Josie's Firsts: First Park & Swing

Spring in Minnesota means there is still a lot of snow on the ground, but on Sunday the temps hit close to 60 so we put the kids in the double stroller and walked to the park. This was Josie's first time at the park and in the swing. She's still a little wobbly so we didn't push her too high, but she loved it! I truly love seeing my kids experience things for the first time. It's one of my favorite things about parenting.

Josie's first swing from Melanie Ayres on Vimeo.

And Oli's first park!

Boo

Quality of this video: poor. Quality of Oliver's laugh: great.

Oliver's First Year, in 7 minutes

Oliver's First Year from Chris Bock on Vimeo.

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!

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.

Videos From Our Travels

Here are a few (random assortment of) videos from our travels this summer.

A walk up to Dalkeith House


Inside Dalkeith House


Oliver eats a plum, at Dalkeith House


Oliver tries his first scone, at Larder Cafe in Edinburgh.

Oliver's First Scone, 9 1/2 months from Melanie Ayres on Vimeo.

Oliver's first sandy beach, in North Berwick, Scotland.
 
Oliver's First Sandy Beach, 10 months from Melanie Ayres on Vimeo.

Walking up the Arc de Triomphe

Videos - 9 months, 1 week

Here are a few videos from this past week.

Oliver has progressed from the army crawl to the classic crawl on hands and knees in the past week or so.

Oliver Crawls 9 months, 1 week old from Chris Bock on Vimeo.

He's also started eating solid food. It's cute and messy!
Eating Yoghurt from Chris Bock on Vimeo.

Crawling

On the way home from our friends wedding in Boise, we had a layover in Salt Lake City. We let Oliver play on the floor and this was the first time he actually crawled forward! It was more of a scoot than a crawl, but I was so proud! He has continued to work on crawling and when he really wants something, can get himself going pretty quickly. It’s so fun to watch him in his development! Now we have to go baby proof our house.

Here's a short video of him in action, after about one week of practice. It's sort of a crawl-scoot combo.

Oliver Crawls from Melanie Ayres on Vimeo.

First Park

We've been having such a lovely spring and decided to take advantage of the nice weather and take Oliver to the park near our house for the first time. He loved it! Firsts are awesome.

6 3/4 months

According to our imprecise measuring (wii balance board) this morning, Oliver now weighs a little over 19 pounds. How he managed to gain about 2 pounds in three weeks, I have no idea. Here are a few recent videos from my phone (i.e., low quality). He is still working on sitting up, but has pretty much mastered rolling. We also recently introduced a sippy cup too. It's more of a toy for now, but he seems to be enjoying it.

Cousins

Oliver's cousins, Izzy and Bodie, and his Aunt Shell and Uncle Graham came to visit this weekend.

story time 

The kids really had a lot of fun playing together. Izzy got to be a pro at making Oliver laugh.


Oliver Laughing 03 from Chris Bock on Vimeo.

Oliver Laughs

Here are a couple short videos of Oliver laughing.


Oliver Laughing 01 from Chris Bock on Vimeo.

Oliver Laughing 02 from Chris Bock on Vimeo.