three months. (belatedly)

dear oliver fox,

(also known as mr. handsome, little monster, sweet boy, or olly pie)

from two months to three months, you have taken off like a sprout! you have totally mastered holding your head up when you are sitting up, have been making crazy progress with tummy time, are working on that hand eye coordination, are so much more vocal, sleeping almost 8 hours through the night, are great with friends/strangers alike, look at us when we talk to you, follow objects with your eyes and have even rolled over a few times.

since you don't have a doctor's appointment this month, i tried weighing you like we used to weigh our family cats--i get on the scale, then weigh myself again when i'm holding you. if this method is to be trusted, you are close to 15 pounds! you are still in some 3 month clothes, but can wear up to 9 months, depending on the brand. you wear a tight 2 or loose 3 in diapers and you are getting strong when you grab my hair, or swat me in the face.

that aside, i hesitate to say that you are a perfect baby because i don't want to jinx us, but you totally are. you make me laugh everyday and i love you so so much more every single day.



i'm so happy that i was picked to be in charge of you, little mister. i'm lucky to be your mama.

too big!

that's right,
oliver has gotten so long
that he no longer fits in his baby tub
for kitchen sink bathing.
i'm sure there is some other way,
but i put on my swimming suit
and give him a bath
in the regular tub.
he loves it!
he splashes around like a little fish
and looks so cute all bundled up after.

blankie!

before olly was born,
one of my girl friends, lianna, made a diaper cake for my shower.
besides diapers, there were all sorts of other baby items tucked in,
like bottles, and pacifiers, and wash cloths.

but because he is still a little guy,
those wash cloths are the perfect size to carry around everywhere.
he shoves them in his mouth, and yanks on them,
and one goes where ever we do.

he's got skills.

of all of oliver's recent developmental achievements,
my favorite by far has been his budding hand-eye coordination,
and what the baby books refer to as his
"pincher skills"
because it is so stinking cute to watch!

such concentration and intensity!

happy father's day!

happy first father's day to tom!
you may get to pick and choose what baby-raising duties you participate in now
(due to my refusal to let oliver out of my sight or grip)
but don't worry,

i'm saving all the mouthy, sullen teenage stuff
for you.
(he's started already with the backwards hat!)

it's been a learning experience these first few months,
but you're doing great,
and olly loves when you make him laugh.
thank you for making us such a beautiful little baby!

(also, a shout out to my dad on his first father's day as a GRANDPA!
and a belated first (grand)mother's day to my mom!
olly has so many great people to love him!)

tummy time.

this is the chaos that is tummy time.

it usually entails tears, and screaming, and huge puddles of drool,
but he is getting better with practice.

frog baby.

we have always joked that russell is a frog-dog

because of his crazy back legs and his buggy eyes.

apparently, it runs in the family,
as olly has taken to making this face in most every photo:

into the woods.

we went to the metroparks the other day,
which for those of you not in cleveland,
is a huge park-forest with hiking trails.

olly had a tolerance of this for maybe twenty minutes
and then screamed until i took him home.
he liked looking up at the trees while he was in a good mood,
but after that, forget it.

work it.

olly has gotten so much more active in the past few weeks.
he loves playing with his play yard,
even though playing for him is just flailing his arms
at the toys that hang overhead,
or trying to get them into his mouth.

we're still working on tummy time though,
and he still hates it so much that we haven't documented it,
but we've gotten to the point where his lower half is so strong
that he could conceivably crawl, or at least scoot,
but he has a long way to go before he could hold his head up to get anywhere.

memorial day.

all of my immediate family has or is presently serving our country in the military.
based on that fact, and how cute he looks in this sailor suit,
he may have a career in the armed forces in his future.