I figured it out!!

Oliver has a new tooth on the top left. I'm fairly certain now that it is the reason he wasn't sleeping well. He slept for 7 hours last night. OOOOOh it was great!

When Oliver does something impressive (like crawl across the whole room or pull up) I have been saying "I did it!" and clapping. Well yesterday he pulled up on my leg and so I said "I did it!!" then he looked right at me and said "Ididit!" It was sooooooooooo cute!

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted pictures...

I've posted 8 times with only one picture of Oliver. What neglect! I took these yesterday when we were playing. He's all over the place lately. Climbing and crawling everywhere trying to get the toys he wants. He's so strong. He still hasn't really figured out how to "crawl" he's still army crawling, but it's so cute!
He's still not sleeping through the night, and still fighting naps. He woke up the last two nights screaming like crazy for no reason that I could figure out. The first night was at 4 (usually he wakes up at 3 so I was excited...thinking maybe he'd start sleeping longer) then last night at not quite 1. He does NOT want to be held/rocked/snuggled when he wakes up. He does not want to go back to sleep. Last night I rocked him, changed him, fed him, smeared his gums/teeth with Orajel, took off his jammies and left him in just a diaper, he let out a loud fart, then he played with a stuffed dog for two seconds and then fell asleep. This took approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. I don't know if he was hungry, hot, in pain from teeth or gas, uncomfortable in the wet diaper, or just didn't want to be all alone but for goodness sake child GO TO SLEEP!
He woke up today in a good mood and we had some breakfast and played a bit before he got tired again. He's taking a nap now so hopefully he'll wake up in a good mood again.
He's figured out that the page of the book in the middle of the table flips over so of course what does he do? He chews on it! Silly little pickle!

Congratulations to BabyDaddy on their new arrival on Sunday!

It looks like Babes In Blogland isn't going to shut down after all! Hoooray!

Is that right?

Am I the only person whose pediatrician said not to try meat until Oliver's 9 month appointment? Most of the stage 3 foods have meat so we are sticking with stage 2 for now. We've also been giving him real food...steamed carrots, bananas, kiwi (not the seeds!), mashed potatos, mango. Oliver's 9 month appointment isn't until slightly after his 10 month birthday. Should I go ahead and try some meat?

Tag! you're it!

I just did something very similar to this, so I tried not to use the same answers as last time.

“INSTRUCTIONS: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so.

1. Ms Mamma
2. Relaxed Parents
3. SusieJ.
4. 3 Boys and a Lady
5. Yadda Yadda Blog Blog

“Next select five people to tag: (if you haven’t done it already)”

1. Knitting Mama
2. Rachael
3. Drea
4. Anything Said
5. Sarah

Now for the fun part — the questions:

“What were you doing 10 years ago?”

graduating high school, learning to drive

“What were you doing 1 year ago?”

getting a big belly, enjoying being pregnant

“Five snacks you enjoy:”

1. Chips
2. cookies
3. fruit
4. baby carrots
5. pudding

“Five songs to which you know all the lyrics”
(I totally drew a blank here, but fill them in!)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

“Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:”

1. Buy the Walkup family farm
2. travel all over
3. get a Porshe Boxter S
4. NOT WORK!
5. buy a boat so I could go fishing all the time

“Five bad habits:”
1. staying up too late
2. I worry all the time
3. not picking up after myself
4. not eating leftovers
5. driving too fast

Five things you like doing:

1. Writing on my blog
2. taking naps
3. improving my house
4. planting flowers
5. Taking Pictures

Five things you would never wear again

1. baggy t shirts
2. stirrup pants
3. thongs!
4. Blouses with shoulder pads
5. anything too small

“Five favorite toys:”

1. my camera
2. bike
3. car
4. gardening tools
5. easy bake oven

Oliver's face...

Oliver has been getting very expressive lately. He (of course) has the happy baby face, but he also has the grumpy baby face, the sweet baby face, the sleepy baby face, the incredulous baby face, the curious baby face and the determined baby face. He's also started making a little fishy face and if you make a smooch at him he will smooch back! Hmmm...that's nt a clear explanation but hopefully you know what I mean. It's soooo cute!

I just added some new links on the sidebar, check them out!

It's almost finished!

This is Oliver's Playroom! We are almost finished! I drew on the chalkboard, we put the aquarium in place, we put the floor together...then we put the toybox, changing box, saucer, and leapfrog table in there. Oliver was taking a nap at the time, but when he woke up this is what he saw...

This is the pattern I did on the floor. I'm not sure how long it will stay that way. I don't know if I like all the red squares together like that. We'll see. We have 4 of each color now so there are so many choices! We are going to get one more set because there is still a space between the floor and the back wall.

See the space here? We moved the TV over next to the window so there wouldn't be a glare on it. Also because that's where there's no floor and Oliver pretty much stays on the floor. We don't want him messing with any cords!

Here he is trying out the table in the new room. He loves that table! Thanks, Aunt Sarah!

5 things...

I've been tagged!

What were you doing 10 years ago? (5 things)
1. graduating high school
2. learning to drive
3. living in asheville
4. being very shy
5. getting my first job

Snacks You Enjoy:
1. chocolate
2. ice cream
3. potato chips with french onion dip
4. baby carrots
5. popsicles

Five Songs That You Know All The Lyrics To:
1. The Itsy Bitsy Spider
2. I'm going to love you forever (randy travis)
3. when you say nothing at all
4. almost all Elvis songs
5.

Five Things You Would Do If You Were a Millionaire:
1. Charity
2. Investments
3. Odd things like fill random people's yards with lawn flamingos for a day...the flock was just passing through!
4. Pay for Oliver to go to college
5. pay off all my bills!

Five bad habits
1. Cracking my knuckles
2. biting my fingernails
3. eating too much ice cream
4. blogging too much
5. driving too fast

Five Things You Like To Do:
1. read
2. blog
3. play with my family
4. camping
5. sleep!

Five Things You Would Never Wear Again:
1. tube top
2. skinny jeans
3. platform shoes
4. underwire bra
5. glasses

Five Favorite Toys (My son’s toys)
1. Lincoln logs
2. legos
3. play dough
4. bubbles
5. linka dinkas

this was fun! I'm not tagging anyone, but if you want to do it then go ahead. Let me know if you do so I can read it!

vaccines...good or bad?

I was reading about vaccines at Adventures in Babywearing. Needless to say I am quite concerned! We were never informed that we had a choice about getting the vaccines. Then again, maybe we don't have a choice! Also, the vaccines can be more harmful than the disease they are supposed to prevent...and sometimes they don't even work! Mercury/Thimerosol in vaccines has been linked to autism and other neurological disorders. Check out the National Vaccine Information Center site for more information.

Do something about it!!!

you could win!!!

MamaKanga is giving away a $75 gift certificate! Check out the contest at Adventures in Babywearing to see how to enter.

There are so many beautiful things to choose from that it's so hard to decide what I would use the certificate on if I won. After browsing for a while I decided on the Gypsy Mama Bali Baby Breeze Wrap. I've wanted a wrap for a long time (since before Oliver was born) and we just haven't been able to work it into the budget. This one looks like it's good for summer or winter wear and easy to use. They also fold up very compact when not in use! Even if I don't win I might have to save up my extra money to get this. Also, if you spend $35 or more (and you live in the US) then shipping is free! You can't beat that!!

Be sure to read the benefits of wearing a baby!

a visit...

We had a visit from Gramma and Grampa today! They came all the way from Asheville to hang out. We ate at the Moose Cafe - yum yum! Then Grampa went to visit his mommy while Gramma hung out with us at the house. We played and played! They suprised us with another set of foam tiles for the floor, and they also brought an activity table from Aunt Sarah. Thanks guys! Oliver seemed to enjoy the table a lot, he pushed all the buttons and moved all the sliders, but his favorite was the banjo. (it's the Leapfrog table) After a while he took a nap and Gramma and I worked on the barrier (scroll down for pictures) which turned out super! Grampa came pretty soon after we finished that and they went back home. Oliver woke up just in time to give goodbye hugs. What a super time we had! Of course, there are no pictures because we are dorks and didn't even get the camera out. We were having such fun that the time passed really quickly. We will have to remember to get pictures next time!!!

pool adventure!

Oliver had his first adventure in a big pool today. We got him this turtle floatie so he could play in the water. He seemed to like it pretty well. He spent a good bit of time floating around in it.
He met a little girl named Emma who he kept watching and waving at after they went back to the other part of the pool. What a little ladies man!
Oh no! Don't get me! Cindy was tickling Oliver and he was splashing her. We all had a fun time. The water was really warm! We hung out in the 3 foot section the whole time, and didn't stay long but it was great. We will be going back again soon for sure!

the barrier

This is going to be the barrier between the playroom and the kitchen. It's actually the door that lead into the living room from the dining room but since it's the right length to fit the space to the kitchen we just got a gate for the doorway. I painted it as an aquarium because Oliver liked the fishes at my mom's house so much. This first picture is as much of it as I could get in one picture.
Here's a close up of the left side...
and here's a close up of the right side.

close ups of some of the fishes...

I painted this angelfish. She turned out great!
My mom painted these guys, they are so cute!
The pufferfish and the seahorse...two of my favorites!
A starfish sitting on some coral...very creative!