My Story...

Mom and Dad are catching a nap so I hijacked the computer and thought I would say hi! I can't wait to meet all of you. Mom and Dad tell me about everyone back home all the time and how much they love me even though they don't know me yet. I thought I would use this blog to share some of my favorite things and introduce myself. Mom and Dad say that I'm the cutest baby, and I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think I'm pretty handsome too. I have dark slate blue eyes and lots and lots of strawberry blonde hair. I like to smile a lot too.... it's probably gas!

I know that Mom and Dad told you that I arrived on February 20, 2009. I didn't know that it would be on my Uncle Rick's birthday. I hope he doesn't mind sharing! I immediately began cuddling with Mom and barely cried. My first day was mostly spent sleeping and learning how to eat. By my second day, Mom and Dad noticed that I was turning yellow and that's when the people at the hospital began poking my foot a lot for blood tests. I didn't like it, but I was tough! Dad always stood beside me and I liked that he was there. On day 3 I got a new bed. This one was supposed to help me be less yellow. I didn't like it at first because Mom and Dad couldn't cuddle me anymore and the sleeping bag was really big. I was scared and felt all alone and I know that it upset my Mom and Dad too. Dad had a really good idea though and used tape to hold down the extra big parts of the sleeping bag and keep me tightly inside. I liked that better and didn't feel so alone in such a big world. Mom and Dad called it my space bed and I eventually learned to live with it... but boy was I happy when I got my old bed (and my Mom and Dad) back. Being yellow made me very sleepy, but every day as I get less yellow I wake up more and more. I got pretty skinny in the hospital, but Mom and Dad have been working really hard at getting me to eat more and more and I think I'm getting bigger!

When I was in the hospital I got lots of flowers from my new grandparents and my auntie and her family and my great-grandma Youst and even Mom's work sent lots of flowers. They were really nice and Mom and Dad have them all in the kitchen now for me to look at.

Since I've been home I've spent a lot of time sleeping, but I did get to meet my grandparents over the internet. I can't wait to get to know them better and start to get to know the rest of the family back home. I didn't sleep very well my first night at home because my tummy was upset. I made up for it today, spending lots of time sleeping! Mom and Dad spent a lot of the day sleeping too. I had my first bath outside the hospital today. They washed me in the kitchen sink! My favorite parts were when they washed behind my ears and when they wrapped me in a yellow monkey towel. Mom and Dad took pictures of me, but I don't have them today. If I can get away again I'll post them later... if not, I'm sure Mom or Dad will put them here soon enough. I did manage to get my hands on a bunch of pictures from the hospital that I'd like to share with you. Would you like to see them?

Here's me and my Dad cuddling. Mom wouldn't let me put any pictures of her up here. She said she looked terrible. What's she supposed to expect?

This is right after I escaped and finished my cuddling. It was tough work and I was pretty exhausted! (I'm a bit shy so Mom censored the photo a bit!)

Here's Mom and me.... everyone was excited that I opened my eyes!

One of my favorite places to be is on my Mom or Dad. Mom and I spent a lot of time cuddling like this.

My space bed! It's like the old beds, but the light comes up from the bottom through the special sleeping bag. That way I didn't have to wear the goofy sun glasses.

When I got out of the space bed I went straight to Dad. He and I are really tight buddies. We caught a nap in the afternoon together.

While we were all in the hospital there were 2 big snow storms. Dad left one evening to go shovel the driveway in case we got to go home soon. He said the snow was up to his knees! He was pretty tired when he got back to me... and he only did 1/2 the driveway! I hope the rest of the snow melts soon so he doesn't have to shovel the rest of it. Here are some pictures from our ride home. A lot of snow! (That's a bus stop in there!)

When I got home I shed my sleeper and slept in my playpen. The sun was shining and I was enjoying my first sun-bath!That's all I got for you today. I'm super excited to be home and even more excited to get to know all of you. We all look forward to using the webcam to get acquainted, but I hope to wait a bit until I'm able to stay awake longer. Mom and Dad really want me to get my sleep so that I can wake up and eat.

Keep in touch... and stay posted to the blog. Mom and Dad will be posting lots of pictures all the time... remember? They think I'm just so cute and perfect (and who am I to argue?)

Love you all! And it's been great sharing with you.

Austin Jay