One month

On December 25th, Oliver turned one month old. To follow tradition, Oliver sat in the same chair Miles did for his monthly photos and even wore the same outfit Miles did for his 1-month photo.

At his 1-month doctor's appointment, Oliver weighed 8 lbs 14 oz, 38th percentile. He was 21-1/2 inches long, 71st percentile. I didn't catch is head measurements.

He is drinking 3 to 4 ounces of formula (Enfamil Gentlease) every three to four hours. The first part of the night he will sometimes even go five hours before wanting food.

He has outgrown his newborn size clothing and is wearing the 0-3 month size. He is in a size 1 diaper.

He loves to be held chest-to-chest and loves his binky! He sleeps in his crib at night and doesn't seem to mind it. During the day he sleeps in the swing while I work. At first he wasn't a fan of the swing but he's coming around. He isn't a fan of it actually swinging though. He's learning how to sleep through loud noises since he has a pretty loud older brother. He follows us around with his eyes and is starting to interact more. I've had him smile at me three times, but I think only one and possibly two of those times were actually on purpose. His hair is still a blondish red and is what everyone comments on when they see him.

We love him to death and are glad he's apart of our family!

If you're curious like I was, click here to see Miles' 1-month picture.

Christmas and the rest of 2013

Miles woke up around 5:00 a.m. Christmas morning. He told me that he wanted to watch for Santa. I made the mistake of suggesting that he might have come already. Miles wanted to go downstairs to see. We held him off for an hour or so, but while Dave and I were distracted by Oliver, Miles sneaked downstairs and saw all the presents. It was all over at that point. He came running back upstairs and was ready to open presents NOW. We made him wait while we put our traditional Christmas morning breakfast in the oven (Cowboy Christmas Casserole) and fed and walked Buddy.

It didn't take the four of us very long to open our presents. It always amazes me how fast fun events like that are over! You wait forever for the occasion to arrive and then it's over in such a short amount of time. 

So ready to open his presents!

A "BIG Frank" and "Red" from Cars!

Remote control monster truck from Grandpa & Grandma Great

"I like all these presents!"

Miles helping Oliver open his presents

Oliver got a new chair to sit in

Playing with his monster truck

Brotherly love

Dave got new work pants (that don't fit)! Yea!

I got a warm Valentine's Day robe!

Checking out his stocking

What's in Oliver's stocking? A teething ring!

Dave got jerky in his stocking

I got YUMMY chocolates in my stocking

Holding the baby while eating a yummy Cowboy Christmas Breakfast Casserole

My first Christmas

After we opened presents, ate our breakfast, and played with our toys for a bit, Miles announced around 10:00 a.m. that he was ready for nap! He was so anxious to take his new toys to bed with him. I figured since he got up so early, he probably was ready for a nap. Dave took him up to bed, but it didn't last long although he did take a nap later in the day while Dave cooked us a VERY yummy ham dinner. We had a late lunch/early dinner around 3:00 p.m.

After dinner was over, Miles decided he wanted to Skype with Grandma so he could show her his new toys. He really wanted to drive to her house but after reminding him how far away Grandma is now he settled for talking to her on the computer. After that conversation was over we decided to take the boys to go see Frozen. I had heard such wonderful things about the movie and thought Miles might really enjoy it.

Oliver was restless during the movie so I ended up standing at the back of the theater bouncing him. Miles was scared of the abominable snowman in the movie and announced very loudly part way through the movie that he was ready to go home. We had some VERY rude teeny-boppers sitting behind us who kept shushing Miles and telling him to be quiet over and over only to turn to each other two seconds later and make loud comments about the movie. By the end of the movie Dave and I were ready to get the heck out of there. We both were about to lose it with those girls! Because of all of this, I'm not sure Dave and I would agree that Frozen is as good as everyone says, but we were a little stressed!

I got news that evening that my grandma had been told that she needed to make a decision about Grandpa because he just wasn't getting better from his heart attack. Her choices were to either take him home to die or put him in hospice. The next day she decided to go the hospice route. My dad warned me that the nurses had said once they took him off the ventilator that he might not even make it long enough to be transferred to hospice so he offered to hold the phone up to Grandpa's ear so that I could say good-bye. I opted for loading us all up in the car and driving to Kansas hoping to make it in time to say good-bye in person. We spent all Thursday morning loading things up and left around 1:00 p.m. We made it to Goodland, KS Thursday night (about 4 hours away from our destination). We got up early Friday morning and finished the trip. We made it to my grandpa middle of the afternoon after stopping in Newton to drop Miles off at my mom's. I got to hold grandpa's hand and say good-bye. We spent the rest of the afternoon there with him and pretty much most of the evening. By the end of the evening all I wanted was for my grandpa to give up the fight. His breathing was so shallow and so sporadic. That was no way to live. We left the hospital that evening hoping that he wouldn't hang on for much longer. It wasn't easy on anyone to see him that way. We got the call early Saturday morning that he had passed around 4:00 a.m. I was so relieved to hear that. Although I'm extremely sad that he's gone (it happened way too soon!), I'm glad he isn't lying there in that bed living like that.

We spent the next week getting ready for Grandpa's funeral and helping my grandma out any way that we could. I had the privilege of compiling thoughts about Grandpa to give to the funeral director for his funeral and also of putting together a photo collage to have running at his funeral. It's been nice to think back about my time with him and seeing pictures of him throughout his life. He was an amazing man who was loved by everyone! He provided me such a great example to follow in life and I will forever be thankful for him. I'm so glad that Miles got four great years with him and I hope as Miles gets older he remembers some of those times with "Grandpa Great." We will miss him dearly!

On a happier note, while in Kansas we also got to spend some time with Oliver's birth parents. It was GREAT to see them again and catch up! We met at the mall so Miles could run around and play in the play area while we visited with them. While there Miles ended up with an injury (he jumped off a boat and twisted his ankle I think) and he also made a couple of friends. He was having SO much fun playing with a couple of cute girls. It was fun to watch him make-believe with other kids his age. He doesn't get to do that often enough right now.

And that's how we spent the final days of 2013.

Christmas Eve

Because we spent so much time in Kansas this fall, we decided to stay home for Christmas this year. No one came to visit us either, so it was just the four of us. It was low-key but wonderful! We missed being around family and were worried about my grandpa because he was in the hospital and had had a heart attack four days earlier, but we had a nice time anyway.

Once Miles joined our family we decided to start a family tradition by getting Christmas PJs to open up on Christmas Eve. Growing up my family always allowed us to open one present on Christmas Eve (we always got to pick which present we wanted to open though). We kept that tradition going, but force Miles to open his Christmas PJs that evening! So far he hasn't been much of a fan. I took a video of him opening his PJs this year and it makes me chuckle.

 

An unhappy little boy

Oliver slept through it all

Our cutie patooties

December happenings

We've had a nice enjoyable month. It is really hard to believe that it is already Christmas. It definitely came fast this year! All fall I was preoccupied with getting Oliver here that I didn't have much time to think about life after Oliver's arrival. I, in fact, was out shopping last night (Christmas Eve) getting stocking stuffers and presents for Oliver and Dave. The stores were pretty picked over, but hopefully my boys enjoyed all their gifts!

Before my mom left to head back to Kansas earlier in the month we took her to our church's Christmas party on Saturday, December 7th so she could see Miles with Santa. Last year Miles was really scared of Santa, but did eventually get over his fear and go sit on his lap. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect this year. Miles initially didn't want to go see Santa but that didn't last long. He went right up to him and got on his lap. When Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas, Miles said, "A BIG Frank!" Santa thought he said a train. So, Santa proceeded to ask Miles questions about trains and whether or not he had been a good little boy this year. Miles had a confused look on his face, but he played along and answered Santa's questions. SO cute! Frank, for those of you wondering, is the name of the combine on the movie Cars. Miles and I were both coming down with a cold at that point so we didn't make it through the entire party. We got to see Santa and have a good ham dinner, but then had to leave before the program began.

The rest of the month we've just been getting ready for Christmas and enjoying our time together as a family. We've had some rough spots with both of the boys, but I think we are slowly figuring those things out as well.

Miles got that cold which led to a cough that is actually still hanging on. When he lays down at night he gets to coughing so hard that he gags. This has led to him making VERY frequent visits to our room. Now that we have two kiddos to wake us up (and on different schedules) we aren't getting much sleep. We did take him to the doctor and the doctor said it was just a virus so we have to just wait it out. Miles is finally starting to feel better though and has been better at staying in his bed all night. We also are toying with the idea of taking his nap away. On Sundays we are at church during his nap time so he doesn't get one. He is pretty cranky and crazy without a nap, but bedtime is MUCH less of a struggle. He falls asleep quickly and stays asleep all night. He does get up pretty early in the morning, but that is to be expected I guess.

Oliver has been spitting up what we would consider an excessive amount. When he was first born he spit up a lot and the nurses and doctors told us that was normal considering he was a C-section baby. The spit-up got somewhat better when we switched him over to a more gentle formula, but in the last week or so it has gotten worse. Yesterday we decided to try to do our feeding routine a little bit different (letting him eat the entire bottle before burping instead of burping after each ounce that he ate) and it seems to be working. He's had significantly less spit-up with each feeding! The doctor said we only need to worry about it if it is projectile (shoots across the room), has a color to it, or if he isn't gaining weight and none of those are concerns right now. He did have his 1-month checkup on December 18th and is growing and doing well.

Here are some random pictures from the month.

Oliver's first bath at home

Oliver with his dog from his birth parents and his wolf that matches one we gave his birth mom

I got a new fake Christmas tree this year and I LOVE it!

Miles is such a good big brother!

Helping make sugar cookies

Icing the cookies - he'd put some on the cookie and then eat a big spoonful of it!

The finished product

We get lots of great snuggle time with Oliver

A picture Miles took on our way to church last Sunday

And a couple of pictures I found on my phone that maybe should've gone with the last post.

Our two boys with Grandma!

Miles loves to take pictures with my phone. This is one he captured of Grandma in our hotel room.

Taken by Miles while out to eat with Grandma

And he needed one of Dad

And one of mom

Pictures that go with Oliver's story

Oliver's birth day (11/25/2013):

 

Getting a bath

 

Grandma brought Miles to the hospital to meet Oliver (11/26/2013):

 

Newborn photo shoot in the hospital (11/26/2013):

Leaving hospital day (11/27/2013):

Spending time in the hotel (11/27/2013 - 12/2/2013):

Meeting Grandma & Grandpa Great (12/1/2013):

Oliver's adoption finalization (12/2/2013):

Judge: Eric Yost

 Heading home to Colorado (12/2/2013):