Aug 31, 2011

Ollie's Molly

I'd like to introduce you to Molly - isn't she beautiful?!  We kind of love her around here.  So much in fact, that Oliver would like to formally announce his intention to make her his forever girl.  I've known Molly's mom (and dad) for seven/eight years (really?!  has it been that long??) and they're good people so we're comfortable with Oliver's decision.  Wedding invitations to follow... ;)
Ollie & Molly 4ever

Aug 30, 2011

Mmm...

It seems celery is a fun treat... 
Things aren't always what they seem.
:)

No cover?!

...that's right, sans buggy cover...and yes I think I'm still me. I can't believe it either.
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Aug 23, 2011

Goose

Silly Goose that is...






Aug 22, 2011

Monday, Monday

We are loving the smoke-free, humidity-free day. After Rover's long afternoon nap, I finished working and we hit up the 'hood for a walk. Dinner is in the crock pot (Do you say slow cooker? I think I prefer that word better.) and we are ready for some chow down!
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Aug 19, 2011

Rosie, Daisy (Thor) & Friday

We have a deer family that lives across the street.  Normally there are eight, but lately we've only seen a female and two babies.  Last week, we got to 'meet' the two babies!  We named them Rosie and Daisy (Thor).  Rosie got her name because we found her munching on our knockoff knockout roses and we thought Daisy was a nice sister name.  We call Daisy 'Daisy Thor' just in case she's a he.  Their names are also interchangeable since they are identical twin deer for all concerned purposes.
 This is Rosie (Daisy(Thor)) caught in action.  What's funny is that I'd looked at the roses thinking that I needed to cut them back some, yet they looked sort of okay at the same time.  I knew it'd been a while since I last trimmed them up, but they just didn't look right.  When we saw Rosie (Daisy(Thor)) munching on them, it all made sense.  Chandler said he thought I'd just done a really bad job trimming them!  It was so funny.  Right after I took this picture, she (he) saw me move the curtain and high tailed it back across the street.
 I've had a horrible cold this week and didn't want to get out of bed this morning.  I finally got up around 8:30 and jumped in the shower, hoping that would help me feel better.  (It didn't really.)
 Today was definitely one of those days I wished I knew someone up here to come help me with Oliver. Even an hour would have been SO nice.  Heck, I'd take a 20 minute nap and be happy.  Sigh. 
 I decided I just didn't have the energy to play like we normally do on Friday mornings, so I pulled out an old quilt and laid on the floor while Oliver played with a rather large assortment of toys.
 Since he's not completely mobile yet, I was secretly hoping I would drift into one of those semi-conscious sleeps for a few minutes, but it didn't happen (so stop freaking mom, I don't even want to hear it).  Nola came to join in on the fun, which provided some amusement from Rover.
 He has a thing for Clifford.  I think it's because he knows he has the coolest red dog of all.  He is all about some Nola girl!  Nola and Clifford are by far two of his most favorites.
(I finally feel a little better... all the smoke up here doesn't help though!  The wildfire smoke (6,000+ acres, it's ~5-10 sky miles from us) has been so thick at times that highways have closed and the air quality is code purple.  Zero visibility, it's just been awful this week!)

Aug 10, 2011

6 months!


 At 6 months old...



-Oliver weighs 14lbs 13oz and is 25" long (these stats are official due to our recent visit to the doctor's office).

-He is so, so sweet!  He has the cutest laugh and thinks it's funny to laugh when he sees us laughing even if he doesn't know what's going on.  It's so funny!  A couple weeks ago I was reading while he nursed and whatever it was made me laugh and he started laughing at me so much he had to stop nursing to laugh!!

-He's still wearing 3-6 month and 6m clothes.  We have a few 9 month PJs, but they are so long that his legs end up in one leg opening.  Six month Carter's onesies still have a good inch of space when he's in a disposable diaper.  In a cloth diaper they fit perfect.



-Speaking of diapers... we're still going strong with cloth.  On some of these hot days I'll often use disposables when we're running errands though just because I don't want to leave dirty diapers in the car to grow funky microbes and I usually don't carry a diaper bag around all the time so it's just easier to not use cloth when we're out for long periods of time.  Our local store ran out of 7th Generation so we tried Earth's Best.  I like them.  I may post about them separately at some point.  I've also started using a disposable at night because we have had a lot of leaks with just about ever cloth combo I've tried.  I don't mind using disposable at night.  We also use disposable when we travel because washing machines always have a learning curve to what works best with cloth diapers and after a few not so great washes in other machines, I've decided to just stop traveling with cloth unless its a machine similar to ours.  We're just using FuzziBunz and bumGenius Elementals right now.  He outgrew our size one Thirsties and as much as I want(ed) to buy the next size, we really don't need more diapers.  We have 24 and it's a good amount for a couple of days (we still wash every other day).  Every now and then I run out, but I also don't wait to change as soon as he's wet.  Oh!  He is in between size 2 and 3 in disposable so we use both depending on what the store has in stock.  Right now we have size 3 and they work so we likely will just stay with 3 from here on out.
(At work with mama for an evening photo shoot.)
(Too cute for our photographer to pass up ;))


-Milestones?  Oliver is sitting up better and better!  He is still wobbly and needs support, but he's almost there.  He has recently started to go from sitting (tripod) to gently sliding onto his belly.  He can also roll back to front now!  He finally figured out how to get his arm out of the way.  It's so cute to watch him roll both ways when he plays.




-His favorite toys right now are those Lamaze stroller toys that have lots of sensory touch points and a Playskool gear toy.  He's also recently found tags (the materials/made in USA/X type of tags).  He loves to hold tags between his thumb and first finger.  He is fascinated by them.  Since he's still wobbly when he sits up, we use his crib to have some play time.  He enjoys being able to sit up and move around and I like that he's contained and won't hurt himself when he falls.  This is about all we use the crib for right now... I love that we are using it even if only for play time.


(Peek-a-boo!)

-He LOVES Nola.  She is guaranteed to make him laugh, cheer him up, or otherwise brighten his day.  Anyone who knows me (and her) knows how much I love this!!


-I recently noticed his feet... they stink!  Boys...

Total side note... 
I've been wanting to get some pictures of Oliver in his newborn hat for the longest time... it was too big for him in his newborn pictures and I wanted a shot of him on his dresser.  This is how it went down...

 (interested...)
(appeasing mom...)

(complete and utter meltdown.)

(a few apologetic stories and a breeze through the snack bar later and he was fine.)




(nap yet?)

-He continues to nurse on demand.  He is so efficient and is often done eating in about 5 minutes.  He eats four or five times each day, but sometimes it's more often depending on his mood, amount of sleep he's had, and genuine hunger.  We have not started solids yet and plan to wait a bit longer.  He's become very fidgety when he nurses and is no longer satisfied with the single act of eating so I try to keep a semi small soft toy around so he's not completely destroying whatever necklace I may be wearing.  I have a nursing necklace that has also seemed to help a little.  It can be a teether later... we'll see how that works. We have a LifeFactory teething ring that he likes to hold so that along with the nursing necklace seem to do the trick.  He also kicks his leg out while he nurses... it's like he's kicking something, but there's nothing there so it's just flailing about - this is a new thing and it's so funny!  He'll do it with is arm sometimes, but it's mostly with his leg(s).  I also love that he's big enough to find his own meal and I don't have to guide him to me anymore.  I forgot to mention this a couple months ago.  I think he started doing doing that around four months.  He's gotten better and better about it though.

He's also getting harder to nurse while walking.  I'll often nurse him while we're out and usually just carry him in my arms while he nurses since he's still so small... because he fidgets with my shirt though, he's starting to leave me hanging out more than I'd like and I'm constantly fighting him to keep my shirt down enough for both my comfort and public comfort!  So far, no one has glared, stared or complained so as long as he's light enough to hold and nurse, I'll still do it.  I sometimes use a carrier to nurse him in, but usually I'm just holding him because it's supposed (key word) to be a quick trip in and out of somewhere.


-He is becoming more and more independent, but we are still very much a unit.

(Talking to Aunt B)

-He is SO close to saying 'mama' and has a host of other babbles.  He actually says something that is 'mamamamama' but I don't really count it as 'mama.'  Maybe next month! :)



-He cries when we take things he shouldn't have.  We are gently redirecting him to other things but every now and then he will grab a USB or something of the likes and we'll have to take it quickly.



-He had a week where he would wake up several times at night, but it only lasted about five days. He's back to sleeping through the night.  Our evening routine is playtime/bath around 7:30 followed by nursing then sleep.  Sometimes he'll nurse for a few minutes, take a quick nap, and then be ready to play... when he does that we let him chat in bed.  He's usually asleep between 9:30 and 10 if not before then.  He wakes consistently between 7 and 7:30 AM.



-He loves to play with his feet and is getting better and better with his hand/eye coordination.  


(The cake should have said 'Happy 6 months Oliver' instead, the nice young girl at Sam's wrote 'Happy 6  monther Oliver.'  What the heck?!)

Aug 9, 2011

le photo booth

We have a thing for photo booths. 
 I can't find the post with our other booth pics...
It's taken us almost six months to actually have $3 in cash when we're at the mall.  


Aug 8, 2011

Car seat break down... literally!

Ever wondered what's inside a car seat?  We found out last week.  Oliver and I were rear-ended on the way to work last Tuesday.  We're okay.  We went straight to the pediatrician's office right after the police left though, just to be sure.  It was by far the scariest day of my life.  (Just after being in labor.  ... and flying.)  

The speed limit was 45 MPH and the car slammed on brakes - we still estimate she was going at least 30 MPH though if not a bit more.  It was quite a jolt since we were completely stopped.  After waiting for what seemed like forever for the officer to arrive, going through the awkward silence with the other driver, and then being told we all had to go to court since it was wreck less driving (on her part)... it definitely made for a long week.  I wasn't really able to take any time off from work and was very sore for a few days, and it was slightly uncomfortable driving around with a car seat that wasn't deemed safe by the child safety/highway groups.  Ugh!

After finally getting our new car seat (thankyouverymuchamazonprime) I called a friend from the health department back in NC to figure out what to do with the old seat.  I had planned to take it to the fire station, but apparently they don't do that here (go figure... they also don't really do child seats).  She suggested I just make sure no one would use it.  That's when I decided to take it a part.  

Since we ordered the same seat in a different fabric, I first took all the fabric off the old seat to save it for the new seat.  Fashion sake, you know.  (Or blow-outs.)  
I was a little surprised at how simple the seat was underneath.  Just styrofoam.  Nothing fancy.  And under the styrofoam?  Not a thing.

 Since I'd already dismantled the seat, I decided to take it a bit further and destroyed it as much as possible.  In addition to clipping the plastic that attached the handle at the back, I also cut the strap seen below.  I didn't want anyone to find the seat and try to use it.  As far as I'm concerned, if it's not safe enough for my kid, it's not safe enough for yours either.

I kind of miss the gray cubes we had before, but the green is a nice change too.  We'll probably upgrade to a convertible seat at the end of the year though so I'm not too concerned with changing out the fabric.

I also want to point out the extra head support... we'd actually taken this out when we removed the infant insert (that was out when he was 11lbs).  Then, our friend Henry came to visit and we had a big discussion about the head support pillow thing and decided to put it back in... Henry's seat had a stationary one and we all decided it was probably best to have.  I am SO glad we put it back in.  Even though Oliver is rear facing, I felt so much better about his safety with that little bit of extra support.  I had been so tempted to take it out because it's been so awfully hot, but I am thankful it was there.
Our seat is a Chicco Keyfit 30.  We did a good amount of research before registering for it and found it to be one of the best.  After the accident, I did the same research and came to the same conclusion.  As much as I wanted to upgrade, I realized there really wasn't anything to upgrade to - as far as we were concerned at least.  We did consider a Peg Perego, but the colors didn't do much for me.  There was one combo we liked, but since my car interior is gray and our strollers are gray (and green actually), AND since the old fabric could be used, we decided to stick with what we had.  Call me vain, but I like it when things match.  It makes me happy.  (Yep, that means that nine times out of ten, Oliver's diaper matches his outfit too.  I'm just that way.  I've gotten better - my pajamas used to have to match my sheets.  Mom, remember that?!)

We have a totally fresh perspective on safety.

...and while on the topic... 
Did you know that most fire stations have someone who is trained to install child safety seats?  I say most loosely... coming from NC where we have an awesome public health network, I was SO disappointed in the VA counterparts.  When we went to have our seat checked, they acted as if we were a spectacle.  Seriously.  One guy went to get another guy who then had an audience of everyone else who worked there.  On top of that, they told me our seat had to be on one side or the other and not in the middle because of the arm rest.  What?!  I felt like they were wrong so I called my people... my people were right.  I read the owner's manual to the car (duh) and it clearly stated that the seat was fine in the middle.  

While in NC in June we stopped by the fire station and had the Safe Kids team check our seat.  More than 45 minutes and a pool noodle later, we were set.  I think the seat was probably fine the way I had it, but they thought the noodle helped so I went with it, after all, they do this WAY more often than I do.  

Since we've had to replace the seat (and base), I'll probably have them check our seat again.  I used to think I knew how to install a car seat, then Oliver was born.  I would much prefer to eat some humble pie and have someone check my work than to jeopardize his safety and I am SO glad I did.  I'd recommend everyone have their seat checked, but when/if you do, be sure the people checking it know what they're talking about.  
"Sometimes I'd like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine, and injustice in the world when He could do something about it, but I'm afraid God would ask me the same question."
-Anonymous
You don't change the world by trying to change the world; you change the world by changing yourself.
-Gerry Straub