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!