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.

We love family

Dave and I had one of those moments the other day where we were sitting in the living room and we couldn't help but feel incredibly grateful for having Oliver in our family.  At that moment everything felt right.  We had the feeling that Oliver enriches our family and makes it more whole.  We are so grateful Heavenly Father sent us this little cutie!  After 2 years of trying for a little one, I know Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers and that he blesses us with things when the time is right. I feel such a weight of responsibility on my shoulders.  I know that pretty soon here Ollie will be talking and I am responsible to form him into who he is going to be.  I want to teach him first and foremost to love and worship Jesus Christ.  Teach him of Christ's church, of living a pure and virtuous life, of showing love, charity and kindness to those around him.  Once he gets the principles of the gospel down, I know that he can excel and be a great person!  I am so grateful to be a member of a church that focuses SO much on the family.  Everything we do is to protect our little family unit and help us all return to Heavenly Father's presence someday. I also feel the responsibility to educate him and make him smart.  I will need to teach him to treat other's with respect, to be social, etc.  The list goes on and on. Whenever we are just sitting there doing nothing, I always feel guilty because I should be teaching Oliver or stimulating him somehow!

We had the pleasure of spending our Labor day weekend with some family. My family has been so awesome about coming and seeing Oliver.  My mom knows how much of a pain it is to drive with a baby (and Havasu is 5 hours away) so she gets the fam to come up often to see their little grandbaby usually once a month.  I guess that is what happens when they only have one grandchild!  But we are so grateful they make the effort.  And we love having visitors.  They are so great with Ollie.  When my mom comes, she wake up early with him so I can sleep in a little.  She loves taking him on morning walks.  This weekend it was Mom, Dad, Cameron, and Brooke that came.  They got a hotel, but my mom refused to stay in it.  She slept on our couch so she could be with Ollie first thing in the morning and see him all day. The other funny thing is Cameron and Brooke ALWAYS fight over Ollie.  It cracks me up.  Brooke holds him a lot (I think Brooke reminds Oliver of me).  He likes brooke.  Brooke even has the magic touch and can get him to go to sleep!  Cameron says "Brooke pass me Ollie".  Brooke says "Nooo".  Cameron say "Brooke you always hold him.  Give him to me."  Brooke says "You always want to take him right when I get him".  And the banter goes back and forth.  :)  Oliver loves Cameron, but Cameron can come on strong sometimes.  He makes loud noises trying to entertain Oliver, which in turns usually ends up in Oliver feeling scared from the loud noise and giving the pouty lip.  haha

This pic cracks me up... mom creepily in the background.  

ADORABLE.  Ollie and Cam.  They love each other.  

We didn't do too much.  Mainly ate a lot, hung out and talked, and played games.  We did get to go to the hotel and swim in the pool.  It is funny to me how much Oliver loves the pool.  He kicks his leg and gets excited and laughs.  Usually he has a big smile on his face.  We showed my family all the tricks he can do in the water: Back Floats, Gliding on Belly, Kicking legs, Following my cues and closing his eyes when I count 3 (preparing to go under water), and the finale: showing them that he can actually go under water!  It doesn't even phase him (except for a few coughs).

This is a horrible picture of me.  But found a review of a local mexican restaurant that we decided to try out.  We were the only ones there (besides one other couple), it was in a rough neighborhood, the building looked really old, and the ceiling was made of styrofoam.  We got our food (which was pretty good) and then people started pouring in! It was so odd.  But made us feel better that people actually eat here!Cam's friend Will from Havasu (but is going to school in Tucson) joined us.  Here we are all partaking of a serrano chili.  At first we were like 'no big deal' then the hotness began to set in and we were all chugging our water!

That weekend was Dad's birthday too!!  Mom made a delicious German Chocolate cake (tradition...Dad has that every year).  Coincidentally that is also Oliver's HALF BIRTHDAY! Woo!  So every birthday my dad has, we will be celebrating Ollie's half bday ;).

We ended their trip with a game of Newleyweds.  The pairings were Dave and I, Mom and Dad, and then Cameron and Brooke (they were good sports about it).  I was curious to see how Mom and Dad did and they DOMINATED.  It was HILARIOUS.  Every question they got right down to the tee.  Good to know my parents still know each other after all these years.  They only missed a few questions, but Dave said it is good they missed a few because that means there is still a LITTLE mystery left in their relationship :).

Monday night (Labor Day) Dave's cousin invited all the Tucson cousins over for dinner.  It was a good time.  Three of our little boys had red shirts on (which was unplanned) so we had to take a picture!