On his actual birthday...

we went to the zoo. Here's a few pictures of Oliver checking out the animals. The gorilla played peek-a boo with him. She kept peeking around that metal bar to look at him.

He's pointing at the flamingos.

The bear came right up to see him. That rock is the closest he could get to the viewing area. Oliver waved and called him "kitty kitty kitty!" Some people looked at us like we were crazy.
The otters put on quite a show for him. There were two of them and they just kept swimming by and doing summersaults under the water.

The zoo was rather deserted since all the kids are back in school so we had the place mostly to ourselves. It was nice to not have to push through people to see or worry about anyone getting in front of Oliver so he couldn't see.

matching shirts...

This is the back view of the matching shirts Bob ordered for us...

and here's the front. Underneath the little symbol is our names (Mom, Dad, Oliver)

cowboy family...

Here we are dressed up for the party

Has it been a year already?!

One year ago this little guy was born. Happy birthday, Oliver!

Happy anniversary!!

Bob and I have been married for 3 years! You're still my favorite, Cuppycake!

sweet smilin' boy

He's a sweet boy most of the time, but he was sooooo cranky today. He was tired and I think his teeth were hurting so after a bottle of juice, some teething meds, an hour and a half of rocking, half an hour of playing, and I don't even know how many verses of Itsy Bitsy Spider I finally gave up and gave him some Tylenol. He's asleep now. Hopefully he'll feel better when he wakes up.

Big boy jammies...

As you may or may have noticed I am obsessed with pajamas for Oliver. Well since he's turning one we got him some big boy jammies. It's two pieces, little pants and a little shirt. This is his first set of two piece pajamas, although if I had my way he'd wear footed sleepers for ever! He looks absolutely adorable in them. There's a little bear holding tools on the shirt and it says "Daddy's Little Helper", the other set that came with these is gray and has tools all over them. I can't believe my baby is so big!

Oliver's first birthday present...

Aunt Sarah gave this to Oliver over the weekend we were in Asheville. It's a Little People dinosaur playset. He really likes it! He is good at taking the dinos out of the caves but hasn't quite figured out how to manipulate them so they fit back in.

The caveboy, who I've named Ug, sits in the top of the tree.

isn't this always the way it works?

We finally made the last payment on the Saturn! It's COMPLETELY MINE NOW!! HOOOORAY! I drove it to Asheville and it did fine, even up the mountain. I drove it home and it did fine. That was this past weekend. Then on Wednesday we made the final payment and sent it in. That evening we were doing some shopping for Oliver's party and Bob dropped me off at work. On his way home it started making a loud CLUNK every time it changed gears. We took it to the shop and they said the transmission is going out!! Are you kidding me with this? I thought this was stuff that only happened in movies and bad commercials. Luckily we have the warranty so it's (mostly) covered but I just can't get over the fact that it happened right after we made the last payment!

Oliver's new word...

We went to Asheville to visit this weekend for my dad's 50th birthday party. While we were there Oliver picked up the word "kitty"! Of course, it's really funny when he says it because when he says the 't' part he sticks his tongue out. He's so cute! Since then I've been trying with other words...saying them clearly and showing him what they are (duck, dog, spoon, cup, etc) but he's stuck on kitty. He even called some bears "kitty". What a silly boy!

new lights...

We got a new light for the kitchen because the old one was hideous and not very bright. I decided on this, at least for now. It's very bright!

Of course we got the environmentally friendly lightbulbs for it...


Here is the light we got for the playroom. The overhead light is way too bright and Oliver stares at it all the time. I don't want him to burn his little eyeballs so we got this. It has three settings, the blue and green one come on if you turn the switch once, another turn and the blue and green go off and the red, yellow and white come on. One more turn and they all come on. It's very pretty and goes with the floor in the playroom really well!

it was a bloody masacre!

Oliver had cheese tortellini with tomato sauce for dinner...

it was very messy but he seemed to enjoy it...

In fact, he looks quite pleased with himself!

(of course he went straight to the bathtub after this)

Oliver's birthday list...

For anyone wanting to get Oliver a birthday present, here's what he wants:

Diapers!!!
Clothes in size 12M or 18M (preferably warm/winter)
Peek a Blocks or Roll Arounds
stackable cups/bowls
shape sorter
Little People (doesn't have to be a set)
Books: Harold and the Purple Crayon, Dr. Seuss beginning beginner books, Spot, Mr. Men - board books with bright pictures or cloth books (email me to see which ones he already has)
Toy cars/trucks
smock like bibs (not Sesame Street, but this is the style)
a drum/bongo (or other musical instrument like tamborine, xylophone, maracas)

What he doesn't want:
Stuffed animals - he doesn't care for them and he has tons!
anything musical/loud - he gets bored with it too quickly

I'll be adding to the list as I think of more stuff so check back for more ideas.

I can't believe it!

Check out this post...It's so sad!

enV me!

Since I was out on a shopping spree yesterday I also got this! It's the Verizon enV.

It flips open and has a full keyboard inside. The screens are both big and bright, and it has all the features I wanted. It's also ORANGE!

Also at World Market...

I picked up this picnic basket. I've been looking for a basket like this for a LONG time. It even has a nifty hole for a bottle of (insert name of your favorite bottled beverage here). I like that the side flip up, shown in the second picture.

I got this mortar and pestle, too, to grind up Oliver's flaxseed. It's small and I only do about 1/4 tsp at a time so it didn't work out very well in the food processor. I tried it for his breakfast today and it worked well.

new guest towels...

Since we decided to paint the bathroom blue and tan instead of orange and (the lightest) gray we ended up with these towels from World Market. They were on sale so I got one full set instead of just hand towels. They're so perty!

what i want for christmas...

small food saver canisters - i need about 6 or 7, this size
or this set

Oliver's new big boy seat

This is Oliver's new car seat. It's for big boys! It can be rear facing or front facing. I adjusted the straps and he's already at the second highest one! I'll take pictures of him in it one of these days. First I have to get Bob to install it

look, Ma, no hands!!

this is how Oliver naps

What's up with that?

Oliver holds everything in his mouth these days. Sometimes he shakes it like a dog does. Strange little boy!

a new seat!

We went out yesterday and came home with a new car seat for Oliver. It's bigger, and can face back or forward. He's getting so big that the straps on the other one are getting really snug. Once we turn it forward we can hook the cup holder and little "secret compartment" onto it. It's pretty fancy, and looks really cozy. I took it out of the box last night and put it all together. BOb put him in it today and he seemed to like it pretty well.

I forgot some things yesterday

Oliver is crazy about waving. He waves at everyone unless, of course, I ask him to. He waves at people in stores, parking lots, he'll even wave at himself in the mirror! I think he gets the concept that the baby in the mirror is him but who knows. He does realize that it's my reflection there because when I do something he will look from the reflection to me and back again.

He still hates getting his face washed. I've got a new tactic now for washing though. I take him to the sink in (my) bathroom and let him look in the mirror while I run his hands under the faucet, then I lower him down and sploosh water on his face and rub it around to clean him off. It makes for a very wet baby, but it's better than screaming baby.

He's slept for 6 hours in a row, without waking up, in his own bed for the past two nights. Bob puts him to bed at around 8:30 or 9 and then he might wake up around 10 or so (when I get home from work) to eat then goes back down until 5 or 6. I feel so rested! I hope this trend continues. He's doing better with naps, too. He gets a snack and then some juice before firstnap, then just some juice before secondnap, but he goes down so easy. I think he's realized that naps are a good thing and since we've established a routine (not a schedule) he knows what to expect.

oh so many things...

Oliver is a "good sharer". In the last few days he has started to hold out whatever he's eating/playing with so that I can have some. I usually just go "yumyumyumyum!" and pretend to eat it (even if it's a toy, weird huh?) and after I do that he chuckles and goes about his business. He did this with just about EVERY bite at breakfast. What a long meal that was!

He stands on his own for seconds at a time now (I counted six earlier, I haven't counted before or since). He usually does it when he's not really paying attention. He'll be holding a particularly interesting toy (or remote or phone) and just let go of whatever large stable object he's on to use both hands to explore it.

Speaking of phones - don't try to call my cell phone! It may or may not work, I'm not sure. Oliver chewed on my phone for a while earlier and now it doesn't ring and some of the buttons don't work. This is NOT an ideal situation since we don't get our "new every 2" credit until January.

Oliver's new favorite game is Chase. I clear off the whole playroom floor and then he sits in one corner and I sit in the other. When he starts crawling toward me I crawl toward him really fast and he starts laughing like crazy, turns the other way and takes off. Sometimes I let him get away, but when I catch him I either roll him over and lift him up into the air or I tickle him like crazy. Either way we both have a good time!

The car seat is getting to be way to small for Oliver. We're going to have to get a big boy car seat soon. I'm going to try to wait until the end of the month so I don't have to worry about turning it around after his birthday, I can just install it the right way to begin with.