Happy Birthday Austin!

Happy 9th to my Christmas Eve baby!

There are so many things I love about Austin, I'm not sure if I can limit it to just NINE!

1. He knows what he likes.

With Austin, it's either yes or no, on or off, he's into it or he's not. This year for school, he knew exactly what kind of bag he wanted. He described it to me and we looked online, searched the stores, checked eBay, etc. and it was no where to be found. Just days before school started, I remembered a bag I had picked up at a Billabong sale in Australia and had hardly used. It's chocolate brown with the logo on it and a shoulder strap, just the right size for a school bag. Perfect. It won his approval and made me very happy too!

2. He loves holidays.

Austin loves Halloween, Christmas, Easter, 4th of July, etc. I am sure most kids love holidays too, but he really gets into it. He loves to help decorate, make cookies with sprinkles, dress up, and otherwise show his holiday spirit.

3. He is a media kid.

Austin loves movies, video games, computers, and his DS. Some boys are into cars and trucks, some are into football, some climb trees... Austin loves to be entertained. He definately has Maher blood.

4. He loves the outdoors.

He enjoys hiking, camping, going for walks, swimming, playing ball, and spending time with the family doing things outside. I love it when he says, "Mom, will you come throw the ball with me?" or "Can we go for a family walk?" It's so sweet that he cherishes this time together as a family. I remember one summer evening we took a blanket outside and played a game on the grass. He said to me, "We should do this every night." The next Sunday evening that rolled around... he said, "Mom, remember our tradition of playing a game outside? We have to do that tonight."

5. He's great at building things.

Austin loves to do K'nex, Legos, Magnetix, etc. Anything  he can put together. If you remember my post from a few months ago when we got a new vacuum... it was Austin who looked at the manual and put it together. I love that! He is great at following instructions and creating things. I hope this talent serves him well later in life.

6. He's got music in his bones.

Austin is definately talented with music. He has picked up on piano so quickly. He gets rhythm and the beat. When music is playing, he starts dancing and his body just seems to know what to do. The other day, some Irish Christmas song was playing and he just whipped out a little jig. He was immediately embarrassed when he saw I was watching... but I thought it was so cute. He just gets music. He is great at shakin' his bootie. We love to see him go at it and his MJ impression is pretty good!

7. He loves to read.

I know I wrote a post about this recently but I will say it again. He just can't get enough. He got the Percy Jackson series on Saturday for his birthday and he's already finished #1 and is a good 30 pages into #2 already. I know that he learns so much vocabulary, grammar, spelling, etc. from reading and it makes me so happy. I love that he loves to read!

8. He likes to cook.

He enjoys looking through recipe books and finding things he can make. We were really good about having him 'make' dinner once a week for a while... but it hasn't happened lately. We need to be better about encouraging this skill of his and enabling him to develop it.

9. He is disorganized.

Okay, this is not exactly something I love about Austin, but it's who he is. He is not concerned with where things go and putting things in their place. If you go into his room, you will usually find some socks tossed under the bed, yesterday's clothes in the corner, and some candy wrappers randomly strewn around the floor. His desk is covered with school papers, DS games, little Lego pieces, and at least 4-5 books, at any given time. We're working on it.

This boy is so special in our lives. He is our only boy- a legacy to his dad and his grandfather- the one to carry on the family name. He was born in such traumatic circumstances. We feel grateful for his life every day. Despite his small size and his rough beginning, he is healthy and continues to thrive and develop normally. He has no serious health complications or problems, which is such a blessing. He has a quick mind and a great sense of humor. He is cuddly and sweet. He is getting older and more responsible. It's amazing to think that he's already nine years old! Happy Birthday Austin Boy!