Austin's Life Changing Moment

Most people have life changing moments when they are a little older, but for Austin the day after he turns 4 months he has gotten his. This was the day that he received his first hearing aids. It was such an exciting day for all of us. We have been counting down the days for him. As I was getting ready that morning it hit me all at once that he will now have the chance to hear his name, hear his big brother Ty talk and play with him, hear laughter, hear bedtime stories, and hear the bedtime songs and so much more. This is when the tears started coming. I had to try to hold them back all morning. Luckily for me the appointment was at 9:30 a.m. so I didn't have to wait all day and try to control myself that long. :)
Austin was wide awake for the whole ride over, it was as if he knew what was going on and he was excited too. :) We went into the room and I thought that the doctor was just fitting the hearing aids and then she would turn them on. But they were already on. So when she put the first one on he started to smile and talk right away. His eyes were open wide like he was trying to take it all in. As soon as I got the camera on him he stopped everything and just stared. Isn't that how it always is.
He has been looking around ever since, and lots of smiles and giggles. I am so excited that they are working so well for him. The doctor has the hearing aids set on the lowest level and then we go in every week to adjust it until we reach the target level. It has been so exciting watching him get used to the new sounds around him. Here are some pictures and a couple of videos of the big moment.

 In The Waiting Room...Can You See The Excitement?

For some reason it is not loading the movie, so as soom as I can get that on there I will post it. :)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! I hope you had a green day and celebrated in all the festivities. This is a fun day for our family. And since we have Irish in our blood we always have to celebrate. :) Hopefully you didn't get pinched, if you did....Shame On YOU!! :)

Ty Helping With The St. Patty Day Food Preparations

 Ty loves helping in the kitchen, but it usually doesn't last too long. :) He gets pretty bored quickly, so I wanted to get the picture before we started to prove that he did in fact help. :) He was excited that we got to make everything turn green. Although half way through he wanted to change the color to red because he was tired of doing green. I had to explain to him that on St. Patrick's Day everything is green, so maybe we can have a red day on another day. He seemed to be ok with that and left me to finish the green coloring. :)

Ty & Austin Wishing You a Happy St. Patty's Day!

I just LOVE this picture. Austin loves his big brother so much. Right before I handed him to Ty he was crying and was not very happy. But as soon as I put him in Ty's arms he settled down. Ty is just as in love with his baby brother. He is always wanting Austin to be involved in whatever he is doing. 

3 Months Already!

Yesterday Austin turned 3 months old. I can not believe how fast this time is going by. I definitely feel like it is going by much faster than it did with Ty. And I remember feeling like it was going by fast with him too. That scares me, before I know it they will be all grown up and out of our house. :( So moral of the story..... cherish each moment.  :)
The first 3 months of Austin's life have been a whirlwind. When he was first born there were issues that needed to be addressed with his heart and a couple of other things. Then once that settled down he got sick with RSV and Bronchiolitis and was in the hospital for 5 days when he was just 4 weeks old. Plus he wasn't gaining weight. Again he was a trooper and showed us how strong he is and overcame that hurdle. And I am proud to say that he is putting on the weight like a champ! :) Then he wasn't passing his hearing tests so we had some additional testing done and confirmed that he has a moderate hearing loss in both ears. So he is unable to hear us talking to him right now, but we were given some hope that with hearing aids he should be able to hear much better. He will not be able to hear as crisp and clear as we do, but he will be able to hear us talk to him.
As you could imagine there has been a lot going on in our little family. Along with our regular family schedule of Preschool, and Newborn life we have had a few appointments to go to as well.  We are confident that everything will be just fine and Austin will be able to adjust and develop at the normal level with the help of his hearing aids and speech therapy. We know that Austin is a chosen spirit that has blessed our family. And Ty and Austin have had a special bond since the day he was born. It is so heart whelming to see them together and how protective Ty is of his little brother already. With that said I would be kidding myself if I said that I have everything under control and it is all a breeze. So I have decided that I need to have some place to put my thoughts so it is not all piled up inside waiting for me to explode. So here I am. I am using  our blog to one, keep everyone posted of our family and our fun life experiences and also to put all my thoughts and feelings together during this crazy process of getting everything put together for Austin.
I am not writing this for everyone to feel sorry for us, because really they shouldn't. We have been blessed with two beautiful and healthy boys who are special and unique in their own ways. We know that there will be some ups and downs that we all will  have to go through, but we also know that with the support of our family and friends, and most importantly Gods help that everything will be ok.

Proud Wifey!

As a stay at home mom there are not too many moments in my life right now where I can have a huge accomplishment outside of the home. So I am living through my husband and jumping on the celebration parade whenever there is a moment to celebrate. :) Some of you might remember the Reno Competition that Dane was in last year. This is a National Competition that schools come from all over to compete in. Last year was the first year that everyone on the team competed and they won 1st place! This year they worked hard and put in MANY hours practicing and hoping to do just the same. And I am proud to say they did just that. Dane's team came in 1st Place Nationally again!!!! Woo Hoo!! I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished with not only the Reno Competition, but in school, and work. We are in our last semester of school. I say WE because I feel it has been a team effort. ;)) And as this semester is zooming by I can't help but think of all the hard work that Dane has put into school. All of the time and sacrifice that he has done just so he can provide a good life for his family. I am so proud of him and thankful for the example he has set for our sons. I hope and pray that Ty and Austin will follow in their fathers footsteps and be great men just as their dad is. I love you Dane and thank you for all that you have given us!! And thank you for all of your hard work. 

Austin was blessed on February 13, 2011. This is his adorable Blessing outfit that my mom (Grammie, Dorothea) made for him. What a handsome little man! Thanks mom for making that for him! What a wonderful day this was. We were able to get together with our family to celebrate our new addition. We had a wonderful time and ate some yummy food. :)
Austin has been such a blessing to our family! I fall more and more in love with him each day. I can not say how much I love my boys. I am so blessed to have two perfect boys as my sons. They bring me such happiness I can't even explain it in words. Thank you God for sending them to me! Thank you Dane for working so hard so I can stay at home with them and enjoy every moment with them. :)

Our New Addition

It has been awhile since I have updated our blog. Since my last entry our little Austin Jay Christiansen was born on December 3, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. He was 6lbs 8 oz and 19in long. He was due on November 29th but he was not in a hurry to come out into the cold. :) When a week past we decided to help move things along. On Friday we went in at 6 a.m. to get induced. We had some issues getting started but on the third try it seemed like smooth sailing and went pretty quickly. They started the pitocin at 11:30 and he was born at 3p.m. So total labor was 3 1/2 hours!
Grammie was at home with Ty. He was so excited to see baby Austin. After Grammie picked him up from school they ran some errands to kill some time. At 3:00 p.m. Ty said to my mom, it is time to go see baby Austin, and so she said as soon as she gets a call from Mommy & Daddy then we will go. Soon after that she got the call letting her know that Austin was born at 3:00 p.m. on the dot. Then when Ty came and saw Austin and I for the first time he came up to me and asked how did Baby Austin come out? And so awkwardly I asked what do you mean? And then Ty said, he came out like this with his arm next to his head and showed me how it looked. I was in shock! That is exactly how he came out. I asked Dane if he had talked about that with anyone while Ty was around and he said he didn't say anything about it to anyone. It is an amazing feeling to know that the veil is so thin for our young ones. What a wonderful experience that was.
We are all so excited to have Austin here with us. He has already brought so much to our home in just the short amount of time that he has been here. We are so excited to get to know him and see Ty and Austin grow up together. Dane and I have been blessed with two beautiful boys and and we couldn't be happier! Every day we give thanks for being able to be their parents.