Praising God

This weekend was beautiful! The weather was warmer, and sunny. We ran up to the house this morning and I felt like we got so much more done than usual.
I'm finding that the older Oliver gets the more he is content just sitting and playing. Because of this I was able to get a lot of cleaning done.
I forgot what it was like to be there and not be cold. It was fantastic.
It however was not fantastic when Oliver stuck his finger in my soda can and got his first owie. He cried for a few seconds and then I cried.
It was a tiny cut, but just seeing his little finger bleeding upset me so much. It makes me want to cry now.
It's a funny thing but I kind of think things like "I'm never going to let him get hurt, I will not be one of those mothers who lets there child fall and bump his head...", or "he'll just never get cut because I won't let him near anything sharp", and then it's something totally random.
It's funny thinking about it now.
By the way, Oliver is fine, but he was trying to eat his bandaid.

Early Morning

The last several mornings I've been getting up at 6 with Mark, and boy do I have new appreciation for him.
Because of that Oliver has been getting up a little earlier each morning, so I told Mark that if he tried to wake up too early on Saturday (today) that I would take him in the other room. Well, the little turkey made just enough noise for me take him out, but now I'm sitting in the guest room with a sleeping angle. Figures.

Later today Mark and Oliver are having a boys afternoon while I go scrapbook with my sister at a creative memories party. I'm excited. I printed about 170 photos. I know I won't use all of them today but I decided that transitional period or not, I need a hobby.
We've been in one transitional period after another for the past 3 years..... I can't wait to get into our house.

Bejing Garden

This is our favorite Chinese restaurant in the whole world. My family has been coming to eat here for about 11 years. Over the years Yen has watched us grow up, get married, and now have a family of our own.
Mark and I know that whenever we eat there with Oliver we will have a sitter for most of our meal.
Yen will practically ignore customers to hold Oliver and the feeling is mutual. He will now reach for her when we sit down.

Our house

For those of you who got to see our house in it's former glory here are a few pictures of the changes we've made. Mark, Dad (Stagg) and Dad (Melby) ripped off the old porch, and rebuilt most of it and added a peaked roof.
It makes the dining room feel so much larger.

The whole project has taken longer than we expected but we're still making good headway. Besides closets all the framing is finished. Now we jut have to finish the HVAC, electric, insulation, drywall, mudding (we are thankfully not doing these ourselves) refinishing floors, paint, install cabinets, pour concrete countertop (stay tuned for how Mark is going to do that), trim, carpet....
I'll stop now.

Eight months old

It's been so long since we've written on here that I forgot all about it.
Oliver turned 8 months old yesterday! I can't believe how fast this is going.

He's already doing so much, and I'm certain he's lightyears ahead of other children his age;)
He'll now occasionally say "mom" and "dad", and has no problem yelling "HEY!" if he's mad or just meeting someone.

I've been trying to download a video of him dancing. No luck yet.
We noticed him doing it about a month ago and now he's a regular John Travolta. He'll dance to anything that resembles music, or a beat.
The other night Mark was trying to whistle. He could only get out a couple notes before Oilver would start up and then Mark would laugh too hard to keep going.

Big Bright Eyes

Oliver will be eight months old next week and he is amazing us more and more every day.
He now understands what eyes are and if you ask him "eyes?" he'll quickly poke you in them (unless he has an audience).
I don't know where in the world he learned it, but he's started to dance. He kind of slouches then sits up straight over and over. Too cute!