Oliver and Emily Jozwiak: July 2008

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

A fun weekend

The weather was absolutely gorgeous on Saturday so we got the paddling pool out for Oliver. He really wasn't sure when he first got in (it was pretty cold despite leaving it to warm up) but after a little while he sat right in it and had lots of fun! His little pool looked quite pathetic against the neighbours huge inflatable slide that they got out that day :-)

On Sunday Jennifer and Mikayla came over and we all went to the Anoka County Fair so Oliver could take part in the diaper derby. Well, we entered him but it didn't go quite to plan as he didn't even move past the start line!! He thought the sticky tape that was the start line was far more interesting and he just played with that while his opponent scooted to the finish :-)) It was lots of fun though and the kids were all very cute. Oliver did get a souvenir diaper and ribbon for just taking part so that is displayed with pride in his room.

Today we are just hanging out as the temperature is supposed to be in the 90's - for the rest of the week as well. Phew!! It's just very muggy which makes it not so pleasant. Shouldn't complain about the sun though!

Enjoy the videos of Oliver and Mikayla in the pool and Oliver having a giggly session at dinner time :-)

I'm not too sure what it was that caught the baby's eyes :-)

Mikayla getting warm again after her dip!

Oliver practising his walking with daddy

Limbering up with a bottle of water before the diaper derby

Mikayla's first taste of the pool!

But it got better......!!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Toy boxes!

Well, as the title suggests we have bought some toy storage! We went to Ikea on Sunday but they didn't have what we wanted but Babies R Us came up trumps and we have two toy boxes. They are a bit too tall for Oliver to reach to the bottom but it won't take much more growing I'm sure! Every night before bathtime we put the toys away so Oliver can learn to do it himself when he's a bit older :-)

Last night Oliver stood on his own for a few seconds! We think he did it by accident as he was standing in the bath holding onto the tap and he let go. He was quite stable for about 3 seconds. Safe to say he hasn't done it again but he is certainly doing more crawling on feet and hands (rather than knees and hands).

Yesterday he also tried to say Scoop (I think!). We were walking upstairs and Scoop had gone ahead of us and I said something to her and Oliver said "bap"!! Not sure whether this meant Scoop, dog or something else but Scoop is now known affectionately as bap!!

The great news is that Nanna Pan has booked a flight to come and see us in November - yippee!! We are very excited. She is a brave lady to (a) get on a plane and (b) go on such a long trip!! By then Oliver will be a walking machine I'm sure.

On Sunday we are taking Oliver to the Anoka County Fair and hope he will take part in the diaper derby :-) Time to be pushy parents with our son!! We will try to get a video of it for the next entry. In the meantime, here are the latest pics including the outside of the house (at last!).

Being very helpful to daddy while putting the toy boxes together

Looking cute (but you can't hear the bang, bang, bang that I do.....)

It's hard to get Oliver to stay still long enough for a smiley photo these days but yesterday I was successful! Get those teeth :-)

I had to capture Scoop's position every time Oliver eats!!

Today's favourite toy was an empty box of nappies. It was a car, a hat, a hiding place - who needs expensive toys??!!

House front

View from the garden to the back of the house

The playhouse that the previous owners left - Oliver will love this when he's a bit bigger. And note the nice stripy lawn - I mowed it again on Weds evening!!

View of the trail that runs by our house - the lawn doesn't look so great here but it's better than when we first moved in!

View from the deck - the water feature isn't running though!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Oliver and Scoop

I got a really cute video of Oliver playing ball with Scoop so I thought I should post it on here!! They are great pals most of the time and it's fun to watch.

At the weekend we bought a new desk and had it delivered on Sunday so we now have an office area. More empty boxes - yey!! It's going to take the rest of the year to get the cardboard recycled though :-)

Oliver was so funny last week. He refused to have his morning nap so he was in his highchair at lunchtime and fell asleep on his sandwich - see pic below!! On Friday we managed to Skype with Nanna Pan which was great. She got to see Oliver eating cheese on toast!!

Still haven't got pics of the outside of the house - sorry!! It's on my to-do list which is very long :-)

Eating is too much like hard work mummy....

Best buddies!

We had a super storm on Friday night - they are nothing like the storms in England!!

Executive Oliver liking our new chair!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Our new house!

Hi everyone and sorry it has taken so long to get a new post out here. Basically we didn't get our internet sorted until Tuesday and we have just been so busy with things that I haven't got around to it before now. Anyway, here's the latest from us!!

The house: everything is going really well with the house. We love the location, love the space we have and think we made a great choice. It's looking a bit empty inside due to lack of furniture but at least the main floor is looking like home now and we all have beds to sleep in!! And we got the important thing sorted out this weekend - the BBQ!!! Took Jon just a few hours to put together but he was rewarded by burgers and beer last night :-) That monster has 5 burners - one for each item of food!! People in the neighbourhood seem pretty friendly and there are loads of kids around so when Oliver's a little older I'm sure he'll have plenty of playmates. I've posted a few pics of the inside of the house - need to get a few of the outside too once the grass looks a bit healthier - Jon was busy spreading fertiliser this morning!

Scoop: She is doing really great. She probably can't believe her luck with the space she has to run around in!! She loves the garden and the walking trails nearby are lovely for her. She only needs a short walk in this hot weather and she's done for! The good news is she's learned to walk nicely alongside the buggy so I can go out with her and Oliver without trying to stop her jumping in with the baby. Her favourite thing inside the house is to run up and down the stairs - something she learned while lodging with her doggy friends!! We can't go anywhere without her now!

Oliver: well, he is now 10 months old and coming on in leaps and bounds. His new thing (like Scoop) is climbing the stairs. We have two stair gates in place at the top of the stairs but the one at the bottom is being a pain to put up and that's exactly where he goes. Anyway, he is quite good at climbing them and quite fast too - I have a video for you at the end. He has two more teeth at the top so has a nice toothy grin now!! And we just bought him a new car seat which looks absolutely massive compared to what he had before. Only a few more weeks and he can face forward like a grown up boy!! Oliver has a play area upstairs where all his toys have just been dumped for now - we need to buy toy storage!! But it keeps him occupied for ages :-)

Last weekend we went to Ohio for cousin Bob's wedding to Allison. It was a 15hr drive each way but we had a great time and it was nice to catch up with family (many of whom hadn't met Oliver before). Oliver had the honour of being the ringbearer at the wedding (with a little help from Daddy!) and did a fab job despite being really hungry at the time of the ceremony!

And on Independence Day we babysat for Mikayla while Jennifer and Matt went to 3 parades. She was really happy for the vast majority of the day and we had a great time playing. She tried out Oliver's bumbo and seemed quite content to stay in there for a short time.

Well, I'm sure I have more news than this but I also have a load of pictures to put on here. Oh yeah, I failed my driving test on Thursday - very grumpy about that one but nothing I can do until the next one!! Till next time :-)