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!!