Fall is Here

Well, we went from Summer to Fall in 4 days.  Labor Day was hot and sweaty, less than a week later I was pulling out sweaters.  Oliver is embracing Fall by embracing his blankie that Grammy Anne sent him.  It's fleece, so I pulled a tricky Mom move and cut in in half.  It's still big enough to serve it's purpose, but now I can wash one half and let him have the other (and he trips over it less).  

Speaking of embracing Fall, we went apple and pumpkin picking last Saturday.  It was so much fun! Oliver was in love with the pumpkins, and spent quite a bit of time sitting among them, on them and rolling over them.  We went with some friends who's son is one day older than Oliver (but I swear this kid could bench press Oliver- he's so strong!).  The two of them shared the wagon for a bit and both had fun frolicking in the fields (and running under the apple trees, making them hard to follow). 

And in Fall craft news, this masterpiece came home from daycare last Friday.  It was covered in a pound of glitter.  

The sun may be setting earlier, but days are still long.  At the end of the day, Oliver likes to be goofy:

And Peter zonks out on the floor next to the dog.  

Oh- and an update on words and such.  We have added: why, water, apple, cookie, Daddy (DAD-DEEE) and help.  "No" continues to be a favorite.  He has also learned how to jump and is especially proud of this feat.  He continues to be very attached to me, going so far as to cry for Mama if Peter picks him up when I am in the room.  It will pass...  It's a little frustrating, but we can ride this out with patience and some reassurance (to both Oliver and Dad-dee).  He does mostly ok at daycare drop-off.  It helps if I get him seated next to his friend and put a pouch of yogurt in front of him.  Oddly enough, there are more tears at pick-up.  I think he realizes that he hasn't seen me all day and gets mad about it.  Yesterday we had our first tantrum that involved leg kicking and throwing himself on the ground, flailing.  That was not fun, but I was proud that I didn't lose my cool.  They say the "terrible twos" can start as early as 18 months.  So- I guess we are right on track.  That's good, right???

Summer Wrap-up

The Blue Hill Fair is this weekend, so I guess that means it's the end of summer.  We've tried to back in a much summer-y stuff as we could handle.  Here are some of our latest exploits.

Oliver loves the tractor and begs to go outside and get on it. We're taking him to the Antique Tractor Pull at the Fair on Friday.  I think he's going to love it (and the french fries he will get to eat). 

This is what he usually look like at the end of the day.  I look worse.  

And then in the morning- full of goofy smiles and Cheerios.



Oliver got to visit a house I worked on.  He was more interested in the rocks in the driveway.  Oh well.



Oh- and Peter and I have managed a few date nights.  Here is Arcade Fire at the Bangor Waterfront.  Excellent show and excellent people watching.




Mmmmm.  Goldfish.



At Naskeag Point.




Jumping!




Aaannnddd running!

Typical mornings...

This picture sums it up. 

Oliver and the Driveway Walk

Yes- he's walking.  And he has a few words- cah cah (car car), nana (banana), uh-oh and... MINE (which kinda sounds like Mom, but he points to himself for emphasis).  Next up will probably be NO, followed by a bad word that will embarrass me when he says it over an over in public.

Oliver and the typical afternoon

This is pretty much only interesting to family members (and maybe not even then...). But- if you just want to watch Oliver for 4 minutes, here you go!



 

Holidaze- July 4th Edition

What a weekend- a parade, a storm, a major power outage...  Holidays seem to be particularly cursed around here.  Either natural disasters or major illnesses abound.  Oh well, we still had a really fun weekend.

Friday we set off for the Brooklin parade.  It is longer than the Blue Hill Memorial Day parade, which means it lasts about 15 minutes instead of 10.  :)  Heh.  It was fun, though and Oliver LOVES fire trucks.  Any trucks, really.  Or trains. Or tractors.  The atmosphere was festive, relaxed and fun.  A real slice of Americana.  I loved it.

We went home and finally played in the kiddie pool.  The fun game was to toss toys out of the pool, climb out, throw toys back in, then climb in covered in dirt and grass.  The rain started by early evening, but we got in a lot of outdoor play time before then.  

Saturday morning was stormy.  We all woke up at 7am (we were tired from the day before).  The power was out, so we had a leisurely breakfast of Cheerios and milk. Thankfully the milk was in a bottle, not on the Cheerios.  

We packed up and then headed out to Bangor.  Target was almost empty- that was pretty awesome.  We also checked out an indoor play zone in Brewer.  Oliver loved it.  He took off and climbed right in without even looking back to see if I was following (I was.  Closely.). Best $4 activity ever.  We will definitely be going back. 

We were disappointed that the power was not back on when we got home (and really sad when I checked and our restoration time had been pushed all the way back until Tuesday).  

Sunday was absolutely beautiful- sunny, breezy, warm.  Still no power but we headed out and had a picnic at Thompson Island (the little island you drive over on your way to MDI).  It's part of Acadia and a nice picnic spot.  Oliver was practicing using a fork, stabbing at pieces of chicken from what I am calling the 'Murica Bucket from Walmart.  I hadn't noticed until after I ordered it that is was three pounds of food.  Most of it is still in our fridge.  

After eating we headed down onto the beach.  It was low tide, so we stayed up at the top of the beach in the rocks.  We found a little (uninhabited) tide pool and Oliver had fun moving the pebbles around.  In and out of the pool, back and forth along the beach.  

We ended the weekend by practicing Selfies.  I'm making sure Oliver learns all the important things.  

Mom and Dad had gone to Northern Maine for the weekend, and when they got back on Sunday afternoon we were just learning that my Mom's very dear friend Pam had passed away suddenly.  So, please take this as a reminder to call your loved ones, hug them and let them know you love them.  Those of you that were at our wedding may remember Pam as the exuberant lady who did the flowers. She was a fiercely spirited and kind woman.  Generous and loving.  Amazing horticulturist.  Funny and made a great cup of coffee. We'll miss you. 

Oliver and the goofs

I don't know how we've made it this far without him needing stitches- he's quite the roughhouser.

He's taken a few shaky first steps, but is walking pretty well while holding onto just one on my hands. Plus- he's cruising around holding onto furniture pretty quickly.  He's also figured out how to climb up on most things.

We've been spending a lot of time outside, either at the town park or now, at home on his new swing!  The swing set only has one swing, but we'll add some other stuff, including a slide soon.  He's really thrilled to have his own swing.  Big grins are the best.  And of course giggles- enjoy the video of Oliver being a goof 15 minutes past his bed time on Saturday night:

Almost Summer

Watching Daddy drive away on the tractor. 

He's One! He's Standing! Spring is finally Here!

Ok, this post is a long time coming, much like Spring was this year.  Seriously, I sort of feel like Christmas was just a few weeks ago, partially because winter just dragged on and on this year.

It is finally Spring here, though.  The peas and spinach are planted, my perennials are coming up and mulch is on sale at Home Depot (Peter- don't forget to pick some up!).

So, Oliver turned one, and it was a blast.  We went to Disney for a few days (shoulda stayed longer!) and got to see Grammy Anne, Papa Jay, Auntie Kat, Uncle Jason, Aunt Jen and the cousins- Andrew, Emily and Nick.  Getting there was somewhat harrowing, though.  I had booked a flight from Bar Harbor on a teeny-tiny plane, connecting with Jet Blue in Boston.  Well, the morning of the flight, we left the house at an ungodly hour, drove to Bar Harbor in the rain and promptly almost fell right on my butt as I got out of the car.  The parking lot was a sheet of ice.  Uh oh.  We hung out at the tiny airport for a few hours, but the flight was just not happening.  Luckily Cape Air is awesome, and they got us rebooked out of Bangor on a US Air flight. Off to Bangor we went, and after delays, a connection and another delay we made it to Orlando.  It had been a 15 hour day when we got on the Magical Express and as soon as the bus started moving Oliver face planted into my arm and fell asleep. (I was so tired that when the nice Disney employee asked me about my friend I was so confused- I had forgotten I had a dragon puppet on my hand!)

The next morning we headed out to Animal Kingdom for a little fun (and a roller coaster!). Anne wrangled Oliver and the rest of us (Peter, Kat, Jay and myself) took a few rides on Everest and did the safari.  Besides a few grumps because he was still super tired, Oliver loved the sights and sounds.  Oh- and he loved his new Mickey Mouse stroller fan.

The rest of the time at Disney was spent hanging out, shopping and SWIMMING!  The weather was absolutely perfect- hot, but not too hot.  Oliver was sort of wary of the pool at first, but after 10 minutes, he was all in.  He loved, loved it.  We will definitely be getting him a baby pool for splashing in this summer.

On Thursday evening, we had a party for Oliver, which included a very colorful smash-cake.  I really wasn't sure what Oliver would do- ignore it, take a tiny bite?  BUT- as soon as it was placed near him, he went for it.  Frosting for Mommy! Frosting for Daddy! Frosting for Oliver!  It was a riot (and messy, thank goodness for OxiClean!).

We left early the next morning, and flew back to Maine (this time we got to get on the teeny tiny plane). Oddly enough, the small plane was the best flight for Oliver- he fell right asleep.  He did pretty well overall- no major fits, but he really wasn't that thrilled with having to stay on our laps for so long.  A lot of Cheerios were consumed.

That weekend we had another party for Oliver.  He got to see his little buddies Simon, Annabelle and Corbin.  It was a chaotic time, but oh so fun.

Unfortunately, that was the end of our fun times for a while.  That night I got a kidney stone which sent us to the ER.  I ended up spending the rest of the week on pain killers and had surgery to break up the stone that Saturday.  All was well for a week, then Oliver got really sick.  It was just a cold, but it turned into something like asthma- his lungs were inflamed.  Apparently, since he had RSV earlier in the winter, this was a continuation of that.  His lungs just hadn't fully recovered yet.  He needed nebulizer treatments, but they worked.  Last week he got sick again- this time with a fever of 104.  We still don't really know what caused it, but he is on antibiotics, since the Dr's best (educated) guess was a bacterial infection.

Before he got sick this last time, we managed to have a lovely Mother's Day.  Coffee in bed, baby snuggles, a walk along the ocean and a BBQ lunch.  It was perfect weather- I really couldn't have asked for a better day.

So, a lot of ups and a few downs in the past few months.  We've also been missing GrandMere- she was in North Carolina with my new nephew, Miles.  And now she has gone to Italy and France with GrandPere!

We're looking forward to next weekend and Memorial Day.  We are planning on marching in the parade with Oliver and his red Radio Flyer wagon. Hopefully he won't use that as an excuse to practice standing in a moving vehicle.  Oh yes- he is standing unsupported now.  He spent all weekend practicing.  He stands up, slowly lets go of the sofa, or toy, or chair and then gets this giant grin on his face.  Sometimes he falls over, but he's getting better.  He is swaying slightly and moving his arms around- testing his balance.  Next up- standing and dancing!  Right now his dance moves are limited to a seated bounce and some clapping.  If I can get a video of the dancing, I will.  It is beyond cute and awesome.

Onward to Summer time!!!

Flipping around

I've been messing around with this App called Flipagram.  It's kind of addictive and fun.

Not a real post...

Proper post to come- First Birthday, Disney, etc...

For now, here is a picture that conveys what the last few weeks have been like:

Hurrrr....

Conversation with Oliver this morning:

Me: I love you!
Oliver: Guh. Hur, hurrr.
Me: Oh, yeah, I love you, too Oliver, but I was talking to that imaginary giant cup of coffee.

Yeah... he woke up at 3am and decided it was party time.  No fever, no poopy diaper, he wasn't really hungry.  Just babies being babies I guess. He likes to keep us on our toes.  Or flat on our faces.

Ok, back to my real giant cup of coffee...

Bits and pieces

Nothing major to report here, but thought I would share a few bits and pieces from the last few weeks.  Winter is still very much here, but we're dreaming about spring.  I can't wait to be able to get outside with Oliver. Mostly we just rush from the house to the car, trying to stay warm and not slip on the ice.  We did get a bigger snowsuit from a friend, so I think we will make use of that this weekend and get some fresh air.  The snowsuit I bought in the fall is of course too small now.  Here is Oliver on his sled- he thought this was pretty fun, and I tried to not have a heart attack as he went down the tiny hill. Next year he will be able to get out and run around in all the white stuff. 

Mostly we play inside.  Current favorites are: stacking cups (still the best $10 spent on toys!), his little wooden tractor, a dump truck and his walker thingy that makes all sorts of noises and doesn't stop until you shut it off (thank you jeebus for off switches!). 

He still loves to eat, and I've been trying to give hime some new things so we don't get stuck in a rut. This is the face he makes when trying new things, though (here, a piece of a chocolate chip cookie):

Here he is, finally smiling after a few days of grumpy-ness (4 upper teeth are trying to poke through, plus he's forever slightly sick with a cough or runny nose). Check out those little bottom teeth and the crazy hair-tuft.  Oh- and he's in his Wisconsin onesie our friend Sara bought him. You can't see it, but at the bottom it says "Tiny and Tough". Indeed. 

p.s. This is the face he's been making quite a bit lately:

Movin' Right Along!

Well, he's moving now... between a few cruising steps and his own belly sliding technique, he's finally getting somewhere.  Yesterday he also figured out how to go from his belly to a sitting position, which is great, because his preferred method for sitting up was to just cry until someone lifted him back up. Well, great until he scooted under a chair and then sat up and bonked his head.  A lot of head bonking happening- I am so grateful for soft, bouncy cork floors that are heated!







And a few pictures from his recent adventures:

Muffins and Cherrios at the hotel continental breakfast

Hotel life in Boston for a quick visit with friends

New big-boy car seat gets the ultimate seal of approval.

Look, Ma! I'm helping!

Tickle Monster gloves!

Nom!!!! First spaghetti was a moderate success. He liked playing with it, ate some, but had a hard time chewing it. 

Oliver and Chip striking a pose (hat courtesy of Jay).

Really, I am surprised all these masks and hats don't terrify him (but apparently, Unicorn hand puppets are SO SCARY!) 

Playing with everything at once.

Ahhhhh!!!!  What's up with my awesome hair????

Not impressed... (actually, he likes this quite a bit). 

We've been having fun this week, which has been very welcome since we had a rough go with some RSV and an ear infection a few weeks ago.  I think Oliver handled being sick a lot better than Peter and I did.  I was freaking out at his 102 temperature and the horrible cough.  Oliver just wanted to sleep and cuddle (under other circumstances that would be AWESOME- this kid hates to nap and doesn't sit still long enough for a proper cuddle).

Oliver is giving out his first Valentines to all his daycare buddies this week.  I have been scouring Pinterest for ideas and I think I have landed on socks for the babies and teachers, Goldfish crackers for the other kiddos.  So fun.  He actually has a friend there- little Rowen crawls over to him and grabs his hand.  GAH!  So cute.  It's sad that he isn't a bitty baby any more, but the new adventures are pretty awesome.  Only 53 days until he is 1.  Sniff.  :)