Happy 1st Birthday to Oliver!

On December 19th, our little Ollieboy turned 1. Wow, what a crazy and fast year it has been. The first 3 months or so of his life was very rough - Oliver had colic and reflux and generally screamed about half of the day. During that same time, Mama was recovering from a challenging C-section and it was an all-around tiring and challenging, yet wonderful time. After the 3 month mark, things started changing fast and everyone was feeling better and happier. Oliver's personality started really becoming apparent and it was clear - we have quite a headstrong babe. Would you expect any less from us? As Oliver has grown, he has become quite sweet, funny, intelligent, and is still very stubborn. Although he is now sleeping in his own room, he still doesn't sleep all that well - we are still up at a minimum of once a night, but usually more like twice. He LOVES books, and we generally read the same 10 books many, many times per day. I feel like if I have to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear one more time my head might burst into flames, but he loves it! Oliver can use about 10 American Sign Language signs to tell us if he needs a diaper, wants a book, is all done, needs milk, etc. He also knows about 15 words and uses them with varying success. He started walking (well) about a week ago and he is already discovering a whole new world of mischief.  Over the next year, he will no doubt continue to astound and confound us both with his awesomeness, craziness, stubbornness and  joyfulness. He is the best, most awesome little person and I consider him to be the joy and light of my life (although, I am still a sleep deprived zombie most of the time and have spent a small fortune at Starbucks in the past year).  Here are some photos from Ollie's 1st bday party and from his actual birthday.

Ollie's party was Dec. 16th

 Making salt dough hand and footprints.

 All the babies playing.

 

Here comes the crappy store bought cake.

 

I think I'll try this. 

 

 MMM...sugar and food coloring.

 

All the babies!

On Ollie's actual birthday...

We went to the park and had the homemade cake that Mama made.

Playing at the park.

That night Ollie got his homemade lemon almond cake with lemon whipped cream frosting. Although it looks as if he enjoyed it, he really wasn't that into it. Mama and Dada helped him to finish it off! 

I can't believe my baby boy is 1 now!

Holy cow, it's been a while! Sorry for the EXTREMELY long absence - life gets pretty hectic with Oliver. He likes my undivided, constant attention. I mean, this kid is pretty much glued to me all day (in an awesome, it's fine, I love him sort of way :) ) So, I'm going to post a few things in the next week or so in an attempt to catch up (mostly photo dumps and maybe a few videos).

So, just a brief update in case the overwhelming number of photos gives you pause and you don't feel like looking at any other post... we moved. Yes, again. Just across town, but it was damn exhausting! Pretty much anything is exhausting with an infant (examples include: laundry, making dinner, sleeping - oh, yeah, that's possible). We have had several awesome visitors including Mimis Kim and Candace, Aunt Kathryn and his cousins, Grandpa James and Grandma Jan and a few visits from Nana Patricia. Oliver loves his family and hopes that you all return soon. For those friends and family members that Ollie has yet to meet - he extends a warm invite to you (we have a guest room, use it). Finally, we just celebrated Oliver's first birthday - what a year and oh, how fast it went...

Let's start the updating. First, Aunt Kathryn came to visit all the way from Germany and got to meet her "Olliepop" for the first time!

Ollie loved meeting the "fam" and couldn't get enough of Amelia :)

Next, Ollie got to meet Grandpa James and Grandma Jan who came for a visit from Missouri!

 The boys.

 Looking at ants, of course.

Grandma Jan enjoying the weather and painting in the front yard.

Ollie loves the chaos of having lots of people around!

Cute photo update/overload!!!

Some recent photos of the little one...

Beach trip!

It's been a few weeks since our trip to the beach, but we stay pretty busy at our house chasing a newly crawling Oliver! So, without further ado - here are some pictures of our fun at the beach (or more appropriately near the beach since Ollie wasn't so keen on the beach except when it was overcast or after the sun went down).

Ollie absolutely loved visiting his Mimis and playing in the waves, but definitely is NOT a sunbather! It was an eventful trip as Matt and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary and Oliver learned to crawl :)