Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Christmas Ollie (is 8 Months!)


Here's the latest elf in Santa's workshop. He does quality control on nutcrackers as the picture on the left displays. Yup. Baby approved.

What does Ollie do all day at this stage?
Lots of:
 - Gurgles and chatting
- Eating (he's loving winter squash and scrambled eggs right now)
- Sleeping: still clocking 11.5 hours at night and just this week (maybe as an early Christmas present to me?) he's been napping longer too. Thank you Oliver. That's all I wanted for Christmas. 
- Sitting up with very few topples. His balance is improving.
- Drooling. Drooling. Drooling. All he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth. 

Thank you to Grandma Arly for the oh-so-cute and festive train jumper. 



Tuesday, November 13, 2012

7 Month Kiddo

I says this every month when I post these pictures, but how is Oliver 7 months already?!? November 9 marked his 7 months with us and that means only 5 months 'til he's ONE. Wow. We won't think about that too much right now... 
Right now, we're excited that he's sitting up on his own (with an occasional tumble to the left or right here and there which he doesn't seem to mind).

He's drooling like a champ and soaking through bibs these days, sucking on everything he can get his hands on and gumming to beat the band on solids at the table, but no teeth yet. We'll keep you posted... 

Raggedy Andy and Ollie are both doing the right-hand dance move in this one. I just noticed this as I was uploading it. 

Oliver's passionate aversion to tummy time is dwindling and he actually doesn't seem to mind it much now, thankfully. It felt like we were torturing him during tummy time most days but now when he gets a little bothered he lays his down to one side or the other and takes a little rest. It's pretty cute.



Thanks Aunt Sarah for the stylin' plaid shirt and gray cargo pants. I love the contrasting cream and red stripe on the inside of the sleeves. So cool. 
And I have to give another shout-out to Aunt Kaybe for faithfully sending Oliver $1 every week for every Husker win. I'm amazed how the bucks keep on comin'. Ollie told me he can't wait to see what she sends if Nebraska wins the Big 10. :) No pressure Kaybe. 

xoxo  



Saturday, November 3, 2012

Trick or Treat

This year I saw loads of photos of cute babies on facebook in all kinds of adorable Halloween costumes. I started feeling like we goofed up by not getting Ollie some sort of fun get-up. Oh well. There's always next year. For a little fun though, we snapped a few pictures of the babe "wearing" a few Halloween accessories we  had left over from a little party we had with friends last weekend. 

Ike and I laugh at this one at least once a day. 


Just before Isaac and I carved pumpkins, we let Ollie have a go at touching and (trying to) lick the pumpkins. 
The classic jack-o-lantern face Ike carved and the flowery motif I did have since been destroyed by the hungry and feisty squirrels that inhabit our yard.  We're still noshing on the pumpkin seeds Isaac roasted though, so that makes up for it. 





Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Solid Foods Part Two

And the solids are off to a rip roaring start. Er wait... he's eating the plate. 


Thanks to Aunt Sarah for the cute little wooden spoons from Thailand. They are the perfect size for a little guy. 





Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Starting Solids

We started introducing solids to the little guy a couple of weeks ago. He's loving the process and seems to be open to noshing on pretty much everything. So far, he's tried broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, avocado, butternut squash, celery, zucchini, spinach, carrot soup, green smoothie, apples, pears, banana, chicken and a little beef.
Our friends told us about a weaning method called Baby Led Weaning. In addition to nursing, we are offering solid foods that Ollie picks up, gums, sucks and experiences at his own pace. You can read more about it on the link up above, if you're interested. The couple who first told us about this method did it with their daughter and at just over a year, she was using a fork and spoon on her own, isn't picky in the least and is a fantastic little eater. We are hoping for similar results with Oliver. 
Celery is a good veg to give straight up because it feels nice on his gums and has a bitter taste so it helps him develop a taste for veggies. 



The little chair he's sitting in screws right into the table, We are bypassing the high chair too which allows him to sit right at the table with us and eat while we're eating as opposed to eating baby food in a high chair in the kitchen while I make dinner. This scenario seems to happen a lot with traditional weaning methods - or so it seems. We propped a little pillow behind him to help keep him upright and so far so good. 
Ollie loves sitting in his chair. Sometimes he doesn't seem too interested in the food but would rather suck on the handles of his chair - which is totally cool with us since his main source of food still comes from nursing. I'd much rather eat an avocado, personally, but whatever floats your boat.  

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Ollie Loves Autumn



Here are some pictures I snapped last week while Ollie and I lounged in the back yard. It was such a warm day and Isaac was out of town, so I wasn't in a hurry to throw dinner together. We had the most fun just looking at the fall colors and being together. 





The colors were just gorgeous...


And the baby wasn't too shabby either. :)






Friday, October 12, 2012

Six Months and Going Strong


I can't believe it, but our little munchkin turned six months old this week! 
It's only fitting then, that he would experience his first flight around this milestone. We had a fantastic time celebrating Ben and Pete and Grandpa Epperson's birthdays and Ollie only cried for a moment when we first boarded the plane and then slept like a champ until we landed both in Omaha and on the way back to Denver. 

The Ollie Stats per his 6 month check-up:
Weight: 12 lbs, 5oz (pretty small for a guy his age, but still growing like he should)
Length: 26.5" long (he was 19" long at birth - that's 7.5" in length in 6 months!)
Head: His little noggin is 16" in diameter - right on track. 

And we got the go ahead to start introducing solids! We're going to skip rice cereal (there's very little nutritional value in that stuff) and head right for the fruits and veggies. Lots of messy food pics to come!


Monday, October 1, 2012

Baby's First Piggy Bank

Before Ollie was born, Aunt Kaybe gave us a Husker piggy bank and joked about sending money for every football win and then having to take money out for every loss. Well, Kaybe has made good on her suggestion! Today when we got the mail, there was a card addressed to Oliver and inside it was three whole dollars for the three wins (Saturday's win hadn't happened yet when Kaybe mailed the card) Nebraska's had. 
I read the card to Oliver and let him hold his bank with the $3 in it. How exciting!



Putting the money in the bank... Pretty good for not even 6 months old

Examining the anatomy of a the piggy bank... 

Sorry the photos are blurry. Ollie kept moving around. :) 

Thanks for the making good on your word, KB! Can't wait to see how much moolah Ollie will score if Nebraska wins a Big 10 Championship or maybe some sweet day, a National Championship! 





Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Ike and Ollie Hanging Out

The fellas were hanging out together around dinner time last week and they were lookin' so cute together that I had to stop making dinner and get out the camera....