Crawling....

I took three videos (one with his belly off the ground) today of O crawling. He crawls towards 'items of interest' like my cell phone, Stella laying down, and as shown here.... Gatorade bottles. Do we see a sponsorship in his future, perhaps? :)

O and S

Oliver and Stella have become best friends, and they put up with a lot of each other. Stella licks him (mostly his feet and hands now) and he pulls, tugs, yanks, etc. (mostly her fur). Here is a prime example:

New England

I forgot how much I missed fall in New England.... the weather today is perfect. 65 degrees, slight breeze, and sunny. (I suppose it makes up for yesterday's torrential downpour!)

I'm looking forward to beautiful weather the next few weeks, and spending LOTS of time outdoors before we have to put on the coats and snow boots!

Snuck this one in today:


THIS is also one of my favorite things about being back in New England:


Despite the poor weather, we drove up to see Sarah's field hockey game in Amherst. Her team won 3-1 (yay!) and she scored the 2nd goal of the game. Oliver is such a trooper about traveling, but he does get a little scared when people cheer - we're working on it!

Trying to cr... walk?

This video pretty accurately depicts Oliver's struggles with crawling. He is very frustrated to say the least. He knows exactly what he wants to do, but can't figure it out. He's trying to stand up (as you can see with his feet) as opposed to crawling. It's pretty cute, but he doesn't think so! It's a pretty good yoga position to say the least :)

Our latest 'trick'

I tried ALL day to get this video, and finally did. I had to delicately balance the camera on my knee and do 'my part' - otherwise O was too busy focusing on the camera. He's getting better at ignoring it, I just need to be hands-free for this one! Enjoy!



Thanks to Grandma and Gigi for also practicing this with O the past week!

(I also like how he's got a soccer ball in his lap, and Stella is exhausted in the background from our evening walk.)

7 months!

Today Oliver is 7 months old and I can hardly believe it!

Once again, it's rainy here in the northeast... and Ben is in Florida at a conference (Lucky duck!)

Today has been a great napping day. Both naps (yes, only two!) were without crying one bit. We managed to get out to Stroller Strides (in the mall, yippee! = Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte for me!), and get back without a cat nap. That meant he slept from 10:30 - 12:15, and has just gone down again at 4:00 for his reinstated 'Oprah nap.'

We also got to Skype with Grandpa (in Colorado) and Auntie Sar (at college!)

I love those beautiful blue eyes!

A little mischievous, yes?
(I WISH I knew what he was thinking most of the time, especially in times like this!)

Gigi's friends, Alex and Gloria, gave Oliver these awesome nesting/stacking alphabet blocks. Although they say 2+, we've been playing with them (under supervision, of course!), and he really likes to knock them down. Sometimes he even tries to clap when he does it!



(The music in the background is his Baby Einstein CD playing, I didn't add it!)

This is truly the best sound in the world....

Updates.... (again)

Updates. (I feel like I'm always updating and never actually blogging as things happen - oops!)

Before we begin, here is a mathematical equation to represent our current food standings.
banana > pears > avocado > sweet potato > carrots > squash > peas
(Peas are the bottom rung by a LONG SHOT)

Up next: apples, peaches, asparagus
(it smells and looks awful, so I won't blame the kid if he doesn't like them!)

Our 6 month check-up conversation went like such...
Doctor: "Can he sit up?"
Me: "Sure, for about 25-30 minutes at a time."
Doctor: "Great, how long can he sit without leaning on his hands?"
Me: "About 25-30 minutes at a time."
Doctor: "Oh really? Wow. Let me see something." (Doctor holds O under the armpits, and leans him forwards like he's falling. Oliver puts his hands out as if to catch his fall.)
Doctor: "Mrs. Porter, I'm afraid you're in trouble. He has what we call 'parachute reflexes' already. I wouldn't be surprised if he is walking by 10 1/2 months."

Awesome. Let the baby proofing begin! (Note: crawling or attempting to crawl is far from his favorite thing to do.... he gets so frustrated because he knows what he wants to do, but can't. Maybe he'll be like Auntie Sar, crawl for a day and then walk!)

Oliver and I did our first 10K last Saturday (9/10) in Danbury and I was really worried about the timing, him needing to eat, nap, etc. but it went really well! I was the first stroller to cross the finish line, we did it in 57:15 which boils down to a 9:12/mile pace. Not bad for our first race! (The course was a double loop, and about 1.5 of each 3.1 miles was a very steady incline, good thing we've been practicing hills!)

We bought this snuggly hat at Target yesterday (side note: they have REALLY cute North Face-type jackets and other adorable winter clothes for kids). I clearly panicked because of the suddenly cold weather (45 degrees walking the dog yesterday morning!) and bought him sweaters, fake ugg boots (they're cuter, with little doggies on them). This hat was nice and warm, so he fell asleep in the stroller this morning :) So angelic!

This might be one of my favorite pictures of O to date. First of all, he's smiling. His smile makes everything okay. Second, this was my sweatshirt as a kid. (There are pants that go with it). It's a size 2T. Yep, that's right. It barely fits over melon head! Plus, you can see his two little teethies!!!! (I've been trying to capture them for more than a month now!) I also love that this was right after our Stroller Strides class ended (at Kensico Dam, behind him in the picture), and he loves playing on the mat when we're done. There are also about 3 other babies his age (a boy 1 day older, a girl 1 day younger and another adorable girl 3 weeks younger - I think he's got a crush on her!). It's really cute to see them interact, grab each other's shoes, and make noises at each other.

P.S. A HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE congrats to my cousin, Danielle, and her husband, Dan. They're expecting in February and we couldn't be happier for them. If you're interested in following their story, check out their blog (selbysonline.blogspot.com). Love you guys! xoxo