A Visit to the Ham!

A couple of weeks ago, Henry, Oliver and I packed up and headed to Framingham, MA to visit with my friend Laura who was home from Chicago for a few days. We also had the opportunity to visit with a few of my other college friends, Tama, Chrissy and Anne-Marie, who also has two beautiful daughters, Mary-Kelley who is 17 months old and Ellie-Anne who is four days younger than Oliver. Mary-Kelley and Henry had fun with each other, the babies enjoyed getting cuddled all day and I LOVED the adult conversation and catching up with my friends. It was the nicest day I have had in a while, it felt like I was back in college! (with a few more responsibilities)













Mary-Kelley and Henry enjoying a treat from Laura's dad (he works for Pepperidge Farms)

Laura, Ellie-Anne, Chrissy and Oliver

A group shot, I should have attempted this before nap...poor Ellie-Anne was having none of it, neither was Henry, hence Tiddles and the pacifier; but Mary-Kelley and Oliver were able to muster up a smile (if you click on the picture you can see Oliver's attempt at a smile, he's much better now).

I just love this picture, I will blow it up on their wedding day!

Rub a Dub Dub...Two Chubs in a Tub!!

This was a few weeks ago, Oliver had his first bath with Henry! Since this time he has graduated to taking showers with Henry and Kevin, which makes life much easier for me. So far he seems to like it. I have also tackled my first ever solo bath with both of them, luckily Henry was great and it was a success. Oliver continues to be the best baby ever. He has been sleeping through the night for the past several nights, usually about 8 p.m. to 6 or 7 a.m. He takes great naps and is a happy guy when he's up. He must know how much attention Henry requires.

Bowling

A few weeks ago we decided to take Henry bowling. Henry has always loved bowling and will often play with his little bowling set as well as Wii bowling. This was his first "real" bowling experience and he loved it! Fortunately there was a "guide" for him and so all he really had to do was put the ball up and push it down the little slide. He would carry his 6 pound ball from the ball carrier to the lane by himself. Only one time did he "throw" the ball down the wrong lane and chase after it. Kevin caught him before he got too far and the man who worked at the alley had to come get his ball. We had a lot of fun and I have a feeling we will be spending a lot more time and money at the bowling alley!

Kevin let him bowl without the guide, it didn't go so well.

Here it goes!

I think he got a strike!!

The Air Museum

The week after I had Oliver, Kevin and Henry did a lot of fun activities so that I could rest and Henry stayed entertained. One of their activities was going to the air museum, according to Kevin, Henry really enjoyed seeing all the airplanes, however he had more fun with the chains blocking the exhibits (as you'll see from the pictures). I'm sorry I wasn't able to enjoy this with them, but I'm glad that they had a good time, I'm sure there will be many more trips in our future. Kevin was good enough to take some pictures of their trip.

Just like Papa!

Oliver is One Month!!

Oliver is officially one month old! I can't believe how quickly time is going, it feels like I just came home from the hospital with him. He continues to be a great baby and we love that he is in our family. He had his one month check up with the doctor yesterday and he is perfectly healthy. I can't remember exactly how long he was, I believe he was 21 1/2 inches, but I know he was in the 50th percentile for height and in the 70th for weight (10 lbs. 10 oz.). Henry never reached those kind of numbers until he turned 2! I wish I could report that he is sleeping through the night, but that is not true at all! Oliver continues to grunt often and loudly, keeping Kevin up at night, I'm am so dead tired that nothing can keep me up anymore! I talked to the doctor about this because I have never heard a baby grunt so much and I was certain there was nothing wrong with him. Nope! It's just his personality, or as we joke, his "attitude!" I hope this is no indication of what the future holds as I already have one stubborn child and could really use an easy going one! I have had every intention of putting Oliver in his own room this week (mostly because of the grunting) and even got Kevin to move up his crib mattress, but now that we are having another heat wave and we are all out of air conditioners I feel bad putting him in a hot room. He has taken some naps in his crib and appears to like it, although he would prefer to be held, and I would love to have the time to sit and hold him, but that doesn't often happen around here. Here are some pictures of our BIG one month old! (and his big brother!)

First Few Weeks

Well, the first few weeks as a family of four have been, well, eventful to say the least. We are finally settling into a routine and are certainly enjoying our new addition. About a week ago, when Oliver was oh about two weeks old, Kevin decided it would be a good time to potty train Henry, against my better judgement, after all I am still recovering from having a baby and trying to survive on minimal sleep. It has gone well overall, I'll post more on that later. During that process I also developed mastitis, so I was very sick for about two days, fortunately it was on the weekend so Kevin was able to help out. I am feeling much better and ready to get back into my routine.

So, Oliver continues to be a happy baby. He sleeps great during the day usually in his pack-n-play or swing and at night he will go anywhere from 2-4 hour stretches. I believe we will be moving him to his own room very soon (probably tonight!) because he has a habit of grunting all night, and much of the day, and it drives Kevin nuts! I've become used to it, but Kevin really can't stand it and so I think it is Oliver's ticket out of our bedroom, oh well, he lasted longer than Henry, we kicked him out at two weeks! Henry continues to adore Oliver and is very gentle with him...most of the time. He loves to "boop" his nose, as he likes to say, he will occasionally try to "boop" his eyes so we have to watch out for that. He also enjoys rubbing his sticking hands in Oliver's hair, I mean every three week old should have mandarin orange juice in their hair right?!

Henry loves having me home and no longer asks if I'm going to work every morning. He will however ask where we are going when we get dressed...because we generally only get dressed if we're going somewhere...that's normal right! Eventually this will change too. I have not noticed much jealousy if any between the two, Henry is pretty understanding about waiting for snacks and drinks if I'm busy with Oliver and I really try to focus on Henry when I'm not busy with Oliver. Despite all of this there has still been a lot of Caillou and Dora on, which I'm hoping will change within the next couple weeks when I feel like I can take them both out of the house safely. Henry has been able to spend a lot of time with his cousins recently which he loves, and I hope this continues.

I've included a lot of pictures from Oliver's first few weeks at home. We have had a lot of visitors and I wish I had been better about taking pictures with everyone, but I didn't so oh well.

He decided he no longer likes this pacifier, but don't worry he does like the ones that Henry uses. I was trying to avoid having them on the same kind because we will be taking Henry's away soon and I want to avoid temptation, but that didn't work so well. Henry seems to be fine with it as long as Oliver only uses "white night nights"

All the cousins in birth order...we are going to be in TROUBLE when these kids grow up!

Cole with his new cousin, he is by far the most interested in Oliver, he too loves putting his dirty little boy hands all over Oliver's head and face...gotta love boys!

The swing is my lifesaver...everyday he'll last for at least 30-45 minutes if not longer in the swing, until Henry messes with him, but it's a somewhat safe place to put him when I need to get some stuff done.

Oliver's first bottle...Surprise to me! So, he was probably not even a week old here and I had absolutely no intention of giving him a bottle anytime soon, but I went to take a shower, I was probably gone 15 minutes, 20 tops, and apparently he was fussy, so instead of coming to get me, Kevin found a bottle in the fridge that I had just pumped and fed him. Mind you, I had just fed him before the shower. Well, no harm was done, he loved the bottle and continues to nurse fine, and Kevin does love giving that first bottle!

Oliver in his "coming home" outfit that Henry picked out.

First official bath, he didn't cry the entire time!

We're all enjoying Oliver's toys!

Brothers!

Oh, Henry you are such trouble!

Sweet boys!

My little love!

My big love!

Oliver Charles Klvana

Oliver Charles was born on July 30th at 10:18 p.m. He shares a birthday with Bubba and both he and Henry were born at 10:18, Henry in the a.m. and Oliver in the p.m. The labor was long and exhausting but well worth it as we are absolutely in love with our new son! Oliver weighed 8 lbs. and 6 oz. and was 21 inches long. So far he is a great eater and a great sleeper (during the day anyway!) Henry has adjusted to life with a little brother well and although he was a little unsure in the beginning he has become very overprotective of Oliver and must know where he is at all times. I included a lot of pictures because I couldn't pick out only a few. These are from his first few days in the hospital, I'll post some more of him at home when I get more time.

He was a little blue when he was born as the cord was around his neck, but all is fine now!

Chubby cheeks!!

The proud Daddy!

Meeting Grammy and Papa.

Me and my boys! Henry was more interested in the buttons on the hospital bed than in his brother, is anyone surprised!

All my boys.

Meeting Grandpa.

Meeting Grandma

Getting ready to go home!