Lazy

So, I'm lazy.....for a summary of the past week, check out Oliver's caringbridge site.....he is doing really well and now I am prepping for his birthday tomorrow!

At the hospital, pre-surgery

Post-surgery......looking good and feeling good (but maybe a bit tired...)

Thankful

Thanksgiving is always about a time of reflection on all that I have to be thankful for. And, as always, I am truly grateful to be surrounded by an amazing family and some wonderful friends. But now more than ever I am beyond grateful to have such a kind and loving husband. After almost 5 years of marriage and 10 years of being together, I can honestly say that Owen is the love of my life. I knew it before now (I did marry him afterall!) but this past year has brought a whole new dimension to our marriage and it melts my heart to see him with Oliver. He loves him so much and Oliver CLEARLY loves his dad....which brings me to my other love of my life, sweet, smart, funny Oliver. I could not have imagined how much I would love him, although my parents did try to explain. He is such a joy every single day and I am truly lucky to get to be his mom. This Thanksgiving, there was so much to be thankful for!

11 months old with 7 teeth.....

Ok, all you ladies out there with new babies without teeth or yet to have kids, listen up......baby teething is a BEOTCH! I had NO idea and was certainly not prepared for the grouchiness, lack of sleeping (us and him) and all while trying to do anything to make his gums feel better! Poor babe. Saturday night Oliver was up 4 or 5 times in the night crying which is atypical for him and then the next day he barely napped. He was clearly not in much of a playing mood and we snuggled on my bed just watching Yo Gabba Gabba because that was about all he could deal with but he wouldn't close his eyes despite the fact that he was tired.....ugh....

I googled teething and I knew it! He is ahead of the typical time when kids get specific teeth.....He already has both of his top and his bottom central incisors (6-12 mos.), he also has one of his top lateral incisors - the ones next to the central incisors and the other is near the surface (9-13 mos) and his first molars have pushed through (13-19 mos.). I think his molars are what are causing him the most pain. Plus, I can feel more bumpy gums and I know that more are not far behind.....though at this point it is dangerous to stick my finger in his mouth too much. Fingers are PERFECT for chewing on :)

I just realized as I was writing this that in the last MONTH he has had 5 teeth come through.....that's a LOT. He had his 2 cute bottom teeth for 3 months before any other teeth came out.....no wonder he has been so out of it for so long! Hopefully he'll get a little teething break soon!

Nashville trip to see Brienne and Jean-Marc!

So last weekend we loaded up and headed to Nashville. This trip has literally been planned for months so we were so excited it was finally time! We spent Thursday night in Brevard with Owen's parents and then left Friday for Nashville. We stopped in Knoxville for a bit to see my Grandma which was awesome. It was so good to get to see her even for a little while and it was a great chance for Oliver to get out and stretch a little bit. And of course, GG had tons of stuff in her room that he wanted to tear up! :) We arrived in Nashville around 5:30 and it wasn't a bad trip....I was concerned with how well Oliver would do being in the carseat that long but he did pretty well!

We had a great time hanging out with JM & Brienne, cooking dinners, taking a walk around Radnor Lake and shopping in some very cute stores where they live. It was so fun to hang out with them for a long weekend.....thanks for letting us come visit Brienne and JM!

this deer was THIS close, I didn't zoom in at all. It was right off the walking trail near Radnor Lake and clearly was used to people!

In the car on the way home.....

Of course, we had to stop at the Cracker Barrel on the way home. No road trip is complete without a Cracker Barrel stop! :)

Happy Halloween!

This was Oliver's 1st Halloween! He was a bat.....and was teething so we joked that he was a vampire bat since he was constantly biting on something....usually his teether (you'll see it in almost all the pictures)....we had a lot of fun picking out pumpkins yesterday with Oliver's Nana and Grandad and then went to my parents' neighborhood Halloween block party!