The whole song...

This is Oliver's newest favorite song. He walks around the house chanting his favorite line "I shoo da da da da da da da". The first time is soft, then medium, loud, medium, loud, medium, loud. He likes to just stay on that line instead of finishing the song after 3 chants.

No child was harmed in the filming of this video

I just can't stop laughing every time I see this video. If Oliver had gotten hurt, I would not think it so funny. He starts "I shook that tree" with such enthusiasm every time, this time blowing him off the chair. I will post a second video of how he chants that part off the song.

He Proved Me Wrong

I just got done telling many people how Oliver has not ever fallen asleep anywhere besides his crib, carseat or stroller since he was very little. The only exception was when he fell asleep on Grandma on the airplane flying home from PA. Until now. He proved me wrong.

A Musical Medley

I think it is so funny that he does this, but maybe that's just because I'm the mom. Anyway, I thought it was worthy of sharing!

You Are My Sunshine

Last night I got home about 9 after bringing Amy back to school. Oliver was still happily talking in his crib, so I went in to say goodnight. He was warm and I thought I should check his diaper so I changed the diaper and put on a lighter pair of pajamas. I started singing this song and he chimed in with a new word "shine" - one of my favorite moments as a mom.

Cape Henlopen Beach Day

Today we met our friends and the senior high youth from church at the beach - I saw and swam in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time! I picked just a handful of pictures to share of Oliver exploring the sand and water. I was amazed by how much he liked the sand, and how by the end of the day, he would crawl after the waves going out. He was pretty much speechless the whole afternoon, just taking everything in.

Our New Puppy

Last weekend we discovered that when Oliver spots a dog, he will jump out of our arms to get it. He also barks back at them. Apparently dogs on TV have the same appeal!

First Steps

For the past two weeks Oliver has taken a few steps between us, but today while he and Paul were in the kitchen he initiated steps on his own to get from the cupboard to Daddy. That makes it official in my book!

Thanks everyone for your encouraging words about our big move. I'll give details in personal emails later.

Moving Home

Today is the day to break the news on the blog - we are coming home! And I don't mean just for a summer vacation. Mid-July Dad and Mom are flying out to help us pack and load a trailer, and then are flying back with Oliver while Paul and I drive back. We will be staying with Dad and Mom for awhile as we wait to hear if a potential post-doc opportunity comes through at the U of M, and look for other jobs. I am feeling a lot of excitement to be with and near family again, and to spend some time regrouping and recouping. We are looking forward to helping out on the farm - cooking, cleaning, mowing, and chopping (Paul is excited about that last one - not me). It has been hard to tell my friends here, but they are completely rallying around us with encouragement and offers of help. We are really going to miss them. Please keep us in your prayers during this transition time.

11.5 Month Skills

Since I haven't posted for awhile, I put everything in one video. Yesterday Oliver surprised us by saying his name - it is my all-time favorite sound!!

Father's Day 2009

Dear Dada,
This Father's Day I am 11 months and 1 week old. Here are some of my favorite things to do with you:

• Run through the house with you when you say "Ready? Go!"
• Read books, especially Mr. Brown Can Moo
• Crawl and have you crawl after me
• When you throw me in the air.
• When you drop me on the bed.
• Tickles
  
• Kisses
• When you sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and I flap my arms up and down
• When you roll me around
• The things you teach me like "Bye Bye", Dada and your Itsy Bitsy dance.
  
• Riding in the stroller when you run - it makes me so relaxed.
  
• Riding on your shoulders, especially int he mall.

Happy Father's Day, Dada!
Love, Oliver

I'm so thankful that I get to parent with Paul. He is such a caring, attentive and fun dad.

Happy Father's Day, Dad

If you knew my Dad, you'd know that if you have a good mechanic, you can keep an old car running for a LONG time - and that definitely beats a new car payment.

You would know that you should find a job you enjoy and do your best at it, but that sometimes employers don't have your best interest at heart. Because of that, you should always find things outside of work that give you purpose and that remind you of your true value.

You would know that sitting down to drink coffee is an essential part of every work day.

If you knew my Dad you'd know that having time for your family is better than taking the fast track. Time with family, serving, and being reliable, responsible and trustworthy is far more important than money, wealth, fame.

You'd know someone who has won over scores of high school students with one verse of "Single Cells".

You would also know the best real-life Tetris player in the world. He can pack a van, a relo-cube, or a trailer better than anyone else.

If you knew my Dad, you'd know someone who doesn't let you down, who's there in the tough times, and loves my Mom more than anyone else.

You'd know all these things because of what he does, not what he says.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

(a Father's Day post for Paul to follow - the other VERY important Dad in my life)

Look What I Can Do!

I think you will be impressed with Oliver's waving, one-armed "So Big" and bouncing. If not, just be impressed with my 3 posts in two days!

11 Month Highlights

Last year at this time I didn't know how I could stand to wait another whole month to meet little Oliver. I can't believe his one year birthday is just around the corner. We have made some great progress this month, so here are just a few of the highlights:

• regularly and appropriately says "dada" and "mama" - "dada" came long ago and I've been trying to get a video of it to declare the news, but I still don't have one!
  
• waves bye-bye and occasionally says "baba" along with the the wave
• raises at least one hand when saying "How big is Oliver?"
  
• sometimes stands without holding onto anything, but only when he forgets what he's doing or really, REALLY wants a toy or food in both hands
• has cut all 8 of his front teeth and from the looks of today's ear-rubbing and gum-poking in the back of his mouth, the molars are on their way
• he loves to climb things, so stay tuned for a slide show of all the dangerous things I've caught him climbing (and trusted him enough to snap a picture before helping him down)
  

Here is one of his favorite activities:

Fun with Friends

One of my favorite things about being Oliver's mother is watching him interact with other kids. Today we had a busy house with a sweet 15 month old girl that I watched for our friends, and this little boy (in the picture above) and his mom who came over this morning.

When I picked Oliver out of his crib after his nap and turned to the door, 4 little eyes were watching us intently - they looked very happy to see him. The little boy, G., is always a sweetheart with Oliver. He lets him use his shoulder to pull himself up, he laughs when Oliver crawls over him, and he is so good about sharing toys, snacks, and a lap when reading a book. And I have a soft spot for their matching outfits. Oliver loves to follow him around and check out everything he is doing and gets excited as soon as he sees him. He practically jumps out of my arms and starts crawling after him.

The little girl, S., always calls Oliver baby, though we have been trying to teach her to say "Baby Ollie". Today, out of nowhere she pointed at Oliver and said "Oler". Then she climbed up the chair to my scrap book, pointed at a picture of O. and said it again. She gives Oliver lots of kisses and he doesn't mind a bit. They were both getting sleeping at about 1 today, so we all piled onto the recliner and read lots of books together.

I didn't notice before how much babies like other babies and kids. Oliver doesn't need me to do a thing when we are around other kids, except maybe protect them from his pinches and grabs. He is so curious about what they are doing and the things they are playing with.

Out of the Woods

I took little O to the doctor on Wednesday because the ear infection from the beginning of May seemed to still be around from all the symptoms of not napping, being extra fussy and clinging and rubbing his ears a lot. As it turns out, he tricked me!! In all of my concern for his ears, I forgot to stick my finger in his mouth to feel one last little tooth coming through before the molars arrive. The ear infection fussiness turned into fussiness from a cold which turned into teething fussiness. Ahhhh. Now I can breath!

I am always surprised how tired and worn out I am when we go through a bout of sickness, teething, or a new stage. I feel like I'm already tired because even though I can honestly say Oliver is sleeping "through the night" and sleeping consistently well at night, we still have a 5am feeding. (I think that crying that one out is just around the weekend for us.) Its the missing naps that just put me over the top. I rely on them for a little breather, or a chance to get ahead on my internship or work around the house. Nap time is essential to me. One of my friends has quiet time every day where her school aged kids lay down and just have some rest and independent quiet play. I am totally taking that idea - Thank you Jenni!

Tonight I am looking forward to scrapbooking with a friend. Last week 3 of us got together and I finished 15 pages!! I had lost enthusiasm, but working together with someone makes me really motivated, and as I put the book together, I think about how much we are going to enjoy looking through it and reading about this family adventure when Oliver is older. I'm already forgetting so many details and memories that I'm glad I'm writing them down right now. And it is so fun to remember moments like these...
And as a point of comparison...

Good Enough

The dishes are done...but not dried or put away.
The floor is swept...but not mopped so it's still sticky.
The living room is picked up...but has needed to be vacuumed for at least 3 weeks
My scrapbooking, VBS craft planning, thank-you note making is covering the dining room table and every surface around it.
We have lots of food in the house but nothing to use for making a sandwich except PB and J.
The laundry is washed, dried, folded and put away...except for a load of darks that will be two by tomorrow morning.
I give up!!!

I love how his mouth is stuffed with banana and is double-fisting it, waiting to fill the next available nook. A boy after my own heart!

Oliver's Favorite Song

I took video two different days to show that he does the same thing every time he hears this song. He looks up at the speakers, mouth open, not moving a muscle. The first time we put the CD in, we thought it was a fluke, but now we know it really is his favorite. I cut out parts of the video because he is just doing the same thing the whole time, except when he decides to crawl closer and pull himself up next to the speakers. My favorite part is when he sings along at the end.

Story-Linking

I'm reading the book Real Kids, Real Faith by Karen Marie Yust right now and discussing it with my internship mentor. I just read a chapter that was fantastic and I want to share a bit of it here. Her work here is inspired by Walter Brueggeman, one of my favorite Old Testament commentators. The idea is that kids need to embrace stories from their faith tradition so that they see that the story is about us. He wants them to see the connection of the biblical story to their daily lives. The idea of story-linking is that children can connect their faith story with everyday stories. When I write this, it sounds obvious, but I don't think it is. If it was obvious, or easy to execute we wouldn't have so many teens, young adults, and older adults finding the stories of their faith irrelevant. We also would have churches and people of faith who are growing and changing and not stuck in the mud. I think the five aspects she lists show a holistic approach to telling the stories of faith.
Five Aspects of Story-Linking
1. Children need to be receiving the spiritual story of love and redemption through the compassionate care of their parents and faith community.
2. Children should be hearing the story of their spiritual tradition regularly in connection with the stories that make up their daily lives.
3. Children must be celebrating their stories of faith and personal spiritual stories through special holidays and the recognition of acts of charity and compassion.
4. Children need opportunities for telling spiritual stories in their own words, both to others and to God in prayer.
5. Children need ways of becoming "history-makers": people whose words and actions contribute to a more just and compassionate society an encourage others to do the same. (pg. 43)

I finally figured it out!

Oliver is very focused on his new discovery of how to make the tractor sing.

Daddy's Tasty Nose

There isn't much I can say about this video except that I think it's hilarious!

First 5K

This weekend I ran my first 5K with other moms in the Mom's Club (I'm in the black shorts, pink shirt and white hat). It was a big accomplishment for all of us since either we hadn't run that far before, or it had been a while since we had! We started the "Couch to 5K" program back in March and ran together twice a week and once on our own. When I got to about the last 3/4 mile (which was all uphill) and was feeling pretty tired I saw a mom in the yard holding her little girl. It reminded me of why I'm doing this - I want Oliver to see me as a healthy and active mom. This week I've felt quite unmotivated and discouraged, so I'm blogging this now as a reminder of what I accomplished and what my goals are. This race I finished in 31 minutes and 16 seconds. I'm planning to run another one in June and hopefully between now and then speed up my time a bit!

Auntie Amy

We had such a fun time with Amy here this past week. Oliver took to her very quickly and thought she was me some of the time. When we picked her up at the airport he was sleeping and she climbed in the back with him. When he woke up, he gave her smiles and seemed very happy to have the company…until we went through the drive through at McDonald’s and there was more light. Then he figured out it wasn’t mommy and cried. After that adjustment there were no more tears. I really appreciated Amy’s help this week – she changed LOTS of diapers, baked cookies for Paul’s lunches, cleaned the kitchen while we went on a date and spent many hours reading to and playing with Oliver. She also gave us a date every night so we went to a movie, out to eat, and did errands (I don’t think she approved of that as a date, but it felt like one to us!). Amy and I went to Amish country and took a buggy ride, shopped the outlets, went to Philly, watched a movie, took Oliver to the doctor and did some things with my mom’s groups. And more than the help, the company was the best!
(See the slideshow to the right - if you click on it, you can see the pictures larger and captions!)

Happy 10 months!

I don't think there is a better age than 10 months old. Some of my favorite things at this stage:
1. When it is nap time or night time, he lays down on the floor for a moment before picking himself to go play again.
2. When we bring him into his room to put him down, he lays his head on our shoulder for a verse of "You are my Sunshine", starts to breath deeply, and then leans towards the crib.
3. He pulls himself on everything and then is so proud of himself.
4. He always wants to be close by - between my legs while I do the dishes, standing up by my leg when I'm on the laptop, climbing all over me when I'm on the floor.
5. The food shoveling at meal time: yesterday for lunch he ate a cup of northern beans, a cup of sweet peas, 2 egg yokes and 2 bananas. It is fun to see him eat so heartily and all by himself.
6. He gives kisses to pictures of himself or when he sees himself in a mirror.
7. I love the way he chases around other babies and toddlers. I had a friend with a 3 year old over yesterday and he chased Owen around like it was going out of style. If Owen was standing by the coffee table, Oliver would pull himself up and then look at Owen and smile and laugh. If Owen was driving the dump truck around the living room Oliver couldn't follow him fast enough.
I just can't get enough of his ambition and sweetness these days!

Another Game

This video is a bit long, so don't feel obligated to watch the whole thing. Just notice how Oliver drops down and even scoots back when he thinks its time for Paul to pull him. We just couldn't get enough!

Making the Bed Like my Mother

Back when I was young my mom taught me the proper way to make a bed. I did a great job following all of the steps until I went to college. Then I decided that it would save more time if I just put the fitted sheet around both corners of one end and then go to the other end and do the same. Maybe it was the lofted beds that caused this, but maybe not.

I have been making beds a lot lately. I figured out that if I don’t change Oliver’s mattress pad along with his sheet his sweet and soft little cheek starts to smell kind-of funky. All this bed-making has taught me the value of my mom’s technique: when you put the fitted sheet on opposite corners, it lies neatly and even with the corner seams without all the tugging and pulling – little did I know!

Having a baby really makes me notice all the things I do her way – the songs, the phrases, the constant reading. She taught me to be thrifty and crafty so I make toys, use cloth diapers, and knit little sweaters for my baby boy. She also showed me what it means for a woman to be an amazing stay-at-home mom and then transition into an amazing working woman at a job that uses her gifts. She’s on the cutting edge of all the best ideas for teaching Kindergarten and holds to the old standards that she just knows work the best. And it’s also pretty fun to see your mom to do this while being well dressed and not afraid to try the newest look.

My mom has also mothered me so well since I became an adult. She never insisted that I do things her way or criticized the path I took. She has done so many things to support and encourage me in this young adult phase of discovering who I am. As I have muddled my way through stressful career, schooling and family decisions, she has listened, weighed in (when asked, of course), and prayed. She is a fantastic listener and has let me have a different opinion than her. She’s even allowed me to convince her of a new way of looking at something. My mom has taught me what to do when Oliver is my age, and I know I’m trickier to mother now than when I was a baby!

I’m so proud of my Mom.

Auntie Amy's Coming!!

19 days until we get to pick her up from the airport - I'm SO excited!! Amy did secure her flight back in May, but I have a little rule for myself that I can't create an iGoogle countdown ticker right away because the first time I did that was for Christmas and I had to watch months tick by - not fun. We are going to enjoy Oliver, visit Philly, shop, and do lots of other stuff too. I can't wait!!!!!!

And another piece of news - Oliver slept through the WHOLE night last night for the first time: 8:00-7:30. I heard him squawk a bit at 4am, but it didn't last long. I could get used to this!

Busy Boy

Is there anything cuter than a baby boy in Osh Kosh overalls? I know I always say this, but I really can't get enough - it is my true weakness.

Where is Oliver?

Got you!!! (About the blocks - this is Paul's project. He is making these super-sturdy blocks that an adult can stand on without smooshing them. Each one used to take him upwards of 2 hours, but I think he has streamlined his procedure. Oliver likes to knock them over when they are stacked up neatly.)

The things on our coffee table are no longer safe. Oliver can pull himself up quite easily.

My puppy.

Happy Birthday Paul!

I love you so much!!!!

(This picture is of Paul at 9 months, just for fun)

Pop Goes the Weasel

Ollie is not enjoying diaper changes these days so I'm experimenting with different toys and songs. I had forgotten about Pop Goes the Weasel, and it is a real hit!

Gone!

Thanks everyone for your blog comments and emails. I really appreciate them, especially when the days and nights are long like they were this last week. We are finally done with the hives, and Oliver just has some brown bruises on his skin where they were. It was really hard to see him hurting and itching, and we are so glad to have our happy baby back.

(This picture was taken on Saturday morning)

(This picture was taken this morning - Sunday)

Hives - Going...going...

This is a picture from Day 1 that I just had to post because he looks like a raccoon.

We've learned a lot of things about hives from this experience. First of all, the nights are the worst. On Wednesday night he could not sleep for more than 15 minutes at a time at first, and then eventually he slept for an hour and a half at his best. Yesterday during the day he took 2 really long naps (one 3 hour nap - I slept too, and one 4 hour nap). Last night I was hoping for a good night since he seemed to sleep fine during the day, but it was a rough one again. We put him to bed at 8 and he couldn't sleep, so we kept him up with us until 10. When we put him to bed at 10 he started vomiting for the next hour and a half or so. I slept with him so I could feel him fight the fever - it kept building and then it would go back down when I'd give him Tylenol. He needed lots of feedings, songs, and rocking throughout the night.(Picture taken on Thursday morning)

(Picture taken this morning)

The hives have left his face for the most part and he is much more himself this morning. There are some spots that look like they are bruising - like on the right side of his chest. It isn't too bad compared to some of the pictures we have seen on-line! He just went down for a nap and I'm going to catch a little more sleep too!!

Poor Ollie

We had an eventful and kind-of scary morning. Yesterday Oliver was very cranky and tired and just hard to please. Last night we saw that he had some little red spots all over his body that seemed to keep popping out. We figured he was getting the chicken pox.
This morning when he woke up, he looked really bad and we soon decided it probably wasn't chicken pox. The nurse told me it was an allergic reaction to something that I needed to get Benadryl right away, so I ran out and got some. (I literally ran - down the stairs, through the parking lot, in the store. Then I realized I didn't have my wallet so I had to go home again and back to the grocery store.) He was so uncomfortable and he looked so bad. I've never seen hives on a face before and I was totally freaking out.

The Benadryl kicked in and he started to look a _little_ better.
The good thing is that he had his 9 month visit today and so we had an appointment set. So we got in the car, brought Paul to work, and headed to the pediatrician. This is Oliver looking a little more better.

He is probably allergic to penicillin because he was taking Amoxicillin for his ear infections, and his Grandpa Fredman and Grandma Boswell have the same allergy. I'm glad we are finding this out now, but the poor little guy!! The doctor said it might take 2 weeks or more to have the hives go away. The morning totally wore me out.

Explorer

Sick baby

I'm joining some of my blogging friends with a sick baby - so sad:(. Oliver woke up from his morning nap at about 12:30 and threw up twice. We're taking it easy, and I'm glad I only have one to clean up after!

First Discipline

On Tuesday I called Paul from church to tell him I was coming home. He didn’t answer, so I called again. He picked up and said “Sorry, I was in the middle of a disciplining session”. I’ll try to tell the story Paul told me.

He was feeding him supper and all we had left were some of the Gerber carrots and sweet potatoes, which are quite runny compared to the stuff I had in the freezer and the finger food we just introduced. Oliver thought it was very fun to spit them out with a funny noise. Paul said “No!” in a loud, stern voice. Oliver didn’t know how to take it and thought it was funny. Paul gave him another bite and the same thing happened so he said “No!” again and took him out of his high chair and away from the food. Lots of tears ensued. Then they went back to the high chair and tried again. Oliver did the spitting out thing with the next bite. This time when Paul said “No!” a tute-lip came right away and he cried. The next bite went in and stayed in.

I’m glad Paul taught Oliver “No” because that evening he decided to start biting my shoulder. He always wraps his arms around me and puts his open mouth on my shoulder to snuggle in. Just this last week he started biting me when he would nuzzle. I had to say “No!” and his little lip turned under instantly. It’s like teaching a puppy not to nip.

Paul and I agree, after you see the tute-lip you want to take it back! Better now than later, I suppose.

Fun with Food

Oliver has been really busy crawling and exploring. He has also been moved to finger foods and is getting much better at getting things to his mouth. There is no question he loves food!
This is flax all over his face and tray. I coated peach chunks so he can pick them up better. It works great but takes a LOT of work to clean up. I think there is still flax in the bottom of the bathtub from his bath!


Green beans go down a lot better than they used to!

I can't believe that it has been a week and a half since my last post! It has been a really busy couple of weeks. I started working in my new position as the admin to the youth director. Little did I know it is confirmation season and there are 52 kids being confirmed in a week and a half. Lots of meetings, work, and fielding questions. Also, we had to get our car inspected and then fixed before they will put the tags on. It has been to the garage 5 times in the last 10 days. A neighbor from church followed us to the garage and then took Paul, Oliver and I home. It has been a little tricky getting to where we need to go when we only have our one car half the time.

He's Crawling!

Oliver started crawling in the last 10 minutes!! I was reading a book to him and he wanted it, so he just popped himself up and crawled after it.

Blink

Oliver likes to communicate this way - I'm not sure how to describe it except to say it is a blink. He started doing it mostly with Grandma, but now he does it all the time with Paul and I. I think the best translation is "Hey!"

Yes!

This is one of Oliver's favorite things to copy - he likes it the best when he starts it.

Too Short

We had such a fun week with my mom visiting! It was way too short and hard to see her go. Oliver was sick last week with his ear infections and the teeth coming through so this week was a big one for development. He was so interactive and had so much fun with his new playmate. Every night Paul and I went on a date. We went to Barnes and Nobel, out to dinner, to a movie, and did some errands. I didn't realize how much I needed that time alone with him. Mom and I went on lots of walks, we shopped, played with Ollie, took him to get pictures, and talked. It was so nice for me to have help with all the things around the house and the company.We also went to the Dansko shoe outlet (picture above). Since all Danskos are hand-made there are imperfections in the leather, with the sizing, etc. The Outlet is a huge store and you grab all the shoes in your size of a style and try on all the lefts and rights to get the perfect match for your foot. Mostly the shoes are there because they are too snug to be sent to a regular shoe store, so you have to go up a size. Other shoes are discontinued styles. It is also a fun place to go because the whole store is eco friendly. They collect rain water from the roof to flush the toilets, they use wind energy, they have a green roof, and all the materials are recycled or can be recycled. It was a really fun outing.

A Double Ear Infection, 3 New Teeth, and a Job

This has been an eventful week. Oliver had a tough time of it, which now we know was more than teething troubles! I took him to the doctor today after he had a fever yesterday (202.2!) and they found an ear infection in both ears. I gave him amoxicillin and Tylenol before his nap today; he slept for almost 3 hours and woke up a new boy.

The other eventful part of our week was the launch of my Seminary internship. On Thursday last week Paul and I had a serious talk about me starting my internship and later that evening I got a call from the youth pastor of our church asking me if I’d be his assistant. After a LOT of conversations with some key people, I decided to be his administrative assistant for 10 hours a week until the summer. It will be a perfect situation because I can take Oliver with me and do a bunch of the work from home. I put my resume together yesterday, had an informal interview today and am filling out my W2’s! I also asked the children’s ministry director to be my internship mentor – she readily accepted. I will work at our church in various capacities (mostly with the children and families) for 15 hours a week until next spring and I will graduate in 2010. It feels so good to have the ball rolling.

And it feels even better to know that Mom is coming in 2 days!!

Farmer Girl

We had to find something to keep those little hands busy during diaper changes so we would not have to bath the boy with every dirty diaper. That is how "Farmer Girl" came to be. We tried other toys, but one look at her sweet little face and Oliver was smitten. Now she lives on the side of his changing table and he immediately grabs her when we lay him down. He used to look at her face before chewing on her hat but I guess now he knows what she looks like. This video captures it all:
1. He knows who Farmer Girl is, and when we say her name and can be distracted from almost anything.
2. When she is taken away he always resists.
3. Every diaper change ends with Farmer Girl saying some version of "Good-bye Oliver! I love you! See you later!" and lots of kisses. It makes him smile every time.

At the park

Oliver loves baby swings. They make him so calm, and when daddy's along on the trip he giggles A LOT.

I promise, I'll stop talking about the weather someday, but today's not it!!

Yesterday I was all cooped up. We got about 5 inches of snow in the morning and so my first "couch to 5K" practice was canceled and I was so disappointed. On top of that, Oliver is teething - 3 at once this time, and he is having a tough time of it. His nose is running all over the place and he has three swollen bumps where the teeth are either trying pop out or are going in and out. I try to stay home for his naps because they are vital when he isn't feeling well. After we had dinner I was going to get out of the house and go to JoAnn Fabrics. To my dismay, this was the sign on the door:
JoAnn Guests: The store will be closing at 2pm today due to the weather. We will re-open Tuesday at 9am. Sorry for any inconvenience.
And this was the weather:
So sad for a MN girl!! Then to top it off, my mom's group at church was canceled this morning because the area schools started 2 hours late. I was so bummed, but then one of my friends and her son came to visit. She was lucky I didn't lock her in!!

Shocking

20 Days and Counting

For Christmas my Dad gave my Mom a very creative gift. She opened gum, a toy car, a toy plane, a day planner with her spring break highlighted and finally a TICKET!! She is coming out to visit us in just 20 days. Oliver and her are bunking up together so she can do whatever she wants with him at night. Paul and I are both excited about getting to share that duty. We are going to the Dansko factory outlet to buy some new shoes and probably the Lancaster outlets too! The moms in my groups want to meet her, so we might do some of those events. Paul and I are going to go out in the evenings a LOT. I am very much looking forward to her visit - help with the housework, enjoying someone else enjoy Oliver, getting lots of dates in a row, and great company. Thank you Dad!

Army Crawl

I took a nap today (yea!) and while I was sleeping Paul found a fun new game to play with Ollie. I got to try it out when I woke up. Fun times.

Official residents

This morning we went to the Driver's License Center and switched ourselves over. I was so sad when she punched a hole in my MN license. The one benefit is that in PA you don't list your weight!! Now we just have to switch our van plates. It is kind-of humorous how many people recognize our minivan and honk and wave. I feel like I'm a real local, but I think the plates really stand out. We will see if we get as many friendly honks when our plates look like everyone else. Have a great weekend everyone!

Oliver and His Little Friend

Aughh! You're invading my space!
Oh yes, a smile for everyone who is laughing at us.Mmmm...I want a taste too. OR Mmmm...I want to taste you!