My 5-Month Old

We made it back from my mom's house this afternoon. It felt weird to get home and then have Jay leave for work. Oliver slept until we got off the interstate. He actually fell asleep at Mom's, and stayed asleep while we put him in his car seat and left. He woke up and was in a silly mood. He was making lots of faces at me in the car!! (I always ride in the back with him during long car rides..actually for most car rides..but especially long ones because it just makes it so much easier.)

Oliver has been pretty sleepy since we got home. He took a couple of naps, and then was ready for bed at his usual time. Sometimes I'm amazed at how he has put himself on a schedule. I really didn't push one onto him, but rather watch his cues and established a routine from there. And I have to say, its worked out great!!

The picture of him with the blue blanket was right before I put him in the bath. He is such a cutie!!

I can't believe its been 5 months since he was born. At this time back in August, I was struggling to stay awake as Jay did most of the night time stuff with Oliver. I just couldn't stay awake!! Thankfully Oliver has a wonderful Daddy who was more than happy to spend that quiet (well, sometimes quiet!) time with his new baby. Sometimes it makes me very sad to see how much he has grown and changed. But then he does something new, and silly, and I'm just so happy that I don't have time to be upset.

Happy 5 month birthday, my precious baby boy....

Happy 3rd Birthday, Liam!!!

Sunday was Liam's birthday party. Its hard to believe he is now 3 years old!! He is such a cute, crazy kid. I love him to death. He has red curly hair, and sometimes I just look at him and wonder how much Oliver will look like him. Jay was playing with him Sunday, and following him and I couldn't help but smile and think, "Is this a preview of my life in 2.5 years?"

We got Liam a Spongebob sleeping bag, and he absolutely loved it. Chris even sent me a picture that night of Liam sleeping in it. At the party they got his cake ready, and then got preoccupied with their camera because it wasn't working. Liam took the opportunity to start eating the icing off the cake! It was too cute, because everyone was laughing, and Liam was loving every second of being the center of attention, and Chris and Joy were oblivious to the entire thing! It was hilarious!! That kid is just too much!!!

Grandma and Nancy got to play with Oliver and that was nice. I wish they got to see him more, so I enjoy every time we get to see them. It was also the first time that Joy's family got to see him, and they all loved him. Who couldn't love that little boy?!

We decided to stay at Mom's house Sunday night, too, so that we didn't have to get Oliver in the car, again, right around when it was his bedtime. I'm glad we did. I was very tired.

Oh, and while we were down there we got the chance to look at a house Chris and Joy are looking at buying. It is a great house. Perfect size for them, an older house that has been re-done and is just wonderful. I'd love to have a house like that. I truly hope they get it.

Make-Up Saturday

Saturday we went to my mom's house to stay overnight. Liam (my nephew) was having his birthday party on Sunday, but they live about 3.5 hours from here. So we went to Mom's to stay overnight so we didn't have to make the whole long drive in one day. Its always fun to be there, and I miss her so much during the week. As you can see, Oliver loves spending time with Grandma too.

Not a whole lot to report from Saturday. Oliver slept the entire way down there. He was in a good mood while we were there, and even helped out in the kitchen by tagging along in my Beco. (I still need to get a picture of him in that! Its amazing!) Mom watched Oliver while Jay and I went to Wal-Mart. We were gone a little less than an hour...it was soooo weird for me to be out without him. That hasn't happened in a long time! I love bringing Oliver with me everywhere!

When we got back to Mom's house I gave Oliver his before-bed bath, and I think he is starting to discover his feet. He doesn't pay any attention to them while he has his braces on, but when they were off he kept sticking his legs up in the air, and wiggling his feet. It was so cute!! Then he'd roll on his side, still staring at his feet. He's just too cute!

Another Day

I love this picture of Oliver. He looked so cute in this little outfit that used to be Liam's. He is just so precious!

Oliver had an early morning. He was up around 7:45. He napped throughout the day, and was asleep around 10:00 tonight. He was fighting it a little bit, but now he's next to me sound asleep.

Tomorrow we're going to my mom's house and spending the night. Sunday we're going to Liam's (my nephew) 3rd birthday party. Its about 3 1/2 hours from here, so we're going to my mom's so we don't have to make the entire drive in one day. Then we'll stop for a bit at mom's again on our way home to break up the trip. I can't wait to see my nephews and my niece. And of course my brother and Joy. I miss them so much. I wish we all lived closer, but we try to get together as much as we can considering how far away we live. We saw them at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we'll see them again next month for Maya's first birthday, so at least we've gotten to see them more than normal. We want to try to see each other on a more regular basis since the babies are little and won't be that way for long!

Today Oliver was sitting next to me on the couch, leaned back against a pillow. He sits like this all the time, but today he just sat right up off the pillow! He didn't use his hands or anything, just leaned up and was sitting! He is getting so strong!!

Not much else going on. Jay and I found out today we'll get a nice tax return, so that was nice to hear.

Until next time...

Not So Sleepy Thursday...

Today hasn't been Oliver's best sleeping day, but hey, I can't expect it everyday, right? In fact, he's laying here next to me now, looking all bug-eyed instead of sleepy-eyed!! He was sound asleep and then suddenly I look over and he's just staring back at me, all bright-eyed and with a big, gummy smile!


We went to church at the Vine tonight, which was nice. It was kind of a last minute decision; I usually go but it was just depending on Oliver's mood, if he was sleeping, etc. We sat in front of a couple who also has a baby boy. Brady was born a week before Oliver, and is about the same size. He is too cute! Amber said he was wearing a 9-month outfit...I don't think Oliver could fit into his 9-mo. stuff!! His little Colts outfit is 3-6, and the little Adidas outfit he's wearing in the picture on my first blog post is 3 months...He has 2 Adidas outfits that are 3-mo that fit, but other than that he's in 3-6 and 6 month stuff. Once he gets out of his 6 mo stuff we will have some major shopping to do. He doesn't have much stuff bigger than 6 month.

Awww....oh my gosh....Oliver just put his hand up on my cheek, closed his eyes, and he's out. How sweet is that?!?! Anyone that thinks co-sleeping is a bad idea needs to experience this!


There's more I could talk about, but I just want to enjoy this sweetness with my little precious blessing.

G'night everyone.

25 Randoms

I posted this on my facebook profile, so I figured I'd post it here.
(And that's a picture from Oliver's bath earlier when he was trying to eat his ducky.) --->





1. I have watched the entire series of Gilmore Girls 4 times..and have just started again.
2. I crave Coke and Pepsi constantly now because I didn't drink it when I was pregnant.
3. I want a new phone but love my pink one too much.
4. If we ever get another cat, I want to name it Chowder.
5. If I ever acquire an unknown disease, I want Hugh Laurie to diagnose me.
6. I never thought I'd homeschool, but have actually started thinking about it. Who knows, that's a ways off.
7. I can't imagine only having one more child. I want at least 4.
8. I thought for sure we were having a girl until we found out otherwise.
9. I have taken about 3000 pictures of Oliver since he was born.
10. I don't believe that you can learn to parent by reading books, but I do think I can learn a lot from others who know more about the development of babies and children than I do.
11. I would love to travel to Ireland.
12. I want to learn to speak Italian.
13. One of my favorite wines, ironically, is Oliver wine.
14. I would rather eat bread sticks or garlic cheese bread than pizza.
15. If we ever move to California, we have to live close for Dr. Sears to be Oliver's pediatrician.
16. I have 9 baby carriers: 2 pouch slings (hotsling and Polkadot Papoose); 2 ring slings (Balboa Baby and NoJo); Beco; 2 sleepy wraps; a moby d wrap; and an Asian Baby Carrier. And I want more!
17. I wish I had more time for scrapbooking.
18. I would love to learn to sew.
19. I love junk food, but wish I was a health nut.
20. My goal is to someday live debt free.
21. In the last year my faith has become the center of my life.
22. Since becoming a mom, the people in my life who matter are the ones who also care about my child. If they don't care about Oliver, I don't care about them.
23. I'm extremely nostalgic about everything from my pregnancy and Oliver's birth.
24. Co-sleeping has been one of the best experiences.
25. I could eat Casa salad every single day.

Growing Boy

Do you see what my baby boy is doing in that picture?! He is HOLDING his bottle!!! waaahhhh!!! He doesn't do it all the time, but he has started to. Oh goodness, Oliver. What happened to our agreement that you were going to stay tiny forever?!


It is fun to see him growing and changing. He is just so much fun. He was sleepy again today!! Of course he took his morning nap, and then a couple of short naps in the afternoon, and then slept from 4:30-7:30. I laid down with him for awhile and napped also. It was so nice. Around 8:30 he got a bath, a bottle, and was asleep by 9:15. Ahhh the life of a baby.


Poppa came by and brought me another box of chocolate muffins...omg I am so addicted. I'm eating one right now. I love 'em. And when I don't lose any weight next week, well, I'll know why! (And then I'll go grab another muffin!)


One of my biggest passions right now is learning all about attachment parenting. I love, love, love it. When I need something to blog about I'll start writing about the 7 Baby B's...bonding at birth and beyond; bedding close to baby; babywearing; breastfeeding; balance and boundaries; beware of baby trainers. So prepare for some soapbox bloggings--I can really ramble on and on about these things. But hey, its my blog. Enough said :-)

A Day for the History Books

It was so amazing seeing Barack Obama inaugurated today. How far we have come as a nation!!! Back during the primaries I was a Hillary supporter. I still think she is amazing, and brilliant, but I have to say I have been impressed with what I have seen from Obama so far. Someday we'll be able to tell Oliver that he watched it, also. He woke up from his nap just in time to sit on my lap and watch TV. (That's when we took today's picture.)


Once again Oliver was a sleepy baby. He got up about 8:45, was asleep again by 9:30 and woke up about 11:30. He napped again from 1:30-2:45ish. I was getting ready to go to Wal-Mart around 5:00 and he fell asleep on me, and slept until 7:00. Now he's asleep again! We started his bedtime routine about 8:20 and he was asleep less than an hour later. We are truly blessed with a baby that sleeps very well.


Jay and I are trying to watch what we eat. Its hard, especially when I looove junk food! Oh well. I'm 7 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight so I can't complain. I want to be healthy more than anything, and I want Oliver to grow up eating healthy. So that's the main goal. I'll do anything to give him the best.


Soon we'll start him on baby cereal. Right now he's eating almost 32 oz of formula a day, and the ped said that when he's not satisifed with that to add the cereal. For some reason, I'm really dreading it. I don't know why. Maybe its because it seems like he's growing up then. Since formula is nutritionally sufficient for the first 6 months, and we won't start any type of jarred baby food until 6 months, I'm not concerned about starting the cereal anytime too soon. Some people have been surprised that we haven't started the cereal or food already. I just don't see the rush. It seems as though he still has a pretty good tongue-thrust reflex, which calms down around 6 months, so that's another reason to wait. Being a first-time mom is all about trial and error, and lots and LOTS of learning. They say there can be a link between starting solids too soon and food allergies. So I might be being overly cautious by waiting, but that's alright.

Tonight at Wal-Mart I wore Oliver in my Beco carrier. I love that thing!! I had several people tell me what a cute baby he is. I love it because when I wear him he can look around and really be up and involved with life. Plus he is snuggly. And that is always a wonderful feeling. :-)

PINK!!!

Yay for MLK day..Jay didn't have to work! Its always great when he can be home with us in the evenings. I pray every day that God blesses us with a job for him where he can be with us at night. I know it'll happen soon!

I got a text from Kirsten (one of my best friends, our husbands have been friends for a really long time) about 10:00 this morning. She had her ultrasound today, and they are having a GIRL!!!!!!!!! YAY!!! Hence the title "Pink!" for today's blog. I can't wait. Jay and I bought a little pink dress today for her. They have picked Gracie Mae for a name. I love that. Kirsten and I are going shopping on her next weekend off...how fun!


Oliver had a check on his braces today at Prevail. They lengthened them and put some new velcro on them because they weren't sticking well anymore. While we were there, we saw a little boy, who looked maybe 9 months old or so and was absolutely adorable. I first saw him when he stuck his head out of a room and said hi. Then I saw him "crawling" down the hallway, and noticed his legs...one was in a cast, and the other stopped right about where his knee would have been. You could tell the leg that was in a cast also was shorter and did not have a foot. My heart broke for him. But what a happy little baby he was!! He used his arms like he was swimming butterfly style to crawl. It was so cute. It seems like when I start to get down about Oliver's feet that God places people like this little boy in my life to remind me of how lucky we truly are. Prevail also makes prosthetics, so that may have been why he was there.


Then I had an appt with Dr. Holmes for my PPD. He adjusted my Lexapro medicine to see if that continues to help. I can tell I am starting, very slowly, to feel better, but I am still not myself. PPD is a nasty condition, and I am ready for the day where I can handle it better than I am now.


We had a quick lunch at Casa, my favorite restaurant. Seated next to us were 3 month old twin girls. They were sooooo cute!! The mom and I talked a little bit, and she kept saying how beautiful Oliver is. :-) A mom never gets tired of hearing that!


Next we did a quick stop at Target to check out some car seats. Oliver will outgrow his infant seat relatively soon, probably in length before he does in weight. Especially with his braces, he is going to be too long for it soon. I'm struggling to make a decision. There are just so many options, and I really think a car seat is an investment. I'll spend more to ensure that its top quality. I need to go to BRU and see which Britax ones they have. The only Britax one Target had was the Marathon, which I don't think is what we want.

We stopped and saw Kirsten at work, and she held Oliver. I can tell she is just so excited to have a little baby again. Her son, David, is now 14 almost 15 months old, and she can't lift him anymore. She's been put on some restrictions this pregnancy, and now that he's over 30 lbs she can't pick him up. That would be so hard!

We made a quick stop at Nana and Poppa's house before coming home. They had Oliver's "book of the week". They get him a new picture book every week. I love it!! I spend a lot of time reading to Oliver, and I look forward to the new book every week.

Now we're home. Oliver jumperoo-ed for awhile and now is sleeping on Jay. Its time to just settle in and relax, and finish my chocolate chocolate chip muffin :-) YUMMY!!

Grandma Visits!!!!!

Oliver was pretty excited for Grandma to come for a visit today. He hasn't gotten to spend a lot of time with her lately, so he was happy to see her. She came up for the day, got here mid-morning and left before we went to church. It was wonderful to visit with her. My mom and I have a very close friendship and relationship, and living almost 2 hours away can be very hard. We talk at least twice a day, and try to see each other every weekend that is possible...which since August has been just about every weekend!! Oliver was a sweetie, of course, and fell asleep on her before she left. Grandma adores her little Oliver! Tonight was church at the Vine, which is always great. I love that church!!! I have never felt so at home in a church, not even at East 91st which I loved attending. The people at Union are just truly a family...I love them. Now, we are back home, Oliver is jumperoo-ing for just a bit and Jay is making enchiladas for dinner. Yum!!! And the picture...Oliver loves trying to sit up in his car seat, which makes him look like a turtle, and is pretty funny!!!

Saturday...Back Home.

Saturday we got to come back home. Oliver's enjoyed his first sleepover at Nana and Poppa's house. It was nice to be home though. Jay and I started working on a deep cleaning of the apartment, its going to be a process, but will feel good to be done.

Quick write-up, but had to post a Saturday picture of my baby boy. :-) He had just woken up from a nap with deep pacifier rings around his mouth, ha ha!

Flashback Friday

Jay went to our apt around 1:00 to check and see if we had power. Still NO!! He got more stuff for us to stay another day and night at his parents house. I really appreciate them letting us stay there, and for Russ going out in sub-zero temps to get us. Its not that I minded being there; it was just frustrating knowing I couldn't go home, you know?

So Jay left for work a little before 3:30 and on his way called the apt office to check again. By this time, it had just come on. I decided to just stay the rest of the evening and night there at his parents' house. I didn't really want to go back until I knew it had warmed up, and by that point it would have been nighttime anyway.

So Oliver and I just hung out Friday night, did some laundry (with him in tow in my sleepy wrap!), and relaxed. Russ and Margie had the boys (Jay's nephews Nathan (age 6) and Joshua (4)) and had to run to Fort Wayne so it was just us.

For being out of his routine, Oliver did so well. He is such a sweet baby. Its so fun to see him grow and develop. Lately he has been having fun pulling his pacifier out of his mouth and holding it up to see. At the same time, it makes him mad that it's not in his mouth anymore, even though he was the one to pull it out! Too cute. Its also fun to see him recognize familiar faces. He watched his Poppa walking around the family room and talking the other night. It was so sweet!

Thursday Recap

Well, I'm a couple days behind on my blog, but I'm catching up. I want to stick with posting daily pics of Oliver, so I'm just going to go back and write about each day.

Thursday. Let's see...the day itself was fairly uneventful, until about 7:45 p.m. I was about to get Oliver ready for a bath and decided to call my mom really quick. When I was on the phone with her our power flickered...and then flickered again...and then was out.

Crap! It was terribly cold outside, but I was hoping it was just a fluke and would be back on soon. I looked outside and EVERYTHING was dark as could be. Well, shoot. Russ, my FIL, called and asked if we had lost our power. (They live less than 5 mins away.) He said they too had lost it but it was back on already. I told him I would call him back shortly and let him know if our power had returned or not.

"Or not" was the answer. I placed Oliver in his crib while I quickly tried to think of what we would need to stay the night over there. I didn't need much, but when traveling with a baby, it seems like everything but his furniture must go, haha. He was getting fussy, as I'm sure he sensed that something wasn't right, besides the obvious fact that it was DARK!!!

Russ came and got us, and WOW, poor Oliver was NOT happy to be outside!! I can't blame the poor baby, it was -12 degrees with the windchill something closer to -30. By the time we got to my IL's house, though, he had fallen asleep while sucking on my finger. (I'm in trouble when he cuts teeth!)

Around 11:00 Russ went out to check if the power was back on. Nope! So we settled in for the night, Oliver and I snuggling up in what used to be Jay's old room. Little did we know it would be almost 48 more hours until we would be home!!



*I love these pictures from Thursday...his face looks so chunky!! :-)

Baby Its Cold Outside!

The weather still seems to be the main topic of thought. Probably because its been snowing non-stop and its too cold to leave the house!!! I'm wondering how long it will be until I can't stand it anymore and have to get out! It'll have to be sometime during the day or the weekend...I'll deal with boredom before I take Oliver out in this bone chilling weather.

Oliver has been sleeping so much lately! I wonder if he's going through a growth spurt or something. For example. He slept from 4:30 til about 6:45 yesterday afternoon. He woke up, jumperoo-ed for awhile, then by by 8:00 was rubbing his eyes already. We got a quick bath, and about half a bottle until he was out, and it was before 8:45. He slept until 8:00 this morning! He was up for about 2 hours, then slept another 2 hours. During the afternoon he took two 30 minute naps. Then he fell asleep about 5:30 and slept til 7:45. I think if I had taken him to bed and laid down with him he would have fallen right back to sleep. But I'm trying to avoid a 5:30 a.m. wake-up call! (He tends to sleep in 12 hours shifts during the night.)

And to all my mommy-friends reading this, I'm really not trying to rub it in! I promise!

I love the picture for today. He was in our little swing in the kitchen while I was making lunch and every time I would look over he'd have this big smile on his face. He is such a happy baby. I just adore him!!

(P.S. random side note: chef boyardee ravioli tastes really good when you're 19, living in a college dorm room, and 90% of your food is microwaved. Five years later...not so great. LOL)

You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows...

It is so freaking cold!!!

I could hear the wind blowing outside this morning while I was laying in bed. Brrrr!!! The snow is pretty, but I'm over it and ready for it to get warm again. And its only January! Tonight church started a class at the Vine, and I really wanted to go, but there was no way I was taking Oliver out in this bitter cold weather. Bummer! Hopefully they will have this class on basic Christianity again sometime because it sounds really interesting.



Oliver's favorite new adventure is spending time in his jumperoo. He loves it!! My parents got it for him for Christmas. Not only does he love to bounce around, its also great for strengthening his legs. It cracks me up to watch him jumping around.

But my baby must have bounced all of his energy out; he has been a sleepy boy! So its time for my favorite part of the day...bedtime!...and that means snuggle time with my pumpkin!

Umtil next time...

Nice to See You

Well, it looks like I've joined the world of blogging. We'll see how this goes. There's so much that goes on every day with Oliver as he grows and changes, and I don't get to talk with everyone as much as I would like. So I'm going to try to chronicle things here.

First a little about me. My family lived in Milan, Indiana (the town the movie Hoosiers is based on...but don't get me started...) until I was 13. My mom, dad, and I then moved to Kendallville for Dad's job. In 2003 I graduated from East Noble High School and began classes at Ball State that fall. I started out as a secondary ed social studies major, but my junior changed to a history major. My goal was to go to graduate/professional school after graduation to pursue a career researching and teaching U.S history (particularly the era of the 1960s).

The spring of my junior year (2006) I met Jay. Well, we actually had met earlier but in the spring was when we really started talking, then dating. I had been through some messy relationships, and he was just wonderful. By September we were engaged.

In May 2007 I graduated with honors from Ball State with a B.A. in history. During the school year I had decided to take the year following my graduation off from school, so after graduating I moved to Fort Wayne. Jay and I got married July 14, 2007 at East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis. It was beautiful! We had a wonderful day, and then a wonderful honeymoon in Jamaica.

After we got married, my desire to start a family grew stronger. I didn't want to wait until I got through school to have a baby, but I also knew I didn't want to have a baby while being in school. That left me with a history degree that I had no clue what I was going to do with!!

On January 8, 2008 Jay and I found out we were expecting our first baby. We were surprised, scared, excited...everything! We were both thrilled! I had a due date of September 14th.

In May we found out we were having a boy and that the baby had bilateral clubfoot. (Both feet were clubbed.) We met with an orthopedic specialist in July and felt very comfortable knowing he would make our little baby's feet perfect.

Baby Boy decided to make an early entrance into this world on August 26th. (I'll post my birth story later.) After a couple weeks on bed rest, severe swelling and high blood pressure, I was induced to begin the labor. Oliver Michael is such a wonderful blessing and we can't imagine life without him!

So that's our life in a nutshell. I take pictures of Oliver every day (that should not be a surprise to anyone who knows me!) so I want to try to post a picture of him every day with my post. I think it will be fun to watch the changes over time.

Until next time...