First Boat Ride

This was Oliver's first boat ride and he LOVED it, the life jacket....not so much.  See more pictures from our trip to Lake Mohave on the family blog.

"Hulk Smash" Cannonballs are much more fun when Grandpa is there to catch you.

  

Oliver's Heroes

I found Oliver looking at some superhero stickers. . .now watch this

2 years old - The Stats

Height:34.5 inches (25th percentile)

Weight: (50th percentile)

Eating Habits: NON-STOP!  The other day after dinner, Oliver looked over at me with a very serious look on his face and said "I'm starving".
Diapers: Size 5

Nighttime Routine: Lately he has been coming in our room at 5:30 am, this is a very bad habit that needs to be broken.

Fun Stuff to Remember:  
-Oliver speaks in small sentences and is fairly easy to understand. His pediatrician was impressed with his enunciation and vocabulary....it's probably our awesome parenting skills.  
-Oliver LOVES to help take out the garbage, vacuum, water the plants, and make his bed.
-He  share his bed with 4 stuffed animals (Lotso, Monkey, Ho Ho, and Lincon's Bearison). He likes them all tucked under his covers around him.
-Oliver likes Superheros as much as Lincoln, especially his Batman shirt.
-He can sing the original Batman theme music.
-He loves to play dress up and pretend.
-Oliver has an AWESOME laugh.

 

Some of our favorite phrases:
"My hands are dirty"
"Daddy, you are my best".
"I like it"
"Excuse me, I burped" or "Excuse me, I farted"
"Me, did it" 
"Let's fight"

The Big 2

If you were going to turn 2 years old, how would YOU celebrate?  Probably in some sort of a pirate-themed, pool activitied way right?  Awesome, that's what we did!

The only thing Grandma and Grandpa's pool was missing was a giant, blow up pirate ship.

Not anymore!

  

Yeah, that's right parents!

"My hands are dirty!"

"Look at my beard?"

"Ahhhhh ha ha ha ha aaaaahhh arrrgh! I'm a pirate!"

You're sleeping in a big boy bed!

The time has finally arrived for the short railings to replace the crib wall.  Yes, your child is leaving infancy behind and stepping up to the BIG BOY BED!!!

This is a pivotal point in a parent's life.  You prepare yourself for the proverbial bump in the night which tells you gravity has won a round, your child's head has a new bump, and your REM cycle will need a reboot.  It's a sometimes nerve-wracking business friends, but hey! It all starts out happy right?

It should be noted that on the morning after night #2 we found Oliver sleeping under the bunk bed on the opposite side of the room so, I'd say it's still a work in progress.

PS - We dropped the binky about a month ago cold turkey one night.  He cried a bit. . . I mean, hey, wouldn't you?  But he's done just fine ever since.

O-pourri

Oliver is at the stage where he is jabbering non stop, sometimes we can't quite understand what he is asking for and he will repeat himself until we understand.  He has a bit of a shoe fetish at the moment, Lincoln's shoes are his favorite. He can be a little shy at first and is definitely a "momma's boy".  AND his last 4 teeth are coming in...finally!  I am not looking forward to life without a binki, but now that the teething phase of life is done, its time to cut him off.

Enjoy Oliver being incredibly cute!

 

Oliver's new favorite toy at Grandma & Grandpa's house...

Indiana Oliver

Darth Oliver

 

Top Gun Training

Notice Oliver is wearing Lincoln's church shoes.

First Easter Egg Hunt

EGG!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

18 Months

Height: 32.5 inches (50th percentile)

Weight: 23.5 (25th percentile)

Eating Habits:  Oliver has been acting as if he is "starving" for the last 3 months. He never seem to be done eating, when we take his bib off or try to take him out of his booster chair, he screams and clings to his bib and tray. At least O is not picky and has even started eating meats and cheese.
Diapers: Size 4

Nighttime Routine: 1-2 books and a bath every night with breathing treatments. Sleeping from 7:30 pm to 6:30 am

Accomplishments:
-Lots of words: apple, waffle, hot, cup, mine, me, eat, cracker, mine, wow, no, off, yes, moo, car, mommee, daddee, mmamma (for grandma and grandpa), milk, cookie, coat, shoes, baby, rock, tree, ho ho ho and phrases that sound like "I don't know,  uh-oh, thank you, you're welcome, and all gone".
-He can eat with a spoon. 
-He folds his arms for prayer.
-He loves to help clean up and put things away.
-He can point to his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, hands, feet, head, hair, and belly button. -And he can understand directions-I love this age, when they are so willing to put something in the garbage, pick up their toys, and pretty much do everything you ask.  Too bad it doesn't last longer, but its so cute to see him wipe his nose when we ask him too.

Ahh..."Bullen Hair"

Recap of the last three months:
Right around the 15 month mark, Oliver got some kind of stomach bug, he threw up multiple times during the month and constantly had diarrhea. This when on for about a month and half.  We finally took him into the doctor and they thought maybe he had some kid of super stomach bug so Dr. Fisher suggested "stool tests". Let me tell you that the most disgusting thing I have ever had to do was scoop poop into a test tub and even worse I had to ask the daycare to do it too.  We took Oliver off of milk, eggs, citrus and wheat just in case he was allergic to any of those things.  The stool collecting went on for about 2 weeks.  The results came back negative, but he was still having "stomach issues" A couple weeks later we went back to the doctor, only this time we went wtih Pink Eye and "stomach issues"  Dr. Letizia suggested that we do a blood test to rule out food allergies.  In the meantime we had switched Oliver over to Almond and Rice milk with minimal contact with foods that had gluten, eggs or citrus. Again the results came back negative for everything but a mild case of lactose intolerance.  

When we finally got the stomach issues under control in December. I bought pizza from Papa John's for everyone at the daycare for all the extra attention and love they had give to Oliver during this time. We alternate between rice and almond milk and slip him dairy every now and then at the doctors suggestion so he doesn't develop a life long intolerance to dairy. He has done relatively well on small amounts of yogurt, ice cream, milk and cheese.

The week of Christmas the daycare called to tell me that Oliver had a fever of 102.6. I was in a panic trying to get there fast enough. We we walked in the door, and saw that he was almost limp in he's teacher, Ms. Amanda's arms, I couldn't help but cry.  We went straight to the doctor and he had double ear infections and was wheezing. They asked if we had a family history of asthma which I do, Aunt Karla,Uncle John and Grandma Bullen all had childhood asthma. They did a breathing treatment with a Nebulizer and sent us home with our own Nebulizer to give him treatments morning and night.  2 weeks later we were back in the doctor's office with more ear infections and more breathing problems. Dr. Letizia diagnosed Oliver with Over-Reactive Airway Disease and we will have to use the Nebulizer the rest of the winter.

 

Good thing we don't live in Utah, can you imagine how his lungs would have been in the freezing temps?!?


Other than these minor health problems Oliver is doing great. He is a happy, fun loving little guy and we love him!