Walkin'

We promised you video, so here it is... This was just this afternoon, and is some of his best work so far. He loves being able to fling himself at us when he gets close enough - lots of fun!

We have lift-off!

No pics or movies at this stage, just a brief update - our little man is now walking! On Sunday morning we got him to let go and walk about 10 feet all on his own, chasing his daddy. He's very proud of himself of course, and grins every time he does it. We, of course, are very proud too - and a bit apprehensive! He's already been on his feet and moving around for a couple of months though, so we don't have much more to do in the house to stop him getting places.

Anyway, that's it - pics and video to follow later.

Time goes by pretty quickly, doesn't it?

So yes, the updates are coming a little less frequently these days - I guess mostly because there's less that changes with Ollie on a daily basis, so there's not quite as much to say!

The mobility is coming along quite nicely, and he's much harder to keep track of these days. He's getting much more stable on his feet, and can now balance a little and then carefully sit himself down if we stand him up and let go. So it might not be long before he's really on his way - but of course you never know, he could just do this for ages! He's exploring much more now too, and has taken a keen interest in the contents of the kitchen cupboards. I really must do that baby-proofing that I've been meaning to get round to for months...



There's another tooth on its way we think, a top one this time, so soon he'll be able to actually bite through things a bit more efficiently - Rach is quite pleased that she's weaned him!

We still have yet to find a food he won't eat (just like his dad), and recently discovered that both ice cream and biscuits are very well recieved if they're on offer thank you very much.

Anyway, here's a few pics for you of his latest antics.

Teeth, haircuts and other nonsense

Yes, I know it's been a while. What, you never get busy? C'mon, lady, gimme a break!

Anyway, we've had a busy few weeks with stuff, but there's been a few wee things happening I guess. Ollie gets faster and faster all the time, and has been getting himself into mischief as often as possible. The poor cat has taken a little bit of a hammering when unexpectedly cornered by Ollie, but fortunately he doesn't take any real offense and just moves himself off out of harm's way.

Ollie's had his first overnight sleepover without us, spending the night with Megan and Derrin while we went to Yando and Mike's 30th. He seemed pleased to see us again in the morning, but after we'd watched 'that' rugby game he got grumpy and had to go to bed again. Just like his Dad.

Those teeth have come in a bit better, and we now have a couple of pics worth posting, so here they are:





We've also had the first haircut, at which Ollie was a very good boy, but now he doesn't look like a baby anymore, which is sad... He's a big boy these days!



And other than that, here's a few more pics of some of the random nonsense Ollie has been up to.

"The Consumption of the Blanket"


"At least it's not bloody Lion Red"


"Now, if I just set it to 180..."

Teeth!

They're not quite there yet, but we can definitely see some wee teeth on their way through at last! The first one broke the surface last week, but is still sitting pretty low - so doesn't show in photos just yet...

He keeps getting stronger and faster all the time, so no more leaving him on his own and expecting him not to get into anything! The laundry and toilet seem to be the destinations du jour, for reasons known only to Ollie...

I just saw a colleague's baby yesterday, and was reminded how small they are and how quickly they grow - she looked tiny, and she's bigger than Ollie was when he was born. I kind of miss him being so small, but he's such a lot of fun now that he's really interactive. If only we could get him to lie still for nappy changes!

Moving pictures

Just a short movie of Ollie showing his skills at getting around the place - he's getting quicker by the day!

Trouble has arrived

I said a few weeks ago it didn't look like it'd be long before he was up and away, and I've been proven right. He was 8 months old yesterday, and he's up on his feet and moving around holding onto things. He can now pretty much do a complete circuit of the coffee table on his feet, holding onto it, and can move from one thing to another if there's something to hold onto. The other day he went from his exersaucer to the TV via Shadow's scratching post, and was very pleased with himself. Apparently both Rach and I were early walkers, so it looks as though he's got that from both of us.

He's gotten much more consistent at being able to get down from standing up now too, and is heaps more stable so there's fewer falls and bumps which is great.

It seems incredible how quickly they learn and develop - when I look back at previous entries on this blog I see that just a month ago he couldn't really move around at all, and now he's well and truly mobile (and unstoppable!). Rach has trouble with him at coffee group now, because all the other babies sit happily on their mum's knees, but Ollie's got to be moving and into something all the time!

Still no teeth though. Lots of dribble, but no dice.

Painting is great fun

Rach and Ollie have been having a bit of fun doing some painting as part of a project to make some father's day cards - the pics are too good not to share!

Bigger stronger faster more

So after being quite excited initially about the standing up, we realised Ollie could only do it from sitting, so it's been a bit frustrating for him to be able to crawl somewhere and then not be able to stand up. That's all over now though, as he's got the hang of it and is very happily beetling off places and standing up all on his own! He's still going down on his tummy in the middle of the crawl (that caterpillar thing again) but he's so much faster now, we just can't leave him alone for more than about 30 seconds...



He seems not to be making too much use of his knees in the crawling thing either, preferring to push up with his feet and do it that way. So we're not sure how much proper crawling he'll actually end up doing, particularly since he seems to be getting lots better with his balance on his feet, and his preference for standing up anyway.

We're getting more sleep these days too, which has been really good. We've managed to get him to stop the 3.30am wake-and-demand-a-feed routine, and aside from the odd night-time wakeup (more recently because he's had a really stuffy nose) he's in bed from 7pm til around 6-7am. Bliss, after so long!

And finally, now that he's on solids he doesn't have as much of a problem with the reflux, so we've downgraded from losec to just using a bit of Gaviscon a couple of times a day in his bottles. As far as food, we still haven't found anything he won't eat, so he's following in his Dad's footsteps!

On the move

Forward progress has been achieved! Ollie’s now doing the caterpillar crawl thing, and going after things he wants that are around him. Which is very exciting, but also a little bit worrying – I’m definitely going to have to baby-proof the house now! He also has a bit of a tendency at this stage to get himself somewhere and get stuck, which doesn’t make him very happy at all.

It looks like we’ll be into proper crawling before too long, so the days of putting him down and coming back to find him exactly where you left him are well and truly over.

All we need now is a consistent sleep through the night, and we'll be all go!

Up, up, and away!

Well, Ollie's now been doing the hands-and-knees thing for a week or so, with the rocking etc, but no forward progress. But after seeing him this morning, I'm not sure he need bother with crawling anyway.

I went in to get him up(at the ungodly hour of 6.10am) this morning and while I sorted out a couple of things in his room, sat him up in the cot. At which point he leaned forward, grabbed hold of the side of the cot, and pulled himself up onto his feet! Quite exciting stuff really, and he was certainly rather pleased with his efforts.

I suspect rampant mobility is not far away.

More video

At last, we've taken a little more video and put it up on Youtube so we can bring it to you lovely folks here. This was Ollie a few days ago, showing how good he is at sitting up now. I can't figure out how to edit video to make it shorter, so it's a little longer than it really needed to be... Enjoy.

Big strong boy

We were looking back at some photos the other day, and it seems like such a short time ago that Ollie couldn't even hold his head up on his own. And now look at him - he's sitting up all by himself, and feeling very pleased with his efforts thank you very much!



We're onto first solids now too, and just like his dad he's showing a great liking for pretty much everything to do with food. Kumara is a bit of a favourite, but pear is absolutely the top of the list of things to eat. He's very keen to grab the spoon, and has to be watched to make sure he doesn't get hold of the whole bowl and put it everywhere! He's surprisingly tidy when he eats too - but I guess being such a guts it's just a practical tactic to avoid wasting any.

We've also been lucky enough for Ollie to have the loan of Charlotte's exersaucer, which he's taken to with no trouble at all. He really loves being on his feet, and with this he can do that for ages without us supporting him, plus he gets heaps of cool stuff to play with as well!



Now let's just hope that the solids will mean he'll sleep a little later in the mornings - 5.30am is not a parent-friendly time to be getting up...

Cosmonaut training

What do you get when you have Mummy in the shower, Daddy looking after Oliver, and a dryer full of nappies? Why, you get Cosmonaut Training School, of course!

Evidently you don't need to be a billionaire with connections in the Russian space agency to get a feel for cruising in space. Here's Ollie in his first day's training, familiarising himself with the craft.

I am NOT sleepy and I WILL NOT go to bed

Man, who knows what's happening in Ollie's (cute) little head? Since last week he's once again decided that sleeping during the day is crap and he'd rather not do it. He does go down to bed, but then wakes again about 40 minutes later and is chirpy and smiley and not at all interested in any more sleep... Because he's down to 4 feeds a day now there's a fair bit longer between feeds, so it's a challenge to keep him entertained all that time.

A new favourite is also waking around 5am and making daddy spend 10-15 minutes re-wrapping him and rubbing his back so he'll go back to sleep. I'm so going to remember this for when he's a teenager. 5am won't seem so funny to him then...

In other news, we've started doing a tiny bit of solids now, and he's pretty keen on pear and apricot. Farex doesn't go down as well, but having tasted it I can't say I blame him. Talk about messy though - he really wants to hold the spoon, but that doesn't usually work out that well mess-wise.

He's also sitting up by himself much more consistently now which is great - and he's giving those toys absolute stick, flinging them around and biting them as hard as he can. Poor Dazza Dog!

Crash bang...

It had to happen eventually I suppose, and tonight it did. After his bath, standing up on his change mat, and he pitched forward unexpectedly and connected his wee cheek with the edge of the coffee table... A short moment where it might have been alright, and then lots of screaming to let us know that it definitely did not appear that way to Oliver. Poor little guy, he's already been feeling a bit crap with the ear/nose/throat infection along with being windy and having teething issues again - and now this!

Well, at least it doesn't look like there's any major damage there - he'll have a bruised cheek for a few days I reckon, but that should be it. Still feel a bit stink about it though.

First joke

Rach doesn't believe I made this up, but it's true - Ollie even thought it was funny! Warning though: if a 5-month-old thinks it's funny, it's probably only the blokes among you who will as well...

I just had Ollie on my knee this morning and he was enjoying the knocking noises I was making with my tongue. Hence the joke that follows:
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Oliver.
Oliver who?
Oliver cross the street, and just thought I'd come and say hello.

Cue laughter from the short one.

I now apologise for subjecting you to that. I still think it's kinda funny though!

Handsomeness in spades

Ollie's not been in great form the last few days unfortunately - he had a doctor's visit yesterday and was diagnosed with an ear/throat infection, so he's on antibiotics for the next week or so. Fortunately this medicine tastes good, unlike the losec, so he's happy to take it! I reckon it smells like those banana lollies you used to get that have the same texture as those Eskimo things? Aw, c'mon, I can't be the only one who remembers that?

Other than that things are pretty good - the pics below show some of his happier days lately!


Cheeky little fulla with some nappy-off time in the sun


Chillin' on the sofa


Oliver, aka V-Puppy

A jolly wee jumper

He's figured out the Jolly Jumper concept now, and is happy to spend pretty much as long as we give him in it, pogo jumping up and down. He's gotten pretty coordinated about it too, and can get a bit of height if he times it right!

Waterbaby

After a somewhat noisy night up at the beach (the wee toad decided that waking twice in the night was a good change from normal routine) we decided on our return to Auckland to take Ollie swimming. It was his first time, and went pretty well overall. The hardest part was getting him into his swimming nappy - he was very keen not to get any pants on at all...

After an initial ambivalence about the whole water thing, he ended up really enjoying himself. Lots of kicking about, and no crying when he got his face dunked on the odd occasion. The pools themselves were great, good facilities etc (and as a bonus - free!).

So we're hoping to get him into the water a bit more from now, and see how he goes. He'll be the next Thorpedo yet!

Always read the instructions...

You'd think that sterilising a baby's bottle would be simple, wouldn't you? Well, you'd be (mostly) right. Unless of course you're me, a bit sleepy, and don't remember the instructions from the packaging properly.

A while ago we bought a self-sterilising bottle because we figured it'd be handy if we didn't have the full-on sterilising palaver with us at some point while we were away somewhere. Great idea, and having read the instructions carefully I sterilised the thing and then threw away the directions. Which was mistake 1.

Mistake 2 was not using the bottle for ages, and then deciding to sterilise it again without the benefit of:
a) a clear, unfettered mental state provided by adequate sleep
b) a good memory of what the instructions said
c) the use of any common sense whatsoever.

So after abaout 45 seconds in the microwave with the lid securely fastened and the requisite amount of water in the bottle, it began to make an odd hissing noise. Being curious, I stopped the microwave and opened the door to check on it - which was mistake number 3.

Lets just say that steam is a very effective explosive and propulsive force when applied to a plastic baby bottle. No serious harm to me or the microwave, but my glasses are a bit worse for wear, having collided with the bottle as it exited the microwave at approximately warp factor 9.

That'll teach me.

On being a greedy little toad

Well, we've finally had to give in and have a go at a formula feed at night. We decided to give it a go because it seemed that his regular feeds weren't keeping him full for long enough, hence the middle-of-the-night waking. So we've started doing a formula feed last thing (one of the thicker formulas, so it'll stay in there longer) and it seems to be making him a bit happier. He doesn't like the taste when he first gets it, but being a greedy little toad it doesn't actually stop him from taking all of it! He's so keen he's even started holding the bottle on his own, to make sure no-one takes it off him...

Mohawks are still cool, right?

We took this picture after his bath the other night, because his hair is just so mental... He's rubbed it short all round the sides, but still has this long mohawk on top. And to think, some people have to pay to look like this!

Mothers Day stuff

So we had our first Mothers Day on Sunday, which meant that Rach got her first sleep-in since Ollie was born! We'd been out to a comedy show on the Saturday night (Stephen K Amos - very funny) and I'd remembered to take some extra milk out of the freezer, so when Ollie woke on Sunday morning I was able to get up, heat a bottle and give him his breakfast while Rach stayed asleep.

The little bugger then chose to be really good all morning for his Daddy - happy, smiling and playing, and then going to bed like a lamb and going straight to sleep for hours on end! I say "little bugger" because he chose to do that for Daddy when he'd been giving his Mummy all kinds of crap all week...

Once again, he's proved himself to be the cheeky little sod we should have expected with a Dad like he's got...

A new friend

Yesterday Rach and Ollie went to visit a friend of Rach's at school, and Ollie was given a lovely soft new friend - who he was more than happy to fall asleep in his carseat with. The new friend is yet to be named, but if it works like this all the time we'll never go anywhere without it!

Update (14 May): The new friend now has a name - he is "Dazza Dog". He's very cuddly and likes sleeping on the top of the couch.

Murphy's Law strikes again

Well, it figures, really. Having said that we think he's getting better with the sleeping in the day, yesterday was another day of short sleeps and an unsettled Ollie. Serves us right for speaking too soon, eh?

Bugger.

A return to (sort of) normality

Well, it looks like perhaps the Losec might be doing the job at last. After a fair bit of not sleeping much during the day, we had a good day yesterday with sleeps of up to 2 hours at a time. We'll see how long that lasts, but fingers crossed! We're still doing the 5am wake-for-a-snack thing, but by that time he's already had about 10 hours of solid sleep so we're pretty happy with that.

Aside from sleeping, there's a fair bit of mess going on with the bodily functions - this morning while chilling in bed with Paul (Rach was getting ready to feed), Ollie managed to puke all over his daddy's chest and neck (yuk!), then while being fed had a big brown (well, yellow) escapee out the top of his nappy, followed by a quick wee on mummy while she was changing him... So once again he's managed the trifecta in pretty quick order! Of course, he thinks it's all completely hilarious and a great joke. So he's definitely a proper boy - bodily functions being a staple of bloke humour and all...

Oh yeah, and yesterday was 4 months since Ollie was born - a bit of a milestone which seems to have come up incredibly quickly. It really doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we first met him, and it's really hard to remember what it was like without him. Being parents is great!

The technical revolution continues...

First blogging, and now YouTube has been conquered as well! Here's the first video we've been able to load up, which is Ollie a few weeks ago after a bath. He loves being wrapped up in a nice warm towel, and was all smiles and laughter. Great fun - if only it was always like that!

I'm bored with words. Give me pictures!

Here's a few pics of our little guy over the past few weeks...

Reflux and things that go scratch in the night

Well, we've discovered why the little fella hasn't been too happy about sleeping or lying down at times - last week he was diagnosed with reflux. Basically it means that when he pukes, he's bringing up acid that over time burns the oesophagus - and that kinda hurts. So now we've got him on some medication (which he hates the taste of) to sort out the acid, and it seems to be calming him down a lot.

Bit of a sleepless night last night - aside from Ollie waking around 4 and deciding he needed something to eat, we also had a little visitor make itself known. Shadow, the big dork, had brought in a mouse yesterday and lost it while playing with it in the lounge. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed, you see... Anyway, the mouse had migrated to our bedroom at some point, and woke us around 1am by running up and down the windowsill in our bedroom trying to get out to the great outdoors. You'd think mice would be quiet, but you'd be wrong. After a comedic series of attempts to catch it, involving underpants and socks, the beast was eventually captured and returned to the wild. Over the fence, at speed.

Aside from the reflux stuff, all seems to be going well. Ollie's getting pretty good at sitting up relatively unsupported, and is definitely a pretty happy baby. We think he's starting to get his first teeth too, as he's dribbling a bit and gnawing on his fist at every opportunity. Unfortunately, that includes when he chucks - so he ends up with it all over his hands and face etc... But hey, what are washing machines for!

Doing the locomotion

Not sure how significant this is, but we're now into being very keen indeed to move around. For the first time today, Ollie had a decent stab at doing the commando belly-crawn thing, pulling himself up on his elbows and using a combo of those and legs (admittedly with a hand behind his feet to give him some push) to make forward progress. The toys won't be safe for long...

He's also getting pretty good at grabbing things and putting them in his mouth, and is proving himself to be a bit vain by staring at mirrors and smiling at the very handsome baby looking back at him. Look out, girls...

As for Rach and I: we're just enjoying seeing him do these things. We like them a bit less when he wants to do them at silly o'clock in the morning (4.30am this morning was not a welcome wakeup call) but mostly it's all good!

Cheeky little so-and-so

Not a sleepy little boy at all.

Where to start?

Well, here goes - our first foray into the wide world of blogging. We just thought this would be an easier way to keep in touch with people in the far-flung corners of the world and let you know how we (and Ollie of course) are keeping without filling your inbox with dross.

So Ollie's now just coming up to 16 weeks old, and my god it seems to have gone quickly. It really doesn't seem that long ago that he was just a tiny little bundle of sleepiness, and now he's more than doubled in size and very much not so keen on the sleeping. Basically (kind of like his dad) he's a nosy little bugger.

Anyway, check in here every so often and we'll load up a few pics to keep your Ollie appetite sated. With any luck I'll even figure out how to use youtube and embed some video of a few things he's been up to. Ah, the wonders of modern technology!