SNOWPOCALYPSE 2008!

Ok, now this is just getting silly. Come on, a FOOT of stinkin' snow in BELLEVUE? It's beautiful outside though, I must say. It has made everyone around here slow down and actually be more cheerful, go figure! I was at the Starbucks drive through yesterday, and the car in front of me paid for my drink, Merry Christmas! I was so flustered that I totally forgot to do the same for the car behind me, I thought of it as I drove away with a big smile on my face.

Oliver isn't so sure about this whole snow thing. He likes to trudge around in it, but HATES to get it on his mittens. He is actually totally in love with going for "wa-waks" in the snow, but he won't even hold a snowball when I make one for him. Funny boy! I'm sure the time will come when I won't be able to get him inside on weeks like this one until he's a little Olliesickle.

Hey, why is it all white outside?

This is fun!

Seriously. Did I mention that this is FUN!

Gotta. Get. Snow. Off. Mittens.

I DON'T WANNA COME IN!!!!

More Oliver!

Shawn just posted new pictures on his Spaces site. Check it out for new fall adventures with Oliver!

ADDITION!

Oops! I almost forgot the promised "phone up the nose" photo! (He's gonna kill me for this one someday...)

Oct pictures and COSTUME FUN!!!

What do you mean I'm not supposed to pour out the entire container of chocolate milk onto my tray?

Computer geek in training helping Daddy build our Media Center

Fun with BUBBLES!!!

Last year, Oliver only wore his dragon costume briefly (20 mins or so) a couple of times. This year we are getting some MILAGE out of them! Yes, I said them...Momma couldn't help herself and bought two costumes! In my defense, the skeleton was $10 at Joanns, and the bat was $11 at Old Navy. Two for Oliver cost WAAAYYY less than the Vikings for mom and dad. Side note-the boy is loosing weight and not eating, so what costume did we get?!?!?! A SKELETON!!! HA!!

Friday, we went to the Fall Harvest Festival at my school so Oliver could meet my class this year. He had a BALL!!! It was chilly, so his fleece bat was the costume of the night. He so totally loves other kids! He gets to play with a lot of older kids at Kori's house (where he goes for daycare) so he thinks he is just one of the gang around school. It was so funny to watch him go up to complete strangers and garble away at them like "Hey! My name is Oliver. Wanna play?"

Saturday, we went to our friend's house for a party. It's fun thinking back to parties at the Wilner's house even just two years ago when only 2 or 3 of our friends had kids to this year-two pregnant ladies (one being the hostess! She was an ADORABLE Raggedy Ann doll!) and almost all of the couples there have kids now! Too funny! Oliver was a perfect gentleman, dragging Uncle Ryan's axe around and feeding the Wilner's beagle Ali. We called it a night at 10:00-Oliver stayed up the whole time, waaayyy past his bedtime. He was melt your heart cute on the way home. I was stroking the side of his head in his car seat but when I stopped he grabbed my hand and pulled it back to his face with this heartstopping sweet smile on his face. I could almost cry right now thinking about it.

Love my batboy...AKA Ollieton...

NORSKA ON THE LOOSE!!!

October has been crazy!

Sorry for the lack of posts. Between my school commitments and the scrapbook projects I've got going on right now, the blog has taken a hit. I'm getting ready to go to our Fall Harvest Festival with Oliver tonight, but after we get home I'll spend some quality time getting new picts and news updated. Like the one where he's shoving the phone antenna up his nose...PRICELESS!

Punkin' Patch

The weather out here wasn't so bad on Sunday, so the little fam all trooped out to the pumpkin patch by Theno's Dairy in Redmond. Mr. Oliver REALLY needed a nap, but still, we had a great time. His favorite was feeding the alpacas and running in the puddles. Go figure. The kid who didn't want to see animals at the fair didn't want to play in the pumpkins at the pumkin patch. Sheesh!

Waving at the kids on the hay ride

I am SOOOO NOT happy!

Dad, do I SERIOUSLY have to ride in this?

Did I mention that I'm NOT HAPPY?!?!?

I'm outta here!

Finally! One MY size!

HEY! Who put the big one in?!?!

Walkin with mamma

YES! Alpaca slobber!

She TOTALLY likes me!

So much fun!

I just checked Ali Edward's blog about her GREAT "A Week in the Life" project. Basically you document every little nuance of your life for one week, photos, notes about what you did, and collecting "stuff" like receipts and notes you wrote to people. Kolby-it would be such a cool project for you! I'm going to do this next week, but I had commented about involving Kori, Oliver's daycare provider.

So cool-Ali Edwards actually answered my question! OK, it's a silly thing, but she's a big one in the world of scrapbooking and it was kind of like my brush with fame. HA!

Wow, this world of blogging really starts to make you feel connected with the world. In a simple click, I can share ideas and comments with people around the world and they ANSWER! Just think about the possiblities...

Oliver pictures, loads of them!

Shawn just uploaded a massive quantity of photos (45!) to the spaces site. Click the link that's on the right hand side a bit lower on this page for them.

We love our photogenic boy!

New photos!

I don't have a whole banana shoved in my mouth dad, honest...

1st OREO!!! Haloween version, so the filling is orange

Shove that cookie in!

My boys, just hangin out

What ma? Put the ziplocks away?

The Incredible Shrinking Oliver

Oliver had his 15 month check up and shots this week. Poor baby! He did well with the shots (only cried when she stuck him, then he quit pretty quick), but his vx (vaccine) shot site is a hard lump now and he acts like it's pretty sore. :-(

The other thing we found out is that he's LOOSING weight! Yikes! He was 28 lbs at 1 year, but only 24 this month. 4 pounds lost in 3 months might not sound like a big deal, but when you only weighed 28 to begin with...At the 12 month appt he was 31 inches (97th %) and 28 lbs (80th %), this month he's 33 inches (97th % still) and 24 lbs (50th%). Our doctor isn't too worried, but wants to be sure it's just due to his CONSTANT activity. So, he's on a "high-fat" diet for the month which consists of things like full fat yogurt instead of low-fat, any kinds of cheese, avocados, bananas, etc to get him to gain some weight. Only one problem-he's hit an "I'll only eat fruit and cereal" stage. He absolutely REFUSES to touch half of the things we've been trying to get him to eat (he sticks his little hand out like "talk to the hand", pretty funny!), but we are being stubborn about it. We were really good about setting a schedule of 3 meals a day with 2-3 snacks, but now he's having to snack all day to get any of the foods he doesn't like down. Regular meals are out the window. So much for being consistent!

Still, all in all, he's a very healthy boy...We just need to get some meat on his bones!

New Oliver cuteness:
*You say "Suck in your tummy Oliver" and he starts pulling his tummy in and out like a belly dancer
*He spins on command until he is so dizzy he starts walking crooked
*He'll walk backwards until he gets to Loki and then tries to sit on him. He usually misses (thank goodness! Poor Loki...), but it sure is funny to see him shuffle backwards while looking over his shoulder, PLOP, then listen to his peals of laughter when just misses the cat
*His "best" word, the one he knows cold and will ALWAYS say when he sees them or gets to play with the wand, is BUBBLE

Love my boy!

Going to the Fair!

We are taking Oliver to his first fair tomorrow, so check back Sunday for picts of this great adventure...He sees cows in books and says "moooo", so we are excited to see if it carries over into real life!!!

UPDATED: No, he didn't moooo at the cows. They were too big to be real, come on! He did love the baby chickens, the fans on the ceiling of the cow barns, the water faucets, the handwashing sink, the paper towel dispenser...You get the idea. Animals, boring. Mechanical and plumbing things-WAAAAAAYYY cool! I'll try to figure out video in the blogger format and give you all some glimpses of his day.

Sick Ollies...

Ok, I know most parents (understandably!) hate it when their kiddos are sick, and if every little bug our man caught was like the one in March (see our spaces site, scared the life out of me), I would hate it too. But, I have to reluctantly admit, I suck up every minute of Oliver neediness. When he doesn't feel good, like the last two days (pretty minor-just a seriously runny nose), he wants to...CUDDLE!!!! This is a go, go, go boy. NO hugs, absolutely NO kissies, and you better not even think about sitting still during a book. When he's sick though, just like Daddy :-) he wants to be babied. I LOVE IT!!!

Last night, he woke up stuffy and unable to sleep. He pulled up his soft blankie, snuggled in on Mom's side, and rocked for an hour. His little hand was playing with the edge of my robe, just by my heart. Melted every inch of it too. Hummed along with his Twinkle, twinkle, and I kept on rocking even though I knew he was asleep.

Made me think about sitting in the NICU with him falling asleep on my chest. He was so little, just barely fit under my two hands. Now it's all I can do to fit us both into the rocking chair (ok, maybe Mom needs to loose that post nursing weight! HA!). He's so big and independent now, but I love that he still needs his mommy. I hope that never changes, no matter how much taller he gets than his vertically challenged mother.

We love our boy...

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star...

Ub abbuuuuv, Ub abbuuuuv...This is what Oliver boy is now chanting as I sing along with his ni-night music box. It's always right on time too, just after "How I wonder what you are". Melts my heart that he "sings along" now.

Oliver and music. Wow. I know all babies and toddlers are naturally musical creatures, but he REALLY loves music. Anything comes on the TV, commercial jingle to music video, and he's bouncing and swaying with the music. In the car we listen to XM Kids and the "YEAAH TOAST!!" song busts him up EVERY TIME. He bounces his shoulders in time, claps his hands, yep this boy got the Sorenson genes in the music department! Which is good...mama can't carry a tune in a bucket!

That's not to say I don't love music. I'm almost fanatic about Gaelic Storm. They are a crazy, amazing Celtic band who sing about love, the sea, and whiskey. Hey, they're Irish-what do you expect!?!?! I've got to get my boy jigging soon, or get him a fiddle. :-)

Love my singing boy...

Tagenator and the Lawrensons

Just a quick note about the blogs I "follow". Tage Daniel is the son of Shawn's cousin Kolby. She and her hubby Justin welcomed Tage into the world in January with a few challenges. With mommy and daddy's caring hearts and hands, and a crew of great doctors at Children's Hospital in Denver, Tage is now growing like mad and breathing better every day. Take a minute to give the Carriers a note of support and see the cute smiles that Oliver's cousin is showing to the world.

While I don't personally know the Lawrensons, their story really inspired me to explore my faith again. Nate and Tricia (who has cystic fibrosis) were working to get Tricia listed on the transplant list last fall for the new lungs she so desperately needed due to her advanced CF. Surprise, surprise, a different prayer was answered for them at the same time-they were expecting their first baby. Rather than terminate and put Tricia on the transplant list, they opted to carry the pregnancy as far as they could. Baby Gwyneth was born at 24 weeks, mommy was on a ventilator, and placed back on the transplant list. Prayers were answered and Tricia received her new lungs on her husband's birthday!! Tricia and Gwyneth are now home, dealing with some issues from the baby's prematurity and post-transplant lymphoma (seriously, could these people have ANYTHING more to get through!) but are doing well.

The part that stuck with me, besides it being an amazing story of love and hope, was their faith. I would be mad at the world, hating the place that I had been put in. Instead, this family uses their situation to show people just how thankful they are to God for every day they get. They are also huge advocates for paying it forward, and their site is worth the read. Take a minute to read about this amazing family. It will not fail to inspire. Nate, if you ever read this, thank you for showing me just what I could have missed in my life without a major change in outlook.

Here's the reason I write, the reason I strive everyday to make myself the best person I can be:

Love my boy...

It was so hot mid August that I just had to find a way to let Oliver get cooled off without having to fill the car with gear. We set off for Fred Meyer in search of one of those fun kid spaghetti noodle sprinklers, but all they had was school supplies!

We opted for a regular old sprinkler with the dial where you can change the shape of the spray. It worked like a charm! I was able to find a spray that didn't go straight up his nose, the yard got watered, and I have some great picures. Win Win situation!


Hmmm...I can't stop it with my hand....



Maybe with my foot?





MAAAAA! I can't make it stop!





Love my boy...

For all the Oliver fans out there...

While Shawn really loves his Spaces site, I find it somewhat cumbersome to post a jillion photos once every two months and then try to catch everyone up. I like this blogger format better. I can tell you all the funnies from Mr. Oliver's life a bit more up to date and quickly. Like...

We thought he was getting over the whole dropping food on the floor when he was done thing. Ummm WRONG!!! He had knocked his corn on the cob (I don't know what's wrong with me, but I find the popping noise when he crunches into the corn just about the cutest, funniest thing in the world!) onto the floor. I was on my knees cleaning it up when it started raining turkey sandwich on my head! Little bugger had looked over, seen me down there, and started chucking his unwanted sandwich onto my head. I looked up and just saw this little hand with the next bomb ready to fly. TOO FUNNY!

The worst part? If he thinks it gets a laugh, he'll keep going. So Shawn came over and was cleaning him up with the whole "no Oliver, we don't throw food" admonitions, and I was stuck under his high chair, turkey in my hair, trying to compose myself so Oliver wouldn't see or hear me laughing!

Love my boy...