Bass Lake

Does anyone remember playing the game, "Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?" I feel like this summer we played a game of, where in the world is Austin Garcia. He has seen the ocean up and down the California coast line, he has been in swimming pools, he has been to the desert, of course he has been to Target 437 times, and now he has made his way to the lake and mountains of Bass Lake, CA. Austin was able to go on his first boat ride and he even proved to be a little chic magnet with the older ladies. He is pictured here in the boat, of course, and with our friends daughter, Justine, who is almost three years old (craddle robber). As usual, our little water baby loved being in and near the water and he of course enjoyed watching a toddler run around. Forget Baby Einstein you just need to hire a toddler to entertain your infants. :-)

Milestones

Okay, let's just get down to the nuts and bolts of things.
Austin is 13 weeks old today
weighs about 14lbs
23 1/2 inches long
lifts his head regularly
has rolled over twice
and as you can tell from the photo he is ready to conquer the world.

Grandpa Ross

With Austin's middle name, Ross, being the namesake of three prior generations of Jenkins men my father has decided to completely forgoe the use of the name Austin and just call him A-Ross (you know just like our favorite Yankee, A-Rod). We all thought this was cute and fun, until we made a trip to Brawley and some of his friends were surprised to learn what Austin's real name was. He had been brainwashing anyone who would lend and ear to a boastful grandfather, and for those of you who know my father realize that he knows someone in every nook and cranny of the continental US...that's a lot of brainwashing.

Mr. Giggles

As mentioned before, we relish in our morning smiles. He is getting much more generous with them and even throws in some chit chat here and there just to keep us on our toes. I am still hoping it is quite a while before he figures out how to say "NO!!"

Sunset in So. Cal.

Austin has made it clear to us that he much prefers the beaches of Southern California to those of the Central Coast. We spent a week with our family in Oceanside with my family and I think my own mother thinks I am a liar when I tell her he doesn't let us sleep and he cries. He was a perfect Angel the entire trip.

Grammy of the year

In order to win awards in our family you have to be a master multi-tasker. This years recipient is shown in the attached picture. Not only is she baby sitting, puppy sitting, and protecting them from the evil hands that lurk in the pool, but she is also the local life guard on duty (Baywatch is calling). Way to go Grandma Sally!!

Body by Similac

After spending hours at the gym and a strict diet of Advanced Similac with Iron Austin decided to make his big debut for the cover of the Swimsuit edition of "Sports Illustrated - Baby". You'll notice modeling classes have paid off in the second picture where he gives an aloof yet coy look, away from the camera. You know Austin, he doesn't want to look too camera greedy.

Dress Up

Unlike some of our friends who have specific rules about babies wearing pants in the Texas heat we at the Garcia house have a different philosophy. Through rain, sleet, snow, hail, or heat we like to doll our boy up. The hat lasted on his head for at least three minutes and the shorts came off after the first diaper change. But hey, at least we got a cute picture out of it.

Rebelling already?

Okay, so we all know about how we challenged our own parents patience as teenagers and I am sure that my own parents can't wait to see what curve balls my own child will be throwing me in the years to come. Nobody however expects to see the blatant rebellion we are seeing in our two month old. If you look carefully at the picture you will notice that our little miracle is already giving his parents the "bird", if this is what we get at 8 weeks I am scared to see what we get at 15 or 16 years old.

The family that plays together, stays together.

For those of you who are germaphobic please do not continue to read. You see since we brought Austin home our wonderful corgi has had to do some serious adjusting. She went from being an only child that got all of our attention to a distant second place. As you can see in the picture Raumi has decided to make a peace offering. That's right, that nasty, drool infested red thing drapped across our baby boy is none other than Raumi's favorite toy. I think her logic was that if she shared her toys with him, he would in turn have to share all his cool little toys that rattle, shake, sing and squeak. I am not a gambling woman but I am willing to bet that there is going to be a lot of toy & food sharing in the future whether we want it or not.

The Joker

Every now and then Austin can tell that his Mom is getting tired of hearing the same ol' crying day in and day out so he will toss me a "bone" and smile for me just to make it all worth while. He is 8 weeks old and a smiling fool, but you have to catch him in the morning to really get him going!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Adrian. You are awesome and Austin is lucky to have a great Dad like you. We love you! Now just quit disappearing when Austin leaves BIG "surprises" in his diaper :-)

RJ & Dawn

This is Austin with his Uncle RJ (birthday boy) and his Fiance Dawn.

The second picture is of me and my two brothers.

RJ's Birthday

The reason for the trek down south was to celebrate Austin's Uncle RJ's 33rd birthday. The family put on a little bash and Austin even got to stay up late and hang out with all the guys. Austin made sure to go easy on the Coors Light, he knew he had a big night ahead of him keeping Dad awake.

If not the beach, how about the desert?

That's right, we packed up the ol' family truckster and made the 7 hour journey to visit his grandparents in Brawley. After we loaded everything up we looked like the Griswald's, all the way down to the dog, the only thing missing was Grandma strapped to the top of the car. Austin was great, he ate twice and the crying was minimal. When we got there he got to spend lots of time with his Uncles, Grandparents and even checked out a few horses. Austin loved the pool and the fact that Grandpa Ross keeps his house cold enough that you could hang meat in it. This made sleeping a lot more comfortable, maybe his parents shouldn't be so dang cheap this summer and run the air in their house. Whoever said the Imperial Valley obviously hasn't been to Grandpa Ross's house.

Avila Beach

Well, once we arrived in Avila Austin had other plans for Adrian and I. Let's just say he's not the "beach going" kinda guy, I think he will be more of a mountain man. Needless to say Austin wasn't too happy about our little rendevous to the coast. We wanted to take some great pictures of him on his first trip to the coast but the only place he was interested in being was wrapped tightly in Mom's arms and God help us if we tried to do something different. It is amazing how quickly he has declared himself the boss of the family, there is no question who wears the pampers in this family!!

Trip to the Coast

We decided last week it was time to take Austin out to the beach for the night. The trip over was great, he slept and only cried when he needed something. We stopped in Paso Robles and fed him at their downtown park.

Just cute pictures

I have no rhyme or reason for these pictures, I just thought they were adorable so I had to post them.

Night on the town.

Adrian and I got out for a night out on the town. Grandma Sally took Austin for the whole night this past Saturday. We got all dressed up and almost didn't know what to do with ourselves (my vote was to drive back home and just sleep, but I lost). We went to a hollywood themed 40th birthday, had a blast and by the end of the night we missed our boy. Adrian claims to have been awakened in the middle of the night thinking he heard Austin crying. I on the other hand did not struggle with the tossing and turning that Adrian did.

Best Invention EVER!!!!

Okay, so the first few weeks of life are amazing and you really can't get enough of your little miracle. Then reality sets in and you realize you haven't showered in a few days, the remnants of what you have eaten the past few weeks are still in the sink, laundry is buiding up, etc. and it is then that you realize you haven't put your little angel down for fear of hearing those blood curdling screams that new mothers become so familiar with. I was stuck, I didn't know how to put him down and get him to really relax for any decent amount of time and then I was introduced to "THE SWING". Many books bad mouth these miraculous inventions, but I have never heard a bad thing about them from an actual living, breathing parent. To ensure Austin's safety we make sure to rotate him at least every hour to avoid bed sores and general aching. Since the purchase of "the swing" the Garcia family has been at peace and I think Austin is starting to like us again. My hat's off to Fisher Price, they have done it again.

Visitors from the Bay

Austin had his first out of town visitors this past weekend, his Aunts Luanne, Jody, and cousin Elaya came in from Oakland to catch a glimpse of him. Austin was very eager to show them how well he sleeps, eats, and what a great set of lungs he has.

First Smile???

If you ask me this is documented proof that this gifted child of ours is smiling already. I know those crazy doctors say he probably has gas at this age but, if you want the truth just ask his mother when his first smile was.

A boy and his dog

Things have been kind of quiet in the Garcia household. Austin has been teaching us how to be parents and I have to say it's a good thing he is not giving us a grade on parenthood because I think we would be held back a year or two. Raumi has been a great dog to her little boy and is very maternal in a weird way. Our milestones have been minimal but he does get cuter with each day.

Baby bath time

How could we have a blog and not post those embarassing photos that we will be stashing away until our boy brings home his first date. We will not be pulling a "Meet the Fockers", we are just saving the photo's. ;-)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY...NOW FEED ME!!!!!

Here is our beautiful, bouncing, baby boy just wishing me and happy mother's day and 30th birthday. Who knew we would be so blessed with a face only a mother could love.

Fatherhood is tough

Adrian and the dog have just about had it with all of this crying. I'd be lying if I said that other spot in the bed wasn't where I was napping just a few minute earlier.

He's here!!

Austin Ross Garcia joined us at 11:00pm May 2, 2006. We had to go C-section but that was okay once they weighed him in at a whopping 9.7lbs and 21.5 inches. I think Adrian found a new professional calling, he fit right in with the doctors in his brand new scrubs.

Where Oh' Where can Austin be?

Today was our due date but the lil' guy decided he was too comfy right where he was. Doctor says "all is well, just not ready yet". We are hoping for some action before May 1st otherwise we will induce.

The room is done, now we just need a baby