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.