Toes

Today's blog is interrupted by Oliver's toes. Which apparently are delicious.

Happy Wednesday!

Pennsylvania, part two

I am back from the brink of death, so I thought I'd let you know how the rest of our trip went. We spent a lot of time hanging with Tim's mom's side, however we did drive up to see his dad one of the days, along with his dad's mom and dad. His grandparents live in the middle of the state near State College, PA, home of Penn State, and his dad lives about an hour and a half north. I did not have my camera mind going so I missed out on a family photo at his grandparents.

Both visits Oliver did wonderful - he was a big hit. Oliver is the last hope (so far) to carry on the Hollingshead name, so both Tim's dad and Pap were happy to meet the only hope!

We also spent a lot of time down at Tim's mom's parents (Pop and Grandma). Grandma goes by Aunt Grandma to the great-grandkids. It came accidentally but stuck after one of the great-grandkids called her that (apparently she had a lot of "aunts"). Her number one thing she wanted to do was sit in her rocking chair and rock him to sleep - which totally worked.

While we were there, autumn was in full force. Here's a few of the changing leaves.

Gorgeous, right?

Here is Tim's mom hanging with Oliver (and Christopher).

I'll finish up with two small videos - one is actually 3 small clips together, and then the other? That is Christopher. He's 2 1/2, and is off the walls with his energy! Whew!

First sickness!

I will finish the trip blogs tomorrow (I am still under the weather), but I needed to share.

Now here is a milestone that I do not want to hear, and it's that Oliver is sick! Gah! Hard to escape his mom being sick and the way he loves to shove his little fingers into your mouth like he's a dentist or something. I came home tonight from work and the little man was burning up - and so cranky!

I took his armpit temp and came back with a high 101.5 degrees. Yikes! I snapped a quick photo with my phone of him in the Bumbo while I was calling the on-call doctor:

The on-call doc calmed me down immediately, but my goodness - I can see why parents are so distressed when their children are sick! It's like, "WHAT CAN I DO TO MAKE IT BETTER?! FROSTY? MONEY? WHAT IS IT?!" Even harder at this age is he can't tell me what he wants. For now, I am relying on my motherly instincts and giving him a big dose of love (and Tylenol).

First flight, Pennsylvania, et al.

I'll apologize ahead of time for not posting sooner - we got home on Sunday and I have been sick as a dog since! Even now, I should be at home, in bed, with a nice big bowl of chicken pho. Instead, I am here at work - I'm going to try and make it to lunchtime and maybe go home. We shall see.

I will post more later, but I wanted to share about some of our adventures to PA. We flew out on Saturday (Oct 23rd) morning. I was so nervous about flying out with the little man - will his ears hurt? Can we entertain him for 5 hours on a plane? Will we be "those people with the baby?" My fears were quickly diminished when Oliver still had his wonderful demeanor throughout the entire flight. Before we got seated, the pilot invited any kids/babies to come up to the cockpit for pictures. In our post-9/11 world, we were quick to do so!

You can see in this photo that there is another baby in the background. She is one day older than Oliver and she was busy screaming and crying the entire flight! I told little O he better not get any ideas!

 

We got in very late, and the very next morning Oliver got baptized! We had to get up at 7am which felt like 4am to us. The pastor at the church where Tim's family goes is amazing. Here are a few post-baptism pictures down in the basement (decorated for Halloween):

From left to right, me, Kathy (Tim's mom), Amy (Tim's sister), Christopher (Amy's son), Tim, Oliver, Pastor Dietz

 

I am going to end it here as I am feeling wiped! I hope I can beat this illness!

Photos!

*** Updated with corrected and working link!! ***

So at the same time Heather is doing our photos, she is also redoing her website, so right now, it's a *bit* hard to share. Currently, you can go here:

http://heathertrimmphotography.com/2010/10/22/oliver/

And scrolling down will enable you to see some super cute photos of us and the little man. Here are a few others, too:

Hopefully Heather doesn't mind my sharing these - but I am just so impressed!

One comment that has been pretty consistant with those who have seen them has been, "He doesn't look like a little baby anymore!" I would agree - he has grown leaps and bounds - and also having a baby wear shoes really makes them look older.

I cannot wait to see how the rest turn out!!

Beautiful weekend, party of 3

When I saw the forecast for this weekend, I squealed with delight. And then when Tim told me his work will not be carving pumpkins Saturday afternoon, I shrieked with excitement. So much wonderful weather - and the last one before going to Pennsylvania next month.

Saturday morning, Oliver and I walked up to Laura Bee to check out the new scarves they had in. If you know me, you know that I LOVE scarves. I used a coupon and some birthday money and picked up two. Tim then came home and we drove up to The Farm in Snohomish for some quick pictures at the pumpkin patch. Now I have not been to a pumpkin patch in over 10 years, but I do not remember them ever being this busy! There must have been at least a thousand people there. Although, beautiful day, two weeks before Halloween, um, yeah - it all adds up. Here are a few highlights:

Having Oliver here meant we didn't actually do too much as there was huge lines for everything - hay ride, sweet corn, espresso, etc... so we walked through the animal area and posed with some pumpkins and called it good. Even so, we were still there for a good hour or so. This place was BIG so we did quite a bit of walking (and carrying Oliver, too).

So I'm seeing this is turing into a long post. But we had such a good weekend, I have to share it all!

We came home and got ready to go out. Oliver's grandpa Carl and Jana volunteered to watch the little man so Tim and I could go out for a few adult drinkies for my 30th birthday. I'm not sure who had more fun, but when we came back, Oliver looked pretty darn content hanging with them! Thanks again, Dad and Jana for babysitting! While they did that, we went to The Copper Gate, which was just a few blocks from our place. It used to be a dive bar, but as with most things in Ballard, it got redone and cleaned up. Inside now is a bar shaped like a viking ship. It has cool benches and awesome decor. They also have delicious cocktails and nummy food. I'll only share one of me towards the end of the night:

Yeah. Need I say more? I had a lot of fun.

Sunday we met up with my friend Heather Trimm and went to the Arboreteum for some family photos. Her baby shower gift to me was a family photo shoot, and we finally got some decent weather to do it! I will share here once she has them ready. I am super stoked to see how they turned out!

We came home, Tim and Oliver took a little nap and then we headed to my mom's for dinner to celebrate my birthday and my sister-in-law's who birthday is tomorrow. Oliver got lots of love from everyone.

::whew:: okay so that was our weekend in a nutshell. Lastly I will share a quick video of Oliver not doing a whole lot. I experimented with some new features here. The quality is not as good - sorry in advance!

Small reflections

Today I turn 30 and I am thinking back to Oliver's birthday which was 4 1/2 months ago (seriously... where did the time go already?!). The love that exuded from me and Tim onto this little man was the most intense love ever - and the saying is true - you will never know the love you have for your child until it is there. Sorry, kitties.

A few things that I have learned during the last 4 1/2 months as a mom:
- Take the birthing classes, sure - but when it comes down to getting through a contraction, you just want everyone to not touch you and to SHUT UP!
- Breastfeeding is the absolute hardest thing I've ever done. I give mad props to those that can make it a full year.
- He has made me appreciate my friends and family more (especially with baby niece on the way later this year, and future unknown gender baby next year).
- Keeping ahead of the laundry is important. Cleaning the rest of the condo apparently, is not.
- The most useful item has become the Boppy pillow. It's gotten so much use it's now almost flat. Luckily there is a spare in the car which I think I might bring in soon.
- The best part of my day is going into his room when he first wakes up in the morning. He gives me the biggest smile as if to say, "You're here... again!"
- The second best part is watching Tim and Oliver play together. Tim has no problem making silly faces and acting the fool to get a giggle out of the little man.

He continues to amaze us everyday with new and wonderful things, whether it's splashing in the tub, or attempting to sit up, or grabbing his foot during a diaper change.

No new photos or videos, so here is one of me and the little man from August 1st. Hard to believe that was over 2 months ago!

Here is one of Tim and Oliver around the same time. I notice that he has less hair and also less eyelashes. You can't see it here but his eyes are also more blue.