Summer time

Summer time is about making memories, hanging out with family, eating seasonal summer food, watching fireworks, home made ice cream, and pictures. lots and lots of pictures.
We spent this past week at our in-laws, and while it's been a busy week, it's been full of good memories. I'm thankful for our camera during days like this. Being able to stop time through photos lets me re-live memories. I love that we have these photos of Oliver at this moment in his life as I know these days are shorter and shorter before we welcome baby boy #2 and start an entirely new journey in our lives.
Favorites from the week....

Here we are

It's been a while, as usual since I posted here. We have been having a busy summer, and I wish it would slow down so that we could extend the summer days a little longer...because I know Jonah will be back to school before we can blink!
But it's been a full summer, full of time spent with Oliver, with Jonah, with family, with friends, and it's been good. God has provided financial means for us in ways we did not even think of, as always, and we are so thankful.
Oliver is growing and learning and making us laugh daily. It's so much fun watching him at this age. He has started putting sentences together- really only about three words at a time, but so cute.
When he wants us to carry him he says, "I carry you".
"I got you" is another phrase.
This morning when Jonah left for work (we are at my inlaws, Jonah is working with his dad some) Oliver said, "I wuv you, bye bye daddy". That was a long one all on his own, so sweet.
He has been learning to listen, and take directions from us. Everyday has new learning challenges, and I love it all, even the days I am so tired and worn out and feel like the time invested feels a little in vain.
Being a parent is so fulfilling though.
Our second son is growing along and I am at 32 weeks- just flying by. Before we know it he will be here with us, playing alongside Oliver.
I am starting to think ahead to the days when he will be here and it's been hard to visualize. I think being so busy with Oliver has made me not really stop and think about having a newborn!
I am so excited to meet him, and to snuggle with this little boy that has been constantly moving inside me! I can feel so many odd, hard shaped body parts pushing against me, sometimes it's painful!
But this is about all I have time to post about today. Happy late fourth!

oliver turns 2

This year I decided to be crazy and throw a birthday party for Oliver. For his 1 year, we were about to leave the country, leave him overnight for the first time (for 9 days), and basically had a million things going on the weekend of his birthday. To make it less stressful all around we had a simple celebration with family and at home. I'm glad we did that especially once his party this year was over with.
It takes a lot of work to have a party! But it was worth it, I can't say it wasn't. Oliver had a blast playing with friends and family and we enjoyed seeing our friends and family too!
Funny thing is on the actual day of his party (we had it a few days before his actual birthday, since the date worked out better) I ended up being sick. I did not feel well all day, but thankfully my husband kicked it all into high gear and saved the day, many times over. He worked so hard helping with cleaning, decorating and whatever else needed to be done, while I rested in between doing tasks. I wish I could have been feeling better to just enjoy each moment, like his big cake ceremony and such, but what are you going to do? Overall, I know Oliver and Jonah had a great time :) I am so glad we have some photos from the day too. We also set up a smilebooth in our garage for our guests to take photos in between things. So glad we did that (thanks honey for setting it up!) because the photos are hilarious.
Then on Oliver's actual birthday we were heading back in town from being away so we were very low key and let him open presents from his family that were mailed to us, as well as a gift from us. We also took him to Cracker Barrel where he enjoyed 'cakes' or pancakes for dinner.
I know it took a lot of work to pull off a party, but it was so much fun, and I'm glad we did. Next year will be so different with a baby brother toddling around, it was nice to just have this celebration for him. Who knows I may do another party one day :)
Here are a few photos from the party, love the last one with Oliver alone on the couch. At the end of the day when everyone had gone he just sat there sucking his thumb looking at his balloons. His favorite thing right now is balloons, and he just sat there in awe of them.

oliver's first haircut

Well, it was getting to be a bit shaggy. Between the fuzz curls in the back and the long bangs in the front that literally blocked his vision on occasion I knew it was time (actually overdue) to have Oliver get his very first haircut.
I considered doing it myself, and let me say I am so glad I didn't take that route. I can see visions of a very squared off nerdy hair style on our little boy. I really don't know what I'm doing with scissors, and taking a pair of clippers to his thin little hair would have probably left him bald.
Sooo the next option was an actual salon or an even better one- our friend would do it that is also a hair stylist. A very good one too.
She ended up coming to our house since it worked out that way, for that day.
It was great- I'm thankful it was at our house as we weren't sure how Oliver would react to sitting still with someone clipping away at his hair. We sat him in his chair that he eats in and we offered him his favorite treat these days- grapes.
He did great! No tears until after, when I asked our friend to get a picture with him. I guess it freaked him out to be in her arms after the long (um, 10 minutes?) haircut.
I saved some of his little curls of blonde hair for his book. I'm thinking one day his hair color will turn dark like Jonah and I, but it will be fun to look back at his baby locks.
Here are some photos from the grand event!
(please ignore the homely picture of me with him at the end, I had taken a shower to get my own haircut and well, yeah.)

happy mothers day! 2012

Happy Mothers day to all the mom's out there! This year is special because we are awaiting the arrival of our second little boy. Being a mom is such a huge blessing. I never would have thought it could be this fun, and fulfilling. God is so good to give us Oliver, and now baby boy #2!

For lunch Jonah asked what I'd like, and like my last pregnancy, banana peppers rank high on my list. Not sure why.
So we picked up some nitrate free meat subs on wheat laden with banana peppers. Yum. Perfect!
Not to mention that my husband made us breakfast this morning, but even before that I walked into the kitchen to discover this gift- an immersion blender! Something I have been wanting for a while now, and he knew that. I'm a bit of a foodie I suppose and this gift was perfect, I'm so thrilled to blend soups, sauces and such with this easy tool!
I am so spoiled by my dear husband, and spoiled by God who gave me not only a wonderful man that loves me dearly, but a godly one that I am honored to stand beside.
My sweet little Oliver was hamming it up for us as always, and we finally had a shot of him saying hi to his little brother in my belly. It's hard to get Oliver still for a shot these days! Now I think it's time for a nap perhaps. Or a bubble bath. Hmm, tough choice, as I sit here and look out at my husband who is fast asleep in our rocker chair with Oliver on his chest. So thankful for them!

New ideas for Oliver/toddlers

It's been a somewhat tiring week. I've battled with allergies, and a little boy waking up at 6ish each day.
Normally Oliver sleeps in until around 7. And I really don't mind him getting up earlier, it's just how he's been getting up.
He's been waking up crying and calling out for me, or for Jonah.
Not sure what is going on, teething? Cold?
It's been getting somewhat cool at night so I'm wondering if we just need to try adding another layer on him. Maybe we will tonight.
Needless to say it's never a great wake up with a fussy little boy. So I am hoping we can figure this thing out!
But we haven't tried anything new, project wise this week.
I was looking at a pin on pinterest though, which led me to her blog, and I am finding some great new ideas that I would like to try out with Oliver.
Knowing I get overwhelmed by too many choices (she has  101 things to do with toddlers- yikes) I thought I would narrow down a few and list them out to give me some focus!
Her blog is here if you'd like to browse through her ideas.
So here goes:
Muffin tin Mondays- making meals in muffin tins (she also includes ideas for meals).
Collect rocks in a basket (oliver would love this, he is always finding rocks and sticks for me)
Toss bean bags in a bucket (need to make some bean bags)
Roll ball back and forth on floor (I forget to do simple things like this with him)
Play with a bucket of water and sponge (or his little pool outside)
Wash windows together
Let him play with sticker sheet ( I have many stickers and a book I no longer use)
Draw on a mirror with dry erase markers ( or our sliding glass door)
Glue shapes on paper

This little list along with our everyday learning times are on my list of things to do next week with Oliver.
I am using some print outs from a fabulous blog I found, and our focus is on camping. So maybe next week we'll make s'mores, or this weekend! Oliver learned some new words and I'd like to show him what they are- like backpack, lantern, fire etc.

Today though I may try to do some of those items above, just for fun with the boy.
Only a few more months until we welcome his baby brother! I hope by that point I will have a handle on our daily schedule, because I know it will probably be completely changed with a newborn!

May!

It's May!
What? When did that happen? I'm seriously losing all sense of time this year. Maybe it was the morning sickness, neverending, four month hiatus. Perhaps.
But here we are in May and that means we will be celebrating our wee boy's 2 year birthday!
Even though he is actually turning 2 June 2, we decided to have his party on Memorial Day- so it's the same week, just at the beginning.
With that being said I have been delaying, um procrastinating on his invite. Now here we are in May and I know they need to be sent so that some of our friends can come!
I set out thinking I could design my own invite on evite.com.
Well that was like a sinking ship from the start.
I'm not sure if anyone else has had success designing their own invites (by design I mean creating everything yourself, its the design nerd in me) in this program.
Frustrating.
That pretty much sums up my experience with it.
I chose the option to design my own- and it gives you choices to upload your own images for the background and graphics used on it.
But it doesn't update, or work correctly.
I would create my own background and upload it only to have them drop in their own.
I also did this for a graphic only to have them place in their own clip art of baby bottles and flowers.
Really?
I tried, truly several times to go through and use what they would allow me, but to no avail.
I'm done with evite. Goodbye evite it's been a useless relationship.
So, I decided to make my own from scratch, turn it into a pdf, and email this way. I know it's not going to have the fields for a quick response from friends but I will just have to rely on the old fashioned rsvp- through my phone.
Here is our little boy's invite- censored to keep out personal info for all those out there in the world I don't know.