Dec 29, 2011

Christmas Gifts

This year, gift giving was easy thanks to Oliver.  Everyone got very personal gifts from us.  I've been excited to share my most favorite though... and now that everyone has received their gift, I can post pictures!!!

We went to a paint-your-own-pottery place and thank goodness teeny tiny was asleep because it was so helpful during the process.  We painted 8 plates and 4 mugs assembly style.  My sister met me there and she was in charge of both rocking the boy so he would stay asleep and keeping track of which plate/mug had which layer of paint so we'd know which one needed to be painted next.  

When Oliver woke up I let him finger paint a plate - so. much. fun.



Without further chatter... behold, our penguin plates!  I. love. them.  They turned out so much better than I'd hoped!  The white was really hard to work with and a few ended up a little wonky like the one below, but overall I was SO pleased with them.  I kept adding to them, i.e. black rim, snow in the rim... a little part of me wanted to write something cute like 'Happy Feet' or something, but I decided to stop while I was ahead!  
(pic taken from my phone - will try to get a better one later)

... it seemed only fitting to have footprint bags for the plates. :)
They were a hit and I think everyone loved them as much as we did!  We will definitely be doing something like this every year.  It was so funny at the paint place, so many people looked at me like I was a nut since I was painting black footprints.  One lady even commented that she'd seen another person make a plate but they used a light blue for their baby - I had to laugh before telling her that I was making it into a penguin.  I showed her the picture I'd seen on Pinterest that someone had done on paper and she then said, 'Oooh.'  Ha!  

As I was painting, I did have to wonder - at what age is a footprint not cute anymore?  Maybe when it's too big to fit on the plate?  I plan to move on to hand prints as soon as he's old enough to understand what it means to 'keep your hand open,' but until then I'm stuck with the feet.  And don't even try to tell me that foot prints are never not cute because I highly doubt my mom would be excited about a platter with my foot print painted on it!  :)

Ten Things - Miscellany

For no reason at all other than I need to muster some motivation to pick up the clutter that covers our floor counter couch garage entire house right now.

1.) I don't like to walk on carpet that I just vacuumed.  When I'm vacuuming and you walk on the fresh lines, I feel a strong need to vacuum where you just walked (again).  This also applies to a crawling baby, despite how cute he may be.

Side note, we got a Dyson Animal in July (Merry Christmas to me from Chandler) and it is every bit as good as what people say.  I love it.  I use it no less than every other day.  The stairs attachment is dumb though, with three animals, we use the regular head and don't bother with the silly attachments.

2.) When I'm loading dishes in the dishwasher I turn the water on and keep it running whether I need to rinse things or not.  I know it's a horrible waste, but I feel like I need the water.

3.) We signed up for Amazon Prime in April because I needed a stroller that the car seat could snap into ASAP.  We thought we'd cancel the free trial, but decided we really liked it.  We use it a lot.  In the eight and a half months we've had it, we've placed 68 orders.  36.8 weeks in 8.5 months - about two orders each week.  CRAZY!  We love it.  I dare you to try it.

4.) These are the best fingernail clippers ever.  Buy them.  You won't be sorry.

5.) Lots of friends posted mobile pics of their sweet babies at Christmas and when I clicked through the pictures some would loop back to older pics from the previous Christmas.  They had gotten so big.  When I think of that being us next year and Oliver being almost two, it makes me want to throw up.  Seriously, time needs to stop.

6.) Nola often throws up yellow stomach bile - I don't know what causes dogs to do this.  Did that gross you out even more than me wanting to throw up because my baby is growing so fast?  I'll stop with the grossness.

7.) Sunkist and Cheezits are great together.  Keebler Giant Fudge Sticks and Ocean Spray Cran-Tan(gerine) are also great together.

8.) I devoured The Secret Life of the American Teenager when Oliver was teeny tiny and wanted to nurse all.day.long.  I am sad Netflix is behind on the seasons.

9.) I spend way too much time on the computer when I should be cleaning up the house.

If you haven't ordered those fingernail clippers, you're missing out.  They are soooo good.  Way better than the Revlon ones at the grocery store.  That link is not an affiliate link or anything, I just really love them.

10.) I talk to my friend Katie just about every day and Chandler thinks we are ridiculous because he doesn't understand.

Off to pick up the junk that is scattered around................ I know your day is much more complete after reading this! :)

Dec 27, 2011

Then & Now - Green Shirt Edition

There have been only a couple things I've loved enough to buy two sizes in, but this is the same shirt (3-6m) in each picture.  It feels like he never wears my favorite things for long, but then I look back and realize he did get a good six plus months out of some things and I don't feel so sad. 
 An exception to the norm for most babies, but I love it.

 4 months - June 3rd


10 months - December 15th

Dec 25, 2011

First Christmas

Love this! So glad we ordered it.

Merry Christmas

...from my phone to your screen!

Dec 20, 2011

Mr. Personality

This about sums it up right now. Silly, silly boy.

Dec 19, 2011

(P)inspired Pictures

I posted a Pinterest inspired picture of Oliver in lights last week and thought I'd post a few more.  The first two are from the first session we tried originally and the others are from our second attempt when my parents came to town.  I've not edited any so I may be able to get them looking better.  Maybe one day when I have some extra time to play.










We gave him a couple of presents early.  Mainly, his keys.  I found a cute key set at Barnes and Noble after Thanksgiving and scooped it up on sale.  I also ordered him a set of Kleynimals.  They're stainless animal shaped keys that clink like car keys.  He loves them!  I am SO glad because they were a little pricey for what they are.  He shook them for no less than forty-five minutes last night.

10 Months!!!

Oliver is 10 months old!!!

I am incredibly behind in posting this... we are busy around here.

At 10 months, Oliver is busier than ever.  He is funny, sweet, fast, and always on the go.  So far, every month that has gone by, as much as I've missed the previous, the new month has been my favorite.  Well this month that stopped being the case.  This is my least favorite stage.  He is into everything.  It's that really busy stage between being happy sitting and running around.  Wild, wild, wild!  I know when he's walking, I'll miss when he was smaller because once he walks, that's it for the real 'baby' aspects.  But he's so fast, that sometimes I find myself reaching to put him down as if he could stand and just walk.  Oops.  Not so.  I always have to laugh at that, but he's so crazy fast (did I mention that?) that I forget he can't walk.  I love every thing about him right now though! He is curious, smart, and loves to learn.  He's increasingly impatient and has the standard short attention span of most his age.  He's starting to lose his baby-ness and is taking on more and more toddler traits.  If you'd told me when he was smaller just how fast this would happen, I wouldn't have believed it.  

When I think about me having a baby, I still see me with a small less-than-5-month old - or just a newborn.  I felt like that would last longer.  As if the days would magically turn into months and the weeks would be years.  There's no way to grasp how fast these last few months have flown by.  June?  It seems like yesterday.  February, wasn't that this morning?  I know it's the middle of December, but I still find myself wondering how it really came to be.  

Moving on..............

At 10 months old, Oliver weighs 18.4lbs (he's holding strong to 18lbs... he feels WAY heavier though!).

He is still wearing all the same sizes as last month - which were the same sizes from the summer probably!  Some 3-6 month stuff from Gymboree (he's actually in a 3-6m shirt from Gymboree today paired with a 9m Carter's onesie and 9m Carter's pants).  I share the brand for anyone who may be curious about how sizes run for different companies.  He's wearing a size 2-3 shoe.  His 3.5 sized shoes from Stride Rite are way too big and his size 2 shoes from Carter's are just right.  He has a few slip on crib shoes and the 0-6m fit really well right now, but we recently got a couple pairs of 6-12m so they'll last a while.

The diaper situation is the same.  Mixed pockets and disposables (nighttime).

I love that now that he's older, we don't have to take a fifteen pound diaper bag around all of the time.  I had a great Petunia Pickle Bottom one that I LOVED and bought before he was born, but it was so not functional.  The straps were awful.  It's my work bag now and is perfect for that along with a few diapers and wipes and a toy or two.  Mom bought me a Skip Hop bag and it's by far the bestest kind out there as far as I'm concerned.  Awesome in every way.  Right now though, I use my tiny Patagonia day bag because it's most functional.  Anything that doesn't fit stays in the car because let's face it, I'm not going to put him on one of those ook, grimey, plastic bathroom flip downs so we'd be trekking back to the car anyway.  I used to just use my lap if we were out, or the stroller when we had it with us - sometimes those options still work depending on our whereabouts.

I don't know how I got off on that bag tangent... I love bags.  Love them.  I have way too many.  I don't care to part with a single one though.  Bags and jackets.

Here are a few pictures from the park that's in the back of our neighborhood.  There's also deep water access, tennis courts, disc golf courses, hiking trails, skating ramps... it will be a lot of fun for Rover when he's older.  For now, we enjoy the swings and sometimes the slide.  It's also fun to find a bench to watch boats and kayaks.


Oliver.


He's such a mess!  What is he up to these days?  Wheels.  He loves wheels!  There are two toys he has a particular attachment to - one is a blue bamboo vehicle (no idea what it is!) that has independent wheels, which he loves because it can be on one side and the wheels will still rotate.  The other is a little wooden plane that has a propeller on the front that he loves to spin.  He can be found playing with those about 70% of the time that he's in the playroom.  He also loves balls.  Especially the cats' balls.  He'll chase a little ping pong ball around on the floor for minutes (that's basically like saying hours for grown up time).  Every other toy just gets a few seconds so one that will last minutes is a big hit around here!


He still nurses like a champ.  He gets solids at dinner and he eats just about anything.  There really isn't anything we've given him that he didn't like.  He gets Cheerios as a snack occasionally during the day, mid morning and late afternoon.  We will probably be in a good routine of breakfast solids sometime in the near future as the one year mark approaches.  For now, we're still going slow.  Some of his favorite foods include macaroni and cheese, peas, avocado, and apples.  Particularly macaroni though.  He also really likes veggie dogs.  Recently, he figured out how to use his zippy cup. It's still pretty hit or miss, but we give it to him with dinner just in case he decides to really catch on.

He naps about an hour in the mornings and a solid three hours in the afternoons.  His schedule is very routine, which I love. 

His hair has gotten really long in the last several weeks.  When I look at pictures from September and October, it's amazing how much more hair he has!  He still has five teeth, three on the bottom and two on top.  No sign of any new ones in the last couple of weeks.  My guess is that the next one will be the bottom as well.  He's done great with nursing and hasn't bitten hard.  Sometimes he'll pull off using his teeth, but it's more irritating and just a small 'ouch' compared to a real bite.

Still says the same words, 'mama,' 'dada,' 'bye bye.'  He will often look at us while he says those, but we still don't think he's making associations quite yet.  I have noticed that when he wants to nurse he says 'nananana.' I'm not sure if that's just what comes out when he's hungry/frustrated/sleepy, or if it's what he's going to call it.  If we don't want him to touch something and we put our hand over whatever it is, he'll make an attempt to swipe our hand away.  Little personality.  

His smile lights up a room.  He has one dimple on his left cheek.  When he's playing, he'll often crawl over to sit in your lap just to check in for a minute before heading back to play.  Gentle reassurance is so sweet.  Nola continues to be a source of giggles and laughter.  She is really starting to enjoy his amusement too!  


A few photos from Thanksgiving...






Dec 16, 2011

Christmas Kindness: Days 12-16

Day 12: We left a Christmas card and bag of Hershey's Kisses for our mail delivery person.

Day 13: I ordered magazine subscriptions for a couple of sweet friends!

Day 14: We sent Christmas cards to strangers.

Day 15: We bought lunch for the person in line behind us at Burger King.

Day 16: We left $1 bills in random places in the grocery store.  This was a really fun one!  The dollar is in the top left of the photo below.  I was trying to be quick so it's not the best picture.  We had a good time loitering in the aisles looking for fun places to hide money.  

Dec 15, 2011

Christmas Decor 2011

We pulled down our Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving this year since we knew things would get hectic with travel.  Because of how early we put things together, I kept saying 'I'll finish it later.'  Needless to say, it's now December 15th and I didn't finish.  It's not going to happen this year.  
Case in point:
(we never plugged the mantle lights behind the TV)
 We're okay with it that way... our only guests have been my father-in-law and my parents.
Close-up of a few random ornaments in a box:
 This is our first year not having a real tree.  We knew having a ten-month old meant more pine needles to clean up so we bought a pre lit fake tree on sale after Christmas last year.  I. love. it.  Why haven't we done this before now?!  It's amazing.  I do miss going to the tree farms, but I feel like this is a much more eco-friendly option and it's so much easier to keep the floors clean!




 More miscellaneous ornaments scattered.

 Our favorite Christmas display:

(Our Pinterest inspired photo-with-lights didn't go quite as planned... :))
"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