Mommy Shenanigans

At the end of our trip to the South, I went on a mommy only trip to Austin for my birthday weekend.  My parents were amazing and watched not only my very active baby but also my very active dog while I went and had some fun adult time.

It was a wonderful long weekend away!  I, of course, was visiting April and I was lucky enough to have 2 other wonderful friends, Brian and Tiffany, come out for their annual Austin visit on the same weekend!

Once again this trip was all about eating!  I can't get enough of the food in Austin and have begun to crave it!  This trip did not disappoint. From a day of eating BBQ, to sushi, fried deviled eggs, amazing mexican food and beyond.  My stomach looked like I was 6 months pregnant by the end of the weekend.  No joke.

We also enjoyed some local culture.  On our first night we went to a 'quote along' showing of 'Zoolander' which was fabulous.  And the next night went to a outdoor theater to see 'The Sound of Music'.  It really was a wonderful time with great friends in an amazing city!

I can't wait for the next adventure to Austin!

April and me with our 'Zoolander' props!

Nutella with chocolate covered pretzel milk shake...
Amazing!

My free birthday cookie.
The guy taking our order also was born on 4 Aug and the guy behind us also shared our birthday!
Crazy! 

Meat!

We got to go on a pit tour at Blacks.
So neat and hot. 

The meat eaters.  

A dip in the spring (freezing!!) before 'Sound of Music'

I got a birthday piñata! 

Which became birthday hats after I demolished it!

Ice cream cake!! 

Best picture of blowing out candles I've ever seen.
Photo credit to Megan! 

Brian being serious.  

Baby Shenanigans

I couldn't resist doing a post of some of the shenanigans my son got into while at his grandparents home.  Ollie kept all of the adults on their toes while we were down south.

We had only one instance of 'where's the baby?'.  Which is pretty good considering there were 4 adults to one baby and 2 dogs, I'm surprised we didn't have this happen more than once.  Some may be thinking, 'why in the world would you think it would happen more?!?' Well, when you have that many adults I think it would be easy to think someone else was the one with eyes on the baby.  So the one time we lost the baby was when Grandma was in the kitchen, Mom was taking a dog out for a potty break, and GG needed to go to the bathroom.  Mom comes in to the living room and doesn't see baby or anyone, so casually asks Grandma "Where's baby?", Grandma says, "Isn't he out there?".  It ends up, as we are running to his usual trouble spots, baby is sitting back in the dining room watching us run around calling his name.  Finally I catch sight of him and all goes back to calm.

And so this represented the beginning of a whole new world for Ollie and Mommy as we venture into what I will deem the 'exploration period.'  Every day is a new sunrise on adventure and my little Christopher Columbus is ready to take to the seas, stormy or calm!

Here are some of the discoveries Ollie made while at GM and GP's!

Yes, that's a can of Guinness.
No, it's not open.
Yes, out of everything in the pantry he could have chosen to play with, he chose Guinness. 

What does this contraption do???
Can I ride it?
And yes, he climbed up there on his own.  

Piccadilly seems to like this place,
I don't see what the big deal is???

ROAAAR!!

Hmmm, toes are interesting.
Great teething toy!

Baby Roller Coaster!! 

We now climb up and down from things.
He has even mastered the reverse/butt first climb down.

 Obviously Oliver had a blast exploring Grandma and Grandpas house!  We can't wait to see what is new and different for him the next time we are there!

1 more month till we are counting years!

Oh my goodness!! I can't believe we are actually at the 11 month mark.  It has truly been a remarkable journey so far.  Ollie continues to cruise around on furniture and toys, he can open and close doors like a champ, he is starting to try stacking toys on his own and he also is refining his scream.  In addition to all of that amazing-ness, Ollie is now an expert stair climber.  He can go up and down and throws temper tantrums when mommy closes the gate to the stairs.

Here are some of our 11 month pictures!

We love Cheerios!!!

Seriously. Love them!!

And we enjoy using Piccadilly as our climbing gym.

Our two babies!

Piccadilly also loves Cheerios!
And Ollie shares.

Extended Family Time!

Ollie, Piccadilly and I spent the month of July in Alabama with my parents and my grandmother.  It was wonderful to get some family time in and to have the extra hands around to help with the kids.

We did some traveling at the beginning of our trip. Our first stop was St. Louis to pick up Grandma (GG as we have started calling her!).  We picked GG up at my Uncle Dennis's home, which meant Ollie had the chance to meet more family!  My cousins Maria and Angie came over to join us for dinner at my Uncles house.  It was great to get to catch up with them and see them play with Ollie!

Playing ball with the professional!
Ollie enjoyed his first basketball lesson from Maria.

Angie feeding Ollie,
a way to a babies' heart is through his bottle!

So wonderful to see everyone!!

Ollie and his ladies.

Ollie thought Uncle Dennis was a pretty funny guy!

After our St. Louis trip we were very excited to have GG come to AL with us.  She was with us the whole time we were there.  It was wonderful to get to see Ollie with one of his Great Grandmothers!

Bottle time with GG

GG loved to give Ollie food, and Ollie gladly accepted it!  

Hanging out with GG.

Playing at the Depot!

We loved the trains and even got to ride on a trolley!

Laughing with GG and Grandpa!

And I have already posted about our fun in the sun with Brian and Kristen, so won't go into that again! I'll have a couple more post to cover some of the fabulous pictures I took while in AL, because there was some growing up that happened while we were there!

Sun, Sand and Family

In early July we made a trip down to Panama City, FL with a gaggle of Oliver's.  Brian and Kristen were in the midst of their whirlwind US tour, Great Grandma O finally arrived in AL to start her visit with us all and Grandpa was on vacation (for a few of the days anyways)! So the whole gang headed down to the beach.  Once again being very lucky to have the opportunity to use Uncle Joe and Aunt Cathy's beach home. Not only did we get to spend some time at the beach, Uncle Doug took us all out on a boat ride!  It was Ollie's first leisure boat ride and he loved it!

 It was a great getaway, complete with peanut butter balls, a puzzle, beachtime and a boat ride!

All of us for a picture outside of Mike's!
Aunt Cathy and Uncle Joe drove down to join us for dinner here.

Reading with Uncle Brian.

The seafood platter GG and I killed.
We had to help Grandpa with his.

Ollie with Aunt Cathy and Grandma

Grandma showing Kristen and me how it's done.

Ollie with Mommy and Uncle Brian in the ocean!

Floating at Crab Island.
Where we went on our first boat ride!

Brian, Kristen and me at Crab Island

Ollie on the boat!

10 months old!

And Ollie is on the move!  He has become a super crawler and has begun to climb.  He will climb up your legs (after trying to chew on your toes) and over the couch, over the dog, up a table, on his wagon.  Anything he thinks is remotely climb-able he gives it a go. He is also continuing to work on standing with out assistance. 

Ollie loves to play ball.  He is getting very good at throwing the ball.  Which makes my parents dog, Darby, very happy.  Ollie will often engage in a game of fetch with Darby.  Although Darby doesn't quite understand why his throws only go a few inches. Ollie also loves it when the ball bounces off of his face.  He thinks it's hysterical, go figure. 

We are also continuing to give him a taste of pretty much everything and he eats it all! (Well, except for the pickle. He wasn't sure of that one.) He loves watermelon and goes crazy for hummus! Ollie is also very alert to what I am eating and has decided if mommy has it, he should too. (No, Ollie you can't have wine!)

Another fun development over the past couple of months is that Ollie actually pays attention to you when you read to him.  He is focused on the pages and will ask (in his own baby sign language) for you to read it again.  One of his favorites right now is 'Chugga Chugga Choo-Choo' a gift from some dear friends of ours!

We are still in AL with my parents.  So here are the 9 month pictures as best as we could do in a new environment!

If only you could see his teeth! 
He is working on 2 top teeth and 1 more bottom tooth.
(in addition to the already existing bottom tooth)

Playing ball!

This face was just too good to not include.
A glimpse into the future maybe?

Our favorite book!

Kisses for Piccadilly!
Or a nibble on her ear, it's all in perception.

We might not be able to see Piccadilly in the next monthly picture.

Darby looks huge but is actually the smaller pup of the bunch.
They were all a little over the picture taking by this time.