Lights On!

We found out something new about Ollie last night. He's afraid of the dark! We tried several times to put him to sleep with the lights off or a small light on. He wouldn't have any of it. The lights had to be on completely. Granted, this doesn't mean his parents have to sleep through the night with them on. Once he's down for good, they can all be turned out and when he wakes at night, it's not a problem to be fed and put back to sleep without the lights. But, you try to put him to bed for the night with the lights off and you can forget it. He really hasn't shown much of this until last night. It definitely looks like we are going to have a brighter future!

New Words

To prevent Ollie's first words being something that would make a sailor blush, Tresa and Annie came up with replacement words to use instead of cuss words.

"Son of a Snitch"

"Holy Twit!"

"Hammit all to Heck"

Of course, his first words will probably be along the lines of "Spatter, shut up", since this seems to be a mantra around our house. It certainly won't be Momma or Dadda, it'll probably be Splatter, Piper, Sassy or Zoe or CAT.

His new thing to laugh at is my morning bed head. I shake my head and my hair moves around and amuses Ollie to no end. Great, not quite 5 months old and he's already laughing at his Dadda.

Playmate

We found out last night that Ollie's first cousin from my side of the family is on the way. I tried warning them to get as much sleep as they can and get whatever project done they want to get done now. I think it went in one ear and out the other. I'm sure it did when I was told the same things. We seem to have gotten the same amount of housework done since we've had Ollie. It's just worked around his schedule. He even 'helps' or rather supervises our work. Especially now that he likes to be upright more than on his back. Granted he currently is supervising his feet and trying to figure out what they are and what they do, but he's got responsibility for them! Now if only he could lift a hammer!

Better

I think we are all getting over our colds. Ollie definitely had a better night. Not as snotty this morning and mostly in his own bed last night. He's definitely becoming a bigger boy! He's trying to roll from front to back and Tresa said he even rolled over twice in a row last night. The future is upon us. He's going to be mobile in no time.

It's amazing how much he's changed in the past 4 months. We look at pictures of when he was first born and he's totally different. Our next door neighbor had a baby at the end of August and to compare the two is like night and day. Ollie is Godzilla compared to our next door neighbor's kid. Even comparing this picture from Labor Day with his Uncle T.J. to the one of him sleeping on the right, the change is amazing.

Everyone says they grow so fast, you really don't see it until you compare pictures. The time seems to go so slow from week to week. When you add them up, he's totally different.

Cold strikes back

Ollie had a horrible night with his cold, so his parents did as well. He was extremely stuffy. Hopefully he gets rested during the day and feels better soon. Our happy well baby is much better.

Playtime and Cold #2

Ollie has become more involved in his playing activities and more curious about the world around him. He grabs (at least attempts) his toys. He likes his humpty-dumpty toy and of course the rattles. The interesting things are the ones you don't expect. For instance, his car seat handles have red release buttons. Everytime we put up his handle he is fascinated with the red buttons and attempts to grab them every time. He sometimes gets it the wrong side of the handle. He's also shown beginning signs of rolling front to back, but no where near it yet.


Ollie in his bouncy seat

Ollie also got his second cold. The weather change has all of us a bit stuffy. Thank heavens for the vaporizer. After he's unstuffy, he's one happy camper! Guess he doesn't realize he's supposed to be miserable when he's sick.

Sweet Sleep

Ollie almost slept through the night last night. He only got up once around 2 am for a bottle and slept until 5:30. His parents were most grateful. Unfortunately it came at a price. Earlier in the night he was up for 3 hrs. straight! Usually he only stays up 2 hrs and takes a nap and goes to bed. Needless to say, he wasn't a happy camper! Little SCREAMING howler monkey! His parents were at their wits end...vacuum cleaner to the rescue! He fussed a bit and wouldn't settle down from the crying and kept fighting his binky, but after about 10 minutes he was out. I'm not sure what to do with all this sleep.

On the food front, he's getting better at eating his baby food. Sometimes he likes to spit it back at you! His face ends up being the color of the food and so does his high-chair. He certainly enjoys it more than his bottle it seems. He even howls when you don't shove it in his face fast enough! Also, since he has started 'grabbing' for things, especially shiny things, he tries to help you with the spoon. Makes for a messy baby! He's a good little helper.


Ollie's first feeding

Alien Baby

I knew he was an alien. Here is a pic of Ollie in his space ship. Ready to take over the world, muahahahha! He's got his death ray (squeaker), his controls (a rattle and giant bending thing), the wheels (spinning rattle) and a rearview mirror to help see those pesky parents coming after him. He also can turn 360 degrees in the thing. At least he's happy in the thing. If only we were all as happy as smiling babies seem to be.

He's getting back to his normal sleeping pattern. Hopefully the worst is over, at least he's not a hurricane...YET!

Exersaucer Baby

Another fun night for Ollie, actually for his parents. He refused to take a nap after we got home. We took him on a car ride to get Ice Cream and that didn't put him to sleep. We went to the hardware store for a bit, but he was still awake. So, about 7:30 he got to check out the toys in his room. He got to look at his fire truck, stacking blocks, ducks for the bath, his boppy to help him sit upright (he didn't do real well with that) and his exersaucer. He seemed to enjoy this immensely. He didn't quite sit upright in it and leaned on his left arm in the seat, but he didn't seem to mind. He played with some of the rattles and squeaker toys with his right hand. Almost bopped himself in the head with the rattle a few times. He also enjoyed chewing and licking the seat cover he was sitting in. Guess I didn't feed him enough dinner. Bath time (8:00 PM) and bottle...still awake. He also hadn't burped from his bottle. But he still fell asleep, for a little while. Then repeat several times. He eventually wouldn't go to sleep, so we tried to make him burp. He needed that! Then took a cat nap and woke up at 10 pm ready to rock! So, we played the Ollie standing game. Up and down he went as long as his legs could hold him. He does not like laying down! Eventually he got tired and CRABBY! He wouldn't go to sleep. Consequently, he slept on my chest from 11 to 4 and woke for his bottle with my chest full of baby slober! He got a bottle, slept and slept with us until it was time to get up. Of course, he slept while we were getting ready for work.

We are hoping that the past 2 nights are related to his shots on Monday. I guess we'll know by this weekend. At least we got some sleep. Now if it was only with 1 baby less in our bed.

Sleep? What the Hell is That?

Sorry about the graphic language, but Ollie's Momma and I wouldn't recongize sleep if it hit us in the face and startled wiggling all over us. Last night was worse than a nightmare. He went to bed a t his normal 8:30 time, got his bottle at 12 something and woke again at 3. This is where the horror started. He started fussing and wouldn't take his binky, so after trying everything imaginable, we finally gave him a bottle. Of course his gastric decided to kick it back up. So, sleeping in his bed wasn't much of an option. We tried our bed, in which he promptly spit-up. We then tried his bed again and the vacuum cleaner, no dice. So about 4:30 I got him out of bed (which he had spit-up in again) and had him sleep on my chest about 5 am he calmed down and went to sleep. Then I had an hour to possibly fall back asleep and maybe sleep for 1/2 hr. Then the stinking alarm went off and made Ollie jump. So I rolled him off and (in best Gomer Pyle voice) Surprise, Surprise, he woke up!

Now I just need some head gear so I don't knock myself out when I collapse from exhaustion.

Thud

And in this corner...

Weighing in at 15lbs. 8 oz. and 25 1/4 inches tall...Ollie "the Prize" Erickson. Ollie got his 4 month checkup yesterday. He's fine. A big boy, but fine. He's in the 90th percentile of legnth/height and 75th percentile in weight. He's outgrown some of his 6 month-old clothes because he is so long! He also tore the crap out of the sanitary paper on the bench and had fun with it.

He also got his second set of shots yesterday. He was good with those too. Cried for about 5 minutes during the shots, but once he was picked up he was fine. He also slept a bit better in his bed last night. At least he isn't wanting to eat everytime he gets up. Just a binky and he calms back down to sleep. Now if only he can go through the entire night without being restless. Maybe sometime next month.

Weekend and 5 Gens

Ollie had a good weekend, Mr. Hyde hid from us thankfully. He's gotten rolling to the left down without much of a problem, he's almost got rolling right down to perfection. He even liked the pea's he got for a meal! Eww! His bib looked really gross after that feeding was done. We've also figured out when he is done eating his food. He starts spitting it at you! It's like he's blowing bubbles with his food. pbtttttt and the parents are covered in baby food! At least he likes most of what he's eaten so far.

Today Ollie gets to go for his 4 month check-up and second set of shots! I'll have an update on that fun experience tomorrow. Here's a pic from Labor Day weekend. This is of the 5 generations leading to Ollie. Ollie, Me, his grandpa Steve, his great-grandpa Dean and his great-great grandpa Roy.

Beginnings of new tricks!

This is the beginning of some of Ollie's new tricks. He's got rolling over down pat, at least front to back. The sleeping was better last night...not as restless. Then there is what you see in the picture. The funny thing is that we have video footage of Ollie in this position vomiting his milk (like the exorcist) all over his mom's legs, twice! Sorry, I don't have a way to post it. Ollie also enjoys trying to sit up beyond his current position. He doesn't want to lay in Momma or Dadda's arms anymore. He wants to be upright, so we have to hold him upright. Not much longer and he'll be sitting on his own.

Last night he indicated his desire to be mobile. He was on his stomach on his blanket in the living room after he had turned over. All of a sudden he lifts up his butt by moving his legs underneath himself and gives a little push forward. He repeated this several times. Tresa and I looked at each other and laughed nervously. It is not long now and we are in real trouble with a mobile baby!

Suckers!

I'm sure that's Ollie's opinion of his parents...Suckers! He's just toying with us. Crying when he wants ready to sleep, eating when he's full, waking us at all hours of the night and spitting up all over us. Truth be told, he's the one who is the sucker or at least the sucker licker.


He likes the flavor and making himself a mess too! We are just beginning non-bottle food, so I guess he's going to be a mess for awhile.

Pushup King

Here's what Ollie looks like after a roll. He can roll from back to front, but not front to back yet. It would certainly help with his sleeping. Too bad he is restless in the middle of the night...all night long. He can't seem to just stay totally asleep. So, when he makes noise, we get up and check on him. Keeps the parents up all night. I can't wait for his doctor's appt. next week. Hopefully they can give us ideas on what to do. Especially for the crying spells. Last night it was another 2 hrs, but just earlier. Then he woke up at 9pm for an hour of play time as happy as a clam. I wish the pushup king would practice sleeping for awhile!

Humpty Dumpty and the Great Paul Fall

This is the scene right before Uncle Paul lost his balance and fell through the doorway! Ollie was still half asleep before, during and after the fall. Paul was a little shocked! No harm no foul. I'm sure Ollie will have plenty of falls on his own in months to come.

We now have an official rolling baby. Back to Front at least. He's becoming quite adept at it too. We were going somewhere yesterday and Ollie was on his back on the floor in the living room upstairs. I walked into our closet to get my shoes and when I came back out, he had fully rolled over and gotten his hands out from underneath himself. We are in trouble in the coming months!

Mr. Hyde reappeared yesterday. He refused to take his morning nap, so he got to go on 2 walks in the morning to get him to go to sleep. Later that night he woke up early from a nap and was an extreme crab. For 2 hours he cried/screamed and nothing would comfort him from either his momma or I. The vacuum cleaner didn't work, food, rocking, patting...nothing worked. So, his Aunt Annie took him and he quieted down and went to sleep. After he was laid in bed he fidgeted around trying to stuff his hands in his mouth, so I put the binky in his mouth and made sure it didn't fall out until about 11pm. He woke at 1 and had rolled himself over trying to get his hands in his mouth. I put him on his back and calmed him with his binky. He was then up again at 2 (or maybe still up). He got a bottle and prune juice. I tried setting him down, but the prune juice kept causing him problems, so I slept with him on my chest from 2:30 to 4. I tried putting him back in bed, but no dice, so he slept on my chest until this morning. I hope tonight is a better night.

Normal Baby

We are finally getting our normal baby it seems. Last night he slept in his jammies all night long! Considering he has gastric reflux and doesn't keep stuff down long, this is a miracle. He seems to be finally getting over it. Knock on wood! When you are a parent you become very superstitious about these little things. I know it's common, but you don't want to revert back to the previous behaviour, involuntary or not!

He slept in his regular baby bed last night again. He did better than the previous night. He woke up at midnight for another bottle and got cold around 2am, but he pretty much slept until about 5am! Yea, sleep!

We pick up pictures tonight! Maybe I'll get some posted this weekend.

Advancement

A few new things happened for Ollie last night. First, he almost completely rolled over! He got his lower half over, but his upper torso was still on it's side. He was trying to get his hands in his mouth still, so his arms were preventing him from completing the roll. Very soon, we'll have a mobile baby. Scary. Especially for the cats.

Second, he got to get into his swing and it didn't upset his gastric. He fell asleep in his swing! He certainly seemed to enjoy it. Third, he slept in his actual baby bed - no car seat! This little experiment didn't work quite as well. He kept kicking off his covers so it woke him up and his parents a couple of times during the night. We'll have to put his jammies on him tonight to see if it will work. Unfortunately, he spit up a little bit in bed, so we'll see how that works with jammies. Finally, for dinner Ollie had rice cereal with Apple sauce. He didn't like the first bite, but after that yummy!

Labor Day

I think everyone has a decent understanding of what Gastric Reflux is after this weekend. We even got a good video shot of Ollie up-chucking on his momma! Ollie had his attention quotient met and exceeded this weekend. He seemed to enjoy every minute of it. Even falling down in his Uncle Paul's arms! After they fell, Ollie just stared up still half asleep, trying to figure out what happened. The mental image is still funny.

Ollie also got to meet his great-grandpa and great-great grandpa. We took a picture of the 5 generations of us. It is still being developed, so that will have to wait for posting. It rained during the entire reunion, so it was inside. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but it was shorter than usual. There were a couple of other babies there that joined Ollie in screaming. He even managed to hit the trash can with his spit-up!

On Monday he seemed to catch up on missed sleep. But still got a good 6 hrs. of sleep in. He also got his first taste of baby cereal. Not exactly the best eating mechanism, but what can you expect from a rookie? He seemed to like the taste of it though. Monday was also a day of very little spit-up. We hope it continues, but I probably just jinxed it!