Hands are amazing!

Humbling and Fearless. 2 words that are constantly on my mind while watching our son grow.  The fact that the most simple things such as hands is cause for constant attention and admiration from Ollie is so humbling. Do you realize how often we use our hands? To eat, to travel, to communicate (my favorite use), to balance...

And everyday something simple is discovered by Ollie and rediscovered by me.  The crinkle of a fruit snack pack, the flurries falling on us during a walk, a block, the fur on Piccadilly.  It really is amazing and...humbling.  As well as a great reminder to me to slow down.  Sometimes sitting in the car in a parking lot feeding Ollie, when I usually would already be off on the next errand, is exactly the pause I needed.  

As far as fearless goes, this word scares me a little more.  Because I know this is just the beginning.  Ollie is completely dependent on Ryan and me.  As he slips on my leg he is standing on and shows no concern of falling any further or what might happen if he does.  The fact that he has to have complete trust in my ability to hold on to him.  And he doesn't even know what trust is yet.  That alone blows me away.  At one point I also held so much trust for people in my lives that I didn't even have to have a label for it.  Of course that's part of the miracle of children, right?  But still amazing to think about and even more astounding to be experiencing.  

All of this has also made my mind wander to the old days as a family counselor and my colleagues who I worked with.  Particularly those who are still in the field.  And my respect for each one of them only grows.  But that is a whole other post.  Maybe when I have more than 10 minutes to post I'll tackle that one! 

For now here are some of the humbling and fearless moments we've caught with the camera! 

Working on sitting up!
The work is always easier when Piccadilly and Scout are there to cheer me on!

I now know what it means to hold on to my toys,
now what do I do. 

What is this crazy thing that ever so slightly resembles my hands?
And what is it attached to? 

Done with practicing sitting.
On to walking!

'I got this, Dad.'

4 months!

January proved to also be tricky in getting Ollie's monthly picture taken!  The 17th was the day we returned home from Austin and then the next day was his 4 month well baby doctor's appointment (aka another round of immunizations).  So after the travel and shots we didn't get around to taking the pictures until today.

Ollie had a great 4 month check up! The doctor was impressed with his ability to stand (with support of course) and hold his head up.  The doctors prediction is he will be walking before he is a year.  Ollie has started to scooch and move his legs in a crawling manner when on his tummy.  He is also able to grip toys in one hand on purpose, then promptly drops it.  

Here are his 4 month stats:

Weight: 15.1 lbs

Length: 24.7 in

Head Circumference: 17 in. 

And of course his pictures...

Loving the smile!

'It wasn't me.'

How many months are you?

I like my hands and putting my legs in the frog position.

You should really be paying us for this. 

Howdy Austin!

Ollie had his first flight this past weekend to Austin, TX! The trips main purpose was to visit with his Auntie April.  But it was also a great excuse for me to dive into traveling with a child.  And I have to say we rocked the trip.  Both in the actual flying part of the trip and rocking Austin the city!

Ollie did a spectacular job on the flights.  I had 2 great pieces of advice: 1.) wear him with a baby carrier and 2.) feed him on the take off and landing.  That was pretty much all we needed and I had a quiet baby for the flights.  We did have a melt down at the end of our final leg home.  The door had been opened and people were leaving the plane, but Ollie felt they were not moving fast enough and voiced his opinion.  He calmed right down once we also were moving off the plane.  So I am feeling pretty confident going into our trip to Hong Kong.  If I can do 4 hours of flight time alone then 17 hours of flight time with 4 adults should be no problem, right?!

The more exciting part of our trip was getting to visit with Auntie April in her new hometown! Austin was amazing.  Well I should say, Austin's food is amazing!  Ollie enjoyed all of the outside time as we walked through Aprils very fun and hip neighborhood.  We walked to get all of the many meals we ate and we also enjoyed a train ride through the park.

This trip like many others I have had with April always makes me feel so content.  It's something that is hard to describe when you have a friend like April in your life.  To know that no matter what is going on you can always count on that friend to comfort you, to laugh with you, to share with you as an equal.  April is one of those friends who's resiliency astonishes me.  And she is always considering others.  Ok, Ok.  Enough mushy...here are some pics!

Our first taste of fried avocado! And the food trucks!
yummy.

On the Zilker Zyphyr train.

Something really ticked him off here.
Once we turned him around and he got to talk to the ladies in the background
he was all better.

Philosophizing 

I like to suck on your face! 

Morning quiet time.

Our little papa smurf!

Out for sushi with his ladies!

Back at Auntie Aprils house.

Torchy's Taco.  AMAZING!!!

And of course no trip is complete without a stop for cupcakes.  

When duty calls

We received news this week that Ryan has been tasked for a year long deployment to Qatar. The deployment will begin in early June. It's nice to have some time to 'prepare' for it. And yes, he volunteered for it. It was not completely out of noble reasons that he volunteered. He was/is due for a short tour and after discussing this opportunity we decided it was best for our family. And to us it is an opportunity. Ryan will be the deputy commander of the civil engineer squadron at one of the busiest bases in the Middle East. It will be quite the experience for him!

Ollie, Piccadilly and I plan to stay in the DC area with the freedom to roam as we feel the need to. Ryan has already started talking about getting a minivan sooner than what we were originally planning. But I have to admit (as painful as it is for me) the thought of having doors that magically open while I'm juggling a dog and a baby plus whatever road stop snack I picked up for myself is amazing. We will see if we follow through on that 'prep.'

We will keep everyone posted as we get ready for this change. We feel very lucky to have such an amazing support system of friends and family. That is a huge factor in making both Ryan and me feel confident and comfortable that, like so many other military family's before us, we will make it through this challenge stronger as a family.

2 main reasons for minivan talk!
Is this picture not just gorgeous!?

Bath Time

Ollie has always loved his bath time.  I am placing money that he will be the next Michael Phelps.  So we have been wanting to fill our garden tub up and take him for a little swim.  We finally got around to doing that tonight!  He seemed pretty good with it all.

Big Boy bath with Dad

Lifeguard Piccadilly on duty!

So friggin' cute. 

Splash intervention was needed by the lifeguard.

I'm only doing this for the safety of the public.

The surprise of the event was Piccadilly.  She was apparently very jealous of Oliver's fun in the water and wanted a part in it.  She stayed on the sidelines at first, but the splashing was too tempting.  She decided to step in, but just the front 2 paws.  With a little help from mom we got her all the way in for a photo op.

3 months! (really belated!)

We were lucky to have even got the pictures taken for Ollie's 3 month birthday in December with everything going on!  But we did and I am just now getting around to posting them.

Time really is going too fast and too slow at the same time.  It's so hard not to continuously think about what he going to do next, when you know you want to relish every bit of the now with him.

He has been rolling over every once in a while since Thanksgiving, he can bear all his weight on his legs, he giggles for us (rarely but so amazing when he does!), he talks up a storm in the mornings (including his ability to yell-he gets that from mom) and we easily drown in his blues eyes everyday!

And for comparison see his 1 month pics with the link!
http://www.crowleyhokies08.blogspot.com/2011/10/1-month-ago.html

Major, done professionally.

Ryan had a photographer at his promotion ceremony and here are (some of) the fruits of the photographers labor!

The National Anthem

Pinning on.

The Crowley's!

Taking the oath.

Ryan busted out some jokes.

The Air Force song