Summer time

I absolutely love the summer. I always loved the summer time (I am a teacher) but, honestly, before Oliver, I really did work a lot through the summer. I either worked, or did absolutely nothing, and looking back really wasted some valuable time. Don't get me wrong, as a working Mommy, I definitely value my down time but I realize now that I really did waste time. Anyway, that's a whole other blog post..or maybe even a different blog. As I was saying, I love summer and I now appreciate the lazy days I can spend with Oliver just playing and having fun. I, of course, have some blogging to catch up on major events like the first hair cut and first time in the backyard pool but I wanted to catch up on some of my favorite smaller moments.

Oliver is really trying to talk now. Here is some of his vocabulary, with translations as best I can figure:
dadadadada : Daddy
vava: water
boobay: blueberry (although sometimes this is a grape as well)
uh: up
si: outside
ca: car

Oliver laughing: yes

OK, so he's not ready for a broadcasting job yet but he is really trying. Lots and lots of babbling. He gets so frustrated when he is trying to tell me something and I can't understand. I try to guess the best I can but am usually not that successful. We have had an increase in tantrums lately and I know that some of it stems from his trouble communicating. I had speech issues as a kid and I remember how frustrating it is to try to tell adults something and not be understand. I really feel for him.

Just an update, part of the reason for increase in tantrums, hopefully, is Oliver has yet another ear infection. He is back on good old amoxicillin again and a month's supply of Zyrtec. Here's hoping to a quick recovery.

Cute stories:
Oliver loves to help with the laundry. The other day he was helping me put the wet clothes from the washer into the dryer. Oliver usually just tosses the wet clothes in the dryer a few times and then moves on to something else. Well, he was really into it this time and I let him put the dryer sheet in the dryer. I guess it was a big deal because he held it, smiled, and oh, so very, gently placed it on top of the clothes in the dryer. He was so proud!

Oliver and Garrett have learned, for the most part, to work around each other. Garrett now, pretty much just gets up and moves or willingly goes to our bedroom if Oliver is getting too much for him. I usually have more trouble trying to explain "Gentle with puppy" or "Stay away from Garrett when he is eating" to Oliver. Something must have sunk in though because one day I was going to Oliver's room and trying to get Oliver to follow me and Garrett was sprawled out on the tile floor in the entryway by the front door. Oliver came running behind me and I called out"Careful of Garrett, Oliver. Watch out, Garrett," thinking Garrett would get up and move. This time Garrett didn't move and Oliver stopped and looked at Garrett spread out on the floor with his paws toward Oliver. Oliver put his back against the wall and sidestepped his way past him! I had know idea he knew how to do that. It was so funny!

I have some posts from events this past spring if you care to read through. I am looking forward to sharing more stories soon.

Mother's Day 2010

Yes, the trip down memory lane continues....

I had a wonderful Mother's Day, despite some bumps in the road, with my precious baby boy...who is not a baby anymore. To start off, I had plans to have Doug take a picture of Oliver and me every Mother's Day because I thought it would be a sweet idea and I had this great picture from last year:
This captures our photo session this year:



Oh, well, better luck next year. As I said before, Oliver doesn't understand that people go outside for reasons other than to play and run around. He didn't understand why Mommy was picking him and not letting him play. So here are some pictures that Doug took of Oliver, much happier running around. I am in the background, out of the picture, amazed at how our little boy has changed in a year.


After the photo session, I had a special lunch with my mom and grandmother. We have a tradition of going to lunch on Mother's Day and then going out to Chotkowski's peony farm
in Fayetteville. We decided that since the peony farm is so crowded on Mother's Day that we would postpone the tradition to the following weekend or the one after that. The weather had other ideas for us and we ended up not being able to go this year. Actually, we tried to go out but the farm had closed by the third weekend in May and we decided to take Oliver to the park with Grandmother and Aunt J. Unfortunately, it turns out that Oliver was suffering from an undiagnosed ear infection and was not in the best of moods. Motherhood...

Although, I don't have my mother son picture from Mother's Day or any out of the ordinary events to report, I really did have a wonderful day. I was able to spend part of the day with my mother and grandmother and the rest with my energetic, amazing son. I don't think I could have done any better.

Graduation!

I know I usually post a picture of Oliver doing something cute but this post is dedicated to Oliver's daddy, Doug and his graduation from the University of Arkansas. This picture of Doug with his parents was taken after graduation this May. I also want to take the time to thank his parents again for everything they have done to help us and support us as Doug went back to get his degree. As you know, Doug has worked so hard to go back to school and earn his degree. I am so proud of him and I want Oliver to know how hard his daddy worked and how special this day was in our family. Doug's graduation was May 8, 2010 and his degree is in Health Science from the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions. Congratulations, Daddy!!!

We had a busy morning running around getting things ready for the day-Oliver cooperated by taking a nap in the morning. After Oliver got up, I had plans to take a picture of him and Daddy so I could show him one day, "Look, Oliver, here is a picture of you and your Dad the day he graduated from college." I had an image in my mind of this great father-son picture that we would frame and hang on the wall.

Instead, this was the best I could do:
Oliver really doesn't understand that people to go outside for reasons other than to play outside.


Grams (my mom) came over to our house for an all afternoon babysitting job because we figured Oliver, although very supportive of Daddy, was not ready for a two hour plus ceremony which required being still that happened to occur during his nap time. Thanks, Mom for taking care of our very active toddler who, incidentally, did not take his nap that day. She was also the photographer and I think she did a great job.

This picture is even more amazing if you knew how many times it took to get Oliver to look at the camera.

Here is a picture of Oliver after being able to play outside:
Much happier toddler

We arrived early for the ceremony at the UA in order to get good seats and good parking, not easy on graduation day. Funny, how graduation day is about honoring the graduate and we barely saw Doug that afternoon because he ended up parking the car and then having to check in early. The ceremony was very nice-Pomp and Circumstance always gets me-and I had high hopes of getting a great shot of Doug immediately after he received his diploma. Unfortunately, I couldn't get close enough and I don't have a good enough flash on my camera so this is the best I could do.

Looks like we will be buying the official photo from the U of A.

I just have to say again how proud I am of Doug. I know it wasn't easy for him to go back to school and I want him to know that I support him and I am proud of him. Congratulations, Doug!

Easter 2010

So back to the recap...

We had a great Easter with Oliver this year. It was so much fun to see him really enjoy the people and events. Of course, he didn't really understand what it was all about but he was able to participate in the fun.
We went to Grams' house for Easter lunch this year. Here is Oliver in the special high chair that Mom bought just for him. He got to use it for the first time on Easter and loved it. Mom also fixed an Oliver-friendly meal with lots of soft fruits and vegetables for him to eat. We enjoyed a delicious lunch made by Mom with Grandmother, Aunt J and Aunt NET.
Doug spent lots of time chasing Oliver around Grams' house-especially when Oliver learned that he could open the front door to the garage!

Unfortunately, Oliver didn't nap in the pack-n-play so we had to cut the afternoon short and head back to Lowell for nap time. One of my mistakes as a mom has been not training Oliver to sleep anywhere other than his crib at home and at Ms. Amy's. Hopefully, he will grow out of that soon.

After a nap at home, we got Oliver up and took him outside to explore his Easter basket.
We had a blast with him!

Oliver loves bubbles!

This is Oliver giving me a dandelion (with a little help from Daddy). So cute!

It was the beginning of a great spring for us. Looking forward to sharing graduation and Mother's Day pictures with you soon.

Online again!

After many weeks(months,actually) we are finally online again with a working hard drive! I am so excited! I have so much to blog about I will need to break it into several entries. It has been a busy couple of months for us. Doug graduation in May, the end of my school year, Oliver's new haircut, a bad ear infection, time with family and so much more. I hate it that I have missed so many little moments. I knew that I should have been writing them down as they happened but life was so busy that I didn't take the time and now I regret it. I treasure every moment with Oliver and I want this blog to be full of memories.

Jumping ahead a bit, we have had a great start to the summer. The last day of school was June 8 and I have been home ever since. Oliver is going 100 miles a minute and loving it-until its time for a nap and he is no longer happy. We are working on dropping his morning nap with varying degrees of success. What can I say, he is a boy who needs his sleep. Judging from how active he is, it is no wonder. Sometimes he will just run and laugh for no particular reason other than, I guess, life is just really, really good. Oliver has finally learned to give raspberries-instead of biting-we just laugh and laugh and tickle and raspberry blow. This is when I think about how much fun it is to have a little boy. I never did this sort of play when I was a little girl. It is so much fun.

He loves to dance and listen to music. It appears that he has his Daddy's sense of rhythm and love of music which makes us both very happy. We have to limit his music time or we would be listening to the same CDs repeatedly all day.

Stay tuned for more updates. I will be going backwards and posting pictures/videos and blogging about the past couple of months. Also, I am going to be giving the blog a new look, with Doug's help, of course.

Enjoy these beautiful summer days.

Little things

Still no hard drive. I really wish I could post more up to date pictures. Oliver is changing so much! Hopefully soon I will be able to post new pictures.

I just want to record some little things that I don't want to forget.

Oliver still loves to find his belly button. Just ask where's your belly button and his lifts up his shirt to look. His little belly is finally beginning to get a little bit of a pooch but he is still skinny. Of course, if you ask him where his belly button is he will want to look for yours too. This would be ok except he also tries to blow raspberries like Mommy and ends up biting instead. This is also how he kisses you...he bites you. I can't quite get him to understand how to give "gentle" kisses.

Still loving to play outside. He loves to push his push toy outside (we now have an indoor and outdoor one), look at dandelions, laugh at the dog and go look at the windmill down the street. He is definitely going to be an outside kid.

Oliver fought another cold this past weekend. This meant that we had to use the dreaded nasal aspirator...he really, really, hates it. Oliver has never liked us messing with his hands, ears, mouth or nose.Also, if anyone has any tips on how to get him to not have a meltdown when we brush his teeth we would love any help!

He is so active...all of our doors have the safety doorknobs on them now! It amazes me that Oliver can literally run around the house but still love to sit still for a book.

Although Oliver isn't really talking yet but he understands so much-He squeals and runs when you mention "splashtime" or taking a bath. Oliver will go to refridgerator and try to open it if you tell him its time for his yogurt. He knows to go to his room for a diaper change. He will even run to the laundry closet if I tell him its time to do laundry.

Oliver has started to dance. He learned this from his friend Caleb. He is so cute when he bends at the knees and just laughs. Oliver has the best belly laugh. I could just listen to it forever.

There are so many more things. I will have to start making a list as I see them. Hopefully, there will be pictures coming soon as well!

Overdue update, again

One thing I have learned in the last 14 months is that with small children, the unexpected is bound to happen and throw a curve in your plans. One morning Oliver and I were up early and Oliver helped me check me email and the weather report, like he always does, and started banging on the keyboard. He loved to do this, I guess he liked the colors changing on the screen, and Doug always said that he could never do anything to really hurt it. Well, the short version is the "blue screen of death" appeared on the computer and our desktop has never been the same. Doug was able to revive it long enough to dump all the files (including the pictures) onto my portable hard drive (so glad I got that!) but later declared it beyond hope. We are now looking for a new hard drive and with Doug in the middle of the semester who knows when the desktop (my computer, basically) will be up and running. Doug is playing music tonight and left the laptop for me so I am thankful for an opportunity to update. I wish I could post new pictures but they are on the hard drive or still on the memory card so they will have to wait.

There are so many things that I am just going to list them:

Oliver now has 11 teeth! Three of them are molars that are still breaking through but he has cut 3 molars in the last two months, with very little discomfort. We have only had to give Tylenol a handful of times and have had very few wake ups in the middle of the night-what a trooper!

Oliver now walks everywhere! When I last posted, he was just starting to walk short distances and when you put him down, he would usually crawl. Now he wants to walk wherever he goes.

He has finally gotten over his fear of the outdoors. For the longest time, he would only want to be held when he was outside and would look around, sort of suspicously. Now he will bring you his shoes and try to open the door on his own. Oliver actually threw his first temper tantrum the other day when we brought him inside(it was raining). Loves, loves to play outside.

Oliver loves to pick things up and "help" you by moving them around the house. Loves laundry baskets and laundry. He will put clothes in the dryer (and then take them back out, still wet) and take folded clothes in and out of the laundry basket for you. We spent 45 minutes one night looking for the TV remote...he had put it in the laundry basket.

Speaking of laundry baskets, Oliver now takes a bath in a laundry basket. Yes, my son takes a bath in a laundry basket..I only wish I could show you the pictures. Oliver used to take a bath in his inflatable duck and he loved his duck..really, really loved his duck. He used to go into the bathroom and pat it on his head and try to say "du du". One night, we noticed Duck had a leak and was slowly caving in on Oliver. Needless to say, Duck had to retire. We tried twice unsuccessfully to bath Oliver in the tub without Duck and he absolutely would not have it..poor thing, he was terrified. My mom came up with the idea of using a laundry basket...perfect! He loves his baths again.

He is so interactive now. I am really starting to be able to play games with him and he will just laugh and laugh. I love it! Oliver loves to be tickled, play peek a boo..we play a game where he will come around the corner and I crawl to him and say (in a playing way, of course) "I'm going to get you...I'm going to get you" which is of course when I grab him and tickle him and blow raspberries on his tummy. Oh, he just discovered his belly button the other day...so cute! You can say "Oliver, where is your belly button?" and he lifts up his shirt and laughs at it. Then you have to tickle it and laugh with him.

We play this game where he comes up behind me when I am sitting on the floor and he puts his arms around my neck. I reach behind me and grab onto his legs and lift him up off the floor by leaning forward. He laughs and we have to do this at least once a day.

Oliver blew me a kiss goodbye in his high chair when I was leaving for school the other day. I love him.

I have so much more to tell but I am looking at the clock and I have papers that I have to grade tonight or I will regret it tomorrow. I have missed checking in on everyone's blogs and I hope I can catch up soon.