Video: Waking up Daddy

Here's some old footage from when Nick was on 2nd shift last month. He would get home so late that he slept in later than everyone else (if we let him). Here's how Oliver and Penny like to wake him up:

Oliver Eats a Peach

And a bath followed. . .

Video: My little laundry helper

Doing laundry with Oliver used to be so easy, until he was crawling and standing. Now he takes things in and out of my piles, unfolds them, and pushes the baskets all over the house.

Weekend

Lots of fun this past weekend! My friend Michelle (we've known each other since Jr. High!) was visiting Seattle. I haven't seen her for a few years so I was excited to see her, and excited for her to meet Oliver. We've also been enjoying the outdoor concerts at the community center up the street, bought a frame backpack so we can go hiking with Oliver, and got him and Penny their first pool. Seattle is a busy place in the summer, with a plethora of concerts and fairs to attend while the weather is just about perfect.Michelle & Oliver

Playing in the grass

Stopped for a rest around Green Lake

In the pool, with both of their tongues sticking out

They're both having fun!

Video: Oliver - Month 9

Uncle Evan

Evan was here this past week to help Nick with the house. They were busy working every day, but he still had plenty of time to play with Oliver and Penny, who both adore him very much! Oliver will go straight to Evan without any warming up period like he needs with most people these days. And Penny was so happy to have another ball-thrower in the house. Here are some of the pictures we took:

Nick on the roof

Nick with his hammer

Our new overhang in the works

Look at that tongue!

future cyclist

Cuddling with Evan in the morning

Evan photoshopped the blue background

Front Porch, Stairs & Walkway

Our front porch, stairs and walkway are just about finished now. We're still waiting for some of the decking material to arrive, and everything needs to be painted eventually, but it's all functional and looks great! Evan is up here for a week to help with the house and hang out with Oliver and Penny. Projects coming up are the overhang for the french doors and painting/priming the outside of the house.

This is what it used to look like:
And this is what it looked like when I got back from California last month:
And here it is today:


As you can see, Nick has had a few helpers :)

9 Months Old!

Oliver is 9 months! He constantly on the move now. He's a speed crawler, master at his push walker, and he's constantly getting in to everything. A few of his favorites to try to get to are the toilet, garbage cans, Penny's water bowl, and the dishwasher. He loves to clap, play peekaboo, and chase (and be chased by) Penny. He also babbles "mama" and "dada" indiscriminately, among many other things. He often has something to say! These pictures are from a picnic we had yesterday at Sunset View Park near our house. I'll try to get a video of all the clips from last month up soon.

Water Bowl

Penny patiently watches as Oliver plays in her water bowl. We're constantly picking her water up, but sometimes he beats us to it.

Fun in the Sun

We started off this warm day with a trip to the zoo! Not such a great day for visiting the animals as they were mostly sleeping in the shade. We did make it to the petting zoo before Oliver fell asleep. In the afternoon Oliver went swimming at Tessa's house. He had so much fun that I'm considering getting a pool for our house, which I know Penny would enjoy as well. He spent an hour in the water!

Oliver's favorite method of transportation

Meeting a goat

I'm not sure how the penguins cope in this weather, but the sign claims the water always stays at 55 degrees. I wish I could get my house to do that.

Silly tongue

Thank you Shannon for the cute outfit!

Cups are a favorite toy

Teething Necklace

We recently bought Oliver his first amber teething necklace. It's supposed to help reduce the pain of teething, and considering he's now getting six teeth at once, it's a good thing we have it!
Amber is a natural analgesic and when worn on the skin, it releases tiny amounts of healing and pain relieving oils that helps babies stay calm and relaxed. Amber is a resin whose main component is succinic acid. The oils from the amber are easily absorbed into the skin and go directly to the blood stream. The amber accelerates our natural immune system’s ability to heal wounds and is known to help with the reduction of inflammation in the ears, throat, stomach and respiratory system.

Summer!

Here is our 5 day forecast!

Newspaper

I had a few requests to redo some recent pictures to include Oliver reading a newspaper. Here they are:

Happy 4th of July!

We're going to head over to Wallingford pretty soon to watch the display at Gas Works Park. Penny is wearing a ThunderShirt today to help with her fear of fireworks. We've also been playing firework sounds in the house for the past four days to help her get used to the noise. She's doing really well so I think this year will go much better than previous years when we haven't even been able to get her out from under the bed. We're all ready for the holiday to be over though because we're getting really annoyed listening to firecrackers go off all day long!