

Guess who?

Guess who's been sleeping in her big girl bed for over a week now????

Good Morning Lyla!

Our new favorite past-time is to peak in on Lyla to see what position she is sleeping in...with such a big bed the options are endless :) 

We are so in the clear.  Every night when Daddy takes her to bed she walks right into her room and starts climbing in her "big girl" bed....a bitter sweet situation indeed. 

I hope this means I am nesting!!!!!

After several weeks okay months...we are nearing the end of having Lyla's big girl room and Baby Boy's room finished.  With just a couple things left to do like hang art work we are almost there.  We converted our guest room into Lyla's room which was a huge task in itself.  But thanks to Grandma and DD everything is safely stored in Ohio for future use!!! 


Step 2:  Have the room painted...PINK of course!!!

Organize, organize, organize....just a glimpse of the madness...trust me!!

But in the end...worth every hour spent!!!

Lyla LOVES her new room!!! 

Baby Boy's room was much easier.  Daddy decided to re-organize all the furniture because "We have to make it his room, every time I walk by I see Lyla's room."  So we moved the crib to another wall and the changing table to another wall and Viola!  We went with the jungle safari/sports theme.  Michael's framed college jersey will help complete the room - awwwww!   

Artwork has been ordered and the "floating tree" still needs moved down...but we are close!

  I hope I can consider this past weekend nesting...some may know that happens soon before the baby arrives.  The co-sleeper is up, the hospital bags are packed, newborn cloths are washed, etc, etc, etc....we are ready - I think!!!!!! 

Videos Galore!

Check Lyla out - The past day she went from counting to 4 to counting to 10.  Sorry I forgot to flip the video so a left head tilt is required.  I decided to keep the camera rolling and also captured Lyla jumping for joy as she continued to count and concluded with a session of identifying colors - whew!!! 

Next up....one to make you laugh. 

And finally - Lyla has started to identify letters - Go Lyla Go!!!!!

 Oh yeah - I am SO that PROUD "ma-ma"...the girl amazes me on a daily basis. 

Easy like Sunday morning!

"Easy Like Sunday Morning"....A special saying in the Austin household. 
When Lyla was a baby Michael would rock her to sleep every night to Lionel Richie.  Going back even further every time Michael would visit me in college the first song he would play on his drive back to Michigan on Sunday was "Easy Like Sunday Morning".  When we have a special moment we always reference the moment as "Easy Like Sunday Morning". 
So....on this early Sunday morning as we watched Lyla play in her pool, listening to the calm of the city and enjoying our morning beverage of choice....I looked at Michael and said "Easy Like Sunday Morning" and nothing else needed to be said....

Chicago Ave - KidFest

Our favorite festival for obvious reasons is Chicago Ave KidFest.  It's a few blocks away from our place and proceeds go to Lyla's favorite park - Commercial Park.  You know the one we had her 1st birthday party.  
This year they upped the ante and brought in some ponies.  From the looks of things we weren't sure how this was going to go.....


Our suspicions confirmed...she literally climbed up daddy's body!

So we headed to Commercial park where we knew the swings would please!

Next up was a mini-bounce house...now we are talking...who needs ponies!!!!

Weeeeeee.....

And what's a KidFest without some live entertainment...again Lyla approached the situation with slight hesitation....BUT!

BUT....Seconds later she started inching her way closer...

And closer....

And last but not least - Daddy worked up a sweat to win Lyla a dirty festival stuffed animal - perfect!!!!

The only sad part about this day was our discovery that Lyla hates ice cream.  Every time we put it on her lips she said "COOOOOLD Mama Yuck!" Golly girl if you only knew what you were missing!

Best of pals!

Check out Tyson and Lyla at their 1st soccer practice together.  They may be the best of pals but one thing is for sure they have their own idea of "practice."  It is obvious that Tyson is a mini-Marvin.  His athletic ability far surpassed Lyla.  Check out "T"....


Lyla was more interested with playing with the girls and organizing cones...

Ready, set......Marvin holding "T' back from a full on sprint!!  And boy is he fast....

Ut oh Lyla...that's okay shake it off.

Are they not the cutest mini-soccer players you have ever seen?!?!?

Best of pals....

Team cheer...Goooooo Team!!!!

Unfortunately for me I will not be partaking in soccer practice going forward...the warehouse does not have AC - do I need to explain that no AC and pregnancy do not mix :)