I HAVE A 1 YEAR OLD!!!!

First off I am going to say congrats to myself for keeping a kid alive for a whole year! :) Oliver and I got to celebrate our birthdays together for the first time! He was due on my birthday but ended up being born 2 days later on my Grandma Lulu's birthday.

We got a DELICIOUS cake (chocolate cake with sweetened condensed milk drizzled into it with cool whip, fudge, caramel, and health bits on top).

Ollie was a little hesitant about digging in to his cake.  He dipped his little pointer finger into the whipped cream and tried it out.

Then he decided it might taste OK.  Who needs hands?  He went in head first, mouth wide open.

After that he just decided he was done. Got on good bite out of it.  I gladly finished his cake for him.

Oliver got a birthday card from Grandma and Grandpa Hatch, Great Grandparents Lulu and Papa, and Aunt Uncle and cousins Cadie, Tim, Trent, and Allie. It was so sweet of them to think of him!  He especially enjoyed this doggy card that plays pick-a-boo.  He would open and close it many times.  

I too got birthday cards, and in Tim and Cadie's card, Cadie said she hopes I get sushi or go to a movie or something fun.  Well I was at the store and had to get sushi and send a picture to Cadie. :)

Oliver at 1 years old is 30.5 inches in length (75 percentile). His weight is 21 lbs 11 oz (50th percentile) and head circumference was 49'' (99 percentile).  He is FINALLY starting to sloooow down in his growth.  That first year he was always at the top of the charts for everything.  Well... he still is at the top for his head.  Boy his head is big, when he walks around with no clothes on it looks like he should just tip over. Well he does tip over a lot actually.  He hits his head usually at least once a day! It kills me, he has goose eggs all over!

We have a new pediatrician in Lake Havasu and I miss our old one :(.  Oliver got his 1 month shots and the pediatrician said to start him on whole milk now.  Well I gave him whole milk for like half a day after that appt and then stopped because he had diarrhea.  Well 4 days later he still has diarrhea. It stresses me out.  It progressively got more and more runny and he would poop 3 or 4 times a day (BIG poops). I don't know how his little body holds all that.  Poor baby.  He also doesn't have much of an appetite and has always been bad about drinking liquid.  He has never taken a bottle and is really bad and using a sippy cup. So getting him to drink like 2 ounces of liquid is a miracle.  So we give him a little pedialite, breastfeeding, and yogurt/bananas here and there.  We gave him a blessing and the next day he started feeling better.  So amazing! I am grateful for the priesthood in our life.  He hasn't had it since, so I am happy.

Oliver is a silly little guy.  He doesn't get that hearty laugh easy, but when he does I just love it.  Lately when I bump something and say BOOP or OUCH, he just cracks up!  Another funny thing to watch is his new "problem solving" skills.  Oliver was trying to figure out how to carry a little silky rag that he was carrying across the door jam to go into the office at my parents house.  The door jam is metal and raised because that door used to go to the outside before they added on the office.  So he decided to throw the rag onto the other side and then grab on to the door to get over and then picked back up his rag.  Smart little move on his part!

Ollie wanting to sit on chairs have me push him around.  (You know when you do something really fast for a kid because it is fun, and then they love it soo much they want you to do it over and over, yea that's what I get myself into a lot)

My little munchkin gives the BEST hugs.  It isn't often, because he is so busy.  But I know he loves mama, and saves his best hugs for me.  He puts his head on my shoulder with his arms around me and pats my back.

When I was little I used to make a duck face in a lot of pictures by scrunching up my lips so they looked like a duck bill.  Well Ollie takes after his mama.  I find him making this 'duck face' a lot. haha

Ever since we were married, Dave has always called my pinky my 'dainty finger' because when I eat my pinky is usually always stinking straight up.  Again, Ollie is my mini me. haha.  Here is his pinky while he eats his cracker.  He does this ALL the time!

I've been going to work in the mornings so Dave or my mom usually have to try to get Ollie down for a nap.  He has grown accustomed to nursing to sleep, so it can be a struggle.  I came home to see these cuties snuggling.

Oliver loves his aunt Brooke (or Br as he calls her).  He insisted she hold his hand while he ate dinner.  He kind of picks on Brooke more than anyone else to.  When she tries to sleep on the couch he will go up and slap her face, then pull her hair, then bite her cheek, then pat her bum...Guess that is the way he shows her affection?

This boy LOVES playing outside.  He loves rocks.  We are sad it is getting warmer and it is soon going to be too hot to go outside.  Guess we will have to swim a lot!

Oliver always has a ball in hand

Crawling while still holding the ball

Another love, playing in cars.  He takes after his cousin Trent.  He was making funny faces at Daddy through the window.

It is so fun that Oliver is at the age now where he mimics things I do! Fun and a little scary! I need to be on my best behavior :).  He holds a pen like a champ and can draw already.  He watches me hold the pen and write and then does the same thing.  He is starting to know a lot of animal noises, so if I say "what does the horse say?" He says " RRRrrrr" in a high pitched voice. Or dog, or monkey, etc.  He loves sitting in "big people" chairs just like us.  He will pat on a chair and beg to be put on it and then will just sit back and relax for a second before he pops back up and is on to the next thing.

Ollie holding pen in the background

Sitting on his chair :)

My mom got Ollie some cloth diapers, so during the day he usually wears those.  For some reason she has a bad track record for ordering 'feminine' things for Oliver  These were the cheetah print diapers she ordered for him. haha.  Pairs well with the pink umbrella stroller she got him.  I tell her "mom, he is a BOY".  Her excuse "Well they were the cheapest ones".  *sigh*.  Oh well.  We just turned Oliver into  little Bam Bam here.  He was running around the house saying "Bam Bam!"

We made Oliver a little fort out of two chairs and a blanket.  He has fun crawling through it and sitting in his little cave.

This boy loves his bath time.  He splashes a LOT and usually I am soaked by the end. The other day Brooke came into the bathroom for a few minutes and Ollie started acting crazy showing off to Brooke.  He started laughing hysterically and going on his belling and dunking his head in the water.  Of course every time he would do this, he would act surprised and get up really quick.  But then he would do it again a few minutes later! I thought he kind of looks like cousin Trent in this picture.

I have some great friends from high school still.  2 of which are Katie and Holli.  I love them to death.  Katie and I decided that Holli does a lot for us and is always willing to be there for us and help us and visit us.  So we planned a trip to go visit her in Las Vegas.  We had a great girls weekend.  Little Oliver got to come along because he is still nursing.  Katie told us that she was pregnant and I am SOOO excited for her!  She has been trying for a long time!  (I acted surprised, but I already knew she was pregnant because her niece that I babysat spilled the beans a few weeks earlier).  Even though Katie was so tired a lot of the time, we always have so much fun just talking and catching up.  We got to go eat a few awesome places and walk around the strip a little to see the architecture of the buildings.

A cool local pizzeria we went to

Love these girls.

Seemed like a good time for a car selfie.  I think we were happy there that Oliver was finally asleep, because he was crabby in the car rides!

Watching the waterfall show at Bellagio.  Oliver got scared by the noise of the water spraying, but also found it very fascinating.

I had been to a fun murder mystery in Oct and was telling Brooke about it and she decided she wanted to host one.  We found a chocolate themed "girls night" murder mystery online and ordered it.  We decorated our house like a candy shop (because that is where it takes place) and all dressed according to character.  We spend a LOT of time on decorating, but it turned out cute!  We also served homemade pizzas and homemade mozzarella balls

We got to take a fun trip to CA. We got to go see my aunt Barbi's little boy who is Oliver's age and celebrate their first birthdays together.  Also we got to see Lance again (prob the last time before we move to Missouri).  Also Brooke stopped in Fallbrooke to see her little boyfriend that she met at a New Years dance that she went to with our cousin Evan.  While she was seeing him I got to see my college roommate/dental hygiene classmate Bridgette and her husband and baby.  We hadn't met each other's babies yet so that was exciting! It was a busy trip and Oliver was a little over-tired and cranky at times.  But we had a lot of fun!

While in Fallbrooke, our hotel was right next to these beautiful gardens where they usually have weddings and such.  My parents were walking around it and then someone ran up to them and said it costs money, so they had to pay.  Whoops.  It was pretty though!

We met up with Bridgette and Gabe at the beach.  Had a picnic and walked on the pier.

Bridgette's hubby Gabe affectionately calls Oliver's pink stroller "The Pink Panther".  They had to get a picture of him.  I probably will buy another stroller when I have another kid and can get a double stroller.

Cute little buddies sizing each other up.

Oliver taking a selfie of him and his friend Jay.  "Just hanging out at the beach".

Driving to the park for the birthday picnic.

The little 1 year olds posing for a picture.  Oliver did not want to pose for a picture :).

 But he didn't mind enjoying the cupcake.

Loves exploring.

And loves balls.

Oliver's hair was getting overdue for a haircut---we did a little buzz buzz and boy! He had a lot of hair on the ground when we were done!  His hair turned blonder!  He looked pretty handsome with his hair cut.

I had to take a picture of this---this is chicken aaaand popcorn.  Courtesy of my dad.  He dished up some chicken for dinner and saw that I had just made some popcorn, so he grabbed a handful and put it on his plate.  He has the funniest eating combinations. He drinks orange juice, but instead of pouring himself a glassful, he pours in about a 1/4 cup of orange juice and fills the rest of the cup with water.  He loves chips (I inherited that one) and ice cream.  Pretty simple guy. :)

Dave got this book in preparation to dental school.  "What Smart Students Know".  Oliver was trying to prepare as well.  

 Brooke taking some funny shots of Ollie  He decided that was a great place to hide.

 Another Papa and Ollie activity is laying outside and pointing at the sky, the planes, the birds.  Apparently there was a lot going on because they had lots to point at.  Ollie even was pointing in 2 different directions in the first pic.

Brooke creeping on Ollie under the table.

On our nightly walks.

Went to the driving range.  I felt like I KIND of got the hang of it at the end.  The next day my midsection was KILLING me from twisting so much!

I got to go to the general relief society broadcast with my grandma, momma, and sister.  It was a really neat meeting.

  I had a lot of thoughts run through my head and wish I had brought a paper and pen to jot them down.  I loved how they stressed that we are all sisters and we need to focus on each other's similarities and not dwell on our differences. This will help us all to be more united.  Also I had a lot of thoughts on being a mommy.
 1) Eve knew the importance of eating the fruit of the tree so that she could be a mother and didn't waste time to do so. I likewise have a very important responsibility to be a mom.  President Eyring said something about bringing children into good families.  After giving birth I wanted to put a number on how many kids I want to have and saying that I wouldn't consider having more because it was so hard.  But then I thought that Dave and I can give a child a good home where Christ will be the center of it.  We can teach them and help them grow intellectually and spiritually.  We have been blessed to have the knowledge that we do of the Gospel and to be getting an education to get Dave a good career that can support these sweet children.  So why am I putting a number on it?  I need to just have faith that the Lord will bless me with the children I am meant to have and that I will be given strength to handle it. (I'm not saying here that I want like 10 children--that's probably a lot for me, BUT I will not be so selfish and be open to the promptings of the spirit).

2) Along those lines I find myself dreading, complaining about, and being resentful of how hard my birth was and it makes me VERY nervous to get pregnant again.  Sometimes I find myself complaining about it too much.  I told Dave I am going to try my best to not complain about it anymore unless people ask me specific questions about my birth.  I feel like dwelling on the negative aspects of it takes away from what a miracle it really was.  And if I remain negative, then my next experience will probably be negative because of my mindset.  I need to have faith and be positive. 

 3) Sometimes I compare Oliver to other children and think that he has been more difficult for various reasons than other children his age.  I made a new resolve to remember what a blessing he is and how much I love him.  And I told myself I will only say positive things when talking to people about him unless I have a specific question.  

 4) The other thought I had is that maybe someday I will adopt a child.  I don't know for sure, but I plan to remain open to the promptings I receive on what to do for our family.

And now time for some other good news.  I applied about a month ago for a job in Missouri at the dental school.  I had a phone interview that went well, but wasn't really going to be that sad if I didn't get it because I could always go and find an office that would hire me for half a day or so to do hygiene work.  Well they wrote me an email at the end of March saying that I got the job!  The more I hear about, the more I think that if I have to work while being a mommy, this is the job to have.  

1) I will get to work in the clinic (not on real patients) mostly teaching the dental students skills on each other and on dummies.  Skills like taking impressions, giving shots, hygiene instrumentation and sharpening skills, oral cancer screenings etc etc.  So I get to rub shoulders and get to know all Dave's classmates  and I also get to be DAVE's instructor!  Wahahaha.

2)I get to work with only 8-10 students at a time--I like that it is small groups so I don't get intimidated.

3) I get to work with another hygienist--it will be nice to have someone to collaborate with and makes me feel more calm that if I don't know something then she might know it and vice versa.  

4) I only work Thursdays 1 PM-5PM (half days) and Friday 8-5.  And that's it!  The rest of the time I get to be home with my sweet boy.  

5) I don't work whenever the school has breaks, which means that Dave and I will have the same time off all the time--so we can travel, or just spend time together!  

6) At last but certainly not least, they are paying me $50/Hour.  Umm what?  The most I have EVER gotten paid for being a hygienist is $40/hr, and that was on the higher end for AZ.  I am so grateful!  This will really help us not get into more debt for living expenses, which will be such a blessing when Dave graduates school and starts working.

I have already gone on the wife facebook group page and talked to a few people who are LDS and have a few kids and are medical/dental student wives that said they would be willing to watch him.  I plan on meeting up with them and seeing who I might think is the best fit when we go there in June.  

While I was completing the background check paperwork that they require, they wanted me to list all the places I have lived in the past 7 years.  As I was thinking about it I realized I have moved 7 times in the last 7 years.  That's a lot of moving! 

We are still waiting to hear from the Navy to see if Dave got the scholarship from them or not to pay his tuition.  We are hoping to get it, otherwise $500,000 in debt--here we come! I'm sure things will work out either way though.