Ollie is 6 months old today!

This was Ollie the day he was born. What a change! Ollie has gotten to be such a BIG boy! Today he is 6 months old. Time is just flying by and he is growing up so fast. His favorite people are his daddy and Thomas, although he loves mommy too.

At 6 months old he:

• Can scoot backwards and in circles
• Is able to sit up unsupported
• Loves to touch his toes
• Is a yeller, he loves to screech and squeal at the top of his lungs in a very high pitch
• Smiles when a familiar face walks in the room
• Wears size 12-18 month and 18-24 month size clothing
• He wears size 3 huggies diapers but only because I am trying to use up the big box we have--he should be in a size 4!
• Is very long and lean, but his thighs are chubby chubby chubby!
• Has size 3 feet but never wears shoes or socks
• Hates the bottle and refuses to take a pacifier
• Cries when someone leaves the room
• Loves to eat baby food and has ate rice cereal, carrots, bananas, peas, and applesauce
• Has one front bottom tooth in and the other front bottom tooth is almost there
• Loves his jumperoo and likes to "stand" with help
• Enjoys peekaboo and row row your boat
• Does not sleep through the night and mostly cosleeps
• Puts everything in his mouth
• Is very fussy at night and hard to sooth--he fights his sleep a lot
• Has started to "talk" and "sing" and can say the syllables DA, DEE, and GA and GU
• Brent also thinks he might have heard him say "Daddy" although I have not heard it and am holding out hope for his first word to be "momma" or "mommy" :-)
• Loves to play in the grass and go for walks in the stroller
• Has favorite toys now, the two big ones being his lion and rattle
• Loves meeting new people and "flirting"
• Is attached to his fleece blankie and won't sleep well without it even though its summertime
• Wants to be held all the time and loves to cuddle

Happy 22nd Birthday Lindsay and Mary!

Happy Happy Birthday to 2 of my favorite ladies!!! Hope you both enjoyed the ice cream cake that Thomas picked out for you. :-)

Blowing out the candles!

Me, Lindsay, and Mary

Thomas showing off the birthday cake! 1 pink candle for each girl!

Trip to West Des Moines and the Zoo

Oliver at the zoo

Thomas and Logan

Oliver and Noah

Mmmmmm what does this taste like?

Monkeying around outside the monkey cage

Matching lightning bolt paint tattoos

Playing at the PBS kids area

Meeting "Duck" from Word World

Little bit of t-ball in the back yard

Thomas played "catcher"

Driving around Grandma Patty's neighbor hood

Hitting the street to look for some girls to impress in their hot ride :-)

Ollie playing in the grass

Logan just loved the car, I think he wants one for in China now!

Kicking back

Playing dress up

Mary got in on the fun

The Chinese have that Irish spirit too!

What is a fun night without karaoke?

Lets get funky!

Oh what a week!!

Hard to believe how fast this last week went by. Reid and Jessie got married on Friday and had a BEAUTIFUL wedding. All the family was there and there was never a free moment. It was great to see everyone, Brent and the boys and I all had a great time.
On the last weekend of May, Brent's family came back from China and we took Tiger and Logan to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. They had a special PBS Kids Day event going on, and the boys enjoyed doing a bunch of activities. Then we headed back here for a couple days. We didn't get any golfing in, due to thunderstorms, but instead took the kids to the Children's Museum on Tuesday.
On Wednesday I headed back for the big wedding weekend. Grandma Patty was gracious enough to help out with some baby sitting. On Thursday we had the rehearsal dinner and met up with all the out of towners. We were really excited to see everyone. We hadn't seen a lot of people in a long time and Oliver met a lot of family for the first time. I wish we had more time to spend with everyone. It was a lot of fun and I hope we will all of the chance to get together like that sometime again.
Friday was the big day. Brent and Thomas were in the wedding so we were up early in the morning getting ready. Jessie looked gorgeous in her dress and Reid looked pretty handsome too. We were able to avoid most of the meltdowns by Thomas but had a few close calls. But we made it through with out any scars or battle wounds. That is the critical part when it comes to small children and weddings--that no one gets hurt. Just kidding of course!
The reception was great. Thomas enjoyed hanging out with uncle "George" Jordan and dancing with the flower girls. I think he really enjoyed the cake though the most . All the sugar and dancing had everyone tired, so it was off to bed. And honestly, my children have never slept so well. It was the absolutely best sleep I have had in a long time! Alleluia!
Saturday we enjoyed brunch with the newly wed couple and the family. Thomas ate way to many lemon bars and went swimming. We took it easy and enjoyed some burgers and watched the Red Wings smoke the the Penguins in a 5-0 win before going to bed. And then by Sunday it was time to pack everything up and go home. We got back into Iowa City and went to see the movie Up with Doug, Tiger, and Logan before saying our good byes. Thomas was pretty bummed to see his pal Logan go, but I know there will be more visits. Hopefully sooner than later!
Today is a lazy day of laundry and catch up around here. I hope to get all of my pictures posted on here soon though. Should be some good ones to share!

Wacky Wednesday

Things were just crazy around the house today. There is something about being stuck inside due to rain that must make small children go wild. Thomas and Ollie were both up early. For breakfast, Thomas wasn't interested in the usual so what did we eat...watermelons and yogurt of course. Healthy yes, but definitely not our usual breakfast menu items. We then pulled a switcheroo and and ate pancakes for lunch. Why not right? After being cooped up all day who doesn't want buttermilk pancakes for lunch? Ollie was funny, he was really eyeing his brother's pancakes. He is getting better at eating rice cereal but not quite ready for anything else yet. Soon he will be big enough to eat some though. Even today he was being such a big boy. He and Thomas played on the floor and "rolled" a ball back and forth. Ollie loves playing with Thomas. I'm not sure if Thomas is ready to share his toys yet but I hope so, Ollie is now his new competition in the house!

Rain rain go away...

my kids really wanted to go outside and play today!

That's right, today we were stuck inside most of the day. The rain did let up for a brief period in the afternoon. Lindsay surprised the boys with a visit to say hi and we went with her to get some ice cream. We made sure to bring our umbrella on the walk there but didn't make it home quite in time because it started raining again. Oliver go a little bit of rain on him for the first time. I think he liked it though. We also cut up some fresh watermelon, officially kicking off summer in our house. Thomas all day was begging me to let him have some so by the time dinner rolled around he at up about 1/8th of our watermelon. Tomorrow for snack we are having... you guessed it--more watermelon!

Here is to a much drier and exciting week. If not, there is always grocery shopping as an indoor family outing! ;-)

Chicago Day 2 at the Brookfield Zoo & Weekend Photos

Ollie's first trip to the zoo

Thomas


Thomas froze in his steps when the dinosaur "roared" at him

Photo showing how big the dinosaur was

Lion

Seeing dolphins was really cool

This one came right up next to us and checked us out

Ollie was so big eyed watching the dolphins

Brown bear brown bear what do you see?

The polar bear was pretty cute

Showing Thomas the bears

And a carousel ride on a kangaroo at the end

Using his cool new snake as a pillow on the way home

At Village Inn, he learned that 3 straws ARE better than 1

At the Iowa City Children's Museum Passport to the World exhibit