Vacuuming!

At first when we got this vacuum I thought, my boy is learning something girly. But you know what? I got over that QUICK!. He LOVES the vacuum cleaner. He is simply ecstatic when I turn it on. If anyone's around, he'll get their attention and scream with joy to show them the vacuum. The best part is he's learning how something works. He recently learned how to use a telephone. If you say "ring ring" or "hello hello" he'll either pretend he has a phone up to his ear or grab his and pretend he's on the phone. So it is even cooler that he now can pretend he's vacuuming with me! The first few days he didn't really get it and he'd lug it around all over the place instead of pulling it! Poor kid really got a work out. Over the last 2 days he's gotten the hang of it and now whether or not someone is really vacuuming, he whips it out and plays with it.

It is THE coolest thing to watch your child learn and grow in front of your eyes. Especially when they go from this crying, pooping, eating glob of nothing to this walking, understanding, "talking" little person. I couldn't be prouder as a mother. Oliver amazes me EVERYDAY!

So anyway, here he is with Dzia Dzia!

I REALLY Love My Sleeping Baby.

Pioneer Square with Daddy.

Taking a Ride!

This was taken Christmas Day. Just uploaded it, and thought it was too funny!

Nie!

Oliver is so cute now!
He has understood no for some time now, but he's added a little twist.
For example, if he's getting too close to the T.V. or fireplace we tell him NO Bubba, and nie in Polish. We usually all shake our heads bc it just kinda happens. Hence now my child hears us say no, runs over and shakes his head saying some mixture of no and nie over and over. Its the cutest thing but I can tell this is gonna cause us some grief in the future. :]


Also, I just have to say how darn cute this kid is. Last night for example, he woke up at 12:30 am. This is unheard of for our child! Anyway, he decided to play until 3:30 am and pass out soon there after. I was EXHAUSTED. George woke up late for work. But in the midst of the sleepiness and annoyance of actually having to wake up in the middle of the night as a parent [unheard of, right?], he would smile so big and give me that look, that "Mommy I love you so much" look. I just melted.

It's so hard to be mad at him!

Living With a BOY!

My son farts, then looks around to see if any ones noticed. If you look at him and laugh or smile he laughs his little face off! I just started noticing this maybe 2 weeks ago, I told George about this and his response is that him and Oliver had been doing this for ages. Apparently its a guy thing? That's fine by me....keep it a guy thing!

I'm coming to the conclusion that the next child needs to be a girl so we can be even. TEAMS! Hahaha.

Aaaaaand Oliver gave us another scare tonight. We had people over at my parent's house. George was outside on the phone with his family and I had to run to the restroom. I informed every one that I was going potty but I did not specify to please watch Oliver for a moment. Between food and glasses of wine and my 30 second potty break, Oliver had climbed all the way to the second story. I get out of the restroom looking for him and all I hear are his foot steps. My first conclusion was that they were coming from upstairs, but then I thought no way, he was being watched. My gut told me to run upstairs and who do I hear run to the top of the stairs? OLIVER! He of course had the HAPPIEST face, and was laughing. Luckily he didn't fall down the stairs and I made sure the gate was promptly placed back at the bottom of the stairs.

I am beginning to think that he's either going to be a stunt man, a new Jackass personality, or the next Evil Knievel...Wish us luck!

Daddy is Learning Words Too!

I was joking about this with George but I'm really gonna do it. Since Oliver was born into a very Polish family he's being spoken to in two languages. Poor Daddy would be left out if he didn't at least know what some of it meant. So as Oliver is learning to speak, Daddy is learning to speak Polish!

Here's some common words/phrases he knows:
Ja chcem kabanos prosze. - I want kabanos please.
Choc tu. - Come here.
Przestan - Stop it.
Prosze - Please.
Dzienkuje - Thank you
Salatka, bigos, kielbasa, etc. - Different Polish foods.
Kotek - Kitty

He uses Please and Thank you around Oliver, as well as come here. It's really cool to get him involved so he doesn't feel lost! I'm sure over time he'll know a lot more. It's also really cool to see how much he understands just by understanding words and reading our body language!

Lots of New Foods!

Oliver is continuing on his journey of tasting ever flavor the world has to offer! Ha.

Over the holidays Oliver tried:
Salmon - He LOVED it. Couldn't get enough.
Kabanos - Polish meat...YUM!
Salatka - A Polish version of potato salad.
Pierogi - Though he did have some of these before.

Lots of goodies! Such a big boy!

Christmas Day

Here is what I awoke to. Daddy and baby playing with all the new toys. And I got the best present ever, sleeping in!




Here are some of the bigger toys he got! Lucky baby.





These are his cute monster slippers. Matched the dino jammies he has on! P.S. Blackberry, check!




Clean up was important too. Though Oliver thought he was helping...not so much. That wrapping paper tube was exciting though!

Oh Santa...

Here's the picture I posted about earlier. Like mother, like son.

I have my own infamous crying with Santa picture.



I'm glad that at least his first one with Santa turned out well!

The Shirt Reads, "I Ink I Love You".

With a little octopus/squid. :]

Christmas Eve

We had a successful 1st Christmas as a complete family. I cannot believe one year ago I was an angry, over eating, GIANT pregnant lady due in 2 days!

We literally took a billion pictures so here is just a sample of what happened during the unwrapping!









He got a little vacuum which I think is PERFECT. I vacuum the house on a daily basis and he follows me around while so fascinated by the vacuum. This way he can help Momma! It even makes real vacuum noises and it sings! Pretty spiffy.

Now as per Polish tradition we go to Christmas mass at 10 p.m. Midnight was always just too late! Oliver has a pretty strict bedtime of between 7-8 pm. Not strict bc I'm a mean ol' Mommy who makes him go to sleep, so don't get any ideas. :] He has been set like this since I can remember! Anyway, We put him to bed at 7:40 and poor thing had to be woken up at 9:15 to get dressed for mass! He took it fairly well... Though we did leave church early! And being the lucky parents we are, we came home, he took a bottle and he was out without a peep.

Here's a quick photo I took in the family room right before mass!


I can't believe Christmas is nearly over! Having Oliver born at the beginning of the year, this signifies a lot to us. Besides his birth day, and perhaps New Years [thought there's no way he's staying up for that!], there is nothing else to celebrate. He has completed a full cycle of holidays, celebrations, ordinary days, and everything else in between. This marks the beginning of the second year of Oliver's little life. That's a lot for our little dude. :]

Merry Christmas!

Never could take a serious picture!

Uh Oh

No gate around the tree means havoc with the presents!

Tricks Up His Sleeves

So smart, this one. I have a Cheerio addict. I set the giant Costco box of Cheerios on the ground since I have yet to find a spot for them, and this is what my tiny mastermind accomplished throughout the day:



He just grabbed a handful anytime he felt like it.

Oliver Upgraded

Mommy's phone broke so she was kindly given a replacement. That means Oliver went from an old slider phone to a new Blackberry. :]




We bought him a toy phone ages ago. The real thing will always be better I guess.

Playing with Oskar.

Santa mixed up our gifts. Oskar was nice enough to give Oliver his rightful present.

We're Giving Up On A Nice Santa Hat Picture

Going to the Polish Store

Ever since I was a little girl we've come to this Polish butcher shop to get out meat for holidays, etc. This was the first time I got to bring my son here. It was really special.

Reading with Santa

He sat there with his book with mini Santa for about 5 minutes. In toddler time...that's FOREVER. But Santa has a book too. Perhaps they were reading to one another. :]

Da-ddyyyyyy

Makes my heart melt!

Trick or Treating for Christmas

He will not let go of this thing!



He even had a Snoopy stuffed animal inside he was carrying around. :]




P.S. I would also like to point out that the gift to the right is for Oliver. It is bigger than him. I miss getting gifts that were physically larger than me. New car anyone? I could use one...

Sharing in Caring!

Oliver's new favorite thing is to share everything. He's been doing it for a week or so now. He'll share his food [easy when its Goldfish or graham crackers, not so much those bland baby meals, EW!], his binky, his books, etc.

He's such a sweet boy.

He's also becoming so smart. It's funny how it all happens so fast. I feel like its out of nowhere that Oliver has begun to understand everything! He loves to play in the cupboards so we've made a game of "open and close". Now if he leaves a door open we just have to ask him to close it PLEASE!, and he does. So so cool! He'll also bring you almost anything you ask for!

Words he consistently uses:
Daddy
Dzia Dzia - Grandpa in Polish

Words he's mentioned:
Peek-a-boo
Ni-Ni - night night
Kitty
Ba-Ba - Bottle
Ma Ma - VERY seldom...tear

Whenever Grandpa or Daddy are around he is calling for them constantly. Us women are very jealous! Where's the Mommy, huh? Hahaha. Though I can't complain since I am the only one he cries for when I leave and he runs for me when he gets hurt.

Oh and another cool trick he does is give hugs and kisses! Cutest thing in the world. Big open mouth, slobbery kisses, and the snuggliest hugs in the world!

The Wreath

Finished product:



I decided to use just the palms to utilize the most green. Fingers are underneath.

Tooth #8

We now have 4 on top and 4 on bottom!

Making Our Wreath

Told you we'd be back with a Christmas installment of arts and crafts!
We decided to make a hand print wreath. I'm still waiting on it to dry so I can complete it! Pictures of the final product coming soon!

Here are some from the process:

"Oh no Mom, what am I gonna have to do now?"

He was so calm the whole time.

Still can't get over it!

Cute boy!

He had lots of fun!

The Three Boys

The wonderful Miss Kaela is in town for the holidays so of course we had to get Oliver, Noah, and Elijah together!

They all can walk, they're all crazy, and they're all 100% boy!

All of us trying to hold them together. BAD IDEA on my part!


We got them all to look at the same time. Close enough!


It was a great time but no one can understand how crazy it was unless you own your own rambunctious little boys!


Eli is 3 days shy of 11 months, Oliver is 11 and a half months, and Noah is 16 and a half months. Here's a blast from the past:

January:

August:

Boxer

Since Oliver was itty bitty and he still wore his bathrobe, my mom has always called him a little boxer!

Look at his shorts!


And I did crop the picture, bc it was from really far away, he was holding some tupperware, and the pose was too perfect.