We live, we love

Life is busy, life is good. Oliver took 3 consecutive steps tonight, and it brought tears to my eyes. In just one week he will be One. Wow. Our little bundled babe is now a little dude (In Travis lingo). We are buying a house. I am changing jobs. We seem to have a lot going on lately, all good things. I want to write to recap the last year, but for now just an update...and more importantly Oliver pictures. Love to all of our family and friends who read this, I am constantly reminded how blessed we are to have you in our lives, near and far.

Oliver learned to climb on these boxes all by himself. Such a little adventurer. Dad trying to make sure this continues to be a good experience for him...aka, don't let him fall off.

Dad & O having a picnic at the park

Scrub-a-dub-dub. Bath time with cousin Jack

Grandpa Steve taught Oliver how to climb stairs. He is now an avid stair climber. Thanks Grandpa!

O & Jack pushing around, yes, tupperware lids. If only you could see the stack of toys to the left, being completely ignored :)

BG & O on Easter

First Easter basket

O watching history as Health Reform is signed into law. An advocate already.

You and me together, we can do anything baby

You and me together

We could do anything baby

You and me together yes, yes

You and me together

We could do anything baby

You and me together yes yes

Oh and when the kids are old enough, we're gonna teach them to fly

I was listening to the song You & Me by the wonderful Dave Matthews Band yesterday, and I just loved these lyrics. They remind me that even on the days that I feel 'stuck', really I am free. And while the little life of Oliver certainly demands a lot of me, I've never felt more free than when I am with him. Before Oliver I would not in a million years sing in the grocery store. Now I sing freely to him as I race down the aisles, simply because it makes him laugh. And never do I think twice about what the shoppers around me are thinking. I can spend hours crawling on the floor, reading books and making silly faces; and from that I feel accomplished. This new little body of hope, future and adventure that is Oliver. He is completely free, and he makes me feel like we can do anything :) And like the DMB lyrics, my most sincere prayer is that everyday I spend with him, I am teaching him to fly.

I think this video was taken in June/July of 2009. He is just learning to pick of his head, an athletic task at this stage in life.

This video was taken yesterday. It's really nothing special, just Oliver exploring in his swimsuit before going to the hot tub; but I think it's amazing that he has come this far in less than a year.

Playdate with buddy Joel

Beau, Oliver, Joel: Figuring each other out

Oliver LOVES to splash in the bathtub. And check out that O-Hawk.

Below: Being friends with Shanti :)

Dadada

It never fails to amaze me how quickly our little man is learning. "Dadadada" is the recent addition to his vocabulary, along with the long time favorite "Babababa", mixed in with some "Gagaga" and of course strange grunting slobbery noises that are classified with "Sound Effects." Travis of course is thrilled that Oliver is now saying Dadadada, and I'm still holding out for Mamama :)

O is also crawling everywhere, and pulling himself to standing on just about anything he can find (He pulled himself up on the toilet this morning, which of course I quickly grabbed him from, grimacing as I washed his hands for 5 minutes to make sure all of the invisible 'toilet germs' were washed off)

It is so much fun to watch him grown up, but it is also bittersweet for me-I am definitely not ready for him to be 1 in a few months! I am however looking forward to spring and summer. Travis and I are starting to plan some hiking/camping trips, hopefully Oliver won't mind sleeping in tents :)

Oliver's most recent adventures are pictured below :)

This is O's "Who, me?" face.

Valentines Day Hike. Oliver is sporting his new ride, our Deuter backpacking kid carrier :)

Table Rock

First trip to the Zoo

Oliver checking out the Siberian Tigers. He would like one of these for his household pet

5 months later...

Wow, so I've been neglecting our blog, and of course a lot has been going. I will do my best to give you all a good idea of what is going on with Oliver, Trav and I since our last blog...which was almost 5 months ago!

Oliver had his first Halloween (as Yoda) his first Thanksgiving (as himself) and his first Christmas (as an Elf). He is now eating solid foods of course, and has recently added finger foods to his diet. Mealtime has become much more fun for Oliver, and much more messy for mom. He does a good job of getting food in at least 5 different places, at least one of which I don't find until hours later :)

We now have a crawler after months of 'creeping'. Oliver has also learned how to pull himself up on things and wants to spend most of his time standing or perched on his knees. I'm guessing this means he will start practicing walking in the near future. This new skill gives him lots of advantages when trying to get into things he shouldn't. But luckily for him, Mom & Dad will let him play/slobber on/destroy pretty much anything as long as he can't a)choke on it b)get sick from it. His favorite toys are: the remote control, cell phones, a dog ball, any paper, a wooden airplane.

In other good news, I (Megan) am only working part time now (2 days/wk). This has been such a HUGE blessing, and a welcomed change for 2010. I can't begin to say how grateful I am for this. Oliver and I have lots of fun together-lets be honest: going to the park with my adorable son is much more fun than sitting at a desk all day :) Other exciting news, we are 'working on' buying our first house!! I say 'working on' because it is a short sale, and while the buyer has accepted the offer, we likely have a few months before the bank does. It will be a trial in patience, but well worth it if it works out.

All in all, I couldn't ask for anything more :) I'm sure the part you are looking forward to the most are the pictures, so here they are. Now that I have a little more free time I will try to update our blog more often than every 5 months :)

Always squirmy in his high chair

Holding his clementine like a football...making dad proud :)

Our first Christmas

Good morning BG!!

On the plane ride home from our trip to California

Playing with Cousin Jack

Back to the Grind

Life has been busy for myself, Trav and Oliver. I've been back at work for about a month now, which means Oliver has been busy playing with all of his new friends during the day (Grammy, Ide, Baba, Mallory and BG). Returning to work has been SO hard, as anticipated, but some other logistical things have made it even more challenging. Mainly Oliver not taking a bottle for the first three weeks. Oliver not taking a bottle = a very unhappy Oliver every 2-3 hours, new mommy Megan running back and forth during the day, and an ever patient Grammy accommodating both Oliver and I throughout it all. 

We had no idea why Oliver not only refused to take a bottle, but he would get extremely upset at what seemed just the sight of one...except that there had been a few rare occasions that he would gobble one up. Which left us all confused and wearily approaching the decision to completely give up on the bottle. We were all at a loss, and even made a special visit to the pediatricians to see if there was any medical explanation for O's bottle protest, or if our wise but quirky doctor could give us some good advice. 20 minutes and $85 dollars later we left with no answers, just the 'reassurance' that "some babies never take a bottle, you just have to work it out." Well, forget the medical profession I decided....maybe the Google gods have an answer. I looked, and I looked. Get a different nipple. Check, we own every one you can buy at Babies R Us. Hold baby in different positions. Check. Feed when baby is not very hungry. Feed when baby is so hungry he's crying. Check. Check. Nothing worked. Until....I finally came upon a random blog, not unlike this one written by a mother also plagued with a baby who refused to take a bottle and often cried at the sheer nearness of one. Long story short....lipase. Never heard of it? Me either. But apparently some mothers, including myself, naturally have an excess of it in their breast milk which essentially makes the milk go sour quickly. So basically, for 4+ weeks we had been so stumped trying to figure out why O made such a fuss about a bottle, and the problem was the milk! Poor baby...I knew he wasn't just being stubborn, he's too darn cute for that! :) 

I'm still learning to cope with being at work so much, and like I've said before we have been so blessed to have family and a close friend watching him. I remind myself everyday that I drop him off that he is blessing their day and life just like he does mine everyday-the perfect little gift. 

More importantly...Oliver of course is constantly exploring and learning new tricks. Sometimes I think that I want him to stay small and "just this way", but watching him explore the world and make new discoveries is one of best parts of my life. Some of his new tricks: roll onto tummy from back; roll onto back from tummy; suck on middle and pointer finger (so tasty); with some fumbling grab things to put into his mouth; twirl around in his jumper; laugh and giggle; sleep through the night (4 times); be awesome. 

I'll leave you with the best part...pictures of Mr. O. They start with the most recent. Much Love from Meg.Trav.O. 

Beautiful, happy boy.

Loves those fingers

Talking. He's got a lot to say :)

His new jumper toy

Dad & O on a saturday morning

Bottoms :)