4/8/12 -- Eight months old

It is now eight months and some change as I get around to finishing this post.  For Oliver's photo at eight months, I will incorporate our Easter post by reference herein in its entirety.  But, I will keep the rambling thought below that I started writing at the end of the day he turned eight months... 

"At eight months, I find myself more and more often thinking that I need to savor certain things because we won't be able to do them much longer. Rocking Oliver to sleep before bed is one example. His usual bed routine wraps up around 9:00 pm. Most nights he nurses and/or gets a bottle and then falls asleep in Joe or my arms. Depending on how tired he is, it can take anywhere between 5-25 minutes for him to fall asleep. But, I have had a few nights now where it has taken me about an hour to put him in his crib--not because he didn't fall asleep, but because I just wanted to hold him close a little longer. He is growing into a little boy so fast, and I know he will be too big to put him to bed this way very soon. I just want to enjoy him being my baby for a little longer."

Just a little longer.

Happy Easter Weekend!

After running some errands, we spent a few hours on Saturday in Alexandria, including loading up on a bunch of great books from “Hooray for Books!” We had lunch on King Street at a crab shack and then did a little shopping at the "Pink and Brown" baby boutique. On Easter Sunday, we got ready for church only to have Oliver fall asleep for what we thought would be a short nap, but turned out to be a pretty long one. So rather than wake him, we skipped church and went to brunch. Oliver opened his “Easter basket”, which was a toy shopping bag filled with stuffed veggies and fruits as well as a couple of board books about fruits and vegetables and a Peter Rabbit touch and feel book. Oliver even got to try coloring an egg. Later in the day Oliver and Daddy took a walk to the park to play in the grass. It was a low-key, but happy first Easter.

Today is also Oliver’s 8-months old day, but there will be a separate post for that milestone coming soon.

Go Fly a Kite

It was one of those days where I feel really lucky to live in DC. It was a cool, cloudy, and windy day. A perfect day for flying kites—pretty cool that today also happened to be Kite Festival Day in DC. We were making plans to have brunch with our friends James and Meredith when they mentioned stumbling across this event last year and how they planned to participate with a kite of their own this year. Weather permitting, we signed on to tag along. It turned out to be a perfect day for kite flying and lots of fun to take Oliver for an afternoon of watching the kites and playing in the grass. I had not imagined so many people and so many different kinds of kites. I think we will have to participate with a kite of our own next year.

Jesus loves me, this I know…

I think Oliver knows he is loved by a long list of people, and if you are not on that list, I think he is pretty confident he can get you to sign on. Oliver’s Nana, Grandma & Grandpa, and Aunt Sheila came out for his baptism on March 25, 2012. The baptism service was lovely and Oliver was a superstar. He shared the morning with a little boy the same age named Robert. Both boys had on almost the same outfit and were very well behaved. But, Oliver did not miss out on his moment to shine. After the baptism part of the ceremony the pastors lift the babies up “Simba” style and then walk them around the church for the whole congregation to see. Oliver could have been running for public office the way he was smiling, waving and engaging the crowd. The phrase that came to mind was “what a ham!” With the lighting in the church, we were not able to capture a good image, but I will keep that memory with me. We went to brunch at The Tabard Inn afterward. Sheryl met up with us. It was great to see Oliver surrounded by so many people who care so much for him.

It was a wonderful weekend with family. And with so many hands on deck, Joe and I were able to sneak away for a little couple time. We had an over-due anniversary dinner out. We went to a movie one night. We got to sleep in and have room service at a hotel—my first official full night away from Oliver. We loved having everyone here and we were sad to see everyone go.

Goodnight Sweetheart

Oliver slept through the night on March 17^th (7 months, 9 days old). When he did it again the next couple nights, I still thought it could be a fluke. But, now that over a week has passed where he has slept from about 9:00PM to 6:00AM (even while cutting another tooth), I think it is safe to say he now sleeps through the night. I had forgotten how nice it is to sleep for more than 3-4 hours at a time--it is really nice.

We did not change his schedule or do official “sleep training.” He finally just made the switch on his own. The past couple weeks, he has been eating three servings of a solid food a day, and we have followed a nighttime schedule for a few months now (dinner, play/read, bath, milk, and bed). We still rock him after his last feeding until he falls asleep and then put him into bed. It usually only takes 10-15 min for him to pass out. But, I know he will soon be too big for this and it makes me a little sad. In the meantime, I love to get a few minutes of quiet snuggle time before putting him to bed each night.

This photo is not of him sleeping through the night. It is a snapshot of his monitor during a late afternoon nap a few weeks ago. I took the picture because it shows what a cute little snuggle baby he is.

I planned to work this afternoon...

…then we started running errands, ate lunch, and when we found a little patch of grass, I knew I could not pass up spending my whole Sunday with my two best boys.

This was Oliver’s first time in the grass. I don’t want to think about what this patch of city grass has been used for…anyway, he loved it. He picked up every leaf, blade of grass, stick and rock and fully investigated it. Then he would put it in the pile between his legs. He was so happy that we let him play like this for at least 20 minutes. When we picked him up to leave, he started to whimper until I brought him over to a tree where he got to touch the leaves—and he smiled the biggest smile.

What a Week.

First, thanks to everyone for the cards, calls, texts and other forms of birthday good wishes. With Joe out of town for work and having several work projects of my own this week, I had my hands full keeping things together. But, it was so nice to hear from everyone and to be remembered on my birthday. Thank you.

Oliver had a pretty active week. He is doing so many new things. Just this week, he started to move himself from a sitting position to really putting his weight on his hands, to crawl/scoot backwards, to wave, and tonight he pulled himself up to standing position using the side of his bathtub. One of the things I enjoy the most about his little accomplishments is his self-pride. He has a serious/quiet face that he gets when he is investigating something new or trying to solve a problem. But, to be there when he figures something out is the best. His serious face instantly softens and he looks around to see if anyone was watching, then he smiles and laughs in celebration of his victory.

It is far to early to start speculating on Oliver’s true personality, but I will comment on a few observations. As mentioned above, he does like praise and sometimes almost seems to be motivated by getting our approval. That being said, he appears to like his independent play time (although, he likes you to be in eye shot while he plays alone). So far he is still not really a baby who cries or complains much. He is the moodiest when he is tired—hunger he can work through, but he has a harder time with being overly tired.

I don’t know how else to say this one: the kid is a flirt. And he loves pretty girls. I have so many examples of this that I cannot begin to list them. He is big into people watching, and when he sees a woman or group of girls he knows how to reel them in. He starts with the shy act, but gives away enough of a smile to draw them in before he really starts to hook them with the big smiles and the giggles—and he loves to get a response. As one example, he has been doing a half wave this week for Sheryl and me, and he did the same thing for Daddy when he got home. But, tonight we were walking back from our lunch and afternoon in Georgetown when he started “flirting” with a couple of girls while we waited in line at the ATM. One of he girls waved and I swear he put his hand up and gave her the biggest wave and smile. They were all aflutter about how cute he was and how he waved at them. Meanwhile, I am in shock because that was his first actual wave and he gives it away to a few pretty girls on the street after we have been begging for it for weeks. What can I say other than the kid loves the ladies.

A couple pictures of Oliver in action today...