Oliver talking on the phone

Is this really March??

I don't think that I can ever say in my whole life that it has been this warm in March. We took full advantage of the warm weather to get outside. I had to go through Oliver's clothes and sort out the winter stuff and bring in the spring clothes. We had a few tantrums after putting his short-sleeve shirt on because he couldn't pull the sleeves down to his hands he got over it and we were off to go outside.

First Oliver pushed his shopping cart around outside, then we played some ball and of course he had to go up and down the stairs numerous times and learned how to say "UP".

Then we walked down to the park. We tried the slide for Oliver's first time ever and he loved it. Then he swung and laughed and talked the whole way home except when we had to stop to see all the firetrucks returning from a grass fire then he was quiet and shy.

Saturday was St. Patrick's Day so we went to Elkader for the annual parade. Grandpa Chuck put the Oliver 70 tractor in the Parade so Oliver rode with Grandpa for a short time during the parade. He could have cared less about the candy which I was happy about but it won't be long before he's out there running for it too.

Today, Sunday, temps were again in the 80's so we went out again and did some yard work which turned into mostly following Oliver around since he likes to go toward the street every chance he gets. We have a little incline between our sidewalk and neighbors and he loves to go up and down it but today he fell and got his first scrapped up knee. After cleaning it and putting triple antibiotic ointment on it and a band-aid he was good as new. I think the band-aid was a new toy for him as it came off only after about an hour after application.

We also had a bird problem this week. Some people have mice or bats in their houses, we have birds. We had 1 bird last year and thought it was just a fluke. Then Shawn said that he had one in here last week. Thursday when Oliver and I came back from the park there was a sparrow on our front porch. After closing the door to the house and opening the front door it flew out. Then after lunch we were playing in the play room and I heard more birds and fluttering of wings. After investigating there were 2 sparrows in my kitchen playing around in there. Good thing we have a pocket door between the kitchen and dinning room because I closed that off and then had to open the back door. These 2 took more coursing to get out and they left me with a few piles of bird poop after they left. So that night when Shawn got home he climbed on the room and found that there was a hole in the screen on the chimney and they were getting it. The hole was patched up and cross our fingers we haven't had any since.

Dancing Machine!

We left for St. Paul, Minnesota on Saturday for my cousin Kyle and his now wife Gina's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and location. We spent Saturday night a couple blocks away at the Hilton Garden on the top floor so we had a great view of downtown from our window.

The wedding and reception was at the Landmark Center downtown St. Paul and it really did look like a castle.

We all gathered for family pictures before the wedding so we took some of our own as well.

Oliver had fun playing with his cousins especially Annaliese. By Sunday they were giving each other hugs and kisses.

Isn't it a beautiful spot for a wedding. The ceremony was officiated by Gina's brother-in-law and I think it was one of the funniest and sweetest wedding ceremonies I've been to.

After the ceremony we enjoyed a slide show, beverages, and a couple tantrums of the kids. At dinner that's when the fire was put out... literally. A napkin was set on fire at our table but by the quick hands of Darrin and Shawn no harm was done. The center pieces at the wedding were gorgeous as well to match the setting.

The dance started next and I had been practicing with Oliver his dance moves the week before. But, Oliver was just content walking/running around everyone on the dance floor screaming with excitement. Everyone got a kick out of him so excited out there. He didn't even care if people ran into him and knocked him over he just got back up. During the slow songs he would dance with my parents or me and he'd usually bury his head into us as if he was tired but once the pace of the songs picked up and he was on the dance floor and a dancing machine!

18 month check-up

On Monday Oliver and I went to his pediatrician in Dubuque for his 18 month well child check-up. I love our pediatrician. I was actually his first c-section he was alone for since completing his residency and so I think we gave him a memorable one to say the least. I would like to think that Oliver is quite memorable to him in that aspect because it was his first, and because of all the complications Oliver had at birth and he did wonderfully. Anyway, Dr. Callahan was impressed by how much Oliver has grown and how he is doing developmentally.

His 18 month stats:

22 pounds 2 oz (5th percentile)

32 3/4 inches long (60th percentile)

Head is 49cm (75th percentile) - he has a lot of brains.

Speaking of brains, Oliver is learning and doing more things each day which makes me so proud as his momma. His vocabulary is growing each day but his favorite words are still Mommy and Daddy (emphasis on the mom-EE or dad-EE part), uh oh, read book, and sock. The nurse actually told me that we needs to start introducing potty training for him. I couldn't believe it, we're definitely not ready for that yet. He only just now knows what a diaper is. And whether it is wet or dirty or not and you ask him if his diaper needs changed he always says "yep."

We ended the Dr. visit with 2 vaccinations and so that called for mac and cheese and ice cream afterwards. I even managed to get some shopping done. It was a quiet ride home, he fell asleep before we made it out of Dubuque.

Sledding

It snowed slightly last night again and it wasn't too windy and cold this morning like it is this afternoon so we went outside sledding with Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Shirley. There wasn't a lot of snow but it worked well for us.

Oliver in the big toboggan

Going down with Grandpa

Now Oliver's sled which is more his size

Racing Grandma

Ian and Annaliese's birthday party

Last weekend we celebrated Ian's 5th birthday and Annaliese's 2nd birthday with a party in Elkader. I think all the kids had fun. It's hard to believe they're getting so big! Time does go by so much faster now that you have kids to watch grow and see how they change in personality and cognition each time we see them. Ian's into Star Wars now and Annaliese is all about babies and clothes. Oliver didn't mind the clothes either. It made for a soft place to rest awhile.

Ian's cake had "Cars" cars on it and Oliver liked playing with them after the cake cut.

Bubbles!

He was so tired out from not having a nap all day that he fell asleep before we even got out of Elkader again.

Happy Birthday!!

Hair cut

So I was uploading pictures finally onto the computer and writing blogs so I thought I'd post my lovely work as a beautician on Oliver's hair since everyone wanted pictures when I wrote about it on facebook. I did this around Feb. 10th so it's starting to grow in now but at first you could really tell that I buzzed his hair where it shouldn't have been buzzed. I thought to myself, "oh I'll just take a little off the back with Shawn's hair clippers" and just then Oliver moved his head.

Here's a before

Here's the after of the front

And of the back

Oops!