We started our trip to Louisiana on September 9th.  We had planned to get up around 5-5:30 and get an early start on the road.   We pulled out of the driveway at 8am and sat in Dallas traffic for about 20 minutes.   We stopped in Forney, TX for breakfast (drive through Chick FilA) at 8:30.   Oliver had fallen asleep so he ended up eating his breakfast around 10:30.  We stopped at a Starbucks in Shreveport around 12 and stretched our legs and Ollie’s too.  We were making such great time that we only stopped for gas and a quick diaper change.  We had some snacks in the car and Ollie was happy as could be.   We arrived at Seb’s parents house around 4pm.

Andrew made us a delicious feast with grilled chicken mole, lentil soup, Spanish rice, grilled quesadillas and chicken vegetable kabobs.   Seb’s aunt Beth and uncle Don joined us for dinner.  Oliver was such a flirt, laughing and sitting with everyone.  We had trouble getting him to sleep, but it was a change in environment.  Honey had all sorts of cool toys for Oliver to play with.  He spent a good amount of time pushing around Andrews steel tractor.  

Thursday morning we headed to  Lacombe to see uncle Don’s trains and pick scuppernong.  They also have a giant windmill in the yard.   Oliver’s eyes lit up when he saw the trains zooming by.  The engines are antiques and several of the parts are from the 40’s and 50’s.  One of the engines smoked and choo choo’d .  Aunt Beth gave Oliver his very first chair that is just his size.   Around  11:30we hit the road to Florida with Honey in the back with Oliver.   It was about a 4-5 hour drive to Destin, FL.   Oliver slept and we made a quick stop at a McDonalds for lunch.  The last 40 miles to Destin has stoplights and Oliver figured out a way to blow spit bubbles and irritate all of us for 40 miles with stoplights.  

We arrived at the Emerald Grande and after Chloe checked in we decided to carry our luggage up ourselves rather than use a bellman.  We parked in the west wing area right next to the elevator.   We piled all the bags (the shoe bag, the beach toy bag, the suitcases, the baby’s diaper duffle, the video camera, the camera bag, my diaper bag, the portable high chair, the stroller with Oliver in it, the books and magazines, the car snack bag, the wine for the condo, the Ergo carrier, the toiletries bag, the McDonalds trash bag) into the elevator.   The elevator didn’t have any floors listed????  So we took the elevator to the Lobby level and there were still no floor numbers.   We switched elevators and ended up outside by the pools????  We marched all of our crap through the lounge chairs (excuse me, excuse me).  Chloe and I were laughing so hard, because Seb kept dropping the portable high chair and tray at every elevator entry and exit.   He had so many bags strapped all over him, that each time he bent over something else would shift and fall.  Oliver was laughing because we were laughing.    His newest little quirk is that when we would laugh, he would pause and then he laughs as though he is in on the joke.  It is too cute, I think I caught it on video.

We got settled into the condo which was really nice and had a great view of the gulf.  The weather was a little rainy so we didn’t head down to the beach.  We had dinner at the condo, rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes and vegetables.

Friday morning we awoke to a nice sunny day (unfortunately Oliver’s sleep pattern was still off so we were dragging a little bit).  We loaded up the beach bags and cameras and headed to Fort Walton beach which was just a couple miles away.  The water was a red flag level which is high rip tide (I think).  Oliver was completely overwhelmed by the sound of the crashing waves.  We put on his swim trunks and slathered him up with SPF 50.   The sand is so beautiful white and soft, it really is like sugar.   He was not sure about the sand and the water scared him.  He cried and would not stand up.  I immediately wrote his name in the sand and took the picture even though he was crying.   It took a good ten minutes for him to feel more comfortable.  He sat on the towel and touched the sand only with his shovel at first.   Then he took a little taste of it (only once) and then touched it a little more.   Grandpa Jeff showed him how to work the sand castle components and how to dig in the sand.  He started to really enjoy the sand.   I took him back down to the water and I made a fun noise each time the waves came up and touched his feet.   He then sat down and let the water come up on his legs and he would slap the sand each time the water receded.  Unfortunately, with my pale skin and his baby skin we couldn’t camp it out on the beach for the afternoon.   We headed to the shower area to rinse off and I was walking with Oliver on my hip and I slipped and fell on my tailbone.  He just looked at me.  He was fine and luckily I didn’t drop him on the way down.  We headed back to the condo for showers and a nap.  Oliver and Sebtook a long nap.   I pulled out my New Moon book (that I started and never finished before I was even pregnant) and read a few chapters on the balcony.  I headed down to the coffee place, had an iced latte and scone. 

We had a happy hour in the condo before dinner and some family friends came by and went to dinner across the street. Ciao Bella was the name of the restaurant and we had amazing calamari and a delicious, spinach, feta, artichoke, olive pizza.  Oliver was demonstrating his stellar signing skills (hee hee).   He kept smiling at some people at the table behind us.   We decided to head back to the condo for bath and bedtime.  I showed Oliver how to blow a kiss to the table goodbye.  He took his hand and blew kisses over and over and over to the table.  It was really cute.   It is a little foggy but I think this is the night we roamed the hallways and went down to the docks with him in the Ergo carrier trying to get him to go to sleep, and no it didn’t work.  Honey took over and got him rocked to sleep.  He was up and down through the night. 

Saturday morning we woke up to a very rainy day.  It was nice and cool (low 70’s) and we had a lazy morning at the condo.  We went for a little drive to a shopping center.  Oliver climbed on the playground toys (no fear).  Late in the afternoon we took the ferry to the private beach which had low tide and beach chairs.  It was drizzling a little but Oliver enjoyed the water even though it was really chilly.  We walked down by the docks where the fishing boats had returned from a day at sea to see their catch.  Oliver signed “fish” and we saw some really big tuna.  Saturday night, Chloe watched Oliver and Seb and I went to dinner.  We had two dozen oysters and split a bucket of steamed seafood, lobster, two different crabs, mussles, clams and shrimp.  We sat outside right on the marina and enjoyed feeding only ourselves.  Of course we still picked the food apart with our hands.   After dinner we drove to a beach area a few miles away and Seb took some great picsof the ocean at night.  We picked up a key lime pie on the way back to the condo.  We walked in and Oliver said, Dad!!!   I forgot to mention that each night until about midnight we could hear the band at one of the restaurants even from the 10th floor.

Sunday morning we woke up to a gorgeous bright sunny day.  We packed our beach bags and headed back to the Fort Walton beach.   Oliver was ready this time and started playing in the sand.  I walked him down to the water to watch Chloe, Seb and Jeff jumping waves and he walked in up to his waist.   Seb came to the shore and walked him out to jump some waves.   We couldn’t stay too long because of the sun and because we had to get on the road back to Louisiana.  Oliver took a nap and then we all had lunch at the Camelia Grill.   We loaded the car in several trips this time J.   It was about a 4 hour drive back to Louisiana and Oliver wised up to the fact that he was going to be in his car seat longer than he wanted to be.  He whined and cried and I tried every toy, snack and song in my trick bag.  Finally the Yo Gabba Gabba soundtrack and some Goldfish crackers in his sand pail did the trick.  We had some really intense rain storms on the way back and it was a looooooong drive.  We stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things and when Seb tried to put Oliver back in his car seat he was stiff as a board.   He wouldn’t bend his waist and just arched back super straight.  We made it to Seb’s parents home and Oliver started walking all over the house.  He didn’t walk very much in Florida.  He even crawled up the staircase all by himself.  He has never even been exposed to stairs since he has been crawling.  

We planned to get up at 5AM and get on the road.   We got on the road around 7AM and found a Starbucks in Baton Rouge – yippee!!!!   Oliver slept for the first couple of hours.  We stopped at a Chick Fil A for breakfast again.  We had more rain storms and Oliver was very tired of being in his car seat.  It was a lot of different toys, snacks and songs but nothing worked well.  We made it home around 3PM.  Overall he was a great passenger.    I was still a little stiff from my fall. 

We had a really great time and it was so fun to show Oliver all of the new places and things.  We are thinking of making it an annual beach get away.  It was great to see Andrew since we haven’t seen him in almost two years!   Oliver had fun wearing his sunglasses and playing with the tractors.  This post is a bit dicey because I have been trying to type it for the last three hours while we have been working to get Ollie to sleep.  We still haven't settled back into our sleeping routines.

He has a big fascination going on with his cowboy hats.   He whines and does the sign language sign for hat.   So I put it on his head and he smiles really big and then rips it off his head. 

Several times today we caught him walking while holding a push toy with one hand.  I am pretty sure he can walk on his own if he just focused a little more.  I need to get the video camera ready for the big first steps.

A few weeks ago I was standing at the kitchen sink and Oliver was sliding the dogs placemat around the kitchen.  He slid it under something and a sticky card from the pest control guy stuck to it.   I turned around to see him with a 5x7 card with 4 GIGANTIC dead cockroaches on it along with some winged ants and beatles.  Luckily he was entranced by the stickyness of the card and not the dead insects (I don't know the cockroaches could technically be rodents based on their size).  

Today it was rainy and overcast so we played at the water table in the backyard and I re-potted some plants.  He loves the water table but he cries when it is time to stop playing in it.  It makes it even more difficult to wrangle him away from the water table because he is wet and slippery.  

I am not sure why but tonight we are having some troubles getting him to sleep.  We've nursed, he's had two small bottles of milk, Seb has rocked him once, I have tried rocking him, now Seb is in there rocking him.   The whole time I was trying to rock him he kept smiling at me oh so sweetly and then he would run his fingers around the bottom of my hair, just feeling my hair, then he would yank it with all of his strength - still maintaining the sweet smile.  What is 2 years old going to be like?

I need some chocolate.

Goodnight Thursday!

He has been very consistent and clear with his signing.   He does milk, eat and now fish (for the crackers), hat, sleep and he also has some new dance moves.  

He is starting to show some separation anxiety when Seb leaves for work in the morning he gets a little upset.  He loves to say dada and daddy.

He now likes to take showers, he sits on the floor of the shower and plays with his toys.  We haven't had any teary baths in awhile. 

He spends a good part of his day playing with trucks and touch and feel books.   We have been around his friends the last couple of days and he is one of the only non-walkers.   He seems to really watch the other babies walk around.   He has been standing up on our ottoman and balancing with no hands.   The minute we try to get him to walk he drops straight down on his butt.

He is crawling around really fast now, we nicknamed him Toro because he gets his head down like a bull and goes even faster.   One of my friends heard him thundering down the hallway and asked, "what is that?" 

Things that Santa may be adding to his list:

- Oliver has a fascination with the stove knobs.  I take them off but when I am cooking I have one on the stove.  He can reach them, push them in and turn the flame up - UGH!!!!   I have to stand there to block him. 

- He thinks the dog's water bowl is his own waterpark.  He sits by the fridge in the kitchen and when he sees us get up he goes as fast as he can into the dog's water bowl.  He knows that he is not allowed to get in them.  We end up putting the dog's water on the counter but she does need water occaisionally.

- The cat box is his new favorite area, he likes to drop things into it.  Luckily he hasn't tried to retreieve things from it.

- Diaper changing continues to be challenging.   I babysat for one of my friends who has a little boy that is 4 days older than Oliver.  I had to change his diaper twice.  I had everything ready and in my head I had a plan on how to hold him, a toy to distract him, etc.   He just remained on the changing table ever so quietly and let me change his diaper.   I was in shock!   Oliver twists, turns, sits up, stands up, kicks his legs, turns around, crawls off the table and whines the entire time.   It is exhausting, then I have to get his shorts back on too!

We are trying really hard to be grown up, mature parents but when he does some ornery things it is so hard not to laugh. 

Oliver loves cookies, which is flattering to my baking but sort of a bummer that we have to share with him :) just kidding!

I can't post without mentioning our latest creature adventures.   After the American cockroach flew over our bed and the cats abandoned us, we had the pest control service come.  He found the cockroaches hanging out by the plumbing in our crawl space - yikes.   The cats redeemed themselves this weekend when Seb discovered a gecko in our living room.   Boon was hunting it for a good hour or so and Seb finally trapped it under a container and scooped it out the front door.  Boon has been depressed ever since, he really wanted to play with it a little longer.  We had Belle microchipped last week.  I took her to the vet for her Heartguard refill and the vet said, wow she is chunky (to the dog - not me) and so she is not on high chair clean up patrol anymore.  It was actually relaxing to take the dog to the vet alone, compared to taking Oliver places. 

We attended our friend Ella's 1st birthday party last weekend.   It was a pool party but we didn't swim.  Last week Gretel (Ella's mom) watched Oliver while I ran a few errands.  Ella fed Oliver Cheerios (she is a month older than Oliver.   Gretel said he was happy and content while I was gone.   He said mama a couple of times and her Grate Dane and Bulldog barked and scared him a little bit.  

We usually go to Mommy & Me on Mondays and Tuesday's are the playgroups.  Friday is Fitness day, we walk at the Katy Trail.  

Today Oliver had his first scrambled egg made by chef Seb for breakfast, so far no allergies.  His new favorite treats are Cheerios and Kix cereal.   He loves to eat and it makes it difficult for us to snack on anything without him wanting a bite.  

We had a nice family lunch out (mexican food!) on Sunday.   Oliver was as happy as could be eating chicken, chips, refried beans and tortillas.  I handed him the crayon (not the smartest mom) and it went directly in his mouth. 

We are on a serious countdown to the birthday party.   I am trying to get the rest of the inside of the house ready and Seb has been busy in the yard.   The garden is doing really well.  I need to spend more time out there offering it some TLC and taking care of some weeds. 

This past weekend was Dadfest 2009, which consisted of a 5K (Seb and Oliver were a team) and then there was a father look alike contest and the diaper dash.   I video taped the diaper dash.   I have a groin strain so I fell back during the 5K and I came jogging up for the last quarter mile and I see Oliver's stroller stopped ahead, so I picked up my pace to find nurse Seb tending to a 60 year old woman who had fallen during the run and cut her nose open pretty bad.   After the ambulance arrived we jogged the finish in together as a family so at least we got a good picture :)  It was super hot and humid.  Oliver has his first race t-shirt.   I am looking forward to the day that Oliver and Seb can run together in the 5K's.  

We have a new swimming pool (inflatable) and Oliver LOVES it.  He shreiks at the top of his lungs in the water and he stands up and gets so excited.

Goodnight Monday. 

The title sums up our last 24 hours.  Seb killed a roach in the living room with Oliver on his hip at midnight.   He set up a bunch of traps and last night the cats were after something.   Biscuit ripped through the living room and then sat staring at the lamp base.   I convinced Seb to lift it up and sure enough there was a GIANT roach.   I have seen them outside and I have been pretending that they couldn't possibly come in the house.  With all the excitement of the roach killing I didn't notice that the kitchen was filled with smoke.   I knew the smoke alarm was going to go off and we had Oliver in bed for the night.   The problem is that the windows are painted shut in the kitchen and the side door is hard to unlock.   Seb muscled it open in a desperate attempt to keep the baby asleep.

The excitement actually started during Oliver's bath last night.   We have an extra tall baby gate blocking the kitchen from the bedrooms and bathroom.    It keeps the cats and the dog out of the bedroom areas and we can keep the door open to see in Olivers room.   I thought the dog was shaking a stuffed animal at the gate and I think I even told her to stop.   Then I heard the most awful shreiking horrible sound, I leaned back to see Biscuit flailing by her neck stuck between the bars at the top of the baby gate (not where the gate opens).   I grabbed her head and pushed her down to the bottom and squeezed her head through while her body was whipping around on the other side of the baby gate.  Seb walked in to me in the living room with a wet naked baby and a freaked out cat.  Luckily she just used one of her lives.   I knew it was only a matter of time that our baby safety precautions would become a hazzard for the cats.

We have a new method and bedtime routine for Oliver, so far it is working.   It includes Wheel of Forture and Seb rocking him to sleep and we have had several 11 hour nights with him in his crib.   Last night something went wrong and we were all up watching TV at 2AM with an unhappy constipated baby.   One night at a time.

Today Oliver and I met the girls at the Dallas Zoo.  Several of them are members so we get in free.  Oliver was awake and smiled at the penguins and looked at the animals a little closer.  We all pack a picnic lunch and we go to the cafeteria area and push our strollers through with a high chair on our hip, we look like a crazy mom high chair stroller train.

We were looking at the Gorilla exhibit and I decided that I wanted a picture of Oliver sitting in front of the glass with the Gorilla behind him.   I did feel like a bad mom for setting my baby on the ground in front of a gorilla exhibit for a picture.   Oliver turned around and put his hand on the glass.  The gorilla (Patrick) looked over and saw him on the ground and walked over, he gently got down on his elbows at eye level and touched the glass by Ollie's hand.  They had a total connection.  Everyone was like oh my gosh, look at the gorilla and the baby!!!!!   It was totally cute.  A bunch of children rushed over, practically trampling Oliver and their loud kid noises were startling to Ollie.   I have attached a pic of Ollie with the gorilla.

Oliver has 4 teeth now, number 4 popped through yesterday.  His favorite books are Richard Scary's Biggest Word Book Ever & Hickory Dickory Tickle and Bounce.

Seb has Monday off work so we are looking forward to a 3 day weekend. 

Goodnight!

We have had a busy week!  On Tuesday we met up with the dangerous group of moms that I hang out with at the Arboretum.  Ollie and I got there 45 minutes early so that I could get a good walk in, since Charity was bringing cinnamon rolls and muffins.   It was Tiny Tot Tuesday at the Arboretum so they had the petting zoo.  I parked Oliver in front of the goats and chickens and I guess one was a rooster.  He kept squaking at Oliver - Cock A Doodle Doo - and he smiled.   I guess my Old Mac Donald songs have made an impact.   In case you were wondering, yes, I was afraid they were going to eat my baby.

I decided to set Oliver up for a nice picture under the oak trees with the fountains centered in the back.  I got the camera settings just right and he took off crawling!!!!!  I am used to plopping him down and taking my picture but now he just crawls out of the frame.   Above is the picture.

On Wednesday we went and hung out with my friend Tina who has a tiny one month old baby girl named Emma.  She is so sweet and cute!!!  I ended up wrestling Oliver the whole time, so I am not really much of a help but it was great to visit and catch up.

This morning we met a couple of friends at the Katy Trail to walk.  We are officially starting Fitness Friday and we are going meet every week at the trail to walk or jog.   I also need Workout Wednesday so we are going to try to walk at one of the malls (this summer) that also has a childrens storytime.  

Tomorrow is swim class week 3!!!

Saturday we had our second swim class adn he did really well, in fact much better than I did.  It was submerging day - the instructor took each baby and dunked them under the water.   Then Seb and I had to do a pass with him completely under the water.   It was a little scary for me.  He took in some water but he did great.  We are pretty sure he is going to be an Olympic swimmer - hee hee.

We hung up his artwork in his bedroom this weekend.  I will take pics of his room and send soon, it is so magical.

Oliver is changing so much everyday.  Below are a list of new tricks he has mastered:

He waves back when you wave to him

Crawling on his knees

He sticks his legs between the crib bars :(

He barks in response to hearing a dog bark (it is more of a waa waa instead of a woof woof)

He kicks his legs and smiles when we get ready to walk out the door

He signs "all done" after eating

His front right tooth is now visible and the left one should pop through anyday

He is helping more when getting dressed by pushing his arm through his shirts

He is starting to sway to music a little more

He chases the dog around the house, he grabs her foot and she steps sideways and he grabs it again, and she leaves the room

He is pulling drawers open, trying to shut doors and is curious about everthing

He has a completely fake cough that he uses to get our attention