It's so much fun!

Never in my life did I ever think that doing housework would be fun...or something that I'd go out of my way to do. My house isn't a total disaster, just a little messy and cluttered. NOT ANYMORE! Thanks to Chore Wars there is a fierce competition for who will do the most housework. You get points for each chore you do and it keeps score for you. You can level up your character when you get enough points and you collect funny items along the way. Of course this is all set up by someone in the group as far as which chores you get points for and how many points you get but it makes me WANT to clean! WOW!

I went to sleep, but when I woke up...

Oliver and Daddy...

Just after a bath

Adventures in the Living Room...

Oh no! He's escaping from the playroom!!

The little rat turns around to make sure I know he escaped...what a stinker!

Always use a coaster on the new coffee table...

my first attempt...

This is Lima Beans. Yum!
This is super porridge made from brown rice. Looks like gruel to me!

A pig for the boy...

Bob kept teasing me about how I made a piggy bank for myself but not one for Oliver. I went to the local paint your own pottery studio the other day and made this. It looks black, but it's actually midnight blue.

ok I admit it!!

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!

working so hard

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.

Farewell!!!

Oliver has decided that it's fun to wave things about...especially things like washcloths and baby wipes. It really reminds me of all those scenes in movies where the boat leaves the dock and people wave their handkerchiefs. He'll get ahold of something and wave it around and I'll say "Farewell! Farewell!" and he'll laugh. Sometimes he'll hand it to me and I'll dab my eyes with it and tell him how sad I am that he's leaving. Oliver thinks it's hilarious.

a new toy...

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!

look at the cute new jammies!

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.

mmmmmm!

Oliver feeds himself with a spoon...it must be good because all the pictures of him I got are with his eyes closed. Notice how he's using his left hand? I think he's going to be a lefty!!

Oliver before naptime...

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!

pulling up

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!

shhhhhhhhh!

Oliver is such a sweet little guy when he's sleeping

too cute!

Oliver was talking to the spout cover during his bath. What a silly boy!

Asheville part of vacation

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!

The WV part of the vacation

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)

We're back!

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

9 month checkup...

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!