"Elf"

With the entertainment center done and the TV finally hooked up in the living room Ollie got to watch one of our favorite Christmas movies ever for the first time- "Elf." How does it still make me laugh so hard?

Little Statue

All month long the house has been in a bit of disarray. On Black Friday Matt bought a new tv for himself for Christmas, so "my present" from him (because the tv doesn't fit in the armoire in the living room) is a new entertainment center for his tv. I designed it all out and he has been busy building it in his spare time all month. All of which is great except the house is torn apart because of the construction, there is wood and sawdust everywhere. And all the boxes we pulled out to start putting out Christmas decorations are still sitting out in the way waiting for the project to be completed so they can be unloaded. I did get the Christmas tree up before the construction started, but at the moment it is sitting in the kitchen of all places to keep it away from all the dust. Things are finally starting to come together though and he has done a great job. We are down to painting. Tonight Ollie wanted to help so Matt threw him up on one of the shelves like he was a little statue, he looked so little and cute up there that I wished for a moment I could freeze him, but what fun would that little boy be on a shelf?! Haha!

Little Cougar

Today Ollie got to open a present from his Aunt Barbara- in it we found his very own baby cougar! Funny how I was never a stuffed animal person myself growing up, but for whatever reason Ollie always gets so excited over them. And this one was a little puppet too so Matt brought the little baby cougar to life and Ollie was lovin' all over it!

Still Learning

It's still hard for me to let go and let Ollie feed himself. If it is something like fruit or veggies or anything solid in general I don't have a problem, it's the stuff that I know he can fling and make a mess with that is a little harder for me. But I realize that I am also holding him back from learning to be independent so today I let go again and let him take control of the spoon, realizing it has been a while since I had him try using it all by himself...

 

At least a little bit of the yogurt made it into his mouth!

Christmas Cards

I haven't been great about getting Christmas cards out in the past, but I was excited to use all the amazing pictures Jodee did of our sealing for a "White Christmas" card this year. I always have a lot to say so we went with an acordian fold- so the White Christmas would be the cover and it would open up to our newsletter on one side, and pictures of our big day on the other. In the past Matt has always been disappointed when we get all our lovely cards from friends and family so I think he was happy that I got one done this year! Merry Christmas!

 

 

And because I know it is way too small to read... here is our newsletter:

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas, With every Christmas Card I write…

It’s hard to believe that just one year ago, after singing “All I want for Christmas is Ollie” all month long, that on Christmas Eve our precious baby boy was placed in our arms for the very first time. He was truly a Christmas miracle and we are eternally grateful for our earthly angel that brought him into this world and has been there to rejoice with us ever since. 

Looking back 2012 has felt like the spring after a long, long winter. We may have been doing a little snowboarding during that long winter and finding other ways to still enjoy life, but it was a long winter none the less. Now that the spring has come we can finally look back with gratitude for what the winter taught us, how it changed us and truly brought us closer to our Heavenly Father. Our hearts go out to family, friends and neighbors that are still in the winters of their lives, our prayers are ever with you.

This was definitely a year of change for us. There were things we had to give up (like sleep!), and other things that we had to simply adapt (like baby proofing our house, or sitting close to an exit at the movies.) There were countless “firsts” for Ollie and for us that were new, exciting, and priceless (like watching him learn to roll over, clap his hands, or say Momma and Dada for the very first time!). Truly every day we have with him still feels like a miracle, and we worry all the time that we are spoiling him because we can’t help but hold him a little tighter and kiss his precious cheek one more time, wanting to hold onto every little moment because they are all passing so quickly!

The most monumental moment of the year was taking Ollie to the temple to become a forever family. All dressed in white surrounded by loved ones, Ollie was sealed to us over the very same alter Matt and I were sealed over 14 years ago. Words can never tell the things we felt in our hearts that day, but the blessings are eternal as is our love for each other. This Christmas card is a celebration of that cherished event in our life, and our dream of another day when we will all be dressed in white again as we are officially starting the process all over, praying for our next little miracle!

Matt

Matt still keeps himself busy running his landscaping company, and you would have thought a baby would have slowed him down, but he has still found plenty of time to play this year. He of course loves having his little side kick right there with him and dreams about when he will be big enough to play with the big boyz. In the mean time I get to hear plenty of laughs and giggles coming out of those two as they wrestle around and play together. He couldn’t be happier to be a Dad!

One of our favorite memories was taking Ollie to Kauai when he was 4 months old to introduce him to the ocean for the very first time. Matt also got busy introducing him to surfing in our own back yard, and we did make it to California to watch Dada hit the waves out there. Some of Matt’s other  fun excursions this year included fishing off the coast of BC Canada with Uncle Rich, and a real live cattle drive with the brothers.

Another big change for the family came later in the year when Matt was called as Elders Quorum President. He’s never served in Elders Quorum before so it has been a humbling experience but he is growing so much as he makes sacrifices to prepare himself, to love, and to serve others. We feel so blessed to have so many people loving and supporting him!

Loree

Having Ollie has opened my eyes and I now have a bit more understanding and empathy for mothers. I’m in awe of all the women that make it look so easy! I have learned to let go of a daily shower, brushed hair and even brushed teeth, and there is plenty of dust and other things that I have had to overlook. It’s not that I don’t still make the effort, I’ve just had to learn that it’s ok to push some things off so I can not only tend to Ollie’s needs but also  enjoy my time with him.

Hard as it may be at times, there is nothing I have ever enjoyed more than being a mother.  I love following him around watching him discover new things, making him laugh, reading him books, dressing him up, and of course taking pictures! But most of all I love it when he reaches for me, wants to snuggle, or waking up to his hand on my face and big eyes looking at me with his chubby little smile. 

Other favorite experiences this year were rappelling through waterfalls in Moab, and ice-climbing with Matt on a glacier in Alaska. Truly amazing- the deep blue ice and cascading waterfalls inside the glacier took my breath away! Grateful for the one-on-one time with Matt also!

Ollie

It’s amazing how much Ollie has grown and changed in just one year. He has gone from the quiet little, completely dependent baby to this mobile, independent little man that is bursting with personality. He loves to make funny faces, sticking out his big lips as far as they can go to protest when we say “No” and at other times just because he knows it makes us laugh.

Ollie is quite social. He adores all of the family, and it warms my heart to see how much they love him. Nieces and nephews that use to rush to Matt and me are now much more excited to see him! No matter where we go his cute little self always gets attention, he loves to dish out his big smiles and seems to make everyone’s day a little brighter! 

His favorite things in life are eating, wrestling his kitty, climbing on his big dog, opening cupboards and emptying out the contents, anything electronic, playing in water (whether it’s the pool, the shower, the bath, or the sink- he loves splashing around!), and being the center of our little world! We can never get enough of this little guy and while we try and hold onto every little moment praying he won’t grow too fast, we can’t wait to experience the joys each new stage of his life brings!

11 Months Old

 

This was the first time I have ever done his photo shoot over two seperate days. I think these bloopers will explain why...lets just say I tried to do it all by myself and he is A LOT to handle right now. I set up the blanket and the bear and within seconds of setting him down he had tackled the bear and I literally caught him as he was diving over the edge of the bed with him. As soon as I got him back up he stood up and took down the blanket...

 

After a few attempts to re-set things up only to have the same result I gave up and pulled out the one thing I thought would keep him still- my phone.

That kind of worked except he wouldn't look at me, and he still wouldn't stay in one place even with the phone. So I gave up on getting him in clothes and thought I would just have to wait for Matt so he could help get his attention. That happened tonight, we got all dressed to go out to the temple lights and I decided since Matt was here to take advantage of the moment and literally three shots later it was all done and over. So much easier!

 

 

That is the story of my little/big eleven month old boy. He has discovered how strong he is and has started protesting things like me putting him in his car seat, or high chair. He thinks it's a lot of fun to just stand in either one of those and hates me buckling him in. And man he is strong! One night after a long day of not eating enough and being drained of energy I really didn't even have the strength to wrestle him into his chair, so I gave up and just held him while I held him. That was interesting, the only problem was he is do heavy now that when I put him down my arm cramps up and it's hard to straighten it because it's been working so hard to hold all that weight!

 

He has finally started holding his own bottle, but he still prefers us to hold it for him, it's only if we force the issue that he will actually do it. My favorite though is that he is getting even better at "singing", it really is the cutest thing. If you start singing he will start singing right along as if he knows exactly what he is doing.

 

As far as walking goes, he seems to be right on the edge of breaking through. He is trying again and if you are holding his hands he just starts going and you have to start moving to stay up with him. He will give us the surprise few steps when he is randomly playing. If we try to get him to walk to one of us he will play along a few times but then he's over it. I'm sure by his birthday he will be going and once he starts there will be no stopping him! I for one am looking forward to him having cleaner clothes once he starts walking.

 

He has started to wave goodbye and actually gets what it means, thanks to Marmee if you say "nose" he will touch his nose. (He kind of does ears and teeth, but nose he is good at) My favorite is he has given me a few "kisses". We've been working on that one forever! It's more like a big wet lick or even bite because he comes at you with his mouth wide open- but I still love it! 

The First Baby Clothes We Ever Bought

November 2, 2011- Matt and I went shopping to get baby stuff for the very first time. Let's just say the aisles of bottles, car seats, strollers, bouncers, bedding, etc. was a bit overwhelming. I was naive to think I could just go pick up some bottles unaware of the fact that there were 50 to choose from, and they all advertised different benefits. Who knew? So we gave up on choosing a bottle and moved onto the next aisle, needless to say we had a repeat experience with every item we looked at. That is except for a diaper changing pad- pretty standard and only a few to choose from, and a few clothes on the clearance rack that caught my eye. Didn't need any advice for that! I guess I remember the clothes the most because it was the first time we ever stepped into Babys R Us and the first time I dared to actually buy baby clothes for our child. That was an exciting moment, especially because Jess texted us when we were at the store. When I told her where we were she was excited for us and related to the overwhelming feeling because she had the same experience when she went the first time. I think just hearing from her and how supportive she was- even having a "Juno moment" as she called it when she asked me if I was going to have a baby shower so I wouldn't have to get everything by myself, reinforced the fact that it was all real and therefore okay for me to be shopping. I think that shopping excursion was that moment when we started to cross the line from years of dreams to reality.

Why am I writing about this now? Today when I was finally taking the time to pack away clothes that Ollie has outgrown I started to put that outfit, the first one I ever bought, in his bag of old stuff, and all those memories came back. Funny how we can have an emotional reaction to tangible things that are tied to significant memories. I thought about how I didn't recall having any pictures of Ollie in that outfit, at first I shrugged an "oh well" because I know I have a million pictures of him and he would never know, but then I couldn't resist the urge to fill that little outfit with his cuteness to document how much better that little miracle of ours is than we ever could have imagined back then.

So here they are- the empty clothes. I love our somewhat hesitant smiles still trying to figure our if it was okay for us to be shopping and so excited over the anticipation of our unborn son that would someday fill them...

And here he is a little over a year later filling those clothes, our home, and our life with nothing but joy! Another day in his life...

After I put him in his outfit we played in his room for a bit. (I am the jungle gym!)

Then he read some of his books while I kept working on cleaning out his drawers...

 

Then he got bored and wanted me to pick him up and take him on to bigger and better things. Here are the emotions he goes through when he wants me to pick him up. (All this took place in the matter of one minute) First it is the cry, indicating that he is no longer satisfied with what he is doing...

 Then the open arms begging for me to pick him up...

Then the excited look like- "hey pick me up because your going to have so much fun laughing at me!"

 Then the mad look because it's not working...

 The collapse to the floor, holding onto my legs beg...

 He finally got me with his "wrestle my leg so I can't do anything else anyway" beg! Haha!

Dada is working on building my Christmas present, so our house is a construction zone. Ollie can't help but touch all the tools, and he cracks me up how he walks around with his hand in his snack cup.

Today he ate from the squirt pouch all by himself, and finished all his vegetables. Yeah!

 

He keeps practicing walking and took a few more steps to Dada who was oh so excited and proud of him.

(Compare that big smile on Matt's face to the one of him holding those empty clothes- it's that little boy inside them that has made all the difference!)

While Matt was cleaning out some drawers Ollie found some old electronics- a new toy that looks just like the ones I won't let him touch!

And then we let him go outside and enjoy the weather. It's amazing right now- 77 degrees, but poor little guy the only real thing he gets to do in our backyard is swim and the water is too cold for that. I did tell him once he starts walking I will start taking him to the park so he can run around and play in the grass. Today he found a small patch of rocks very entertaining. He started with digging them out as fast as he could.

He practiced a little standing...

He tried tasting the rocks a few times but quickly rejected the flavor each time, or was it the shock of me yelling "No! Yucky!" that got him to spit them out so fast?

He thought it was a whole lot of fun to bang the rocks on the poles- loved the noise.

Cutest little chubby expression ever :)

He spent some time reaching in to pet his old friend Rocky.

Always looking back to make sure I'm right there watching all the fun he is having!

Buying that first outfit was fun, but having this little boy fill those clothes is better than I ever imagined it would be! And Jess those big smiles on his face are all because you gave every part of this happy little life of his to him- Love you forever!!!