The jam packed weekend!

Yes friends and family, two blog posts in one day!  Little man and I went down to Dad and Jana's on Saturday.  Of course, I forgot my camera!  Ugh!  This is why I need a little skinny camera to leave in my purse.  Oliver had a wonderful time giving big smiles and giggles to Dad and Jana.  Dad was nice enough to take me grocery shopping (thank you again!), while Jana rocked little man to sleep.  We visited some more while Oliver took a nap. 

Saturday evening we hung out with some friends at Andrew and Terrell's pad, but left a little before 9:00 to get little O to bed.  My, how our outings have changed! 

Sunday, Tim, Mom, Oliver, and I went to Bainbridge Island to visit Kurt (long-time family friend) and his partner Britton.  That's correct, Oliver's first ferry ride! 

It was super cold out, so we busted out his "snow suit."  No flippy-floppies for him.

The Tacoma was a mighty vessel and got us safely to the other side.  Once on the island, it was just a short hop, skip, and jump to Kurt and Britton's place.  They had a few bites for us, and had a faux log on the fire.  I really could have stayed all day.  Very peaceful and relaxing.  Oliver thought so - he took a very LOUD nap there.  Oh, I forgot to mention, he is getting another cold, so he was coughing and all boggery (if that is a word) all day.  What a little cutie, even with snot running down his face! 

It was a very busy weekend!  I didn't get very much housework done, but made it for it in all the people we got to visit.  I love my life right now!

Bonus video!  

Distant cousins

Thursday, we went to my Aunt Eleanor's funeral. She lived a long 85 years. It was interesting to hear that she and my Uncle Sol met when they were just 15, and waited to get married about 7 years later. After the funeral, Tim and I picked up Oliver, and then went to my Uncle's place where then men were finishing up prayers and blessings for the first day of sitting shiva.  Here she is with my Uncle Sol, back in June 2009 when my cousin Kelly got married.

Afterwards, we visited a bit with some distant relatives (I called this game, "How are we related?"). My second cousin, Kelly, came up (Aunt Eleanor's granddaughter), as well as her parents, Beau and Debbie. It was nice to hear from them, and of course, little O was a HUGE hit. My cousins loved holding him and playing with him. Thanks to the miracle of the internet, I was able to figure out that Kelly would be Oliver's 2nd cousin, once removed, and Beau would be 1st cousin, twice removed. Thank you, interwebz!

Oliver hanging with his cousin, Kelly

Kelly, Debbie, and Chelsea

It was good to see them.  The family on my mom's side is very small, so even though they are distant cousins, they definitely feel a lot closer!

My favorite photo while they were here, however, is when G'Gpa is holding Chelsea and Oliver gives him this look, like, "Excuse me, why aren't you holding me?"  G'Gpa is just eating it up.   

You tell him, little man!

Je déteste le ventre.

Per Google Translate, the above title in English is, "I hate tummy time." You would think after 8 months Oliver would understand that if he kept his knees under him, he would get moving! As of late, here is typical tummy time.

Oliver up on his hands, and kicks his feet. We attempt to hold up his belly to get his knees under him, but, no dice.

After a few minutes of this, Oliver knows the maneuver to escape tummy time - rolling to his back!

Oliver is now kicking and throwing his hands around, excited that he is done!

Mommy has been defeated again.

And although tummy time is protested greatly, he loves to stand and pull (sometimes tries to) himself up. Last night, he was doing it on the sides of his crib.

8 months today!

Per the request of Tim, I'm giving little O a shout-out today because he has been around for eight months!

The little guy on the left, duh! He's hanging out with G'Gpa at his house. And even though 8 months is a long time, he was in my belly longer than that! Ha!

Tongues and pancakes

Saturday, both Tim and I had to work, so my Dad and Jana were happy to spend all day with the little man! From the report I heard, he got to go visit his Great-Grandma and then up to Uncle Jim's and Aunt Ali's place. He was a very busy little man who was well behaved. :-)

I swear, Oliver MUST be getting some kind of teeth soon (this is the longest buildup ever). He has taken to drooling through a bib an hour, and constantly has his tongue out! He's checking out the humidifier here... because just like his Daddy, he loves them.

He felt like showing his Nittany Lion pride (per Tim, he will be a future Penn State Alum)

Look at that tongue! He's like a frog catchin' flies! Even on this previous post, Oliver's tongue is in full force.

Later that day, Tim, Oliver, and I went up to the Original Pancake House to get a late brunch in. Oliver was busy checking out my food, so I gave him a bit of my pancake (don't worry, no syrup was on these bad boys).

I do believe this is the first time he has successfully fed himself! Yeay! Next stop: porterhouse steak.

Here's a quick tip for the day:

When you are a doctor, and you have kept your patient waiting for almost two hours (yes, HOURS), and the patient has been waiting about half that time in nothing but a hospital gown, in a cold room, with no magazines, and the patient hasn't eaten or drank anything in 18 hours, do not ask:

"Would you like to reschedule?"

Because really, they do not want to reschedule. They'd rather that you hurry up so they can get some food in the belly.

I hope the radiology department at Swedish gets this message. ;-)

All I wanted to do was see this sweet guy's little face:

Seahawks, birthdays, and snuggles, oh my!

Saturday was nothing to write home about, but Sunday is worthy of a blog post. Tim went down to Travis' to have some man-time, so Oliver and I had some of our own good time. We watched some of the Seahawks game, but turned it off when it was 28 -3 (because really, who wants to watch more of that?). Oliver loves holding the remote... just like a man.

Later that day, my mom (TTC), grandpa (G'Gpa), Jim and Ali (Uncle Jim and Aunt Ali) and one month old Chelsea (Miss Chelsea, Chelsea pants, etc) came over for dinner to have an early birthday celebration for my mom. I was surprised that I caught them all off-guard with the below photo - they didn't even know I took it! Sunday dinner has really changed from a sit down dinner, to a "grab a bite, entertain a baby" dinner. Oliver saw us eating and demanded a little something for himself.

After dinner, Oliver and Chelsea hung out... it quickly escalated to a cuteness explosion. I had said, "Boy, this is SO cute, it makes me want to have another." To which Tim replied, "YEAAAAAAYYYY!!!" Before you go pre-order new baby stuff, I am NOT having another one anytime soon. If I can help it. Two under two is not what I'm going for.

Onto the cuteness... this one is funny because you can see my mom's phone in it... so much documentation of the loveliness.

We then sat Oliver up and held Chelsea up next to him... he was being SO gentle and sweet. He was gently rubbing his face on her face, and smiling. At this point, he had quite the audience and we were all "OOOHS" and "AAAHS" about it.

Lastly, a video of this. ::warning, warning:: Oliver's love for his cousin is already showing. He is just a loving little man! SO PROUD of him!

"Wide eyes" Oliver

I just downloaded (or uploaded?) some photos from the camera and came across this one from Monday... I have been laughing hysterically for a good 10 minutes.

Oliver and Miss Chelsea!

My brother and S-I-L went on a date night last night - lucky dogs - and had dropped their little angel at my place. My mom was at my house so we took turns playing with Oliver and holding Chelsea. I had forgotten already how small little babies were! She is a month old. She was making a lot of noises while she was sleeping - this was quickly silenced once I swaddled her up like a baby burrito.

Here is a bit of last night.

You may have noticed that Oliver has taken to holding onto the jumperoo pole. He only needs just about an inch off the ground, and then he can pull the rest of him up. Oliver says, "Mom, you are gonna be in big trouble!" His face when he does it is so funny. He first looks so determined, and then a look of satisfaction when he is in full standing mode.

Another side note - Oliver had kiwi last night for the first time and loved it! Mr. Oliver loves all the food that I've prepared for him so far (with the exception of carrots... really?). What a happy boy.

Typical night

... well, about every other night, unless little O is licked to death by a dog. My mom demanded a new Oliver video. I put some fresh batteries in the Flip Camera and documented the pre- to post-bath routine.

By the way, this is the longest video to date. You really should watch the whole thing - it's pretty adorable. :-)

Horsin' around

Little O got a doggie pillow pet for Christmas from Tim's Uncle Jack and Aunt Alice (thank you!!). At first, he was petting it like our other animals, and now he has taken to kind of beating it up. It's nice and fluffy, so it's become a staple in the front room as cushion to catch him if he tips over. He thought he'd take it out for a test spin.

We also thought it would be funny to have Oliver try on the hat he was wearing as a newborn. What do you think? A little tight, yes?

Remember, this was when he was a newborn.

So, yeah, that hat is officially retired.

Cough, cough go away

I'll apologize ahead of time for the lack of new Oliver multimedia. Like I mentioned in the previous post, Oliver shared his cold with Tim and I. Isn't he just so sweet? We have been a household of dirty tissues, popsicles, and cough drops. Oliver has been feeling a lot better (lucky little guy). So enjoy some old photos from the way-back machine!

2006. Tim and I in San Diego. I won a trip from my employer, WaMu, (who later in the year laid me off) and got to spend a week down there. Sadly, it rained for 4 of the 5 days we were there!

We stayed at Loews Coronado Bay - it was BEAUTIFUL. There were orange and lemon trees right outside our window. Citrus, baby!

Excitement plus! Okay, not really - but I have nothing new to share (besides the cold that little O shared with me). Here are a few little O newborn photos. He was a REALLY cute newborn.

Do you see that giant bippy in his mouth?! He has grown a lot. He is an amazing little man who brings constant joy and happiness to our lives.

New Years Eve!

I was happy to get an e-mail yesterday that informed me that, yes, I am getting off early! Now before you start throwing up high-fives all around, I am working half a day today. And I'm sick. Boo.

I came home while it was still sunny out (but wicked cold), so after Oliver took a nap, I told him it was time for a walk! We walked down to Market (for those not in the know, this is the "main drag" in Ballard), picked up some lunch, some tissues at Bartell's (Tim and I are sick... thank you Oliver), and came home! Here's in the middle of the walk... he wanted to sit down from all that walking. Buah ha ha ha!

He kept toasty warm in this outfit. Underneath, he was in his jammies.

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years - Tim and I went to bed early and little Oliver stayed up and partied all night.