Happy Seven Months, Oliver!

Oliver is CRAWLING!  and has been for a week and a half officially now.  It is still crazy to me, even after having a child for almost 3 years now, to watch a kid struggle with a skill one day and literally the next they can do it.  I forget all of the time how fast things change until they do.

We did a "super mini" 15 minute photo session a few weeks back with a photographer...

...both kids were in a foul mood.

But this picture made it worth it.  :)  What a big girl!

Mom's favorite time of the day: naptime and snuggles

Sleeping is still steady, though he's been harder to get to sleep (though nothing really to complain about) at night and naptimes.  He still takes his one or two afternoon naps in our bed, though I think that has to stop now that he's on the move.  I dread moving him to his crib for those naps, however, because he's been taking 2-3 hour naps in the afternoon, which is glorious (still at about 20 minutes in the morning).

Zoë helped get some toys for Oliver while I was cooking.

Baba had surgery on her foot so Oliver and Zoë played nurse this week.

Oliver's first Monorail ride!

He's eating anything we'll give him.  That is most anything we think he won't gag on and puke, which is a lot of things.  We can't, however, have him sit at the dinner table with us and not have any food because he throws a fit, so he always gets to eat when we do!  He now has FOUR teeth, so he's a good chomper (including mom's shoulder the other day).

Zoë's first princess hairdo.  Not bad if I may say so myself.

Zoë has really leapt into the world of pretend play.  It's what she prefers to do all. day. long.  She wants to pour tea, make pretend phone calls to every member of her family, to take care of her baby: put baby down for a nap, feed baby, change baby's diaper, goes to work, comes home because she loves us, cooks, pretends to be a ballerina (I am a ballaREEE-NA!) and pretends to nap.  Oh, that's right, she doesn't even pretend to do that last one most days anymore.  I still force her to take an hour or more quiet time every afternoon and she falls asleep about 50% of the time.  The other 50% she ends up singing to herself and reading to her "friends" in her bed, and then making some kind of mischief with the toys in her room.

Both she and Oliver are sick again (so far we're only once a month this fall...if that's all it's going to be I can definitely handle it, though I would prefer less) and this cold knocked Zoë on her butt this weekend, but Oliver, even though the snot is running from his nose and he has a hacking cough, is still in relatively good spirits.  I hope this is always how he deals with sickness because he's a tough cookie and it makes it much easier on his mama.

Watching the Daniel Gets a Shot episode with her thinking face.

Daddy is SO excited to take his little girl skiing and bought her all sorts of
gear at the ski swap this past weekend.  I would say Zoë's pretty excited, too!

We went in last week for Oliver's 6 month appointment (he weighs 22 pounds, 2 ounces and is 28.5 inches long) and he had to get four shots, poor guy, which included a flu shot.  Zoë also got a flu shot and I was so proud of how well she did!  She teared up a bit and looked at me like I was the one that stuck the needle in her thigh, but then she was just fine, no crying at all!  Oliver was done crying in about one minute, too.  To be fair, we prepared her for getting a shot as if she were going to war...I took her to Safeway with me the day before so she could watch me get the shot, we watched the "Daniel Tiger Gets a Shot" episode, and we packed our own Frozen bandaids in case the doctor's office didn't have any.  They didn't, so Zoë was tickled to use her own on her owie.  Overall, a good day!  Hopefully the next flu shot goes just as well next year since I'm pretty sure she'll remember it next time.

All dressed up for Christmas Card pictures.

Weather week!  Look what I made!

We took family pictures last weekend with our good friends the Allen Family and Nelson Family and had so much fun creating a backdrop and shooting pictures of the kids.  Zoë always loves a good reason to accessorize.  :)

Our weekly learning themes have also been going strong.  This week is "weather" which has been fun (and a little interrupted as we haven't been home for most of the week, but that's ok!).  Zoë loves to do crafts and science!  I have to get her some good kid sized goggles and a lab coat and she'll be all ready.

We have been working on a "thankful tree" in our kitchen (only two days in so far) and Zoë has said she's thankful for baby and baby sister, and then Daddy.  :)  In that order.  But I definitely teared up today when she said Daddy without hesitation (after I reminded her that she already chose Baby and Baby Sister yesterday).  Thanksgiving is only two weeks away and then the CHAOS begins!  I can't wait!!!

Rain cloud in a jar.  "What's going to happen Mama?!"

Happy Halloween!

I'm SO excited for Halloween this year because it's the first year that Zoë is PUMPED to wear her costume and understands the concept of Trick-or-Treating.  To be fair, this time last year she was admitted to the pediatric ward at the hospital because of respiratory issues, so she didn't really have a fair chance to try it out.  BUT, we've been practicing saying "Trick-or-Treat" and "Thank you" and she's excited to use her new Frozen bucket to collect her treats.  Oliver has no idea what is going on, of course, but I'm just pleased he keeps his costume on without much fuss.  :)  He'll definitely be toasty enough when we go Trick-or-Treating due to the stuffing he's surrounded by.

Look how I've grown!

Baby's first pumpkin patch!

What a good big sister!

Yearly pumpkin patch trip to Thomasson Family Farm

We've had a fun October, filled with trips to the Pumpkin Patch (2 of them!), Halloween parties, and costume parades.  We've still been doing our Theme Weeks at home, too.  This month we learned about pumpkins, leaves, and Halloween with a trip to the pumpkin patch, Kubota Gardens to go on a leaf hunt, and lots of trips to story-times around the Sound.

Zoë and her best buds: Avery and Joselyn

Helping Daddy carve her Rainbow Dash pumpkin

Zoë continues to be a good big sister.  80% of the time.  The other 20% of the time she's whining about sharing her toys or doing half-kicks in her brother's direction out of frustration.  She IS very helpful, though.  She's always willing to go grab a wipe for mom in a pinch when brother is spitting up, or grab a toy for him when he throws it on the ground from his highchair, or sit with him and play with him while mom takes a shower or takes care of a chore.  We say all the time (and most often after spending time with other kids), we are so thankful for our easy-going child.  Here's hoping Oliver keeps on the path of easy-going-ness he is on right now and follows in his sister's footsteps!


After Trick-Or-Treating update:  We had SO much fun today...it was a banner day for the Seaman Clan.  We went with a few friends down to downtown Des Moines to participate in the Trick-or-Treat path put on by the businesses on the main streets.  Zoë LOVED Trick-or-Treating and after about the third or fourth business we visited she had it down.  We spent more than an hour walking through town and Zoë was thrilled to collect so much candy.  It was a wonderful community event and even Chris and I proclaimed it as a REALLY fun time.  Zoë said as we were driving back home "I really like it here".

Trick-or-Treat!

My Trick-or-Treating buddy

Happy Halloween!

After Trick-Or-Treating we went home for enough time for Oliver to take a quick nap and to teach Z how to dump out her candy on the rug, have it inspected by mom and dad, and then choose 3 (3!) pieces of candy to eat before we left for a party.  It was a great success.  We had a great time at our friends' house with lots of fun people and Zoë with her friends, too.  It was a GREAT day (did I mention that already?!).

Happy Six Months, Oliver!

Oliver has mastered several milestones this month, which means it's been a busy month!  He's now a champion sitter.  It's so great to be able to put him on the floor and not worry about him falling backwards immediately.  There's definitely still the threat of him falling over and conking his head, but it's not as likely as it was two weeks ago.  He's also grasping toys and it seems like he's trying to figure them out which is pretty darn cool.  He'll grab one, turn it around and around to look at it, and then, usually, throw it on the floor.  :)  It's hard to keep him occupied because he's so interested in new things and getting increasingly bored with the same old toys.  Of course, he takes a special interest in sister Zoë's toys, whatever she happens to be playing with, so that usually ignites some sparks from her.  We've been working on gently taking the toys out of his hands rather than yanking them and pulling him face-first into the floor.  It's definitely one of my recent frustrations to try to teach Zoë that not ALL of the toys in our house are ALL hers anymore.  Bringing up the baby toys has been especially frustrating because while she hasn't seen them in over a year, she hasn't seen them in over a year, so they're novel to her again.  She tends to bogart the toys and give Oliver the less exciting ones, which of course he's not thrilled with.

Oliver's first playdate at our house with all of his friends.  Laila, Abby, Major, Oliver, and Addison

I weighed O at baby group on Wednesday and he's 21.5 pounds.  Only gained a pound this month, boo hoo!  :)  He's in 12 month clothes officially (and a size 4 diaper...which is what Zoë was in until we potty trained last December) and I'm wondering how I should buy for him for Christmas since if he continued to grow at his previous rate he'd be well into the 18 month clothes by then, but if he slows down now he may not be.

Oliver is AWESOME in a plank position.  He's rocking on his knees and hands with a little support behind his feet, too.  

He's still only taking cat-naps during the day: 20-30 minutes at a time.  If I'm really lucky he'll nap for about an hour in the early afternoon.  He's still sleeping through the night, though, which is really the most important sleep of all!  And, he's definitely the happiest boy on the block when he wakes up in the morning, which is my favorite part of the day.  I love giggling with him after he wakes up for the second time and then giggling with both him and Zoë when she finally wakes up and I bring her into our bed to snuggle.

Loves to eat...and make a mess.

I've been mourning the fact that I'm 6 months through my last baby's baby stage.  It's been hitting me a lot harder lately and it's all going way too fast.  OK, that's enough dwelling on that otherwise the tears will start to come again.

Love my buddy.

Zoë got sick for the first time this weekend...so here starts the LONG winter season of sickness for our kiddo.  I'll be interested in finding out if she's sick less this year not being in daycare around kids every day OR if it doesn't really matter and she's sick all the time anyway.  I've got to get her into the doctor for a flu shot for sure...

Rescuing her friends from a block of ice.

"I don't want the sun to look at me."

She's becoming sassier and sassier and can really use words to get her point across now.  I'm terrified of how the next year will go knowing that becoming a 'threenager' is in her future.  Yikes!

Early mornings are my favorite.
They're the best snuggle buddies before breakfast.

We have a busy month already planned out (of course!) with lots of Halloween shenanigans to start off the busy holiday season.  The kids' Halloween costumes are mostly done, I have a couple of ears to sew onto Zoë's hoodie and a red ribbon onto Oliver's and then I'm done...two weeks before our first event.  Woo hoo!

Burien Brat Trot 5K.
Chris was a champ and pushed the double stroller up some killer hills.

Grandma made Zoë a special dress for the Brat Trot.

Everybody watching Olivia.

Here comes Fall

We went to the Puyallup Washington State Fair a couple of weeks ago and had a great time.  We were at the fairgrounds for 6 hours!  That's about three hours longer than Chris and I have ever been there before together.  We spent three hours spending 120 ride tickets, which helped set the record.  Zoë ate well, rode rides well, and Oliver was a champ in the stroller for that long.  And Chris and I made sure to weigh in at Weight Watchers before we went to the fair.  ;)  Zoë could technically only ride one ride by herself (the Canoe ride), but there were a few kind ride operators who didn't mind breaking the height minimum rule for a cute redhead with a very excited smile holding her own ride tickets up in the air.  Getting there on a Friday morning right when the fair opened turned out to be a great plan, there was practically nobody there when we arrived at 10:15.  We had a great time!  Can't wait until next year when Zoë has hopefully grown two inches so she can go on a few more rides (and spend the tickets faster...).

"Look at this, Daddy!"

Cows!

Milking a pretend cow like a pro.

Jubilant on the Canoe Ride

"Over dere!"

Chris did his Ride Around the Sound bike ride the following Saturday with Bobby.  They started in Seattle and rode around to Bremerton, a 92 mile endeavor.  Alison and I and the kids went up to a local park to cheer them on and it was fun to have the girls cheer their dads on with the signs they made.  I am very proud of Chris, it was quite a ride and he was exhausted by the end, but he did it!

At the end of Cow week.  

Not much else new except for lots and lots of crafts, baking, and park trips.  More to come on my first month (loosely termed since school started back up in September this has technically been my first month at home without a paying job) as a stay-at-home mom.  :)  But, for now, a picture dump:

A fun trip to Lattin's Cider Mill and Farm

Big boy, a well practiced sitter.

Loves to play with his food.

Mama mastered the back carry!  Oliver still might be too small.  ;)

Oliver's friends at Baby Group.  We have fun every Wednesday!  Clockwise starting with Oliver: Laila, Abigail, Major, Shelby, Ethan, Aria, Abby, and Addison.