Newness...

It's been a while.... almost a month actually... since I've posted anything.  I haven't really had the chance to sit down at the desktop to upload pictures.  This is a busy time for us, one of the two very busy times of the year the other being around the winter holidays.

So first of all, the most important new thing is that we are going to have a new Pope!  Thus the reason I'm getting this chance to post, because I've decided that seeing when the new pope is elected is pretty much more important than anything else right this second so I'm making sure to be around the TV during the times when there could be smoke indicating a decision or lack there of.

 It's Oliver's first new Pope!  Of course, he's asleep right now so mamma will be excited for him :)  The conclave started yesterday so it's an exciting atmosphere around here!

Next:

We're standing now :)  This picture is from the first days of practicing "steady on your feet" as we call it, which was a few weeks ago.... he's now pretty solid and is always pulling up and letting go of everything, sometimes in places and on things he should not be letting go, but thankfully I've always been there to catch him.  He's quite a dare devil, a climber (we go all the way up stairs too!).  He's chewing on a diaper cover by the way.... why he likes to do this, I don't know, but he always finds them and thinks it's funny!

Earlier in March, Nate and I started building the Lego space shuttle!  He got it for us for Christmas and it's pretty awesome.  Didn't take us NEARLY as long as the Taj Mahal, but it was fun to do when Oliver was asleep.

I recently converted my whole cloth diaper stash.  Oliver was having such diaper trouble with the Flip stay dry inserts, but I wasn't ready to give up on the cloth yet.  He and I took a trip to Greenberries, a consignment store close by... and decided to try the Organic Cotton pre folds.  So far they aren't a miracle, but they feel much better the the synthetic material we had before, which supposedly babies can develop a sensitivity to when their diet changes and they get older (go figure!)  We also bought tow awesome wet bags so we no longer have to use those disposable "diaper sacks" when we're out.  We got a small one for when we are out during the day and a large one for when we need to transport the diapers for washing to my mom's house! They are both worth the purchase (they are kind of expensive) especially since we can use them even if he's out of diapers for trips to the beach or pools where we either need to store wet things or protect something from getting wet!  We also stopped using the diaper genie.  It was great, but I really couldn't keep up purchasing the refills, plus I thought maybe the system that is meant to keep smells in, might also be hindering the cloth diapers smell wise.  We switched to just using a trash can and pillow case and we haven't noticed a problem since with smell in the room or after washing!  Over all it's not perfect, but it all seems to be working for us.  Just like anything else I've gone through since Oliver was born, it seems to take some spending money and trial and error but I know one day he'll be potty trained and this will all just be a distant memory!

Our new set up!

On March 7th... The new Ranch Dorito Tacos came out!!!  Kim and Rylee, Tarik, Tommy, Suzanne joined us to go try them :)  They are awesome.... not as good as the original cheese I think, but definitely worth getting now and then!

The babies are getting so big!  I got this fantastic picture of my aunt and Grandmother with Oliver and Lyla!

And then here are the new pictures from this years handbell Festival this past weekend!  Nate, Oliver and I all went.  It was a good time.  The expected amount of stressful because Oliver is older and busier now and not content to be in one place too long especially if he can't do what he wants!  Then combined with the expected awesomeness of the festival, I always learn things from the director there and I live for the massed rehearsals and spending time with everyone, it was a good weekend!

While we were in Ocean City, we also looked for hermit crab shells.  I was particularly desperate this time because never once has my little green crab changed shells in two and a half years.  I wouldn't worry about that if it weren't for the fact that it was obviously too big for it's shell.  I bought four shells, and then at the last second I switched one out thinking maybe I had been getting shells that were too big for her.  The day after we got back, I put the new shells in the cage and told them this was as good as it was going to get since shells are expensive so they had better like them!  Only a few hours later when it was time for bed, I go into the bedroom and notice that the green shell looks particularly empty and upside down!  Excited, I looked around and noticed the smaller shell I had picked last minute wasn't where I originally put it!  Score one for hermit crab mamma :)  I had been starting to feel like a crab failure with the green crab.... which is now the brown and white crab :) lol The other one is the brown crab (aka shell hog since it's changed like 4 times since I've had them!)

That's about it for now!  Thanks for checking in!

Love Us...

Dear everyone,

Happy Valentine's Day <3

Love, 

Us!

We're growing up...

Today is another one of those "moving on" kind of days.  Another day that says we're growing up and getting bigger every day and have come so far already. Exactly 14 months from the day Oliver was born, we used the very last bottle of the milk that I had pumped while he was in the hospital.  I never thought I would ever be able to use it all.  Was devastated when I knew I couldn't donate it because I had been on blood pressure medication. And was so excited when I realized I could use it with baby cereals, but still never thought I would use it all.  I still can't believe that just in July we were using only a half an ounce a few times a day for oatmeal... then as he wanted more we were using a whole two ounce bottle a day.  Then he would go on strike and it was only once a day.... then back to twice.  And back and forth until we settled on oatmeal for breakfast, the whole 5Tbs serving size of it, using a whole 2.5 ounce bottle at a time.  And suddenly, I could see the bottom of the last bag in my mom's freezer and the end was in sight, what a bittersweet feeling!

This time almost exactly last year, on the day he was transferred to Mount Washington:

This is what they sent over to the new hospital from the NICU, but this wasn't anywhere near all of it.  My freezer was full, my mom's basement freezer was full, and there were still four more weeks to come of bottle twice this size.  It was madness.  But getting there was even madder!

I won't lie, pumping was miserable with a capitol M and lots of exclamation points!!!!  Thirteen plus weeks of practically slaving over it, finally giving up on pumping in the middle of the night, spending my money and sometimes my mom's on trying to find ways to make it feel better, finally finding some relief when Veronica lent me her spare Madela electric... it was a roller coaster to say the least.  BUT, all that being said.... Oliver is still nursing to this day and I couldn't have gotten there without that experience.  And if I thought pumping was hard, when he finally came home the transition to full time nursing was the whole ride all over again.

I could not have done it without the support I had.  Kathleen was the lactation specialist at Franklin Square.... she had faith in me that I could get through.  And initially that was all I needed, was someone behind me saying I was doing great.  Her voice stayed with me even through the transition to Mount Washington where lactation support was less than available.
Then, if Veronica hadn't been willing to let me have her Madela, sure I might have made it through, but not as strong as I did.  The last weeks with transitioning to nursing were hard enough as it was.  The stress of hearing "supplement", "he has to wake up and eat" even though he didn't want to, "breast milk is only 20 calories and that's not enough for him to gain weight" that was all hard enough.  I needed the relief of an excellent pump, or maybe I just believed that Madela was better than anything else out there and so it worked because my mind said it would, to get me through all that in one piece.  Even looking back on everything, the fact that Nate set up a "station" of sorts in our bedroom....a chair in front of the tv, a bed stand to keep the pump on... even that was a little something that got me through and sometimes I look around the bedroom and can't believe it's been a year since it was like that!

Then there's the small fact that Oliver wouldn't take a bottle. Boy was he just not interested!  And did the hospital ever want him to be!  I can understand why they had to push the way they did, it's their protocol.... but he just wasn't having it and neither was I.  I guess looking back I had to go through all that to get where we are today... To the last bottle in the freezer and a still nursing 14 month old!

Sure, he'll still get his oatmeal in the morning.... but it will be with that half gallon of whole milk in the fridge (note the tone of sketchiness in which I say 'that half gallon' lol). No more putting a bottle out to thaw the night before, no more having to heat up the water extra because it didn't thaw all the way when I forgot to put it in the fridge soon enough, no more running over to my moms to get more out of her freezer, no more being attacked by one flying out because we just went grocery shopping and the freezer was too full.  After several boxes and two reusable grocery bags, donating a bag of the newer stuff to my friend, and using handfuls for "attempts" to get him to take a bottle, here we are!  Tomorrow when I pour the first bottle of whole milk, I think it might hurt a little.  This was an era for us... and all I knew for three months out of last year.  It will feel like something's missing for a while.  But hey we have our freezers back now, silver lining right? ;)  And goodness was it a triumph.  A battle well fought and won.  Definitely something I can look back and feel good about!  And my have we grown up through it all!

Twenty-how old now???

According to my grandmother, I'm to stay 26 forever, she says today was my last birthday because they aren't allowed to have grandchildren any older than this :)  But I may have to bargain with her since I've been looking forward to turning 27 on the 27th for ages now!  Anyway, today was a fantastic day!  I owe a lot of other pictures to this blog, some catching up to do as far as Oliver goes, but I have to edit those pictures for red eye and whatnot and Nate has to get me a new editing program since the one I was using is no more. But for now...

The best people!

Kim (Rylee was sleeping and missed the picture), Meghan and Axton, me and Oliver, Suzanne and Alisha (with baby Jonathan on the way)

Suzanne spent the night with me last night and this morning we had birthday day donuts.  Then we went to my family's house and visited with my grandmother and Lyla.... grandma got me Ravens pants to add to my purple collection!!!!  Kim and Tarik through me a party :)  We ate pizza and cake and HUGE cupcakes and we girls played Just Dance 4 at which we are of course professionals!  Nate bought me a cake and a new memory card for my camera and the Dr. Who cook book for the Kindle.

Now I'm going to crash in bed <3

smiling until I smile more....

Recently, I have found myself smiling so much that when I realize it, it makes me smile more.  I like this!  I've pretty much always been a fun loving person, I have my crankiness, but don't we all?  I think it mostly has to do with Oliver.... God couldn't have given me a greater gift.  He makes me smile the most.  Even at 4 in the morning when he's wailing with his eyes still slammed shut so that he almost can't even hold onto the crib because he's not really awake.  I smile even then.

I had this moment, a few weeks ago that was one of the most surreal moments I have ever had.  Until staying home with Oliver, I had done the nanny thing for many years, thus doing many bath times.  Some of the older ones had toys or always all over the tub, and some had baskets of bath toys sitting around.  It was always just another bath time.  About a moth ago, Oliver got to smart for his baby bath, and too active for the sink, so we just decided even though he was still small that it was time for him just to take a big boy bath in the tub.  For Christmas, he got a few bath toys that we put on his Santa list.  And this was my moment:

As I got ready for bed, I passed by the bathroom and saw this.... My one year old's bath toys, I have a one year old, he takes a big boy bath, he has toys and there they are, all lined up.  Out of all the baths I've given, and all the bath toys I've cleaned up, never could I imagine that one day it would all be mine.

And since then, I've been smiling.  My life isn't always rainbows and butterflies... but there are so many reasons to smile like it is!

My brother David, he works at Medieval Times!  I never really used to like that place, I'd been once before and I guess it was fun but I thought it was over rated, but David invited us for his 19th birthday and it was thrilling... he got to be the squire for our section, so awesome!  I have a whole new appreciation for David and his job! And he loves it, can't ask for better.

We all have new friends this year.... Well for Nate it's an old friendship renewed.  These are the girls and the guys at new years... first pictures of 2013

Kim, me, and Alisha

Brian (Alisha's husband) Nate, Tarik (Kim's husband) and Tommy (Tarik's brother)

                                      
And this is Axton, he's a new friend for Oliver.  His mom Meghan, and Kim (who has baby Rylee) and I get together now for play dates and these two have so much fun crawling around and "sharing" toys!  Its so great  to see Oliver enjoying time with another baby!  Axton is a cutie :)  Alisha is also expecting a baby boy in a few months and we can't wait for her to join us when the baby is ready to have some fun!

Another surreal feeling I had, was one morning I was looking out the window, Oliver was letting me sleep in a little bit, and I noticed this familiar sight

This is the tree outside my bedroom window.  What caught my attention was those little balls that hang off the tree.  I don't even know what they are, but when the wind blows they are almost mesmerizing. Seeds I guess?  I realized that I hadn't noticed them yet this year... and thats because this time last year I was practically confined to my bedroom, pumping for Oliver every two hours, or at the hospital where my tiny boy was  just 6 weeks old, starting his uphill battle with his heart rate and feedings, but just starting to give us the sweetest SMILES!

so if I wasn't watching TV, I was usually trying to sleep but would end up watching the tree with the wind! And they look like they move a lot faster at night.  I remember watching them in the dark and then by morning they would seem to have slowed down with the clouds behind them!  Since I'm no longer in my bedroom for very long, I had yet to notice them this year!

And then there was this moment...

The one where a new baby really starts looking at you and interacting with smiles and little sounds.  Lyla is almost two months old and is definitely a keeper <3

Oh.... and can anyone say RAY-VENS!!!!!! (stolen from our good friend Mrs. Leary lol)  I don't often super gloat or anything, but come on, you all thought we couldn't beat Manning, welllll 38-35 baby!!!

And this is the moment when we realized we had a real chance of winning the game last night, with pop-pop and Oliver saying "ta-da!!!!"

So you tell me.... what's not to smile about?

What a beautiful Christmas...

Though last year was technically Oliver's first Christmas, this year was very special to us because it was his first Christmas home with his family.... and it turned out to be such a beautiful few days.... filled with the craziness that lots of family visiting and events bring, but bringing the greatest memories.  The day before Christmas eve I played handbells in the morning and then ran around doing last minute shopping things.  Then in the evening we celebrated the holidays with my family!

Then on Christmas Eve we wrapped all our presents.... Oliver helped ;)  And Steve just wanted to know why he didn't get in trouble for playing with the ribbon like he would have lol

 That night I played handbells again at the candle light service, I also got to sing with the choir which was so much fun!  This is the Christmas picture with Jamie and Anna that we take every year, except last year because I didn't have time to commit to handbell practice with Oliver being in the hospital, which meant I didn't get to play Christmas, but it's always fun to spend time with them during the holidays when we're doing extra practices and everything :)

Next morning, Oliver slept in on his first Christmas home :)  Which was nice for mommy and daddy so we could get the place ready for my inlaws to come over!  When he finally woke up he was acting so silly, I love this boy!

 Nate's parents and sister came over from about 8:45-11 for presents and breakfast!

Then we went back over my grandmother's for more craziness and finishing the leftovers from the party the few nights before!  We went crazy opening gifts from each other, Oliver right in the middle of it all and there was wrapping paper everywhere.... it used to be like that when we were younger so it was a lot of fun and Oliver loved it!  Santa brought some really wonderful things to everyone... Oliver got a membership to the zoo for this year and new bath tub toys and more animals for his fisher price ark... and of course some new clothes!

Lyla's First Christmas :)

Aunt Karen rocking her buddy Oliver to sleep

Andrew, Rachel and Lyla with the "nuttydog" blanket <3 Everyone has had such busy days and been stuffed with so much food that we all sat around and napped :)  

Then this morning, Oliver slept in until TEN o'clock, wow!  That never happens!  With Nate going back to work, I had a chance to clean up our crazy living room and eat breakfast and drink some coffee in quite, while it started snowing outside!  Oliver was intrigued when he finally did wake up because he's never seen that much snow before.  He must be growing or super tired or something because he's already back to sleep for a nap, giving me a chance to do this :)

Though we get a little break to settle down, our fun isn't over yet!  Tomorrow, my aunt Debbie and Uncle Danny, with hopefully my uncle Jeff and cousin Abby will come visit from North Carolina.  We don't get to see them more than a few times a year so it's always exciting.  Then on the 30th, we will get together with my college roommates and their families... we haven't all been in one place in two years!  Usually we go to my friends, the Mackall's, for New Years, but this year they decided to have an End of the World party instead, the world didn't end go figure lol  But we had a lot of fun dancing and chatting.  Oliver made his social appearance and then went home with daddy for bed time, which mommy is glad he does well with a night time routine so she can party (in other words dance herself into feeling like a truck hit her the next morning!) And to everyone's surprise Lyndsay and her boyfriend drove from Georgia to join the party and her family for the holidays, so yay for getting to see Lyndsay and meet Aaron!  We thought we would be nomads for new years, but our friends Tarik and Kim are having a party, so we are nomads no longer.  They just had their first baby in November and only invite a few other friend couples, one of whom also has a son and the other is expecting a son in a few months, I'm so excited to start making some other family oriented friends for us to know well!  Then in January we rest :)