Oliver's First Christmas Weekend

Our little family of three (five if you add the cats) spent the whole weekend together. We played with Oliver's new toys, ate lots of treats, visited with friends, attended church, caught up on household tasks, and enjoyed our time together. It was a very Merry Christmas!!

Santa Baby

My joyful baby! I'm going to miss that gummy smile.

All I want for Christmas…

…is my two front teeth, my two front teeth!! It seems that Oliver’s first Christmas will also mark the arrival of his first two teeth. He is only 4 months (and 10 days), but with all the drool and desire to put everything in his mouth, we figured he might be teething a bit early. However, I was still a little surprised to find that his bottom two teeth were starting to break through this week, I felt them for the first time on Thursday (12/15). By Sunday (12/18), they both had just broken through the gum. By Christmas, both teeth will likely be solidly visible. He has been a real tough guy. Only a bit of minor complaining and a continued desire to have something in his mouth to chew on.

Oliver has been lucky and already had two practice Christmas celebrations. One celebration during our Thanksgiving trip to Wisconsin, and the other celebration this weekend in DC with my mom and brother. It was fun to see his response to the gift opening and new toys during his second Christmas celebration compared to his first. In the few weeks since his first Christmas celebration, he seems to have become more interested in opening the gifts (even if he then wanted to eat the wrapping paper) and even more engaged in the new toys this time around. He is changing so fast!!!

So far it has been a very happy holidays for us. We hope it has been the same for you.

A Day of Play

Since going back to work, Oliver and I have not had a lot of "mommy and me" days. So today was an extra special day for me. Joe had some household projects he wanted to work on, which meant just O and I spent the whole day together without any agenda or plans. We ended up snuggling and sleeping in (love my kid!) and then enjoying some playtime this morning. He was pretty adorable playing so I snapped a few photos. Next, we took a walk to Georgetown and had lunch together (literally, he nursed while I ate my lunch at the bakery). Then we shopped for his Christmas outfit before heading to our favorite activity...the bookstore!! We picked out and read a few new books together and had a snack at the coffee shop where we met a professor who is writing a book on the impact names have on success. He took a liking to Oliver and let us know that "Oliver Joseph," in his opinion, is a great name choice (but, he did warn us against using "Ollie"). I guess we can rest easy now knowing that at least we did not screw up his future because of a bad name choice. It was a great day!

12/8/11--Four Months Old

A few of O’s favorite things…

In his first 16 weeks of life, Oliver has already started to accumulate some favorite things. I know babies have a lot of the same likes and dislikes, but I am enjoying seeing my baby enjoy the little pleasures in his life. So I am going to take the liberty of sharing a few of the things I love to enjoy him loving…

Milk. I guess it goes without saying that babies love milk. Oliver has a clear preference for Mommy-made milk. It cracks me up the way he will stop in the middle of eating and look up at me with the biggest smile as if to say, thank you Mommy, I really LOVE this milk!


Books. This is my favorite of his favorites. Oliver loves to look at books and be read to, and he shows a preference for certain books over others. I was so proud of him when a couple weeks ago he started helping turn the pages when we read together. Lately, he has also started to "read" the stories to us.

Hands. His hands, my hands, Daddy’s hands, anyone’s hands…the kid loves to chew, stare at, touch, and hold hands and fingers.

Sophie. His 'Sophie la girafe' takes a close second place to his hands.

Sheryl. Oliver loves to be silly and giggle with Sheryl. I love my little man more than I can say and I try to be silly with him, but nothing compares to the fun Oliver has with Sheryl. She knows how to get him giggling in a way that just melts my heart.

Independence. We have found that while Oliver wants us to be available and in his line of vision, he also loves his independent playtime. He talks enthusiastically to himself and gets his thinking face on (often with lips puckered and eyes concentrating on whatever toy or book he is working on).

Sleepy Snuggles. I am guilty of letting him indulge in this bad habit. Oliver’s favorite place to fall sleep is snuggled up on my chest. And he is pretty happy sleeping in Daddy’s arms too!

Good Morning. Ever since he started smiling (which it seems like he was born doing), Oliver has woken up, locked eyes with me, and started his day with a big gummy smile. I love being the first person he sees in the morning because it makes my day to see that smile!

Week 16 Stats

Oliver is 16 weeks old today. He had his well visit appointment this morning, and he is doing great in all areas. He reached all of his age appropriate milestones and his stats look good: Weight: 14.13 lb (50th percentile) and Height: 24.8 in (75%). They went ahead with his 4-month immunizations even though he picked up a mild cold while travelling for the holidays. Since he was already not feeling his best, he did give the nurses a good piece of his mind about the whole situation. Overall, he took it like a champ, nursed, and was back to his usual good spirits by the time we left the doctor's office. He is now resting comfortably after the somewhat stressful morning.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oliver had a day full of family, good food and lots of laughs on his first Thanksgiving, so did we.

Two Peas in a Pod

They were on their way out to run some errands and I could not help snapping this picture.

Who's Your Daddy?

No DNA test needed here. Yes, I did slightly stage him. But, when I saw the 3-month picture of Joe, I could not believe how many of Oliver's features are the same. Oliver did get the advantage of modern photography and multiple shots to pick from, but I would still argue that Oliver is a bit more photogenic than his daddy (mother's bias).

11/8/11--Three Months Old

Neuron-boy!

Bonnie told me this morning that I was going to turn our son into a nerd by encouraging him to be a roboticist.

However, note the clothes she dressed him in this morning.

- enough said.

it ends...and it begins....

Happy Halloween!!!!

Even though I am still trying to finish up my hours for the year (the next couple nights are going to be long ones), I just could not turn down the chance to get dressed up with Oliver and attend our first Halloween party as a family. We spent a few hours tonight at George and Del's (friends from graduate school who moved to DC last year). They hosted a party for their pals with kids (their son, Max, is 9 months old). Oliver was ADORABLE in his bumble bee costume, and he did great at the party. But, he was totally puttered out by the end of the night. He is now sound asleep in his crib and it is time for me to get back to working/billing. It was a great first Halloween.

Getting to know you...

A Few Precious Hours

It is that time of year again: end of the billable year. For obvious reasons, this year it has been particularly hard to (1) keep up with my hours and (2) make the big end of year push to catch up on my hours. Because Oliver was born exactly 12 weeks prior to the last day of the billable year, the only way to make my hours was to return to work before my 12 weeks of maternity leave were up. As a family, we decided that we would make the necessary sacrifices so that I can make my hours. Last week was really hard. I put in long hours, which meant very little time with Oliver. I leave him with Sheryl in the morning and get home in time for one or two feedings and put him to bed at night. However, it was even harder this weekend. Although I did not bill as many hours this weekend as I had hoped, I am grateful for the precious few hours I got to spend with Oliver (he took his first bath in the big boy bathtub; we read a couple books; we played and had tummy time; Joe brought him to my office to nurse (and so Oliver could take a call); I got to sit and listen while he chatted and babbled about his first trip to REI with daddy; we sang a couple of his favorite songs; and I held him while he slept (I was even able to work and bill during a couple naps)). I am hopeful these hours will help get me through this last billable week and weekend...