So Oliver has visited Amish Country for the second time in his life. This time fully prepared to blend in! Our Amish friends made Oliver his little outfit as a baby gift. I found the hat and doll in a tourist store. I have so many more pictures in this outfit that it was hard to know which ones to post. He saw his first heifers (teen cows...) the other cows were out to pasture, a calf, mules and horses. Amish friends' 4 year old son was pulling the calves ears saying it was his birthday-though it was not so. They pulled ears instead of birthday spankings! Of course I can't send pictures of our Amish friends but we had a delightful visit and their girls just loved playing mom with Oliver. That happened last visit too. I rarely held him as even the littlest one, just a year older than Oliver wanted to hold the baby, and be just like the big girls.
Oliver is 8 1/2 months old and loves walking with someone holding his hands or belly crawling. Having the family around this week in PA. has been nice as he has had lots of walking practice. We're having a great time but lots of new people for Oliver has been a bit overwhelming on top of teething! Brad was not able to come with us and we are both missing him!

Today is his Great Grandmother's 88th birthday and tomorrow is Easter! We have so much to rejoice over! He has Risen!!!!!!

Thankgiving in Ohio

This picture is from Thanksgiving in Ohio. We has just come from the pool, so not our best hair dos. L-R Dad/Les, Bro-in-law Matt, Brad, Bro Ben
Mom/Sharon, Sis Heather, Me/Mama/Kimberly holding Oliver, Sis-in-law Cara
Hudson, Angelo, Nadia, Giovanni, and Mossimo (Heather and Matt's kids)

April 7th! Two months since I last posted. At least I am consistent. Oliver just started to belly crawl last week Monday. Our lives will never be the same, especially Ellington's. Oliver goes straight for cords, dog chews and well of course the dog! They have a great curiosity for one another. Oliver's is pure joy and Ellington's is ...well we're not sure. Sometimes Ellington tries to stay as far away as possibile and other times won't get out of Oliver's face.

Diapering is now a sport as Oliver loves to flip over and explore his changing table. Oliver's sweet personality continues to expand, though he can be VERY loud and rarely still (and thus he has been in church nursery for a month and a half). Well I better get some pictures posted before this quiet spell ends. Oh, and he has 7 teeth!

Whats Oliver up to at 6 1/2 months

A week ago, on not such a warm sunny Sunday afternoon (it was sunny when we left the house) we hiked out to Lake Michigan with our friends Olga and Christopher Conens. A very chilly hike but the lake was beautiful as we saw the last bit of the sunset. Oliver was last at Lake Michigan to see a sunset Labor Day weekend. What very different conditions this time! Oliver seemed to like the hike and fell asleep on the hike back. We had him bundled up nice and warm and was snuggled up with papa!


Below I took a few pictures as Oliver played in his cradle filled with toys. He still wonders what the camera is all about and smiles are hard to capture...though there are plenty of them!Everything goes into his mouth! Everything from your finger, his fingers & toes, dog, mail, his toys & books, clothes...everything that he can get to his mouth goes in if we don't stop him. He loves to explore this world, mainly through his mouth! Just the normal mouthing stage.
It can be difficult to read to Oliver because he wants to eat the book! Even giving him another book...yah that doesn't work. He wants the one in the reader's hands.

Oliver is talking up a storm. I joke that he babbles in sentences. At times is sure sounds like he has quite a lot to say. In this picture I caught him mid word. "Bla, ba, ba, ma" or something of that sort. I would love a direct translation, but I will have to wait for months for that.
Our days are full of activity! This little boy is all boy! He loves to be in motion. He loves his Johnny Jump Up, jumping on laps and can even pull himself to a standing position if given an anchor to hold. And with motion comes the need for naps! Too bad they aren't long naps or you might see more blog postings from me. What a big yawn! If you look carefully you can see two very sharp bottom teeth have come in.

Sunny Day!

So we had a rare sunny day here in west Michigan, and we decided to take advantage of it with a walk in the woods. It was glorious. I think Oliver enjoyed it as well!