Saturday, March 15, 2014

Oliver's 3 month pictures

Because of a coupon I had for the JCPenney photo studio, we had Oliver's 3 month pictures done a few days before he turned 3 months old. I had to do it during the week because of when the coupon expired, so I picked a time that would work for Dave's schedule. It wasn't the best time for Oliver though so I'm thankful we got as many good pictures as we did! He only really started to get super frustrated with the process towards the end when we put him in the only outfit I had brought. As a past photographer, I know from experience that you do the outfit the mom brings in FIRST and save your ideas for the end. Oh well. We got some cute naked pictures of him at least!

Here are my favorites!








I ordered this 10 x 10 for our wall




Friends and family, if you'd like a copy of any of these, just let me know which one and what size and I'll print them out and mail them to you!

Friday, March 7, 2014

3 months

Oliver turned 3 months old on February 25th. There was no well-baby visit this month to the doctor so I don't have any stats on him, but you can tell he is growing like a weed. He is starting to put on the pounds and is getting those cute baby fat rolls. His thunder thighs are so. darn. cute!


He wanted to eat his hands during his photo shoot so it was really hard to get a good picture. This is what I got. When I went back and looked at Miles' 3 month picture, I got a good chuckle out of it. Click here to see! How funny is that?

Oliver is officially on soy formula now. He is doing much better on it. He still spits up some, but the volume is not nearly as much as it was. He does have an occasional large spit-up, but it is usually because he was worked up before he ate or ate too much. We are definitely happy with the progress! We both have decided to burp him in a different manner now too (on our lap sitting up instead of on our shoulder). That may help out as well.

Oliver is still a super smiley boy. He wins lots of hearts over when he flashes his gorgeous smile!

He is not a huge fan of his car seat, but he will put up with it if the sun is shining. If we are out and about when it gets dark, we get to listen to him cry all the way home. He does NOT like to be in his car seat in the dark for some reason. It's so funny. We've resorted to turning on the dome light in the car as we drive home so we don't have to listen to him cry the entire way. He isn't affected by the dark at home when he sleeps. Such a funny baby!

He continues to sleep better in his swing than in the crib. We can get him to sleep in his crib for the first half of the night, but after his first feeding (sometimes his only feeding) he won't sleep for much longer than an hour in his crib. If we want to get any more sleep early in the morning, then we have to put him in his swing.

He is wearing a size 2 diaper now and is in 3 to 6 month clothing. He is drinking between 5 and 6 ounces of formula every three to four hours during the day, but can go as long as six to eight hours at night, usually closer to six though. If he is awake for a big portion of the evening, then he'll sleep longer at night. If we have errands to run in the evening, he is wide awake the entire time. He isn't one to fall asleep in his car seat very easy. He has to be super tired and bored!

He's starting to fall in to a pretty regular routine during the day, taking about three to four naps each day. I'm such a planner/scheduler so I'm glad he is starting to be on a schedule. It definitely helps with the work-at-home thing!

In honor of him being 3 months old, we took him to JCPenney for pictures. I just got the disc back today so I'll post those pictures soon.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

February

Being a work-at-home mom with two boys keeps me super busy and super exhausted! I'm not doing such a good job at keeping my blog updated (what's new, right?), but my goal is to do at least one post every month so I don't get too far behind. I also want to do Oliver's monthly post so I guess that makes at least two posts every month. We'll see how that goes.

Dave blessed Oliver in our church on Sunday, February 2nd. In our church we give babies blessings basically to get their name on the records of the church and then it gives the dads the opportunity to give them a blessing to help them out in their lives. We invited Dave's family to join us that day, but unfortunately no one was able to make it. Because of this we almost cancelled it, but decided to go ahead with it anyway. During the blessing Dave took Oliver up to the front of the church. We had talked with Miles to warn him about this event so that when Dad left with Oliver he wouldn't freak out like he's been known to do. He was a good boy and sat with me and listened to the blessing. When Dave was finished and started walking back towards our seat, Miles blurted out, "Good job Dad! Good job Dad!" I was so embarrassed, but everyone around us laughed. I think he knew that Dave was nervous about it and was so proud of his dad. He kept saying, "Good job Dad!" over and over, but I was able to convince him to lower his voice at least. In honor of the event, I decided to do a little photo shoot in his temple/blessing outfit. Below is my favorite one.


If you read my blog, then you know that I like to make ties for Miles. I even sold several of my ties when we lived in Kansas. They are super easy to make! Well, Miles has decided lately that it is fun to chew on his ties while he is in his primary class at church. I'm not sure if it is an anxiety/comfort thing or what exactly, but it's so frustrating to see them all balled up and soaking wet. They don't fully recover from it either. After searching the internet for a kid bow-tie pattern/instructions I came up with a super easy way to do them as well. And best of all, Miles can't reach them to chew on them!

To not leave Oliver out, I've been searching for a onesie that has a tie printed on it for him to wear to church because he's too little to wear an actual tie. In the past when I have seen those onesies I thought they were a cute idea. Well, I've searched and haven't had much luck. I happened to stumble across an iron-on applique at Hobby Lobby one day while looking for Valentine shirt ideas for the boys. The iron-on was of a cute little red and blue tie. It was only $1 so I figured I could just make my own...and so I did.


My handsome model
My other handsome model
On Thursday, February 13th, a lady in our church threw me a baby shower for Oliver. She asked me several weeks before if she could do it and I sort of discouraged it since Oliver is our second boy child. From my experience, typically showers are thrown for your firstborn and then again when you are expecting a baby that is the opposite sex of your first. She agreed with me at first, but then decided to go ahead and throw one anyway since we adopted him. Her daughter is in the process of adopting their second child so she has firsthand experience with how expensive adoptions can be, etc. She wanted to help us out anyway she could. The shower was a diaper/formula shower since we have everything else. I haven't been in our church long enough to know many people so I was amazed by the response! We got so many diapers! What a great group of women. We are so unbelievably thankful for their kindness and generosity. I'm also glad I had the chance to get to know a few of them a little bit better. I forgot to take pictures at the actual shower, but I did snap a few pictures of the loot when I got home.
Lots of size 2, 3 & 4 diapers and lots of wipes!
A very cute Valentine's Day bouquet
Advice written on some of the diapers (my favorite one - wake hubby & go back to sleep!)
For Valentine's Day, Miles' preschool teacher asked that he make a box at home that could be used at school for his Valentines. While searching for box ideas, I sort of got the craft bug and ended up making several things for Valentine's Day this year. I love being crafty!

My V-day crafts: Miles' box, 3 teacher gifts, 13 friend gifts, & 2 T-shirts
We made this for Dad to hang up in his classroom (this is unfinished, but you get the idea). Miles' hand print and Oliver's footprints
Miles & his box (there are two Miles in his class so he is Miles K)
Modeling his T-shirt
Modeling his T-shirt
My sweet boys!
On Valentine's Day, Miles' preschool class had a party and parents were invited. As part of my present from Dave, he took the day off of work. He attended Miles' party with me and Oliver...and boy was he a HUGE help. Miles tends to get really excited and super rambunctious when Mom and Dad are around so the extra help was appreciated. For the party they got to munch on lots of good treats and then pass out their Valentines to each other. Miles was so excited to get candy! I think Miles had a lot of fun at his party, but by the end Mom and Dad were exhausted!

Dave spoiled me this year for Valentine's Day. I have such a wonderful husband! He took the day off of work to spend more time with us. Over the weekend he also slept in our extra bedroom on an air mattress with Oliver so that I could sleep undisturbed in our bed for an entire night (no night feedings of Oliver). Too bad Miles didn't get the message to stay in bed that night. Oh well, he tried! We also made a day trip to Provo to eat lunch at my favorite place, Bajio. I don't know many people that are willing to drive 3-1/2 hours one-way to treat their loved one to their favorite food! I really do have an amazing husband! All he got was that handmade wall art to hang in his classroom. Poor Dave!

As you can see, we had a wonderful month full of lots of LOVE!