All about me, my hubby, my babies, and my puppy.
This is Lima Beans. Yum!
This is super porridge made from brown rice. Looks like gruel to me!
I cleaned up all that stuff because it was on my to do list, but getting the points was a bonus! What a motivator! Much thanks to Rachael for thinking it up/signing us up. I just remembered I have to take out the trash!
I got back my latest craft project but I left the camera in the car and since Oliver is asleep in the living room I am not going to go open the LOUD door to get it. It turned out so cool though, I can't wait to post pictures.
Now that Oliver is feeling better and Bob is almost better it is, of course, my turn to get sick. I can feel it in the back of my nose...stinking cold! I read last night (in Super Baby Food) that mangoes are antiviral! I had Bob pick one up last night so I can see if it will get rid of this cold before I get really sick. I hope it works!
I'm making Lima beans for Oliver today, and then later I'll make some Super Porridge from brown rice. I hope he likes it! I'm sure he will, the boy eats everything!
I worked really hard today getting the house cleaned up a bit. I did two loads of laundry, swept the kitchen, swept and mopped one of the bathrooms, one load of dishes, vacuumed the living room, hallway and playroom, and cleaned up the bedroom from vacation.
Meanwhile, Oliver is sick. Bob got a cold somehow the other day and he passed it on to Oliver. Needless to say he is not his usual happy self. He's cranky - he's got a runny nose - he has a little temperature. He's still eating like crazy though! In fact, he tried egg yolk for the first time tonight. He seemed to like it, he ate it all up. Yum yum!
I went out and got Super Baby Food today and started reading it. I'm really excited about making my own baby food now that Oliver can eat more solids. It's really informative about what to feed him and how to prepare it. I have been just steaming everything so far but there are lots of recipes in there. It also says approximately how much and how often to feed him - something that we've really been in the dark about so far. I'll keep posting about how it goes.
Bob got these cute little Oliver-sized water bottles the other day. They are labeled "Aquapods" and are made by Deer Park. Anyway, Oliver really likes playing with them. He gets two at a time and knocks them together or waves them around. They are just the right size for the little guy. He can even drink from them!
As you can see they don't escape the usual treatment. All toys (and everything else, too) goes into his mouth to find out "meal or no meal". They make a pretty loud crinkly noise when he chews on those feet. He laughs when I make it "launch" like a rocket. These are really fun!
These are Oliver's new jammies. He grew out of all his old ones so we went out shoppin'. These were at Target and are actually a 9 month size! They are still a bit baggy but that just means they'll fit longer.
Here's the back view, I love the little spots! They are really soft and seem to be pretty cozy. The only thing I worry about is that he'll get too hot but he doesn't use a blanket so I guess it's not that bad. He's been sleeping through the night better lately, too! He usually only wakes up once, if at all.
I'm so tired! I'm tired! I want to sleep but I want to play! Waaaaaah! I want you to cuddle me, no wait, I changed my mind. I want to play! I'm so tired! Waaaaaaah!
The sequence of events: Oliver crawls toward the table...
He gets his little paws into position...
He starts pulling, using his mouth to steady himself...
and he's up!
Oliver playing in the pool with me and Grandpa Steve. The water was so warm!
Oliver playing with Grandpa Steve when we first arrived. Grandpa thought he looked pretty spiffy in the Red Socks outfit.
We didn't get many pictures from this part of vacation, we were too busy!
We had a picnic! Oliver played with this little stool, pulling up on it over and over. He loved playing out in the sunshine.
Here he is in the baby swing. He laughed and laughed while we pushed him. His hair was blowing in the breeze...what fun!
Oliver with cousin Eleanor and Pappy Lucian (who he is named for)
What an interesting and exhausting week!
Wednesday morning we packed up half the house (at least that's the way it seemed) and headed up to WV to visit Bob's family. We were going to leave around noon but ended up leaving at 10:30ish instead because Oliver got up early and didn't go back to sleep. We stopped a few times to stretch our legs and have a snack - which got us there around 4. We had dinner (spaghetti, salad, homemade applesauce, then butternut pound cake and jello for dessert) with Mammaw, Pappy and Aunt Brenda and then played and talked for a while before heading to bed.
When we woke up we ate a BIG breakfast (eggs, sausage, biscuits) and hung out for a while before heading over to Birch and Gretchen's to visit. We spent the whole afternoon there playing outside in the big beautiful sunny yard. Indigo (their daughter) played in the pool but the water was too cold for Oliver to get in. We had a picnic on the front lawn, saw two cows, two giant pigs, lots of chickens and one baby lamb, had a fire, and generally relaxed and had a good time. After that we went back to Pappy's house where Brenda had made delicous Mexican food. Yum! I stuffed myself silly! Oliver got to try refried beans and rice for the first time. (this turned out badly the next day!!)
Friday morning we got up and had breakfast and went back to Birch's for more visiting and a lot of playing. Bob helped Birch paint the porch while Gretchen and I played with the kids. She made some Avacado for lunch and Oliver tried it for the first time. He liked it (of course) We left there around 3 to go to Asheville. It was supposed to take us about 5 hours to get there but we ended up getting there around 9 because of some tire issues. Everything turned out ok though and we played with Gramma and Grampa for a while before we went to bed. We were soooo tired!
Saturday morning we got up and went out to the resort to hang out with everyone at the reunion. We all hung out at the pool for a while before eating lunch (burgers, dogs, bbq, potatoes, beans, salad, potato salad). Oliver tried cornbread and beans for the first time. After that we all got back in the pool (Oliver too!) for a while. Bob and I stuck around for a while and then went back to Mom's to take a nap. We slept for 2 hours - and we needed it!
When we woke up we headed over to Aunt Jain's for game night. Bob hung out with the guys downstairs playing PS2 while the women played Yahtzee! for a while. We all ordered pizza and stuffed ourselves silly again. It got really late (10) and so we left (we stayed with my Mom). Oliver ended up crying until midnight before he finally fell asleep, only to wake up a few hours later and cry for 30 more minutes. None of us got much sleep but we got up Sunday morning and went to breakfast at Highland Lake - it was yummy!! After that we went back to Mom's to get another nap but only Bob slept. Oliver refused to go to sleep so he just played with Gramma. Around noon we packed everything up and went over to Aunt Jain's again where everyone was eating lunch. I was still full from breakfast but I gave Oliver some more corn muffin (he loved them). We hung out until about 3 and then headed home. We got home around 6:30 and Bob unloaded the car while Oliver and I played. Bob spent a good bit of time in the garage playing with his new table saw. (I forgot to mention that Pappy gave Bob some of his old tools - a table saw, a belt sander, a palm sander and a planer) Oliver went to sleep at 8, he was so tired, and Bob and I followed at 10. Oliver woke up every two hours the whole night...grrrrrr!
There are pictures but I have to find the camera and get them on the computer so I'll post them as soon as I can.
New things Oliver is doing since we left:
waving (mostly hello, sometimes goodbye)
feeding himself with a spoon
New foods Oliver tried:
refried beans
rice
avacado
quinua
cornbread
baked beans
cantalope
Oliver had his 9 month checkup on Monday (just after he turned 10 months). He was 28 3/4 inches long (that's +1 3/4 inches since his 6 month appt) and 18 pounds 9 ounces (that's a loss of 5 ounces since his 6 month appointment...and it also means that he lost almost a pound and a half since we were there when he got his ears checked!) That puts him in the 10% for weight - from 75% at 6 months. The doctor was a bit concerned, she weighed him 4 times, and he has to go back to get weighed again in a month. I suppose it's just because he's always been so far above average for weight and now he's way below average. He still eats like crazy...I always worry that I'm overfeeding him! His head was 18 1/4 (a gain of 1/2 inch).
As far as development he's doing well, right on schedule in most areas and slightly ahead in a few.
We asked the dr. about mercury in vaccinations and she said they don't even use it anymore. She said there is practically no risk in getting them except in extreme cases and that no study has ever shown that there is a link between autism and vaccinations. I'm still not sure how I feel about it but we went ahead with it. This time he only got one shot but for his 1 year he gets 4 shots and a finger prick. I'm not excited about that at all!
I know I said I wasn't going to post this week but I had to post about what happened today.
We decided to go to the Natural Science Center of Greensboro to check out the new zoo area and walk around the inside with Oliver. We had fun doing the maze, looking at the dinosaur skeletons, and various other activities but the best thing that happened was at the tiger pen. There are two tigers, a male and a female. They were laying up on the side of the pen. There was a group of people on the sidewalk, but we walked up around the side where they were laying. As soon as the tigers saw Oliver they could not take their eyes off him. We talked to them for a little bit and then headed back down to the sidewalk. As we started walking away the female tiger got up and followed us, never looking away from Oliver. When she got to the end of the pen she waited a second. We started walking back up the way we had come and she followed again! So we went down to the sidewalk where the group of people were and she rubbed up against the fence a few times right in front of us before she headed back to lay down with the male. It was very cool! She looked like she wanted to be petted.
We also got a bit of entertainment from some gibbons. They swung from some ropes and then hung down with their feet against the veiwing area. They were quite friendly!
Overall a good day!
Today is Oliver's 10 month birthday! He's growing up so fast!
He talks all the time now. Whole sentences of his very own made up language. He's very serious about it, too. The only words that are connected to anything are "mim" for mom and "dada" for dad.
He's cruising with no trouble or effort at all anymore. It's super easy for him to get around. When he runs out of things to hold onto he either plops himself down onto the floor or he turns and stands for a second or two until he falls, then he crawls away.
He's learning sign language more and more now. He can understand the sign for eat, milk, drink, and sometimes Mom and Dad. He doesn't sign anything himself yet, but I know it's just a matter of time. If he wants to be picked up he lifts his arms and calls me or bob.
He's still napping 3 times a day for about an hour each time. He's also still waking up twice a night. usually around 3 I rock him back to sleep and then around 6:30 I feed him and put him back down. I wish I could get him on a good sleep schedule, but I don't usually get home until around 9:30 or 10 to feed him and get him ready for bed.
He's started getting a bath every day. Before the dr. told us to bathe him every other day because his scalp was so dry during the winter. Since it's warmer and he is so much more mobile I decided that he needed it more often. He seems to enjoy the bath but he always wants to stand up! It makes it easier to wash his body, but so much harder to wash his hair!
He's getting very possessive of things. If he is playing with something and you take it away he gets very upset. At least until you give him something else to play with. He's especially fond of anything electronical. The phones, the camera, the remotes...he goes after them like crazy!
He laughs so much now...it's the best sound I've ever heard. The things that make him laugh the most are blowing on his belly, jumping up and down, and spinning around. He also really likes being "thrown" into the air. I never let go because I'm so scared that I'll drop him, but he likes the sensation of flying.
He likes being outside and going for walks. We've been going down the the track at the high school and walking a mile a few days a week. The wind in his hair and the sun on his face make him immediately happy so when he gets grunchy we just take him outside.
He still eats so well. He'll eat anything you give him usually. We tried something the other day that he didn't like but I can't remember what it was. Tomorrow I'm going to bake some potatoes and cut up some fruit so he has some finger foods to eat. He really likes feeding himself and he's perfected his pincher grasp. We went out to eat and gave him a saltine to entertain him for a while, but he ate it all up. Yum yum! Another special treat that he gets every once in a while is a little bit of Edy's fruit bars. He doesn't care for the cold but he loves the taste!
His dr's appointment is on Monday (although I can't remember what time) so I'll post his weight and length after that. Other than that post it's going to be pretty light around here for the next week or so. We're on vacation and I won't have very much time for the computer...we'll be too busy having fun!!!!!
Yep, that's right. Oliver has decided that I'm not "mom" or "mommy" or "mama" - I'm "mim". Whenever he wants me, or wants pretty much anything and I'm there he starts going "mim mim mim mim mim" and raises his arms up. Well allright then...Bob is Dada...he does the same thing except he says "dada" for Bob. He's getting very demanding! He's also getting very chatty lately, although those are the only two words that seem to be connected with anything right now.
I steamed some baby carrots the other day and had been cutting them into baby bite sized pieces for Oliver to eat. On this day though I thought I would try to give him the whole thing. At first he didn't know what to do with it.
Then he got the idea. You eeeeeeeeeeat it! He did a good job of taking bites and chewing them up well.
Then again, he really loves to shove things into his mouth as fast as he can. That carrot is one that did NOT get away in time!
He looks like he really has to think hard to grab them. I love the "concentration face"
This is the back of one of the shirts I dyed a while back. I hope no birds fly over him while he's wearing this!!!!
Saturday Bob went out of town with Joe to see Leon Redbone in concert. He didn't give me a lot of details of the concert except that he enjoyed it a lot. After the concert when everyone had left they tried to get back in, but the guy at the door told them they weren't allowed back in. One of the band members happened to be there and he told the guy to let them through! They got to meet Leon and got his autograph!
Sunday I had to work but Bob met his friends Jason and Ani in High Point (they are from Maryland) and hung out with them for a while. They ended up staying over on Sunday and left late Monday. We had a good time with them hanging out at the house. We went out to eat twice, once at Red Robin and once at CC's Pizza then dessert at TCBY. I hope they had as good a time as we did.
I went to the HP mall when Bob was gone on Saturday and got two new pairs of pants! That's amazing for two reasons...one I hate shopping by myself and usually talk myself out of anything that I pick up...two I never buy myself anything, I usually just get stuff for Bob or Oliver. I really needed some new pants though, a lot of my old ones are getting really worn out and I needed something decent to wear to the reunion next week. I do have to take one pair back because the snap doesn't stay snapped, but I really like them! incidentally, it's the same pair of pants just two different colors.
