Happy Birthday Oliver!
My sweet baby boy is a year old today! I can easily say that this last year has had many wonderful and beautiful moments, and some of the most difficult and heartbreaking moments. Through it all Oliver has been a wonderful source of happiness and love.
I knew I was pregnant with Oliver before I took a test. It was my third time around and I still vividly remembered all the feeling from just the year before of how I felt when I started thinking I was pregnant with Max. I did not want to take a test because I could not believe that we were pregnant. I just had a baby 4 months prior and was on a waiting list to go see a new OBGYN since my last one moved, and I was wanting a new form of contraceptive since the pill wasn't working anymore.
Ryan had to force me to take the test and and before the 2 minute wait time was up, the results were in... PREGNANT 3+ (which meant that I was 5 or more weeks along). I didn't even look at the test, I let Ryan and he looked at it, and came over and gave me a hug and said everything was going to be okay and he was excited. I busted out crying! I felt guilty because Max was still a baby and I felt like it would take away from him. I wouldn't get to baby him and give him the attention that I wanted to because there would be another baby in the house soon. I was going to get a big belly again and wouldn't be able to carry him and play with him the way I had planned. I was scared because Ryan was still in school and kids are expensive. How could we have three. Worse, what if something happened and I miscarried and now I'd feel even worse because I wasn't immediately happy about this baby. My biggest fear in life is something happening to one of my kids, regardless is I've known about and loved that kid for a day or multiple years, it is my kid and no matter what, there is love there. Plus being pregnant is really hard on your body and I was just starting to feel "normal" again, I was not ready to be pregnant.
I called and changed my OBGYN appointment from a birth control to a sonogram. Ryan and I went in a few short weeks later and found out we were due in October. When we started to tell people, some didn't believe us, most had the same reaction as Maddison... "again?!?!?" More than a few asked if we knew how babies are made. I ended up switching jobs in the middle of my pregnancy and having to miss out on our family vacation. On my birthday, while I was 8 months pregnant, Ryan took the two older kids to Florida for a few days, while I stayed home and put together a crib. Which I totally nailed it. Big ole pregnant belly and all. However I would not recommend that to any other woman, it sucked, but I'm stubborn and hate to be told I can't do something. Everyone was told it would be a nice staycation for me. I could sleep and lay around and relax. Instead I cried, a lot. I missed my kids and husband. The house was so quite
Slowly, very slowly, Summer turned to Fall and it finally started cooling off and getting time for Oliver to arrive. I had the worst braxton hicks! I scared a lot of people at work. On October 25th I kept having bad braxton hicks on and off all day. Went home from work and ate something and tried to lay down for a bit while drinking lots of water. It didn't help. I walked around the house and kept drinking water. Didn't help. I went and took a bath, and drank lots of water. Around midnight I finally gave into the idea that maybe this is real labor. Ryan called his parents and his mom came up to watch the kids but in the meantime we headed to the hospital. I go back while Ryan keeps the kids in the waiting room, they hook you up to a bunch of stuff and say they will monitor you for an hour and if you're really in labor you get to go back and have a baby, if you're not you get to waddle your pregnant self back home. Within 5-10 minutes they come back out and tell me that I'm going to labor and delivery room.
While they were doing blood work and getting everything set up and asking me the million questions they ask before you have a baby, my phone was on a stand. Ryan was freaking out because I wasn't responding and thought he was missing the birth. He got the kids back home with his mom and he met me in room. Turns out they had some guest doctor from Idaho as the doctor on call and he was leaving in a few hours to fly back home. Well a few hours later and after 5 minutes of pushing, Oliver Chase was born... (and yes he is named after Chase on Paw Patrol. Since sister had told everyone throughout my whole pregnancy that I was having a baby boy named Chase, and a baby girl named Skye. Ryan and I couldn't agree on a middle name and decided to just go with Maddison's choice. She called him Chase for the first few weeks and finally settled into Olliepop.) Ryan had his softball tournament that night so he went to get Maddison to come visit for awhile but she didn't want to leave so she stayed with me while I graciously granted Ryan permission to go play softball. Maddison loved being my helper and the nurse brought her a cup of ice cream. She had a blast.
Oliver was such a calm and easy going baby. He came with me to work a few days while waiting on Daycare arrangements to get in order. The only problem was Oliver didn't start sleeping through the night until he was 8 months old. He was mama's boy until he was able to start walking around and playing with Max and Ryan. Now his favorite word is dada and he freaks out when he sees Ryan. Oliver loves his big sister and brother. He does not like to be lifted or thrown up in the air. He loves to climb on everything. He LOVES going outside and taking bathes. He loves food. He hates when he is not getting your attention. He likes to knock over his siblings block towers and steal their toys and run away. He likes to try and get into the rose bushes in the back yard because I have to yell and run after him to try and keep him safe, he thinks it is very funny. Oliver has been a huge joy and ray of sunshine through it all. He is the happiest baby of all time, and I used to think that about my other two kids until I had Oliver. He is an over achiever. He started walking at 8 months old, and can say multiple words including our newest, which he likes to yell at me about, apples and bananas. He likes to echo words back that he hears us say, I think he is going to be a big talker like his sister. Today he also learned to say "Oliber" and Thank you. He knows how to sign more, milk, and all done. He loves to go crazy and do karate while yelling hiiiiii-yah! Which is super funny unless you're me, because I'm usually the one being hit. He also LOVES the vacuum cleaner.
Now the fun part, here's a bunch of pictures of Oliver over the last year!
Oliver had a bunch of what I call baby acne when he was young, and his face was very sensitive and broke out a lot.
I knew I was pregnant with Oliver before I took a test. It was my third time around and I still vividly remembered all the feeling from just the year before of how I felt when I started thinking I was pregnant with Max. I did not want to take a test because I could not believe that we were pregnant. I just had a baby 4 months prior and was on a waiting list to go see a new OBGYN since my last one moved, and I was wanting a new form of contraceptive since the pill wasn't working anymore.
Ryan had to force me to take the test and and before the 2 minute wait time was up, the results were in... PREGNANT 3+ (which meant that I was 5 or more weeks along). I didn't even look at the test, I let Ryan and he looked at it, and came over and gave me a hug and said everything was going to be okay and he was excited. I busted out crying! I felt guilty because Max was still a baby and I felt like it would take away from him. I wouldn't get to baby him and give him the attention that I wanted to because there would be another baby in the house soon. I was going to get a big belly again and wouldn't be able to carry him and play with him the way I had planned. I was scared because Ryan was still in school and kids are expensive. How could we have three. Worse, what if something happened and I miscarried and now I'd feel even worse because I wasn't immediately happy about this baby. My biggest fear in life is something happening to one of my kids, regardless is I've known about and loved that kid for a day or multiple years, it is my kid and no matter what, there is love there. Plus being pregnant is really hard on your body and I was just starting to feel "normal" again, I was not ready to be pregnant.
I called and changed my OBGYN appointment from a birth control to a sonogram. Ryan and I went in a few short weeks later and found out we were due in October. When we started to tell people, some didn't believe us, most had the same reaction as Maddison... "again?!?!?" More than a few asked if we knew how babies are made. I ended up switching jobs in the middle of my pregnancy and having to miss out on our family vacation. On my birthday, while I was 8 months pregnant, Ryan took the two older kids to Florida for a few days, while I stayed home and put together a crib. Which I totally nailed it. Big ole pregnant belly and all. However I would not recommend that to any other woman, it sucked, but I'm stubborn and hate to be told I can't do something. Everyone was told it would be a nice staycation for me. I could sleep and lay around and relax. Instead I cried, a lot. I missed my kids and husband. The house was so quite
Slowly, very slowly, Summer turned to Fall and it finally started cooling off and getting time for Oliver to arrive. I had the worst braxton hicks! I scared a lot of people at work. On October 25th I kept having bad braxton hicks on and off all day. Went home from work and ate something and tried to lay down for a bit while drinking lots of water. It didn't help. I walked around the house and kept drinking water. Didn't help. I went and took a bath, and drank lots of water. Around midnight I finally gave into the idea that maybe this is real labor. Ryan called his parents and his mom came up to watch the kids but in the meantime we headed to the hospital. I go back while Ryan keeps the kids in the waiting room, they hook you up to a bunch of stuff and say they will monitor you for an hour and if you're really in labor you get to go back and have a baby, if you're not you get to waddle your pregnant self back home. Within 5-10 minutes they come back out and tell me that I'm going to labor and delivery room.
While they were doing blood work and getting everything set up and asking me the million questions they ask before you have a baby, my phone was on a stand. Ryan was freaking out because I wasn't responding and thought he was missing the birth. He got the kids back home with his mom and he met me in room. Turns out they had some guest doctor from Idaho as the doctor on call and he was leaving in a few hours to fly back home. Well a few hours later and after 5 minutes of pushing, Oliver Chase was born... (and yes he is named after Chase on Paw Patrol. Since sister had told everyone throughout my whole pregnancy that I was having a baby boy named Chase, and a baby girl named Skye. Ryan and I couldn't agree on a middle name and decided to just go with Maddison's choice. She called him Chase for the first few weeks and finally settled into Olliepop.) Ryan had his softball tournament that night so he went to get Maddison to come visit for awhile but she didn't want to leave so she stayed with me while I graciously granted Ryan permission to go play softball. Maddison loved being my helper and the nurse brought her a cup of ice cream. She had a blast.
Oliver was such a calm and easy going baby. He came with me to work a few days while waiting on Daycare arrangements to get in order. The only problem was Oliver didn't start sleeping through the night until he was 8 months old. He was mama's boy until he was able to start walking around and playing with Max and Ryan. Now his favorite word is dada and he freaks out when he sees Ryan. Oliver loves his big sister and brother. He does not like to be lifted or thrown up in the air. He loves to climb on everything. He LOVES going outside and taking bathes. He loves food. He hates when he is not getting your attention. He likes to knock over his siblings block towers and steal their toys and run away. He likes to try and get into the rose bushes in the back yard because I have to yell and run after him to try and keep him safe, he thinks it is very funny. Oliver has been a huge joy and ray of sunshine through it all. He is the happiest baby of all time, and I used to think that about my other two kids until I had Oliver. He is an over achiever. He started walking at 8 months old, and can say multiple words including our newest, which he likes to yell at me about, apples and bananas. He likes to echo words back that he hears us say, I think he is going to be a big talker like his sister. Today he also learned to say "Oliber" and Thank you. He knows how to sign more, milk, and all done. He loves to go crazy and do karate while yelling hiiiiii-yah! Which is super funny unless you're me, because I'm usually the one being hit. He also LOVES the vacuum cleaner.
Now the fun part, here's a bunch of pictures of Oliver over the last year!
I loved this little bear outfit that we got from Target. Often people thought I had a teddy bear that I was walking around with and they were so surprised when they found out it was a baby. Perfect little outfit for the cold winter months. Also we got this amazing Ergobaby 180 stroller from being apart of the weespring parent panel. Love it so much!
At 3 months old Oliver was rolling around and could get to a lot of things he wanted by rolling. He loved to roll over on his belly and watch everyone. He was also really good and getting off his mittens and scratching his face and head. Oliver was known at his daycare as Slobiver because he was such a slobber baby.
Oliver loved his toes and his big brother. This was back when Max also really loved Oliver. AKA before Oliver could really get into what Max was playing with and mess it up. He could scoot around and get to what he wanted as long as it was on the floor.
By 5 months he was fully mobile and ready to go go go. He hasn't stayed still since then. He loves to be apart of everything that everyone else is doing and wants to party with the big kids.
Napping in the day because of sleep regression and holding onto moms legs while she tried to get stuff put away after moving were two of 6 month old Olivers favorite things to do.
At 7 months bribs with fun things to chew on so mom could try and snap a quick pic and then back to holding onto moms legs. As soon as Oliver could stand, holding onto my legs while I walked around was all he wanted to do. He hated his walker and this is how I spent a few months of my life.
Oliver refused to keep on his stickers now and refused to sit still and take pictures. He still loves his mama the most though.
Clearly 9 month pictures was a rough day because we didn't get many and none of the ones we did get were very good. He was too interested in playing with his toy truck. He had become really good at walking by this time and there was no slowing him down.
He loves the attention but always wants to see the camera and what I'm doing. Then gets mad when I won't pick him up.
It was also a big teething month full of fussy moments and some rough nights.
 |
| A few of our favorite things |
 |
| Oliver loves his brothers big dinosaur |
 |
| He also really loves remote controls |
 |
| Poor Oliver fell yesterday while trying to get into the shower and hit his head on the wall, it left a huge knot and a little cut |
Oliver loves to stand behind the entertainment system and play store with Max so for his birthday he got a little grocery store stand. The boys love it and have been playing all day.
Look at that face! He is adorable.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cutie! Congrats
ReplyDelete