Oliver at play

In his new car seat's box...notice the customization he did with his crayons. He's so artistic!

Mother's Day Fun, Day #2

Today Bob let me sleep in until almost 9:30! I woke to Oliver bringing me a card that he had written "Mim" on the envelope, "I love you" on the inside and signed his name on the other side. Of course being the hormonal pregnant woman I cried like a baby. Then Bob and Oliver left the room for a minute and back they came with a box. When Oliver was first born Bob got me this (the first picture) Willow Tree figurine...
Today I got this one. I had just gotten myself calmed down when I opened it and I cried and cried some more. Look how big he is! My sweet little boy is growing up and it's going so quickly. Anyway, after I recovered from that I went out to the playroom and sat down to relax for a few minutes before we headed out for our busy day - when Bob handed me yet another card. This one was from him and started me crying all over again. I love my family so much!

So after the weepfest we got ready and headed out to Mimi's Cafe where we had planned to attend their special Mother's Day brunch. However, the wait time was an hour and a half so we went to Tex and Shirley's instead. It turned out well because I really enjoyed my apple pancakes and everyone ooh'd and aaah'd over Oliver and his messy chocolate face (he had chocolate chip pancakes). After we finished we headed home for a very long relaxing nap. Oliver was sooo tired that he fell asleep in less than 10 minutes and slept for almost 2 hours! Bob and I went to sleep, too. When we woke up we headed off to the GCM to paint rocks for their new outdoor area. Oliver was very creative and once I get a picture of the rock I will post it here. We played around there for about an hour and then it was time to head down to the Hospital for a tour of the Labor and Delivery area. There were 5 other women there for the tour and we were all having boys! Anyway, the tour was informative and made me feel a bit better about going there. They have big tubs to relax in while you're in labor (but not give birth in), large rooms for labor and the 2 day stay, and they allow rooming in! After that we went home again to change clothes for the 3rd time. We played for a while then we decided to head to Outback for dinner. I told Bob to call and see what the wait time was before we left, but he said it was way too early for people to be getting dinner so it should be alright. We got there and the wait time was 60-70 minutes - with a hungry boy we decided not to wait that long and went to Tripp's instead. We were seated right away and although the children's menu was sadly lacking I had the most delicious steak and mashed sweet potatoes! Then for dessert - mud pie with about a gallon of chocolate sauce on top. Soooooo good! Now we are back home, Oliver is in bed fast asleep, and Bob and I are just relaxing for the rest of the evening until we go to bed. Tomorrow will be Day #3 of fun then back to work for both of us. I won't think about that now, though. It's been such a perfect weekend! I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow because that would mean we'd have to modify our plans. We'll see!

Mother's Day fun, Day #1

Today was the first day of my Mother's Day/birthday weekend off. We couldn't decide what to do! We ended up going to the farmer's market to get some picnic fare. When we got there it was CROWDED! Today was the annual Chili Cookoff! While we didn't sample any of the chili (hello heartburn!) we did walk around and look at some of the booths and stuff and then we went over and got some strawberries (mmm, the first of the season) and a big giant orange. We left after that and stopped by Bojangles (fried chicken craving? I think so) then went to a little park with a stream and a playground. We spent about an hour there eating and playing. Oliver went down a bunch of slides and played on the swing for a while. He even threw rocks into the stream! He was getting sleepy after that so home we went to relax and take a nap. After the nap was some random playtime then we went to Lowe's and looked at dishwashers and carpet. Not sure which we're going to get but both need to be replaced! Tonight Bob and I will finish watching the Bourne Ulitimatum. Tomorrow...more fun! I can hardly wait. Oh yeah, and I got one of my presents early - it was a gift basket of goat soap from Pennwood Puritanicals! It had one big soap, two smaller heart-shaped soaps, bath salts and some very cute handmade cards. I was VERY pleased. I can hardly wait to use those bath salts. Oh and Oliver picked the basket out all by himself! What a sweetie!

Here it is!

I know I said I'd get this posted yesterday but it was a busy day yesterday with much running around town so I didn't get a chance. Anyway, here's the story with picture...

A few Saturdays ago Oliver and I went with our friend Cindy to the Mad Platter where you can paint your own pottery. I've been bunches of times but this was the first time for Oliver. I gave him an old T-shirt for a smock and picked out a plate for him to paint. My original plan was to let him paint a background and then put his handprint in the middle of the plate. Oliver had other ideas, though. About halfway through the painting he pointed to it and made the sign and sound for Zebra...then a little later he did zebra and elephant. Sooooo cute! Then he added some green and signed trees. I guess my little artist has a super imagination so I labelled the plate with what he said was on it. This is the finished product after being glazed and fired. What a super job!

I get so caught up doing everything else..

It's been hectic around here. Not any more than normal I guess, but it seems I've had no time for anything. By the time the laundry is done and the dishes are washed, Oliver is in bed, all I want to do is flop onto the couch and veg out for a while before crawling into bed.

Oliver's been sleeping pretty well through the night most nights. I'm SOOOO glad! We are planning to move his bed into his room within the next few days.

He's been going on the potty pretty well, too. If I get him right after his nap he'll usually do it. He just loves waving bye bye to that pee!

Things I like lately:

Pennwood Puritanicals goat soap. We got some at the farmer's market last week and I just LOVE it. It smells so good and seems to be very moisturizing. I even use it on Oliver. They have some cute little gift baskets, too.

Mimi's Cafe - Yum! We had our monthaversary dinner here, it wasn't too pricey and the food was DELICIOUS! We even got dessert and it was sooo yummy. Before we left the manager came over and talked to us a little bit and since it was our first visit there (it's a new restaurant in Friendly Center) he treated us to a box of their muffins! 4 huge muffins of various flavors. Wow! What a treat - we'll definately go back.

The Mad Platter - Oliver and I, with Cindy, went here last week and I'll have a cute story with a picture later today or possibly tomorrow.

I have more to post but Oliver is awake now and we are putting the new "big boy" car seat in the car...fun fun!

Happy Monthaversary!

Today is the 44th month we've been married! I love you even more now than I did back then!

bye bye pee!

I figured out a trick to make Oliver pee on the potty. He LOVES to wave bye bye when it gets flushed so I just told him that he couldn't wave bye bye to it until he peed in the potty. It worked twice yesterday but hasn't worked since. I think my timing might be off, but we'll see today.

Check out my safari outfit...

and I'm cute!

A few more from the butterfly garden...

A few pictures from our trip yesterday...

We went up to Durham to the museum there. They had a butterfly house, too. It rained like crazy but we had fun anyway. There was lots to look at and do - an aeronautics area, lots of fish, some owls, an ant farm, Kapla blocks, a farmyard...all kinds of stuff. My favorite was Loblolly park - they have all kinds of drums and chimes and things and you can just beat on them with a stick and make LOTS of noise!
Here's a picture of Oliver signing "frog" because there were frogs in that aquarium.

Here's the tarantula. Oliver wouldn't touch anything through the glass except this. Gross!!!

Next are a few of the butterflies we saw in the butterfly house. It was so amazing. Since it was raining and you have to go outside to get here we actually had the place to ourselves for about 10 minutes before anyone else came in.

Something I want for Roy...

After much consideration and some advice from an expert I've decided I want this. I don't know if Bob will use it, he probably won't, but I think it'd be easier than a stroller AND I can wear it around the house. I really want it in the Sienna color, but that is the only color that Cottonbabies doesn't carry. I'll probably order it from them because I've ordered from them before and I trust them - they also have free shipping on that item! If someone wanted to get me this as a baby shower gift I would be incredibly happy! My second color choices are indigo or forest green. I just found out that there's a store in GSO (and 4 in Asheville, 1 in Raleigh) that sell this item.

make a wish...

Playing outside in the warm sunshine...making wishes on dandelions

He's all better!

Oliver's rash faded away over the weekend so we didn't end up having to take him back to the lab for bloodwork. I'm so relieved!

He's been doing really well with the potty, too. He knows when he has to go or is going and most of the time I can get him to the potty on time. He gets so excited and proud when he uses the potty!

The sleeping is getting better as well. For the past 3 nights he's been in his bed from 8:30 until about 5. Last night he only woke up once, at about 10:30 when Bob and I went to bed. I still let him in the big bed at 5 since I love snuggling the sleepy boy and soon he won't want to snuggle anymore because he'll be a big boy.

Oh, I almost forgot! The store I work at got ROBBED yesterday! Apparently two guys with shotguns came around the back of the store and took the deposit from the manager of our store and the manager of the RTG Kids store. No one saw the gettaway car or anything so who knows if they'll ever get caught. Luckily I wasn't working yesterday but I'm kind of nervous about going back because I have to work by myself in the evenings since we are short staffed. I doubt they'd rob the same place twice though, right?!?!

Cute pictures

This is one of my new favorites. He looks so serious!

Showing off some dance moves...

Showing off some belly...

Posing with Daddy

sleepy little boy...so sweet

Oliver slept in his bed again last night from about 8:30 until just after 5. He woke up about every 1.5 hours and I just laid him back down and he went right back to sleep. Doesn't he just look so sweet with his hand folded like that? Almost like he's praying.

The camera strap fell in the way of the picture but since it was dark and I had to use the flash I didn't want to chance waking him up with another picture. The pillow he's laying on is the one he uses all the time - he won't go to sleep without it.

Oliver update...poor guy!

Yesterday during Olivers bath Bob found out that what I thought was a mole was actually a TICK! He got it out, head and all, with no problem though. I called the dr. when we got up today and they said there was no reason to bring him in unless he was vomiting or had a high fever, which he didn't.

Today we were at my neighbor's house when I noticed a red area on Oliver's forehead. When we got home it had spread from his head across his chest and back. I called the dr.'s office and told them he had a rash and I thought it might be an allergic reaction to something. They said we can see him right away, bring him in. We were there in about 5 minutes and were seen right away. The dr said it definately wasn't an allergy, it looked viral and asked if he'd had any fever or diarhea. He had been having a bit of diarrhea but nothing serious so she said it was no big deal. I told her about the tick and she said she'd send him down to the lab to get checked for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever - just in case. Off she sent us with instructions to come right back if he got a fever or started vomiting, or if the spots turned purple. We got to the lab and waited an hour to be seen...apparently they had to wait for two people to be available at the same time to "hold him down". They took us to a room and had him sit on my lap while I held down his legs and arms. They tied the rubber thingy around his arm and he started crying and saying "hurt". Then they poked him with the needle and he started SCREAMING HIS HEAD OFF. Of course, they couldn't get the vein for some stupid reason, even after jabbing around for a minute or so. They decided to try his other arm. Of course by this time he's histerical, I'm crying, and Bob is pacing the room trying not to deck the woman with the needle. They tied the rubber thingy around his other arm and he screamed "no no no no no no no no" for a long time, then he started saying "daddyyyyyyyy daddyyyyyyy!" which of course made Bob want to grab him out of the chair and deck the woman even more. They still didn't get any blood so they said we could go to another lab or we could come back Monday. They said at that age they are only allowed to stick him twice in a day. We rushed on out of there and stopped for comfort Juice Shop smoothies on the way home. What a day! Hopefully he'll be ok by Monday so we don't have to take him for the blood again.

Roy's coming home outfit...

This is what we picked out for his trip home. It's super cute, under the bear on the short sleeve shirt it says "hug me". These were buy one get one half off at Babies R Us so I got the second one, too. I couldn't resist the dots and the duckie...even if it is a little bit girly.

yes, we were playing with bubbles in the house...

This is from Sunday I think, Bob got the bubbles out and we were playing with them inside because it was too cold to go outside. Oliver LOVES bubbles! He gets really excited and shouts "bubbles!" when he sees them and then he tries to grab them (as shown in the second picture) or pop them with his finger (3rd picture).

We don't EAT the bubbles, though!

It was too cold...

The weather was rather frigid today so we ended up staying in for the morning and after a long (2 and a half hour) nap we went out and did some shopping. We got some fun flash cards for Oliver, a Veggie Tales video, some diapers and Roy's coming home outfit. It's super cute! I'll take a picture and post it - hopefully tomorrow.

Also, Oliver slept through the night in his bed last night! He went down at 8:30 and had to be put back down twice, once around 11 and once around 12:30 but after that he slept in his bed until 6! I did hear him wake up twice between 12:30 and 6 but he just moaned, rolled around and then went back to sleep. Needless to say it was NICE to get some continuous sleep and not get kicked in the back while doing it. Hopefully this is a trend...I guess we'll see tonight. He just went down and since he only had the one nap today it only took 5 minutes to get him to sleep. *sigh of contentment* I'm off to watch a movie and snuggle the hubby.

A very busy day...

Oliver woke up at 7:40 (a while after Bob) and I slept in until almost 9! Of course with all that extra sleep I had lots of energy so Bob and I...with a little help and a little hinderance from Oliver...started, and almost finished, our spring cleaning. I cleaned out the bedroom, emptied my dresser of regular clothes and replaced them with faternity clothes, swept and vacuumed my and Oliver's bedroom, washed a huge load of clothes (and folded and put them away!), washed the sheets, made the bed, swept the kitchen, did the dishes, stuffed the clean diapers, washed two toilets, two sinks, and one shower. Wow...I did a lot. Bob cleaned out his dresser and made a good will and a trash pile, cleaned off the back porch area, put up insulation on the back porch, hung up all his shirts, took out the trash and recycling, and straightened up the office a little.

All this was punctuated by two naps for Oliver, lunch, a nap for Bob, a npa for me, and a delicious homemade dinner. Ok dinner was only spaghetti and corn and applesauce but it was GOOD. Needless to say we are all exhausted, but not too exhausted to go to the zoo tomorrow...weather permitting of course!

I'm PROUD of his accomplishements!

(hahaha, rachael and sarah will probably laugh at reading that title)

Anyway, Oliver had a big messy poop today...IN THE POTTY! He woke up at 7:30 (way too early for me) but Daddy was still home so we got nice goodbye hugs and smooches then went to the playroom for some juice and snuggles. After about 5 or 10 minutes Oliver wanted to get down and play so off he went while I stayed under the blankie on the futon. A little while later (15 minutes?) he was sitting on the floor and he pointed to his diaper and said "poop". Lately this has meant that he just pooped and needs a new diaper but when I checked the diaper was clean. Being the responsible mim that I am I got out the potty and we sat down. Oliver was doing his usual - playing with toys and having a grand old time - when I started to smell something. He seemed to be finished so I got him up, cleaned his bottom and put the diaper back on him (it was clean!). In the potty was a big pile of icky squishy poop! At this point I was so happy/excited/proud that I was dancing around singing about poop in the potty. Oliver seemed as though he knew what I was talking about because he kept pointing to it and saying "poop!" Hopefully this will be a continuing occurence.

Then of course a few minutes later he says poop again...silly me didn't put him back on the potty and ended up with a big disgusting poop diaper to change. I'll listen next time! (I thought he was still excited about the first one!)

It's spring!

I was getting tired of Oliver's tangled bedhead so today I got out the clippers and buzzed his head. Overall I'd have to say he looks
ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE!!!

A new favorite word..?

Oliver has been saying "messy" a LOT! Any time he drops something, dumps something out, or gets a tiny spec of dirt on himself all I hear is messy messy messy messy until it's taken care of. Luckily for me he's pretty smart and will pick up most of his own messes. The dirt is another matter, though. He will just stand there with his dirty little hand out like it's just too icky to deal with. Hopefully this is just a phase because he loves playing outside and he falls down pretty frequently because our yard is full of pits and holes and things to trip over.

Random info...

I haven't really posted much lately in the way of words without pictures. It always seems like there's never enough time in the day to get everything done.

Oliver had an appointment at the dermatologist today to look at the weird bump on his head. It's been there for a while and although it doesn't bother him it's rather unattractive. I thought they'd probably just remove it but they said it's some kind of granuloma or something and they usually go away on their own. So off we went after scheduling a followup appointment in 3 months.

He's picked up tons of new words, so many that I've stopped keeping track. It seems like he repeats everything I say now. A few of the more notable ones are: I love you, hug, and smooch.

The sleep situation seems to be getting a little better. He's in his bed for 3 hours or so before I get too tired to put him back down in his bed. This is up from 1 hour about a month ago. It's slow progress but hopefully he'll be in his own bed all night pretty soon.

We're still working on potty training, although not as seriously as we probably should be. He likes to pee outside the diaper, but not on the potty. He will now come up and tell me he's wet or "poop" though, so that's progress, right?

As for Roy, he's getting very squiggly. The movement is almost always on the right side just like it was with Oliver. He doesn't cause too much trouble with food anymore...unless I eat a lot of greasy stuff (like potato chips with french onion dip...yum!). I caught a glimpse of my shadow in profile last night and WOW...I'm HUGE! I hadn't realized because I can still wear some of my pre-preggy clothes but this belly is giant.

We haven't bought anything for Roy yet. The only things we really need are a playmat (we borrowed one for Oliver) and a bassinet. I'd like to get him some new clothes so he won't have to wear all hand-me-down stuff and maybe a special blankie like we got for Oliver. I guess we'll probably need some new bottles, too. I think all the ones we have left over are made of the BAD plastic. Other than that we're set - and good thing, too. I realized yesterday that we only have 4 months left! That's IF Roy decides to stay in there until his due date. Oh yeah, and Roy still needs a real name. Teehee!

fun in the playroom...

Sitting on the potty, just practicing! We usually do this with no bottoms but he was playing with it.

"fixing" the magnet wall. Oliver likes to take his screwdriver to anything that looks like a screw.
He turns over his cars and works on them with the screwdriver, too.