Given my lack of creative juices at the moment, I think I’ll just summarize the past 8 months with a few photos. It’s been a super busy time, with August turning one, me starting a photography business (www.robinlerner.com), Chuck seeing longer days at the veterinary clinic…

Oh yeah – and me getting pregnant.  It’s a girl.  She’s due in March 2011.

Other than that, life is pretty mellow. 

On April 17 my baby boy turned ONE!!  He celebrated with homemade chocolate cupcake. (made with love by his mama)

Cake, meet face.

A few weeks later we had a fun farm-party (complete with mini-petting zoo courtesy of our lovely neighbors).  It was a joint birthday celebration – August and his buddy Eli were the stars of the day.

Then summer kicked into full swing and August continued to get cuter.  He’s good at that.

For Halloween Augs was a giraffe.  The best part about that was the chubby butt with which the costume came equipped.  Not as cute as Augers own hiney, but cute nonetheless!

August enjoyed hanging out with his cousin Maggie (two months his junior)

Falling leaves made for good fun too…

August learned to walk (stutter steps started around 11 months…full walking at 12 month), August continued to talk (stringing two words together around 18 months – “All Done” and “Chocolate, please” are two faves).

Life, as always, is good.

Anyway, here are a few things that I’m doing now that I’m closing in on a year (April 17th, baby!):

• Making kissing noises.  I even do it on cue.  Mom says “kiss,” I make a goofy suction noise with my mouth and the crowd goes crazy.  Way cool.  I started doing this about a week ago.
• Waving.  I do this sporadically.  I like to keep em guessing.
• Expanding my vocabulary.  In addition to “chicken,” “star,” and “dog” I also say “mama” and “dada” (yes, to the appropriate people, thank you very much) and I’ve said “banana” a few times.  I save that one for when I really need it.  I drives my mom crazy…in a good way.

• Eating.  Oh, the eating.  Delicious, awesome, SOLID food.  It rocks.  Thank God mom decided to shelve the jars and move on to the real deal.  I dig waffles and blueberries and kiwi and chicken and pasta and bread and eggs and Oh God I could go on and on and on.  Food.  Good.  Good food.  I take after my pop.

Life is good.

Auger dogger!  What a big boy you are becoming!  You never, ever drive me nuts.  (ok, maybe a little bit, but only once in a very long while).  I love everything about you and everything you do – even when you grab my cup of coffee and dump it all over the kitchen floor. You are perfect and amazing and wonderful.  I cried when you said your first word (star) and I’ll cry when you take your first step…and when you embark on your first day of school and when you drive for the first time…..Lord help me.  Looks like I’m gonna spend the rest of my life crying.  But they are happy, happy tears and I love every single one.

You are getting so close to walking.  Time is flying by.  Part of me wishes you could stay little and babylike forever, but the other (more logical) part of me is incredibly excited for all that is to come.  It is my greatest joy, watching you grow and learn.  You are becoming a big boy but you will always be my baby.  I love you,

Mama

PS – I PROMISE to get video up very shortly!!

“A Boy and His Dog”

Things I’m doing at 9 months:

*Not sucking on the boob.  Ok, so that’s something I’m NOT doing.  Semantics…sheesh.

*Eating solid food!  Ma and pa have FINALLY stopped shoving that friggin’ mush down my throat!  All I had to do was crawl around for an extra 30 minutes a day to burn a couple hundred more calories and perfect that “hmmmm…he’s kinda looking skinny” look and BAM! out came the chopped up chicken and ravioli.  Score one for the baby.

*Cruising.  I’m so totally badass at walking my way around tables, chairs and the like.  I freaking love grabbing onto unstable objects like stools with wheels just so I can watch ma clutch her chest and shriek for me to stop.  Hi-larious.

*Hittin’ the gym two days a week.  Ma got me a membership to My Gym (http://www.my-gym.com/).  I highly recommend it.  The staff there is full of hot chicks with tons of energy.  Nothin’ says “life is good” like a cute blonde helping you with your front somersault.

*Waving.  I started waving when I was about 8 months old.  I was bored.  Needed a new behavior to elicit amusing reactions from adults.

*Sleeping soundly from 6:30pm to 7am.  Boys need beauty sleep too.

Stop growing so fast, my little man!  Little baby-you is leaving so quickly, but the beauty is that little boy-you is just as amazingly breathtaking.  While I miss nursing you (how I never thought I’d say that!), I now love watching you concentrate with all your might as you grab little pieces of food in your clumsy, tiny fist and aim for your mouth.  The food only makes it there about 67% of the time, but when it does…oh! when it does, you are in heaven!  I have loved hearing your tiny baby gurgles turn into little baby giggles that have now morphed into full-blown baby-belly laughs when I tickle your tummy.  You have truly and totally breathed your way into every part of my being in such a way that my heart is now wrapped in chubby, soft, rolly-poly baby love.  You are my heart and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Love and kisses to you, Augers.  Love, Mama

1) Roll over.  I’ve been doing that since I was about 3 months old though, so that’s old news.

2) Crawl.  Started that at 5 and 1/2 months.  I’m so ahead of the curve.  I’m a genius.  Love watching my mom chase me like a fool.  I grab electric cords and fake out like I’m gonna put them in my mouth just to see if she’s on top of her game.  Good times.  Good times indeed.

3) Babble.  I started with dadada around my 7 month birthday.  Then I realized that mom and dad would imitate me so I decided to throw in a few other sayings – “doodoo” and “geh” are two of my faves.  Nothing says idiot like two grown ups grinning and gushing “DooDOO?  DooDOO?”  Who needs “Dancing With the Stars?”  I’ve got all the entertainment I need with these fools.  (I love them, but man, they make it too easy)

4)Standing Up.  This one’s real fun.  I finally got all my body parts to work together around 6 months.  Mom thinks it’s cute.  I’m working on the walking deal.  Once I get that squared away it’s ON.

Augers, there is nothing that can match the feeling I get when I walk into your nursery first thing in the morning and you greet me with that huge, one-toothed smile of yours.  It is, at the risk of meeting my cheese-quota for the century, a ray of sunshine that warms me down to my soul.  You are doing and learning and growing and cracking my heart open wider every day.  I can’t believe we are over half a year in.  It’s been the best 7 months of my life and I’m so excited for the lifetime to come.  For lack of better words, you are THE BOMB!  I love you with all of me, Mama.

august robert lerner!  seeing you dressed up like a little penguin is the most amusement i’ve had in all my life!  you are the cutest little penguin in all of penguinville and i am proud to say you are my penguin. i am beyond excited at the thought of taking you trick-or-treating in a few years.  you are my joy and i love you with all of me.  please don’t grow up too fast.  love always, mama.

I look awesome in my hat, don’t I?  NOT.

Damn, I do have some sweet baby blues…

Listen, I’m getting sick of the breast milk and mashed peas.  A little variety would be nice.  Seriously.  Give me something else to eat or I will FIND something else to eat.  For real.

But Mom, you gotta get more creative.  People judge me by judging you, and lately your redundancy is unforgiveable.

I’m just sayin’…

Anyway, thanks for the trip to Sea World.  Incidentally, we didn’t see any walruses.

(we did see a cool whale and dolphin show)

(and some boring birds)

(and I held mah own bottle for the first time!!)

I feel seriously jipped.

By the way, did you guys try to friggin’ check me with the baggage?  What the hell is up with the Gate Claim ticket?  I’ll admit that it’s fun to play with and did provide some pretty great free in-flight entertainment, but what the hey?

(no, we did not try to check you honey.  the steward at the gate assumed we were checking the car seat.  we love you so much that we purchased you your own seat.  you are that awesome.)

Maybe I did get that whiskey after all… (slept the whole dang flight)

On the other hand, didn’t that dude Lewis Carroll smoke a lot of opium?

EIther way, I know my daddy will never let the Jabberwocky get me!

(Here I’m a little over 5 months)

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought–
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One two! One two!
And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.