almost one year

Where did this year go???? How is my little boy almost one year old????  So much has happened in the last year and I have tried my hardest to blog a lot but it is surreal to me that my little 8.1lbs baby is almost walking...  Every day he gets more and more independent and he changes so fast it is scary.  I just looked through some pictures of him from our trip to Germany this past May and he already looks different.  I guess because I see him every day I do not see the changes as much, but they are there....  his hair is really full and super light and curly.  Thanks to the sun it is really blond and speaking of sun - his little legs are super tan and it is a nice tan a really deep golden tan.  He almost reminds me of a typical California Surfer Dude...

Last weekend we took him for the first time to the pool and he had a blast.

Here a few pictures:

playing with Daddy's Iphone 

first swing set :) Fun for the whole family :) 

Just Pictures

Oliver is now 11 months old and I wanted to share some of my favorites...

Having fun with Daddy 

First 4th of July

crawling up the stairs

4th of July Weekend

Every year Catonsville has a lot of things to offer for the 4th of July.  We are going to the parade and are super excited to share this experience with Oliver.  Being from Germany the small town parade feel is just like I've seen it in the movies Catonsville 4th of July.  And for one day only (and every Friday for the Catonsville live music) no one really cares that you are drinking beer in public! 

we are also hosting our 3rd annual Lamb 4th of July party.  Last year we had one baby guest (Shane)  and two more were on the way (shout out to Aria and Oliver) but this year we have three mobile babies, one infant (Fin) and one on the way (Mai) so I am anxious to see how these babies will hold up in the parade heat and how it will be with Oliver and Frankee during the fireworks (another awesome thing we have basically in our backyard).  

Mamamamamama

After weeks of dadadadadada Oliver has finally expanded his vocabulary to mamamamamama of course he still prefers dada and da but it is a start.... :)

sleeping like a big boy

sleep issues, 7th tooth and father's day

For a few days now I have been suspecting teething as the culprit behind Oliver's current not wanting to sleep around midnight and today I found tooth #7!!!  how many more teeth is he going to get?  I swear it is all fun and games until he wakes up in the middle of the night and I have to lay next to him on the floor... Most of the time I fall asleep right there and I wake up anywhere between an hour or sometimes three hours later... most of the time I am cold - his little swaddle blanket isn't big enough to cover me LOL 

hopefully tonight he will sleep through again... PLEASE OLIVER - Mommy needs SLEEP!!!!  

I kind of failed on the Father's Day gift - I ordered some cool Seattle and Star Wars prints a few weeks ago but the Canadian Postal Service is on strike and therefore they have not made it here yet :(  hopefully they will make it soon and hopefully Patrick will enjoy them.  Oliver also got him the Rambo Blue Ray Box Set.  Not sure how he got a hold of my Credit Card and Amazon log on.... might have to check his pockets before I leave to go to work.... 

A few days ago we got Oliver a push walker and he seems to like to be able to cruise through the house.  He sounds really advanced right now, but it is more him "walking" two steps and then letting go and falling... he feels really comfortable though when he holds on to the couch or the coffee table and we have seen him move securely between the both...  He also has his own remote now.  However he seems to know that there is no battery in it... Gosh why are they so smart?  

 

Update on the little guy

before we went to Germany he was working on tooth #5 and on how to crawl forward.

It is my pleasure to announce that while we were in Germany we got tooth #6 and we learned how to crawl forward *getting the champagne*!!!!  We also developed biting as a habit while we were in Germany and started eating stage 3 baby food.  I do have to say that I was more impressed with the Germany ready to eat baby food in comparison to the US products.  However snack food is a lot better in the US than in Germany.  Oliver also tried German Brei (it's their version of cereal) and he liked it.  He enjoyed some good ice cream while we were there and lots and lots of Bretzel.  If I could wish for ONE thing and ONE thing only I'd love to have a Bretzel stand in walking/driving distance.  It is THE best snack food.  (maybe that is the one and ONLY reason the German's lack otherwise in the baby snack department...... food for thought)

I am very happy we got to go to Germany and spend SO much time with my family and it was so nice to see that Oliver had the best time (I believe) and he got to spend a lot of time with his cousins - especially Tom who is 1.5 years older than him.  Man those two will be trouble one day...

Come to think of it - I didn't buy that much stuff this time in Germany... I guess I have been gone long enough that I just don't care about certain things anymore, or I found the equivalent in the US or it is just too pricey.  This trip was the first trip I didn't buy a book for myself.  Usually I would load up on German books but I knew I wasn't going to be able to read it on the plane or at home...  For whatever reason (Oliver) I just don't have time to read anymore and if I do have time I prefer to stick to the known (shout out to the latest Sookie Stackhouse which is still in the store)

Anyways - back to Oliver - since we got back he has been sleeping on the lowest setting of his crib and we installed his convertible car seat in both cars.  I stored the infant car seat today in the basement.  It is crazy that he will be 10 months old in 3 days and I am cleaning out his belongings daily...  Just today I stored away a few breastfeeding items.  Currently he is nursing 3 times a day and I stopped pumping at work last Tuesday.  It is liberating.  Don't get me wrong I enjoy breastfeeding him, but man am I looking forward to being DONE!  Right now my plan is to continue to nurse him for one more month and then substitute one of his liquid meals with whole milk and then within 4 weeks replace all of them *yay*  and somewhere in the next two months he has to drink the remainder of the frozen stash :)  since he got back he has been sleeping a lot better at night, however I don't want to jinx it, therefore I am not making an official announcement ;)  

flying with children

What was I thinking??? 8 hours in an confined place/assigned seat with Oliver and that to and from?  WHAT WAS I THINKING!!! and what do airlines think to let you hold a child on your lap...  Believe it or not, I really never thought about the whole thing - like go to the bathroom, eat food or watch movies.  You know the usual things you do while on a plane.  Well this time I had to eat my food with one hand and have it on the tray next to me (Thank you to the Navy dude on his way to Djibouti for letting me use your tray and I truly hope you didn't get Aids)  and this time I didn't watch ANY movies - well not only did they suck, but the headphone cable was too much of a point of interest for Oliver so NO MOVIES!!! Now how did I go to the restroom?  Thank you to the awesome flight attendants for being super willing to help me out by holding him, playing with him and interacting with him.  These days you don't get any wings anymore (BOOOH!) but they made sure we were taken care off.
I actually considered on the flight back to upgrade to business class and leave Oliver in coach, but that wasn't an option and business class was a little too pricey.
On both flights Oliver made new friends and I do have to say somehow the 8 hours flew by (haha flew by haha) but I don't think I'll do another flight with him by.my.self.  HELL NO!!!

Oliver was a trooper though - he enjoyed that so many people played peekaboo with him :)  THANK YOU!!!

Well on a side-note I can now say I have basically nursed everywhere and it is getting harder and harder to maintain his focus and the nursing cover doesn't quiet work anymore either......  Especially because he thinks we are playing a game...  Stupid peekaboo ;)