Oliver's favorite bedtime song

As you can see from the title of the blog, this is Oliver's favorite song to fall asleep to. It is amazing how much it will calm him down. He is a Cubs fan already!!! I guess it is in his blood. I am so proud of this addition of the blog. It only took a special phone call to Uncle Kevin to make this work. THANKS Uncle Kevin...you are awesome!!!

Friend Fun Day

We had "friend fun day" at Bob and Kim's house the Saturday that my family left. They are such wonderful friends. We met new neighbors and didn't even scare them away!

Oliver and Maya (his girlfriend) chowing down on some dinner! Maya is eating cereal now and loves it!

Ryan and Oliver watching tv together.

Amanda wrapped this blanket around Oliver and was walking around the house with him. I was amazed at how fast he was going. Amanda is such a genius! Who ever would have thought of that?!?!?!?! As most of you know, your back and arms get sore really fast after walking around with a little person wanting so badly to get from point A to point B by way of walking. This really saves all the muscles (most of them).

Amanda watched Oliver while I went to work this past Tuesday. Since Aunt Christy is gone, Amanda gets him back. I think she was excited!!! This wall in the picture was Ryan's and Amanda was so thoughtful to bring it back out for Oliver to play with. I think Ryan is showing Oliver how things work, and of course, Oliver will do anything that Ryan does! Good thing Ryan is a PERFECT little boy because he is Oliver's role model! Maya is hanging out in the bottom of the picture. She just loves her boys!

Oliver vs Roomba

Oliver LOVES the Roomba! They play together so well and I always know where he is...right behind it. To our surprise, he isn't afraid of it, he actually likes when it comes towards him. He has an opportunity to bang on it, and we have learned that everything that we bang on makes noise.

July 18th

Just come candid shots from July 18th. Yes, all of these were taken during 24 hours. WHOA! What a day!
Oliver, Papa and I visiting the museum.






Going out for dinner.

Our new pool!!

It has been so hot and miserable here that we decided to go and buy a little pool for our deck. Oliver wasn't so sure about the little crab, but warmed up to it. The pool at some times is warmer than bath water. Not quite refreshing to cool down, but definitely relaxing!
Even though Ally had a broken leg, is sure didn't stop her from taking the plunge. Okay maybe just a calf.
Mommy and Ollie enjoying time together.
The entire family

zerbert video

Oliver's newest talent is blowing bubbles. As you will see in the video, he puts ALL his effort into it. Most of the time he ends up coughing because he works so hard at it. I assure you that all of the noises in this video are coming from someones mouth!

Family Fun and DOTS!

As you all know, my sister came to stay with us for the summer. Unfortunately, it had to come to an end at some point. My mom, dad, and cousin Ally came out to pick her up. We were so sad to see her and all of them leave. What a sad depressing day! While they were here the weather was really hot, but my mom managed to get Oliver to sleep by rocking him on the front porch.

Usually Larry makes the coffee around here, but since he was at work, I thought I would be nice and take the task on myself. Bad idea?!?!?!? My dad drank it, but the next day I noticed that he ventured out to 7-11 before any of us awoke. heehee He was really thoughtful...he brought me back one too. He must not have wanted me to suffer all by myself.

Papa and Oliver are enjoying that good cup of coffee on the deck. Oliver at least enjoyed the cardboard sleeve that goes over the cup. I am at a blank for the name of it. I am sure someone should be given proper credit for the ingenious invention.

Aunt Christy could get Oliver to fall asleep at the "blink of an eye." He always takes the longest naps when you snuggle with him.

Grammy and Ollie played together so much while they were here. I found that toy in the picture at Target in the dollar spot area. I put it in the cart while we were shopping to keep him entertained. As we were checking out, I thought, what the heck- It has turned into one of his favorite toys. It reminds me of the toys at the doctor's office, but a whole lot cleaner!

Ally loved to feed him while she was here.

Who is feeding who? I think Papa wants a bite.

They packed snackies for their travels. They didn't eat all of them, so we munched. It appears that Ally could be the next DOTS model.

Or maybe Christy could be?

We have mastered the sippy cup!- July 14th

Oliver has mastered the sippy cup! He has been holding his bottle for quite some time, but now the bottle miraculously has handles! How cool!!
Daddy and Ollie
Drinking some H20 in his bumbo.

9 month stats!

Oliver went to the doctor last Thursday for his 9 month checkup! He has grown so much. To our surprise, he was very pleasant the entire visit. It is funny seeing how he interacts with the doctor now. When he walked in the room, you could just see Oliver thinking. The doctor told us that this will probably be his last "happy" visit. He said that he will soon remember who he is and it will all be downhill from now. Great!!! Oliver really enjoyed all of that noisy paper on the examination table. I am convinced they place it there for entertainment for the children for the long wait!

Here are Oliver's stats

Weight: 18.1 pounds - 10th percentile.
Length: 28 inches- 32th percentile.
Head circumference: 44 cm- 12th percentile.

To our surprise, he is kind of small for his age which gives him full fledged eating rights. He may devour as much as he wants! We are supposed to feed him until he is stuffed! The only downfall, we have noticed a MAJOR increase in diaper consumption. I am going to be so sad when Aunt Christy leaves. That leaves me with all that mess during the day while daddy is at work!

Japanese Steakhouse!

Christy, Oliver and I all met Larry for lunch on Thursday at the Japanese Steakhouse. Christy has never been there before, so we thought we would show her what it was like. Here is the man who made our food for us. He put on quite a show, even entertaining Oliver.
Oliver was so interested in everything the cook was doing. He is trying to look over the table to see what he has on the grill.
Larry and Oliver after lunch. Daddy was giving him lots of hugs and kisses before he went back to work.
Aunt Christy sure is enjoying her salad with yum yum sauce! Mmmmm!

Hungry and Tired at the same time!

Make sure that you visit the restroom before you watch this. I can't believe I held it together to record it! Oliver had his 9 month well-baby visit yesterday and the Doctor said that he needs to eat more. He is in the 10th percentile for his weight. So, instead of feeding him the usual breakfast this morning, we fed him until he didn't want any more. Usually he eats cereal and one half of the Greber Stage 2 food containers. Today he ate a large bowl of oatmeal baby cereal and 2 and a half of the containers. I was shocked! I was waiting for him to tell me that he wanted more but Noggin was on in the background and I guess it was a little more entertaining. Feeding him took a little longer than normal, but as you can see from the video we were fighting sleepiness too! It is very precious!

What I woke up to! July 9th

This is what I woke up to this morning. I walked into his room and he was standing there with a huge smile on his face! I was shocked that he was actually standing in his crib! He just started crawling....this shouldn't be happening so soon! I turned away to go grab the camera and his mood instantly changed. So, the picture that I took is a little different that what I saw this morning, but you get the point of it.

July 5th! Freedom Festival

Our county has a Freedom Festival every year. This year it was on the 5th of July. We were excited that we were able to "double dip" on fireworks this year! Amanda still wasn't feeling well, so Steve and Ryan met us there after Maya was asleep. Here we all are on the blanket waiting!

Ryan and Oliver enjoying buddy time. Ryan has his arm around Oliver. too cute!

The fireworks began! From the picture you can see how close we were. It was almost scary! We had pieces of cardboard from the fireworks falling on us the whole time! Don't worry, they weren't on fire but next year we may bring safety goggles in addition to the ear protection! It was so much fun hearing the BOOM when each one was lit!

Oliver did not know what to think of the fireworks. The day before we really weren't able to hear them, but today we were able to feel them. To my shock, he wasn't scared, just unsure of how to react.

More pics of Oliver and Mommy. Aunt Christy was sooo good with her camera! Daddy and Oliver. He got very squirmy and daddy came in with the relief hold!

Oliver decided that he wanted to eat during the fireworks. Thank goodness it was dark and I had a blanket! whew! After eating he was very sleepy! I can't believe that he fell asleep with all of that noise. It ended up being a very fun day!

July 4th!

We had a very interesting 4th of July. It wasn't like the typical fourth! Some of our friends were out of town and the ones that were in town, were, lets say.... "under the weather." ba dum dum cha! Ironically, to match their sickness, we had the gloomiest weather. It rained, poured, thundered and stormed! We cooked cheeseburgers on the grill for lunch before the skies let loose. We had great plans to go to the River Concert Series (a concert that is offeredy by St. Mary's College of Maryland every Friday.) We were planning to take a picnic and a bottle of wine and enjoy the music and fireworks. All of these festivities were, of course, outside, so we decided to change our plans and drive a little bit to enjoy the fireworks from Solomon's Island. We figured that we could stay in our car and we weren't out any if they didn't even let them off. We gave Oliver a bath before we went just in case he fell asleep! Here we are on our porch before we left. You can see how gloomy it is outside. The picture was taken around 7:30ish. It doesn't get dark here until 9! We were right! He fell asleep on the way there.
And he awoke shortly after we parked the car.
Larry and Christy patiently waiting for the weather to clear up so we could enjoy some big boomers (not thunder boomers)!

The rain subsided about 20 minutes before the fireworks began. We ventured outside to set up our chairs. Look how comfy Larry looks. He actually fell asleep during the fireworks. I looked over at him and his eyes were closed. After mentioning his name he woke up! I guess he was too comfy! Next time he doesn't the chair that reclines with the foot rest.
Ollie and I all snuggled up and ready for the fireworks to begin. We were right on the water and the storm that had just passed made the temperature drop a couple of degrees and it was kind of chilly. Luckily, I had my favorite little boy to snuggle up with to keep me warm!
A funny picture of us still waiting.
Finally the fireworks began!