Our Little Man is Half a Year Old Already!

Ollie has now turned 6 months old. That's half of a year! It seems impossible that he can already be that old. In some ways, it feels like he just got here and that he couldn't have grown so big already, yet on the other hand, it almost feels like we've had him with us forever, as he truly does complete us and we cannot imagine not having him filling up our lives. He is such an amazing little boy who gives us so much joy and happiness, and though we sometimes have some situations and hiccups along our journey, all we have to do is look into those big blue eyes, or feel him grab onto your finger, and all those problems seem to melt away.

Ollie is really starting to reach some milestones lately. He is obviously maturing with age. ;) He seems to recognize his name, and looks at us when we call him, but only when he wants to. Sometimes I think he purposely ignores me. It seems we may have a diva on our hands.

Ollie is a big fan of squirming. He started off by really arching his back when he was laying on the floor, almost making a "c" with his body. It was very Cirque Du Soleil. (Oh man, I wonder if he'll have the Ysebert bendy arm ability. *shudder*) Then while having tummy time, he started kicking his legs and almost trying to pull himself forward. Sometimes he even puts his butt up into the air and wriggles like a worm. It seems like he wants to go, go, go! Sometimes in his crib, he turns himself sideways in the crib, so he can kick the button on his Fisher Price aquarium and watch the bubbles while he is supposed to be napping.

Here is a clip of him trying to "swim" to Sawyer. :)

Ollie's first roll!

Another milestone Ollie has reached, is the ability to roll over. I was sitting with him on the floor with my camera in hand (of course), when he went from laying on his back to slowly arching back until he rolled right over! It was so amazing! I teared up right away as I felt so proud. :) Way to go Ollie! He has now rolled from his tummy to his back as well. He only rolls when he realllly wants to, but it is becoming much more common to see (though we still congratulate him each time).

Here is a clip of him doing an "oopsie" roll.

Ollie is also starting to slowly master the art of sitting. Daddy practices this with him all the time, and their hard work seems to be paying off. Ollie can sit for a good couple seconds before slowly tipping over, though sometimes his arm keeps him propped up. He seems to have some strength in those arms, as he was standing on Daddy's lap the other day, and held himself up using his arms and the table top for support. He goes into "plank" mode, or as Chris says, "He's planking!".

Ollie has now reached the parroting stage, where he tries to mimic sounds that Chris and I make. His favourite things to mimic are yawns, laughs and coughs. It's pretty darn adorable, especially because he sounds so fake. When he does his mimic laugh, sometimes he doesn't even smile. He's all serious business about it. He seems to focus really hard while he watches us, and then repeats the sound. I'm pretty sure our little Ollie is a serious thinker. :) He is often very quiet when he's not busy mimicking, and appears to be deep in thought. He doesn't babble that much yet, unless he's angry or tired, and when he does, he almost growls because he's so upset.

Here is a clip of Ollie fake" laughing".

Ollie loves books! He really seems to enjoy grabbing and feeling his books, and just lights up when I show him one. He gets his whole body moving in excitement, and his eyes grow huge and focus right in on the book. Sometimes he gets so into the book, that he tenses up and shakes while turning red. It's too funny! His favourite books right now are his Sandra Boynton bath books, as he loves the sound they make when he scrunches the pages.

We are pretty sure Oliver is teething, though we don't see anything coming through yet. He constantly rubs his gums with his fingers or blankets, and chomps hard on your fingers if they get too close. ;) Once we noticed a white spot on his gums, but it went down and we haven't noticed it since, so who knows if it was a tooth popping by to say hello, or what. Sometimes, while he sucks on his thumb (he can do it properly now), he holds onto his ear, like Prince John from Disney's Robin Hood.

A big event in Ollie and Chris' life was celebrating their first Father's Day together. We started off going to a huge town-wide garage sale and then breakfast with Chris' family, including Ollie's cousin Edie, which was a lot of fun. Chris and Ollie really lucked out and brought home many treasures. Ollie's favourite find was his Eric Carle penguin.

The next day we celebrated Father's Day with my family by going out for brunch. Ollie was not in the mood, as he had missed his first nap, so he rubbed the heck out of his face, turning him all red, making him look like he had some sort of flesh eating disease. He seems to do that when he's overtired and wants to fight sleep. Why he wants to avoid sleeping, I'll never understand. :) After we got Ollie home, we put him down for a nap, and 3 hours later we packed up to go for a little family trip. First, we went to the pet store with Sawyer, where Ollie was able to check out the birds and the fish. He really seemed to like the birds (just like his mom). Then we headed to the park.

Happy Father's Day!

The park was busy with lots of families enjoying the end of their weekend, but we were able to find a secluded spot, just so we could keep Sawyer from jumping up on people and so I could nurse Ollie privately. We laid our blanket under a tree and sat down to relax. The weather was wonderful! We did met a nice, passionate man who gave us a few pointers on how to keep Sawyer from pulling on his leash, which is awesome, so now I can walk Sawyer and push Ollie in the stroller at the same time (which we were convinced was impossible). That really made our day. :) 

Ollie really liked watching the trees sway in the breeze and breathing in the fresh air. I also think he liked the feeling of the gentle wind on his bare bottom (diaper change). ;) When we got home, Chris and I dined on some takeout Chinese food and put the little man down for bed, while we ended the night with a movie, cuddled on the couch. It was an excellent day!

Ollie had his first "man-date" with his new pal Sylvan. Sylvan's mom Annie and I connected through our blogs while we were both going through the ups and downs of our first pregnancies. In fact, Sylvan is only 10 days older than Ollie! She is a wonderful writer, who always seems to keep her sense of humour, no matter what difficulties are thrown her way and I felt so excited (and kind of nervous) to meet her and her cute little guy in person. We had big plans on eating healthy food and drinking smoothies, but it seems when I make plans lately, well, things change and you have to just go with the flow. Chris' aunt and uncle popped by to fix our A/C (yay!), they dug out a tree that was growing under it and then when things settled, Ollie decided he was done with his play date, and went for a nap...a nap that lasted the rest of the visit. Maybe next time he'll stay awake a little longer. ;) Annie and I were able to talk though, which was great, because we could share things with each other that we could both relate to and understand. It's neat how different Sylvan and Ollie are too though! Sylvan was just moving his little body around, and talking up a storm, while Ollie just sat there and studied him. Already their personalities are starting to show. I hope we'll be able to get them together soon and see how much each of them has grown... and maybe have a couple smoothies. 

The other day we decided a date night was in order. Since it was such short notice, we knew we'd have to bring Ollie along, so Chris came up with the idea of going to the Drive-In, one of our favourite things to do. I was a little nervous, as Ollie hadn't napped properly that day, but we packed up the car with his moses basket, toys, blankets and his sleep sheep. It was a nice night, where the weather wasn't too hot that you had to keep your windows open, which was a good thing, because we had to keep ours rolled up for a while. During the first movie (and Ollie's bedtime), Ollie decided to be fussy. He didn't want to stand, he didn't want to sit, and he didn't want to lay down. He did, however, want to scream and yell. To quiet him down, I nursed him, but that only can go on for so long. Luckily, after a while, Daddy was able to get him to sleep. We put him in his moses basket, tucked him in, and then we settled in for the second movie (which we didn't even want to see, but hey, he was asleep!). It was a nice change of pace, and we considered it a success, so we'll be visiting again soon.

Ollie is growing so quickly, right before our eyes. I'm so glad that I am able to blog about it, otherwise I feel like I would be missing so many of the little details of his life. I am constantly taking notes, and documenting everything, just in case he asks me one day, "Mom, what was I like when I was a baby?". 

Ollie really does light up our lives. You can easily tell what he likes, and what he doesn't like. So far, he doesn't enjoying putting his feet in water at the beach, or in a pool. Hopefully when the water gets a little warmer, we'll be able to change that opinion. His favourite shows are Guess with Jess (he loves the cat and smiles when he's on the screen), Roll Play, and 4 Square. They capture his attention instantly and it's near impossible to take his focus off of the screen. His favourite toys right now are his bath books, his musical lion, his blankets and his fingers and toes. He adores his play pen, which is awesome! It looks like a tent, and you can hang his toys or a mobile inside it. I love how how outdoor friendly it is. It's perfect for camping or the beach, as he'll be protected from the sun and wind. Ollie also adores Selena Gomez, an actress/singer on the Family channel. I think he may be crushing. ;) His best friends are Sawyer, Neko and Nobi, and he seems to be fascinated with them. I'm thinking they will be the reason he decides to start crawling. He loves the movie Paul, for reasons unknown to us, except maybe the fact that it has a Sci-Fi element to it. Whenever the alien Paul was on the screen, Ollie would laugh. At first it seemed to be nervous laughter, and we thought, maybe a coincidence, but it continued throughout the whole film, and it was only when Paul was on the TV. Looks like he might become an astronaut after all! Oh, and he suddenly is willing to suck on his soother "Suzie". Very strange!

To those who persevered and read this very long blog entry, I leave you a treat. Here is an adorable clip of Daddy making Ollie laugh. It is the cutest sound in the world. Seriously, I read that fact somewhere on the internet. ;) 

What, you want more? Alright, here is a clip of Ollie the Computer Whiz Kid. 

*No computers were harmed in the making of this film.*

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Ollie's First Visit to the Beach!

Whose cute little foot is in the sand for the first time?

Ollie!

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, so Chris suggested we pack up and go for a car ride with Ollie to Port Stanley. I was so excited, as it would be Ollie's first time at the beach, and I am such a sucker for every one of Ollie's 'firsts'. I will admit, that as soon as we got onto the sandy beach, and I saw Ollie looking around at everything around him, I teared up and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! It's your first time at the beach! Chris, it's his first time!" I am such an emotional person these days. :) 

Ollie was quite intrigued by the texture of he sand, but he was a little scared, and preferred us holding him on our laps while he soaked in surroundings. He even put his toes in the water (well, Daddy put his toes in the water), but he was not impressed with that. Too cold! He did like watching the waves and seeing the boats zip by. I also think the sound of the water had a bit of a soothing effect on him, as it sounded a lot like his white noise machine that he falls asleep to. 

Ollie was so well behaved and didn't cry or play strange the whole time we were there. When we went to get some fresh cut fries (yummy!), he sat calmly on my lap while strangers came up to say hello. He even smiled at an elderly man who thought he was so cute in his bucket hat. :)

We took a lot of photos and a short little clip of him putting his feet into the sand for the first time, so I thought I'd share them with you!

Enjoy seeing the beach with Ollie! 

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