It is time that Ollie and I move to a new site, as he has outgrown his nickname of Muppet, and is continuing to blossom into his own little character. He will always remain Muppet in our hearts, and we will always cherish his beginnings at this site. This blog really helped me cope with difficult times during and after my pregnancy, as well as share the joys with family and friends, near and far. I feel a little sad, closing this chapter and going onto the next as I am not good with change, but it is time. :)
My new blog is called Baby Kisses, and will feature all my past blog entries from this site, and continue on through the rest of Ollie's adventures. Heck, maybe along the way we'll have some other sibling stories to share! ;) (No, I am not hinting at anything. I'm just planning for the future.)
Thanks for sharing our most precious and special times with us. It has been an unforgettable journey, and I can't wait to see what else is waiting for us up ahead. If you want to stick around for Ollie's continuing adventures, please visit us at www.babykisses.ca . Hope to see you there!
Ollie is now 7 months old! This past month, he truly has had a lot thrown at him, and yet he met us at every challenge and surprised us with how adaptable he can be. Our little baby is really growing up into a great little man. :)
Ollie has started using his voice a lot more lately (his cousin Edie always seems to remind him how to use it), and so now he has taken to shrieking to get our attention, which is hilarious at times, but can interrupt a nice meal in a restaurant or scare the cats out of their wits. I told him he screams like a girl, but that doesn't seem to bother him. ;) He really has become a babbling brook. He opens and closes his mouth like a fish, and then starts, "baamaa...maaa...ba ba..ma"-ing. It's so cute. Sometimes he does a dramatic inhale first, which is hilarious.
Ollie's first crush, Selena Gomez, captures his attention no matter what he is doing. He will even stop nursing in order to watch her on TV. His favourite Selena Gomez video is her 'Love You Like a Love Song'. When he sees her, he smiles shyly and then gets all excited, flailing his little arms around, and making little happy sounds. It never fails, and it always makes us laugh. He is such a little flirt.
Here is a clip of him playing quietly with his toys until he hears Selena on the TV. :)
Nice Kitty!
Ollie really seems to love the pets, especially Nobi. I think he locks onto Nobi so much because Nobi is always around demanding attention, and isn't afraid to get in your face to get it. We have to be careful though, as Ollie almost rolled off the change table trying to reach out to grab Nobi. He is so adorable when he sees the pets though. He reaches out his little hands, while wriggling his fingers, just hoping to grab onto some soft fur. (It's gross when his hands are all slobbery though, as they get covered in loose fur!) :p
His eczema is making a comeback on his cheeks, ankles, arms and feet. We are doing our best to keep him out of the humidity, keeping in 100% cotton clothing, slathering him in lotion and making sure his baths are lukewarm.
Another skin issue is developing, and I think it's because he's allergic or intolerant to his cereals that I make with added water or formula. When I make the kind you add breastmilk to, we don't seem to have a problem, but otherwise, his face instantly turns blotchy and red and the food seems to stick in his throat, making him choke and breathe oddly. I wonder if it's because of the dry skim milk that is in that cereal? :( It is unfortunate, because I can't pump enough to keep up with his solid food demands, though nursing is still going well. Right now we are sticking with regular nursing and veggies. He is currently eating sweet potatoes and I think he's enjoying them. I'm glad he isn't have any negative reactions to those. Tonight we are going to pick up some carrots and try those tomorrow. Yum!
Nom nom Sweet Potatoes!
One of the big activities we threw at Ollie was taking him to his first concert! When I was pregnant, Chris and I went to see Dan Mangan in concert, so when we heard he was going to be performing at the Home County Folk Festival alongside other musicians, we knew we couldn't miss it! It was so neat to be able to bring Ollie, as it made everything come full circle. When Dan Mangan was done his set, we went up to meet him, and Dan just took Ollie right into his arms for the most perfect photo opportunity. He even joked about running for mayor, as he was shaking hands and kissing babies. :) Ollie couldn't stop staring and smiling at him, which was adorable. :) It was a great first concert experience.
Enjoy a clip of us dancing at the festival to a song performed by one of the musicians.
That same day we also went to the dog beach with Sawyer and Ollie. Ollie cried every time the waves lapped at his feet, but later on that evening, we went to my parent's house and he swam in the big pool for the first time with Daddy. He was initially scared, but slowly warmed up, and by the end of his swim, he was smiling, splashing and kicking his little chubby legs. What a big boy!
Enjoy Ollie's first swim in the pool!
Ollie's personality is really changing as he grows. He is becoming a happier and more social baby, and I think it is partly due to the fact that he is sitting so well on his own now. He seems more confident and independent and though he is still serious, he is starting to smile a little easier now. He even went shopping with Mommy and Daddy, and while I tried on clothes, he sat by himself on the store couch, smiling at the customers who stopped by to talk to him.
Ollie is loving his "big boy" toys too. His favourites are his new train and his new truck. He gets so excited that he just squeals and flaps his arms around with joy.
Here is Ollie playing with his truck!
Another busy weekend this summer for Ollie was a trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa. We met up with his Auntie Elle, Uncle Kjartan and cousin Edie, as well as Kjartan's parents who were visiting from Norway. It was a long car ride, but Ollie stayed pretty content with us sitting in the back with him. He babbled and shrieked and played with his toys, but never really napped. When we got to Niagara, we went for lunch (Ollie sat in his mOmma chair), then to the Jackson Triggs winery for a tour, and then for a walk around the beautiful streets of Niagara-on-the-Lake. Ollie was excellent, until the ride home. By that point, he was so overtired, he went a little nuts. It was a great, but tiring day. Nursing in that kind of humidity while being on your feet all day is a little too much for me, but I do look forward to returning soon for another visit, though this time it might involve just sitting and relaxing by the water. ;)
Then the craziest weekend in Ollie's life came next. Ollie was the ring bearer in his Uncle Scotty's wedding! The wedding was in Toronto, so we had to be there for the whole weekend, coming home Sunday afternoon. It was Ollie's first time going to Toronto (and he JUST fell asleep as we drove past the CN Tower). He fussed a little on the ride up, but after pulling over so I could feed him, he calmed down and just complained occasionally :)
This was also Ollie's first time sleeping away from home, and in a hotel. Thank goodness we had a king sized bed, as all three of us ended up sleeping in it. Ollie slept really well through the night in that bed...I'm thinking he likes the idea of a 'big boy' bed. ;)
Despite Ollie's shockingly amazing behavior, it was still a stressful experience, as babies really do complicate things, like eating dinner, getting ready, travelling between venues, packing, nursing during the wedding, etc. It's hard to plan how your day will go when they can be so unpredictable, and when I've never had to pack or plan for a day like this before, it was impossible to know how to! I guess we just got a little overwhelmed with the whole thing, as we wanted everything to run smoothly for the bride and groom, who had worked so hard to make their day perfect. I am just so thankful to my parents for helping us out, because without them, I don't think we could have done it. But yes, we did survive, and Ollie was a great little ring bearer in a beautiful wedding. I'm glad we were able to be a part of such a wonderful day, and though I was going a little bonkers, it was good to see how well Ollie can do outside of his comfort zone. Congrats to newlyweds Scott and Andrea! We are so happy for you two! <3
Ollie was adorable in his little tuxedo, but I think people loved his hip after-party look just as much! He wore a tuxedo onesie I made him, a pair of the cutest argyle leggings I've ever seen made by Benzie Bee and a moustache pacifier I made him specifically for the photo-booth they had set up outside for all the guests to pose in. (Best idea ever!) He was such a little hipster! :)
Mr. Moustache
Ollie loves playing 'Peek!' with his blanket, eating rice rusks, playing his musical instruments, especially the tambourine and the xylophone app on my iPad. My iPad ends up covered in slobber and gets smacked a bit, but it's too funny to watch, so I just keep my fingers crossed it won't get too damaged. :) He isn't too keen on trying to roll over very often, as he seems pretty content to just roll on his side and stay put, but I'm sure the day will come when he decides he's ready to go-go-go! :)
He seems to have more energy lately, and is bopping all over the place. He reaches for everything, from lamp shades to toys, to glasses and cold cups filled with ice cubes. He loves playing with ice cubes! He puts his feet in his mouth all the time, and laughs at us when we jump out at him or make sudden funny faces. We've also noticed that he has a really gross talent; flexible joints. :p Ollie has shown that he has inherited his father's bendy arm condition (yech!) that all of Chris' siblings have, courtesy of their mother. Ollie also seems to have very bendable feet and ankles. It makes my tummy turn. I just know he'll play up this talent one day, just like his father.
Here is a clip of him playing 'Peek!' with his blanket, and a clip of him being a blanket monster. :)
Here are some more random pictures of our growing boy. Enjoy!
We have already had such a busy week with a whole bunch of "firsts" for Ollie, that I just had to post some of them.
This past weekend, we celebrated Ollie's first Canada Day! How exciting! Chris and I hold Canada Day in a special place in our hearts, as it is our dating anniversary and the weekend we got engaged, so it was really neat being able to share such a magical day with our little guy. We usually go to Niagara-on-the-Lake to celebrate, but we decided that might be too long of a drive for Ollie, so we headed to Stratford instead, which turned out to be a great idea.
We walked around downtown Stratford with Ollie in the stroller, to shop and to see the local celebrations. Not to mention, dine on some yummy food the vendors were selling. As we walked around, we listened to live fiddling music and even saw a couple of male teenagers tap dancing (YAY!). It was very nice, but the sun started to beat down on us, so we headed for some shade alongside the river.
We set up our blanket on the banks of the river, brought out Ollie's bassinet, some toys for Ollie and laid back to enjoy nature and each other's company. I love listening to the water, the wind rustling the leaves in the trees and even the ducks squawking back and forth. Ollie enjoyed the outdoors too, but maybe a little too much, as he wouldn't go down for his nap. By the time we finally got him to sleep, a man on a very loud motorcycle zoomed by and woke us all up (yes, I had just started to nod off myself). Oh well! It was a very lovely Canada Day, and we ended it by having my parent's watch Ollie while Chris and I went out for dinner at The Keg, which is another anniversary tradition of ours. Happy birthday Canada!
The next neat thing Ollie did for the first time was go "swimming" in his pool! We got him all decked out in his swimsuit, topped up the pool with some water I warmed up, and then Daddy introduced him to his baby pool. At first he seemed a little confused, but interested. He sat in the water, reached for his bath toys, and was quite calm. Then he fell in face first. That ended his calm disposition. He started to wail, poor little man. After some time, he let us put him back in the pool, but you could tell he was a little more wary this time around. Hopefully he forgets his "traumatic" experience and doesn't hold it against us. I can't wait to try it again soon, as I really want to take him to the beach this summer and I want him to get used to water.
Lastly, Ollie had another huge first experience. Our little Oliver tried solid food for the first time! Yay Ollie! His first solid food was rice cereal made with breastmilk. Yum! ;) To our surprise, our little picky and sometimes fussy baby didn't even blink an eye when he swallowed his first spoonful. He didn't even seem puzzled or confused at all! He just opened his mouth whenever the spoon approached him. What a big boy! He must have been watching us eat pretty closely, as he acted like a seasoned expert. :) We are so proud of our Ollie. He has been quite the champion taking on all these new experience and challenges. It is so exciting to be a part of his life as he takes all these new steps and grows into an adorable little man.
Here is a little video of Ollie eating his cereal. Enjoy! (Ollie sure did!)
