Palm Springs and Disneyland

We just arrived home from a great trip to Palm Springs and Disneyland! It was Ollie's second time in Palm Springs and his very first Disney trip. He didn't sleep so well at night, but besides that I think he  loved it. He seemed to really enjoy all the rides we brought him on. Ollie would dance with the music a little bit, but he spent most of the time looking around taking it all in. A few noteworthy rides include.... Peter Pan, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and many more. One ride in California adventure he even had to sit in his own seat, and he did just fine. His all time favorite though was the Tiki Room! He loved watching the birds as he danced and jumped like crazy as he flapped his arms to the music. Us big kids had a good time too and we pretty much got to go on all the rides we wanted to as well, thanks to our crew of babysitters that included grandparents and aunties ;)

Now that we are home, Ollie is in full fledged crawling and standing mode. He has been dragging his body around for quite some time now, but he finally got the crawling motion down. He's so proud of himself and I am proud of him too, but it breaks my heart a little bit. I can't believe our little newborn has turned into such a wild monkey! Before we left, he'd been working himself up to a stand in the tub and I caught him standing in his crib once... but now that we are back, he's pulling up on EVERYTHING and getting up quite quickly. It's heart stopping at times, but I guess that's just part of it from here on out. Luckily his crawl is still slow and labored so I have some time to adjust emotionally to this new phase... as well as time to go around putting plastic covers in all the sockets :)

Anyway, enough about that. Here's what you've been waiting for... pictures from our trip!

New Mickey chair in Palm Springs!

hanging out the car window looking at the best Christmas light street in
Palm Springs

swimming in the floaty we got him back in June

Ollie skinny dipping

on the way to disney! he can't wait!

cutest package under the tree

Ollie's first time in Disney

family portrait

O spent lots of time on his Daddy's shoulders

Pete and RePete went on a ride

Mickey ears and a tired face

choosing a balloon

obviously the best balloon of his life

proud little man sitting in his own seat on the zephyr ride

Finding Nemo Submarine ride

Ollie meets Tigger

Ollie meets Pooh... and is officially Disney-ed out

Pictures

I've been a little behind in posting pictures. Here you go, starting with early November and working up to his 8 month picture on December 3. (only problem is I can't find the photos from Thanksgiving. hmmm.)

November 10- a few from his Christmas card photo shoot. (And the cards just got into the mail and are on their way!)

November 20- Gramma Julie's Birthday

November 25- Paul McCartney concert

December 3- 8 Months old! (The little monkey wouldn't hold still, so this was the best I could do. Look at that expression!)

"This again? Don't you know I am far too busy
to be posing for you?"

8 Months

Oliver turned 8 months old on Monday... and what fun we are having. So much fun in fact that we like to bring him everywhere with us! Just in the past few weeks, he has been out for a big family birthday dinner for Uncle Zach, he's gone bowling and he went to his first concert to see Paul McCartney. I'm not sure if there will be another legend like that for him to see in his lifetime, so we figured what the heck, he should come along. It was a great show and Ollie has been awesome everywhere we have brought him. Just the other day we were out for lunch with a friend, and I caught him actively looking around in search of people to smile at and flirt with. Big blue eyes like that are hard to miss and he had many admirers, all of who he charmed with big toothy grins. At the bowling alley the other night, he was sharing french fries with me (don't judge) and I could see by the look on his face as I popped a bit of fry into his mouth that he was so proud and happy to be out with the big kids doing something fun. It's amazing to see him so full of enthusiasm and adventure.

I know I will probably say this at every stage in the game, but this age is particularly awesome! Ollie can't  quite crawl yet (sooo close though), but he's interactive and playful and entertained by so many things. We are still doing swim and music, but they both end just before Christmas which is really too bad because we have loved them so much! He is also following a schedule that is much less strict than when we were doing sleep training. We don't need to be as regimented because he reliably sleeps through the night and generally takes 2 one hour - hour and a half naps a day. Lately he's been sleeping in to 7:30-8 which is amazing for us! He eats everything we give him and I still have yet to find a food he doesn't care for.

As far as his 'tricks' go, he claps his hands, scoots around, says mama/dada and "daw" when he sees Ernie or pictures of her. He points, he can swipe the iPhone screen (ahhh) and he can turn on light switches. He loves buttons, buckles and gadgets of any sort. Ollie is constantly in motion and can get into things faster than I can blink. He is just such a little boy and likes to be busy every moment he can keep his eyes open.

We are so excited for him to experience his first Christmas, even though he probably doesn't fully understand the Christmas spirit quite yet. We are planning on taking him to meet Santa soon which could prove to be quite traumatic for him, but it is pretty much a right of passage for any kid.

I have his monthly pictures but haven't loaded them yet, so I will add them to my next post along with lots of other photos :)

7 Months

Oliver is awesome. He is continuing to build on all of his motor skills and his 'talking'. We LOVE to listen to him babble. Along with typical baby jibberish and saying mamamama, he has recently added dadadada to his vocabulary. Pete and I used to joke that Ollie didn't like us, but now he has come so far as to even say our names. He has mastered the roll over and flips and flops all over the place with gusto and enthusiasm. He's getting close to holding his body up, can squirm his way around and seems really interested in crawling. (heaven help us!) I'm hoping that he waits until we get home from our next trip to California in a few weeks so he doesn't want to crawl all over that airplane. 

Ollie has many interests and things that excite him, but lately his most favorite is his dog. He is always watching her and babbling at her. Just the other day he was sitting in his high chair and Ernie was attentively watching him as he rattled on... then she just turned and walked away out of his sight. Well, Ollie did not like that and he immediately looked over at me and started to bawl. I think she insulted him. Poor little guy. He is also busy trying to touch her and poke her and pull her fur.  Of course I have a close eye on it, but she sits there and takes it like nothing is happening. 

We are still swimming and doing music class and life is carrying on at an alarmingly fast speed. Ollie is still sleeping well and sticking to his schedule. He is also in the process of growing in his two front teeth. I guess we won't need to add that to his Christmas wishlist. I can't believe it! He has a mouth full of chompers and still eats everything that comes his way. 

Other than that I just can't believe how much fun we are having and trying to soak in every precious moment with this sweet little man!

7 months~ November 3, 2012

Happy Halloween from Pete's Dragon!

Trick or Treat!!!

Return to California

Ollie and I got back from a week long trip to California last weekend. He did pretty well on both flights. No major tantrums, just some wiggling and shrieking and pooping (of course). Once we got there though we had a great time and great weather. Here are a few pictures from our trip... and Ollie's second pumpkin patch experience. Lucky kid. It was so much fun for me too, because it's the pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay where my parents used to take us and dress us up in our costumes. It was pretty much just as I remember it too, and a beautiful day outside!

walk through the neighborhood

Helping Grandma Julie fold laundry

up grandpa!

BOO!

family (minus our favorite Dan!)

6 Months

6 Month Stats:

Weight: 20 pounds 13 ounces-- 95th percentile

Length: 28.5 inches-- 95th percentile

Aaaaand I have no idea what his head circumference is because I was too busy trying to calm him down while he was throwing a fit about getting his head measured to begin with. lol.

I love being Ollie's mom (and I'm sure Pete feels the same about being his Dad). He is just such a delight these days.  From his belly laughs to his rolly poley thighs, I could seriously eat him up. Yes, he has off days, whines when he's tired and is teething at an uncomfortable rate, but he is generally a bubbly happy guy.

Our once viciously hungry boy is less interested in nursing/bottles and is pretty into solid foods. The kid loves eating. (Further evidence that he is Pete's child-- as if we needed more ;) He eats all varieties of potatoes, oatmeal, carrots, avocado (one of his favorites), green beans, pears, apples, bananas and he even got to try some turkey/pureed turkey soup for Canadian Thanksgiving. We are introducing things slowly but surely and I don't think he's met a food that is not to his liking yet. He also seriously enjoys these baby "rice rusk" cracker things. Oh my goodness. He crunches them with his  FOUR bottom teeth and just grins from ear to ear. He is so proud of his teeth and is always feeling them with his tongue. I am a little sad he has so many already, but he is still cute as can be.

Ollie is also on a great schedule. He sleeps at night from about 7/7:30pm to 6:30/7am. We do go in and feed him at around 10:15/30pm. Lately he hasn't seemed too interested in the bottle at that time, but we try to get 6-8oz of milk in him. Usually it works out, however some nights he is just too sleepy and he will cry until we lay him back down into bed. Is this the same child who previously wanted to nurse all night and sleep by my side? Once he's up for the day, he eats and then goes back down from 9ish-10ish am. His afternoon nap goes from about 12:30-1:45pm and then a quick cat nap to hold him over around 4pm. It is amazing what sleeps does for him and how much the schedule has improved all of our lives! It helps me have structure to the day, and it makes things go a lot faster since I always know what is coming next. Ollie is obviously thriving with this predictability and routine in his day.

What else? Oh yes, Ollie has a budding social life. We just ended our stroller fitness class on Wednesdays but now on Thursday Ollie goes to music class with one of the babies and mom's from there. Ollie is mesmerized in music class, and he is thoroughly entertained not only by the songs and rattles, but also by watching all the other babies (he's the youngest one in there). Swim is still happening every Monday (through December) and the 6 or 7 little boys in the class all seem to love it as much as Ollie. He even gets dunked and takes it like a champ :) Ollie is into his toys these days. He loves the ones that talk and play music and are just generally very noisy.

As for us... Pete is super busy at work and I feel like I am constantly whirling about at home and around town to our various activities. The 9 months of Pacific Northwest rain started again today, but that's ok because it was such a beautiful warm fall up until now. ErnieGirl just had a minor incident and broke a nail somehow, but she is quite resilient and bounced right back to her antics. Ollie is constantly entertained by her and I even caught him laughing at her yesterday.

I guess my only complaint these days is that our baby is growing up and changing faster than I can blink! I'm afraid that one night I am going to put him to bed and when we wake up he'll be on his way out the door to Kindergarten. *sigh*

October 3, 2012~ 6 Months 

Pumpkin Patch

It is a long weekend up here for Canadian Thanksgiving and the weather has been so beautiful! Last October when I was pregnant with Ollie, I was so excited to go to the pumpkin patch with our baby one day and yesterday I got my wish :)  It was so much fun, and Ollie loved being outside taking in all the excitement. Here are a few pictures....

not so sure about sitting on a pumpkin

Hooray

Ollie is less than 1 week away from his SIX MONTH birthday. Are you kidding me? As much as I'd love to rewind and hold that helpless little man in my arms again on some days, this age is SO MUCH FUN!!! 

It was almost like a lightbulb went on for him at 5 months, and from there everything has gotten so much better. It also took a few tweaks to our life, but it is paying off now and I couldn't be happier about our decisions. I know that sleep training and feeding schedules are sort of controversial these days, but it is what worked for us even though I was really against letting him cry in the beginning. Once he hit 5.5 months, I put Ollie on a feeding schedule and did the dreaded crying at bedtime. Seriously, it was a miracle and I was so skeptical at first. I am glad I waited until this age though because I knew he was healthy, and that he wasn't going to go hungry. It also helped that I could understand his cries and communication with me better than when he was younger. Basically the first night we did it, the crying lasted for 40 minutes on and off and we went in and out a bunch of times, lengthening the time between visits. (He has cried longer than that with someone holding him and trying to comfort him, so even though it was hard, we knew we had to give it a shot.)  Amazingly enough, Ollie slept through the night that very night (I of course did not) and he hasn't looked back since (knock on wood). Before this, I would seriously sleep in his room and nurse him to sleep or put him into bed with me when he woke up every 1.5 hours at night. Pete and I were both beginning to lose our sanity, Ollie was cranky a lot, and this up every hour and a half at night coupled with his terrible and nearly non existant naps were wearing me thin physically and emotionally. As good as this change is for Pete and I, the change in Ollie is striking. I know a lot of it is just his age and maturity, but I feel like he is so much happier now that he knows what to expect from his day. The obstacles he does come across aren't as big of a deal for him now that he's well rested too. We are already so so proud of him. 

Other breaking news is that he now has 2 teeth coming in. After several months of agony, his first tooth sprouted up on his 5 month birthday and the second one wasn't far behind. It is sort of funny though because he has his left bottom middle and the one next to it to the left, not his other bottom middle tooth. We have ourselves a little jack-o-lantern baby just in time for Halloween. 

Oh yes, and he rolls over. Front to back and back to front. Finally. He did them both for the first time within 1 day of each other. I don't know why he was so late to roll from tummy to back, but I think it had something to do with his big head ;) He also finally lets me put him down for short spurts during the day. I can put him in his pack n play, on his play mat or in his chair sometimes for a whopping 10 minutes at a time. He also loves to play with anything that makes a lot of noise, like chip bags (but this is obviously a closely supervised activity).  

To sum it up, things have finally gotten easier (just like everyone said they would) and we are trying to squeeze every inch of fun out of this short yet wonderful time in Ollie's life =) 

He has his 6 month check up and next round of shots on October 5th and I am so excited to see how much he weighs... I am pretty sure he is hovering around 20 pounds give or take!

5 Month Photo Shoot

Ollie's Auntie Rebecca came back from her world travels in Asia and Europe with some really cute outfits for Ollie, so I had a photographer come and do some shots of our little model in his new attire.  Here are some of my favorites:

The photographer is one of Rebecca's friends. He is just starting out and did an awesome job. If anyone in the Vancouver area is in the market for some photos, here is his website:

www.joshuatripp.com

You can also find him on Facebook as Joshua Tripp Photography

why I love Pete

Just as we started our walk the other night, I realized I hadn't turned off the oven (way to go firefighter's daughter).....

Me: Craaaaaaaaaap. I don't remember turning off the oven.
Pete: Don't worry, I noticed and turned it off for you.
Me: Really? THANK YOU
Pete: I didn't want to say anything, because sometimes comments like, "YOU forgot to turn the oven off" come across as condescending and I didn't want to make you feel bad because I know you have enough to worry about.

Small and silly I know, but he's just so nice.  And I'm really appreciating the small stuff these days =)

And I probably won't forget to turn the oven off again next time... I hope

Happy Birthday Ernie

On September 3, Ernie turned 4 years old. Not that she's old, but it's obvious she's not a pup anymore. She's getting white around her muzzle and has started growing little white eyebrows. She's still as lively as ever and loves being active... chasing birds, running on the beach, skimboarding in the summer and long walks (nowadays she has to put with walking beside a stroller though). She also still makes herself sick by eating all kinds of nasty. I guess she will never outgrow that. We love her just the same, and she is so gentle and sweet with Ollie. He is starting to pay more attention to her, and I'm sure once he begins scooting around we will watch a friendship start to emerge. He's grabbed onto her and pulled her fur a couple of times and she doesn't seem to mind. She just turns around and tries to lick him (ICK). Plus, she's really starting to come around to the idea of having a baby around now that he started to eat solids.

We love your antics, your silly ways and your sweet spirit! Thank you for being the perfect dog for our little family...

smiling pretty ;)

thrilled to be wearing Ollie's bib

enjoying a birthday lollipop