Blizzard 2011

I had all these blog posts planned in my mind including one with pictures from our snow days last week. When this happened...

This is view from our driveway.

Our front yard covered in 21 inches of snow..at least..I think we got a bit more here on this side of town.

Garrett having a blast as the snow fell yesterday morning. To quote Oliver, "Garrett jump in snow". Excuse the blue snow..poor editing on my part.

I don't know if Oliver believed me that his sandbox was still there..since it had been covered since about 6:00 am but we had a great day yesterday.

Blurry but I love this smile.

Reading "Little Bunny Foo Foo". Oliver can "read" his favorite books now. It's so much fun to watch.

We really did have a great day yesterday. It snowed all morning and into the early afternoon. I have never been in snow this deep. It was up to my knees! I would try to take Oliver out again today but the high is only supposed to be 25 and even though it is sunny it still might be too cold for Oliver.

Doug tried to go to work yesterday but got stuck in the driveway. It was nice being home with him and getting some time with the three of us. Luckily, a snow plow came through the neighborhood early this morning and he was eventually able to get out and go to work. For all our northern readers, I know you must be laughing but for we are just not prepared for this kind of snow down here. It is a pretty big deal. I hope that we get this kind of snow at least once when Oliver is a little older. I know he would really love playing in it.

I will be home again tomorrow with Oliver. This makes snow day number ten for us so we will be having a shortened summer this year. I know I will regret in June but it has been so much fun being home with him. Especially since I know I won't see Oliver as much next week due to parent teacher conferences after school.

I plan to post some pictures from the last snow days..lots of fun indoor activities. Also, I want to write about how it has been so much fun being at home with Oliver when he is rested and happy. I feel like I am getting to know him more everyday since we have had these extended breaks. When I pick him up in the afternoons, by the time we get home, he is often tired and starting to get cranky. I feel like I have really seen Oliver at his best lately.

As Oliver would say, "How fun."

Such a neat kid

Oliver in his "corner" with some of his favorite things, books.

Oliver helping in the kitchen.

That's how I like to describe Oliver. I know I am his mom but he just does the neatest things sometimes. I know that all kids do neat things, and many of them much more impressive than what Oliver does but since this is his blog I can brag about them.

Here are some stories that I wanted to blog about so I wouldn't forget:

Oliver loves to cook and help in the kitchen. I have been cooking more meals due to Doug's work schedule and so it is a fun way to spend time with Oliver in the evenings. He loves to play with the pots, plastic bowls, wooden spoons and cooking utensils.

Awhile back, I was making dinner and he saw me get an onion out of the refrigerator. Oliver got so excited and kept saying "onion, onion!". "Yes, Oliver, I'm going to chop an onion." I only needed half a cup so I got out the cutting board instead of using the food processor. Oliver launches into this huge fit. I couldn't figure out why he was so upset. It turns out that he wanted to help put the onion in the food processor and help push the button to chop the onion in the food processor. I guess the last time he was around, I let him help and he decided that it was too much fun. So now, whenever, I need an onion chopped, we use the food processor and Oliver helps.

He also has to help unload or load the dishwasher. I have to grab the knives pretty quickly so that he won't want to help with the knives. He really gets very upset if he is not allowed to help.

I am hoping that this love of helping will continue. If I make a mess (which is often) Oliver always wants to help pick it up. The other night, I left my water glass too close to the edge of the dining table and the next thing I know I hear "Mess". So, I got a towel for both of us and he "helped" to clean up the mess. He is even pretty good about picking up his books and toys before bath time.

Speaking of bath time, Oliver no longer needs a laundry basket in the bathtub. In case you are wondering, read this. Oliver is now the proud owner of an Elmo bathmat (the kind you put in the tub so you won't slip). He can't wait to take a bath at night. On the way home, he will recite what we will do: "Mommy push button" (opening the garage door), "snack", "Elmo bath mat". Mommy,"Oliver, after we have dinner, then you can have a bath with your Elmo bath mat."
Oliver,"Dinner ready Elmo bath mat" Loves, loves the Elmo bath mat.

More posts later. I estimate about six inches of snow on the ground so it looks like I may be able to catch up with some blogging in the next few days.

A bit of catch up

So, I promised a catch up from Christmas. Oliver is doing great but has had a very hectic last month. I counted the other day and of the 10 days I had off for Christmas break, we spent 6 of them in a doctor's office.

To begin with, last month, Oliver got ear tubes. We had so many ear infections from September to December, I lost count. It seemed like we were either getting an ear infection, on antibiotics for an ear infection, or starting a new ear infection. Every time he had a cold or allergy issues, a week later we were in the doctor's office for antibiotics. They weren't mild ear infections either. Apparently doctors rate ear infections, from 1-10 and he was getting 7s and 8s. Not a time you want to score high. He was also getting double ear infections. It was affecting his sleep (and ours) and we found out later, the fluid had turned into a gel like substance and wasn't draining at all. The ear doctor was surprised he could hear at all. So on December 21, he got tubes. It was scary for a mom even though I know this is a common and very safe procedure. He got through it just fine though. We started have sleep problems Christmas Eve and we thought the ear infection he had at the time of the surgery hadn't cleared up. He was waking literally 8-9 times a night and our usual Motrin/Tylenol wasn't helping. Of course, this is Christmas weekend so we had to wait till the following Monday to take him in. I was convinced he had an ear infection and was shocked when the doctor said his ears looked "perfect". We later decided that this must have been a reaction from the anesthesia, being out of his routine, and cutting one of his two year molars.

Oliver is not really a cold weather kid.

Also that Monday, Oliver went to the allergist to get tested for allergies. I was so proud of him. He took the testing like a champ-didn't cry once. Thomas the Tank Engine on the TV screen helped, I am sure. I was so glad to finally go the allergist. Oliver has had problems with eczema since he was about 8 weeks old. It has come and gone but never gone away completely. His hand eczema could get really bad and we could never figure out why. The next day, we went and had blood drawn to confirm his allergies. Again, Oliver didn't cry once and did great. I think he was too fascinated watching the blood getting drawn to be upset. He did not get this from his mom!

Trying to show Oliver that snow is fun. It worked for few minutes.

About a week later, we found out that Oliver is allergic to milk, egg, and peanuts. It has been an adjustment but we are figuring all of this out. You don't realize how much you use milk and egg until you can't. One of the hardest times was when he had a meltdown over not being able to eat cheese one afternoon. Our traditional snack after school had been cheese and crackers and he just didn't understand. He got over it and now we just don't talk about cheese a lot. It is amazing the substitutes that are available if you look. I am still learning to cook and plan meals around the milk and eggs but I have a long way to go. It makes it all worth it to see how much better his skin looks and not spend 10 minutes after every bath applying a steroid cream. We still have outbreaks and are keeping a food diary but it is much, much better now. The peanut allergy is a little scary. He will probably outgrow the milk and egg allergy but not the peanut. We must carry an epipen with us at all times.

Also, during Christmas break, Oliver had his two year check up. The doctor said that he was doing great. He is 35 inches tall and 30 pounds, which puts him in the 75th percentile for height and weight. Poor guy, had his immunizations while he was there as well. He is an amazing little boy and I am so proud of how well he did with all of his doctor visits.

The pictures in this post are from a snow we had a couple of weeks ago. Yes, it has taken me this long to finally finish this post. We took Oliver out thinking this year he would really enjoy the snow and realize how fun so can be. We were wrong. As I write this post, it is snowing outside and we have quite a bit of snow on the ground. I am not even thinking about taking him out.

If you have made it this long, I am impressed. The next post won't be as long, I hope. We are going to enjoy being snowed in and hope that everyone stays safe and warm.

Christmas 2010

I know I am just a bit behind. It has been another very, very busy month which I will write about later but for now, I just want to share some Christmas pictures. We had a great Christmas with Oliver. This year he was so much more excited then last year. He really didn't know what was going on but he knew it was something good. It was a lot to fit in with his birthday two days earlier and our exciting week-which I will write about later-but it was still a great Christmas. Grams and his great grandmother joined us for Christmas to open presents and eat dinner. One of the reasons for delay in the Christmas post is that we have SO many pictures, I had been avoiding going through and editing and choosing the ones for the blog. Here are just a few.

Daddy and Oliver reading together on Christmas Eve day.

Making cookies with Oliver was so much fun. The early childhood teacher in me was perfect training. I was prepared for a mess (and we had one) but it was so much fun. Oliver didn't know what to do at first. I thought he would catch on to the shaking of the sprinkles faster but he still had fun-and loved licking the icing and sampling the cookies.

More cookies

The hanging of the stocking
(Note: No, I didn't edit all the pictures. I realize that many of them need work)


On Christmas morning, Oliver found a tricycle under the tree from Santa

He also found a filled stocking full of goodies. Oliver has been a very good boy.

Grams gave Oliver a great Oliver size table for coloring, playdough, and, of course, lunch dates with Elmo.

It was such a busy day that we didn't take our family pictures in front of tree on Christmas day. My wonderful mom came over the next day to take pictures. Oliver was not really feeling up for pictures (to say the least). He had been just a tad overscheduled this Christmas and he had had enough. This was as close as we could get. I still think it turned out well.


We had a very wonderful Christmas with family and friends. We are excited for the new year and wish everyone a peaceful and joyous new year.

Happy 2nd birthday, Oliver!

Here is a picture of Oliver the night before he turned two years old. I wanted one last picture of him as a one year old and the high chair is the only way to keep him still.

We had a great time celebrating Oliver's birthday. Due to Doug's work schedule we decided to have the party in the morning which was nice because then we could spend the rest of the day calming down from the party.We kept the party to just family again and quite frankly, I don't know if Oliver could have handled the excitement of anyone else in the house. At one point, I had to take him into the bedroom to "key down". We think the balloons sent him over the edge.

Oliver loved ripping open his presents this year. Tearing paper is lots of fun.

Big truck, as Oliver would say. He had so much fun pushing his new trucks around the house (and still does).

This is a ball that jiggled when you pulled the string. Big hit with Oliver. He didn't even have to take it out of the box to enjoy it.

Oliver didn't understand the pacing of opening gifts. He kept wanting to read every book and play with every toy as he opened them.

We had a farm theme for his birthday. Oliver's cake was vanilla with raspberry filling. I just love the decorations. You can't see it in the picture but it is three dimensional and the pig is coming out of the mud. Cute!

Happy birthday, Oliver!

When your birthday is two days before Christmas, it is inevitable that there will be a shot of the Christmas tree at some point. Especially when you are as interested in the tree as Oliver.

More to post later about Christmas and the general state of affairs with Oliver. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful little boy. I can't wait to see what year three brings!

Small moments

Well, since I have blown off most of the evening when I should have been working on lesson plans, I might as well blog about some of the stories I have wanted to share about Oliver. In no particular order:

• The other night I was getting something out of the oven and Oliver was in the kitchen. I warned him, "Hot, Oliver. Stay away." He started blowing on the oven like I blow on his food when it is too hot. Love it!
• This story is from Ms. Kim at Oliver's daycare. The kids were outside and a downpour started. She started gathering up the kids to take them in and got to the door and realized that Oliver wasn't there. She turned around and he is in the middle of the playground with his arms outstretched and laughing. Ms. Kim said that she had to go and take his hand to get him to come in. Is it wrong that I love that it was my child that was laughing and playing in the rain? I love that aspect of his personality.
  
• One of Oliver's words is "hug". We were coming home one night and Oliver was fussing in the carseat. I kept asking him what was wrong and said "Tell Mommy what you need." Oliver said, "Hug." I almost pulled the car over and gave him a hug.
• This is a story from awhile back but I don't want to forget it. Oliver hadn't quite gotten into putting his puzzles together but he still made his own game. He loved to take the puzzle pieces out and then put them in a pile in the living room. You couldn't take them out of the pile. He would get so mad. One day, there was a stock pot out from when he was playing in the kitchen (the bottom cabinets are Oliver's now) and he went over and put the pieces in the pot and just smiled and laughed. After that, if the pot was put away, he would insist on getting it out and putting his pieces in it. Never did anything with it after that-the pieces just had to be there.
• If he is fussy in the car, I can put in Dave Brubeck and it calms him down. Enough said.
• Oliver has learned to say "Pig Sooie" and will whenever he feels the need to-without prompting.

That is it for now. I must return to my lesson plans. More later.

Catching up on the last few months

There is no way I could possibly catch up with the last few months. They have been very hectic and busy and I will just start with the pictures that were on my camera and try to fill in as I go.

One of the reasons we have had such a busy few months is that Oliver has been fighting ear infection after ear infection with colds, allergies and viruses in between. I cannot even count the different antibiotics he has been on since August. This is a picture of Oliver when he was sick and requesting to go "night night". Poor sweet baby boy.
As always, August was a busy month with school starting back. Oliver started daycare this fall and it has gone really well. I am so excited that he is making friends and has a great teacher in his classroom. This is picture of Oliver on dress up day in October. He was a farmer because he couldn't stand to wear any other costume with a head. He actually ran around the house crying when he tried on a kitten costume. I couldn't even get a picture of him because he just ran around crying trying to take it off.

Razorback day at big boy school. It was also the Harp Hawk Hoedown..hence my overalls.

Oliver and Daddy at Granna's house

Enjoying a tasty apple treat at Granna's.

Excessive amount of pumpkin patch pictures but I couldn't pick just one:



Oliver had a great time at the pumpkin patch. He had a blast running around looking at the pumpkins and scarecrows. The slide was a blast as well. It was so wonderful to watch him have so much fun. We picked out a pumpkin for him to take home and had plans to carve a jack-o-lantern the next day (Halloween) and go to the Fayetteville square for trick or treating. I went out for a girl's night that night and close to bedtime Doug sent me a text: fever of 102.6. I assumed it was the ears (again) since he had been fighting an ear infection and was already on antibiotics. The next morning, around 4 am, Oliver woke us with a fever of 103.3..his highest fever yet, prompting a call to the nurse on call. We gave him a breathing treatment and more fever reducer and finally managed to put him back to bed. The next day, his fever reached 104. He was one sick little boy. Needless to say, Oliver missed his first real opportunity to go trick or treating. We just couldn't believe he was running around the pumpkin patch the day before. By the time he went to the doctor the following day, his fever had gone up and down reaching 104 two more times. Luckily, it was just a viral infection on top of the ear infection (his doctor said he was an overachiever taking on two infections at the same time) and by the end of the week he was back to his old self.

I have much more to blog about..Oliver's ever expanding vocabulary..great small moments..his love of books and cars but it is getting late. Maybe since I have made this move to start somewhere with catching up I will be able to return again soon. If you made it this far, wow..thanks.