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: