Pic of the day

 

Awwwww...

he's petting the puppy!!
 

Aunt Sarah

Aunt Sarah got Oliver this outfit, she brought it when they came to visit last weekend. He looks incredibly cute!
 

Hobbits...

I've decided that Oliver is a hobbit. He has wide feet, he's little...but mostly because he eats breakfast, then second breakfast, then elevensies, lunch, noon tea (ok milk), dinner and supper. Yep, that's right, he's a hobbit because he eats all the time.

Howdy Pardner!

I'm not sure where he got this outfit, but it is so adorable! the sleeves and legs are a little short, but he's ok with that. I should have tried to put his cowboy boots on with it!

 

Pic of the day

 

Things I've learned...

It's Oliver's 3 week birthday! Here are some more things I have learned since he was born:

1. Showers are the most wonderful thing ever - even if you don't get one every day

2. There's no such thing as "too many pictures"

3. Sleep deprivation + hormones = very loopy mama

4. You still need to spend non-baby time with your hubby.

5. When you stay home with a baby all day it's hard to find anything adult to talk about.

6. I have the most wonderful supportive helpful hubby ever.

7. It's ok to let the dishes and laundry pile up for a few days.

8. It's not boring to watch a baby sleep.

9. Babies grow really fast! :(

10. I don't want to have another one for a loooong time.

I've also learned to swaddle correctly, how to bathe him in the bathtub (it's more fun if you get in with him!), how to avoid diaper rash, and have improved our breastfeeding technique.
Hooray!

Play time...

Oliver got this ball from Birch and Gretchen. He loves it - it's his favorite thing to look at. He really likes the bright colours and sharp contrasts.


 

Writing on the wall

At the birth center when a baby is born they put their footprints on the wall and you get to write whatever you want to with it. Here are Oliver's footprints in his favorite colour. I wrote the stuff underneath. I only wrote it because it's true!
 

Sites of interest...

My sister showed me this one and it's addictive!
http://www.games1.org/games/reactioneffect.swf

Search for charity...every time you do an internet search this site will donate $.01 to a charity of your choice.
http://www.goodsearch.com/

In other news, Oliver got weighed again today and he is 7 pounds 4 ounces! That's a pound and 3 ounces more than last Monday. I asked if it was possible that I was feeding him too much, but they said no this much weight gain is good in a early baby. He looks so chubby! He fits in a lot more clothes now, and he's grown out of a few things.

We found out today that the seller is going to fix the roof leak in the house we're buying. Now the realtor is working on getting them to fix the plumbing as well. I hope they do! We're buying it either way, but it'd be nice to go in with a few less things to spend money on.

New baby

 

3 generations

 

seeking approval...

Getting approved for a home loan is a long horrible process. We were pre approved about 3 months ago, and now that we found the house we want to buy we had to get some more information to send to the underwriter who will actually approve the loan for real. Well, of course, nothing ever comes easy for us. The bank guy (Joey) sent the paperwork to get our rental history for the past 3 years to the places we rented from. One got back to him right away, the other (Oakwood Forest) waited 8 days, then sent that we started renting from them 2-04 instead of 9-03 like we really had. Apparently when they changed ownership all the records before February disappeared or something. Luckily you can also use your tax returns, which we didn't have, but we sent off for. Even more luckily Joey is a super nice guy and he talked to the head loan person or something and they approved our loan today! I guess even with the incomplete rental history it was ok. Anyway, he sent our paperwork off to the underwriter to get everything finalized. WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A HOUSE! I'm so excited!

gift from Great Gramma

Here is Oliver with the giraffe that Great Gramma sent. He loves this giraffe! He will stare at it for such a long time.
 

weight loss...

I forgot to mention that today I weighed myself for the first time since Oliver was born. When I got to the hospital they weighed me in at 136 lbs. Today I was 118 lbs! That's only 1 pound over my pre-pregnancy weight. No, actually, that's not accurate. My weight before morning sickness was 126. Hooray for me! I've lost so much weight and my belly is almost gone. Now with the stroller I can get out and exercise, too.

Quatro Tour Deluxe

Here's Oliver in his new stroller. He seems to like it, and I do, too. It has a little compartment that perfectly fits the camera. It rolls very smoothly!


 

Pic of the day

 

Grampa Steve

Here is Oliver with his Grampa Steve (my dad). He stayed over Saturday night and left Sunday afternoon. We had a good time hanging out. Grampa even fed little Ollie a bottle Sunday morning! mmmm!

 

diapers...

when we first found out we were going to have a baby we wanted to find out all the diapering alternatives. Putting 8-12 diapers a day in a landfill didn't appeal to us, but neither did washing all those poopy cloth ones. Well we found a happy medium - Gdiapers! They are cloth on the outside with a flushable insert. So far we've had a few leaks, but I think it's because they are a little big on our tiny baby. Find out more at www.gdiapers.com

Oliver had visitors! I didn't get very many pictures, and picasa isn't wanting to cooperate right now so I can't post any yet. Aunt Rachael, Uncle Dave, Aunt Sarah, cousin Delilah and Grampa Steve all came up on Saturday to spend some time with their new family member. Oliver seemed to like it a lot. I'll post more detail with pictures later.

Ollie got a stroller from Grampa while he was here. We went for a walk around the complex today and he seemed to have a good time. It was a little hot and muggy, but there was a really nice breeze. Pictures of Ollie in his stroller to be posted later, too.

He's been eating VERY well! Everyone said he'd just get it one day, and it was true. He just latched on real quick one time, and since then he's had it down pretty well. He even had two meals with no bottle today! Hooray for Oliver!!!

Pic of the day

 

Pic of the day

 

What a difference!

The top picture is Ollie just after he was born, below it is Ollie now. I can really tell that he's gained weight. He looks so chubby now!

 

Monkey...

This little monkey's gone bananas!
 

The Thinker...

 

Yesterday was Oliver's two week birthday! To celebrate we went out to buy diapers. We were both exhausted when we got home. We also stopped by RTG to let Ollie meet everyone. They all thought he was super cute! (which of course he is)
Last night at his 12:00 feeding he seemed a little warm and wasn't acting like himself. At 3am, after rocking him and feeding him, I took his temperature and it was 99.1 so I got very upset and woke poor Bob. It wasn't enough of a temperature to call the dr, but I felt very guilty for exposing him to germs and people and stuff. He finally fell asleep and so did I. I woke up at 5 and he felt normal again, and so I made him another bottle, which he didn't want. I was very relieved and so I went back to sleep. He's acting fine today, though, so I was worried for nothing.
He started latching better, he'll usually go about 10 minutes or so on each side at every feeding. I think part of the problem is that as soon as he latches on he starts to fall asleep. I have to keep rubbing his cheeks or pinching his ear to wake him back up.
I noticed today, or realized I guess, that our wedding anniversary is 9-4-04 and Oliver's birthday is 9-6-06. Kind of an interesting thing with the numbers. Maybe we'll plan to have our next baby on 9-8-08 to keep up the trend.
I was getting excited about the house we've been working on buying. Now though, I'm frustrated about it. Apparently the seller is changing her mind and doesn't really want to sell it now. She is refusing to fix any of the major things that are wrong with it. This wouldn't be a problem except that if we back out now we still have to pay for the home inspection and the pest inspection. Seems to me that if SHE backs out then she should pay for it. She's wasted our time and energy, and we only have another month on this lease! ARRRRRRGH!

Pic of the day

 

Ollie update

We had a home visit from the Guilford Co Health Dept today to check on Ollie. The nurse weighed him and checked him out from head to toe. He weighs 6 pounds 1 oz now! That means since last week he's gained 9 oz. He has a little bit of diaper rash, but that's pretty standard I guess. His reflexes and temperature were good, too. She went over some general information and asked a lot of questions. Overall though, he's doing very well!

He is latching a lot better today. Yesterday I got very frustrated because he didn't latch at all. Today at his first feeding he latched right away and ate for 10 minutes on one side and 15 on the other. This feeding he did 5 minutes on each side. I'm glad he's getting better at it. I was starting to feel like a big fat failure.

I'm starving all the time. I guess because when you are making milk you just use so many calories, but for goodness sake. I feel like I need to eat all the time. Right now I'm eating some of the Tater Tot Casserole that Dolly made. It's actually pretty yummy!

Tomorrow will be my first day by myself. Bob has to go to work and no one is coming to stay with me. I'm not really nervous about it at all. Everything has gone really well so far. I usually sleep til noon anyway, so most of the day will be gone and it won't be that long until Bob gets home when I get up. I know that sounds lazy, but it's just because I get up every 3 hours to feed the little bug. It's very hard work!

Playing

This is Ollie playing on the quilt that Nanny made him. He likes it a lot!
 

Pic of the day

 

Pic of the day

 

Updates...

Well so far I haven't had to spend any day without help. Bob was off work until Wednesday, and then on Thursday and Friday Dolly came down to help out. What a help she was, too! The first day we just sat around and chatted mostly, but she answered some of the questions I still had. Yesterday I packed some boxes while she cooked us 3 delicious casseroles. Then she let me take a nap for about an hour or so before Bob came home. It was VERY nice. I also got some dishes washed and a few other small things done too. I caught up writing in Oliver's book so that he'll know what all went on while he was so tiny.
Today I'm doing laundry. There's so much of it! Ollie has decided that he likes to pee OUTSIDE the diaper. Anyone know how to prevent that? We have gone through several outfits and even more blankies because of it. He even peed on Bob earlier today!
He's starting to latch better, even though he still doesn't get it every time. Once he gets it though he will usually go about 15 or 20 minutes. I've stopped pumping at night so that I don't have to get up every 3 hours and stay up for one and a half for each feeding. He wakes up almost exactly every 3, and usually takes about 2 ounces if not more. I think he's gained weight because he looks chubbier.
I feel like I want to get out of the house, but I'm still not supposed to take Ollie out. I don't want to go anywhere by myself either, and we can't just leave the little guy at home while we go out.
We took him for a walk the other night and he got to meet Jasper's girlfriend and her mom. Jaimee liked him very much and we spent a little while talking about his birth and stuff. He got bit by a mosquito while we were out, though! Poor little guy, right on his cheek. I guess I won't take him out after dark anymore because that's when the bugs are out. Unless it gets colder soon and the bugs all go away.
I suppose that's all for now, there are a few new pictures below.