Hello world!

Welcome to the blog for baby Engelman – otherwise now known as Oliver. Check back every now and then for more information on Oliver’s story. If you’d like to leave a comment just click on the title for that particular post.

First Birthday Cake

Oliver turned one about five months ago and one of the best parts about his age is he has no idea when his actual birthday is.  So … we can celebrate it when it’s convenient for us.  Sounds terrible doesn’t it? I have to admit that his lack of understanding in this area made it easier for us to push his party back a few weeks. Annie’s mom wanted to make sure that we gave him some semblance of a celebration near his birthday so Annie’s parents & brother came over for dinner the day after. They brought with them the tiny little cake that you see in the above pictures. Annie’s mom wanted to give Oliver a cake to use as a “trial run” before his birthday party. Looking back on it now it seems like he tore into this “trial run” cake a lot more than his actual birthday cake :) Enjoy the pictures!

Jonathan

Sunset

One of the best parts about living in Florida is going to the beach and watching the sunsets. Back in March of this year Annie and I along with Oliver of course had a picnic at the beach of Honeymoon Island. My brother in law, Erik came along with his son Jonah and we had a great time. Oliver spent a majority of the time eating the sand & trying to play with Jonah. It was a little bittersweet though because we knew that my sister Abby, Erik & Jonah were going to be moving away soon. Each passing day meant we were that much closer to them leaving and no longer having the chance to hang out like we once did. So this post goes out to Abby, Erik and Jonah. We miss you guys!

Na-Na, Na-Na, Na-Na, Na-Na, Na-Na…Bathman!

I know it’s been a long time since our last post and even longer since I last posted anything on this blog. Right now my wife is in another country and my son is being cared for by Annie’s parents so I have more free time at home and thought it would be a good idea to try and catch up on some posts. It’s amazing how quickly and easily life can get you so busy that you don’t seem to have time for the little things. Lately, I have really been trying to focus more on the moments of each day and just really try to soak in the memories. I’ve been enjoying coming home from work to be greeted by my beautiful wife and son. One of my favorite moments is when Oliver is getting a bath. The above pictures were taken about 4 months ago & amazingly enough I think Oliver has just grown taller not any wider. At this point he was just really starting to enjoy bathtime. Now he loves it so much he constantly does the “sign” for bath. If he even sees Annie or I go near the bathroom door he immediately tries to follow us in there and cries if we don’t give him a bath at that moment. Needless to say he has cried a lot because there are only so many times he can get a bath. Anyways, the whole point of this post is I guess a reminder to myself as well as to anyone else who takes the time to read it that life is all about the moments. It’s important to realize what’s going on and focus on being there. I know I sometimes get in the place where I just zone out by watching tv or something, but I don’t think that’s what God has called us to do in this life. So if you have children yourself or just have someone in your life that you really love and care about please take the time to be with them not just in the same room but physically and emotionally. Hopefully I can learn this principle myself.

Jonathan

beautiful simplicity

Jon and I sat down tonight to talk about our new budget and creative ways to save money as our income will take a dive due to school being out for the summer, and many thoughts were racing through my head.  I have spent so much time worrying about the situation that we now find ourselves in – my school job being done, and most likely not a job that I will return to in the fall.  As we have been nearing this time, I have spent so much time being frightened about this inevitable difficulty that was coming upon us, which I felt no ability to control.  God has been teaching me so much the past couple of years about trusting in His provision – not our paychecks, our schemes or ideas, the money in our account, but Him as our ultimate provider because everything we have is the result of Him allowing it.  I have focused on the verse in Matthew where Jesus tells us, commands us not to worry.  Do not worry about tomorrow, He says, because each day has enough trouble of its own.  It is when I start to think about all the tomorrows in our future that the panic wells up inside of me as I focus on all the many, many details that I feel helpless to control and plan for.  I think that worry is one of those things that gets pawned off as a normal human emotion, but I feel that this is an area of my life that I have not realized up until this point is a major contributor to the lack of joy in my life.  I feel extremely challenged right now, as we are praying, trying to be wise, and pursuing work opportunities where we can – that ultimately it is not my burden to carry and that right now, God is challenging me to trust – not in my sight, my plans, but in Him and only Him.  He has never failed me yet and has done so much more in my life than I could ever, ever deserve, but yet it is still so hard to relinquish this burden to Him and return to the simplicity of a child that knows that her Father will provide, he will take care of her.  After all, how can the Lord receive glory unless we allow Him to work in our lives?  I am thankful for the opportunity to be stripped down and to have my heart drawn back to the Lord, as I choose to trust in Him.

annie

playtime with daddy

there are many saturday mornings that my wonderful husband will be the first to get up and take care of oliver so that i can sleep in a little bit longer.  i am always very appreciative of any extra sleep in the morning (although jon could really use the extra sleep also!), but many times i find a whole photo session that happened before i even got out of bed.  jon has been the dominant photographer since oliver was born, and it is something that i am so thankful for!  he has been able to capture so many amazing moments that we will be able to look back on, so i wanted to share a few of them from one saturday morning in february.  i love looking through all the moments of playtime that they share together and am thankful that oliver has such a wonderful daddy to play with.

also, oliver has thoroughly enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with us for the past couple months, and loves instigating it with us while he hides behind the curtains.  so, jon was able to take pictures of a few of those moments as well.

annie

birthday cake – take one!

oliver’s birthday has now come and gone, but we still have his birthday party to look forward to!  due to scheduling conflicts with my parents going out of town, easter weekend, and a wedding of a close friend, we had to push his party back to april 17th.  i think it actually worked out better for me so i could have more time in planning.  however, since it was so far off, we had a small celebration on march 25th with my parents at our place.  we all had dinner together and then nana (my mom) brought ollie a special treat in honor of his birthday.  i guess it could be the practice run for him before the real deal at his party.  so, here are a few photos of him enjoying his birthday treat and the inevitable mess that followed.  it was not easy for me to watch food get smeared everywhere, and this is an area of control that will be difficult for me to let go of!  we will definitely share pics from his party, but until then here are a few of his first birthday celebration.

annie

Oliver’s First Christmas – Well Overdue Post #3

Well here it is now just about April and we are trying to get somewhat caught up on blog posts again. I honestly have no idea how people consistently keep adding posts in the midst of all the craziness of life and have gained a new respect for anyone that can keep that up. Anyways, we thought it would be a good idea to post some photos of Oliver’s first Christmas on this earth. He had a great time playing with his presents – that is before they were opened.  I think he actually liked the boxes, bows & wrapping paper a little bit more than the gifts but that was fine with us.  Oliver also really seemed to enjoy the Christmas tree and showed his excitement for the tree by trying to gnaw on the branches and pull on ornaments.

This past Christmas was a really nice time for Annie and I because we have been blessed to have family in the area so we were able to spend some time with both families on Christmas eve and Christmas day. The only downside is by the end of the holiday we are pretty pooped from going back and forth, but it’s good to see friends and family during the holidays especially.

It was very surreal watching some of the festivities and seeing my son crawling around everywhere – realizing that 9 months had come and gone so quickly. It seemed like it was just yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital.  It’s funny as a kid I always remember hearing grown ups – especially the older ones – talk about how quickly time goes. They would come up to me and squeeze my face and say something like – “Wow! You are getting so big!  Wasn’t it just a little while ago that you couldn’t even walk?” or something to that effect.  I always thought it was strange until now. Since having a child it seems like I’ve entered some type of time warp and everything has sped up. I know it’s only going to feel like time is going by faster but it’s still an odd concept to me.

Ultimately, though I am thankful for the year that has passed and for the years ahead with our family. Merry very late Christmas everyone!

Jonathan

happy birthday oliver!!!

it is very hard for me to believe that it was one year ago today that oliver came into our lives and has been over and beyond what we ever could have asked for in a son!  i had no idea how much i would fall in love with him and how easily my heart would ache each time he is unhappy or hurts himself (which continues to be more frequent lately).  he is such a ray of sunshine in our lives, and i feel such a peace being his mom.  each day, i love watching him learn new things, figure out new games or even find something completely random to laugh over and over about.  jon is great at finding the most random things to make oliver laugh like crazy.  it has definitely been a year full of its own challenges as we learn about being parents for the first time and all the unknowns and stresses that go along with it……but it has been a really amazing year for us.  i love seeing oliver grow and develop into his own little person, and we are excited to enter each new phase with him as he continues to grow (some phases more than others, though:)).  we are also very thankful for all the love, support, and encouragement that we have from our friends and families.  we are better parents because of it, and at times, ‘sane’ parents because of it.  so, here’s to many more years with our oliver, but we are grateful for the time that the Lord has given us so far!

annie

Tiny Son – Well Overdue Post #2

So I’ve learned that as a parent of a small child most people feel like they can come up to you and say just about anything about your child without really thinking. It seems to be a slight continuation of the pattern Annie experienced when she was pregnant. Total strangers sometimes would come up to her to try to rub her belly and ask her questions about the pregnancy. Some people would say things that could have been taken as offensive but Annie was pretty gracious during that time. Anyways with Oliver now like I said we’ve seen a similar thing happen and after a while certain phrases can become kind of old to hear time after time like – Wow he’s tiny! Is he a midget? Do you ever feed him? etc. Well Oliver has always been a little guy ever since he was born. We actually had to wake him up to eat sometimes and now that he’s on formula he hasn’t really gained a lot of weight. He looks especially tiny next to his cousin who is on the larger and taller side for kids of his age but Annie and I are just enjoying how small he is. One of the best things about him being so small is that he can fit into just about anything. In fact I was considering having a series of pictures where we just took him and had him sit inside of all sorts of objects for fun.  The above pictures should give you a small sample of how little he was at the time the pictures were taken. Which was a few days after thanksgiving last year when he was 8 months old if you were wondering.  The funny part about the above pictures was Oliver had been crawling around and getting into all sorts of things so I thought I would empty out his train toy bin and see how he would like sitting inside. He sat there for a long time just content to play with the few pieces left inside and we actually had to take him out to get him to bed before he actually started crying & then at that point he didn’t want to leave so that caused him to cry. He’s been such an easy child to deal with and take care of – so we have definitely been blessed. Hopefully that continues :)

Jonathan

Thanksgiving 2009 – Well overdue post #1

Hey everybody! I know it’s about 3 months late but I hope you enjoy some of the pictures from our family get together on Thanksgiving day this past year. Annie and I are truly blessed because both of our extended families live in the area so we get to hang out with a lot of our close relatives and eat a lot of great food. In fact we get thanksgiving meals with my family for lunch & then with Annie’s for dinner and I must say thanksgiving twice is nice! Annie and I are very thankful for all of the incredible friends and family we have in our lives and would like to say thank you to everyone who has thought about or prayed for us as we adjust to our new life as a family of three. Oliver just seems to be getting more and more of a personality each day and he makes us laugh all of time. We are extremely thankful for him and the new perspective he gives us each day and I can say honestly that I couldn’t have a better wife and friend than Annie. She never ceases to amaze me in the way that she cares for me and Oliver. Thank you God for these blessings :)  I pray I can grow to be a man who appreciates them always.

Jonathan

i am also very thankful for my family of three and all the extended support that we have around us!  we actually celebrated thanksgiving day with jon’s family and then celebrated with my family on friday.  my sister heidi – along with her hubby william and my nephew trey – joined us for the weekend to follow.  heidi had to work on thanksgiving, so they headed down from georgia after that.  for some reason, we didn’t take the time to take any official photos from my family thanksgiving dinner, but we had a marvelous time just the same and enjoyed having the hauns home for a few days!

annie

Auntie Merle!!

back in the beginning of december, we had a special visit from my friend christine (who i like to call merle – her middle name), and with her she brought four of her friends.  she is in a masters program in philadelphia and was driving down to southern florida for a conference.  she asked if they could crash here on the way down or back up so that she could see us and finally meet oliver.  i was so excited to have the chance to see her, even if it was only a quick trip and offered the floor of our small condo for their sleeping accommodations.  i even offered under the dining room table if they needed more room!  while she was here, one of her friends, peter and i discovered that we had a commonality in the relationship to my sister and brother n law.  my sister and her family spent 3 months in ghana a couple years back working in a medical missions hospital during heidi’s fourth year of medical school.  peter’s father was the main doctor that heidi worked with and was the one to start the hospital many years ago.  i am pretty sure that discovery would have gone unnoticed if it weren’t for william’s photographs of ghana that we have on display in our living room (william is heidi’s hubby).  peter saw them and asked if i knew william haun.  i was a little confused by the question, because of course i know my own brother n law!  so, it was from there that we made the connection.  what a small world it really is and so random at times!  it was great to meet christine’s friends and of course to see my dear friend merle:).  it was a quick trip, but so wonderful to have that time with her and share the new adventures we both have in our lives.  it is such a blessing to have those friends that you can connect with on a deeper level, no matter how different your lives may be at the time.  so, here are a few photos of oliver meeting his auntie merle, his new friend peter and her other friends as well.

annie

Auntie Rachie’s Wedding!

my dear sister rachel got married to a wonderful man (named erin:)) on october 31st, 2009 at the picturesque don cesar of lovely st pete beach.  little did we know when she came home last spring to begin planning that it had actually been a childhood dream of hers to have her wedding on the beautiful beaches of the ‘pink palace’ of st pete.  it started as a seemingly far-fetched idea, but because of the vast availability due to the planned wedding date, they were able to get some amazing deals and her dream wedding (to her dream partner) took shape and grew into a breathtakingly beautiful wedding.  from the romantic ceremony set to the backdrop of a famous florida sunset to the magical ballroom where the reception took place.  they actually had a platform built for them to sit together during the ceremony, while many loved ones were able to pay tribute in their own unique way to the couple and the journey they were beginning.  my mom actually sewed pillows for them to sit on along with the flowing curtains that hung from the platform.  instead of bouquets, we carried lanterns down the aisle and placed them on hooks to adorn and encircle the platform.  i was so pulled into the ceremony that i didn’t even take pictures of the finished product!  every detail came together so wonderfully, and it was beautiful………but as breathtaking as the ceremony and location was, the bride out shined it all, hands down.

one of my favorite parts of the reception was their first dance as husband and wife.  they practiced for months to do a saucy tango dance, and i loved every minute of it!  they were nearly flawless as they moved together, and with the live latin band, it set the mood perfectly.  i could go on and on because there are so many details to share, but i will let you just look through the pictures and see for yourself.  i was really disappointed with the amount of pictures i was able to get.  with the combo of some chaos prior to the wedding (running a little late), and then taking care of oliver, pictures were somewhat of an afterthought.  so, i wanted to try to describe the best i could because my pictures don’t do rachel or the wedding justice!  if i can track down some more, then i will add them later.  i do regret not being able to toast rachel and erin at the wedding or rehearsal, because honestly i was afraid i wouldn’t make it through more than two words without crying, but let me take this opportunity to say how incredibly happy i am for my sister to have found the love of a great man…….not just that she got married, but married to the right person.  someone who loves her and truly appreciates all the quirks that make her uniquely who she is.  it is wonderful to see her with someone who truly gets how remarkable she is.  so, once again…..congrats to rachel and erin!!

annie

Rachel’s wedding rehearsal

it has taken me a while to get my act together too add the posts about my sister rachel’s wedding, but finally here they are!!  rachel and her now husband, erin, were married on october 31st at the don cesar on st pete beach.  they live in san diego, but flew in, along with many friends and family members, the week of the wedding to put together the last of the many details.  we had the rehearsal dinner at my parents house.  it was very nice, but also low-key and a good time to hang out with everyone before the craziness of the wedding day began!  we also all headed out to a great little jazz bar in downtown st pete called the garden afterwards.  it was great to spend time with my sisters along with many of rachel’s friends that i am rarely able to spend time with.  we also wanted to put oliver in his costume for a few minutes to show everyone, but it was SO humid that it didn’t last too long!

annie

Halloween Costume

Oliver’s first halloween was quite an eventful one with his Aunt Rachel getting married and all of the preparation that goes into such a ceremony. Annie was away for most of the day getting ready for the wedding but a day prior my mom called me and asked me to come over to her house to pick up a couple things she had just bought for Oliver. It turns out that she was going to Old Navy to pick up some things when she saw a long line and was told they were having a huge sale. Everything that was on clearance was 50% off of the clearance price or more – so she ended up getting Oliver a tiger costume along with a few other things each for about a dollar or so. So just for fun I put him in it and brought him over to Abby and Erik’s to take some pictures with Jonah. It turns out that I forgot my camera over at my in laws house the previous night so Abby took all of the above pictures and did a great job capturing their expressions. I just couldn’t bring myself to decide which pictures to put in the post, so you get to see almost all of them. Oliver seemed to like the costume but it made him hot so he became one sweaty tiger for halloween.

Jonathan

Playing with Jonah

One of my favorite things to watch is my son Oliver playing with my nephew Jonah. The way that they exchange looks and follow each other around is great. Jonah has been trying to get Oliver to play with him more and more but since Oliver is younger he didn’t really realize what Jonah was wanting him to do. Well Oliver has now entered a stage where he responds to Jonah. My sister Abby has been gracious enough to watch Oliver while Annie is working some days and on one particular day she took all of the above pictures. I especially like the picture where Jonah is actually sitting on Oliver. For some reason Abby says that Jonah will crawl across the room and just sit on some part of Oliver. I guess it’s his way of trying to be close to him :)  One of the other funny things that happens when they are together is that Jonah will often crawl away from Oliver and look back at him as if to say – well are you going to follow me or what? Oliver now will follow him and Jonah leads him all over the living room. If you look at the pictures above of them playing they also like to steal the toy that the other one is playing with. It’s funny how so early on they already have the mentality to take the only toy in the whole room the other one is playing with. One picture that I particularly like that Abby says was not staged is the one with Oliver playing the guitar and Jonah playing the drum. Jonah’s father Erik plays the drums and I play guitar so what are the odds that they would find the corresponding instrument? Anyways I guess the point in all of this is that I’m really glad that Oliver is going to have the chance to grow up around a cousin that is so close in age. While I was growing up my cousins mostly lived in other states or weren’t close to my age so I didn’t really get to know them that well – but Oliver and Jonah are close enough in age that they will be in the same grade. Hopefully they will grow to be great friends.

Jonathan

Baby Dedication

When Oliver was just about 6 months old we brought him before the church to ask for prayer and to dedicate him. The main reason we dedicated Oliver was to publicly profess that we are going to try to raise him up so that he will have the chance to know our savior. We want to be held accountable as parents and ask for prayer so that we can follow God’s leading and raise him up with all of the love, support and discipline that our heavenly father provides for us. It was such a surreal experience since growing up I’ve seen this done over and over again with my father, the pastor always leading the parents in prayer. Here I was now in front of our church with my wife, handing my son to my own father to pray. I don’t think I ever really stopped to think about what the purpose was until I realized this was something we wanted to do for Oliver. Every night before bed I prayed and continue to pray that God will lead us to be the parents that Oliver needs and that we will be able to listen and respond to God’s calling on our lives.  I don’t think I will ever fully grasp what a huge responsibility it is to be a parent – but I know what a blessing it is and I look forward to watching Oliver grow up and venture out into the world – hopefully with a great respect for Annie and I but more importantly for his heavenly father.

Jonathan

Oliver starts eating real food!

This post has some pictures from about a month ago and also from just a day ago combined since the first time we tried to feed Oliver we didn’t actually take any pictures. We started him out on some type of organic rice cereal that had basically no flavor and he didn’t like it at all. We thought maybe at first it was because he just wasn’t used to his meals consisting of anything outside of milk but after trying the rice cereal for a week or so we realized we might have to try something else since his appetite didn’t seem to change towards that bland cereal. Next we tried some oatmeal cereal since it has a little more flavor and we got the same results. We did some research and found out that some babies are more particular than others and they suggested using pureed simple vegetables. So we moved onto carrots and peas. We had the best luck with the carrots but eventually ran out of our supply and moved onto peas. Man did those things smell!  He likes his food to be warm so we put them in the microwave for a few quick seconds to heat it up and the smell that comes off of those peas has caused us to be on the verge of vomiting. The best part is we have to try to convince Oliver it’s good to eat so that he will open his mouth. He saw right through our attempts and wanted no part of the peas. In fact he would rather lick the side of the chair or suck on the plastic tray in front of him than eat that nasty stuff. I guess I don’t blame him :) The next thing we tried was sweet potatoes and so far he has had the best reaction to those. He still isn’t a veracious eater by any means but he will at least lean forward and open his mouth to eat them every once in a while instead of crying and turning his head. It has definitely been funny trying to find ways to get him to open his mouth consistently though. Usually one of us will dance or make weird faces and noises so he will laugh and then – sneak attack! We put the food in his mouth so he can at least taste it and then comes the face. If he likes it he usually just kind of stares off and munches down but if he doesn’t like it he looks like he is gagging and winces. He’s gotten really good at dodging the spoon too – it never ceases to amaze me how quickly he can turn his head away and manage to avoid the sustenence that he needs. If you think about it pray for him that he will become a better eater of foods outside of milk. We know that with time he will get better – so for the time being we will just keep trying.

Jonathan

Kiddie Pool

This post is basically a continuation of the last one because the above pictures were taken on the same day in our friends Mike and Jenn’s backyard and Jenn was kind enough to send us these pictures. They have a kiddie pool and we put all of the kids together in it to see how they would play. Addison immediately started splashing all over the place and she totally drenched all 3 kids. It was hilarious. Oliver kind of just sat there and did a little splashing himself but he and Jonah almost seemed to be in a little bit of a daze. Addison has a ton of personality and it’s a lot of fun to see her interact especially with Jonah because they are very close in age and have gotten to see each other a lot in their short time in this world. Their parents seem convinced that Addison has a crush on Jonah and I don’t know if I would go that far but she definitely loves to play with him. We always have a great time hanging out with these friends and watching our kids play together. It’s such a weird concept that just a few years back none of us had any kids. Back then times were fun too but obviously just not the same.

Jonathan

Bathing Suit

About a month ago Annie and I visited a few friends of ours Mike and Jenn Rowe along with my sister and bro in law, Abby and Erik so that all of the kids could hang out and play in the kiddie pool. Oliver was all set to go in his bathing suit and was hanging out in their living room when he was watching Mike play with his daughter Addison and Erik with his son Jonah. Oliver was laughing a lot so we took some shots of him in his bathing suit and I have to say I’m glad he’s finally putting on some weight. For the longest time when he had his shirt off you could see his ab muscles. He was putting me to shame, but now he’s starting to lose that for a more normal layer of baby fat. We are hoping this trend continues since the last we heard from his 6 month check up was that he was in the bottom 9 percentile for weight and the upper 89th percentile for height. Nothing to be concerned about but it’s good to know he’s getting enought to eat.

Jonathan

Sports Center

One of our good family friends who we consider our adopted family (the Smoyers) made it a point to get Oliver something fun to play with and brought the above sports center to his baby shower. We opened it up and let him start playing with it as mentioned in the last post in October when he was about 6 months old and he loves it. Whenever we want him to play in a certain area we can give him the bat or the basketballs and he will mostly drool all over everything but lately he is starting to figure out that it’s a good thing to put the basketball in the hoop.  He particularly loves the baseball bat because even before he had this to play with he would sit somewhere and smack his hands on the floor over and over and over again. Now that he has a bat he uses the bat to hit the floor over and over and over again only this time he looks kind of like Bam Bam from the Flintstones because of it. Thanks for the great gift – Ollie definitely approves :)

Jonathan

Babysitting Jonah

In early October my sister and brother in law wanted to go on a date so Annie and I offered to watch their son Jonah. It’s only fair since they have been really helping us out by watching Oliver some days of the week so Annie could work. Oliver is starting to recognize Jonah and wants to play with him more and more each time he sees him and on this particular night I was having a good time watching them play together. Oliver basically stayed in one spot and played with the basketballs from a sports activity set that he has and Jonah just kind of wandered around the living room playing with some of the toys and investigating the boundaries. At one point Oliver was holding onto the little plastic bat that came with the set and Jonah had crept up next to him. Jonah grabbed the bat by the top while Oliver held on to the bottom. It was like the ultimate tug of war test but neither would budge. Jonah was unable to pull it from Oliver and Oliver was unable to keep it away from Jonah so finally they both put it down and played with other toys for a little bit. I was kind of proud of them because they didn’t get into a fight and start crying over it. Eventually Jonah just grabbed it again and they both kept playing peacefully. They really seem to like each other a lot :)  My favorite picture in the whole series is the last one. I kept trying to get them in a picture playing together but Jonah would move so fast that by the time I got a shot he was already halfway across the room or had turned around. In the last picture I finally got both of them to look straight at me and what’s great is that as I took the picture Jonah pushed Oliver over and he fell and started crying – he was ok by the way – carpet is very forgiving :)

Jonathan

Oliver’s Hat

Annie was going through some things and found the coolest hat that someone either bought for Oliver or was handed down to us. Oliver’s name in itself has my brother Dave constantly speaking to him with a British accent as if he was born in the UK and because of the story of Oliver Twist his name has British connotations to it. So when he wears this particular hat he looks the part. I like to think he looks like a little Irish man but either way you look at him he is one cute little kid. The above picture was taken right after Annie and I had just parked and were about to go to church. The hat was originally put on facing forward but in the transition from leaving our condo to getting to church he managed to move it to the side as seen above. When I was getting ready to leave the car and I saw what he looked like I grabbed our camera and took the above picture before running inside.

Jonathan

Camouflage

Annie and I had to run into Target in mid September to pick up a few things and decided to make our standard run through the baby section just to see what all there was when we came across a sleeper that was made out of teddy bear head camouflage. I know it sounds weird but we saw it and thought at once that Oliver had to have this outfit. It’s so strange how excited we get over new clothes or new toys for Oliver almost like we used to get as kids about our own birthday and Christmas presents. So anyways when we brought it home we put him in the outfit and we thought it looked awesome. My son who has a natural mohawk was now sporting camo to bed. Look out world!

Jonathan

Happy Birthday to…

Annie and I took the above pictures because we were heading into the month of September and knew we had a lot of birthdays coming up. Annie has been making personal cards for friends several years now so we wanted to have a special picture to use for the front of those cards and I’m sure we will continue to use these pictures for future cards as well. Anyways, we took Oliver to what would be the back yard of our condo if we actually had one and gave him a poster Annie had hand painted to make the picture. Oliver was obsessed with the poster but we couldn’t seem to get his attention at the same time that he was holding the poster up so there are a ton of different attempts but we loved these pictures and thought we should share them with everyone. So who knows you may or may not get a card with one of these pictures on it.

Jonathan

Kickin’ Coaster

My Aunt Judell was kind enough to give Annie and I money specifically for a gift for Oliver. Annie had been doing some research online and found a particular toy to be rated highly and seemed like something Oliver would really enjoy. The only problem was it wasn’t in any stores around so we had to order it online  and when it came we were pretty excited. It’s called the kicking’ coaster and he loves it. When he sits back in it he can push with his feet against the bottom and it slides him back away from the base causing lights and sounds to go off at the same time. It got him to start kicking a lot more and he would just entertain himself in this little gadget for short periods of time. It was nice to have a safe place to put him knowing that he could be by himself for a little while so we could do things around the house. Thanks Aunt Judell!

Jonathan

Crawling begins …

The above pictures were taken in late August when Oliver was a little more than 4 months old. He had just started rolling from his back to his stomach and pushing up on his hands consistently. He also started the beginning stages of crawling, so of course like any new parent we went crazy with pictures of him. These are a few of the shots taken on this particular day in August and Oliver was really just getting used to the crawling position. It’s funny how much as a parent you want your child to make it to the next stage of development but at the same time you want them to proceed at their own pace. We were glad to see him develop but also knew that with that new stage that would mean a lot more responsibility and having a much more mobile child. He has definitely grown into that title now.

Jonathan

Laundry Time!

i was spending an afternoon on the never-ending task of laundry while oliver was quietly playing with his toys.  i decided that i could use some entertainment and wanted to see how he would like being in a basket full of clean laundry.  i think if i were his size, i would enjoy it.  so, i put him in the basket and let him have at it.  he enjoyed trying to eat the socks and then i had his friend mr ducky join him also so he would have a companion:).  i love spending my afternoons with oliver and with him, even the most menial task becomes enjoyable.  now that i am back to work part-time, i try to take advantage of the time i have with him alone and find ways to include him in some way when i need to do chores.  he brightens even the dullest days with his personality and constant smiles.  what more could a mom want:)?!

annie

Isn’t my wife great? I love that she put our son in a huge basket of clean laundry just to make the task more entertaining. I remember coming home from work on this day and cracking up because as soon as I opened the door to our condo this was the first thing that I saw. One of the things I really didn’t understand before having a child is that they really have the ability to make every little moment something special that you may remember for a long time. I happen to have a terrible memory so I’m hoping that through this blog and all of the pictures we are taking it will help me to remember the little things and isn’t it the little joys in life that make the days that much better?

Jonathan

Mr. Nakey

Every parent seems to have at least one picture of their baby playing in the bathtub and naked. Well here’s our version – Oliver posing as Mr. Nakey! The first time I heard that nickname for a naked kid was when I was hanging out at Annie’s sister and brother in law’s house a few years back. They have a son named Trey and after he got a bath they let him run around the house naked for a minute. When they let him out of the bathroom they cried” Watch out for Mr. Nakey!” To which Trey responded by finding me and roaring like a lion. Needless to say I laughed really hard at this tiny little naked roaring kid who is now my nephew. I thought that nickname was funny so Heidi and William we are stealing it! Anyways, I’ve taken the time to blot out his boypart so no one can accuse me of posting an inappropriate picture since believe it or not I heard a story about some parent getting accused of spreading child pornography for posting a picture of their kid taking a bath online.

Oliver Starts Reading…

When Oliver was about 4 months old I came into his room to check on him and see how he was doing. I had left him in the room to play by himself for a little while. He was at that time not too mobile so we could put him on the ground on his blanket and he would just play with his toys quietly. Well to my surprise I came into his room and found him not only out of his spot on the ground but in his rocking chair and reading to himself! I have no idea how he managed to climb up the chair and compile all of the books next to him but I knew it was something that had to be documented.

In all truthfulness as if you hadn’t already guessed Oliver didn’t actually get up on the chair and start reading on his own – that was something that I actually set up after putting him in the chair to see if he would sit. I put the books around him and had him hold one with his feet. What I didn’t expect was for him to actually hold them with his hands and look at them as if he really was reading. The funniest part is I had just set everything up when Annie walked by the door of his room and caught a glimpse of it.  She thought he looked so cute and as I was taking pictures she said ” Look, he is holding the book and reading!” That’s when I started taking pictures like crazy and Oliver obliged by making all sorts of funny faces as if he was really into the story. What a great kid we have :)

Jonathan

More Personality

As Oliver has gotten older it seems like another part of his personality comes out each and every day.  The above pictures were all taken in late July when he was just four months old and we were really starting to see a lot more of his personality. He started actually doing things knowing he would get a reaction from us. One night Annie was changing his diaper and getting ready to put him in a sleeper like she normally did each night. He grabbed the sleeper and put it in his mouth pretending to eat it just to see what Annie would do and instantly started giggling at the same time.  From Annie’s perspective it seemed like he was trying to joke with her in a way and she thought it was hilarious.  At about 4 months one of the biggest differences I noticed was how often he smiled. I thought he was a smiley baby before but around this time it almost seemed like he was always smiling if he wasn’t crying :).  I can’t really explain the feeling I get when I look at my son and see the way he looks back at me smiling not only with his mouth but especially his eyes. The joy it brings is incredible and a true gift from God. I think it helps me understand in a tiny way how God may feel when he looks at us and we come to him with childlike faith and joy.

Jonathan