Oliver is amazing

How in the world do you start out like this only (almost) 10 short months ago, at 19 inches, and 5 and a half pounds, and end up being a strong healthy boy...about 26 inches and 20 pounds?

He's so active, crawling and cruising all the time, banging toys together. Not only can he pull himself to standing, but he can get back down to sitting as well! He's just started playing with some little tubs that we were going to use for painting. He loves playing them like a drum or putting things in and then "drinking them" or pouring them out. If you put a snack puffy in the bottom he will quickly reach in and get it out. He's a super self-feeder, although only with snacks. Mealtime is still spoon feeding all the way. He's eating more and more solid table food and loving every bite! He has 5 teeth now, with another very close to breaking through. He loves crunching those puffy things with them! He's getting a little shy around people who are not Mommy or Daddy, even people he's known and seen often, but I hear that's normal for this age. He's very loving - he loves to run his fingers through my hair or run his hand up and down my cheek when he's sleepy. He still takes 3 naps a day, but they are getting shorter and I know very soon he'll be down to only 2. He sleeps through the night pretty well, but never in his own bed. He usually spends the first half of the night there, but when he wakes up at midnight or 1 I bring him to bed to snuggle. We are so lucky to be able to keep Oliver at home instead of putting him in day care. Bob works mornings and I work evenings so one of us is always with him. I am so glad we could work it out that way. Overall he's right on schedule with all his developmental milestones. He's happy most of the time, unless he's tired or hungry. I think I got the best baby in the whole world!

another sling giveaway!

I didn't win the last contest...I was so hoping that I would! I just found out about a contest at The Whole Family for the same thing! I really really want one now. Check out the site giving this one away, they have more than just slings, too.

I had to get the spider off the screen, it was creeping me out!

So here's big news! Oliver is trying to stand on his own. He hasn't quite figured out how to get up to standing but he sticks his little booty up in the air with his legs straight and pushes up with his arms. He can't get up, but he's working on it. Bob said that yesterday Oliver was cruising around in the living room and he let go of whatever he was holding onto and took a little step to get to the next thing to grab onto. HIS FIRST STEP!! I'm so sad I was at work and missed it, but I've gotten to see most of his firsts while Bob is at work so it's ok.

He was sleeping so well last night. He went down at about 10 and then we went to bed at 11ish. When we went in he fussed for a second and then *calmed himself back to sleep*. This is a first for Oliver. I was so proud. At least until midnight when he woke up screaming his head off! Poor guy. I changed him and rocked him but he was having none of it. Finally we rubbed some Orajel on his gums and he calmed right down and went to sleep. Poor baby! He's not doing so well today either. He's had diarhea and been very cranky. I tried the Orajel again and it didn't seem to make much of a difference except that he stopped crying. We watched his video all snuggled up on the new futon and then I rocked him to sleep. I hope he's feeling better when he wakes up. I hate when he's grouchy because he doesn't feel good.

I just got a subscription to Parents Magazine. I'm very excited about it! I got 4 years for only $14!!! I can't wait to get my first issue!

gross gross gross!

Actually it's gross and kind of cool at the same time. This was between the storm window and the regular window. The spider caught a beetle of some sort and was eating it!

Yeah I'm in a box...

And I love it!

baseball dreams...

Doesn't he look like he's really thinking about being a baseball star? My dad got him this outfit a while ago but he just barely fits into it. It's an 18 month one though, so I'm glad I tried it on him sooner. He looked so cute!

I need a hobby...

I have a few spare minutes while Oliver is napping. Instead of doing the laundry or watching a movie or something fun I'm here...seeing what y'all have been doing.

Oliver was cranky yesterday. I'm not sure why. His head felt warm to me, but when I took his temperature he was normal. Still, he didn't want to play he just wanted to snuggle. He took a long nap in the morning and another in the afternoon.

Bob got home early yesterday so he went and picked up our new futon/sofa thing. We got it all set up in the playroom, although I'm not sure where it's going to end up. It's going to stay in there, but I think I want to move it to the back wall. The room is kind of long and narrow and right now it's on the long wall. Bob also put the entertainment center from the living room in there but it is definately not staying there. In fact, I think we're going to get rid of it. It's just too big for any room in our house!

I don't think I mentioned it before but we got a flat tire again! This time on the Tribute, and it was not able to be repaired. Luckily we had the road hazard warranty on the tires, but even still. This is the 3rd flat we've gotten this year...and all from the same place! Thank you very much Rooms To Go! Anyway, Bob went and talked to the manager and he agreed to pay us the $10 that we had to pay to get the tire replaced. Then after I turned in the receipt he didn't talk to me for 2 days. It made going to work quite uncomfortable!

another contest!

Here is another fabulous contest! It's for a Solarveil ring sling...your choice of color and rings! Sounds good, right? Well go and enter! Also check out KimzKreations so that if you don't win you can still get one. There are lots of different patterns and colors, they are all so pretty!

Helping with laundry

how do your flowers grow?

These are the first flowers I've gotten from the wildflower seeds I planted. They are very pretty! There are lots of other plants, but these are the only flowers so far. I also planted some daisies but the squirrells and chipmunks or something keep eating them.
These are some flowers that came up from some plants that were here when we moved it. We were going to get rid of them but now I think I'll just move them somewhere else because the flowers are so pretty!

Our visit to the park...

We had a few minutes before I had to be to work so we went to this little park that is down the street from the store. Oliver got to try out a swing for the first time. He seemed to like it pretty well but the swing was really big. He kept falling back and forth with each swing. We didn't keep him in it very long, but maybe we'll go back again soon. I took this picture and several more like it when he was swinging forward.
Here he is just after he got in the swing. Daddy pushed him for a bit while I took pictures.
We also went down the slide. I was a little nervous about dropping him when we hit the bottom but everything turned out ok. He didn't seem to care too much for the slide. Maybe he'll grow into it. This time he was just not impressed.
We sat in the grass a little bit, too. Oliver didn't seem too happy about the pokey grass at first, but he started grabbing it and pulling it up after a minute or two. He also picked a little flower and I let him hold it until he tried to eat it. Awwww, what a sweet baby!