Oden Adventures

In Oliver's 24th week, he made his foray into solid foods, largely in the hopes that he would sleep better at night (the jury's still out on that one) and he quite enjoyed it!  There was also a great deal of time spent rolling all over the place to grab things he probably shouldn't have, or staying in one place and grabbing his toes.

 Thinking deeply about his first 24 weeks of life...

January 8, 2015, means that little V is now two-and-three-quarters years old!  Which means a lot nearer to three than two (in every realm) these days.  She continues to be the hilarious handful that we know and love, with a heart of gold and a smile that often gets her out of trouble.  She loves Spiderman and Strawberry Shortcake, The Avengers and Doc McStuffins, playing video games with Daddy and Elmo games on the computer (she can wield a mouse like no one's business!), spinning in princess fairy outfits and kicking the soccer ball around the backyard, making her brother smile, doing puzzles and playing with all the new toys she got for Christmas, "special treats" at the red tables at Costco, real and imaginary trips to Oregon, weekday adventures with Grandpa and weekend visits with all the Odens.  Recent favorites also include watching the song scenes from Sound of Music and Mary Poppins and playing with the Connect Four, Yahtzee, and Rummikub pieces.

She still has a language all her own (a ha dee doo and a fa lee la) but also has a whole bunch of her own hilarious English expressions.  She likes to tell me, "Mama, you're not acturating me!" and whenever she gets in trouble with a talking-to, she usually comes back with something akin to, "I can't and you can't" (the pronouns used often change) and I really have no idea what either of these mean. I suspect acturating is something like her attempt to use "frustrating" or "irritating" because it's usually said in a sort of annoyed tone, and the latter is said sort-of scolding.  She has started using "actually" recently, usually correctly, which always cracks me up coming from the mouths of babes.  And whenever she hears someone speaking a language other than English, she says, "They're speaking French like you!"

She's starting to do really big girl things like put on & pick out her own clothes and get her own snacks & cups of water.  She's tall enough to turn on light switches now - about 38 3/4" and about 33 lbs.  She's also a pro at going on the potty...but only #1, and only when Mama suggests it, so far (we'll file potty training under Things That Don't Go Quite As Expected - along with most of my life).

Just a few shots from Week 23...

The drive back home is all about getting there, much less about the journey.  So, just a few photos from the ride...

 Rest Area Runner

 Gorgeous Mt. Shasta from the other side!

 We surprised ourselves by making it all the way to Sacramento the first night.  And left early enough the next morning to catch a bit of the sunrise over the city.

We celebrated six years of marriage this January!  With a 5 month old nursing baby back at Mom's house, it was a lower-key celebration this year, but still fun, and nice to get out for a few hours sans kiddos.  First, we started out with a wintry, moderate hike from Lower MacLeay Park in NW Portland to fill our lungs & souls with fresh Oregon air.

The trail led to Pittock Mansion, but after walking for 45 min or so, we realized that we wanted to have some time for other things and decided to turn around before making it there.  Just as we made this decision, we were at the Pittock Bird Sanctuary, with a raven for Patrick...

...and this gal, Ruby (for me?).

Next stop: McMenamin's Tavern & Pool on 23rd, for a little reminiscing (and the second stamp in my passport!).  You see, this was the first McMenamin's that I ever took Patrick to, way back when we were trying to see if 'this' was 'something' or not.  Turns out it was :-D.

As always, great food & drinks, and we went for the Marionberry cobbler for dessert!

Still happy together!

Oliver celebrated his first New Year's Eve by turning five months old!  I snapped some shots of our dapper little chapeau'd chap at my mom's house.  At five months, Oliver's favorite things are Mama, Daddy, Vianne, smiling at everyone, charming the ladies, working on his hand-eye coordination, playing with toys - especially if they are crinkly, and rolling back & forth on the floor.  He's still a predictable napper (about every 2-3 hrs, he's ready for a little snooze) but nighttime still remains a bit of a challenge (although at this point, I'm so delirious during the night, I really have no idea how much sleep either of us is getting).  

Brace yourself, now.  Some pretty intense cuteness is coming your way.