Porters do Colorado....

Ben, Oliver and I went to Colorado right before Halloween (sorry, it's been 2 weeks!) to see some family. It was a GREAT trip, but a long plane ride. (4 1/2 hours there turned into more than 6 because of bad weather in NYC and a 26-plane long waiting line for takeoff!)

We got to see MY cousins (Jessica and Danielle - who is due in February), and my aunt and uncle. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen them since our wedding in 2008? Is that possible? Anyway, Oliver loved them, even though he slept through the baseball game.


Oliver also got to hang out with HIS cousins.
(from left to right: Oliver - 8 months, Braelyn - 5 months, Broady - 18 months, A.J. - 6, Dillon - 2 months)
It was A.J.'s 6th birthday (10/31) and it was so good to see my step-sisters, Mikaela (mom to Broady, AJ and Dillon), Merin (mom to Braelyn) and McKenna (dog mom to Charlie, Stella's long lost best friend).


Plus, Oliver got to hang out with Grandpa!

My ever-so-Americanized husband scheduled it so we could see the Broncos/Lions game. (It was pretty abysmal, although we had fun!)


Once again, my little O is a super traveler, which is a VERY good thing considering he has family all over the world! After the trip to Colorado, Ben is reconsidering taking O (at age 14 months) to England in the spring.... we will see!

Our return to North Carolina....

Last week, Oliver and I traveled to North Carolina for a few days (Sunday-Wednesday), and I'm pretty proud of the entire trip. We have become EXPERT packers and travelers, and my little man is a SUPERSTAR on the airplane. We checked one suitcase and the car seat, and brought the diaper bag (and lunch box) along with an umbrella stroller and BabyErgo. Anyway, here are some highlights of our trip:

Oliver met his future girlfriend, Madeline Elizabeth.
(She was 2 1/2 weeks old, it's okay, he's into younger women)

We got to see Brian (Madeline's Daddy) snuggling before he left on business for a few days. (That's the main reason why we went down.)

Oliver got to see "Uncle" Chris!
Chris is still living in Fayetteville, but we're hoping he moves up north sometime soon. Oliver LOVES him, and we certainly miss him a lot! (That's Chris' bottle, by the way, I did NOT give my child Coke Zero....)

We went for walks, and hung out at the park. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and 70 degrees. We DO miss the North Carolina weather, that's for sure!


It was a great trip, and made us very thankful to have such wonderful friends, even if they are far away. If I weren't at home with O, this trip would not have been possible!

Kristin and I decided that if we do seriously want Oliver and Madeline to date, we have to tell them that they aren't allowed to ;-) Brian already agreed to pay for the wedding!

Bath Time!

THIS is a far cry from our first, tear-filled bath in the tub.... Oliver regularly turns into a prune (fingers and toes only), and I can forsee many fights in the future about it being time to get out of the bathtub. Perhaps there's a swimmer in the making?

T-r-o-u-b-l-e.

In the last few days O has become infatuated with pulling up onto couches, chairs, Stella, saucers, and people... and his playpen and crib. He has also become too confident with being able to stand. Although it's not in this clip, he managed to stand on his own for 10 seconds!

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!