Merry Christmas!

On Sunday we celebrated our family Christmas. It was so fun. In the morning I made Paul's favorites (egg bake and sugar & spice puffs). He sugared and spiced them since that is one of his many skills. Oliver just had oatmeal and milk:). Then we had to wait while Oliver took a nap before we opened gifts. One part of my gift from Paul was to find a dual foot feeder for my sewing machine and to walk around JoAnn fabrics by myself for a long time. Our first Christmas as a family of 3!

My Google countdown clicker says 1 day, 9 hours and 51 minutes until we take off for MN. We are really excited to get home. We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Belly laughs

Happy 5 months Oliver!

Anonymous Posts

Hi everyone! I did some more digging on the blog settings and now you can post as "anonymous", that is, without a google account. I thought I had it set up to do that, but apparently not!

Rolling Right

This is Oliver's new favorite activity. He can only go to the right so when he reaches the end of the blankets I flip him over. The most difficult part of this is that if he rolls off the blanket he inevitably spits up on the carpet.

Keep out of reach of children.

I can no longer leave Oliver in a room by himself. Paul's G'pa Boswell and G'ma Jean sent us a excer-saucer just in the nick of time!

I think his Christmas present this year will be a day where he gets to wear just his diaper. After we've let him play without his clothes, he throws quite a fit when we try to put on his pants. He kicks and cries.

So how are we doing?

I don't want this blog to simply be updates about Oliver, though I know everyone loves to see videos and pictures of him! People have been asking how we are doing, especially with being away from home for our first major holiday so I thought that I would reflect a bit...a little for me, a little for all of you. At this point I feel like I can honestly say we are doing really well. We are developing some really great friendships. One of our favorites is the youth pastor, his wife and daughter from our church. Its so nice that we both have kids under 1 because whoever is hosting takes out the pack-n-play and both kids sleep while we play board games and eat dessert! We spent Thanksgiving with the family of a mom I met through my moms Bible study at church. They were so warm, made really good food, and had fun little ones running around to play with. I met with the children's director from our church last week and I am so excited about the volunteering opportunities coming up for us and rubbing shoulders with her to learn. She has been doing this for 7 years and the program is much larger than what I have worked with before (250 kids regularly). I think the fog is starting to clear - we aren't so tired anymore or stressed out. We are finding routines that we really enjoy and of course we are finding more and more joy in parenting Oliver! I'm so thankful for God's faithfulness.

On the Move

This weekend Oliver mastered the role from back to tummy. He often does the roll with more ease, but this video captures the essential elements to pass Uncle Andy's rolling specifications.

Our friends borrowed us this "Bumbo" for Oliver to use - their daughter is too big for it now. He loves looking out the window and touching the animals on his stacker. He gets so quiet when I set him up like this. He is all ready for church in his sweater vest - oh the things my boy must endure before he can pick his own clothes!
A sleeping baby is just so precious!

Rice cereal makes for pretty good hair product!
Paul and Oliver always have their fun during diaper changes.

Kitchen table

When we moved in, Mom disposed of some things in the garbage area and told me that it is very possible that I might find some good things that people are tossing out sometime. Well, back in October I found this great kitchen table set! Now we have a little breakfast nook in our kitchen. Last night all three of us had our supper in the kitchen - which is great because our dining room is carpeted. Oliver is doing so much better on eating his rice cereal and I think it might be paying off. Last night he took a nap from 6:30-8:30pm, woke up for an hour, and then slept from 9:30-5:30! At 5:30 he woke up to eat and then slept again until 7:30. Not a bad night of sleep for me!

Coughing Copycat

Today Oliver kept coughing because he liked to make that noise. Tonight we checked to see if he would repeat it - adorable!! Also, he ate more than 2 tablespoons of cereal tonight, even moving his mouth towards the spoon once. He is way better at getting it down and actually seems to like it!

Happy 4 Months!

Oliver turned 4 months yesterday! We weighed him on the Wii today and he is 18 pounds. Big boy!!

Fall

Right before he decided to taste the leaves!

Oliver's First Food!

We fed Oliver rice cereal for the first time today in hopes that a little more sustenance will help him sleep through the night. It was so fun to see his reaction to this new experience!

Giggles and Squeaks

New Voice

Sleeping on the job

Ollie's New "Do"

The top picture shows it the best. The hair line is the same, but look at the little halo of hair. I think it grew a half inch overnight!

An update...

Since my last email things are looking up!

Paul is feeling much better, but is still achy and tired.

Oliver is going through a growth spurt. His hair grew about a half inch overnight and is now "voluminous" (you'll understand when you see a picture). His voice is also a bit lower and he is making new noises. I have been taking new pictures and videos so I will try to get one posted once I figure out how to download to Paul's computer.

We ordered a new computer for me. It has USB 2.0 so watch out Amy, we will want to web-cam every day! Until then, Paul is leaving his laptop at home for me.

Today one of the moms in my Bible Study invited us to go to their house for Thanksgiving!! This definitely lifted my spirits.

Bummer

Oliver and I had a wonderful trip to MN - the best birthday present ever! I am so sad to share that the day after we got home I downloaded the pictures and videos from our trip and my hard drive promptly crashed. It is over $700 to get just the jpeg images off the hard drive by a reputable company. Fortunately at the beginning of October I printed pictures for O's scrapbook, but still a lot are lost. The thing I will miss the most are the short videos. I have to remember that they are just pictures.

Since getting home O and I have slept a lot. We both came down with colds shortly after getting to MN, and had trouble sleeping. Tonight Paul went to bed at 7:00 because he is coming down with something pretty strong - hopefully it is just the cold we have been battling. I am missing the faces and touches of family and feeling pretty lonely but holding onto the hope that we will find community soon.

Happy Fall!

This adorable ensemble was knit by my friend Sue. She was making a pink sweater when I worked with her at Bethel last summer and she promised to give it to me if we had a girl. When we found out we were having a boy, she got busy again!

Best news EVER!

I am SO excited - Dad and Mom are sending for me for my birthday!! I can't wait. I have a count-down ticker on my igoogle page for Christmas and now it just makes me smile because I no longer have to wait 76 days, 31 minutes and 44 seconds! My parents are the BEST!

Good Morning Oliver

This is just one part of Oliver's wake-up routine. I think it is so funny how he ducks in his chin. The second part is a series of serious stretches. I have adopted his stretching style because it is incredibly satisfying. That will have to be a post another time.

Quilt project

This week Great-Grandma Fredman came to stay with us. This was our project - a bright throw for our living room. She did most of the stitching of the binding and I finished that today during Oliver's long morning nap. I learned that quilting takes a lot of patient measuring, and this was an easy pattern!

Playing Peek-A-Boo

I caught it on video!

Yesterday Oliver flipped 3 times, but I couldn't find the camera. I found the camera today and he obliged!

Empathy

When Oliver was 1 month old we took a buggy ride through Amish country with Grandpa and Grandma. A baby girl on the ride started crying, and Oliver gave the most adorable tute lip. I couldn't stand it and just had to cuddle him. Today we were in the store and he heard a baby crying and did it again. I am just amazed that as his age he is empathetic already.

Ollie's 2 month check-up and SHOTS!

At his appointment today, we found out that he is now 14 lbs. 12 oz. and 24 inches long. The Doctor said he is thriving - good news!!

This is Oliver's classic tute-lip. He screamed for about 30 seconds after his shot and then gave me this look. Begs to be kissed!

When we got home today, Oliver was a bit fussy and very cuddly. He finally fell into a deep sleep. He got 2 shots in each thigh - you can see his little circle band aides.

A Little Sweetheart

Dedicated to JoLynn and Natalie

Oliver's first pair of converse shoes!

Happy 2 Month Birthday Oliver!

I learned from the moms in the Mom's Club that you are supposed to say how many weeks a baby is until 3 months, but I have decided to switch to months today - Sept. 14! I can't keep the weeks straight. We newly discovered that Oliver loves to see and hear himself. He is watching a video I took of me singing to him.

Oliver just rolled over!!

I laid him on his tummy and he was pushing up with his arms, and he just flopped over! It was so graceful and didn't phase him a bit until I sort-of squealed and laughed and then he got scared for a second. Now I have the task of capturing it on video!

Time with Daddy

Reading the new book Oliver got from his Great Aunt Susan. He is really sleepy so not focusing on the pictures as well as he did earlier today!
Paul's trick for putting him to sleep. Notice the cute hoody and jeans - that was Paul's selection.

Leg rolls

Mom wanted to see how Oliver's leg rolls are coming. Each leg pretty much has one big roll! At this stage he doesn't look as "leggy" as his cousins, but I guess we'll see!

Oliver's Bedroom

Oliver's bedroom is almost all put together. We are trying to sell the desk at the end of the bed - it has left quite an impression on my hip!! On Labor Day weekend my fun project was making the curtain for his room - it doesn't quite match, but it looks okay (more about it below).
These are a few of my favorite things: Oliver, animal stacker from Titus' Nana and Papa, and the tractor from Grandma and Grandpa so we can think about going home to the farm!The star of the show.
Our family pictures.
Some more of my favorite things. Oliver's first booties, the cup Paul used as a baby, a cross and frame from our friends the Whites, and Oliver's first teddy from A, S and T!
The curtain that is growing on me. Paul says that towards the end of a project and once I've finished I am always diappointed with the product. Anyone else have the same problem? I am always anxious to be done and so sometimes I cut corners, and then I regret it later. So here are the problems with the curtain for all of my seamstress readers - I used a linen fabric to line it because I had some on hand and didn't want to run to the store. When I washed it, the cotton shrunk up and the linen didn't. Another problem is the matching issue, but that is lessened by the varieties of blues in the room. I also was going to do the tabs with buttons, but those take more time so I just did the rod pocket, and it ended up more full that I had imagined. A blog is a good place to process stuff, so there you have it!

So Sleepy

Oliver isn't always so excited about his nuk but his fingers make him very happy! I feel so lucky with his sleeping habits. Even when his eyes are wide open I can often lay him in his crib, listen to him cry on and off for a few minutes and then he falls asleep.

Giggles

The feedback I'm getting from people is saying that videos are the favorite. Please let me know if you aren't able to see them and want more pictures!

Burping

This is what Oliver does when I try to burp him - not too easy to catch things this way. When he learns something new, he can't be stopped!

Happy Baby

I have had some definite crying spells the past few weeks here, but this is the cure-all! I'm so thankful for my healthy, happy baby.

Oliver's newest development

Talking to the Ladybug

Oliver just loves his little gym. There is a mirror in the middle and he just started to find himself in it. At the end of the video when he is looking straight up, that is what he is seeing.

Boy he's getting big!

Oliver's new changing station. He loves the lamb and coos at it when I first lay him down.
This is what Oliver did a lot last night. I'm tired.
His favorite place to sleep is in the high chair. Last night even that didn't work! He stopped crying but he just alertly watched me make Paul's lunch and didn't get any closer to sleep.

Preliminary apartment pictures

Finally an update! We had a great trip and a record fast move-in: 5 days!! It definitely was because we were trying to stay focused on something other than how far away this place is from home. We got our keys on Friday at 10am, unloaded all three pods that day except for our pull-out couch (there was no room and dad and Paul were beat from hauling up everything else). We had everything in place by Wednesday and spent that morning hanging our big pictures. There is still some decorating and reorganizing to do, but it definitely feels homey. Take a look!Our new home.Dining room
Kitchen

Master bedroom
Oliver's room/Guest room
On Wednesday night Oliver would be sound asleep and then when I put him in the bassinet, he would start crying. After sleeping in the Lay-Z-Boy with him for half the night I finally realized that he needed a bigger bed because he would stretch when I laid him down, knocking the sides of the bassinet, waking himself up. I tried the crib, and it worked right away. Doesn't he look like tiny!? I am really not ready for him to be in his own room, but it is going well.



He had a lot of coos and smiles for Grandma during his bath. He has even been giggling. Oliver especially likes to reward those who put him in the water. #5 on my thankful list is our new Lay-Z-Boy.