Shocking!

Ollie slept the entire night! ALL NIGHT LONG! I asked Tresa at 4 am why she hadn't gotten me up to help with Ollie. She replied that he hadn't woken up. Of course she had just checked on him and he was fine, but I was still worried until I heard him rustling a bit over the monitor. We still had to wake him up at 6:30 to go to the babysitter. I guess he got worn out from his non-sleep the night before and his putting to bed. I felt like I got too much sleep from sleeping through the night.

He screamed bloody murder last night when he was supposed to go to bed. He was rotten, the worst he's ever been when being put to bed. Luckily, Tresa was putting him to bed, I just got to listen. He was so tired and fighting it so much. He finally fell asleep around 10 pm.

His second tooth pushing through caused the problems from the previous night. It probably helped wear him out for last night. I don't expect last nights sleeping pattern to continue, but I can dream...or maybe not if Ollie wakes up.

Pain in the Mouth

Usually Ollie will go to sleep and stay asleep after he's laid down. Sometimes he needs the vacuum cleaner on for about 10 minutes until he's out for good. Last night, his teeth changed the game plan. He did ok going to bed and got up about 12 for his bottle, which is normal for him. 1:30 rolls around and he fusses, Tresa can't get him back to sleep. So, I give it a shot.

He's pushed himself into the corner of his bed head first on his belly. I move him back to the middle of his bed and turn on the vacuum. 15 minutes later, I think he's asleep. I go back to bed after turning the vacuum off. About the time I get back into our room, I can hear him on the monitor. I repeat the previous cycle and he seems to be out. Not so fast.

So, I give him baby tylenol to help with the pain and start the vacuum CD at 2 am. I make a bed on the floor in his room and wait. About 2:30 the CD starts skipping. So, I decide to shut it off. Ollie still can't stay asleep. The CD goes on again until 3 am, when I finally shut it off because it is skipping again. Ollie stays asleep and I camp on his floor to make sure he doesn't wake up. Tresa came and got me sometime later, when she awoke and noticed I looked a awful lot like a cat or two. Ollie was out until 6 am. I can't wait for a full set of teeth. Of course, then he'll use them to bite me!

All He wants For Christmas

Is his 2 front teeth! Yes, the first has popped through. It is sharp! The second seems to be on the way. I expected teething to be worse than it has been. Granted, he's chewing on everything, except his teething rings. He isn't doing too bad with it though. He doesn't always have to have something in his mouth. He's on his way to having a full set of chompers a whole month earlier than it is normal. See, he is special!

Other things on the Ollie front...Naps. They seem to be waning. He was up for 6 straight hours Sunday morning. I'm not sure if it was his tooth that kept him up or if he was just that awake. He wasn't too crabby in the morning, the afternoon is another story. But he seemed to do about the same as he has been doing on weekends. Other than the beaver like chewing on everything. Luckily his momma and I are still physically intact.

Paper Boy

We have found a good use for all the unsolicited advertisement magazines we receive in the mail. They become Ollie's play toys. He loves to crinkle, crunch and eat the paper from the magazines. He pretty much likes to eat anything, but paper is fun to play with. All the colors and sound must attract him. We usually have to keep an eye on his paper activity because he's become adept at ripping and trying to eat small pieces. Those magazines seem to work the best. He doesn't get ink all over him most of the time. Apparently, I used to play with the newspaper and would have black ink all over me. Ollie has less ink on him, but is just as messy with his paper. Soggy paper is not fun to clean up!

'round-a-bout'

Ollie is a moving machine. Last night, in the space of 5 ft, Ollie rolled, scooted and squirmed his way around the floor for about an hour. He made it over to the stereo and was able to turn it up. He was quite active and very happy. He was even up for a 4 hr. stretch. He's been doing that a lot lately. It won't be too long and one of his naps will disappear.

We got more pictures. I'll try to scan them in later this week, maybe the weekend.

Whopper

Ollie is a big boy! 18 1/2 lbs. and 27 3/4 in. long. 2 more shots, a flu shot and a few minutes of screaming. Not too bad for a 6 month old. He seems to be growing at a consistent pace. Of course he's the perfect little boy with lots of personality. The stranger anxiety hasn't set in yet, but it usually begins within the next month. Christmas will be fun with that. There's also going to be the issue of travel. Apparently, until 9 months, when babies travel they get very crabby and very clingy. Just like our last trip. Should be fun. Ho Ho Ho!

Not too Long Now

This weekend Ollie took another step in becoming mobile. He got himself up on all 4's and kept his head on the ground. He kept himself up for awhile. Able to rock a bit on his own. He kept doing it over and over. I swear I saw fear in the cats eyes at his new talent.

He has been doing better at sitting up, but once he starts to fall, he can't right himself yet. The carts in stores seem to be helping and he likes being in them better than in his old car seat. Now his only problem is that he wants to forward in the cart. Not even a year old and he wants to ignore his parents! The fun is just beginning.

Food

Ollie has done well this week sleeping. Only 1 night he has gotten up at 2 am. The rest he's been asleep since 11pm and been more or less stayed asleep. We've been a bit worried that something happened and nothing has. He's even been flipping onto his stomach and sleeping on it through at least half the night. He just has a clogged nose in the morning from sleeping on his tummy. Same as his dad gets when he sleeps on his stomach...sorry Ollie, you got that from me!

What's this have to do with food you ask? Well, Ollie has gotten to eat first thing in the morning due to all this. This morning he even got cereal. Baby rice cereal, but cereal nonetheless. He's also had a few other odd eating habits and has become quite messy while doing it.


Ollie enjoying Sweet Potatoes, one of his favorites


How is that going to fit in there?

Happy Half-Birthday!

Ollie is 6 months old today! It's amazing how much he's grown and changed in that little bit of time. The weeks seem to last forever, but all together the time seems to go fast. We've looked back at pictures of him when he was first born and compare them to now. He's gone from 7lbs to almost 18! He's started at 19.5 inches and is somewhere in the upper 20's. We'll find out for sure on Monday during his next appointment. We started with a crying, jerky, very needy baby. We now have a playing, smiling, yelling, interactive youngster. Amazing what difference 6 months can make.


Happy Birthday Ollie!

Clothes

Baby clothes are made rather strangely. They make them so that your baby looks like a small adult. Things like this outfit


Ollie Singing

The collar on this outfit is split in the front and in the back! Why? There are a few buttons in the back, but this doesn't prevent a complete collar. Strange. This is a 1 piece outfit too. He's also got baby jeans that zip and button. T-shirt's without buttons around the top. He doesn't like those because the neck doesn't stretch and it squishes his face. Pajamas that snap in a triangle. Down both legs and up the torso. Why couldn't they just do 1 leg like they do with zippers? It's difficult enough to snap them with the lights on, but at night it's nearly impossible.

All in all though, Ollie seems to be happy being clothed, other than shoes. Socks come off easily too. I bet he'll be a little streaker once he can walk and take off his clothes. Hmm, sounds like someone I know.

Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3

Ollie has begun testing his new found strength. Rather we've been testing his new found stregnth. He sit him up much as possible. He does pretty well until he starts leaning a direction, then over he goes. We are with him so he doesn't fall. By X-mas he'll be a pro at it.

Crawling will sure to follow. It won't be far behind. We've been able to set him on all 4's in the crawling position and he's rocked back and forth for a few seconds before his strength gives out on him. Just last night he almost got the crawling position on his own. The cats will be in trouble once he starts crawling. Now they can run away from him. They'll have to hide. He'll be slow, but he'll get them for sure.

He also likes to 'walk'. You can hold him by his hands, stand him up and he'll attempt to get somewhere. He usually starts going backwards, but eventually makes 'steps' forward. He also enjoys jumping on his parents in this position. If his gastric is active, we usually end up with a bruised tummy and covered in milk.



Ollie prepping his walking gear

New Chair

Ollie got to try his bigger car seat out this weekend. He hated it of course. It's one of those that the baby is sitting upright, not laying down like his old one. He just got too long for his old one and he hated it. So, it was time to move him on up to the big seat. This morning on the way to the sitter's he fell asleep in it. A habit that he continued from his old seat. The only problem is this one doesn't come out of the car as easily, so we'll have to carry him into stores or use the stroller. That's ok, I need to work on my biceps anyways.

Ollie also got to go to Pier 1 this weekend. He loved the colors and all the new things to look at. Of course we had to stop and look in the mirrors to see the baby on the other side. Silly boy! He didn't do too bad at sleeping last night. He got up at 11:30 for a bottle, woke up at 2 something because he got stuck on his tummy and went back to sleep without a bottle and the vacuum of course. He then slept the rest of the night. Out of the ordinary. Anyways, here's another pic of Ollie in his halloween costume.

Musical Sleeping Patterns

Ollie can't seem to figure out his sleeping pattern. It changes every night. We think he is now starting to get his first tooth. He chews on our shoulder when we try to put him to sleep. Makes for a soggy shirt when he's done. Last night he was up until 9pm. The previous 7:30. What a strange boy. If it is teeth, nothing will be on a schedule for awhile and we'll have an unhappy, in-pain baby for awhile.

Vocal Lessons

Here's a mp3 of Ollie's latest vocalization. You may want headphones. He is loud!

Ollie Alarm Clock!

He's just a happy little guy who likes to hear his own voice. What a silly little guy.

1.5

1.5 - that's how many jars of food Ollie ate for dinner last night. He was a hungry boy. He usually only eats 1 jar. He didn't hardly spit anything up at all. Then 2 1/2 hrs. later he had a full bottle, again, hardly any spit-up. I swear, we are going to have a round ball for a child if this keeps up.

Last night Ollie kept waking up because he kept rolling onto his stomach and couldn't figure out how to get back on his back. We've heard stories of other babies, younger than Ollie, already sleeping through the night. We are jealous. We are also going to have to eventually break the vacuum cleaner habit. He can't soothe himself, so that seems to do it. I guess we'll ask about it at his next appt.

Mr. Whimper

Ollie has begun to make his wants more apparent lately. When he wants something he holds his arms up and starts to whimper like a little dog. If he wants you to pick him up, up go the arms. He sees his bottle or a jar of food, "mmm mmm mmm". Until he gets distracted or he gets what he wants. He enjoys watching the fish swim in the tank. He's gotten similar to Splatter in the fact that he doesn't understand he can't touch the fish, so he whimpers' for them and tries to grab them through the glass.

He also whimpers for the cats. They still don't want anything to do with him. He gets excited when they are in the room. We put him near them and he tries to grab them. Splatter and Zoey run, Piper and Sassy tolerate him and he's even gotten to pet them a few times. He's also gotten to grab a handful of ear of each cat. They didn't mind though. Now if we could only teach him to not clamp down, the other's may like him.

102nd Dalmation

Here's a couple of pictures that Tresa's company took for Halloween.



Not too bad considering he can't sit up by himself!

Michael Jordan Jr.

This weekend Ollie discovered his tongue. He stuck his tongue out all weekend. Raspberries - tongue out, eating - tongue out, playing - tongue out. I took a picture of it, but it'll be awhile before it gets developed. Maybe I'll have more pictures up this week.