Where has the time gone!!??

Ollie,

You turned 16 weeks old yesterday and I cannot figure out where the past 4 weeks have gone. You are growing up so quickly and changing more and more every day. You are completely obsessed with chewing on your fists, fingers, arms, or just about anything else that you can shove in your mouth. You actually prefer an adult knuckle but you typically choke yourself with it by 'gumming' it so hard....you're clearly starting to get teeth!

You've also started to grab your feet, scoot in your carseat and crib, laugh aloud, grab for everything in your reach, and make funny back-of-the-throat noises. You absolutely love your Dad and watching his crazy antics. We celebrated father's day with Dad, Pa, and Uncle Sam last weekend at 5-8 Club. You've become much easier to 'handle' out in restaurants - you love looking at everything and being passed around to anyone who will hold you. You had a great time at your cousin Rowan's 2nd birthday party two weekends ago - it was a bounce party and you loved watching all of the big kids in the bounce house.

You are doing great at daycare and you're sleeping like a champ at night. Your daycare lady, Pam, was on vacation this past week so you stayed with Uncle Sam's mom, Cheryl, for a few days, one day home with Dad, and a day with Mom & Ama. You've done such a great job adjusting to all of the changes - I was expecting a sleepless week, but you proved me wrong.

We all went over to Dad's boss's house last night with Matt, Shelly, and Jackson and you partied like the best of 'em - going right to sleep, staying asleep during the transition to the car, sleeping the whole way home, and going right down in your crib. You are becoming quite a grown-up!!

Our major challenge now is keeping you happy in the car seat and stroller. We can buy ourselves 20 minutes of sanity with your 'Baby Can Read' video and the DVD player that Dad rigged-up in the car. Once that video is over, you are usually raging to escape that car seat. We think you're going to be quite the independent little boy!

We love you so much Ollie - here are some pictures of you from the last few weeks...

THANK YOU OLLIE!!!

I am ecstatic to say that you SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT last night...thank you Oliver and congrats! This is quite a milestone given where we were just a few short weeks ago. The "Miracle Blanket" that we use to pin your arms down is no match for Pam's daycare sleeping schedule. I can't believe how great you are doing but I'm trying not to jinx us - tonight could be a whole different story...sleep tight little man!

Daycare

I think I can finally post this without drenching the keyboard with tears. Day one of daycare was devastating. I don't know any other word for it. I was a complete puddle - I cried basically the entire day. I didn't even go into the office because my eyes were puffy and I couldn't bear talking about you to other people. The house was so lonely - I couldn't enter your nursery or look at your swing...

Unfortunately your day was just about as rough as mine! You didn't sleep a wink and you were all out of sorts. Your daycare lady, Pam, looked the way I feel when I picked you up...I felt so bad for her! ;) I'm happy to say that things have drastically improved now that we're 3-day daycare veterans.

I have to give a shout out to your buddy Jackson Link for making the transition much easier for everyone. Jackson has been an absolute saint - spending time with you, making you smile, and petting you on your belly. His Dad, Matt, has said that Jackson goes right to you in the mornings when he gets dropped off. I saw you guys smiling at each other yesterday, so that made today much easier. You've also fallen into Pam's sleeping schedule very nicely - you've taken two naps the last two days and I've had to wake you up when I get there to pick you up! Dad has a hard time dropping you off in the mornings - he told me it's hard to let you go. Luckily we don't really have to let you go for 18 more years...love you Ollie!