Bella and Tuck.....Run for the Hills!

And here we go......we have crawling.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA-Xyskvl-k

9 months old....

Wow, I just can't believe time is flying by so quickly.....we went for Oliver's 9 mo. checkup....He also got 2 shots, sad but all it took was a little swinging from Owen and he calmed right down! Stats - he is 20.5 lbs and 30.5 inches long.....for those of you who are interested that means he is at about the 50th percentile for weight and is off the charts, above 97th percentile, for his height.....that's probably why we are super close to transitioning to 18mo. clothes for the kid. Well, at least we know he is getting nourished! :) We are still working with a speech therapist on his eating/swallowing and Oliver is still enjoying his messy play time.

I am so ready for the cooler weather for so many reasons - I HATE hot weather, Oliver has some REALLY cute fall/winter stuff already and his first Halloween is coming up! He has a super cute bat costume from Pottery Barn to wear and I think he is going to look ridiculously cute! :) Plus, the Hopebuilders 5K is coming up on Oct 9th! Less than 3 weeks away now! Our amazing team has already raised $1,164!! That is so amazing and the money is going to go to such a wonderful cause, I am so proud! Thank you to my teammates and to everyone who has donated, we so appreciate everything! If you are thinking to yourself, man, I have been meaning to go donate to Oliver's Army but I just keep forgetting, well.....it is not too late! Click here! :)

Thanks everyone!! :)

Coming down from a high.....altitude!

So we are back from our adventure out west! On August 17th, Mom, Jack, Oliver and I hopped on a plane and flew to Denver. How did Oliver do on the plane you ask? FANTASTIC! I just knew that my angel baby would take this opportunity in a confined space to become a devil baby.....screaming, crying, etc. Nope! He fell asleep on my lap before the plane even took off (well, it was an early flight.....7:50am) and slept for about 45 minutes and then just played, switched laps a lot between me and my mom and was a very good baby. Of course he flirted with anyone he saw so that won him so more admirers (always a good thing on a plane!).....

We took some chances when booking our seats. Mom and I selected seats together, one aisle & one window, hoping it wouldn't be a super full plane and no one would select the seat between us, giving us a whole aisle. But, if by chance someone did get that seat, they could switch with Jack (who was several rows back) and the three of us would be together....how would they know that Oliver would be so good and cute....I know that normally I would be HAPPY to switch seats so that I wouldn't have to be on the same row as a potentially crabby baby. So as it turned out, a young college-age guy showed up at our row and the look on his face was priceless....fortunately we had an offer he couldn't refuse and so he ended up sitting in Jack's seat away from us!

Just off the plane at DIA

Anyway, we started our trip by going up to see Kevin and Rose in Estes Park and it was SO wonderful to see them and they were nice enough to not only let us stay with them but also let us borrow a pack-n-play for the whole trip (which made life SO much easier)....My cousin Melissa came down from Cheyenne and brought her 2 PRECIOUS daughters, Emma and Mariah. Not only are they the sweetest girls ever but they were so entertaining and loving with Oliver and he definitely enjoyed playing with them and all the attention he received!

Mariah and Emma with Oliver

Emma, Mariah, Melissa and Oliver

Rose, Oliver and Emma

Rose, Oliver & Kevin

We also went up to Cheyenne for one day and then headed back down to Greeley, CO to see Natalie and Nea and Terry came over from North Platte. It was so fun to hang out with them and get to introduce Nea & Terry to Oliver :) We hung out in Denver and Sunday morning Jack flew back to Charlotte because his classes started a few days later....Mom, Oliver and I continued on and went back up to Cheyenne to spend several days there.

At the Egg & I in Greeley...

I love Cheyenne, it holds so many good memories and although I didn't grow up there, it feels like a second home in a lot of ways since we spent several weeks every summer out there visiting Grandma and Grandpa. While in Cheyenne we got to see Kim & Jamie who came down from Wheatland (THANK YOU!!) and also saw Melissa and the girls again (what a treat!) and Gerald and Carla, too! It is so great to be able to see so many people. We had so much fun and despite not getting great naps, Oliver did amazingly well. He did come home with a little cold but it isn't surprising, planes are notorious for spreading colds....

Mom and Oliver in front of the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne

Jamie and Oliver

Oliver definitely missed Owen and was SO glad to see him when we got home. Of course Owen and Dad missed Oliver terribly, too :) I am sure the with the exception of Bella's quacking, it was a pretty quiet house! We were ready to come home and see them although I wasn't quite ready to leave CO & WY.

Oliver modeling his new cowboy hat back at home!