Babe in the Big D

We are starting to find out what we need to babyproof.  Oliver is attracted to all cords, outlets, door hinges, door stoppers and drawer handles. 

This Saturday marks our second swim class.  We are putting their faces in the water and I am very nervous. 

Tomorrow we are all three going to Oliver's last Kindermusik class.  Seb will get to meet the teacher Miss Lisa who Oliver always smiles at and adores.  We are then headed to the King Tut exhibit for a little early Mother's Day treat. 

Today is the first day Oliver got both knees up and belly off the floor crawling.  Seb was getting ready to leave for work and Ollie showed off his new skills for both of us.  We captured it on video (see post below).

Yesterday we joined some friends at the Dallas Zoo for a day out.  It was great to visit with the group of moms.  We all packed picnic lunches and enjoyed the empty zoo.  Oliver slept in the Ergo through most of the zoo, but I know he would have liked the penguins and gorillas.   They have a nice childrens area and Oliver smiled when he touched the minature donkey.

We promise to get some new pictures up soon.

Happy Nurse's Day Seb & Chloe!

-Tracy

Enclosure

Well it has been so long since I have blogged I hardly know where to begin! I am going to list a bunch of random things and thoughts just to get them on the journal.

Growth

Oliver had his 9 month appointment on April 6th. His weight was 19.5lbs, length was 27.5cm, head circumference was 45cm. He is 25th percentile in height and weight and 75th percentile in head circumference. He is one strong little guy and I caught him standing in his crib last week. It is time to drop the crib mattress down a few more notches. He has two bottom teeth and his two top are on there way in, bringing teething and slobbering to a whole new level.

New Behaviors

I am in complete denial that he is crawling. He isn't up on hands and knees crawling about but he is doing the pull crawl on his elbows. This past weekend was the first time he crawled himself out of the room we were in. Of course he is after the vacuum cord, the laptop cord, the dangerous bookcase, dog toys and outlets. We have pulled out the baby safety kit and have plans to start latching the cabinets. Perhaps my inability to open the cabinets with the baby locks is my best diet idea yet. He knows where his "toes" are now. He says Mama and Dad.

Foodie Baby

At his 9 month appointment the pediatrician told us to have him eat 3 meals a day and to eat what we eat. He loves roasted chicken and he really loved a curry chicken salad I made him for our last picnic at the arboretum. The only problem with his new love of all things food is that he tries to eat things quickly and he chokes. We are also used to eating bed time snacks and cookies so now whenever he catches us eating he gets VERY upset if we don't give him some food. The only food he hasn't really liked is carrots. When Ryan was visiting Oliver went to several restaurants with us and tried many new things, refried beans, chips, arugula, garlic cream soup, salmon, bruschetta, etc. He is such a foodie!!!!

Friends / Extra Curricular Activities

He is really getting into Kindermusik. On Easter he received two egg shaped maracas (from Kindermusik) and last week he was playing in his room listening to the Kindermusik CD and the La Cucaracha song came on and he looked all around the floor and picked up his maraca and started shaking it and bouncing up and down just like we do in class. I feel so proud that he has more rythym than I do. We are still going to our Mommy and Me group and we also have a Beyond Mommy and Me playgroup on Tuesdays that I hit and miss on occaision. We have been going out to lunch more with the other moms and babies. It is fun to watch Oliver communicate with the other babies in the highchairs next to each other. I say - they shouldn't put the massage table at Whole Foods right next to the cafe tables.

New House

We are just about settled into our new house. I love it here! We have a gorgeous yard and the house just feels like home. Last weekend we painted our master bedroom. We are trying to get Oliver's room ready to paint. I am learning all about wallpaper removal and I am thinking about starting an anti-wallpaper movement - in my spare time.

More to come and more frequent posts - I promise!!!!!

- Oliver's Personal Assistant / Mom

Whew - things are a little crazy.  We are in the process of packing up our house.  Well maybe not actually in the process of packing, but it is on my mind and I have A LOT to do.  We are going to look at some houses for sale this weekend.  Oliver is just getting more and more personality.   He has some stacking cups and he is enjoying sitting up to play.  He is still eating everything we feed him and he loves to eat.  He loves the "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" book.   He is really starting to blossom in Kindermusik and interacting with the other babies more.

I went to a baby shower this week and I was eating some cowboy caviar in the kitchen, and Julie called out, "Tracy, Oliver is pushing,"  and sure enough I looked over and he was trying to push Ella over.  Last week he chewed on her feet.

Last Friday we had a picnic with some friends at the arboretum.   I am going to post some pics. 

Hopefully the pics are worth a thousand words.

Today I got the question, "what is your occupation," and I sort of drew a blank.

-TKM 

It has been so long since I have blogged I barely know where to start. I have an unfinished post from my trip to Arizona andmany details to write about New Orleans. We have had soooo many house showings. I feel too overwhelmed to journalabout everthing sobelow are some of Oliver's newest milestones and highlights fromthis week:

Oliver nowuses mmma-ma, muh-mah quite often when he is ready for milk.

He can now get his butt in the air and forehead down on the floor and can scoot a couple of inches at a time.

He still loves to eat - ALOT!

His sleep pattern has not been so great.   However, on Monday and Tuesday night he slept 8PM-4AM.  I felt like a new woman!!!!!   The rest of the week has not been the same.

We went to Itsy Bitsy Yoga on Wednesday which was also Oliver's 7 month birthday.  This is the first time he has lasted through the hour of baby yoga, the 30 minute core workout and the hour of post-natal yoga.  He played quietly with Sophie on the yoga mat.  I am more sore than ever.  

We had a house showing this week from 5-6pm and I decided it would be easy to spend an hour walking around the park.  After 19 minutes I was tired and ready to go home and so was Oliver.  We played on the swing at the park and giggled the entire time I was pushing the swing.

We attended our second class of Kindermusik this week. He smiled when everyone sang his name during the introduction song.  Below is a synopsis of a few songs and things we learned this week in Kindermusik, this semester is "The Rythym of My Day":

HELLO SONG: AFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Affective communication between Adult and Baby can be encouraged through touch, eye contact, vocalization and listening-all part of the greeting ritual.

THIS IS THE WAY: LABELING MOVEMENT
Children can recognize an object and understand movement long before they can use the language to tell you. We can help Baby in developing her ability to speak by labeling movement and objects. She will then begin to connect the relationship between the work and the movement or object. After months of babble Baby will begin to imitate these sounds and speak the words that previously she knew only by sight and sound.

JINGLE GO THE BABY BELLS: OBJECT PERMANENCE
When Baby begins to search for a hidden object, this indicates that Baby remembers that the object continues to exist even though it can not be seen. Object permanence is memory of behavior and/or things seen but out of sight.

BABY-O: MOVEMENT POSITIONS
This activity allows the adult to move Baby in a variety of ways such as crossing Baby's arms, lifting Baby into the air, folding Baby's legs up to the head and swinging Baby. Experiencing these movements and positions helps to develop Baby's vestibular system, muscle tone, and body awareness. 

We went to the Central Market Festival of Chocolate today to stall during two house showings. Oliver played with his cart cover and we lost a sock somewhere between the white chocolate pear fondue and the bittersweet chocolate pound cake samples.  Tyler Florence has a new line of organic baby food called sprout.  They are tres gourmet.

Lots of hand chewing and slobbering but still no teeth popping through.  I have noticed that he is really starting to observe and listen to everything we do and say.   I took him with me to visit my friend Sherrey who gave birth to twins this week.   I got to go into the NICU to see them.  Skye and Brady are soooo tiny and so precious.    Oliver was listening to everything Sherrey was telling me.   Today I called the cats a name that I shouldn't be calling them  - - and I cursed at the dog who depositing hair on the rug while I was trying to vacuum it up.   Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate setting good examples, but I guess that comes with the parenting job.

good night friday!

Oliver and I flew to Arizona on my birthday yesterday at 8:30PM.  Oliver was wide awake at the airport looking at all of the lights and shapes.  I carried him in my Ergo carrier and they let me through security without having to remove him.   The plane was delayed by about 30 minutes so I paced the terminal so Oliver didn't get too upset before boarding the plane.   We had an infant blocked middle seat and we sat next to the window.   He was looking all around on the plane and during take off his eyes were wide open.   I let him look out the window and he was mesmerized by the lights on the ground from the sky.   He started to do a weird chew on his wrist and kept flicking his wrist, I think it was a nervous little twitch.   I nursed him (which caused the guy next to me to look straight ahead for the remainder of the two hour flight.  He fell asleep on my lap.   I tried to sleep a little but there was some turbulence and I didn't want Oliver to slip off my lap.   When we landed I had to wake him up and put him in the carrier.  He cried on the plane, and through the terminal all the way to baggage claim.   He kept giving Mamoo and Papa a pouty face but he was also grinning a little too.  He was just really tired.  When we got to my parents house he was WIDE awake until after midnight.  It was fine because I had a Derby Pie waiting for me since it was my birthday.

Today he pooped 5 times.  Which I am journaling about for my own records.  He didn't poop for 3 days so today was significant.   It is time for bananas and rice cereal again  - -LOL.

This morning he played with Mamoo, Aunt Pretty and Aunt Bippy.  It was a whole lotta oogling, high baby voice talking and a paparazzi like camera flashing frenzy!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was guilty as part of the paparazzi too.  The best picture was of my sister driving next to my mom's car on the way to lunch looking at Oliver in the back seat.

We went to Liberty Market for lunch.   It is a new amazing place here.  I had the White Pizza with chicken, arugula, toasted pine nuts, smoked mozarella and bacon.   My sisters had the Caprese sandwhich that was very tasty too.  The lunch was topped off with truffle cookies, that were just too small.

We were admiring the espresso maker with Oliver at the bar and the owner said, would you like and espresso cup for him to hold.  Oliver grabbed it with both hands and Aunt Bippy held it to his mouth and he tried to drink out of it.  It was empty - but I know he is ready for his first Cappuccino. 

Ben and Emily came over to meet Oliver and he was excited to have a new audience with less camera flashes.   The whole fam damily went to Mi Amigos for dinner which is a tradition when I am in town.  I had a chicken chimichanga and it was such a treat to eat chips, salsa and dinner with both hands and no interruptions.  Oliver went from lap to lap (more paparazzi) and laughed over and over again for everyone with a game of peek a boo.

He was up until 9PM tonight.   He is soaking in all of the new things to see.  Papa said he is taking him fishing in the koi pond in the morning.

I am having another piece of Derby pie :) 

Yesterday we took a trip to Central Market to buy some organic vegetables and fruits to make Oliver baby food.  Seb carried Oliver in the new Ergo carrier in the store and he stared up and smiled at Seb for a good part of the hour and a half we were there.

I found a really pretty dress for the Mardi Gras Ball.   It is chocolate brown (which presents a shoe challenge) it fit in the bust and length which is a miracle, it also came with a little bolero jacket too.  It was on sale!!!! I even asked for an additional discount at the register at Macy's, because there was a tiny few stiches out of place that you could barely see.   She gave me an additional 10% off.   Woo hoo!!!!! 

Today we had a house showing so we went on a little drive and scouted out some places to do our family photo's next weekend for Oliver's 6 month pictures.  We stopped at a park and Oliver swung on the swing and enjoyed it, even though it was in the mid 30's.  We then headed to Walgreen's and Oliver had spit up so much on himself and was getting fussy so we set him in the cart.  He loved it!!!!  He had a box of macaroni and cheese (OG Blue Box) that he kept banging on the cart.    A woman came up when he started to fuss and said, "hello there, I am a grandma, you don't have to be upset."  Of course he stopped fussing and gave her a big grin.  

When we got home from the showing (we found Boon asleep in the crib) we started to make some more foods for Oliver.  I am finally a personal chef for someone and Seb is taking all of the glory.  He made peaches, pears, apples, and butternut squash.  I made the roasted carrots however, I also made us a delicious Genoa Salami, Soprasetta and Provolone pannini for lunch.  We cook the foods and then puree them, put them in ice cube trays, freeze 'em, then store them in freezer bags.   We already have peas, sweet potatoes, brown rice cereal and bananas in the freezer.

I am not packed for the trip to Arizona yet.   I am planning to pack first thing in the morning.   I barely know what to throw in the diaper bag for yoga on Wednesdays let alone a 4 day trip.  My suitcase will be full of shirts and bibs since his spit up has been voluminous. 

Foods eaten today:

Prunes / Oatmeal / Brown Rice Cereal / Pears / Apples

Tonight Oliver was mesmerized by my wedding ring (that makes two of us).  My birthday is tomorrow which is also the same day that Seb proposed to me.  I guess I am getting to that age where now rather than looking forward to a birthday I spend more time reflecting on prior years.

I have applied my Oil of Old Age Pro X night face AND NECK cream and eye firming wrinkle reducer cream, good night Saturday!

How could there possibly be more prunes in his system - ugh?????? I am not looking forward to the bright green peas tomorrow.

One thing I forgot to mention; the first night we gave Oliver brown rice cereal, he turned his head away from us and slowly spit it out over his shoulder.   He repeated it several times until we sweetened it up wit h some fruit.  It was hilarious.

We have started a new bedtime routine.  1. feed him some solids, 2. give him a bath, 3. Seb gives him a massage and puts on his pj's (while I shower),  4. Seb reads him a book in the rocking chair,  5.  I nurse him to sleep.

Well tonight he fell fast asleep while Seb was reading to him (step 4.) at 6:30PM!!!!   I had to pump some milk since we skipped step 5. 

Today I sent a cute little Iphone picture of Oliver eating prunes with a subject of "more prunes please." I was so proud he ate two servings of rice cereal and a full serving of prunes. He was backed up for a few days so we introduced the prunes to get things moving. Today he lurched forward to grab the bowl of food. We assembled our dining room table so now he likes to bang on the table since his high chair pushes up to it.

He loves prunes. I do not love prunes. We went to Itsy Bitsy Yoga after breakfast this morning. Oliver enjoyed the class and was very calm during the core workout and my post natal yoga class. The instructor kept saying look at Oliver he is doing Happy Baby pose. Little did I know that he was doing the Happy Baby pose in conjunction with evacuating 10 times the amount of prunes that I fed him. He started to fuss during the end restorative pose and I noticed a smell that was sort of tart like prunes. Rather than changing him in the room I took him to the bathroom with the changing table. I started to undress him and immediately had poo on my hand, my arm and shirt. IT WAS THE MOST DISASTEROUS DIAPER EVER!!!!
It had oozed out of all sides, top front and back of diaper. It was down to his ankles and he had about a 2 inch belt of it around his waist that soaked through both onesies. I couldn't take the onesies off because I would have had to scrape all of the poo up and over his face and my worst fear was him grabbing it and then shoving his hand in his mouth. I grabbed a bunch of cloth wipes and stuffed his pants, the changing pad, a blanket, his socks the diaper etc into my wet bag. I ended up tucking the
onesies into the new diaper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was straight to the bath tub when we got home. It took me a good amount of time to empty my wet bag and get everything soaking with oxiclean. The white layering onesie will never be the same.

Tonight he was eating pears and rice cereal with breast milk in it. Seb said, this tastes like baby spit up. So of course, I had to taste it and sure enough it tasted like Oliver's sour spit up smells. I then remembered that the breastmilk I used this morning I had heated it and then put some of it back in the fridge. It was my curdled breast milk - it was disgusting. It was early and I am sleep deprived so I am not surprised I did that. I now have the tart prune smell singed into my nose and the taste of curdled breastmilk keeps hitting my gag reflex when I think about it.

I made some no bake fudge cookies tonight and made Northern Italian Hot Spaghetti with shrimp. My new Ergo baby carrier arrived today!!!!!!!! I am most excited about this for our upcoming trips. It provides much more back and shoulder support.

Some more random thoughts / notes: I am sore from yoga. Oliver is really into his constellation night light. Each night he falls asleep with his snake Boo in one arm. Seb set him on my side of the bed with out a diaper tonight (which I always frown at him about) and sure enough he peed on my side. Oliver is getting to sleep later the last couple of nights. He is still waking up every four hours through the night to eat. Tomorrow I am going to make more brown rice cereal and puree and freeze some carrots. We are feeding Oliver all organic foods and are making as much of it as possible. Oliver likes to grab Biscuit's fur with both hands. Belle has snuck a few licks on Oliver's mouth and he smiles. Oliver loves to have Seb feed him in his high chair.  Boon crys at our door in the morning and I swear he is trying to wake the baby.

Wow - we can't believe Oliver is already 6 months old!!!!!  The time is going by so quickly.  He is now eating bananas, sweet potato, apples and rice cereal.  Today we loaded up on some brown rice, peas and carrots at Whole Foods to make some new foods for him.  His incoming teeth are really bothering him and today he had a low grade fever. 

We took a few pics of him today to mark the big 6 MONTHS.