It's Snowing!!

This morning when I woke up it was nice and dry outside. But today while I was at my class, Dad came to pick me up early. He took me out to the car, and there was snow everywhere! And it was falling hard from the sky. This is a picture looking outside our backyard at the house behind us when Mommy and I got home this afternoon.

And here is Bella outside a few hours later...the snow is still falling! (You can't really tell in this picture, but it is still coming down) Bella loves the snow. She likes to run around and get rowdy in it. She's such a fun puppy!


Here I am playing with Dad. Dad got to come home early too because of the snow, so he's working a little bit from the couch. I'm trying to help him send emails, but he didn't think that was a very good idea. I really want that laptop!

My new sippy cup

Yesterday while Mommy and I were at Walmart, we picked out this new sippy cup for me. The one I had was okay, but Mommy didn't think it was the best one for me. So we thought we'd give this one a try. Well, we made a good choice because I really like it! Mommy and Dad helped me with it for a little bit. Then they set it down in front of me and I gave it a go. The following pictures show what I did all by myself.

I drank the water and everything! I got lots of praise from my parents. Sometimes you have to be careful with sippy cups, though, cause the water comes out of there kinda fast. It's easy to choke. I do pretty good, though. I sure like my new cup!

Playing with Dad

My Dad is so much fun to play with! We have a great time together. Every day when he comes home from work, I am so excited to see him! I smile real big, and then we play lots and lots. What a good Daddy I have.

Notice my new top tooth coming through!
Just me lookin' cute :)

Happy Birthday, Grandma Lou!

Today is Grandma Lou's birthday! In honor of her, I thought I'd post a picture of us from when I was two weeks old. Do I even look like the same baby?!? I hope you have a great day, Grandma Lou. I love you!!

I can crawl!!

As of this morning, I am an official crawler!!! Mommy was in on the computer, and Dad and I were in the living room. Dad called into Mommy and said, "I think he's getting the hang of this." Mommy came out just in time to see me for-real crawling! She got the video camera out and began rolling, so my first "crawls" are on tape (don't worry, Grandparents, you will get a copy :) ). Mommy said something about plug covers and keeping the floors super clean all the time - it's like they think their world is going to change!
And here I am playing with my music toy that Grandma Lou and Grandpa Jere got me for Christmas. It makes all kinds of music and is super fun to play with. My cousin Jamey came over yesterday to play, and he really liked playing with it too. I had fun sharing my toys with him.

I love bathtime!

Bathtime is one of my favorite times of the day. I love the warm water and playing with my bath toys. They are, of course, very fun to chew on.

Here I am playing for a little bit in my room before I got dressed this morning. If you could "hear" these next three pictures, you would hear lots of high-pitched squealing. Ever since yesterday, I love high-pitched squealing. It's my favorite noise to make right now. That, and "da-da-da-da-da-da". Of course my Dad loves that :)
Now that I'm getting mobile, I'm getting into a few more things. Here I am trying to pull on the basket on my changing table. Everything is just so interesting!
And here's my latest trick - getting into a push-up position on my hands and feet. It's my new favorite. Whenever I get on my belly, I go straight to my knees and then to this position. Then back down, and kick-kick-kick...then back up, etc. It's very good for the muscles; you should try it sometime!

Trying Finger Foods

This is my first attempt at trying finger foods. The ones I tried are kind of like cheerios, but they are made for babies. Mommy wasn't sure when I'd be ready to try such things, and everything talks about when I can use my "pincher grasp", and she's never seen me use it before. So she put a few pieces on my tray to see what I would do with them. I was very good with my pincher grasp (thumb and pointer finger together), but I didn't have any desire to put it in my mouth. I just liked looking at it when I picked it up. Mommy even put one in my cupholder on my tray, and I leaned forward to see it in there and picked it out of there. Mommy put a piece in my mouth to see what I would do, and I gave her a funny face and spit it right out. I guess I'm not quite ready for that yet! We'll keep practicing.

Trains, Baby Legs, and High Chairs

This is my new train that Papa and M'laine got me for Christmas! Mommy says this picture is a little bit misleading, because it makes me look like a really big boy who is driving around his train. What really happened is Dad sat me on it and was pushing me around (which was really fun, and I can sit up great on it!), and then he stepped out of the way for a picture. Regardless, I was quite enamored with the "horn", which makes the inside of the steering wheel spin with a bunch of balls inside it. I think I sure am going to like my train! And this is me wearing one of my presents from my Aunt Jenna - Baby Legs! They are great for keeping your legs warm without a bunch of extra material. These days while I'm practicing my crawling, it's easiest for me to practice without big baggy pants on, so my Baby Legs are perfect! We particularly like the argile print...thanks Aunt Jenna!

Speaking of crawling, I'm really coming along! Still not a true "crawler" yet, but oh so close. I've got my legs figured out pretty well, so now I am practicing working on my arms with my legs. I've done it a few times, but I continue to work hard! Mainly I like to pull my knees forward, and then lunge my upper body forward down onto my chest. It gets me all over the room!Today I almost went from a crawling position up to a sitting position - Mommy thought I was doing it, but at the last second, I let myself back down. One thing is true, I sure am a hard worker and continue to be a "mover and a shaker!"
This is just me looking cute in my high chair today after lunch. I'm doing so great with all my foods so far - we just added our first fruit to the mix of vegetables - pears! I'm quite the eater, and I continue to love my high chair. It's great for playing in, too!

All Better!

I am finally recovered from being sick for over 2 weeks! In this picture, my nose is still a little runny, cause it was taken last week. But I am all better now! It feels so good to be able to breathe through my nose again and drink my bottle normally. I'm back to eating and sleeping like a champ.

As seen in this photo, real cell phones are one of my favorite things to play with. The remote control is another at the top of my list. Why do parents bother to buy us toys?!? Probably because Mommy doesn't usually let me play with her phone, so I have to have something to play with! P.S. I got so many fun things for Christmas, and I am having so much fun playing with all of them! I'm sure we'll post pictures of me playing with my toys as the days go by. If only Mommy could remember to take pictures of me...

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Today is my Mommy's birthday! Daddy is still out of town and won't be back until the middle of the night, but don't worry; M'laine is staying with us and keeping us company til he gets back. Even though Dad is not here for Mommy's birthday, so many of Mommy's friends and family have called and emailed and sent cards to tell her "Happy Birthday". She feels so special and loved! We even got to go out to lunch with Mrs. Karen today to PF Changs - one of Mommy's favorites! I made sure to smile a lot at Mommy today so she would feel extra special and know how much I love her :)

Here are a few pictures of me from this past weekend.


My poor chapped skin under my nose from it being wiped so much while I was sick :(

Christmas and Road Trips

Well, I had quite the "first Christmas" this year. Everyone keeps asking Mommy and Daddy "how was Oliver's first Christmas?" with a smile on their face expecting to hear wonderful things. Mommy wishes she could tell them it was so much fun, cause it would be a lot easier to tell them that. But it would be a lie. Yes, a lie.

It started out okay...after I went to bed on the Friday night before Christmas, Mommy and Daddy had their own little Christmas together. Then it just went downhill from there. That whole week I had had the sniffles, but on Saturday, I got my first fever. Since my Dr. office wasn't open cause it was the weekend, Mommy didn't really want to take me to the ER unless it was absolutely necessary. Her very smart friend that's in med. school said I needed to go if I got a 103 degree temperature. They gave me tylenol and put me to bed, and at 2:30 in the morning, Mommy heard me talking and came to check on me. I was burning up, and when she checked my temp, it was 103. So she went and got Daddy, and we loaded up and went to the ER. The people there were super duper nice. I didn't have an ear infection, and the nice Dr. thought that I had a cold virus. She gave Mommy some prescriptions, and off we went to Walmart at 4:00 in the morning. By the time we got home at 4:20, Dad had an hour and a half to sleep until he had to get up to go to church and lead worship for 4 Christmas Eve church services. Mommy had been so excited to take me to church, but since all this happened, we couldn't go. Selfishly, Mommy was very sad we couldn't go.

The plan had been to leave right after Daddy finished with church and drive all they way to Colorado to Grandma Lou and Grandpa Jere's house just in time for Christmas morning. But my nasty fever wouldn't go down, and my parents didn't really want to get in the car for a 12 hour drive with me having a bad fever. So we waited. And waited. We had a good night on Sunday, and Christmas morning woke up well-rested. I still had a fever, but it wasn't quite as bad, so they decided to load up and go. We drove all day on Christmas day and got to Grandma and Grandpa's house at 9:30 that night.

Here I am on the way to Colorado. Whenever my fever would spike to 103 or 104, Mommy would put a cold washcloth on my head. I kind of liked it...it helped me cool off. I was very pitiful. And here is Bella in Mommy's front seat while Mommy was in the back with me keeping me company. Bella was very good in the car. So when we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house, we opened some presents and talked for a little bit. I had a pretty rough few days. I couldn't breathe through my nose cause it was so stuffy and runny, but while I slept, I tried and tried and tried to breathe through my nose. When it wouldn't work, I would whine and fuss and cry until Mommy picked me up, and then I would go right back to sleep in her arms. When she would try to lay me down, I would cry again. Mommy and Dad aren't huge advocates of me sleeping in bed with them, but this was a different story. I got to sleep with them for a few hours each night we were in Colorado. Mommy thought that me sleeping on an incline on the pillow might help, not to mention the fact that she was super tired and didn't want to hold me standing up. So, pretty much the whole time in Colorado, I was not very happy. I didn't really smile, and I was a little bit fussy. Not myself at all. Poor Grandma Lou and Grandpa Jere didn't really get to play much with me.

Then, another thing happened. There was a huge snow storm coming to Colorado for the second week in a row! It was gonna be a bad one. So, we had to leave a whole day and a half early to beat the storm. It was a good thing we did, cause we would have gotten stuck at Grandma Lou and Grandpa Jere's house if we hadn't left. So, we got out there a day late and left a day early, and I was sick the whole time! What a Christmas. Mommy and Daddy kept remembering that Christmas is really all about Jesus coming to the earth. This year was not about traditions for us. It was a little bit hard for Mommy and Daddy without any of their normal Christmas traditions, but they tried to keep good perspective. All in all, it was still really fun to get to see Grandma and Grandpa and cuddle with them for a few days.

I did so great on the car trip back home! It was a 12 hour drive, and I slept for 8 hours of it. I didn't sleep well in Colorado cause I couldn't breathe, so I was catching up on my sleep. Here is a picture of me when we got home, and this is pretty much what I looked like the whole way back!