It will change your life forever

You're becoming a little boy, showing us your independence, and communicating with us in different ways.  You recognize things and see things, that you never did before.   You're changing, growing up, you're not my little baby anymore.  It reminds me of this story I read recently on a friend's fb post.  It sums up everything I feel when I see and think of you.  But first, here are some recent pictures of you that make me smile every day.  :)

Cool dude

Playing in your new (bigger) playroom

Wearing your headphones while you ride your tractor.  This day, you would not go on your tractor without them.  You see Daddy wear them while he drives his tractor, so I'm sure you know you should wear them on yours.  :)

Visiting Great Grandma - so sweet!

Passed out after a busy day.  You melt my heart little man.  Always and forever.

In this story, I imagine your Grandma Jean saying it to me.  I know she tried to prepare me for everything that would come when you arrived, but no one can prepare you for the overwhelming love I feel for you.  My heart fills with so much joy every time I see you.  You are the most amazing thing in my life and I am glad you are mine.

"We are sitting at lunch when my daughter casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of starting a family. 'We're taking a survey," she says, half-joking.  'Do you think I should have a baby?' 'It will change your life,' I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral.  'I know,' she says, 'no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous holidays....'

But that's not what I mean, at all.  I look at my daughter, trying to decide what to tell her.  I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes.  I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will be vulnerable forever.

I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without thinking: 'What if that had been MY child?' That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt her.  That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die.  I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to the primitive level of a bear protecting her cub.

I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood.  Her own life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child.  She would give it up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to year for more years - not to accomplish her own dreams - but to watch her children accomplish theirs.

I want her to know that her relationship with her husband will change, but not in the way she thinks.  I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man who is careful to powder the baby or who never hesitates to play with his child.  I think she should know that she will fall in love with him again for reasons she would now find very unromantic.

I wish my daughter could sense the bond she will feel with women throughout history who have tried to stop war, prejudice and drunk driving.  I hope she will understand why I can think rationally about most issues, but become temporarily insane when I discuss the threat of nuclear war to my children's future.

I want my daughter to know that everyday decisions will no longer be routine.  That a five-year-old boy's desire to go to the men's rather than the ladies at McDonald's will become a major dilemma.  That, right there amidst the clattering trays and screaming children, issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the faint possibility of a child molester lurking under the urinal.

I want to describe to my daughter the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to ride a bike.  I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog or a cat for the first time.  I want her to taste the joy that is so real, it actually hurts.

'You'll never regret it,' I finally say.  Then I reach across the table, squeeze my daughter's hand and offer a silent prayer for her, for me, and for all the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this calling."

14 months old!

You're 14 months old today.  The last couple months have been filled with fun new things for us as you're trying lots of new things and surprising us every day.

1.  You moved to the infant 2 room at day care and for the month of May you are "infant of the month".  Ms. Dawn, your new teacher, put up a John Deere tractor to include all the fun facts about you and your pictures. With your change in room, comes new toys and some different people.  You love it though and when they make you move back to the infant 1 room at the end of the day, because there are not enough kids for both rooms, you cry.  I walked in to you having a melt down just last week because they would not let you stay in your room.

2.  Your favorite word right now is "DADDY!".

3.  Your favorite phrase is "what's this?" and you say it with a questioning inflection too.

4.  You respond to things we ask you to do.  For instance, tonight in the bath tub I said we should get you washed up, you reached for the wash cloth immediately and gave it to me to start the process.

5.  We purchased your first set of golf clubs today and Grandpa Charlie is ecstatic to teach you how to use them.

6.  Crawling through things if your favorite adventure.  Whether it be between the sofa and chair, through the dining room chair legs, or through our legs.  Tonight, you added a new one to the mix - trying to crawl through your walker.

7.  Speaking of your walker - you walk with it!  You are so proud of yourself as you do it too.  You also love to hold onto our hands and lead us around the house.

8.  Crunchy foods are your favorite with macaroni and cheese being a close second.  Tonight you ate a brat for the first time and seemed to like it.  We are making progress in the things you will consume.

9.  Crawling up the stairs is something you started to do recently.  Of course, you always make sure someone is behind you - I think you already know it would hurt if you fell down.

10.  We are excited for the weather to warm up again, because we heard from day care that you enjoy playing outside.  We weren't surprised since you love going on walks and runs with us in your stroller.

11.  At home, you really enjoy looking out the sliding glass door.  It'll be fun when our bigger family room/play room is done and we move to it because there is a sliding glass door that overlooks our back yard.  It'll be fun to see what you do when you see the deer or turkeys standing out back.

12.  You have your own cabinet in the kitchen.  We had to designate one with stuff that was safe for you to play with after we came home from Grandma and Grandpa Weber's where you got to play in all of their cabinets.  They sure love to spoil you.

13.  You love kids!  Yesterday we attended your first soccer game and you really enjoyed watching the kids play.  You were really excited while Peggy was holding you and her son, James' team scored a goal.  Both of you cheered and clapped your hands.

14.  Great Grandma Hallow and Grandma Jean came over to play yesterday and for dinner to celebrate Great Grandma's 93rd birthday.  You also were able to share Great Grandpa Jack's 90th birthday with him in April!  You love spending time with family and we enjoy seeing you interact with your cousins, aunts/uncles, grandparents, and all of our extended family!

Love you little man.  You're growing up so fast and surprising us every day!

From My Email Update Today...

Today was Dad's day at home with you for his day off this week and this is the email I received after lunch with a picture...

"I feel like I have been chasing him around all day and saying "no no Oliver." I guess you win this one little man. :)"

Of course this is not the kitchen cabinet we have designated for your use, but I guess it'll do today.  You don't seem to mind.  You are getting around like crazy lately and keeping us on our toes.  It's no wonder I haven't been good about updating your blog.

Love you little man!

You're a 1 year old!!!

 It's amazing to me that a year ago today (at this moment) I was sitting in the operating room and you were 4 minutes away from entering this world.  It's crazy to me to think that a year has passed since that day.  Last year, I started this amazing journey on being your Mom and my heart overflows with all the love I have for you.  I remember the morning of March 5, 2012.  I had spent some time catching up with a coworker and talking about parenting, asking questions, getting ready to prepare for when you arrived.  He told me that everything I was feeling then, would only grow bigger and you never really know how much joy there is in parenting, until you see your child and feel them in your arms.  Little did I know that that evening I would do just that and my heart would be filled to the brim with love for you.  I'm so happy to be your Mom little man and I cannot say it enough!  You are such a great addition to our family and you make every day better than the last.

Ok, enough of the sappy stuff...let's get onto all the things that you love to do.

1.  You are a stomach sleeper now.  Sometimes your butt is in the air, sometimes you're stretched out like superman.  Either way, you're on your stomach.

2.  You refuse to eat purees.  The only things you will eat now require you to grab them and put them in your mouth.  Although there is one exception - you do love yogurt.

3.  You're a crawler and you enjoy doing it, so much so that at the end of the day, your knees are red.

4.  You have really grasped the farm theme and love to play with your toys that focus involve farming stuff.

5.  Similar to number 4, you love wheels, more specifically, tractor wheels.  You will push your tractor back and forth in a semi circle for hours.

6.  When you hang out in your bedroom, you are all about your books.  You will pick one from the shelf and we will read it to you, but before we've even finished the first page, you're pulling off another one for us to read.  I'm hoping you'll grasp the concept soon that a book is longer than a page.

7.  You love to point at anything and everything.  It has become a game in our house.  Dad will pick you up, you will point somewhere and he will take you there, then you will point another place and off you two go.

8.  You enjoy getting into things you shouldn't - like the laundry basket filled with clean clothes.  Someday soon I hope you get the hang of folding the clothes and not just scattering them about the floor.

9.  You like to hold your bottle when you drink and most of the time, dislike when we hold your bottle.  You also like to tip your sippy cup as high as you can in the air.  We always tell you bottoms up...of course this causes you to take the sippy cup out of your mouth and smile.

10.  Your daycare sheet consistently has foods that we wonder how they get you to eat (hot dish, alfredo, or pancakes).  However, at home, you refuse to eat the good stuff we try to feed you (fruits and veggies).  Instead your favorites are graham crackers, lil crunchies, and yogurt bites.  Of course you've learned that you have to eat at least some of the good stuff before we will even consider giving you your favorites.

11.  You have become a master at getting your winter clothing off.  You mittens do not stand a chance of staying on your hands while we try to put your jacket on.  Not to mention, this past weekend you took off your head phones and hat during the middle of the hockey game.  You're sneaky.

12.  If we tell you no at any point during the day, you have a melt down.  This also happens if a toy gets taken away or you would rather play than get your diaper changed or get dressed.  You've definitely developed a fun personality.

So Happy 1st Birthday little man!  Thanks for changing our lives and filling our hearts with so much love.  We love you to the moon and back...again and again and again....

First Haircut

You got your first haircut on Friday (3/1/2013).  Your hair has been growing so much over the past year that we thought we'd better get it cut before your birthday party this weekend (more on that later).  Not to mention, Grandpa Charlie and Grandpa Nick were coming and each one has made several comments about the length of your hair.  So off we went and even though I've said it before as you've grown over the last year...you really look like a little boy instead of a baby.

Before

During the haircut.  As a note, you made it 12 minutes.  Christina the lady who cuts both Mom and Dad's hair said that she normally has 7 minutes before she needs to be done with a little kid's hair.  We were impressed you even let the cape go on and the process start.

After

Love you little man!

11 months old!!

You're 11 months old today and I seem to have a harder time believing your age as the months go by.  Where has our time together gone?!  In 28 days you will be 1 year old.  Yikes!

1. You LOVE cheese puffs.  You start to get excited when we get up from feeding you purees and when we pull out the canister, you scream and clinch your fists with extreme excitement.

2. You will do anything on the changing table, but let someone change you.  Mostly you like to roll over and then peek over the side of your changing table to see what's going on down below.

3.  You back into corners or underneath things - so much so that I wonder if we will be able to get you out of those places at times.

4. Your favorite place to play at daycare is behind the jumpers or underneath the chairs.  Dad has arrived to pick you up and found you underneath a chair, with a baby sleeping in it.  You're such a troublemaker.

5. You scoot - backwards most times, but you're getting better at forwards.

6. You like to rock backwards in your high chair.  You tend to do it so hard that the front legs of the chair come off the ground.  This normally gets a response from Dad or I that includes no Oliver, you're going to hurt yourself.  Your response is of course to smile and start doing it all over again.

7.  Dad had to move down your crib mattress because you pull yourself up now.

8. Your new favorite word is mama.

9.  Skyping has become a normal weekly event.  If we haven't done it for a few days, you generally will crawl over to where the computer sits and look at it to see if anyone is in the screen.  At this point I know you want to see Grandma Jean, Grandpa Charlie, or Grandma and Grandpa Weber.

10.  Upon waking in the morning, you say "HI!" to all of your animals that sit on the floor in your room.  You also say "HI!" when we come down the stairs to the living room to all the animals that stay in the living room for you to play with.

11.  The vacuum horrifies you.  It does not even have to be on and you freak out.

Happy 11 month birthday little man.  Love you to the moon and back.

Crackers, Weekend up North, Play dates, and Baths...

Well the last couple weeks have kept us plenty busy with new things for you and enjoying the start to 2013.



Crackers...
The first part of the blog comes from what we heard from Ms. Carrie at daycare.  We have been trying to introduce more solid foods and when I say solid foods, I mean non puree solid foods - like puffs, cheerios, and crackers.  Well last Tuesday night, Dad and I noticed on your paper for the day that we get from daycare, that you had eaten crackers during the day.  Needless to say, we were stunned.  So on Wednesday morning, Dad asked Ms. Carrie how you did with it, what kind of cracker it was, and what was the trick (since we were not having any success at home).  Well here is what Dad heard, you were sitting at the base of the high chairs while your classmates were eating (all of them getting crackers) and you kept holding up your hands in a gesture that you wanted one.  So Ms. Carrie gave you one and you held it up all proud and excited, waving it around for everyone to see, and every time someone walked by.  She did say, you didn't really eat much of it and basically just crushed it on your hands, which got a little messy when you were handed your sippy cup with water.  Since that time, we've put puffs, cheerios, and crackers on your tray and while you do not do much with them (you basically suck on them), it's fun to watch you wave them around and get excited about them.  We are hoping soon, you'll put them in your mouth and gobble them all up.

Weekend up North and Playdates...
We, you and Mom, spent the weekend up north at Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Jean's house.  We decided to head up north to see them since we have not been there since July and also so Mom could spend the day with one of her best friends, Lindsay, for a spa day.  So Saturday, you spent the day with Grandpa and Grandma and Mom got a massage and pedicure.  We had a great time up north with Grandma and Grandpa.  You were such a trooper, eating in a different high chair and playing with only a few of your toys.  Not to mention, sharing a room each night with Mom while you slept.  You also had a play date with Lindsay's sons' Henry and Charlie.  You were mesmerized by them when they came to visit and shared your toys with them to play.  Here are some pictures of our weekend visit...

Excited to be out of the car and hanging out with Grandma

Hanging out with Grandpa

Sharing your football with Charlie

Playing with Charlie and Henry

Bath Time

Finally, your hair is getting long.  We've been talking about how we will wait to cut it until your helmet is off full time, but now that your helmet is off part time we kind of like your hair as it is.  I'm sure it'll get long soon enough and we will have to get it trimmed, but until then, we will have fun at bath time like we did last night.  Here are some fun pics from your play time in the tub.

Love you little man, you're getting big and keeping us busy each day.