Weekend with Family

My sister and her family came to stay with us this weekend and we had a great time! Oliver loved playing with his cousins Izzy and Bodie, and they were great with him. One of their favorite things was all taking a bath together. The next day Bodie kept asking for another "baf wif Oli." Too cute. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the cousin bath. Based on their response, I'm guessing there will be more cousin baths in the future.

cousins watching cartoons

On Saturday we went to the Minnesota Children's Museum. Shell got an annual family pass so we all got to go for free which was amazing (thanks Shell!). It was Oliver's first time and I think he had a really good time. Being a weekend, it was pretty busy, but we all enjoyed ourselves (until being overwhelmed by kids, kids, and more kids).

Sunday we had really nice weather so we went to Izzy's Ice Cream and then to the Como Zoo. The zoo was closing early so we only had about an hour to look around. After that we hung out on the grass and played and goofed off for another hour. That hour turned out to be one of the most fun things we did. It's the little things in life, right?

goofy sister pic

leaves!

And lastly, a few videos of Oliver walking and Izzy and Bodie trying to make him laugh.
Oliver, 13 months, walking from Melanie Ayres on Vimeo.

Cousins Playing from Melanie Ayres on Vimeo.

Thanks for coming to see us Ayres-Wilhelms!

13 months

In the last month, Oliver has become an expert walker. We used to encourage or prompt him to try walking, but now he does it all on his own and seems to prefer it to crawling.

His sleep has continued about the same this month, although ease of getting him down for a nap fluctuates from day to day. Chris is the one who helps him get to sleep each day for his naps since I'm either at work or working from home.

Oli is a growing boy, about 26 pounds now. He is still a pretty good eater. His favorites are apples, crackers, raisins, cucumbers and pickles, and tomatoes. Yesterday he had some bites of a croissant from a new french bakery that opened up near us and seemed to love it (as did we).

He's still a happy and social guy and loves to play with and watch other kids. In new situations or around new people he can get overwhelmed at first, but once he calms down, he seems pretty happy to be amidst other people.

His language is continuing to develop as well. Words he says now include mama, dada, hi, night-night, more, and oh no. We are also teaching him baby signs and he signs all done, brush teeth, and hat. I guess that means his vocab is about 10 words total. It will be fun to see how this increases in the coming months.

Happy 13 months to our little guy!

Then and Now

Chris is continuing to take a photo of Oliver every day and post them over at Oliver Daily. I love looking back at these photos and I thought it would be cool to highlight some of them to show much he has changed. From baby to toddler...

First day of life and first birthday, September 20:

And a few other photo pairs from the same day in 2011 and 2012.

September 24:

September 29:

October 9:

October 11:

October 12:

Sometimes I miss that tiny little baby, but I am also loving this active, funny, energetic toddler! 

Walking

Oli took his first few steps a week or so before his birthday, but then went back to happily crawling everywhere or walking with some assistance.

Then, last week, this...

He's still crawling, but has started walking a lot more. He usually holds his hands out for balance and is smiling or laughing. It's so cute to watch him! He looks so proud of himself and his new abilities, and of course we're proud too.

one year

At Oli's one year appointment (on Sept 25) his stats were: 24 lbs 5 oz and 29 3/4" tall. We are happy to have a healthy baby!

Oliver has been working on talking, signing (we're teaching him sign language), and walking a lot in the last month. He's making some really good progress on all accounts.

He seems to be really interested in books now and will intently look at the pages (and touch them or open flaps) while we read. He seems to like books with flaps, photographs of babies, and interesting textures.

We have been working on helping him sleep better (lately he has been wanting to sit up in his crib and refuses to lay down). Our work has been somewhat effective and he's now getting a good 4-6 hour stretch of sleep. It's been a long time coming! A full night's sleep is finally starting to seem like a possibility.

Oliver continues to be a happy baby, smiling and laughing much of the day.

And lastly, a look back at his monthly pics. Unfortunately we didn't start until month 4 and then we missed month 10 while in Europe, but it's still pretty incredible to see how he has changed. He looks huge now, doesn't he?

birthday part 2

In the afternoon of Oliver's birthday we took him to a park in town to play. He enjoyed playing in the leaves, crawling around, and going down the slide.

I was so excited to give him a cupcake on his birthday. We got a red velvet cupcake from our favorite local cupcake shop, Sweets.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you view it) he didn't like the cupcake! He looked at it and played with it, but would not eat it. (I may have tried putting some directly in his mouth to encourage him, but even that failed). 

Despite the lack of enthusiasm for the cupcake, it was a great day. Happy first birthday Oliver! I'm looking forward to seeing what the next year brings. xoxo

birthday part 1

Oliver turned one year old on September 20th. I'm sure many parents look at their child turning a year old and wonder how the time could have possibly passed so quickly, and we were no different. I had many flashbacks to Oliver's birth day and found myself saying things like, "at this time last year we were on our way to the hospital" and "at this time last year I was in immense pain", etc. I'm guessing that will happen every year as we relive such an incredible day. A day of extreme highs and lows but mostly one of pure joy.

First, a few photos from September 20, 2011:

the white board in our labor room

moments after birth

What an eventful year we've had learning how to parent this little guy. He's taught us a lot. We were excited for his first year celebration. Since our family all lives far away, we asked for birthday video greetings. We loved what you all sent so much, thank you! We decorated for him the night before and it was fun to see his reactions when he woke up in the morning. After breakfast we opened presents. He had fun ripping the paper off and playing with his new toys.

And lastly, a few photos that highlight his goofy side.

Part 2 of his birthday coming soon...