7 Months Old!

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!

=^..^=

33 Weeks, I Hardly Knew Thee. ..

Week 33 was a busy week (it seems like each week is rather busy, now that I think of it...). We were able to take Muppet to another concert, this time with Canadian indie folk-rock musician Dan Mangan who is best known for his songs "Robots" and "Road Regrets" at the Aeolian Hall. The opening bands were also amazing! The first opening band (The Crackling) featured the drummer from Dan Mangan's tour, highlighting as the lead singer with the rest of the band mates playing along and for one song, Dan Mangan actually came out and played the drums, so it was a bit of a role reversal. We had an amazing time, as the music was spectacular, the band was incredibly charismatic and, and hey, how can you have a boring night when you are encouraged to join in singing with the bands? The hall was packed, the acoustics were wonderful and the crowd was such an odd mix of hipsters and elderly needing hip replacements! Also, I felt like we were drowning in a sea of plaid. At one point, I leaned over and asked Chris if we had mistakenly gone to a lumberjack convention. After the concert, which included a super fun sing-along of "Robots", we were able to meet the musicians, and they were so humble and generous. One of them even has a side project writing children's music, which I cannot wait to hear!

We got their autographs, talked a bit, and Chris even bought me an adorable Dan Mangan shirt! (Please note, that is NOT my body... My shirt is "slightly" stretched around the midsection... ;) Muppet is so lucky to have been exposed to so much talent before he/she is even a year old! We are pretty sure that Muppet will be a Dan Mangan fan for life, as it bopped around like crazy through the whole concert.


If you haven't been exposed to the brilliant music of Dan Mangan, I invite you to click on the link below! He's truly a great artist and I'm so proud he's Canadian. :)

Our next fun activity was going to our prenatal class, which we have become quite fond of. We not only enjoy learning about pregnancy and labour together, but we also enjoy having an extracurricular activity that we can both take part in. We are now trying to figure out what fun classes we can take together in the future, after the baby is born. In this class, we learned all about the different stages of labour, different pushing positions, and we even watched a video. Luckily for us, this video was not from the 70's or 80's like most of them seem to be. :) After class, I was pretty set on wanting to get a birthing ball, as I think it would really help me cope during labour.

All during week 33, I suffered with a crazy bad cold, which ended up going into my chest, causing me to have some bronchial irritation. The unfortunate thing is that you can't really take much for illness when you are pregnant, because you don't want the medication to affect the baby, so mostly I just stayed in bed shivering, sneezing, coughing and whining. I even ended up taking a day off work (which I never do) because I was feeling so weak.

Taking that day off of work also shortened my work week, which was kind of sad, as that was my last week of work before I started my maternity leave, and even though I was still sick, I made sure I went for my last day, as I knew I was going to miss everyone. I can't believe I am all done! In one way, it feels great, because now I have time to focus on getting everything set and ready before the baby comes, but on the other hand, I do feel a little out of the loop. So far though, I am not bored. :) I have no time for boredom! Christmas is coming!

Speaking of Christmas, during week 33, I took down all my fall and Hallowe'en decorations and put up my winter decorations. I haven't gone into "full-on" Christmas yet (I wait for the snow to fall first before Santa can make an appearance), but I did put out my snowmen and Christmas coloured candles, potpourri and blankets. I am going to work on making a Christmas pillow this year too, with a snowman stitched on it. I felt the need to get my winter decorations out because I am starting to worry I won't have time to decorate once December hits. I don't want to be behind in case the baby comes early! I guess it's a good thing we bought a fake pre-lit Christmas tree last year, as I don't imagine I will want to cut down a tree and string lights on it this year, with the baby coming so close to Christmas. * Note: It takes me a couple days to put lights on the tree because I am crazy and believe each branch needs 2 sets of lights on it, and you cannot just throw them on, or wind them around the tree...yes, this is a very stressful process, but once it is done, you can't see anything but the tree...for real, it's blinding. I blame my mother for this obsessive compulsiveness. ;)

Every year my family goes to different tree farms to find the perfect Christmas tree. We have been doing this since I was born, I'm pretty sure. It is so much fun! We all bundle up in snowsuits, head out into the fields and start judging trees. (This process can take a long time, as my mother and I are very picky...). At the end of our day (truly, it does take the whole day), we go and sit by the fire-pits and drink hot chocolate or cider and go for wagon rides through the farm. Sometimes the farm has marshmallows for roasting, or free candy canes. Mmm! I'm still going to go this year, though I'll probably have to wear my father's snowsuit, as I'm pretty sure I won't fit in mine. I just love the family tradition, and even though I won't be buying a tree this year, you can bet I'll be scoping out the trees for next Christmas, as we can't wait to include Muppet in on this family adventure!

During week 33, Muppet weighed a little over 4 pounds, about the same amount as a pineapple! Right now, the baby is gaining around 1/2 pound a week, so the weight gain isn't just because of all the cookies I've been eating... ;) Apparently, the amniotic fluid has also reached it's maximum level, leaving less cushioning in my belly, which is why Muppet's movements feel so much stronger and intense lately. I have to say, Muppet is one strong baby! Somedays, Muppet stretches both upwards and downwards at the same time, resulting in me having to suddenly pee while clutching my ribs. :) I really enjoy watching the rolling motions of my tummy, and feeling the hardness of a little foot through my skin. Sometimes it is so hard to imagine that Muppet's little foot, that so far has only existed inside me, will one day be kicking a ball, or tap dancing on the floor.

My book choice this week is called "Someday", and is written by Alison McGhee. It is a wonderfully touching story that I consider to be the new "Love You Forever". Don't get me wrong! I love "Love You Forever", and I will surely have that one on my shelf, but it is nice to have options under the tear-jerker category in children's literature.

"Someday" is a beautifully illustrated story about a mother's love, hopes and dreams for her child as the child goes through many milestones in her life, until life goes full circle, "Someday I will watch you brushing your child's hair". It's a very simple, but moving story of motherhood that touches on a child's highest highs, and saddest sorrows, because truly, that is what life is all about. I gave this book to my mom when I found out we were expecting, as it really captured how she was feeling, watching me go through another milestone as her daughter, but now, also as an expectant mother.

Please read this book with a box of tissues beside you...

=^..^=