Oliver is 7 Months

Oh man, life has been crazy. It is hard to find time to write on the blog.  But if I can at least do a monthly update, I am happy.

Our sweeeet boy is 7 months old.  Goodness I love him more and more everyday.  He is definitely out of that newborn stage and I love it.  I love his little personality and smiles and "talking".

                               

Here are some new tricks that Oliver has picked up this last month:
-When he wants to be picked up he gets this very serious determined face, looks straight forward, and flaps his arms up and down like a bird waiting for someone to come get him.
-He can sit up by himself.  The only thing that scares me is that when he gets tired of sitting up he just flails his body backwards unexpectedly.  This usually results in him bumping his head into something or slamming it on the hard carpet.  So when he is on the floor I definitely have pillows behind him.
He can roll over both ways finally.  Ollie is a late bloomer.  But now when I try to get him to do tummy time, he knows he can roll over, so he gets out of it.  And he mostly rolls over on his tummy when he is really reaching for a toy.

Here he is on his tummy.

-He loves kicking his legs ALL THE TIME.  When we are holding him, when he is standing with our assistance on the floor, when he is laying down.  He cracks me up.
-When he gets excited he punches his little hand on us.
-He loves grabbing my hair and ripping it out.  Also grabbing my face and chewing on my jaw line.  Really awkward... :)

-Ollie really likes playing with his feet--so fascinating:

-He is into exploring faces now.  When someone picks him up he looks at them and usually grabs their face and explores it.
-When we are on a walk now he is so curious about EVERYTHING around him.  He usually folds himself in half to stare at the ground and try to reach it.  He also tries to grab for everything we walk by, even if it is not near us.  I put him right up to the wall so he can touch it and he just sat there patting it looking SO happy, occasionally glancing at me giving me smiles.

-He is so funny when it comes to other kids.  A little family from our ward came over to borrow a few movies from us and they have a little almost 2 year old and 3 year old.  Oliver was SMITTEN by the 2 year old girl.  He loved everything she did.  She would giggle and Oliver would just crack up.  I've never seen him like that.  It made me laugh.  When it comes to being around kids his age, he is a hair and face grabber.  He just loves exploring other's faces. Unfortunately he hurts the other kids. haha
-Ollie does think EVERYTHING daddy says or does is HILARIOUS.  It cracks me up.  Here they are.. little buddies.

-He is eating solids a LITTLE better.  He likes the food we eat better than his baby food.  So a lot of time I just squish it up really well and give him what we eat.  I think he likes the flavor and texture. I gave him yogurt this month which caused his little face to break out in little white spots and red splotches wherever the yogurt was touching his face. Me, being the paranoid momma I am, started freaking out.  He fell asleep and I watched him and it went away within 30 min.  I called the pediatrician and he said it sounds like Contact Dermatitis, which isn't a huge concern and to try giving dairy again when he is closer to age 1 and it will probably have gone away (I hope so).

                                           

-SLEEP TRAINING>Thanks to some amazing mom friends who gave me the knowledge and courage to sleep train Oliver, I got the guts to give it a try.  I can not believe the improvement we have seen.  I have found if I feed him and let him fall asleep while eating, he gets gas bubbles in his tummy that are uncomfortable and he doesn't sleep very sound (for naps AND at night).  So I try to feed him like 30 min before his nap time so he is not hungry while sleeping, but has time to burp it all out.  The first success was getting him to go to sleep for the night on his own.  He has kind of set his own bedtime, because he gets consistently EXHAUSTED around 7 every night! So I would lay him down and let him cry for 30 min.  If he cried longer I would go in.  BUT only cried longer than 30 minutes once.  Now when I lay him down at night he doesn't even cry (usually), he just snuggles him with his silky and crashes out.  My next goal was to get him to stop waking in the middle of the night.  I told myself I would allow one night waking after 3 AM if he needs to eat (because that is a long time to not eat for his little belly). So I would let him cry if he woke in the night and it worked!  He actually slept all night for the first time EVER the other day! From 7 till 6:30 AM.  It was AWESOME!  Now we are working on naps.  My friend told me about a 3 hour nap schedule--count down 3 hours from when he wakes up and put him down for another nap.  It actually has worked! And he is a lot happier baby when he is well napped.  And he is letting me lay him down awake and falls asleep on his own.  I just try to do the same bed time routine every time he falls asleep. We read a story, sing a primary song, and say prayers at night.  This is just such a huge deal to me because I LOOOVE my sleep and I feel like I am a better mom when I am well rested :).

-Ollie is in a new carseat because he is too big lengthwise and weight for his infant carseat.  It was a bit of an adjustment for him at first because he has to sit up more, but now he loves it because he can play with toys easier and look around.  

Oliver and I went on a little date to Yogurtland. I got a free 5 oz coupon (sweet:).  In case you don't know, I am a frozen yogurt addict.  We grew up having a tab at a yogurt place (that my grandpa started and then my dad took over) so we would go in ALLL the time and just say "put it on the tab".  It was awesome.  But because of that I looovvvee yogurt.  I was going to wear him in the carrier, but decided he is way to big for it.  Darn.  

I had a not so pleasant surprise when we got to library time.  So for some reason Oliver's new carseat is a perfect pooping position for him.  He poops a lot when sitting in that thing!  Well I get him out to go to the library and smelt something foul.  Turn him around and BOOM.  Yay...

 Oliver trying on Dad's hat.  Such a cute little hat guy!

Some things that have been going on with Dave and I...

The dental hygienist at the office that Dave works at had to take Monday off and asked me to temp.  Here is the perfect thing about that.  Dave's dentist does not work Mondays or Fridays.  Hygiene treatment can still be scheduled on those days that the dentist is not in.  So I went in on Monday, Dave went in with me and did some cleaning and watched Oliver at the office.  We set up his pack n play in one of the rooms and he took his regular naps and I was able to feed him between patients.  It was PERFECT.  I really do enjoy working a half day.  A full day would be too much, but I love that I am able to bring Oliver with me.  They are so flexible at that office.  So we are trying to talk the office into letting me work every Friday for 2-4 hours.  That can help us out financially a lot.  I make triple what Dave makes right now.  So in working 3 hours I can make what it takes dave to make in 9 hours.  So if there is any opporunity for me to work, I think I should as long as Oliver can go with me and it doesn't make me leave him all day.  :).  For our lunch break we went to in-n-out.  The worker just loved oliver and got him a little In-N-Out hat.  Another one of my favorites, LOVE In-N-Out.  Also grew up eating there in Havasu!  It is one of my dad's favorite restaurants because the menu is so simple and he doesn't have to stress.  :)

Dave goes to his interview in Colorado THIS WEEK!  So in preparation of that, he has been working out and on a slow carb diet so he can look good.  Here are some of the meals we have prepared while on the diet: 

One of our favorite ways to load on the vegetables is to make foil dinners. We add a bunch of seasoning and veggies and chicken and it is so easy and delicious!

Dave found a recipe for an indian dish called Tiki Masala.  It was pretty good!  And instead of eating it over rice, we food processed and sautéed cauliflower and I thought it was a nice substitute! 

Spaghetti Squash with marinara sauce and meatballs.  It is actually pretty good! A little time consuming to prepare, but not bad.

A delicious breakfast--bacon, eggs, cottage cheese, avacado, and homemade refried beans! YUM.

Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wraps

So Dave and I went on our Second Date (We went on a small one in Havasu before) since Oliver was born. Dave got a 'secret shopper' thing to Texas Roadhouse where we go eat there, evaluate our experience, and then they reimburse us.  Cool huh?! Free food! We put Oliver to sleep around 7 and a good friend from our ward came over and did his hw just in case ollie woke up.  Well everything went great, Ollie slept soundly and we were able to go get some yummy steak. Dave's favorite is the sweet rolls and butter they have. Then after that we rented Iron Man 3. It was a fun night.

This weekend was general conference. I love conference but really struggle staying awake. Ollie had naps during both sessions so i crashed out.  If i stop moving i fall asleep.  But I made a goal to listen to 2 talks a week and take notes on things I need to work on. We went down to Thatcher Sat after Dave's class. We had a fun girls night during priesthood session.  A few of Dave's aunts came over and we ate pizza and dessert, played games, and went to sonic! Dave and I both decided that when we go down to our family's houses we forget about all our 'real life stress' and so it is always a wake up call when we get back in town and have bills to pay, a house to clean, meals to plan and cook, work to do, classes to study for. haha Oh well, such is life! Anyway, excited for the upcoming months because it is HOLIDAY TIME!  Halloween is around the corner then Thanksgiving and Christmas :).

The last bit of news that happened this month is I got a new church calling!  I am no longer assistant canning director.  I am not second counselor in the Young Womens.  I did not realize this was such a big calling until I dove into it.  The church really has a lot of programs and resources for helping the young women.  I am over the 12 and 13 year olds (beehives) and get to teach lessons (they have a new teaching technique that I am trying to learn), plan and attend weekly activities, monitor their personal progress, have 4 different presidency meetings every month (one with the little beehive presidency, one with my advisor, one with the YW presidency, and one with all the young women board), attend occasional temple baptisms, firesides, dances, and conferences, and accept and plan a presentation for new beehives.  I'm sure there are more duties I'm not thinking of.  But holy cow.  It is hard enough for me to cook and clean with little Oliver around, but not I have to try to magnify my calling.  I'm excited about my calling and love my little beehives.  They are actually very sweet! They are all from newly member or less active families so I have a lot of influencing to do.  And I have seen the Lord blessing me already. One of my biggest concerns is that Oliver has always had me to put him to sleep and watch him and now on mutual nights Dave has to do it. And he has to watch him when I have meetings.  Oliver has down amazingly well.  He goes right to sleep for Dave and is happy as can be when he is watching him.  I know that is a blessing from the Lord.  Well speaking of YW, I better go, I have a lesson to plan!

Oliver is 6 Months Old!

My Dear Sweet Ollie Bug is 6 months old.  Half a year has flown by!  He is such a good sweet boy and I love him to pieces.  We went to the doctor for his 6 month check up and shots.  Here are his stats:
Weight: 20 lbs 6 oz (90%)    Length: 29 1/2" (>97%)     Head: 47 1/2 cm (>97%)
Although I have a large boy, he is still consistent.  Although his weight dropped off a little bit.  I have a feeling as he becomes more active he will slim down.

Some fun facts about Oliver:
-He is such an outdoor boy (just like his cousin Trent).  I take him on daily walks mostly because he loves them so much.  He can be super cranky sometimes, but as soon as we walk out that door he just stops and looks around.  I have never had him cry during a walk, he is always content.
-He loves feeling things with his little hands.  He scratches at most anything to feel different textures.  This includes my face and hair.  I have had some nice scratches on my face and a lot of hair loss by his account.
-Oliver loves giving open mouth kisses. He has a STRONG grip and grabs my face or hair and pulls me in.  He also likes munching on my jaw line (which is quite a new experience, never had someone do that before).  I give him a LOT of kisses throughout the day because he is just so cute, and I think he is mimicking my behavior when he grabs our faces and pulls it in.  Unfortunately his way of doing it hurts!
-Oliver has begun sitting up pretty much by himself.  Sometimes when he has had enough he will thrust his head backward full force to lay down, so I still have to help him sit, or prop pillows around so he doesn't hurt himself.  He also has fallen face forward flat into the ground.  So he is still learning how to steady himself.
-He is the funniest sleeper.  I haven't seen him roll over from back to tummy yet, but he did in his crib once!  I went in there and he was sleeping on his belly!  He cracks me up!  He also really likes sleeping on his side with his legs stretched out to the left (touching the side of the crib with his little feet).  We have weaned him off of swaddling and so I gave him a little silky handkerchief that my mom gave me to calm him down.  I think it reminds of me and the undergarments I wear. He always sleeps with it right up on his face!  We have been working on sleep training Oliver so he doesn't get up as much during the night and so he will go down for naps easier.  It has been ROUGH having to listen to him cry, but he has usually been able to calm himself down within 15 minutes.  If he wakes up in the middle of the night, I usually let him calm himself down and go back to sleep.  But if it is after 3 AM I will feed him because I think he still needs one feeding to get him through the night (it is 10-12 hours after all).

Here is Oliver snuggling up tight with that hankie.  He always leaves just enough of a gap to breath.  

Oliver sleeping on his side

Oliver sleeping on belly

-Oliver still loves looking at himself in the mirror.  He can just sit there for like 10 min and stair and swat at himself.  When he is around other children he goes for their hair and face and so we can't get too close.  During labor day at Dave's cousin's house, Oliver kept grabbing their 1 year old daughters hair.  She was brave for daring to come near.
-Oliver has become quite stubborn about eating.  I usually will take like 2 bites semi-willingly (with a gentle shove in the mouth from me).  Then when he doesn't want it he just turns his head and looks at something in the other direction like it is the most fascinating thing he has ever seen.  He uses this tactic to act like he doesn't know that I am sitting there with a spoon.  He thinks if he doesn't look it will go away.  But he is sloooowly making progress.  2 bites is better than 0.  So we will continue to try to work our way up.  I do have to say that green beans is the first food that he willingly opened for a few times.  So he better not tell me in the future that he doesn't like green beans!

The new high chair that grandma got Ollie so he could sit at the table with us.

Oliver and I went for our weekly baby time at the library and it was CANCELLED! :(  So we decided to go browse around and read a few books.  I found a book called Oliver. haha.  So we read it, and I decided it will probably not be one we buy for our collection because it is about an antisocial kid and his only friends are his puppets and he doesn't everything with them.  After taking this picture I noticed that Dave's cousin girl was in the background (pink shirt).  They had just showed up!  So we got to spend some time with them.

These photos are for Aunt Liz (Mini Cooper is her favorite car)!  We went to a mini cooper dealership because they sent us something in the mail that said if we came in and test drove a car that they would give us a $25 gift card to Starbucks.  Free hot cocoa or coffee free frappucinos! Yes Please.  So we went into the kids room while Dave drove a car and there was this cute little mini.  Oliver had fun in it!


We had some LOVELY weather and decided to go to a nice park and walk around.  Oliver had his first experience in a swing and going down a slide.  I don't know if he new what was going on exactly. But in the swing he kept kicking his legs and grunting.

Another nice day and we walked to the park nearby and decided to chill on the grass for awhile.  Dave and I had a little toy soccer ball that we were playing with and Oliver really enjoyed sitting there watching us.  It was so fun! I can't wait until Oliver can join in on the fun!

We love play dates! I have made some friendships with a few ladies in past wards we have been in here in Tucson and they have babies a little older than Oliver.  It is so nice to get together with other moms and exchange advice and stories.  Here is a picture of us on our way to our play date.

Oliver has began to hate to be strapped down.  In the stroller he prefers to sit up so he can look around. I propped his toy cube behind him to give him some support.  He just changed into a big boy car seat because he is so big, and he hates being slightly reclined and not being able to sit up.

 We went to Oliver's first big boy swim class, and it was harsh.  They gave him a T-shirt which he looks adorable in.  But in this class, they have the kids go under water a LOT.  Oliver is not used to that and it freaked him out a bit how much I was putting him under.  I think in the future I am going to tell the teacher I will put him under 2 times and that is it for now until he gets used to it.  Plus I think he swallowed WAY too much water because that night he woke up crying and was super uncomfortable and gave a big "water" burp.  Plus got sick right after that.  Now him and I both have congestion and sore throats.  :(

Oliver holding my hand.  I sure love my little Ollie Bolly!

 Anyway, I think that is enough of Ollie.  I could just talk about him all day.  Love him!

One more little bit of good news for our family... Dave got an interview invite to the University of Colorado Dental School.  One step closer hopefully to an acceptance!  We are praying he does well at his interview!  It's so scary!  He goes Oct 12.  But the first thing we did was say a thank you prayer that Heavenly Father gave Dave this interview.  We are so grateful.