Month of January--Oliver's Real 10th Month

*Disclaimer*I wrote my blogs seemingly one month behind his age I just realized.  OOPS. I kind of did this backwards on all my blogs, so I am setting them right NOW.  :)  (instead of going back and having to fix each one). A little confusing... I know!

January.  We decided this was the month we should move to Havasu.  We need to save up $$ before we go to dental school and wouldn't mind getting renters in the triplex (and possible sold) before we leave.  After returning from Thatcher for Christmas, I have done a little bit of packing and organizing everyday.  With a child you can only do so much at a time, so I new I should start ASAP.  I felt like I did well, but it felt never ending!  We decided to have a yard sale and to either sell or donate most of our things because we didn't want to have to haul all our furniture out to Missouri.  The plan is to buy new stuff there.  We did ok, didn't sell as much of the big things as we wanted.  We wanted to move out of there by the time Dave had his interview to save on his driving.  I started work on Monday and Dave had till Wednesday before he had to leave.  So Oliver and I headed down to Havasu and my AMAZING Mother-In-Law Kathy took time off work and brought Jared along to come help Dave finish the last of the packing and clean the place.  We were so grateful.  She also brought their trailer and truck and drove down to Havasu with Dave to unload the stuff.  I know it was a big inconvenience, but we were so grateful for all her help.

Yes I started working for my dad again.  I work 3 hours a day, 3 days a week.  Not too shabby.  Oliver handled it very well.  I read in one of my books that at this age, kids enjoy a small break from their primary caregiver (but not too long of a break) and I feel like 3 hours is perfect.  My mom gives him formula out of a straw (since he won't take a bottle) if he gets too hungry before I can come back and nurse him. I enjoy getting to work a little.  I have been blessed and have always had opportunities come up here and there (even since Oliver was born) to work a few hours occasionally.  This really helps me keep up my skills and a clinician that I have worked soo hard to get.  Crazy to think I have been a dental hygienist for 4 years already! And I am so so so sooo excited to get to build a dental office with Dave someday and to use my existing knowledge and learn more on how to make it as efficient and productive, yet friendly and honest as possible.

Our little 10 month old Ollie had his photo shoot out in the front yard because that is his favorite spot to be (besides at the park). He LOVES getting dirty and being outside.  Almost all day long he grabs our hand and makes us walk him to the door.  If we say "not right now" he throws a fit!

Oliver loves his little walker.  It helps him to be able to walk on his own without our help.

Very seriously about walking ;)

This little guy LOVES rocks.  Almost everyday I find rocks in his diaper.

He's got the mischievous face down! -sneakily picking up rocks...

Another favorite.... dumping the rocks & dirt on his head.

You can see the stream of rocks coming out of his hand

TADA!!!

It has been great living here in Havasu. Oliver has LOVED all the attention he gets from Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Brooke.  He adores all of them and I know will be very sad when we have to leave. The only thing that bothers me is Oliver's night sleeping habits here.  In Tucson I would let him cry it out if he was consistently getting up at night, but here it wakes up the whole house, and my mom can't handle letting him cry, so she runs in as fast as she can, which defeats the purpose!

Because my dad is Stake President, he travels to different wards every Sunday and only occasionally gets to be in our home ward. One particular Sunday he attended our ward and sat on the stand in front of everyone.  My family has sat in the front row of church since I can remember (probably to be near my dad on the stand). So we were right in front of my dad.  Oliver looooves his Grandpa.  Ollie took one look at him on the stand and got this HUGE cheesey smile and started waving like crazy at him, never taking his eyes off him.  Dad was trying not to be obvious in front of the whole congregation that he was waving at Oliver, but I guess everyone saw their cute little interaction.  My dad was being teased for being so 'disruptive' during church ;).  Even at home before church I was nursing Oliver and Dad walked in and said "Oh is Oliver nursing?" Well ollie who was half asleep at that point heard grandpa's voice and SPRANG out of my lap looking for grandpa.  haha.  It is kind of adorable their little connection they have. They are best buds.  I had a feeling that would be the case because my dad had a spiritual experience the night Oliver was born that was so touching.

Ollie is SOO wiggly at church.  He definitely cannot sit through Sacrament Meeting.  Because my family sits in the front row, he eyes those stairs the whole time.  As soon as we set him on the ground thinking maybe he will play with a toy, he makes a beeline for the stairs.  Dave took him in the hall to get his wiggles out and took a seat on a couch to let Oliver crawl around.  Ollie crawled down the hall into the empty dark room where they prepare the sacrament.  The next thing Dave knows, Ollie shut the door.  Dave goes over to open it for Oliver, and OOPS it is locked.  So Oliver is locked in this little dark room by himself, at first he was just swatting at the door, then he starts whimpering.  We are in the chapel and we see Dave walk in WITHOUT Oliver, walk up the stairs (during someone speaking), whisper into the Bishop's ear and retrieve a key from them.  We think 'Where is Oliver?'  Then he comes back in and lets us know what happened. haha. I'm glad they had the key!  That could've been horrible!

Mom and I got 'MacGyver-ish' one night and saw this candle orange online.  We thought "no way that works" so had to prove it wrong.  We had everything on hand and so set out to make an orange candle.  Well turns out it works, but took more effort on our part than we thought it should.  Cut the orange in half and keep the middle stem still attached.  Fill with oil.  Then light the wick.  That was the hard part.  It would NOT light!  We went through a whole matchbox of matches.  Mom got a 'MacGyver-ish' thought that she should get string and wrap it around the orange stem.  Then we used oil drenched string to light the orange.  The string kept the flame long enough that the wick finally caught flame.  We sat on the couch and admired it for awhile. :)

The end of January we headed back up to Thatcher to enjoy spending some time with Jared before he left on his mission to Hawaii! He got set apart and gave his farewell speech.  It was funny, at the beginning of Jared's talk he said "Brother and Sisters, ALOHA!"  And he didn't expect what happened next.  The whole congregation said "ALOHA!" back.  I could tell he was caught off guard because he turned red and stammered for a sec. :) But he gave a great talk.

Ollie and I sharing a noodle moment.

Oliver loves listening to me play the piano.  Often he would just sit by my and play while he listens.  It is cute.

Our little guy LOVES his Papa... a lot!  We were on a nice Sunday stroll and found in someone's front yard this sign. haha

Ollie loves his auntie BR as well!

This was our 'going out to celebrate' photo.  When we found out Dave got in to dental school we were so excited. We went on a little date night to go get cheese fondue and pizza.  Delish! I'm so proud of Dave. We have a L-O-N-G 4 years ahead of us, but it will be such a great step forward for our family!